Joomla! for Entrepreneurs
Mitch Pirtle
Joomla!Day New York City 2009

So what’s this all about?
DEVELOPERS ENTREPRENEURS
Different business Joomla! approaches
models
Common strategies
Managing clients
Use cases
Business development
Smart resources
Smart resources

Who am I?
Joomla founder
Former VP at KickApps
NYCJUG founder
Bassist
Skate punk
Soccer coach

Ok entrepreneurs, take a
nap, we’ll wake you when
we’re done.

Nerds!
Dealing with evolving
code
Dealing with clients
Dealing with projects
Dealing with deadlines
Dealing with business
development

What Joomla can do for you
Instant website
Massive ecosystem of extensions
Massive ecosystem of developers (partners)
Solid platform for rapid, scalable development

Business Models

Business models:
Product/retail Plays
Templates
Extensions

Business models:
Service Plays
Support memberships
Maintenance agreements
Custom development
Hosting
Template clubs
Extension clubs

Client Management

Reality check
Your projects are on time
Your estimates are correct
Your costs are competitive
Your quality is good-to-excellent

Qualify Customers
Background checks are simple - do they stiff their
business partners, etc.?
If the budget is not there, the discussion is over
Can they commit to a review (PAID) and milestones?
Payment terms are acceptable to you, right?
You’re using proper agreements and docs, right?

Managing Projects
Agile
Scrum
Extreme
Project Management on Wikipedia
Project Management Institute

My Favorite PM Platform
Redmine - (demo)

Somebody please wake up
the entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs!
What can Joomla! do
for you?
What can you do for
Joomla!?

What Joomla Offers

What does Joomla get you?
Instant website
Access to huge ecosystem of extensions
Access to a huge ecosystem of developers
Additional marketing opportunities
YES, YOU CAN HELP TOO

Business and Open Source

Business and Open Source
Learn what the license means
Understand license is not the same as copyright
Distribution, redistribution
Open Source Software on Wikipedia

Some Use Cases

Use case:
Joomla as a consumer
Power your website, get to market FIRST, and look
good while you are doing it

Use case:
Joomla as a platform
Same as before, but providing additional capabilities

Use case:
Joomla as an offering
Many people make a living delivering Joomla websites,
without writing a single line of PHP code

Use case:
Joomla as expertise
If you are good with Joomla, there are plenty of folks
out there that need to talk to you

How ‘bout that Social Media
thing everyone is talking
about?

Social Media and Business
“Ignore social media at your own peril.”
-- Mitch Pirtle, CMSExpo Denver 2008

Social Media and Business
“If you’re still asking what social media can do for you,
please come out from under that rock so we can talk.”
-- Mitch Pirtle, Joomla!Day NYC 2009

Some light reading
To help you get your groove on

The Art of the Start
Guy Kawasaki
“The Time-Tested,
Battle-Hardened Guide
for Anyone Starting
Anything”

Designing with Web
Standards
Jeff Zeldman
If you write any HTML
or CSS, then this book
is a must read.

Eric Meyer on CSS
Eric Meyer
If you write any HTML
or CSS, then this book
is a must read.

Pragmatic Thinking and
Learning
Andy Hunt
Self assessment
Debug your brain

Practices of an Agile
Developer
Venkat Subramaniam &
Andy Hunt
“Working in the real
world”

Learning Joomla! 1.5
Extension Development
Joe LeBlanc
Excellent overview
Smart look at
application architecture

Joomla! 1.5: A User’s Guide
Barrie North
Good overall coverage
SEO
Organizing content

Brand Autopsy
Collective blog
Brand strategy
Group studies
brandautopsy.typepad.com

How to Change the World
more Guy Kawasaki
goodness
http://blog.guykawasaki.com

A List Apart
Collective blog
Design
Markup
Semantic web
SEO
....and more....
http://www.alistapart.com/

Community Strategist
Connie Bensen
Social media
Community
management
http://conniebensen.com/

Web Strategy
Jeremiah Owyang
Social media
Marketing
www.web-strategist.com/blog/

Thanks!
http://www.mitchitized.com
http://www.spacemonkeylabs.com

Image credits
Nerdy Bush: http://www.freakingnews.com/Nerd-
George-Bush-Pictures-38786.asp
Homeless “entrepreneur”: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/
691662
Reading glasses: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/89159