Over the years I’ve been approached by half a dozen people who tell me they have the next greatest idea for the web. This is inevitably followed by my chance to build their website for free and share in the huge profits that are sure to come. Yes, 100%, those profits will start rolling in and all they need is someone like me to build the site. It’s just fortunate for me that I have been approached with this great opportunity before anyone else.
Look, I’ve had great ideas too, so I know all about having those ideas and watching them do absolutely nothing and I’m not telling anyone not to chase their dreams. I was doing a corporate satire website long before Dilbert, but here I am a web developer, not a household name. One of the main things I tell my clients is that building the website is the easiest part of the process. I can essentially build anything you want. But just because I build it does not mean anyone will come.
Scare Tactics
When I am approached by people with big ideas even if they want to pay me, I usually try to scare them a bit:
“Building it is the easy part. Do you have a marketing strategy? Are you willing to blog at least once a week for a long time? Are you willing to post on social media? Are you willing to work really hard and most likely fail?”
What I tell my clients often is you have to love what you’re doing even if you fail. My corporate satire site was loads of fun for me. It never caught on. It was in one sense a failure, but I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and put hours and hours into it. Never made a dime.
So have those big ideas. They’re fun to have and to pursue…if you love it. And maybe, just maybe, it will catch on a bit and maybe, just maybe you can make a living at it.
Cheers!
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