Brendan Hufford

Brendan Hufford, a self-made entrepreneur, runs OK Kimonos, a business selling Jiu jitsu clothing and hosts an ongoing podcast, Entrepreneurs and Coffee where he shares his experiences with fellow entrepreneurs from all over.

Brendan used to dream of playing shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles before he discovered what he wanted to do: become his boss. He realized the potential of the internet when he went to college and was introduced to AOL and higher downloading speeds than previously existed.

He began using WordPress to create a website for his jiu jitsu business at the beginning of 2010. At the time, WP was the easiest to use and moved seamlessly to self-hosting when he decided to run his website on his own. Now he currently has several WordPress sites up and running.

One of those sites is Entrepreneurs and Coffee when he felt the need to pass on his experiences to others. He hosts three episodes a week: Interviews on Mondays, Education on Wednesdays, and a Q&A Session on Fridays. He provides tremendous value in all of his episodes no matters the topic, be sure to listen in or even send in your question for his Q&A show!

On this episode, he also provides some suggestions for amazing content, find those resources in the links below and then join us as we host Brendan on WP Elevate. This chat with him provides a new lens for our WP consultants to look through the lens of the user. Check it out on this week’s broadcast of WP Elevation!

Elevation Round
Q: What’s the #1 thing any freelancer needs to know?
A: It’s all about the relationships that you have. Always. Make a ton of friends.

Q: What’s the best thing you’ve done to find new customers?
A: I went where they were. I spent a lot of time finding out where the eyeballs were and where the ears were, and I went there.

Q: How do you stop competing on price?
A: I think you have to be willing to offer something that nobody else has to offer. I refuse to compete on price.

Q: Any tips for writing better proposals?
A: Do a very good job finding out what they need and what they want and also discovering the difference between the two.

Q: What’s your favorite CRM tool?
A: No. I don’t have anything that I use to manage that stuff.

Q: What’s the best way to keep a project and a client on track?
A: Limit the amount of contact. Let them know your time is valuable. Being too available can be a huge pitfall because they will ask you for every small website change. They will in turn value your work more.

Q: Any ideas for getting referrals from existing customers?
A: Make it as easy as possible. It could be as simple as asking for a referral or making a click-to-tweet button. Also give them value to add. If they have someone else in mind, maybe offer to talk to them for a few minutes.

Q: What’s the #1 thing you can do to differentiate yourself?
A: Don’t do what everybody else is doing. Also, figure out what people are struggling with and find a solution.

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