Newbie Business Dilemma!

[edd90]

Hello people of the forum!

I have a bit of a dilemma (not neccesarily a bad one!) and i was hoping i could get your professional expert help !!! I may go on a bit but please bare with me!

I currently have a good packaging design job (4 years) - Pay is okay but could be better!
* I have a Degree in Product Design.
* Im Good at 3D visualisation and modeling in MAYA (Maya Rocks !!!) 2+years = with official training.
* I am learning Web Design at a very quick pace - Really getting to grips with it! I LOVE IT! Completed 2 sites and have 4 more in pipeline (real ones as well)!

My dream is to have my Own creative design agency! An opportunity has arisen which im trying to mull over-

My mate has offered to go into business with me as a partner in my Creative Design Agency. He's an accountant (handy) and has good sales skills - meets with big companies and new companies regularly through his job. He will not be doing the creative part -thats me!
We will start the business on a part time basis as well as continuing our full time jobs (so no real money worry issues). We will concentrate on doing websites and Logo design first (he already has 2 websites for when we start) - We will concentrate on this area to build up the company profile as a starting point. THATS THE PLAN!

My worries are -

* Do i go into business with a Friend?
* With only 6 months web experience is it wise to go into business now? (i am fairly confident but realistic at the same time)
* Should i go Freelance for a year and learn the industry?? (my mates impatient! and 2 well paid jobs could be lost if we dont start within 4 months)
* How easy will it be to get freelance work?
* What should the business percentage split be?

So what would you do in my situation? What are your experiences? Am i missing other important areas to consider?

Any advice would be SOOOOOO Helpful!

Edd.

 

[ian]

Sales and marketing is just as an important element as the actual design itself. Depends on how close a friend he is, and what risks each party would be taking. Personally, and I am often cautious, I would continue doing it part time after work, and maintain your current jobs, until such time as you are making enough income part time, for a certain pre-defined number of consecutive months, before considering doing it full time.
I have a number of websites, but I would never voluntarily give up my day job for internet related work, because it is too uncertain, things change all the time. So instead I chose to do them both.

 

[neoX Designs]

Hello people of the forum!

I have a bit of a dilemma (not neccesarily a bad one!) and i was hoping i could get your professional expert help !!! I may go on a bit but please bare with me!

I currently have a good packaging design job (4 years) - Pay is okay but could be better!
* I have a Degree in Product Design.
* Im Good at 3D visualisation and modeling in MAYA (Maya Rocks !!!) 2+years = with official training.
* I am learning Web Design at a very quick pace - Really getting to grips with it! I LOVE IT! Completed 2 sites and have 4 more in pipeline (real ones as well)!

My dream is to have my Own creative design agency! An opportunity has arisen which im trying to mull over-

My mate has offered to go into business with me as a partner in my Creative Design Agency. He's an accountant (handy) and has good sales skills - meets with big companies and new companies regularly through his job. He will not be doing the creative part -thats me!
We will start the business on a part time basis as well as continuing our full time jobs (so no real money worry issues). We will concentrate on doing websites and Logo design first (he already has 2 websites for when we start) - We will concentrate on this area to build up the company profile as a starting point. THATS THE PLAN!

My worries are -

* Do i go into business with a Friend?
* With only 6 months web experience is it wise to go into business now? (i am fairly confident but realistic at the same time)
* Should i go Freelance for a year and learn the industry?? (my mates impatient! and 2 well paid jobs could be lost if we dont start within 4 months)
* How easy will it be to get freelance work?
* What should the business percentage split be?

So what would you do in my situation? What are your experiences? Am i missing other important areas to consider?

Any advice would be SOOOOOO Helpful!

Edd.

Hello,

First, you need to ask yourself some questions.
*How good a designer are you?
*What is the functionality of the sites that you design?
*Can you create harder things such as membership systems, and contact forms?
*Are you XHTML compliant?

These things are essential when starting a web design business.

Ben.

 

[oseall]

I agree with Neo..how much confident you to your skills? And could you explain what will you do to if people ask something about your design.
Because many web designer in the world, and they have good quality.
So you must compete with them

 

[Snerdey]

Start slow, part time and go with what you know best. Graphic design. You can join a couple of bidding for jobs websites that will send you a notice each day of projects to bid on.

Do undersell yourself. Quote a fair amount and don't ever drop the ball. Your success is going to be judge not only on your designs but you as a person, company. If you do very good across the board.. word of mouth will sell more for you.

Most do not really know what they want so they will count on you to guide them.

The real key is not to give much away. People get what they pay for and anyone selling too cheap or even free is not really going to gain the big fishes.

Make sure your website is professional and to the point. Don't distract with other offers, ad's and crap.. that will just send them to your competitors or away from your site.

Contact form is good idea and if they can upload a file it will be best. Try to see if you can control that upload to only allow images.

Good luck and why don't you post a link to some of your samples

 

[Colorme3]

Keep focus on what you want to do and sell, dont try and take jobs that you cant complete or have to hire someone else to work on. Build from there and then grow=) good luck.