At the time of writing this post for you all, I’ve been doing development for designers specifically for about two years. And when I’m chatting with a designer about potentially teaming up, I get a lot of questions. The most common question I get is, “How do I know when it’s time to hire a developer?”
This is a concern that comes up a lot in business, no matter what you’re doing or who you’re hiring. It can be hard to know the right time to start something. Like when to use a new piece of software or when it’s time to invest in a coach.
While none of these questions have a “right” answer, I’ll do my best to help you decide if it’s time to outsource the development of your web design projects.
The short answer
The short answer is, if you feel ready – you probably are! Before we go into a list to help you see if you can check all of the boxes, I just want to put in that little disclaimer to affirm that if you feel like you’re ready, chances are you should go for it. The best way to learn the process is to dive in, so go ahead and do it!
Check out my blog posts and podcast episodes on collaborating with a developer if you want some more guidance.
The longer answer
If you are anything like me, that short answer you just read isn’t enough. I totally get it. To help you out, I have a list of the ways to do a little self-assessment to determine whether or not you’re ready to move forward.
In my opinion, if you can check off at 3 or 4 of these, you’re good to go with moving forward!
1. You’re selling the benefits
If you’re going to offer custom website design and professional development services, you need to charge more premium prices. To be able to charge more than a couple thousand for a website, you need to sell the benefits of what you do.
You have to go beyond the fact that your client will get a custom website design, go into detail for them on the results they’ll get and transformation they’ll see.
Need help with this? No worries, I’ve got you. Check out my blog post here for more tips on selling the benefits of working with you.
2. You’re charging enough
A simple way to see if you’re ready to move forward with a developer is by taking a look at your current pricing for web design right now. A good developer will charge anywhere from $1800-$5000 (or even more, depending on your industry) for a custom 5-page website and blog.
It’s important that your prices can account for a good developer while leaving a fair cut of the profits for you. It’s normal to raise your prices when you bring on a developer to account for fair pay for both of you. If you’re not quite there yet, start working your way to that point by raising your prices after every project. This gradual increase can get you to a good spot in no time.
3. You’re good at client communication
If you are considering bringing someone else into your projects, communication is vital. I mean, it’s a huge part of any project, but it becomes even more critical the more people you bring into the mix. For example, your client needs to understand why you require final content upfront and why their design can’t be changed after their stamp of approval.
This type of communication will also carry over into your back and forth with your developer. You’ll be able to naturally keep them in the loop and pass off your designs to be coded if you keep the communication clear and concise.
4. You know how to set boundaries
On a similar note, you must be comfortable with setting boundaries in your business. When you start outsourcing pieces of your client projects, you automatically step into a project manager role.
That means that when your client asks to add something to the project after you’ve started, you can comfortably and confidently tell them that there will be an additional cost and timeframe involved. This may be a little intimidating at first, but trust me, you can do it.
5. You have a solid process.
You can’t incorporate someone else into your project process if you don’t have one in place. Most developers only take on one custom project at a time, meaning they’ll have a space in their calendar set aside just for you. You have to keep this in mind when outsourcing your work.
You don’t want to end up being late delivering materials to them and getting hit with a pushed back timeline and hefty rescheduling fees. That’s an additional cost and time wasted that your client is not going to be happy about.
If you know your process inside and out, it’s way easier to incorporate someone else into that workflow as opposed to starting everything from scratch. Start things on the right foot with your developer by already having this process streamlined and perfected.
6. You want to simply
This one is probably a given for everyone reading through this post, but to move forward with outsourcing your development, you have to want to implement a simpler process in your projects. It will help you value all of the hard work of whoever you bring on!
After reviewing this list, if you still don’t feel quite ready, determine what you can do to get the rest of the way there. It may take a little bit of time but prioritize updating some things in your business to get closer to being able to bring someone else into the mix.
Once you’re ready, take the next step! You will be so thankful that you did. Think of all of the time you can save by outsourcing this work!
Download the client content checklist below to help improve your client process to get a step closer to bringing on that web developer to your team!
