This is a presentation I did during WordCamp Chicago 2013 about landing client's while working form an island. - Define your island - Are you the entrepreneur, the freelancer or the business person - We discuss the journey of some of the WordPress entrepreneurs I've interviewed - Dissect their advice and top take aways from their success and failures - Apply it to our own WordPress businesses (The easter egg slides of the Boston Bruins was intentional due to the fact we just lost to Chicago and their parade was the day before WordCamp)

1. The "web designer"
Wednesday, July 10, 13

2. The "no contract"
Wednesday, July 10, 13

3. The "$500 client"
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4. Stories from
WordPress
Entrepreneurs
Wednesday, July 10, 13

5. Wednesday, July 10, 13

6. Matt Medeiros
MattReport.com
SlocumStudio.com
Land bigger clients
while working from
an island
Wednesday, July 10, 13

7. Who am I - MattReport.com
Wednesday, July 10, 13

8. Who am I - SlocumStudio.com
Wednesday, July 10, 13

9. The #1 WordPress podcast(s)
youtube.com/slocumstudio
Wednesday, July 10, 13

10. Landing
bigger clients
Wednesday, July 10, 13

11. 3 Categories
• Entrepreneur
• Freelancer & career
• Business growth & marketing
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12. The
Entrepreneur
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13. Who are you?
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14. What are your real
skills not your
"I can skills?"
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15. Where do you
want to go?
(hint: the island)
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16. How do you
simplify and then
simplify again?
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17. How do you
convey this to the
world?
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18. John Saddington
founder of 8bit
Wednesday, July 10, 13

19. John Saddington Serial WordPress entrepreneur
http://mattreport.com/meet-john-saddington-serial-wordpress-entrepreneur/
There's no glory in being a
startup. The ultimate goal is
to transform into a business.
If you stay in startup mode
too long, you've failed."
Wednesday, July 10, 13

20. John Saddington Serial WordPress entrepreneur
http://mattreport.com/meet-john-saddington-serial-wordpress-entrepreneur/
“We’re all going to die”
Wednesday, July 10, 13

21. Cory Miller
founder of
iThemes
Wednesday, July 10, 13

22. Cory Miller How to build a multi million dollar WordPress company
http://mattreport.com/how-to-build-a-million-dollar-wordpress-business/
"It's about the people and
that's the hardest part. If you
want to go fast, go alone. If
you want to go far, go
together."
Wednesday, July 10, 13

23. Brian Clark
founder of
Copyblogger
Media
Wednesday, July 10, 13

24. Brian Clark The Genesis of Copyblogger
http://mattreport.com/the-genesis-of-copyblogger-brian-clark/
"Our mantra is know, like
and trust. Make others
happy, to be happy"
Wednesday, July 10, 13

25. Wednesday, July 10, 13

26. The Freelancer
career
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27. Jose Caballer
founder of The
Skool.com
Wednesday, July 10, 13

28. Jose Caballer How do you land $100k clients
http://mattreport.com/how-to-charge-clients-more-and-grow-an-agency/
"Behaving like an agency
and acting like an agency
will land you bigger clients."
Wednesday, July 10, 13

29. Land $100k clients
• How much are you trying to do? Design,
develop, project management -- how can
you possibly serve more than one client?
• Slow the client down: Profiling and user
experience. This promotes value and
structure for both of you.
• Pays one developer $60k bills $300k
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30. Pricing tip
50% Cost 30% Overhead
20%
profit
Wednesday, July 10, 13

31. Andy Stratton of
TheAndyStratton.com
& Sizeable Interactive
Wednesday, July 10, 13

32. Andy Stratton the ferocious journey of a WordPress entrepreneur
http://mattreport.com/andy-stratton-the-ferocious-journey-of-a-wordpress-
entrepreneur/
"Do good sh#t."
Wednesday, July 10, 13

33. Chris Lema of
ChrisLema.com & The
Lema School of
Greatness
Wednesday, July 10, 13

34. Lead, follow or get
the hell out of the
way.
n/a yet -- subscribe to mattreport.com!
Wednesday, July 10, 13

35. What Chris says
• Charge what you’re worth
• Connect with your customer’s customer
• Invest in the community to open new
doors
• Speak their language
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36. Business
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37. Brad Williams co-
founder of
WebDevStudios
Wednesday, July 10, 13

38. Just do it.
How Brad Williams built one of the leading WordPress agencies
http://mattreport.com/brad-williams-webdev-studios/
Wednesday, July 10, 13

39. What Brad Says
• The 80/20 rule of "casting a net"
• Do what works and repeat that
• Work with people that at least consider
your advice
• We still have plenty of room to grow as
WordPress shops and service providers
Wednesday, July 10, 13

40. Travis Ketchum
founder of Contest
Domination
Wednesday, July 10, 13

41. Ignore what
others say
Why SaaS might be a better model than selling a WordPress plugin
http://mattreport.com/why-the-saas-model-might-be-better-than-selling-a-
plugin/
Wednesday, July 10, 13

42. What Travis says
• Minimal viable product
• Promotion and SEO for quick boosts
• You get what you pay for. i.e. $500 vs
$5000
• Focus on the possible recurring
revenue
• Test everything
Wednesday, July 10, 13

43. Adam Warner co-
founder of Foo Plugins
Wednesday, July 10, 13

44. It's better to ask
for forgiveness
than ask for
permission
How FooPlugins co-founder lost $30k in annual revenue; now earns double.
http://mattreport.com/wordpress-revenue-30k-to-60k/
Wednesday, July 10, 13

45. What Adam says
• If you limit your vision, you limit your
chance to grow
• He lost $30k in revenue; now earns
double
• Wasn't prepared for the scale he was
reaching
Wednesday, July 10, 13

46. The Lightning
Round
Wednesday, July 10, 13

47. Brent Weaver, don’t say WordPress
on your next sales call
C.C. Chapman, avoid getting screwed
when landing the big client
John Morgan, think twice about your
next WordCamp
Pippin Williamson, get to know every
single customer
Wednesday, July 10, 13

48. People at #wcchi
Mika Epstein
Andy Stratton
Brian Richards
Rafal Tomal
Chris Lema
Adam Pickering
Wednesday, July 10, 13

49. Thank you!
MattReport.com
@mattmedeiros
Wednesday, July 10, 13