[wp-pro] 2 WP Installs for 10 bucks

Thu Feb 21 08:44:14 GMT 2008

While I think Tim was a little hasty in his response, I do understand his
point.

$10 isn’t much.  Installing or upgrading WP isn’t a difficult job either

but it can be!  With clients who want a WP service hosted on our machines we
charge nothing for the setup because it’s so darned quick and easy.  But if
it’s going on their server
 we have to say it’ll be an hourly charge.  I’ve
had one install eat a whole day in time because the server turned out to be
set up incorrectly and the hosts needed talking through it all.  Then add on
billing, accounting for the payment (a pro has to do accounting, no
choices!) and maybe chasing it up

Already it looks like it’s a troublesome job – if you follow the
instructions WP should take a few minutes to get going.  So that’s a sign of
problem number one – perhaps it’s taking time because there’s a server
issue?  There’s a good chance this could end up eating an afternoon of time.

Then what happens?  Are you stuck at $10 because you agreed a fixed cost
job?  If you ask for more in the event of problems do you then get slated on
the forums?  What if the server is incompatible?  Ultimately, for most
professionals, it simply isn’t worth the risk to their company’s/own
reputation.

The vast majority of times I keep quiet on this conference because a fair
proportion of the requests do indeed appear to be from people hoping for a
very cheap job – often at a fixed price.  Because of the risks inherent, a
real pro simply can’t do that.  It doesn’t help us that the value of the
dollar has dived either, being based in Europe.  I’ve sometimes felt that
this mailing list should be called
“wp-users-in-search-of-people-who-would-like-to-be-professional-soon-and-kno
w-a-lot-but-need-to-get-a-foot-on-the-first-rung-of-the-ladder-and-therefore
-more-willing-to-take-risks”  But that would be harder to remember ;o)

But there’s an answer – if you can’t set up and manage a WordPress
installation, and aren’t going to be able to afford to pay someone in the
future, then WordPress.com is your friend.  Everything’s nicely automated,
protected, and locked down.  Your chances of a major problem with your blog
are significantly reduced.  You can even then pay a pro to do a styling job
on your blog, if required – and it’s impressive what can be done.

We often get people turning up at our office with a £200 budget for a custom
design and we just point them at WordPress.com.  It’s not worth even trying
too hard to do custom work at that level because they’re often (but not
always!) the most troublesome customers, with the least research behind them
and the most questions.  That gets expensive – especially when it means that
better paying clients are having to wait.

So Tim had a point – perhaps just a bit harshly put.  You had a point too
:o)

Can we all play nicely now?  If you don’t see a job you don’t want
 just
leave it be!

Cheers!

Dave.

  _____  

From: wp-pro-bounces at lists.automattic.com
[mailto:wp-pro-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of Jordon Bedwell
Sent: 21 February 2008 07:49
To: Tim Kissane; WP-Pro
Subject: Re: [wp-pro] 2 WP Installs for 10 bucks

WTF.  Dude.  Calm down.  It would only take 10 minutes and if you call
yourself a professional and can't do two upgrades in 10 minutes quit your
job because you fail...  I believe at your hourly wages for Wordpress he
would be over paying you for the 10 minutes.  Whip out that fancy TI-86 you
never learned to program and calculate it.  If you need me to teach you how
to program a TI-86 go ahead and call me, I'll teach you - also, if you need
me to teach you to add and subtract get at me too.  Perhaps he should offer
your actual wage. $7.5 for the 10 minutes.  Not that you are worth it since
you are the typical "I am an elitest" type of guy.

On another note, with a site like yours, you shouldn't be designing shit, it
looks like your site is stuck in 1999. *Whips out Prince CDs and starts
playing 1999*.  You NEED to go back to art school and learn what design is.
Maybe fix some of the problems on your site. "var AdBrite_Title_Color =
'006600'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = 'ffffff'; var AdBrite_Background_Color =
'7da6da'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = '7da6da';" - about_us.html, maybe you
could even help me figure out why the hell a commercial site that offers
services such as yours would have adverts on their site? Very professional,
I would hire you at $5.65 an hour, and only for a pee-on job pulling tape
drives from servers for a client.

You are far from a pro Mr. Kissane. A few questions Mr. "Professional":

1.) WTF is "</ulpt type="text/javascript">" - I suggest you get that fixed
before you look like a moron who charges $45 an hour to horribly misspell
script.

2.) Why are you lying to your customers?
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Ftimbury.net%2Ftcs%2Fabout_us.
html

3.) For somebody who promotes to be a pro, why are you still using HTML 4.0
and how the hell do you manage to mess up HTML 4.0? That has to be the most
ill-semantic, easy to do language in the world.

a.) I've seen 11th graders in graphics design skills build better HTML.
Sad, but true.

Now, I know my site isn't perfect and nobodies is, but nobody talks about
how great they are and makes that many mistakes.  Especially while demanding
they are worth so much but have made intern mistakes. I hope you've enjoyed
my professional opinion on the subject.

Yours truly,

en-US.EnvyGeeks.Com

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Tim Kissane <mailto:tim at timbury.net>  

To: Shaun R. <mailto:shaunconnell at gmail.com>  Connell 

Cc: wp-pro at lists.automattic.com 

Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:34 AM

Subject: Re: [wp-pro] 2 WP Installs for 10 bucks

I've subscribed to this list for a month. It's funny. 
So many cheapskates that want to pay fast food wages 
for tech skills they obviously lack themselves. Every other post
says "shouldn't take more than 10 minutes" or "it's basic, but I
don't have the time myself" or some such malarkey. 

I'm a computer professional with 25 years experience. I get
$150./hour as a consultant. Because WordPress work is less
demanding than network management, I charge $45./hour for
themes and $75./hour for backend stuff. 

My advice to you, Mr. Connell: find some 14 year old to jump
at your 10 bucks and keep your fingers crossed. Or learn to
do it yourself. Then, when you've f*cked it up royally, cough
up some money and hire a pro.

Tim Kissane

Shaun R. Connell wrote: 

I know it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, but I still need help with
the installs. :P I'll pay 10 bucks for two installs -- same host.

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-- 
Tim Kissane
Timbury Computer Services
http://timkissane.com/
http://timbury.net/
732.604.3817
=========================
"More hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than in
the name of rebellion." -- CP Snow

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