August 12, 2017 — As a freelance web designer I heard them all. The horror stories of domains lost (and later resold at auction), the (not so) ‘great hosting deals’, and myriad tales of web designers who had run off with their money.

If you’re a business owner with a website or getting geared up to build one, you’ll want to listen to Linda’s talk on how to side-step some of these common, and not as common, mistakes. Learn what you need to know to protect your online presence and accounts, and how to work with a web professional to create the product you want (and can afford).

August 5, 2017 — As WordPress enters its teenage years, our community is no longer just thinking about startup mode. Entrepreneurs are trying to figure out longevity, and how to build a long lasting business. Karim brings the perspective of 23 years of building and leading digital teams from 30 to 300. Immersed in the WordPress ecosystem the last 5 years, Karim has seen some trends that worked against the traditional silicon valley idea’s of success. Are we a special snowflake, does Open Source make a difference in Start-up longevity?

In leading this discussion, Karim will build on the topics of the morning talks by Scott Mann and Sherry Walling. We have invited Rebecca Gill and Jon Brown, who both have many years in business before joining our community, to create a panel that collectively brings hundreds of years of business experience to the WordPress ecosystem and our community.

August 5, 2017 — This is meant to be a blunt and straight-forward talk on the challenges of entering the WordPress space. This space is not all unicorns and rainbows – at least not anymore. Business and ideas fail in this space just like any other. Panelists should come with pros and cons of being in the WordPress space, and what they would do if WordPress’s dominance in the CMS/etc. space decreases. This is not mean to be a negative subject but a realistic one, and panelists represent different viewpoints (freelancer, small, large businesses, plugin/theme shops).

August 5, 2017 — While this “sales and marketing” panel is intended for small business and agencies, lessons learned can also apply to the freelancer or the developer looking to make a business from plugins. What are the right AND wrong ways? What lessons can our panelists share from personal experience? Simply “raise your rates” isn’t enough detail here so panelists should be prepared so share a few of their tips.

July 23, 2017 — Building a Successful WordPress Business

July 23, 2017 — Building a Successful WordPress Business

July 18, 2017 — Learning the hard lessons the hard way is never fun. This talk will be in the form of 5 short stories on how I self-sabotaged my own career, and my business endeavors and briefly touch on how I recovered, or didn’t in some cases. Will close with 2 revelations that anyone can and should apply in their own business.

Burning the candle at both ends (2 jobs or a side job/product)
Taking on debt to make payroll as an agency
Firing slow (bad culture fits kill morale)
Swimming against the current in the community (necessary at times, but mind your tone)
All hustle, no personal time. (nothing is worth family + relationships)
Iterate, Iterate, Iterate (perseverance)
Invest in your team at every opportunity (the golden ticket)

July 12, 2017 — With this talk, we will get a glimpse of how one can use WordPress to not only solve the primary motive of a getting a website, but also on how to leverage the platform side of it.

July 10, 2017 — Running a successful WordPress business involves more than just building great websites (although that helps)! There’s a lot more that goes into it. This talk will cover how to get (and qualify) great clients, great tools to speed up your workflow, and how to manage client expectations.

June 29, 2017 — Evermade was founded in 2011 by four guys. Today we are group of 20 people – half of whom are developers. In the beginning we did everything from photography to USB-drivers. In 2012 we agreed that WordPress is basically useless and we decided to focus on ExpressionEngine. After a year – and some pain – we changed our minds and decided to focus on WordPress.

We lost a few developers during this hassle but but soon after our shift of focus to WordPress we started to grow. With new developers coming in we had to abandon our current way of working and really rethink how should we work together as a team.

In my presentation, I will talk about the pain of growing and the challenges we faced when doing so.

Presentation Slides »