Good morning Cheryl (I read your post late last night but decided to wait till this morning to answer)!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CherylAntier
First, I agree with Regina about PayPal - It's the only shopping cart I use...
I would highly suggest Cheryl that you at least consider adding an alternative. Trust me there are people who are absolutely vehement in their not wanting to use PayPal no matter what. Much more passionate about this than me. You'll never know if some of these people came to your site, saw what you had to offer, only the PayPal option, and then...well...decided to just keep on walking.
For now I am content offering just e-checks and a few other payment options without PayPal. Even if that means that some won't buy from me because I don't offer PayPal, let's say 25% won't (which is way higher than it probably is...but let's just say the percentage is that high), that leaves me the other 75% to reach out to. Among those 75% I think I can find a measly 4-5 per week to use my services. I'm okay with that.
Just as you do not know how many are turning away because you only offer PayPal I won't know how many are turning away because I don't. In your case you will continue along happy with your only payment option being PayPal and in mine I will happily go along making my 4-5 clients per week.
Incidentally the hoops that PayPal wanted me to jump through were probably much greater than any that you have had to jump through. They froze my account once because I was on some kind of list. A list they wouldn't tell me anything about. I was kind of tried in absentia, deemed worthy of having my account frozen, not told anything about what this list was, required to send them all kinds of intrusive information, and then I wasn't even guaranteed that they would listen...assuming I could even get any kind of response from them to discuss the whole issue. Imagine if banks operated on that basis and froze accounts on the basis of a nebulous list of some sort that customers names supposedly showed up on? We'd have a near revolution against banks! Instead, with regard to PayPal, we fall into the trap of thinking that such things happen to others and that they will never happen to us. Until...well...maybe it happens to us. Until we become one of the nameless victims of PayPal. If we are only using PayPal our business will go down the drain literally overnight. Best to have an option in place to give clients more choice and to safeguard ourselves against that possibility. Rare...yes...but it could happen. I hope it never does happen to you Cheryl but it could. Just saying.
Quote:
You've done a very good job of thinking things through and looking at the "mechanics" behind your business...
Thanks Cheryl!
Quote:
I like what you're putting together.
Wonderful to hear!
Quote:
Have you thought about offering different levels of service?
I hadn't thought of that. Mostly because I have been focused on being successful in just getting people to try me out first :). Although I might have some decent ideas regarding the overall things I have in mind the reality is that right now I am just looking to put bread on the table.
It's an interesting idea Cheryl.
Quote:
For example, I remember when I was starting out... I got so frustrated with the technology behind the Website building stuff that I don't even remember how many sites I started - and never finished.
Just the kind of client I can work with :).
I've been looking at templates a bit and the problem with them is that they often come with restrictive licenses as to what I can and cannot do with them. I'm not sure I can offer them as part of a service I offer to others and get paid for. It's not like I can just offer them to others freely as part of my deals to them directly.
I will have to build up a few templates of my own and perhaps offer those. Or perhaps work out a deal with a top graphic artist that can create the header and footer graphics for me on behalf of my customers or even offer header and footer templates to chose from that could be plugged into any number of different site layouts. Not sure.
The header and the footer are the biggest time consumers. The rest is really a piece of cake and something I could quickly whip together.
I'll have to run that by some graphic artists I have called on (to see about working out a joint venture with them) to see if they would be willing to work with me to provide just the header and footers. I will have to increase my prices of course to compensate them fairly and still make what I want to make from all this. The biggest benefit to me is that it will save me lots of time allowing me to service more clients. While I can definitely create graphic headers and footers I am not the fastest graphic artist around. It's not my strong point at least not yet.
Quote:
Then you've got the more customized sites - for the DIY'ers who can buy a license to use your code, and you provide the training necessary - maybe on a monthly membership site? Where you could have videos, pdf files and even audio mp3s perhaps, for people to learn the nuts and bolts behind it...
Hmm...that's a thought Cheryl. Hadn't thought of that either!
Quote:
And finally, you've got the customized "I do everything for you" premium service - perhaps even for those people who are new to the field, but also appealing to those who have "been around the block" and want someone to build the sites around their markets, niches or sub-niches, so they can concentrate on the big-picture money-making end of things... Did I miss anything?
Nope you pretty much covered the potential client types. Bear in mind though that even in a best case scenario the number of clients I can handle is limited by the lack of being able to service more clients other than what I can fit into the space of time given to me in a week.
Quote:
And with this business model, it sounds to me that as you continue to fine-tune it and add in the rest of the details, you'd be in an excellent position to approach established internet marketers - Jimmy or anyone else - and offer your services as an important- and necessary component - to help their customers succeed.
So much for getting immediate clients rolling LOL. Yes...eventually I would be in a sweet spot for sure Cheryl.
Quote:
Plus, you'd be able to scale your business so that as demand grows, you can begin either outsourcing, or hiring people who you can train to create sites to meet demand.
Yes...there are a whole slew of Philippinos, really great folks by the way, who would eagerly get on board to program what I need for my growing list of clients. I know someone in the Philippines who is outsourcing herself through one of those free lance places. A really nice mother who operates in integrity. I am sure she knows a number of others who would jump at the chance to work with me and who would be eager to be trained in what I would need done. If the way she writes English is any indication of her English language skills she can probably speak English real well too.
Quote:
One suggestion I'd make is that you start documenting processes now... start creating your training stuff as you go along.
Already doing that...great suggestion though. Last night I was working some on making my source code more understandable to non-programmers. I'd like to post an example if getting input on something like that is workable on this forum which is really more about internet marketing. Not sure if people on this forum would be interested in giving me input on things like that as I work them out.
Quote:
Offering a couple of training videos for example, or a free report... would give you a fairly painless and simple way to start building your list quickly.
That's a great idea Cheryl. I could definitely whip up some report or PDF or something like that and offer it for free use by internet marketers as long as there is a link back to my site. Maybe something like that could even go all viral on me.
Quote:
Anyway, there's my 2 cents worth... If I missed something, or you've got other questions, just ask.
Thanks Cheryl. Much appreciated. Right now it's not so much questions that I have...it's more that I need input on the material I am putting together to see if it truly is easier to understand and easier to work with than WordPress for example. I mean I believe it is but I have to bear in mind that I am a programmer and that understanding my own way of doing things and my source code comes as easily to me...almost...as breathing. It may not be that way for others.
Quote:
So when were you in France? It sounds like you love it here too...
I lived in Europe when I was in high school. My dad was transferred to Europe to help work on the Fiesta car that Ford came out with quite a few years ago. Germany at first for one year then Spain for two after that.
I absolutely HATED it for the first 6 months. No McDonald's like I was used to...the culture was just so different. Then in a way I don't quite understand I fell in love with Europe. I mean in love with it. I loved everything about it and when it came time for me to return to the States for my college education I couldn't stand the thought of coming back.
My wife and I also went on vacation to Paris and France a few years ago as well. It wasn't the same as it was though. The people seemed to have become much more snobbish in Paris at least.
The two years I lived on the island of Palma de Mallorca while in Spain were some of the best years of my life. Not a care in the world (or so it seems from the vantage point of my present life LOL), money to spend given to me as an allowance from my parents, sailing, horse back riding, hiking, snorkeling, you name it. It was great.
Quote:
One last thing - don't worry about becoming a gazillionaire - Don't work for anyone else's dream but yours... If your goal is to make $500 to $1000 a week - which is certainly doable - then that's fabulous - go for it! That's a good dream, but most importantly, it's yours... And that's what having your own business is all about.
I'll say Amen to that!
Thanks again for your input Cheryl. Safe journey home.
Carlos