24 Ways to Impress Me

Posted on 07. Jan, 2009 by Chris in Geeking Out

Recently, I found was directed to the website 24 Ways to Impress Your Friends because of an article on web design contracts written by Andy Clarke, a heavyweight in the industry. The article, called Contract Killer, had an outstanding take on writing contracts; write them in easily understandable plain English and spell out precisely what you will do for your client and what you expect in return.

Simply genius. Imagine, a world where you did not have to pay someone $300 per hour to tell you what you just read, but could not for the life of you understand. I liked it so much, that my business partner and I have started using the sample Andy provided as the basis for our contracts for Netphase.

Today, my business partner, Scott, sent over a link to another article on 24 ways, Recession Tips for Web Designers, written by Jeffrey Zeldman. Zeldman has forgotten more about running a web business than most people will ever know. The article is particularly timely, as Netphase is starting to budget expenditures for the next year. One option we are considering is an office.

In the article, Jeffrey notes that “thin is in.” By that, he means that you should take care to not be adding overhead for no good reason. He mentions that he ran his design business out of his apartment for far longer than anyone knew, and when his clients found out, they didn’t care. What it boils down to, really, is the quality of your work.

A small team with little overhead actually has competitive advantages over larger firms in this economy. The lack of office suites, commuting costs, expensive clothing, and fancy flat screens means that you can charge a reasonable rate yet still be profitable. Your client no longer has to pay for all of that other stuff before they get what they really want, which is your time and talent.

A long time ago, I used to be part of a consulting company that started small and then scaled out of control during the dot-com boon. Rob Weaver, who worked with me at that company, details much of our experiences in his post about how consulting doesn’t scale. And he is right, traditional consulting does not scale. When the economy slides, rates go down right along with profits, and people lose their jobs, or worse, their houses and lifestyles.

In this climate, the small firm clearly has the upper-hand. Netphase employs two people. And technically, neither of us draws a salary. We consider each project individually, and assign the appropriate resources based on the amount and kind of work to be done. The benefit to our clients is that they get more value per dollar invested in their project. The benefit to Netphase is that even in a slow market, we are not at risk of closing shop. Everyone wins.

So with all of that said, i am glad to have read that article today. It helps me keep our focus where it should be, and that is on what will bring value to the client. Thanks, Jeffrey, and also thanks to the folks at 24ways.org for bringing us that article. I think we can stop office shopping now