Just recently I was asked by a friend to build a website. He operates two local businesses and seems to earn a comfortable living. Overhead expenses are kept low and personal spending habits are within means. Marketing is minimal with an ad in a local paper once a month and postcard mailings of specials, special events, and other pertinent information mailed out regularly. He’s a generous and considerate person, and I like him.
Our initial meeting was about 10 minutes and it started out with his handing me a sheet of letterhead with some text and a few post-it notes attached. He told me he was considering a single page that displayed information on his two different and unrelated business interests. The layout he wanted consisted of a header above two columns. There would be no images. The text he provided was sparse.
Since he didn’t own a computer, didn’t have an email account, and had no intention of getting either a computer, or an email address, he wanted it clearly stated on the webpage that the way to get in touch was by phone –landline, he doesn’t have a cell. That’s what he wanted, and every effort I made to suggest he might at least consider an email account, he told me he wasn’t interested. Not interested at all.
I thought about the project for a day or two and we met again. I explained the fixed domain and hosting costs and suggested that developing the site on an hourly basis would probably be the best way to price the project. I also told him that even though I knew he wasn’t interested, he should reconsider having an email address for practical reasons; mostly so that we didn’t have to jump in the car to drive ten miles every time we needed to discuss detail.
I went on to explain that he didn’t need to use the email otherwise, but there had to be an email address not only for the convenience of our working together, but for dealing with the domain registry and hosting provider. He’d have none of it. We chatted a few more minutes, shook hands, and I left.
I’m not a betting man but if I had to place a wager, I’d say my friend won’t be doing this project any time soon. Someday he might come around and engage with the Internet, but I’m not counting on it. I’ve had a few of these conversations recently with people who on the one hand indicate interest in doing a project. but shy away in a big way and talk themselves out of it. They then dig in their heels and are adamant about keeping the wheels of change from turning. It’s a little hard to understand, I must admit.
