S4 E8: The small business of WordPress plugin add-ons

Everyone loves a good “how to make seven figures in software sales” story, but not every business owner desires to claim that headline.

If there’s one trend throughout season 4, it’s that we don’t need world domination as a driving force to grow our business. Throughout my conversations with guests on the show, and business owners at local WordCamps, there’s a renewed sense of small business ownership in the room. A fundamental shift from flashy TechCrunch growth, to running a manageable and profitable business — with purpose.

I’ve been trying to connect the dots for a while now, comparing a “traditional” business owner, to the new age owner. An owner that places their craft, and customer, before the bank account. Which isn’t to say that this owner is against growth, it’s just her approach isn’t going to include growth-hacks or app sumo deals.

Interview with Naomi Bush

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I enjoyed this conversation of small business ownership in the WordPress space with Namoi, owner of GravityPlus.pro. There isn’t a rush to scale or 10x revenue, but to provide great customer support, while discovering new opportunities by interacting with them.

A great lesson for us all.

The links


Comments

5 responses to “S4 E8: The small business of WordPress plugin add-ons”

  1. Most important question was missed — How much do you make from your plugins Naomi? Is it your full time job?

    Understanding that such a ‘small’ business can be sufficiently lucrative is a big barrier for others deciding whether to try their own little idea.

    1. Hey Jim, it’s all relative. Some people aren’t looking for sufficiently lucrative in their business — like, how do you measure that, versus the next business owner? What you interpret as lucrative, might not be the same for the next person evaluating it. Going into business trying to replicate someone’s business model based on what their earning doesn’t strike me as the best strategy.

      It is her full-time job, and seemingly sustainable enough to continue to “do it” and re-invest in the business through new add-ons etc. Either way, thanks for commenting and listening to the show!

  2. Nice work Matt. Thanks for sharing Naomi, I am a fan of your products. I often read about or have conversations around the topics of support.

    It’s great to stay involved in your support flow and engaged with your customers.

    I do however, believe that what’s missed often in this conversation is that staying involved and engaged with your customers does not have to mean doing all of your own support. You can have both by outsourcing an amount of support that you are comfortable with and handling some on your own.

    1. Thanks for stopping by, Kyle! The only part of outsourcing the support is finding someone that’s reliable and knows your product well, at an affordable rate.

  3. Thanks for doing what you do Matt. I love hearing business discussions in this space and feel that there are not enough of them.

    I would not say that’s the only part / thing about outsourcing, but of course, those things do matter.

    Just like they would matter when hiring an employee right? You search, interview, test, consider salary desire, until you find that person that you think is right for your company.

    Then you train them on the product and your policies, etc. Then you put them to work.

    There really not that many differences. The point I am making is that in the end, it can not be you all the time if you want to scale your business.

    If one is comfortable without reaching scale potential – which is ok – then that makes more sense.

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