I know you're reading this and thinking, “When is he going to get back to WordPress? He's been on the business topics for days…” But trust me, this isn't just a post about entrepreneurs. It's also a post about WordPress.
One Big Community
You see, if you love WordPress and spend time in the community, you'll find all sorts of people gathered together – one big community that loves WordPress. But if you spend a bit more time in the community, you'll find something far more interesting. People love WordPress for different reasons.
- Some love WordPress because it's so easy to use, making it easy to write and publish.
- Some love WordPress because it's created a vehicle for making a living – writing plugins or themes.
- Some love WordPress because it's the best open-source software on the planet, and
- Some love WordPress because you can design beautiful things with it.
Whatever the reason, it draws all these people together into a single community.
This Past Week's Challenges
This past week I was challenged to articulate what I love most about and within the WordPress community. If you've spent time on my site here, you know it's not because I write great themes or plugins—I do neither. Instead, you might find that I have a passion for entrepreneurs and I love the things that freelancers and small startups are doing in the WordPress community.
The challenge came when a friend was raising support (and funds) for an Instagram competitor that would integrate with WordPress. He was really close to reaching his funding when a major backer pulled out. He pulled out 20% of the project's funding—which was kind of a big deal.
Now, he's entitled to do that. And I understand why he did it—because in the WordPress community, he values open-source projects. And my friend had declared that part of the solution —the part on iPhones—would not be open source initially.
Two people, both in the community. Both wanting the community to prosper. This week one did it by raising money for a product that will make it easier for people to own their own images while posting them to WordPress, while the other took a stand to only fund open source projects. Each stood for a value—entrepreneurship, and open source.
I respect both and understand where they're coming from.
I heart Entrepreneurs
And that's when I realized that for me personally if I had to choose between caring about the iPhone software and its open-source license, or the project and the entrepreneur trying to get funding—I would choose the entrepreneur. But not because he is a friend. And not because I don't like open-source projects. But because I love entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.
I'm a startup guy wrapped in a corporate body. I've helped raise millions of dollars in venture capital but I loved the bootstrapped experiences better. That's part of why I've spent the last decade coaching young startups.
Would you Join Me?
I don't do the big “sell” thing on this blog. But since this project needs only six thousand more bucks, and has only four days to go, I want to pitch you.
So here it goes. I love startups. I love bootstrapping efforts. I love entrepreneurs. I love them so much I've put my own money behind the project ($2,000). But I want you to join me. As an incentive, here's what I'll offer*:
- If you support the project for $50-100, I will give you a copy of my 2 eBooks plus the one I'm writing right now.
- If you support the project for $101-1,000, I will give you a free 1-2 hour skype consulting call. (check out what others say about me)
- If you support the project for $1,001-3,000, I will help you or your team with a project (web site, PowerPoint presentation, getting virtual teams right, etc)
Do it because the project is great. Do it because you want to be part of the comeback story. Do it because you want some of my time, and you know I say no a lot.
This time I'll say yes.
*once you get the email, confirming your pledge, come to my contact page and drop me a note.