This is a repost of an interview with Financial Mail
GOING SOLO – WEB DESIGN – Styling sites – Zane Dickens has turned a good idea and the right attitude into a successful business
After completing his honour’s degree in audio visual communication and then working for one of SA’s top film companies , Zane Dickens realised he was never going to earn what he wanted or live the life he dreamed of, unless he started his own business — and so Webdesign Warehouse was born.
Webdesign Warehouse, based in Lyndhurst, Johannesburg, develops corporate identities and brands, and builds company websites. It then markets and drives traffic to the sites, as well as developing a social media presence to engage with the businesses’ target markets.
“We try to approach building websites from a holistic standpoint, rather than simply slapping together some images and code. We continuously evolve to keep up with changes in the market and changes in client needs as we learn and grow,” he says.
One of his clients is multinational 21st Century Pay Solutions, a deal which led to sites being developed for their branches in Australia, Kenya, Namibia and Botswana.
More recently Dickens’s company landed the contract to provide Independent Newspapers with social media networking for their main online brand (iol.co.za) and their individual publications.
“Our business is also about bettering the world,” says Dickens. Apart from helping small businesses market themselves , Webdesign Warehouse implements a carbon neutral brand for its clients. “ We calculate the amount of carbon produced during the project and donate from our profits to local organisations and communities. The intention is to build websites that help the client, the environment and local communities.”
Dickens started his business because of a love of the Internet and the immense leverage it gives to a small business. “You can easily appear bigger virtually than you are physically. You can reach more people in more places with less.”
Dickens says his start-up costs were low as his employees work from remote locations and have their own equipment and Internet connections. He developed his own branding and most advertising has been word-of-mouth; “I try to implement smart solutions rather than expensive ones”.
While running the business, Dickens is also studying a bachelor with honours in business studies part-time through the online-based Open University in the UK. He says it is difficult balancing the two but he tries to apply aspects of the degree to the day-to-day running of his business. “I tend to now live, work and study online, but I do force myself into the garden and the real world occasionally to remember digital isn’t everything.”
To Dickens this seems like a good business to start despite the recession, as there are low barriers to entry and a growing market. “I truly believe that South Africa is poised for an Internet boom when our connectivity costs start dropping in the next few years. We are playing catch-up but there is a feeling that the market will leap soon. So now it’s all about getting the right knowledge, systems and preparations in place,” he says.
The biggest challenge at the moment, says Dickens, is not to grow too fast. “We need to grow at a manageable rate so that our quality levels don’t drop and we are able to keep all clients happy and the overall business healthy.” Other challenges include time management and maintaining a healthy and motivated team.
Dickens’s plans for the company include formalising and streamlining processes and developing a procedure manual so the company’s ‘how’ and ‘why’ can be better communicated and measured for continual improvement. A Cape Town branch is expected to open early next year.
Author: Chana Viljoen
