Bridget Willard | SaaS Marketing Agency

Category: Business Advice

  • Psychological Pairing: Forget Motivation – Actually Get Stuff Done

    Motivation is constantly being chased by apathy and rarely wins the race. So? How do I get stuff done? Psychological Pairing.

    What is Psychological Pairing?

    “In relation to psychology, pair by association is the action of associating a stimulus with an arbitrary idea or object, eliciting a response, usually emotional. This is done by repeatedly pairing the stimulus with the arbitrary object.” Wikipedia

    Motivation isn’t tangible. It’s allusive. It hides from you. Motivation is too hard to nail down. So what do you do?

    Basically, I bribe myself.

    Eat the Frog

    One of the sayings in productivity is to “eat the frog.” This means that you do the one thing you don’t want to do first. Everything after that tastes good. Having spent 30 years doing secretarial work, this is how I’ve lived my life. I still do it.

    So, you eat the frog. Now what?

    Set Limits

    It’s so easy to get distracted working at or from home. As I write this post, I’m a bit down so I’m in bed. This is a rule I generally don’t break. I have a desk in my living room (no TV in there). That is where I work. When I get up from my desk, I am done working.

    Limits help set expectations for yourself and for your friends and family. This especially helps if you have people living with you like family or roommates.

    Work like an employee. Block out your time. Take scheduled breaks. Write down what you’ve done. Make a task list but put it in your calendar. Tasks take time. If you don’t understand how much time you’re spending, you will underbid projects and overtax yourself. But that’s another blog post.

    “Work From a Calendar: I have recently picked this one up: to work from a calendar instead of a to-do list. What I find useful is that a calendar forces me to rethink my work from tasks to time units. It is a small change, but it increases the chance of getting things done.” Ye Chen

    Reward Yourself

    Okay. This isn’t about time management. But it is. So, essentially, psychological pairing is about doing something you don’t like doing and then rewarding yourself with something you do like.

    [bctt tweet=”To motivate yourself, pair a task with a reward. Small task, small reward. Build. Do. Accomplish. It’s that simple.” username=”BridgetMWillard”]

    For example, after my husband passed away, I needed to donate his clothing. It was overwhelming emotionally and physically. So I decided I could fill two plastic bags and then take it to Goodwill. Each time I took those donations to Goodwill, I went to In-N-Out for lunch. I treated myself for doing something I didn’t want to do.

    It doesn’t have to be that dramatic. Write a blog post, watch a movie. Do two hours of client work, have a cup of tea. Send a proposal, go for a walk.

    The key to psychological pairing is that you are self-aware enough to know what motivates you and that you break down the tasks. Achievable. Do it. Write it down. Rinse and repeat.

    Happy working my friends.

  • One Year In: Running Your Own Business is Hard — There Were Tears

    Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. Through circumstances I didn’t choose, I started my business in October of 2017. Running your own business, not as a side hustle but as a pay-the-rent hustle, is a burden and a risk. It’s not all just WiFi on the beach and every romanticized photo you’ve seen on Instagram.

    It means being serious. It means being self-aware. It’s not a four hour work day, let alone work week. It takes pride and humility. Discipline and creativity. Blood, sweat, and late nights. And tears. Lots of tears. Seriously. Tears.

    The short version of this blog post is that I’m glad I did this but it is hard. It has taxed my ego and self worth and I’m learning to separate those triggers. It’s not personal.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo8HO4TAJvk/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

    Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned in my first year.

    Set Boundaries with Friends and Clients

    It’s okay to say no. Saying yes too often eats away at your calendar, billable time, and productivity. Plus, if you’re not setting your boundaries, you’ll be resentful. You don’t want that. As a business owner (and sometimes remote worker), you have control over your time. Take it seriously.

    And yes, I’ve told friends that Saturdays (by appointment), I’m available for lunch. It’s completely fine with most people who have day jobs. They’ll understand. If they don’t, then it’s their loss. Protect your time with your boundaries. Be clear. You will have people who will test you. They may say you don’t have a “real job” since you work for yourself. This is even more so with remote work. So I have been practiced but firm.

    I’ve told clients I will email them between the hours of 8am and 6pm. That is reasonable. Then, I keep myself to those parameters. Setting boundaries, being self aware, and sticking to them helps you respect yourself and others to also respect your time.

    Go to brunch. Enjoy your time off. And try not to look at your phone.

    Specialize Your Work and Client Base — Refer the Rest

    “Everyone” is not a client. You won’t sync with everyone. Your personality may not be compatible with a potential customer. They might not be the right kind of business for you and, frankly, you may not be able to serve them well.

    I’ve turned down a lot of work this year. I don’t do press releases or resumes. I refer that. I don’t do Pinterest. I refer that. Find out what you do well and quickly. Refer the rest.

    I rock at Twitter. I don’t do SEO. I write bios, but not white papers.

    Say Yes by Saying No

    If you do turn down a job or client, do so by referring. Meaning, “I don’t write press releases but Jen Miller does. Here’s her email.” Then you are still a resource and helpful. If you just say no, you look like a jerk. That’s bad branding. Saying no allows you to say yes to the right things.

    Instead of wasting your time with the wrong work or the wrong client, spend time on the things that make you money. For me, that’s Twitter. I don’t make money on Instagram.

    Experiment with Pricing

    You can experiment with pricing. When I first started managing Twitter, I did it for $250 a month. Then I started this business and started at $1,000 as introductory pricing. Now, that same scope is $1,200. I know the market value because I worked at an agency.

    I also discount my work for some of my friends. During my WCLAX talk this year, Alex Vasquez asked me what I do about friends who want discounts. I answered by saying a real friend should pay full price. That said, I’ve discounted work for friends who are clients because it’s my business and I can make that decision. But understand why you are making that decision.

    For example, I offered a friend a three month trial at 25% discount. I said, “If you don’t see the results you want, we just stop. We’re still friends. No hard feelings. But if we continue, we go to 100%.” It was a fair price and helped us keep our friendship when we ended the account (temporarily, I might add).

    Know Your Cost

    I spent a long time in construction accounting so this wasn’t a big barrier for me this year. But yeah, $250 a month for Twitter ended up being minimum wage. Know how much you cost yourself to run your business.

    When I started, I reverse engineered my salary, then used that as a basis for my pricing. Create a basic budget so you know what your outgoing costs are. This helps you determine a baseline for your pricing.

    It’s okay to take a part-time job.

    Yeah. In February, I finally admitted. I can’t keep running out of savings or borrowing from family. It’s time to get a part-time job. It was really hard. I felt like a complete failure. In fact, I had to talk to some of my very good friends about my fears and feelings. I felt like the whole world was watching me fail.

    Instead, I met new friends. I love my Serbian family and my work doing office work and marketing at the travel agency. And, it’s helped me travel for work!

    I’ve been honest with my boss and she gives me flexibility. We’re both trying to run our own businesses. She’s in year 12 and I’m in year 1. But we need other people.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BgCYX14lK3b/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

    Cash Flow Can Be a Bitch

    Oh man. This one is tough. One of my goals for 2019 is to have a fun bank account and a main bank account for bills and business expenses. I learned this tip from my friend  Robert. My biggest issue with cash flow is overly-optimistic projections. So, I had to borrow money from family and friends a few times. It sucks. It’s depressing. I’ve had my BFF hold my hand while I call to ask for help. But they were all glad to help. People like to help you.

    https://twitter.com/gidgey/status/1042216811708612608

    Be Honest and Open with Your Peers

    When people ask how you’re doing, tell them. Don’t be a complainer, but be honest. I usually say, “I’m good but can be better.” This gives you an opening. People don’t know you’re taking on work unless you tell them. So, if they ask if I have room for clients, I’ll tell them. Currently, I have two openings. I also tweet about it. Almost all of my work has come from Twitter or WordCamps.

    Sometimes You Have to Alter Your Business Model

    When I first started, a friend reminded me of my previous skills. So, while I was building my client base, I did collections for my friends for a commission.

    Be ready for shifts in perception and need. One of the reasons why I love Twitter so much is you can listen to your audience. So one day I saw someone tweet about how much they hate writing their speaker bio. I spontaneously tweeted that I would write a speaker bio for “$25 fast, fast PayPal Cash.” I’ve written over 30 bios and put  my price up to $50.

    Build Rest into Your Days

    Seriously. I built in the 2:30 nap so much that my dog is trained. When I stop taking 20 minute naps, I get too exhausted. The world won’t stop because you’re unavailable for 20 minutes. I promise. Even if you don’t sleep, lay down, take off your glasses, and close your eyes. You’ll thank me later.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BgChXMiltj2/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

    Give Back

    Besides being a Make WordPress team rep for the marketing team, I was also a co-organizer for WordCamp Orange County for the second year in a row. I volunteered again for WordCamp Los Angeles, too.

    I became a recurring donor for 4ocean.com as well as Oxfam and FreeCodeCamp.org. Giving back helps keep your perspective in check.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BfzDTcIF-Qz/?taken-by=bridgetmwillard

    Keep Up Your Own Site

    A cobbler’s children have no shoes is unacceptable. The best way to get work is to do work. As a marketer, keeping up my website and social media profiles is important. These are the results that I can show to prospective clients. You may be asked to give case studies or analytics to prove your worth. It’s not for me to share my client’s stats. Discretion is important. But I can show my own. So I do.

    Numbers to Date

    • Written over 800 client tweets.
    • Written over 30 speaker bios.
    • My own Twitter account has over 16000 tweets and 5 million impressions.
    • Two keynotes and 8 WordCamps (two overseas).
    • An average of 24 Meetups attended (2-3 a month).
    • One laptop-less vacation.

    I’m at over 1300 words and I feel it’s important to share these, thoughts, especially after the feedback I got on Twitter.

    More Thoughts – Speed Round

    • Trust your gut. It’s intuition analyzing data.
    • You don’t have to take every client.
    • Ask friends. Have a close circle you can mastermind with.
    • Publish base pricing on your site. This helps manage expectations.
    • Mix recurring and one-off revenue streams.
    • Make sure your social bios say what you do.
    • Keep business cards with you even when at a bar. Never pass an opportunity.
    • Keep going to conferences. Stay top of mind.
    • Partner with your friends.
    • Your value comes through education.
    • Put expiration dates on your estimates.
    • Put terms on your invoices.
    • Follow up with clients.
    • Rely on tech to make things easier but don’t over-automate. I use Freshbooks and Calendly.
    • Discount if you more work but with an expiration (25% for 3 months).
    • Failure is a good thing. I promise. Learn to accept it. Learn from it.
    • Take job interviews anyway. Learn from them.
    • Email people from LinkedIn asking if they want to outsource. Ask them if they’d rather have a vendor than an employee.
    • Stay teachable.

    Looking forward to the next 12 months.

    I didn’t want to NOT start my business. If I end up failing, it won’t be because of the fear to start. So, looking forward in the next 12 months, I want to start another bank account and put my “fun money” allowance elsewhere. I also want to seriously consider starting a C-corp and putting myself on a salary through a payroll service. I’d also like to add teaching in my business model. I love that moment when someone gets it and they’re now empowered.

    PS

    I met Mark Maunder, CEO of  who makes Wordfence

  • Women in Business — It’s about respect.

    When it comes to being a woman in business, all I’ve really wanted from my peers (male or otherwise) is respect. I am a highly-motivated person who achieves. As a professional, I have experience. That experience translates into intuition.

    I’ve been working in offices for over 30 years from a publisher to a trucking company, churches to schools, construction to tech. All of the businesses I’ve worked in were lead by men.

    For the most part I feel that I get along with men. I don’t have the mindset that all men are sexist and I feel that I am fair in how I approach work.

    I was inspired chat about this today, so here goes.

    How do you get respect as a woman in business?

    So how does a woman in business get respect? I’ve found out that I have to demand respect. Sometimes this comes at a cost. It could be personal or financial. Getting respect means setting boundaries and defending them. I struggle with being dismissed. It’s sad but true.

    Things I’ve actually been told:

    • You’re not a writer.
    • You’re just a marketer.
    • You can’t write about [topic]; it’s too technical.
    • You’re an alarmist.
    • You should learn to code and build a website before a developer will respect you.
    • That’s just your opinion.
    • You just work from home.
    • That’s not a real job.

    Yeah. It’s not awesome. It sucks. It makes me feel marginalized.

    How can you support a woman in business?

    Supporting a woman in business means supporting your peers. I am fond of definitions by contrast so let’s go with what not to do.

    • Don’t mischaracterize the concerns of your coworkers or teammates. “She’s mad, upset, etc.”
    • Don’t offer your advice if she didn’t ask for it.
    • Don’t presume she isn’t educated or informed on the topic at hand.
    • Don’t marginalize analysis as opinion.
    • Don’t ask her about her personal life or plans for children in the interview.
    • Don’t interrupt her while she’s speaking. Don’t presume you know what she wants to say. Rian Rietveld

    How can you support a woman-owned business?

    There are plenty of ways to support businesses, regardless of who owns them. But let’s stick with the gender.

    • Send clients her way via an email introduction — as you would with any of your friends.
    • Send a personalized tweet about them or link to their website.
    • Share about her services and expertise on LinkedIn is awesome.
    • Write a review on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Yelp.
    • Pay her for her advice.

    I’m wondering why this isn’t obvious.

    The problem with diversity can be tokenization. I find most people want to be treated with respect because of their merit, skills, and talent. Not because they belong to [insert group here].

    Thoughts from My Mom

    After reading this, my mom gave me a call this morning. She was part of the generation who wasn’t allowed to wear jeans to school, couldn’t purchase birth control, and at the tail end of not having property rights. It’s worth adding her perspective.

    She says respect is like inspiration — it’s intangible. It’s invisible. You know it when you have it but you can’t demand it.

    It’s completely true and a wise point of view.

    How do I want to be supported as a women in business?

    As a woman in business, with my own almost a year old, what I’d like to see is emotional support and peer mentoring. And I’ve had this. I know I’m fortunate as this is not always the case.

    I believe that if we support one another, regardless of our demographic, things will come our way.

    When, however, you have an opportunity to have influence for good, be aware of how you approach it.  The only way to make “things better” is to change your own behavior. That has a ripple effect.

  • 25 Things You Spend More Than $25 On – An Argument for Managed WordPress Hosting

    Twenty-Five Dollars. $25. In 2018 when this article was first published, That’s all with my former client) . That price is now $45 as of this May 6, 2022 edit. Yet, most people think $25 is expensive. Is it?

    Let’s look at other managed WordPress hosting costs updated as of May 6, 2022.

    Your website is for your business. Isn’t it worth $25 a month?

    The List: 25 Things I spend more than $25 on

    I’ve left some of the original list and added a few bonus items. What are you spending $25 a month on?

    1. Cazadores Tequila. At Hennessy’s it’s $9.50 a shot. Two shots plus a tip and tax is about $35.
    2. Pedicure. A plain pedicure at Happy Nails is $22. With a $5 tip that puts the cost at $27.
    3. Starbucks. Every reload on my  Gold Card is $25. I do that at least once a month.
    4. 2 for 1 burgers on Tuesdays. Again. This with a tip is about $35.
    5. A tank of gas. My last tank of gas at Chevron was $39.42.
    6. Monthly massage at White Lotus Day Spa. I’m a member so it’s $75.
    7. Jewelry. The last bracelet I bought was soft leather. $40
    8. Home Decor. I bought some pillows and paintings at Ross for $34.
    9. Office Supplies. Last run to Staples for misc pens and post-it notes was $67.
    10. Pizza. Domino’s large pizza, soda, delivery fee, and tip. $37.
    11. Sunday Brunch. Pierside blueberry pancakes and bottomless mimosas, tax, tip. $42.
    12. Toll Roads. My last statement was $39.
    13. Uber. I lost track of how much I spend monthly but it’s over $100. It’s why I prefer to walk. But when traveling, you have to do what you have to do.
    14. Hair coloring. I pay about $75 a month to not have gray hair.
    15. WiFi on Swiss Air flight. $39. It is admittedly less expensive on other airlines, but I had no problem spending this to get connected.
    16. Keepsake Frames. Print of a photo for my mom. $39.
    17. Monthly Flowers. I just purchased a subscription from Enjoy Flowers for $68.
    18. Airport Parking. The last time I parked at SNA it was $60. (Not everyone has a person who will drop them off and pick them up at the airport.)
    19. Choosing your seat on Swiss. I was glad to pay $55 each way to choose an aisle seat on my international flight to Belgrade.
    20. Vacation. Even though I won a two night stay at an all-inclusive resort, I had no trouble paying $215 for the airfare.
    21. Premium Plugins. and $30 on Better Click to Tweet without any reservation.
    22. Shorts. The last pair of shorts I bought from Old Navy was $22. Tax and shipping put that over.
    23. Advertising. $30 for LinkedIn. More than two $20 boosts on Facebook.
    24. Makeup. My last order was $100.
    25. Donations. I donate $20 to Natured Conservatory and $5 to FreeCodeCamp every month, plus the odd request for someone in need.
    26. Hootsuite is $79 a month and how I run my business.
    27. Fiber Internet: I pay $80/month for AT&T Fiber.
    28. Cat Food & Litter. Easily $40/month.
    29. Therapy: Twice a month at $65 each is $130.
    30. My last meal at Chuy’s was $44.64.

    None of these include utilities, rent, cell phones, internet, insurance, taxes, groceries, or car payments. My business costs about $1500 to run for recurring services, health insurance, and vendors. That doesn’t even include my salary.

    So, is $30 – $50 a month too much to spend on your business website? If the answer is no, then re-evaluate your business.

    People Speak up on Twitter

    https://twitter.com/joe4ska/status/1023601314704515073

    Your Time is Worth Money

    It doesn’t matter to me which host you choose, but pick managed hosting. The race to the bottom is real. Get good service. Invest in your own business by investing in your website.

    This also means blogging on a regular basis but that’s another post.

    This post contains affiliate links which means that if you click on them and buy I may receive a bit of compensation.

  • SaaS: The Cost of Doing Business Online

    SaaS: The Cost of Doing Business Online

    Updated 2/14/23

    So many small business owners think doing business online means they save money. Well, you could save money, but then you would be compromising on your tech stack.

    So many people think “online” means “free.” It used to, for sure.

    For example, many small businesses ask me how much they should budget for marketing. The answer is 15% of your gross revenue. Sound high? Maybe. But do you want to grow? It goes with website hosts, too. If you’re paying less than $25 for a web host, it’s time to upgrade.

    So what is the cost of doing business online? In this post, I detail my own SasS expenses to give you an idea of how much to budget.

    I originally wrote this in 2018 when my SaaS subscriptions were $125. Those were the days. You won’t need all of the services, but you will have some. 

    Software as a Service (Saas)

    Software as a Service basically means you can get a service through a webpage. Wikipedia has a better definition. The point is, that digital space has a cost. Software over the cloud has a cost. Clouds are not free.

    Traditional Services

    Traditional services like accounting and law typically charge retainers and charge by 15 minute increments. We never question this. So why not value our own time?

    This also includes monthly, recurring costs like cable (internet provider), electricity (to power and charge the devices you use to get to the cloud), cell phones to work remotely and call clients, as well as a percentage of your mortgage/rent or co-working fees.

    This isn’t the place for it, but please understand your costs as an agency. Understanding your costs allows you to charge for your value.

    My Monthly SaaS Costs

    I spend quite a bit of money for cloud-based tools that I deem necessary to run my Marketing Consultancy.

    Here are my monthly Saas Costs.

    Of course, these are rounded to the nearest dollar and don’t include yearly licences.

    • Postmatic (for content delivery and commenting) $20
    • Dropbox (for website & photo backups) $21
    • Backblaze (backup computer) $15
    • Loom (video tutorials for clients) $10
    • Lumen5 (video from text) $15
    • Apple (cloud storage) $4
    • Bitly (link shortening) $37
    • Hootsuite (manage client social accounts) $75
    • Xero (invoicing clients) $37
    • Canva.com (making graphics) $27
    • Calendly (to schedule appointments) $15
    • Zoom (client meetings) $16
    • GSuite (for domain name email) $24
    • Plugin Rank (for plugin stats) $9
    • Castos (podcast hosting) $49
    • Mailchimp (email marketing) $21
    • Termageddon (privacy policy) $10
    • Basecamp (project management) $21
    • Twitter Blue (edit tweets) $11

    The total amount I spend monthly on things specifically to run my business is $467.

    This doesn’t include traditional services and utilities like fiber internet ($67), cell phone ($99), electricity ($58) , or the $122 I can legally write off of my rent for my home office.

    If my math is correct, that’s $813 I need just to operate monthly.

    With a 20% self-employment tax (that we all should be saving), the client who you charge $1,000 a month only yields $233 profit.

    We haven’t even talked about my time; just the fixed monthly nut.

    The second and third, fourth and fifth clients start adding to the your net profit.

    Why am I writing about job costing and the cost of doing online business?

    As someone who spent almost 15 years in construction accounting, it baffles me that the majority of WordPress freelancers don’t:

    • Track their time (even as a sample to average out)
    • Attach costs to jobs
    • Find out their operating cost before determining pricing

    It’s another blog post or WordCamp talk to properly give an overview, but the point is that costs are costs. Figure out what you need in your workflow and do it. If you can’t afford those tools, then charge more to your clients.

    There is no such thing as a free lunch.

    Nothing is free. Your time isn’t free. Even if you don’t have to pay for software (like WordPress.org), someone still has to implement it, you still have to design a site, and it still has to be hosted. A modern website requires at least three different businesses that will be paid just to have a free website.

    Your business matters. Stop trying to do everything for free. Invest in your dream. No one else should care about your business more than you do.

    Once you figure out your operating costs, feel free to reach out to me when you’re ready to add marketing.