Update on my two new websites

Every successful entrepreneur have the same traits. They are able to roll with the punches, evaluate what is working and change direction if necessary. In building my two new websites I have had to do all of the above.

I have good news and I have bad news. Whenever you hear someone tell you that you always ask for the good news first. So I am going to start with the good news on my new websites.

Meal Plan Website

My first plan of attack was to reach out to about a dozen designers to get quotes for building my own custom WordPress theme based on the Thesis 2.0 framework. I sent in requests for quotes and started to receive feedback from most of those that I contacted.

The quotes I received ranged anywhere from $1,500 to $20,000. The average quote was in the range of $3,500 to $5,000.

I had a long thought about this because I certainly was not prepared to spend $20,000 to build my meal plan website. Even $5,000 would have been a stretch but attainable.

So I decided to implement a plan B. I asked my co-worker how much he would charge me to build a design for my website. He said $100. I paid him and got back my design. I am extremely pleased with the design he created for me.

Next step was to find someone that would convert the design into Thesis 2.0 framework. While getting quotes from people for doing this work I stumbled upon a custom Thesis 2.0 skin called Marketers Delight. I liked this skin and seriously considered using it.

If you are committed to a goal then there is no way that you can fail because you will be willing to do whatever it takes to make your goal come true. I am committed to this goal so I kept digging to find a way to bring my website to fruition.

In my digging I find a young college kid that started his own website using the Marketer’s Delight theme and was posting articles on how to use Thesis 2.0. I reached out to him and asked him if he would build my design for me.

After exchanging emails we agreed on a price of $250 and a deadline of 5 days later. This kid came through in a big way and built my website using the design I had.

Total cost to create website so far: $350. Check it out at MyEdesia.

Map Website

I had high hopes for this website since I was using a service that I thought was a step above using eLance and Odesk. When you use eLance and Odesk you are taking a chance that the worker you hire is good. Sometimes this works out and sometimes it does not.

With my map website I designed to use a talent agency. They would find me a programmer that could build my map website. The programmer would do the development and bill the talent agency. The talent agency would bill me. If the programmer failed to deliver the work the talent agency would find another programmer at no charge.

Well after spending 29 days working with the talent agency I still had not been given the contact information of programmers for me to interview to hire. Sometimes you have to go to Plan B if Plan A is not working out.So on day 29 I cancelled my contract with the talent agency.

Plan B was to pick one of the programmers that responded to my job posting on eLance or Odesk. I went through all the applications and picked one programmer located in the UK.

After exchanging emails he said he could complete the work in 2 weeks with a start date of January 6th. This was reasonable considering that it was the holidays and the 6th is the first Monday after the holidays. The only caveat was that I did not pay the 15% upfront fee he requested in the initial contract because I didn’t want to pay and then wait 10 days to find out if he was going to start the project or not.

Will Plan B work out better than Plan A would have worked? I do not know. When you look at the numbers you see that Plan B has potential.

The talent agency in their revised quote said the project would take from 8 to 11 man days to complete. At a rate of $50/hr that translates into a cost of $3,200 to $4,400. The quote from the programmer in Plan B is $444.00.

The middle of January I will give you an update on how this programmer works out.

Plans for 2014

My top 2 priorities for 2014 would be to get my 2 new websites online and generating income. After that I will be working on getting my podcast up and running.

The next item on my agenda is to revisit my experience with solo ads. I have built a small list already of 5,000 subscribers. I tried to partner with someone else to build my list and run it while splitting profits 50/50. This fizzled out because we were looking to do self-hosted email hosting instead of using companies like Aweber. Our application was denied so that ended this partnership.

As part of my getting people to share their one best tip on solo ads, I discovered someone that was a powerhouse in solo ads. This person does over 100,000 clicks each and every month with solo ads. I never knew someone that worked at that level.

I have been talking to this person about using their tactic with solo ads. I will document everything I do in his program to share with my readers. Hopefully by end of January I will have my 2 websites up and running and will have the time to concentrate on this tactic.

When I start on the program I will be sharing everything including the cost, profits and time commitment.

I am excited about 2014. I look forward to reaping what I have started to sow in 2013. Plus gain from my podcast and the new adventure with solo ads. I hope you have an outstanding 2014 also!