June 19, 2020 — This talk recommends five essential questions to ask on a sales call. Make better use of your time and improve your chances of success.

June 17, 2020 — Are you working hard trying to grow your agency / freelance business but things just aren’t gaining momentum? Let’s look at seven steps to sustainability that I’ve learned in my time as the co-founder and CEO of a WordPress shop. We grew from our couches to a full crew to acquisition in just five short years. I’ll share these key concepts with you in hopes of helping you drive sales, improve process, and increase your margins. If you’re a project away from dusting off your resume to get a “real job” – attend this workshop to see if you can make impactful changes to keep your entrepreneurial dream alive!

November 13, 2017 — Working for yourself, whether as a freelancer or the owner of an agency is hard work, and the stress of wearing a dozen hats can be overwhelming.

But it doesn’t have to be. In this talk, I’ll share my knowledge from 5 years of running a growing agency.

We’ll cover topics like:
1. Working less without sacrificing income.
2. Managing client expectations.
3. Hiring your first (or second or third) employee
4. Working on and in your company at the same time.

Running a business is a process, and one that can never be absolutely perfected, but it can simultaneously be a rewarding and fulfilling experience.

August 31, 2017 — All prospects and clients have a budget in mind. As much as we wish their budgets could allow them to have a website with highly custom designed and built features, sometimes, that is not the case. As website designers and developers, we often have to get creative with the solutions we offer to fit client budget expectations. At Orbit, we leverage a site builder theme with easy-to-use modular content types alongside a process that allows us to quickly and efficiently produce a website that the client is proud of, achieves their goals, and fits their budget. Come listen and learn from our experiences to help you do the same for your clients!

August 30, 2017 — Your client has expectations and wants to use a particular theme. How do you set up a WordPress theme when you have no idea how the Theme actually works? Can you use the Theme your client chooses. Does the content fit within the theme’s vertical rectangle? Will the client’s logo fit the design?

As WordPress users look to break out of the content box, Themes are becoming more complex than ever, thanks to page builders and 3rd party Plugins.

We’ll explore the content needs of today’s WordPress user in 2017, and compare the tools to work them into your development workflow.

November 9, 2016 — Clients come to me with websites that “A Friend” set up for me.. and it doesn’t work. Of course it can be pretty because it’s WordPress but HOW can we make it work?

April 14, 2016 — Have you found yourself in a situation where you need to drop a client but are worried about damaging your professional reputation? Nearly every freelancer has or will find themselves facing this dilemma. This talk will highlight 1) Which qualities make a client worthy of firing, 2) How to recognize those warning signs ahead of time (as early as during a sales call!), 3) How to break ties cleanly and professionally, and 4) How to avoid attracting “bad clients” in the first place.

Presentation Slides »

December 3, 2015 — How do you develop a process where your client is a partner in creation?

Learn to manage expectations, facilitate communication and provide results.

November 2, 2015 — As web designers and developers, we often focus on the technical aspects of our jobs. Unfortunately, many of us struggle with an important part of a project – communication with our clients. It is an often overlooked piece of the puzzle, but it is directly correlated with outcomes and how the client feels we did our job. In this talk, we will look at communicating with clients and managing expectations in three broad phases of a project – pitching/planning, development, and launching/troubleshooting. Specifically, we will look at steps that will make the client feel involved and important. This level of involvement and communication will help keep clients happy through the entire process, giving us an outstanding outcome.

October 3, 2015 — Tony Mazzarella likes to learn things the hard way. In this session, Tony will share entertaining anecdotes and real-life lessons from his 14 years of managing digital projects and the clients who accompany them. It’s all about balance—Yin & Yang. We’ll explore the balance between marketing yourself and under-promising so you can over-deliver. Tony will also cover the art of effectively pushing back while still being professional. Tony will illustrate the importance of finding good clients and getting your people in the right place.