The last couple of months I have been doing a lot more actual freelance work. Most of it has been smaller stuff so far, mostly static websites—but honestly I have been loving it!

There is something really satisfying about the control you get when you are building a static website. It is simpler. Less complex. You are not fighting a bunch of layers or abstractions—something I’ve been doing for years. You just build the thing. It feels nice.

I do have a couple of bigger WordPress projects lined up for Q1 though, which is exciting. WordPress is still a big part of my life and it always will be. But static sites have reminded me why I got into web development in the first place—which is that I really enjoy creating things. I am even thinking about converting this blog into a static site. Not because I need to, but because it sounds fun.

I’m starting to feel the hope like freelancing, running my own business, might actually turn into a full-time thing. I have income lined up for the first quarter, which is huge. After that, I really do not know what will happen though. I have ideas for getting new clients and I am already trying some of them, but there is still that big question mark. It is not scary, I’m curious to see what Q2 and Q3 end up looking like.

One of the best parts of this shift has been time. I have more of it. My brain actually works again. I am learning constantly.

A lot of that learning has been around design and CSS, and it feels like reconnecting with an older part of myself. Years ago I was a front-end developer, but then I got moved into backend work and slowly I drifted away from the creative side of web development. I let it happen—at the time it seemed practical—but I really missed that part of building websites. In hindsight, I think losing that creative side was a big piece of what led to my burnout honestly.

Now I am learning CSS deeply—not taking shortcuts—I’m not using Tailwind or AI or anything. I’m trying to learn it properly, hoping to really master it one day.

I am also relearning WordPress. Full site editing, block-based themes—all of that. I’m not ready to offer it to clients yet—I want to master it before I do—so for now I am building classic WordPress themes, and that is totally fine. They’re faster to build, simpler to maintain, and harder for clients to break. Most of my clients do not want full control anyway. I’m their guy when they want to make any changes and they don’t want to have to deal with a complicated website.

Eventually I will want to work with clients who want more control over their content and layouts, and I want to offer block-based themes and full site editing. I am just not there yet, and I would rather take the time to really master it first.

A lot of my practice lately has been making “fake” projects. I will have an LLM pretend to be a certain kind of client, then I go through my whole process. Design it, build it—realize I could do it better—start over. I rarely finish these projects, but I learn a lot going through the motions. Honestly, AI has been really helpful for that kind of practice.

Then there is the business side of all this. Contracts. Pricing. Negotiations. Marketing. Outreach. Meetings. …Getting ghosted by clients! All the unglamorous stuff that is actually what prompted me to write this post.

I assumed this stuff would make me miserable. I thought I was trading one kind of burnout for another. And to be fair, I knew the hard work would not just disappear because I switched to freelancing—I knew I had to do this stuff. I’m basically trading a poorly planned project manager for other kinds of hard work.

Some days I spend more time writing contracts and emails than writing code!

But the difference is motivation. I care in a way I never did before at a nine-to-five. I would rather struggle through a contract negotiation over 5 meetings than deal with a bad project manager or ship something I do not believe in—just because someone higher up told me to do it. The stress is still there—but it feels more purpose-driven…

Remember, I’m an introvert. I have worked remotely for years. I never did sales calls and avoided meetings whenever possible. That’s changed. I was always focused on just doing the work. Now I am doing all this new stuff I thought would drain me.

Instead, I found myself actually enjoying it…

I like meeting new people. I like hearing what they are trying to build, their story, and why they care about it. I like helping someone who is nervous about websites feel confident about taking on their project. I like being the person they can ask questions without feeling stupid. I like working through what they actually need instead of what they think they need. Getting the contract right. Figuring out invoicing…

I think I’ve really learned to like this stuff. Sure, it’s boring—but there’s a different energy around it—the hard work is worth it!

I’ve learned too that my way of working with new clients is kind of like being a friend—as corny as that sounds… And that has slowly become how I see my position as a freelancer. I build the website, yes, but more than that I want to be someone who helps like a friend would.  Someone who will be straight with them. I spent months thinking that I needed to be a performance-first developer. But what I’ve learned is that people need that friend you have—who’s really good with websites—to help them out!

For years even my own friends asked me to help with their websites and I always said no because of my nine-to-five. I was burnt out. Too tired.

Now I can finally say yes.

So this is where I am at right now. Building small things—starting to look at building some bigger things—learning a lot. I’m not sure what the rest of the year will look like though…