I had a client who apologized for all the "support" he required to get his blog up and running. He was more than ready to wear the "I’m Stupid" cap…. which, quite honestly, he had not earned the right to wear! So I shared with him my current GOLD STANDARD for the ultimate in "un-savvy"…. (which sounds much better than "stupid")…
I once had a client for whom I put up a one page web site as a placeholder as we waited for her to find her "direction" for her business. The web page was her logo with an email contact.
Shortly after letting her know her placeholder site was "live", I got an email from her protesting the posting of personal files from her computer to the web site.
She didn’t WANT everyone on the web to have access to the pictures on her computer. (Remember, this was a one page web site consisting of her logo and a link with an email address…. there were no links.)
She later called me an insisted that there was a button on her web site that she could click and see everything on her computer.
I looked at her site and didn’t see the button to which she referred. I looked at the CODE to make sure someone hadn’t hacked her site and installed some new script…. nothing in the code.
I was baffled. The next day, she called to tell me that while she was at work, she went to her web site and was relieved to see that her files from her home computer were no longer visible, however the button revealed the files of her work computer which were now on display for the entire world wide web to see.
Then it became clear to me what the problem was. Turns out, she thought that her "start" button on Windows was part of her web site. When she was at home, she could open her "my documents" file with her browser open and thought that was part of her web site. The same at work.
What made this situation TRULY frustrating is I could NEVER convince her of the "reality" of the situation.
Needless to say, her trust in my competence was destroyed and we never got a web site built for her because I had installed such an intrusive application into her web site.
The moral to the story: Some people just aren’t READY for a web site.
I think the “some people aren’t ready for a website” applies to many other things in life – particularly driving.
It’s hard as self-employed, or being a small business owner, because you often do want to please everyone, and maximise your income. But sometimes, it truly is better to mitigate your losses and “cut bait”.