Don't build a website for a client you don't know
You are building a website to feel ready, and that's bad
"Should I hire the website person now?"
She asked it the way you ask something you already half know the answer to. We were forty minutes into a call about who her client actually is, and we didn't have one yet. We had a strong hunch and a lot of energy, but no clear picture.
"After," I said. "A hundred percent. After you figure out who your client really is"
I get it, you want to put your business out there, and look serious when people find you. But if you don’t know who you want to find you, what’s the point? You will waste a lot of money on something that sounds reasonable, but will bring you nothing.
A few minutes later, she said what we both knew…
"You know that I always jump to design these things before getting into the real work; it feels like progress. But deep down I know it’s not."
We laughed because we both know exactly what she was doing, and she was about to do it anyway: running away from the hard questions, investing in the most visible things that feel like progress, but they are just an excuse to face our own doubts.
I see this pattern most in people who are good at what they do. Building stuff like this because it feels like progress. I mean, you already have the skills, so the quickest way to feel useful is to use them: design the program, draft the sales page, pick the fonts, improve your LinkedIn profile, design the website.
Meanwhile, your future clients, the one person who would tell you what to actually build, is still a guess. Every hour you spend on the “website” is an hour not spent talking to the people that might change your business.
"You're gonna spend a lot of money on something that maybe might be off target and needs to completely change," I told her.
When I started, I didn't put money into my website until the business was validated. People were buying. I knew who they were. Only then did I spend 3K on copy, and it was good copy, really smart, witty copy done by my favorite writer, Maria John.
If you go the opposite route, building first and asking later, you will waste precious time and money, knowing deep down that maybe you are just doing this to protect your ego. Check in with yourself before making decisions like this.
You are building a business because it matters to you. You are playing a long game for something you believe in. Fake progress will only eat away time and money that you have to make this work, so don’t waste it. The more you avoid the hard questions at the start, the more you are sabotaging yourself.
This is a question of increasing the chances to make your business a success and live from it, because we both know you don’t want to go back to a job. So…. On with it, my friend!
Here's the question, and I want the honest answer from you.
What's the thing you always build first, knowing that maybe you shouldn’t? The program, the website, the deck, the course platform. Write them all down. Then, under it, write the name of one real person who would pay for what that thing is for; ideally, you know exactly someone like that.
How many things are you building without validating? How many real people did you list?
Tell me what you found out; I'll reply to all the questions.
