Long time, no see! Don’t worry, Wage Slave Rebel hasn’t been abandoned. Not by a long shot! In the last month or so, I’ve really been kicking some ass in the way of creating an awesome web design business (called Idea Anarchy — Feel free to ‘Like’ it on Facebook!) and that’s why you haven’t seen me much around these parts. I have probably been more productive and busier in the last few weeks than at any other point in my life and that’s a really great feeling!
Even after having worked for over two years online, the last month has been nothing but an eyeopening crash course in real-world business — taught by the Big Goal Hunter himself — and as such, I’ve been finding out exactly how much I didn’t know about business.
If you want to work online, here are some of the things I’ve learned that, if implemented, will put you miles ahead of your competition!
1. When You Suck Ass, You Suck Ass
Big surprise, right? There are certain things that you aren’t good at and that you probably have no interest in ever getting good at. For me, that was the managerial side of running a business. I’m a geek. I create websites and use WordPress and make pretty designs, but when it comes to keeping clients in order and keeping projects on track I’m hopeless. It’s just not my thing.
When I first gave my Idea Anarchy Web Design idea some serious consideration, I knew something had to be different from how I’d worked in the past. I’d been a freelancer, but I’d never been able to nail down a streamlined process for winning work and juggling multiple projects at the same time. I’d committed to starting web design businesses before so no matter how much I said to myself, “Don’t worry, man! This time you’ll figure it out!” I knew that it wouldn’t be the case. I didn’t figure it out in two years of freelancing and I wasn’t going to figure it out now. I needed help.
This is when I called in the big guns! Mike “The Big Goal Hunter” Roberts. This man manages, inspires and dominates while keeping you on track to do the same and he can tackle literally anything you throw at him. While I knew the technology and had the design skills, Mike had the business sensibilities to put it all together into a solid and profitable service. We started meeting via Skype daily and setting up a plan of attack. Mike set up the schedules of what needed done and when and that left me to do what I was best at — design websites!
Learn to recognize your weaknesses and then do your best to correct them. If you find yourself unable or unwilling to improve, find someone who has skills that complement your own. That’s what a business is, after all!
2. Set the Expectations for the Client
I’ve been pretty vocal in my hatred of freelancing, but from Mike I’ve learned that most of my trouble likely came from not setting up proper expectations for the client. And it’s true. If you don’t spell out exactly what it is you’re offering and exactly what you are being paid for, clients will rape your labor and take a project in ridiculous and never ending directions. No joke. And it’s not that they are terrible people. It’s just our natural inclination as human beings to try and squeeze a bit more out of things.
So as a business owner, from your very first contact with the client you have to let them know who’s boss, so to speak. You let them know exactly what you offer and show them exactly what they can expect at the end. No more, no less, then a little more (just to wow them). To do this for Idea Anarchy, first I wrote out a workflow for acquiring new clients. This consisted of every single step from initial contact to the finished project. Next, I defined exactly what we would be offering and then listed some additional services that would be available. I then listed these services on a Services page and went into a little more detail on a Features page. After reading through these pages, a potential client should know whether or not Idea Anarchy is a good fit for them.
3. Look Forward to Fucking Up
One good thing about the internet is that if something absolutely doesn’t work, change can be implemented easily. And that’s important because there are lots of things that absolutely don’t work. In online business, you have to be willing to embrace a kind of “fuck up and move on” lifestyle if you want anything to work out for you. I think that’s one of the things Tim Ferriss and other lifestyle designers do a poor job of relaying to others. Not only does it take lots of hard work to get anywhere special with a business, but you also have to maintain some measurements of success so you can track what’s working and what isn’t, what’s getting you more pageviews and what isn’t, what’s getting you more clients and what isn’t.
It’s very easy to get frustrated when something isn’t going as well as you thought it would. However, just because it’s not working out today doesn’t mean one little change can’t make it successful tomorrow. It’s important to stay motivated because finding that perfect combination can be a tricky process.
I’m sure I’ll learn even more of the next few weeks as Idea Anarchy really gets rolling and I’ll probably follow up with another post on what else I’ve learned. Until then though, check out Idea Anarchy’s site and also the Facebook page. We’d be happy to have some more “Likers” there.
Also, for those of you interested, we’re offering $200 off on new websites to celebrate our launch. When you contact us for a quote, use the discount code ‘LAUNCHWSR‘!
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- Online Businesses You Can Start Today, Part One – Web Design
- Diary of a Wage Slave Rebel: The Truth About Working For Yourself
- Developing an Online Business in Bursts of Madness
- 10 Absolutely Essential Tools for Aspiring Online Entrepreneurs
Nice, man! I think that this business will do very well for you. Checked out the site and it looks awesome, very clear and concise about what you do. .-= Nate´s last blog ..being a friend =-.
Nice article. It makes some things clearer. Its nice to learn with the experience of others =]
This is great!! You are exactly on the money with these points. I am so very excited to read about lessons learned, advice you may have, and everything else you experience along the way.
It’s great to see this growth, especially as I’m chasing my own online business success.
I know I’ve been putting off clear descriptions of what I do for potential clients on my website for a few months. Partly because I’d rather them buy a digital product, but seeing as I haven’t finished the ones I’m working on…what the heck am I thinking. Zero call to action.
“Like” -ed you up, search IT Arsenal on facebook, we’re 20 away from a 100 fans if you’re inclined! .-= Robert´s last blog ..Helping Benjamin – Installing Google Analytics Traffic Data Directly into the WordPress Dashboard =-.
The first point really resonated with me. I go along with the idea of focusing on your strengths rather than trying to work on weaknesses that will at best become average (all within reason of course, because that can be used as an excuse to avoid certain challenges). So much time and energy and stress can be saved that way.
With my new blog, Part-Time Wage Slave, I applied the same logic. I know my way around HTML and can do basic graphics but it’s not something I enjoy nor find particularly productive. I got a ready-built theme and had someone make a logo for me. Yes, there is usually cost involved in such things but think of the time and stress you are also saving.
The same can be said for so many other things. Find painting a chore? Get a decorator. Delegation isn’t just limited to the workplace
Excellent advice, I’m taking on a sales position for a small web development business and while my clients will be dealt with face to face, I can still see the benefits of these tactics.