Ben Manley's guest appearances

Ben Manley

Ditching Hourly

Freelance

Business Strategy for CPA's

The Unofficial Squarespace Entreprenuer Podcast

Carl Richards

Jonathan Stark

Ron Baker

Mike Michalowicz

Liston Witherill

Jason Resnick

Paul Klein

Philip Morgan

Kurt Elster

John Warrillow

Nick Disabato

Paul Jarvis

Michael Zipursky

Alan Weiss

Carol Cox

OwlTail

In this episode, we jump straight into a conversation about StorySite. How it works and how it came to be.    ---   Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/squarespace-entrepreneurs/message

In this episode, we jump straight into a conversation about StorySite. How it works and how it came to be.  --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://anchor.fm/squarespace-entrepreneurs/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://anchor.fm/squarespace-entrepreneurs/message</a>

StoryBrand Ready Website Templates with Ben Manley

There’s an industry-wide gravitational force toward regular hour-long meetings.  Somewhere along the way it was decided that hourly meetings held weekly, monthly or quarterly are the way to deliver services. It may be true that regular meetings are the best way to deliver services, but what’s the best way to deliver RESULTS? Here today to talk with me about this question is Ben Manly, owner of Knapsack Creative.  Knapsack creative is known for delivering gorgeous, effective websites, in ONE DAY.  I wanted to have Ben on to talk about how to make the shift from the old-school way of doing things, to a new way of designing something to provide an outstanding product, and excellent service, so that you might look at your own services through a different lens, and perhaps find ways to deliver more value more easily.  HIGHLIGHTS: – When I realized just how fast it was to design something live, that’s when the lightbulb went off that I could try to build websites this same way.  – It turned out that the smaller projects were more valuable than the larger ones, so at some point it became clear it was time to just go all in on the small ones. And that made all the difference.  – Initially I thought there was no way you could build a great website in just a day, and no one would pay for that. But then I realized just how much value you can add in a short amount of time, if you systematize things.  Connect with Ben: Website: https://www.knapsackcreative.com/   Episode mentions: Mike Michalowicz on Get Different: https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/156 Want to find out what options you might have for working together? More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options

There’s an industry-wide gravitational force toward regular hour-long meetings.  Somewhere along the way it was decided that hourly meetings held weekly, monthly or quarterly are the way to deliver services. It may be true that regular meetings are the best way to deliver services, but what’s the best way to deliver RESULTS? Here today to talk with me about this question is Ben Manly, owner of Knapsack Creative.  Knapsack creative is known for delivering gorgeous, effective websites, in ONE DAY.  I wanted to have Ben on to talk about how to make the shift from the old-school way of doing things, to a new way of designing something to provide an outstanding product, and excellent service, so that you might look at your own services through a different lens, and perhaps find ways to deliver more value more easily.  HIGHLIGHTS: – When I realized just how fast it was to design something live, that’s when the lightbulb went off that I could try to build websites this same way.  – It turned out that the smaller projects were more valuable than the larger ones, so at some point it became clear it was time to just go all in on the small ones. And that made all the difference.  – Initially I thought there was no way you could build a great website in just a day, and no one would pay for that. But then I realized just how much value you can add in a short amount of time, if you systematize things.  Connect with Ben: Website: <a href="https://www.knapsackcreative.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.knapsackcreative.com/</a> Episode mentions: Mike Michalowicz on Get Different: <a href="https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/156" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/156</a> Want to find out what options you might have for working together? More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here: <a href="https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options</a>

146 Results-Driven Design with Ben Manley

The benefits of offering a productized service. In this episode of Ditching Hourly I'm joined by guest Ben Manley. Ben is the founder of Knapsack, a web design firm that offers an laser focused productized service that allows his team to deliver beautiful websites to their clients in one day. Ben shares his background and explains in detail how he went from a generalist design freelancer who would do anything from Photoshop comps to theater sets, to running a highly specialized web design firm that generates incredible word-of-mouth referrals. As a past client of Ben's, I can tell you from experience that his process is stellar and delivers a huge amount of value in a very short time. Talking Points  Transitioning from hourly billing to project based prices The benefits of specializing The importance of having a healthy margin Designing with the client over your shoulder How to ask for good design feedback Capitalizing on a platform specialization Preventing scope creep on fixed price services  Related Links  Knapsack  The site Ben build for Jonathan (password is 'mobile') StoryBrand  Breaking the Time Barrier by Mike McDerment and Donald Cowper  ----Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like: Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time? Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space? Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours writing another custom proposal? Book a one-on-one coaching call with me and get answers to these questions and others in the time it takes to get ready for work in the morning.Best of all, you're covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don't feel like it was worth it, just say the word, and I'll refund your purchase in full.To book your one-on-one coaching call, go to: https://jonathanstark.com/callI hope to see you there!

The benefits of offering a productized service. In this episode of Ditching Hourly I'm joined by guest Ben Manley. Ben is the founder of Knapsack, a web design firm that offers an laser focused productized service that allows his team to deliver beautiful websites to their clients in one day. Ben shares his background and explains in detail how he went from a generalist design freelancer who would do anything from Photoshop comps to theater sets, to running a highly specialized web design firm that generates incredible word-of-mouth referrals. As a past client of Ben's, I can tell you from experience that his process is stellar and delivers a huge amount of value in a very short time. Talking Points <ul> <li>Transitioning from hourly billing to project based prices</li> <li>The benefits of specializing</li> <li>The importance of having a healthy margin</li> <li>Designing with the client over your shoulder</li> <li>How to ask for good design feedback</li> <li>Capitalizing on a platform specialization</li> <li>Preventing scope creep on fixed price services</li> </ul> Related Links <ul> <li><a href="https://knapsackcreative.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Knapsack</a></li> <li> <a href="https://mobile.jonathanstark.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The site Ben build for Jonathan</a> (password is 'mobile')</li> <li><a href="http://storybrand.com/an-introduction-to-storybrand/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">StoryBrand</a></li> <li> <a href="https://www.freshbooks.com/assets/other/Breaking-the-Time-Barrier.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Breaking the Time Barrier</a> by Mike McDerment and Donald Cowper</li> </ul> ----Do you have questions about how to improve your business? Things like:<ul> <li>Value pricing your work instead of billing for your time?</li> <li>Positioning yourself as the go-to person in your space?</li> <li>Productizing your services so you never have to have another awkward sales call or spend hours writing another custom proposal?</li> </ul><a href="https://jonathanstark.com/call" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Book a one-on-one coaching call with me</a> and get answers to these questions and others in the time it takes to get ready for work in the morning. Best of all, you're covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don't feel like it was worth it, just say the word, and I'll refund your purchase in full.To book your one-on-one coaching call, go to: <a href="https://jonathanstark.com/call" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://jonathanstark.com/call</a>I hope to see you there!

Setting Expectations with guest Ben Manley

 The story behind Knapsack Creative, Ben’s design firm, that goes against the grain - and why he designed his business model that questions common advice, like always charge more. How Ben’s tiny 3 person team, low pricing, and a fast, fixed turnaround approach came about. The exact structure Knapsack implements including: the reasoning behind their one day turnarounds, the concept of timeboxing, and their weekly innovation system. How Ben used product design to rethink his company/service’s structure. How Knapsack is designed around Ben’s personality, and structured to let Ben do what he loves: no email, meetings, or design prep. How Knapsack helps clients be more decisive with preparation and makes sure they nail it on delivery day’s live collaborative design session. How they keep costs low with questionnaires, making sure project’s don’t lag beyond their timeline, and get great feedback from clients.  How they make sure client’s love their outcome and where they draw the line on quality. Pitfalls to avoid if you want to build an agency with a similar model.

<ul> <li>The story behind <a href="https://knapsackcreative.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Knapsack Creative</a>, Ben’s design firm, that goes against the grain - and why he designed his business model that questions common advice, like always charge more.</li> <li>How Ben’s tiny 3 person team, low pricing, and a fast, fixed turnaround approach came about.</li> <li>The exact structure Knapsack implements including: the reasoning behind their one day turnarounds, the concept of timeboxing, and their weekly innovation system.</li> <li>How Ben used product design to rethink his company/service’s structure.</li> <li>How Knapsack is designed around Ben’s personality, and structured to let Ben do what he loves: no email, meetings, or design prep.</li> <li>How Knapsack helps clients be more decisive with preparation and makes sure they nail it on delivery day’s live collaborative design session.</li> <li>How they keep costs low with questionnaires, making sure project’s don’t lag beyond their timeline, and get great feedback from clients. </li> <li>How they make sure client’s love their outcome and where they draw the line on quality.</li> <li>Pitfalls to avoid if you want to build an agency with a similar model.</li></ul>