Hi, new guy here, and business question

[travel_man]

Hi,

Great site, first of all. I'm pretty much a newbie in web design, and recently I just started what I hope will be a one-man web design business.

I'm building a site for a friend of mine who is a musician, as well as my first client.

So far, the work is going all right, and I think I'm going to end up with a pretty good website for him.

The question I have is: how to go about asking for compensation? Because he's my friend and struggling financially himself, I'm willing to forgo monetary payment this time. Still, I am hoping to be compensated in other ways. We haven't discussed the issue yet.

Do you have any suggestions? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks,

Greg

 

[anna]

First of all I ask, would he play a music gig for free? I hear these arguments all the time but they just don't hold water with me. I can't call my doctor and ask him to forgo charging me because I'm a little broke this week.

Web design is a service (like hair styling, doctor appts. etc) and by undercutting contemporaries you are driving the value down by performing free work.

That being said, ask him to link to your site, or put some kind of recommendation on his site for your business.

 

[travel_man]

First of all I ask, would he play a music gig for free? I hear these arguments all the time but they just don't hold water with me. I can't call my doctor and ask him to forgo charging me because I'm a little broke this week.

Web design is a service (like hair styling, doctor appts. etc) and by undercutting contemporaries you are driving the value down by performing free work.

That being said, ask him to link to your site, or put some kind of recommendation on his site for your business.

Hi Anna

Actually, all I've done so far is just propose re-doing his web site. We didn't go into any detailed discussion at all about how the website should look, payment, etc. So in truth, there's no real commitment on my part to do the web site for him. But I've started doing it anyway (I've completed a demo homepage for his site), mainly because I don't have any other work right now, and I needed something to do.

I haven't told him that I've done anything yet. Like I said, we never discussed payment, and I figure I'd discuss the issue with him first before showing him my creation.

The thing is, I don't have a portfolio yet, which a lot of clients seem to require, so I thought I could start building one with friends, and then establish a reputation by word of mouth. I'm wondering if it's advisable to just go ahead and start looking for clients anyway without a portfolio.


~ Greg

 

[wishbone]

I think it would be better if you add some more services like making some social networking page page like Facebook, Twitter, etc for him too.. can't actually give you an idea how much but adding those service would give you more confident on the price on your mind.

 

[anna]

Look for clients without a portfolio. Lower your rates to get those clients, then build your portfolio. Compensation should always be one of the first things you discuss, that way there's no hard feelings at the end. Good luck!

 

[JoomlaExpert]

He is your friend but I am sure that you can't work without getting paid. Tell him what you feel about it. Creating a website is not easy because I tried it myself.