 have you ever had a project? And it was one of those projects you're excited about. It was something that you felt like this website was going to be fun to build. So you put your heart, your passion into it. You even go the extra mile and do a whole lot more than what was expected because you really wanted this to be successful for the client and help out their business and also thought that, hey, this one is going to be great for the portfolio. So you put all that work into it, all that care, and then a year later is still full of lore and ipsum text, the same old stock photos, no content, no images, and it just has all the signs that this website was abandoned. Now for a creative creating something to see whatever was created not come to life, it hurts. Even if we get paid, it still does not feel good. What's up everyone? I'm Jeffrey at Lightbox and I love talking about web design and the business behind it. And if you want to stay updated for more web design related content, be sure to hit that subscribe button. All right, in this video, what we're going to talk about is about finding out and trying to see, is your client ready for the website? This way we could prevent a situation where we put in all of our time, our energy, our effort, our care, our passion, all that stuff that we bring to the table on a project and then only to have that website, that project go completely to waste and not be used. And this usually is a diagnosis of a client that is just not ready to fully commit to whatever business that they're going in. Most likely the client might just have a fleeting moment of motivation on the idea that they have and they want to build the website but they're just not there yet, maybe not ready for that business yet. So for the solution to this, there are ways for us to vet a client, for us to diagnose and to take a deep dive and to see are there red flags, are there signs pointing to maybe this client just isn't ready. And if the client isn't ready, we could always steer them inside the right direction and help them along with wherever they're at. So here are five different areas that we could look at and red flags that we could look for. Number one, is your client ready to invest in their website? Now this is usually the biggest indicator. If the client is trying to find something that's just way too low, way too minimal of a cost because they just don't want to spend that money, well there's a chance that they don't believe in their business enough because somebody that is serious about their business, they're ready to go all out. They're ready to do everything possible to make that business succeed. Being a business owner and starting a business isn't like a weekend thing. It is serious work, dedication and commitment. It is six, seven days a week sometimes if that's what it takes. And it is a lot of investing. If they do not see the website as being a valuable investment that they're going to get their return on, then they don't really believe in it most likely and therefore they're going to look for something super cheap and they're going to try to cut corners as much as possible. Now somebody that is serious about their business, they understand they're going to have to invest and they're going to have a set budget. Of course a budget is also limited by what somebody could actually do, but we could look for this. We could look for these signs. Is this someone that is limited by their budget because that's all they have? Or is this someone that just does not want to spend? In red flag number two, does your client have a marketing plan? And if so, what stages are they in? One of the first questions I always ask in initial consultations is what are your marketing plans? What are you planning to do? How do you plan on driving traffic to your site? How do you plan on generating sales? What sales channels are you looking at? So I'm already digging into the marketing plan because that basically tells me where they're at. What I normally see here when I dig into the marketing plan is either three different scenarios. The first scenario could be that the client, they're ready. They're ready to go. They already know what they're going to do for marketing. In fact, they probably already got somebody on the marketing. They might have a digital agency, a marketing agency. They might have somebody for the SEO already and they're already starting to put the pieces together. Another scenario is someone that they know what to do for marketing. They know we'll probably do Instagram, Facebook, we'll probably do some Google ads. They just kind of know what to do, but they haven't started anything yet or they haven't really gone down that path of talking to marketing agencies and setting aside a budget for marketing, et cetera. And then the third scenario is, they don't know. They're like, well, I haven't thought about it yet. And you want to get that. And if somebody says they haven't thought about that yet, that is a huge red flag. That means they haven't even done their homework yet. They haven't even taken the time to really put together a plan and seeing exactly what this is going to take. Now, I'm not saying that it is impossible for someone to start a business because I started a business without knowing anything about marketing, but that was because I was just uneducated. I did not know about marketing and about business. I just went all in on it. So I'm not saying it's impossible. It's just when you get a client that has no idea about where they're going to go with the marketing, got to dig in a little bit deeper and I'll find out, do you have a budget for this? Do you realize it's going to take A, B and C? It's going to cost probably roughly about this much. It might take you this long to get a return on your investment. Start to like dig in a little bit deeper because remember when we're doing the consultations and we're vetting the client and we're trying to see is this client a good fit for us? We're also trying to see how can we help the client as well. Does the client have a business plan? Where do they see themselves in one year or in two years? These are the things I want to also look for when I'm talking with a client in an initial consultation because I want to see have they really done their homework? Do they know what this is going to take? Do they have a vision and a direction to go in? They don't have a direction. It's kind of hard to get a starting point when there's no path that hasn't been established yet. So we want to make sure there is a path that there is a direction and there is a plan. Red flag number four, are they solo or do they have team members? Now again, none of these are dealbreakers right here. These are just red flags that we're looking for. And again, I started my business solo and I'm sure a lot of you watching this are also starting your business as solo. So there's nothing wrong with being a solo preneur or doing anything solo. But if somebody does have a team member, even if it's a virtual assistant, if they have just somebody on their team, that's a great indication that they are ready that they are fully committed. So really, if you're doing everything solo and you're a solo preneur and you just start something, but don't really finish it, walk away, you can walk away with it and with minimal consequences. But if you got someone on your team, if you've hired somebody, you have somebody that you're responsible for, you can't just walk away because that's a huge consequence to let someone down that someone else's livelihood. And red flag number five, are they continuously changing their minds and having new ideas for other businesses? Alright, now this is a big one. This is something to really watch out for. If you're talking to the client and they got this idea for this business or telling you everything about it, and if they happen to slip in that they're also starting other businesses, that's something to, that's something to really look out for. Because I mean, it's one thing, okay, it's one thing if this is a client that has built many businesses, that has many established businesses, because some people are just good at business, that's their skill, they could build businesses. I got clients that they have several businesses, they could build them up no problem. But I've also had clients that have never even built a business and are already trying to build two, three, four, all at the same time without trying to build their first business. Myself, I'm going to use myself as an example, because I started off not knowing about business, which is the main reason why I do this channel, and I focus on the business side of web design. We do tutorials, stuff like that as well. But learning the business side was the last thing that I learned and the most crucial thing that I needed to learn in order for my business to grow. And that took years, it took time, it took dedication, it took perseverance, it took a whole lot of commitment. There's no way I could have started two, three, four businesses. And I've had clients that try to do this. And this is where they abandon their website and whatever project they're on. So you can put in all this time and effort and really care about a project. But if that client is just going to leave it and abandon it, it doesn't feel good. It feels like all that, that wasted effort, all that potential, all that care and passion. And if you're creative and you really care about the work that you do and about the outcomes that come out of it, then this is something you're going to want to try to avoid. Now, if you're new and if you're in your first year, maybe even your second, having these kind of projects is no problem because your first year, your first two years is all about learning and about developing skills and about learning how to look for the red flags, deal with clients and all kinds of stuff. It's just learning. But if you're two, three, four years in, this is the time we need to start avoiding these kind of projects. We want to avoid them because they're not going to help us grow. And here are a few reasons you may want to avoid these. Your work, ideas and passions, they will go to waste. Again, even if we get paid, it doesn't feel good to just watch what we create, never get used. The client will be unresponsive. They could draw out the project, they could delay feedback, they could take time giving content or never give content and assets. And now we step into this huge realm of scope creep. These are the projects are supposed to take three weeks, but end up taking three, six months to complete because the client, they're just not into it anymore. They lost their motivation. They're ready to walk away. They're ready to cut their losses. And we still got to get paid. So we're trying to push the project to be completed. And this is where a project could go way off track and could really take up your time. But if you're new, practice, get the projects that you can get all the experience that you can. But if you're ready to grow your business and you're ready to take it to the next level, then vet the client. See, hey, are they a good fit? Are they serious? Is this a business that's going to go somewhere? It's a great feeling when you work with a client and you build that long-term relationship and you see their business start to grow. And then you also see that your contribution actually helps that business grow. That is a huge boost to self-esteem. It makes me love doing what I do. It makes me feel important. It makes me feel valid. But when the website goes away, it doesn't feel good. And maybe I'm just overly sensitive and I have to admit I'm a super sensitive guy. But hey, maybe you're sensitive too. I don't know. Well, anyways, I hope this video helped out. And I'll be back again soon with more web design related content. So make sure to subscribe. Do all that good YouTube stuff. It really does help. It's much appreciated. Thank you.