What do clients want most from our services? What features or factors to our services should we advertise most, and how should we maintain our web design process? There seems to be no right answer. There are some designers who are mediocre who have far more business than some of the best designers who consistently study and maintain all of the best practices. There are many great designers that wonder why they’re struggling, despite their marketing efforts and skill set.

Below are a few factors I’ve found from my experience that help the process of “selling” to clients, and what they really want from our services. Targeting a business that can focus more on these factors rather than simply design and development quality alone (although these two are very important still) can build a solo-business drastically.

1. Guidance — They are paying you for your expertise. If they have a cool idea and you know it’s horrible, speak up. Speak up on what works and what doesn’t, not only technically but in best practice. This is what separates you from their kid cousin who will make their website for $50.
2. Project Management – They don’t know how the process works, so show them. Have your own process and guide them along. Letting them pick a process that’s “convenient for them” is not so convenient after all. You know what works best so have a process for your work and let them follow. Let them use your apps, tools, and communication methods, and explain your process to them from the get go.
3. Money & Website Traffic – The majority of clients don’t care if their website is ugly as long as it leads to conversions. Don’t sell on proper coding practices and the newest design trends; sell on how best practices in your work can help customer conversions, build website traffic and reach audiences, increase SEO, build their brand, and help them to earn more for their idea or business.
4. Ease of Use & Maintenance – This often times goes with the money issue above. Many clients want to maintain their website themselves after it’s built or redone so they don’t have to hire web developers later on to make changes. Plus, letting them change their website themselves saves them time. Sell on how you can set up a website for them that’s easy to maintain, such as with a CMS.

These are the top four factors any client wants. Some may have details and specifics beyond this of what they want, or their own ideas specifically that ultimately are their own idea for a solution behind one of these above factors. As a web designer, we must use our expertise to guide them through the process of meeting the above goals, separating their ideas and wants from what’s practical and useful.

For example, one of the most common…and annoying…requests from clients is to always make their logo bigger in the design. I’ve gone through a few projects where they’ve wanted to make their logo bigger, bigger, and even bigger about five times. Instead of simply making the revision you know throws off the entire design, you know that they want their logo bigger so that their brand is more memorable. Instead, use your expertise and professional opinion to show them why it not only looks bad, but can hurt their brand as well. Show them how the design can increase their brand presence, and provide examples of successful companies that follow the point you’re trying to get across. It’s not about giving them their every wish, it’s about providing your expertise. They’ll surely appreciate it far more in the end.

These are the four factors that should be advertised on your portfolio, when applying for jobs, and when having initial meetings or any sort of initial contact with clients. It’s what will sell to them. Then, the next step is to have enough expertise as a web designer to make it all happen by using your best design trends, practices, and skills.

What sort of common requests do you get from clients? What do you think is their base want or need behind the request?

• Part 1: What Do Web Developers Do?
• Part 2: Where Should I Start?
• Part 3: The Top Tools, Websites, Apps, and Resources

Useful Websites and Blogs

In a field that requires constant learning, any web developer’s most useful tool(s) will be the blogs and website resources that are constantly updating and teaching web developers about new topics. Furthermore, these sites have great communities surrounding them for help and support.

Below are some of my favorites. Many of these are specific to web development, while others cross over their categories to design and business within this industry as well. Nonetheless, a basis of a variety of topics is a great thing to have.

Nettuts+

Coding @ Smashing Magazine

A List Apart

Sitepoint

Cats Who Code

Integrated Development Environments (IDE’s)

IDE’s are an important tool for any serious web developer to get comfortable with. A front-end developer may use only a simple IDE such as Textmate or Notepad++ (advanced text editors), or rather the more advanced Dreamweaver. Other developers that work with a lot of server-side scripting should most definitely get comfortable with and use a more advanced editor meant for programming, specifically in web development languages. I personally use Netbeans for all of my advanced PHP work, and Notepad++ for all of my other development work (WordPress, front-end).

Netbeans

Eclipse

Aptana

Texmate

Notepad++

PHP Anywhere

Miscellaneous Tools & Resources

Finally, here are a list of other miscellaneous tools I use every now and then. Of course, any web developer will have their own list of useful tools, apps, and resources, and these sort of bookmarks come with time. These are simply a few of my favorites.

W3C’s Markup Validator

Adobe’s Browserlab

CodeButton Tools

Mod Rewrite Generator (URL Rewriter)

Regex Generator

Wufoo Forms

SpringLoops

WordPress Theme Snippets & Reference

Front-end Web Development Cheat Sheets

Back-end Web Development Cheat Sheets

One of these newer trends we see is that many membership sites are now being built on WordPress. Since WordPress’s core already includes basic membership functionality in terms of a CMS and managing a blog, there are now many plugins and tools available from taking it from that level to a full-fledged membership site, for whatever type of membership site you need.

I had done a lot of research when trying to build Freelance Mingle, and everyone situation will have a different solution for membership plugins. Here are some of the best I found. In this post I’ll cover some of the best WordPress plugins for building a fully functioning membership site.

WPMU Dev Membership

Manage membership easily with basic WordPress installs, or with WordPress Multi-site and Buddypress. This plugin allows you to easily create and manage user roles, limit content to certain roles, accept subscription payments, and more. The plugin is great for community sites involving forums, downloads, and premium content. (Think of a site like PSDTuts.)

Best of all — it’s free: WPMU Dev Membership

Buddypress

Buddypress is the most well-known membership plugin for WordPress, and therefore there is a vibrant community behind it. It includes membership levels, activity streams, groups, and a built-in forum. There are plenty of both free and premium themes available for Buddpress, and customization is also an option.

This one’s also free. Check it out at Buddypress.org.

YourMembers

YourMembers makes it easy to allow users to sign up and login to your WordPress site in a more user-friendly way targeted at membership sites. This plugin’s primary focus is around member roles and protected content. Easily manage users and charge them for what they can see on your site.

Pricing is on a per-license basis, starting at $95: YourMembers.

WP-Member

Wp-Member is a secure WordPress plugin that lets you create limited content for members only, and allows you to manage members easily. It also integrates the standard Worpdress registration and login but with a more user-friendly approach and custom registration options. This plugin also has a feature for teaser content in order to encourage signups.

This plugin has a license for both personal and developer use: Wp-Member.

Magic Members

Magic Members is a very robust Worpdress Membership plugin with a gorgeous interface. Allow members to register, login, and manage their accounts from the front-end. There are plenty of additional content management features that work with unlimited membership levels and payment options, including downloads, pay-per-post (pay-per-content), and section restrictions.

This is one of the most feature-rich membership plugins for WordPress available. The single use license starts at $97: Magic Members.

Profile Builder

Profile Builder is one of the most simplistic membership plugins available for WordPress, making it easy for theme and website customization around it. This plugin allows you to easily integrate WordPress’s registration and login functionality into your themes, and gives your members another page to update their information via shortcodes. It also lets you customize the registration fields.

This plugin is free, go download it today: Profile Builder.

Login with AJAX

Like Profile Builder, the Login with AJAX plugin is an excellent solution for allowing users to register and login via WordPress’s built in membership management, but on the more user-friendly front-end. The plugin’s primary feature is to offer AJAX logins and registrations, where you choose where the respective forms go (on a page, in a sidebar widget, etc.). Then, the plugin also allows you to customize what pages the user will go to after login, logout, etc. The best part is, this plugin is great on it’s own, but highly useful with any of the other membership plugins listed on this page for a more user-friendly experience.

Go to the plugin page now, download is free: Login with AJAX.

What did you learn from your first client project?

What did the project entail, did you learn any hard lessons, or did you learn valuable lessons about managing projects or the work you like to do? Was it a success? A failure? How does it affect your work today?

This is an open thread post where I’d love to hear everyone’s experiences and thoughts on the subject. Please, no client details (we don’t want to burn bridges), just stories.

In this post, part two of the Getting Started with Web Development Series, we’ll look into how to decide on a particular niche, or niches, if you choose more than one. We’ll also look into the core of learning web development: the technologies you should start learning, no matter which direction you plan on going in.

• Part 1: What Do Web Developers Do?
• Part 2: Where Should I Start?
• Part 3: The Top Tools, Websites, Apps, and Resources

Where Should I Start?

If you’re still interested in web development and want to begin learning from scratch, you’ll have to know where to start. Because web development covers such a broad spectrum, knowing what niche in web development you want to get into will help you determine where to begin. Do you want to create WordPress themes or plugins? How about custom development for Drupal? Do you want to do themes, plugins, and customizations for a wide range of platforms? Or, do you want to create web applications from scratch, work with mobile development, or simply do front-end development, fully understanding the workings behind HTML5, CSS3, semantics, JavaScript libraries, with limited use of other languages?

For each and every niche within this industry, there is a path to follow to becoming that type of a web developer. Simply jumping into one technology and hoping for the best won’t be too beneficial — you must try out a few different specialties, learn what technologies and skill sets they comprise of, and then work on your own skills in those areas.

Let’s say you want to be a WordPress developer. If that’s the case then you’ll want to understand how to build a basic theme, and also begin learning at least the basics of PHP since that is what the platform is built on. If you decide on going for WordPress development, do you want to build themes, plugins, or both? Do you want to do customization for clients to bend the platform exactly to their needs? If so, read tutorials on a variety of subjects within the niche, and start building your own WordPress related products. By simply deciding on the WordPress niche, you now know what you should be learning; you now know what your focus is.

Try Out Several Different Things

I think it’s important to decide on a main specialty (or a couple of specialties) and focus on that, but I also believe in trying out different things to know for sure what you like to do best. It’s also important to try out several things within web development so you can get a base for a variety of niches. For example, even if you never want to fully pursue mobile development, having a basic understanding of the technologies involved can help you in future projects. Many times different technologies and web development niches clash and overlap. With a variety of skill sets (at least the basics), you can take on more projects, get them done to higher quality, and get them done quicker. Even if you end up outsourcing a portion of a project to someone with a more suited specialty, communication with that developer will be easier if you know something about the topic!

HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

No matter what niche you research and decide to try out, there are three basic languages you should learn. If you have a any sort of a basis in web development, you know these three are used universally for the most part: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These are the building blocks of front-end development.

All other languages are either based off of these, or otherwise work with them. For example, you’ll probably want to learn AJAX eventually, and you’ll need to understand Javascript beforehand. If you ever want to (or need to) work with XML files or any other markup language for that matter, having a good understanding of HTML and it’s correct semantics will help provide a basis. Then, CSS of course, is the styling behind all web pages, and you’ll often need it not only to style your pages, but also make many JavaScript plugins work.

Beginner Tutorials

HTML5 Tutorials: HTML5 is the newest version of HTML and it’s best to just start here. If you’ve learned HTML in the past, refresh your memory and begin learning semantic HTML5 today.

• W3Schools HTML5 Tutorial
• HTML-5-Tutorial
• How to Make All Browsers Render HTML5 Correctly – Even IE 6
• 15 Useful HTML5 Tutorials and Cheat Sheets
• HTML5 Tutorials and Techniques that Will Keep You Busy

CSS Tutorials: CSS is how you style a web page. Everything from how your fonts look, to your layout structure, and how your lists, content, images, and everything else is formatted is a result of CSS. CSS3 is the newest version of CSS, but it is mostly important to understand how to use overall CSS efficiently, as CSS3 is mostly additional affects and features, but not the core of CSS in general.

• W3Schools CSS Tutorial
• CSSTutorial.Net – Learn CSS Step by Step
• HTML Dog – CSS Beginner
• Tizag CSS Tutorial
• 30 CSS Best Practices for Beginners

JavaScript Tutorials: Javascript is a client side scripting language that runs on the browser. There is a difference between client side and server side scripting, and server side scripting is often times more advanced as well. However, Javascript is an entire programming language in itself and can get pretty advanced. In the very least, though, all web developers must learn the basics of the language. There’s no need to learn complicated concepts at this point, just learn the basics on how to use it, such as simply inserting content into a <div>, basic mathematical operations, or adding external JavaScript files to a page.

While there are HTML and CSS frameworks out there, it’s really up to the developer’s preference on whether to use them or not. When it comes to Javascript, I recommend for everyone to familiarize themselves with at least Javascript framework, such as Mootools or jQuery. It’s important to know the basics of Javascript in it’s plain form, as well as the basics of using a framework in order to save time, and efficiency.

• W3Schools JavaScript Tutorial
• WebMonkey JavaScript Tutorial
• Tizag JavaScript Tutorial
• Book: Simply JavaScript
• W3Schoosl jQuery Tutorial
• Getting Started with jQuery

Start Reading, Participating, and Keep Learning

Ultimately, it’s important to realize that web development is an ever-changing field. The technologies are constantly changing, software is always being upgraded, and trends are always altering. After getting to know the basics of web development, you must also begin to get involved in the web development community. Find a few blogs you like, collect your favorite resources, and get involved in forums and social media in order to keep up to date with the changing times.

How did you get started in web development?

Next: The Top Tools, Websites, Apps, and Resources

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Simply plugging in a Facebook update feed (from a page) to my normal feed reading script didn’t work. Looking at the source of the feed, it was standard XML, and no different from reading any other type of XML. I looked closer into the Facebook-specific feed tags, altered my code time after time, and to no avail.

Ultimately, in order to move the project along I had to find a quick solution that wasn’t the most user friendly. I read a tutorial somewhere on reading Facebook feeds where if you burned your feed via Feedburner, and then used that URL instead, it worked just fine. I tried it, it worked, and I had to make my users enter in their own Facebook feed to Feedburner, then find that URL, and then plug that URL into the app so it could read the feed. Like I said, not very user friendly at all!

After a long break, and a fresh look at things weeks later however, I finally figured out a solution! For anyone else who may ever be looking for the same solution for whatever reason, below is the code I used, with comments for explanation:

<?php
    // Without this "ini_set" Facebook's RSS url is all screwy for reading!
    // This is the most essential line, don't forget it.
    ini_set('user_agent', 'Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.9) Gecko/20071025 Firefox/2.0.0.9');

    // This URL is the URL to the Facebook Page's RSS feed.
    // Go to the page's profile, and on the left-hand side click "Get Updates vis RSS"
    $rssUrl = "http://www.facebook.com/feeds/page.php?id=119425148134433&format=rss20";
    $xml = simplexml_load_file($rssUrl); // Load the XML file

    // This creates an array called "entry" that puts each <item> in FB's
    // XML format into the array
    $entry = $xml->channel->item;

    // This is just a blank string I create to add to as I loop through our
    // FB feed. Feel free to format however you want, or do whatever else
    // you want with the data.
    $returnMarkup = '';

    // Now we'll loop through are array. I just have it going up to 3 items
    // for this example.
    for ($i = 0; $i < 3; $i++) {
        $returnMarkup .= "<h3>".$entry[$i]->title."</h3>"; // Title of the update
        $returnMarkup .= "<p>".$entry[$i]->link."</p>"; // Link to the update
        $returnMarkup .= "<p>".$entry[$i]->description."</p>"; // Full content
        $returnMarkup .= "<p>".$entry[$i]->pubDate."</p>"; // The date published
        $returnMarkup .= "<p>".$entry[$i]->author."</p>"; // The author (Page Title)
    }

    // Finally, we return (or in this case echo) our formatted string with our
    // Facebook page feed data in it!
    echo $returnMarkup;
?>

Needless to say, I’m rebuilding the Facebook feed portion of the project I’m working on — and fortunately for it’s future users I figured this out before it’s launch!

This will by no means be an advanced tutorial by me on coding websites from scratch or learning WordPress, PHP, or the basic HTML/CSS. There are endless tutorials online for you to learn all the syntax, best practices, and help on understanding how to think like a programmer. This series will, however, be an introduction to what web development is, where to start, how to progress in your knowledge,  career opportunities, and I’ll also cover some basic concepts so you can have a basic knowledge in the field.

• Part 1: What Do Web Developers Do?
• Part 2: Where Should I Start?
• Part 3: The Top Tools, Websites, Apps, and Resources

What Do Web Developers Do?

In this part of Getting Started with Web Development, we’ll look into exactly what web developers do, and what the job entails. We’ll also look into some of the “stereotypes” or assumptions we web developers must face. If you have more to share, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Web Development is Not Web Design (Although some of us do both)

Any of my friends or family can tell you, the thing that annoys me most about being a web developer is that most people have a complete misinterpretation of what I do for a living. It’s one thing when someone doesn’t know what a web developer does, that’s fine, I’ll just tell them. What bothers me is when people think they know what it is, and they could not be more off base. “Oh your a web developer. Can you design my friend’s business logo?”

The most common assumption is that a web developer is a designer. I really never understood this. Yes, I happen to be a web designer and developer, but just because they have something to do with websites doesn’t mean they’re the same thing! Many developers are not designers as well, at least not primarily. Because so many people expect all designers to do all code and all developers to do design as well, this is likely why most professionals in this field pick up both skill sets — it’s just easier when dealing with clients! While web designers vs. web developers are somewhat understanding, what I really have never understood was why some people think that since I can code them a web app, I can design their brochure too. It’s completely overlapped with “graphic designer” now too.

Stop Telling Me You Learned HTML in High School Too

Another thing that’s a major misinterpretation is that web development is easy. I can’t even count the times I’ve heard, “I learned HTML back in high school too,” when telling someone I’m a web developer. Many people don’t understand that you can’t create a website with just HTML. (Not to mention their HTML was probably un-semantic, disorganized, and not even close to validated!) Web development requires knowledge beyond that, even if you are only doing front-end development and taking designs from PSD to their working versions.

At the most basic level, web development requires an understanding (and a proper understanding I might add) of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Many developers, including myself, also work with PHP, Ruby, and other advanced programming languages, and their respective databases. It’s always seemed ironic to me that when I work to build or customize web applications I’m using the same programming logic as when I was getting my Computer Science degree, yet many people have made comments about how easy web development must be compared to the same sort of programs and web applications I was building, and concepts I was learning, while in school.

Even if a web developer never wishes to build fully custom applications from scratch, many go on to use some sort of CMS (content management system) for their websites, such as WordPress, Drupal, Magento, osCommerce, etc. In the web’s modern times, it’s almost necessary for clients to have some sort of CMS to work with.  While not to the advanced level of building custom web applications, there is a certain level of programming knowledge needed in whatever the platform is built with. For example, WordPress is build in PHP, and web developers who work with WordPress must know some PHP in order to build themes, plugins, and customizations.

There Are Endless Niches to Web Development Work

In the most modern times, we are now seeing other forms of web development become far more popular. For example, those who build mobile applications has added a whole new niche to web development in recent years. You’ll want to look into and research the various niches. Do you want to build WordPress themes? Do custom Drupal development? Or, perhaps you want to build themes, plugins, and do customizations for a wide range of platforms? Do you want to create web applications for your clients, or build iPhone or Android apps? Do you just want to do front-end development, learning the in’s and out’s of the most modern practices in this area, including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript framworks? Do you want to work with responsive web design, and focus on building websites, mobile web applications, and native applications for a wide variety of other devices?

Web developers are simply programmers — just as other programmers build applications for the desktop or produce the code behind the software for all device types, web developers are programmers for anything that can access the World Wide Web. From bringing a basic PSD to HTML/CSS and implementing JavaScript functionality, to building themes and plugins that surround premade system, and to web applications, mobile apps, and working with databases and server configurations.

What does being a web developer mean to you?

Next: Where Should I Start?

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In this article I’ll share what I’ve taken away from Dave Ramsey in terms of managing finances as a freelance professional, and how you can apply similar tactics to run your freelance business more smoothly.

Get and Stay Out of Debt

Dave Ramsey’s general approach to finances is to avoid debt at all costs. He believes in reasonable debt, like a mortgage or school loans, but he also believes in living with your means, paying up front for larger costs with whatever you can, and avoiding debt in any form if possible. He also believes in paying off any existing debt as fast as possible. You cannot build wealth until you stave off debt.

This is great advice to follow, and even greater for freelancers. Having debt means monthly payments on those debts. With an irregular income, the more monthly costs we have, the more they can backfire! What if a client lays you off, or a project goes nil? What if you can’t find work for a few months? What if something happens and you can’t take on more work? Without employment benefits and the obvious benefit of a steady check, having monthly bills that could be avoided seems rather pointless.

Freelancers should work on getting rid of any credit card debt or unnecessary smaller loans fast. Next, they should focus on paying off bigger loans, like cars, houses, and student loans. According to any financial adviser, you should never pay the minimum. If you’re a freelancer having a bad few months, you may have to. Yet, so many freelancers with debt still pay close to the minimum payment in their good months and years too. Why not tackle it with all you’ve got, and rid yourself of the frustration when things do become slower?

Ready to get started? Dave Ramsey has a 7-step plan, and one of the steps is eliminating unnecessary debt (step #2). In the step he writes in more detail how to get rid of debt with the “Snowball Effect.” Also keep in mind that the step he has right before this is to save up a smaller emergency fund (step #1) — enough to get you through a couple months. For a freelancer, this amount may be more. If you don’t have one yet, focus on building up an emergency fund and paying off debt at the same time, until you have reached your emergency fund goal.

Do what you can so you can get by, but aim for certain percentages each month to dedicate to each. These two baby steps are the base of financial freedom. They are what can help you stop living check-to-check. Also, read up on how to live frugally and adopt small steps that don’t necessarily have to change your intended lifestyle, but still save you money each month. Live frugally if need be; sometimes you can just cut back in certain areas of your life and it can be enough.

• $1,000 $2000-$3000 Emergency Fund
• Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball

The Envelope System for Budgeting

The envelope system is something I use at times for myself, and I’m in the process of trying to integrate it even more into my financial life. Budgeting is needed for freelancers, especially since we have to save more being on an irregular income in case times get slow.

As a freelancer, if we get a nice big check from a client, it can be easy to get overly excited and go on a spending spree. We always have to remember though that we can’t count on when the next big one will come though. Placing it in a checking account waiting for it to get spent isn’t good enough, and Dave Ramsey recommends the envelope system for helping anyone, especially us freelancers, stick to our budget.

The envelope system consists of the following:

1. Take out the money you budget for spending in cash. (We are much more mindful when spending cash, rather than slapping it on plastic.)
2. For each category you must budget for, create an envelope for each: food, shopping, entertainment, eating out, utilities, etc.
3. Place the money you intend to spend in each category in the respective envelope.
4. Use the envelopes when spending, whichever category it’s under. When it’s out in that category it’s out, until the next month.
5. Put leftovers in your savings account, or buy yourself a little something extra as a reward! This will allow you to see what extra money you really do have for yourself.

Some recommend even taking money out for fixed and needed costs and keeping it aside, although I tend to just transfer things like my rent, gym membership, and other fixed bills to my savings account when I get the money. I then transfer it back when it’s time to pay those bills.

One other thing that freelancers should take advantage of is using percentages with the envelope system. Since we don’t have a regular salary, we may get a $2000 check one month, and only a $200 check the next. If a certain percentage is taken out for each of these budgeting items (just as you likely take out a percentage for taxes and savings already), it’s a lot easier to keep financially balanced. The only time I myself really break this rule is if I get a particularly large check and I tend to put aside all of my fixed costs right away, so I don’t have to worry about it for awhile.

Learn more about why the envelope system is beneficial: Dave Ramsey’s Envelope System. Also check out his post on How to Budget an Irregular Income.

Note: You don’t have to stick to standard envelopes either, it’s more about following the model. You can buy wallets from DaveRamsey.com that offer multiple slots to place cash, and label them. Or, you can also find a wallet with several money slots or come up with your own solution as well.

Building Wealth as a Freelancer

Ever hear the phrase “Save a Penny, Earn a Penny?” There are incredibly rich people in this world who don’t necessarily make more money, but rather save and invest it more efficiently. While earning more is always a part of the puzzle to gaining wealth, it is just as much expenses and savings.

Budgeting month to month can help anyone become more financially secure, and using percentages can help freelancers without a regular income as well. Just like with everything else we need to budget for every month, we should put aside some to savings. It shouldn’t go on the backburner of priorities, but often times it does. However, the more we save, the more wealth we have. This means the more secure we can be month to month, and of course in the future as well.

I save between 20% and 30% of every check, depending on how much I can spare at the time, and it truly helps me cut my needless spending (because I don’t have excess just sitting in my checking account), and then I also have it if anything comes up I wasn’t expecting. Look into high interest savings accounts as well; I keep taxes and savings in an online bank account with a 3.5% interest rate, and the whole time it’s still sitting there, it’s making me money. Unlike a CD, it can also still be taken out if need be, which can come in handy during slow months.

Some people don’t save because they’d rather have fun today with their hard-earned money, and they assume they’ll figure it out somehow in 25 years. If you’re planning on being alive in 25 years, however, why not take care of yourself?

Saving and investing is a huge part of it, but of course, after we work hard to eliminate our debt and spend more wisely, we freelancers should also focus on on earning more. Explore several streams of income, diversify your client base, raise your rates, and grow your business to earn more as well.

Small Business Finance Worksheets

I always say its best to get plans down in writing; it can really help goals get met and habits get changed. Writing down your financial plans is also a great way to get and stay organized, which is essential for any business. Check out some of Dave Ramsey’s budgeting worksheets relevant to freelancers below.

• Quickie Budget
• Monthly Cash Flow Planning
• Irregular Income Budget

Finding design tutorials that appeal to you is the best way to go. There are plenty of collections online for tutorials from drawing and sketching, to every design software available. There are design tutorials for web interfaces, designing for specific platforms (like WordPress), web elements, design posters, and more. There are endless styles and trends that are being put into the form of tutorials as well, and it can be easy for designers to find exactly what they want to learn more about.

In this post, I’ll showcase some of my own favorite design tutorials, specific to my design interests and style.

Create a Professional Web 2.0 Layout

Create a Grungy, Translucent Web Portfolio Design

How to Elevate Your Website Design Process and Results

How to Create a Unique Colorful Site Layout

Create a Sleek, High-End Web Design from Scratch

Design a Beautiful Website From Scratch

Creating a Cool Brushed Metal Surface in Photoshop

Crafting Subtle & Realistic User Interfaces

Elements of Great Web Design: The Polish

Awesome Digital Bokeh Effect in Photoshop

Simple Underwater Scene in Photoshop

Really Cool Eclipse Effect in Photoshop

Yes, I took a few design classes in college. However, my degree is not a design degree and those were mostly electives that I took for the credits; I am by no means a design major or have had any serious professional instruction in design. Throughout the years, experience has organically taught me design and about the business of design. In this post today, I’ll teach you what I learned when just starting out, in order to help any aspiring designers get started themselves on the right track.

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice makes perfect. It’s always been a fact of life, and it couldn’t be more true for design. You can study design theory, history, and everything else as much as you want, but the best way to get great at design is to start designing. The transformation from beginner to experienced designer happens slowly, so slowly that most designers won’t feel as though they’ve changed at all, until they look back and see a work from a year ago and note how much they’ve changed.

Even if you don’t have a client to design for, begin making designs. Make designs for yourself, make them as freebies. Get feedback, and don’t take negative feedback seriously. Receive constructive criticism, and keep designing in order to improve.

Good Designers Copy, Great Designers Steal

In the words of one of the greatest artists of all time, Pablo Picasso, “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal.” In design, we can use the same advice. Picasso meant by this that we must learn and grow from those before us, and we must not put so much pressure on always being “the most original.” This way of thinking will backfire — get good at design first, understand and know how to implement the best practices, common trends, basic design principles, and soon you’ll find your own unique style that will be original enough on it’s own.

Steal first, learn, and originality will come naturally.

He also meant something else by this. Since everything’s been done before, what’s been done by the best is the best for a reason. Think of the most effective web designs. Why are they effective, great looking, and why are the websites behind them so successful? Because the methods used within the design work. Steal best practices and use them for your own designs; steal trends, layouts, and overall techniques. Most importantly, make yourself understand why they work. Then, after you learn how to do them, you can improve and make them your own.

Don’t Be a Starving Artist

What’s with the “starving artist” mentality? If you plan on running your own design business or otherwise making a living off of your design skills, know how to be a great business person. Screw the starving artist mentality. There’s nothing noble about not being able to afford food or have the lifestyle you want.

Do the work you don’t want to do when you have to, and up your rates when you want. Run a design business effectively, and get paid for your talents. Every once it a while you’ll get the urge to do some unpaid design work, for personal projects usually. That’s fine, but don’t let it interfere with your business. Also don’t turn down work when you need it because it’s below you. Don’t be a stuck up designer!

It’s Not All Pretty Colors

If you just want to create pretty designs that look cool, get out of the design business. Go try to get your work hung up in a gallery. Design is about more than pretty colors, cool textures, and neat shapes. Design is about typography, usability, information architecture, accessibility, and so much more. It’s about designing for the benefit of it’s consumers, not for you. Learn about these things too.

You Need to Know How to Code a Site

If you’re a web designer that is. At least know how to code a site in HTML/CSS. Get to understand semantics, and learn how to set up a basic website. Even if you don’t want to be a web developer, you’ll have to at least work with one someday, and having the basics down will help dramatically. Plus, you’ll just be broadening your list of possibilities professionally.

Web designers need to know how to put a static website together these days. Go beyond this if you’d like, perhaps you’ll find an interest in it. If you don’t, you can still hire separate developers to turn your designs into WordPress themes, web apps, or to just add a few more dynamic features to your design.

Study on your Own

Look up similar blog posts, articles on design principles, and if you want, even go out and buy a design book. Read tutorials, and do the tutorial too. Buy and consume the resources you need to grow your design skills. Nobody’s a natural designer. If you know a great designer, they worked hard at it, for years.

What do you think designers just starting out should focus on?