How to Start a Home-Based Web Design Business

Rating:
Summary: Grateful for a great little book!!!
Review: I have Jim's first book, How to Start a Home Based Web Design Business, and think it's worth MUCH MORE than the list price, not to mention the discounted price! My copy has underlines on almost every page. I bought it last year, and appreciate the time and effort he put into it. Every page has useful information.

In fact, I just went back to it today for a refresher, when I discovered he'd published a 2nd edition in January.

What REALLY surprised me were the negative reviews.

Those negative reviewers have totally missed the point. His books are about how to start a business in web design, not how to design a site. If they don't like his designs, so what???
He gives good, solid business advice based on experience.

If you gain from it and establish a profitable and fun business, and make even only $1,000 the first year, isn't that a great return for your small investment? Could you have done it without his expert advice? Not everyone has the business experience, and

this focuses on web design.

Based on his first book (which I found very readable, well edited, and interesting), I'm buying the 2nd edition.

It has ~50 extra pages, and even if it has much of the first edition's material, I'm sure the extra information will make it worthwhile.

Don't let the negative reviews keep you from buying a very good book on the subject:
"How to Start a Home Based Web Design Business"

It does what it claims very well!

Rating:
Summary: Don't expect this book to answer many of your questions.
Review: I have recently purchased this book from Amazon (by the way, Amazon.com is awesome! I received my order in less time than the company estimated and at a substantial savings over any other bookstore. I actually work for a bookstore and our cost was higher than the price I paid from Amazon!) Upon receiving the book, I sat right down and read the thing cover to cover. I have been designing Web sites for various departments at NC State University and several people have told me that I should be in business. Well, I have taken that advice and am now pursuing the idea. I thought that this book would be a great place to start. Unfortunately, for someone that already knows a thing or two about Web design, the book lacked substance and was very elementary. Look at the author's home page (do a search for Blarneystone, LLC) and you will see that most of his sites are so simple that they appear to have been created a decade ago. The one good thing that I gathered from his book is the worksheets and schedules that will help in bidding for jobs and writing contracts. My advice, if you are already comfortable creating Web sites, just get a trustworthy book on starting a home-based business. This book is not very expensive, so if money is not a factor, go ahead and buy it. It does offer a little advice, just don't expect it to answer many of your questions. This is actually the second home-based business that I have started. My first, a commercial office cleaning business is running very successfully and I owe most of the success to Don Asslett and the book "Cleaning Up For a Living"

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A good start for someone like me!
Review: I looked and looked ..., but could not find anything simular to this book. So I had to get this one!

It's a good start. I need a lot of help figuring out what I want to do with my web design, and what to expect when I start working as a web designer. So, this book has been GREAT for me. Every bit of it has been helpful. Sure, it's not as detailed as it might be, but I think it is just right for someone like me. I have learned a lot of new stuff, and I feel a little more confident about what to do next. I even went out and bought my own domain name, which I will use to promote my web design! I feel like I now am equipped with enough basic information to take a stab at it.

It would be nice to have a more detailed and comprehensive follow-up book as well. But I have no complaints about this book.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good
Review: I ordered this book a while ago (before it was published) and then started wondering if I had made a mistake. I received the book last week and was pleasantly surprised. Jim Smith lays everything out in plain English and answers questions we're all afraid to answer - what if I can't do this or that and be a web designer?? His answers are straightforward and do-able. He doesn't shy away from reality either. People often neglect to plan for downtime, etc. and he covers this well in the book. This book is a great reference and definitely a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informational!
Review: I thought the author did an excellent job on this book. He didn't go into great depth but he covered exactly what needed to be covered. The only thing I would disagree with was the start up fee I believe he had a thousand dollars for software....he must not use Flash and the Macromedia suite I think Director cost that alone and of course you always need Photoshop. Other then that I liked his explanation of contracts. He goes over getting jobs, book keeping. Like he states if you have an attorney and an accountant you are good to go! He even talks about make effective web sites. No, he doesn't go into great detail but the reading is easy and effective he gets straight to the point and this allows you to add your on creativity in ideas to stretch his. If you have problems with that then you are probably in the wrong business. I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: A great place to begin ......
Review: If you're thinking of starting a Web design business, then this book is a great place to begin. Smith covers all of the basics of starting a Web design business, including writing a business plan, buying equipment, establishing a legal structure, services you can offer, and making customer presentations.

Additionally, he offers a few pointers that even some experienced designers might find useful, like "charging by the site instead of by the page" and a sample contract that can be explained to your customers. This is the type of information my small business Web designers might find useful.

My only criticism is that it could be a little more detailed. For instance, the index is very shallow and there is not much actionable information that Web designers can use to promote their businesses. Lastly, I wasn't able to locate the URL for Smith's site (which may have been intentionally omitted by the publisher). My apologies if it's in the book.

Rating:
Summary: This book spells out everything needed!
Review: Starting your own Web-design business has never been spelled out simpler than here: Jim Smith takes you through each step of the job, from getting the ideas down to signing the contract. All throughout the book he includes business advice and experience to help you learn more about what you're doing. Written in a friendly and easy-to-understand manner, it won't be a problem at all in learning what goes into starting your own design company.
The very nature of the book and the tone of the writing is what makes the simplicity commented on by others. But actually, it succeeds in a fine way in it's point and delivery. It helps you to understand what's involved wihtout being confusing or getting too technical.

Jim Smith builds confidence & excitement about going into business for yourself. I recommend this book as a must-have for anyone who is considering starting their own home-based Web design business.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!!!
Review: The book help me lay me write a business plan and get organized. This book has helped me figure out my strengths and weaknesses. I think I got my money's worth and then some. Mr. Smith has pointed me in the right direction.

Rating:
Summary: Don't expect this book to answer many of your questions.
Review: The book offers up some good practical business advice that could help anyone looking to start a home based consulting business. It gives some helpful ideas to think about for anyone just starting out, such as looking at your own strengths in a real way, deciding what it is you want to do, strategies for attracting clients, and keeping your business thriving in the long run.

That said, I think Jim Smith knows his stuff when it comes to the business side of things, having run several small businesses before this. If you are looking for advice on the particulars of web-design then perhaps a different book would suit you better, such as "Web Redesign : Workflow that Works ". A simple Google search for Jim's business "Blarneystone LLC" brings you to his website that, quite honestly, seems amateurish. In his book he talks about how you need to wear many hats to run your business, one of which was "the ponytail" which was the designer hat. He reiterated many times in his book that he was a designer more than anything else, but a look at his website reveals otherwise. Having looked at his site leaves the questions in my mind as to just how authoritative this book is.