12 Lessons I Learned at PressNomics

Written by Patrick on January 30, 2015 Blog.

Last weekend I attended my very first PressNomics. If you haven’t heard of it it’s a conference all about WordPress and business put on by Pagely. It’s a nice change of pace from a WordCamp where there are a lot of talks about the technicals behind WordPress. This conference focuses on the bigger picture and ways you can improve your business no matter what you do with WordPress.

For those of you who weren’t able to go I took some notes and I’m going to share the top 12 lessons I learned at PressNomics.

1. Hamid Shojaee | Focus is the most important thing you can have in your business. If you try to do too much you will fail. You can still explore new ideas with side projects. Try them out and then either refocus or kill them.

2. Brad Jannenga | Brad took a look at the physical therapy world, studied how a PT office actually worked, and then created software for it. He didn’t worry about the specifics of the project before starting. You have to be fluid to build great software

3. Sean Tierney | Great companies are problem solvers that use technology as a tool. Mediocre companies start with technology and then see what problems they can solve.

4. Quinn Whissen | Relationships start with information. If you aren’t giving someone information how are they going to find you? Giving away information is about playing the long game because you’re earning people’s trust. It takes time to build momentum but once you have trust you’ll outperform the market. Slides here.

5. Jeremy Tanner | Succeeding at business is about putting yourself in the right place and state of mind to take advantage of opportunities. To put yourself in the right place / state of mind do the following:

  • Read books
  • Develop an API
  • Build a community
  • Travel
  • Take time off

6. Steve Zehngut | The client is always right – even when they’re wrong. Instead of telling a client how their solution is impossible (ex. The Expert?) you should instead focus on their problems. Their problems are real and you should ask them questions until you can agree on a solution that is feasible.

7. Selena Larson | Writers in the press are real people (duh). If you treat them like a button you press when you want to send out your message you probably won’t get anywhere. Spend time researching the different outlets and how they specialize before you send out any press releases.

8. Danny Sullivan | You’ll probably hear “SEO is dead” every time something changes. The key to good SEO is to write great content people want to read. The algorithm will always be changing. Instead of focusing on the gaming the system focus on writing great stuff.

9. Mergers & acquisitions round table with Shane Perlman, Syed Balkhi, Karim Marucchi, & Jake Goldman | WordPress is still very much a industry that is just getting started. Over the past couple of years we’ve seen the very beginning of some larger companies acquiring smaller companies. As this space continues to grow we’ll see more consolidation.

10. Ted Lewis | Most people don’t save for retirement at all. When they do they’re often affected by the perception of the market and they make mistakes. Long term wealth is built by consistent investments no matter the investment climate.

11. Chris Lema | Chris’ talk reminded me of a quote:

Stop talking about love. Every asshole in the world says he loves somebody. It means nothing. It still doesn’t mean anything. What you feel only matters to you. It’s what you do to the people you say you love, that’s what matters. It’s the only thing that counts.

Chris was talking about doing things. And to build time into your schedule to do those things. His #1 priority is his family and he builds time into his schedule to spend time with them every single day. If you want to do anything, work, family, or something else you have to make the time for it.

12. Matt Mullenweg | The WordPress community needs to look outside of it’s walls to get a fresh perspective on what needs to change and what opportunities are out there.

There you have it. Some takeaways from PressNomics. I hope I didn’t butcher anyone’s presentation too much. I tried to take the most important point for me out of every presentation even if the presenter didn’t focus on it.

Photo credit: GoDaddy Evangelist Mendel.

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One Response

  1. Nirav -
    February 6, 2015 at 8:50 am #

    Thanks Patrick for the notes! Wanted to be there but couldn’t.. So your summary was super useful!