Web diagram example for the multi-dimensional independent professional service firm

January 9, 2008 by  

I posted in November about the upside of not having a niche strategy. Since then I’ve come across related blog posts, including this post about the dangers of a “slash” career (ex. screenwriter/lawyer). I continue to find the “pro-niche” arguments passe’. But I do get questions about “is it harder, more time consuming and more expensive” to manage a more complex business?

Not for me. I own 7 domains, offer 10 professional service programs, write a blog and belong to 2 social networks. I track it all through Google Analytics. All hosting, domain and blog services total less than $300/year (estimate). I’ve just started to experiment with Adwords and I’m not sure of the annual budget..approx $500 is a guess. The only other additional cost I can think of is multiple business cards. Big deal.

Yeah, its more work to write descriptions of multiple offerings vs just one. But I think the diversification upside and the ability to grow and even split off programs, is worth the extra initial work. It will be easy to upgrade and re-design if, or when, I’m ready for that. The content creation experience is invaluable.

There’s many, possibly much better, ways to set up a global micro-branded professional service firm online system. I want to share mine so that other solo’s will have a real-world example of one designed, developed and maintained by a non-tech, self-taught independent on a small budget.

click to enlarge

redshift_web_small.png

So my advice: don’t think small, do as much as you can yourself, don’t think it has to be perfect, don’t wait!

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