Jim's Story

Take control of your website on our training workshops

“Marketing was something I never had to do”

I started my business about eight years ago. My friends had been telling me that I was really good at what I do (I custom fit kitchens) and like many others, I didn’t have to look for business, it came to me through word of mouth. Marketing was something I never had to do and wasn’t interested in. I thought, if you do a top class job and look after your customers the business would look after itself. I have two excellent employees both of whom are friends. It’s a small business, but has supported my employees and my family well over the years. My wife also runs a small Montessori school.

Then the crash came. About a year ago it hit the business really hard. It seemed that no one wanted new kitchens any more. My two employees took a pay cut, but that wasn’t enough. Their wages and my expenses were mounting week by week and my borrowings were stretched to the limit. I was determined to stay in business – I didn’t want to go back to paid employment and there were no jobs in my area anyway. For me, facing unemployment was out of the question. I decided I would do whatever it took just to stay in business.

“Somewhere in the back of my mind I felt trapped”

In the good times, I had employed a web development agency to build a website – it was something I felt I should do even though I was doubtful that it could make much of a difference to the bottom line. They’re a talented bunch of guys and I have always been happy with the work they did for me. But after a few years, somewhere in the back of my mind I felt trapped – anytime I wanted to update my website, change the text or add a new photo, it cost a lot of hard earned cash. They had my business and it was virtually impossible for me to get anyone else to do the work.

“My website was the key to staying in business”

I had to get to grips with marketing and I realised that for my business, my website was the key to staying in business. I made a lot of changes to the website – it took a lot more thought than I would ever have imagined. Each time I learned something new, I’d make more changes. I experimented to figure out what worked. I also started advertising in the local free sheets by placing an ad with a link to my website to a specific “landing page” (I think that’s what it’s called). And it was working – I was generating sales and getting better at it. Admittedly, I lost track of what I was asking the developers to do, but I was desperate to make this work.

“I had run out of cash”

It was coming up to our financial year-end. When I met the accountant he told me to sit down. Things were not good. I had run out of cash and one expense stood out over and above everything else – the website. In just three months alone I had racked up a bill of over €11,000, enough to pay a full years mortgage repayments. I felt shattered. My website had provided them with a nice income over the years, but now when I was working day and night to save my business, rather than reduce their prices in these hard times, the web developers had increased them. I would need additional borrowings, or go bust. “Borrowings from where?” I thought. I had to tell my wife. But how could I tell her I had mostly squandered the money we needed on the website?

“When my wife told me I could create and maintain the website myself, I was dubious”

That evening when I told my wife, she was upset. Really upset. Her small business was providing the only income we had and even that was shrinking as more people found themselves struggling. When we discussed it, we realised we had no option but to use our credit cards for the shortfall. It was a short term solution that would hopefully buy us some time. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about...we could lose everything. I also needed some way of getting control over my website and my wife had heard about WebExpert. When my wife told me I could create and maintain the website myself, I was dubious. I’m not what you’d call “IT literate”. I can just about manage to create a document and send an email. I decided I’d nothing to lose and booked myself onto a course.

“I couldn’t believe how good it looked and I had created it – a working website. It was magic!”

At first I felt totally lost and a bit overwhelmed. Everything was alien to me, but the trainer had amazing patience and explained in a way I could understand, how to change everything I wanted to change. With the trainers help, I created a website that looks almost like my old site. I even created the top banner. I couldn’t believe how good it looked and I had created it – a working website. It was magic! WebExpert also provided the hosting and backup support if I needed it. I felt in control. I had the power to change anything I wanted and make the website work 24 hrs a day for my business.

The system we used for the website (called a content management system) has turned out to be pretty incredible too. It’s called Joomla. I was able to add a “plugin” to Joomla that meant I could sell accessories directly from the website. A plugin is a mini programme that extends the functionality of the system and apparently there are thousands of them, mostly free. I also send emails to my customers just to keep in touch – who knows when they might need us and I want to make sure they don’t forget about us when they do.

“It’s opened up a whole new world for me”

Although I’m still new at this, I get this tremendous feeling of excitement when I think of what I can do on the website, things I couldn’t do in the past to help my business. It’s opened up a whole new world for me. In the last two months we’ve been able to pay off the credit card debts. My wife is planning her website too. And when I finally get out of this mess I’m giving my employees a large bonus for their loyalty.

“I can’t recommend WebExpert highly enough”

I’ve discovered that a website can be one of the most valuable assets a business like mine can have, way too important to outsource. I can’t recommend WebExpert highly enough for their philosophy to put you in control, along with their help and support to do just that. My new attitude to marketing and my ability to manage my own website has given me the second chance I needed to survive this crisis.”