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Progress in starting a web company

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

spirit

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My aim is to start my own web company, following @Fox's thread here:

GOLD! - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

What I've done so far:

I completed HTML and CSS courses on Udemy and Codecademy.
I learned the fundamentals of JavaScript in a Udemy course.
Created a website for a local client in Wordpress (although I'll be doing HTML sites for my company). I did get paid, but I keep it updated for free.
Completed a copywriting course on Udemy.

My next step:

My next action is to find a business with a poor website. I'll create a better one and offer it to the business for free. No asking, just doing!

Future aims:

I plan on doing a few free websites for businesses. It seems like a lot of blue-collar companies have poor websites. Once I tackle them, I'll do a larger company for free and I'll create my company's online portfolio. After that, I should have enough social proof to start charging.

I will keep this thread updated as I progress!
 
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spirit

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I hope it's cool if I ask questions. Other people here could use this topic as a reference. If you have any questions for me while I work along, I'll help you too.

What do you use for themes?

I'm starting out with free projects. Should I fork out money for a theme at this point? I notice some of the free ones have limiting licenses (can't resell, etc.).
 

AgainstAllOdds

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I'm starting out with free projects. Should I fork out money for a theme at this point? I notice some of the free ones have limiting licenses (can't resell, etc.).

It depends what kind of impact that will have on your portfolio and ability to sell later on.

If you have good rapport with the business owner, then you can even ask them if they want to pay for the theme.

"I'm interested in doing all of this for free, but if you are interested in a particular look, and want to invest in a theme, then I can make your website look even better." Something like that.
 
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spirit

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@Fox has a great guide called "30 Exact Steps to Selling Web Design".

I'm following this guide right now!

I already had the next steps laid out, but this guide is giving me more clarity. I'll post updates here as I follow this guide.
 

spirit

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Big problem, guys.

For those who use paid templates, especially from Themeforest, here are the licenses:


A regular license is $19 but an extended license is $700. Holy crap!

Do I need the extended license to use a theme with a client?
 

gryfny

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Big problem, guys.

For those who use paid templates, especially from Themeforest, here are the licenses:


A regular license is $19 but an extended license is $700. Holy crap!

Do I need the extended license to use a theme with a client?

It's on the link you posted yourself.

Note to freelancers and creative agencies:

You may charge your client for your services to create an end product, even under the Regular License. But you can’t use one of our Standard Licenses on multiple clients or jobs.
 
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spirit

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Thank god.

I was reading this quote: "An Extended License" is required if the end user must pay to use the end product.

Besides using a template for multiple jobs, why would you need the extended license? The quote above seems to contradict things.
 
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JohnForte

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I'll create a better one and offer it to the business for free.

I am going to pick on you but this really is more for everyone that wants to do web development. You may make one sale and get lucky, but you never start a business around this motto.

Think of this way, you mention blue-collar websites, but what is a blue-collar envision, its long hours, long grind and last thing on their mind is their site. So you email them offering to do their website for free, in their mind, they have to sit with you, talk to you thru what they are looking for. Explain their business to you.

That will not work, that will be a negative ROI for them since that time could have better been spent working on their business moving it forward.

Instead, come to them with a small solution to a problem you have identified, and there are a lot in blue-collar businesses. You want to give them confidence that you can go away for 2-3 weeks and you will come back with a thing to free time, bring in money and they didn't need to babysit you to get it.

Think about a landscaping company they probably don't care about their website at all, but maybe bring them a solution to handle online payments and transitional emails so clients know when their payments are due.

See creating a website is awesome but you have to be in the business of solutions. Using that power to create solutions is the business, not creating websites for people.
 

spirit

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I am going to pick on you but this really is more for everyone that wants to do web development. You may make one sale and get lucky, but you never start a business around this motto.

Think of this way, you mention blue-collar websites, but what is a blue-collar envision, its long hours, long grind and last thing on their mind is their site. So you email them offering to do their website for free, in their mind, they have to sit with you, talk to you thru what they are looking for. Explain their business to you.

That will not work, that will be a negative ROI for them since that time could have better been spent working on their business moving it forward.

Instead, come to them with a small solution to a problem you have identified, and there are a lot in blue-collar businesses. You want to give them confidence that you can go away for 2-3 weeks and you will come back with a thing to free time, bring in money and they didn't need to babysit you to get it.

Think about a landscaping company they probably don't care about their website at all, but maybe bring them a solution to handle online payments and transitional emails so clients know when their payments are due.

See creating a website is awesome but you have to be in the business of solutions. Using that power to create solutions is the business, not creating websites for people.

How do I go about doing this? What are my next steps? What do I need to learn?

I've been following @Fox's strategy, but that's mostly creating sites directed at sales (using copywriting, call-to-actions) etc.
 
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Mr Cracker

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How do I go about doing this? What are my next steps? What do I need to learn?

I can chime in with my own experience, I know a thing or 2 from past experience about web dev(can you have future experience? idk). Anyway, I have an old friend that owns a hardware store and is a small manufacturer himself.

They had an online store that was half-done, no, actually it was 1/8 done, the thing couldn't process payments, ask for quotes, images were blurry, in short, it was a mess.

He gives me a call , we sit down, agree on a price to revamp his store, deal closed.

A few days later, I started cold calling and emailing hardware stores that were in a situation where they are big enough to justify the cost of an online store but not huge that they already had one. The result, you ask? 0 conversions. huh?

I took a different approach that worked well, I researched hardware stores that were just the right size, looked into what brand of products they were selling and so on. I then, got a domain, hosting and installed prestashop. Uploaded some relevant products and set the store logo to that of my first prospect and took a screenshot.

Emailed that prospect explaining why now would be a good time to have an online store, considering his actual brick and mortar store is closed and said I was attaching a screenshot of how his online store would look like. Told him to reply back if this is something he would like to discuss any further. Rinse & repeat.

That approach has converted more than me cold calling and asking for an appointment to discuss a matter that would "increase their sales".
 

JohnForte

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How do I go about doing this? What are my next steps?

Find a niche and find a problem that many people in that niche experience. Like the landscaping and online payments. Pitch that to them and how fixing that will increase their sales :smile2: That will be a business you can build on.

Do that 5-10 more times and you can have an awesome business.
 
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spirit

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I do want to get good at coding, it's a skill I'd like to have.

What are some projects I could do for people? I've done courses in HTML, CSS, and some JavaScript. I'd like to actually do something with this knowledge. I could help people out and gain more experience. Then when I get more ideas and see how things work, I could build a really strong business.

What do you guys think about this?
 

Nick perry01

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I hope it's cool if I ask questions. Other people here could use this topic as a reference. If you have any questions for me while I work along, I'll help you too.

What do you use for themes?

I'm starting out with free projects. Should I fork out money for a theme at this point? I notice some of the free ones have limiting licenses (can't resell, etc.).
I justa am going to code websites, not actually learn about the "website-buiding sites, so, I woundnt know.
 

Fox

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I am going to pick on you but this really is more for everyone that wants to do web development. You may make one sale and get lucky, but you never start a business around this motto.

Think of this way, you mention blue-collar websites, but what is a blue-collar envision, its long hours, long grind and last thing on their mind is their site. So you email them offering to do their website for free, in their mind, they have to sit with you, talk to you thru what they are looking for. Explain their business to you.

That will not work, that will be a negative ROI for them since that time could have better been spent working on their business moving it forward.

Instead, come to them with a small solution to a problem you have identified, and there are a lot in blue-collar businesses. You want to give them confidence that you can go away for 2-3 weeks and you will come back with a thing to free time, bring in money and they didn't need to babysit you to get it.

Think about a landscaping company they probably don't care about their website at all, but maybe bring them a solution to handle online payments and transitional emails so clients know when their payments are due.

See creating a website is awesome but you have to be in the business of solutions. Using that power to create solutions is the business, not creating websites for people.

100% on point.

It is never "free". Still lots of time, effort, risk, and focus required from the business owner.

You need to show how working with you is a net positive. You help them in a way that more than cancels out the time spent working with you. It needs to be an easy and valuable choice for them.

"Free" is just a little part to help tip the scales in your favour (when first starting) but the real sale has to be grounded in providing actual value and helping get results.
 
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Fox

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My next step:

My next action is to find a business with a poor website. I'll create a better one and offer it to the business for free. No asking, just doing!

Hey this is a good start but try also make sure there is a real business need/problem you can help with. It is great to see you taking action but it is the "problem solving" part that will help you get paid way faster.


Future aims:

I plan on doing a few free websites for businesses. It seems like a lot of blue-collar companies have poor websites. Once I tackle them, I'll do a larger company for free and I'll create my company's online portfolio. After that, I should have enough social proof to start charging.

I will keep this thread updated as I progress!

Blue collar businesses are my favourite too. Just make sure you build these websites with end results in mind. You want to show you create great websites that help businesses. Try keep an eye on helping with sales, keeping current customers happy, and making everything run as effectively as possible.

Build a website that "does", not just "looks". If you can do this you can very quickly increase your prices.

Best of luck and tag me in again if you need some help/feedback.
 

Soul Slider

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My aim is to start my own web company, following @Fox's thread here:

GOLD! - How to Learn Code, Start a Web Company, $15k+ per month within 9 months

What I've done so far:

I completed HTML and CSS courses on Udemy and Codecademy.
I learned the fundamentals of JavaScript in a Udemy course.
Created a website for a local client in Wordpress (although I'll be doing HTML sites for my company). I did get paid, but I keep it updated for free.
Completed a copywriting course on Udemy.


Hi Spirit thanks for the post really cool to see your progress. As someone considering going down this path I just wanted to ask, how long did it take you to go through the HTML and CSS courses on Udemy and Codecademy and the fundamentals of JavaScript in a Udemy course?
 

spirit

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Whoever is reading this thread, I've changed my strategy. Please read this post (click):


If anyone else wants to do this, read that thread:


MJ's comment (click):


Hi Spirit thanks for the post really cool to see your progress. As someone considering going down this path I just wanted to ask, how long did it take you to go through the HTML and CSS courses on Udemy and Codecademy and the fundamentals of JavaScript in a Udemy course?

Here are the links to the courses I took. They specify how long they take:


Keep in mind, they both include projects. Depending on how long they take you, it'll be more than what they specify.

As for Codecademy, it really depends how fast you learn.

Some other links:

 
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Last edited:

Soul Slider

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Whoever is reading this thread, I've changed my strategy. Please read this post (click):


If anyone else wants to do this, read that thread:


MJ's comment (click):




Here are the links to the courses I took. They specify how long they take:


Keep in mind, they both include projects. Depending on how long they take you, it'll be more than what they specify.

As for Codecademy, it really depends how fast you learn.

Some other links:

Wow thanks so much for the reply!!! :)
 

spirit

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Wow thanks so much for the reply!!! :)

No problem!

I found this code camp too: https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/
I haven't used the camp yet. I know a lot of the material already, but it'll be good to reinforce it.

Once you feel like putting your knowledge into action, I've been using this site for practice and building a portfolio: Frontend Mentor | Front-end coding challenges using a real-life workflow

Right now I'm learning Git and Github, as it is recommended to use version control. I'm also learning how to use Git with Visual Studio Code.
 

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