A Full Time Second Job

For the last year I've had a number of freelance design jobs (mostly, although not all, Web related) that have helped me tremendously in one of my big goals: killing off my credit card debt. My full time job pays reasonably well, but the debt that I managed to rack up on my many, many credit cards kept me in a position where any "bad" month meant making choices between which bills would get paid and which wouldn't. Of course, that lead to higher interest rates on the cards, a slower rate of reduction in balances, and regular late and overbalance fees.

Note: this isn't me complaining mindlessly about evil credit card companies. I did the spending and I didn't have the money to cover all of my expenses. My fault and my responsibility--which is why the idea of bankruptcy and running out on my debts hasn't been more than a passing thought in my mind. I repeat: my responsibility.

The credit card debt is far from gone, but I've managed to get myself back into a place where monthly bills aren't a step away from being impossible. I haven't seen any late or over-limit fees for quite some time, and some of the cards are actually getting to the point where I can see them paid off in the near future.

It's a nice feeling.

But to continue that and to ensure that the trend continues in the right direction, I've decided that I need to make freelancing a full time second job. I've opened up business savings and checking accounts, registered a company name (as an LLC), and purchased the domain name to set up a site that will hopefully drive new business and traffic my way. I'm planning out the site and the services I'll be offering, and I'm putting together a growth and marketing plan (not precisely a business plan, but that's another conversation for another day) that will, hopefully, lead me to a reasonably successful little business.

There is something tremendously exciting about doing something like this on my own--and the idea of freelancing is really just a plan to grow to be a larger business that encompasses something much larger than I'd ever be able to achieve by myself.

I'm posting this not just because I'm excited, but because I see this blog as a potential networking opportunity. I'm not soliciting work from you, my fellow bloggers and readers, but leads and contacts if you have them. I will be putting a good amount of energy into building a new customer base over the next six months with an eye toward reevaluating my business concepts and expectations; any help that you can give me in gaining new business would be appreciated.

Oh, and I do pay finder's fees after a client has been invoiced, as well. Just so you know...

The new site will be live at the end of the month and I'll send y'all over to look at it when it's completed. That doesn't mean that I'm not taking clients yet, though; in fact, I already have a few jobs running right now and I'm looking for a few more.

Thanks for your indulgence in this atypical posting. This is a big step and I want to put forth enough effort (and the right kind of effort) to make it successful.