60 WordPress Freelancers & Entrepreneurs Share Their Wisdom

Over the years we’ve talked with a lot of WordPress experts. We’ve worked to get insights and hands-on experience from people who do the work and make a living from WordPress. [pullquote]Over the past few years, we’ve done more than 90 interviews with over 60 people.[/pullquote] Whether they’re freelancers or entrepreneurs, rookies or veterans, designers or developers—they’ve all learned something that worked for them and we’ve shared their wisdom.

Insights From WordPress Experts

Below is a collection of those interviews, with a quick quote from each expert. Dive into the various topics and get a taste of the collected wisdom of these WordPress experts.

How to Be More Profitable

How to make more money is a common question, so we talked to some pros about how to be more profitable:

• “Life’s too short to be sitting in your chair feeling resentful because you’re doing way too much and getting paid way too little.” – Naomi C. Bush
• “You’ll never work harder than when you work for yourself, but you may never be more satisfied.” – Tom McFarlin
• “The thing I love most about being a freelancer is having the freedom to say ‘no.’” – Daniel Espinoza
• “Not everything is rainbow unicorn farts all the time—I work harder than ever, but I do it on my own terms.” – Kronda Adair
• “There’s never a perfect time to hire help, and you usually need to do it before you can afford it.” – Kim Doyal
• “Many freelancers are held back by a combination of lack of skills, lack of connections and lack of faith in themselves.” – Michelle Schulp

Taking Stock

We asked WordPress experts to take stock of their careers and talk about success, failure, and where they need to grow:

• “Learning and being aware of these constant shifts is one of—if not the most important—part of being a freelancer.” – C.Bavota
• “It’s important to ask yourself regularly why you do what you do, and to make sure that your business and your practices are in line with the answer.” – Jenny Beaumont
• “My enjoyment of being a developer is really only a love for solving problems—mostly searching for that aha moment when a solution finally works and makes sense.” – Kirsten Cassidy
• “During the first couple of years of my freelancing journey, I had a big problem with saying ‘no.’” – Patrick Neve
• “I’ve learned that discernment is one of my strongest personal gifts, and I need to trust it.” – Sarah Pressler
• “With so many freelancers in the market currently and many more on the way, I think it’s important for freelancers to stand out.” – Jason Resnick

WordPress Entrepreneurs

A lot of people start out doing freelance work but move into products or services, so we talked to some WordPress entrepreneurs:

• “You’re not much of an entrepreneur, in my opinion, if you don’t have the guts to ride the bull.” – Kori Ashton
• “You might not get rich, but you’ll be a happy person and that’s the kind of profitability I want to have more of.” – Eric Dye
• “One of the best lessons I’ve learned to make more money is ‘work less to earn more.’” – Emilie Lebrun
• “Don’t get too consumed by work. All the things outside of work make you a better business person.” – Nancy Lyons
• “Focus is what differentiates an entrepreneur from any of the lost freelancers out there.” – Mario Peshev

Freelance Productivity

It’s a constant challenge to get everything done, so here are some tips on how to be a super crazy productive freelancer:

• “Close Slack. Close email. Close social media. Leave the phone on silent or in another room. Seriously.” – Jennifer Bourn
• “Don’t sacrifice the quality of your life today for a bigger business tomorrow.” – Kim Doyal
• “The simple act of putting to-do list items on my calendar really changed how I approach my day.” – Kevin D. Hendricks
• “Control your time and your energy: It’s the most important thing you can do to be productive.” – Emilie Lebrun
• “If it’s something that does not contribute to your productivity, then find a way to remove it.” – Tom McFarlin
• “There are tons of ways to be productive but you have to do what works best for you.” – Jason Resnick
• “Streamline as much as you can. The fewer apps/tools you use, the better.” – Dustin W. Stout

Freelance Process

Staying on top of freelance work requires creating amazing business systems:

• “I think the single most important thing a freelancer can do to be more productive is to have a consistent process in place for every project.” – Nathan Ingram
• “WordPress freelancers need to leverage project managers!” – D’nelle Dowis
• “Everyone is saying you need to ‘hustle’ or ‘crush it,’ and I think doing that sucks all the fun out of life” – Daniel Espinoza
• “The more I communicate in the sales process, the better the project goes in execution.” – Rebecca Gill
• “I don’t like ‘chasing’ people for money, so I’ve always let my systems and processes get my money for me.” – Tamala Huntley
• “Freelancers focus so much on the work that they forget to manage their network of contacts.” –Chris Lema

Freelancer Self Care

Taking care of yourself is important, so we talked to WordPress experts about why it matters and how to do it:

• “Every day we need rest: It’s not something that we should push back until the last possible moment.” – Jenny Beaumont
• “When the Lema family and the Bourn family go on vacation together, we don’t talk about work and we don’t talk about WordPress. ” – Jennifer Bourn
• “My eating, exercise, and sleep directly impact my work and my business.” – Brian Casel
• “The life of a freelancer can drive you mad if you don’t find balance.” – Patrick Neve
• “The biggest ‘perk’ is just giving myself permission to prioritize self care.” – Michelle Schulp
• “Sometimes you have to say no to work, even when you need money, because in the long run you’re doing a lot of damage to yourself and are putting yourself at risk for much larger problems.” – Adam Soucie

Freelance Workspace

Part of the joy and efficiency of our work comes from our workspace, so we talked to some experts about how to make the most of your workspace.

• “When you do this type of ‘desk’ work, invest in your chair and desk.” – Tracy Apps

Freelance Veterans

We specifically talked to some veteran freelancers to get their insights:

• “Technology keeps changing, so as soon as I stop learning, I stop providing the best solutions for my clients.” – Tracy Apps
• “Once growth stagnated, I started to get bored. Part of the challenge and enjoyment I got out of running my own business was growing it.” – Jared Atchison
• “There’s always another hill to climb. No one I know who is ‘successful’ would consider themselves ‘there.’” – Tom McFarlin
• “It doesn’t matter how great a website looks or how many bells and whistles it has. If the site’s messaging isn’t clear or telling a great story then it still won’t work as well.” – Dana James Mwangi
• “Business is people, and nowhere is that more apparent than when you are your business.” – Michelle Schulp

Freelance Rookies

Then we specifically talked to rookie freelancers to get their perspective and energy:

• “Freelancing isn’t easy or stable, so I feel like you really have to enjoy what you do every day.” – Stacey Bartron
• “Reserve some time to learn new things every day” – Madalin Milea
• “I love that my successes and my failures are on me alone, and there is a direct correlation between how hard I work and how much money I make.” – Allie Nimmons
• “I’ll always choose long-term relationships over short-term gains.” – Adam Soucie
• “I’ve been very selective about who I work with, which helps to ensure greater success in the projects I do implement.” – Bianca Welds

First, Best & Wish You Knew

We talked to a series of WordPress experts to talk about their first client, best client, and what they wish they knew when they started (and of course, referrals came up a lot):

• “You can have all the technical skill in the world, but without a brand to support it, you won’t succeed with your own business.” – Jared Atchison
• “I wish I knew how to communicate my value and charge accordingly when I first started!” – Jennifer Bourn
• “You need to look for ways to build your reputation outside your work. Building your portfolio is great, but you can build your reputation much faster and easier if you build it on multiple fronts: client work, speaking engagements, contributions to open source, local meetups, etc.” – Aaron Campbell
• “It’s OK to be picky about who you choose to work with and the projects you choose to work on.” – Carrie Dils
• “Almost all of my best clients have been referrals from other good clients. If you do great work and exceed your clients’ expectations, they will recommend you to their friends and business acquaintances.” – Bill Erickson
• “Really what we do is magic, even if it’s just setting up some plugins. Clients would take weeks or months to learn it and we (WordPress as a whole) need to learn to truly value that and charge appropriately.” – Curtis McHale
• “I see a lot of folks who try to act very polished/professional online without a hint of personality, and those folks tend to get lost in the shuffle. … People want to work with someone who is approachable and, to a degree, likable. But beyond that they don’t want to be bored to death. So be yourself.” – Andrew Norcross
• “Over the years I’ve learned how to spot great clients and how to spot problem clients very early on. It’s a skill that takes time and experience to learn, but a very important one as you grow your business.” – Brad Williams

WordPress Experts

This whole process started with a series of interviews with these WordPress experts:

• “You can have all the technical skill in the world, but without a brand to support it, you won’t succeed with your own business.” – Jared Atchison (see part two as well)
• “Work on things that make you uncomfortable. Be honest with yourself about areas of the business where you’re weak.” – Brian Casel
• “I’m not a blogging mastermind or business guru, but I’ve been amazed at what a consistent online presence has accomplished for my business.” –Carrie Dils
• “If you keep doing the same thing you’re going to slowly get left behind. The market keeps moving and you need to move with it.” – Bill Erickson (also see parts 2, 3, 4, and 5—yeah, he had lots to say)
• “Say no to email first thing in the morning. All email in the morning is good for is telling you what other people’s priorities are for your day.” – Curtis McHale
• “Do the work. It seems odd to say, but so many issues are avoided by just delivering on your promises.” – Andrew Norcross
• “The number one way to bring in business is to focus on something.” – Justin Sainton

WordPress Hosting

We talked with several WordPress hosting experts to get their insights:

• “It’s important that you ask people you know and trust, explain your needs and let them help you.” – Bob Dunn
• “I want to know that a top-level support person will be available on a weekend.” – Aaron Reimann
• “That my web host didn’t even know the version of WordPress I was on was kind of scary.” – Justin Tadlock
• “Shared hosting can be like living in a dorm, and ya’ll smell the neighbors sometimes.” – Kim White
• “If you truly value your business, invest in solid professional WordPress hosting. It will pay for itself in no time.” – Brad Williams

Selling WordPress Maintenance

Talking about how freelancers can sell WordPress maintenance is a lot easier when we can point to people who are doing it:

• “Don’t be afraid of small beginnings. It takes a while, but be persistent and just keep doing good work and the rewards will follow.” – Dave Clements
• “People don’t want to have to worry about the technology, and that’s what I try to tap into. Give them the freedom to be awesome, because they have a partner who just takes care of it for them.” – Dan King

Email Marketing

Making email marketing work can be a challenge, so we talked to experts about how to love it and actually make more money:

• “The best advice I can give is to deliver actual value, not just fluff.” – Carrie Dils
• “Start writing, start emailing, start sharing and start having conversations.” – Kim Doyal
• “It’s a matter of building the type of relationship with your subscribers where they look forward to hearing from you.” – Tamala Huntley
• “To be successful at email marketing, you need to know exactly who you are marketing to and know the path you want the reader to take to convert.” – Jason Resnick
• “If anyone has an email list and they aren’t inviting their subscribers to reply and have conversations, they’re truly missing out on mountains worth of ideas.” – Dustin W. Stout

WooCommerce

We talked to some WooCommerce pros to generate 10 tips to boost online sales:

• “There’s nothing more powerful than a strong brand.” – Scott Buscemi
• “We’re seeing so many brands that have gone from turning one-time customers into fanatical card-carrying customers. This is the future of e-commerce. ” – Cody Landefeld
• “When it comes to e-commerce, speed is money.” – Matthew Nelson
• “If content isn’t part of your marketing strategy, you may slowly lose the interest of your audience.” – Shayla Price
• “Stores of almost any size can generate additional revenue via automated lifecycle emails.” – Beka Rice
• “WooCommerce sites that take a customer-first approach from the very beginning tend to be the healthiest.” – Justin Sainton

WordPress Meetups

We got so much insight from folks running WordPress meetups that we wrote an ebook: How to Run a WordPress Meetup.

• “Keep it on the same day of the month to help other tech events organize around you.” – Steve Bruner
• “The most important feature for a successful WordPress meetup is the sense of continuity.” – Tony Cecala
• “Digital interactions are not a good way to build lasting friendships and partnerships. It can be part of the equation, but it isn’t the core of how relationships are built.” – Toby Cryns
• “When I started bringing homemade cookies and stuff, we started getting more people.” – Lynn Dye
• “I enjoy seeing what other people are doing, even when they’re my competitors. It’s nice to see interesting projects.” –Michael Torbert

Why WordPress

We all love WordPress, but sometimes it helps to know why:

• “I love that I can create a website for my clients and they can manage it on their own.” – Tamala Huntley
• “WordPress isn’t a piece of software, it’s a movement.” – Matt Medeiros
• “I love the community more than anything. I was welcomed in with open arms from day one and have enjoyed getting to know lots of great people since then.” – Justin Tadlock

Politics

Should freelancers talk politics? We gathered 9 tips to stay professional from WordPress experts.

More WordPress Experts

If that’s somehow not enough WordPress insight, head over to our WordPress training library to see tons of webinars with WordPress pros.