Starting my own business

Some time ago I decided to take up new challenges and next week I am going freelance and starting my small business. I am leaving my company with which I will keep good relationship and where I met some truly great people. However, I feel it is time for me to continue chasing my dreams.

I have been working for years for different companies and besides my day job I handled multiple freelance projects. It worked for quite some time but it wasn't sustainable in the long term. At one point, the amount of work exceeded my free time and energy and after I nearly burned out I realized it's time to make a change. Luckily, I met some wonderful people and have truly fantastic projects, some of which you could've seen on my dribbble stream. I'm eager to continue working on the current projects and to start a couple of new exciting ones. Most of the future projects will be team work - some of my colleagues designers will work closely with me in various aspects of design process.

My moleskin is full of article ideas which I haven't had time to tackle but I plan to fix this in the near future. After all, I neglected this blog completely for the last 10 months! I will write about UI/interaction design principles and practical things I learned, thoughts on design research & usability testing and observations about being an in-house UX person.

Janko At Warp Speed redesign
One of the goals is to redesign my portfolio

This site will also need some work and the focus will be on my portfolio. Currently it says nothing about design processes and decisions I've taken on projects so I find it more or less useless. Also it lacks most of the recent work. Each project in portfolio will consist of a short case study and sreenshots that will reveal more details.

It will probably be hard, but more important is that it will be fun, and I am determined to do something really good. We'll see how it goes.

More articles in Blog archive or elsewhere

Vukašin 13 Dec 2011 #

Big decision but sounds right, godspeed!

rtur 13 Dec 2011 #

Good luck!

Pablo Lara H 13 Dec 2011 #

Good luck, Janko!

rudy 14 Dec 2011 #

wish you all the best.

Zara 14 Dec 2011 #

A decision to make. I agree it would be fun and great time having your own business. Starting one is good way to success. =)

Diego Couto 14 Dec 2011 #

I really think that we (always) need more entrepreneurs with talent like you, so good luck and success!

Marco 14 Dec 2011 #

in Italy we use to say: "in bocca al lupo!", which is a colorful way to mean "good luck". that's it.

Steffen 14 Dec 2011 #

Best of luck to you Janko. I don't a have a doubt in my mind, that you will be successfull!

Janko 14 Dec 2011 #

Thanks everyone for the good wishes!

Miloš Matić 14 Dec 2011 #

Dave 14 Dec 2011 #

Best of luck with your new business, sir!

Andrew Smart 15 Dec 2011 #

matt 15 Dec 2011 #

way to go janko! best of luck!

Saul Montalvo Perales 15 Dec 2011 #

Te deseamos lo mejor en tus nuevos proyectos Janko =)

WWFWY = We Will FolloW You

Martin 15 Dec 2011 #

Good luck Janko.

Sujal 16 Dec 2011 #

Hi! Yeah it's big decision. Even I'm confused about same decision since past 1year. It's hard to leave current job which pays you good amount of money regular basis compared to running own IT business which doesn't give guarantee about anything. But above all, it's more about passion. Wish you all the best on this.

Pablo Mendoza 16 Dec 2011 #

Nick Yeoman (@NickYeoman) 16 Dec 2011 #

I'd like to share my story to hopefully help/inspire you:

I've been a freelancer for 4 years. My first two years I had trouble making ends meat as I wasn't experienced enough on the business side of things. I also didn't have strategic partners in various fields to help me out when I needed it. So I went back to working for "the man".

The second time I attempted freelancing was when I got layed off in the recession. This time I already had all my partners/contacts in place and had a good understanding of the business side of things (marketing, sales, accounting etc). With those skills I was able to work part time doing freelance work and make double what I did working for "the man".

In my opinion: preparation, taking your time and good networking(other people) is the key to success.

Good luck.

Luufy 17 Dec 2011 #

Hope you can reach your own dreams. Good luck buddy.

Janko 17 Dec 2011 #

Thanks everyone!

Nick, thanks for your thoughts. Factors you mentioned are indeed important, hope everything works well for you!

Raffi 19 Dec 2011 #

Alright Janko! I look forward to reading about your new experience as well =)

Janko 21 Dec 2011 #

Thanks! I will write about this new endeavor definitely!

WebSight Designs 19 Dec 2011 #

I commend you on your decision, Janko! Freelancing can be difficult at times but it's well worth it in my opinion.

Joanna Burgess 22 Dec 2011 #

One, I just love your layout and two I wish you good luck on your new endeavour. As a new business owner myself, I find it fun facing new challenges every day, knowing that at the end of your day, you feel fulfilled. May you have a great time driving more customers on your pipeline!

naved 29 Dec 2011 #

best of luck. i truly believe this will bring great change for you and keep us updated form time to time on your new experiences as you grow up as an independent artist/designer/developer