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Another Year Comes To An End

So here we are, another year has come and gone. The older I get the faster the year seems to fly by. I do have to say, the last year has been good to me. I've had more design work than ever before, and I'm happy client satisfaction is at an all time high. That means good projects, good results and money in the bank account.

For the most part, I hope to continue with the success of 2010 and move it into 2011. However, there are a few things that I think need to change, and my love affair with certain technologies is starting to change.

Posted: Monday, December 20, 2010

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Why I Love This

Today I saw an interesting tweet about winning an iPod Nano. No it wasn't the Nano that grabbed my attention, it was the "Are you a freelancer?" question. Being a freelancer is something thats new to me, but it also something that I'm very proud of. I'm sure you've heard countless stories about people quitting their day job and escaping the 9 to 5 to enjoy more time with their families and activities that are more enjoyable. Well, I don't have the same story. Actually, not even close.

I actually left my "Day Job" because I wanted to do more. Sounds crazy doesn't it? The truth of the matter was that I worked for a large company that had great benefits, wonderful teammates, and a flexible schedule where I worked from home. Surely you think I'm crazy for leaving, and I trust me I questioned myself many times, but the burning desire to do more was always there.

Posted: Thursday, April 08, 2010

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It's OK I'm Alive

I've gotten a few emails lately asking if I'm still building websites. They answer to that is a resounding YES. Although I have to tell you, because of this sites I've been a bit busy. It's true, I've actually gotten some really good contacts from this site and I've engages with a number of them.

Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010

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No Communication - No Problem

I recently had one of the most interesting projects I think I've ever had. I should have been really aware of what was going on when I was trying to get a hold of the potential customer and had a really hard time getting a call back. Then when I looked at the code I could tell it was a copy of another product that was commercially available. All things that should have been a huge clue for things to come.

The lesson here is to trust your instincts. If the client isn't willing to communicate with you, it's time to cut bait and fish somewhere else. I figured after countless attempts to get someone on the phone, and three invoices that never got paid, let alone acknowledged, it was time to stop waisting time and move on to clients willing to communicate and pay their bills.

Posted: Wednesday, February 24, 2010

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We Are Changing

I don't know if I wanted to call this a change or a maturing. This blog has served me very well over the past few months, but now it's time to change a tad so that we can keep up with the times and the growing need of my readers. With that said, I'm officially able to say that we've grown up in a big way.

As many of you know i started this blog as an experiment really, on how to build, attract, analyze and maintain a website. What I didn't expect, was for people to actually call me and offer me gigs on doing those vary things for them. We'll call them "clients", or "friends" in need of a face lift. Well I'm no surgeon, but I can dissect a website fairly well, and I can tell what's going to work and what isn't.

However, I couldn't do it all alone, so I had to hire someone. Then I quickly figured out that there was really too much work for two people to do, so I hired a third. Yup, that's right. There are now three of us working for "Yet To Be Named Company".

Posted: Wednesday, February 03, 2010

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Invoicing Is Killing Me

One thing that plagues me, no matter how good my month is going, is the task of invoicing. There are so many things that need to be tracked when it comes to ones books. Think of all the little things that need to be tracked on pretty much a daily basis for your ship to run smoothly.

• Expenses (Hate this one)
• Contractor Hours
• Products Sold (say your selling a good or something)
• Project Costs

Those are some of the things you must keep track of all the time. In addition these are some of the things you'll want your system to do for you.

• Send clients invoices and reminders via email and pdf form.
• Ability for clients to pay you via a click of a button (Paypal or Google Checkout).
• Brand your invoices
• Reconcile your books
• Report (all kinds of this stuff)
• Save Time & Money

Posted: Sunday, January 03, 2010

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You Said What?

About once every other week, I attend a meeting of web professionals that want to talk about new skills and techniques related to the web design industry. Usually it's one of those events that you walk away from really anxious to get back to your computer and do more research on a particular topic.

This past week was no exception, however the excitement wasn't due to technology. Nope this week the topic of customer service and how to deal with a bad client.

Posted: Tuesday, December 22, 2009

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