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82 of 83 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, January 25, 2005
I have to say that I had hoped this book would be more helpful than it was. I had hoped for recommendations on how to obtain clients via the internet and how to handle things like contracts (is a "check box to agree" acceptable on your webpage form, as many use, or do you need a physical document?) I also hoped for information on billing your customers online. Unfortunately, no help in these areas was provided. The focus was on in-person selling/presentations to obtain clients, which isn't feasable for many.
There is a fair amount of filler in this book. For example: the cutsy 10 page section on the need to wear different hats ("propeller head", "ponytail", "rainmaker", "green vistor cap", "business suit") along with the "duh" quiz to find out which of these types you are made me wonder just how stupid he thinks his readers are. I think the subject warrented covering...briefly...but the amount of time he expends describing these "hats", offering the quiz (in which you give yourself 5 points if you agree with statements like "I could spend hours tweaking a program just to see it run successfully"), then explaining ad nauseum what your quiz score means (four paragraphs for each type in addition to what he already wrote about the types) was just ridiculous. It was like reading Cosmo, not a manual for webpage design.
I was a bit concerned at his frequent mention of his previously failed businesses. I know the idea is that his current one isn't failing, so he learned from experience, but still...it doesn't inspire confidence.
I also found myself shocked at his sample start up budget. Wow. I am assuming this is a part of the book he did not update for modern times. Two thousand to six thousand for a laptop? Two hundred to eight hundred for a "Read/write CD-ROM"? This book was supposedly updated in 2004...even if it was 2000, prices should be set much lower in his budget listing. This unrealistic budget may deter some from starting a business believing the costs to be too great, when in fact the costs are significantly smaller. (Example: Nice laptops go for around twelve hundred, "Read/write CD-ROMs" have been included standard on even cheap (sub-thousand dollar) laptops for years.)
There were some helpful parts, though. If you don't know how to start any kind of business, a basic "for dummies" approach is provided to get you started with tips that apply to starting any business. I found this informative and consistant with other texts I've read on the subject.
I appreciated the attention paid to offering hosting in addition to webpage design, though I wished there was more detail. One interesting, helpful fact was that he bills quarterly rather than yearly. His explaination as to why he does things this way really made sense, and made me consider a short billing cycle as he suggests.
The most helpful thing in the book is the sample contract with explaination. He also offers this sample contract on his website, which I found very useful as a guide to developing my own contract.
I do not mean to be rude, but after visiting the author's webpages I do have to say...if he can get enough work building poorly designed sites like these, just think of what someone with a talent for clean, attractive designs could do.
Bottom line: worth checking out from the library, not worth owning.
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Amateur Book by an Amateur "Designer", July 7, 2004
By A Customer
I am a web design veteran and have decided to go out on my own to start a web design business. I thought this book might have some insight as to how to go about doing that. As I read the book, it was becoming clear that this book should be called "Starting a Home Based Business For Dummies - with Some Web Stuff Thrown In" I got about halfway through the book and I was curious to see this guys work, so I - like other reviewers here - checked out his website.
Yikes. It looks like a newbie's first attempt. All that was missing waas the blinking text and rotating logo. I put the book down after that. I can't take advice from someone I don't respect professionally. I wish I had more hands so I could give this book four thumbs down.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fell short of my expectations, December 28, 2001
This review is from: How to Start a Home-Based Web Design Business (Paperback)
As an aspiring graphic/web designer looking to launch her first freelance business, I thought Smith's book would cover all the aspects needed to get started. After scanning through the entire book and reading several chapters more thoroughly, I've come to the conclusion that this book isn't for me. Granted, it offered valuable insight from the author's experience, but I felt it was too general. The lack of detail gave it a three-star rating. For example, many webdesigners are resellers; that is, they purchase space from a webhost and make up their own webhosting packages to sell to clients. I've often thought about offering that service, but didn't know what it took to be a reseller. The book skims over that area, which surprises me, since webhosting is a service many webdesigners provide. Smith basically said he is a reseller, he shows clients why it's better to be hosted on a commercial server rather than a local ISP, and recommends two webhosts that provide good reselling plans. He doesn't cover the aspects of becoming a reseller, the pros and cons. Did you know a reseller has to provide technical support for his/her clients? Webhosts recommend that you have to have a fair knowledge of various programming languages, and be familiar with a UNIX/NT server. Now if you just read this book and decide to offer webhosting, you'd be in a whole heap of trouble. For the novice designer, this would be a good place to begin. But for the seasoned designer, Smith's design "tips" are just redundant rule of thumbs we've all heard before: design for cross-browser/multiple resolution compatiblity, optimize your graphics, avoid using the latest cutting-edge technology, and so forth. Business-wise, there is a sample contract and other documents that look okay. I may give them a try, but there are also more concise business contracts/documents templates available online. I suggest you do a search for "webdesign contract template" and see what you can find. Smith is getting somewhere with his book. I hope other aspiring authors will follow. What we need is a book for designers that explain technical business terms in plain English, dealing with subjects such as contracts, business plans, invoices, budgets, taxes, etc. It would also be helpful to have related chapters dealing with security, such as how to obtain a SSL certificate, how to accept credit cards online, and so forth. As defined by Smith's book, I am a "ponytail", someone who is more focused in the creative aspect of the webdesign business. I know nothing of programming or sales or marketing. Something to consider when revising for the next edition.
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