Does anyone here work at a software development/web design company, the standard "9-5", but then also try to run their own mini company/freelance after work? Can it be done? My major concern would be a lot of your personal clients wishing to contact you during the day, where you'll be working at another company...
I do currently... It depends alot on your priorities, I find it difficult because my girlfriend and I live together and she thinks that I ignore her alot while im working.... Every situation will be a little different.. It can certainly be done though, just ask your clients to contact you via email during certain hours, thats generally what I do. I also have a Blackberry so I can respond to email about any time.. again, every situation will be a little different.. Currently, I have 3 sites in progress in addition to my 9-5 job
Do your clients understand that you have a different (although the same) job during the day? Or do you kind of keep that "secret"?
I have been doing this on and off for over 5 years. You and not keeping anything secret, or at least I never did, I let most of them know right up front that I still work too, but if they want the work done in half the time for a % of the cost, then they will let me help them and give me the work. Basically, if you can produce quality work for them at a fair price, why would they care what you do all day, heck you could be out golfing all day and spend time with the family in the evening, and then be a total night owl and work til dawn, they do not care. Trust me, I know. Best of luck!
I dont yell it from the rooftops that I have a day job nor do I keep it a secret. All of my clients know that I work a 9-5 job in addition to the web design on the side. As long as I keep them updated about whats going on they are fine. If they email me saying something is wrong, or want changed, or want a status update I usually just email them back saying that I will look into it when im off work... Really, customers just want to be kept informed and in the loop, as long as you keep in communication with them they dont get pissy or even care.
Or you can buy a house if you're better than that Used to work for companies and have had enough of getting up at a fixed hour and stuff like that. Said no more to it what I could afford that luxury
I used to have a regular job, but I don't any more. I never made a secret of it when I was working full time for someone else, and most clients didn't have too much of a problem with it, but I do prefer being available all the time now.
Im really getting to the point where I want to work for myself.... Im not very successful at internet marketing(yet!) but I have a steady stream of clients for web sites. Currently, im pretty back logged with 4 sites waiting. I would like to be to the point where I say im gonna work part time for a "regular job" like 2 days a week then the other 3 work for myself but I have to make sure that I can keep a steady stream of jobs coming in.... Also, I do PHP/MySQL, anyone know of a good place to find freelance work?
there are many coder doing that way. daytime: do fulltime work night time/weekend: do parttime work. normallthey will just say they work for themself or some use company name. it's hard to tell. make sure when pick a coder/programmer you tell then which one you prefer. corperate one price always higher but good quality. freelance one cheaper but no guarantee for quality XD
As others have pointed out, honesty is important. While you can certainly 'not tell if not asked', in the long run you'll probably find it better to be pretty transparent about your situation. Corporate clients may well expect you to be on hand via phone or expect you to attend meetings during normal business hours, so the reality is, regardless of your talents as a developer, this would disqualify you as a suitable vendor to that particular prospect. In addition, corporate clients are more likely to wish to develop a long term collaborative relationship with their web developer, and are likely to see your reluctance to go 'full time' as an indication that you may not be around for the long term. It's always better to deal with show stoppers like this at the very start of the sales process, otherwise you'll find yourself wasting a lot of time going through entire sales processes only to discover at the very end that your prospect doesn't deem you suitable. And if you're trying to hold down a day job and trying run a web dev business in your free time, the last thing you want to do is chase projects you are unlikely to ever win. In the end, it depends on your target audience. If you are targeting local businesses, I think you'll struggle with corporate clients, but you could certainly try targeting personal and at-home businesses, as these prospects are less likely to care about your lack of availability and probably have less desire to 'forge long term collaborative relationships' with you. If you tend to deal with a more global market and do most (if not all) of your communicating via email, then these issues are less likely to be a problem, and the time difference may actually work in your favor! Finally though, I would say that life isn't just about work, so have a good long think abut what this kind of arrangement will have on your (soon to be lack of) personal life.