mash's second day

So here we are the second day and it' been frantic!

There always a lot to do and never enough hours in the day. There's been a fantastic response to what Mash are trying to do as a company:

work differently - focus only on great design, be helpful, useful, transparent, develop great relationships and add real value not excessive cost - make clients happy.

It may be naive, it may not work, my girlfriend and others think i'm mad to want have a business model that invites you to pay what you can afford after you've got the work you're happy with.

But I think it will work, think about it, there are many people you give their expertise, time and experience away for free through joining various networks, http://www.meetup.com/opencoffee/ and http://dreamstake.ning.com/ are two I use.

Their motivations for doing so vary, from advertising their own products or services on the back of their post (nothing wrong with that in my book!) through to genuinely wanting to help someone else succeed.

Though it's true the time it takes to write an email is not substantial, they are still giving away valuable insights and the sum total of hours if not years of time it took to 'know' that stuff!

Most entrepreneurs want to start in business for many reasons, they have a great idea (hopefully!) , they've been made redundant, they want to make a difference and many more. It's rare that one person has all the skills and money to do it all on their own.

Now there are many freemium and open source apps that can help entrepreneurs race to prototype, if not scale to the level of category killer but when design, advertising and marketing strategy are missing from the team mix, progress is slowed if not halted.

The need for professional level design services is vital for a new business's success in our opinion. Most entry level start-ups can't afford professional level services. So that's where mash come in - professional services, effective communication, bespoke not stock-one-size-fits-all design. We want your success to be ours, we recognise it's not easy starting out, you need all the help you can and money is always in short supply, if Mash can have happy clients, mutually beneficial relationships and actually make a difference whilst paying the rent, we'll be happy too!

Here are a selection of comments from our second day:

Hi Doug

I'm the founder of Strawberry Diva, a social strategy game aimed at
young women. I'm pretty excited by its prospects, both in terms of
creating compelling gameplay, and revenue potential.

Your mail on the meetup mailing list really made an impression with
me. I'll be at OpenCoffee tomorrow, if you're there I'd love to have a
chat and see if our interests might be aligned.

Best regards

Paul

PS I look like this http://www.meetup.com/members/8016354/


Doug,

Just a quick note to say this is awesome, and I wish you all the best.

I spent a while a year or two ago thinking about a web hosting service that worked on the same principle, but I think I was focused on 'cheap' hosting service at the time, and felt that it was just too open to abuse, and generally not a good fit. I did however end up thinking about systems to manage the pricing level; for instance, if there are 20 people using the same amount of my service, and 18 decide to pay $10 per month, 1 pays $2/month and 1 pays nothing, an automatic application could calculate an average, and strongly communicate to the low payers that they're not paying the community standard. Or make the payment/usage information publically available to all users. The 18 people paying a good rate might put social pressure on the other two.

Anyway, kudos for giving this a go, please post some updates on the Open Coffee list.

Regards,

James Lewis

Doug

I read your post on London OpenCoffee Meetup.

I like the approach of clients agreeing to pay what the work is worth, but I think you need to agree a target price up front. In a good relationship the client wants value for money but also for the supplier to be making a reasonable profit, so up front both need to agree what sort of amount this should be to avoid disappointments on either side at the end. But yes, the client should then be free to pay less if they are not satisfied, or even more if it exceeds expectations.

Since I started my marketing consultancy five years ago, I have tried to operate on payment by results, setting goals up front with payment tied to these goals. I want the goals to be tied to real business results but that has not always been possible. Currently one of my projects is to improve the marketing and hence sales and I only get paid if the sales increase.

Here’s to partnerships between suppliers and clients where each side realises the need for the other side to do well and so fosters an open, constructive relationship.

Regards
Roger

Hi Doug,

I just wanted to say that i like the service and concept you are creating with Mash.

If ever you are in North London , visit a restaurant called, 'Just Around the Corner' which does not have a menu price list. The concept is the same as yours in that it is a payment according to what you think it is worth. The reality is that people tend to pay more than the worth of the same food is similar outlets. The reason is something to do with human psychology .. perhaps, if we are treated well, we want to treat others the same, or we are too embarrassed to give less in front of our guests.

The concept will pay off and help to attract others through word of mouth. So i am glad you got it through and past the bank manager under the present circumstances.

Take care and i may look to use you guys in the near future.

Regards, Asif

Doug,
interesting business model. Reminds me about my favourite doctor/chiropractor/healer/medicine man in a far away barrio in the Philippines. After receiving their treatment, patients simply went to a corner of the room, where they, at their discretion, put money in a bowl. If you have nothing, you're not expected to pay anything. If you are rich, you can still pay what other people normally pay, which is about 60-70p per treatment. Nobody steals from the bowl, that's completely unheard of. He simply collects his money at the end of the day, and treats everybody with the same professionalism, no matter their payment ability. I doubt this is a very profitable business for him generally, but he's more interested in helping people than maintaining his own personal wealth. He's actually a really good doctor, with vast experience and a fantastic use of native medicine instead of commercial ones where possible, and the result is that sometimes, after he has cured some rich people, he may suddenly receive major gifts out of the blue, sometimes anonymous.
So it actually works in his case, but one important aspect is that the initial "donation" is made cash on delivery. Plus, he has something you don't have - everyone he treats are local, or can be recognized somehow, so not paying their share would be shameful. Here in London, you'll never achieve that effect.

One thing that may become troublesome here in the UK though is that some people seem to use you as a bank, pushing out the payment date so long they forget what you did for them. Are you going to demand quick payment, of whatever amount they are willing to pay, or let them use you as their ow personal credit facility?

Another potential problem is how much time you spend on each client. For example, if someone is planning on paying you £150, because that's what they think it will cost on 99designs, and they don't see the difference, should you spend as much time with them as the ones that are prepared to pay £3k? Do you agree the amount they pay up front?

Or are you prepared to give away work to unethical and rouge players? I'd love to hear how this goes, and I'm tempted to offer the same, and in some cases I have - to a degree, but I have expenses to pay, both fixed and variable, and I'm not sure if the UK market is ready for this business model.
Good luck, though!

~Ronny.
PS: I'm starting up a project now. Do you accept a £1 initial donation and a major contribution when the project has become successful? You see the problem, I've now pushed the risk over to you without feeling very guilty - because I will pay you, but it depends on the project's success.
Avoid becoming a bank, unless you have lots of money and are prepared to accept some defaults...