the wordpress freelancer's toolbox

HandsOnWP.com @nick_batik @sandi_batik

Freelancer’s ToolboxAustin WordPress Meetup 02-08-2016

Sandi & Nick Batik

http://handsonwp.com/


PresentersSandi Batik

WordPress evangelist, consultant, trainer, curricula developer, author, unapologetic geek, unrepentant capitalist, lucky enough to do what I love everyday. I’ve served as Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer since 2010. With my husband Nick Batik, co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992 and Hands-On WordPress Training in 2010.

Follow me @sandi_batik / @WPATX

Contact me at: handsonwp.com

Nick Batik

Started in web development in 1994 and have been a WordPress consultant, and web developer since 2007. A WordPress evangelist, I’ve served as Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer since 2010. With my partner, co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992 and Hands-On WordPress Training in 2010.

Follow me @nick_batik / @WPATX

Contact me at: handsonwp.com



The WordPress Freelancer's Life in One

Slide• Prospecting• Marketing• Client Interviews• Bid / Proposal writing• Statements of Work &

Contracts• On Boarding Clients

• Project Management• Client Management• Project Close-out and

Invoicing• Client Follow-up -

Keeping Relation Ship Warm for repeat work and Referrals

• Rinse and Repeat



The First and Most Important Resource in Your Freelancers Tools

Box is You!• Your Skill Set• Your Work Habits• Your Drive • Your Goals

These determine the capacity & effectiveness of your Freelancer's Toolbox



Lets start will Your Person Goals for your Freelance

WordPress Venture• Do you have written 2016 Goals

for our Freelance Business?• If No,

Then do that tomorrow morning• If Yes,

Then —



Steps to reach each goal

Start with questions.• How much income do I need to clear, after

taxes & expenses, to live the way I want?• How many hours do I need work to make that

income?• How many clients can I serve in that time frame

— at my current skill level, and still delight them?

• What web development tools will I use?



Steps to reach each goal

• Are their any tools I should avoid for now?• How many 'paid services' should I use, if

any?• To reach my goal, will I need to out-source

some of the work I bring in?• If so, to whom?• Do I have the skill set and tools to manage

a team of distributed workers?



• Come up with Your Own Set of Questions• WordPress Ecosystem has room for many

Niches• Each Niche will lead to additional questions



PROSPECTINGFinding your Tribe



• Why should a WordPress Freelancer focus on Niche opportunities?

• Since 2009, a Freelancer couldn’t say they could do all things WordPress equally well

• Potential Clients are not looking for a "Jack of All Trades"

• Clients want a professional with the resources (team members) to get the job done right.



WordPress offers niche opportunities for:

• Theme Designers

• Theme Developers

• UX/UI Developers

• Database / Backend Developers

• Plugin Developers

• Social Media Specialists

• SEO / In-Bound Marketing Specialists

• Content Developer and Managers

• Site Administrators and Maintenance Managers

• Consultants

• Trainers



Build a reputation as a professional in your WordPress

NicheThere are many ways to become known in your local and wider WordPress Community• Offer advice to those who need it on forums or comment

sections of other websites• Volunteer to help others at local meetups• Offer to present on your topic at a meetup, WordCamp, or other

professional conference• Go outside the WordPress Bubble and offer to present at

Chambers of Commerce• Do some free work for friends, family or a non-profit for a

written testimonial and referrals



Build a reputation as a professional in your WordPress

Niche• Doing a "freebie" for a non-profit is a good way to, "Do

well by doing good."• Post regular tips and new techniques on your blogs• Offer to guest blog on a colleague’s site• Figure out a reciprocal discounted "Trade' price for

professional partners• Build a custom theme for free download• Develop a plugin that solves a problem and submit it to

the WP Repository



Marketing You to Your Niche

How is your web presence doing?

The bare-foot shoemaker syndrome

• You need a presence on the web to get a web based job.

• Designers need a portfolio• Developers need a cool site and a link to Github to

showcase your code chops• Content Developers need a blog full of well

organized clearly written content.



Potential clients will judge you by the work on your

own site• Which is bad news for those of us "too-

busy" to update our own, best marketing materials

• Using your own skill to attract clients to you, is better then having to hunt them down

• Make time to be your own customer — design and build ‘new shoes’ for your site



How to Interview Your Client

Here are some questions we ask clients to build a reliable scope of work

• Are we discussing a new site or is this a rework to an existing site?• What is your site's purpose?• What do you want site visitors to do once the come to your site• How much content do you have as of now and how much will need to be

created?• Text• Special offer landing pages• Are the site’s graphics created already?• Logo• Images




• Will the site require multi media elements like video downloads?

• What is your budget?• Are you looking multiple bids?

• If yes, have you prepared a requirements document to give to potential bidders?

• Are you already familiar with WordPress?• How familiar are you with WordPress?• ⁃How much training will you need?




• Do you plan to build a mailing list withMailChimp, Constant Contact, etc.?• ⁃Are you already signed up with one of these services?

• What will you offer for sign up —newsletters, downloads, other marketing?• Is that content created? Will you need help creating it?

• Do you want specific features such as SEO, Google Analytics, social media channels and eCommerce?

• Do you want us to do the maintenance and security for the site once it has been launched?

• Can you choose the three sites you like and tell me specifically, did you like about each?



Special Features Cost Special Cash

Note to Specialty Niches:



Bid and ProposalsIdentify "Time Wasters" when experiencing these to "Client Tells”:• Lack of communication• Followed immediately by unreasonable

demands• Obvious low-balling• Indecisive or constantly unclear or evasive• Don’t waste your time - Move on



Your Proposals should contain scope, timeline and requirements for BOTH parties

Proposal Guidelines



Project Scope

• This identifies what the work to be performed.



Timeline

• Provide a timeline so the client can know when to expect things to take place.



Budget

• It is a good practice to provide a couple options to the client — a complete proposal for the things they request and an addition option for niche support services for Hosting, WordPress Training, Copywriting, In-bound Marketing support etc…



TermsOur proposals include:

• Details of how we will work together• Our Payment terms including our deposit

policy. • Our right to show our work to other

clients• etc…



Should Freelancers use contracts with EVERY

client?

• Yes, because you NEVER know when the only thing between you and a toxic client is written and signed rules of engagements.



Contract Killer is the contract that many WordPress Professionals use

https://gist.github.com/malarkey/4031110

The popular open-source contract for web designers and developers by Stuff & Nonsense


https://gist.github.com/malarkey/4031110


On-line Tool for Contracts and Payments

Bonsai

https://www.hellobonsai.com/

This service helps with administrative minutiae of negotiating client agreements. It is an e-sign-enabled contract tool that have already been attorney approved


https://www.hellobonsai.com/


On-Boarding and ManagingClients• Communicate clearly and have a written

agenda for ever meeting: on-line, phone or in person

• Send a bullet point summary email after the meeting to be sure you both left with the same understanding

• STICK TO THE AGREED SCOPE OFF WORK IN THE SIGN CONTRACT

• Signed change-orders that acknowledge change can effect projected delivery date for ANY changes



" THAT is a fantastic idea. I can hardly wait to do it in PHASE 2"

The Patented Pat Ramsey Response to Client Add-ons



Project Management

• Freelancers Trade Hours for Dollars • Even With a Value Pricing Model, Time IS

Money • That is why project management is a

critical skill



• There are a number of Project Management and Productivity tools for the WordPress Freelancer

• Some are Free — some have a monthly fee.

• You will have to decide which works best for your particular Niche and volume of work



How can I manage my WordPress projects more

efficientlyStart automating some parts of your work flow

WordPress Developers can set up Capistrano or sign up for DeployBot• Automatically take care of your deployment to

remote servers• Commit your latest version of the code• Click a button and get your code live• Caution: Learning Curve Involved



WordPress Site Practitioners / Site Managers can manage multiple environments and client websites,using website management platforms like:• ManageWP ( now Orion)

https://managewp.com• WP Remote https://wpremote.com/

Helps you monitor all of your sites and lets you update all of them at once.


https://managewp.com/?utm_source=A&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=A&utm_mrl=1915

https://wpremote.com/


• Theme Developers consider using a theme framework instead and reuse components across your sites

• Build a suite of plugins that could be bundled in many sites instead of building all of them every single time.

• Reuse code snippets that could be reused across your different themes, and integrated with your framework.



General Productivity and Connectivity

• Gartner Research announced that by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship without talking to a human...

• Using services like Zapier and IFTTT will connect your apps and build trigger-based flows between them.

• Example: Gravity Forms can connect client request from your website to your CRM and project management system.


https://zapier.com/

https://ifttt.com/


Project management tickets and commits • can be pushed to your HipChat room or

Slack to notifies your project team team members and keep client connected with out a blizzard of email.


http://www.hipchat.com/

https://slack.com/


• Use Boomerang for Gmail for scheduling emails and reminders for conversations awaiting for reply.


http://www.boomeranggmail.com/


Project Closeout / Invoicing

• We keep job in a client accessible sandbox• Once they approve the final site and we

receive our final payment we move it to their hosting service

• Our invoice comes with the signed contract• Change orders are invoiced and paid for

before the move



Project Closeout / Invoicing• We test all the links and give client 30-days

to test the site to the AGREED scope of work.

• If they have opted for a maintenance contract we set up our tools and monitoring schedule.

• If we discussed a phase two during development, we ask when they would like to schedule that time

• Ask for a testimonial



Client Followup• Did you have a great client experience? • Polite, kind reasonable people need

encouragement • Send a Thank You Note • A Nice Analog note - hand written - stamped-sent

by snail mail • NextDayFlyers http://www.nextdayflyers.com/

produces cheap, fast, customized note cards • Find one way to help your client in their venture



A really helpful Blue Print form by

WPelevation


http://wpe-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/launch/blueprints/WPE_Blueprint_A4.pdf?inf_contact_key=6a936575ab4bd10119d1ca78cf63fffa33115d582209a18c2f3a2cb37d5b07d0

https://get.wpelevation.co/join