I studied Software Development and Marketing at university, making websites and applications for others during the evenings. After uni I worked full-time at the local funeral home for two years in the Multimedia Department, while still doing freelance websites part-time.

I got tired of working long hours for someone else. I quit my job, packed my belongings into the car and travelled the country for a few months, meeting some excellent and inspiring people. I settled in Melbourne and enrolled in a small business course. I ran out of money a few times during the course, lived on noodles, and was almost homeless (I even lived in a youth hostel for a few months), but was too stubborn to even consider another job. I was confident I could make my business work if given the chance.

I can now say five months after starting the business it was the right choice. I’m far from rich, but I’m actually happy with work! The local library acts as my office during the day, which ensures I get out of the house and not become too pale and antisocial. My clients come from personal networking, although now I’m looking into other advertising to help with the Christmas slow down.

Thanks for sharing.

My hobbie for the past 4 years has been tinkering with my various blogs, setting up web sites for freinds and colleagues. I really enjoy web work and felt that this would be a perfect second career for me. I set up my Freelancing site, launched my first design which was a redesing of my teaching blog and then got my first client due to the strength of that design.

I’ve since finished 2 more clients (1 just this past week – haven’t had time to update portfolio yet) with two clients lined up and a potential third in the queue. I’ve done almost no marketing other than passing out hordes of business cards, mentioning my business at every possible opportunity, networking, and setting up a facebook page for it as well.

While I’m not making enough to live off of web design yet, I’m definitely feeling more confident about this move and my plan to quit teaching come summer 2011. I figure 3 years (now 2.5) is enough time to build up my skills, reputation, network, & portfolio.

AT this point I am very very grateful for the early success I’ve had.

While in grad school I started playing around with HTML just for fun. I taught myself enough to be dangerous.

Then I got a much better environmental planning job in Colorado and we (my husband and I) moved out here. I also designed and built my first real website, an ecommerce site that we ran for 9 years and recently sold. That got me started on web design for real.

I worked as a planner for 7 years but In 2005 I quit my job and went back to school. I was working with a career counselor who suggested I try making a go as a web professional on the side, and by the end of that summer I had so much web work that I didn’t have time for school.

Now I’m totally swamped with work and have been that way since August. I do about 95% of it through referrals, and I’ve learned a huge amount about managing my own business, and my own time, through trial and error and getting information from others (like in this great blog).

So I got into web design as a professional rather late, but I’m very happy, I have many good clients and collaborative relationships with colleagues all over, and I’m starting to get the larger jobs that let me stretch my skillset.

I was working as a layout artist at a tourist magazine and doing web freelancing for about 4 hours every evening after work. After months of trying to get my boss to let me create a website for our company, he went on a two week vacation, and I took it upon myself to create a website while he was gone. When he returned, he approved it, and I’d found my niche.

My freelance work went from print to more web design. My then husband was a programmer, so it was a great team of I’d design it and he’d code it. Over the course of the first few years, he taught me how to code, and then I was off and running doing both.

My main source of work is web and email design. But, it’s great to have that print background because it gives you another service to offer your clients (my first two jobs out of college were in print shops, where I learned all my graphics software and tons about print setup).

Being a freelancer, working for yourself from home, is the only way I can envision living. When I moved from VA to TX in 2000, I thought it might be a good opportunity to get out of freelancing and get a ‘real’ job. So, I took a web design job….after 3 weeks I put in my 2 weeks notice. I just couldn’t stand working on someone else’s schedule :)

Over the years, I’ve learned that the best way to find/keep clients is through forming relationships. Networking (not cold calling/emailing) is what works, then staying in touch, going to social events with potential clients, and just being a nice person seems to be the way to go.