How I Became A Developer: Part 2 – Freelancing

“I’m starting my own business and I think I’ll need a website. I’d like you to build it for me. So, how much do you think you’d charge me?”

For me, the question came out of nowhere. Sure, I’d been learning how to build a website from taking the free courses on Codecademy but I didn’t think my skills were worthy of payment.

“No one should be paying me to build websites,” I said with a laugh. “My skills aren’t worth money.”

“But your time is worth money,” he responded in all seriousness. “Look, I don’t need all the bells and whistles. Let me show you.” My coworker then went over to a computer and brought up a website. It was nice, nothing too fancy, and something I thought I could actually code. “Something like this,” he said. “What do you think?”

So here I was, just a few moments ago talking to my coworker about how I’d learned all this stuff about how to build websites so I would be a better hacker. Now, he’s talking about hiring me to build a site for him. I never intended to get paid to build websites. I actually remember sitting down at my laptop one night after work and saying, out loud, “I would never become a web developer. That stuff would be so boring.” But I had found it not only not boring, but extremely enjoyable. I still was upset that becoming a professional hacker had come to a standstill, at least for the moment.

Build A Website For Money?

Build a website for someone’s burgeoning business? For money?

“I could definitely build something like that,” I’d replied, pointing at the site on the screen.

“And you can actually get it on the Internet so people can type in an address and get to it?” he’d asked. At that point in my web developer journey, I hadn’t actually put anything online. I knew it could be done, obviously, but I’d never even tried to learn how to do it. I was actually afraid to say yes to this guy and afraid to even consider taking him on as my first client.

“I haven’t put anything online but it can’t be too hard. I’ll learn how so I can get a site up and running for you,” I’d said with the utmost confidence that I didn’t actually feel. I knew getting sites online was something that people did all the time so there had to be documentation or YouTube videos or something about how to do it. It was something that could be learned, which meant I could acquire the knowledge. Of that I had full confidence.

Mostly.

Learning The Details

For the next three days, I tried to figure out how to get a website online. I researched hosting providers and finally picked one. Purchasing hosting with the provider granted me a free domain, so as my first domain ever I chose spiritofthespider.com. It was a joke to pick that as a name: spider … web development. Maybe not a full-on belly laugh, but at least a little chuckle, right?

Getting the hosting was super stressful for me. I was so afraid I was giving my credit card to some online scam or getting stuck in some contract with fine print that stated I’d need to pay $1,000 a month after the first 30 days or something. Being brand new to dealing with hosting and domains, I really didn’t know what to expect or who to trust.

I was absolutely elated when day three came for me and I successfully put my first web page online. I’d learned about hosting, domains, DNS, Filezilla and FTP. I’d gone from having no idea how to get a site online to actually having a site online! It had taken those three days to read all the necessary documentation and watch all the YouTube videos I needed to make this giant step. Now, I was truly ready to have my coworker as my first client!

But he never hired me!

Not long after my initial talk with that coworker about building a site for the business he was starting, he quit work. He gave me his email address and phone number so we could keep in touch about his site. I tried on several occasions to contact him without a reply and, after 10 years, I still haven’t heard from him LOL

The Real First Client

Even though that first client ended up not being a first client at all, the conversation we had about having me build a site for him was the catalyst for everything that happened after. Because of him, I had put in the time to actually learn how to get websites online with a purchased domain. I had all the tools I needed to do work for clients and have the actual confidence that I knew what I was doing. My skillset wasn’t great just yet, but I could go from a concept to a website on the Internet and that was a big deal.

My very first client was a friend of mine named Willow, who had her own wedding business. She did wedding planning and officiating and had put up a website using Wix. We had talked about how I had learned to do web development, and so she asked me if I could help her with her Wix site.

I hadn’t worked with Wix before so I logged into her account (she gave me the credentials; no hacking going on here, my friend) and got comfortable with the platform. Willow wanted to meet in person to go over what I could do with her site, so I decided to take advantage of that fact: I built a brand new website for her from scratch. My coding skills were still in their infancy but with HTML, CSS, and just the smallest amount of JavaScript, I crafted a decent looking website for her business.

When Willow and I met up to go over her Wix site, I spoke about what I would be able to do for her concerning that site. “I also have something else to show you. Not sure if you’re interested, but I actually built a site for your business in case you were interested in buying it.” With a great deal of anxiety, I showed her the site I’d built. I kept thinking about how she was going to hate the style, the color palette, something.

She loved it!

With that, I had my first client! I would go on from there to build a website for my freelancing business. I didn’t have any more clients except my friend, so I couldn’t add other clients’ sites to my portfolio. So, I made sure my website was as good as I knew how to make it and then I just made up websites for fake businesses and added those sites to my portfolio. I figured that showing work for a fake business was still showing work; it didn’t have to be an actual paying client.

Starting Freelancing Professionally

I eventually got a business license, listed my business with Google Business, and started having clients calling me. Web development was still a side business at this point, so I never took on more work than I could handle. I was still coming home around midnight after working all day at the factory and learning my craft, allowing me to put my knowledge to use for my clients. I was doing everything from building out full websites to smaller projects like modifying Shopify code on a client’s pre-existing site. It wasn’t enough money to live on but I was getting something extremely valuable: direct experience.

That experience would take me to the next level, and have companies reaching out to me directly to make me part of their team.

Join me next time in How I Became A Developer: Part 3 – Working At An Agency