But it would be a tough scenario if you try to make teenagers learn not to waste time in college.

@Josh: This is definitely true. I find having a solid contract that is understood by both parties is best. In a lot of cases you’ll be on such good, casual terms with your clients that it will seem unnecessary, but unless you are doing VERY frequent work with them, I always recommend having a signed contract on file (you can find a good boilerplate example that can be adapted for the project here: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/standard-agreement ).

Thanks for the fast and insightful reply.

I guess in my case it mostly about clearly setting long-term goals and breaking them down into short-term objectives. I’ve found you can get lost pretty easily if you don’t have a map to know where you started and where you’re heading.

I’ll definitely keep an eye on your blog, as I find it keeps my motivation levels in check knowing that someone about my age can do it, and do it very well. Too many teenagers and young adults today take their high school/college years as a vacation from life when they could take advantage of this time and turn it into a successful launchpad of their lives. I think you’ve managed to do it well and show others that the ceiling level is not as low as expected.

Cheers!

When it comes to changing up how things are going, there’s no time like the present!

Striking the balance between freelancing and taking classes can be really tough…I don’t know about you, but my design courses were very involved and took up nearly all of my time.

If you really want to make it work, though, you will. Whether it’s by staying up later, focusing more while you are working (which allows you to get more done in a shorter amount of time), practicing certain skills more frequently so that you are that much faster at them (keyboard shortcuts are a great way to save time) or simply making better use of your time (give up watching TV…that definitely helped me!), you’ll find something that works for you and your situation if you take an hour or so to plan out what you’re going to change and what goals you want to accomplish.

Let me know if you have any particular problems you’re working on and I’ll help where I can. Just keep in mind that it’s not impossible, which means that you can (and should!) achieve exactly what you want to achieve.

I find myself struggling to get the necessary credits to stay in the year, as I’ve been skipping classes while freelancing. I now basically have to work just to pay for the credits on the courses I never attended. Sometimes I want to punch myself in the face…

Is it still a one night stand if we get engaged in Vegas?