General Discussions

**sbsmithjax** · 04-13-2008, 10:56 PM

Greetings,
I run a small web design and maintenance firm started in 1999. It has remained a one person operation for 9 years, even though I have 68 clients and am working nearly 100hrs/wk to keep up with the maintenance load.

I am looking for advice on changing this from a one person business to a *real* company that has staff, assets, and some time off for the owner (!). I don't know where to start, but know that I should have done this 4 years ago.

If you have made this transition, and would impart some REAL advice, it would make such a difference in my future. I've posted this request in the past, and gotten responses like:"just call up some subcontractors and pay them to do work"....etc.

This is not helpful, what I need is real business advice on setting the right tone with subcontractors, safeguarding my clients, protecting my business.

Here are some other questions I have:

All of my client sites are in Dreamweaver, coldfusion, on shared servers, etc. How do I manage the maintenance load when I might be making changes to a site, and a contactor might also?

How do I monitor their work quality for my clients?

Do I turn over the entire account and communication with the client to the subcontractor?

How to I instill in subcontractors my personal level of service and approach to dealing with our clients?

What stipulations should I be putting on subcontractors?

How do I embed our company brand with the subcontractor, so that he/she feels *part* of our company?

What systems should we use to manage the workflow with them, the various maintenance ticket requests, etc.

What is the best electronic way to pay the subcontractors, and how often?

How do I inform clients that I will be transferring their account to someone else in my organization (most of my clients *think* I have 10+ employees, due to the work load)

Please feel free to expand on any topic you feel would be an asset to me during this period.

So many thanks,
Steve

**bakerc** · 08:21 PM

I dont run a web design firm but do have a small business and if I can help I would be happy to.

I would imagine you have been wearing many different hats and been doing the job of umpteen people over your 9 years in business.

It may be a good idea to list the jobs you do and them pigeon hole them into departments or titles - like a flowchart with the MD (or boss - i.e. you) at the top then branching out to other 'departments' - each department or role is potentially a new member of staff (you would more than likely still be doing a number of rolls yourself even if you take on some staff) - you do not have to fill every position with a staff member but its good to know what different skill sets you require in your business (you'll be surprised at how writing them down will give you an eye opener!)

From there you could list the jobs or positions which need to be filled, decide which roles you would be happy to outsource (bearing in mind you need to ensure quality) or if you would want to keep them in house, listing the roles down should give you a clearer idea of how you are able to set things up and answer some of the questions you originaly asked - or whether you want to fill the positions at all, you will still need something to do remember

I would imagine you would want to move slowley so you get it right, no point rushing and ending up with the possability of losing clients or ending up in court.

If you take on staff you have to consider a whole load of other stuff - like are they going to be able to leave you in 12 months time and take a few clients with them - to cure this I would imagine you would have to either pay & treat them well (not too well LOL) or take on a few people who dont really know a lot but are keen to learn (which would build loyalty) - or employ people to do the coding etc but yo keep the sales stuff to yourself initially.

There is no easy answer to your question, its upto you, thats the beauty of working for yourself - you decide - but you need a vision, or template of how you want the company set up (for example, how do you want it to operate 12 months from now) - you may want to keep everything in house to ensure quality so outsourcing may not be an option for you, on the other hand you may not want the hassle of having internal payroll (which you will probably outsource to your accountant) and managng staff so outsourcing could be just the ticket.

I could go on for hours but IMHO I would suggest doing a template of how you want your business model to look in 6, 12, 18 and 24 months time and put a plan in action to achieve it (bearing in mind the notes above)

If I can be of any more help please pm me.

**sbsmithjax** · 04-14-2008, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakerc

I dont run a web design firm but do have a small business and if I can help I would be happy to.

I would imagine you have been wearing many different hats and been doing the job of umpteen people over your 9 years in business.

Many, many thanks for your input, it is quite valuable.

Steve

**NaughtyGirl** · 04-19-2008, 12:36 PM

It sounds like you should hire people that work in your office with you. A home office still works. This way you can directly train and supervise them.

First decide what duties / tasks are repetitive and that would be easy to hand over to an employee. Just putting together a list like that should get you enough to hire someone either part or full time. Lowering the amount of hours you'll need to work.

Start with 1 employee, and work up.

Good luck! Keep us posted on how you do.