WPScotland and WordUp Edinburgh 2011

WPScotland is a group for anyone in Scotland interested in WordPress, from beginners and end-users to designers and developers. The group was founded by Martin Young towards the end of 2010, with small monthly meetups starting in January 2011. I joined Martin in December 2010 to set up the WPScotland site and help with organising the meetups.

Martin and I began planning for WordUp Edinburgh 2011 earlier this year. Our vision was to hold a series of one-day events during the course of each year, events that sat somewhere between our small (and mostly social) monthly meetups and the large annual WordCamp UK in terms of size and scope. WordUp Edinburgh 2011 was the first in this series, and we’ve already started some initial planning for WordUp Glasgow 2012, which will be held in either February or March next year.

What happened on the day?

WordUp Edinburgh 2011 was a day full of presentations on a wide range of WordPress topics, from using WordPress to learn CSS, to WordPress in the Enterprise, how theme review can benefit custom theme design, WordPress in the voluntary sector, ‘How did you do that?’, managing large networks of WordPress sites, responsive design and the WordPress theme marketplace.

The quality of the presentations and panel discussions was excellent and I’d like to thank all the speakers who put so much effort into creating such valuable content. Audience participation was also fantastic and enthusiastic – thank you also to everyone who attended and helped make the day so much fun!

When I attend a gathering of WordPress folk, I’m always struck by the feeling of community that permeates such events, and WordUp Edinburgh 2011 was no exception to this. As with other WordPress get-togethers, everyone was willing to share generously and to learn from each other in a collaborative and friendly environment.

Last but not least…

Thank you to all those who sponsored the event, at all levels. We were blown away by the support we received from the WordPress community (not only in Scotland, but further afield as well), from companies to individual community members, who helped us make WordUp Edinburgh 2011 a reality.

I mean, I know that the Intertubes are not exactly the place where only saints and paragons of virtue hang out. After all, it’s representative of humanity, and humanity’s a delightful mishmash of the aforementioned paragons on one side, those with more dubious morals on the other, and everyday folks who like looking at pictures of cute cats in the middle.

But, when people who should know better – because they make their living online, or sell themselves as experts in business and marketing, for example – ignore the basics of ethical behaviour on the Internet, I start getting twitchy.

I’ve often thought that we wouldn’t need any laws at all if we all followed one basic principle: be nice to others. Nevertheless, because it seems people can’t follow such a simple precept, we have legislation to regulate behaviour on- and offline. Whichever way you look at it though, certain things are not ok. Since it seems that there have been a few prominent examples lately of people forgetting this, let’s clear this up for future reference:

The Shoeperwoman Saga: It is not ok to give your business the exact same name as a site that has already been in existence for two years. Using a hyphen in the name does not make it different, despite your assertions to the contrary. This is because it is especially not ok if you will be operating in the exact same market, thereby causing confusion amongst customers and site visitors. And it is definitely not ok to register the business/site name as a trademark, thereby effectively putting an end to the existing business if successful.

The Girl Geeks Gaffe: It is not ok to pick someone’s brain about an organisation they’ve been running for years, then set up a limited company with the same name, register the trademark and complain to Twitter that the woman whose brain you picked and who has been using her Twitter handle for a good few years is now infringing your trademark, thereby getting her Twitter username summarily taken away from her overnight. No, it is not ok to stomp all over the hard work someone has put into her organisation and its branding.

While the Girl Geeks issue has been resolved in favour of Morna Simpson, the original @girlgeeks on Twitter, the issue of the real versus fake Shoeperwoman is ongoing. In both cases, however, the reaction of the large group of fans and supporters of the two businesses was swift and severe. Like the saying about the world, the Internet is a small place and news of not-nice behaviour travels fast. It’s the quickest and easiest way to ruin your reputation online.

Now, the Shoeperwoman and Girl Geeks examples are obviously quite major. But minor infractions occur daily. By calling the following minor, I don’t mean to imply that they’re somehow ok. They’re not. Stealing is stealing. Let’s take a look at these:

It is not ok to use (watermarked) pictures from someone’s photography portfolio in your YouTube video without permission. In fact, it is not ok to use someone else’s pictures, period, unless they come with explicit permission for you to do so. And no, just because the pictures were published on Flickr or available via Google image search, does not change this. Still not ok, geddit?

It is not ok to take someone’s picture of themselves and use it in a forum or on your blog as if it was a picture of you. That’s both stealing and lying. And, more than a tad creepy. (Amber, the original Sheoperwoman, has had this happen to her on numerous occasions, so much so that a friend of hers coined the term Caughty doing a McNaughty to describe the behaviour!)

It is not ok to copy someone else’s blog posts and put them up on your site, even if you link back to the original author. Unless the person who wrote the post has given you explicit permission to do this, assume that it’s wrong.

It is not ok to steal someone’s entire site design and pass it off as your own, particularly if you’re supposedly in the web design biz. Yes, this happens. Seriously… sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

So, what have we learned here? Well, I hope it’s clear by now that, unless you have explicit permission from the creator of a piece of work (whether that be a blog post or photograph or graphic design or anything else) to use it, assume that you can’t. It’s that simple.

I should hope it’s also clear that taking someone else’s business name and business model and registering the trademark is also a big no-no. Instead of copying someone else, why not invest some time in creating something unique that you can truly call your own?

And when you’ve done that… hope like heck no-one steals the stuff you’ve worked so hard to create. If they do, though? Send them directly to this post. I’ll soon set them straight about what is and isn’t ok.

As always, for security purposes, it’s highly recommended that you keep your WordPress installation up to date:

• If you’re on our VaultPress + Monthly Maintenance package, your WordPress installation has already been updated by us. No need to worry about a thing… carry on as you were
• If you’re on our VaultPress only package, you can update your WordPress installation yourself using the automatic update option in your dashboard. VaultPress is already keeping real-time backups of your site, so no need to perform a separate manual backup before updating.
• If you don’t have Vaultpress installed, please please do a manual backup of your WordPress files and database before updating WordPress via the automatic update option in the dashboard. While the auto-update usually works just fine, every so often (about 10% of the time) something will go wrong, usually as a result of a plugin incompatibility, and a backup is vital in these situations. Contact us if you need help with this process.

Today, the spotlight is on Kimberly Richey of Kimberly Richey Rolfing, a Certified Rolfer from Columbia, South Carolina. Kimberly’s journey to Rolfing via Library Science is fascinating – over to her to tell you all about it!

How long have you been running your current business?
1.5 years, really only 6 months full-time.

Have you always done this type of work or have you gone through a career change in your life? If you’ve experienced a career change, what were you doing before, and why did you choose to do something different?
I went to massage therapy school in college on a whim. I thought it would be a great part-time gig to help pay the bills while I was in school. It certainly filled that need, but about 2 years into working in a chiropractor’s office I realized I really enjoyed the work and I was pretty good at it. I decided I wanted to get more specific training and that is what led me to become a Rolfer.

During and throughout this time I was still faced with another reality. I am a Type 1 Diabetic. Prior to health care reform, I was unable to get health insurance without being employed by a major company. At the end of college I knew I was bound for grad school and ultimately decided to get a Masters degree in Library Science. I completed the program and worked as an elementary school librarian for three years. I knew in my heart, even during grad school, that I didn’t really want to be a librarian. But being a librarian helped clarify for me what I did want and need in a job, such as: working one on one with people, lots of autonomy, flexible schedule, high pay that has some “commission” component- (it motivates me!), etc.

Due to a some major luck I was able to work out the health insurance issue and I resigned from my librarian job after I completed my Rolfing training and set out to do Rolfing full-time. But striking a balance between stability and feeling flexible in a job has been the biggest challenge of the last decade for me.

Why library science?
Oh, whyyyyyy library science???!!

So I was closer than I originally thought to my core career challenge– stability and novelty when I choose library science. I had fear of being backed into a professional corner and wanted to pick a master’s degree that would allow me to do several different kinds of jobs. I thought seriously about law school and pursuing an academic track with my undergraduate studies in comparative religion. But both seemed so limiting and meant many more years of intense education.

So when a mentor suggested library science I did a bit of research and thought “Well, I love reading and books. I can do this.” Note, no real thought of passion for the work or having any experience working in a library. In hindsight, I see that my whole approach was a bit off and VERY much reflected my twenty-two year old state of mind ! I wish now that my mentor or my parents had pushed me to volunteer or work in a library to make sure it was something I enjoyed doing, i.e. fulfill the stability/novelty balance. This is the advice I’d pass on to any twenty-something who is thinking of grad school. It has been a huge learning experience for sure!!

Did you have any role models amongst your family or friends for starting your own business? If not, was there anyone else who inspired you along the way?
My mom has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and now runs a small tutoring business for special needs children. My in-laws both own their own businesses so those have been excellent examples. I also look back now and see that the jobs I have worked at the longest were small businesses. I worked in a gift shop in high school and over my years there developed a lot of ideas and opinions about how it could run more efficiently. The same was true for the chiropractic clinic I worked in after massage therapy school. These experiences and small business owners offered me examples of what worked and what did not.

What made you start your own business instead of getting a job working for someone else?
I actually have a bit of a non-traditional set-up. I technically work for my in-law’s physical therapy business, BUT in a day-to-day way it’s my own thing. I do all my own scheduling and marketing, etc. This was the way we were able to work out the health insurance!!

What do you love most about what you do?
I love that I get to help people is a very direct way. I also love that my job has a low level of monotony. Each client is different and there is always something new to learn. It really strikes the balance I crave between novelty and stability.

What would you most like to change about your current work situation?
I am still building my practice, so a full client load would be at the top of my list !

What are your big dreams for your business, both short-term (1 – 2 years) and long-term (3 – 5 years)?
Short-term dreams are to be/feel successful and work towards a full client load.

Long-term dreams would be building more awareness around alternative medicine and wellness is South Carolina. To this end I would love to be involved in evolving some of the legislative issues that would help alternative modalities flourish in my state.

What role does your website play in your business? What benefits has having a website (and specifically a WordPress-based one) had for your business?
Rolfing is new to SC. Educating people is a large part of my PR and marketing efforts. Having a top-notch website is essential. I love WordPress because of the flexibility it gives me to modify the actual website and to blog (when I finally have the time to start blogging !).

First up is Sarah Aldrich of Sarah Aldrich Pilates. I can’t claim to have designed Sarah’s website; my work with her has largely been behind-the-scenes WordPress development to make changes to her existing site – testimony to Sarah’s success over the past couple of years is that, when I started working with her, I assumed she’d been in business for much longer than she had! Sarah has some wise and inspiring things to share, so without further ado, here they are!

Describe your current work/business:
I own a Pilates studio in downtown New Haven, CT. I started my business in January 2009 with one client when it was just me and a small room the size of a bathroom. Two years later I have 4 employees and have increased revenue by 150% and have moved into my 1500 sq ft dream space. Kinda cool. Especially when acquaintances would shake their head when they learned what I was setting out to do in “such a hostile economy”.

Have you always done this type of work or have you gone through a career change in your life? If you’ve experienced a career change, what were you doing before, and why did you choose to do something different?
I spent my entire 20s feeling lost and aimless. I had a literature degree from a prestigious American university, but didn’t know how to put it into action and hopped from job to job. One day a close college friend recognized my lost-ness, and said, “Sarah, you have always been such a natural mover. Have you tried Pilates? I think you’d be a great teacher.” I was working in retail at the time (in a mind-numbing make-up selling capacity) and on a whim took a 3 pack of Pilates sessions at a local studio. I fell in love with it instantly and thought “Hey, maybe I could do this.” It took 2 years of absolute focus (no dating, no weekends, no eating out, etc) to go to Pilates school and study anatomy and get certified, and some generous family members who loaned me money to get where I am today.

What made you choose to start your current business?
Even though owning a business is terrifying at times, I always remind myself that a) I love that I am at the helm of my own proverbial ship and b) I never ever get bored as I am learning something new about myself/the industry every single day. I have so much more pride when I wake up in the morning. It feels like an adventure with no scriptbook to rely on. And I love that.

Did you have any role models amongst your family or friends for starting your own business? If not, was there anyone else who inspired you along the way?
I have a huge family (I’m the baby of 9 kids) and everyone was really supportive. But two of my brothers made the biggest impact. They taught me the most important lessons right away–that of tenacity and courage. I’ve since hired a consultant (who owns the school where I was Pilates certified). She is a fabulous mentor and advisor and I have learned a ton from her too. The thing she tells me the most is remembering the importance of not letting my desire to please people distract me from the bottom line: I am here to provide clients with a top quality experience and to profit from that endeavor. I have to re-learn this everyday as I always want to keep everyone happy.

What do you love most about what you do?
I love that some hours I’m teaching, some I’m moving, some I’m sitting and being cerebral. I’m always working on helping clients inhabit their best bodies and selves. I love that I am the interface between a service business and people in a small city. I love the variety.

What would you most like to change about your current work situation?
What would I most like to change? I guess nothing. I have a HUGE list of things to accomplish and every time I tick something off the list, I add something new. So I am just trying to bring my best self to the job everyday. I am looking forward to being better at balancing team leadership with keeping the daily nuts & bolts maintenance in check. So, more time would be great. But I know that’s not gonna happen.

What are your big dreams for your business, both short-term (1 – 2 years) and long-term (3 – 5 years)?
Short-term dreams: Maximize my current revenue stream. Fill in the gaps in my group mat classes. Build a strong team of employees. Long-term: Figure out how to balance my desire to be a mother, with my reality of owning a business. I also want my business to become more profitable so that I can do more community outreach/link up with local non-profits to make New Haven a better city to live in.

What role does your website play in your business? What benefits has having a website (and specifically a WordPress-based one) had for your business?
My website is a BIG deal. I feel that its blog format represents the youthful/playful vibe I want my clients to get from my brand. Pilates can feel so stiff and snobby. I want to offer a beautiful space where quirky people can be themselves. The blog is a part of that. It feels more dynamic than a static website. I encourage clients and my employees to provide feedback and add to it. It works in close conjunction with my biz Facebook account and my Constant Contact web marketing service. I run most of my business/client communication through email, so a good blog is KEY. And its user-friendly. If I ever need to make changes, I don’t feel like I need to know fancy coding stuff. Its more accessible to me as a green tech person.

It’s not an unreasonable amount at all, but at that particular point in time, not really having earned very much yet from my own business, it may as well have been £250,000 for all that I could afford it. They didn’t offer the option to pay the membership fee monthly, unfortunately, or I probably would have jumped at that – just over £20 per month was infinitely more affordable than a lump-sum upfront payment.

In retrospect, I’m kinda glad that I didn’t scrape together the money to join the networking organisation. I’ve met many of the people who belong to it at other functions and they’re all lovely people, but the style of networking involved was too formal for me. I’ve decided to be at peace with the fact that I’m not a ‘magic minute’ kind of girl!

But I digress.

My experience with the whole heart-sinking, jaw-dropping, you-want-me-to-pay-what-upfront?! process isn’t unique amongst small businesses, especially not in the first few months of operation. Sometimes, finding a whole big chunka cash for something just isn’t feasible no matter how much you’d like it to be so. Smaller monthly payments, on the other hand? Perfect.

The weird thing is, I never thought to apply this to my own business at first – for some reason, in my head, a website was something you paid for upfront. In our case, we ask people for a 50% deposit at the start of a project, and 50% upon completion, which breaks things up somewhat, but which can also still work out to two large amounts.

I’m happy to report, however, that my brain finally came to the party and that we now offer a pay-monthly option for our web design services… the Monthly Marvin! (For some background on “Who on earth is Marvin?!” click here.)

There will still be a deposit involved, though less at 25%. And, as is usually the case with pay-monthly options, the total cost will work out a wee bit higher than if you paid upfront, though we’re not here to exploit anyone by charging exorbitant fees. What we are here to do, is get small businesses like you the heck onto the web so that you can start expressing your brilliance online and making those big dreams come true! I feel very passionately about this, and can’t stand to see small businesses settling for either no web presence or an inferior one simply as a result of a (too) high cost barrier.

Regardless of whether you choose to pay upfront or monthly, you’ll also have the option to add on our monthly maintenance package, which offers real-time backups of your site, regular WordPress and plugin updates, and free troubleshooting assistance in event of anything going wrong with your site.

You also won’t miss out on membership of our Noodle Bar if you choose to pay monthly. We’ll simply allocate your points on a monthly basis instead, and your discount rate will increase accordingly as well.

Any questions? Contact us, and we’ll be glad to answer them!

But, as I started writing it, I realised that launching into details about something called ‘The Monthly Marvin’ didn’t really make sense if I hadn’t ever fully explained who or what Marvin is in the first place. There are a few clues hidden about the website (for example, if you mouseover the ‘Find out more’ button under Marvin’s picture on the home page (hint: he’s the skeleton), a brief explanation pops up), but I’ve never actually gone into any further details. So, without any further ado, here’s Marvin’s backstory….

Marvin’s precursors: Alfred, Bob and Charlie

All businesses, especially in their first year, are stories of evolutionary growth, I guess, and Phenomenoodle wasn’t any different. Ah, those early days, when I was giddy with excitement at starting a new business, and also delightfully confused about exactly what it was that I offered. Web design? Yes. WordPress specific? Sort-of. Copywriting? Yeees, if people wanted it; after all, I can write very well. Social media advice? Sure, why not, since I be tweeting every day and am therefore an expert, right? It was a lovely muddled jumble of all sorts of webby type things, but with no real clear offering. The lack of clarity drove me mad(der than I already am).

So, one day, I sat my mad self down and came up with some web design packages to offer to the good folks out there who were looking for websites. I was expecting it to be a challenge. But, that part, the actual listing of what went into each package, turned out to be easy-peasy. The naming-of-the-packages part, on the other hand? Not so much.

After much thought and pacing, and pacing and thought, I came up with the inspired (inspired!) ‘Package A’, ‘Package B’, and ‘Package C’. I know. Are you as underwhelmed as I was that day?

That’s when I had the epiphany, however, that if I was going to name packages, then I was darn well going to name them. So, dear ol’ ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ became Alfred, Bob and Charlie.

The three were a hit. Not only were they clear and focused on WordPress design and development, but they made people giggle too. Giggles are good. Business can be fun!

Marvin is born

After a few months of happy business with Alfred, Bob and Charlie, a sad day came. You see, most small businesses needed a package that combined aspects of both Alfred and Bob, who were both geared towards people who were just starting out on the web (Charlie was the much more expensive custom web design package).

I decided to amalgamate the two into one package that better suited the types of businesses that I encountered. I also revamped the custom web design package while I was at it. The problem was, however, that I was left with two brand new packages that simply didn’t fit the old names. As a result, I made the tough call to retire Alfred, Bob and Charlie. We all shed a tear at the time, but I hear that they’re living it up in Florida now, which makes both me and them very happy.

In marked contrast to the previous occasion, the package naming process went a lot more smoothly this time around. Because the starter package was based on a ‘bare bones’ theme framework that I’d developed, the name Marvin (as in Starvin’ Marvin) popped instantly into my head, along with an image of a smiling skeleton in a cowboy hat. Marvin, and his associated avatar, was born. Um, as it were.

A bit about Marci

To represent our custom web design services, my brain delved into its strange recesses and came up with the girl who has it all (just like a custom web design). I chose the name ‘Marci’, because I wanted something preppy that ended with the letter ‘i’ and which complemented the name ‘Marvin’. Since Marci and Marvin share the same first three letters, I considered it fate.

Ironically*, Marci is built on Marvin in that our Marvin ‘bare bones’ framework is the basis for any site we design. It’s a skeleton which provides the standard WordPress functionality required for every site and upon which we can build any design that we want, from the most basic to the most complex.

(*Or perhaps not so ironically, since all humans** have an underlying skeleton.)

(**Yes, I am aware that Marci is not actually a human being. I am also aware that if she was, she couldn’t have a boy skeleton anyway, but that’s tangential to my point. I know too that Marvin is not really a skeleton. Or really real, for that matter. The thread by which I hang onto reality may be thin, but it is there nevertheless.)

And there you have it: a quick(ish) tour through Phenomenoodle’s first year in business and the reason why we have a skeleton on our website! He’s really friendly. I promise.

You can update using the automatic update feature on your WordPress dashboard. If you choose to do this, please remember to backup your database and WordPress files first. If you need any help with backing up your site and updating WordPress, contact us.

You can update your version of WordPress directly from your dashboard using the automatic update feature, but please remember to backup your site before you do! (If you’re not sure about making manual backups, you should consider signing up for our VaultPress backup service.)

If you need any help with backups and updating, please contact us.

WordPress has just beaten Joomla and Drupal to win this year’s Open Source CMS Hall Of Fame Award. Those of us who work with WordPress every day know exactly how powerful the software is as a Content Management System, and it’s fantastic to see WordPress getting more and more recognition for this and moving away from being thought of as ‘just’ a blogging platform.

To find out how WordPress can help your small business reach its big dreams, contact us today.