Request for presentation.

[David Schwartz]

Running a business tends to require a couple of things most “free software” folks find intolerable — sales and marketing.

The problem is, nobody cares much about the platform, per se. They’re interested in results. Linux is a platform, not something that generates results. Unless you want to work for people who have specific hosting requirements, but then that’s more of a specialized hosting need, not so much a Linux need.

There’s a decent sized and growing market for Wordpress experts because people get sold on the notion that it’s easy to use, but then they can’t figure it out. (These are the same people who get stumped if you show them a version of Word with two different themes, one of which they’re familiar with and the other they’re not. The latter will stop them dead in their tracks.) The hosting side has become a commodity, tho.

Wordpress just released V4.7, and it has a REST API built-in. People will be looking for specialty clients that use the API.

There’s also still a big market in “websites”. The problem is, most people SAY they want a website, but what they REALLY want is: more visitors, more sales, a bigger mailing list, etc. Every company in existence has a "sales funnel”, but most business owners have never distinguished what theirs is. So they spend a bunch of money on a site and a bunch more on driving traffic (eg., PPC, FB ads, etc) to their home page, and can’t figure out why nothing is happening. There are now people who are specializing in building sales funnels rather than websites. 

-David "The Tool Wiz" Schwartz



> On Dec 11, 2016, at 11:24 AM, Keith Smith <techlists at phpcoderusa.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> I think this is a great idea.  I think first we should determine what is an entry level, mid level, and seasoned systems admin - what skills and experience are needed to be considered at each level and for the major niches.
> 
> Then take that and turn it into a business how to. On top of that are there niches?  I know for certain there are system admin that specialize in Drupal and Magento.  These are niches.  If you are so inclined you could rent a rack and armed with specialized admin skills become a niche provider for Drupal or Magento.  I'm sure there are other niches as well.  And it seems to me there are differing requirements depending on where one works or wants to work.  If one works in hosting I would think knowing how to configure Samba might not be important, however configuring VPS's would be.
> 
> I wonder if it would be possible to draw on the local community to bring in a lawyer, accountant, city licensing official, and maybe some folks from the local data centers.  We have the Chandler Price Road Corridor.  Maybe we can hear from some hiring managers as well.
> 
> I would be willing to volunteer recruiting people to give talks.  I cannot for the next 3 or 4 months though.
> 
> I used to be a member of the Tucson Free Unix Group. They would have short presentations and then everyone would work on their own projects or just socialize and / or share information about the Tucson job market. The thing I enjoyed the most was the more experienced / skilled people would help the less experienced with questions.  It was a bring your box type of meeting.
> 
> I would be very interested in a bring your box type of meetings.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 2016-12-11 08:11, Anon Anon wrote:
>> Someone should make a presentation about starting and running a
>> business with Linux. You guys spent all this time discussing visas and
>> employment, but instead, someone should show how to start a business.
>> I'd appreciate it if someone considered sharing their knowledge at one
>> of the next plugs. I'd like to know how to turn my extensive knowledge
>> of cat and vim into American money.
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> -- 
> Keith Smith
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