I’m working as a web designer for a wireless company. Since October last year, I started taking freelance jobs by bidding projects on one website only.
I am averaging one client a week. To be honest I feel overwhelmed by the number of clients I’m getting. For some reason my proposals are above average. Probably because my strength is copywriting, not really web designing.
I am still working full-time and can barely finish one project per week. I’m talking about websites that require programming or full-blown flash. They are very time consuming since I can only work 25-30 hrs a week, mostly at nights.
I have tried to give projects to an overseas company (India) but the profit was too little sometimes I have to take a loss.
Is it time for me to really concentrate on this full-time? I have a budget of $500 – $600 a week for marketing.
How do you suggest I should spend the money? Basically getting my business in front of more targeted clients. My targets are small-business owners, offline and online. More than half of my clients are successful business owners.
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Jay’s Answer: My first suggestion is to solve your overwhelm problem. If you can’t handle 1 client/week, then you can’t scale up. I don’t know what you’re charging for your website production, but if you can’t hire someone to implement your specification for less than you get paid, then you’re charging too little for your work.
Do you want to work ON your business or IN your business? If you want to do the hands-on website programming, then you’re going to be limited by the number of hours in the week. You can only charge so much for your time.
Hiring others to do the website development makes good sense, especially if your strength is copywriting. Your role would be attracting new clients, writing the proposals, and then passing the development work to another, and reviewing the result. To hire others, you’ll want to find people you trust to do the type of work you want. You might find them locally, or on www.rentacoder.com, www.guru.com, or www.elance.com. You’ll want to develop a long-term relationship with quality people.
As for your marketing dollars, what type of small business do you want to create websites for? Where are they located? Can you show a ROI for your work? Have you asked for referrals from your satisfied clients? Word-of-mouth is one of the best forms of marketing,