Last week, a company that I did some freelance work for in the past contacted me. They sent me a copy of a proposal that someone had given them for web design contracting, and basically said to look it over, and make a counter-proposal. I'm not sure how ethical that was, but it was pretty cool, n'est-pas?

Still, I looked over it, and at first, couldn't make heads or tails of it. Later on, I read it again, closer, and could tell that it wasn't as monstrous as I first thought. but whoever wrote that proposal is a professional, and offered many things that I could not. Now, I could easily write a proposal of my own, and just leave out what I can't do, and go from there...after all, those things may not be needed, right? Or, they could take THAT proposal back to the original guy, saying 'we have this, and we like it, care to change yours?'...or whatever.

Now, the more I thought about this, the less I liked it. I do know HTML (hell, was Brainbench certified in it, a couple years ago), and with that knowledge, a little reference materials, and my own graphic skills, I can build a decent website. You wouldn't know it from looking at my site, but that's just due to laziness. So, yes, I may have the basic skills to perform the job...but I'm also not fooling myself here: I'm no web designer. Even if I DID put together a site for someone, it wouldn't be very impressive. So, the question now becomes, do I feel comfortable enough in my meagre abilities to contract myself out to do it professionally.

The answer was a clear and resounding 'NO'. Which is what I told the company today (in softer terms). Now, I know what I feel, and I know what I can and cannot do, and I know that getting myself in over my head professionally would make me snap. So why do I feel so rotten about it?