The Complete Guide To Running A Web Development Business

  1. Home
  2. Home-business
  3. The Complete Guide To Running A Web Development Business

Tags: Home Business

Learn how to start and grow a successful web development business. Get up & running and making sales in under a week.

Last updated 2022-01-10 | 4.3

- Understand how development stacks work and pick which stack is ideal for you
- Predict the timeline for starting your business
- Decide between hiring in-house employees or contractors for your business

What you'll learn

Understand how development stacks work and pick which stack is ideal for you
Predict the timeline for starting your business
Decide between hiring in-house employees or contractors for your business
Decide between offering generalized or specialized web services
Choose a winning combination of traits that you want your business to convey
Understand the different types of contractors and where to find them
Effectively allocate your time
Assess the core components of successful web development firms
Find cheap and professional ways of creating an online presence
Select a name that's attractive and conveys your core messaging
Master the biggest platforms for contracting: Freelancer and Upwork
Use advanced search techniques to fill the gaps of your development work with contractors
Create and organize a professional and effective portfolio
Use a few uncommon techniques to grow your portfolio faster
Utilize 15 different strategies to attract potential clients
Create three different types of proposals and know when to use them
Use tools like Proposify and Nusii to create and streamline proposals
Strategically use ballpark estimates to close clients sooner
Manage clients effectively while using your time efficiently
Keep client retention rates high and minimize churn
Sniff out a client's budget before they tell you
Use advanced best practices to maintain your businesses growth
Recognize client red flags before you start working with them
Figure out the optimal pricing configuration for your rates
Handle client meetings in person
Gauge when clients are not likely to accept an estimate or proposal
Make long-term decisions about which clients to retain and which to lose
Integrate Asana into your workflow to increase transparency and efficiency
Manage a team of subcontractors online

* Requirements

* No pre-requisites necessary.
* Programming experience is helpful but not necessary.

Description

  • Understand how development stacks work and pick which stack is ideal for you
  • Predict the timeline for starting your business
  • Decide between hiring in-house employees or contractors for your business
  • Decide between offering generalized or specialized web services
  • Choose a winning combination of traits that you want your business to convey
  • Understand the different types of contractors and where to find them
  • Effectively allocate your time
  • Assess the core components of successful web development firms
  • Find cheap and professional ways of creating an online presence
  • Select a name that's attractive and conveys your core messaging
  • Master the biggest platforms for contracting: Freelancer and Upwork
  • Use advanced search techniques to fill the gaps of your development work with contractors
  • Create and organize a professional and effective portfolio
  • Use a few uncommon techniques to grow your portfolio faster
  • Utilize 15 different strategies to attract potential clients
  • Create three different types of proposals and know when to use them
  • Use tools like Proposify and Nusii to create and streamline proposals
  • Strategically use ballpark estimates to close clients sooner
  • Manage clients effectively while using your time efficiently
  • Keep client retention rates high and minimize churn
  • Sniff out a client's budget before they tell you
  • Use advanced best practices to maintain your businesses growth
  • Recognize client red flags before you start working with them
  • Figure out the optimal pricing configuration for your rates
  • Handle client meetings in person
  • Gauge when clients are not likely to accept an estimate or proposal
  • Make long-term decisions about which clients to retain and which to lose
  • Integrate Asana into your workflow to increase transparency and efficiency
  • Manage a team of subcontractors online

Course content

13 sections • 99 lectures

Introduction (39 minutes) 8 lectures

Course Overview Preview 08:33

Join our community on Slack! Preview 00:00

The Sprintkick story Preview 04:58

Seven reasons to start a web development business Preview 11:11

How to add development services to an already existing business Preview 05:27

Who this course is for Preview 07:39

Section 1 Review Material Preview 34 pages

Review sheets & resources - all in one PDF Preview 00:01

The Essentials (47 minutes) 8 lectures

Understanding the development stack Preview 09:15

How to pick a stack Preview 03:38

The startup timeline Preview 10:05

How does this work as a programmer / non programmer? Preview 05:20

How do development firms typically work? Preview 04:29

Build yourself or subcontract? Preview 05:22

In-house hiring or out-of-house? Preview 08:27

Section 2 Review Material Preview 44 pages

Planning your strategy (40 minutes) 6 lectures

Good - Fast - Cheap Preview 06:23

Planning for the grind Preview 11:06

To niche or not to niche Preview 08:46

Types of subcontractors Preview 09:25

In-country or out-of-country? Preview 04:44

Section 3 Review Material Preview 35 pages

Setting up your presence (76 minutes) 8 lectures

Focus on 80/20 solutions for web presence Preview 04:30

Looking at other studios Part 1 Preview 11:24

Looking at other studios Part 2 Preview 11:57

Finding a template on TemplateMonster Preview 18:03

Finding a template on themeforest Preview 09:43

Selecting a name Preview 14:08

Advanced: Upgrading your presence with custom design Preview 05:58

Section 4 Review Material Preview 45 pages

Finding subcontractors (74 minutes) 9 lectures

Where to find subcontractors Preview 07:40

What makes a good long term partner? Preview 03:52

Intro to Elance Part 1 Preview 19:31

Intro to Elance Part 2 Preview 02:43

Intro to UpWork Part 1 Preview 19:38

Intro to UpWork Part 2 Preview 05:51

Intro to Freelancer Preview 08:59

Finding freelancers elsewhere Preview 05:38

Section 5 Review Material Preview 28 pages

Building a portfolio (22 minutes) 5 lectures

Building portfolios upfront Preview 05:55

Use these tricks to grow your portfolio faster Preview 04:38

Thoughts about portfolios Preview 03:56

Buying testimonials and case studies with catchafire Preview 07:42

Section 6 Review Material Preview 21 pages

Getting clients (72 minutes) 11 lectures

Strategy: Email scrape and blast Preview 11:44

Strategy: Offer adjacent services to those trying to hire in house Preview 11:46

Strategy: Discount offers to groups Preview 11:02

Strategy: Use your affiliations Preview 04:10

Strategy: Tag your work Preview 05:01

Strategy: Selling things that require maintenance Preview 03:15

Strategy: This sucks, let me fix it Preview 04:47

Strategy: The perpetual discount Preview 04:13

Strategy: Build something and give it away Preview 06:58

Strategy: Making tutorials strategy Preview 08:39

Section 7 Review Material Preview 56 pages

Building proposals (84 minutes) 9 lectures

Types of proposals Preview 15:03

Components of proposals Preview 19:17

Types of estimates Preview 04:36

Our technique, in depth costs of everything Preview 07:32

Going over tools for improving your proposals Preview 17:55

How much do you customize Preview 07:49

Ballpark estimates versus exacto Preview 05:57

Strategy: Introduce ideas and see if they stick Preview 05:10

Section 8 Review Material Preview 57 pages

Managing clients (60 minutes) 9 lectures

How to keep the right amount of distance Preview 08:38

Confidence is key Preview 08:35

Just enough jargon Preview 08:12

Sniffing out their budget Preview 12:40

Speed is important with clients Preview 06:28

Is the client always right? Preview 07:30

Don't talk about problems, say what's happening Preview 02:20

Do you deliver what's good or what the client likes? Preview 05:14

Section 9 Review Material Preview 61 pages

Best practices (105 minutes) 18 lectures

Under promise, over deliver Preview 10:12

What is agile? Should I use it? Preview 08:12

Client budgets and what difference they make Preview 04:38

Web presence clients aren't worth it Preview 05:14

Price per project, price per hour Preview 08:01

Should you worry about competition? Preview 04:37

Hedging your launch date Preview 04:06

Beautiful design makes beautiful development Preview 05:48

Running without contracts Preview 06:47

Red flags for bad clients Preview 10:04

Rich clients versus successful clients Preview 03:42

Tell when you're getting fizzled Preview 07:59

Don't quote off the top of your head Preview 04:24

Meeting in person Preview 09:51

Is there a benefit to delivering early? Preview 02:42

Repeat customers are the best Preview 03:38

Avoid assumers Preview 05:03

Section 10 Review Material Preview 109 pages

Internal management is crucial (45 minutes) 5 lectures

Intro to Asana Part 1 Preview 12:41

Intro to Asana Part 2 Preview 10:01

Making Asana work for you Preview 13:50

Turning Asana inside out Preview 08:09

Section 11 Review Material Preview 21 pages

Free documents and resources 2 lectures

Our $4k NDA, yours free Preview 3 pages

Our standard Development Work Contract Template Preview 5 pages

Bonus Section 1 lectures

Bonus Lecture: How to get your next course for as low as $12.99 Preview 00:17