How to hire a web designer

/0 Comments/in

Here’s the problem with hiring a web designer.

Most people don’t know what questions to ask and whether or not they are comparing apples to apples, or apples to tomatoes. Because tomatoes are the most confusing fruit ever…RIGHT?!

  • You need to know what they are building it in – WordPress, Shopify, Joomla, Wix, Squarespace?
  • You need to know what the monthly and/or yearly costs are going to be.
  • You need to know what information they are going to provide you with in the project handoff – do you get ALL the logins? Access to your domain? Your hosting?
  • Do they provide maintenance? Or do they deliver and wave goodbye from a safe distance?
  • Where will the site be hosted?
  • What kind of steps do they take for google visibility?
  • Do they explain their process?

It can seem overwhelming…but if you know the questions to ask you can go in knowing what’s what and make the most informed decision on what makes the most sense for your business.

Want a detailed checklist of questions? Here you go, and if you want to run these by me, I’m totally ready. ?

Download Questions

Entrepreneurship 101: Hire out your joy-sucking tasks

/2 Comments/in ,

I can do this myself.

I have no doubt! What’s that saying… “you can do anything you put your mind to”. The question is, SHOULD you do everything you put your mind to?

I used to say if I can do that work myself, WHY would I pay someone? Why would I pay someone to do my bookkeeping? My invoicing? My graphic work? My administrative tasks?

It wasn’t until I reached 50 clients in my books that I was looking after. Fifty. Just me. Invoicing (late), marketing (barely), creating graphics, keeping up with the maintenance. So my job had become doing all the boring, albeit necessary, tasks.

Yuck. All that is is a fast track to burn out and hating your job.

The thing I LOVE about my job is getting to know what a client is all about, why their business is so awesome, and creating a website that reflects that. The thing I loved about my job, I was getting less and less time to do.

It’s hard to come to terms with putting out money when you know (think?) you can do it yourself. But once you start, and see how you’ve not only freed up time, but your ability to fully immerse yourself in the parts of your business that bring you all the joy.

Review your processes. Are there time consuming things you do that someone else, maybe more apt at doing so, could do for you? Are there parts of your process that suck the life right out of you?

Hire a professional. Reap the rewards. In another post I’ll tell you about how finding a Virtual Assistant has been AMAZING for me and the process I used to find my perfect fit.

What task do you absolutely dread in your business?

My site sucks, can you fix it?

/0 Comments/in

Turns out your aunt’s second cousin twice removed didn’t really come through on whipping you up a professional website and you’re already $1,000 in. gulp. Time to cut your losses and get someone to take it and make it the beautiful online presence you envisioned. Surely this wasn’t a complete waste of dollar bills.

Here’s the straight up, no BS answer you’ll get from me – I don’t take over other’s work. It’s not where I’m at in business, and it’s messy. So messy. I used to do it in the early days for business out of desperation for work, but it really is the worst job and doesn’t bring the best results.

This doesn’t mean it’s the end of the website game for you. It’s probably the end of that $1,000 for you, but the lesson is learned, and I will be sure you are confident in the process of working with Unlimited BS and exactly what I will deliver before we move ahead.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, but if you know already this site is going nowhere, shake it off and start fresh. Now you know better, the questions to ask, the proof of work to see via a portfolio, and a contract that displays good faith and commitment to a smooth project that will leave you with the website you can be proud to send your clients, (and potential clients!) to.

Quotes are free. We typically would meet for a quick coffee (30-40 minutes) and review your project. I’ll send you a no obligation quote from there and you’ll always have the opportunity to ask more questions.

It sucks to hand over cash for an unfinished vision. I have done it too and that’s why I will assure you that the trust you place in me will be worth it.

Does this post resonate with you? Feel free to reach out, tell me where things are at with your site, and how I can help.

 

Also, no disrespect to your aunt’s second cousin twice removed.

The lonely entrepreneur

/0 Comments/in ,

When you need help but don’t want anyone to know you need help. Does that sound familiar to you?

Why we struggle with this is really soooo ego eh? When I started my business almost 9 years ago I was so closed off. Had 5,243, 242 questions but didn’t want anyone to know I didn’t know the things I didn’t know. Um…of course I didn’t know all the ins and outs of domains, hosting, moving a site, mobile friendly design, creating backups, and maintenance, I was in civil engineering for 10 years and jumped into this new career!

I wasted a lot of time figuring things out, learning along the way, and getting burned. So much unnecessary struggle to learn it all on my own, and do it all on my own.

Now I have mentors. Mentors in web design. Mentors in business.

I have a successful business with over 50 clients, many of them repeat clients.

I am confident and feel secure in my business decisions.

Entrepreneurship is hard, don’t let anyone tell you any different. But it doesn’t have to be polarizing. Find someone in your industry you trust to bounce things off of. And even if you can’t find that? Find another entrepreneur to connect with on a regular basis. Join a networking group. It provides accountability, motivation and inspiration. You NEED this, especially if your are a solo entrepreneur like me.

Nobody does this alone. Find your people. Drop the ego.

Have you found yours? Shoot me a message, I’d LOVE to know how you found your mentor and what it’s done to help your business.