Comments on: How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Home Business Owner http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/ Marketing for Businesses Without Marketing Departments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:29:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: erin http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4823 erin Fri, 09 May 2008 15:41:15 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4823 i thought i'd give you all an update on things since so many of you have offered your help. not surprising on here; that's how naomi rolls (semicolon!). it looked like these losers were going to refund my money in full, after finally responding to my attorney's attempts to communicate with them. 24 hours after that communication, they decided that no, in fact, they were not going to give me 100% of my money back in return for their code (believe me, they can have that back). since i want them to work on the site about as much as i'd like to be a passenger in a car driven by britney spears, that option was not even on the table. so, they are getting served next week with my lawsuit. if we win, which i'm fully expecting we will, they also get to pay my legal fees. fine with me. i am also in talks with a local company about building a new site (one way or another, the current one will not exist in the future). they are people that i have been friends with before this nonsense began and they know the entire story. they have other clients that have been victims of this same company and are extremely capable of building phenom sites, as well as they are very sympathetic to my situation and actually offered to let me use some of their office space for free to be closer to the action and work outside the house when i want. did i mention i was friends with these people? so, all is not lost. it sucks to go through, but i'll get over it. when things get better, they will be WAY better. and in five years, when we have $10 mill in revenues, i laugh my ass of at this. i thought i’d give you all an update on things since so many of you have offered your help. not surprising on here; that’s how naomi rolls (semicolon!).
it looked like these losers were going to refund my money in full, after finally responding to my attorney’s attempts to communicate with them. 24 hours after that communication, they decided that no, in fact, they were not going to give me 100% of my money back in return for their code (believe me, they can have that back).
since i want them to work on the site about as much as i’d like to be a passenger in a car driven by britney spears, that option was not even on the table. so, they are getting served next week with my lawsuit. if we win, which i’m fully expecting we will, they also get to pay my legal fees. fine with me.
i am also in talks with a local company about building a new site (one way or another, the current one will not exist in the future). they are people that i have been friends with before this nonsense began and they know the entire story. they have other clients that have been victims of this same company and are extremely capable of building phenom sites, as well as they are very sympathetic to my situation and actually offered to let me use some of their office space for free to be closer to the action and work outside the house when i want. did i mention i was friends with these people?
so, all is not lost. it sucks to go through, but i’ll get over it. when things get better, they will be WAY better. and in five years, when we have $10 mill in revenues, i laugh my ass of at this.

]]> By: Laura Roeder http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4821 Laura Roeder Fri, 09 May 2008 14:41:15 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4821 Wow as a web designer this gives me hives!!! Really sorry to hear you had to go through that. By the way many of the things you want to change are super easy to do yourself, shoot me an email if you would like an explanation how to change them. Wow as a web designer this gives me hives!!! Really sorry to hear you had to go through that. By the way many of the things you want to change are super easy to do yourself, shoot me an email if you would like an explanation how to change them.

]]> By: Meryl K. Evans http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4417 Meryl K. Evans Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:53:33 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4417 Liking the people you work with -- that's the very reason I can't drop one of my freelance assignments in which I put off more than anything else. I'm not a procrastinator, but I am with this one. And it's not something I can't subcontract out. Liking the people you work with — that’s the very reason I can’t drop one of my freelance assignments in which I put off more than anything else. I’m not a procrastinator, but I am with this one. And it’s not something I can’t subcontract out.

]]> By: 31 Link Love Articles this Week | Writer's Resource Center http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4395 31 Link Love Articles this Week | Writer's Resource Center Sun, 27 Apr 2008 07:04:23 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4395 [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...] [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...]

]]> By: 34 Sunday Link Love Articles | Writer's Resource Center http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4203 34 Sunday Link Love Articles | Writer's Resource Center Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:06:49 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4203 [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...] [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...]

]]> By: The Writing / Editing Job Roll » 04/20/2008 Writing Jobs and Links http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4202 The Writing / Editing Job Roll » 04/20/2008 Writing Jobs and Links Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:47:15 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4202 [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...] [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...]

]]> By: Quiet Rebel Writer » Blog Archive » Lassoed Links - Sunday, 4/20 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4198 Quiet Rebel Writer » Blog Archive » Lassoed Links - Sunday, 4/20 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:45:53 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4198 [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...] [...] How To Avoid Getting Screwed as a New Business Owner [...]

]]> By: Tzaddi http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4043 Tzaddi Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:38:29 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4043 Wow, Erin, I'm so sorry for this awful experience. I hope things go well with the next round! I would add these recommendations: - you should never pay in full before the site is complete. It's typical to pay some portion up front and the rest upon completion -- or in more payment stages in larger contracts. - do some basic usability testing. Put the designs, before they're built, in front of some fresh eyes (on screen, or a print out works too). Ask them to find some important things. Ask them to go find a particular product by name or type. Ask them to interpret the navigation - what do they think they would get if they clicked on that button? Do this with at least a handful of people to note the confusions in the design. Have the design revised. Repeat. I suspect this would have shown ways to make the shopping process on your site far more intuitive. You can hire usability specialists for this and more in-depth testing, and that's great if you have the budget, but you can learn a lot by doing this yourself. There's some good resources at UIE.com on paper testing etc. Wow, Erin, I’m so sorry for this awful experience. I hope things go well with the next round!

I would add these recommendations:

- you should never pay in full before the site is complete. It’s typical to pay some portion up front and the rest upon completion — or in more payment stages in larger contracts.

- do some basic usability testing. Put the designs, before they’re built, in front of some fresh eyes (on screen, or a print out works too). Ask them to find some important things. Ask them to go find a particular product by name or type. Ask them to interpret the navigation – what do they think they would get if they clicked on that button? Do this with at least a handful of people to note the confusions in the design. Have the design revised. Repeat. I suspect this would have shown ways to make the shopping process on your site far more intuitive.

You can hire usability specialists for this and more in-depth testing, and that’s great if you have the budget, but you can learn a lot by doing this yourself. There’s some good resources at UIE.com on paper testing etc.

]]> By: erin http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4040 erin Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:25:31 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4040 yes, it's true. Hellen Keller could have done my site better than these guys. thanks again for all the well wishes, suggestions, and support. as much as this stinks, i cannot wait to get rolling on the new site. as long as we're up and running by back-to-skool, we're good to go. and really, this is the worst thing i've got going on in my life, so life's not so bad. just this part is. and if this article makes some other newbie take another few days or weeks to research and justify a web firm so they find the right one, then this wasn't all a waste. just mostly. ha! naomi, thanks again for loaning me some space on your blog for a day. your readers are awesome. and i should know since i am one. yes, it’s true. Hellen Keller could have done my site better than these guys.
thanks again for all the well wishes, suggestions, and support. as much as this stinks, i cannot wait to get rolling on the new site. as long as we’re up and running by back-to-skool, we’re good to go. and really, this is the worst thing i’ve got going on in my life, so life’s not so bad. just this part is.
and if this article makes some other newbie take another few days or weeks to research and justify a web firm so they find the right one, then this wasn’t all a waste. just mostly. ha! naomi, thanks again for loaning me some space on your blog for a day. your readers are awesome. and i should know since i am one.

]]> By: Jon Phillips http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4026 Jon Phillips Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:03:40 +0000 http://ittybiz.com/how-to-avoid-getting-screwed-as-a-new-business-owner/#comment-4026 Woah! I'm very very sorry to hear things are not going according to plans Erin... very sad story (but we can all learn from it, which is I guess, the reason for the guest post :) ) Ok, now what coder would not notice this (I mean there's the w3c validator... it's free, people should use it): <em>utf8 "\xA9" does not map to Unicode</em> or this? <em>display box is not a display value : box</em> the guy probably meant to write "<em>display: block</em>".. oh well.. who coded this site should get a restraining order, no internet, no computer. Period. Really looking forward to Durtbagz relaunch though! :) (keep us posted!) Woah! I’m very very sorry to hear things are not going according to plans Erin… very sad story (but we can all learn from it, which is I guess, the reason for the guest post :) )

Ok, now what coder would not notice this (I mean there’s the w3c validator… it’s free, people should use it):

utf8 “\xA9″ does not map to Unicode

or this?

display box is not a display value : box

the guy probably meant to write “display: block“.. oh well.. who coded this site should get a restraining order, no internet, no computer. Period.

Really looking forward to Durtbagz relaunch though! :) (keep us posted!)

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