Starting Your Career as a Freelance Web Designer by Neil Tortorella
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m starting to freelance as a part-time web designer, so this book was exactly what I needed. It addresses all areas of freelance web design, including the design process, rates and billing, contracts, insurance, client relations, and marketing. Tortorella emphasizes the importance of planning at every stage, from launching the business to project management to marketing. To paraphrase Tortorella, take responsibility and initiative rather than simply letting your freelance business happen to you.
Tortorella strongly suggests targeting a niche by specializing in a particular technology, industry, geographic region, interest, or passion. Then, explore the vertical and horizontal markets. He also advocates networking with other web professionals to trade referrals and subcontracted work.
The book was published in 2011 and mentions many specific tools and websites. Each chapter includes quotes from seasoned freelance web designers about their experiences and recommendations; this firsthand advice was very helpful.
Tortorella summarizes his advice at the end:
- Carefully plan your business and implement that plan.
- Aggressively market to create a pipeline of qualified prospects.
- Mind your credit and cash flow.
- Do good work and exceed client expectations.
- Plan for retirement and build a nest egg.
I highly recommend this book to web designers at any stage in their freelance careers!
Forms
- proposal approval (becomes the project contract)
- change order for major changes/revisions
- retainer agreement
Project questionnaire
- message: client’s goals, audience, differentiation
- perception: 3 adjectives to describe the site, audience perception
- visual styles
- compelling sites (and why)
- competitor sites
Contract
- Base the contract on a proposal outlining the project scope and specifics such as pages and graphics.
- Specify the number of changes/revisions allowed.
- Assign dates for all deliverables, and assign consequences for undelivered client deliverables.
- Schedule payments based on date, not milestone, in case client delays.
- Specify that you own copyrights and license limited usage rights to the client. If selling rights, transfer takes place upon full payment.
- Boilerplate: arbitration and mediation, limitation of liability, choice of law, cancellation
Retainer agreement
- Include work to be done over a specified time for a specified fee.
- Specify the number of hours.
- Specify how unused hours and overages are handled.
Rates and Billing
- You need to charge about $75/hr to achieve a $40,000 annual salary.
- target salary = $40,000/yr
- assume 30% for taxes, FICA, insurance, etc. = $12,000/yr
- cost of salary (target salary + taxes, etc.) = $53,000 (40,000 + 12,000)
- assume 75% billable time = 1,428 billable hrs of total 1,904 hrs
- salary recovery (cost of salary / billable hours) = $36/hr ($52,000/1,428 hrs)
- assume 67% overhead = $24/hr ($36 x 67%)
- base rate (salary + overhead) = $60/hr (36 + 24)
- 20% profit = $12/hr ($60 x 20%)
- $72/hr to recover salary, overhead, and profit
- round up to $75 for hourly rate
- Don’t cut fees without reducing services.
Required insurance
- health insurance (try for a group policy through an association, or get an HDHP and an HSA)
- life insurance (consider term)
- general liability
- disability insurance
Optional insurance
- professional liability (errors and omissions), if doing sites with e-commerce or other potential risks
- business interruption insurance (added to property insurance or business owner’s insurance)
- home-based business insurance
- Web/Internet specific insurance
Marketing
- Page title format for SEO: city, description, your name (for example, Holland Michigan web design - OptimWise)
- Tell a story with each portfolio piece. Describe the problem, your solution, and the result.
- Elevator pitch: the primary benefit you deliver and for whom. Example: “I help financial professionals market themselves online.”
- At the end of each project, ask for a testimonial to feature in marketing materials.
Additional advice
- Consider leasing your home office to your business to avoid the complications of home office tax deductions.
- In the proposal, detail all fees. Show project phases, their tasks, and their costs.
- Don’t do work for hire; you usually forfeit your rights.
