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It’s no secret that WordPress has grown into something to be reckoned with.
On this site and in the podcast I’ve mentioned a few times that when I started my business I had NO intention of doing websites for clients, it wasn’t even on the radar. The crazy thing was that I never thought of myself as a ‘technical’ person. I’ve always been pulled to the creative side of things and was even an art major for a while (I chose not to pursue it simply because I was afraid I wasn’t good enough and didn’t really want something I loved doing to be tainted by criticism. At least that’s what my 20 year old mind believed).
I’ve also talked MANY times about the fact that a blog isn’t a business and while I am a HUGE believer in providing value and sharing, you can’t pay your bills with YouTube views (can you make money with YouTube? Yes, but that’s not my gig so I can’t speak to that). The cool thing is that this idea that everything related to WordPress should be free isn’t really something that exists within the WordPress community. Fortunately, premium themes and plugins have changed all that.
So where is this coming from and why on earth am I writing this?
Because there still seems to be a general opinion that because WordPress is free everything that goes along with it should be free too.
Let’s start with Open source.
For those of you who don’t know what Open source is… here’s the definition:
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WordPress is owned by Auttomatic. A for-profit company that also “contributes to a number of non-profit and Open source projects” – so while they have given us WordPress, they also need to make money.
Online vs. Offline
Here’s where things get a little trickier.
There are pros and cons to the way offline businesses market vs. online businesses (needless to say you know where I stand. The fact that you can measure everything you do online as opposed to offline, which the only way you can measure what’s working is when someone takes an action), but this isn’t really about methodologies. It’s about perception.
An offline business would never reward it’s customers for referring new customers (think affiliate marketing), although Direct TV seems to be flipping that model on its head. They reward their customers for referrals with MONEY. You get a discount on your bill for every customer you refer.
Do offline businesses have more overhead than online businesses? Usually.
But wouldn’t you rather have 50 -70% of something than 100% of nothing???
You could probably drive around your city or town and you’ll see plenty of local businesses that were around for years and are gone now, for many reasons. But I would bet that theImage may be NSFW.
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biggest reason is that they didn’t plan for growth or create a strategy to increase profits. The reaction of most traditional businesses is always to cut things first, not innovate and see what they can do to increase sales (think cutting payroll… I wonder what would happen if those businesses encouraged creative thinking from their employees and asked for suggestions on what they could do to drive sales?).
The last company that I worked for (that I liked and enjoyed) was the retailer ‘HomeGoods’, owned by the TJX corporation (they also own TJ Maxx, Marshalls and a slew of other major retailers). I was a training manager for them and kind of lived by the motto of “Better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission” when it came to doing what I could to increase sales. My boss supported this and guess what? I had more interest in seeing the store succeed because I was supported in contributing.
The interesting thing about most of the TJX companies is that they’re what’s called an ‘off price’ retailer (offering merchandise at a discount- brand names, etc.). This model requires you to know your business and know your customer because you never know what your inventory will be until it shows up and you need to be able to merchandise it in a way that serves your customers. Not who the company ‘thinks’ is your customer.
Where am I going with this?
WordPress is an AMAZING piece of software that has created businesses for thousands of people (if not hundreds of thousands).
The key word in that sentence is “businesses”.
- A business needs to be profitable to continue running and provide value.
- A business needs a strategy for growth and sustainability.
- A business needs CUSTOMERS (leads).
- A business needs to OFFER something to sell (service or product).
If you go back to the definition of Open source you’ll see that it says “…may be redistributed and modified.” So not only is it free but they’re telling you that you can do what you want with it.
Which also means profiting with it.
Whether it’s with Premium themes, plugins, teaching or training.
YOU get to choose your business model.
Just remember that not only is it O.K. to profit with it, you NEED to profit with it if it’s your business.
How can you differentiate yourself?
Pick the piece of your business that gets you juiced.
EVERYDAY.
And do more of that.
I know this sounds woowoo or maybe a little esoteric, but continuing to do something you don’t like because its what other people want or is what is paying the bills will get you nowhere. Fast.
BUT…. (you knew there was a but, right?)
Take the time to plan out a strategy for what you love.
- How can you provide value and connect with your audience? (compelling offer)
- How can you offer them what they want at a price that works for you? (it costs what it costs, and if you keep under cutting yourself you’re just going to resent anyone you work with)
- How can you make what you do Fun AND profitable? (yes, Fun is with a capital ‘F’… if it’s not Fun I’m not doing it).
- What are you doing to make the sale TODAY?
When you value yourself so will your audience.
And the people who think everything with WordPress should be free?
They’re not your customer.
Wish them well and use my favorite four letter word:
NEXT!
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