Back Where I Belong…
…doing freelance web design for a living.
This is definitely not news for those following me on Twitter, as I’ve been dropping hints over the past couple weeks and finally came right out and said it a few nights ago. But for everyone else, I’m pleased to announce that I’ve journeyed back to the land of freelance web design and I have no intentions on leaving.
A Better Fit
It’s all about timing, and at this time I need flexibility most of all. I can’t imagine having a new baby and being away for 8-10 hours a day, leaving my wife Deanna to fend for herself. While I know she could get through it, that’s beside the point. I love that I’m able to leave my desk at any time to lend a hand or relieve Deanna of baby duties if need be. Working with a team and having a boss and managers to answer to doesn’t leave that sort of breathing room.
Family isn’t the only reason for this change, though. In my previous role, I hardly spent any time doing design work, which was entirely by choice. The vast majority of projects that I was involved in were large corporate websites. When you see photos of me, or you look at my work, do you think “corporate”? Clearly, it wasn’t a good fit. But aside from the type of work, I missed being one-on-one with clients. And I really missed handling projects all the way from the initial quote request through to completion. The sense of pride I would feel after 2 or 3 weeks of putting my all into something, and having clients tell me how much they appreciate my work and effort.
Correcting Past Mistakes
I was very successfully doing freelance design work previously. But there were many things I could have done better, which lead to tight budgets, consecutive late nights, and not nearly enough time set aside for gaming family. Before I started doing any work, I laid down some ground rules that I intend to follow and started taking steps to ensure I didn’t get myself into the same bad habits.
One of the biggest steps I’ve taken so far, was bringing in a partner to help with some of the administrative stuff. My beautiful wife Deanna has willingly assumed many roles that have taken a lot of the pressure off, and given me a bit more breathing room. It’s a pretty sweet setup we’ve come up with – since one of us always has the baby (unless she’s sleeping), the other can be working. Regardless of who that might be, shit is still getting done.
Open for Business
I’m actually nearing the end of my third week already. And having just opened the floodgates yesterday, I’ve found myself booked until May. Which is actually really good, if you’re looking to get some work done as I was typically booked 3-5 months in advance last time I was freelancing. If you are in the market for a new blog or a redesign, be sure to get in touch and we’ll see if we can work together.
On the Side
Client work isn’t all I have on the go right now. For months, I’ve been plugging away on a redesign for my blog. I finalized the homepage design some time ago and have moved onto the article layout. It’s coming along great and speed has picked up significantly as of late. The design is merely a small portion of the job, though. I’m working on building out a more intuitive portfolio among other new additions. In case you missed it, I posted some teasers on Flickr a while back.
Additionally, I’m going to make an effort to write more about web design and WordPress based development. I’ve got a couple drafts started already and a few more topics in mind. Stay tuned for those.
And finally, it looks like I’m going to venture into an area I said I would never get into it – I’m going to release some free WordPress themes. At this point, you’re not getting any more details. But I will say that they’ll be based on some of my previous work.