Hey friends. As you know I am a pretty huge WordPress advocate.

I’ve been using WordPress for years, as well as making a living helping others build and customize their own WordPress websites.

My first ‘WordCamp’ was in Savannah last year and it blew me away.

Click here to read my review of WordCamp Savannah 2011.

This year I am fortunate enough to be one of the speakers at the Atlanta WordCamp which is happening Feb 3rd and 4th 2012.

My two topics are:

• Domains, Hosting and Installing WordPress Made Easy
• The Mystery of Pages and Posts

WordCamp is sold out, but if you are interested in attending contact me and I’ll get your name to those in charge. If anyone backs out and wants to sell their ticket, you’ll be able to purchase one.

This is a very exciting time and I am really looking forward to being a part of this event.

Between networking with other entrepreneurs, hanging with the WordPress core team, seeing old friends, and learning more than my wee brain can absorb, this is sure to be one of the most exciting weekends of the year.

Check out the details here http://2012.atlanta.wordcamp.org/

Just wanted to drop a little note about a new Atlanta Coworking Space downtown called the 200 Office.

As a self employed web developer and entrepreneur living here in Atlanta, it is important for me to have some kind of working space that allows me to focus on my tasks and not become distracted. If I do not finish my jobs, I do not get paid. There is no one signing off checks for me every two weeks just for ‘showing up’.

Many of you in this same situation are probably like me, currently using a space in your home to do ‘work’, meeting up with clients at their office or at the local coffee shop, etc. While this lifestyle is what many people dream of, getting outside of the office, it is not always the best place to actually get some work done.

At home, I have all my other toys staring me in the face waiting to play. My dog wants to go out, I want to pick up the guitar for just a second(always turns out to be 30 minutes or more), maybe I just step outside to work on my garden. These things all have their time and place, and that time is not when I need to get crackalackin on some jobs.

At the coffee shop, it’s loud, it’s relatively unprofessional of an environment tho can be very relaxing and a great place to meet new people, but ultimately distracting.

Over the last year or so I have seen quite a few small coworking spaces opening up and hoping, wishing, and praying for one close to my home. Finally the time has come.

What is Coworking?

Coworking is kind of like showing up to an office as you would in any regular job, but designed around the mobile entrepreneur. Everything you would need to run your business is available to you at a much lower monthly cost than renting your own office and supplying yourself with all the necessary amenities.

Think about this, you go to a coffee shop to have a meeting so that you do not have to bring your clients into your home. They don’t need to see how many dishes your family or roommates have left around, have your dog jumping on them the whole time, or generally need to know where you live anyway.

You also might hit the coffee shop just to get some fresh air outside of being in your house ALL DAY LONG.

Also, as a small business or self entrepreneur, you want to keep your overhead down, so it seems silly to spend $2,000 or more per month leasing some small office in the strip mall down the street.

Every business has similar needs, copy machines, fax machines, internet access, meeting rooms, mailing addresses, etc.

But why should EVERY business have to pay for one of their own? They don’t, and this is where Coworking comes in.

Here in Atlanta, especially after the past few years of a slow economic growth, more and more people are starting up their own businesses, which means more and more people need places to run these businesses.

Why not share a very professional environment with all of these people?

Coworking spaces allow just that, and with that comes a ton of benefits. For instance, as a web developer, almost every small business is a probably purchaser for me. Every business in this day and age needs some kind of website, and if I am working in close proximity to these people, there is a good chance I’ll be able to pick up some new jobs from them.

Another example, every business needs a lawyer at one point or another. What if there was a lawyer working in YOUR office? Knowing and working beside this person will build trust and allow easy access to take care of your needs.

My Favorite Part Of Coworking

The first time I actually stepped into a coworking space I was immediately overwhelm by the high energy that was buzzing around. Lots of other people around focusing and working on their businesses in the same room at the same time. At that point I knew I had to find one close to me so that I could begin doing the same.

Just being in that room made me want to stay on track and get my work done. Knowing that all these other people were hard at work somehow motivated me to want to work hard too. That alone is worth the price of admission for me.

Anyways, at this point in my business and my life, I feel strongly that I need to get out of the house to become a more efficient worker. When I found out about the 200 Office coworking space, I just on the bandwagon ASAP and have been anxiously awaiting it’s arrival since then.

Sub Notes

I am honored to announce that my team at Web Devils is going to the first Web Development affiliate for 200 Office. This means that I will be coworking, possible with you, a few times a week and offering my services to all members of the space. Membership is CHEAP, especially compared to some of the other already existing coworking spaces around Atlanta.

More details on this as it grows so stay tuned.

If you are looking for a coworking space in Atlanta, check out 200 Office.

Today I have a guest post up at Fly Blue Kite, a marketing and web presence development firm run by Laura Click.

I met Laura through Twitter by following a link to her site. She already had some great content on there, and when I mentioned that, she asked how it could be made better.

My reply mentioned guest posting for even more helpful content, so here we are

Six Ways To Use Google Docs To Simplify Business

This blog post takes you through some easy ways to utilize the FREE Google Docs to help you manage your business files.

Thank you for the opportunity Laura!

When I first decided to take the plunge into running my own businesses, I really had no idea the amount of work that it takes.

Sure I have skill sets that I can utilize to make some money, but there is way more to it than that. While I kind of knew in the back of my mind that I would be doing most everything myself, I thought for sure it would be easier.

One of my biggest struggles has always been finding the time to get everything done.

At first I was trying to dabble in several ventures at one time, which ultimately lead to me not putting in enough time and effort on any of them.  Once I decided to let go of the ones that were taking up more of my time, and making me less money, I saw a great increase in my productivity.

That said, it was still not enough.  Clearing my plate of extra work definitely opened up some free time for me to tackle some other objectives in my main venture, currently web presence development, but still felt overwhelmed at times.

Now that I have been doing it for some time and have built up a little client base, the struggle has returned.  Not only do I want to keep growing this business, but I also have to make sure my current clients are taken care of.

This is hard to do when you are actively the

• Salesman
• Accountant
• Developer
• Manager
• and so on
• and so forth…

Driving several hours a week to meet with new and old clients. Spending hours on the phone per week working out technical difficulties and putting out fires, as well trying to chat with new potential clients.

As you can probably see, these things could easily be broken up into jobs of their own for separate people.

Here is where it gets good. While I feel like I am almost ready to bring on another person, I am still more interested in fine tuning my own FULL LOAD work skills. My mind set that if I do figure out some better systems to help me be more productive now, in the future I will be able to take on even MORE. From what I understand, it is only going to get harder as this beast grows larger.

Now here is the kicker, there is one thing that I am doing now and doing daily that really helps me knock things out.

The 50 minute timer.

Yes, you read correct, a regular old timer.  I am not sure where I first read or heard about this idea, and I have definitely found many others who already do this, but it is a life saver.

Before I started timing my work schedule and actually sticking to it, I would have a list of 10 things to do in one day, and maybe get one or two of them complete. I would be bouncing all over with out much focus.

Now that I am actually making myself sit down and work on just one thing for 50 minutes, my productivity throughout the day has increased.  Unfortunately I do not seem to ever have a full 8 hours in a row to sit down and do 50 minute blocks of work. This system does however give me a little more control over my list, and the result is that I fit in at least four, if not more, of these blocks a day which is way more than I was getting done before.

So, if you are not already working on some kind of similar system, just give it a try. Most phones have timers on them, if not there are some free timers available online.

Close down everything besides your one task at hand, start the 50 minute timer, and see how you do. I promise you will get more done in that 50 minutes that you have all morning

Good day fellow interneteurs! I am here to tell you about Web Devils, my newest venture.

As I am sure you have noticed, not much action has been happening here on bretphillips.com, there is a good reason for that I have been working hard at getting everything together for the launch of the Web Development company Web Devils.

For as long as I have been on the internet(well over half of my lifetime) I have been putting together websites.  One of the first things I ever did was figure out how to get web hosting through my modem service provider and the URL was something like http://user.bellsouth.net/~username/bin/homepage/this/is/getting/rediculous.

My good friend and fellow Web Devils co founder Michael Ollinger has been right there with me doing the same thing.  We’ve started several online communities, built countless personal websites, blogs, profiles, etc. And now are coming together to use our expertise and help Your Small Businesses web presence.

Web Devils specializes in using WordPress websites, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media to generate leads for you.

Below is a short listing of the services we offer.  For more information please visit http://webdevils.biz/services.

WordPress Development

- Thesis Theme Development
- Custom WordPress Themes
- WordPress Training

Social Media

- Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- Learn How To Use These Tools
- Increase Brand Awareness

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

- Keyword Research
- SEO Copy Writing
- SEO Lessons

Band / Artists Package

- Custom WordPress Website – Customer Myspace Layouts – SPECIAL PRICING(Contact us to find out more)

Contact me today here or via Web Devils and lets talk about your next Web Presence!

So here we are, the year is 2010, what have you been doing? Have you been slacking off, slowly churning along in the daily grind, or pushing things forward?

Christmas and the new year came and went by fast. I had already been working on getting some things together in order to help jump start my progress in 2010, but it still feels like the time flew by and I have more to do still.

Now into the second work week of the year, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed, but by no means unmotivated. There are a few new years resolutions and some long term goals to get cracking on this year, so lets cover a few of them shall we?

Number one on my list of things to do in 2010 is work on my businesses. There are a few ventures that have started to get off the ground, but have not made the kind of progress I would like to see. Part of this, I am sure, is due to me working on all of these at once instead of focusing on them one at a time which is something I plan to remedy during the course of this year.

What ventures am I talking about?

-WEB DESIGN-

For starters, web design. For much of 2009 I have put together websites, focusing mostly on small businesses. Word really started to spread close to the end of the year, but budgets were also locked down around that time, but those relationships are moving forward at this time.

Now that the new year is upon us, new budgets are upon us, and I have been hard at work seeking out those looking for my services. Daily I am sending out quotes for projects of all scopes, managing a few working projects, and trying to connect with people and business owners.

-AFFILIATE MARKETING-

Affiliate marketing continues to tease me and I continue to stay just interested enough.  There are a few sites up and running that are actually bringing in some sales, but nothing super substantial at this time.

I plan to continue vamping these sites up as well as building new ones throughout the year.  Everyday I am learning more about marketing, SEO, sales copy, and everything that goes into driving traffic to websites and selling products once they are there.

Hopefully my continued efforts will continue to pay off more and more.

-AUDIO ENGINEERING-

Next in line of importance is finding a recording studio and people with the knowledge and willingness to teach me the ways of this audio world. Separating from my last company has given me time to think. During that time I tried to think of things that I love to do, regardless of monetary compensation, but potentially make a profession. At this point in my life there are not many things that make this list, but high up on it was recording music.

Being a part of that world is something I thrive in and after having spent the last few years honing my skills both in the recording, mixing, and mastering, and also as a musician, I feel like I am ready to make some big moves in this area. In order to do that, I myself need more schooling on the subject.

While attending school for this would be great, and something that is definitely in my foreseeable future, I am not sure it is in my cards at this time. Instead, I need to spend some time with the masters of that domain.

As of this posting, I have had the opportunity to meet and be invited to work with a high level player in the audio world. A close family friend and he go way back which is how I was introduced to begin with. Pending this becoming a regular thing, I will surely be posting up any new developments and hopefully new knowledge.

-OZONE LAIR STUDIO-

While we are on the subject of audio recording, another one of my projects is the infamous Ozone Lair, my recording studio. So far this year the Lair has been regularly active. We’ve been recording new music of many styles, mixing and mastering some fresh material from the end of 2009, writing music, rehearsing music, and having some intense, creative, jams.

I have high hopes for the Ozone Lair this year and look forward to working with many great musicians.

-INDEPENDENT CD-

Something just getting off the ground is a small project I started to match some of my resources with a specific market demand. Short run, low cost cds with custom print jobs. My target market is the independent musicians, though we can meet the needs of any data CD/DVD project as well.

Other than making sales there is not much that needs to be done with this. The production is fully functional, as well as the website is able to take orders. There are a few SEO items that I plan to take care of in the near future which will hopefully drive some traffic to the site, as it is all word of mouth at this time.

Those are my top projects for this year with my goal continually being supporting myself comfortably via my own business ventures.

Now on to the mother of all non profit ventures…

-HIJACKING MUSIC-

That’s right ladies and germs, if you haven’t heard it is time to pay attention. Hijacking Music is coming through and making a ton of noise in 2010.

For the past two years Hijacking Music has been developing as a music collective currently based out of Atlanta. We have a very strong core group of artists and groups, all of which are releasing their strongest efforts yet this year.

Also during those two years I’ve been pushed to the forefront to try and guide us through this tricky, sticky, and downright icky maze of all things required to survive the music industry. At first I fought it, but now am embracing it to help build something awesome. So if you know somebody that knows somebody that could potentially be a good contact to have…hit me up

Look out this year for the first Hijacking Music Festival, HJM CD Sampler Vol 2, HJM Christmas Album, and a hand full of HJM presents Art/Music shows scattered over the course of the year.

What should I outsource first for my affiliate marketing? Content Creation

Over the past year I’ve learned a good bit about affiliate marketing as a whole, much of which is good business practice regardless of industry. Also during this time I have come to find out what parts of building these affiliate websites are the most daunting, at least for me.

From what I have read on forums, blogs, and other marketers sites, the thing I struggle with the most is content. Writing content more specifically. There are two reasons why.

The first reason is that it just takes so long. There are many other things that have to be taken care along with all of the content creation, and I am much more efficient at getting those done. While I do feel that I am pretty good writer, it is still a huge load of content.

For example, a typical site that is considered to be a small site by the Affilorama template requires 30 pages. Each page is usually a 500+ word article written around a specific keyword phrase. That is JUST the content for the actual web page. Now we need to write content for off the web page in order to start driving traffic to our site, as well as build up back links so that we rank in google.

So how much more writing is that really? Let me give you some examples.

I am testing out using AMAutomation.com, which is an article marketing resource recommended by Affilorama. AMAutomation is a service that allows you to post articles to blogs within specific nitches.  The articles can be written in such a way that allows for this piece of software to ‘spin’ the article so that each article is unique.

Doing this requires that you manually rewrite an already written article, at least 2 times.  When I do this, I go through and rewrite each sentence two more times to say the same thing, but using different words.  So we should be around 1500 words total for 1 article submission to AMA. Then I go back through, and reword some phrases in each sentence once or twice. This allows the software to come up with very unique articles…basically the more options you can give it the better. We’ll say another 250 words or so.

For all 30 pages on the site, we want at least one link in our AMA articles.  Each AMA article is allowed up to 3 links, so we’ll use all 3. That means we need at least 10 AMA articles for one site, or 30 pages.  Lets do some math…

1 Site = 30 pages X 500 words each = 15,000 words

1 AMA article = 500 + 500 + 500 + 250 = 1750 words X 10 = 17,500

15,000 + 17,500 = 32,500 words

The second reason, yes there were two as I mentioned earlier, is that my sales copy is not very good. While I have started to master some of the more technical parts of creating these websites, writing copy that is not only appealing but actually enticing is something I need work on.

If I can outsource my writing to a resource that can not only give me 32,500 words with a good turn around time, and also write excellent sales copy, I think that will be well worth the financial investment, giving me more time to focus on the aspects that I can do and do them better.