I hinted towards the end of last year that there were exciting things on the horizon; that being said it's my pleasure to announce that I am now joining the ranks of full-time freelancers.

For the past year I have been building business and working with clients plus working a full-time job as an in-house designer at Southern Seminary here in Louisville. As those who have gone before me can attest, it makes for long hours and sleepless nights. (Or, sleepless mornings depending on which end of the candle you burn.)

To be entirely accurate though, I've been in the process of starting my own web business for the past five years. I followed those who made the jump from full-time employment to freelancing (and then some on to running small studios) and nearly all said that you would gradually transition from one to another. In my youthful arrogance I assumed I would be different and would quit my job outright and go find freelance work and totally kill it. But no, I gradually transitioned from one stage to another as the freelance load became too much to bear with full-time employment as well.

I must give a special thanks to Southern Seminary too. I have worked with smart, caring people over the past year and will continue to do so this year (in a diminished role of course). It's an institution that believes strongly in doing work of the highest quality and sees that task as a high-calling both physically and spiritually. And, in case you were wondering, my previous job needs to be filled. If you are a web designer who can apply the same design sensibility to print as you do to the web then please send me an email – david@ [this domain.com].

My marketing department would scold me if I didn't put forth the obvious statement that I am now available for new clients and projects. In the absence of a proper contact form, just send me an email at the aforementioned email address or you can call me at (502) 550-7972. As it stands I'm nearly fully booked until May of this year, but I would love to talk to you about projects that we can schedule later in the year.

Much is changing at Design Intellection headquarters (my incessant site redesigns notwithstanding) and I will keep you updated through it all.

There are right ways and wrong ways to start your own web business. Some are obvious, some you can learn from others and some come only from experience. Here are four smart ways to start a web design business.

Stay Cheap

When I first started building websites as a professional endeavor I was using a $600 Dell PC from my college days, a free open-source text editor called Notepad++ and a free open-source graphics editor called The Gimp. Notepad++ was slick but the Gimp was kind of clunky. Together though they got the job done.

You don’t need to spend money on software right away. Trust me, I’ve seen it done the other way. You end up with thousands of dollars of software that you a) don’t know how to use and b) don’t even need in the first place. Grow into your software needs, don’t try to buy your way to experience.

Be Passionate

Yeah, I know, nothing new here. But sometimes you need to hear it more than once. Don’t start a web design business unless you absolutely love working on the web. Because I can tell you some days you’re going to hate the internet, and you’re going to hate building websites, and it’s going to be the last thing you want to do that day but you’re going to have to do it. That's the difference between a job and a hobby. When you start a web design business it ceases to be a hobby and turns into a job. Make sure you love it before you do it or you’ll hate it quicker than you started it.

Go Long

Working on the web is thankless. You’ll spend eight hours writing a blog post and no one will care. And it will probably be that way for years. That’s the reality, sometimes you get lucky and you’ll always have 15 minutes of fame here and there, but for the most part it’s an unrewarding endeavor in the beginning.

But keep at it because eventually people will start caring. However, as a word of advice, care less about your perception and clout in the web community and care more about your quality of work. The former comes with the latter, but not the reverse.

Be Human

Up to this point, in my experience most work comes from people you know. I’ve received a few jobs via my website, but the majority of the work comes through relationships. So network. Go to local web and tech meetups, get to know other free-lancers and web-workers in your area, email people whose blogs you follow and don’t be a loner. This will enhance both your professional and personal life.

Also, put your phone number on your website! Big deals are made over the phone, not through email. (And, of course, in person.)

If you're a web designer I think 2010 should be a good year for you. Why? Well besides the fact that working on the web continues to be a strong industry, I think there are three specific reasons.

Read More »

I have spent a lot of time building Primo. It has its roots in another theme I sold for Tumblr called Mission, so in a sense Primo is the next generation of it. But it's also way more than an update to a previous product. It has been completely reworked and redesigned and has a ton of neat features.

Read More »