The Reflex Blue Show with Nate Voss and Donovan Beery, Episode 25: Bare Minimum Costs to Open A Freelance Business!
We open up this show with News of the World — very important news at that! Fort Smith ADDYs! Nate hosts Design Matters! CA cuts back! After that we get deep, deep into gettin’ it DONE as a graphic design freelancer in this horrible economy. We break it down by cost per item and how to get the best new business equipment for the least amount of scratch. You may be surprised by the results!
–nv–
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Timely show, fellas. Myself and a few people I know were all cut this week. I’ve decided to go out on my own and I’m freaking about all of the things to get in place. Trying to figure out how to drum up business. Already met with The Creative Group and a local creative placement agency, sent an email in to Aquent, and I think there’s another local one to hit up.
Thanks for the info.
I would recommend iMac over MacBook. You lose the ease of portability, but really the iMac is only 20-25 pounds, depending on the screen size. So if you had to move it, you could. It’s not like it’s a full-on desktop. But I wouldn’t want to bring it with me everyday.
And I’m assuming most of the freelancers would want to stay at home to save on office rent, so would therefore not need to move the computer often.
Which brings me to the next argument(s) for iMac: way more bang for your buck.
Twice the screen size: comes in handy whether print or web.
Twice the USB ports: for that printer, scanner, and external harddrive you suggested, plus all of your other goodies that you may already have like digital camera or Wacom tablet.
Twice the harddrive space: base model comparisons here, with no upgrade.
Easy RAM upgrade slot: MacBooks are one-shell now, unless you go with the whiteBook. So adding RAM will be more difficult than an iMac, which has a little flip-door much like a TV remote’s battery chamber.
And, if you want the Apple Protection Plan (which I prefer, like Nate), you’re seriously only spending $120 more on the total price.
Oh, and you’ll need the beefier surge protector with the battery thing, because when the power goes out, the iMac turns off. But that battery-surge protector can’t be $120 more than a regular one. And if it is, you still have all of the bonuses (boni?) listed above.
I’m personally looking to purchase an iMac before I graduate because my iBook (pre-Intel) is approaching 4 years and will be soon outdated. I’ll still keep it to make up for the lack of portability from the iMac though.
Oh, and you guys forgot to mention an internet subscription. I think that’s pretty much a must-have at this point, especially if you’re mostly getting web freelance.
I agree with Geoff, but I think it’s really a per person decision.
I traded my Macbook Pro for an iMac because the extra horsepower meant a lot more to me than the portability.
The portability matters to some folks though. Obviously, it was a bit deal for the guy that I traded my laptop to.
I prefer to be able to go mobile with maximum power allowed. On a recent visit to the Apple Store a very knowledgeable and wise employee did a very cool rundown about going with a MBPro 15″ and a cinema display, all for the cost of a 17″. I personally have a 17″ now and that allows me some nutty amounts of power but man it can get harsh on the vertebrae. A new 15″ MBPro can pack the same amount of power as the current 17″ and, if you’re like me, you can push the LCD aspect ratio and pixel depth so that your icons are small and give the illusion of a larger screen. Noice!
A big addition to the list is the need for a wicked fast internet service at the home-office. Now I know we were going for the lowest common denominator needed to get a start but here’s my thought on that: many places offering robust free WiFi require a purchase of some kind. That itself will add up even if you buy a mere cup of 1$ coffee you are approaching 300$/year. If you only purcahse a Cox Cable internet account alone you’re sitting on gold and you can always watch TV on HULU.com. ha ha. Even if you are not simply a web designer, you will need the bandwidth for email, file sending, and various methods of real-time communication like iChat and you will need to do these things on your own time, not that of an internet cafe. We all know that inspiration works in mysterious ways and 2am is a great time to have the world to yourself while you work and communicate.
Great show guys. Awesome tips for the base start-up indie designer.
Just listen to the show.
Dude, What kind of advice was that? You only forgot to advice to apply to a new credit card and put it all in it. You totally forgot to talk about free software.
I went solo several years ago wen I was still in school. Now I have a solid and profitable run as freelance, so I know what I’m talking about.
Business rule #1: Let the business pay for its own expenses.
This is how I started:
Computer: $400 refurbish Compaq 14 in lap-top running Windows 98.
Vector Software: Free copy of Canvas 6 I got in a magazine (Computer Arts). Canvas 8 was the most recent.
Photo Editing Software: Free software that came with the computer (I can’t remember the name. It was very limited, but it did the job).
Web Editor Software: Notepad (If you know what you are doing, you don’t really need anything else to design a website).
During this time I did websites for friends, friends of friends, pet walkers, baby sitters, non-profit organizations, and similar low-end clients.
That was my start in the web world.
Little by little I grew my client list and bank account. I never used a credit card.
After 4 months I made enough money to buy a powerbook.
After 6 months I bought Adobe Illustrator 8, Photoshop 5.5
I now have several computers, master collection, Final Cut Studio and drive a nice car. I now do work for fortune 500 companies. And still don’t use credit cards.
List of great free software to have:
TextWrangler – http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/
Blender 3D – http://www.blender.org/
Garageband – Free with your new mac
NetBeans – http://www.netbeans.org/
gimp – http://www.gimp.org/
OpenOffice – OpenOffice.org
Skype – skype.com
VLC – w.videolan.org/vlc/ (the transcode feature is a must have)
I hope this could be useful to someone, just starting. If your freelance business cannot afford to buy new equipment and software, then it isn’t worth investing into it. At that point you better look for a job.
Great input from everyone — I’d love to hear more so we can revisit this on the next show!
Forgot about high-speed internet connection LOLZ.
To George’s point “If your freelance business cannot afford to buy new equipment and software, then it isn’t worth investing into it,” I disagree with that statement quite a bit. Everyone needs to be responsible with their own credit, obviously. And if you are responsible, creatively driven, and entrepreneurial in spirit (helps to have a good head on your shoulders, too) then you should do what you’ve gotta do.
In my book, You are always Your best investment.
I don’t think I ever met a designer who wasn’t, to some degree, already set up to run a design operation at home. Typically, going full-time from home means an investment in a laser printer, fax machine, and some new business cards. The rest, it seems, is already in place.
Am I being presumptuous to think that all designers have computers of their own at home, and more often than not, with a certain complement of software? Then again, when I lived in England I found that owning your very own computer was a very luxurious thing. Apparently, people in Europe like to do work at work, and not home. (hence the popularity of internet cafes.)
*btw, your Captcha is the most annoying thing evAr!
You don’t need two computers (or 1 dual booting computer) to check browser compatability.
http://browsershots.org/
I was super late to this, and I’m pretty sure that one Mig Reyes gave me some flack for that.