Thinking Big Picture: Assess, Research, and Revamp

So here we are.  I have wiped the slate clean on this blog and re-launched it with a fresh new look and a new focus.  But this post is not about this website.  It’s about my freelance web design business.

I am now approaching 1.5 years since taking the plunge into full-time freelance.  It’s been a wild ride so far, with absolutely no regrets.  Despite this rough economic climate, the last few months have been my best yet.  But it’s time to take a step back to assess the big picture.

I have made the decision to take on a huge new project for remainder of 2009.  The project is not for a client.  It’s not a hobby project in my spare time.  The project is my business.  It’s time to step things up to the next level.

I will be dedicating the next few months and probably the remainder of this year to assessing, researching, and revamping the way I do business.  This effort will involve several well thought out goals, which I will tackle in future posts.

This marks the very beginning.  I’m kicking off the project with these steps:

Assessing the Current State of the Business

I’m taking a hard look at every aspect of my freelance web design business.  How much money I have earned, and the consistency of cashflow.  How many clients do I have?  How many are repeat customers?

How am I generating new business?  Am I targeting the right markets?  Am I landing the type of clients that I want?

What is the quality-level of my product and services?  Am I communicating clearly enough?  How is my business being represented?

What are my work hours like?  How about my living / working conditions?  Stress level?

Answering these questions is a work-in-progress.  I hope to have a handle on this assessment of my business in the coming weeks.

Researching and Learning

This is a never-ending learning process.  Just as I constantly research to expand my skills as a designer and developer, I’m now putting a major focus on learning as much as I can about running a web design business and marketing my brand.

I have made the investment in the Web Design Business Kit 2.0.  I’m only just beginning my first read through, but I can already tell this was money well-spent.  I will certainly be posting an in-depth review of the kit in the near future.

I also read the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, which has given me great motivation and actions to step my game up.

As always I’m supplementing my learning process with healthy dose of RSS feeds from various blogs about business, freelancing, entrepreneurship, and brand marketing.  I have found that literally asking a question in the google search box can produce some worth while results.  Sure that’s a fairly obvious approach, but I mention it for a reason.

Research is key.  Research should be natural.  You should want to read and read and learn and learn.  Education never ends for a web designer, or any business for that matter.  Knowledge of your industry and best business practices is the key to staying ahead.

Revamping the Business

A big part of my newly refreshed blog here at briancasel.com will be an account of my progress on this project.  I’m extremely excited about it, and I’m itching to get things rolling.

Stay tuned…