I’d say my visitors are gone, since I haven’t posted here in more than half an year. We’ll get them back, no worries about that What happened all this time? Well, we had another 6 months in NYC, so we spent 12 months in 2 years. That’s awesome, and I can’t find words to thank our wonderful friends for taking us into their home and taking care of us like they did. This wouldn’t be possible without such wonderful people around. I’m working full time as a freelance web designer and can say it’s finally worth all the stress and … Continue reading →

When we were kids, our parents would ask us: “what do you want to become when you’ll grow up?” and we’d say: a doctor, a teacher, an astronaut etc. We went to high-school, then college and some were able to get good jobs. Maybe we achieved our goals, maybe we never became what we fantasized about when being kids. And still, after a while working for others, you might just get sick of your situation. Yes, the pay is good, the careers seems to be blooming, but there’s still something that doesn’t make you 100% happy. You have a JOB, … Continue reading →

One of the hardest things for a beginner freelancer is to come up with rates that are both good for him and the clients. These rates would allow the client to receive top quality for a good price (don’t fall into the trap of thinking all clients want you to work for pennies), while the professional can earn a good revenue, while working on something he loves doing. Very small rates can mean starvation, while too big rates might also lead to starvation, since the clients might choose someone who does a similar job, but at a more competitive price. … Continue reading →

When I was a kid, I first saw my grandmother write on  a piece of paper what expenses we’ll have the current month. They’ve just got their pension and she was trying to manage the money so that we don’t have anything left unpaid till the end of the month. She still does this today. I gave her a nice agenda so that she can write in the ‘book’, but it’s all the same. She’s got a nice pen to use and, each time she’s getting her pension, she’ll prepare the list of the things needing money. We have all … Continue reading →

Would you like to drive this car? What of you had access to it from the moment you take driving lessons? Would you like to learn how to drive on such a car? I have a client who is a driving instructor in my city and he taught me how to drive too. He would be our example of the best way to drive clients to your door as a business. He’s done it and maybe we can learn from his experience too, about how to offer our clients something that would make them COME to us and WANT to … Continue reading →

It was yesterday. I was looking again at some new blogs and scanning through the content. I don’t read, I skim (until I find something worthy of my time and then I am getting more inclined to actualy read). There was a project with an article that would encourage the readers to start their own business, if they really hated working. What I could understand from that article was something like “Do you hate working? Start your own firm!”. I couldn’t agree less with this statement and I consider this in the end to be a BAD REASON to start … Continue reading →

Some days ago I was approached by a friend of mine who’s also got an advertising firm. We had some small projects together and I was offered a job as a web developer in his company. I do have my own small firm, but in the end some more money won’t hurt. Right? So we met to discuss the conditions of my ‘employment’ and of course the price I am willing to work for. As you can imagine, after 6 years of doing this web design thing, having my own 24 sites and tens of others created for my clients, … Continue reading →

Most of the sites we have are created with the purpose of offering good information (since not all of us are interested only in money making spammy sub quality sites) and in time advertising revenue. Working on a good site is a demanding task and we need to make sure that in time we are able to sustain this effort and why not get a return of that investment (money and work at the same time). We all know about the big “money making” systems: Google Adsense, Yahoo Publisher, Text Link Ads, Linkworth, AdBrite etc. They are excellent for us … Continue reading →