I ‘ve mentioned my good friend Spencer before, and today I went to see him to get some advice and hear some stories. That sounds vague from the offset, but Spencer set up his own web design company exactly a year ago along with two other parners, and named it YouLove.Us. To date they’ve been unbelievably successful in their first year and their site has been featured on (I believe) well over 100 CSS galleries and online magazines.
The Reason For The Visit?
Well who better to ask about taking your own web design company full time and making a living from it than three great guys who’ve done it so recently and successfully!
What I Learned
Obviously the first appointment which I set up even before leaving my job was one with my business account manager, but I wanted to get a heads up on serious considerations and things that I should plan for in advance so that I’d be well prepared.
Here’s what they told me:
Get an accountant – similar to what I’ve heard everyone else say, a good accountant will save you more money than they cost you.
Use accounting software to keep track of finances and invoices – they recommended Quickbooks, which I’ll definitely be having a look at – but I know there are some alternatives floating around that are specifically for web developers so I’ll have a look at those too.
Get advice on whether it’d be best to register as a Limited company or to stay a sole trader – this is something I’m going to speak to my business account manager about. YouLove.Us are a limited company, but that’s mainly cause there are 3 of them, so far there’s just one of me but I’m definitely hoping to expand later.. so I’ll wait and get some more feedback on that one and post an update.
Keep a very close eye on cashflow – it’s easy to forget that sometimes clients pay late, or sometimes a project overruns, so you need to be on top of your bank account balance at all times to make sure you know what the score is at all times. Try to always take a 50% deposit before starting work, or a 25% deposit on really big projects.
Have good set of terms and conditions – you never know when a project might go bad and you might need your client agreement in writing to secure your full and final payment.
All in All
The advice and help which I got from the YouLove.Us team was extremely helpful and gave me some great insight into what’s to come. I’m very excited about the week to come!
Thank you for this – I will be following to see what else you post!
I’ve found some excellent apps for you, some of which I believe I’ve already mentioned, but I’ll list those I think you should definitely take a look at:
Coda (for dev, css, html)
CyberDuck or YummyFTP (not for dev, Coda can handle that, but for larger file transfers)
BaseCamp (project managment, scheduling and light CRM)
PixelMator (if you don’t have Photoshop)
LineForm (if you don’t have Illustrator)
FontCase (typeface management)
OnTheJob (time tracking/invoicing)
This post has some other good suggestions:
http://www.noupe.com/tools/15-incredible-mac-apps-for-freelance-web-designers.html
I personally am not a huge fan of the old school accounting apps like Sage and QuickBooks, I think you’re like me and would benefit by finding a slightly more exciting web app alternative.
Awsome, thankyou again Spence, I use a couple of them already and I’ll definitely check out the rest!
Great post.
I’m leaving my job in two weeks and starting my own Web design business and I’m pleased to say I’m on top of this stuff!
Good luck Mike!
Hey guys, I started on my own about a year and a half ago. A great job tracking and affordable invoicing program is Macfreelance. It’s great for quotes and time tracking as well as extremely user friendly and syncs well with iCal. However i have recently upgraded to the newest version of quickbooks for mac. It’s better at printing reports and financial reports. Especially for all the end of the year tax stuff.
Good Luck.
Thanks steve, much appreciated! (You have a really nice site too!)