How to Start Your Own Web Development Business Now

If you are a web developer or a student attending a coding camp and you are considering becoming your own boss, you are not alone in this thought process. According to the Freelancers Union, the number of people working independently in the United States reached more than 56 million in the year 2020. This figure continues to grow each year as more people decide to pursue the freedom, autonomy, and challenge of starting their own businesses. 

This means that there are a lot of materials available to assist you in beginning a Web Development Roadmap side hustle or making the transition to working for yourself, and the first of those tools is this very post.

We are going to go through the fundamentals of starting your own web development firm, including what you need to know, what you need to think about, and what you need to plan for so that you may add another cash stream and even go freelancing full-time when you are ready.

Let's begin by addressing the issue that requires the most attention first.

Who are the people for whom you wish to create sites?

Because the answer to this question will influence the talents you need to add, the kind of portfolio you develop, and even how you will market your freelancing business. Take as much time as you need to answer it.

In a general sense, the ideal consumers to seek are those who:

Have the financial means to engage your services at a professional rate.

Have ongoing requirements for web development so that you can make more money off of each customer for the duration of your business relationship with them.

You need work that you can showcase in your portfolio to attract additional customers who have budgets and requirements that are comparable to their own.

Within these extremely broad boundaries, think about the kind of web development work that you enjoy doing the most, as well as the kinds of projects that you've already completed, and utilize those as a point of departure. Therefore, if you have experience designing eCommerce websites, your first client personas might be online retailers or people who want to start selling their products online.

What do you do if the field in which you have experience is one that you have become tired of, but you are interested in working in a different sector? Because coding abilities are transferable, the first obstacle you will face is conducting market research on the new industry in which you would like to apply your skills. This will ensure that you can locate the kind of clients who will be able to support your business and keep you in operation.

What are the skills you already possess, and what do you need to improve?

After you have a general notion of the kind of people who will make up your ideal clientele, it is time to conduct a skills assessment. Let's divide this process into two parts so that it doesn't feel so daunting all at once.

The first step is to evaluate your level of development expertise.

Now is the time to make a list of all of your knowledge and skills related to web development, including HTML and CSS, as well as back-end developer languages such as Python and Ruby. Do you have UX or database administration experience?

After you have made a list of all of the programming languages, tools, and software that you are familiar with for development, it is time to construct another list; this time, it is time to make a list of the skills and knowledge that you will need in order to serve the customers that you want to do business with.

Are both of your lists the same? If this is the case, you are in luck. You have a lot of opportunities available to you if there are some new skills or knowledge that you need to acquire before you can advertise yourself to your ideal customers. You can take up new coding abilities by doing one of the following, depending on how much time and money you have, as well as how you learn best:

Free online classes are made available by companies that offer coding boot camps.

They also offer a variety of paid professional certificate programs on a variety of subjects, such as front-end web development, mobile app development, and C programming with Linux. These programs can assist you in acquiring specialized skills without requiring you to pay the tuition associated with a boot camp or university.

Coding boot camps cost money. Paid camps often demand a significant amount of work to be completed over the course of several weeks and cost several thousand dollars for enrollment. If you need to learn an entirely new set of development skills and have the time and funds to do so, this strategy may be the best option for you to pursue. Coaching and career support are often included in the price of paid camps.

Keep in mind, though, that their career team might be more targeted towards persons looking for full-time employment roles rather than freelancers. Before you enlist in the program, make sure you have all of your questions answered and meet with someone from the career office to discuss your plans.

A brief discussion about WordPress:

According to WordPress.org, more than forty percent of websites utilize WordPress, so while you're working on rounding out your coding skills, you might want to think about adding WordPress development to your CV.

In addition to HTML and CSS, developing for WordPress requires knowledge of PHP and JavaScript. However, there are a number of resources available online, including the WordPress learning community, that can be used to acquire this knowledge at no cost.

After you have completed your list of coding talents, it is time to shift your attention to the business skills you will require.

The next step is to compile a list of your professional abilities.

If they want to succeed as a freelance web developer, even the most gifted web developers need some business savvy. This is due to the fact that you will be required to take on a variety of roles inside your business, particularly in its early stages.

The following is a list of the most important business skills and resources that you will need:

In terms of project management, the most effective productivity tools for your freelance business are the ones that you will really utilize. As a freelancer, it is your responsibility to manage things like meetings, change requests, meetings, and invoicing; therefore, you need to have a system prepared before you launch.

Accounting: Beginning on Day One, use whichever bookkeeping software you like to keep a record of your business's income and expenses in a separate account from your own personal finances. Consider whether you would like to be paid by ACH transfers, PayPal, Venmo, or some other method now because this is an excellent time to think about it.

When it comes to marketing, every new company needs to have a social media presence, but keeping up with updates can be a real pain. Your social media marketing can be scheduled, automated, and analyzed with the help of a program such as Buffer or Hootsuite. Become familiar with these tools. After that, you will be able to return to coding and compose your content in batches once every few days.

Pricing: How much money should you ask for something? Establish rates at which you are able to not only survive but thrive. If you aren't sure how to accomplish that, The Freelancer's Bible by Sara Horowitz gives a full analysis of all the costs and aspects to consider when pricing your services. You can find it here.

The process of negotiating: it's going to take place: You'll have a potential customer who has a fantastic project for you, but they want to negotiate your price, the delivery schedule, or some other aspect of the deal. Learn how to negotiate successfully by picking up a copy of Never Split the Difference, which is one of the readings that we recommend for Web Pro readers.

Relationship management with customers and leads: If you start generating a lot of referrals and inbound leads as a result of your social and web marketing, managing the connections you have with your customers and leads may become quite complicated very quickly. Find a free customer relationship management tool that you can use to organize everyone's information and use it.

Networking: Maintaining connections with your colleagues is important because they can offer advice on how to handle problems they've already encountered, bring you in contact with new prospects, and help you maintain your sanity when work is stressful or hectic.

Receiving a Mentoring Relationship: Receiving a mentoring relationship is beneficial for you and your business, even if you do not require a mentor in the field of coding. You can connect with remote mentors who are willing to share their experience for free by using the SCORE program, which is offered by the government Small Business Administration.

You are now in a position to establish a plan for your freelance business now that you have recognized your target clients and specialty, as well as any necessary skills and resources. This doesn't have to take a very lengthy amount of time, but it can help you keep on track with regard to marketing, customer connections, and spending money.

The next step in establishing your freelance web development firm is to take care of the financial and legal matters that arise. It's time to face reality!

Putting all of the puzzle pieces together: Bringing the web development company you own into compliance.

Following that, there is some paperwork for you to go over and organize. Where do we even begin? With the name of your company's website domain. Why? Because your business name and domain name should be identical, and you will need to use your business name when applying for permits, tax IDs, and opening a bank account.

Decide on the ideal domain name for your freelancing business, then proceed to register it and select an appropriate hosting package. In point of fact, it is possible that you will need two hosting plans: a VPS plan for sandboxing your websites and a reseller plan in order to host the completed projects of your customers and generate an additional cash stream for your company.

After that, you'll need to collect a few other documents. The first requirement is to obtain a local business permit, which may be done so by paying a nominal charge to the tax office in either your city or county. You'll also need an EIN (employer identification number) from the Internal Revenue Service, which is easy to get for free and only requires a few clicks of your mouse online.

It is now time to establish contact with your financial institution, be it a bank or credit union. After obtaining copies of your business permit and EIN, you can create a bank account for your company.

When you need to buy anything for your firm from this point forward, use the money that is in that account. To ensure that your bookkeeping is precise, you should put all of your revenue from freelancing into that account first, even if you plan to move it to your personal account later.

There is one more thing that has to be done with your brand-new account, and that is to get a professional liability insurance policy. This type of coverage is also referred to as errors and omissions coverage. This safeguards you in the event that a mistake in your work results in issues for your customer, and many businesses, as well as government bodies, mandate that independent contractors and freelancers provide evidence that they are covered.

Conclusion:

If you are connecting to a client's network or working with sensitive data on behalf of a client, you should probably consider purchasing cyber liability protection as well. Start marketing yourself while you build your portfolio. It is at long last time to begin the launch. Prepare your online portfolio, build your company email address and social media profiles, and initiate contact with potential clients to learn what they require and how you can assist them in achieving their goals.

Are you prepared to begin operating your web development business as a freelancer? Register the domain name for your company right now.