7 new things to do for your WordPress business in 2017

The new year brings new challenges. The new year also brings new opportunities.

“You have to believe in yourself to invest in yourself,” Ben Fox.

This little sentence stuck out to me when visiting with Ben Fox of FlowPress. I was getting the scoop on his company’s story.

He reminded me about how much work and effort it takes to believe in our own abilities.

[clickToTweet tweet=”‘You have to believe in yourself to invest in yourself,’ @benjaminefox – 7 ways to invest in yourself” quote=”‘You have to believe in yourself to invest in yourself,’ Ben Fox. 7 ways to invest in yourself”]

I mean, I know I struggle with that. Don’t you?

In the end, it comes down to whatever helps you believe in yourself.

If you want to invest in yourself, and ultimately, in your business, you have to believe in yourself.

Fox decided to invest in himself when he lost his job.

Following the losing his job, he set out to network at a tech event and ended up closing a deal to build his first WordPress website:

“Two minutes on Google brought me to wpbeginner.com and the rest is history. I had a new career path, I just had to figure out how to scale up.”

With his new project and first check, Fox learned how to build a WordPress website using Google and WP Beginner.

He believed in himself and decided to invest in his future. It took a little help from Google and WP Beginner, but it was the catalyst that propelled him forward to help build one of the top WordPress companies.

What plans do you have for 2017? What new tasks will you try?

Here are 7 new things to do in 2017 for your WordPress business.

7 New Things to try in 2017

1. Create a blogging schedule

Create a blogging schedule so that you can kick-start your business blog. Taking advantage of content marketing is a fantastic long term solution.

There are a number of ways you can create a blogging schedule. You can use software like CoSchedule or something simple like Google Calendar.

We will take you through creating a blogging schedule in the next few days.

For now, you might want to check out our easy content strategy framework our this Easy Blogging Method.

2. Learn a new skill, or two

The new year is a great time to challenge yourself to learn a new skill. New skills can advance our business or our careers.

Recently, we laid out a few articles to help WordPress Entrepreneurs to level up their skill set.

20 Resources to Jump Start the New Year

How to level up your WordPress skills in 2017

These resources will make you super smarter in the New Year

3. Develop a new service or product

We all know that trading time for money has its limit. After all, there is only so much time in the day.

Developing a new service or product can help entrepreneurs build a new revenue stream. New revenue streams help increase our income.

It may be that you can develop a product out of a recurring service you can offer.

What are some services or skills you can offer for a new revenue stream?

4. Try a new product or software

Sometimes products can help us be more efficient. Better efficiency results in better profit margin.

If something takes you hours to complete, but you can use a piece of software to accomplish it in a fraction of the time freeing up time for you to work on income producing projects, why wouldn’t you try out the product?

Is there a piece of software you have been thinking about trying?

Is there a WordPress tool you wanted to try out?

The new year is a great time to test it out and see if it works for your business.

5. Join a new community

We can not succeed without help. Whether it is a mentor or another entrepreneur giving us tips.

Mastermind groups have proven successful for countless people, however, maybe you just need to join a new community of entrepreneurs or WordPress developers.

Having someone to ask questions, challenge you, help you see your blind spots, and give you networking opportunities is the difference between banging your head on freelance job type websites and invoicing real, professional projects.

The new year is a fantastic time to consider joining a new entrepreneur community.

In addition, in the WordPress ecosystem, there are meetups, WordCamps, and other smaller communities. Join a new one in 2017!

Opening remarks are about to begin. #wcus pic.twitter.com/0j2vulMy77

— WordCamp US (@WordCampUS) December 2, 2016

6. Meet with a mentor or business coach

Although meeting with a community can be very helpful, sometimes we just need to meet with another person.

I sat down with a business coach last year to help me clarify my goals. I almost doubled my revenue.

He helped me ask the questions I needed to ask and point me in a better direction.

He helped me to figure out what it is I wanted to do, ultimately, and cast my vision in that direction.

Maybe your mentor can do that for you. Either way, it is definitely worth the price of a meal or cup of coffee. Actually, the value is several times that.

7. Listen to a new WordPress or business podcast

Frankly, as WordPress Entrepreneurs, we do not have to leave the WordPress community to find a good podcast. That being said, it is good to hear from those in other industries.

Find a new podcast about a subject you have been wanting to learn more about. Subscribe and listen for the entire year.

A good entrepreneurship podcast is a smart thing to find. Entrepreneurship transcends WordPress, so it is invaluable when you find that kind of education.

A podcast and its listeners are often like a community. Several podcasters will build a community around the podcast.

I am a big Office Hours podcast fan and the owner,  Carie Dils, has a Slack channel. Further, listeners will use a known hashtag to share and communicate.

I have made WordPress connections in this group.

The new year is a great time to find a new podcast to listen and engage.

How to make money with WordPress https://t.co/f0IHSl0yV6 pic.twitter.com/pODhpaeaNF

— Matt Report (@mattreport) December 22, 2016

Wrapping it up

I remember several years ago reading a blog post by Chris Brogan where he said, ” no one is coming to save us.”

Listen to what he said regarding this realization:

“This changed everything for me. I started learning more skills. I started paying more attention to the world around me. I built up new capabilities so that I would know what to do or at least have an approach if times got tough.”

It is up to us to improve our lives. It is our choice.

Sure, we have folks who will be our biggest cheerleaders, and we need them. But, they can’t do the work for us.

We can start a Website Maintenance service, and MainWP will help us by providing the tools, but they can’t do it for you.

The hard work is in our hands.

What new thing will you do in 2017?