Comments on: The high-school freelancer: $30K per year before graduating?

By: Mike Smith

Mike Smith — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:57:38 +0000

No problem. Let me know how it goes.

By: Max Luzuriaga

Max Luzuriaga — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:42:38 +0000

Thanks for the advice! I’ll certainly try to incorporate that particular marketing strategy, and hopefully I’ll get some more results!

By: Mike Smith

Mike Smith — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:21:39 +0000

Hey Max. Thanks for the comment and I’m glad you like the article. A piece of advice would be to not openly talk about your age. If people don’t read your age on your site, and you hold yourself as a professional in email conversations, they won’t even know you’re only 14. This way, they’re more open to work with you, compared to if they knew you were only 14. Being so young is definitely a set back in those types of situations, so if you don’t openly display your age, you might find a bit more luck.

By: Max Luzuriaga

Max Luzuriaga — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:01:56 +0000

Speaking as a 14-year old freelancer, I find this post very encouraging. Although I don’t claim to be some sort of design genius, I really enjoy designing and coding web sites as a freelancer. Lately I’ve been reading up a lot about freelancing and web design in general, and it has gotten me motivated to get out there!
I’m now scouring job boards for possible freelance jobs. So far no luck, but I’m confident that if I keep trying, someone will take a chance on such an inexperienced designer.

By: aShocka

aShocka — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:47:18 +0000

i find this post very encouraging for young designers out there. great job

By: Benjamin "balupton" Lupton

Benjamin "balupton" Lupton — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:52:47 +0000

Hi, This article caught my eye as I actually was a high school freelancer. Started freelancing at the age of 16 in 2006 (however I also started University that year).

From my experience, I feel the Web Development goals are a bit high. For a high school web developer, at least for me I didn’t have the experience or maturity that I did when I started charging $50/hour at 18, or even being able to handle a 50 hours a week work load (I even struggle doing that now! haha). Even handling clients at that age is difficult as the maturity is a big thing, for me I really did only see my way. I was lucky as I had a few middlemen who pulled me under their wings, they handled the clients and I handled the development, building up my skills.

However, at the age of 20, I’ve finally reached my goal of 100/hour however that is a serious amount of dedication and experience. It is possible, but they do need experience first, they just can’t pull $50/hour out of nowhere though.

By: Top 20 personal favorite Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2009 | Guerrilla Freelancing

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:03:34 +0000

[...] The high school freelancer: $30K per year before graduating? [...]

By: Shini

Shini — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:57:12 +0000

I think I spent my highschool years designing a lot of stuff for free just to get good experience and a portfolio.

It’s quite true that nowadays people don’t really trust youth too much with the consistency of work – and I really doubt that you’d get that many clients while taking math classes

But then again you could have a big online presence and have an awesome portfolio, who knows. I think its all about networking and how you get your clients.

By: John "BMFX" Mathews

John "BMFX" Mathews — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:48:35 +0000

Hmmm i am a highschool student been doing development for roughly 3 years… took a year off and now it’s a pain to come back.

Of course your not including taxes and all but yea for any teenager can do it, i am finally starting to set myself up for that kind of work again.

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:25:19 +0000

I really enjoy this website, I am a high school student about to graduate and looking to go in this direction to pay some college!