How to THINK like a developer
John Morris February 4, 2019
What makes a developer truly a developer? I’ll give you my answer in a second. But think about that as you read this… So, I got this email question from Mike: “I’m stuck at a
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Read this before another developer ruins your website
John Morris February 1, 2019
That’s the headline. Of the most effective services sales page I ever ran. In fact, I ran it for years on my site before I whittled down to just one client. It’s easily brought in
Web development isn’t that important
John Morris December 17, 2018
For real. Think about it. When you lay your head down at night and think about all the things you want for your life right before you doze off… yeah… you dream about PHP 8
I’m an uneducated moron
John Morris November 26, 2018
That’d be the conventional wisdom. I only have my H.S. diploma. No college degree. Certainly no fancy-pants Master’s or doctorate. I’m just a lowly web developer building “boring” web sites for equally boring and uneducated
Do developers need a college degree?
John Morris November 19, 2018
“You don’t need college degree to be a web developer because people with advance college degree create libraries so that people without college degree can get a job.” That’s the comment I just got on
How to become a full stack web developer
John Morris November 14, 2018
I don’t hear many developers talk about #4 here. But, it’s so critical. If you start your web development career by picking a language, you’re making it much harder on yourself. And, that’s what #4
How to become a web developer without a degree
John Morris November 9, 2018
It’s 100% possible. In fact, I think degrees are mostly worthless for WEB developers. But, there are three things colleges normally figure out for or dictate to you… that you’ll need to figure out on
How to become a professional developer
John Morris November 6, 2018
I’ve been a developer for over 14 years. And, I’ve worked with developers from all over the world. And, when people ask me “What does it take to be a PRO developer?”… I’ve noticed there
How to learn to code fast
John Morris November 1, 2018
It took my five years to learn PHP. It was my first language and I made a bunch of mistakes. Later, when I decided to learn jQuery, I fixed those mistakes and learned it in
What working with Inc. magazine taught me about freelancing
John Morris October 26, 2018
Wanna sell your freelance services a lot easier? I mean without feeling like a sleezeball? Without needing to read 1000 books and become a sales genius? Quick story… The project I worked on for Inc. Magazine,
Advice from a CodeCanyon success story
John Morris October 25, 2018
I got this from Mikhail: Another example of how simple this can be. Your job is to grind. Mine is to point you in the right direction. In any case, I’ll keep it short, today.
When a freelance client questions what you charge
John Morris October 17, 2018
This is a really good question from Jeenie: Two things: First… and, I know, I know… “that’s what you ALWAYS say”. That’s because it’s true. It goes back to selling on value. The value you
Most freelancers REFUSE to learn this
John Morris October 16, 2018
This is probably the hardest thing to convince freelancers of: It’s such a mindset shift. I think most freelancers, understandably, are a bit desperate when they start out. Hell, I was. I was trying to
NEW course: Beginner’s Guide to Freelance
John Morris October 11, 2018
Just posted a new course. It’s called the Beginner’s Guide to Freelance and it’s teaching you everything I’ve learned from 10+ years of freelancing to help you get started, grow and be your own boss. Here’s what
The bass-ackwards way most people think about making money
John Morris October 9, 2018
I came across this tweet, today: “If I started a shoe brand, understand that I don’t have to be Nike or Adidas. If I profit 65 off 2,000 people every year, I’m at 130,000. And
How to find the GOOD jobs on Upwork
John Morris October 8, 2018
I get this one a lot. It’s the most common refrain from the “Upwork is a SCAAAAAAM!” folks that troll my YouTube channel. But, there’s also some well-meaning folks who just haven’t learned how to
How to get your profile approved on Upwork
John Morris October 5, 2018
When I first started on Upwork, they didn’t do this. At least, not that I remember. But, apparently, it’s becoming more and more of an issue because I’ve been getting asked this a lot more
You’re an idiot, please help!
John Morris October 4, 2018
This is the weirdest s!@# I get: And, this is not unique. I once had this guy stalk me for about a year. He’d send me these 10-page emails where he spent 9 pages telling
Ajax requests with jQuery.post()
John Morris October 3, 2018
This is one of the reasons I still like jQuery. I’m sure all the new frameworks do similar stuff, but things like this are so simple with jQuery. Anyway, jQuery.post() is a shorthand Ajax function.
The fastest way to learn how to code
John Morris October 1, 2018
Taylor just reviewed my latest course on SkillShare: “I’ve been a fan of John’s content on YouTube, but this was the first course of his I’ve taken and I’m really happy I did! I was
CSS transitions
John Morris September 30, 2018
CSS transitions are another simple thing you can do that can add some “spice” to your websites. Take this menu animation, for example: We build this in my latest SkillShare course and it not only
Building a responsive grid with CSS Grid
John Morris September 29, 2018
If you haven’t messed with it, yet… CSS Grid is pretty handy. Take this HTML, for example: <div class=”wrapper”> <div class=”box”>1</div> <div class=”box”>2</div> <div class=”box”>3</div> </div> We can easily create a grid like this: .wrapper
NEW COURSE: Build an AJAX-powered freelance website template
John Morris September 28, 2018
Just released a new project-based course. In this one you’ll learn: How to submit form data using AJAX How to build a responsive grid with CSS Grid How to send a contact email using PHP
I shouldn’t be a developer
John Morris September 27, 2018
My older brother was a programmer. But, I never really was. Back in the 90s, he used to program games for us to play our little Apple computer. I remember one time I watched him
Can I slap these entitled developers?
John Morris September 25, 2018
Got this comment recently: “This peaks my curiosity. Lol….what do you mean really discovered it? On base or in the barracks? Also what type of WAN connectivity did they have in the early 2000s in
Why so many programmers say PHP stinks
John Morris September 24, 2018
I was perusing Quora today and came across this question: “Why do so many programmers say PHP is a bad language?” Of course, that ruffled ol’ Johnny’s jimmies, so I clicked to so see some
How I got 39 Upwork job invites a month step-by-step
John Morris September 22, 2018
I’d been on Upwork about a few months. And, I decided to try this “crazy” thing that ended up being the single most profitable freelancing strategy I’ve discovered. I wound up with 39 job invites
My exact digital marketing strategy
John Morris September 21, 2018
This is what happened when I turned my digital marketing “machine” exclusively toward my courses on SkillShare: I went from 5,000 minutes of watch time in April… To almost 30,000 minutes in August. And, September
Freelancing is SO dumb
John Morris September 20, 2018
“I got, I got, I got, I got Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA Cocaine quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA I got power, poison, pain and joy inside my DNA I
I just sold a script for a Toyota commercial
John Morris September 19, 2018
Came across this on Twitter: I booked this gig using @Upwork btw. This platform has been priceless in my freelance writing career. I’ve been using it for years now. Just passing on a useful tool
Tattoo this on your fookin’ forehead
John Morris September 18, 2018
I got this from Jen on Facebook: This is one of the things that drives my inner grumpy old man to drink. We live in this world where a whole cadre of charlatans well-meaning self-help
She slammed me into a telephone pole
John Morris September 17, 2018
I think about that day a lot. I was 8. My dad was driving my little brother and I to school. It was foggy and we couldn’t see more than five feet in front of
Why would anyone wanna freelance?
John Morris September 15, 2018
Got this from Nick: “If the unemployment rate in the USA is 3.9%, why would you Not Want a regular job especially when it clearly a employees market better than in the Dot Com days.”
What pisses me off about developers
John Morris September 8, 2018
This s!@#: “I really feel blessed now that I have stumbled on to you. I say you and not your YouTube channel or your patreon site. I have been in freelancing for many years. I cannot
Freelancing is a lot of B.S. for pennies
John Morris September 7, 2018
It’s a kind of “tale of two freelancers”. Here’s the first: “Sounds like a lot of bullshit for pennies. There are simply MUCH better ways of making money using the skills you already possess as
I think I’m gonna give up on Upwork
John Morris September 5, 2018
It’s interesting when you talk to people who’ve had success on Upwork… how eerily similar and simple their approach is. A lot simpler than most imagine. This comes from this question I saw on Quora:
My tech job is killing me
John Morris September 4, 2018
About a month ago I got this message from Scott: He wanted to get into web development. And, wanted to know if it was any better. Fast-forward to today and he just sent me this:
What they DON’T tell you about PHP
John Morris August 31, 2018
I got this Facebook comment from Jeremy: But, you won’t hear that from any PHP hater. And, I know… I’m beating this horse to a bloody pulp… But, it’s like I said yesterday: And, people
Here’s what’s new in PHP 7.3
John Morris August 30, 2018
array_key_first and array_key_last, updates to HEREDOC and NOWDOC, trailing commas in function calls, passing by reference to list() and more. You can get the 20+ hours of PHP training for nothing here: https://johnmorrisonline.com/php
Udemy’s blatant discounting
John Morris August 28, 2018
I haven’t done one of these in a long time. But, Udemy has been harassing me about promoting it, so fine. Plus, I know a lot of you secretly always loved these. Anyway, all Udemy
You’re not smart enough to be a developer
John Morris August 27, 2018
This is one of the big fallacies in our industry. For me, it was about six months in. Growing up, I always knew I was pretty smart. School came easy to me. I could always
What the Upwork IPO means for freelancers
John Morris August 25, 2018
Yes, you read that right. Upwork is going public. They quietly filed to do so at the end of July. These IPOs are always a bit tricky. Lots of potential for growth and collapse all
PHP usage statistics are bunk
John Morris August 24, 2018
Blah, blah… traffic… something, something. I guess that’s the strategy. When usage statistics don’t show that PHP “is like totally dying and stuff”, then we jump to whatever other statistic that fits our narrative. Anyway,
PHP isn’t used by REAL websites
John Morris August 23, 2018
I’ve been getting these comments more and more lately: “…let’s just consider that 80% figure, in those stats all websites count the same, so 1 WordPress blog that has not updated in 10 years and
Hiring managers are your enemy
John Morris August 22, 2018
And, you shouldn’t ever forget that. They don’t care about you. Think about it this way. What do you think a hiring manager is more likely to get “in hot water” from the “highers ups”
No, you don’t need a degree to get a tech job
John Morris August 21, 2018
A 5-minute look on Indeed… And, you can find a dozen or more tech jobs… That DON’T require any kind of degree. But, I know, I know… “All the REAL tech jobs require a degree.
Any monkey can learn to code
John Morris August 20, 2018
I first talked about this way back in 2013. In fact, this is exactly what I said: “But, to be honest, I’ve never really talked much about what it REALLY takes to be successful as
Seeking junior developer, 5+ years experience
John Morris August 16, 2018
Wait, what? This comes from a comment I got on YouTube: “Today I saw a job post Jr Front End-Developer 5+ years experience Angular 2. Recruiters make it hard.” To which I replied: “Oh geez.
I suck at web development
John Morris August 15, 2018
Lack of confidence is incredibly common among web developers. But, not many talk about it. As I’ve said, confidence comes from competence… but how do you motivate yourself it put in the work to be
The 1 thing Upwork haters get right
John Morris August 14, 2018
For all their blubbering and sniveling… There IS one thing Upwork haters get right. It’s getting way more competitive. I mentioned this before, but freelancing is exploding. 36% of the U.S. population already freelances. In
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Success Stories
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Tim Covello
75 SEO and website clients now. My income went from sub zero to over 6K just last month. Tracking 10K for next month. Seriously, you changed my life.
Michael Phoenix
By the way, just hit 95K for the year. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve taught me. You’ve changed my life. Thank you!
Stephanie Korski
I started this 3 days ago, following John’s suggestions, and I gained the Upwork Rising Talent badge in less than 2 days. I have a call with my first potential client tomorrow. Thanks, John!
Jithin Veedu
John is the man! I followed his steps and I am flooded with interviews in a week. I got into two Talent clouds. The very next day, I got an invitation from the talent specialists from Upwork and a lot more. I wanna shout out, he is the best in this. Thanks John for helping me out!
Divyendra Singh Jadoun
After viewing John’s course, I made an Upwork account and it got approved the same day. Amazingly, I got my first job the very same day, I couldn’t believe it, I thought maybe I got it by coincidence. Anyways I completed the job and received my first earnings. Then, after two days, I got another job and within a week I got 3 jobs and completed them successfully. All the things he says seem to be minute but have a very great impact on your freelancing career.
Sarah Mui
I’ve been in an existential crisis for the last week about what the heck I’m doing as a business owner. Even though I’ve been a business for about a year, I’m constantly trying to think of how to prune and refine services. This was very personable and enjoyable to watch. Usually, business courses like this are dry and hard to get through…. repeating the same things over and over again. This was a breath of fresh air. THANK YOU.
Waqas Abdul Majeed
I’ve definitely learnt so much in 2.5 hours than I’d learn watching different videos online on Youtube and reading tons of articles on the web. John has a natural way of teaching, where he is passionately diving in the topics and he makes it very easy to grasp — someone who wants you to really start running your business well by learning about the right tools and implement them in your online business. I will definitely share with many of the people I know who have been struggling for so long, I did find my answers and I’m sure will do too.
Scott Plude
I have been following John Morris for several years now. His instruction ranges from beginner to advanced, to CEO-level guidance. I have referred friends and clients to John, and have encouraged my own daughter to pay attention to what he says. All of his teachings create wealth for me (and happiness for my clients!) I can’t speak highly enough about John, his name is well known in my home.
Sukh Plaha
John is a fantastic and patient tutor, who is not just able to share knowledge and communicate it very effectively – but able to support one in applying it. However, I believe that John has a very rare ability to go further than just imparting knowledge and showing one how to apply it. He is able to innately provoke one’s curiosity when explaining and demonstrating concepts, to the extent that one can explore and unravel their own learning journey. Thanks very much John!
Misrab Mohamed
John has been the most important person in my freelance career ever since I started. Without him, I would have taken 10 or 20 years more to reach the position I am at now (Level 2 seller on Fiverr and Top Rated on Upwork).
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Over 7,700 other freelancers have started thriving freelance businesses using the information on this blog. Are you next? Subscribe below to get notified whenever a new article is posted and create your own success story: