There’s lots of information and personal stories of people going from being employed by a company to being self employed as a freelancer. I’ve done that but now I want to go from having clients to having customers. By that I mean, selling my own Software and running my own websites that earn money. I’ve got my million idea’s about what I will do. It’s going from A to B that I’d like to hear about from people that are either selling Software or running a website that earns them money.
How did you transition from working on many projects for clients to working on the one project? How do clients differ from customers? are they easier to deal with? How did you find the time to work on the product? What’s your story!?
I never asked for people to tell me the difference between a client and a customer… can we move off that and on to what I asked, thanks. Read the question. Cheers.
Sorry for the late response, hope it’s still welcome. I came from a career as a software developer (freelancer) to web design so I’ve done the reverse to you. The main real difference is quite simple… there’s a lot more banking on the quality and need for the work you produce rather than spreading your risk across several clients. With a piece of software or app, you’ll spend months working on something with no idea as to whether people will pay for it… if it pays off you get to see the money roll in with you only doing incremental updates (which is less work in the long run), but if it doesn’t pay off, you’ll have spent that time building something with no customers wanting it. All the market research in the world doesn’t really guarantee results. Basically it’s what you prefer… project on project where there’s less work involved and straight forward one off rewards, or putting your eggs in one basket (hoping that it gets you regular rewards rather than going mouldy).
PS: As for how you handle them, their basically the same… except with customers, the product is the same so you don’t need custom solutions or to hunt them down! You’ll also have a much bigger problem with piracy and people stealing your stuff (it’s going to happen). I didn’t move to web design for the bad things relating to the whole “eggs in one basket” issue BTW (while I didn’t become a millionaire, I made a serious name for myself for some freeware I wrote)
I’ve just read “Start Small, Stay Small” and I think it’s the kind of advice you are looking for. Most of it is about how not to build in the dark hoping you will have customers later, and how to outsource chores so you aren’t overwhelmed.
Consumers aren’t customers. RIA, web site client, whatever. A consumer buys on price. A consumer knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Consumers are not loyal, they’ll switch in an instant when they find a bigger sucker willing to offer a lower price. And consumers to after that lower price, no matter what the cost.
Clients buy for reasons beyond lowest price. They may actually want what they’re paying for to accomplish what they’re paying for.
For example, I just got an invite for a “…a creative services business process management solution” Now, these people have absolutely no intention of studying designers, or offering a solution to any problem a designer faces. And they will reap their just deserts for it.
Next, abandon the “big idea.” Have a dozen small to medium ideas which interlock and interconnect in a self reinforcing system. Bing ideas are easy to knock off. An ecosystem of good ideas …very hard to copy.
Do you mean like Adobe and Sitepoint for instance? but of course on a smaller scale. Do the ideas have to interlock? wouldn’t it be a good idea to spread the ideas into completely different areas as well?
wouldn’t it be a good idea to spread the ideas into completely different areas as well?
You’re missing the point. You want the synergy between the integration of a dozen or more good ideas to be your competitive advantage.
I mean like Apple, and dozens of failed iWhatever killers.
The point, and you’re making it for me, is people don’t comprehend system dynamics. They’d rather go off in a thousand unrelated directions – hoping to hit something by accident. Most have better strategies in place when they go buy lottery tickets. What works with shot guns, horseshoes and hand grenades doesn’t work in business. Focus works.
You’ll notice the “big idea” is blissfully free of actual contact with reality (namely users and customers).
Let’s take an example “big idea.” As far as I can tell, this one was a creative business process management solution – for designers. Despite the idea, the execution was a dismal, primitive, generic scheduler which had not one iota of relevance to any specific business … but for the assertion of the proprietor.
The app very well could have 1) Studied the target market. 2) Found problems. 3) Specifically formulated and then tested solutions. They just didn’t. Truth be told, it would surprise me if these common sense measures ever entered their minds.
How did you find the time to work on the product? What’s your story!?