Building long-term partnerships for WordPress development services

ezsmith397 on September 19, 2023

I’m not a fan of one-and-done project work.
 
With our clients here at 397digital I’ve focused for YEARS on building long-term relationships instead of trying to maximize profit on every single project.
 
Often when I talk to some people about our business model (like other devs or entrepreneurs) they get confused or suggest doing things differently than what we’re doing currently.
 
While our exact pricing model and structure have evolved a few times, the general concept has remained solid for the past 5 to 6 years:
 
Do great work, at fair prices, to build long-term partnerships with everyone that we work with.
 
We’re not aiming to do massive projects and then disappear.
 
By building what started as just my own consulting career (and now the business like this), we have clients who learn to lean on us for the long haul.
 
This has led to us keeping clients around for many years.
 
We’re currently building WordPress sites and performing support and maintenance requests for 3 accounts that go back to 2018, before we were even officially operating at a company like we are now.

You have to do things before you’re ever really “ready”

ezsmith397 on September 11, 2023

You have to do things before you’re ever really “ready”.

Tonight I coached my first soccer practice.

I have absolutely ZERO experience, knowledge, or background with soccer personally.

My daughter played last season and enjoyed it, and this season the recreational director was pressed for coaches…

So I signed up to be an assistant coach.

I figured I could learn the game a bit, help out, and be able to help in whatever ways I could.

Well, it came down to the wire the other week with no one stepping up to be the main coach, and the season would have to be delayed.

So I threw my hat in the ring and signed up to be THE coach.

(With no assistant coach officially… although my wife has been AWESOME so far at helping with the communications and planning with the parents and director)

I felt pushed to do it, even though I’m beyond busy right now, and have no idea what I’m really doing.

Tonight’s practice was fun, but it was rough.

I was nervous, trying to corral and coach a group of 6 year old girls to teach them how to play a game I have no idea how to play.

I had to ask my wife on the sidelines for quite a bit of help (she played when she was young).

I had to ask some of the parent’s who seemed to know the game what to do in various situations.

All in all though, we got through it.

We had fun.

I was not at all ready, but I did it anyway.

That’s how life works MOST of the time.

You have a call to do something, and you likely just flat out will NOT be ready.

But you answer it anyway.

You take the plunge, and you figure it out.

Now I know I’ll probably be the worst coach this year when it comes to truly teaching the game and the finer points of the sport.

I’ve let the parents know this.

But I’m going to do my damn best and enjoy the process.

Tons of moments in life are just like this, especially in business.

Opportunities are going to come up that you aren’t “ready” for…

But you’re gonna need to take them (while being honest about your readiness), and figure it out.

Invest in your toolkit

ezsmith397 on September 6, 2023

Invest in your toolkit.
 
I spend thousands every year on premium WordPress plugins including:
 
Gravity Forms
Elementor Pro
KadenceWP
Bricks Builders
ACF Pro
SEOPress Pro
Perfmatters
WP Rocket
and many more
 
These have all been chosen after many years of building and testing.
 
But now? My toolkit is WELL stocked and ready to go for nearly any project that comes my way.
 
Having these tools handy and ready to go allows me to get projects done quickly and provide excellent services to our clients.
 
The value we receive is FAR above the cost of the investment in the yearly licenses and renewals.

The more reps you put in, the luckier you’ll get

ezsmith397 on September 6, 2023

The more reps you put in, the luckier you’ll get.
It’s funny how that works.
When I was 18 I didn’t want to accept this.
When I was 25 I understood it more, but was still stubborn to the full reality of it.
At 34 I fully accept it.

Enjoying the process

ezsmith397 on September 6, 2023

Major hack to “making it”? Enjoying the process.
Sounds so cliche, I get it.
But I genuinely enjoy the hell out of building this business.

Understanding the type of “doer” you are

ezsmith397 on September 1, 2023

Understanding the type of “doer” you are is important to how you build your career.
 
For me? I’m the sorta guy who just gets stuff done.
 
Not a big fan of insane meetings, and crazy planning that drags out endlessly.
 
I’ve always been more scrappy, more resourceful.
 
This meant that the traditional Corporate route was not a good fit for me.
 
I realized this early on, and built my career and life based on this.
 
This meant building my own businesses, working as a consultant with small teams, and doing things that allowed me to lean into my natural self.
 
I think having this self-awareness is key.

397digital growth

ezsmith397 on August 30, 2023

TIME TO GROW

You’re gonna see me talk about “we” in relation to my business, 397digital from here on out.

This season of “solopreneurship” is coming to an end for me.

My wife has been a co-owner of the business on paper from the start and will be more actively involved going forward.

We’re also working on building out a small but mighty team of developers & webmasters to better support our growing client base.

It’s time to build and grow a strong and sustainable business.

We’re strapped in, let’s go.

Can only focus and accomplish so much in any given day or week

ezsmith397 on August 27, 2023

Reminded today (on a Sunday evening) that I can only focus and accomplish so much in any given day or week.

Especially in this season of life.

Drawback to being highly driven and having big vision is that it’s near impossible to feel like I’m getting enough done in any one moment.

Grateful that I’m wired this way, but also feeling the burden from it today.

I often get stir-crazy on the weekends when I’m trying to be with my family and not work.

Even just in regular life stuff, I feel like I need to be “go, go, go!” All the time.

This sense of urgency and effort is why I’m successful and have a growing business.

But it always makes it hard to slow down and be present as well.

Accepting the path of doing things that “aren’t scalable” to build my business.

ezsmith397 on August 24, 2023

I’ve accepted the path of doing things that “aren’t scalable” to build my business.
 
I wrestled with this idea for years…
 
Always wanting to find some way to grow a bigger, more profitable company without just grinding it out.
 
These days I’m actually excited about doing the work in ways that many others simply won’t.
 
That’s how I plan to grow and build a strong lasting company that’s far past myself.
 
Right now I’m hovering between $17,000-$20,000/mo.
 
That’s honestly just after a solid year of focusing back on my core areas.
 
The next year is exciting for me, to just lock-in and do the work needed to break through and build the team properly.

Being accessible to clients to build strong relationships

ezsmith397 on August 23, 2023

Hot take for this new Productized Services wave: you’re hurting yourself by not being accessible to your clients for phone calls & meetings.
 
I get it, having tons of meetings & calls all day is hard if you also have to be the one producing the work.
 
But without that personal & real interaction, you’re gonna struggle to build a long-term relationship with them.
 
To be real… Some days I get swarmed with meetings, calls, or consulting through issues…
 
And have to work late or extra hours for the regular “production” work that I had planned. (This part will be resolved this year as I grow my team)
 
But all of my clients know, like & trust me BECAUSE of the efforts and attention invested into our relationship.
 
While the concept of being able to make a shit-ton of money WITHOUT doing the hard part of client-service work sounds alluring… It’s not very realistic for most of us in my opinion.
 
Digging in, accepting the type of business I’m actually in (and finding ways to streamline it and make it operate more efficiently where I can) is the way I’ve built my career… And the way I plan to continue building my business for years to come.