I don't know if it's obvious from my postings, but I truly love my job and I feel extremely blessed to do what I do for a living. I am always trying to impress upon my daughter (who is now in college), how important it is to enjoy what you do for a living, no matter what that is. And I truly enjoy the creative side of web design and programming. Every time I put a new web site up on the Internet, I get a "natural high" knowing that thousands of other people see my work regularly and I'm helping others to do business. It may sound kind of silly or "idealistic", but I would really love to have everyone feel the way I do.
I also don't feel like I need to "dominate the world". I can't provide everyone with what they need, nor do I even want to try. And I know from personal experience how difficult it is, not only to run a business, but to run a "web design business". It's the perfect "home business" and a lot of people feel it's the perfect business to "break into" and get out of their existing jobs. I wish them all well and I hope if they find their way here, my posts help them to find ideas for getting work.
WebGeek, the name of my company, is actually the fourth business that I've owned. My first was a software publishing company a friend and I started in high school and sold when we graduated. My second was a lawn care business a couple of friends and I started in college to avoid real work. And my third was a computer hardware store and consulting business after I graduated from college and was disillusioned from working for Symantec and Apple.
I feel as though all three of my previous businesses were successful, but they were a lot "easier" to keep going. For the most part, all three were just "sales". I sold a tangible product people could see/taste/hear, whether it was a software program, cutting their lawn, or a computer. But the web design business is a wholly different animal. You're selling "yourself", which is a lot harder of a product to sell.
Clients get custom web sites only after you've "sold yourself" to them. They don't sign a contract or give you a payment until they're ready to do business with "YOU". More specifically, they are buying "your vision" and "your opinion" of their business, because that is what's going to be on the web. Your view of their business translated into a web site. Sure they have final approval and they help you with suggestions along the way, but if they were capable of doing the whole thing themselves, they wouldn't need you to do it for them. So a bit of "you" comes out into their web site.
"I" am the hardest product I have ever had to sell. And I'm always stumbling and fumbling along as I go. It's the hardest part of the business... Marketing.
Thus my original post...
My goal is to find other people in the business who want to share their marketing efforts with me, just as I want to share mine with them. Not just marketing "ideas", but actual marketing materials. Copies of letters, flyers, brochures, etc. that I have created for my business that may help you in your business. And in return copies of your letters, flyers, etc. for me to edit and use to help my business.
Quite frankly, I should just hire a marketing company who specializes in advertising materials, but they actually cost more than I do. <grin> I have a daughter who wants to be a doctor and is in her first year at a VERY expensive university. Not to mention that she's my only child and I spoil her shamelessly. So I have no budget for a marketing company.
I have looked at various "guilds" for web masters, but while they all have very helpful people with lots of great advice, none have downloadable letters and brochures I can customize for my own use. Probably because while people love to give "advice", giving away a brochure that someone else can use against you is probably pretty scary. What is that "great" letter you wrote gets into the hands of your competition across town and they use it themselves?
So I'm not really sure how to do this. I have a friend from college that runs a web development business on the other coast. He and I often share marketing materials and ideas with each other, but we're not competing against each other (most of the time <grin>). I'd almost call it a "loose coop" which is what I'm probably trying to create here.
I need some help fleshing this idea out so that everyone one involved is at least "mostly happy". What I don't want is some kind of organization which imposes "rules" or "values", just a mostly informal group who simply help each other out.
Does this make any sense?
--Dave
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