Home-Based Web Design Business

I had bought the first edition of this but can’t find it to compare the difference between the two editions. Seems to me nothing has changed and is quite lodged in the 1990s.

Again, I was amazed by his self-confidence. One thing the casual designer will get from reading this is her own self-confidence. If he thinks he has mad design skills, so do I.

A few interesting bits:

• value added reseller (VAR) of web hosting services. What value are you adding?
• charge by the site not by the page
• avoid speculative work — looks desperate; portfolio should sell for you
• if agree to do site for free so can add to portfolio (see if organization will tell people you’re doing it for free)
• This edition was published January 2004 but one of the interesting links I copied down (internet demographics/trends) hasn’t been updated since April 2003
• Business plan sketched out (has each section written out as if a web design company which is nice)
  • mission/vision statement
  • personal eval
  • services & products
  • business niche/image
  • type of business
  • location of business
  • employees and support staff
  • competitors
  • advertising and marketing plans
  • timelines
  • finances ($400 for small site; $45/hour; $1500 for db work) [seems outdated too]
  • start-up costs
  • operating profit and loss
  • profit and loss statement
  • insurance
  • accounting
  • banking

The author’s website