Hi there,

I would to ask few questions since you are serious about your artwork and design.

First, I would like to know how do you start your own business especially in a foreign country. It looks like you are doing well.

Second is about the charges. How do you set up your rate?

That is all for now, I’ll ask more later.

- SS

Reply:

Hi there,

What about changing the word “serious” to “passionate”. Better.

Setting up a business
This for me is crucial in a legal sense and also how determine I am doing this. When you have the gut to pay some money just to register to company, that is a good start already. If you don’t have faith in your business, how can you expect it to flourish right?

Charge
Generally, there are two different method that you can use to charge your clients – fixed rate or hourly rate. You can read more about the pricing matters at FreelanceSwitch. Anyway, I prefer to use fixed rate because it is a clean cut price.

Remember, there are things that you must consider while charging your clients. Thus, I have my own pricing policy in which I charge the clients depending on their nature of business/organization, job description and if any long term commitment is available. This is because charity organizations have limited fund to build a website thus having them is already a bonus for you! Well, unless you would like to do a Pro-bono (charity) job.

All the best anyway!

Regards,
Mohd Rafie

I am a person that don’t like to travel in a rush condition. What meant by this is that I prefer to stay at one place for quite some time. Wake up in the morning and have a nice cuppa tea. Perfect holiday getaway perhaps but that is just me. And this summer, I have managed to live a London life.

Photo by realSMILEY

I might not know all the tube stops for Picadilly line like the back of my hand, but I learnt quite a few tricks like how to get a free bus ride and yet to try a free tube ride – not that I have tried. I give you one loop hole:

If you are travelling by bus, stop at Earl’s Court. At the tube station, there is no gate in which you should swipe your card as you enter.

Meaning, it is based on the Underground faith on to you. Find a next stop that does the same. Where? I found one where I live close by – Finsbury Park station. You can go back and forth if you wish.

I made  a conclusion based on my theory, find a work near Earl’s Court and live in Islington (near Finsbury Park Station). Despite that, once you get caught, you will be fined £50. Deductible to £25 if paid in 30 days (please double check). I’m not encouraging you to try, but I found it intriguing myself.

London "Long" Bus

What another? What about if I tell you that the bus with the number 29 is a lucky bus!

So, do you have a “Mighty mouse” rival?

Project Management

I choose BaseCamp for my project management tool. It is an online tool which enable collaboration between me and my clients at any time anywhere. Here are few features that I love to use in BaseCamp:

• To-Do list (Cool because after you put the tick, it will automatically cross over the list)
• Writeboards (I use it to write documentations of the project)
• Message (This allow you to send messages to your clients/contributors regarding the status of the project)
• File upload (Imagine how organized you are when all the files are uploaded here which means no more searching it in your email)
• Milestones (Time tracking/Deadline utility)
• Overview (List of your progress on certain project)

At the moment, I’m working on a website and forum for the UKEC-Graduan Career Fair 2009 organized by the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students, UKEC and they are really happy to work on the project using the BaseCamp. Furthermore, I love when they express how professional I am when working with them. On my part, I would say BaseCamp made it possible for me to be more professional towards all of my clients.

Finance

F is for finance and f is for FreshBooks. I have talked about it before but this time I have upgraded my account so that I can add on more clients for the invoicing/billing purposes. It is perfect for all and I bet they have picked up the right tag line, painless billing. Other than that, I also use it for time tracking and my expanse management. Their marketing coordinator, Rayanne Langdon also replied to me on twitter and told me that I am a rockstar! I would say I never regret signing up for FreshBooks. Try it!

I do not care if I am not a millionaire, because the professional values that I seek is priceless. With money you can buy people but not their trust. For that, I thank you BaseCamp and FreshBooks!