I closed up shop here last year after getting a “day job” as a cook in a nearby restaurant. Though I enjoyed the work, that job has ended and I’m back, ready to prosper through working from my home. The Internet is a wonderful tool for generating income, and I know that if I put my heart into it, the money will come.

Recently someone living in a foreign country expressed a desire to earn money with her writing skills. I told her:

“Since you live in a foreign country, you could probably make lots of money there by offering your skills with English locally.

I worked as a web designer for several years and got way more job offers than I could handle, and I live in a tiny town of only 1200 people, and most of my jobs were local! Why not start a small business, advertise your skills a bit, and see what comes of it? With my web design, I actually did get content writing and SEO jobs too though that wasn’t specifically what I advertised about.

The jobs are out there. Open the door and don’t be shocked if you’re inundated with requests for your help!”

The last time I posted was July 11. That night a lighting storm traveled through the Klamath National Forest setting off dozens of fires. We had over 1000 lightning strikes and started the next day with about 35 fires.

Many of them are still burning.

One fire was less than a mile from my home. The Little Grider Fire was a mass of bright flames at night, and an angry brown cloud of smoke during the daytime hours. It was on the hill right next to the wooded hill I live on. I thought I would be evacuated, and had to pack all my valuables. My computer was one of the valuable things I wanted to save, so out of the house it went. I sure missed it.

Packing up made me think of backing up important data. Fortunately I had a lot of my great stuff already backed up, and plenty of time to find a safer place for the computer itself. But what if I hadn’t? What if my evacuation had to be done within ten minutes after waking up in the middle of the night? The local deputy kept giving us this possible scenario - I didn’t make it up. What then?

When writing novels, I got into the habit of sending them to myself at my Gmail account. There’s plenty of storage space and Google seems like a very trusty, reliable place to deposit information. There are other options of course, and emailing them to several similar sites might be better. For a while I uploaded all my novels to a Yahoo Briefcase account.

But sites sometimes fail or go out of business - for example, the impending demise of personal Yahoo photo galleries. I recently got a notification to get all my pictures out before they closed the doors forever. That surprised me because I’d completely forgotten I had anything there.

Some sites are created to serve as backup portals. For a while I had the software for using Mozy.Com on my computer here. I never got to use it, however, because I’m on dial-up and you need a better connection to make use of the site. There are other similar online services. A Google search will help you find them.

A lot of people would take umbrage at having all their data on someone else’s site anyhow.

My best solution is an external hard drive. I recently purchased a small 160-gig Maxtor 3200. It was easy to install. In fact, I simply connected the cords, and it installed itself on my computer. I transferred all my web design files there. Now if I have to leave suddenly, I can easily unplug the external hard drive and carry it with me. It stores all my client records, client sites, my personal sites, financial records, and everything else connected with my web design business, plus hundreds of digital photographs and my collection of novels and other things I wrote.

I still think it is best to have all these things backed up elsewhere, stored on a remote site. You could create zip files and upload them to your web design site, or could email them to yourself at Gmail like I’ve done. Or use one of the online backup services.

Another option is to burn vital information to a CD which could be stored in a fireproof safe, in your car, or even in a bank safe deposit box downtown. I find that to be too time consuming, but you might like it best.

This is all to say that if you don’t have a back-up strategy, perhaps you should have one. It could save your business from an information blackout that would be very difficult to recover from.

If you’re serious about owning a web design business, you must do it legally. That means getting a business license. Every state and locality varies on how a business license is obtained, and the costs involved. I’ll bet most places are cheaper than what I’m paying, however.

Keep in mind, I’m in California, a very regulation-controlled state. So your state may not have requirements like what I’m about to describe.

When I started my web design business I had to file a Fictitious Business Name Statement at the county clerk’s office. That cost a mere ten dollars, and I added a second business name for a few dollars more. It got expensive at the next step, however. The Fictitious Business Name Statement had to be published several times in a local newspaper. I checked around and decided to have the county-wide weekly paper publish this for me, and it cost fifty-three dollars.

Total cost so far: $65

Next I had to get a home use permit. Since I was a renter, I had to get my landlady to sign a statement giving her permission, and that had to be notarized. The notary public cost ten dollars, and the home use permit was fifty dollars.

Total cost so far: $125

The final step was to take all my paperwork to the county courthouse where the local county tax collector took my fee - sixty-six dollars for the year. In return I got a nice piece of paper to hang in my office, saying my business is legally licensed in this county.

Total cost so far: $191

Of course the sixty-six dollar fee repeats every year - the others don’t. I prefer the one-time-only fees. I still have a business license because though I’m no longer doing web design for others, I’m earning money through advertising on several sites I own.

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I’ve checked business license fees in many other localities - and never find them to be as much as I’m paying here in Siskiyou County. It is enough to make your blood boil, especially when a huge business like Walmart can operate on the same sixty-six dollar business license fee that I’m having to pay every year.

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Speaking of blood boiling. Imagine how a licensed business owner feels when someone comes into their town advertising to do the same job, when that other person isn’t licensed.

There are lots of people saying they will work as web designers, who aren’t licensed, and I’m here to tell you, it isn’t right, and if you try it, you’re likely to get bad vibes from people who are doing things the legal way. Personally, I don’t make snitch calls to report people like this, but it does upset me and make me angry when someone says he’s a web designer, but doesn’t take the time to set up the business legally. I’m sure web designers in other areas of this country feel the same way.

So if you’re going into business, play fair, and play by the rules. Get your business license so you can hold your head high and earn the respect that a business owner deserves.

There’s a lot of money to be made in doing web site redesigns. If you can convince a business owner that their site is hopelessly out of date, or that the business will make more money on the internet with improvements you can make, plenty of them will take you up on it.

On the other hand, many are content to stay in the past, using an unprofessional site some friend set up for them years ago. So don’t worry about it if you get a ‘no’ the first time you ask. Chances are that if the person has an unprofessional web site design for their business, the business owner has no web savvy and not much understanding of what makes a site look professional. Your job will be to enlighten this person so that he understands that his site design is interfering with the respectability of his business.

Sometimes it helps to have a new design idea at hand when you approach a business owner. If you’re going to talk to the business owner in person about their web site, you might want to draw up a short proposal showing you’re putting time and effort into a vision of what their site could be. Along with that, a binder with printouts of your portfolio of design ideas could be useful. Put each design printout in a clear plastic page protector and let your prospective clients sift through them, imagining what their web site could look like if only they hired a professional designer.

Let the business owners whose web sites you want to redesign see the difference between unprofessional web site work, and what you can do for them. Let your proposal, which you’ll give to them, sit on their desk and gnaw at their subconscious. Many of them will think it over each time they glance at your proposal, and eventually see things your way.

Sales is one of the most important aspects of your work as a web designer. Give plenty of time and thought to this vital activity. Be prepared. Your business will prosper if you make sales presentations organized and appealing.

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This topic came to mind because I just redesigned or designed nine web sites in the past two months - all of them owned by me. (At this time I no longer do web design projects for others.) What a huge job! I’m delighted to say I’m finished with that task and ready to spend more time talking about web design – on this blog.