Matt Report

When the lights go out with Mika Epstein

I don't like to play favorites, but this has been one of the best interviews so far. Cory Miller has built a massively successful WordPress business over at ithemes. In my eyes, he is the quintessential entrepreneur. He embodies talent, drive, and the desire to succeed. If you want to learn how to get your business to the million dollar mark, strap in and get your notebook ready! Cory Miller on building a multi million dollar business http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UaBU0MDxSs Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Every day is a new challenge If you're an entrepreneur or looking to grow your business -- this is an amazing interview. I'm not just talking WordPress either. Cory is giving us advice that will work in life and in business. That's what makes him successful. He's seeing past clean code, optimized frameworks, dollars and cents. He's speaking to us on a real human level. Chris Brogan would be proud. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Passion is something that every single person on the team should have. The hardest part of this roller coaster ride of building a business is building that team. It's not easy and it's going to take it's tolls - but the reward is amazing. Skills can be taught, but the drive to get someone to be successful for the organization is what needs to be found. There are no rock stars, everyone is in it together. What do you think about Cory's story? I would love to hear your comments below. Now live on iTunes and Stitcher radio! Are you enjoying MattReport as much as I am? I hope so -- these interviews are for you. I'm now on iTunes and Stitcher radio. Search for MattReport or WordPress and you will fine my blue and red avatar. I'd love a review on iTunes, if you're liking this stuff, won't you drop a few stars my way?

How to build a million dollar WordPress business

Becoming an entrepreneur takes a special person. Some might say passionate, driven, and even crazy. I only have two words to describe Mr. Saddington: Focus and clarity. If you're running your first startup or third, you need to watch (or listen) to this interview with creator of the Standard theme, founder of 8bit, and now Chief God Mode of WPDaily.co. John Saddington interview http://youtu.be/sRZ9vcZ8aRE Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Focus and clarity This interview brought me down memory lane. Standard theme was my very first premium theme for WordPress. Five years ago, I never thought I would be interviewing the creator of this powerful theme let alone interview the lead the developer of the current version. During this interview, John made me realize the power of a focused mindset and having a clear vision of where you're going. We must clearly define who we are, what we want, and how we're going to get there. The vision only makes the prize juicier. If you're not constantly challenging status quo - you're going to be stuck in the middle for quite a while. Noticed I said, "who we are." I feel this is the most underrated part of our careers. If we can not properly define who we are, how can we define what we offer clients? If we don't fully understand what makes us tick, our products and services are doomed to stand the test of time. What do you think? Hey, we're on iTunes! Last week, I introduced the audio player and today we're on iTunes! https://twitter.com/mattreport/status/303684834780405761 If you're enjoying this podcast/web show - would you mind leaving a review on iTunes? Thank you! I always ask folks to say thank you to our guests on Twitter or wherever they are online. I've been seeing a lot of tweets saying thanks and I really appreciate it! https://twitter.com/wpmodder/status/303325356037914625 https://twitter.com/rezzz/status/301009158445076480 https://twitter.com/SchechterDesign/status/298464628890030081 https://twitter.com/jeffgolenski/status/293810282600476673

Meet John Saddington serial WordPress entrepreneur

The Matt Report is all about learning from other WordPress entrepreneurs and their respective business. We're not just listening to the journey of designers and developers -- but also marketers, author's, and today's guest a marketplace founder. If you're thinking of starting your own marketplace or just about to start selling your first plugin, you want to tune into Pippin Williamson. Pippin Williamson of Pippin's Plugins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMBx2C6Vtf4 Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Starting a marketplace What comes first? The chicken or the egg? That's the age old question of starting a marketplace. So how did Pippin start his WordPress plugin business? For starters he created well crafted plugins that were needed in the WordPress market. Second, he backed up his promise with amazing customer service. If you're a developer looking to start your business, pay close attention to the value of customer support. If you're someone shopping for a WordPress plugin, evaluate who you're purchasing from and their commitment to supporting clients. Pippin brings us through an amazing journey. From starting out as a freelancer to becoming a well known WordPress plugin developer and a leading plugin marketplace site. It's not all rainbows The passive income world can play tricks on us. Some folks lead us to believe that we just upload our digital product and the customers will come. Never mind the startup media covering startup's landing millions in investment for the most simplistic of ideas. Running a business that scales is hard work. In the interview we talk about scaling a support team, bringing on more staff, compensation, and reinvesting into new product. You don't want to miss all the juicy details in this episode. Side note I was feeling quite sick when I recorded this episode, so I apologize for all the sniffling. I still hope you enjoy it! Hey even if I was sick, this was great stuff right? Please share this with your friends and jump on the VIP mailing list http://mattreport.com/subscribe Photo source

How to start your own WordPress marketplace

Every business is faced with the question, "how are we going to make money?" The web app world is no stranger to this question. A majority of startups go the freemium route. The model that offers a free or limited access level to a product, with an up sell to the paid premium accounts. If you're new to the WordPress entrepreneurial space you might be researching the success rate of this model. So today, I introduce you to Jason Coleman of Paid Membership Pro. He's created one of the leading WordPress membership plugins with a freemium model to generate more interested leads to convert to paid. Watch this interview and learn how Jason has taken charge with freemium! Interview with Jason Coleman of Paid Membership Pro http://youtu.be/xPQAw0TR38c Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version The freemium model for WordPress plugins What do you think of Jason's model of going freemium? Here's what it all boils down to: support. Folks are really paying you for support of the plugin or theme you're providing. Even if it's a service you're offering, there are plenty of other competitors to turn to. My pal Andy talked about the value of customer service in this interview.  So if you look at capturing more downloads (read: leads) of your plugin or theme perhaps freemium is the way to go? If the end user needs help, they can pay you for that support moving forward. Jason also has a paid install "white glove" option. I really like the concept of white glove. It says, "here's a chunk of cash, go install your product, I need to move on to something else." This is smart, especially if you're another designer, developer, or consultant. You're charging the client for a service and if you're still making money, what's the big deal? Plausible deniability. You turn someone like Jason into a vendor. He supports it, he's responsible. It's the added bonus of saying you work with vendors. Making you sound cooler and bigger than you really are. ;) Did you like this episode? Tell your friends! Tweet the link or share on Facebook. If you're really interested in getting more awesome stuff like this, sign up to my newsletter! mattreport.com/subscribe  

How to monetize a freemium product with Jason Coleman

How do you land the $100k project? Watch this interview with Jose Caballer. If you're a freelancer, startup, or growing agency one thing you will always face is how to charge more for your work. In today's startup scene and rapidly growing WordPress ecosystem we hear how many of us are turning to a product business. No more trading time for money. No more client services and what color blue you should pick. What if you didn't have to stress when dealing with web design clients? Nirvana you say? In the latest episode of the MattReport I interview Jose Caballer founder of The Skool and The Groop to teach us how he started to land $100k+ projects. Interview with Jose Caballer http://youtu.be/NQyN51ruKxg Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version "I thought I had a tumor." - Jose on client work There were so many great points about client work that Jose brought up in this interview -- but one that struck a chord with me was how it affected his health. There was a time in his career that he constantly had headaches. Unsure of what was happening, he spent thousands of dollars to get himself checked out. The hospital and doctors couldn't find anything. Shortly after a project he was working on was over, the headaches vanished. Coincidence? I think this speaks volumes about the amount of stress we put on ourselves when we aren't adhering to the right kind of client with the right process in place. These experiences drove Jose to start the Skool and deliver a set of process tools for all of us to learn from. Throughout many of my interviews, when I ask "how do you deal with the $500 client?" the common answer is "find one that will pay more." I realize this isn't easy when you're just starting out and trying to put food on the table. However, if you want to scale and grow an agency, these are the goals you need to be thinking about. From $5k to $100k WordPress projects Jose has seen it all. Small boutique studios, mid sized agencies, to the largest super agencies in the world. Do you know what the difference was with one agencie's web product versus another? Nothing. These agencies became brands that commanded the type of dollars that would make us dream of sandy beaches, blue water, and palm trees. However, not all clients are created equal. Higher paying clients are larger corporations, media companies or enterprises. If you're looking for enterprise grade WordPress services, be prepared to have vast resources for insurance and legal counsel. Again, set your goal, have your vision and be prepared. The importance of process If there's one thing this interview taught me it was to reevaluate my process. The process isn't there just to keep the client in check -- but to make sure you don't divert from the path either. It's easy to let some things slip especially when you're juggling a lot of work and business development at the same time. Creating systems is something a lot of us in the startup space hear a lot. Systems are great for the rinse/repeat work, but a process still allows you to be creative at each new phase. What kind of process do you use? What do you think about system versus process? What did you think about this interview? Let me know in the comments below. If you want to be on the VIP list to get notified of my next interview subscribe to my list http://mattreport.com/subscribe

How to grow your web design practice

Are you ready to learn how to find a niche business? One of the things I really want to do for MattReport.com is to seek out folks who use WordPress in their business that aren't designers or developers. The average folks who actually use the software and not just live under the hood.  I want them to share their story or insight to help us improve WordPress and our own businesses. John Nemo is such a person. He's a marketer and all around business guy that founded the Nemo Media Group. I invited John on to the show so he could share his unique angle with us. Get your pen and paper ready -- John's about to school you on improving your bottom line! John Nemo on building a niche business using WordPress as the platform https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFh2zaePYZ0 Watch on YouTube Listen to the audio version Full disclosure, John is a client of mine. More importantly, he's a friend online. John and I crossed virtual paths a few years ago talking about inbound marketing and building business in general. When he needed WordPress help, he reached out to me. Since then we've forged a strong working relationship that I hope lasts for years. "So why do I care Matt?" you might be saying to yourself. Here is why you should care... Being human sells John and I get into a great conversation about connecting with our clients on a real human level. He tells this story about how we connected and his experience with using my firm. The take away from this is, you don't always have to be selling. I never sold to John, but he knew I did "things" with WordPress. There's a great part in the interview where John talks about sharing favorite sports moments with his clients. So you will see, it does not have to be 100% business 100% of time! When you start your WordPress business, don't have tunnel vision and expect to be talking like a robot 24/7. Enjoy what you do and take time to really connect with clients. Finding that niche I'll be honest with you -- it takes time. A lot of people set out to research a niche and I think that can be a dangerous thing. Dangerous because you might find a niche for the sake of niche and have ZERO connection to that business. If you're not passionate about something or can't find an angle to use what you're currently good at, chances are it's not going to pair up well. John services the debt collection industry. How "fun" is that? It's not and that's the point! He's able to inject today's tech and marketing tactics into an industry that is as old as the phone book. What niche are you going after? What do you think? I want to know if I'm wasting my time... Do you like stories from the "outsiders?" The non typical WordPress developer or designer who has a great story to share? Folks who can help us with our own business or give us insight about WordPress form the outside. Please comment below and if you want to stay connected with the latest interviews go to http://mattreport.com/subscribe

Start a niche business using WordPress

Last week I released the awesome 2 part interview with Andy Stratton. Andy is a kick ass freelance WordPress entrepreneur who is setting out to revolutionize his business. He's taking our boring service industry and flipping it upside down with a product called WPMaintainer.com . In this BONUS episode, he's taking us down the path of how he started WPMaintainer and gives us the juicy details on how it's all put together. Andy Stratton spills the beans on WPMaintainer.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XjhrTaflYs Watch on YouTube here. Listen to the audio version The WordPress entrepreneur's story So what do you think about Andy's business? Where do you think WordPress is going as a market? I get really excited when I meet entrepreneurs like Andy and listening to their story. The high's and the low's - the story behind their adventure. Is your story similar? I would love to hear more in the comments.

How to productize your WordPress service business