Description

Each of our sessions are digitally broadcast live and feature 3 separate presentations focusing on a specific aspect of some WordPress topic. Each presentation will have roughly 30-40 minutes allotted for instruction and 15 minutes allotted for Q&A at the end. This means that each session runs approximately three hours start-to-finish.

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About This Session

For February, our focus is on building and running smart, successful WordPress businesses. Our speakers come from vastly different backgrounds, and have incredibly unique and insightful perspectives to share. Each of them have built a successful business, and they have agreed to share what they know in order to make it easier for you to build and run your own.

Some prerequisites for anyone attending this session include a desire to learn and grow, a hunger to start (or improve) a business, and a willingness to turn this knowledge into action. You don’t have to be running your own business already – in fact, if you’re only toying with the idea there are some extra-helpful bits for you here. For everyone who is running a business already, this session aims to help you run it better – to improve your life, the lives of your employees, and the lives of your customers/clients.

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Topics Covered

• The benefits of building a community (includes: why a community is important, and how to build one)
• Marketing yourself is OK (includes: selling to your community without becoming an awful jerk)
  
• The tools & platforms to use to improve your business (including software, services, blogs and more)
• Lessons Learned from running a successful theme business (includes: avoiding common failures, learning from the mistakes of others)
• Selling Independently vs In a Marketplace (includes: the similarities, differences, and knowing what’s right for you)
• How to select a niche (includes: knowing your audience, what and how to research)
• The long game: making your side business your business business (includes: quitting the day job, treating it like a real job (good habits to get into), sensible growth)
• A conscious decision: do you work for agency or end client? (includes: pros, cons, and things to consider)
• When and How to hire a project manager (includes: no seriously do it, and here’s why…)
• Sub-contracting your work: the good, the bad, the ugly (includes: knowing that your ass is on the line, preventing terrible situations, and how to  find quality subcontractors)
• How to avoid tax-time hell: accounting basics for freelancers (includes: basic accounting principles, accounting software choices, and paying yourself the smart way)

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About the Speakers