I learned how to design websites a few years ago after getting stranded by more than one web developer who went AWOL on my part-time entrepreneurial dreams. I had a good product and my friends told me I needed a professional website with search engine optimization (SEO) to grow my side business.
So I invested (but lost) thousands on the advice. My friends had the best of intentions, but there are other people who will take advantage of you. It’s just the world we live in.
When You Run Out of Money, You Do It Yourself (Or You Quit)
Truthfully, I wasn’t very good at web design, but by my third WordPress site I think I was getting the hang of it. Then at the start of this year, I started getting paid to design websites and landing pages for other entrepreneurs and communities.
They were nice side gigs, but with a full-time job I could only handle one or two projects at a time because I was working on them at night and on the weekends.
That is still the case today, but a funny thing happened the more I worked on web pages. I realized how ineffective they are. They may be full of good information, but they typically fail to engage readers. Stated frankly, most web pages are kind of boring.
So I Took the True Entrepreneurial Path (I Got Creative)
I figured out how to turn dynamic forms into their own web pages (and even entire web sites).
WebsitePathway.com is one of my examples.
I narrowed my focus and my value went up even more.
Entrepreneurial Lesson #1: Go deep not wide.
Being well rounded is good in high school. Being well rounded in the real world leads to mediocrity.
Become very good at one thing gets you noticed.
But when you get really good, something else happens.
You get backlogged with demand.
Entrepreneurial Lesson #2: Service-based work is not scalable.
Margins are better on service-based offerings (vs the margins on physical products), but there is only one of you. Income based solely on client projects are often a necessary professional experience when you are starting out. You need to build up your portfolio of work and you need to improve your cash flow. But it’s realistically more of a short-term strategy (e.g. for the first year). You will quickly be reminded there are only so many hours in the day. There are only so many times you can stomach scope creep.
If you want to increase output, you have to hire help. But if you stay on that path, you are now building an agency model. An agency model can be lucrative over time but it also leads to its own sleepless nights.
So I’m now doing what any wise independent entrepreneur (aka “solopreneur”) would do in the digital economy: I’m launching an online course to teach other entrepreneurs what I know how to do really well.
Entrepreneurial Lesson #3: Online resources are scalable.
When you create and launch online (i.e. digital) resources, you can serve more people without the need to clone yourself. Your resources aren’t perfect (they never will be) but your time is now invested in making your product better.
How I Can Now Help More People
In my case, my first true digital resource may be an online course that I’m launching called Graceful Web Forms Sell.
It is designed to help part entrepreneurs gracefully profit from their passion in life. It is based on the premise that the best professionals ask the best questions. If you love to ask questions (and most people do), this solution will be a lot of fun for you.
This is new territory for me. Kind of scary. Kind of fun.
You can preview my upcoming course at GracefulWebFormsSell.com. The web technology I teach is demonstrated by the form itself. No technical experience is required. My goal in the course is to make anyone a pro at this so they can apply it to their own entrepreneurial dreams.
If the thought of building a full-scale WordPress website with an online store causes you nightmares, this course is especially for you. And if you already have a website, I will teach you how to integrate this type of dynamic form into your existing online platform to generate new leads, collect online payments and grow your business.
I’m seeking early adopters this year so I plan to offer the course at a significant discount. One friend told me my proposed early bird offer was EXTREMELY reasonable.
Translation: Are you sure about this?!
We shall see.
Please take my three lessons to heart as you take the next step in your professional journey. I’m cheering for your success!
I hope you also decide to check out this next phase of my part-time entrepreneurial career and to share this course with friends who have something great to share with the world (and who also recognize that static web pages typically don’t engage visitors).
It would be an honor to have you on-board for the ride. In the end, we both will have great stories to tell.