First, let’s acknowledge since I’ve worked with clients who had an irrational perspective of what it means to have a website, and be online, my answer won’t be limited to someone’s ability to only pay for the service.
All products and services meet a specific need. Therefore, in order to create a design that’s in alignment with the correct values, a designer conscious of their reputation needs clarity on specific things in order to fairly determine if someone has what’s required to justify the creation of a website. That process doesn’t begin when the service is paid for.
However, I will briefly address the matter of payment because it was a question I received on Facebook.
1. Payment For The One-Page, Hosting, etc.
I can only speak for what I do. Payment for the One-Page is made in full, upfront, and can be paid either via online banking or with a credit card via Buzzpay.
But being online is like renting an apartment: between your hosting, business email and url, you’ll need to pay for the space you occupy for as long as you remain there. You’ll need a credit card to be able to do so consistently as payment is usually required on a monthly or yearly basis.
And according to where you live, the fees are collected in your local currency and automatically converted into USDs to be paid to the relevant companies.
But what about someone’s attention, can you afford that?
2. Payment For Someone’s Attention & Trust
Simon Sinek said that we can only see the things we have words for. At first I couldn’t appreciate this quote, but I do now.
When I first started working for myself, I too shared the belief that once you have a business you should have a website. Experience has taught me differently. That very concept short-circuited my ability to fully scrutinize the depth of someone’s awareness of what their clients respond to, and one project suffered because of it. Honestly, despite having a business, the person wasn’t ready to be online and I just couldn’t see it.
Now, I make sure anyone I consider a real prospect has been in business for at least 2-3 years. If they haven’t, I’ve restructured my blog based on the values of my readers, to act as a guide to help them determine if they’re in this ‘online thing’ for the haul. More experienced founders in need of more perspective on what they can possibly leverage online can use The One-Page workbook. But, should someone schedule a call with me, lately, I’ve also begun paying attention to whether or not the person on the other end is just trying to make a quick buck, or they are devoted to the quality of their service.
3. Payment For My Experience
Experience teaches us how we should present ourselves, the importance of boundaries and where they should be implemented. Unfortunately, lack of insight and courage has some founders ignoring those game changing opportunities, perpetuating more bad habits that results in the type of clients who are difficult to work with and undermine the joy of what they (founders) do.
Waiting on a client to prioritize a project sucks ALL the life out of it. But, I’ve observed that the type of people who tend to be lollygaggers, clients of projects that get kicked off, stall, sputter, and die, were either never serious about their online presence in the first place, or secretly had a chip on their shoulder.
Therefore, if you only want a website to say you have a website, or for whatever reason your ego gets in the way of following rules, or taking professional advice, working with me would not be the best fit.
Shake Your Cock N Bull Graphic Designs, my free Facebook group is exclusively for local founders who want to give their most secrete fears about being online a good shaking, so they can venture online with confidence!
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