Since 2001 my brother Ricke and I have together been Stauffer Web Design at http://www.stwd.org/. We’ve had the same web site since then, and every few years I think it’s time for an update–for our identity and for our web site.
Recently the nature of our business has changed. Where we once were a designer/programmer team, both working out of Ann Arbor and both with similar amounts of free time, our situations have now changed a lot. Ricke is one of the lead programmers at a very important international consulting firm, and I’m now working 10-15 hours a week doing web design to supplement Tereva’s and my incomes from working with InterVarsity (and to engage a different side of my passions and talents.) Our business is now a lopsided designer-hackprogrammer(me)/awesome-programmer(Ricke) team, where I get clients in Gainesville, I try to make the web site, and Ricke fixes anything I break.
Basically, all of this leads to needing help from you, faithful reader. I have 2 directions I can go from here.
Little old me
First, I can move toward a more casual, open relationship with my potential client. I’m not Stauffer Design–I’m just Matt Stauffer. Part of this transition would be to make the web site more personal and comfortable (since, in reality, the clients are just dealing with me anyway); part of this would be because stwd is a frustratingly incommunicative domain name, and staufferdesign.com is already owned by someone else.
If I move to “Matt Stauffer Design,” I will be focusing on my individual strengths. I’ll be able to work more with boutique firms and be hired as a consultant more often for larger clients, but it will reduce my appeal for small businesses that want a whole corps of designers, not just one guy.
Going corporate
Or, I can focus–both in message and in how I run the business–on providing a more corporate appeal. I already have a name I very much like for this business* (not putting it here for fear of domain snatchers–I’ll be buying the domain name today just in case); I have Ricke as an advisor and several subcontractors who do work for me regularly enough. I have the groundwork laid for a more corporate culture.
The benefits are plenty: peace of mind for my clients, more approachability for local businesses who are scared of hiring just one 25-year-old. The drawbacks, however, are also plenty: a level of separation between me and the client, the need for new tax situations and a DBA and other such legal tomfoolery, the eventual need to pay for larger group task-management software like Basecamp.
Of course, the majority of you have nothing to do with web design. But for those of you either in web design or in a position where you might hire a web designer, could you give me a brief thought? I’ll make the decision myself, and of course a blog post is far from the most efficient means of collecting professional advice… but I like my people, and that’s who many of you are. So. Lemme know.
*Update–I mistyped the name of my potential company when checking if the domain for it is free. It’s not. So, unfortunately, if I do go corporate, I’m back to square one in deciding what the name will be.
clarification question: is this just about how you present the company or is it also about your calling to build a web design company?
Berry: Definitely is about how I present the company. I don’t think I would say it’s about my calling; unless callings/goals in life change, I’m not on the way to building a studio with employees and a building and everything. The question is: What should the nature of my part-time design work be: managing subcontractors and presenting us a corporation, or working as a freelancer and presenting myself as a freelancer?
Since 80% of the jobs I take only require me to do any work, the choice to go corporate would have little effect on the day-to-day operations of the work; it would make a difference in what people expect from me (for example, corporations don’t take 2-week breaks for Chapter Camp), so that’s where the subcontractors come in, but outside of that the difference is primarily how I present myself.
Great question! Thanks–it definitely helped me clarify.
Matt, Just a couple of comments:
1. Doing subcontracting and maintaining quality are very hard to do. I’ve had a few miserable experiences with it.
2. Most of your work is likely to come from some sort of referral, and that mitigates the need for the corporate presence.
That said, I think it is great to have a good url and web site. Just define what you are able to do as clearly as you can, then work the network.
My two cents…