Hey Guys, I'm trying to start a developer business around where I live. Currently I do a lot of work online, which requires me to code the sites and stuff, but that isn't paying as well anymore, so I was thinking about starting up a service that was not connected to the cheap labor that people on DP expect. Do you guys have any tips for this kind of thing? Is anyone here doing it? One thing that I'm concerned about is weather I should register the company as an LLC or not? Another would be the price to charge? If anyone can give me any tips from their past experience or anything at all, I would really appreciate it. Regards, Nick
Don't bother with the LLC stuff till you start making money. It's all about money and getting contacts. I think it's a great idea. Target small businesses who don't have websites... millions of them, if you live in a semi-populated town it'll practically be every business... Go in there, offer them a free website, all they pay is $10 a month for hosting... or $89.00 a year. Tell them it'll bring them new customers etc. If you can teach them how to use websites and to 'get online' you'll be their tech guy. They'll start asking you help with fixing there comps etc. That you can charge them... They'll refer friends etc. If this is something you want to build a big business around, you can totally do it.
Hmm. That's a good idea. I didn't think of it that way. I was thinking about just setting up a base price at like 500 or 600 and give them custom sites, but by offering them a template, (I assume that's what you meant by a free site) and hosting it on one of my servers, I make money by completely minimizing my expenses. Do you think I should offer both options maybe? Have a free site option which would include a domain name and hosting for a year (or monthly) and a custom site option, where a site will be designed and coded for them? One more thing, how would you go about contacting these businesses? Would you say that it would be best to just go down there and set up a meeting with the guy in charge of that kind of stuff or give them a call and set up a meeting that way?? Thanks, Nick
You need to have personal website if you want to get higher price for your work. A company will do coz it will boost your client confident when buying from you. People will not care for the price as long as your work have high quality.
To be honest, I won't completely agree with you on that, simply because I think that you can have a website but if it looks bad people will trust you less, and in this economy people are trying to spend as little money as possible. Still, I am very thankful for your response, and I think I'll register it as soon as I start making profits. Just as an update to who ever cares, I've ordered business cards Regards, Nick