The fourth install of Genesis Office Hours featured (repeat guest) Diane Kinney of the Versatility Group and Jennifer Bourn of Bourn Creative. Both ladies represent full-service agencies specializing in the Genesis Framework. They dropped plenty of knowledge bombs and pearls of wisdom related to working with clients, especially in stick situations.
Below you’ll find a recap of questions asked as well as links referred to during the show.
What We Talked About
Genesis Framework, Design, and Plugins
- With Genesis do you usually begin in Photoshop or do you do most of your design live in CSS, etc.. if the latter, what do you give clients with in terms of mockups?
- Any idea if the Genesis connect for Buddy Press will even be updated again? It really doesn’t work with all the updated themes now.
- What should be the top features of Genesis 2.1 and 2.2 be?
- How do you get started with Genesis on a fresh project (if you’re a first timer)? I have the PSD-> HTML completed , now How do I get started with Genesis , best way to learn it to use with client projects
- Are all of your WP sites Genesis based? if not, how do you decide when to use Genesis?
- Question on adding a New Post. Under Genesis ‘Theme SEO Settings’ > ‘Custom Canonical URL’ > How does one enter this?
- Personally, I’d love to see some consistency in the way logos and headers are applied to the child themes. I’d say 75% of the forum questions I answer are related to placing a header image, sizing it for mobile, etc. – now it’s not the most friendly process for non-dev users.
- What’s the ETA on genesis-simple-share plugin?
- How often do y’all start your work via existing StudioPress child themes?
- What design styles do you think StudioPress is lacking?
- What membership plugin(s) do people like to use with Genesis? I’ve got a subscription-based site with monthly/yearly membership levels, and the current plugin and recurring payments through PayPal are not working reliably. I’m going to rebuild and was hoping to hear the team’s recommendations for the most robust and dependable plugin choices.
- With RWD is there a need for a ‘full-site’ link under any scenario?
Random Technical Details
- Hi Carrie, what did you use to get Hangouts on your website prior to the Hangout starting?
- Would love to know what cameras and mics all 3 of you were using. Everyone sounded & looked great today.
The Business of Consulting
- If we work in an agency , can we show the work we did on behalf of the agency as our portfolio?
- Could you speak about being a sole proprietor vs LLC vs Inc and how to know which to do?
- How about using contracts?
- Just went through a really bad client recently , how do you handle a client who keeps making new requirement and when the iterations keep coming endlessly?
- What about a Customer not honoring invoice ?
A Bonus Hypothetical
- You wake up one morning with no clients, no marketing material, minimal cash in bank, all your current knowledge but no proof (no portfolio/testimonials/etc). Do you rebuild or go a different direction? If you rebuild, how would you do it?
Show Notes & Links
Businessy Things
- Chris Lema – Archive of posts on Membership solutions for WordPress
- Stripe – Payment Gateway (What I use as an alternative to PayPal)
- Authorize.net – Payment Gateway
- Infusionsoft – Small business CRM solution
- Legal Zoom – Online Legal Documents
- Sole Proprieter vs LLC (editor’s note: There are TONS of learning resources online about this. Do your research and talk to a professional!)
- Bidsketch – Online proposal tool for use as basic business contract
- Five Tips for Dealing with Non-Paying Clients by Chris Lema
- Managing a Freelance WordPress Development Business by Bill Erickson
Design and Developer Resources
- Macaw – A “Code-Savvy” Web Design tool
- Genesis Connect for BuddyPress – plugin for Genesis sites running BuddyPress
- Genesis Simple Share plugin – still in development, out in limited beta
- StudioPress Developer Pack (includes all StudioPress themes – that’s an aff link, FYI :))
- Changes in Genesis 2.0 by Gary Jones
Tutorials, Networking & Learning Resources
- Introduction to the Genesis Framework – Meetup presentation by Brian Bourn
- How to Add a Logo to Your Genesis Theme – tutorial by Carrie Dils
- How to Sell Genesis Themes (and a chance for a free year of Matt Report Pro)
- WordCamp Central – Find a WordCamp near you!
Just For Fun
- Can you Make the Logo Bigger – an amazing song you’ll enjoy
- Scope Creep Blues – what you’ll have when clients keep adding on to a project