At the start of 2018 I struck out on my own again and launched Stompgear Digital Marketing. Since then I’ve been doing a mix of content strategy, growth marketing, and freelance WordPress development.
The Agency Life
Personally, I really like learning about my clients and their businesses, and seeing the direct impact my services can have. I am passionate about using technology to grow a business and help people work efficiently.
Client work as an agency definitely has its ups and downs.
While the variety of client work keeps things interesting, I began to feel that pull back to working with a product and platform, not just the one-off, client specific projects I’d been doing.
I found myself kicking around a few product ideas, but the thought of building and launching my own product from scratch was daunting. It’s also hard to build a product with limited time resources that need to be used for the client work to pay the bills.
I made a short (a VERY short!) list of plugin or product companies I was interested in being a part of and kept my ears open for new opportunities.
I wanted to find a company with a great team and a solid product where I could use my skills and experience to contribute to their growth.
That led to a conversation with the team at Impress.org (GiveWP, WP Business Reviews) and I’m thrilled to announce that I have joined Impress.org as Product Manager!
Tough choices
It’s not easy to stop doing your own thing. I also had a chance to work with some friends at a very talented agency doing some great work for high profile clients.
I (half) joke that moving into WordPress back around 2011 was a bad career move because I was mostly known as a developer, despite more than a decade of experience leading projects and teams at big corporate clients. I have said more than once that I don’t want to be a “50 year old developer”. (I’m turning 47 just two months from the time I wrote this).
Now there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want. It’s just doesn’t align with where I want to be.
I’ve been well aware of the quality products built by Impress.org, and I’ve been lucky enough to have met several members of the team over the years at various WordCamps and WordPress related events or communities.
So while change doesn’t always come easy for me, it was a great opportunity I simply could not pass up!
I’m excited to become a part of the team, where I’ll be helping to drive the design and development of GiveWP, WP Business Reviews and some other cool products in the works.
The End of Stompgear?
Stompgear isn’t going completely away, but it may shift into a more educational resource for growth-stage recurring revenue companies like a SaaS, subscription service, or membership website.
The beauty of the model I chose for Stompgear is that I can pull from a wide range of skilled people based on the specific project needs. I didn’t need to do everything on my own.
I’ll still be able to provide some strategic consulting and connect potential clients with the skilled people they need to work with.
Up to the Challenge
I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I’m excited to get started and contribute where I can!
Leave a Reply