One thing that is often overlooked is the use of FOSS software when pricing this sort of business up. Cards on the table, I am a card carrying geek and don’t even have a machine with Windows installed in my home. But, looking at the ‘free’ alternatives can save some of the initial capital required, without having to worry about licences.

Software like GIMP (I wish they would rename that), Inkscape and OpenOffice.org will allow you to have nearly professional level tools for very little. OpenOffice I think is a no brainer really – that can save hundreds on an application suit that is not core to your business.

Actually, it would be interesting to know if there are any freelancers/web agencies managing without the expensive licences. Perhaps there is a feature on the ‘free’ alternatives available here.

If you have never used a balanced scorecard it is easy to follow and can keep you in check with the strategy you have defined as “your” business strategy. To use this quick system you must first identify your business strategy, because the balanced scorecard will be needing it to measure how well closely you are following it. Then with your strategy identified the scorecards are constructed with just four criteria of measurement. These four criteria are 1) Customers, 2) Financial, 3)Internal Business Process, and 4) Learning & Growth. Using those four criteria, relate each to your business strategy by identifying objectives, measures, targets, and initiatives relative to each of the four scorecards. Once that task is completed define intervals of time that would allow you to analyze your business model against the “balanced scorecards” to see how effectively you have managed your tasks. It could save certain areas of your business that you simple chose to avoid, for one reason or another. There is no better tool to measure the vision and strategy of a business organization. Thus it was certain worth me mentioning in response of such a relevantly similar topic.

I’m actually currently interested in touching base with people in the Sussex (ideally Brighton) area who are looking at starting out as freelancers – you can contact me via my site.

Just a note where you mention Business Link. In Scotland, you can contact Scottish Enterprise’s Business Gateway http://www.bgateway.com and if you’re under 25, you may also be able to get startup advice, and possibly grants, from the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) http://www.psybt.org.uk

One of our goals in building FreeAgent is that it should really simplify the paperwork and bookkeeping side of things. You can then make decisions about your business (Sole Trader or Ltd Co? VAT registered or not?) based on what the right thing to do is, rather than how much extra paperwork is involved.

Anyway, best of luck with freelancing…

Oh, and I should probably pimp Paul’s blog post on it too http://boagworld.com/design/when-developers-design

Microsoft run a scheme called BizSpark (http://www.microsoft.com/BizSpark/) where as a startup you can gain access to a large chunk of MS software for free (with a very minor cost after 3 years). It may not be for all companies/individuals as there are restrictions (http://www.microsoft.com/BizSpark/Faqs.aspx#Startup-Question2). For example, it is more geared towards people making products/services than web agencies but it may be relevant to some.

It may be that there are other companies or organisations providing similar schemes so it’s always worth a hunt around.