WordCamp Birmingham 2016's Business & Freelance track offers training for small business owners, freelancers & start ups.
I’ll be honest: The first thing that attracted me to WordCamp Birmingham is the price. Tickets are $20, and I think that’s worth paying even if all you do is take advantage of the free Happiness Bar, where experts will be waiting all day to answer questions about and fix problems on your WordPress website … for free. Grab a ticket to WordCamp Birmingham to get the genius advice plus a full day of seminars geared toward your interests.
But beyond free tech support, what does WordCamp have to offer those of us who aren’t developers and WordPress geeks? What if you don’t have “a passion for WordPress,” but you do have a WordPress website and you just want to learn more? Or what if you don’t even use WordPress, but you have a small business, or you’re thinking about one?
There are about a dozen WordCamp Bham courses I’d like to take, but here’s a roundup of a few I think are more than worth it for budding entrepreneurs. I picked a few courses from the Business Owner track, but there’s a full list of courses on the website. Here are my favorites for start ups:
Surviving a Crisis of Confidence
Speaker: Nathan Ingram
Nathan says that worry, doubt, lack of satisfaction in your work, and a consistent pattern of under-charging for your services can signal a crisis of confidence in your business and freelance work. He’ll share real strategies for moving past these issues and even using them to build success in the future.
What’s the Plan for your Master Brand?
Speaker: Kristi L. Oliver
Kristi knows the importance of branding, especially as it relates to setting your business apart in a digital environment. She’ll get specific in this talk, including a specific plan of action for how to build your brand.
Pitfalls of Working from Home
Speaker: Adam Warner
Anyone who hasn’t worked from home thinks it’s awesome — and anyone who actually works from home knows it can be a struggle. Adam will share tips and tricks for making a flexible work schedule the productive and fulfilling choice that we all dream it can be.
Starting your Business on a Shoestring Budget
Speaker: Elizabeth Pampalone
Want to start a business but can’t afford the tools you need for things like project and money management? Technology to the rescue! Elizabeth says some of the best business tools are cheap or free, and she’ll walk us through the best tools to get you started with a good business foundation (without a big financial investment).
Convinced? Visit the WordCamp Birmingham website and buy your tickets here.