Building a business with WordPress can feel a little challenging at times. As websites become more of a commodity it can feel a little like an uphill battle when you build websites with WordPress (and is personally one of the reasons I'm not doing service work anymore). I've said for a long time that I still believe there are great opportunities in the WordPress space to build a solid, profitable business. But it's going to look different than it did a few years ago. With more people 'building' WordPress websites (I use the term 'builder' instead of developer because there are so many tools available to make this process easier that you really don't have to be a developer to build sites for people anymore), it's imperative that you carve out your own niche within this market. If you're a 'builder' or developer, I still think the documentation space is wide open. There are plenty of things you can create training and content around that can provide a great income, provided you stick with it and market it consistently (there's the magic word, right? It's all about consistency). Today's guest has done just that with his business. He's picked a niche within this space and has created products (themes and plugins) that are specific to one niche. The Restaurant & Bar space. Nate Wright of Theme of the Crop joined me to talk about how he's niched down within WordPress and where he's headed. Questions I Asked Nate Before we get into Theme of The Crop, what brought you here? What were you doing before you launched this? Can you explain to the listeners what Theme of The Crop is and what differentiates your themes and plugins from everyone else? What made you decide to focus on restaurants, cafe's and bars? What was it like to take on something like online reservations when there are companies out there like Open Table who are established in that space? How do you market your business? What would you recommend to someone who wants to niche down in the WordPress space the way you've done? What's coming this year for Theme of the Crop? What You're Going to Learn How Nate's job as a journalist helped him realize what he didn't like doing How rejection through a popular theme marketplace drove him to build his own shop How long it took Nate to sell his first theme (and why he stuck with it) Who Nate's target audience is... and why it's not simply 'any restaurant' owner (he's drilled even deeper into his niche) How he's used the WordPress.org plugin repository to grow his premium plugins Why Nate is focusing more on content and marketing Where to Connect with Nate Website | Twitter

No matter what you do to repurpose your content, there's always more you can do. I know, that might sound a little depressing or overwhelming (how much more can you possibly do, right?), but the good news is that there is a lot of automation happening in this space and tools that are coming out to streamline this process. Which is why I was super excited to have Hani Mourra back on the podcast this week. If you haven't listened to my previous episode with Hani, you can listen to that here. Hani is the creator of the Simple Podcast Press plugin as well as a couple other WordPress plugins. Hani has launched a new SaaS platform called Repurpose.io. Repurpose does exactly what you think it would do, it repurposes your content. Not all of your content, but for those of you who create audio and video content, you're going to want to jump into this as soon as possible. Repurpose is currently by invitation only, but not from the exclusive sense. The first founders will get access in February (yes, I'm super excited to be one of those founders). Hani wants to make sure everything is working smoothly and the initial adopters are up and running (smart process). Questions I asked Hani What have you been up to since our last interview? (we had to catch up a little bit) For the listeners who may not be familiar with you, can you share a little about your business and what your WordPress plugins are? Let's talk about Repurpose.io. What made you decide to launch a web app for this as opposed to a WordPress plugin? How has creating this product differed from creating a WordPress plugin? How did you decide on pricing for your platform? Can you explain what Repurpose.io is? Where can people find out more about Repurpose.io? What You're Going to Learn Why Hani decided to go with a web app as opposed to a WordPress plugin How he's decided which features to launch Repurpose with Why he considers Repurpose a platform as opposed to a web app Which integrations Repurpose will launch with Why Hani considers himself an 'automation freak' When you can get access to Repurpose.io (and where) To say I'm excited about Repurpose.io would be an understatement. I have always loved repurposing content, this just gives me a way to automate it and measure which channels give me the best ROI. Where to Connect with Hani Facebook | Twitter | Repurpose.io *Transcripts coming soon*

I've been thinking a lot about how to approach my 2016 Year in Review episode. Like many other people, this year has felt particularly long. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this was a record year for celebrity deaths and crappy politics. I promise not to go into either, although the celebrity deaths, particularly a couple of the musicians we lost this year reminds you how short life is because their music can take you back to a time and place in your life instantly. Both Prince and George Michael were huge when I was in high school (we had some fun music in the 80's). I lip-synced songs by both musicians at school (one was for a dance and one was at an assembly, in front of the entire school... wasn't shy back then either). All that being said, the last thing I want to do is write about or focus on the negativity... we've all had plenty of that and it's time to turn the page on it. My intention with this episode and post is to look back as objectively as I can, acknowledge what worked, what didn't, and share why I'm so excited about 2017. The easiest way for me to break down 2016 is in chunks... we'll look at each quarter of the year (hopefully I can remember everything worth sharing without having to go back to a calendar). First Quarter of 2016 It's a little crazy when I think about what was happening at the beginning of 2016 and where I was headed (compared to where I am). I had hired Jason Hornung to create a Facebook ad strategy for my 'podcasting done for you' service. We started working together in December of 2015 and in January I flew back to Wisconsin to spend a few days with him and a few other entrepreneurs as we worked through our ad campaigns, strategies, copy, and funnels. The whole enchilada. To say it was an intense (but amazing) few days is an understatement. I learned a TON about Facebook ads in general (and will be going back to his training when I get ready to launch my next campaign), had a very successful campaign (more on that in a minute), and walked away with an education unlike anything else I had experienced. What I mean by that is that is was like a lightbulb finally went off for me after all these years. After having spent the last couple of years in a mastermind (which was a great experience), I understood the value and importance of having a solid foundation and mastery of the fundamentals. I've been talking about this for months (mastering the fundamentals) and will probably continue to talk about it because it's made a HUGE difference. Outcome of Podcast campaign: My investment with Jason wasn't cheap, but it was worth it. It was a $15k investment: they did all the research, created my funnel, ad & worked with me on testing and tweaking. I also spent a couple days in his office with a few other entrepreneurs to dive deep into Facebook advertising. It was really a great experience (a little overwhelming in that there was a LOT of information). My total ad spend before shutting the campaign off was $2500. I got one podcast client ($7k) and ended up with her on a recurring retainer as well (so the campaign itself was paid for). During this time I also signed another podcast client ($6k... the first one included a site makeover and we gave her a discount for being a podcast client), so between those two clients and the retainer I've made my investment back completely. I turned the ads off after a month because it still needed more testing and tweaking (it was converting well, I gained about 900 subscribers in the process) and wanted to step back and evaluate things. During this time I also had website clients I was working with so I felt a little squeezed (hence ending the 'done for you' element of my business). Take away: It is without a doubt worth hiring the right people for mentoring. I got very clear after having worked with Jason that the only type of mentor I would hire was someone who could help me with a tangible piece of my business...

After almost 9 years in this business there are some things I think I'll never wrap my head around. One of those things is the 'haters' out there. Those people who get bent out of shape by something that is absolutely NOT worth the energy they expend. Take a look at the screenshot below, which is what spurred this discussion about haters: WHOA! Settle down there tiger... I've been emailing much more frequently than I ever have before (almost daily). I am a customer of Ben Settle's email players and without a doubt this strategy has worked wonders for my business. I've talked about it a bunch of times on the show so I'm not going to go into detail about it here again, but I will tell you that it works. My engagement rate, sales, affiliate sales, social connections... have ALL improved. Here's another response I got to this same method: I received that email a couple months ago. I'm glad I took a screenshot of it. So now I have a choice... I can focus on the first email (whiners or snowflakes, as Ben Settle calls them), or I can focus on the second email. Clearly I'm going to focus on the second email. We all know the line... "haters gonna hate"... I simply cannot fathom getting so worked up about something like an email. Delete it, unsubscribe from it, don't read it... it's NOT a big deal. What these 'haters' don't realize is their pissy behavior says WAY more about them than it does about me (or you). I'm sharing this story for two reasons: The first reason is because it's kind of funny... and well, if you're going to get bent out of shape and email me it's quite possible I'm going to create content with your email. The second reason is to share that this happens to everyone. The more you put yourself out there, the more you share, the more you show up and do your thing the more likely it is that it's going to rub someone the wrong way. Regardless of your intention. Thank them for the content and comic relief, then go about your day. Self-Promotion This is probably one of, if not THE hardest thing I've had to overcome, work on, deal with... in my business. Like... ever. And I'm going to come right out and say that for some reason, unbeknownst to me, this seems to be a common problem for a lot of women. Men don't seem to have as hard of a time with this concept (I know I'm generalizing, but trust me on this, k?). Take my friend Jon Perez as an example... Jon has no problem promoting his stuff, blasting it everywhere and screaming from the rooftops that he's written something, created something, or is selling something. His biggest challenge is having more time to do it all ;-) . Yet somehow with a full-time job, a wife and two small children he manages to grow his business and continue working towards the lifestyle he really wants. I used to write a post, then share it and be done with it. Every now and then I might share it again or respond to a comment, but for the most part, I figured I did my thing and didn't want to 'spam' people. Let's stop and think about this for a minute. What is the likelihood that everyone who follows you or is connected to you on your social platforms is going to see the ONE message you share at that exact moment? Pretty slim to say the least. I shared this in an email yesterday, but let me go into a little more detail with something I did yesterday and the results I've gotten (so far): First, I went to a couple landing pages for current lead magnets I have and added featured images as well as a twitter & Pinterest image (for Social Warfare) Next I scheduled them to be shared a few times with CoSchedule Then I added them to the 'ReQueue' feature in CoSchedule under the category WPChick Landing pages (right now I have 3 categories for ReQueue- content, podcasts & landing pages) Within a couple hours of doing that I had about 7 opt-ins from ONE of the pages (I scheduled the other lead magnet fo...

I have to say that this is the first podcast interview that I've done where we talked about poop. But that's what happens when you talk to a parent of young children (Curtis has young kids)... you just never know where the conversation is going to go. I was pretty excited when Curtis got in touch to be on the podcast. I had subscribed to him sometime in the last year and really loved his writing. Curtis shares his personal journey, lessons learned and doesn't hold back from giving an opinion. That being said, he's also pretty relaxed. Which I'm sure comes from having clear boundaries in his business. We talked about a lot of things (which is why I've included the transcripts below. I'll probably be adding these moving forward, it just depends on time. I'm also thinking of adding time stamps), but one of my most favorite take-aways was the need to set firm boundaries in my business. Curtis does something I've wanted to do for YEARS... he batches his calls on Tuesday. Meaning, Tuesday is the ONLY day he takes and schedules calls. The thought of that makes me feel like I won the time lottery (because somewhere I think that exists... and the beauty of the time lottery is that we're the ones picking the winning numbers. hmm... think there's a blog post in there somewhere). Questions I Asked Curtis Before we get into vetting clients, fill the listeners in on you & your backstory You have an agency & your personal site where you do coaching & work with clients. When did you start doing coaching? When did you realize you needed to get better at vetting clients? Was there a shift or something that occurred in your business that made you put better time & energy into client vetting? When you started your business how were you getting clients? How did the questions that you asked potential clients differentiate you from competitors? What You're Going to Learn How Curtis left a job by telling the owner he'd fire himself Why you don't want to get on the phone too fast How asking better questions up front is key in vetting clients Why telling a client that their idea is bad will gain their trust Why Curtis started batching his calls (hint: it's not rocket science) What his new is about Where to Connect with Curtis Website | Twitter | Book You can click the link below for the full transcript:

Just when you think you've got a grasp on something... a little dose of reality comes in. In this case, it's a good thing. After last weeks episode on winding the year down and with Christmas quickly approaching, I'm starting to really wrap my head around what I want 2017 to look like for me. I'm still going to do a full 'year in review' episode but I want to share some of the things I'm doing as I wind down the year to prepare for next year. Beyond sitting down with my colored pens, planner of choice and BIG ideas. I've been talking a lot about going back to basics and mastering the fundamentals (maybe I can come up with an acronym for that?). The first two areas I've focused on have been copy and email marketing. When it comes to copy, I haven't even gotten into the sales type of copy yet (think sales pages, ads, etc.). I started simply by working on headlines and paying attention to copy. Let's talk about paying attention to copy first. This whole journey of getting interested in copy began at the very beginning of this year when I decided to sign up to work with Jason Hornung's Facebook advertising agency. I connected with Jason through another friend, had him on my podcast and knew I wanted to work with him. I won't go into detail on that experience in this episode (it was great and I'm planning on having Jason back on the show to do a follow up), but I got a bonus education outside of Facebook advertising. I was impressed with Jason's understanding of ad copy, persuasion, the psychology of copy and what drives people. When he got interested in Facebook ads he jumped in with both feet. He studied copy, advertising and direct response marketing. Books that had been around 30+ years... he created a solid foundation for building his own ad agency. Prior to working with Jason I had zero desire to do any type of copy (or get attempt to get decent at it). But when I heard Jason's story, observed what he did to master his craft all of the sudden I had a different respect for the art of copy. So I started studying and practicing. I tend to be someone who baby steps my way into things or I leap like a lunatic. In this case I baby stepped my way into it (but I'm slowly working my way up to a jog). I've focused on practicing headlines this year. For posts, emails and ads (although I haven't run an ad in a while, more on that in another episode). First thing I did was start paying attention to what headlines spoke to me. What about them did I like, what drew me in to want to read more / learn more. Then when I would go to write my post title I would head over to the CoSchedule Headline analyzer (which I've talked about probably more than you've wanted to hear) and start with my first headline. Holy moly were some of them bad. Then it became a game to see what I could come up with and how I could improve the score. Depending on the topic, I'd write 5 or 6 headlines or sometimes I would stick with something clear (and maybe not very exciting) for SEO purposes. Once I had settled on my headline I'd write my post (which believe it or not I spend way more time editing than I used to). After the post is written the next step is to write a couple more headlines (or use a few that I had written in the headline analyzer) and use the Thrive Headline Optimizer to run some split testing. I have yet to have my original headline win one of those tests (pretty interesting, right?). I can guarantee you that 5 years ago I was not spending this much time on headlines or content. Not because I didn't care, but because I didn't really know better. Which brings me to growing your audience. In the recent survey I did with my email subscribers this is what people most wanted to learn from me. I asked the question "If I were to teach a class, which topic would be most interesting to you?" Which made sense since the other topic people wanted help with the most was lead generation.

Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd Anyone who has ever written a business plan (or attempted to), knows it's not a simple process (I had originally written not a 'fun' process, but who knows, maybe this is something you enjoy?). I had to write a formal business plan once. And that was enough. It was when I was getting ready to open a physical retail Scrapbook store with a business partner. We found our location and the property management company wanted a business plan. We had plenty of research, examples of products, scrapbooking in general and we had our appointment set. So I went to the office store and bought a software program to write the business plan (this was way back in 1998... so what was available online pales in comparison to what you can find today). It took me 8 hours to plug through the entire 'fill in the blank' business plan. Of course most of what I projected was just that... projections. I probably could have zipped through the program in a quarter of the time had I known the property management company was just going to 'skim' through the business plan (in fact I probably could have written some of my answers in another language and they wouldn't have noticed... but we'll leave that alone). Which is why I was SUPER excited when I came across the 1 Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib. Once you listen to how Allan changed his own business through creating a 1 Page Marketing Plan you're going to want to jump in and grab the book. Questions I Asked Allan Before we get into the book, can you share your journey here (what you were doing before you launched your business - how you got into marketing) When did you get into online marketing? Let's talk about your book, The 1-Page Marketing Plan. What inspired you to write the book? I love the tagline of the book... "Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From the Crowd"... In the book you talk about "the fastest path to money"... which I love, because there's SO much noise online about passion, etc. , which is important, but it's hard to do that work if you don't have any money. What is the 1-page marketing plan? Let's talk about the wrong type of business plan... can you share a little bit about that with the listeners? (strategy vs. tactics) I'm assuming that a lot of people listening to this show are not large agencies... what is one thing they could start implementing today that would make the biggest difference? What You're Going to Learn How Allan went from being a typical geek to writing a book Why being good at what you do doesn't matter (hint: you have to be able to market yourself) How the process of creating a business plan helps your business Why you need to be comfortable with being in business to make money (as well as follow your passion0 How focusing on marketing changed Allan's business Where to Connect with Allan Website | Twitter | Buy the Book

I'll be doing a 'year in review' post after Christmas, but thought this was a perfect time to do an episode on winding the year down, getting ready for 2017 and simply saying Thank You to YOU... my audience. You've made it all possible and have encouraged and inspired me to keep going. To say this past year has been a wild ride would be an understatement. I've gone through some massive changes in my business and personal life (and unfortunately for you I've bared my soul in the process). As challenging as some of it has been, it's also all been so very worth it. Winding Down 2016 It's been a long time since I've looked this forward to a year being over. As I write this I realize the reasons for this are hardly the end of the world, they've just been exhausting. Everyone I love is still healthy and happy, no one has had any major losses in their life and my business is doing well. Making the decision to sell my house was a big one, but I knew it was coming. It just came a couple years sooner than I had expected (I don't intend to stay where I am when my son graduates high school in 2 1/2 years. It's been a great place to raise my kids but it's not where I want to spend the rest of my life). I knew I needed to simplify my life (and my business). It's only my son and I at home now and while my house wasn't huge, it was more than I felt like taking care of (especially the yard, even though I loved my pool). It's still crazy to me when I think about the cost of living in Northern California... (specifically close to the Bay Area), but that's for another conversation. Part of winding down for me is getting all my client projects completely wrapped up as soon as possible. These could probably have been done sooner, but of course I'm the bottleneck (I have done a pretty thorough job of cutting expenses this year, which included my project manager). I'd love to have her work with me again but in a different capacity. As I start planning for 2017 I know that to do what I want to do I'm going to need some help in different areas. I guess it would still be project management but it won't be client projects. They'll be my projects. In order to wind the year down and enjoy the last couple weeks of the year (not working, although I'll probably be doing some work, but again, it will be on my projects. No calls, no new projects) I need to close the books on these projects (and I'm sure my clients want that too). So that's step #1. The next step to really winding the year down is to start getting ready for 2017. I've probably gotten at least a couple emails this week and last about planning for 2017 already. I still haven't decided what that will look like for me, but I have an idea of where I'll start. Planning for 2017 When I look at planning anything I tend to work from the end backwards (which I'm sure most people do... you need to have an end goal, right?). The idea of backwards engineering makes more sense for me than any other method. Before I can decide what I want my next year to look like I have to do a good, hard look at what didn't work this year (and what worked well). I can tell you without a doubt that my biggest take away from 2016, as it relates to my business, has been emailing daily. I've been a fan and customer of Ben Settle's for well over a year (I subscribed to his list for about a year before I became a customer). It took me until August of this year to start stepping into his email methods. I jokingly say that it was my 'almost-daily email' because it took me some time to work up to daily (and I admit it, I still miss a day here and there). The benefits have astounded me to say the least. I'm going to keep talking about the daily email process because it works that well and bears repeating! Not only do I feel my writing has improved (now to work on my speaking... haha... omg. I have to stop saying "like" as if I were a 12 year old),

Does it seem like there are a plethora of Managed WordPress Hosting options available now? Probably because there is. And I love the fact that GoDaddy has stepped into this space along with everything else they're doing to support the WordPress community. Needless to say I was excited about talking with the person who is part of this movement at GoDaddy and is behind the scenes with one of the absolute best on-boarding processes I've seen when it comes to installing and getting up and running with WordPress. Gabe was a champ and we addressed the 'elephant in the room' so to speak (the elephant that GoDaddy has had a reputation for not being a top hosting choice). I'm a firm believer that regardless of past experiences, when a company makes a concerted effort and improves their products and services it's worth giving them another shot. And can I just say, HOLY MOLY... The efforts by the team at GoDaddy are pretty impressive to say the least. Questions I Asked Gabe: Before we get into all the WordPress & Godaddy awesomeness, can you share how you got into all of this? Apparently you taught yourself how to code while deployed in Afghanistan? Let's address the elephant in the room... GoDaddy has changed a lot (for the better). Before we get into how much has changed and the new WordPress experience you guys are rolling out... what made you guys decide to put more energy into WordPress? Can you share the evolution of WordPress & GoDaddy?  You shared a sneak peek of the new WordPress OnBoarding process for GoDaddy customers... all I can say is wow! It looks fantastic. And I love that you partnered with Beaver Builder (love those guys). Can you explain this new process to the listeners? Plugins: I didn't know you guys had plugins... as in plural. I've used the P3 profiler to test the plugin load on my site. Can you share a little more about your plugins & strategy? Do you have any favorite plugins? What's coming fro WordPress & GoDaddy? What You're Going to Learn: How the change in management at GoDaddy has stepped into the WordPress Managed Hosting space What GoDaddy needed to do fix their reputation What's included in the new on-boarding process New custom themes based on the customers market (ex: if an accountant needs a new site there are accounting themes) Free access to thousands of high quality, royalty free images searchable by category Beaver Builder lite is bundled in the on-boarding process New partnerships coming (Yoast, Ninja Forms & more to come) ... and more features coming to make the initial installation and set up that much easier What GoDaddy does to choose their partners for what comes bundled in the on-boarding process Check out the new GoDaddy on-boarding in the video below:

I've been thinking a lot about processes. My new-found love of the daily email practice (even when my emails aren't daily), has ignited a small fondness for discipline. I say small because the thought of structuring and scheduling my life to the point where everything requires a discipline makes my head hurt (and makes me go into immediate resistance.... don't MAKE me do anything). I'm finding little ways that I can apply this in all areas of my life. For the sake of the podcast though we'll stick with business. Like most entrepreneurs, I enjoy the process of planning and getting excited about the possibilities of what I can do with my business. Taking the time away from the daily tasks often gives us the perspective we need get re-inspired or even clarity on something we've felt stuck on. There's something about changing the routine that feels better (even when we feel like we 'should' be at our desks taking care of the tasks). As much as I like my time to myself, this can be most helpful when doing it with other people (mentor, peers, parters... your dog. Whatever works for you). The extra energy of someone else's excitement and enthusiasm is contagious. They see things you might have missed or can point something out from a totally different perspective that makes you take a second look at something. Then of course there's all the 'stuff' that goes along with planning... pens, calendars, markers (or is that just me), white boards, ideas... lunch with a friend. Kind of like the whipped cream on the sundae, right? Not necessary, but makes it that much sweeter. Here's the problem with planning... You can get STUCK there! (I wish I had some southern phrase or saying about being stuck... somehow it seems like it would just 'fit' here). I've been here myself. Many, many times. I've mapped everything out (I love me some outlines and Gliffy diagrams. I'm not really a mind mapper), created the first few steps then get caught back up in the tasks. Or better yet... I don't get past the first step and get caught back up in the tasks. I'm actually way better at following through on things than I used to be (not a lot of people who know me would say I don't 'get things done', but I make it way more of a chore than it needs to be), but at the end of the day what should get the most attention are the things that can make me MONEY. I'm running a BUSINESS. This isn't a hobby. As much as I love creating content, there needs to be an endpoint, right? (don't go all sideways on me with an altruistic opinion on this... you know what I'm talking about here). I'm going to give you two very specific examples so you can feel like you're getting something tangible and not just joining me for a self-help session (although that could be fun too). Let's look at The WP Chick first. When I decided to change my theme I knew without a shadow of a doubt that my messaging needed to be CLEAR (notice I didn't say clearer, because I can honestly say it wasn't clear at all before). I wanted people to know that when they got to my site they could learn about WordPress and Marketing. I have some re-structuring to do of my content model, but that's more of a 'moving forward' as opposed to going backwards. Meaning, new content that I create should support this model. There are some content pieces I am creating that will be more like cornerstone content (full post on getting started with WordPress, installation, theme, etc. ... because 'duh'... I should have done this years ago) as well as some really in-depth tutorials on certain products (ex: CoSchedule). Then it's a matter of the navigation supporting that direction and having a very detailed 'Start Here' page, clear paths for my visitors and products and services that support that. Oh. And a new, well thought out plan for lead generation (and execution of that plan). Here are the ways I'll be monetizing my brand: