Designing Your WordPress Consulting Business

The strategies shared in this talk will help the beginner to intermediate Wordpress freelancer have more awareness about some of the nuances involved in running there own tech consultancy and as a result be a more competent business person. These tips will include setting healthy boundaries for ones WordPress web design services and communicating those boundaries to perspective clients early on, to effectively seek and take on more ‘win-win’ web design projects.

Transcript

1. 1 Designing Your WordPress Consulting Business Greg Douglas @premiuminteract #WCOC premiuminteractive.com/wcoc14/
2. My name is Greg and I am the founder of Premium Interactive. ! We make inspired interactive experiences for business. ! ! I also organize Hollywood WordPress. premiuminteractive.com hollywoodwp.com Greg Douglas @premiuminteract #WCOC premiuminteractive.com/wcoc14/
3. 3 WordPress And Today’s Economy
4. Avoiding The Commodity Trap Surprise! Everyone that is buying a website from you knows what the internet is. They know what WordPress is, and some of them even know that it occupies about 20% of all internet websites.
5. The commodity trap is when you sell a solution without a problem.
6. When there is a clear problem worth solving, pricing is only limited by the cost of the problem.
7. 7 Once you find a problem worth solving, you can build a website to solve that problem. The limit of your price is the limit of what that problem is worth to your client. Websites Solve Problems
8. 8 A Website Design Consulting Strategy
9. Bundle Your Services Into One Offer You can niche as a theme customizer, a developer or a designer with front-end developer tendencies. ! Think about which role fits your personality best and craft ways to bundle your services into an offer that supports your strength.
10. Create A Minimum Viable Offer This is an “entry level product.” By creating your own M.V.O. based on your blend of services you can use this to communicate the boundaries of the services you provide.
11. Create healthy boundaries for your Offer that can guide you from the first phone call through the proposal writing process and into the design & build of the site.
12. Create healthy boundaries for your Offer that can guide you from the first phone call through the proposal writing process and into the design & build of the site.
13. 13 Innovate Then Iterate
15. 15 Closing The Sale (With Clients That Qualify)
16. Believe In Yourself ! Believe in your value proposition and your minimum viable offer ! Don’t apologize for setting healthy boundaries ! Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses
17. 17 What is a red flag? - Client's that require more time, energy or risk then they are worth to your bottom line. Sad to say, these people are not worth taking on as a client.
18. 18 Qualification ! Qualification is the process of determining if a prospect is a good fit for your company before they purchase from you.
19. 19 You Provide A Solution ! The “Solution” or the desired end result is what matters most, so your focus should always remain first, on the benefits your client desires.
20. 20 Additional Inspiration
21. 21 The Only Way To Win Is To Play ! Stop disqualifying yourself. Go out to people, connect with business owners, put yourself out there, risk rejection.
22. 22 Responsibility is not a burden but a privilege ! Focus on what you know and start there.
23. 23 Be Willing To Walk Away ! Be willing to let go of the need to land every project that you get a lead on.
24. 24 You Are Not Your Work, Lose Your Ego ! Ego is nothing but fear getting in the way of solutions.
25. 25 Let Go Of Your Fear ! Confidence comes from competence. You will not learn everything in a day. Take a deep breath and focus on the next step in front of you.
26. THANK YOU! Premium Interactive @premiuminteract WordCamp Orange County 2014 Greg Douglas greg@premiuminteractive.com