Motivation, Reason & Earnings

[Anthony]

Hey Guys,

Just a post to ask some advice and opinions.

I've been designing websites, forums and graphics for almost 4 years now. Over the years my passions, styles and desires have changed a lot, and not only in what I do for a living. I'm currently a full time student in my second year of business management and general legal principles (dual honours degree).

Over the past few years design has given my life a quality which I hadn't expected....but lately things aren't going so well at all.

I'm losing my love for design, my motivation to get things done and all reason to really be enthused about wanting to do well in this industry. I've come too far to throw it away but I just don't have the push to go further, and this is partly due to my fees...they're just way too low for my experience and the time I spend.

Here's the kicker...if I raise my prices to anything worth raising them to I won't get the business, and I won't make any money. I'm doing worse now than I was comparing my monthly averages to two years ago, which is awful.

What would you do in my shoes?

[khalid]

Designing websites was how I started, and I lost my love for it after about two years.

Word of mouth and feedback from previous clients may allow you to justify your higher costs. Yes there are 14 year old kids charging $40 a design, but you have experience, a solid portfolio and nothing but good feedback...remember that.

I'd recommend you take your business to the next level, perhaps going more professional with business cards and a telephone number?

There are clients out there who will pay more for a better design, it's finding them that's the hard part.

[Anthony]

I have business cards and a telephone number, it's just getting the clients that are worth working with. It's time I started to look offline for work, the only problem at the moment is I'll have to take on the projects that I can handle myself, since I don't have a team and there are barely any worthwhile local programmers worth subcontracting to.

[Tyler]

Hmm.. perhaps you need a vacation or little break from designing/work. Working pretty much non-stop can be draining you without you even knowing it.

I'd also suggest reading people's blogs to get motivated and to get you back into that money-making frame of mind. You have to love or like what you do to be motivated, so maybe money is a driving factor that could help.

I've noticed that recently you've been reading blogs and have been getting into a more optimistic frame of mind again so keep that up.

[kaizan]

There are clients out there who will pay more for a better design.

Yes, yes there are.

But you may need to move from the "design" and now also focus on "development".

[aloksingh]

My advice would be to take a holiday and then come back rejuvenated. Then you can setup some kind of a firm with some fellow designers. I think that web design firms earn more by doing less work.