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Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

designfor15bucks.com

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Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#181

Post by billybob »

anigbrowl wrote: post #130
tlrobinson wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather do something I enjoy for slightly less money than get an office job or flip burgers.

You must have very cheap rent. If you don't ask for money for what you do, then you are saying that what you do is worthless. You probably don't actually believe that, and the only reason to sell your work for less than the most basic labor is because you don't know how to get paid properly. But customers see your pricing and conclude that designers do not need to be paid even the normal minimum for other kinds of wo…

"It is a bad pattern, for you and also for your colleagues in the same profession."

Agreed. I once had a photography professor who was adamant that we not work too cheaply, because it sets expectations for the profession. His take was that you charge whatever you need to in order to live, buy equipment, etc.

If you want to help someone, do some work pro-bono, and make it clear that "normally this would cost X dollars, but I'm donating my services." That way they simultaneously get the ideas that "this person's work is valuable" and "they've done me a big favor." As opposed to just "he/she can afford to work cheaply."

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#182

Post by billybob »

dstorrs wrote: post #142
anigbrowl wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must have very cheap rent. If you don't ask for money for what you do, then you are saying that what you do is worthless. You probably don't actually believe that, and the only reason to sell your work for less than the most basic labor is because you don't know how to get paid properly. But customers see your pricing and conclude that designers do not need to be paid even the normal minimum for other kinds of wo…

> If you don't ask for money for what you do, then you are saying that what you do is worthless. "Um, what?" --Every open source developer, ever.

Those developers generally make a big distinction between "work I do for free because it's fun or intrinsically rewarding" (like helping a charity) and "work I do to make a living." They will try to get maximum pay for the latter, partly to enable the former.

So I think a better statement would be "if you don't ask for SUFFICIENT money for what you do SOLELY FOR PAY, then you're saying your work isn't worth much."

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#183

Post by jtheory »

nhangen wrote: post #172
hoop wrote: post #41

Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a design store, you see designfor15bucks.com sittin' there, there's designfor14bucks.com right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man? Ted: I would go for the 14. Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. designfor14bucks.com. And we guarantee just as good a design as the designfor15bucks.com folk. Ted: You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that? Hitchhiker: If you're not happy…

Well in that case, Fiverr has this guy beat. To be honest, if I see: Design for $15 or Design for $50 I'm choosing 50 because I'm hoping that he has fewer clients, values himself more, and isn't going to give me crappy design.

It depends on what you're looking for.

I'm thinking of throwing $15 his way just to see what comes out, and see if it sparks some new ideas for me -- i.e., I'm not paying him for a polished final design for my site, I'm paying him for his thoughts (in PDF form) on how my site might look different.

I might not like his idea, and it might just offer a contrast that helps me suss out what I like about my current design. But as it was only 15 bucks (not much invested from me OR him), I won't feel bad about just chucking the results.

If I were paying someone for a real site redesign, I would lay out a lot more than $15, but I would also expect to go through whatever steps necessary to come up with a finished product that I would actually use (because if I'm paying real money, it had better not be a waste).

In any case, I'm waiting until he has some example sites online... so I can tell if he's a talented designer doing rapid/rough work (useful to me), or a weak/inexperienced designer who is just making bad designs (in which case I'll pass...).

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#184

Post by jtheory »

petercooper wrote: post #150
greyhat wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this extremely hard to believe. Have you visited freelancing sites to check this assumption?

There's a class of customer that won't even hit the "rent a coder" type sites for work, but will instead pay significantly more to someone with a full, proper site and a reputation.

The real problem here is attaining that "full, proper site and a reputation." Getting those two elements in place could take years of work, some of it completely unpaid. I suspect the OP doesn't have either of those, and is using this as a way to build up some kind of portfolio (and certainly a lot of online visibility, which can be surprisingly hard to come by) as rapidly as possible while still pulling in some income.

Not that he needs to use any of the $15 work directly in his portfolio -- but if he hashes out lots of designs in a creative way, he's going to end up with some obvious winners that he can polish up.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#185

Post by jtheory »

wccrawford wrote: post #111
calloc wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For $15 you can test the waters. How much do you make in an hour? How long will it take you to design your own web site? In other words, is it worth the $15 gamble to see if someone can come up with something to blow you away?

No, I don't think it is. I could give random people $15 all year long and still not end up with a decent site. Now, someone who has a history of decent-looking sites is a good gamble. And it is a gamble, since he says it's non-refundable and no changes can be made.

Agreed -- it's a better idea to wait until he has posted some example $15 designs.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#186

Post by nowarninglabel »

anigbrowl wrote: post #161
nowarninglabel wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I don't normally disparage comments, but if OP you read the above, I really hope you ignore this advice. There is no evidence in the above comment supporting any of it. Take a look at rates charged on independent contracting websites (e.g., Freelance, ELance, etc.) and you will see that consultants raise prices over time as they develop establish relationships and solid references. Anecdotally, I spent 2 years '…

I thought the phrase 'If you keep working like this' in the context of a discussion about sustainability made things sufficiently clear. I guess not.

Sorry, it was a lot of text and I did not see that part. Yes, that puts it in perspective, though I guess my comment was mainly to indicate that I don't believe anyone would stick with that as the status quo moving forward, that this would just be the beginning.

Re: Yesterday I had this crazy idea: People pay me $15, I make them a web design

#187

Post by ianp »

ehutch79 wrote: post #159
dstorrs wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you don't ask for money for what you do, then you are saying that what you do is worthless. "Um, what?" --Every open source developer, ever.

most open source software are tools, not products.

Do you have any data to support this? That seems somewhat right to me, but i'm reluctant to trust a random declaration like that.
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