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becoming a freelance

M

macsig

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 27, 2006
236
0
Marina del Rey, CA
Hello folks,
I have decided to take a step forward and become a freelance web developer.
So, now I'm looking for some information about what I need to start it. I don't mean about developing skills but about legislative steps, such as tax and so on.

Can some freelance explain to me the required steps?


THANKS and HAVE A NICE DAY
 
macsig said:
Hello folks,
I have decided to take a step forward and become a freelance web developer.
So, now I'm looking for some information about what I need to start it. I don't mean about developing skills but about legislative steps, such as tax and so on.

Can some freelance explain to me the required steps?


THANKS and HAVE A NICE DAY
Click to expand...

I could not help with taxes, but you might try to get a deal going with any local ISPs. When I worked for a local ISP in Texas, we had 3 - 4 web designers' numbers. When a customer would call asking for a web designer, we would refer the customer to them. We had some that took anything, from updating a site's contact information to entire buildup. We had others that specialized in pay type sites, with carts and credit card/paypal payments. As long as the web designer would not try to move the customer away from us, we would keep giving them work. They got at least 3 - 5 sites a month from me alone. How many they actually did, I could not say, but they definitely got work from us. And seemed pretty busy too.

We had between 4 - 6k business customers, so we were pretty small.
This was also from ~2002 - 2007.
 
First thing I would recommend is quickbooks to keep your finances straight. Then you must do a fictitious business statement with the local paper and apply for a business license. That will cost you about 100 bucks. Then you are legally set up as a sole proprietor and this will allow you to get your EIN number and get a checking account. And, um. Yeah, you'll begin paying your taxes on your net profits for '08 for which quickbooks will tell you exactly what this is. These are just bullet points, but I highly recommend quickbooks off the bat. I wish it was something i got into earlier myself.
 
macsig said:
Thanks Chico,
that is the kind of information I'm looking for.
Click to expand...

Cool. I know the feeling, I needed the same info a few years back. But for less then 100 bucks you can have a license and be in business. Getting your books and billing straight from the beginning is something I with I knew more of when I started.
 
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