Being disgusted instigates change.

[Guest61835]

Alrighty so the Facebook page and the actual website are up.

I filled out the business license and I'm checking with my apartment owner / leasing office before I give the business license to my city and county clerk.
I need to check with them first because sometimes the owners of apartments don't want freelancers working in their apartments.

That's pretty much it.
Also, read a book by Ray DelVecchio called "Create your Freedom."
Good book and short but straight to the point with real juicy and helpful information for someone such as myself.

 

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[Guest61835]

I've run into one big problem.

My apartment owner told me through one of their employees that I can't work a self service business and list the address as my apartment.

The city clerk said I can add the business address as my apartment address and check mark the spot that says no on "Will you have customers come to your residence?"
Also the tax clerk also said that the business address only indicates the place where the files would be kept. Not the actual location....

I'm stuck. Would the lease or an agreement prevent me from doing that? The city clerk said it's not illegal. Soooooo? Ya. That's where I'm at. Trying to speak with the owner but the owner literally is avoiding talking to me about it. It's a pain.

Also, I live in Tennessee ,USA. So the law says I can but if a lease apparently says "no self employment" it MIGHT be okay. Idk what to do about that. It's fun.

 

[Guest61835]

I've run into one big problem.

My apartment owner told me through one of their employees that I can't work a self service business and list the address as my apartment.

The city clerk said I can add the business address as my apartment address and check mark the spot that says no on "Will you have customers come to your residence?"
Also the tax clerk also said that the business address only indicates the place where the files would be kept. Not the actual location....

I'm stuck. Would the lease or an agreement prevent me from doing that? The city clerk said it's not illegal. Soooooo? Ya. That's where I'm at. Trying to speak with the owner but the owner literally is avoiding talking to me about it. It's a pain.

Also, I live in Tennessee ,USA. So the law says I can but if a lease apparently says "no self employment" it MIGHT be okay. Idk what to do about that. It's fun.

I've decided to go ahead and fill the business license out and turn it in.

Pretty much everyone I know is saying I should be fine.

 

[Guest61835]

Now I'm editing the contract and pretty much done with it. Gotta change 1 or 2 more things on it.

I have a client questionaire now.

And I'm currently working on a portfolio page or more along the lines of a showcase page to display examples of what I can do with my Websites. So sample website pages basically.

Once I get that and define my services 100% and match them to what is covered in the contract, I'm launching the business ASAP and turning in my business License.

 

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[Guest61835]

Today and the rest of this weekend I'll be working on sample/example pages for websites that I can create.

Still working on defining my services and what I'm able to do but believe I'm just going to worry more about the actual website creation project and let the project for a client be the determining factor for the specifics on what can be done.

On this "my work" page, I'll just give a simple explanation of what I do and use and then let the sample website pages speak for themselves.

Also, I'm using the elementor plugin. This plugin is GOD SENT.

 

[Guest61835]

Still haven't started the business yet or turned in the business license yet. Literally the only thing I have left to finish is my portfolio page (a page showing sample websites I can make to showcase my abilities), defining my services, and then matching those services to my contract I currently have.

It's been difficult. Not sure what to price my services at or where to start with that. I need an understanding of how much much I should charge for my services.

Services:

1: Website creation and monthly payment to keep it up (no care plan or maintenance included).

After the website is created, it legally belongs to them. Anything they add to it is on them if I give them certain admin abilities to add pictures and such. Costs are seperate if they ask me to update the site personally. Might make updating the site with pictures and posts a seperate 3rd service.

2: Website maintenance. Care plan for maintaining ,updating , and backing up the website I made for them.

Monthly payment to keep maintenance going. If the client doesn't pay me the day of due date, I terminate the maintenance service. Nothing happens to their site. It just isn't maintained by me now. If the site goes down or something happens to it, it's on them. Not me.

In the event they meddle with the website and mess it up, it costs a seperate up front payment for emergency maintenance without the maintenance plan. It saves them money to have maintenance than have none.

That's currently what I got going.

 

[Guest61835]

My business officially starts next Monday. I have my city and county business licenses and an accountant and a lawyer when I need one. Finally, I need to get business insurance. That's it. Anyways. I'm good to go. I have 1 personal project I'm working on to get a website for them and then an actual client on the first day for the business. The personal project will transfer into being a website managed by my business. It'll be fun. The train starts Monday next week. Wish me luck!

 

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[Guest61835]

So I did a personal website project for someone. They liked the website, was going great and was about to transfer them into being a business client and design their website with my business service. Then the personal project client basically messaged me without calling or anything and says someone else is working on their website now.

Ok. So for starters:

1: Having someone else make your website requires the fun complications of contacting that said other person who's making the website, transferring the domain name and the needed access to that said person of the hosting account to set it all up on the back end.

2: Magically coming out of the blue with absolutely zero notice and stating this gives me two options since I have no contracts with the person except verbal agreements: I can either sell the domain after confirming they don't need the domain name, or hand it over if the person does need the website domain name.

So what should I do about this?

It's pretty much an unexpected major change from client conversion into them just....saying "No business will be done with you anymore."

What are my options?

 

[Guest61835]

Update.

The business has made zero dollars.

Pretty much I need to work on my marketing and target a more higher value market instead of small businesses needing websites. Also need to reposition myself on what market I need to Target because smaller businesses that make less than 100,000 a year pay close to nothing. Moderate sized businesses I've heard pay more handsomely for websites. Such as a business that makes 1 million a year at least. So I'm in a particularly difficult spot.

Should I continue making websites for small businesses and get paid almost nothing for the experience or go ahead and raise the stakes with working on websites for businesses that make millions and such? That's where I'm at. Absolutely and infuriatingly stuck.

 

[jpn]

Kudos for getting started and working on something.

You've spent a fair bit of time and energy on things that don't matter, insurance? Licenses? Pricing plans? And now you're without paid projects. The only thing that you should be doing to get this business off the ground is talking to potential clients.

You do not need to work on marketing. You find the people you want to sell to, meet with them, figure out what they need, what they care about. And give it to them. And later you figure out how to market to them.

I've only read the last few posts, so maybe you have covered these points before.

 

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[JohnForte]

Sounds like you need to work on your selling. If you want to sell a website for $5000 you have to prove to the small business that they will make $10,000 or more from the website build. You have to talk about why this will capture leads.

I usually upsell it with some facebook ads to prove it does the job it is intended to do. Which for a small business which would be to passive lead capture.

It sounds like your really close!

 

[Guest61835]

So I'm going to be FLAT OUT honest.
Here it is.
My web design business has literally gained zero customers. I'm on the verge of disbanding it entirely and giving up. I can't get 1 customer to buy my services at all. I've made $0.00. I've done everything I can. It's been over 2 and a half months. Nothing. People don't want to pay for a website or they change their mind at the last minute before signing a contract. Obviously I'm doing something entirely wrong.
I am very polite, confident in my communication, very helpful and give great insight on the benefit and results that will be created from having a website. But I cannot even get a leg up to stand on with 1 single customer. The number 1 reason I get with people is that they don't want to put any time into describing what they need on their website and want me to be a robot and magically know what they want. It's either time to quit or time to work even harder than before. This is where I'm at. 2 years almost of working my a$$ off to get this all running and then boom. Basically negative gains at this point.

 

[JohnForte]

Curious how are you qualifying your leads? Sounds like you aren't getting quality leads.

 

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[Guest61835]

Curious how are you qualifying your leads? Sounds like you aren't getting quality leads.

First I cold call. Then I ask a few basic questions as such for example.

How important is a website for you? Why do you need a website? When do you want a website? Do you want a website or something else? First I ask those questions. I was giving questionnaires but people do not want to fill them out. I offer to fill it out for them but they expect me to know exactly what they want without really getting any details. It usually goes like this:

"I want you to put all this stuff on my website and I want it to be automated majority wise with basically almost zero intervention and me having to make no interaction ever again after this call ."

Then I explain to them what needs to be done to qualify. I get them a free quote if any information was given during the cold call or possible meeting. With the quote comes choices for what they want to pay for what service.

Then usually the prices isn't what pushes the customer away, it's their time. Even if it's 5 minutes of their time. They don't want to sacrifice it at all and would rather do it themselves or have someone else do it all for FREE. So ya. That's what I got. Message me for more specific details.

 

[JohnForte]

Then usually the prices isn't what pushes the customer away, it's their time. Even if it's 5 minutes of their time. They don't want to sacrifice it at all and would rather do it themselves or have someone else do it all for FREE. So ya. That's what I got. Message me for more specific details.

I feel like your problem is more of not creating perceived value for the client. When I am reaching out to a client, I have a few things that in mind that I want to give them. I want them to know that spending 5 minutes is going to yield some ROI for them. You also want them to feel as if they spend $1000 with you they stand to make $10,000 over a lifetime of the work you provide.

I would suggest trying to figure out the business around the place you are trying to build a website for., then use that knowledge to sell the website. IE: for a pizza shop, sell them a design that they can market on facebook ads for a super bowl deal. Cause the super bowl is once of the largest pizza delivery days.

 

[Real Deal Denver]

I feel like your problem is more of not creating perceived value for the client. When I am reaching out to a client, I have a few things that in mind that I want to give them. I want them to know that spending 5 minutes is going to yield some ROI for them.

Exactly. What are you selling?

You're selling an image. It's a website, but it could just as easily be a business card or a logo. They are all JUST IMAGES. What is it going to DO for them?

Instead of selling a website, sell a marketing system that INCLUDES a website.

Every business owner is interested in making more money. Nobody needs a new logo, or a tag line, or a fancy letterhead - or even a website.

They need more customers.

There's your path.

 

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[Guest61835]

I am officially dissolving my business. Mission failed. Maybe once I've saved a few tens of thousands of dollars or what ever amount of money I've gained to help sustain me and my wife for sometime, I'll possible start a business again. But as of now. My business is done. I simple give up and cannot handle all the responsibility, time consumption, and focus to do it. Didn't make a single penny. And I'm left feeling stuck in the slow lane now forever.

 

[AllenCrawley]

Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently?