Episode 48: The Godfather of Freelancing

If there were ever a mob or “Family” of WordPress freelancers, it’s a safe bet that Shane Pearlman would be head of the family.

I had always known about Modern Tribe and their successful plugins, but I never knew much about their progressive take on the WordPress service business. Now that I’ve had the chance to sit down and talk to Shane for about an hour, I’m seeing things in a whole new light.

I hope this interview is as game changing for you as it was for me.

Episode 48 Shane Pearlman of Modern Tribe interview

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Money, power and respect

Prior to this interview, my thought process was very simple.

Raise my rates to bring in more revenue while being able to expand into other verticals. With that revenue, increase the power of my team by recruiting more talented developers and designers. Play that game right and you’re on the road to respect.

Or so I thought…

Shane plays a different game and that’s one of building the lifestyle that affords him happiness.

Let’s be clear, I’m happy with what my team produces and especially in our products. But can I run things smarter like Shane? Do I need to accrue the overhead of a large staff similar to 10up?

It’s debatable, but I hope the 12 years of knowledge Shane shares with us casts a new light on your WordPress business as well.

The hustle

I recently wrote about the hustle and what it means to me.

I think the mantra of hustle is a bit scary and maybe irresponsible for the newbie entrepreneur. If you have a short runway, you might burn yourself out by working harder and not smarter. In this episode Shane shares his stories of hustle and where it landed him today.

Running a high profile WordPress shop while having the time to surf and spending time with his family.

See, I think hustle could be different for each of us and I’d like to explore that more in the future.

No regrets

It’s easy for us to look back and bookmark the chapters of our failure.

If we don’t fail, we haven’t pushed ourselves to the edge and more importantly we haven’t learned from these experiences.

Don’t get me wrong success is glorious, but failure is important and humbling.

Live your business life without the regret of failure.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this interview in the comments. Please share what you think of Shane and this interview. Tell a friend and subscribe to the newsletter!