Starting up a business

[chazzwick]

Hi guys, its been a while since i posted here. Im the process of starting up a web design company from scratch, and was hoping to get some advice from people who have gone through or are going through this. Princing, invoicing, getting and managing clients, hosting, anything would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Rob MacKay]

Hey :) lets have a look at what you started with first…

Pricing:
Never under price – be confident in your skill, base your rates on an hourly estimate and work to an hourly rate on smaller jobs. Always customise the payment type for the client, don’t be scared off by hourly rates – always use a contract.

invoicing:
keep your records well – I like using Curdbee :)

getting and managing clients:
this is down to you – advertising is ok, cold connections are hard to make though as most people have a designer/developer… the best way to do things is word of mouth, networking and through a strong portfolio with a great personality coming through – check out from the couch to see that kind of thing

hosting:
never host your clients sites, always refer to a host – you could even work with a host but make sure they know that you have nothing to do with the hosting and that they are not to contact you whenever something goes wrong with the hosting lol :) it gets very tiresome sorting out their password AGAIN because they lost it.

[chazzwick]

Thanks very much for you advice, Robski.
just one query – isnt hosting clients’ websites easy money – a guarnateed monthly income? or is it just not worth the hassle?

[Rob MacKay]

yea really – it seems like a good idea to host your clients sites – but its you who gets lumbered with anything that happens, and it does happen. Plus the money isn’t easy, unless you charge them an hourly support rate – you are only really going to get around $5 a month for hosting.

Really really really just a bad idea lol – I’m still suffering with it lol

[Matt]

I was about to write up a long-winded post about why you shouldn’t host clients websites, but instead I’ll just say it:

Your clients are dumb (by dumb I mean they don’t know how everything is working) and you are a great first target for the venting. DON’T HOST CLIENT SITES. At least, unless you can take the anger and respond in a clear headed manner, for which I couldn’t.

@robski:
I actually hosted clients in my own home and I will admit that it did come with a pretty good return rate. I would make around $400 per month average. Though, you’ll have no time for yourself if you worked as hard as I did at it.

[Rob MacKay]

"Matt" wrote:

@robski:
I actually hosted clients in my own home and I will admit that it did come with a pretty good return rate. I would make around $400 per month average. Though, you’ll have no time for yourself if you worked as hard as I did at it.

you must have been charging decent prices for support lol – I didn’t and I still get crap. hahaha

[Matt]

"Robskiwarrior" wrote:

"Matt" wrote:

@robski:
I actually hosted clients in my own home and I will admit that it did come with a pretty good return rate. I would make around $400 per month average. Though, you’ll have no time for yourself if you worked as hard as I did at it.

you must have been charging decent prices for support lol – I didn’t and I still get crap. hahaha

Support was free, hosting + maintenence was $250 per month + $1500 startup fee (yes, over one grand). Divy that up amongst a few clients and you’ll get quite bit off of it. Personal service, plus in house hardware with software written by the owner fully managed by the owner, I thought it was well within reason to charge premium.

[highandwild]

Hi Charles

I am just doing the same as you in setting up a business so I can work when Iike and rest when I need to as I have ME.

Try to get onto some of the Business Link courses as they are free and very good. The Marketing one was very useful and you will normally meet people setting up in business who need a website.

Good luck.

Have you got a standard contract that you use yet?

Justin

[chazzwick]

Hi everyone

thanks again for all your replies

@justin – ive read through business link’s pages about starting a company, which i recommend to anyone wanting to start a business (http://www.businesslink.gov.uk). I didnt realise they had courses, so i will look into that.

I havent written a contract yet, im in the process of writing all the documentation, marketing, web copy etc at the moment. If anyone has any advice about that as well, id love to hear it. and once im finished with all this tedious business, ill be happy to reciprocate

[NateKerra]

If your just starting, and you want to keep a low starting fee. Then have you ever use the term bootstrap? There is high probably that you can do well, http://www.bootstrapbusiness.org the site as shown will help you start your business. Give it a try, the information is free, the worst thing you can do is not try.

[Author]

Posts