Needing Help

[janeth]

I am planning on making some changes this coming year. This will be my last year in the web design business. My plan is to slowly take on less and less design work as the year goes on. Finishing totally in December. I have allowed making money and running a successful business to overtake my life. This became my passion and my dream but now that dream has changed.

I want to try and help abused children here in Colombia. The web design business takes up to much of my time and does not allow me to do this. My plan is to start a business that will focus more on family and religion. I was thinking of something with the features of Myspace but more focused on religion and making it a paid site. I need something where I can make money off my members that will allow me to better the site as well as carry out my plans here in Colombia.

I have the domain name www.seeu.biz it is short and easy to remember. Maybe I can some how make that site work with the name.

If anyone can think of any ideas or guide me in a direction it will be greatly appreciated.

As always, thanks for the help,

Janeth

[DaveSawers]

Good for you. I wish you all the best with it.

However, two big turn offs for many internet users are paid sites and good works confused with religion.

I would keep the religion side low key (or not mention it) and concentrate on the children's need. Support your religion on a separate site.

Supporting the site with advertising and asking for donations would in my opinion be a better strategy than subscription.

[janeth]

Thanks Dave,

I want to stay away from the donations but I have thought about the advertising. Maybe I could start by making money with the advertising and once I get enough members see how many would be willing to go for a paid model.

Maybe an upgrade to their current account.

[incrediblehelp]

Have you looked over some not-for-profit websites already doing similar stuff?

[bhartzer]

How about a Web 2.0 style social bookmarking/social networking community?

If it's a social bookmarking site, then perhaps people could submit and vote on "news" about non-profits.

[janeth]

I was thinking of maybe turning my site into a blog and selling ad space.

Any thoughts on that?

[bhartzer]

maybe turning my site into a blog and selling ad space

Sure, you could do that...but you're restricted to the amount of income you can make; and you'll have to maintain it.

[janeth]

Originally Posted by bhartzer

Sure, you could do that...but you're restricted to the amount of income you can make; and you'll have to maintain it.

How would be the best way to sell them?

CPM?

[hallidayny]

Hi J - Best of luck with your new venture. If you need help transitioning out of your business, I would be happy to take on some of the work for you. If you wanted to stay connected, you could continue to handle parts of the work or maintain the client relationship. When I realized that I would probably not have children, I devoted my time to raising my websites ... unruly toddlers that they are. So best of luck in Columbia and I will take care of the work you created.
Elizabeth
http://www.elizintl.com

[janeth]

Originally Posted by hallidayny

Hi J - Best of luck with your new venture. If you need help transitioning out of your business, I would be happy to take on some of the work for you. If you wanted to stay connected, you could continue to handle parts of the work or maintain the client relationship. When I realized that I would probably not have children, I devoted my time to raising my websites ... unruly toddlers that they are. So best of luck in Columbia and I will take care of the work you created.
Elizabeth
http://www.elizintl.com

I will send you an email, maybe we can work something out.

[craigmn3]

Hi Janeth, a wonderful Idea

However you are trying to meld hard edge of business with the soft edge of Social Consciousness. Always a hard thing to do.

You are talking about a Google/Youtube/Ebay/Napster/myspace kind of innovation. Those are a little hard to come by.

Where is the Niche untapped?
Perhaps if you created a charity based my space where people of like mind like you can join with the aid originizations out there to create....less of a hook up space (myspace) and more of giving based site. You would probably have to broaden the scope of what you are doing because there is no awareness with the genpop of what's going on in Columbia. And making a broader space would help you

a. educate caring people about the problems in Columbia
b. attract a wider base of givers (thus a wider base of charitable orginizations who would be willing to advertise....)

call it "worldspace"

To use your skills and create a site to help, is going to take more than just caring....it's going to take a business like approach.

make it do what it do

[janeth]

Hi Craig,

I have been doing a lot of thinking and I am thinking about making money from something else and using it for helping the kids here.

I am thinking about trying to make money blogging or something like that. No matter which way I go it is going to be a tough thing to do.

[Calius]

Janeth: I have always respected your posts here and used a lot of your comments/solutions. It will be a loss to those of us who have read and enjoyed your passion. At the same time, it is leading you into new adventures and that too I respect because I've done that all of my life. Thank you for offering to work on www.muzility.com but at the time we could not afford it.

Good luck to you.

Peace,
Calius/Bill

[loumetcalf]

Janeth - there's a very cool organization, started here in the US by Kevin Bacon, called www.sixdegrees.org . I think they may have a format which could be fairly easily adopted by you in your mission. Good luck in your new endeavors and please keep in touch!

[janeth]

Originally Posted by loumetcalf

Janeth - there's a very cool organization, started here in the US by Kevin Bacon, called www.sixdegrees.org . I think they may have a format which could be fairly easily adopted by you in your mission. Good luck in your new endeavors and please keep in touch!

Thanks a lot. I will take a look at it now.

[AndrewGreen]

The web design world will be poorer without you - I often look at your designs for inspiration.

Give the amount of forum posting and blogging you do, I wonder if you could scale down all that time-consuming stuff and also run your business at a lower level (part-time)? This might then give you time to do the work with children, on a part-time basis.

I would have thought, in particular, that your expertise and knowledge would be very desirable for any web-based business - perhaps you could think about moving more into consultancy, which should be higher-paid and might therefore consume less hours?

For me, I make just about enough money working for about 3 hours a day (but 7 days a week), which gives me time to help my wife with her business (she is an artist), grow all our own vegetables and, crucially, enjoy myself (even if that enjoyment is only watching Lost on TV in the evening!) I think I'd go crazy if I were doing this for 40 hours a week - and God knows where I'd get enough clients to fill all that time!

Best of luck, anyway
Andrew

[janeth]

Thanks a lot Andrew. I think that might be the answer. Now I have to wonder why I was to stupid to think of that on my own.

We are hoping to buy a coffee farm this year. If I do I plan to grow my own vegetables also. I want to teach my daughter and son (should be born in another 5 months) how to live off the land.

[loumetcalf]

Happy Birthday, Janeth!

[janeth]

Originally Posted by loumetcalf

Happy Birthday, Janeth!

Thank you very much. I am about to head to a birthday party now, although I was hoping to avoid one.