» Doug. Someone with your skills should use their own Blog/CMS, I’m sure that would mean something if a potiential client comes by, who actually knows what to look for.

WordPress is far better than anything I’ll ever make. I’d also like to think my clients appreciate that I’m not charging them to reinvent the wheel, but rather to ensure the wheel fits and turns properly.

» I can’t say i really find programming hard, not anymore. Just frustrating, to often i simply throw on a movie when i get bored, (which I’m also about to do now).

I’ll let my nerd flag fly: I’m done working for the night, so it’s time to check out Battlestar Galactica on the TiVo.

» The network is perhaps the most important for those of us who are more or less self-thought, today i couldn’t even imagine actually looking for work. I’ve seen to big a potential in building a network, as well as getting some recognition through my website.

I should clarify my previous comments about self-employment.

A lot of people find working for others preferable to working for themselves. If you have a family or other long-term obligations, or want those things, you’ll probably find working for someone else more secure and manageable. Since I don’t have a wife, kids or any property of consequence, nor do I want those things, I enjoy the freedom that working for myself gives me. Of course, if I fuck it up, I’m the only person who gets hurt; there are no wives to leave me, kids to be taken away or property to be lost.

I don’t begrudge people who work for others. It’s perfectly reasonable to work a job you might not like all that much, or that might not be fulfilling, to support other aspects of your life that mean more. I do feel badly that many people, who need the stability of working a job, must endure stultified work every day. I was close to that point with the newspapers when I left.

» The “bump” for me, will be to learn about taxes, and all the other stuff related to starting a company, i however look forward to that point.

If everyone had to pay quarterly estimated taxes, there wouldn’t be half as much government as there is today. The smartest thing FDR did was invent withholding: Most people never get to see the money they give to the government, so it’s not real to them, but the services and entitlements they get are very real. Those of us who pay quarterly taxes have a much more intimate view of the cost of government.

» Don’t worry to much about not being certificated. It would often mean going through years of studying, often of totally irrelevant topics. If some of you find it hard in the beginning, try getting a ordinary job, and work on your projects in your free-time.

I’m not at all worried. I can’t remember the last time anyone even asked for my academic credentials, and generally speaking, they’re more impressed by what I can do without having had formal training.

I can’t say i really find programming hard, not anymore. Just frustrating, to often i simply throw on a movie when i get bored, (which I’m also about to do now).

The network is perhaps the most important for those of us who are more or less self-thought, today i couldn’t even imagne actually looking for work. I’ve seen to big a potiential in building a network, as well as getting some recognition through my website.

The "bump" for me, will be to learn about taxes, and all the other stuff related to starting a company, i however look forward to that point.

Don’t worry to much about not being certificated. It would often mean going through years of studying, often of totally irrelevant topics. If some of you find it hard in the beginning, try getting a ordinary job, and work on your projects in your free-time.

For many people, just trying to get over the first hump, the basics of how to write programs — syntax, data types, control structures, etc. — is the hard part. You wouldn’t be where you are were it not for understanding at least the basics of how to write a program.

That second hump — systemic awareness, if you will, or a kind of “programming Nirvana” where everything makes total sense and you have complete understanding of what you are doing — is very large. Some people never truly get over it but do manage to have successful programming careers.

I was well into my programming career before I actually understood what I was doing. Today, I’ll learn something new that will give me even more insight into how and why programs work.

Most people learn by trial and error, and for most people, the errors are far more instructive than the successes.

Once again, you can see this in practice on Yahoo! Answers: Lots of answerers can copy and paste from Wikipedia, many can provide sample code blocks they’ve either lifted from the PHP documentation or some other Web site. But very few understand what error messages are actually saying, and fewer still know how to resolve such messages.

Or, as I quoted Dad: What makes someone an expert isn’t so much knowing what to do, but knowing what not to do.

Give it time and keep practicing. You’ll get there.

»I’ve been a skeptic because I am only now turning 19 and I’ve always been told you need a college education for everything. You cannot get jobs, you cannot charge the right prices, and you cannot be hired by anyone in the programming field without some sort of education, and I’ve only had negative experiences trying to get clients to prove that.

When you are starting out, and your social network is too small to be able to recruit customers from within it, you don’t have a reliable track record, except academics. Therefore, a 4-year degree will often help you land a job working for someone, since he now has something he can gauge as a measure of your reliability: Programming State University certifies you know how to program.

»Anytime I commit to freelance jobs, the clients take their work to outsource workers in India.

You’re chasing the wrong kinds of clients, or rather, you’re selling the wrong thing. If your clients are that price sensitive, and you’re not willing / able to compete on price, you can’t get those clients. You need, instead, to play up your strengths: I am here. I speak English well. If something goes wrong, you know where to find me.

For example, offer to coordinate and quality assure the offshore contract work for 10 percent of the contract price. You will make sure the work is performed as specified, you will fix anything that isn’t right, you will handle all the steps including deadlines. There’s a lucrative market in project management.

»About your rate of $70.00 an hour, I think it’s a good price, it’s just hard for me to believe people actually pa it because I have trouble hiring people for a low $20-30 an hour.

Try this experiment: 1. Flush a rag down your Mom’s toilet so it clogs, but don’t tell her about it. 2. Wait for the bathroom to flood with waste. 3. See how hard she works to find a plumber who can come out right now to fix it. 4. Look at the bill presented by that plumber.

Do that, and you’ll understand how to charge for your labor.

Or, let me use another favorite saying of one of my clients: “Good, fast, cheap. Pick two.” In other words, good, cheap labor doesn’t work fast. Good, fast labor isn’t cheap. And fast, cheap labor isn’t good.

» … from all the negative experiences I’ve had so far, I find it hard to believe anyone can make their own home business like yours and make a living off of it when most of the online jobs get outsourced these days.

I am not selling the commodity of programming labor. If I were, I would be in the same pickle you face.

I’m selling that whatever problem you have, I will make it go away. I am selling a relationship with the customer in which his problems are mine, and I treat them as such. I am selling confidence that I will make things better.

I am selling that whatever task I am assigned, that is no longer something my customer need worry about. I am selling competence. I am selling feeling better about bad things. And there is virtually no limit to the amount of money people will pay to have problems disappear and to feel better about things.

Of course, my social network, my drive / attitude and my skills are such that I can sell those things. You can sell them, too, but you need to learn how. Read the Dale Carnegie book and follow its lessons. It will serve you better than any college course you take. (As an added bonus, its techniques are especially effective with women.)

I can’t sell my services to people who aren’t in my social network. So I am constantly working to maintain and build that network. For every hour I spend writing code, I spend 4-5 hours building and tending my network, with participating in Yahoo! Answers and blogging here being part of that time. (So sure, you might think I make $150,000 a year at my hourly rate. But I don’t make anything like that, because most of my time is not billable; most of my time is spent doing unpaid work that ensures I can find and keep paid work.)

Again, what is most important in self-employment is having people respect and like you, especially people who are generally respected and liked by others. Doing that requires tremendous personal effort and a relentlessly positive attitude (and, in all honesty, my personality is such that I find remaining positive with people very taxing).

Yes, you need to deliver what you promise. But that often means selling people things other than what they think they are buying. Yes, if you asked my clients what they were getting, they would respond “code” and “advice.” But I am actually selling them peace of mind, and I constantly focus on that fact and work very hard to do that.

I’ve been a skeptic because I am only now turning 19 and I’ve always been told you need a college education for everything. You cannot get jobs, you cannot charge the right prices, and you cannot be hired by anyone in the programming field without some sort of education, and I’ve only had negative experiences trying to get clients to prove that. Anytime I commit to freelance jobs, the clients take their work to outsource workers in India. Among that, you already have a major in Journalism which says something, and I don’t have anything yet.
About your rate of $70.00 an hour, I think it’s a good price, it’s just hard for me to believe people actually pa it because I have trouble hiring people for a low $20-30 an hour. I’ve only had so many programming jobs so far being 18, but one time I did try charging someone $50.00 an hour and they were furious, although the work I was doing was very long and tedious and was worth at least that much. And I have only been programming four years, but I also have a magnet of a brain for programming concepts. Whenever I read things or see examples, I remember them.

I’m still very new to the world of programming but continue to focus on being successful. From all the negative experiences I’ve had so far, I find it hard to believe anyone can make their own home business like yours and make a living off of it when most of the online jobs get outsourced these days. Thats why I chose to email you and ask about your experience.
Thanks for your response the links to the books. Most people think that starting an actual web design business is a good plan, however, it’s not. I’ve never honestly seen someone start their own online consulting business and it seems like a great idea, as consulting businesses are something to me that seems easier to run and manage compared to a generic web design business. I only like to question things these days to see how people are truly successful and I did not mean if any of my text offended you in any way, which I’m pretty sure it didn’t and you took it seriously. Thanks again.