Mathew Browne

I have just spent the last 4 hours responding to 107 emails. Yes, over a hundred emails have piled up over the last 8 days, mainly web design and SEO enquiries. In the last 4 months, average daily page views of MB Web Design have trebled, presumably as I’m ranking on page 1 of Google for web design and for website design. I’m struggling to cope with demand, which leads to the next logical step – hiring. Well, hiring on a freelance basis, at least. I know that there are a few of you web design types out there who read this blog and/or know me personally, so here is your public invitation – send me an email with your portfolio and let’s see if we can do business together.

I seem to still be attracting a disproportionate amount of “I have the next eBay” messages, where someone wants me to design free or on the cheap in exchange for equity in an awful business model.  I have a polite “thanks but no thanks” message that I copy and paste in response to such enquiries, which usually see them off, but I was a little taken aback by one person’s response. It was, in a nutshell, a request to go through their business plan, suggest how to make it foolproof for investment, and then they might consider hiring me once they have the money. Talk about singing for your supper!

The fact is: if the business model was any good, and if the ‘entrepreneur’ was serious about their concept, then they’d be able to find funding for it. And if they can find funding for it, then they can afford to pay me for my services. My mind is not completely closed to the idea of working for shares, but really, some of the ‘offers’ I get verge on the insulting. I remember an intensely patronising one I got from a student a few months ago, which asked me to design the next Betfair purely because “it would look really good for your portfolio”.

Anyway, onto better matters.

I’m about to start designing for a salon marketing consultancy run by Liz Ridley, who has an impressive track record of turning around health and beauty businesses into successful enterprises. She’s now turning her hand to helping other businesses achieve the same success via her marketing consultancy. Where I come in, rather obviously, is in successful Internet marketing and search engine optimisation for their websites and redesigning the sites themselves if they are, shall we say politely, below par. Liz is my kind of person – we discussed the venture over a Tyskie, a welcome step up from my usual client meeting beverage – an overpriced American-chain coffee.

I’m pleased to report that as of this afternoon I’ve officially joined EnTrip as a part-time website design and SEO consultant. My good friend Nick set up a prototype app to track his two-month holiday around the United States, and the interest it generated has inspired him to take the project further. He’s recruited two guys to work on a full-time basis and we’re all hoping that we can launch the site, albeit in preliminary form, within the next six months or so.

I’m certain that the site has potential but I’m also acutely aware that the vast majority of start-ups – both on and offline – don’t succeed. That’s not to say I’m pessimistic; at best it could prove a lucrative investment of my time and at worst it will provide an interesting learning experience.