Alternate Title: Why You Should Hire Us Now

Like the rest of the world, the whole economic Armageddon has been a hot topic of discussion here at silverorange. We, like most other businesses in the world, are nervous. What does this all mean? How will it affect us? How long will it last?

We work in a wacky industry. The last few years have been the wackiest we’ve seen in a over decade of doing this. There were businesses that had no plans and plans that had no businesses. There was always more money than people and cash was thrown at problems at astronomical rates. Of course we gladly got involved but we tried to carefully pick who we worked with. We made some mistakes and picked a few doozies but hey, who doesn’t? During this whole period of time we’ve never felt like it was sustainable. This crazy money had to run out sometime. It ran out in October.

It seems that other than our own ClusterShot.com there are no crazy dot com companies looking for design or development. Back in May we would be getting dozens upon dozens of work requests. Mainly these projects would use the following template for their emails:

Hello,
We love your work. We are a VC funded startup based in California and we’re building Web 2.0 site + Social Networking site for an Obscure Demographic Vertical. Money is not an issue. We’re planning to launch in two weeks. When can you start?

Sincerely,
The Founder/CEO

Here is a free piece of business advice: NEVER tell a service firm that money is not an issue.

What we’re going to see in the coming years is an unprecedented scrutiny of value. Before anyone gives up any money they will need to know that it will be worth it. So if you or your company is not providing people with real value you’re screwed.

This isn’t going to be the “we are awesome designers and make shit look cool” value. This is going to be the “this design will make this thing work and improve efficiency, increase sales, and save money” value. If you’re not doing that for someone, somehow, you are in trouble.

We’re very lucky. Our company was born in a small place far away from California as the original dot com bubble popped (1999-2000). We learned business the hard way. None of us were paid for the first 18 months. We lived on credit cards, family hand outs, and kraft dinner. We needed to impress clients, prove ourselves, and do valuable work to survive. We’ve continued to hold onto these principles even through the midst of this second bubble.

Our designs and development increase sales. We have built e-commerce stores and an entire e-commerce platform that have done and continue to do millions upon millions of dollars of business. We’ve designed apps that have increased our clients efficiencies AND increased their sales. These are going to be the things that matter in the months, and maybe years, to come.

Efficiency, sales, value. If you can provide these you will be sought after in this recession. Make or save your clients more money than you cost and you will be safe.