What Is The Last Thing You Do Before You Launch A Website?

One thing that can be said about human beings is that we are, by and large, creatures of habit. We establish routines, consciously and subconsciously, that help us accomplish tasks or move us more quickly or comfortably through our day. Habits are formed in the design and development community just as they are in nearly every other professional and personal environment, and they serve any number of purposes. In design and development circles, one established habit is seen with the launch of a website or project.

7 Personality Types of Clients Today

Designers and developers form two parts of the design trinity: the client completes it. You can have the technology to build something and the design to make it magnificent, but if someone doesn’t fund the project, it usually falls flat.

No one has the time to do such a thing for fun. Designers and developers need clients to build their portfolio, sustain their lifestyle and grow and learn. Continue Reading

Sometimes being a freelancer means finding ways to get the most out of your 168 hours each week.  This probably applies to everyone, but it seems that freelancers have to worry more about self promotion, client billing, finding clients, and having a life.

To get more done each week, some will:

• Sacrifice sleep
• Give up on family life
• Let your work standards slip
• Employ a virtual/physical assistant
• Use plug-ins and extensions to turn off internet distractions
• Use available tools to maximize productivity while maintaining creativity

What are some of the tricks that you a have learned to help you get the most out of your week? What do you do with your hard-won free time?

I’m still struggling to find the right work/life balance, so I’m hoping I can learn a bit from the great minds here at Freelanceswitch.com.   Thanks for sharing! Continue Reading

If you’re active in the freelance forum, you might be aware of what’s going on there. For you who aren’t that active (myself included), might want to check out some of the most notable discussions that took place last week. I’ve been browsing the forum a lot these past days, but I actually haven’t got around to post anything yet. If you find a really interesting topic, make sure to post a link to it, and I’ll check it out.

Freelance Web Developer Rates. This is a quite interesting thread for all web devs about what kind of freelance rates developers charge which turned out to a full blown discussion. If you haven’t read any post yet, I strongly suggest you do. You might get a nice insight on others opinions and experiences.

Go to the Gym? Started little over three weeks ago, but just a couple of days ago, it got turned back on. Very interesting topic in my own opinion, who does work-out and who dosen’t? I for one, I really need to start again – been awol from the gym for almost a full year now. Someone to kick me in the right direction? Continue Reading

Nearly five years ago, I said goodbye to the day job and hello to the work at home lifestyle. I’ve never regretted it. I don’t miss commuting, office politics, kowtowing to the boss or the lack of control over my time.

However, there are some things about office life that are worth keeping. A sense of structure, interaction with other people and a feeling of security are a few perks of the day job that many freelancers feel like they’ve lost. Here’s how you can have the best of both worlds.

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Photo by *hini*.

All of us have different measures of success. For me, I knew I was thriving when I wasn’t working 50-hour weeks anymore. Not to say that a long week is extinct for me, but there aren’t as many of them.

The extra time is something I’m not used to. I watch people around me rush around and never seem to have time to do much. They complain about their overwhelming lives and I remember what that felt like. I’m busy, too, but I’m able to make more time for things that matter to me. This is partially because of the career I’ve carved out for myself.

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Photo by Jurvetson.

Please note: if you like this article, stay tuned: Kristen Fischer will be interviewing Ed tomorrow! — Skellie

I remember it like it was yesterday.

We were new parents and our newborn baby boy had a severe case of reflux. He was constantly crying and was waking up 6 to 8 times every night.

My wife had very little time for herself. She was exhausted. I was working long hours but did everything I could to help in the evenings and on weekends.

Around that time, my wife called one of her good friends to vent her frustrations.

She told her about how tired she was—and how she didn’t even have time to clean the house. She was on the verge of tears.

Then my wife’s friend said something I’ll never forget: “Why don’t you just hire a house cleaner? You’ll have one less thing to worry about.”

It was such a simple idea. But (I hate to admit this) we’d never thought of it! Continue Reading