When Devleaf first was conceptualised in 2016, I never expected to put in the amount of time, dedication and compassion as I did. I never expected to meet many brilliant people and learn so much along the way and jump from a coding project to a fully-fledged business at such a young age.
As Devleaf progressed through the years, my business model and time I could spend has changed rapidly. Many of you will know that I work another full-time job which helps to support my endeavours to grow Devleaf, as well as pay the bills and put food on the table, and with the recent changes in my life to decide to move to our first property I find it harder and harder to fit in the time to work as fully on Devleaf as I was once able.
However, I am not one to step down from a challenge, and I certainly don’t want all the time and effort to be over like that. For that reason I took the time to sit down, re-evaluate Devleaf, it’s expenses and business model, and tried to work out the best plan going forward. I’d love to share the result of this with you.
Firstly, Devleaf needed a rebranding to become more relatable to what we are; a small business. For this reason, I decided to rename Devleaf to Devleaf Studios, as well as updated our logo to something a bit more modern and fitting with the new business model. Along with this came a new domain to access Devleaf and emails on “http://3.10.116.149”.
Secondly, I needed to work out the best timings to keep support high, but the ability to have time for myself as an option as well. As such Devleaf Studios’ new business hours are Friday 17:00 – 20:00, Saturday 09:00-12:00 and Sunday 09:00 – 12:00. These are the “Contactable hours” where Devleaf Studios’ support and contact will be operating fully. Devleaf will also be open throughout the week at other random times to complete client and internal projects but the support lines will be reserved for urgent/emergency contacts only.
Thirdly, with less support being available, it only made sense to change some of the business services and prices to fit this new model. Below is a condensed list on what services and pricing will be effective as of Fri 10th March 2020.
- Website Creation (WordPress Only) – £18.00 + VAT p/h – Reduced from £28.00 p/h
- Graphic design work – £15 – £65 + VAT per original work (Up to 2-hours max) – Reduced from £30 p/h
- Print Media (POA)
- Mobile application creation – £22.00 + VAT p/h (Small projects only) – Reduced from £28.00 p/h
Some readers may notice website hosting has disappeared from this list, and this is due to the lack of support we can reasonably offer throughout the week should something go wrong. If high support is not something you’re after we can still get your website hosted for you at cost price, but support will not be offered through this service. Major website re-factors are also no longer part of our service list, and websites created for clients will be signed off and passed over at the end of the project. Mobile Applications are to be constructed in an individual or companies own developer accounts, and will no longer be part of the Devleaf Studios developer accounts.
Another key billing feature which will change is our billing cycles. We will provide a fixed cost offering for every project that is signed off and will work 50% upfront and 50% when the project is finished, similar to most other web developers out there.
Finally, Devleaf Studios will keep developing and innovating for our internal mobile applications, and this is now becoming our key business model. Clients under our business services will not notice any less attention to their projects but it is namely the route I’d like to head down when taking Devleaf Studios forward.
To all existing clients, rest-assured that current ongoings will not change, and any existing systems already in place are to be continued as they have been, although should any client under our new business model wish to migrate to other companies, we will endeavour to try our best to help support you with this.
At the end of this year, I will conduct another business review and see how the new model has affected the company, hopefully seeing a blossoming client base and more happy clients.
I also would quickly like to slip in a word about the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and what implications this has had on Devleaf Studios.
Since day one, I ensured that Devleaf could be fully operational even if something like this happened, and luckily all Devleaf Studios’ systems are still fully operational and working. For my full time job, I, along with many others across the country am currently working from home 08:00-16:00, five days per week. Deliveries for new equipment which I hoped to have access to prior to making this update are delayed, and as such I would like to mention to all customers and clients that Devleaf is open, but the phone lines are currently down until mid-April. We are still fully contactable via email however at support@devleaf.com, or via all the social media channels.
I’d like to finish off by saying a massive thank you to all Clients who have helped Devleaf Studios get to where it is at the moment, and to all future clients who will help Devleaf Studios grow even further. Stay Safe and hopefully speak to many of you again soon.
