An anonymous question is posted:
Could you tell us why you've had problems getting your designs done? Were you working in a different area where the designers would only accept an advance?
Thanks!
It's not a problem in getting my designs done, I am just looking for better than I can do myself, which is what I have been doing since 1992. There are notable exceptions, where people have helped me out in trade with things simple for them, but escape me, and on rare occasion I actually fork over money. So what I am interested in today is forking over money, only to find there are no takers. Or if there are, I cannot find them.
I work google and craigslist for local sources, and even tracked sources in India and Hong Kong. No luck. Everybody wants a big job.
Here I think, is the problem: any heavy duty code writing has been done by the ASPs upon which I rely for the integrity of my websites. Yahoo and google and others have spent billions writing code, and I'd rather pay the $75 a month for 99% of my code than hire someone to reinvent the wheel.
What website "designers" that can be found offer to do many wonderful things, at what turns out to be about the same price anywhere on earth. Now the problem is, I do not want 99% of what they offer. I only want some simple things that just about any website designer can do. I suspect among people whose businesses are not subsidized in some way, are like me, and do not want all of that. Govt agencies, NGOs, subsidized businesses, they could care less, and they pay whatever, because who cares, it's not their money.
Every website also promises to be the very best at SEO. Two problems with SEO: the cost of getting a ranking that would make a difference would outweigh any benefit. Chevrolet can pay to be a top hit on google because every Chevrolet sold is an act of bailout for General Motors (and then Chevrolet goes slow pay on the ad agency!) Next, the promise all web designers make that all websites show up on the first page of google search is prima facie nonsense, too. That's a pretty crowded first page.
So web designers want me to pay for things that I do not want, and in practice are pointless. Of course, if you have a well equipped design studio, loaded with expensive software, even if you are working out of your home, you have some serious overhead to cover. Load on top of that the $80,000 in design school student loans at 5.5%, and we have some serious overhead. So many designers are overhead driven businesses. I understand their need to charge what amounts to several hundred dollars an hour.
I would gladly pay $25 an hour for what any high school kid could do. I have on my desk the card of a recent design school graduate. I've emailed her a couple of times, since she works for $25 an hour. I am positive she could handle all of my website needs in less than 8 hours. She has not replied. She is too wiped out after working odd hours but full time as a waitress (at about $10 an hour) to pay her loans and rent, that she cannot work on my project. I suspect that is common. (Apparently she is so tired she missed a typo on her website.) And I only heard about her from a friend of a friend. As any website designer knows, the web is no place to promote oneself or one's service. The web merely lowered the cost and widened access to research, but loaded up researchers with the task of processing massive data. Google puts the best data forward, but getting up there is cost-prohibitive, unless the world has already decided you are number one.
So given all that, let's go where the designers are: hundreds are going to websites where they will compete to please customers. How come, with all of the web opportunity to to promote oneself, a designer will go to a project clearing house like 99designs.com? My guess is any other means failed.
But I would much rather sit with a designer in front of my computer and direct them to achieve my small results, than crowdsource, but it that is all that is available, then crowdsourcing may be the way for me.
If I were a designer facing this challenge, I would start a website design agency called "make-up" or some such. $25 an hour, 4 hour minimum, you pick from a stable of designers whose websites examples are available online. I would look at what each person knows how to do, and then say, "yes that is what I am looking for." These should be Penn and Teller type sites, where the designer shows a function, like those websites that have a person pop up and welcome you... and the designer explains how they do it and how many hours it would take. Or just how to install a survey form or a stat counter on a site.
I know what website designers will say:
1. Visual design is important and bad design hurts business. Yes, true, but what makes you think you can deliver superior design? Raw self-confidence? Mustn't make that claim unless you can demonstrate who made more money than before, and how much, with your sites, and show the before and after income statements of the successful businesses. Otherwise, don't bother. Money talks, BS walks.
2. The price "all depends..." Well, it all depends if you are undisciplined. Mechanics could claim it all depends, and the poor ones do. The good ones know what the problem is and what it will cost. Tell me it all depends, and then I need to move on to someone else.
There is a problem, and a tremendous business opportunity. Those who were smart enough to stay out of the "art school" trap can work for less and are doing so, at a website wherein someone solved a problem of matching willing sellers with willing buyers, in a way that each agrees to. But it is still not quite what I want. I want local help. There is an opportunity waiting, I think.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Unemployed Website Designers
Definitions - Free Market
It is tedious to hear those who caused the problem blame the free market for the problem, here is a quote from an excellent roundup:
The free-market, let the banks do what they do mentality was what allowed them to create a $14 trillion mountain of securities backed by precarious mortgages to begin with.
Well, sigh, without massive government intervention in the form of subsidies, rules, regs and protections, and then installing moral flyweights such as former congressman Christopher Cox as SEC supervisor, there is no way the scam could take place. And plenty of people saw the scam happening, reported it, complained of it, but nothing was done. In 2004 the FBI reported to congress mortgage fraud was rampant. No one acted, no one in government, not in labor, not in religion, not in medicine, not in academia, not in the press, not in industry or ...ahem... Wall Street. By 2004 all of the commanding heights in the body politic of USA had been bought and paid for by the powers that be.
In 1977, Chairman Cox simultaneously received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received a B.A. from the University of Southern California in 1973, graduating magna cum laude after pursuing an accelerated three-year course.
This is the leadership we get from graduates our top universities. As I receive pitches every day for colleges my daughter may attend, every single one of them tells me in a bullet point that the college prepares "leaders for tomorrow..." Never mind we need leaders today, or not. Never mind Christians, of which this country is nominally such, are to be followers of Christ and not leaders of others (and note Satan tempted Jesus with "leadership of the world." Which Jesus rejected. And note the implication: although Satan is a liar, Jesus would know well what powers Satan had. If Satan could not deliver the world under Jesus-leadership, then it would not be a temptation to Jesus. So obviously, Satan could deliver the leadership of the world to whomever he pleases. Therefore, this leadership one gets from a college education, what is its source? hmmm..
Nonetheless, the polls will heat up this week with elections for new leaders.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Big Business: How USA Works
I've blogged on this before, but here is a specific instance: google gets massive tax exemptions through international trade, and then forks over more then $30,000 per employee to spend an hour with Obama. You try that.
Of course, I believe every company should take every tax exemption it can get, up to and including paying no taxes whatsoever. The fewer taxes paid, the better it is for the country. Indeed, we should observe and learn nonpayment of taxes leads to prosperity, and thus write taxes out of any laws.
Retirement Age
Of course if you are self-employed, you are doing what you love, so retirement comes when you grasp your chest, wheeze, and drop dead mid-sentence. Tag 'em and drag 'em.
California next year will owe 550% of its budget in pension payments. At some point taxpayers will say no more. Oregon has gone stagnant over two decades in taxpayers jobs, while doubling tax-paid jobs. Ouch! Private industry has been talking about this at least since 1982, as I recall unfunded pension liability being the "strike issue" of the longshoremen against us importers in the master contract negotiations that year. The problem was a crisis that had to be solved immediately. Ha! The can got kicked down the road for 30 years... maybe finally it does not get solved, just society tears apart.
For people with a government pension, there is simply no way they will collect on it. they may have the numbers they were promised on a pice of paper, but either those numbers no longer by what they did before, or what they want to buy is either worth less or unavailable. Where you could afford meat, later it will be Alpo-ish. Think of the Soviet health care system: single payer, no charge, heavily staffed. The health care plan of every Soviet citizen was: don't get sick. People stored their own bandages and syringes for fear of infection should they need help someday.
There will be no wipeout of any single party... there will just be general, relentless grinding down, ala the soviet union. If true, what to do?
Well, there will be no living on a pension. Work will be required to survive. Govt work will be less and less be attractive. So, pensioners will ned to find work. If you have a govt job not done in the private sector, better quit now and get an education. Start over. Get ahead of the legions of unemployables that will be released from govt service. Scary!
If you do work that is actually done in the private sector, start a business now. The only way to defend yourself against the coming allocation of debts and losses (the assets have already been allocated away from us) is to be self employed so you can make the serial adjustments necessary to live an prosperous and healthy life.
Free Markets and Exceptional Wealth
Both the left and right say things about the free market that are not true. The left says the free-market is "devil-take-the-hindmost" "competition, and the right says the free market is the path to riches. How come in practice, neither is true?
In places where free markets reign relatively, say Hong Kong, there are two reasons why no one goes for want. One, anyone and everyone who wants to work, can work. Help wanted signs are up everywhere, because people start their own businesses given so much opportunity. Th communist party restricts Chinese from moving to Hong Kong, because everyone would. So for slackers to say "I can't find a job" would get no sympathy in Hong Kong. ("Then go to China...") For those who are truly in trouble, a house burns out, serious domestic violence, often what charities offer is a step up from where victims came, charities are so well funded. In a free market, where so many people live authentic lives necessary to a free market, with all of its ups and downs, nobody has the nerve to say "no" to someone truly in trouble. Those the left pretend to care about are better served in a free market.
There are no billionaires who got their fortune from working in the free market. Bill Gates and Ross Perot computerized the welfare state. Govt forced pensions paid into the stock market which made Warren Buffett a billionaire, one of his most famous companies is GEICO, a company that runs delightful ads with several pitchmen. GEICO of course stands for Government Employee Insurance COrporation. He started with a shirt company, but pensions had to put the money somewhere. You'll say, "But Buffett was smarter than the rest.." Are you sure it is not just an example of "survivorship bias?" True true, had he not picked the stock biz, on the advice of his congressman father as to where the money would be, he would not have had a chance. And do you really believe, with his connections, it was chance?
But what does if matter chance or not, without a government requirement and tax coercion, there would not be the funds flowing through stocks that are the basis of his wealth.
Of course, at this point, people will ask, if not exceptional wealth, then what is the point of a free market? The point of a free market, as in freedom from and freedom to, is competition and division of labor.
Free competition is what keeps anyone from amassing exceptional wealth, short of government intervention. The left knows exceptional wealth is the result of government intervention in markets, and in essence picking winners and losers, and protecting the winners by statute (not common law), so the left logically wants to tap those "winners" to pay for the left's generosity to selected groups. In a free market, there is no exceptional wealth because competition is drawn to success, and in essence invited to compete. In USA we do not allow open competition, so we have these vast disparities as to who gets what portion of an unnaturally limited pie.
And here is what a free market competition does not do: it does not copy exactly what someone else is doing. In a free market no one would see microsoft's success and open a microsoft clone. In a free market someone would do microsoft one better, or serve that market microsoft ignores, such as those who desire improved efficiency when using a computer for work, or security when online. In a free market there would be no reason to try to take microsofts customers away, there would only be people doing microsoft one better or one different, serving people microsoft cannot or will not serve. This is division of labor, leading to more and better options. The pie just gets bigger and bigger, assuring a surfeit for any and all participants in the market. Right now, in usa, anything remotely like anything microsoft does, real or imagined or even just tendentious, leads to a crippling lawsuit. Chinese are freer under communism than we are in USA under democracy.
So you can see why the left and right hate free markets: the left has no poor to exploit, and the right has no means to amass wealth. There is only the more better cheaper faster of the constant improvements readily introduced. Who wants that?
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Crowdsourcing Design
Holly checks in with a link to a site that offers crowdsourced design. This method is clever.. I know I am presently having a very hard time getting design work done... and what with welfare and a sense of entitlement imbued heavily in USA workers, I imagine many of these designers will be overseas.
Imagine applying this technique not only to design, but medical advice, architecture, nutrition, just about any service you can think of. Seems like a low cost way to jumpstart service biz, most likely international in nature, which can be done off your table.
The ecommerce portion could be done of yahoostores, although for accepting credit cards getting a bank merchant account is a tough thing. Paypal is always an option, though.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Window Shopping
Garbage to China Argument
I was really surprised to see this very badly considered essay over at lewrockwell.com. I was moved to post the following in reply:
Country of Origin Issues
If 90% of my widget is built from parts manufactured overseas, and I do the final assembly here in the US, can I say my widget is American Made? Is there a percentage threshold allowing you to say Made in America vs Made in xxxx?
Anthony
Anthony,
New Balance is the only athletic shoe manufacturer still making shoes in the US. We’re proud of that commitment. We're proud of the workers in our five New England factories. And we're proud to say that 25% of our shoes sold in North America are made or assembled right here
Made or Assembled in America
Twenty-five percent of New Balance shoes sold in North America are produced by our US workforce using US and imported materials. When possible, we obtain materials from domestic suppliers. At times, due to availability, economic or quality reasons, there is a need to import components from foreign sources. Where the domestic value is at least 70%, we have labeled the shoe "Made in the USA." Where it falls below 70%, we have qualified the label referencing domestic and imported materials. This determination is based in part on the Federal trade Commission's survey of consumers.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Religion Can Be A Business Too
And many people see it that way, even going bankrupt like a out-of-control hamburger stand. These people were rolling in the bucks when the boom was going, but sadly, did not follow the principles they preached. Taking or giving usury is forbidden in the bible, and at $36 million in the hole, a whole lotta usury going on... they had a good ride...
China Fields Another First Stringer
I usually end up writing in names when voting, since I cannot believe the awful choices a democracy offers up. The Communist Party of the People's Republic of China, on the other hand, keeps serving up world-class first stringers. Meet the next likely President of China, Xi Jinping. Like many Chinese, he suffered under extremists, and is likely to be a reformer, like his dad's friend, Deng Xiaoping.
In China, elections are fixed, but it is not fraudulent, since everyone knows. Only in USA do people generally not know election outcomes are usually pre-ordained, such as this "tea party sweep" coming up in a couple of weeks.
Feeling No Pain
Out of the depression, caused by foolish government policy, came countless safety net programs. Now if one objects to safety net programs, the immediate reaction is "you want people to starve!" Well, no. I think we will see in time these programs, now put to the test, merely kick the can down the road, at which point we'll see far more sever problems, and perhaps even people starving. But I have been too optimistic about these things, and I would like to focus on a present problem from social safety nets.
Right now I could put ten people to work on a project I think would pay very well in time, if not make people rich. But I must pay a minimum wage. Restaurants are getting around this by having people work for free, recent graduates from culinary schools who have no chance of working for money, so try to build a resume by working for free. Since volunteers are 5 deep, no one dares ask for pay.
Nobel laurels have been given for proving unemployment benefits lengthen the time one is unemployed, proving a grasp of the obvious is important in the nobel contest. The problem is we who need help now must wait until disaster is upon us, to get a little help.
The disaster, when it comes, will be all the worse since we are making things worse encouraging people to wait.
Pencil and Launch
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Prototypes
Hey Michael,
Hi John
I took your class a number of years ago. I was wondering if I still can get some of your clear advice. My wife has come up with an idea for a reasonably simple electronic "aid" for golfers. How do we go about getting a prototype made to show to retailers to see if there is a market for the product? Confidentiality agreements??? I know that you have opinions on these...
Thank you.
Michael