When we were freelancing our options were vast, and the risk was about equal across the board depending on our skill levels. We could drum up business and, depending on the territory we decided to venture into, we would discover options for expanding ourselves as far as knowledge and skills.
We saw opportunity in front of us, the ability to make something new in an existing territory, or the capacity to venture into new territory and learn something new.
What occurred to me today on the way to work while biking past the nightclubs on Park St. was the idea of “territory.” When approaching new or old concepts for implementation, you look at the territory you’re working within, starting with the history of that concept. When someone is interested in starting up a nightclub, for instance, they are looking at an existing concept, and in some way or another improving on that concept. In the process of improving on the concept you review what’s been done, both successes and failures, and examine the history behind them. Its key to review both, as the previous failures give light to what makes success happen, and previous success is something to celebrate and succeed beyond.
When we were looking at transitioning from being freelancers to becoming a business, we were examining carefully the territory of our client base, what they were asking of us that we could provide better as a solidified entity rather than individuals with separate bookkeeping, separate legal agreements, etc.
Our clients had issues with their web hosts, so it made sense to venture into a carefully managed hosting situation wherein we could provide timely feedback whenever they had special needs, or had concerns. Our clients wanted a reliable environment wherein their projects could be developed, so it made sense to set up and manage the servers ourselves so we could control every intimate detail of our development and live environments. We reviewed our experiences with other hosts, the shortcomings we experienced and the benefits. We reviewed our experiences with other developers, development groups, and companies.
From those experiences came the vision of what HB2Web is today, and helped us design how it will grow in the future.
