You know the expression “in the right place at the right time?” Well, Congrats, that’s where you are … right now. The demand for Digital services, from web development to design, UX, SEO, PPC, etc. continues to grow at impressive levels. Add to that the prevalence of WordPress as the world’s most popular web platform – we couldn’t be in a better industry, at a better time. It’s time to challenge yourself:
Are you doing everything you can do maximize the opportunity around you?
Are you too busy working on your business when your business could actually be working for you?
What and where are the most viable opportunities to seriously impact your life? (not just financially but lifestyle as well)
What’s next? Where is the industry headed and how you can be on the forefront of the evolution?
This talk is aimed at all freelancers and business owners in the WordPress community who are motivated to maximize their potential and benefit from the enormous demand for their talent and skills. Whether you remain an independent freelancer or you wish to grow your business into a full-fledged agency, the time is now to create (or evaluate) your roadmap for success.
Speaker: Bill Gadless, presented at WordCampa Tampa 2016 for Sunday Keynote
3. #WCTPA @emagineBill
The vast majority of people I’ve met are
greatly undervaluing themselves and
not securing their future …
And I would like to help with that.
5. #WCTPA @emagineBill
You don’t have to aspire to build a
big agency or earn a huge fortune.
The point is to maximize your business
potential in order to achieve a level of
financial security and a comfortable lifestyle.
12. #WCTPA @emagineBill
purpose of this talk
whoisitfor?
• Anyone who is working on projects for a fee
• Anyone who wants to get paid more for the work they are
currently doing
13. #WCTPA @emagineBill
purpose of this talk
whoisitnotfor?
• You don’t want to make any more money or improve your life
• You aren’t willing to make change, take chances and try new things
17. #WCTPA @emagineBill
My background:
• son of a dentist and psychiatrist
• went to Phillips Exeter Academy
• won awards in math and science
• Harvard - full scholarship
• was considered a “programming prodigy” at Harvard
• dropped out of Harvard my sophomore year
21. #WCTPA @emagineBill
My actual background
• grew up poor with a single mom of 4
• no father figure or emphasis on education
• dropped out of college
• self-taught marketer
• built my first website in 1996 for $800
• met Brett Cohen (co-founder) by accident
• started emagine with literally $300 in the bank
23. #WCTPA @emagineBill
History of emagine
• two broke college dropouts, started as “2 guys in a garage”
• took on any project / no focus
• gradually added industry/company focus
• added employees slowly
• built portfolio
• grew projects from $1,500 to an average of $100,000+
• today 50+ employees, projected to grow to 75 in 2017
• have always maintained a sales/marketing obsession
27. #WCTPA @emagineBill
It means:
• removing mindblocks and knowing that you can do bigger things
• making the decision to grow
• creating more value, allowing you to charge more
• continuous improvement, refinement and advancement
• dealing with the right companies (stop wasting your time)
• learning to say no
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Identify and decide.
•don’t be everything to everyone
•determine what you’re good at
•SWOT analysis
•determine which efforts make you the most $
•choose targets: industries, company size, etc.
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$1K- $5k $5k-$10k $10k-$20k $20k-$50k $50k-$100k $100k+
find your sweet spot
sweet spot
find and replace
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Why your portfolio matters
• gets more traffic than any other part of your website
• shows your ability
• gives you the opportunity to highlight certain projects
• shows relevant industry experience
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you will win more deals because you
have relevant industry experience
the deals you win will be at a higher price
than your competitors without
relevant industry experience
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get creative
• take on less profitable jobs if they fit your market
• take on jobs that aren’t quite perfect
• partner with established companies in your market
Goal: build your portfolio
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Once you have a sales-ready prospect:
• get in front of the prospect face-to-face, wherever they are
• build rapport, ask many questions, even ones that don’t matter
• understand their business and their pains
• spend 70% of time listening, 30% talking/selling
• design and write killer proposals and presentations
• details matter: thank-you cards, leave-behinds, etc.
• follow up until your hear “no”
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Why should they choose you?
•be great at something
•define a differentiator … even if it’s not that different
•add value through additional services
•convince them that you can support them long-term
•make them like you
•don’t just be another option on a freelance board
•you’re a professional business, not a web developer
•make it sound easy (for them)
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Pricing
• pre-qualify your leads
• never charge hourly for a project
• charge based on value, theirs not yours
• charge more for exactly what you’re doing right now
• prepare a compelling justification for your pricing
• never win a deal because you’re the cheapest
• if you’re not losing deals on price, you’re not charging enough
• sell to higher value customers and gradually move up the food chain
49. #WCTPA @emagineBill
Price/Value
• you’re worth 15%-100% more than you’re currently charging
• if you don’t think so, make it true. ADD VALUE
• AND DON’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT!
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“Death by 1,000 cuts”
Success and growth are a result of of many, many
tactics relentlessly being tried and employed.
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What I wish I knew sooner:
• Charge more, take the chance on pricing
• Expand out of your region
• Develop a niche
• Create differentiating value
• Don’t take on company-killing projects
• Surround yourself with great people:
• partners, mentors, employees, your network
2nd annual CNET Builder.com Conference
Introduced new technologies, service and software
Learned organically through trial and error
Variety of projects for a variety of businesses
Biggest project was $4k
Not just static, but backed by a DB and crude CMS
2nd annual CNET Builder.com Conference
Introduced new technologies, service and software
Learned organically through trial and error
Variety of projects for a variety of businesses
Biggest project was $4k
Not just static, but backed by a DB and crude CMS
walked the exhibit halls and attended the sessions
we were happy with the $2-$3-$4k sites we were building
splitting the money 50/50
However we kept seeing work that wasn’t nearly as good as ours that people were charging
We made an immediate decision to start charging more, way more for what we were building
proposal that we were ready to deliver
very complicated database driven website
going to be our most complicated and most expensive project we every worked on
Our estimate was going to be for $8k
we just listed everything we were going to do and just had a price on the last page
The reason I wanted to start this session with that story is to illustrate to you that there are times in your businesses evolution that you will be presented with information that could change your business forever and sometimes you just have to except the fact that you don’t know what you don’t know.
Aimed toward ,project based business who wants to earn more money for the work they are doing
Show of hands
next 30 minutes or so I am going to present you with 5 steps
brief history of myself and our company
relevance with regard to this talk and how we went through growth over the years
dropped out of college after running out of money
worked for a small company where I was exposed to some marketing and design
Bought my first Mac with a credit card
Got in the graphic design and printing business by accident
dropped out of college after running out of money
worked for a small company where I was exposed to some marketing and design
Bought my first Mac with a credit card
Got in the graphic design and printing business by accident
Is it just about charging more?
Tried same thing with another estimate
Projects were similar
Companies were same size/same revenue
Both projects would take us the same amount of time
Not value to you but value to the client
multiple sessions at WordCamps regarding how to create value
Check out wordpress.tv
This session is more about
finding the right customers who already have a high value placed on their project
And positioning yourself to be able to land them.
Who you want to be
Who you want to work for
What kind of work do you want to do
Resume example
we realized what we were good at and what we weren’t and we just focused
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
We did the same thing for 10 years
Doing the above will help define, your industries, company size etc.
Find your sweet spot and execute those projects successfully
we spent about ten years in the $20k-$50k range and we were very good at it
As you find new high value clients, replace your old clients
We found that it took the same company resources to do a $4k project as it did to do a $25k one
If there are enough $25k projects, why do the smaller ones.
Very difficult to do both
The dynamics and expectations of a $5,000 project are much different than a $25,000 even if the actual work is the same.
How does that translate into what we’re doing with our portfolio?
a person is more likely to make a decision out of the fear of making a mistake than taking a chance
Even if that someone else seems better
How powerfull when a client sees
Even more powerfull… when they see their competitors.
Long Term strategy
Web design / development is what you do
The business you’re in is Marketing and Selling Professional Services
Become more focused and flexible
Set yourself up for long term success no matter what the technology
Had one of sales people ask me “why are you telling everyone how we do it”
My answer was simple… what we do is really no secret.
Its just like losing weight, everyone knows how to lose weight right?
Just because you know how to do something doesn’t mean you will.
I hope that some of you will employ the tactics that follow and I promise you they will work.