Newb stops reading WSOs and takes action

by glooft
13 replies
I just wanted to share my first taste of success. I've been buying WSOs on various subjects since last November. Studying and analyzing which direction I should go, what my business card should look like, which auto-responder to use, and all of those other excuses we all use to keep us far away from uncomfortable situations (talking to clients!).

Well, all I needed was a kick in the ass in the form of a financial crisis to get me going. A new car and a car payment to go with it, my wife's freelance income has all but disappeared, health insurance premium increase...

I've been frequenting a pizzeria near my day job and finally worked up the nerve to talk to the owner about his total lack of any web presence. It turns out he has been losing sleep about that and was eager to talk to me about it. We set up a meeting for the following week...well, that meeting happened yesterday afternoon after I got out of work.

He was sitting in the front window of his pizzeria when I walked in. He was waiting for me along with another woman I figured was his wife. I sat down and rather than start talking about his visions for the pizzeria website he starts asking about e-commerce sites. It turns out the woman at the table is starting a women's clothing and accessories business and wants to get the e-commerce site going before she opens her brick and mortar store. She is looking for guidance on that and asks for a ballpark figure to get it going. I don't know much about e-commerce so I just throw out a number...$3,000. She doesn't blink. She gives me her contact information and wants me to email her more detailed information and a timeline.

We then talk a little about the pizza website. Just a basic 3-4 page site. $600. He's cool with that.

Then he brings up his cousin's salon in town and how bad the website is. He asks if I could do that too for $600. I say sure. He says that his cousin does whatever he recommends and its as good as done.

So that's $4,200 in a one hour meeting. Not too bad for my first ever appointment.

HERE IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP!
I've never outsourced anything and I would really like to outsource all of this. Is it standard procedure to find someone to do both design and create the WordPress site? Is there an advantage to using Elance over vWorker or something else?

Is there a WSO that gives me the ins and outs of outsourcing that someone can recommend?

Thanks.
Gary
#action #newb #offline #outsourcing #reading #sales #stops #takes #wsos
  • Profile picture of the author swd123
    Hi Gary - would be happy to give you some of my best outsourcing advice.

    I always get the design and development done separately - have found the quality to be higher almost every time. At the ecommerce budget myself or many number of warriors would be willing to do the website - you want to see portfolio and also get references to make sure those works are real. I always aim for 50% profit, some people use themes (might be worth doing for the $600 sites) but at $3k you want to deliver a great product to get more referrals from. Don't start out with cheap crap!

    Communication is always the biggest problem with outsourcing so again make sure that person is reliable and check references!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bobdarko
    Well done mate ! It's amazing what you can accomplish when you just do it !

    I would go to the Warriors for hire section and look for some highly rated warriors to get the work done.

    Hope this works out for you !
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    • Profile picture of the author rhealy29
      Congratulations on your success!

      One piece of advice though, in the future, be very careful about just throwing out a price on something you aren't sure of. Sometimes it works out, but sometimes it can end up causing you a ton of headache.

      When you sign the contract with that lady, if you're going to stick to your $3000 quote, make sure to lock in exactly what the scope of the project includes for that $3000, in rock solid terms.

      Ecommerce sites can be nice and simple and easy, or they can be massively time consuming depending on what platform you're using, number of products, your experience working with them, etc.

      $3k is a nice chunk of money up until the point you get stuck with 250 hours of work because the client keeps changing their mind or wants the world or expects you to provide ongoing support and maintenance.

      For a professional eCommerce site, $3k is a pittance, so make sure the scope of the project reflects that.

      Cheers
      Ryan
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      • Profile picture of the author glooft
        Originally Posted by rhealy29 View Post

        Congratulations on your success!

        One piece of advice though, in the future, be very careful about just throwing out a price on something you aren't sure of. Sometimes it works out, but sometimes it can end up causing you a ton of headache.

        When you sign the contract with that lady, if you're going to stick to your $3000 quote, make sure to lock in exactly what the scope of the project includes for that $3000, in rock solid terms.

        Ecommerce sites can be nice and simple and easy, or they can be massively time consuming depending on what platform you're using, number of products, your experience working with them, etc.

        $3k is a nice chunk of money up until the point you get stuck with 250 hours of work because the client keeps changing their mind or wants the world or expects you to provide ongoing support and maintenance.

        For a professional eCommerce site, $3k is a pittance, so make sure the scope of the project reflects that.

        Cheers
        Ryan
        Thanks Ryan,

        I fully intend on preventing scope-creep and limiting changes. Do you know where I can find ready-made contracts that contain this sort of info in it?

        Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author Simoshere
    There are a couple of pizza place themes in the WSO section.. just do a search!
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
      Congrats on taking action!

      Yes, watch out for scope creep. Spell out specifically what you are going to do. You may also spell out what you are NOT doing which creates the foundation to sell them some more stuff later and preps them for that.

      For cheap template sites, I would tell them, "hey, I'm giving you a site that is going to look professional but won't cost a lot because I'm setting up a template. We can tweak it a bit but there are limits to what we can do withing the boundaries of the template. If you run this site for a year and realize that you need something bigger / better / more custom, we can talk about that then. Until then, this template is going to be more than adequate for your marketing." What this does is tells them not to expect you to give them the sun and the moon for $600 and if they do want the sun and the moon, there is going to be much higher price tag.

      Template or no template, limit the number of "revisions" to whatever makes sense.
      Signature

      "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -Confucius

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  • Profile picture of the author LinkContractor
    Originally Posted by glooft View Post

    I just wanted to share my first taste of success. I've been buying WSOs on various subjects since last November. Studying and analyzing which direction I should go, what my business card should look like, which auto-responder to use, and all of those other excuses we all use to keep us far away from uncomfortable situations (talking to clients!).

    Well, all I needed was a kick in the ass in the form of a financial crisis to get me going. A new car and a car payment to go with it, my wife's freelance income has all but disappeared, health insurance premium increase...

    I've been frequenting a pizzeria near my day job and finally worked up the nerve to talk to the owner about his total lack of any web presence. It turns out he has been losing sleep about that and was eager to talk to me about it. We set up a meeting for the following week...well, that meeting happened yesterday afternoon after I got out of work.

    He was sitting in the front window of his pizzeria when I walked in. He was waiting for me along with another woman I figured was his wife. I sat down and rather than start talking about his visions for the pizzeria website he starts asking about e-commerce sites. It turns out the woman at the table is starting a women's clothing and accessories business and wants to get the e-commerce site going before she opens her brick and mortar store. She is looking for guidance on that and asks for a ballpark figure to get it going. I don't know much about e-commerce so I just throw out a number...$3,000. She doesn't blink. She gives me her contact information and wants me to email her more detailed information and a timeline.

    We then talk a little about the pizza website. Just a basic 3-4 page site. $600. He's cool with that.

    Then he brings up his cousin's salon in town and how bad the website is. He asks if I could do that too for $600. I say sure. He says that his cousin does whatever he recommends and its as good as done.

    So that's $4,200 in a one hour meeting. Not too bad for my first ever appointment.

    HERE IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP!
    I've never outsourced anything and I would really like to outsource all of this. Is it standard procedure to find someone to do both design and create the WordPress site? Is there an advantage to using Elance over vWorker or something else?

    Is there a WSO that gives me the ins and outs of outsourcing that someone can recommend?

    Thanks.
    Gary
    Buying & Reading WSO's is another form of procrastination. In the beginning, for a complete newbie WSO's are fine but after x months, no more! :-)

    If you wanna do outsourcing, you need an online presence. Website + Top x internet marketing forums. A good example of website would be submitedge... they have huuuuuuge prices... :-) but pfft, authority.

    You can sell your services on the forums & fiverr & other places (elance, gaf etc.).

    You can also do some arbitrage aka find cheap labor and put yourself as an intermediary. More $ / hour this way!
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Lawless
    Great job on really taking action!

    Sometimes it only takes a kick up the backside to get us started. One thing I'm really concerned with is the way you threw a price in there. It's a bit risky. Try to get some idea how much other people are charging for e-commerce services.


    I've found Odesk and elance good to get work outsourced.


    But overall, you did a great job! Keep it up!
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    I love how your post is telling people to stop reading WSO's and then in the same breath you ask for any good recommendations on a WSO that will help you do X.

    Funny stuff but great stuff.

    You know what kicked me into action was also a financial low point years ago. I had spent a long time marketing online and had never made much traction. A big part of that was just because I was comfortable in my current circumstances and didn't NEED to make Internet Marketing work for me.

    As soon as that changed and I was faced with having to go and find another real job I started taking more action and more risks than I had ever taken in all the years I had been online.

    That's exactly when things changed for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author Preeti
    Awesome job..taking action can be fun!!!

    For outsourcing, you can check out the "Warriors For Hire" section. There's plenty of designers out there who will be able to help you out!

    Keep that momentum going!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author pwk2000
    Great post.

    Don't hire anyone till after you get a deposit!
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  • Congratulations! Also, just as several people have already mentioned, do be careful of reining in the scope and expectations of the project. It's SUPER important!!! I've had nightmare clients in the past who are quite specific in wanting 'just a few simple pages' who then become demanding beasts that change their minds every other day and eat up my time and telephone bill...

    Check out the contract templates on the Elance site. They'll become available to you once you join whether you decide to employ a contractor or not. I think they're great and have downloaded and modified (they ALWAYS require modification by the way) quite a few over the years.

    All the best with the future of your business, and once again, congrats!
    Signature
    The-English-Webmistress is really Andrea, who went backpacking the world, accidentally landed in Panama, Central America, and never left. (Beaches! Mountains! Hot latin music! Piña Coladas!) She doesn't miss the London commute AT ALL...
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  • Congratulations! Also, just as several people have already mentioned, do be careful of reining in the scope and expectations of the project. It's SUPER important!!! I've had nightmare clients in the past who are quite specific in wanting 'just a few simple pages' who then become demanding beasts that change their minds every other day and eat up my time and telephone bill...

    Check out the contract templates on the Elance site. They'll become available to you once you join whether you decide to employ a contractor or not. I think they're great and have downloaded and modified (they ALWAYS require modification by the way) quite a few over the years.

    All the best with the future of your business, and once again, congrats!
    Signature
    The-English-Webmistress is really Andrea, who went backpacking the world, accidentally landed in Panama, Central America, and never left. (Beaches! Mountains! Hot latin music! Piña Coladas!) She doesn't miss the London commute AT ALL...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6424425].message }}

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