Talk in person with as many sole practitioners as you can in your specialty to learn how they made it. The largest pitfall for me was not understanding adequate cash flow and planning for the lean times. I'd say the challenge area for most is financial management and adequate capitalization.
You can't charge what you think the job is worth as though you were paying for it from your own wallet. Talk to others to learn what they charge. Do some research. I used contracts and ask for a healthy deposit up front to begin work. That helped me get better clients and reduce cash flow problems. I believe in doing your own bookkeeping so you understand your expenses and overhead. Be aware if you set up a partnership, you have more liability if the partnership doesn't work out. A corporate structure is worth set up if you want the tax advantages. If you aren't good at business administration, hire an accountant to help you. Figure out what is your area of strength and focus. Draw in support and resources, realizing you may spend half your time running your business and getting new business. Take time to network out of your office on a regular basis. Also take time to regularly assess where you are going, how you spend your time and if it's worth it. Personally I love freelancing, and did it for more than a decade. By choice now that I'm a parent, I have a day job, benefits and go home to my family at 5 pm. I still freelance part-time to do select design projects. Here's a good way to boost your confidence: Spend a few hours line up all your best work you ever did and look at it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31583 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
