How could I forget? Yesterday my small personal web design firm, Dojo Design got older. 1 year old. On April 14, 2007, I got all the paperwork done (after having some issues with the accountant who had to solve all the legal work and failed miserably, getting me into a dead end and also having to pay more for something she did wrong). Anyway .. with all the fuss and starting it on the left foot, it was official 1 year ago.

What have I learnt after 1 year? A lot:

• bad clients happen, just as good clients happen. It’s all about knowing how to deal with this and try to cover yourself the best you can
• they sometimes delay payments, so always have some money saved. You can never know when it comes in handy
• the fact you are no longer a freelancer, but a firm owner has also got its perks. They tend to respect you more when you are “official”
• prices rise (or at least should) once you get a higher load. Even if some clients moan because of your prices (some would like you to work for free), getting better paid means higher revenue and also more profit. As long as you steadily increase prices and not make huge changes in the pricing list, you’ll always get better paying clients and leave behind the cheap ones
• most of the time the cheap clients are also the most demanding. Always be prepared to tell them what your services for them are and know how to ask for more when they start wanting supplementary features they didn’t pay for (and they always do this)
• you have to know how to sell your time and expertise. Don’t let anyone underprice your work, since they’ll surely try
• a good schedule is mandatory and so useful. Otherwise you’ll work disorganized and it’s not a good thing for the long run
• the happiness your own firm brings is just remarkable. You work for yourself and earn quite nicely. No boss to mess with you, no coleagues to bring you down. It’s hard, it’s exhausting (especially when you are still the only one to run the business), but God it’s amazing

Filed under: stuff by ramona