From 9-5 to Freelance: Starting Your Journey with WordPress

I've been a WordPress freelancer for over 18 years. Read my interview with Max from MyHost AU . The article covers my WordPress journey, business, and community building.

I often get asked at meetups how to get started as a WordPress freelancer.? Here are some of my thoughts.

Why Do You Want to Become a WordPress Freelancer?

Becoming a freelancer could be a side hustle to earn a few extra dollar-bucks or an attempt to escape that soul-sucking tedious 9-5 corporate job.

Freelancing allows you to choose your clients and projects, work your preferred hours and make a good living doing what you love.

As a freelancer and a dad, I can schedule my work around the weekday school run and after-school activities. I have an intensely productive work drive between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, leaving Friday free (if possible) for personal development.

Why Choose to Freelance With WordPress?

Whether you're good at designing or better at coding, WordPress is an excellent choice if you want to get into the web freelancing gig.

Demand for WordPress designers and developers keeps growing year on year.

Australian searches for "Web Developer" show 100 monthly results, slightly more in NSW than in other states and territories.

WordPress has a 42.7% market share of all websites and an astonishing 62.5% among sites using a recognised content management system.

WordPress' strengths include flexibility and customisation. Whether you're creating a charity website, an e-commerce store, a membership site, or a small business marketing site, WordPress can do it all.

Here are some tips to help you start as a freelance web professional.

Building Your Freelancing Skillset

Before becoming a WordPress freelancer, you need to know a specific range of skills.

?? Note: You don't need to be proficient in development skills like PHP and JavaScript. With the help of page builders and AI, you can create plenty of sites without dabbling in code. However, I recommend having a basic understanding of both languages.

Core Skills

Whether designer or developer, these are the fundamental skills you'll need to get under your belt:

• WordPress: UI, UX, Blocks, Plugins and Themes
• HTML and CSS
• Communication and project management
• Time management
• Budgeting and pricing

Helpful Skills

It's not 100% necessary, but skilling up in the following areas will put you ahead of most other freelancers.

• JavaScript, PHP and MySQL
• WordPress API hooks and filters
• WordPress REST API
• UI/UX principles
• Design tools like Figma
• SEO and digital marketing
• Proposal and contract writing
• Financial management and invoicing
• Continuous learning

Setting up Your Business

A solid business foundation is critical before taking on clients and projects.

• Register a company or a business in Australia.
• Register for GST if your yearly earnings exceed the $75,000 threshold, which is unlikely if you are just starting.
• Register for a business bank account. You need to keep your personal and business finances separate.? I recommend three bank accounts: 1) Operations, 2) Tax and 3) Profits.
• Purchase your domain name, website and email addresses.? Don't use a Gmail or Outlook account - they are unprofessional.? Get your website set up with a portfolio section. I recommend using Google Workspace for emails and productivity documents.?

Tools and Resources

Here are some essential tools to help you start your WordPress freelancing journey.

• Local WP , offered free by hosting company Flywheel, allows you to work on WordPress websites on your local machine. Using a local machine speeds up design and development.
• Wordify is a hosting company that allows free development sites. Your development website is behind a basic username and password authentication, which is ideal for getting reviews and ongoing client feedback.
• I recommend using a project management tool such as Trello or Asana. As your freelancing business grows, you can use ClickUp or Notion.
• You can use Slack or Discord for real-time comms or email with a good filing structure for communication purposes.
• I've switched from Adobe products to Affinity products.? They are 100% compatible with a one-time fee.
• Get yourself a good-quality ergonomic office chair. Don't skimp on cost. You'll be sitting down for hours at a time!

Networking and Finding Clients

Finding new clients is the hardest part of starting a new freelance business.

Like many others, I started out creating websites for friends and family.? My website portfolio, blogging, SEO?and networking efforts got me three well-paid projects about 18 months after I started the business.

The initial contact was through several Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce networking events, where I met the CEO of a local publishing company and chatted about SEO and digital marketing.?

Remember to consider networking as a critical marketing tool.? Get out there in person and talk to people in your industry and niche.

I also dropped flyers at local businesses and went through the now-defunct Yellow Pages, cold-calling business owners.

I'm not saying you have to do the same, but there are many ways to get your first few clients if you're willing to put in the hard graft.

Fears and Procrastination

Of the many ways you can stumble on your way to success, fears and procrastination are at the top of your list to combat.? Here are some things to be aware of.

Fear of Failure

Starting your own business is scary. I get that.? What if you fail, right?

So what?? What have you lost in reality?? A few hundred dollar-bucks on software and services.??

There may be friends and family who make fun of you or say, "Told you so!".? Ignore that.

Web freelancing is one of the most low-cost, low-risk business models to set up, so if you initially fail - that's OK.??

The key takeaway is that you learn by failing.? We do it all the time.? Get back up on the horse and learn from your mistakes.

Don't let the fear of failure stop you from spinning your wheels at web freelancing.

Fear of Financial Uncertainty

If you're moving to web freelancing as a full-time job, you must carefully plan your finances.??

Income, at least initially, will be very hit-and-miss.? You may get a couple of months where there's no revenue coming in at all, then along comes three clients, and you're working your guts out.

The key here is to keep a lean business.? Look for lifetime deals for services like stock photos, music, fonts, etc.? Try to buy one-time-purchase products like the Affinity suite.

Track your monthly and yearly projected income and expenses using a spreadsheet.? That way, if you have a slow couple of months with no clients biting, you can unsubscribe from services you don't need.

Overwhelm

At the start of your freelancing journey, thinking about everything you need to do can be overwhelming.? When there's too much to do, your brain can fog over, and procrastination kicks in.??

While researching project management software, you suddenly realise you've been watching cat memes on Instagram for two hours.? Yes, that happened to me recently! ??????

As I teach my kid, If there is too much to do and you feel overwhelmed, it's time to break things into smaller chunks.? Keep using this strategy to simplify problems until you get down to a list of easy single tasks, and then start knocking them off individually.

Phew!? ????

This newsletter has been longer than I had initially planned, but I hope it's given you some pointers and help if you're considering starting a WordPress freelance business.

If you're considering entering the world of web freelancing and any of the points I covered in the newsletter relate to you, drop me an email or DM. I'd love to hear about your business idea. ??

Until next time, keep thriving.

Wil.

PS: WordCamp Sydney 2024 (Nov 2-3) tickets are on sale , and speaker submissions are open.