I am very fortunate: After ten years online, Hit Those Keys is still growing and evolving.
However, in 2008, while many special people got wonderful new websites and blogs, there wasn’t enough of me, Lisa Firke, sole proprietor, to go around. Several projects got significantly delayed, which I never like, and a few people who asked for proposals didn’t get them, which is just not acceptable. I was working flat-out and still couldn’t get to them. Ooh, that hurts.
So, having pondered, and consulted some wise folk, I’ve decided to clone myself — no, wait, we decided that wasn’t feasible.
Actually, I decided to make some changes so I can help more people have nifty sites, but still have enough me left over at the end of the day to make interesting conversation at dinner.
The first wave of changes is already happening.
Now, instead of just one way to get my Design Eye on your website, there are now three:
- The Full HTK — a fully customized website
- Thesis Tweaks Statements — for users of the Thesis Theme for WordPress
- and a Banner & Palette package that can be used to personalize any blog or existing website.
But, Lis, doesn’t this mean you’re just working even harder and longer hours?
It could, but I’m hopeful it won’t. Realistically, I can only do justice to eight of “The Full HTK” each year. But I can fit in many more “Thesis Tweaks” and “Banners & Palettes” in between phases of these larger projects.
The second wave of changes will happen later this year.
I plan to offer very specific tips and resources for do-it-yourselfers, because everyone deserves a unique site and I sure as heck can’t make them all. I also plan to bring at least one Production Intern on board to help spread the load. (More on who that person might be and how I will find him or her in a later post….)
There’s one more change I need to explain.
Though ALL are welcome to download my website planning guide for free and contact me through the website about my availability, as of this writing, I no longer will be preparing free proposals.1
Instead, after your initial contact with me, I will invoice you a fee of $245. I will then prepare a truly kick-ass report with my best ideas about what your website could be, with analysis of your current site if you have one, along with firm cost and time estimates.
If the project goes forward, your fee counts as a portion of your deposit on the site. If you decide not to work with me, I get to keep your fee and you have a splendid report that you can use as a springboard with another designer, or to inform your own do-it-yourself efforts. And you will have gone through a very helpful process that is bound to make your site better.
1For the love of mud, why? you ask. I’ll tell you why:
Because I get an RFP almost every day AND I don’t just respond with a one-line brief and put a number down on a piece of paper.
I study your RFP because I really want to “get” you as a person and be sure I’m the right designer for you. I may research how your competitors present themselves online or what technologies would be most effective for your content. I have to think realistically through the timeline; whether it can mesh with my existing production calendar. It takes me 3-5 hours, at a minimum, to prepare one of these things and give you my best ideas.
So, you see, I could spend the whole year just preparing proposals and never do any other work and I might still have people wondering why I haven’t gotten back to them.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
More Lisa going around? That’s great. Of course, you would probably expect me to say that, given how much I love your work.
But more importantly I’m happy to hear that you’re making these changes so that there’s more of the real Mrs. F to go around to the people whose lives she enriches.
Aw, Charlie, this is so much what I needed to hear after sweating these decisions.
And you can glimpse, I think, an opening for us to discuss our project from the fall.
This harkens back to a previous post on your blog in which you discussed a similar situation/thought process with Chris (Pearsonified), no?
I’m glad you’ve taken a positive step to regaining control of your time. Charging for proposals is a very smart move as is the breaking down of your services into packages. The only thing I would say – and you probably are aware of anyway – is to be certain of the boundaries between those packages. Don’t let scope creep turn a Thesis Tweak into a full HTK! At least not without the appropriate compensation…
@Marc — hey, great to see you here. Another Thesis user! And, wow, you’ve been paying attention in class.
Yes, Chris has been encouraging me to charge something closer to my true value. And I completely agree about the dangers of scope creep. I am working on more precise descriptions of each package, with clear guidelines about what’s included and what isn’t. Hope to post those soon.
Heh I subscribed (RSS) long ago when Thesis was still a twinkle in Chris’ eyes, well maybe not that long ago
Yup, I was one of those early adopters as well. Been keeping my eye on Pearsonified’s work for a long while. Good stuff.
It sure is but I meant a subscriber to your site. Sorry for the confusion!
::blushing:: Oh! That’s so nice. I knew you had visited before, but I didn’t know you were a regular reader. Glad to have you….