12-15-2014, 07:46 PM
Hi Guys, just felt like sharing some of my Experiences from the past Months and warn you Guys about doing Business with Family! It doesn´t work; no matter what you arrange before you go to work. Somehow, family oftenly assumes that just because they are related to you, you should work 42 hours a week for free. Had a couple of pretty heavy weeks and i am beyond pissed because i totally pushed most of the Work on my own Websites back in order to help one of my Relatives out. Next time anyone asks me to do something for free, no matter who it is and even if it is the Virgin Mary herself who´s coming down from the sky and asks for a Webpresence....There will be only one Answer!: "F you, Pay Me!"
But now, let me give you some of the Backstory first. So my Uncle has a small Company and he´s making decent money. He´s doing handwork throughout the summer but works in a branche that is dead over winter. But he is good with Chemicals and created some chemical additives that he could potentially sell for good Money. The Product is done and would only need a good Marketing and reliable Shipping to become very successful. All he did so far was putting the Product on ebay and his Auction is so old that it ranks on Postition 1 on google and that´s why he´s selling a handful of his Products a month; without Marketing. Now that´s where i come in the Picture. I am doing SEO and build Websites for other Companies and myself. It took me a couple of years to get to the Point but i build solid Websites now. Closed CMS Systems for small Business that allow them to sell their Product and i could sell the sh*t out of my Uncles Products. He asked me to build him a Webpresence for free and i agreed because i usually do that in a couple of days. I built him a website, which turned out pretty good but that wasn´t the End of it. My Uncle asked if i could help him with his Bookkeeping and international Correspondence because he is totally overloaded with everything. And not only bookkeeping but also building him websites as he needs them and run them, including handling the Shipping of the Products that are ordered. I said, sure i can do that (because i have 10 year Experience working with worldwide Trading and Ebay) but you will have to pay me. He said, payment is certainly not a Problem and asked how much. Now, we are talking about at least 4 Hours a Day and 6 Days a week. And not only that but being on a 24/7 phone emergency service for my uncle because he´s totally uncapable of working with a computer. So i said that i need about 450 a month and that is my gift to my Uncle because if i would spend the Time doing other Things like my own Websites, i would make a whole lot more. So long Story short; i made him three websites that are really good and spent at least two months of very hard work, but he´s not really interested to pay what we agreed on and handed me a hundred Bucks. You know, i had my designer create 5 different Logos for him that already cost more than that. Not counting the cost of the Webspace and stuff like that.
And it p*sses me off because he could make a hell lot of money if he wouldn´t be so stupid to save at the wrong Place. But you shouldnt expect people to be smart, should you? The Product is perfect for ebay, Amazon and with a couple of facebook Ads, he could sit and watch the Money flow. But really, Good Work needs to be paid fair but it´s really a good Product so we could both make money. But especially in Webdesign, people think that work on the Computer isn´t real work because, you know, you just type on the Keyboardand stuff. Gave him the Log-In Data for the websites and told he i can´t do this kind of Work for him anymore unless he´s willing to pay up front. I have my Costs too and when i spent weeks working on someones Stuff, i don´t have the Time to work on other Stuff. And that has a Price too. So yeah, gotta walk away from that because i will not work for free. Especially not when it´s the Family! I hate that i have to say that but be careful not to let people take Advantage of your Work! In most Cases. they will not Appreciate it!
But now, let me give you some of the Backstory first. So my Uncle has a small Company and he´s making decent money. He´s doing handwork throughout the summer but works in a branche that is dead over winter. But he is good with Chemicals and created some chemical additives that he could potentially sell for good Money. The Product is done and would only need a good Marketing and reliable Shipping to become very successful. All he did so far was putting the Product on ebay and his Auction is so old that it ranks on Postition 1 on google and that´s why he´s selling a handful of his Products a month; without Marketing. Now that´s where i come in the Picture. I am doing SEO and build Websites for other Companies and myself. It took me a couple of years to get to the Point but i build solid Websites now. Closed CMS Systems for small Business that allow them to sell their Product and i could sell the sh*t out of my Uncles Products. He asked me to build him a Webpresence for free and i agreed because i usually do that in a couple of days. I built him a website, which turned out pretty good but that wasn´t the End of it. My Uncle asked if i could help him with his Bookkeeping and international Correspondence because he is totally overloaded with everything. And not only bookkeeping but also building him websites as he needs them and run them, including handling the Shipping of the Products that are ordered. I said, sure i can do that (because i have 10 year Experience working with worldwide Trading and Ebay) but you will have to pay me. He said, payment is certainly not a Problem and asked how much. Now, we are talking about at least 4 Hours a Day and 6 Days a week. And not only that but being on a 24/7 phone emergency service for my uncle because he´s totally uncapable of working with a computer. So i said that i need about 450 a month and that is my gift to my Uncle because if i would spend the Time doing other Things like my own Websites, i would make a whole lot more. So long Story short; i made him three websites that are really good and spent at least two months of very hard work, but he´s not really interested to pay what we agreed on and handed me a hundred Bucks. You know, i had my designer create 5 different Logos for him that already cost more than that. Not counting the cost of the Webspace and stuff like that.
And it p*sses me off because he could make a hell lot of money if he wouldn´t be so stupid to save at the wrong Place. But you shouldnt expect people to be smart, should you? The Product is perfect for ebay, Amazon and with a couple of facebook Ads, he could sit and watch the Money flow. But really, Good Work needs to be paid fair but it´s really a good Product so we could both make money. But especially in Webdesign, people think that work on the Computer isn´t real work because, you know, you just type on the Keyboardand stuff. Gave him the Log-In Data for the websites and told he i can´t do this kind of Work for him anymore unless he´s willing to pay up front. I have my Costs too and when i spent weeks working on someones Stuff, i don´t have the Time to work on other Stuff. And that has a Price too. So yeah, gotta walk away from that because i will not work for free. Especially not when it´s the Family! I hate that i have to say that but be careful not to let people take Advantage of your Work! In most Cases. they will not Appreciate it!