Before I tell you about today’s guest, I want to let you know about a conference that I’m going to be speaking at in March of 2019.
If you’re listening to this episode after the conference is over, feel free to fast forward a couple clicks – or you might want to stick around and hear about this conference because it happens every year and it’s pretty amazing!
The conference is called Thrive, it’s in Austin Texas on March 1st -3rd, and it’s marketed as a conference for bloggers, but really it’s for anyone that is building a business online and monetizing their website with content marketing.
There’s a session on Email List Building, Pinterest, Engagement & Growth, Affiliate Marketing. I’m talking about using Analytics to grow your business beyond the page view.
There’s a session on how to pitch and work with brands, and legal protections to put in place on your blog and in your business – and that’s just Saturday’s schedule!
And those sessions are not concurrent, you don’t have to choose you get to attend them all!
Then you can add on Sunday to your ticket if you want – it’s a Workshop Intensive day where you’ll actually sit down with a coach and start putting together a plan so when you go home, you’ll be primed to start taking action on what you learned.
Here’s why I love this conference so much: It’s limited to 120 people.
You sit at tables of 6 to 8 people the whole time, everyone is super nice and welcoming – which if you’re the kind of person who is more comfortable behind your laptop than you are in a group of strangers you’ve never met believe it or not like I am, then Thrive is a fantastic place to get a two-day intensive education on monetization.
I’ve met some amazing people through Thrive, and those relationships really have helped transform my business. So I’d love to see you there and and meet you – you can get all the details at https://thrivetogether.blog/ – and I’ve got that linked up in the show notes at shannonmattern.com/210.
And if you know you want to attend some blogging and marketing conferences but the thought of going to a conference by yourself just freaks you out like it used to freak me out, I’ve got an episode coming up with some tips and strategies to help you with that.
Today’s Guest – Carrie Dils
So my guest today has been around in the WordPress and web design community for many years – I’d even seen her name around well before I decided to start freelancing – I’d be working on a website at my day job and run into a snag, start googling and her blog would come up quite often.
Her name is Carrie Dils, and I came across her again when I booked a new web design client with a pretty challenging project. I was researching how to do something, came across Carrie’s website again and saw that she had a way to just book a paid consultation call by the minute – which we’ll talk about later in this episode. So I booked a call, got some advice and then invited Carrie on the podcast to talk about how she monetized her WordPress knowledge beyond one on one client work.
In today’s episode, Carrie and I dig deep into:
- The tipping point where Carrie took the leap from day job to full time side hustle.
- Creating multiple streams of revenue outside of 1:1 client work as a web designer.
- How to do content marketing as a web designer.
- How to easily sell your expertise – in any subject – by the minute.
- How Carrie dealt with imposter syndrome when she was first starting out
- The #1 skill to have as a web designer.
- Why you shouldn’t try to do everything yourself in your web design business.
- Why Carrie shifted from writing Genesis and WordPress tutorials for freelancers to teaching them how to be a successful freelancer.
- Carrie's #1 piece of advice for a new web designer.
- Carrie's advice on pricing.
- The belief Carrie had to change about herself to get where she is today.
Just a quick heads up – you’ll hear some background noise in this interview – Carrie had to duck into a coffee shop to do the interview, which is totally cool with me!
So let’s dive in to my interview with WordPress Expert and Fearless Freelancer Carrie Dils.
So if you’re a web designer or you’re thinking about freelancing, head on over to shannonmattern.com/freelance and that’ll send you over to my blog post all about how I got my first web design client, and you can get your hands on a freebie – my 7 Step Website Consultation Checklist and script that will walk you through how to do a consultation call with a potential client.
All the resources mentioned in this episode can be found over at shannonmattern.com/210 – and if you’re not a web designer but you want to build your own website for your side hustle, head on over to shannonmattern.com/5day and sign up to take my Free 5 Day Website Challenge which will walk you step by step how to build your entire website with WordPress in just 5 days.
See you next week!
Resources mentioned in this episode:
How to Successfully Freelance (*this is an affiliate link)
Profit First – Mike Michalowicz
Bio:
Carrie Dils is an independent contractor and developer with 20 years of experience in web development and deep experience in full-scope WordPress projects. From small, locally-owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies (including Disney and Nvidia) Carrie has worked with clients to deliver creative and successful digital solutions.
She’s passionate about education and empowering others to do the work they love. She hosts the OfficeHours.FM podcast for digital freelancers and small business owners, helping them grow their service-related businesses. She teaches WordPress and front-end development courses for Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning. She also offers a series of business courses for freelancers at The Fearless FreelancerTM.
When Carrie’s not working, she’s probably reading a book, playing with her dogs, drinking a craft beer, or taking an absurdly long walk.
