Prosperity for all
When Henry IV expressed his desire that every peasant enjoy “a chicken in his pot every Sunday”, he was wishing for prosperity. Last year’s Pressnomics event, a first of its kind, offered a similar wish – that WordPress-oriented companies would enjoy prosperity in the marketplace. And to that end, it set up a series of speakers to talk about the business side of running a WordPress business.
Instruction, not just inspiration
The challenge, as every freelancer and small startup knows, is that a once-a-year conference, while fantastic, is more inspirational than instructional. That’s why I was thrilled to see a business track (on Sunday) at WordCamp Phoenix this past weekend. I wondered if anyone would show up to a business track, but I didn’t need to worry. The venue, Gangplank, was filled with at least 50-70 folks ready to hear about the business side of the WordPress world.
[I used my time on Sunday to talk about Virtual Teams. You can see the slides and a rendition of the talk in yesterday's post.]
Making the most of Sundays
Developer days, which normally are on Sundays, are excellent for developers. But what about the freelancer who also has to run his/her business and doesn’t want to be a statistic? Every now and then I see a WordCamp do what Phoenix did this past weekend. They set up a set of sessions on Saturday or Sunday that focus on the business side of things.
I want more.
I want a freelancer/business track at every WordCamp. And I think Sundays are fine. There’s no need to detract from all the great stuff that happens on a Sunday. And we don’t need to toss out Developer Days. Developers can still collaborate. I’m not talking about taking something away. Instead I’m simply talking about adding something. Something that a lot of folks need.
Pressnomics Everywhere
And since we have a term for it already, why not institute a Pressnomics track at every WordCamp?
If we assume a 12-5 schedule and limit it to 30 minute presentations, we’re talking about 10 sessions. What might we see covered? How about:
- Staffing
- Client selection
- Pricing
- Contracts
- Scheduling
- Communication
- Project Management
- Execution
- Relationships (post-deliverables)
- Branding
And if we do it in the same place as a Dev Day, then developers could come and go based on what they needed to hear most!
If we’re going to encourage the prosperity of WordPress-oriented businesses, it’s my take that Pressnomics needs to go on the road. It needs an anchor conference, like we experienced last year, and a regular track at each event so that people can get practical and usable advice that they can put to work on Monday mornings.
So what do you think? Would you come to that track?
This is pretty much what we are doing for WordCamp Miami for our secondary day after an overwhelming response to recent surveys. Business related talks and front-end design and development were the highest rated in our area to turn into workshops.
Nice, I hope to attend #wcmia, sounds awesome! Sunday was my favorite day at #wcphx because of this format.
I’m instantly more interested in WordCamp Miami!
Yes, WC Miami! I really want to make it this year
Yep, I’ve been advocating for some sort of Entrepreneur/BizDev track at Chicago ever since last year. Going to make it happen this year!
Chris
This is by far the best idea I have heard in a while and I like the use of the term “pressnomics” to support it. Ingenious.
Tony
Chris, mind if WordCamp Miami steals that top ten list? We would like to see everything there covered (at least) in April.
Take it. Use it. And I really, really like communication *cough cough*
You should have that cough checked. It’s been going around. I had it recently.
I love this.
We just talked last night at our WordCamp Birmingham planning meeting about doing a business track. If we do, can I count on you being there, Chris?
Give me the dates. Let me see if I’m travelling for work or not. But if I’m free, I’d love to be there.
I couldn’t agree more and would be willing to help in any way to make this all a reality. I definitely know these tracts are needed.
Jason’s business is all on him. I feel totally helpless when it comes to helping him. However, I really would love to be a part of the business and free up some of the more “mundane” items on his list. Your idea really appeals to me. I don’t need to know how to be a web developer because that’s his job. However, this Pressnomics track seems like something that would interest me as a way to learn how I can support my husband and our (his yes, but we’re a team) business. In other words, I like it!
So I should leave Sunday open at WCSD this year? Another awesome idea via Chris Lema.
I’d say yes. That’s just me (for now).
Love the idea. Bill Erickson’s session on running a WP freelancing business was a huge hit at WC Austin last May.
This is a interesting concept and has a suggested format similar to what we have done. I think Sally and I (PressNomics co-creators) could get behind it if people can agree to respect the brand. I would ask everyone give this a read if going to use the term PressNomics: http://pressnomics.com/brand-guidelines/ We will need to grant permission to each event/entity that wishes to use the brand.
Of course anyone is free to do a business tract at your camp, but if you call it PressNomics please abide by the brand guidelines.
Keep in mind that one of the reasons we did PressNomics was there was/is a real need for business focused discussion in the WP community outside of official channels. PressNomics has more flexibility and freedom of discussion while maintaining a respectful manner.
My suggestion was only a suggestion, and of course, I would only recommend camps use the name after getting it approved by you guys. But I appreciate that you’ve put out guidelines for folks to review and make their own decision. While I think many camps may just call it a business tract, I like the brand power behind Pressnomics. But I’m just a guy.
I’d totally get behind a Business track – whatever it is called – at WordCamps as we sponsor a lot of them.
It’s also invigorate my personal interest in attending.
Would love to have you down in April at WordCamp Miami (like i said, it’s a given we’ll have a business track given our initial surveys and current level of response). Regardless if you sponsor or not, would love to see you.
David – you rock! We’re having our first baby next week (fingers crossed) and haven’t booked travel yet but would love to see if I can!
Holy crap! As a father of 3 girls, including twins, I sincerely say good luck. Let us know if you want to escape and we’ll save a seat got ya.
As a very happy Pressnomics attendee, I would love to see this addition to WordCamps. I think the success of this addition would only strengthen the WordPress community and help leap frog us past the 20% web dominance we already have in place.
I’d definitely be interested in seeing a track like that. One can never learn enough about running a successful business.
random, but i incubated a startup company in gangplank. venture funded.
I definitely agree that there is a need for business oriented sessions. I just wonder if the split isn’t a big difference between 1) Developer / website services businesses; and 2) Blogger / WP user businesses?
Oh how I agree! I’ve been asking for this since I started attending over 2 years ago. (Not necessarily a business track, but detail!) The concepts are great, but I’d love, LOVE, L-O-V-E to know HOW to apply/do the things we’re shown. And yes, I’d love to see a Business Track added. I’d glean so much from it! It’s one of the main reasons I’m back in school.
Let’s hope we see this in the very near future!
And thanks for your tips at #wcsd!