Why don't you do WordPress for yourself

This is a talk about working for yourself, specifically with WordPress. It's my story based on my experiences over the past 5 years since my first WordCamp in 2009 to finally starting my own WordPress Agency 'Make Do'.

Transcript

1. WHY DON’T YOU 
 DO WORDPRESS
 FOR YOURSELF? WordCamp Europe 2014, Sofia, Bulgaria
2. HOW A WORDCAMP CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE
3. Creative Managing Director KIMB JONES http://makedo.in & Lead Event Organiser
5. IT DOESN’T MATTER
7. MARKETING / DIGITAL IT / WEB
8. ALSO… • WordPress moonlighter/freelancer since 2007 under the name ‘base6design’ • WordPress Sheffield Meetup & WordCamp Sheffield organiser • Started WonderThemes in 2010, closed in 2012 • Attended & spoke at my first WordCamp in 2009 (WordCamp UK in Cardiff) • Volunteer at WordCamp Europe 2013 in Leiden
9. THE FIRST THING 
 YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS TALK IS
10. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING AND THAT’S OK
11. I DON’T HAVE ALL OF THE ANSWERS
12. THERE IS NO FORMULA
13. EMBRACE THE UNKNOWNS
14. 10 STEP GUIDE TO DOING YOUR 
 OWN THING
15. YOUR IDEAS WILL KILL YOU 1.
16. GET AN ADVISOR/MENTOR 2. STEVE
17. HANG WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE 3.
18. FAIL 4.
19. DON’T DO IT ALONE 5.
20. MATT
21. BE IGNORANT 6.
22. HAVE CONFIDENCE 7.
23. DON’T RUSH 8.
24. PRICING 9.
25. PRICE FRAMING / BUNDLING PRICE A
 PREMIUM PRICE B 
 STANDARD PRICE C
 VALUE What you’d like your customers to pay most of the time Lower rate for small projects, value pieces, charity work or favours High rate for large projects, demanding clients & ‘undesirable’ work
26. ALWAYS LEARN 10.
27. 11. ! ONE MORE
28. KNOW THE PLATFORM
29. KNOW THE PLATFORM LOVE THE PLATFORM
30. “ You’re either a genius or an idiot 
 if you build your own CMS, choose wisely” MY PERSONAL MANTRA NOT A GENIUS
31. WHAT SORT OF WORDPRESS-ER CAN YOU BE?
32. FREELANCER 1.
33. CONSULTANT 2.
34. WORK FOR SOMEONE ELSE 3.
35. WHY AN AGENCY? 4.
36. YOU ARE NOT ALONE GROWTH POTENTIAL BUILD THE TYPE OF COMPANY YOU WANT TO WORK FOR EASIER TO APPROACH LARGER CLIENTS A LEGACY MY AGENCY
37. NOT FOR EVERYONE
38. MISTAKES
39. BRANDING 1.
41. CORE LTD COMPANY EVENTS DIGITAL AGENCY BUDGET WEBSITE SERVICE
42. THE FAILED BRANDING PROCESS
43. THEN THIS… JUST, NO!
45. FOCUS ON YOUR BEST ASSETS
46. YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET YOUR 
 BRAND RIGHT FIRST TIME
47. NOT QUITTING OUR DAY JOBS SOONER 2.
48. FINANCES, MONEY, TAX, HAVING AN OFFICE… GAH! 3.
49. CHOOSING EVENTS FIRST 4.
50. AIMING FOR THE WRONG AUDIENCE 5.
51. MISTAKES ARE FUN
52. WORKFLOWS & TASKS
53. TASK MANAGEMENT http://2013.report.gridsetapp.com/ …the smaller the organization, the more fluid the workflow becomes. We observed traditional waterfall and agile processes, and coined a new term for those that are beginning to avoid a linear process altogether: Everything All The Time (EATT)
54. TASK MANAGEMENT From ‘Making Ideas Happen’ by By Scott Belsky - http://99u.com/book/making-ideas-happen-2
55. TASK MANAGEMENT From ‘Making Ideas Happen’ by By Scott Belsky - http://99u.com/book/making-ideas-happen-2
56. TOOLS
57. TRELLO
58. SLACK
59. GOOGLE DRIVE
60. OTHERS “whatever works best for you”
61. WHAT NEXT?
62. THANK YOU’S…
63. THANK YOU Tammie for the talk title Mike Little for being an inspiration to all UK WordPress-ers Simon Dickson of CfTP for giving me the kick in the arse I needed The Human Made guys for being good friends over the years Matt for being my wingman Steve our business advisor for being there Helen my old boss & mentor in the NHS My beautiful wife for allowing me to bankrupt us
64. Most of these photos from ‘New old Stock’ & ‘Unsplash’ http://nos.twnsnd.co | https://unsplash.com DONE TWITTER @mkjones WEB http://kimb.me