Hansj80
Regular Member
- Dec 17, 2019
- 258
- 210
I like wafflesI ignored the rest of the waffle.
So when you was 15 you walked up to these companies remember now you already said at 18 you turned that company into a hosting business so I assume you gave up on it... BUT anyway at 15 you walked into these businesses in a suit and got a 5k job?
"At 15/16 I opened my first webdesign company to create websites"
I know the time frame you are referring to not many businesses would dump out 5k when on dial up when print advertising was still a thing and was offering better returns..
Yep, the key was go into accountant companies, offer them a good deal and also a commission for every customer they bring in.... and since they got loads of contacts and they have a level of trust helps a long way.... I worked part time as an accountant for my dad back then. the same customers and method to reel them in for the hosting. So if your perception was I knocked on random doors at 15 you are mistaken and you are rightly confused/agitated by that motion haha, i did not think I had to explain the whole thing so I dropped just key words in the timeframe of things.... soo yes those were the contacts that I used.... and you are right.... no one in their right mind would pay some teen back then that money without some backing of an good referrer. As people got more savy they shopped around more and their need to redesign their site was less than their need to have a cheaper hosting. back then it was harder to communicate the quality you offer as the knowledge gap between offline and online was huge....that gap allowed to make good profit but it made it also harder to explain your added value to customers who are swayed by price. mind you most of those customers switched to more quality hosting after like 3/4 years discovering the added value of premium hosting.... this I heard from one of the accountants I worked with... but by then a lot of big guys in hosting were fallen or merged together.
During the webdesign stage sure 5k for 2 months work was awesome as a kid, especially a good upgrade from ringtones.... but during the hosting stage it exploded to around 10k a month....now I don't think you need to be a genius to figure out most young people at that age won't always do the right thing when it comes to money... combine that with a swift market change and lack of capital to reinvest... well you are screwed then.... soo off course it can't be all blamed on market shifts and what not... it has also a lot to do with your experience and where you are at that moment of your life....
hope you are satisfied with your questions
the accountant method still works to date, getting those contacts is just not always easy... and the margins have kind of dropped but it is deff something interesting for local designers looking to expand their portfolio and exposure