Seems I’ve all of a sudden got too much to focus on and need to scale back. Mark and I have decided upon a plan for the online business. The programmer will be coming December 12 to Houston to start working on building some of it. My job? Start developing some prototypes.

We’ve decided to concentrate on one market right now and need some raw materials to help us build our “machine.” We need some actual examples, albeit however abbreviated, to show industry execs….hopefully getting some support and resources and maybe even a partnership of sorts.

But that is all a long ways off. Or so it seems. Right now, I am trying to put together some timeline based prototypes to show some schools. We would like to partner with a few of them starting in January…thereby acquiring that raw material I just spoke of. I realize this post is not very informative, but it’s really all I can say at this point.

So other things have to go to the back burner for now – unfortunately one of those things is working on my freelance business and website. I can’t put it off too long because, did I mention many time in previous posts?? I need some income actually coming IN. Gotta focus and get serious…too much to do but it’s also very exciting.

I am looking at the possibility of working as a freelance web designer…designing web sites for small businesses and individuals. In order to make this affordable, the websites will be pre-made and customized per order. That way, it will keep the cost down for the client as the site could potentially be sold to multiple businesses. I have started designing some sites and figuring out the going rates for designs such as this. I have seen samples of web design that in my opinion have completely undervalued what they are doing by not charging enough. And I have seen those whose designs are so ugly that they shouldn’t even be given away. So the prices seem to run the gamut, as expected.

The next few weeks, I will be cleaning up the sites I have designed and design more. I plan on offering a variety of sites from very simple HTML sites, to more intricate HTML sites, sites with Flash menus and full-Flash websites. I am designing into the sites, ways for the client to upkeep the website themselves, if that is what they want to do. I am also designing the website for the business.

The next step after that will be to figure out a marketing plan.

Doing research about what other designers charge can give one a headache. The gap between the average low and average high is something like $25 to $200 per hour. That’s helpful!

Trying to narrow it down to the services I can offer,  and looking companies versus one-person operation, it seems like the rates are somewhere between $25 to $75 per hour for someone with my skill-set and experience. But that is still a HUGE difference.

One suggestion that many sites give is to figure out your salary, cost of doing business, etc. and then divide it appropriately to get to your hourly rate. All well and good. But I don’t think anyone will pay me $500 an hour {ha ha, kidding really}. But still, the truth is, just because I NEED and want to make a certain amount doesn’t mean I’ll get it.

I think the difficult part of this is going back to the point where I stated in a previous post that I have a hard time tooting my own horn. I also sometimes think that what I do isn’t good enough or that hard to do. Which is really ridiculous. Just because something comes relatively easy to me doesn’t mean it’s worthless  or worth LESS. It just comes easy to me!! Hurray. Celebrate it and market it…but it’s easier at first for me to devalue it. Deep breaths. I’ll figure this out somehow.

I think one reason why I draw a complete blank when it comes to marketing is that I have a hard time tooting my own horn. But there are plenty of blogs and websites out there that chronicle how to do it…so I know its possible for people like me who’s head just doesn’t go there. Hell, books and more books have been written about the subject and many geared towards creative types. I guess like anything else, it will take one step at a time.

Still trying to figure out some ways to bring some money into my accounts. Freelancing is tough simply because clients are just lining the streets. But I’m still brainstorming ways that I could do this and am considering several options:

• Recruitment agencies – basically you work for the agency and they find you temporary and contract work. Problem is, you have to take a cut in hourly rate because the have to tack on I guess about 20% over and above your going rate.
• Obviously, my greatest strength right now is as a web designer. However, I don’t know that I want to market myself as a designer who creates custom, unique websites for each client. But there are other alternatives, like marketing website packages that I have already developed, “canned” so to speak;  and marketing/selling them to small businesses, artists and individuals. That way, the prices for the sites can be lower (because they aren’t 100% unique) so the time is also cut down on the customization – a win-win for me and the potential client. It would be sort of like buying a website “off the rack” as opposed to haute couture (made to order).
• Selling illustrations to stock photography sites