XD Design has had some exciting and cool business changes which have come into affect January 2009.  We are finetuning the sites, but the staff are here, the sites are being fine tuned, the servers are ready, the pricing has been done.
 

I feel sometimes I share alot of my heart on my sleeve with how business has been and although at times it might have sounded negative at times (and rightly so I still advocate in some situations) overall, it's been a journey that has lead me to believe that DNN can be used as a business model to run your business.

Just because I work in the open source space and am left handed, over 45 and female it might sound like I've got all the cards stacked against me, but in reality I think at the end of the day, DNN is like any other product you work with and the opportunities are there regardless of whether it's an off the shelf product or one you have written, or another open source solution.  You make it work.
 

I always have my eyes open for other products, DNN is not the be all end all, but it gives someone who really wants to shake the tree, a damn good chance.  And this has come around by the realisation that it's not the product that is superior, but the time you spend learning it and working it and understand where you market is.

For me, I have advocated and shouted from the trees – I don't employ developers – and that is still going to continue, but now with more developers contacting me than ever, I know that I don't need one in house to do the work when there is an incredible amount of talent in the world for me to tap into.
 

XD Design has gone through some significant changes – the major one being better support mechanism and staff trained up to do a myriad of tasks that were usually done by me, at night, late and tired.  

We have divided the business up into three clear roles – xd design (designing, skinning, creating websites, hosting, email management, dnn support, upgrades, builds etc) xd marketing – seo, sea, optimisation, training, events, email marketing, telemarketing.. and more.  xd techsupport -  building, supporting, managing computersfor customers and contracting our services out. 

We have our business model in place, still getting the OK from the accountant regarding all our pricing but so far – it's been a thumbs up and for the many new customers we've taken on board – it's been a resounding success.  

We don't offer the hosting you see on most sites – we offer hosting with passion, care and dedication that you'll NEVER see anywhere else - it's like a cross between semi managed and managed hosting.  Our hosting is perfect for businesses / consultants / marketing people who just want to sell sites and not worry.
 

Our typical customer doesn't care ore really understand about how much bandwidth, how many pop emails, how big the database, how much hard drive space.. we handle it all and I tell you – in the DNN space – it's taken me a few years to get the mix right.  Based on the feedback, our clients love it – but what they really love is the ability to have a very close working relationship with a company that shares it's knowledge with them to ensure their success too.  

 

Unlike most hosting companies I know of – our customers are NOT just a number – we advise you best practices, set your sites up so they run like rockets, keep running and are on hand to offer advice that a hosting company alone will never know – because we run our sites on the same principle.  

 

We know the modules, the developers, the tools, the builds, the ins and outs, the upgrades, the stuff you should avoid, the cool stuff that you won't learn without years of experience, but we're also picky about our customers – and yes – we have asked people to leave – hard to believe, but we know everyone person who hosts with us.. you are NOT just a number – but a person who's success is reliant on us making it work for you.

 

Our staff consists of several full and part time staff, as well as contract staff and we've now implemented a powerful CRM to track and manage enquiries and jobs.

We studied where things were the bottleneck – and unfortunately – in a small business it always seems to be the one person running it, so the 18 months it's taken to really separate my involvement and hand over to my wonderful team has been the single turning point in my business and involvement with DNN.

I think there is an extraordinary market for DNN in the future – while I think there are problems still with how it's run, having sat on both sides of the fence, what we are seeing is a maturity in the product and users.   We know what works for us and more than that – we know what works for our clients – some of whom are resellers, competitors in the same field as me personally, but they don't want to host and manage their sites.

I think that you'll find some more visibilty with XD Design where we have now been able to factor into our business model, the moral and ethical responsiblity of giving back to the community quality information that allows newcomers to DNN to hopefully make a positive decision to continue on with the DNN journey over the other alternatives that are in the marketplace.  I believe that 2009 is year for XD Design to move forward in a positive way and even in the so called downturn, business still needs to be done and we hope to be part of many people's DNN involvement in the next few years.

 

For those who have joined the XD Design company as a customer – thank you – the positive feedback I have received has been overwhelming as some have had to be the 'guinea pigs' for trialling our changes, and for those who have learnt one or two things that we have shared with the community, 2009 will be such alot of fun.

 

I have two simple philosophies for this year – keep it simple – it's worked for others and it will work for me -  but my very favourite saying for 2009 – Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough – and I will move the world.  :-D cool hey!