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Lessons Learnt in my Web design business

by mnjuguna
8 replies
I would like to share a few things with warriors on what I have learnt in my web design business so far and what I think may make proper

  1. Dont commoditize yourself: Early on, I wanted to be everything and anything for my clients, So I used to just agree to work on any budget, so as to build portfolio. This Means that I lost some amazing opportunities by being so busy doing some small sites- in the same timeframe I would have done a better paying website. So, Niche thyself and dont just accept any job that comes along
  2. Design is a kind a of a big deal: I guess that is why its called WEB DESIGN. Some clients will provision a very low budget et USD 250, but will then visit your portfolio and demand for a very custom design, which will keep changing, once they consult with their wives, galfriends and neighbours! This design scope creep is real madness which can waste your time, deplete your energy and otherwise make you and your team work beyond the scope. Thus if you are offering custom design, its good to be pricey as this will save you money going forward. Also, remember to price yourself above your competitors. Main lesson, Dont just take any job and make sure you are very strict with SCOPING
  3. No need to reinvent the wheel developing a custom CMS: There are many CMSes out there which would make a good technology fit for your customer requirements. There is no need to reinvent the wheel doing this. We wasted 2 years working on a vanity cms project, which required alot of customizations. We currently use wordpress, pyrocms or drupal for our client sites
  4. Project management skills are king: In my experience, managing a project budget, the requirements, scope and client expecations, the schedule etc is one of the core skills required. In a client company, there will be many stakeholders-marketing, IT etc. You will need to understand the political environment in a client company for you to deliver what they want, otherwise you will end up doing so much for so little, only for the big man to ask for something else in the end
  5. Educated customers are the best: Forget about the undecided customer who has to consult everyone before they say the project is completed. The best are educated customers, especially the ones who already have an existing site and want a redesign
  6. Retainer contracts are better than one off payments:Retainer contracts are way better than one off payments. Cashflow becomes predictable and you are able to add more value to the customer-since it also deepens your relation and interaction. You also get to walk with the customer in their requirements discovery process and get paid, since they pay for your time not only the service. One time contract means you are at big risk, especially if there is scope creep in the project
  7. Outsource as a last option: There are many benefits to outsourcing, but one thing which is not normally mentioned is the time you spend managing the outsourcers! Early on, I experimented with outsourcing the design part of the project, but we had to keep on awaiting feedback, missing deadlines and making it almost impossible for ourselves and the client to know EXACTLY WHEN the design would be completed. I would be glad to hear about successful outsourcing from some warriors here
  8. Addons are good: Hosting is quite a good thing, especially if you are to maintain the client project after launch. You will be able to patch the sites more quickly and more frequently, while getting an additional revenue stream from the client and maintaining relationship over a long time.
  9. Customer service is only as good as the work done: You may have a roughneck developer or designer who detests customer interactions but if he can deliver, then most of the time it does not matter. No need to have account managers who speak very well but have no developers/designers to do what has been agreed
  10. Put developers in front of clients: Projects move alot more quicker when developers interact with clients, than if you put a brickwall
  11. Communications skills are essential: No matter how good a developer/designer is, If he or she cant construct a readable email,DONT HIRE HIM! He will be a pain to work with and he will not deliver what your customers need. More often, work will need to be redone
I am still in the learning process and I am now splitting the company into 3 divisions to focus on different aspects.



Here is my company: digitalvision dot co dot ke


Thanks for reading
#business #design #learnt #lessons #web

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