A real estate company in the Bay Area contacted me recently asking for some freelance help to spiffy up their website. I'm approaching this opportunity with some trepidation because of previous freelance failures. Not too long ago I agreed to setup a website for a guy's business idea. I spent roughly 2 days working on the project only to be paid $100 for my work. Not a successful or profitable venture. Thank goodness I still had a day job.

So now I know I can do what this company wants but yesterday's failures make me nervous -- once bitten, twice shy. However, you have to learn how to do this business stuff sometime, right? That said, I'm going to approach this company more formally.

Last week I met the potential client on-site for 30 minutes to gather requirements and she asked me to submit a proposal for her to share with her superiors. That sounds simple enough, right? Sure.

One problem: I don't know what a proposal looks like. When the lady asked me to draw up a proposal I didn't want to come off as a complete bozo so rather than asking her "What is a proposal?" I asked "Is there any special format you want for the proposal?" Nice save! Unfortunately I didn't get enough info on how to really write a proposal so I had to find it myself.

A somewhat specific search for "sample project proposal freelance website design" gave me some good results. some good results.

• Graphic Design Proposals Resource
• 11 Tips for Writing a Business Proposal
• How To Write a Winning Proposal for Your Small Business
• A simple example

Raible Designs has a solid article from Jan 2005 on the advantages of becoming a tech contractor and how to get your feet wet in the industry.

It features some insight on saving for retirement with SEP plan, the lifestyle, and various other positives. It also talks about some of the lowpoints of being a lone gun. The comments are also insightful.

Ultimately everybody starts talking (bragging?) about their hourly rates and yearly gross salary potential. I'd rather brag about the 3 months of semi-vacation I had this year.

Link