Micah     December 16th, 2011 at 1:30 pm

Thanks for being real with us, Mike. I too work as a web designer full time and then work on the side to add gravy, much as you say. While my ultimate goal is go out on my own at some point in the future, for now I’m thankful to be doing what I love and making decent money at it.

Having a corporate web design job will also teach you lessons you wouldn’t learn on your own, such as working in a team environment and learning how to follow someone else’s vision. When you’re able to get behind someone else’s vision and see it succeed, it’ll be much easier to work with clients who need someone do just that – get behind the vision they have for their product or service and get it out there. Being a part of that can be very gratifying. Great stuff, keep it up! I always watch and read your stuff.

Rico     December 16th, 2011 at 2:53 pm

I am very interested in ‘starting my own website design business’ but there has been something nagging at my gut. Why do most website designers seem to have full time jobs in addition to their side line business. I think your video shared some insights – is there enough work out there to make a decent living off it ? (I still cant answer that question for myself). I live in a city of approx 100,000 population. Anyone have any thoughts &/or experience in living on a similar size geographic market and success or lack thereof ?
(yes there are other cities nearby within 20 min)
thx

Mike Locke     December 16th, 2011 at 7:55 pm

@Micah – Yes, and there’s no reason why anyone couldn’t go out on their own after maintaining a job for a bit. The experience and the things you learn as you mentioned is invaluable. Working with a team, working on projects,…this will all help you when you branch out on your own. ;)

@Rico – You can do it, but it’s not easy. A good rout to take also is to possibly start off doing contract work for companies. Sometimes, these contacts are 4 to 6 months long, then you can slowly start building relationships that will eventually keep contracts coming. So in essence, it would almost be like you’re on your own, but still have the nice paycheck coming in.

Allen Carter     December 21st, 2011 at 7:54 am

I’m glad you said that cos that’s exactly what I am doing now and have been for years. Perfecting my skills until I am confidence enough to go freelance officially.

Not sure if its the same system over in the US. Here in the UK you need commercial experience to get a junior role in order to gain commercial experience. So I cannot find work because I dont have commercial experience even though I have plenty of web experience. I get employers telling me I have the skills for the job but I wont be employed because I have no commercial experience. Its a ridiculous system over here and thats my reason for going freelance.

I dont really use this site but this maybe useful for those who are trying to get started as a freelancer. The whole point of the site is to bid against other freelancer’s so its like an Ebay sort of system:

https://www.freelancer.co.uk

David Lopez     December 23rd, 2011 at 8:08 am

Thanks Mickael for being honest with us. The more I see your videos the more I want to get your online training. This was a very interesting video, it helped to have a better idea of my real options in the market.

Thanks once again for sharing.

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