Notes 4/23/13 WordPress Meetup: Make WordPress your Career!

Make WordPress your Career!
April 23, 2013· 7:00 PM Build a Sign LLC

Are you a passionate WordPress user or developer?

Wondering how to successfully turn your hobby or part-time gig into your full-time job? Wanting to change careers? Or maybe you’re just getting started?

Our panel of WordPress folks will discuss how we have successfully made a career out of WordPress. Some of us are coders, some are designers, and some just enjoy helping people. Some of us work for ourselves, others work for companies or organizations. Our common denominator is that in some way, WordPress pays the bills! Expect to hear some stories, some best-practices, and how we’ve learned from mistakes along the way.

This is a great chance to figure out what’s hot in WordPress-land, learn what skills are most prized by employers, when it might be better to go freelance, and how to promote yourself and build your resume. We’ll have lots of time for discussion and questions along the way.

If you’re currently making your career with WordPress, we’d welcome you to join in the discussion as well.

And bring your business cards! You never know who you might meet! 🙂

PANEL DISCUSSION

Bill Erickson (BE) http://www.billerickson.net/ ; https://twitter.com/billerickson
WordPress (WP) Dev for 7 years
Started with a job at a university (A&M ); got into making changes on their site
Now he focuses on helping small business build sites
* * * Find services in that complement what you do * * *
Did Thesis —> moved to Genesis, which had an established community
Builds Genesis things that get promoted which drives traffic
Built CRM (Customer Relationship Model) on top
Used as
– PM tool
– to get Analytics
– track work to develop trends
– see what’s most profitable
– streamline your business
– work more effectively
and choose the better projects
Once you have more work than you can handle
you can prioritize more effectively
Billerickson.net —- Github…. CRM for free

Chris Wiegman (CW) – bit51.com https://twitter.com/ChrisWiegman/
Chris is a WordPress developer who has been writing code since the mid-90s; he is the developer behind the Better WP Security plugin.
Started in aviation
to be at the airport, he worked in IT
wrote the entire content management for airport
recession hit, so he went back to school
became a developer and in charge of computers
Joined St Edwards
developing on the side
–  plugins to secure WP sites
2008 began using WP
started own company bit51.com –
Now a Senior dev for springbox.com, primarily with WP

Brandon Kraft  (BK) – BrandonKraft.com; https://twitter.com/kraft
Geek and dork who loved computers in HS
Sociology major at Tulane
Ended up running all the computer things at school
Started full-time – co-ordination for non-profits then took over IT functions
Other non-profits started calling
– which released him of responsibility of a full time job to go on his own
– source of income is partially from retainer for non-profits (monthly/annual)
– speaks non-profit so an easy transition for him to communicate with his customers
Uses Genesis to build sites (not same category as Bill 😉 )
Advice –
* * *Find out what niche works for you * * *
– Make a website for yourself that’s great
– grow an online presence
* * *DON’T CHASE THE $$$$$$$ * * *
–  Could be an awful client
–  It’s more about the free time and not just the money

Jackie Dana (JD) – jackie@automattic.com
Works at Automattic (which runs WP) since July 2012
1990’s created websites, got burned out by how they were created in early days
Academic adviser at UT for 17 years; wanted a career change
Using WP at work, started attending Meetup for WP,
LOVED IT – especially the community
likes how WP allows the individual to easily create sites
met people, did low $ sites, consulting and training
Decided helping people how to use WP was her thing
Started doing it more and more.
Volunteered at SXSW, met people from Automattic,
after 2nd time, she decided she wanted a job with them
Got job as a happiness engineer
LOTS of jobs available for this not only Automattic, but places like WP Engine
Automattic also has other jobs –
– developers to write code, develop themes, add-ons, widgets, mobile team, etc.
– a huge # of uses to support – 30m users, x# of sites
– only 170 people at the company
– from different backgrounds in English, History, Math, some w/o BAs
Currently working on Terms of Service (TOS) overseeing 3 people
– handling complaints, problems

Karen Kreps (KK) – http://www.netingenuity.com/
Started in print publishing before internet working for a magazine on Madison Ave
hit glass ceiling…hated it
Joined a company (precursor to Prodigy) that needed video techs
Produced online interactive media there for 6 years
In 1993 relocated to Austin
Thought it was the end of her career
learned html 2
Created sites with Macromedia
Forsaw HTML was going to go much further than anyone thought
Launched Austin American Statesman’s first web site;
left after creating Austin360.com – mgmt change
Went to work  briefly for  IBM Interactive
Started own company
Built websites by hand
Trying to switch from table based to CSS
Was a drama major…so tech background isn’t needed
– self taught
Now uses WordPress
Focus on CONTENT and USER INTERFACE
Likes online content to be interactive
Does 1:1 WP coaching
Teaches users how to manage their own websites and precreate content
5 years ago came to a WP meet up
Been coming ever since

Davina Cooper (DC) -Cooper Desktop Designs of Texas  www.dddfw.com/
– a marketing services company serving small to medium businesses with their web, print or email needs.
Did Macromedia tech support til layoffs
Learned people wanted training for HTML, Macromedia, Flash
trained in the evening
Opened own business
Taught at college at the same time
Moved to Austin
Uses Drupal, WordPress
Targets small business
Low tech/no tech companies who want a web presence

Corey Ellis (CE) Corey@theseniorpartners.com
Entertainment Digital Strategist and Technologist. Live music connoisseur. Social and digital tech in music enthusiast.

Q&A
Q1 What’s the hardest thing that you have to do?
A1:
BE    General business, the non technical; all the stuff that isn’t building WP
Client work
Client Management, contracts
After finished projects, look back to see what can fixed via process, documentation
* * * constantly look at how you can improve the process * * *

Q2: Did you have legal assistance to put the contract together?
A2:
BE    Just at first (family of lawyers)
Contract is evolving
Goal of contract isn’t to secure myself. Education tool to ensure everyone’s responsibility
It’s a Statement of Work ( SOW )
Make as clear as possible
Timeline, Payments, what you pay for
Licenses
Terms of Agreement
Goal is to limit confusion
Never been sued/some haven’t paid
not worth suing (though could because of contract)
BK    Re-read the contract when things break down
KK      recommends BigAustin.org
– helps people run their own business
CW     – does very little freelance work
been lucrative doing plug-ins
– look at codecanyon, woo themes
– consider guest blogging – some people making $500/article
– see wpmu.org
JD     – n/a – doesn’t work with clients at all
– recommends SCORE
– meetup

Q3:  If a client comes to you, how do you differentiate yourself; what client works best for you?
A3:
BK      When they ask questions thinking about there website as part of their org
How will their website enhance there organization
The client that has done their homework
A client that knows what they want
Also, do your own research on the potential client
BE    There are a lot of red flags
A lot of failed projects before
Well what went wrong?
If doesn’t have a long term retainer; just projects
Do a 30 minute call before
Red flags may indicate
Not valuing you. Using you as a means to an end
Goal – to recognize a bad customer before it happens
KK     The customer doesn’t want to manage their website is one signal
– No interest in getting their hands wet
– don’t want them coming with a problem, and a solution they figured out and they want you to do that for them
– Do they want me to make content? Or do they have content
–  Best clients know their business, but don’t know how to present it online
some customers are like people who adopt a dog and don’t want to take it out for a walk

Q4:     How do you decide what to charge?
A4:
BK     changed over the years
look at billable hours, started a an entry-level manager
– working for non-profits, they want to hear pro-bono
charged $30/hr, client was ecstatic, knew was charging too little
– even if only 5 hrs of work, make sure the billable fills non-billable work that needs to be done
– gradually nudge up to see where the resistance is
– and that’ll indicate the high range of what to charge
BE     Depends on type of industry
Wants to provide quote based on value, not hours
Decide the types of industries you want
the better you get at your job, the less you make if charging by the hour.
– consider working on a project basis
– evaluate project of what they paid
– e.g., if charging by the hour and a 10hr project took only 5 hrs, the client will want their
money’s worth to use p the money, often creating a worst site
Analytics are important
Keep track of money you make on a project vs time.
Pick projects that make your the best money (not most)
The higher the quote, the more inaccurate the estimate
Smaller websites give you more $ for time
– found that bigger money – bigger problems
($1k-$10k- is more accurately estimated than the $10k+)
DC    – track, e.g, elance and review
often hear, but a friend of a friend’s nephew will do it for free
– how much do you need to make a living
– get as much info from customer to spec out what needs to be done
– consider what needs to be farmed out e.g, front end programming, content
– people will charge $15/hr.
– If you charge $40-$50 need to be convincing (know your worth)
CE     Value your time
be flexible
sometime you just want the work
some times will charge more for the more difficult client
will charge less if fun
BE    when lull in work, that’s when takes project shouldn’t have
KK    depends on how much it takes to build a website,
e.g., 4 page, set up structure
are there functions, plug ins
words – well written/compelling
communicate your value
does remote 1-on-1
depends on amount of hand holding…may make 3X’s longer
BK    use community –
a lot of Genesis developers to help
has a core group he turns to to ask questions like this
JD    Traditional rule of thumb
* * * There are 3 things to developing a website,
1) Fast     2) Cheap     3) Good
You can pick TWO

Q5:     What things MUST you do now to get started?
A5:
JD    Get as involved as you can in the community
BE    find a micro-niche
2 traits
1) contribute heavily to the WP community
– you’ll do better if you share your code
2) learn how to run a business
Learn business. Learn how to run a business
PROCESSES ARE KEY
DOCUMENTATION IS KEY
More to bakery than baking
Tenacity
KK    set up web site to show your portfolio w/ testimonials
BK    took longer because he hadn’t jumped into community earlier
– be adaptable –   changes every 4-6 months
– have fun – if you don’t like it, no one will want to be around you
DC    – know your skills .eg, if front end graphics
– a lot aren’t honoring front end people, WP is free, why should I pay for a designer?
last year only made $20k, not getting rich, but happy doing it.
CE    know what your good at
CW    biggest thing is to participate, e.g, Word Camp
– be willing to learn, many avenues to learn and give back
JD     WP is just software, but the the community that she loves
people participate in many different ways
Drupal has more people in sales than Automattic has in the entire company
Come to meetings – learn by osmosis
sit down with someone
use online tools, training
only way to learn is to do it.
BE    WP101
develop your own website
look at premium themes at StudioPress, Woo themes

Q6: What screensharing program do you use?
A6:
KK    Crossloop (free)
used several others like .yuuguu.com (not free anymore)

Q7: What is the Genesis ‘framework”
A7
BE    used to be just themes, then built parent themes with child themes where site specifics goes into for higher quality

Q8: Is there a WP in Spanish?
A8:
JD    WP can be written and is used in multiple language.
Don’t know if there’s a specific WP group that focuses just in WP for Spanish-speaking

Q9:     What resources did you use?
A9:
BK    SCORE
Big Austin
SBD (Highland Mall, San Marcos)
CE    Use your clients, if they’re a marketing firm, trade to learn about it
BE    helped that he had a business degree

Q10:    What percent of the panel writes content?
A10:
BE    zero, leave up to client
KK    sometimes client doesn’t
has to do all/be all
– attends Content Strategy Meetups

Panel:
Jackie Dana (JD) – jackie@automattic.com
Bill Erickson (BE) http://www.billerickson.net/ ; https://twitter.com/billerickson
Chris Wiegman (CW) – bit51.com https://twitter.com/ChrisWiegman/
Brandon Kraft  (BK) – BrandonKraft.com; https://twitter.com/kraft
Karen Kreps (KK) – http://www.netingenuity.com/
Davina Cooper (DC) -Cooper Desktop Designs of Texas  www.dddfw.com/
Corey Ellis (CE) Corey@theseniorpartners.com

Resources shared (for running business):
SCORE
BigAustin.org
SBD

Screensharing Program:
Crossloop.com

Top Sayings (of the evening):
…more to running a bakery than baking
…some customers are like people who adopt a dog and don’t want to take it out for a walk

Miscellaneous information:
WPMU – Selling article space for $500
wpaustin.com  – meeting notes
http://www.meetup.com/austinwordpress/

WordCamp – May 18th Sign up now  http://2013.austin.wordcamp.org/
See schedule, speakers, topics, sponsors only $20 includes lunch, a T-shirt and so much more

A BIG thanks to Garrett Petticrew for his help taking notes. These include the Q&A’s because there was much good information shared; this will not likely be a normal feature of meeting notes. Also, if there is anything omitted or wrong, please let me know so I can correct it. Thanks. Cathy