Who/What is r(E)-Visions Consulting?

r(E)-Visions Consulting is a one-person Web development and design company — that one person being Shawna Hampton — based in the Kansas City metro area. I opened r(E)-Visions for part-time business in 2004 and grew to full-time in 2006.

I am one gal, and, yes, I do it all (almost)! I like being a one-person operation because it keeps my relationships with clients sharp. I'm much closer to and more involved personally in the work I do, which gives the finished product that special touch. Clients also like that they don't have to go through several layers of red tape or levels on an org chart to get things done. I'm a lean-mean-Web site-machine!

Who Do I Work For/With?

Being only one person and wearing many hats does have its drawbacks — sometimes I have to juggle a lot! I've developed a good system over the years for selecting projects and clients that keeps everyone happy as clams. Chances are, if you fit the following, we're perfect for each other:

• A start-up company, partnership, or individual with a killer idea for a Web site. You need a logo, a design, some pretty heavy programming, and someone to manage and guide you through the process. (Bonus points if you are clueless about the right programming language and want to rely on my recommendation — ColdFusion!)


• An established company with an existing brochure-type site. You've gotten all the miles you can out of your static site; now you want to add applications — blogs, e-commerce, RSS, calendars, content management, advertising, etc. (You name it, I can program it.)


• A graphic designer with a bunch of PSD files and no one to code them. You wear your Artsy-Fartsy Badge with pride. Let me be the propeller-head to your artiste and put those masterpieces into XHTML/CSS for you.


• A frazzled manager with too many projects and not enough ColdFusion programmers. You need a Calgon moment — send that overflow work my way!

On the flip side, I rarely take on:

• Programming projects that cannot or will not use ColdFusion. If you don't know what that means, ask and we'll sort it out. If, however, you know you're looking for an ASP.NET programmer, or a PHP programmer, or a Ruby god(dess), or your site currently uses anything other than ColdFusion and you're unwilling to change hosting so I CAN — you might try RentACoder.com, or eLance.com, or Guru.com ... or a zillion other bidding sites where those programmers hang out. (See Services for a list of my skills)


• Long-term, large-scale behemoth projects. "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick" ... that sums up my success. I can only be available for personalized attention if I'm ... well, available, and not on the hook to one client for multiple months at a time.

Of course in life there are no hard and fast rules — these are guidelines, but yours might be the project that proves the exception. Go ahead and contact me to talk about it.

When Am I Available?

My project schedule fills up really fast! Here's a handy availability calendar if you're wondering whether I'm free to take you on when you need me. Most projects take between two and three months from planning to completion. If you're ready to get started right away, but the calendar shows I'm booked, contact me! We can generally begin the planning for your project even while I'm furiously coding away on another.

How Do I Communicate?

I LOVE the Internet. It's reduced geography and location to minor, minimal concerns when it comes to doing business! Most of my clients are located in far-flung places all over the US, Canada, UK, and the rest of the world. How do we communicate? We use email, Skype/phone, online document sharing, WebEx/GoToMyPC, even Facebook! It works.

Usually, a project gets going with a Skype/phone call, or, if you're local to Kansas City, over coffee at a good cafe (my treat). I prefer to follow up all phone conversations with an email recap and then continue communication during the project via email, which helps archive and record conversations for later reference.

Important: I DO NOT use instant messaging applications for communication -- it introduces too many distractions, causes me to lose my train of thought, and makes me write really bad code! If you positively, absolutely MUST reach me instantly, send an email or call my cell phone (you have the number if you're a client). Trust me, you'll get me.

How Do I Work? What Process Do I Follow?

NEW for clients: Eight Things to Have Figured Out Before You Meet Your Designer (or Programmer)

I like simplicity and flexibility. But I also like systems and organization. My project management process grew out of studying the concept of agile programming — a popular method of software development. Here's the jist:

1. Getting to Know You: I find out as much as I can about you, your business, and the goals you have for your project. We determine together what you need from me (custom programming or plug-in integration, design, a logo, etc.). You get a feel for me and my style and abilities.


2. The Proposal: I estimate the price of your project from what we've discussed and present that to you. If you agree to the price and project terms, you commit to working with me and sign a contract. Usually I require a deposit of 50% of the total project fee. (Negotiable!)


3. Design & Development: This is the "meat and potatoes" phase, where the design and development of your site takes place. (If you aren't contracting for a design, this phase would just be titled, well, "Development" I suppose!) We communicate frequently during this phase.


4. Prototype Testing: The end result of the design and development phase is a site prototype. This is a fully functioning version of your site or project, available to you via a link I provide. At this point, we're both combing through the prototype looking for errors, omissions, and/or changes to the functionality, content, or design. Each error, omission, or change is documented and incorporated and the prototype is re-released with changes in place.


5. Launch: After everything found during prototype testing is addressed and all agree that the site is finished, we launch!


6. Maintenance: Your site is launched, but your boss comes to you and says he doesn't like the way the calendar sorts by date or the color used for page titles. No problem! If it's within 30 days of the initial site launch, I'll make those changes at half of my regular hourly rate. Found a bug that wasn't caught during testing? I'll fix that for free during those 30 days. After 30 days, my normal hourly rate applies for site changes.

That's it! Some projects might be more complicated and require more back and forth, or even a completely different progression, but the above is a typical outline for 95% of the projects I tackle.

What Do I Charge?

Every project is different, I price each project based on its requirements, and therefore I don't have a set price list. I generally price projects flat-fee (as opposed to offering an hourly rate), but there are always exceptions so contact me!

If you're interested in hiring me on for a custom Web application or full site (design, interface scripting, maybe some custom programming and/or plug-in integration), please note that my minimum charge for such a project is usually NO LESS than $1500.