From Bootcamp to WordPress Agency in 6 Months*

or How I Almost Lost My Mind This Past Year

Transcript

1. From Bootcamp to WordPress Agency in 6 Months* or How I Almost Lost My Mind This Past Year Alonso Indacochea @alonso_in Hermes Development @hermesdevelop
2. This ain’t that.
3. Who are we? Hermes Development • Web development, design, digital consulting • 3 guys looking for a second (or third) act • Right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico
4. Where are we now? • May 5th will be our 1 year anniversary • We just hired a paid intern • We’ve worked on over 40 projects • We have a plugin in the WordPress.org repo - Static Snapshot • We love what we’re doing (really!)
5. Bootcamp or The Cauldron
6. Who were we? • Jay Renteria – IT for Presbyterian Hospital • Florian Goussin – Character Artist for Quantic Dream • Me – Research Coordinator for Linguistic Data Consortium
7. Deep Dive Coding Bootcamp • The structure! • Learned to develop on a team • Built ecommerce marketplace • Met the fellas
8. Music that helped us
9. What did we learn? • PHP & MySQL on the backend • HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript on the frontend • git for version control • Design workflow – Wireframes – Mockups – Prototype
10. Startup or The Biz Never Sleeps
11. And then we started a business … • Continued to work together • Volunteer, for trade, for family – anything • Got our first contract for money – formed an LLC
12. WordPress is our friend! • When you build client sites, you need a CMS • Fit our development stack • Allowed us to deliver a professional product for a budget • Discovered Underscores, Genesis, WP-CLI
13. On a personal note … • Josephine • Francisco • Iñigo
14. Tools of the trade or Workflow Schmerkflow
15. Slack integrations - Google Hangouts - Google Drive - Bitbucket - Trello - Zapier - Toggl - Todoist
16. LastPass - password manager - share credentials & secure notes with team - configure Chrome profiles to keep work & personal passwords separate
17. Text editor - Atom - SublimeText
18. Gmail + Mixmax - CRM-lite Chrome extension for Gmail and Google Inbox - Track when recipients open messages - Schedule emails - Create easily accessible templates
19. Todoist - Free to-do list creator - Organize by project - Set deadlines - Assign to team member
20. Toggl - Free cloud time-tracker - Organize by project & client - Team reports
21. Wave - Free cloud accounting - Invoices, payments (2.9%), bills - Budgeting
22. Bidsketch - $23/month - Digital signatures by RightSignature - Proposal templates
23. Sketch - Digital design tool - Wireframe and mockup templates - Only for OS X
24. Reflections and Advice or Where I Tell You What to Do
25. Contracts - Avoid fixed rates - Double (or triple) your estimate - Details! - Payment structure - 50% deposit - 30% midpoint - 10% delivery - Balance on launch
26. Advice - Network! - If possible, find out-of-state clients. - Buy insurance (Errors & Omissions). - Pay taxes on time! - Social media & blogging - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - LinkedIn
27. - Do what you know best. But … - Take a discount to learn. - If you form a team, create accountability frameworks. - Diverse teams are better. - Trust your instincts (AKA If it’s too good to be true, it ain’t). - Refer business to your trusted partners.
28. - Be honest with everyone! - Talk and participate at events. - If you hire subcontractors, treat them fairly and with respect. - Control scope with attention to detail and organization. - Pass this info on!
29. Mistakes • We paid ourselves too much • Worked for start-ups • Underbid • Too humble w/prospective clients
30. Why we’ve survived (so far) • There’s work out there! • Making connections • Mentors • Customer service • Mental toughness
31. Back to the Present … • Florian was poached (sort of – he still works with us part-time) • Our story isn’t finished • Business – who knows what will happen? • Love WordPress and excited for its future
32. Thanks! Alonso Indacochea @alonso_in Hermes Development @hermesdevelop