Posts by Brent Weaver
Find your “Energy Quotient”
A few years ago I was at mastermind for digital agency owners. One of the speakers ran a 200-person agency. Someone asked him how many hours he put in per week. “No more than 30-hours.” Jaws dropped all around the room. Attendees whispered, “Did he just say thirty hours?” Laughter even broke out. He elaborated.…
Read MoreHow I helped an agency add $50k in revenue in 10-minutes
Are you having cash flow problems? A few weeks before the year ended, one of my program grads emailed me that she was in a bit of a cash flow crunch. Business was overall really good, just a cash slump due to some project deadlines getting pushed and new clients delaying their kickoffs. It happens…
Read MoreHow to Avoid Business Coaches with ZERO Experience Running an Agency
Have you ever been approached by a business coach who had zero experience running an agency? I have. I’m sure there are those out there that can add value… but I’ve always been a little suspect. Look, I get that most businesses are about the same. They all have to market. They all have to…
Read MoreHow Successful Agencies Attract Clients With Budget
When I first started my digital agency, I found there were two types of clients out there: – Those that had terrible budgets – Those that had great budgets In my early years, I got a lot of the terrible ones…. But after pitching over 1,000 deals I cracked the code on why some clients…
Read MoreHiring a Salesperson for Your Web Design Business
For web design businesses looking to grow, hiring a salesperson is a natural first step. Unfortunately, many businesses make hiring decisions without adequately considering the kind of person they need and what is best for their business. Finding a proper balance between the two is key. Luckily, uGurus can help you avoid some of the…
Read MoreHow Do You Handle Existing Clients When Raising Your Prices?
Seeking a greater value for your services typically involves raising your prices. How do you handle existing clients when making these changes to your business? You can find the answer in this week’s Gold Nugget Question.
Read MoreHow Much Effort Should You Put Into Discovery Before the Proposal?
Preparation is the key to success. But how much effort should you really put into discovery before you formally make a proposal? Our answer in this week’s Gold Nugget Question.
Read MoreWhat If A Client Refuses to Use Your Project Management System?
As web professionals, our project management systems help us stay organized and focused. But what happens when a client refuses to use your system? We tackle this issue in this week’s Gold Nugget Question.
Read MoreIs There Too Much Information You Can Put In a Proposal?
Adding information to your website proposal is great, but is there a point where you can have too much information? We tackle this issue in this week’s Gold Nugget Question.
Read MoreHow Do You Find Good Freelancers To Help You Take On Work?
Whether you’re a freelancer or an agency owner, you’re going to reach a point in your business when you need to outsource work. When this happens, it’s hard to know who to turn for an extra hand. That’s why we reached out to some $10K Graduates to get their thoughts on outsourcing work: where to…
Read MoreBreaking Down 5 Common Pricing Strategies
Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of web professionals build amazing businesses by teaching them to focus on three key components: strategy, sales, and projects. This boils down to one simple concept: “High value work for high pay.” And while these three components serve as the foundational elements of our program, the issue of pricing…
Read MoreHow to Avoid the Kiss of Death and Land $10,000+ Web Projects
“My nephew can do this for $800.” I call this The Kiss of Death. It’s not your fault that people say it. But it is your fault if you let it define your business. Don’t let our industry fool you. You are not a commodity. Massively competitive labor marketplaces, free content management systems, and cheap…
Read MoreDo clients prefer agencies over freelancers?
Labels are important. It’s how we humans categorize things. It’s how we know when you yell to a friend: “There is a bear outside!” That you aren’t talking about an ice cream truck. Which of course if you did think that, something might very well get eaten… but it’s probably you that’s the ice cream.…
Read MoreHow to compete with DIY web companies like Wix.com
There you are… Sitting with a potential website customer, you’re connecting, getting on the same page, and then out comes: “You seem a bit overpriced. I can get this same thing on Wix for free… what’s the difference? Why should I hire you?” And it’s happened. The hammer has dropped. You start questioning yourself… “Am…
Read More5 Major Web Design Trends Shaping Websites in 2015
Alina Senderzon, design principal at ZURB, sat down to talk with me about design trends in 2015, how she finds her creative inspiration, and what web design trends she sees out on the horizon. Responsive web design is still the major trend that has carried over from 2014. As multi-device support becomes even more important,…
Read MoreHow To Get Website Client Leads In My Local Market
Attracting leads is a frustrating and stressful business activity. It’s also time consuming to get the phone to ring, the email box to fill, and the meetings scheduled. I’ve taught thousands of web professionals how to overcome this. My process for lead generation is always the same. WARNING: There is no magic wand, no silver…
Read MoreHow to Win Clients and Design for Influence
Bryan Zmijewski of ZURB sat down to talk with me about designing for influence and how important it is to not just design artifacts but think about the use and context before creating anything. In this interview, we use the simplest of artifacts, the button, as our point of discussion. Want to see more? Watch…
Read MoreIntroduction to Zurb’s Progressive Design Process
Bryan Zmijewski of ZURB sat down to talk with me about progressive design and how their simple feedback loop with clients cuts down on work time and ensures they are providing maximum value to the client and target audience. Want to see more? Watch this 90 minute training presentation hosted by uGurus and ZURB to…
Read More3 Stats Showing Explosive Demand For WordPress
Most of my $10K students have a preferred CMS platform. The most popular by far is WordPress. Clients even demand it sometimes. Here are 3 data points showing how WordPress is dominant: CMS searches in Google, plugin marketplace size, and number of sites running a CMS. If you are a web designer or developer who…
Read MoreThe Hierarchy of Web Needs
Clients believe they need websites. And you probably believe you need to build them. But I have a dirty little secret: “No one needs a website.” When I learned this secret… it changed the game. I went from selling $2-3,000 projects to $20-30,000 projects. Almost identical work. But my mindset shifted. I learned a basic…
Read MoreWhy Having One Big Client as a Freelancer Leaves You at Risk
Ever heard the saying, “too much of a good thing can be bad?” Well, I was just chatting with a close freelance front-end designer friend of mine and she needed some help navigating a tough situation. You see, she started freelancing for a company for her normal hourly rate. She was getting paid well and…
Read MoreHow Orkin Kills Mice Using the Internet
I had a problem. I opened the door to my chicken coop. I caught a glimpse of a tiny dark object scurrying in the shadows… (Yes, I have 3 chickens in my backyard—explaining this will be left to another post.) For a second, I thought it must be my imagination. You know, like the protagonist…
Read More3 P’s of Crowdsourcing – Interview with Scott Yates of BlogMutt
Scott Yates is Founder of BlogMutt in Boulder, CO. I got a chance to sit down with him to discuss SEO, startups, incentive programs, and everything blogging. “There is no short cut to writing 500 blog posts” “The first 200 are a struggle…” Scott co-founded BlogMutt with Wade Green as a way to solve an…
Read MoreI’m trying to make people wealthy – Interview with Matthew Gravatt of Radiant Interactive
Matthew Gravatt, Founder and CTO of Radiant Interactive in Boulder, CO, sits down with me to discuss ventures, re-birth, invoicing, and company culture. “You’re smart enough…” “If you find that piece of what you really love…you can turn it into something amazing” Matt founded Radiant in order to bring “rock solid software and digital marketing…
Read MoreDon’t Be a Technical Dummy – Interview with Bart Lorang of FullContact
Bart Lorang is Founder and CEO of FullContact in Denver, CO. I got a chance to talk to him about customers, attracting talent, Techstars, and company culture. Bart founded FullContact as a way to solve his own contact information pain, but with his wife’s stellar contact organization standard (ie, her contacts were a lot more…
Read MoreForty Interviews and Counting – Sharing the Success of Web Professionals Around the World
Last week’s interview with Matt Walde marked the fortieth interview that I’ve conducted on uGurus. Our mission of helping web professionals build wildly successful businesses has been so incredibly fulfilling for me. When I was running HotPress, I thought I had a good network of peers in the industry. I had no idea the potential…
Read MoreFail Quick and Fail Often… – Interview with Matt Walde of Advision Marketing
Matt Walde is President of Advision Marketing in Denver, CO. I got a chance to visit his office to discuss traffic, conversion, talent, and making the jump from evenings and weekends to full time agency owner. Matt acquired his first client for Advision Marketing by accident in 2006 and moonlighted his role at Advision for the…
Read MoreA Journey Into Higher Value Website Projects, $10,000 at a Time
About six weeks ago I started facilitating a group coaching program called $10K Bootcamp. The program is designed to help web professionals over a ten week span to land their first $10,000 project (or learn to land them more consistently if they already have a couple under their belts). Why $10K? What’s the significance? In…
Read MoreUnder Promising and Over Delivering – Interview with Chris Kampfe of Advision Marketing
Chris Kampfe is Vice President of Business Development at Advision Marketing in Denver, Colorado. What does that mean you ask? Chris talks to people that want to do business with Advision. I got the vibe that these guys eat their own dog food. When I asked Chris how they get their clients, his response was: “they…
Read MoreDon’t Be Afraid To Make Changes – Interview with Andrew Beckman and Alex Porter of Location3 Media
Andrew Beckman (CEO) and Alex Porter (President) of Location3 Media in Denver, CO discuss starting their company, overcoming growing pains, direct response marketing, social media, and partnerships. Andrew started Location3 Media in 1999 after his time at Doubleclick selling ads on Altavista and wanting to do his own thing. Alex joined shortly after in 2003 after…
Read More