Earlier this year, we started the #WProsper focus to help you do well, do better with WordPress and iThemes.
Many of you filled out our survey at the beginning of the year, but it dawned on me, I needed to check-in and see how you were doing with your goals and in your work.
So in the comments below, I’d love for you to post your answers to the following questions:
- What have you learned this year?
- How is it going? Talk about successes, failures?
- Has anything changed with your goals from the beginning of the year? If so, how?
- If you’re doing a mastermind or accountability group, tell us how that is going and more details so others can do so too.
- What’s next? How will you finish strong for 2015?
- What topics are you interested in knowing more about from us? (We’ve held a number of webinars and posted a ton of content so far, so if you want to hear more of something let us know.)
The first 25 people to comment on this post by answering these questions will get a free Amazon Kindle version of the 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do by Amy Morin, LCSW, who recently presented in a WProsper webinar for our community.
By the way, if you’re not signed up for the WProsper email updates, or the WProsper Facebook group head over to do that now.
Founder of iThemes.com
Doing fairly well, financially; slightly better than last year. Can do better.
Am learning (again!) that sometimes I just have to rest. Am better at accepting and working around that when it’s for a physical reason than a mental one. Anxiety is a debilitating beast; practising compassion towards self (difficult!)
I’ve failed in pushing when I should have pushed. On the up side, I’ve survived. I’ve succeeded in crafting a business that can, to a small extent, putter on with minimal effort (systems FTW).
Wow, I can’t wait to see everyone’s responses to this! Cory, I really enjoy these types of posts as they really get me thinking about where I am, where I was, and where I want to be.
So, this year has been rough. At the end of last year, I decided to go from a one-man freelancer to an actual agency with design, development, and maintenance services and some products. My main product being Quiz Master Next. So, going from a “one-man shop” to an agency requires a very different mind set.
At first, I brought on more help to help with new projects but also had lots of work I was doing. So, I added the extra “management stuff” on top of my current workload. So, I was putting in 50-70 hours a week. It was very difficult and definitely put a strain on my body, mind, and family life.
Therefore, I have learned that you really need to delegate out tasks and get your workload under a reasonable amount. Putting in that extra work really isn’t as beneficial as you would think.
As far as successes, my revenue is up over 600% year on year which is great! However, I brought on too many expenses including team members. Since I am not willing to cut developers that I just hired (Won’t do that to my team as they are all good people), I have had to take a pay cut out of my personal revenue until my revenue catches up with my expenses. So, a bit of success and failure in there with some lessons learned along the way.
Lastly, my goals have changed a bit from the beginning of the year. My daughter is now almost 18 months old and I have realized that I would rather spend time with my family than work. So, my goal for the end of the year is to be in a position where I can actually take time off and spend time with her more often.
Probably the biggest thing I have learned/am still learning is how to project manage and really LEAD my clients through the process. This has helped me schedule and maintain better boundaries while also really giving my clients a better experience because they aren’t as stressed about the timeline, the process, etc.
It has been up and down this year. I have taken on clients and projects that I really should have said “no” to, but then I have also grown a lot and been able to bill more hours which means I have been able to afford to grow my toolbox and upgrade my tech.
If anything my goals for the year just keep getting clearer. At first I wanted to “have more clients” then I realized I wanted to “earn more” and now I am working on “managing my clients and work flow more efficiently so I can earn more”.
I am doing a mastermind this summer. It is my first one and all I can say is: DO A MASTERMIND. I have learned so much, the accountability is amazing, and the relationships you build are pretty great. Mine isn’t web design specific, so I can’t speak to that, but it has helped me with entrepreneurship in general, which has been so great. Also is great to have people who understand to share business wins with, my family & friends don’t always get it, but my mastermind group does, they know exactly what I am struggling with and they are all so supportive.
I am working on relaunching my own website and streamlining my offerings. I want to get away from random project quotes and start to really have a framework for what I do and what it costs and how long it takes. I need more structure so I can work my effectively and pricing is always rough for me.
I have been enjoying the content from this year so much! I would love a little more pricing info, perhaps with examples and perhaps some formulas to get started with. The pricing for value not time blew my mind, I wouldn’t say to more on that 🙂 I also think sometimes clearly writing copy about what we offer is difficult, so I think some of us could really benefit from that 🙂
The biggest learning experience for me this year was how important it is to track time. As a developer I quote flat rates, and for the most part my estimate has always been my best guess based on previous projects. I’m always juggling multiple projects at once (at least 3-4), so because I’m always busy I had this mindset that I just be profitable. Well of course I was wrong. Instead of just using pen and paper and creating a list to keep myself somewhat organized I finally decided it was time to force myself to use a calendar and time tracking. Six months after making these changes I’ve become more productive, busier and less stressed, getting more done and have even doubled my income.
One of the biggest take aways for me from tracking my time was being able to really validate my price increases. In a lot of situations I was able to find out that some projects were not being profitable, and I was able to increase my rates and be able to justify it with data.
Goals for 2016 are all about selling. I want to do less custom development, and focus more on bringing in my own clients. I love $2500 development jobs, but this year I’ve also been really focused on the $1000 client, pushing out small premium theme based websites out in a day. I’d also like to eventually start blogging. I keep telling myself I want/need to do this, but keep putting it off. I have that same fear I’m sure many other do, that what you have to say isn’t important enough, or not good enough for anyone to want to read.
I’m on target to finish 2015 just over 100k (big shout out to StudioPress for the Genesis Framework which has played a huge role in my success as well), which is up 35% from last year. I’m taking the family to Disneyland in the fall for 2 weeks, so I may not make that number but because of the growth this year I’m feeling good about my business. And that gives me the motivation to always keep going.
I’d love to be part of a mastermind group, but for now I just follow and get inspired by others.
Inspirations would be:
Chris Lema, this man is the most amazing storyteller. He has great advice on pricing and many other topics.
Bill Erickson, a developer with amazing business and marketing skills.
Matt Medeiros, interviews amazing people. I also love how transparent and honest he is about his own business.
The list is too long to mention them all.
I’d like to see ithemes do more interviews or case studies. Show us who is doing what so we can all learn more from their experiences.
This has been an amazing year – upskilling in using design software like Adobe CC, and digital marketing knowhow. I have been also fine-tuning my business; gaining more control over finances, redesigning the website (soon to relaunch), getting clearer about what I can and can’t do.
I have realised I need to narrow down my interests and offerings – otherwise I am dispersing my energy and time, which are limited. I can’t be everything for everyone. Being new in my business, I am often plagued with doubts about my abilities and whether I am “qualified” to be offering my services. My lack of corporate experience makes me anxious with the idea of dealing with corporate clients.
I am learning that making goals is essential. I previously avoided this because I felt that making a goal statement (such as I will sell x monthly by July 2015) is a fabrication and a fantasy. But of course, all goals are like that – yet they are the equivalent of planting a stake into the ground.
I think my biggest issue is thinking big – believing I can work with high paying clients. I have been intending to work with a business mentor, which I believe will help me go through the pain of extending my expectations and actions.
My income is higher than previous years, and am now comfortably paying the bills with a little bit to treat the family. I would like to finish the year by offering my services as package products which are appealing to business owners, while bringing in regular income with reasonably comfortable workload.
I wish to thank all those who have contributed to my learning this year, including Cory Miller. I am convinced that your work is helping make the world a better place. I would welcome any more information on how to run a small digital agency, including case studies and the experiences of others who have done it.
I have learned that I need focus. As a one-man-shop with a circle of friends that can assist me I can create massive action when needed. My company has two axes. One is webdesign and the other is graphic design. The last months I have did a lot of Desktop Publishing. Which result in not spending time on finding new clients. That is something that still happens to me. The amount of service/packages is slowly growing but have not found many new fish. (I am not a fisherman)
– So here is my offer. Bring me a fish and we will share time and budget and create a nice dish!
I did my first project overseas. I collaborated with Happy Joe Inc. We hope to work on more projects in the near future.
I have not meet up with a mastermind group, maybe there are groups that want a member from Europe to join? Maybe you need a designer that changes a layout in photoshop into a wordpress website?
I have started http://wprosper.nl where people can share quotes, books to read.
A friends showed how massive action helped him to find good clients with projects that lasts for months. He gave me ideas on how to move forward. I will use that massive energy on findind new clients.
I love to read to find ways to collaborate with others.
This year has been a whirlwind of activity. I’ve spent so much time learning new things that it’s hard to nail down anything specific but I can definitely say that the biggest thing I’ve learned this year, in regards to my business, is never underestimate the power of recurring income. After going through the series of iThemes webinars on this topic, I implemented several new services and was able to move all of my past clients over to them. I doubled my monthly income in one month. It was very amazing.
I’ve been running my business since 2010 but I realized that it has been more of a hobby up to this point. This year I really got serious. I decided to jump without a parachute (get started without any other source of income) in order to motivate me. I have seen some good progress but not as much as I hoped for. I had to cut a lot of things out of my budget to survive (married with three kids). It hasn’t been easy but I can see that by the end of the year I will be where I want to be.
One of the biggest positive choices I have made this year was to get into a coaching group. I started last month with Nathan Ingram and am really loving it so far. I love being part of a group that wants to better themselves and is willing to listen to the input of others to do that.
When it comes to training (iThemes Training specifically) I would like to see more jquery webinars. There are a lot of really cool things being done with it and I want to know more about it. The summer of code was awesome but I want more.
I started the year with two community websites, an e-commerce store and a personal blog in my “portfolio”. Since then, I’ve added three more community websites, two websites for friends and one to advertise my own services.
So far, I’ve made a total of $70.00!
I’m getting better at the nuts and bolts of setting up a website, but getting the design to look right is a real challenge. Realizing I have wayyyyyy more to learn….
Your iThemes Sync really rocks – helps me keep up with my little website “family”. Thanks for all the great information!
What have you learned this year?
~ Oh boy! I learned a lot so far. Mostly the sooner I start, make mistakes and adapt the closer I will get to whatever IT is. I also learned that, I was going about my niche in a very traditional way instead of brewing something custom.
How is it going? Talk about successes, failures?
~ Every single interactions builds the dream and fuels the fire. The biggest success being, the realization that I wasn’t truly making others lives easier with WP but just offering a lot of traditional bells and whistles. Failures? I didn’t create a simple way for clients to pay, resulting in about a year of skating by without being charged a dime. ( The $100 Startup, a great read)
Has anything changed with your goals from the beginning of the year? If so, how?
~ Oh yes! Moving from traditional hosting with cpanels and such to a WP Multisite framework. Building feature sets that better cater to my niche, which are local artists and creatives. Building using an upside down pyramid ( start with less and build, and expand), versus developing every service and product and launching only then.
If you’re doing a mastermind or accountability group, tell us how that is going and more details so others can do so too.
~ I was signed up with a Coach.Me account, but found a lot of what my mentor was suggestion to also be things I read through blogs and the like.
What’s next? How will you finish strong for 2015?
~ Setting up the Multisite network is next on the agenda, as well as converting everyone over and sending out my first invoices!
What topics are you interested in knowing more about from us? (We’ve held a number of webinars and posted a ton of content so far, so if you want to hear more of something let us know.)
~ I am very interesting in knowing how to better serve my clients through rocking wordpress.