This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Countdown day 24, 24 days from now, the Money Tree launches into the world. I can't wait to share it with you. But for now, there's a second question of the week about building a website. And just continuing that question we had the other day about using Squarespace or another platform, today's caller wants to know, should you pay someone to build your website or do it yourself? Is there perhaps a third way?
And she's interested in seeing what other people have done and how that might lead to an answer for herself. How do people navigate this question, the situation? And she's also feeling a bit stuck on this point. So by the way, whenever you have a point in which you find yourself stuck, it helps to identify the bottleneck and find a way to fix it so that you're not holding up the rest of your plan. Ask yourself, what am I stuck on right now?
Am I stuck on the idea phase? Am I stuck on the implementation phase? What is that thing that's holding me back? And how can I move forward? All right, should I pay someone to build my website?
That's coming up in today's episode. Stay tuned. [Music]
Hi, Chris. This is Gretchen from Virginia Beach, Virginia. I have been listening to your podcast for about a year now and really enjoy all of the stories and tips.
The one question that I have is whether the people in the stories told set up their own websites or do they pay to have someone help them? This has been the holdup for me and something I debated a lot because I do not have a side hustle currently. Therefore, I question spending the money. I would like to set up a blog so that's where my website needs come in. I just recently decided to pay someone since I just can't find the time to learn all that needs to be done and then set it up.
I feel if I had more time, I could save the money but with business travel in particular, this is hard. When side hustle stories are told, it's pretty vague like they set up a website. I'd love to know if others are getting help to get started and then learn how to manage it or if they're setting it up all on their own. Thanks and I look forward to continuing my side hustle journey with the help of your podcast. - Thank you so much Gretchen.
So glad you're listening in Virginia Beach. Short version here is I think you've made a good decision in your case and as for what other people do like are other people paying someone to make their website? Are they doing it on their own? It's a combination. It's a combination of some people doing it completely on their own, others getting a little bit of help, others paying people to build the whole thing.
So as to which one it is, it usually depends on, first of all, the person's skill level and be what they're trying to do. And the second thing is important because in the case of a blog, like what you mentioned, you might be able to get going with a basic theme from WordPress or Squarespace or another platform. A lot of these services are built to be DIY or at least DIY friendly. However, I totally agree that it's important to consider your available time. And in this case, it sounds like you need to get help.
It sounds like it's something that was holding you back. You have other travel, you have stuff that you're doing. Even though it costs money, it seems like you've come to the conclusion that this could be a worthwhile investment and I agree. So if you're not a coder and what you're trying to set up is more complicated or more complex than something that is very, very basic that you could do with one of these platforms, then definitely get some help. But here's a tip for you and anybody else out there.
In this situation, if you are getting help, you'll wanna be specific about what you want. This is something that I have had to learn over the years. I do think it's helpful to become technically literate, just like becoming visually literate, which doesn't mean you become a designer or a coder if you're not one, but it's just helpful to learn to describe what you like and what you don't like about different websites or apps or platforms, especially anything that relates to functionality or user experience. And once you kind of get better at that, that will make it a lot easier when you're paying someone to build something for you. 'Cause something I struggled with in the beginning was like I had an idea, I had a vision, but I didn't really know how to describe that, at least in technical terms.
So over the years, I have just learned to improve on that by doing, and I'm sure you will as well. So thank you so much Gretchen, good luck. Let us know how the blog goes. And listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We're gonna be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects.
This has been episode 1168. Thanks so much, I'll be back again tomorrow at 1169. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is Side Hustle School. [Music]
- From the Onward Project.
