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Is it possible to run a totally outsourced web design business if you know nothing about web design?

by jchoros
30 replies
Alright so here's my story...

I have guys in the Philippines that charge X amount for a web design package I can sell for $2,000-$3,000.

Truth be told I'm a freelance writer who's not getting a ton of work right now so I'm looking for another gig. I struggle with physical mobility so I need to find ways to make money from home.

My guys in Manilla say they can manage the whole thing so I'd pretty much be just a liason relaying what my client wants. Is that realistic though?

I'm thinking maybe I should just find more writing gigs for $10-$20 an article and outsource those. The challenge is I'd need to have high volumes of writing and manage many deadlines and edit requests, so I thought maybe something worth thousands would be better!

Give me your thoughts Warriors. Thanks!
#business #design #outsourced #run #totally #web
  • Profile picture of the author Alast
    Of course it's possible - many people do it and have become successful.

    What you need to do is be the 'middle man' with the providers and the clients, sending requests back and forth.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Sanderson
    Yes it can be done. Very easily too..

    There are a lot just doing that right now, Grab your local telephone directory and pick up the phone and start getting clients!

    Don't just think about it, take that action, action leads to riches
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
    Course you can and loads of folks do it.

    Go for it..

    Kim
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  • Profile picture of the author Lurk
    I wish I had someone who could manage a whole thing of anything for me, so, I could liason. Go for it man you got the source already. JMO
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Michal
    Oh yeah, that's how I run most of my business
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  • Profile picture of the author Adam Humphreys
    Yes it can definitely be done. I know a few people who run their web design and SEO companies that way..
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
    I think you'll find it difficult to gain the confidence of potential clients if you can't show a reasonable level of competence in the subject matter.

    I am not suggesting you can't or shouldn't do this, but it would be worth making an investment in yourself to learn at least the basics of the web design business, if for no other reason than to avoid getting that "deer in the headlights" look when someone asks you if their site will be developed in a LAMP environment, for instance.

    As with any business, there are no real shortcuts to riches. Do your homework/research first. Then take action. There is no reason you can't do this.
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    • Profile picture of the author KerryCee
      It seems viable in a basic sort of way. My concern would be how closely aligned are you with your guy in the Philippines, so that when a client requests changes x, y, z, and a slightly different q, will that be straightforward enough to handle? Maybe. Just make sure you are considering all aspects.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim Franklin
    While technically it is possible, it is far more likely that you will run into a lot of issues mostly because clients tend to change, they see something on another website and then they decide they want that for their website and then you contact your team and they say sure they can do that but it will cost you more.

    Then once it is compete your client changes their minds and instead decides to do something totally different.

    So you see how quickly things can get out of hand.

    The main thing is that unless you have a basic knowledge of how to make things work you will eventually find that problems mount up faster than you can get your team to do the work or change the websites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Thomas Michal
      Originally Posted by Tim Franklin View Post

      While technically it is possible, it is far more likely that you will run into a lot of issues mostly because clients tend to change, they see something on another website and then they decide they want that for their website and then you contact your team and they say sure they can do that but it will cost you more.

      Then once it is compete your client changes their minds and instead decides to do something totally different.

      So you see how quickly things can get out of hand.

      The main thing is that unless you have a basic knowledge of how to make things work you will eventually find that problems mount up faster than you can get your team to do the work or change the websites.

      Do sales people at Ad agencies and software development firms do all the programming after they close the deal?

      Nope, the talent does.

      Do pharmaceutical sales reps create the medicine?

      Nope, the talent does.

      Basically all you're doing is becoming the boss putting together deals and farming out the work to people that have the talent.
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      • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
        Charging $2-3k for work that comes out of the Philippines is going to prove difficult. Their overall quality of work is below graphic design students in the west and it's not even worth comparing them to pro designers from the west.

        I think you'll have more faith in a plan that involves affordable labor closer to home. Post a flyer on a bulletin board at a nearby university or art school that has a graphic design program. Most of the kids enrolled in these programs have been pirating and familiarizing themselves with design software since they were 13. The bottom line is they can deliver higher quality work on day one of school than the Asian outsourcing firms.

        Originally Posted by Thomas Michal View Post

        Do sales people at Ad agencies and software development firms do all the programming after they close the deal?

        Nope, the talent does.

        Do pharmaceutical sales reps create the medicine?

        Nope, the talent does.

        Basically all you're doing is becoming the boss putting together deals and farming out the work to people that have the talent.
        There's a big difference between handing the project to the guys in the room next door and emailing it to people who live in another world.
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  • Profile picture of the author sarah23
    Many people do it and it can be done.
    Go for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Doug9
    If you are selling websites for $2,000-$3,000 you should have enough profit left over so you can pay for help when you get into trouble.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lurk
    theory and practical is interesting. I cant wait to see how this thread is going to turn out. I can assure you most people never did brokering from behind a screen without knowing the subject matter. Sure you can point to people who may not know a subject at a brick and motar, but, those people aren't usually the closers. When you are soliciting someone to buy your service they are going to ask questions. Questions that you'll need to answer, or, you'll lose the sale.
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  • Profile picture of the author Humbee360
    @Thomas Sure talent as you suggest can do things, but the examples you suggested are not the same thing, the OP is one person, yes you can outsource with one person but the examples you gave,

    Ad agencies and software development firms, Pharmaceutical entities, all have one thing in common, money and lots of it, they do not depend on the paying client to product results as the OP is in this instance.

    So comparing a team of talent with the corporate budget is not a suitable comparison and this is true for one reason and one reason alone,.

    The amount of money being paid.

    Corporations can afford to pay much more than an individual so the structure of talent is deeper in this instance.

    It is important to recognize the differences between the individual and the team with lots of money.

    If you were going to compare the two you would need a lot more money as an individual than say a large corporation.

    just saying lets look at the common denominator here and compare a real business model instead of looking at what a corporation with hundreds of employees can do.
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  • Profile picture of the author marquisman
    It sounds in theory a good idea but for it to work you really need a basic level of knowledge when speaking with the clients even if you only ever speak with them once.

    They wont spend money without knowing what they will get in return. And as Jack Gordon said earlier without sufficient knowledge it really will be deer in the headlights time.
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  • Profile picture of the author koocnaed
    There are many people doing this, it's all about how you market yourself to make in successful - the outsourcing is the easy bit!!
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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    How do you talk to a client about what you will do for them if you don't know anything about the job you are selling? They will ask questions and you should know enough to sell the package and answer all questions that come up.

    How long have you known this web design company and have you worked with them before. Do you KNOW they can deliver? Do you know enough about pricing to know when you are getting screwed? Do you know how to set up a spec sheet with the client's specifications and to make sure those specs are met?

    Of course, you can be the middle man, but I don't think that being a middle man who knows nothing about the business he's trying to sell is a good idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    By your own admission you say you, "know nothing about" running a Web design business. I'm assuming you're talking arbitrage. You find clients that will pay say, $500 for a site and you get someone to do it for half. You keep the difference. Nice piece of work. And far easier said than done.

    My question is how are you going to sell it if you know nothing about it? I'm not saying you can't learn but by no means is it going to be as easy as some here are suggesting. If it were, they'd be doing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author raylee1
    once I get my new software product site finalised, this is what ill be doing.
    its creating websites for a certain customer niche.
    my guy is in india who runs a IT company. ive got my contact list ready and I got a spreadsheet done with the ones that don't have a website and those that do but may want updating/changing etc.
    ive kept it local in the north east of England,so its easy to travel to and ive got a list of 600 to contact so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author megalinktraffic
    Hire a person from odesk or elance develop sites and sell it
    on flippa that way you can sell and make profits..
    rueben
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  • Profile picture of the author figuringmoneyout
    I think it's possible, but if you really want to succeed at it you need to know a little bit about web design. To be able to translate what the client actually wants, to make sure the team is hitting the mark, to explain the design to the client, you'll need to know about web design. I'd recommend at least learning the basics and common terms so that you can speak intelligently to both sides about the topic. You don't need to know how to design or build a site but you should understand what goes into it and the basics of web design to be a successful liasion.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Hello,
    This is amazing you already got the source go for it many peoples get success be the "middle man" take the project from your client and sent to your team and when done get the project from your team and send it to your client but you should have some knowledge about it to understanding that what is your clients demand.
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  • Profile picture of the author webmonopoly
    I tried doing this. Had a few clients. Completed a few jobs. But in the end its one hell of a lot of work I wasn't expecting. Some clients become ridiculously picky. After testing the water I decided this wasn't for me and moved on to new things.

    Give it a shot, you will get some jobs that are very smooth and easy to complete, but alsome that are very demanding.
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    • Profile picture of the author louisville1980
      I run a number of my ventures this very way. We talk about niches a great deal in internet marketing and that concept carries over easily to a service driven business such as web design. You do not need to know everything, or for that matter, anything about web design, etc. but it would be in your best interests to focus your business efforts towards an industry that you are familiar with. For example: When I first got into the web design business I had no clue what I was doing, I knew restaurants. So, once I had a group of talented people to do the work, I began pitching my service to restaurants. I knew the business, the short-coming and needs of the industry and it made conversing and selling the service much easier because I was an authority (not on web design but on their industry).

      In addition, have a clear and straightforward process set up including documents explaining what is included in the service(s). You can avoid customers constantly expecting changes and redesigns if you let them know up front what is included in the cost. Also, be prepared to offer add-on services (that you have negotiateed prices upfront with your team) for customers wanting changes outside of the services they purchased.

      Outsourcing web design services takes a lot of leg work in the beginning but once you have a set process it can be very lucerative and easy to maintain.
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    • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
      Originally Posted by webmonopoly View Post

      I tried doing this. Had a few clients. Completed a few jobs. But in the end its one hell of a lot of work I wasn't expecting. Some clients become ridiculously picky. After testing the water I decided this wasn't for me and moved on to new things.

      Give it a shot, you will get some jobs that are very smooth and easy to complete, but alsome that are very demanding.
      ^^^This. Big time. Some clients are ridiculously picky. True. Other clients have NO FREAKIN' IDEA what they want and will ask you for a dozen or more mockups. If you aren't wise, some clients will forget they agreed to pay you and won't pay you. But you'll still have to pay your provider. There are ways to set it all up for max efficiency and minimal problems but make no mistake, it's work and it's no cake walk.
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  • Profile picture of the author SandraLarkin
    Banned
    Yes it is. You need to be 100% up front with what the client will get however so they do not expect the world. Once you set parameters, it is easy to run.
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanLB
    I wouldn't. Or at least I would attempt to familiarize myself with the subject before being comfortable selling it. Additionally, you need more than one source to turn to in case your current outsourcer falls through.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      I can offer some perspective on this.

      In theory, it's possible to set up a one-man shop that outsources when you know nothing about the process. In that case, you'd better really, really, really trust your source not to screw you over by taking advantage of your ignorance.

      As for the guy who made the comparison to ad agencies and software companies, are you kidding me?

      Before I got into the web design and consulting business, I was a design engineer for a small manufacturing company. I spent a lot of hours on the phone with both the sales reps and the end users. Did the best reps (the ones who actually made money) know everything about the business? No, they didn't know anything about setting up a punch press or calibrating the end product by hand. But they damn well knew when something a prospect wanted was doable or not, or they got on the phone and made sure.

      The poster that suggested knowing an industry was as close to the real world as anyone. You can overcome a lack of knowledge of the details of the process by having a serious understanding of what the client needs.

      And it does not sound like the OP has that kind of knowledge. He's at serious risk of getting hosed from either side of the transaction.

      OP, if you really want to find out if this is cut out for you, do as another poster suggested. Get out the Yellow Pages and start lining up prospects, explaining that while you're confined to home and know nothing about the product you're pitching, you'd like them to cut you a company check for $2k-$3k...
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  • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
    I think it's more likely you'll be successful if you at least have a "nodding understanding" of web design (or whatever else you want to get into). We generate really good income now from a variety of services, but we have ourselves performed ALL of those services before we ever started outsourcing.

    Because of that, we can close sales much easier than you could. Not bragging, just stating a fact. But if you are talking with total newbies and have a good sales pitch, you could do it, or outsource that job as well.

    Really, though, even outsourcing requires some level of knowledge beyond just looking at some Odesk worker profiles and hiring based on reviews and ratings.

    So no matter what, you must get your head wrapped around the fundamentals of your business at the very least and then get some experience under your belt to be successful.

    You'll screw up here and there, as we have, but just keep pressing on.
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