i want to start selling my services now to make money

[silverglade]

Hi, I am new to php but want to start selling my services on craigslist so I can quit my low paying miserable job. I need about $500 per month income to quit my job. I was thinking about selling my services to do forms and shopping carts. Do you think that could bring me in $500 per month? And would I have to do the design for them as well? If that is not enough ,what other things could I do in php for clients to bring in $500 per month? Any help GREATLY appreciated. Thanks.

[JonnoTheDev]

Any small website

[isedeasy]

First things first you're going to need a portfolio to show potential clients, people are not going to fork out hard earned cash without knowing the quality of service they will receive.

 

If you are wanting to just integrate forms and shopping carts with clients websites then most of the design work should be done, its just a case of either matching HTML to the original or written additional CSS for the form/shopping cart.

 

off-topic - I like reading through the freelance section, 90% of the people posting their services fail to post any examples of previous work, do people honestly hire web developers because they list off a load of stuff they can supposedly do?

 

 

[silverglade]

ya that's' funny. hehe. I should have a portfolio first. Also, do you think I could bring in $500 per month doing shopping carts and forms for people even if I just integrate them to their existing website? And how many shopping carts and forms would I have to do assuming they were good and professional quality? Please any more advice GREATLY appreciated as this will help my life a lot. thanks.

[JonnoTheDev]

It depends on your location as to what the going rate is. In my location I would charge a minimum of 4 times that for an e-commerce application. You must have existing work to demonstrate that you have the skills to do the job.

[silverglade]

WOW thank you! My location is in New Jersey USA 20 minutes from New York City. and I plan on working over the net, getting jobs from from here, craigslist, or other places. Not in person. So you think I could make $500 just from doing one shopping cart application for a site? if that is true that just made my world. LOL. Any more info you have is greatly appreciated, again. Thanks. Derek ( I will make a portfolio asap.)

[JasonLewis]

I think relying on a freelance job as a source of income would be tough. You might not get as much work as you had hoped sometimes, I couldn't do it personally.

 

But, like the others, a portfolio website with previous work and testimonials if you can get them are a great way for future clients to see that they are hiring someone who knows what they are doing.

[silverglade]

how hard would it be to make $500 per month doing shopping carts and forms please. and how much should I charge for the shopping carts based on the location I wrote, please. Thanks. Derek.

[JasonLewis]

It depends how many people need shopping carts and forms I suppose, doesn't it? And, how many of those people get someone they know to do it, do it themselves, Google for someone to do it, or find you and get you do to it. Who knows how many... So, it's hard to say how hard it can be to make $500 in a month.

 

As for how much you should charge, it depends on the complexity and time spent on the project. You should look around at other freelancers in your area and see how much they charge an hour, as most people do.

[silverglade]

Thanks. I looked on craigslist and can't find anyone selling a shopping cart specifically. lol. I guess I will keep searching. Based on what I see people charging for shopping carts, I don't think it will be hard to make 500 in a month.

 

edit- ok I found one in my area, but they seem a little low at a full website plus shopping cart for 500 bucks don't they?

 

http://cnj.craigslist.org/cps/1883925567.html

 

and there's this guy who is really low. jeez.

 

http://cnj.craigslist.org/cps/1887745816.html

[JasonLewis]

No it probably wouldn't, you just need be hired at least once a month. Doesn't sound difficult, but could be.

 

I'd say they already have a shopping cart built and ready to rollout for anyone who needs it. It'd probably be a very basic website and shopping cart though.

[silverglade]

Great thanks. I guess there's nothing left to do but try to do it, and not quit my day job. LOL. until I have a LOT of 500 dollar bills saved up. hehe. I will just have to figure out what I will charge based on these other people. I might find it hard to just sell a "shopping cart" when I'm competing with these other guys who have full website plus shopping cart solutions for 500 bucks. I can do web design but I'm pretty bad at it, and would'nt want to do it professionally for anyone, although I've done 20 websites and 5 for businesses for free, I never charged for it, and no one ever accepted my offer anyway on craigslist even when I went as low as 100 bucks, which shows you my design skills, OR my marketing skills are not so hot.

 

actually, i should say night job.

[silverglade]

It looks like the average for an ecommerce website on craigslist for central new jersey is about $500. But I saw one company charging almost $2000 for it. So I think I will start with something like this

 

"Ecommerce shopping cart for your existing website for $500" would be my craigslist post.

 

do you think that's any good?

 

and if it doesn't sell at that I will go lower.

[silverglade]

nevermind

[trq]

and if it doesn't sell at that I will go lower.

 

Sorry I've never looked at craiglist before but I seriously doubt it is a good representation of what most people are worth. These sites are generally people like you, desperate to get into the market, and willing do accept pretty much any price to do so. It'll end up doing you more harm than good.

 

You need to start by figuring out what YOU consider your time to actually be worth. Don't just say aww I'll just do it this time for $300 next time I'll make more. YOU WONT.

 

Get a figure and stick to it.

 

This figure will then be able to help you judge how much a project is worth based on how long you think it will take & your rate. DON'T BUDGE from your rate.

 

I know you need to start somewhere, but seriously, there are plenty of two bit programmers around. If you are quality, sell yourself as quality. If your not, then you need to get there first.

[silverglade]

great thank you for that. I think it depends on how much money you think an hour of your time is worth, and how many hours the project will take. So I will have to determine that. Thanks again. Derek

 

but I will consider what other people are charging as well so I don't go too low or too high.

[JonnoTheDev]

Heard of the saying, "You get what you pay for". When you say, "shopping cart" I guess you are referring to an e-commerce solution. Do you realise how much work goes into a complete e-commerce system? You have to think about product management, payment solution integration, customer & admin reports, image manipulation, user management, the list goes on.

 

if I see the offer of an e-commerce system for $500 I know it is either going to be utter garbage and would never satisfy a clients requirements, or it will be an off-the-shelf product such as osCommerce or Zen Cart that has been re-skinned. You may get away with this for simple clients, but as far as integrating into existing websites with products etc, forget it. You are walking into a mine field. $500 would not even scratch the surface.

 

For the $500 target audience I would offer small websites for lets say startup companies. A simple site with x number of content managed pages, image gallery, contact form, etc, and possibly a newsletter solution.

 

If you are no good at web design, then you will have to find a designer to work with. They will obviously want a cut. Clients will not pay for crap looking websites, even if they are cheap.

[silverglade]

thank you. Yes I will probably have to find a designer to work with, I am an artist, but surprisingly I am terrible at designing websites. I can paint , but I never was any good at design. lol. I think you are right, the ones I saw for $500 were probably those skinned canned e-commerce solutions.  I have a teacher who I am going to ask about this. He is an expert php programmer so should be able to tell me what to do, I just haven't received an email back yet. Hopefully this will work out though, because working night jobs for $9 an hour and not even being able to pay your bills after that, and that is in the U.S. , but I live in the most expensive state in the country to live in, and that is New Jersey. The next is California. I live 25 minutes from New York City. If I were to get a job for someone, the pay would probably be good even as a beginner, but the living costs here are terrible. Then again, there are a lot of good things about NJ, the medical care and social systems are great, and there are a lot of people if you don't like your current social circles. heh.

 

also, the reason I don't get a job as a php developer is because I'm not good enough. I'm going to freelance and see if I can do that.

 

I like your signature message, it's from a Simpsons episode where Homer Simpson becomes so fat that he gets disabled and has to work at home, then he gets a job on his computer where he has to press a button all day, when the computer tells him to press "any" key, Homer Simpson says "where's the 'any' key?"

[zq29]

You might also want to consider how much you'll owe the government out of these earnings, too.