5 ms·

I see the same in the consulting space - people who've barely ever talked to a prospect let alone had an actual customer (I happen to know from talking to folks

by fhd2 3y ago

I see the same in the consulting space - people who've barely ever talked to a prospect let alone had an actual customer (I happen to know from talking to folks like that) have a shiny website with pricing packages talking about "their team" and what not. Feels like pure hustle culture. I started my business a year ago, and there is no "we". There's me and (at this point) enough clients for comfortable living. I went completely scrappy on my website (https://dahlke.tech https://dahlke.tech). Felt rebellious in this day and age, but it doesn't seem to hurt. I don't think that stuff matters in the beginning, clients see right through it from what I've heard. Some people get off on trying to look and feel like "a real company". I find there's joy in accepting that my company is not that, not yet, and putting all of my energy into getting there.

jacknews 3y ago
For the time being, I, Firstname Surname, am the main product; love it all the stock websites with photos of suited 'professionals' (usually just models) are a real turn-off, unless they show the actual team; customers want to know who they're dealing with.
- fhd2 3y ago
  Thanks :) I got plenty of advice to not write something like that, but it's just how it is.
  - keepamovin 3y ago
    This is truly inspiring. Authentic is the way to go! Hahaha :)
MattGaiser 3y ago
In a past role, one of the things done was to create an IVR system that had all manner of different menus for sales, support, or technical questions and they were split by whether you were a casual or enterprise user. There was just one person answering, no matter what you selected. The goal was to seem sophisticated and thus more reliable and trustworthy.
- thfuran 3y ago
  Did it at least ring through to that person differently depending on menu selection or did they want to seem properly enterprisey by immediately asking all those questions again?
  - MattGaiser 3y ago
    Properly enterprisey. They didn't record the pathways or announce them. It was just all there to make it seem sophisticated rather than a guy on a cell phone.
kingkongjaffa 3y ago
Some feedback: If im a prospective customer I dont care about “Over time, I aim to use this income to bootstrap a software business based on one of my side projects.” Tell me how you can help me make more money or save more money. Your side project ambitions are not relevant to your customers. Instead I would recommend personal info on an about page or a separate site for your side project. For your background info this should come later, please tell us what skills you have and recent projects you have done straight away so I can understand if you are the right consultant for me, I dont want to first read your life story! Note: feedback can be hard to receive and give, please treat feedback as a gift, I am trying to be kind, but also nice and kind are not the same thing, so if my feedback is unwanted or seems blunt that is why!
- fhd2 3y ago
  Thanks for the feedback! I was actually pondering about that sentence. I don't think it helps sales in any way, it's just me trying to be transparent, but it's probably too prominent for how irrelevant it is. In an interesting plot twist, at this point, I enjoy my consulting work more than working on my own projects, so I'm not even sure this is still my strategy. There's something about genuinely helping people that I find more rewarding than building things nobody asked for by myself. Edit: Ah, you added some more thoughts - thanks for those too! I might revisit the content of that site and maybe even add a sub page one of these days I think.
Aeolun 3y ago
> my answer is usually that I refuse to chose just one Refuse to choose. Not sure if spelling mistake or typo, but since everyone is doing feedback, thought I’d point it out.
- fhd2 3y ago
  Haha, thanks, I didn't even spell check this I guess. I also wrote "advise" as a noun in there...
abhinavstarts 3y ago
Honestly, I liked your website. It's clean, minimalist, professional & to the point. In future, I will make for myself similar one.
zipping1549 3y ago
I'm curious: how come there are no German version of the website? Are most of your (desired) clients not German? Or is it that practically everyone speaks English in Germany so it doesn't matter?
- fhd2 3y ago
  Almost all of them are German in fact - since I find them through my network primarily. I guess the answer to your question is because I'm too lazy :) Plus I primarily work with startups, they tend to be pretty international here.
iancmceachern 3y ago
Very cool! I thought the same thing when I started my consulting company 10 years ago. It'd called Nerdian Inc (My name is Ian). My website and brand name is simply my name: www.iancollmceachern.com

by fhd2 3y ago

jacknews 3y ago

For the time being, I, Firstname Surname, am the main product; love it all the stock websites with photos of suited 'professionals' (usually just models) are a real turn-off, unless they show the actual team; customers want to know who they're dealing with.

fhd2 3y ago
Thanks :) I got plenty of advice to not write something like that, but it's just how it is.
- keepamovin 3y ago
  This is truly inspiring. Authentic is the way to go! Hahaha :)

MattGaiser 3y ago

In a past role, one of the things done was to create an IVR system that had all manner of different menus for sales, support, or technical questions and they were split by whether you were a casual or enterprise user. There was just one person answering, no matter what you selected. The goal was to seem sophisticated and thus more reliable and trustworthy.

thfuran 3y ago
Did it at least ring through to that person differently depending on menu selection or did they want to seem properly enterprisey by immediately asking all those questions again?
- MattGaiser 3y ago
  Properly enterprisey. They didn't record the pathways or announce them. It was just all there to make it seem sophisticated rather than a guy on a cell phone.

kingkongjaffa 3y ago

Some feedback: If im a prospective customer I dont care about “Over time, I aim to use this income to bootstrap a software business based on one of my side projects.” Tell me how you can help me make more money or save more money. Your side project ambitions are not relevant to your customers. Instead I would recommend personal info on an about page or a separate site for your side project. For your background info this should come later, please tell us what skills you have and recent projects you have done straight away so I can understand if you are the right consultant for me, I dont want to first read your life story! Note: feedback can be hard to receive and give, please treat feedback as a gift, I am trying to be kind, but also nice and kind are not the same thing, so if my feedback is unwanted or seems blunt that is why!

fhd2 3y ago
Thanks for the feedback! I was actually pondering about that sentence. I don't think it helps sales in any way, it's just me trying to be transparent, but it's probably too prominent for how irrelevant it is. In an interesting plot twist, at this point, I enjoy my consulting work more than working on my own projects, so I'm not even sure this is still my strategy. There's something about genuinely helping people that I find more rewarding than building things nobody asked for by myself. Edit: Ah, you added some more thoughts - thanks for those too! I might revisit the content of that site and maybe even add a sub page one of these days I think.

Aeolun 3y ago

> my answer is usually that I refuse to chose just one Refuse to choose. Not sure if spelling mistake or typo, but since everyone is doing feedback, thought I’d point it out.

fhd2 3y ago
Haha, thanks, I didn't even spell check this I guess. I also wrote "advise" as a noun in there...

abhinavstarts 3y ago

Honestly, I liked your website. It's clean, minimalist, professional & to the point. In future, I will make for myself similar one.

zipping1549 3y ago

I'm curious: how come there are no German version of the website? Are most of your (desired) clients not German? Or is it that practically everyone speaks English in Germany so it doesn't matter?

fhd2 3y ago
Almost all of them are German in fact - since I find them through my network primarily. I guess the answer to your question is because I'm too lazy :) Plus I primarily work with startups, they tend to be pretty international here.

iancmceachern 3y ago

Very cool! I thought the same thing when I started my consulting company 10 years ago. It'd called Nerdian Inc (My name is Ian). My website and brand name is simply my name: www.iancollmceachern.com