Family business in the field of IT. Time making money

Foreword

At the end of 2012, the sales manager left us. In January 2013, the programmer quit, in March - coder. It seemed that everything was falling apart. But how so? After all, we just created a team and adjusted the work. The current situation has depressed ...

I could deceive myself and blame our former colleagues for irresponsibility and ingratitude. But let's face it: if in less than six months, three out of four employees quit, the problem is clearly in the company and its managers.

How we worked

Perhaps, for starters, I should tell you in more detail how the work of the company was structured in 2012. By the summer, we formed a staff of four employees: a manager, a designer, a coder, a programmer.
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The main activity was the development of sites. We tried to take complex and interesting orders: unusual online stores, programming a user's personal account, creating beautiful panoramas with the effect of parallax, online furniture designer, etc. The harder the better.

Trouble with the timing

The team was formed gradually, and, of course, not enough hands. Sasha often had to do layout and programming, and besides bookkeeping and SEO, I also had the development of TK and content.

Usually we conducted 2-3 projects at the same time, and ideally, the development of a single site should not take more than 1.5 months. At the stage of concluding a contract, we estimated how long the work would take. Moreover, the dates seemed to us quite real. However, something always went wrong. Someone got sick, the client did not agree on the design in time, got out some unexpected errors in the code. In general, the deadlines were simply broken all the time and we had to blush in front of the client.

I had a “project manager” on my business card, and the position obliged me to put things in order. Therefore, I decided to deal with the timing. During the project, she tried to see the bottlenecks in advance and prevent the problem. For example, anticipating that the client might not provide the photo the designer needed on time, I kicked the manager to kick the client. And if the designer hung out with the drawing of icons, when the layout designer was waiting for the design layout, you had to kick the designer. And, of course, the perfectionist programmers received the most kicks. It was important to stop them in time, otherwise the search for the most elegant solution took an unforgivably long time.

Gradually, the situation began to level off and now we lacked only one or two weeks to meet the deadline. Once, in secret, from everyone (even my husband), I increased the term of delivery of the project in the contract. Everyone knew that they needed to pass the work on the 15th, and only I understood that it was possible to hold out until the 26th. So we first met the deadline.

Later the work was adjusted, each performed its function, deviations from the plan happened less and less. But now, just in case, we always put the deadline for the delivery of the project a week earlier than the deadline. And then, even in the event of unforeseen situations, the conditions of the contract were always fulfilled.

Pricing

It is very difficult to determine the real value of the project at the stage of concluding a contract. We tried to estimate the price so that it was not too expensive for the client and acceptable to us. As a result, sometimes after the site was commissioned, it was understood that the work cost at least 2 times more.

It was even harder with the modifications, often customers thought that if we made a website to them a year ago, now they have a lifetime subscription for its support. Yes, and we somehow felt embarrassed to take money for every little thing.

Over time, it came to the understanding that any, even seemingly insignificant work should be paid. Still, we are distracted from the main tasks and spend our time.

And we must determine the cost based on time costs. Therefore, we calculated the average cost per hour of work of a specialist, taking into account salary, taxes, rent, manager's percentage and profit. It turned out 800 rubles. This figure has become our minimum unit of measurement.

- Please add us a photo of the product to the site!
- Well, 800 rubles.

- Oh, is it possible that in the form of feedback the client also indicated his middle name?
- No problem, 1600 rubles.

- We have a partner and we want to add a banner with its logo to all pages of the site.
- Wonderful! 4800 rubles.

Realizing that for every little thing you need to pay, customers are less likely to pull us over nothing. Some understood that it was more profitable to conclude an agreement with a monthly payment for the service. Or on the promotion of the site, because the client who pays the promotion of the site, the content support was provided free of charge.

Clarity appeared with the definition of the cost of developing the site. How much will Masha need to develop a design layout? About 5 working days. TK I will do in a day, 4 days to Andrew for layout, 3 - Kostya for transfer to the control system, another 2 days for filling and 2 days for reserve. Total 17 days, i.e. cost 108,800 rubles.

We select clients

The work was in full swing, we received great experience not only in developing complex projects, but also in working with complex clients. However, there are difficult customers, to which you just need to find an approach. And there are clients with whom how not to try to work will not work. And here it is important to turn around and leave, otherwise the headache and wasted time are guaranteed.

Once a company that is engaged in the construction of fountains turned to us. They needed a portfolio site that showed the company's skills in all its glory. Representatives of the client slightly understood the basics of html and considered themselves the gurus of web design. They were not looking for professionals, they needed a performer who would make a selection of ready-made flash effects, and then they would tell which of these effects and how to apply on the site.

Previously, we would have fought to the last, explaining that flash is not supported by tablets and smartphones, and that the essence of web design is not in effects and bright colors. However, by that time we already understood that there are customers who would rather say: “No!”.

You know, to recognize in time not your type of client and to refuse to cooperate with it is just as important as concluding an agreement with an interesting customer. Refusing to cooperate with a potential client is a difficult decision. But it's worth it. And saying no to clients should definitely learn! Then you will be pleased to know that the decision made wasted no time and waste of time.

So why did the team scatter?

All three employees who left the company said that working with us is great. "You guys are very cool, I like the friendly and pleasant atmosphere, but I want ...

... start my own business, my friends and I have already thought of everything! ”
... specialize in Ruby on Rails and work in freelancing. "
... try yourself in some new sphere, but for the time being I will rest and will not work at all. ”

Well, it seems that all three decided to try themselves in something new. And yet, they wanted freedom. After all, their own business, and freelancing, and a year of rest imply the absence of any managers.

I think an experienced psychologist would quickly find the root of evil and put everything in its place. I do not know. Neither the husband nor me, unfortunately (or fortunately?), Are psychologically strong. And the mass of books read on personnel management did not clarify the situation. However, I have a theory.

To begin with, for all three this was the first job. And from the very beginning they considered it as temporary. As a place where you can pump skills, gain experience, get an entry in the resume. And this is true. How else to relate to work in a web studio, which is on the market for a couple of years?

Besides, the guys saw that we are far from a shark business. Indeed, where is the guarantee that tomorrow this couple will not get tired of playing entrepreneurs and they will not disperse this whole business?

I think the staff did not believe in us. And they cannot be blamed for this, since even the closest people initially did not believe in us. It was time for us to become a serious company. And by the word “serious” I mean not an office for 1000 people and a strict dress code for the staff, but stability, good reputation and fame in the market.

Well, the task was clear. And we saw only one way to achieve the desired: continue to develop the company.

New work scheme

Let's talk about numbers. In 2012, our income amounted to about 2.1 million rubles, profit - a little more than 200 thousand. Of course, the main item of expenditure is salary. In this case, my husband and I could already afford to pay the salary. Let less than the staff, but with this money it was already possible to live.

Approximately 40% of revenue came from the promotion and content support of sites. Moreover, all 6 employees were involved in the development of sites. And only two of them handled SEO and maintenance: I (as a content manager) and a manager.

Obviously, SEO was much more profitable. At the same time, almost all the websites that we promoted, we also developed. By that time, a small revolution had occurred in the minds of Internet users. Or this revolution took place only in our heads ... In general, over time, we began to realize that the fashion for complex sites was passing. Sites have become simple, focusing on content and its proper presentation. And such sites worked with maximum efficiency for the client.

So, we made several important decisions that made our family freelancing a business.

1. We refuse to develop complex sites : no more personal accounts, unique modules, intricate calculators. Of course, it was interesting to implement such projects. But we never learned how to make money on it. Therefore, we decided to focus only on simple sites.

To translate this idea into reality, we needed as simple a CMS as possible, and we don’t need to train new employees to work with it. But at the same time it was very important to be able to create websites with a unique design. No, no, we did not develop our own cms. We began to study cloud solutions.

By that time, many so-called site designers had already been launched. But they were all terribly primitive, it was just a shame to sell such sites to customers.

And then Sasha found Squarespace. This cloud CMS allowed you to create your own design, using all the built-in functions of the system. For then gaining popularity landing page - the solution is just perfect.

This scheme greatly simplified the process of work. The launch of the site took only one week. And almost all the work we did together with Masha, and Sasha sometimes spent a couple of hours to finish the layout and fit the template to the design. Having shortened the development of the site, we accelerated the process of making a profit.

2. We focus on SEO. We only take orders for the development of the site if the client is ready to conclude an agreement and for promotion.

3. Change the contract scheme for website promotion.
Previously, for 4 months, we took the site to the TOP and stopped working on it. Now the withdrawal period in the TOP has increased to six months. And after this process can not be stopped, otherwise in two or three months the site will lose all achieved positions. Therefore, the promotion agreement has now become indefinite.

4. We take SEOs.
If the transition to the development of simple sites unloaded Sasha, then the new employee took a very large load off of me.

5. We move to a new office.
And it was necessary to improve working conditions. Not that the previous office was uncomfortable, but we lacked space. Now we have an extra room for rest.

Result

Firstly, my husband almost 100% ceased to be an employee in his company and I, too, got rid of a lot of things. We had a weekend, and on working days we stopped lingering and no longer worked at home in the evenings.

Secondly, in 2013 we earned 3.5 million rubles. Compared to last year, the profit increased 5 times and amounted to 1.2 million.
We earned our first million and it was insanely cool!

Thirdly, we have become noticeable in the market. Once a client phoned Sasha and told a funny story.
They sat with a friend at the bar and discussed the immediate problems. Our client took out a tablet for demonstration to a friend of his site. A friend in response began to show your site.
In general, they sat, boasted to each other, arguing whose site is steeper. And then we discovered that both sites were made by us. Great, right? I love this story!

Money should not be idle

In the previous article I talked about my first golden rule: money should not be idle.
Well, now we had the money. And remembering the mistakes of the past, we decided to make this money work. There were lots of options and ideas. Where did we leave off? Find out in a week! And I warn you right away: in the next article I will be promoting!

To be continued ...

PS read the sequel:
Family business in the field of IT. Time making money
Family business in the field of IT. How we launched our first service
Family business in the field of IT. The first six months of our startup life
Family business in IT. How we put together a team