I’m 40+ - I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

[TheElder]

Almost 15 years ago I started my web dev business. At first I was doing websites for clients. I got into some more in-depth dev gigs, which was a lot of fun. One of those “gigs” became a long term project and we’re celebrating 10 years this year. I’ve learned a lot about both development and actual coding throughout the years.

I’ve also been doing a lot of websites, mostly for creative agencies that just needed their design turned into a functional website. This has been ideal for me since I wouldn’t consider myself a designer. It’s been fairly high-paying projects, but a bit hard to scale since hiring is very hard.

99% of my clients have come from referrals, so I do not have an “acquisition system” in place.

I’m at a solid $8-$10k per month in revenue, but it’s 98% from hourly billing. So when I stop working, the money stops coming in.

I’ve created a WaaS offer. Website as a service. Where, instead of a project based fee I charge a monthly recurring fee of around $400 instead. I build the website with focus on CRO, I include hosting, maintenance, 2 pieces of content each month, and a lot more.. I’ve created my own boiler plate so I can get sites up and running really fast. I haven’t really thrown this out to the masses yet. Even though it’s been ready for launch for some time. I feel that my lack of confidence is a HUGE factor here. “Will I be able to give them conversions?”, “Will I be able to provide solid content?”, “Should I niche down or not?” - so many questions.

I realise that money loves speed and failing fast is two key ingredients to succeeding in a venture like this, and yet I fail to do something about it. There are a lot of businesses doing this successfully (lightningsites.com is one source of inspiration)

At the moment I’m even questioning if I should proceed with this, since there are “so many things that could go wrong”

I love the part about building systems, workflows, automations etc, around this. But I’m getting stuck in my head.

Would love some input on this. Ideally I would want to ditch the content part, but then I’m not sure how to make the offer attractive.

I do realise that I won’t get the “here’s what I would do”-answer, but all sorts of input is welcome.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I do realise that I won’t get the “here’s what I would do”-answer, but all sorts of input is welcome.

Sounds like you're over-thinking it.



Also, website management and maintenance is a huge space. I can tell you that any small electrician or HVAC company probably wants nothing to do with updating their website, so niche selection is important.

“so many things that could go wrong”

Like what?

People don't buy?

People want updates every day of the month?

And you're stuck with $10K in billing?

 

[georgetod79]

Almost 15 years ago I started my web dev business. At first I was doing websites for clients. I got into some more in-depth dev gigs, which was a lot of fun. One of those “gigs” became a long term project and we’re celebrating 10 years this year. I’ve learned a lot about both development and actual coding throughout the years.

I’ve also been doing a lot of websites, mostly for creative agencies that just needed their design turned into a functional website. This has been ideal for me since I wouldn’t consider myself a designer. It’s been fairly high-paying projects, but a bit hard to scale since hiring is very hard.

99% of my clients have come from referrals, so I do not have an “acquisition system” in place.

I’m at a solid $8-$10k per month in revenue, but it’s 98% from hourly billing. So when I stop working, the money stops coming in.

I’ve created a WaaS offer. Website as a service. Where, instead of a project based fee I charge a monthly recurring fee of around $400 instead. I build the website with focus on CRO, I include hosting, maintenance, 2 pieces of content each month, and a lot more.. I’ve created my own boiler plate so I can get sites up and running really fast. I haven’t really thrown this out to the masses yet. Even though it’s been ready for launch for some time. I feel that my lack of confidence is a HUGE factor here. “Will I be able to give them conversions?”, “Will I be able to provide solid content?”, “Should I niche down or not?” - so many questions.

I realise that money loves speed and failing fast is two key ingredients to succeeding in a venture like this, and yet I fail to do something about it. There are a lot of businesses doing this successfully (lightningsites.com is one source of inspiration)

At the moment I’m even questioning if I should proceed with this, since there are “so many things that could go wrong”

I love the part about building systems, workflows, automations etc, around this. But I’m getting stuck in my head.

Would love some input on this. Ideally I would want to ditch the content part, but then I’m not sure how to make the offer attractive.

I do realise that I won’t get the “here’s what I would do”-answer, but all sorts of input is welcome.

I also wonder what could go wrong.
You have your existing business and customers, this seems like an expansion.
You already have good results, since you have referrals. You should be proud of yourself
Maybe you can start transitioning the new referrals towards the new model? So that you can test it if you need more validation.
If you are the only one-man show, I would try a few projects with a sub-contractor (leverage).
The idea is to make things busy
Good luck!

 

[TheElder]

Sounds like you're over-thinking it.

Sounds about right. I'm a pro overthinker...

Also, website management and maintenance is a huge space. I can tell you that any small electrician or HVAC company probably wants nothing to do with updating their website, so niche selection is important.

That sounds about right, as well. I've been meaning to target accounting firms. I just picked one out of thin air. Not sure how to really do research on this stuff.

Like what?

People don't buy?

People want updates every day of the month?

My biggest worry is the deliverables. If I'm creating a conversion rate optimized website, they will expect conversions. However, as you know, it takes traffic. So 0 traffic equals 0 conversions. I'm working with expectation management, and at the same time, I want to deliver ROI for them. I'd love some input on what angles I could take that aren't based on conversions. Maybe a lower monthly fee and "just a website + maintenance"

 

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[TheElder]

I also wonder what could go wrong.
You have your existing business and customers, this seems like an expansion.
You already have good results, since you have referrals. You should be proud of yourself
Maybe you can start transitioning the new referrals towards the new model? So that you can test it if you need more validation.
If you are the only one-man show, I would try a few projects with a sub-contractor (leverage).
The idea is to make things busy
Good luck!

Thank you for the encouragement! I've tested subcontractors. And while it's a really good thing in theory, I failed miserably in hiring people who were good enough. I think I went through 8–10 people who were actually working on projects before I went back to doing it all myself. I would probably have to 10x that to get some quality, but I was a bit upset at the time.

 

[Oilman]

Almost 15 years ago I started my web dev business. At first I was doing websites for clients. I got into some more in-depth dev gigs, which was a lot of fun. One of those “gigs” became a long term project and we’re celebrating 10 years this year. I’ve learned a lot about both development and actual coding throughout the years.

I’ve also been doing a lot of websites, mostly for creative agencies that just needed their design turned into a functional website. This has been ideal for me since I wouldn’t consider myself a designer. It’s been fairly high-paying projects, but a bit hard to scale since hiring is very hard.

99% of my clients have come from referrals, so I do not have an “acquisition system” in place.

I’m at a solid $8-$10k per month in revenue, but it’s 98% from hourly billing. So when I stop working, the money stops coming in.

I’ve created a WaaS offer. Website as a service. Where, instead of a project based fee I charge a monthly recurring fee of around $400 instead. I build the website with focus on CRO, I include hosting, maintenance, 2 pieces of content each month, and a lot more.. I’ve created my own boiler plate so I can get sites up and running really fast. I haven’t really thrown this out to the masses yet. Even though it’s been ready for launch for some time. I feel that my lack of confidence is a HUGE factor here. “Will I be able to give them conversions?”, “Will I be able to provide solid content?”, “Should I niche down or not?” - so many questions.

I realise that money loves speed and failing fast is two key ingredients to succeeding in a venture like this, and yet I fail to do something about it. There are a lot of businesses doing this successfully (lightningsites.com is one source of inspiration)

At the moment I’m even questioning if I should proceed with this, since there are “so many things that could go wrong”

I love the part about building systems, workflows, automations etc, around this. But I’m getting stuck in my head.

Would love some input on this. Ideally I would want to ditch the content part, but then I’m not sure how to make the offer attractive.

I do realise that I won’t get the “here’s what I would do”-answer, but all sorts of input is welcome.

So this is just my 2c:

This looks like a great problem to have. Me personally speaking I never made that kind of money monthly in my life. I'm trying to get website clients now while I'm juggling a job search. My position got terminated Sunday so I need to get some money quick.

We all come from all kinds of walks of life, for example when I was overseas I was richer than most guys and consequently dating got very easy.

I guess what I'm saying is some people have it worse than you. But it's perfectly fine to still want more.

 

[focusedlife]

Congrats on both your success and for being so vulnerable.

Did you figure out your new offer?

How about leveraged partnerships, did you find someone that can help ya?

Sounds like your offer is in demand, you just have to figure out or just plain decide who your ideal client is.

Notice, ideal... it's not the same as only.

Also, curious... what went wrong with the outsourced help?

 

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