Any fulltime freelance web developers here?
Anyone here make a living as a full time freelance web developer? Curious to see how sustainable this is.
Do you operate under your own name or a brand name? Really interested in hearing how you guys operate.
Hey Luke,
Yep! I started out as a fulltime freelance dev and now I still do a fair amount of design & dev, but also product consulting now: https://www.hirebrianrhea.com
I operate under my own name, but am finally getting ready to go the LLC route. I'm not sure what the process is like in the UK, so not sure how much more effort that is to you.
If you're thinking about jumping in, I'd suggest a couple of things:
Good luck!
Thinking of trying Double Your Freelancing Rate. Does it help you learn to find good clients or is it purely focused on pricing, positioning, and closing leads? I need to know how to close the leads, sure, but I also need help getting them into the pipeline in the first place.
There's a $9 webinar that has some examples from the free course. https://doubleyourfreelancing.com
I checked out the free course it was really good.
This is all super helpful, thank you Brian!
Been freelancing full time since 2012, mostly under my own name, but earlier this year I registered my business name and now do it under that https://aniftyco.com
Raises hand
Started out the same as most probably. Did some moonlighting for a couple of years and then found a couple of clients that helped replace my full-time income. I then started working with other developers and now we are a small tech development firm.
Awesome, congrats! What is your firm called?
Ocean Ring Technologies
I been doing freelancing from 2011 until last year then decided to set up private limited with a friend to focus on product, so far it doesn't really work well, now consider go back to freelancing again, but the market seem pretty bad this year for my location.
Not yet, but I'm trying to. I revamped my website a few weeks ago: https://www.jacoblangston.com, but I haven't advertised it yet. I'm working on building out my portfolio before I do.
I'm trying to get clients on Upwork, so far I haven't landed one.
Your site looks good, best of luck!
Thanks! I have some conversations in progress so hopefully I'll have at least one side client.
I've been full-time freelance since 2008 and I was part-time the four years prior to that. I could talk about this subject far too long so if you have any specific questions let me know.
I was doing the sole proprietor thing for a long time until a few years ago when I finally formed Link Software LLC. This won't apply to you specifically, but in the US, the process of forming an LLC is pretty simple and you can knock it on in an afternoon on your own. You can also use one of the services like LegalZoom but you'll pay for a bunch of stuff you probably don't need.
In terms of taxes and contracts, talk to an account and a lawyer in your area. Taxes aren't all that complicated, in my experience, but it's nice to have a professional look at your books.
As for your concerns about sustainability, you need to either start with a big runway of savings in the bank or some sure fire clients. A lot of your success also depends on outside circumstances when you start: your age, debt, obligations (financial and otherwise) because the beginning can be tough until you get a client base built up.
Again, if you or anyone else here, has any questions they'd like to ask please go ahead and I'd be happy to help when I can.
Hi Luke,
I'm a 30-year-old freelancer based in Manchester and have been working for myself since 2012. In that time, I've worked for The British Council, The National Audit Office, Betfred, Dyno Rod, William Hill, Rentalcars.com, Booking.com and a few others that you might not have heard of :)
There's a lot to learn but the UK is a pretty business-friendly environment and contract rates are typically very good in London and increasingly here in Manchester.
I've just filed my accounts for 2017/18 and my limited company made very healthy profit.
Happy to answer any questions you might have here, via email or over the phone.
John
Hi John,
Congrats on your success! How do you tend to find work, is it mostly through word of mouth?
Also, I noticed you didn’t share a link to your website, how important is your branding/website in terms of getting work?
Thanks a bunch, this is super helpful!
Wanted to ask this question too
Most of my work comes through recruitment agents. You can go direct but many larger companies will have agencies doing the hiring/firing of freelancers for them so, although the agent gets a cut of my day rate, I don't see this figure typically so it doesn't sting.
That said, it's usually not insignificant. My first contract role at The University of Salford paid £225/day and the agency was billing an additional £75/day on top of that.
This was a low day rate and a high daily charge so their percentages usually aren't so steep but you get the idea anyway. You can see loads of contract work, and associated day rates, just by searching on Indeed.
Once you've got your name out there with a few recruiters, if your skills are in-demand then you'll get a steady stream of contract opportunities. I have canned responses ready that I update from time-to-time to say that "I'm off the market until December, could we catch up in January?" because it becomes so tedious replying to them all. I actually delete/ignore a lot of enquiries for work that I don't want.
My website is pretty much negligible in terms of generating business. The only thing people want to know is that your skills are suited to the project and that you're not a total moron. Even then, the market is so hot right now the second half of that statement seems negotiable...
I'm a freelance dev, but i do mainly enterprise web apps (java based) and mobile dev. I left my job as an employeed software developer eight years ago and did freelance since then: honestly, that was one of the best choice of my life ;)
It is not always a smooth work obviously but it has some priceless advantages for me. But my next step is to find a good product idea to develop.
You mean you work on Core Java enterprise app? I am very good at core Java and finding hard to find freelance/remote jobs on Java alone.
Mainly Spring based web apps. I mainly work with local (italian) customers.
Ok. If you see work for another developer please let me know.
Thank you.
Yeppers.
I have a name that I use online (upvalue.io), but it's not an incorporated company or anything like that, it's just easy to spell, remember, and sounds vaguely positive and professional.
FYI, your HTTPS doesn't seem to be working
Ha, thanks fellas. I noticed that when I posted but figured nobody would care enough to comment :S. I will fix it.
the cert expired 3 days ago.
Your SSL is not well configured :D
Great!! Is this your full time income?
Yes.
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
funny you should post this. I just built a site last night around freelancing.
me working full time as freelance, charge for development and hosting fee,so i can get recurring revenue.
I operated under my brand,because in my country,that sound more valuable and increase trust from client and i can charge more :)
Cool! Do you ever find that managing your own hosting causes issues?
Yes,then i switched to managed hosting.