SSDD Web Design, Why?
Permalink | Tweet This! | | November 4, 2008 by John in Freelancing, Of a Personal Nature, Web Design
As I further formulate and contemplate changes to my “online empire” I’ve been wondering why I bothered to set up SSDD Web Design as a separate endeavor. There are plenty of freelance web designers out there who just do work as themselves without creating a “storefront.” Some of the reasons I’ve come up with are superficial, some are deeper, and some just plain silly.
- I just thought it would be cool. When I came up with the name and the logo, the latter I’m still proud of, I thought it was even cooler.
- I truly had hopes it would go farther and bigger, and that I would need the separation to maintain my sanity. I’ve read countless articles by freelancers who have trouble with work-life balance. I don’t think that’s really a problem for me, in the same sense. Rather it was my life-work balance that was a problem.
- I thought it would lend an air of credibility. I really didn’t want to look like some loser guy in his mom’s basement who is a total flake. Turns out I am a bit of a flake anyway, but I’m doing business out of my spare bedroom. Now I kinda feel like it’s the opposite:
pretending to berepresenting myself as a company seems a little disingenuous compared to just being “John the Web Designer.” - It was an insurance policy of sorts so that if anything went horribly wrong the business would bear the brunt of it and my name would be less tarnished. I didn’t go so far as to form an LLC or anything, or obtain errors and omissions insurance, I was just concerned about my name in the relatively small community of Helena. But if something really did go wrong, no amount of obfuscation would save me. Luckily it’s really hard to have something go that badly in web design if you have your head about you.
- I was afraid. I was afraid of letting people know who I really am by mixing my web portfolio and web design related blog posts with posts about politics, biker stories and anti-religious sentiments. Quite silly, really, because I always linked to my personal site from the business one and it wouldn’t take mad haxxor skillz or a Google master to find out what I’m all about. And what that is runs pretty contrary to the mainstream demographic of Montana. The only way I could be more contrary is if I was gay (does dating a reformed lesbian around the turn of the century count?).
Anyway, one of these days I’ll get around to making the changes I’ve been hinting at. Life conspires to delay that plan, as it so often does.