Editor’s Note: Jason Payne is a former Wall Street research analyst who recently founded the Groundwar Group – a management consulting firm providing premier corporate advisory services, leadership training solutions, and investment analysis capabilities for business leaders and investors around the world.
Mr. Payne pens this ongoing “Diary of a Startling Startup” series to help our entire Mogul community learn from his new venture’s tech-related successes and failures.
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From Jason Payne, Management Consultant & Leadership Coach …
As described in my recent introduction to this series, I began my latest entrepreneurial journey feeling very insecure about my lack of familiarity with many business-related technologies.
Truth be told, I’m still flying by the seat of my pants most days – but I suppose that’s better than not flying at all!
With that in mind, I recently took the plunge and began building a website for my new consulting business! (Hey, that’s a big deal for a novice like me!)
In today’s post, I will explain my thought process and research efforts throughout the earliest stages of this website-building endeavor …
… including my rationale for bypassing the popular website-related services of GoDaddy and casting my lot (for $105) with the lesser-known team at iPage.
Desiring a Robust “Digital Front Door”
So here’s the deal: I want Groundwar Group to have a beautiful and user-friendly website, because my business’ digital footprint needs to be more robust than a mere Facebook page or a Twitter account.
Although I am happily learning how social media sites can provide invaluable platforms for most business owners (something I’ll address in future posts), neither Facebook nor Twitter can provide the sort of “digital front door” my business needs.
Specifically, my business needs a fully-integrated website that will provide the following:
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A One-Stop Shop for Weary Investors & Entrepreneurs. Groundwar Group needs a website that provides a “one-stop shop” for all the weary investors and entrepreneurs who wish to explore my firm’s premier management consulting services. (If you are a real estate investor seeking to grow your own investment business, then you can probably relate this desire, because you too desire to communicate your own helpful services – such as capital allocation and tenant accommodation – in the most thorough manner possible.)
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An Adequate Representation of My Firm’s Values. After many years of foolishly attempting to be “all things to all investors”, I have learned the hard way that I should not spread myself so thin as a consultant. As such, I have developed a set of core values and beliefs which are guiding this latest entrepreneurial venture – such as “Transformation > Information” – and Groundwar Group needs a website that will boldly convey these core values to the world. (If you are a real estate investor who has been frequently frustrated by halfhearted funding partners and/or “fickle” stakeholders, then perhaps you too can related to my desire for bold clarity regarding my professional mission.)
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An Appropriate Overview of My “Groundwar Grids”. In the same way a real estate investor would want to proudly display his portfolio of available properties for rent, I want to proudly showcase my firm’s collection of 100 proprietary “Groundwar Grids™” – which often serve as helpful “starting points” for getting my clients on the road to professional success. However, due to the proprietary nature of these valuable documents, I need a website that will allow me to display only a portion of the hard-fought intellectual capital contained therein.
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Flexible Online Payment Functionality. In addition to a variety of other options for electronic transaction processing (something else I’ll address in future posts), I want Groundwar Group’s clients to have the luxury of paying their consulting fees online – using flexible payment schedules corresponding with our achievement of mutually-profitable milestones on the road to professional success. (If you are a real estate investor who is tired of collecting/depositing envelopes full of cash and checks, or if you are frustrated with tenants whose special needs frequently interrupt your normal collection of full rent payments, then perhaps you too can relate to my desire for flexible online payment functionality.)
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A Password-Protected Fundraising Blog for Inner-City Scholarships. As mentioned in my recent introduction to this series, I am heartbroken (and professionally motivated) by the plight of poverty in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Accordingly, I am inclined to create a college scholarship fund for Memphis’ inner-city high school students (“The Groundwar Graduation Fund”?) by providing certain consulting services through a password-protected blog ($1.00 per month?) on Groundwar Group’s corporate website. Groundwar Group needs a website that can accommodate such a password-protected fundraising blog.
With all these needs and customizations in mind, I was fully-prepared to throw myself at the mercy of GoDaddy and beg to become another wheel in their enormous website-creating machine.
But then one of my friends introduced me to a better alternative …
Confessions, Frustrations & A Glimmer of Hope
“So you’re hoping to build a website for your new consulting business, huh?” inquired my friend one evening last January.
“Yeah,” I replied (with no small amount of trepidation). “But I just spent twenty minutes on GoDaddy’s site, and I don’t understand half the words they are using. What the heck is ‘Hosting & SSL’?! And how is that stuff any different from ‘Domains’?!”
“Hmmm…” pondered my friend. “I don’t know… My dad owns an Internet service provider here in Memphis, and I used to work there, but I don’t know…”
“I just want a website that can accomplish 4-5 basic objectives,” I confessed. And I don’t mind throwing myself at the mercy of GoDaddy’s helpdesk. Do you think I can just call them and tell them what I want? Do I have to use their confusing website to build my own website? Then again, if GoDaddy’s own website confuses me, how can I trust them to build a website that will be clear and straightforward with Groundwar Group’s consulting clients?!”
“Wow,” my friend marveled. “You really don’t know anything about building a website, do you?”
“Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.”
“Let’s try something else,” suggested my thoughtful friend, taking a seat in front of my laptop. “I remember hearing about a company called iPage, which some of my dad’s clients claim to prefer over GoDaddy. Maybe iPage’s website will make more sense to us...”
Taking the Plunge with An Unexpected Vendor
Well, to make a long story short, I eventually decided that iPage was preferable to GoDaddy for a variety of reasons, including their claims to provide me with:
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“Amazing” tutorials and online help
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24/7 availability through phone, email and chat
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All calls answered in under 2 minutes
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North American phone agents
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A template-based web builder
Additionally, I was quite pleased when iPage’s website informed me that my preferred domain name (GroundwarGroup) was available for purchase and hosting at a cheap price of only $1.00 per month.
Before rushing off to another engagement, I whipped-out my credit card and made the following purchases:
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iPage Essential Hosting Plan: $1.00/month ($12.00 for 12 months)
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SiteLock Plus (Malware Protection): $1.25/month ($14.95 for 12 months)
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Site Backups and Restore: $12.95 per year
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Jumpstart Services (1-on-1 Assistance from a Web Coach): $19.95 charged once
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goMobi Site Builder (For Mobile Access): $2.99/month ($35.88 for 12 months)
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Domain Privacy: $9.99 per year
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Order Total: $105.72 (Not bad... Especially since I had no idea what this stuff would/should cost!)
Five days after making this purchase, I had yet to review exactly what I had bought or what iPage’s prescribed “next steps” were. I was so busy with other things that I had not even used my email confirmation to activate Groundwar Group’s new web hosting account.
That’s when I received the first call from a woman named Jari, who introduced herself as my new “Web Coach”. She assured me that her services were free of charge, and she quickly convinced me that her goal was “Nothing less than helping you and your clients make a ton of money …”
Decide – Decide whether your real estate investing business (or other business) needs a robust website for providing stakeholders with a “digital front door” to your services (or products).
Identify – If you decide that your business needs a robust website, identify exactly what your website should include/provide/accomplish.
Research – Research your options for website development, including both GoDaddy and iPage (as well as numerous other options).
Take the Plunge – Once you find a vendor who looks reasonable, take the plunge and begin building a “digital front door” to help your clients find you online. (They’ll be glad you did!)
Jason Payne
is a management consultant and founder of the Groundwar Group -- a private consulting firm providing premier corporate advisory and leadership training solutions for business leaders and investors worldwide. Mr. Payne is also the Senior Market News Analyst and a featured "Mindset" advisor for more than 15,000 entrepreneurs and investors at RealEstateMogul.com -- roles he has held since 2013 and 2014, respectively. In these capacities, Jason draws from more than a decade of successful business and investment research on Wall Street to provide insightful commentaries on a wide variety of investing- and leadership-related topics.
Mr. Payne began his career as a research analyst in the award-winning Equity Research department of Morgan Keegan & Company, where at 26 years of age, he became one of the youngest published analysts on Wall Street -- with a specialized focus on real estate investment trusts (REITs). Jason also holds a degree in Finance from New York University's prestigious Leonard N. Stern School of Business, and he is currently completing his professional residency within the Global Leadership Training program of Uruguay's multinational Geronimo Center for Innovation & Leadership.