A Bit About Me and Freelancing
This year seems to be the year of the independent businessman. Many individuals are breaking out on their own and starting new ventures. While going out on your own is a very exciting time, it can also be the most stressful part of your life.
I thought I would share my story on how I got be where I am now and what traits you will need if you wish to make it on your own.
My Personality
The type of personality you have totally dictates what type of worker you are I believe. I have a strong personality and very rarely do I not give my opinion on a matter. In the IT field, when you are young and throwing out your opinions you sometimes get frowned upon by the 50 year old veterans. You see stupid things happening all around you and you become frustrated. I left two jobs simply because of this.
I always knew I wanted to work for myself, but never knew what I was going to do. Somehow I fell into Business Logs and 9rules. Here’s how.
My Tale
While in undergrad I thought it would be wise to get five credit cards and max every single one of them out. An even better idea was to go to grad school and take out massive student loans. All of this without a job. Then I got the job that turned my life around. I used to work at this “web design” firm (I try to use that term very loosely) during 2002-2003 and the job basically sucked. The hours sucked. The pay sucked. The boss sucked. Typical job right?
I had plenty of ideas for the firm. There were only three of us there, so executing shouldn’t have been a problem. However, at times the boss wouldn’t show up for weeks or would switch plans on us without a moments notice. Obvious blunders were being made and we were missing great opportunities to become successful.
I had been reading numerous blogs for a while and figured maybe our company site could get more traffic if I started a blog on it. The blog was called Pseudo Design (please note that the company site and blog have been redesigned and redone from when I was there). I wrote on the site every single work day because I usually had nothing to do and then one day I got linked by Dave Shea and received a good deal of traffic along with a few more regular readers.
So I am working at a job that I am only allowed to work 20 hours per week and am making maybe $12/hr and the only thing that I have going for me is that I run a blog on a site I don’t even own. I needed more money and I wanted more attention. So I started 9rules.
9rules Design
9rules started off as my own design firm and by firm I mean me working as a freelancer. I created Whitespace because I was seeing how well blogs did in generating traffic. Eventually, my boss found out about 9rules and gave me two options:
- Drop the site, my clients and continue working for her
- Get fired and then sued
I took my own option and made 9rules an Information Architecture firm. So at this time, I am broke, drowning in debt, living with my parents and have no job or clients. Not bad for someone with a Masters degree. Then somehow I got extrememly lucky and came up with the concept for the CSS Vault. I was already making a decent name for myself (notorious name to some), but the Vault is what really put me up there. I never intended for it to be as big as it got, but I got lucky and the timing was right. When I say “big” I mean big for this community.
I continued to write and look for jobs, but everywhere I went they did a background check and saw that I got fired from my last job for breach of contract so I was basically too high of a risk (I won’t go into other reasons why I didn’t get a job). At this point I am doing crappy small-time jobs just so I can have some sense of self-worth and keep my last shred of dignity.
In January 2004 I sold myself out. I had always been of the mindset that blogs should remain pure and untarnished and that meant no ads. However, when you are unable to get a job in your area, unable to buy Christmas presents and sit at home for New Year’s because you have no money, selling yourself out is a much easier thing to do.
19 days of Adsense and I had made $100. Not a lot, but considering that was more than I had made in the past two months I was excited. I figured if I created more blogs and placed more ads on them I could make more money so I started Forever Geek. It seemed like every other week I was starting a new site. Some sticking to the wall, while others fell to the floor. I believe it was around this time that Jon Hicks labeled me as the busiest man on the web.
Jarrod With the Hookup
Jarrod and I became friends by accident. Either I wrote him an email or he wrote me an email one day and our sarcastic personalities mixed well together. We always planned on starting our own company and had the plans laid out when one day he tells me that some guys were interested in starting a company with a couple of other bloggers. The first email that Matthew Oliphant sent out I didn’t receive because he spelled my name wrong. The second one I got and along with Mike Rundle we began to discuss our new company. Business Logs was formed.
From there it was Business Logs and a greater 9rules and adding Colin Devroe for total domination. I wish I could tell you a story where everything was well-executed and planned out, but many of the events that happened in my life occurred through desperation. Many people out there thinking about going on their own hopefully are fortunate enough to have a steady income already that they can build from.
Tomorrow I will talk about some of the traits that you may need to venture out on your own.
Related reading:
Wow, great writeup Paul. Its nice to finally put a background story with the great writing I have come to love and read.
I guess your student loads and credit card debt makes a good reason behind alot of your writing at bigmoneytips.
Interesting that you were given the ultimatum you were from that one web design job. I do some freelance stuff on the side, but I guess the only difference is that I explicitly say in my portfolio that any ‘heavy’ duty websites will have to be referred to my current employer and only then can I take a project on. Most of the stuff I do is small budget anyways and stuff my current firm wouldn’t even look at.
Anyways, great writeup.
By Bryan on June 29, 2005 1:55 pm
I wonder how many people go on their own out of desperation from a similar situation. Or, to get out from our culture of debt.
By Jeff Adams on June 29, 2005 2:13 pm
And now you know the rest of the story…
Thanks for the insight. Now I don’t hate you as much. ;)
I just jumped ship last week to start my own gig. Luckily I don’t anticipate the bootstrapping you went through since I have a wife and a mortgage to take care of.
Seriously, congrats on your successes and I do see much more in store for you. Even if I do get jealous at times.
By Lance E. Leonard on June 29, 2005 3:00 pm
Nice writeup. You should link this entry from your about page.
By Eddie Sowden on June 29, 2005 3:02 pm
Hey, does that make me a part of Business Logs somehow? Cause, you know, it’d be pretty alright if it did…
Honorary, at least?
By Jarrod on June 29, 2005 3:15 pm
I’d like to point out that I mistyped his name, I didn’t mispesll it.
By Matthew Oliphant on June 29, 2005 3:28 pm
And all I ask for is ONE client…
By Joe Clay on June 29, 2005 5:45 pm
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been freelancing for about 5 months. Its been rough… and at some points a bit of a financial disaster. However, while its easy to only see results such as a monotonous diet of raman, and being broke, sometimes weeks at a time; the big picture looks sunny. Income, number of clients, skills, ect have increased dramatically during the last month and a half. And frankly, sometimes it takes impossible situations to motivate one to do great things.
While I’m by no means out of the the pit, I think the following are necessary traits for anyone who is thinking of starting from scratch:
1. The ability to act like you’re successful, and overrun with potential clients when you are in fact on the verge of starvation. Use your disconnected cellphone as a prop, if you have too…
2. Can make a client understand why you are right for the job without once uttering the words, ‘web standards’, ‘tableless layout’, ‘valid markup’, ect…
3. Can prevent poverty, late rent, and hunger from interferring with your ability to identify prospectives that are wasting your time.
4. Are cocky enough to pretend to be an “expert” at every opprotunity.
By Nick Lewis on June 29, 2005 10:36 pm
Nick, there’s gotta be a number 5….that’s the one I’m missing :)
By Joe Clay on June 30, 2005 12:26 am
Great stuff, interesting to read.
There is one thing I disagree with though.
I think that people who already have a stable income and go out on their own are less likely to push themselves as hard as they would have otherwise, and this leaves them at a disadvantage.
Having recently started my own venture into self-employment I know that either the distraction of a second job or the stability of a backup income and/or savings (or, more likely, both) would have blunted my progress somewhat.
Part of the reason… nay, dare I say most of the reason you are where you are today, Scrivs, is that your back was to the wall and you had to forge paths and make choices you would never have made with that safety net in place. People, consciously or not, just don’t have the same drive and determination for what they are doing unless it means the difference between eating the rest of the week or not, especially when they are doing something they are passionate about.
By Justin Michael on June 30, 2005 4:25 am
Took you long enough. ;)
By Garrett Dimon on June 30, 2005 9:32 am
Great writeup! It sometimes takes dire situations to get something good going. Now I just need to go somewhere with my blog…
By Steve on June 30, 2005 10:25 am
Wow, I think tears are rolling down my cheeks as I read that post. I saw myself like you sans the success in the end.
By Kates on July 1, 2005 5:22 am
Great write-up scrivs, noticed you used their instead of there in several instances.
I can totally relate how hard it is for guys like us to find a “day job.” In my current situation, I just got lucky.
By Mrod on July 1, 2005 11:28 am
Wow, that’s just piss poor on my part. Hopefully fixed some.
By Scrivs on July 1, 2005 11:45 am
Great story Paul. I’ve been writing in my blog about faith and a purple cow. 9rules is definitely a “purple cow” as described by Seth Godin. I haven’t seen anything quite like it. Truly “remarkable”. It’s great to hear about someone with enough faith in themselves to take a great idea and actually run with it. If you haven’t seen Cinderella Man yet, you definitely should. The plot of that movie is a lot like your story. Keep up the great work.
By John Richardson on July 2, 2005 7:08 pm
Excellent story, thanks.
After I college I joined the Army and served in Germany and Bosnia. In return, the Army paid off my college loans. Thank you!
And Bryan, thanks for the link to bigmoneytips
By Dale Cruse on July 3, 2005 8:48 am
I had similar experiences. Being young… and motivated, I felt as if I was being underchallenged by my managers and companies. Their legacy systems were completing crippling their ideas on how to do new things. (I’m a programmer…)
Just over a year ago, I quit my last job to start working on Planet Argon full-time, doing freelance programming, hosting, and consulting. My one year anniversary is later this month… and although I took a good paycut at first, I have found myself with new motivations, inspirations, and free-time! My free time lead me into Ruby on Rails at the beginning of the year and 6 months later I am writing a book for O’Reilly on the subject.
My business is growing rapidly and I find myself thinking that I will need to move into a real office and out of my home office in a few months so that I can possibly hire some new talents to work on these projects that are coming in.
If you asked me 15 months ago if I thought that any of this would have happened, I would have laughed.
Freelancing is the way to go if you feel the slightest urge. My clients and I have a much deeper relationship and this is one aspect that I was unable to do when working for larger corporations.
By Robby Russell on July 5, 2005 11:46 pm
You guys offer a lot of inspiration for others (like myself) who have *the dream* of starting your own company. I just started mine this month, and I’m hoping I don’t let my day job stand in the way of success, but I will keep it as long as I can. I am fortunate enough to work at a company that cares about their employees, pays us decent, and lets us develop using web standards, etc.
By Kyle Posey on July 26, 2005 3:07 pm
I’ve had a similar background as this. Going from web design firm to web design firm that didn’t promote creative thinking, I finally took a leap of faith last summer, quit my job, and now I have been with The Chopping Block for a year! I couldn’t be happier! I remember sitting in my room in college and seeing the CB site, singing along with the oranges song. its rather surreal now.
I went from working with management that wanted us to do the minimum effort to create average quality, to an environment where the partners want us to inspire and motivate our clients as well as each other.
I think the moral of the story is that you should start off at a company that stifles inspiration, discourages creative thinking, and promotes general misery in your daily life. Then these obstacles will inherently put you in the direction to break out and rise above to something better!
By Daniel Schutzsmith on August 1, 2005 9:36 pm