WP Elevation WordPress Business Podcast

Have you ever wondered how much a new lead is actually worth to your business? And, more specifically, whether you have a particular funnel or channel that brings in more valuable leads over others? It can be frustrating trying to glean these kinds of insights from a tool like Google Analytics (because you can’t), which is why Troy’s discussion with Keith Perhac is a must-listen.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/211

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In this episode of the WP Elevation podcast, Troy talks with Brian Jackson, the Chief Marketing Officer of Kinsta. Don’t expect this to be a typical chat about WordPress hosting though. This is an in-depth examination of how Kinsta has leveraged great support and content from Day 1 to grow its business and establish authority in a crowded space.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/210

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If you missed the opportunity to see Chris in Santa Monica or you simply want more juicy tips on how to use storytelling to get the right clients, give this episode a listen.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/209

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This episode of the WP Elevation podcast features Larry Kim, who recently sold his first company for a not-so-small sum of $150 million. As he’s now in the early stages of building a new company called MobileMonkey, there’s no better time to pick his brain about business growth.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/208

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In this interview, Daniel talks about how he got into the marketing space and what tips he has for content marketers and others trying to make a meaningful impact with their content.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/207

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In this episode, we talk about Kim’s migration away from her old identity as The WordPress Chick and her foray into content marketing product development.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/206

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Kate Toon is an award-winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant with almost two decades of experience in all things advertising, digital and writing. Originally from the UK but now based just outside Sydney. She has worked with big brands such as eHarmony, Curash and Kmart. And she’s helped countless small businesses produce great content and improve their copywriting and SEO.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/205

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Kim Barrett, the founder and CEO of Your Social Voice sheds some light on what the impetus was to hastily start his own business, some missteps he made along the way, as well as how he productised his service as a result.

To read the full show notes for this episode, visit https://www.wpelevation.com/204 

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Do you find it hard to admit to those around you that you're not doing ok? Perhaps even admitting it to yourself if difficult. Today's guest has been there and come through the other side to tell you his story.

Paul Lacey is the co-founder of The Dickiebirds Studio, which is an award-winning WordPress and UX/UI design and development agency in the UK.

In this episode, Paul talks about his path to finding success and how getting involved with the WordPress community helped him get there. We hear about his latest project - building the Beaver Builder version of Katka by Elementor. And we also discuss the importance of taking care of your mental health whilst running your own business.

Paul’s first experience with WordPress was way back in 2005. He recalls that he tried a few different programs before he landed on WordPress because of its usability and potential. However, he didn't properly utilise the community until around 2010.

In the last two years, Paul has become even more active within the WordPress community. One of his posts was about how he created a website using GeneratePress. One man commented with what could be called constructive criticism. But that comment led to a creative friendship that blossomed after a WordCamp conference. The man behind the comment? Barna Buxbaum, creator of Katka by Elementor - the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Barna and Paul began talking, and Barna came up with the idea to build the Beaver Builder twin of Katka. They both loved the idea of the against-the-odds story of a Beaver Builder guy and an Elementor guy working together. Paul compares their relationship to the relationship between Rocky Balboa and the Russian, Ivan Drago in the movie Rocky IV. In the movie, Rocky and Ivan come from very different backgrounds and training styles, but the two end up being incredibly well matched. Rocky even gains the respect of the Russians. Rocky’s famous quote at the end speaks to the ability people have to come together.

“If I can change, and you can change, then everybody can change!”

There was always drama about which platform was the best builder. This collaboration allowed Paul and Barna to create something that would combine the two communities and improve the possibilities for both Beaver Builder and Elementor fans.

When Paul began seriously devoting time to the Beaver Builder project, he hired a developer named Adrian to work on the complex, responsive design.  One of Adrian's ideas was to use CSS variables to change the global colours. Paul thought this was a great idea and showed it to some friends in a private Mastermind group.

These friends had contacts at Beaver Builder and told them about Paul's project. So to his surprise, when Paul reached out to the founders of Beaver Builder at WordCamp London, they already knew about his idea and wanted to hear more!

The idea took off from there. It was from this experience that he realised something that he now gives as advice to people thinking about getting involved in the WordPress community.

“Everyone’s always got something to offer… Whatever you put in you get back 10 times.”

Beaver Builder eventually wanted to hire him to work for them. Paul turned down the offer and instead opted to work with them on a collaborative basis. Paul developed a Beaver Builder agency called Beaver Kit with it's own branding. Beaver Kit’s products are now going to be included as part of the core in the next release of Beaver Builder.  He tells us that hearing this news was an unbelievable moment for him.

Paul recently started our Blueprint course and tells Troy that he did a great job with WP Elevation's free webinar that he joined. Paul says that after watching the webinar he was ready to sign up straight away. He had heard a lot of good feedback about WP Elevation within the WordPress community and had wanted to do it for some time, but he was going through a family crises and it wasn't the right time until now.

Now that he has reformed Dickiebirds Studio and doubled the team to four people, he feels he has more responsibility for the business to succeed and ensure consistent work for everyone under his employ. Paul explains that he is excellent at completing tasks, but not great at coming up with the blueprint to accomplish those tasks. So the blueprint provided by WP Elevation really made it possible for him to push himself and focus on improving.

Dickiebirds now has a unique value proposition—something Paul learned from WP Elevation.

You get what you pay for

Paul's family crises that he mentioned earlier were in regard to his eight-year-old daughter's serious anxiety. His wife had to shut down her successful events company because it became too much to deal with. His daughter is doing much better now, but coming out of it was difficult.

In the midst of it, you deal with it, but when you come out the other end, you realise you’re still in the battle mindset, but there isn’t a battle anymore.

On his 39th birthday in 2017, he was still struggling with his mental health. Paul was watching a WP Elevation video by Mike Killen on the topic of mental health. Right then and there he decided he’d had enough and went to the doctor to get some advice. Paul recognises he only feels comfortable talking about this now because it’s behind him.

“When you’re suffering from it, it’s difficult to talk about it. It’s much easier to talk about it when it’s historical.”

In his case, the doctor gave him some good advice and some medication that was able to help him through it. A year later, he is doing much better and because of this, so is his business. The message he wants to get out there is to just look after yourself.

“Take care of yourself, don’t be ashamed to admit things, and just get yourself back on that right track.”

Paul suggests doing outreach projects in the community to accomplish that. He also recommends WP&UP, a charity that works to provide mental health support within the WordPress community.

If you're interested in watching the webinar which lead Paul to join us here at WP Elevation, click here. 

Links

The Dickiebirds Studio

Paul's Twitter

Paul's Youtube Channel

GeneratePress Community

WP Elevation: Flight Cadets

Beaver Builder Group

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What does it take to build a successful digital marketing agency from the ground up? On this week’s episode we are joined by Mickey Mellen, who is a veteran WP developer and co-founder of GreenMellen Media. We talk about choosing your niche, hiring, vetting clients, making sales easy, and much more. This episode is a must-listen for anyone who dreams of going from freelancing to running a successful digital agency. Tune in to this week’s episode of the WP Elevation Podcast to learn how Mickey made it happen!

Introducing Mickey Mellen

Mickey Mellen is the co-founder and technical director of GreenMellen Media, an Atlanta-based WordPress and digital marketing agency that has 6 employees and over 150 clients. GreenMellen began by offering web design services and has since grown into a one-stop-shop for all things digital marketing. In addition to website development with WordPress, Mickey’s company handles other strategy components for clients like branding, email marketing and SEM. Mickey is also an organizer of the Atlanta WordCamp conference and a local WordPress Meetup group.

Mickey Mellen has been developing with WordPress for over 14 years. He has worked with several platforms like Cafelog and Moveable Type before committing himself fully to WordPress. As a freelance web designer, he began by offering clients the option of custom-built sites or WordPress designs. Over time, he found WordPress to be a more reliable platform, whether he was using a custom design or ready-made template.

Building A Team

Mickey met his business partner Ali Green while they were both working on the Communications team for a large church in Atlanta. Ali was working as a graphic design intern, and eventually left to start her own company. Mickey and Ali contracted each other for their freelance projects until it made more sense to join together and create GreenMellen Media.

Mickey and Ali found their first clients through personal connections and referrals. As their clientele expanded, they began to slowly hire staff. Their hiring strategy is to first work with someone as a contractor until the workload builds to that of an employee. In Mickey’s experience, some contractors prefer to continue working as freelancers to maintain their independence. However, others want to become employees in order to focus solely on their technical craft while someone else manages business operations.

Before hiring new staff, Mickey takes a step back to “look from above” and decide what role needs to be filled. This is much more effective than hiring with the mindset that “we are super busy and need another body.” He takes a “hire character and coach skill” approach to find people that are aligned with the company culture.

Learning at Meetups

Mickey found that his area needed more WordPress Meetups, so he started his own. For Mickey, Meetups have several benefits. They get people out of the office and away from their computers to network with people who can become valuable partners. Meetups are also a great opportunity for ongoing education. Mickey says he always learns something new, even when the topic is one he knows well or he is the one leading the Meetup.

Finding the Right Clients and Providing Value

Mickey finds clients that are a good fit by seeking out specific qualities in a company rather than focusing on a niche industry. He looks for companies who have heart, are connected to the community, and are doing the right thing. He also makes sure that potential clients have a designated marketing person they can work with. A two-person company won’t have time to collaborate with Mickey and his team. The clients they match with tend to have 10-50 employees. Working in several industries keeps things interesting and ensures GreenMellen Media is only working with clients they can truly provide value for.

Mickey has found it helpful to hire someone to manage and maintain clients. The company also uses Help Scout to respond quickly to customer support inquiries. They have an average response time of 46 minutes and are proud to share that metric when pitching clients. Help Scout also allows them to track how often tickets are submitted. Then the company can invoice clients if they have exceeded their customer support quota.

When working with clients, Mickey is upfront in early discovery meetings about retainer fees. Clients are given several options for ongoing maintenance and support after their platform has been created. Mickey finds that many clients think they will be able to create their own content. However, once they get going they need help. Mickey has a copywriter on staff to create content for clients and the agency.

Mickey’s Opinion on Gutenberg

Mickey acknowledges that there are accessibility concerns with the new Gutenberg. His Meetup had an accessibility presenter join them recently to grow their knowledge in this area. However, Mickey thinks many of the concerns about Gutenberg have been overblown. His agency will teach clients how to edit with the new tool. He thinks that any issues will come from lack of user knowledge rather than sites “blowing up.”

From Technician to Business Owner

Mickey’s motivation to begin documenting company procedures came from a WordCamp conference. Mickey’s team uses Google Docs and TeamWork to create templates, document processes, and assign tasks to team members.

If Mickey could go back and tell his younger self anything, he would advise him to study more business in school. When Mickey became a business owner, he just started doing what needed to be done and learning as he went.

One area of business strategy that Mickey and his company are still challenged by is the ever-present question of where their next client will come from. GreenMellen Media has been getting more recurring revenue. However, for years the agency lived from one website to the next, and they are still doing that to some degree.

Gold Nugget Takeaway - Make Sales Easy

Don’t miss Mickey’s straightforward strategy for making sales easy at 27:30!

• Have potential clients compare you to yourself rather than to other companies.
• Give options by packaging together services for low, medium, and high price tags.
• Develop a one-pager for each option.
• Work with clients to create a custom package that meets their needs based on the options presented.
• This is far more effective than presenting one cookie-cutter package with no room for customization.
• Manage and forecast sales with a tool like Pipedrive.

Wrap-Up

What’s Next for GreenMellen Media? Mickey and his co-founder Ali are still working on project management with the goal of getting “out of the weeds” to truly be business owners. This will take one or two more hires in the next year. Mickey and Ali hope this will free them up for business development and spending more time with family.

Reach Out

You can reach out and thank Mickey Mellen on Twitter (@MickMel).

Links

• Visit the GreenMellen Media website to learn more about Mickey’s work.
• Connect with @GreenMellen on Twitter and Instagram.
• Read What the Heck is EOS? and Traction by Gino Wickman.
• Find a WordCamp conference near you.
• Track customer support to clients with Help Scout.
• Document business processes and create templates with TeamWork.
• Manage and project sales with Pipedrive.

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