Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi all,

I` new here and I`ve really been pondering taking a jump as a freelancer. I`m really glad I came across this site! I`ve wanted my own business for years, but since I have a decent job right now, I`ve just been waiting until my job goes south, and then making the entrepreuner jump out of nessecity.

I`ve managed to grow some very good skills in the web dev area, and thats what I`d like to do when I go it alone. It`s just that some of my side projects have not been that profitable or managable for that matter on a part time scale. I`ve also read a few posts here that makes me feel that web dev isn`t such a great area to make a business out of. Which puts me partially back at the drawing board.

My experience in web dev goes beyond pretty. While creating the pretty part is the most fun, I`ve been working the past several years adapting quickly changing business needs into a web based automation and and managment type "software" I suppose. Lost of calendering, scheduling, workload management and wild reporting - along with the usual server side resource management, disaster control, etc. So I have a great understanding of the business layer, and losts of experience with the database and backend, along with snappy photoshop skills. I`ve gone well beyond the shopping cart.

I have a couple of projects in the works as "resume builders", but they are mamoth in size, and one I think I`ve even missed the boat on because when I started it there was room for "another", but now that niche seems a bit saturated. I`ve also watched ideas I`ve had that I thought where stupid become successful for others.

I`d like to build on the experience I have, and be on the front lines for the "next generation" of the internet, but I`m just not sure if I can compete. I`ve been living and breathing this stuff for years, but I guess everyone else has as well.

I`ve had other ideas as well, but none of them look to profitable when I dig deeper into them. Is it natural to go with what you know, or is better to just watch markets and jump at something even if you have no clue at first?

I guess I need to make a decision soon, whether I have a good job at the moment or not. I`m getting older, and most of the oppourtunity (especially in web dev) is reserved for the younger crowd.


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Since 2008, we, Greenland Bio-Science are a distinguished firm involved in manufacturing, supplying and trading Bio Pesticides, Plant Growth Hormones and Bio Fertilizers. All our products are developed using supreme quality ingredients which is acquired from authentic vendors. Our products are formulated under the supervision of our qualified professional in compliance with the industry standards. Moreover, our products are widely appreciated by the customers for their attributes like natural product and high efficiency.

I don`t know why you think that webdev isn`t profitable ... it`s like anything else, you have to know how to sell it and market it. I really hate to sound harsh, but there are so many web developers out there ... but few are "good" or "honest". There are so many scams and ripoffs in webdev, so there`s always room (IMO) for a few more good people.

We have a very special niche and I work very hard at marketing it. I have employees who work for me because I can`t specialize in everything, nor do I have the time to. (I`d rather leave my artwork up to a pro ... yes, I can use Photoshop, but not nearly as well as someone who is a true artist.) I also develop some other products of my own every chance I get ... either hobbies, things I might start up as a business later, stuff like that.

If you have an idea, go for it. Really it`s all in how you sell it.

There isn`t really any kind of Magic Bullet solution to anything complex. Starting a business is complex--it`s not like learning how to make chocolate chip cookies. :-)

I think too many people look at their skills, figure they`ll start a business, and sort of gloss over all that happens in between. Having skills is a good thing, no mistake, but it`s not the key to running a successful business. Well, we could say that running a successful business in itself is a skill.

The problem involves converting from an employee to an emploer-owner. Right now, someone else is going out to get the business---the clients who want something done. When you go out on your own, YOU will have to find those clients. Then you`ll have to have the personality to figure out what they want, not what they "say" they want.

As you`ve probably seen on these boards, people think they want a Web developer. In fact, they want a combination developer, designer, and marketing expert...all rolled into one.

E-commerce and the "cottage industry" are growing. They`ll likely continue to grow for the foreseeable future. As such, Web-site creation and management MUST continue to go along with that growth. Lots of people are entering the skill-set, but not many of them have the business know-how to make it profitable.

I`d suspect that you`re seeing those who don`t have the know-how, and not hearing so much from those who are succesful because they`re probably too busy to write all that much. :-)

Thanks for the replies! This gives me alot to think about. All in all I probably only have 20% of the experience needed to be successful as a web dev on my own. I will be reading much more here, and try and follow others that are working toward something similar.

I`ve also learned quite a bit about reading between the lines and "deciphering" what a customer wants. Right now I work as a one man team, where managment says: "this is whats comming down, and we need to integrate this into our process and work flow". Then I give recommendations, come up with a plan and implement. I even have to argue from time to time when my management think they know what they want. Hopefully I can turn this into sales skills.

One thing I learned from other busines owners, and what nhgnikole is getting at, is to specialize, have a niche, go tall and narrow. But from my experience creating web based solutions, I can`t imagine specializing in any one thing. The way my job goes, someone comes to me with a problem, and I need to supply a solution. Granted I work in a specific area, but I went out on my own, I would think I would have to be open to many different areas of business since it`s a solution to a problem I`d be selling. Sure I`d have to learn enough about the customers business to provide a solution on a case by case basis, but I couldn`t be an expert in each business.

In my case and web dev I would think generalizing is good. I don`t need to be an expert in plumbing to create for example: an automated appointment dispatch gizmo, or I don`t have to be a lawyer to create a document storage system for lawyers. I`d just have to learn enough to understand their workflow.

Maybe I`m wrong. I also don`t intend on having any employees. I`m looking more freelance as opposed to full blown business.

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Since 2008, we, Greenland Bio-Science are a distinguished firm involved in manufacturing, supplying and trading Bio Pesticides, Plant Growth Hormones and Bio Fertilizers. All our products are developed using supreme quality ingredients which is acquired from authentic vendors. Our products are formulated under the supervision of our qualified professional in compliance with the industry standards. Moreover, our products are widely appreciated by the customers for their attributes like natural product and high efficiency.

Hi Greenland,

I agree with what Nikole and Craig said.  The problem you`ll probably run into with just selling your time (which is what you would be doing as a freelancer with no plan to hire employees) is that you run out of time, and so that limits how far you can go.  You`ll find that the business-running tasks such as finding clients and billing them and advertising your services take up a lot more time than you`d like (I speak partly from my experience and partly from what I`ve read in entrepreneuer books).  It`s easy to get burned out with that business model.

The book I read and really liked that addressed this was "The E-Myth" by Michael Gerber.  (Updated version is "The E-Myth Revisited.")  It talks about how entrepreneuers get burned out and how to structure your business to avoid this.  Its model doesn`t require you to hire employees, but it will help you set up your business so that expanding in that way is easier if you decide to do so.

One way you might be able to do freelancing without getting burned out is to form relationships with larger website development firms who would hire you as-needed (or ongoing) as a contractor rather than an employee.  That gives you more control over your workload and working conditions and takes some of the burden of dealing with clients off your shoulders.

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EFFECTIVE WEBSITES
when results matter

www.effective-websites.com

Thanks everyone! The way I`m seeing it now is that when running a business, ideally, you won`t actually be doing the work or service that the business provides, rather your employees will do the work. Running a business means the sales, marketing, legal, etc... So you really don`t need to be an expert or nesseccarily have experience in the field/business you intend to take up, and from what it sounds like, actually having experience in that field could be a large stumbling block and provide a greater chance for the "business" to fail by spreading oneself to thin and other points that where mentioned.

So all in all, I should stay out of web dev as far as starting a business is concerned. In many ways that seems confusing, but in other ways, I guess there is no area I cannot look to when thinking of starting a business!

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Since 2008, we, Greenland Bio-Science are a distinguished firm involved in manufacturing, supplying and trading Bio Pesticides, Plant Growth Hormones and Bio Fertilizers. All our products are developed using supreme quality ingredients which is acquired from authentic vendors. Our products are formulated under the supervision of our qualified professional in compliance with the industry standards. Moreover, our products are widely appreciated by the customers for their attributes like natural product and high efficiency.

One of the best examples of a business based on hired expertise was Broderbund. They published some fine interactive electronic books, including Dr. Seuss and other children titles. They also did some card-making software, etc.

Anyway...they were a couple of brothers who had an idea of "the look and feel" of a software product. They went and hired the programmers and designers who could make that vision into a reality, then sold the results.

Without the brothers` vision, there wouldn`t have been a differentiated company. However, the brothers didn`t do the low-level "manufacturing," so to speak. In some ways, we could say that same about the "two Steve`s" involved with Apple.

Sometimes, running a successful business is more about having a vision for a different sort of market position....the look-and-feel thing. At the start, you might be the production guy. You could then find and partner with a marketing person, or take that over after you find and partner with someone who can do the production work.

Greenland, since you want to serve a general range of businesses, one way to make a niche for yourself may be geography. For example, an online friend of mine chose to turn her back on the nearby metro area to focus instead on the rural businesses and outlying areas. She was met with open arms by business owners long ignored by metro-based firms.

You can read her story at her blog.

Becky McCray


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Co-owner of Allen`s Retail Liquors, rancher and business/marketing consultant. Publisher of SmallBizSurvival.com for small businesses in small towns an rural areas.

Thanks CraigL, Those are some great thoughts and examples. I`ve already failed on a project I`ve been working on because it is too much for one person, but I`m affriad to enlist help, or don`t know to properly do so, because I`m affraid of someone stealing my idea and all my hard work. Along the same lines, I have almost 2 albums worth of songs and music very few people have heard because they aren`t set in stone, so they`re not copyrighted, so I`m affraid to let people listen. I guess I`m paranoid.

I think I`m going to learn alot here

And thank you BJMcCray, That was a good read and so true. that is another area I feel lost in - finding a target mkarket/niche. 

 I think it`s time to take a different approach to the thought of a business if I`m every going to have one. I think for myself and many others, we possess many valuable skills and experience, but we don`t know all the different ways they can be applied to different places outside of where we learned those skills. If that makes any sense.

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Since 2008, we, Greenland Bio-Science are a distinguished firm involved in manufacturing, supplying and trading Bio Pesticides, Plant Growth Hormones and Bio Fertilizers. All our products are developed using supreme quality ingredients which is acquired from authentic vendors. Our products are formulated under the supervision of our qualified professional in compliance with the industry standards. Moreover, our products are widely appreciated by the customers for their attributes like natural product and high efficiency.

People most often hear about writers who spend forever editing, never finishing. But it happens in all fields. There are cooks who are always fidgeting with a recipe, never getting it finished. Builders, musicians, atheletes, you name it; it`s a common problem across the board.

Doing ANYthing requires having an idea, a vision, a starting point, a set of processes, and an *exit* point. That`s when it`s done and finished. If you want to go back and change things after it`s been finished, you "begin again." You don`t just continue to make changes.

These two word-concepts, "finished and begin again," versus "change" are simple to read, see, understand, and pass off. But they`re very difficult to put into place in one`s life.