Should I bother getting back into this game?

T

TomasBlackhat

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I'm going to be a college student this fall and like every other person, I need money. Right now all I have is hosting and web design knowledge/tools.

The whole "review and promote a product" thing never worked for me and never seemed like a good idea to be honest. Writing articles about something you don't care about (and making them useful to the reader seems implausible) never seemed to gain much traffic for me either.

I feel like I'd either like to develop my own product to sell such as a service or iPhone app (but I don't have a Mac or iPhone programming skills and freelancer.com gets pretty expensive for that stuff).

Would anybody care to kick me to where I should head (whether or not that would be out the door)? Any responses - however long or short they be - will be appreciated (well...maybe not the kick out the door).
 
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@scriptomania, I'm decent but my portfolio is wicked small. I'd have to probably snag customers via craigslist or something along those lines?

@cash202, I guess important to me about being in business is a) making money and b) making your customers happy because if you do this one, then a) takes care of itself. I'd really love to do something more cutting edge (which understandably none of you need to tell me about) because if you have ways to separate yourself from your competitors, then you can make it. I was thinking possibly of mobile web design? I feel like that may become a huge industry in the near future.
 
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It might sound a bit odd here but print out your portfolio in colour, print some business cards and go to every business networking event in your town and talk to people. Say you are top notch designer and sell yourself. I am serious. It works 10X times better than any online method and you can charge much more for your services. Then make your customers happy and ask for referrals. Remember, 95% of your competitors do not do it.
 
I think that's a possible option to be honest. You asking me how good of a designer I thought I was made me take a look at Digital Point (yes, DP) and other sites and man, my designs are not nearly as good as these, but maybe I'm just rough on myself. I guess becoming a better designer is all about studying other designs and taking what you like from all of them, though?
 
If you want to make money as a designer, I'd say you should probably stay away from DP. - Odesk, freelancer and peopleperhour are better sources of work (better pay, steady work) but you have to deliver consistantly to maintain a good rep at those places to get the better money.

I could use a little help with some projects atm, send me a PM with your portfolio if you are interested in something right now.
 
Freelance in graphics design, I've done it before and made a lot. Sign up for Fiverr and offer a graphics design gig or some other type of gig utilizing your skills.
 
@agente808, I wasn't planning to get work on any of those sites because the cost of living is so much lower in other countries that it's tough to get work for a decent pay. Also, I don't really feel like disappointing you in my work. I thought I had a halfway decent design tonight I threw together but I always struggle to get it to look exactly the same in HTML/CSS. It looks very close but not perfect. I hate slicing in Photoshop - I'm completely inept at it. Is anybody able to answer this question: relative or absolute div layouts? I've got it as absolute right now (b/c that's how you export it in Photoshop) but now I can't really change the content without it running over lines and stuff. I'm switching to a new technique if you couldn't tell :o.
 
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If you gotta ask this question than no, you shouldn't.

But I'll give you some advice anyways because maybe the next guy could use it.

Find something your passionate about and go after it. Do you have a hobby? Or maybe a potentially hobby you've wanted to get into for some time? Well heres your chance to get into that hobby and make some money eventually.

The reason that you never really made it before was because you weren't passionate about it. Thats the secret to really building something valuable online. Becoming passionate.
 
Yeah it sounds like you will be better off doing freelance design work for people. Even if you put a gig on Fiverr offering to make headers/banners for people for $5, it's better than nothing and you expand your portfolio and customer base at the same time.

If people like your work, they might hire you for much bigger projects for more money down the road.
 
Sometimes I wonder if I have any passions...I did have a really great idea for an iPhone app, but again, I have no way of going about making it. I hear iTunes steals a large portion of the money you'd make anyway.

I guess I could go with the Fiverr idea but I'm guessing 99% of Fiverr gigs get no orders. And again, I don't know how good I am at designing. Some things I see people create, I can't help but say wow. Maybe I just don't have the design eye (in which case I should probably just continue to try and get people to buy other people's products).
 
TomasBlackhat said:
Sometimes I wonder if I have any passions...I did have a really great idea for an iPhone app, but again, I have no way of going about making it. I hear iTunes steals a large portion of the money you'd make anyway.

I guess I could go with the Fiverr idea but I'm guessing 99% of Fiverr gigs get no orders. And again, I don't know how good I am at designing. Some things I see people create, I can't help but say wow. Maybe I just don't have the design eye (in which case I should probably just continue to try and get people to buy other people's products).
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have some confidence issues.

Quit focusing on the negatives and being a pessimist. Who cares if iTunes "steals" a large portion of your money. They offer a marketplace with MILLIONS of active subscribers and buyers. Where else will you get that same exposure and potential upside? I hate people that focus on the % that a company takes, when they have no way of attracting that same visibility.

Second, no passions? Come on man. You've got to enjoy something outside of the computer and internet. Even if you don't, maybe you can create some value around what you love on the computer. It can be even as stupid as a Angry Birds walk through website or eBook. There's gotta be something that you can offer that people will want.
 
Ok playa.. do this.. get yourself tweetattacks or 1 click cash bot and do some promotion with those softwares :) you should start making money through aff marketing or cpa.. Just use your brain :)
 
i know you said you have no money but like one poster said, go out and network your services to business groups in your town and charge them like $50/mo for web hosting including a design and SEO services. once you land 10 clients, get busy and outsource everything you cant do. design the site yourself or grab one of thousands of wordpress templates (here on bhw for free), then outsource seo. there are several excellent backlinking services here like linkpushing or Mr E and basstracerboats' services. youll be able to grow your client websites and they will start referring to more and more people abd before you know it, you will be making $xxxx per month on autopilot. give it a good 6 months to a year. this is NOT get rich quick but it certainly is GUARANTEED SUCCESS.

best wishes to you my friend.
 
@TomasBlackhat: I recommended those particular freelance sites specifically because it isn't hard to get high paying gigs, but if you don't think you are up to the quality, then dont do it.

Absolute vs relative:
well, 99% relative, but actually, mostly, neither.

I am sending you a PM...
 
etern1ty said:
i know you said you have no money but like one poster said, go out and network your services to business groups in your town and charge them like $50/mo for web hosting including a design and SEO services. once you land 10 clients, get busy and outsource everything you cant do. design the site yourself or grab one of thousands of wordpress templates (here on bhw for free), then outsource seo. there are several excellent backlinking services here like linkpushing or Mr E and basstracerboats' services. youll be able to grow your client websites and they will start referring to more and more people abd before you know it, you will be making $xxxx per month on autopilot. give it a good 6 months to a year. this is NOT get rich quick but it certainly is GUARANTEED SUCCESS.

best wishes to you my friend.
Click to expand...
Do you think I would stand any chance - being a short, 17 year old kid - probably looks like he's 15 - with convincing these people to buy my service?
 
TomasBlackhat said:
Do you think I would stand any chance - being a short, 17 year old kid - probably looks like he's 15 - with convincing these people to buy my service?
Click to expand...

If you know your shit and can prove it, I don't see why not. Sure some people might be a bit biased, but I don't think that should stop you from going for it. Show them your work and if they like it, age won't mean a thing.
 
Why is everyone sending you through the web design path? You want to make a few bucks or make a killing like me?

Leave web design for the indians and nerds, join a cpa network, throw up campaigns, test, rinse and repeat until you get profitable then scale.

Watch the money flood your bank account.

Get to work and stop asking questions.
 
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