Interview with Tristan Judd from Able Net Design

01. Feb, 2010 0 Comments

Name: Tristan Judd

Location: Perth, Australia

Freelancing for: 6 years

Accomplishments: Over 6 years, Tristan has worked with dozens of small businesses, and launched several side projects and web applications. He was recently voted 5th best web designer in Australia by TopSEO’s Australia.

How did you get started in Freelancing? How did you land your first customer? What marketing did you do when you were starting out?

Tristan: I remember being at school not knowing what I wanted to do. In one of the computer classes we had to develop a website. Turns out I actually enjoyed it so much that I decided that building websites was what I wanted todo.

So after a few years of studying I was ready to launch my own web design business, Able Net Design.

Marketing was word of mouth, initially. Then came the add in the YellowPages. My business name, Able Net Design although not sounding as cool as some of the other names you hear these days was actually thought up purely for the YellowPages.

I was able to secure first page listings in categories simply by taking advantage of the alphabetical order of the YellowPages. So while other companies had to pay large amounts to get listed higher up I got it for free.

When you started freelancing, what were your goals? Do they differ to what they are now? What conscious decisions did you make to reach your goals?

Tristan: I was working part time in a friends business and I had a goal that I would be able to support myself in 4 months. I learnt very quickly if you really believe you can do something it’s not so difficult to achieve. There were lots of long hours but within three and half months I was able to support myself.

I suppose my goals from then on were to continue to grow. Building web pages and getting as many small businesses online as possible. I felt then and still feel now that many small businesses don’t understand the advantages of having a properly built website.

Back then I was all about building my own solutions. CMS’s weren’t that widely available so I built my own which worked out quite well. Nowadays I would recommend wordpress to my clients that don’t require that much of a customised solution.

I suppose as I mentioned above the conscious decision I made to reach my goals was simple. I couldn’t fail.

What was the most important thing that allowed you to grow your business?

Tristan: It was the mind set I had that. I couldn’t fail. There was no room for error. The other thing is never stop learning. Read all the time, look at other sites and see what they come up with.

What was the biggest stumbling block you encountered, and how can other freelancers avoid/overcome it?

Tristan: The biggest stumbling block, I have had is getting people to pay on time. It’s a really difficult thing which I still have problems with now. One piece of advice would be no matter how close you think you are to a client, stick to your rules. If you charge late fees because they don’t pay on time then charge them. Even if they ring you up to complain about it.

If you could give one piece of advice to freelancers just starting out, what would it be?

Tristan: Find someone you can work well with. I have found that it is easier to build a company when it is more then just one of you.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re doing now?

Tristan: Over the past six months I have turned my attention to building web apps. KaffeeBreak is a small business accounting package which I developed out of frustration using MYOB on a daily basis. It’s going through a redesign at the moment however I successfully run my two companies financials on it with out any problems. http://www.kaffeebreak.com

Another project I am about to release is Trolley. It is an eCommerce wordpress theme. Ready to use out of the box. http://trolley.ablenetdesign.com

Finally I am devoting some of my time to an opensource project. It is a cms/blogging platform which I decided to build just to see what other alternatives can be created. If your interested in helping out I would love to chat with you. http://freshpowder.ablenetdesign.com

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