Working as a freelance web designer?

Most of the clients you have will want to be able to change things themselves, without having to get a hold of you to do so. Hence the need for a CMS. If you could find someone looking for just a landing page, or someone with the technical skills required, but are just looking for assets to include themselves in their Wordpress site, you might get some work that way.

I would argue that there are no 'must-have' technical skills to work as a freelancer. It really depends on what people are looking for and what they prioritize. For my first job, I learned Wordpress as I went. Granted, the job was very slow-paced and didn't have a strict deadline.

Treehouse has a ton of courses on Wordpress. If you want to become a freelance designer, I'd suggest starting there:

http://teamtreehouse.com/library/q:wordpress

The Wordpress Codex would be a good place to start: http://teamtreehouse.com/library/the-wordpress-codex

With that said, your knowledge of digital marketing is a huge plus that you can leverage.

I'd also suggest the How To Freelance course: http://teamtreehouse.com/library/how-to-freelance

Hope that helps!

Hey Nikita!

Great question! I think Wesley gave a thorough response, but I'd like to add that you should be working on a personal or portfolio website to hone the skills you're learning here. Definitely take the Wordpress courses (maybe the PHP ones too if you have time), but build up a site on your own to make sure you showcase everything you learn here. Extend the functionality of your apps (adding features to the drawing program for example, or using some impressive jQuery plugins) to show potential clients what you can do.

Also, volunteering your services to local small-businesses and non-profits can get you some much-needed exposure and build your portfolio.

Just some thoughts.