I always find that the hardest part of setting up a WordPress Business of any kind is knowing where to start. It’s rarely about the skills, experience or lack of drive, it’s mostly about knowing the right steps to getting started. A great place to go for any type of information is WordPress TV, and recently having been inspired by our case studies I decided to take a look at the business advice from those who have their own business.

For those of you who need a nudge in the right direction, or are simply interested in listening to some sound WordPress business tips and tricks, here are my top WordPress TV Business picks. (I also hope you appreciate the rhyme, although it wasn’t intentional!)

How To Ruin Your WordPress Business In 10 Easy Steps

I think Angie Meeker hits the nail on the head when she says too often we talk about how to create a business, and rarely do we talk about all of the hiccups and mishaps along the way. Her talk starts with,

so last year I ruined my business and I want to tell you about it

It is 48 minutes long but it does cover years of bad business moves and decisions, and it starts with blueberry muffins. Who thought that adding too much sugar can ruin muffins? Angie also has an interesting way of talking about the topic, she is a pastor, turned into marketing consultant turned into business guru.

Don’t dream small, don’t sell the drill sell the hole and schedule update meeting with your clients don’t just wow them with your perfect end project. These are some of my favorite takeaways.

This talk will make you smile, but also teach you lots of useful tips for your future business. If you want to get to know Angie better, you can find more info on her website.

Hiring Employee Number One – From Freelancer to Agency

It’s always great to hear a talk from someone like Brad Williams, who has first hand experience in building a business, as he is the founder of webdevstudios. This talk is a personal story, Brad is very open about his journey of building webdevstudios. It’s a story of diving in and and starting something just because you love what you do.

He quotes India Jones, talks about taking a leap of faith and being prepared to make sacrifices. His talk focuses on how to hire your first employee, which happens to be one of the most difficult stages of any freelancers career, but it’s necessary if you want to grow your business. This talk is packed full of great key takeaways and clever jokes. Brian will make you laugh and learn at the same time. Here is a place you can go to read a bit more about Brian.

And remember,

Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly – Robert Kennedy

How to Value Price Websites

Pricing is the core of any business, and there are different ways of pricing. Ben Furfie takes this topic seriously and analyses all the different types of pricing, looking at pros and cons of each. Ben teaches you how to make your time more valuable to clients and boost your bottom line. This is an important aspect of business, because starting your business is not just about doing what you love, it’s also about earning enough for your efforts.

Ben puts the emphasis on the average lifetime of a customer, and takes his calculations from there explaining why it’s always important to consider this. This talk is a great talk to wrap this series of talks up with, because it shows you how to handle one of the key aspects of business that people often wonder about and need most guidance with. If you want to learn more about this topic from Ben, you can also hear him speak on The Art of Value Podcast about the real goal of value pricing.

Wrapping Up

Pick a night in this week, grab some popcorn and watch WordPress TV. It’s great fun, it’s informative and it can help you get started with your business idea. Next time round I will try pick out some more talks for you on a different topic, and share with you what I learnt that week.

If you have any great business talks to share with us, just write them down in your comment.