Episode 87 – The Business of Business, with Phil Derksen of WP Simple Pay

This week, our resident James Laws is joined by his Ninja Forms cofounder, Kevin Stover, and Phil Derksen, entrepreneur and founder of WP Simple Pay. Together they jump headlong in WordPress businesses, business models, and what it's like to sell a business. So, sit back and enjoy this post holiday episode of Mastermind.FM!

Topics Include:

* Mr. Derksen's background.

* A brief on WP Simple Pay.

* Phil's main focus.

* The how and why of selling a business.

* Plugins, plugins, plugins.

* Underestimating the amount of work required in order to sell.

* Balancing split focuses.

* Supporting multiple customer bases.

* Metricizing potential.

* Arriving at a sales number [for a WordPress plugin].

* SAAS and automatic renewals.

* Diversifying product and separating your businesses.

* Do businesses today get into plugin building just to 'flip' them?

* Quantifying a business or plugin's true value.

* Purchasing an external business: "Like stepping into a moving vehicle".

* Taking on support costs.

* Buyer's remorse?

* The startup fate: building software and not getting payed for it.

* Recommended steps toward initiating the sale of your business.

* WP Simple Pay today.

* Segmenting your customers.

* Talking to your customers.

* The "five question framework".

* Profound lessons, epiphanies, and warnings.

* Learning to market.

* Focusing conversion efforts on your pricing & checkout pages.

* Customizing your checkout beyond default EDD.

* Cutting the data you do not need.

* Phil's number 1 ecommerce hack.

* "Put your best testimonial on your checkout page."

* Social proof is king.

Featured on the Show:

* Phil's Twitter

* WP Simple Pay

* MicroConf

* SureSwift Capital

* wpSaaS