I have been working with a lot of successful web designers and have found that they all share some common skills. They all have certain habits that make their business successful and make their customers happy.

1. Answering emails withing 24 hours

This is by far the number one ability shared by all successful people online. Answering emails in a timely manner will make you look professional and trustworthy. 24 hours or less whenever possible. If you are on vacation your might bend this.

2. Being able to wear many hats

As a freelancer you’ll are in charge and will often be the one to send invoices, take all the phone calls etc. so you’ll have to be reasonable skilled in things like customer service, accounting(to a point), marketing and a lot more. Get this right and you’re in for a much smoother ride.

3. Have your own projects

Running your own websites will give you a chance at making some money for when the job pool is a bit dry. And you’ll get to know some of the pitfalls that some of your clients might encounter after months of use. This will give you a great place to test things too.

4. Managing time

Managing your time is extremely important if you are a freelancing web designer. Time management can be done in many ways. It might just be a bit of paper with the tasks of the day or complex tracking software. I personally just shifted to clockme.in I also wrote a bit about it here.

5. Never working for pennies

For me this is a big one. Don’t ever lower your rates just because your schedule isn’t filled. And don’t give friend discounts to everybody who knows your grandma or your second cousin. This will make a part of your customers think that this is the rate you are working for and they will tell their friends that.

If you know more habits that will help a freelance web designer successful share them in the comments.