My journey to becoming a WordPress Consultant wasn’t going to be an easy one…
I’ve been developing websites since the mid-nineties on various platforms, but it wasn’t until one of my long-term clients put me in touch with a designer in Seattle who recommended WordPress for a new site that I realised I didn’t have to re-invent the wheel every time. Finally I could offer my clients ‘content management’ and it would make my life easier too.
However, my journey to becoming a WordPress Consultant wasn’t going to be an easy one. The first few times I managed to get a new client, I under-charged, over-promised and found myself coding and Googling into the wee-small-hours for weeks on end, just to meet the completely insane deadline I had agreed on. I did get better and more efficient, but it wasn’t enough and I found myself working really hard for very little reward.
I was also effectively waving goodbye to my clients once their websites were live, getting them to open their own, cheap hosting accounts and leaving them to it!
Then one day, I was searching YouTube for a WordPress related issue and I found Troy’s ‘101 Ways to Elevate’ video. It was long at just under an hour and I didn’t think I would last past the first couple of minutes. However, as each elevation tip appeared on the screen, I found myself saying, ‘Yup – that’s me. Done that. Been there – got the t-shirt’. Quite simply – it was a revelation.
Finally I had found the missing manual for my WordPress Consultancy – no wonder it’s called the Blueprint!
There’s so much to learn in Agency Mavericks and I still find things that change the way I do business every time I dip into the videos, listen to the podcast, attend a Webinar or browse through the Agency Mavericks website and members’ forums.
The first thing I implemented was hosting and maintenance, approaching all my previous clients again. Most of them were delighted that someone was offering them the chance to have their site managed in this way and it didn’t take long for me to realise that I’d been missing out on this recurring income for years. I signed up for a WP Engine hosting account with 10 installations, which soon filled up and before long I was up to 25 installations. That’s now almost full and I’ll need to move up to the next tier again. Having recurring income for me was a game-changer.
Next I started to up my fees and become more realistic with my quotes. I also signed up for the developer accounts with WooThemes and StudioPress (Genesis). This stopped me building everything from scratch and made my development cycle a lot more efficient.
There are still things I need to implement from the Blueprint, but every day is a school day, and suffice to say that this has been my best month ever in terms of income. Add the recurring hosting and maintenance at the start of each month and I finally have a business I can build on. Agency Mavericks gave me that solid foundation and I’m very grateful to Troy, Gin and everyone on the members’ forums.
If you’re a WordPress consultant and want to build your business – there’s only one thing you need to do … elevate!
