This blog last year was devoted to me developing and re-skinning the site slowly using the latest web standards and development techniques. This year hopefully the blog will be devoted to me documenting a new career and business.

As I said in my review of 2010 my employment status has changed for the first time since late 1999. After 11 years at LCG working for Five by Five I took redundancy just before christmas without a really good plan for the future. This could be described as a bit foolish given that I now have a family to provide for with the usual burden of a mortgage and some of the most challenging financial times in recent history. Fortunately for me 11 years redundancy payment has eased the urgency for a solid plan and has afforded me with the opportunity to try something new on my own terms.

Since christmas I have slowly eased myself into January with a very rough plan of going it alone. Admittedly I haven’t thrown myself into things tooth and nail as yet given the lack of money urgency, and basically I’ve given myself January to do a few bits and pieces before hopefully kicking on. Whilst I’ve always thought about going it alone I’ve always worried about jumping in given the lack of financial safety net, I’ve also also worried about my own personal motivation levels which haven’t always been high recently. But most of all is the fear of actually having to get the work, I’ve no worries about my being able to deliver as I have very solid development skills, but can I find the work, and will it be in enough quantity and of high enough value to make ends meet in the long-term?

So far I’ve done a bit of reading into starting a business and to be honest I haven’t found a resource which is straightforward and answers some of my basic questions. The business link is a great place to start and has a comprehensive level of information but the sheer amount of information is a little overwhelming and I found myself flitting from one question to another without really getting anywhere. Fortunately I have some good friends who have all been through this themselves already so I’ve found myself leaning on these friends for advice to answers such questions. So here’s my first bit of advice, if you have some friends who have experience, tap into it!

I’ve a list of things to do which whilst isn’t comprehensive certainly gets me started:

• Name the company
• Buy a domain name
• Create a brand (logo)
• Develop a web presence
• Define service list
• Set up as self employed
• Get a business account
• Get some work!

So far I’m not far down the list, I’ve got a name – AB Development – and I’ve bought the domain name but essentially that is it. I’ve got a good idea of my list of services, to start with it will be full service web development, in the future it will hopefully also include iOS development. Stay tuned as I work my way down the list, and in the meantime if you need a freelance web developer, or have a development need for yourself please get in touch.