$1 million a year in revenue is just over $83K per month. That’s what Curtis McHale is aiming for in 2015. Curtis is a freelance WordPress consultant from Canada who helps other freelancers turn their hobby into a real business. He knows a lot about processes, client management, being debt free and shares his knowledge freely on this episode of the podcast.
Curtis is giving away two complimentary consulting sessions to help you get clear and focused. The last client he consulted with netted an additional $1000 per month in revenue. Leave a comment under the video and tell Curtis your "why". Why are you in business and what are you passionate about. Hint: "making money" will not win you the prize.
Congratulations Neil Richmund and Les Dow! Curtis have chosen both of you as the lucky winners of the competition! Thanks for your contribution and keep elevating! (February 2015).
Some of the highlights of this episode include:
• Curtis and I go off on a rant about personal finances (this entire episode is worth it just to hear this)
• Curtis encouraging all of us to 10X our business instead of just growing by 20% or 30%
• How having a process and trusting in it will help you stay calm in turbulent times
Elevation Round Answers
Here are the answers to the questions in our Elevation round. Watch the interview to get the full scoop.
1. Their value and how to use their time well
2. Follow up and add value
3. Ask why and communicate your value
4. Long form sales page format (problem, solution, experience, social proof, price)
5. Contactually
6. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
7. Continue to contribute to them
8. Ask why
You can reach out and thank Curtis on his twitter @curtismchale or via his website http://curtismchale.ca/.
Curtis suggested I interview Angie Miller and Kirk Brown. Curtis, keep your eyes on your inbox.
Hint: to enter the competition, leave a comment below and tell Curtis your “why”. Why are you in business and what are you passionate about. Hint: “making money” will not win you the prize.
17 Responses
This is what gets me up and working for my clients each and every day.
1. I quit a job because I never had enough time to be there for my son and the others I cared about. It was agood, consistent money, but I kept having to say no to doing things that really mattered to me like spending quality time with my son. I want a life that gives me the flexibilty to go on a field trip with my son, if i want to – making memories for a lifetime. I can go do lunch with him whenever I want to, I can help out a friend when i want to – all becasue I have chosen a path that may not always be the most sonsistent, but I am working to get it there.
2. I am also very passionate about helping businesses go from a mediocre, barely making it lead generation system that relies and sometimes on very ineffective methods to a system that drives prospects to their door on a regular basis. Why? Becasue if that makes a difference in their world and in their lives, as they get more profitable, they can do more for the people they come in contact with and ultimately impact our communites for good. I want to make a difference in my world, through the medium of helping businesses get an online presence that drives their business forward.
Great Podcast!! I have lots of stuff to go check out now.
My whys:
I have one client that is about 50% of my workload and my why for them is to help carry out their cause. They are a non-profit close to my heart.
For 49% I love being able to take their small business and get them up on the web and on their way to helping others .
The other 1% is that it’s just cool to say I have worked for a big 500 fortune company 🙂
This was one of my favorite episodes so far. Curtis was an excellent guest, and you discussed interesting topics (including setting and working towards goals, client relations, work/life balance, and budgeting). I enjoy listening to Curtis on The Freelancers’ Show.
Love the guy in the WP Migrate DB Pro section 😉
In all seriousness though, my “why” is real easy. I form long term partnerships with my clients. Even though my service is a month-to-month service, I like to plant the seed and nurture the relationship over the course of time to provide robust, flexible, and high quality development resources to design and marketing businesses so that they increase their revenue.
As a developer I take pride in making sure that any solution I hand to a client exceeds what they had envisioned. It’s flexible and scalable to fit their needs of tomorrow. I see time and time again, businesses get “taken advantage” of what I like to call the “AWOL Developer.” These are developers that swoop in, give a half-assed solution, collect the money, and then never to be seen again. The businesses are left with a solution that barely resembles what it should be and in most cases not flexible enough for the needs of the business today, let alone tomorrow.
I love to educate my clients on the best practices of development and implementation. I love to make sure that my clients feel secure in knowing that I’m the one doing the work for them and there for the long haul. When educating my clients I tend not to dive into the technical language much, unless they want to. However I do explain to them, in human terms, the importance of the best practices of development in order to show that in the long run it’ll benefit them by saving time and making them money.
I can’t tell you (or maybe you do know) how awesome it feels when a client asks months later to do something to their site and because we worked together and planned the initial build, that new feature took one quarter of the time the client expected. Then they turn around and say “that was great, much better than I thought, nice work!” When a client sees the value in the initial process and practices and realizes the benefits later on down the line, this is why I love what I do.
Thanks for a great podcast and I am happy to see I am not the only person that does not have credit cards and the only loan I have is my mortgage. My Grandfather always said if you cannot pay cash for something it means you cannot afford it.
I would like to show businesses that building a website and letting it just sit there is not the best way of doing business. It is more about consistently building an audience and showing you are an expert in your niche. It is not about old fashioned selling today and more about giving stuff away and building trust that will get you your customers. That is my why.
Glad you enjoyed the episode. I’m not actually going to be on the Freelancer’s Show anymore, just doesn’t work with the time I have available. I do have my own show now called The Smart Business Show.
The ‘hardest’ part about that is getting clients to buy in to the work it’s going to take. They need to keep showing up an putting out content and engaging or they need to invest the funds in a copy writer to write for them.
How do you get over that hurdle?
Love your first item. I have always worked for myself since we’ve had a kid and getting out to field trips or seeing the first steps makes so much of the initial struggle getting business going worth it.
My WHY and your second item line up really well to. Bet we’d have some great conversations.
I’d actually like to have enough income from big clients to really be able to invest with small businesses that couldn’t normally afford my services so they can get an awesome site that generates leads.
Not quite there yet but I’m working on it.
Yeah there are way to many stories of clients getting a terrible experience with a developer/designer and then they’re all defensive. Makes the relationship with their next service provider harder to start on the foot of trust.
Thanks Curtis, as I listened to the podcast, I resonated with a lot of the things you said. Yep, we could definitely solve some of the world’s problems if we got to talking!!! 🙂
Thanks for the notice about The Smart Business Show. I’ll check it out.
I think by practising what you preach will make customers take note. New to the game but I have done a lot of research and I think now is the time to focus on blogging regularly and getting the traffic to build up. Think if you can show clients the stats and that it actually works half the battle will be won. Even if they do not have the time to blog themselves they will see the benefit of getting a copy writer. I have always found with business owners if you can show them the value they will be willing to invest.
Definitely – sometimes I almost feel at times like I’m playing defense for the former devs mistakes. At least that’s how I used to feel until I really narrowed my focus on clients. Now I realize that I shouldn’t defend myself in trying to describe how I’m not like that other dev, but how I provide a valuable service and let them decide for their own if I’m a good fit.
Great interview! Touched on so many points that resonate VERY strongly with me. Curtis McHale: was actually listening to it while xc biking up some technical trail (in Squamish!) and was able to stay in my middle ring because you guys were pumping me up! 🙂
My professional why: I’m a big advocate for entrepreneurship. I think it’s so liberating and way less risky than having a job. You learn and grow so much as a person. I want to help people breakthrough their self-limiting beliefs and take control of their destiny. The barrier to entry is so much easier now due to the Internet and the tools at our disposal. I want to help and encourage new entrepreneurs by building the RIGHT WordPress/marketing tools they need to promote their business and help them succeed.
My personal (selfish) why: I’m working on productizing my services so I can be more hands-off and have more free time. Why? I love the outdoors and love kiteboarding and mountain biking. I want more time to stay healthy, play and travel! Second, so I can become a better person, spend more time learning about history, philosophy, economics, self-development, psychology, etc. I want to educate myself to try to uncover the truth on important issues. I enjoy having debates and crucial conversations with friends on politics, world issues and common beliefs.
Thanks, Troy and Curtis for a brilliant interview.
WPElevation has exceptional interviews, but this one is extremely valuable. This is because of the way Curtis handles the questions, and how he challenges us to think closely about “Why” we do what we do.
My Why is simply freedom of choice. Both for myself and for anyone I work with.
Freedom to spend time with family and friends.
Freedom to cultivate healthy relationships and friendships.
Freedom to help website/business owners make choices that benefits their site/business/service in the long run.
Freedom can be limited by available resources, such as money, etc., but that is not the entire picture.
Money is important as a side effect of value, and of solving big problems.
I think freedom (as I see it), choice, and value are linked. In this interview, Curtis sheds light on how to tie them all together.
Btw, his website and manifesto are a good place to get more understanding of his approach and system:
http://curtismchale.ca/start/
Thanks again, Curtis for coming on the show
Great interview and troy glad to have been useful (re YNAB). Here’s my why, I wrote a blog post about it a little while ago which happened to be inspired by something Troy said, so all very … circular … http://www.squareeyes.com.au/the-big-why/