Matt Report

I invited Adam Warner on to the show to talk about his revenue at FooPlugins. For this episode, I was looking for someone  who has grown their WordPress business to $60k in annual revenue. What I wasn't prepared for, was his story about losing $30k+ in his first business. Get your notepad and pen ready, there's a ton of good advice here. Don't miss this episode! Adam Warner Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5aiFLZ7AaI Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version If you're launching a product -- do NOT miss this episode Adam has an insane story to share with us. The first story that came up -- how he literally watched his first $30k in annual revenue crash and burn. A story of failure, but a lesson learned that set the stage for his success with FooPlugins. After picking up the pieces of that journey, Adam takes us down the path of growing his new revenue stream and getting it to hit the $5k+ a month mark. Key points we talk about for growing the new business: Marketing Reinvesting into the company Cash flow Setting up legal entities Extra costs from 3rd party services Tons more Adam has visions of growing FooPlugins to a million dollar business and he shares some of that insight with us. This is an amazing episode and I'm so thankful for the honesty Adam shares here. Now go say "Thanks!" to Adam on Twitter! If you liked this episode, consider joining the newsletter.  

Episode 37: How FooPlugins co-founder lost $30k in revenue; Now earns double.

With so many WordCamps and new WordPress meetups cropping up it's hard to decide where to spend your frequent flyer miles. But, what if you don't have to leave your couch? By day Scott Basgaard serves happiness at WooThemes -- by night he's bringing the entire world together in a 24 hour marathon of WordPress sessions on WordSesh.org. Pretty darn amazing if you ask me. Let's dive in! Scott Basgaard interview about finding a WordPress career and WordSesh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE5j_jCPNcw Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Learn more than just what happens to the body on no sleep Poor Scott didn't sleep for like 72 hours with anticipation and preparation of WordSesh. But that's not the only thing we're going to learn about. Scott's a bit of a WordPress career globetrotter. He's going to share his story about finding that first gig, to working at one of the largest growing WordPress companies -- two of them. "If you feel like everyday, you don't enjoy what you're doing, you need to make a change." -- Scott Basgaard Something I didn't know going into the interview, Scott also worked for a large media site in the corporate world. It paid well and he learned a lot, but it wasn't making him happy. If you're just starting out, it's important you know what you're capable of and the value you bring to the table. A worldwide entrepreneur I think Scott's goal is tremendous. He's putting together a global audience in a format we've never seen before. Producing something like this on such a scale and have it launch for the first time with very little blunder is an accomplishment on it's own. Overtime, WordSesh will be one of the WordPress events to attend. What do you think? Did you like this interview? Help me out by spreading the word and subscribing to the e-mail newsletter!

Episode 36: Connecting the WordPress world via WordSesh

The thought that's been floating around the #DramaPress twittersphere -- Does the business track belong at WordCamp? Chris Lema and Jake Goldman join me on a live Google hangout to chat about this topic and more. I'm not going to waste any time here, so let's dive right in! I've made the YouTube video available here along with an MP3 download. This is also available on iTunes. Does business belong at WordCamp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAJOi_DZCnA Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Little c vs big C I'm just going to make way for your comments... After reading this post on WP Daily, I asked Jake and Chris to join me in a roundtable talk about the business side of things. In the end, I don't think we're very far apart. What do you think?  

Episode 35: Does the business track belong at WordCamp?

I'm always trying to find new blood for our little community here. Today I bring you John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire fame. Here's a local New Englander that started almost a year ago with 0 fans, followers, and podcast downloads. He managed to build a podcast and community to over 100k downloads a month and connect with some of the top entrepreneurs in the internet business world. You should really copy the foundation to his success -- or are you afraid? Let's go! John Lee Dumas Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jegkQQB5G6k Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Are you supercharged yet? I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Matt Report isn't all geek speak and pixels. It's about helping you become a better entrepreneur. You know I love guests like Saddington, C.C. Chapman, and John Morgan -- the folks who push us to go further with our talents. John's story is great because it's organic with a touch of early stage planning and a dash of hard work. There's no snake oil here and it's not a get rich quick scheme. You can't build a house without a foundation and we discuss his blue print for creating his success. Copying John is scary It's not going to be easy -- you might be a little afraid: 1. Persistence -- He's producing a a daily podcast. If you don't already know, that's a ton of work. 2. Cold calling -- In the early stages John was cold calling some heavy hitters. Now that he's cultivated his community, folks are reaching out to him. 3. Rubbing elbows -- We can't do everything behind a computer screen. In this interview John talks about how he got out of his seat and made some of the most important connections in his career. 4. Passion -- If you don't know what makes you tick yet, you haven't challenged yourself enough. Once you strike that chord, your world is going to become a whole lot brighter. So what do you think? How will you break for the pack and flip the switch on YOUR success?

Episode 34: Why you’re afraid to copy John Lee Dumas

Every now again you come across an entrepreneur who's doing things a bit differently. Meet Blair Williams founder of the WordPress membership plugin Memberpress. Blair joins the program to talk about his many entrepreneurial ventures in the WordPress space including Affiliate Royale and Pretty Link Pro. Catch this episode to find out what it's like pricing multiple products and growing your next WordPress business! Blair Williams Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z5uDbT9i_A Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version What I call 'Full circle' I like what Blair has done by making complimenting products. It's probably the marketing/business side of my brain that get's all excited to see how we can connect the proverbial income dots. WordPress is a great platform to build a suite of plugins that work together for our customers -- see Pippins interview about this. Want more founder talk from membership plugins? Also see my interview with Paid Membership Pro founder Jason Coleman.

Episode 33: Blair Williams founder of Memberpress

I found Paul Goodchild when someone tweeted: "Do we really need another WordPress management tool?" Well, if you listen to Paul's interview, you're going to find out why we do. When we recorded this, his product was called Worpit and has now rebranded to iControlWP. Paul's a great guy and has a great story to tell about his software -- along with how he affords offering his product at 60-cents a site! Don't miss this episode! Interview w/ Paul Goodchild co-founder of iControlWP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAEZueNvd38 Watch on YouTube David vs Goliath Paul is like the rest of us. We know there's big name competition, implanted in the market and we're crazy for going after it. Here's my new saying, "It's a pie party and everyone is welcome to a slice." Paul and his brother are putting together a unique service offering, with technical capabilities unlike the competition, trying to win on price AND service. So give him his slice of the pie! On the outside people see it as, "oh just another service" -- but on the inside and to Paul's team they are innovating and creating something really special. What do you think? Why hiring isn't always a good thing Paul shares another great lesson in this interview and something that hits close to home. He talked about hiring another developer when iControlWP was really ramping up and the downfalls that came from it. Like many busy entrepreneurs, they found their "rockstar" and threw that person into the fire. So what happened? Well you'll have to listen to find out! Two great tools mentioned Paul turned me on to two great tools that I use daily for my support: FreshDesk - A great customer support portal and ticketing platform. I was using ZenDesk at the time, but I found this to fit our needs better than what ZenDesk was doing. Zopim Live Chat - A live chat web service that sits on top of your website. Another great tool for talking live with visitors of our website -- very handy!  

Episode 32: Why the world needs another WordPress management tool

Learn what Adam Pickering did to grow his WordPress theme shop and build his brand. Adam is co-founder of Mint Themes and designer of the Astoundify crowd funding theme. We have a great discussion about how he built his companies, leveraged SEO to drive traffic, and how to price products. If you find yourself sitting in a similar seat -- don't miss this! Interview with Adam Pickering of Mint Themes and Astoundify http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3PxIWe51-k Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version How to drive more traffic to your theme site You're going to learn a lot in this episode, so I hope you have a pen and paper ready! Adam discussed that targeting niche theme markets was the stepping stone for Mint Themes. When he launched his first theme SoundStage, he actually had experience with being in a band. He knew what folks looking to launch a music site wanted. He was able to create great blog articles and keywords around the niche. What do we call this? Content marketing! He slowly started building out other niche sites for WordPress themes -- including Church based themes. Eventually to wrangle all the marketing under one roof, he needed to build a brand. Thus, Mint Themes was born. This is a great journey to listen to if you are wrestling with your marketing efforts. Learn from Adam and put it to use in your own WordPress business. What do you think about Adam's adventure? You're not charging enough for your theme Oddly enough, my good friend Chris Lema just posted this today. Adam also felt like we were in a race to the bottom. Mint Theme's pricing is on the higher side of the average and he justifies it. Adam's point is to let customers know, you're a real person or team with real expenses -- this is a real business. Take pride in the product your offering and the price will reflect that. Your thoughts on pricing WordPress products?  

Episode 31: Growing your WordPress theme shop w/ Adam Pickering

Do you know how hard it is to craft a headline about a guy who spends his time writing headlines? Introducing Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger Media, is down right nerve wracking. I don't even want to type anymore, that's how badly I think I'm going to get criticized. I digress. Here are a few headlines that danced around my head: "Episode 30: Watch Brian Clark ride a Unicorn and throw a kitten" or "Episode 30:  Jeff Bridges as Copyblogger founder Brian Clark" and lastly "Episode 30: Guy blogs, builds million dollar WordPress company" Enough! Let's get to the show! Interview with Brian Clark founder of Copyblogger Media http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3BSSe7Ll8Y Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Know, Like and Trust Know, like and trust. This is the mantra of the Copyblogger team and my takeaway from this interview. It's not your PHP chops, Photoshop skills or the size of your WordPress team -- it's that folks know you, like you and trust you. Forget sales revenue for a moment. Forget building a massive WordPress website. It's about forging the relationship of a client that will stay with you and work with you for years to come. Not just a one off project. Here's the way I see it -- if you're spending time applying this mantra, chances are you're also going feel the same way about the client. Working together will be frictionless. There won't be awkward talk about payment or timeline. You won't have that weighted feeling when the client e-mails in for a new project update. The relationship you created doesn't have room for negative feelings -- this is how you do business now. What's the best way to let client's know about the new you? Content marketing! Copyblogger is different This interview isn't about how StudioPress themes are designed or how they run their support forums -- it's a look into their diversified products and services. Personally, I'm really excited to see where they go with the Scribe software they produce. I think it's smart, possibly necessary,  to diversify yourself beyond WordPress to achieve higher levels of scale and growth. There's no surprise that with a recent redesign of their website, they are all in on content marketing. I've said it before and I'll say it again: We're in an interesting phase of the WordPress growth spurt. It's only a matter of time until we see some larger WordPress companies really break away from the pack and follow the traditional path of a silicon valley startup. Could Copyblogger be the first? (I'm speculating here, but someone's gotta do it.) This interview You know I like to pop in from time to time and share my feelings about my progress as the host of the podcast. If you couldn't tell I was nervous in this interview. Brian's just one of those super smart guys that should be on a Wheaties box. Interviewing a guy like him as a newbie podcast host and then having to write about him in this blog post as someone who sucks at writing -- not fun. I want your feedback. Did you like this episode? Do you want something different? I'm grossly behind on publishing episodes, but it's because I want the lessons to properly sink in. This was recorded almost 2 months ago and I have 15 to publish. I'm working on it.