Sometimes, it can be doing something you enjoy and find fulfilling that keeps you from doing what you really need to do. And then along comes fate and turns everything on its head. Welcome to one of my many discoveries from 2020.
Wind the clock back a year and there I was: well established as a director at a successful web agency in the South West. It was my first employer after leaving teaching and after 10 years I was an established and pivotal member of the organisation - or so I thought.
I was leading a team that I had helped to mould. I felt I had a sense of purpose. There were developments being planned in the business that I was really excited about. The future looked full of opportunities to do interesting things.
With spring came Covid. Uncharted waters for all of us. ‘Furloughed’ was a new word - and a new experience. It was one with some bright spots and, frankly, some quite dark corners.
The fact that I got to spend a couple of months at home with my young son was a bonus and time I will always cherish. But if anyone thinks that furlough is a long paid holiday I have news for you.
But being furloughed came with a big side helping of uncertainty. Will I have a job to go back to? Why me? So I’m more dispensable than I thought I was. Will anyone else see any value in my skills? And possibly worst of all: I’m in a situation that I can’t control. These are not comfortable thoughts to grapple with.
For any employer out there with staff still on furlough all I’ll say is this: don’t underestimate how much support they might be needing right now. An occasional call to ask how things are going and just to show that they haven’t been forgotten will make a difference.
Being furloughed gave me space to think - a luxury you don’t always have when you’re working long hours and chasing project deadlines. At the back of my mind I’d always assumed that I’d end up running my own business. Maybe this was the time to make the leap?
I have a basic philosophy that says that life is short. Getting bogged down in introspection and wondering ‘what if’ is wasted time. When furlough evolved into talks about possible redundancies I was ready to put my name forward. One of the realities of being furloughed is that you start to detach yourself. Making the decision to step away from perceived security didn’t seem like such a big one.
There was also an element of ‘taking one for the team.’ I don’t want to make myself out as being noble or heroic, but volunteering to leave helped to protect the positions of a team that I’d recruited and nurtured. This too, played a part.
So from the end of July I was out on my own. Innatus Digital became my new focus. Maybe I was lucky, maybe it was a case of right offer, right time, but I had my first work offer within a week. And it was for long-term retained work rather than a project, which perfectly suited my ambitions for the new business.
I now help several businesses with analytical UX work, digital strategies, scaling up operations and server infrastructure. It’s the type of work I love doing. I’m helping businesses to get better value from their digital investments and the agencies they work with.
Now - despite handicaps such as not being able to get out and network - at the end of 2020 I am recruiting. The ambition to achieve steady growth through the happiness of clients seems to be working out.
Innatus Digital is all about giving hands-on expert support to businesses that want to make sense of digital. I get the impression that many are fed up with empty promises, quick fixes and the lure of the new and shiny. They just want help from people they can trust, delivered in a business context that they understand, and which delivers long-term value.
Looking back there are things about 2020 that I would change. But I wouldn’t change the outcome. Life is about looking forward and that’s exactly what I’m doing.
If you’ve had a year anything like mine, or if you’re still trying to find your way forward, I’m always open for a chat. Or even if you just want to talk through some ideas without somebody trying to sell you something, just get in touch.
Chris Ryan
Founder - Innatus Digital Ltd.
With a majority (I'm assuming) of the UK stuck at home over the last few weeks no doubt quite a few have thought up the idea of selling products online. Either homemade crafts, perhaps confectionary or maybe even buying goods from a third-party adding a little twist and value then selling them on again.
Whatever your product you'll be wanting to sell it online (Now isn't the best time to set up shop on the high street!). You'll be wanting a low risk (and therefore low cost) venture so if your store struggles to make money then you haven't lost too much, and if your store does make money then it gives you a home for however long is needed to get you the state of the art website that your heart (and customers) may desire.
Shopify is a 'Software as a Service' provider where you pay a subscription fee (and transaction fee) in return for your own online store (with offline POS options). As long as you're not after some very bespoke design requirements, functionality or unusual integration then Shopify can quickly give you a fairly good and easy to use starting point for your store.
As Shopify is developed and hosted by a third party so you don't have to worry about security and gives you an array of choices for how you take payment or ship your items all you really need to worry about is picking one of the many available themes, adding your logo, adding your stock and launching your business. Another aspect to consider is that included in that monthly cost is access to the Shopify dedicated support team should you ever get stuck (there are plenty of third-parties offering this service at a higher level as well!).
Similar to WordPress, Shopify has a wide range of ever-growing third-party plugins that are easily installed mostly requiring no coding knowledge and adding even more (often free) features to your store such as;
Costs start from $29 a month (With a 14-day free trial) - Plus 2% +20p for each online sale made
For a store that's just starting this is a very quick and cheap way to get going. It's important to remember that whatever platform you choose to operate your website from - All payment providers charge for their services on top of whatever the cost to build and host your website may be.
The negatives of Shopify are of course that it doesn't have the same level of customizability or possible features as other platforms like WordPress or the more bespoke site space. Should you choose not to use Shopifys built-in payment provider and want to use another then you'll end up paying another 2% on top of the listed features. The costs as well build up, Shopifys main package at $80 a month means that in just a few years you'll have potentially paid as much as you would for someone to build you a shop on another platform (which you would get to own).
WooCommerce is in itself a plugin for WordPress which adds products, categories, customers, shipping, discount and many other basic (and advanced) features. Given that WordPress powers a majority of CMS powered websites on the internet then you know you're in the hands of a fairly advanced platform that offers a lot of customizability or at least one that's certainly under a lot of pressure to 'keep up' with the competition. woocommerce itself has some very healthy stats supporting its popularity and figures.
Unlike Shopify, WordPress and WooCommerce the software is free to use without any sort of fee (Although some of the plugins you can get for it do come with their own licencing agreements) but you need to find your own website hosting service, on top of which you're likely to have to pay for additional technical support to help you should you need it. While there are now many hosts (Such as 34sp.com, wpengine.com, siteground.com, bluehost.com) and providers that specialise in WordPress and Woocommerce hosting you will likely be very hands-on in installing, updating plugins. Altering the theme and generally customising your shop to meet your needs - This isn't because it's complicated to use but because compared to the other solutions available (like Shopify) it simply offers more options and more support.
WooCommerce can be more difficult to initially setup compared to dedicated solutions like Shopify, Etsy or Ebay stores, but left in a fairly vanilla state for your everyday product sales it's still fairly easy to set up and there are plenty of guides around to help you get started.
There are quite literally, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of plugins/themes for WordPress and WooCommerce as well as a thriving developer community who can bend the platform to their will and meet your needs.
Some of the most popular plugins are;
There are plenty of great themes as well such as Avada which comes with many built-in starting templates all of which are very different (such as 1 , 2, 3).
Costs for hosting can start from around £10 per month, It's possible to both cheaper and far more expensive but remembers you get what you pay for. Premium Plugins and themes as well often come with an upfront price and you should expect to pay around $60 for a theme (such as Avada) and anywhere up to $100 for some of the more premium featured plugins (Most of which come with a free 'lite' version). Most hosts include SSLs and Domains as part of hosting agreements but these too could cost you at around £10 per year for a .co.uk while you should be able to get an SSL for free under the LetsEncrypt program if your provider supports it.
The negatives for WordPress and Woo are of course it's technical overhead compared to the likes of Shopify but with that overhead comes to power and there are hundreds of agencies around the UK that specialise in WordPress and Woo that will be able to help and guide your shop as it grows.
Historically WordPress had a bad reputation around its security, with it being the most popular CMS (content management system) site platform there's no surprise that it came under attack from malicious sources - More so as not every WordPress and WooCommerce installation is up-to-date or has an owner who practises good security (such as complex passwords). WordPress and Woo are incredibly strong and secure platforms but they're only as strong as the person who maintains it so make sure that you keep it up to date and be wary of any third-party code or services you join with.
Both Shopify and WooCommerce power a huge number of shops and businesses many of which sell millions of pounds worth of products every year (with just as many customers). Your first store needs to be something that you feel comfortable with and isn't going to give you immediate confusion and remorse.
If you're unsure about how to get started then send me a message. I'm more than happy to talk through these options as well as many others (Such as Etsy Stores, Ebay Stores, Magento Stores or even if bespoke builds) are best for you and how to get started.
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Company Registration no. 12849413
Registered in England Wales
