August 15, 2017 — In HBO’s documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett”, there’s a scene where Buffett and Bill Gates were both asked to write down on a piece of paper the one thing that they each felt contributed most to their success. Surely enough, Buffett and Gates had written the same word down on their respective papers: Focus.

Now, when I talk about “focus”, I don’t claim to know how to avoid multitasking or how to ignore distractions like social media, news, politics and other noise that gets in the way of productivity. I could use a lot of help there.

But what I’ve done successfully and what I will discuss is how to focus your business.

As far as I know, they don’t teach a lot of this stuff in college. (I can’t be 100% certain, as I didn’t spend much time there before dropping out). I spent the first 10 years of emagine’s history kind of flailing – trying to be everything to everyone, anything to anyone. I managed and did fine, but only once I started to focus did the business take a significant turn for the better.

I will cover the importance of (and how to) focus on:

Your strengths
Your core markets/industries
A core technology/platform (presumedly WordPress)
The clients you already have who help – not hurt – your business
The types of projects that are profitable for you (stay within your wheelhouse)
The path to achieving your goals (without getting distracted by day-to-day challenges)
Working with the right People
Working on your business, not in your business
Your life. Health. Relationships
Your numbers
Your differentiating value
Your long-range vision
Sounds like a lot I know. And it is.

But it’s really not that hard. And once you can confidently say that you’re laser-focused on everything I’ve outlined here, trust me when I tell you that you’ll have dramatically improved your business, your earnings and your lifestyle.

March 16, 2017 — You know the expression “in the right place at the right time?” Well, Congrats, that’s where you are … right now. The demand for Digital services, from web development to design, UX, SEO, PPC, etc. continues to grow at impressive levels. Add to that the prevalence of WordPress as the world’s most popular web platform – we couldn’t be in a better industry, at a better time. It’s time to challenge yourself:

Are you doing everything you can do maximize the opportunity around you?
Are you too busy working on your business when your business could actually be working for you?
What and where are the most viable opportunities to seriously impact your life? (not just financially but lifestyle as well)
What’s next? Where is the industry headed and how you can be on the forefront of the evolution?
This talk is aimed at all freelancers and business owners in the WordPress community who are motivated to maximize their potential and benefit from the enormous demand for their talent and skills. Whether you remain an independent freelancer or you wish to grow your business into a full-fledged agency, the time is now to create (or evaluate) your roadmap for success.

April 14, 2016 — The panelists offer practical suggestions from their own experiences (less story telling, and more “this is how this applied to me and can apply to others also”). Suggestions and talk doesn’t have to be WordPress specific but feel free to note how a WordPress business is unique is any aspects. Suggestions can also cover recurring revenues or client strategies.

December 19, 2015 — Freelance Business Panel Discussion with Shane Powers, Andy Stratton, Drew Poland and Bill Gadless

October 5, 2015 — How to identify the most lucrative prospects.
How to pitch large projects (value proposition, differentiation, overcoming objections.
How to execute (IA, Project Management, Resources, post-launch support.)

Presentation Slides »

September 20, 2015 — Once perceived as a mere blogging or small website tool, WordPress is an enterprise-grade CMS … stable, secure and scalable enough to be used on large websites. emagine is a leader in at acquiring large, lucrative WordPress projects and would like to provide insights and considerations for doing so.

September 5, 2015 — Once perceived as a mere blogging or small website tool, WordPress is an enterprise-grade CMS… stable, secure and scalable enough to be used on large websites. emagine is a leader in at acquiring large, lucrative WordPress projects and would like to provide insights and considerations for doing so.

Takeaways

– How to identify the most lucrative prospects
– How to pitch large projects (value proposition, differentiation, overcoming objections
– How to execute (IA, Project Management, Resources, post-launch support)

Presentation Slides »