Today I have a challenge ahead of me. I'm not even sure how I'm going to do this yet, but I've signed myself up for it because I like to do that little bit extra for my clients.
This past week I handed over a website to a ceramics artist who makes pretty epic stuff. She was super happy with the site as it's a full e-commerce one and she now can sell her creations through it. Image Source
I am going to be sending her instructional videos of how to maintain her own website through the back end, how to update things, put in patches, change her product photos, quantities, pricing etc.
You might be asking "Why would you do that and then you're out of the maintenance job and are essentially losing money?"
Well because I believe that every entrepreneur should be able to learn to do this themselves and run their own website. I'm not all about fleecing people out of their cash for their maintenance contracts and I don't believe in keeping "trade secrets" to ensure monthly maintenance is tied to me.
Let me explain why
In about 2015 I decided I wanted to start a business making custom orders for people that requested them - whatever they may be as well as selling standard stock items. The idea took off really well within the more eccentric circles but I needed a website - I had a big dream for what I wanted it to become.
A family friend gave me a quote with a "friends and family discount" and when I saw it, I almost fell over. There was absolutely no way that I could afford that even as an investment into my business.
So what was a girl to do? I don't throw in the towel easily once I've set my mind to something because I'm tenacious and generally a big pain in the bum. How would I do it?
From a young age my father drilled this saying into me "If you want something done properly - do it yourself". While I was young and impressionable I believed it wholeheartedly for most of my life. There are of course exceptions. I'm not about to try get into rocket science or undertake open heart surgery because that would be dumb and most definitely wouldn't be done properly AT ALL. In those instances and many others, I've learned that getting a professional in to do it, really is the best and often the most time saving way to do it. But I digress.
I had made myself a website before using some Tank website builder which was absolutely shit and then I had upgraded that to some other builder that was equally as shit. Nope, I was going to do some proper research and do it better this time. I was a new mom and as such, I didn't have my days to myself, but I was also plagued by insomnia so I used it to my advantage and for the most part, I built my website between midnight and 4am in the morning. I taugt myself everything I needed to know in those wee hours and then I took stock photos of my shop wares during the day. I was exhausted all the time, running on fumes, but I was building on my dream and what would later become my next business.
The website that I built was simple yet effective. It had all the functions that I needed it to have and then I even made it pretty and added in some personal flair. It was growing in leaps and bounds and my online shop was becoming well known. I was meeting some fantastic people through my sales, making connections near and far, but in 2019 it all came tumbling down.
Unfortunately I had to move house, pack up my shop and leave it all behind. I had to shut down my website and most of my stock is sitting in a storage unit now. I've got over the loss but I had to then re-invent it to be able to do something else when the pandemic hit and the first lock downs were installed. There was no room for sending off parcels when the courier companies closed their doors.
So I changed it up and started working on building affordable websites for small businesses. I grew the idea and registered the business a year later. The clients that find me generally aren't after anything super fancy, they want functional over fluffy and that's what I do well. The websites I build use state of the art design tools and look pretty cool, are interactive and responsive across devices. There isn't all that much more that you need these days.
I still mourn the loss of my online shop, but one day I'll get it up and running again. For now, I'm helping other people get on the map and have an online presence so they can go tell all their friends about me - because I like to go the extra mile for my clients and I believe I provide a good service and generally a pleasant experience that doesn't cost them limbs or organs.
So today - my challenge is to teach my client how to look after her website health and update her stock...if her business succeeds online with a little help from me, then my work is done.
