A web designer's way to start a business

1999, I made the first profitable website in my life, this site is for import and export business to make a flat file database, after I got 900 dollars income, I was in the heart of the joy of making money filled ... After that, I made a website for cookies in Michigan, earning 500 dollars. When making this website, I was a senior three, this money to that time I, undoubtedly is "a huge sum of money", let me taste the success of sweetness. So I and high school students decided to form a Web design team, specifically for the university student service, in the money, while not affecting our learning. After years of hard work, I finally turned the group into a profitable project and sold it last year. When I have done this, everyone has come to ask me, how can I be as successful as you? (actually just want to ask how to make money ...) I tried to talk to him for a long time, dry mouth, the result is still not understand. So today I decided to write my experience as an article for everyone to read many times, like don't forget to praise yo ~

Here are some of my personal experiences:

The biggest problem of the first time to start a business

In the first venture, I encountered one of the biggest problems: project loans are difficult to apply. Since we don't have enough customers and no big pay, the banks are unwilling to lend us the money. In 2007, I was hit by a brutal blow. At that time I had only 3 dollars in my account and 5000 U.S. dollars in credit card balances, the rent has been in arrears for two months, and one months has not paid employees. To add insult to the burden, I already owe the IRS 135000 dollars ... That period of time was really a dog, then I reflect on a moment, I found that the reason for the company's poor operation is that I am too concerned about technology, forget management.

I love Web design, like innovation, always addicted to technical books can not extricate themselves. Extremes meet, in this lesson I finally understand this truth.

Turning point

Like all inspirational stories, at the last moment, I turned the tide and overcame the business crisis. Now, my job is to help web designers build their business successfully on Ugurus. Here, I would like to ask you a very simple question: when do you suffer the most? I've collected a lot of answers on the internet and summed it up to two questions:

I need a customer.

Not getting enough money.

For these two problems, we can not use technology to solve, you assume that if you can build a website, or you will not but you can find the people, then the solution to these two problems at this time is: learn how to operate and manage, you have to pay attention to the following issues:

Sales

Marketing

Operation

Customer

Money

Through my business crisis, I have learned to prioritize these "soft skills", which are more important than technology when executing a project. But when I reviewed our priorities, I found that the top priority was still technology.

For example, when you browse a Web design blog, you have the feeling that you are "playing", because their content has nothing to do with the design of the web, it is completely trickery. I picked up the latest 50 articles from 5 blogs, and I counted the business-related posts, and the results are as follows:

tr>

the number and percent of business-related posts out of Posts
0	0%
sitepoint	6%
speckyboy	6%*
4	8%
6	12%

* These articles are free to contribute, some professional writers, the key words are related to business.

In these articles, I have found the problem that in the operation of a project, we seem to devote too much effort to technical aspects. We are always naïve to think that if I have more time to see a design exhibition, or learn a new Web programming language, our level improved, the business will naturally be able to higher. For this idea, I would like to borrow a very popular words to answer you: the ideal is plump, the reality is bone feeling. These articles, like spiritual food, can provide spiritual help but do not actually fill the belly, can not change your life. They cannot provide the most valuable information when you are in the most difficult times, and there is no way for you to find more users to make more money.

　　Ask for help

My mentor gave me some help when I first failed, although in the process my progress was slow, but from their very valuable advice, my project regained its vitality.

After this, our project is like drinking Red Bull, all the way red, strong power, I instantly feel that the world is bright! Eventually, I joined a accelerator and asked them to help me manage.

This is my experience, and my life has changed completely, and in the process, I have found a very valuable time planning method, namely the Covey ' s Time Management Matrix (Covey), or the basic four-quadrant priority.

Source: sidsavara.com

Look at this figure, is not it dawned? But the final thing I learned from accelerator is not this, but squeezing the time quadrant, a field I've never studied before, in this quadrant, I'm often in the 1, 3, and 4 quadrants, which often begin to solve problems when they come. Learn the things that appeal to me the most, and first solve the distractions. In contrast, the second quadrant requires you to stop doing nothing and be busy, and it requires you to use the whole block of time to do something worthwhile. So before you do, here are a few questions you'd better understand:

Goal: Where am I going? What is my purpose?

Task: How do I do it? Is anyone else interested in this task?

Core value: What is the last thing I want to compromise?

Setting goals for everyone's life is a very important exercise, it allows you to climb upward momentum, find the way forward, when you start to set goals for life, you will shine, like gold.

　　Five areas to be noted

1. Remuneration

As the saying goes, money is not omnipotent, but no money is absolutely impossible. By the same token, if you do something that doesn't make money, you won't be doing it for long. So, figure out that your reward is the absolute first in the priority, and if you don't agree on the issue before you discuss it, then everything is empty.

　2. Sales

Many people think they can't sell, but the reality is they don't step on enough. Getting more potential business by visiting customers is a key factor in your performance growth.

　3. Operation

Believe that what has happened to you will eventually become a stepping stone to your success, because these things determine whether your business has a future. If you are expanding your business through Word-of-mouth marketing, then you need to be sure that your project is not under pressure and that your customers will appreciate an elegant, refined process.

　　4. People

If you're the only person in your business plan, then you have to learn how to hire, dismiss, and sign a contract. Your conversation with others is not only a basic greeting, but also extended to the culture, learning, growth, career paths and other fields, only in this way, you can exercise yourself, by exercising yourself, your entrepreneurial skills can have a huge leap.

　　The process of enterprise growth

Many people find it difficult to take the time to sit down to tidy up their sales and operating problems, but if you do, you will find that there are too many benefits. I do have some, you might as well try one or two:

Spend three months researching sales, marketing, operations, customers, and benefits in any one way.

Take a day to solve these problems every three months. In the early days, these things were very simple, like reading a book to write down a new idea, but in the future will have a profound impact, believe me right.

Spend half a day summarizing your meeting every month.

Change every three months for a field study.

In this way, a healthy enterprise will come

When I was interacting with web professionals, we hardly talked about technical issues, because I knew they wanted more than just a website, but a successful approach. Just as health, the company's growth also takes time, you have to wait patiently for the arrival of success. At the same time, you should always pay attention to the profit problem, just as women care about calories. The best business condition is this: only in this mountain, the cloud is not known at all. Both in business and business, and not too much of a stink, this is the way to win.