Running a business vs Freelancing
I think I’ve found out the hard way this past week, that there is indeed a difference to running a business and simply freelancing on your own… Back when I was still employed in January / February this year, the company did all their financial / time budgets on the assumption that an employee would be productive 70% of the time; and back then I laughed at this, since I had always considered myself to be the most productive person I know. But what a humbling experience this past week has been…
The combination of doing client work, working on a new Premium News website & themes (there - the “big secret” is out) and trying to set up an office is lethal when it considers your time… I’ve been caught up doing so much admin for the new office this week (along with the more fun stuff like shopping for furniture), that I’ll be lucky to have gotten 70% productivity. Well, I probably did get that, but only because I’ve been pushing 18 hour work days… 
Fact of the matter is, there’s no two ways about it: as soon as you formalize your freelance activities (i.e. register a company, get an office etc.), you lose productive (freelance) time that you previously had to admin and accounting-related tasks. It’s not like I wasn’t prepared for this, but the timing has been a bit bad for me, as I’ve probably had the busiest two weeks I’ve had all year.
That said, it’s really been an adventure and it does feel as I’ve “grown up” and into a successful (modestly said) entrepeneur running his own business. Even though I’ve done that all year, it now starts to feel “real” (if that makes sense) and it will continue to feel this way, as I intend on working from the office full-time from next week. And as always, I’ll post my thoughts on the matter & my experiences as we go…
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Premium News makes it possible!
If you ever doubted the customisation-capability of any of our Premium News Themes, you need to have a look at the newly launched GoMediaZine website, which is based on our Fresh News template. It’s truly amazing to see some take our generic templates and truly making it their own! Had I not been part of Fresh News’ development, I might not have even recognized that as being based on our designs!
You can see even more great modifications of our themes, on our Showcase page.
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It’s here, It’s empty, but it’s a start…
As you know, I’ve been handling the admin affairs for some new office space (for {radiiate}) and I can now announce that I’m the proud new owner of a lease agreement, some trendy office space and a set of keys…
So here’s some images of the offices. Even though it is empty (for now); I see it is a blank canvas on which I’ll be painting in the next couple of weeks (very expensive paint mind I add). I’m currently really keen on Steelcase’s Movida System Desks, but it’s gonna take about 8 weeks for delivery… I have however ordered myself a (very expensive) Aeron Chair, which is arriving next week!
This means that I’ll be living it large like a bootstrapped startup, with some makeshift desks & furniture until my new stuff arrives. I’ll also most probably start working from the offices as of next week, since I’m still waiting for a telephone line & broadband connection, as I only applied today. Anyway… Just thought I’d share the “Before” images, as you’re gonna love the “After” photies!
More Images:
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Where it all started…
I was just browsing around DeviantArt for some design inspiration, and I came across this layout, which induced a bout of deja-vu on me… The reason is that I recognized the design as one of the earliest blog designs that I ever fell in love with…
Back in September 2006 I first started playing with WordPress and it was this design that was an early trend-setter in my mind. This was obviously before the days that I knew what a CSS design gallery was; and I was obviously very naive in my own design skills back then. I tried to find a screenshot of the very first blog design I ever did, but just the memory thereof scares me…
Thing is, everyone needs to start somewhere and considering I am now charging 40x times more for the same WP work, as when I started out, I’ve had a very successful journey thus far… Working through the archives on my blog, will give you a retrospective view of how Adii has evolved; but the funniest thing for me at this stage is the fact that something that started out as a hobby, has turned into a full-time job, with an office (moving in tomorrow), taxes, monthly bills, employees and the works.
If ever you needed a success story (of kinds) to motivate yourself, this blog is where you can start. From the first day I started blogging (with 10 people visiting my blog a day), I might’ve been useless as a blogger, designer & digital professional; but 18 months down the line, I’m going as strong as ever with almost 8 000 of you accessing my blog daily and enough client job requests that I can be very picky.
Moreover - I’m as happy as I’ve ever been! Just living one day at a time, staying humble and enjoying this amazing ride! Thanks for joining me! It’s been a honour!
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The (Un)Official International WordPress Day
Well, tomorrow has been dubbed the (Un)Official International WordPress Day by the guys over at WPCandy, and the basic idea is that everyone lucky enough to know of WP’s existence and use it on a daily basis, should blog about their passion for the platform. So we’ve agreed to sponsor 4 All-Inclusive Developer’s Packages for our Premium News Themes (valued at $500 each), which will be distributed to the best blogs about WP tomorrow. So join in the fun…
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