October 18, 2014 — Making a website is more then making pretty picture and some sales jargon. You have to fully understand the project, your audience, current traffic trends and the even more important – the business goals before every writing a line of code.

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August 21, 2014 — Technology can be intimidating. From the tools to the geek speak, many clients glaze over when they think about working with WordPress. By embracing the role of geek translator, you can train your clients to work within their site or at least be comfortable in knowing what they want done. Everyone has skills they bring to the table when working with a website but those skills may not be in understanding the terminology or function of WordPress. We will go over some simple steps and resources to help make the process of educating clients about WordPress go more smoothly and be more effective. By utilizing multiple training methods and tailoring your training to his/her level of understanding you can give your client the space in which to build confidence and understanding. Build long-lasting, healthy client relationships (and make money!) by learning how to translate the geek!

March 30, 2014 — Once you build a website with WordPress for a client you need to show them how to use it. This presentation covers what is critical to show them about how to use their WordPress website without blowing it up.

March 5, 2014 — We’ve all had our nightmare clients, right? We often share horror stories over beer and pizza, but how often do we think about what we could’ve done better? If we take time when starting new projects to first establish clear expectations and commitments for both our clients and us, including setting fluid timelines, we can help ensure a positive and successful relationship with our clients, and a better, less stressful project for us.

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January 8, 2014 — This talk breaks down some of the popular lessons from my WordPress business podcast where I interview other WordPress entrepreneurs reaching for the same goal and how to you find the right client (and fire the bad.), landing $100k projects, growing from a 1 person to 25+ member team and starting your own marketplace of products.

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December 16, 2013 — If you’ve spent cycles of iterations with clients losing your shirt, the problem may not be your client. It may be how you see yourself. Misunderstanding your role will quickly lead to lost profits or leaving money on the table. For freelancers and development shops alike, this session will help you avoid some classic mistakes we’ve all made.

November 17, 2013 — A recurring story is a client who’s already been through the gauntlet with a fellow developer, but didn’t get what they wanted, it went way over budget, or one of a million other outcomes. This talk is about some of these pitfalls, and preparation you can do to be a wise client.

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October 13, 2013 — This talk is about attention to detail in your code and design work. Before you lay down one single pixel, or one single line of code, you need to make sure that everyone (you, your client, your clients client, etc) are on the same page and make sure you are managing expectations on what the desired project outcome is.

August 8, 2013 — We often think the first steps in setting up a new WordPress site are to install WordPress, choose a theme, and start writing. But the secret first step to a successful site is planning. When you’ve mapped out the crucial 5 W’s and 1 H, you can focus on what’s important, avoid procrastination, and dodge mistakes that can be hard to recover from later on. Learn how to get it right the first time by witnessing six examples of total wins and epic fails.

August 7, 2013 — This presentation covers how to identify a stakeholders true knowledge, actions to avoid, actions to take, and some fun stories of my biggest failures. The target audience is semi- to fully-technical designers, developers, or business owners working with clients or teams that are not fully technical.

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