Episode 50: Systemizing your way to more revenue

A while back I said Shane Pearlman is the Godfather of Freelancing.

If that’s true, than Bill Erickson is a made man.

I’ve been a fan of Bill  since I stepped on to the scene of WordPress some time ago. From a distance, he has a really lean and mean service product.

“Your WordPress website in 5 days all for twentyfive-hundred smackaroos.” My headline not his.

How does he achieve that AND land $20k clients?

We’re going to find out in this episode!

Episode 50: Interview with Bill Erickson

Listen to the audio version or subscribe on iTunes

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Systems, data, and more data

People thought I was crazy when I recruited my cousin, former VP of operations for a manufacturing company.

What does he know about tech and WordPress?

Nothing. That’s the point.

What he does know is how to analyze where our time and costs are going and how we can improve in those areas to help build a sustainable system.

This is exactly the approach Bill uses to run his day to day operations.

With anywhere from 8 to 20 projects in the pipeline, Bill has fine tuned his process to accommodate scheduling and execution. It’s not all guess work either, he studies the data like a mad scientist to understand his most profitable areas with the intent to drive revenue.

Oh and he’s a one man band — very impressive.

Contracts

Live and die by them.

After hearing how Bill structures his client contracts, you might feel a bit inferior. It’s OK, that’s why this podcast exists!

Learn from the “war stories” he shares and pay close attention to his method of collecting payments. He ties payments to productivity and not  an arbitrary payment schedule based on time.

Invoice client’s on the start of work vs waiting until a set calendar day. Loved this.

What do you think? Are you going to change anything in your business now?


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26 responses to “Episode 50: Systemizing your way to more revenue”

  1. RobG Avatar

    Great podcast Matt, I have been a fan of Bill Erickson for sometime. I think it is a mazing how he designs his website a true lover of what he does. Thanks so much for sharing this post.

    1. Matt Avatar

      Rob thanks for listening and the kind words.

      Bill is a really smart dude and can teach us a lot. Glad to have him on to share his story!

      1. RobG Avatar

        You’re most welcome Matt, I’m just getting started with my developing service and I’m sure I can learn a lot from Bill

        Have a great day my friend.

  2. lwoods Avatar

    First time listening. Fantastic show! I’ll be going back through your “catalog”. I have been in the IT business for 40+ years, doing web work for over 10 years and am now committing myself to becoming an expert in WP and Genesis. Although I don’t expect your sessions to give me specific training I do see that these will give me the “courage” to continue.

    NOW, tell me the recording that you are using for the closing. That also is great!

    Thanks, again……

    1. Matt Avatar

      Thanks Larry!

      You can get that outro song here: http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/374975/midnight-blue

  3. Matt Williams Avatar

    Great show, I think I have about 2 left in your back catalog. Some great tips in this one…

    1. Matt Avatar

      Thanks for listening Matt, I appreciate it!

  4. Creativebloggers (@robgoss) Avatar

    Hello Matt, In this session Bill talk about an Invoice, Do you have any tips on creatinga simple invoice for client? I would like to have some sort of record of all transaction between me and my clients. Thanks so much

    1. Matt Avatar

      Hey Rob, check out Freshbooks.com for invoicing that’s what I use.

      1. Creativebloggers (@robgoss) Avatar

        Thanks Matt, is there any FREE! ones you can think of? Thanks so much my friend

        1. Glen Avatar

          Freshbooks is free for up to 3 active clients, so it’s not bad if you’re just starting out. Lots of integrations with Freshbooks too, so don’t rule them out because they’re not free. But, a free alternative that’s pretty close to Freshbooks is waveapps.com I ran across them when I was looking for an affordable payroll solution.

          1. Matt Avatar

            Thanks for the info Glen!

          2. Creativebloggers (@robgoss) Avatar

            Glen thanks for the tips I will look in to it…

  5. Chris Badgett Avatar

    Fantastic show! Lots of good insight in there around managing expectations.

  6. Darren Avatar

    Great show, got a lot out of this.

    Congratz on reaching show 50

  7. WP Magnet | The Weekly WordPress News, Tutorials & Resources Roundup No.43

    […] Episode 50: Systemizing your way to more revenue […]

  8. Greg Wallace Avatar

    Great interview. Congrats on 50 episodes Matt! Looking forward to the next 50.

  9. Musgrove Avatar

    This was an awesome show. There were some very valuable tips that nearly everyone could get some use from, and something to aspire to as a fledgling freelancer.

  10. Cath Avatar

    awesome interview, Bill is championing for freelancers in business and its great to hear his methodical approach.

  11. Matthew Wayne Selznick Avatar

    I’m looking forward to subscribing to your podcast in something other than iTunes or Stitcher… where is the podcast-only RSS feed link? Thanks!

    1. Matt Avatar

      Thanks Matt — I believe http:http://mattreport.com//podcast should work for you!

      1. Matthew Wayne Selznick Avatar

        That’ll work! For what it’s worth, I strongly recommend making that very visible and obvious on every page… most potential listeners won’t go to the trouble I did–they’ll just go away!

        Looking forward to listening. Cheers.

  12. […] looking for great people to learn from for managing projects like this, I definitely recommend learning from Bill Erickson, who has done a lot of systemizing in this […]

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