[consulting] Drupal web design as hobby - shall I start consulting?

[Alexei Malinovski]

Dear Drupal Consultant,

This is my first mail into this e-mail group though I read most of it in
archives. Back to the question:
To help my sister promotion (who is a known singer in Russia) I created a
website http://MalinaMusic.ru <http://malinamusic.ru/>. Here is a bit of
information about the site:

1. Created with Drupal 6.x + 90 modules
2. Hosted on Bluehost shared hosting
3. I tried to implement it as fast as possible, so I did no Drupal code
customization.
4. I did some CSS and JavaScript changes though very minor ones.
5. It took me 160 hours to complete - I'm a newbie after all :)

Suddenly, I start getting requests (already 2 to the date) from sisters
friends in showbiz to create a similar site for them. But this is my hobby
in free time and nothing more. Though, I might get some money creating such
sites. I'm wondering if I jump into consulting boat what how shall I start
and how to protect my ass if something goes wrong :) I plan to work on
Russian market. So, I do not think Customer can sue me if web site error
impact they business like in America. Still :)

As a first step I plan to offer creating web sites based on free themes
without code customization for Customer. This way I achieve faster
implementation and lesser cost for Customer.

Basically I see 3 components in web site design:
1. Site creation
2. Site hosting and maintenance
3. Site promotion (SEO, Twitter etc)

So, I have a bunch of questions:

Q1: Site creation:

 How much money would you ask to create similar site as
http://MalinaMusic.ru <http://malinamusic.ru/> ?
(http://MalinaMusic.com<http://malinamusic.com/>- for Google
translated version). I was thinking about 1000 Euro to create a
similar site without content (articles etc).

Q2: Site creation:

Since I'm a newbie, I have only 1 site in portfolio I need to extend
portfolio and be very nice with first Customers. Another problem is
timeline. I'm not sure I can commit to specific schedule. For example I can
offer them to pay me 50% only after first version of site is ready and they
are happy with it. The rest is paid when site is ready 100%. Of cource I'm
risking that they will not pay me at all. But this way I will test
Consulting, how it works for me without risking Customer money.

Q3: Site maintenance

What are the components of site maintenance(hosting&support)? At least I see
following
- End user training how to use CMS

- Hosting cost
- Regular drupal and modules upgrade
- End user support if they have questions or messed up something
- Doing regular site backup (automatically)
- Recovering site from hacker attacks/spam etc

Is there a good common practise how to quote site support to customer? I was
thinking to quote separately
1. Hosting cost - let's say 100 Euro per year on Bliehost shared hosting
2. Drupal/Modules maintenance - at least 2 times per year. 100 Euro per one
maintenance (Drupal and modules upgrade) = 200 Euro year
3. For all other extra service charge hourly rate like 40 Euro/Hour

Q3: Site maintenance

What problems do you see if I host several sites/Customers on the same
account on Bluehost using Multisite feature. At least I see problem of
upgrade. Whenever you need to upgrade drupal or modules other sites must be
upgraded as well. I guess this is a bad idea to host different Customers on
the same account?

Q4: Site promotion
I have no glue how to quote for it. for example I can promote site on
Twitter using applications like Twitadder. How much would you ask for that?

I would really appreciate for any opinion since I've never been in this
business. and I'm not sure shall I even jump into it.
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