Why I Built My Own Website (And What It Taught Me About Safari Planning)

Why I Built My Own Website (And What It Taught Me About Safari Planning)

This post is part of "The Entrepreneur's Safari" – a series of candid reflections exploring the entrepreneurial journey of building Complete Safaris with my Kenyan partner, alongside lessons learned from leadership and business development.

When we launched Complete Safaris, hiring a professional web developer was part of the plan. With my background in marketing but limited technical skills, outsourcing the website seemed the obvious choice.

Then circumstances changed. After leaving my corporate position sooner than expected, I found myself with something unusual: time without income. As I evaluated the substantial cost of professional web development against our bootstrap budget, I made what felt like a terrifying decision—I would build it myself.

What began as a financial necessity became an unexpected education that transformed my approach to our entire business.

The Unexpected Parallels

As I learned to construct our online presence—one page, one feature, one image at a time—I realized I was simultaneously developing the blueprint for how we would create our safari experiences:

• Attention to detail matters immensely. Just as a single overlooked coding error could break an entire page, a small oversight in safari planning—like missing dietary restrictions or overlooking transfer times—could impact the entire experience.
  

• User experience must guide every decision. Website visitors and safari guests share the same fundamental need: a journey that feels intuitive, thoughtful, and aligned with their expectations.
  

• Testing reveals what theory cannot. No amount of planning beats actually testing a feature—or a safari itinerary—in real-world conditions.
  

• Flexibility to adapt is essential. Both websites and safaris require the ability to adjust quickly when something isn't working as intended.

The Business Insight: Core Competencies Evolve

This experience challenged my understanding of what business functions should be outsourced versus managed internally. The conventional wisdom is clear: focus on your core competencies and outsource the rest.

What I didn't anticipate was how building my own website would actually reshape what I consider our core competencies.

The deep understanding of user experience I developed has informed everything from how we structure our consultation calls to how we sequence destinations within our itineraries. The technical skills I acquired, once far outside my comfort zone, now allow us to adjust and optimize our digital presence in real-time based on customer feedback.

Most importantly, the confidence gained from mastering this initially intimidating challenge has made me bolder in other aspects of building Complete Safaris—from approaching potential partners to innovating on traditional safari formats.

The StrengthsFinder Connection

My top StrengthsFinder trait of "Strategic" showed up clearly in this process. Rather than seeing the website as merely a functional necessity, I instinctively approached it as an integrated strategic element of our business. The "Input" strength drove me to gather extensive research and examples before beginning, while "Intellection" pushed me to think deeply about how the website should function as part of our overall client experience.

As an "Activator," once I decided to build the site myself, I moved quickly from decision to action—a trait that serves me well in entrepreneurship, even if it occasionally means learning through trial and error.

A Journey, Not a Destination

While everything I've shared about building my own website and the insights it provided remains true, I should note that this story continues to evolve. The lessons learned through this DIY approach proved invaluable, but they also led to new realizations about website effectiveness and business growth.

In Part 2 of this website journey (coming next week), I'll share how these initial insights evolved after a full year of business operation, what the data revealed about our website performance, and the strategic decisions that followed. The parallels between website development and safari planning continue to emerge in surprising ways.

Stay tuned to discover how the stepping stones of entrepreneurship sometimes lead us exactly where we need to go—even when that's not where we initially expected.

Your Turn

Have you ever taken on a business function you initially planned to outsource? What unexpected insights did that hands-on experience provide about your broader business?