Re: more startup questions

Howdy Gang,

I love following the threads and always appreciate the input of the 'Old'
crew {grins}

Sherill asks,
<SNIP> Have any of you started and/or run your own design business with only
yourself doing everything? How many clients did/do you have? Did you
contract  out any of the work? </SNIP>

Yeppers, we may recognize this thread :-) It is always worth repeating. The
Wizest man knows his limitations and is able to hire or acquire the
knowledge to achieve his goals. Start out by yourself? Sure U can, NP.
Everybody starts somewhere. Work with your strengths and seek answers to
quests to enhance your strengths and diminish shortcomings.

How many clients? Start with one: yourself. How will U market yourself? What
R your strengths? Do you have access to all the tools needed to sell
yourself? What R your current goals? Have you projected your goal(s) over
any time frames? Basically, once you have sold yourself, you will be able to
market other things.

Build your company as it grows, be cautious of 'booms'. There will have some
overwhelming periods. Hang in there. Develop subcontracting at that point.
Delegate tasks to 'new' partners and/or associates according to their
strengths. Decide if you are wanting to stay at the web design level, get
into e-commerce, develop or purchase cgi scripts, become an ISP, maintain
your network systems .... OR maybe hire someone or rent your systems from
network hosts with their maintenance contracts?

How many clients now? 43 clients at present, starting our second year :-)
Just 1 of us started and now our virtual company has 10 virtual team-members
plus our network host crew of 7 :-) Projected growth rate is 100 clients by
July {bigg grins} Yeppers, it tends to grow exponentially. I fully
anticipate 2k clients before 2k ends {biggest grins}:-)

 Sherill also asks,
<SNIP> What skills would you say are absolutely necessary to be solid in
before one launches a design business? </SNIP>

The main skill needed is the wizdom to hire associates whose strengths are
needed by your company and then to utilize those strengths. Any false
bull-headed pride can easily undo your quest for success. LOL Duhhh, like I
ain't never been bull-headed? ROFL

What are you calling a design business? Web page designing would be the
assumption here I believe. Graphics department - PSP, Adobe Illustrator,
Flash, Shockwave, animation programs and working knowledge, HTML coding -
JAVA, CGI, VB, CC+ knowledge, Marketing - small business administration,
local business licensing and other legal stuff, accounting, Public speaking
and business presentations, working knowledge of nomenclature unique to some
businesses, ..... Getting the idea? Hope so and for any aspiring
WebApprentices thinking Web Design is just the fun and glory of designing
pages - hire a business consultant as your first step :-)

Thanx,

 Wize Old Wizard of DOS
Web Wizard 4 Merkury Consulting at http://www.merkury.com/
personal site at
http://www.geocities.com/wizard_of_dos/returns.html
CL for Y!Geo Heartland/Park/4500-4999
ICQ# 3778189

----- Original Message -----
From: <ShemaXod(at)aol.com>
To: <hwg-business(at)hwg.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2000 11:11 AM
Subject: more startup questions


> Greetings!
>
> Have any of you started and/or run your own design business with only
> yourself doing everything? How many clients did/do you have? Did you
contract
> out any of the work?
>
> What skills would you say are absolutely necessary to be solid in before
one
> launches a design business? I ask this because I had planned to start up
this
> spring but since I'm in the middle of some online classes I'm thinking
maybe
> I should have a better grasp of some things, like CSS and JavaScript. I
think
> about how much time might be involved updating things when I learn a new
> skill.
>
> Or perhaps I should just dive in head first? I've asked my husband and a
few
> others about how do you know when is the right time to start up and they
give
> me that "ruh roh.....what's the right answer here?" look like I asked them
if
> I look fat in these jeans. So do tell it all! (except for the part about
if
> you think I look fat in these jeans)
>
> TIA!
> Sherill

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