Good morning and happy Monday. š„°Ā
In this issue, Iāve got a lot to share. Cuz Iām making some big changes.
Iāve been thinking about this for a little while. But, ironically, Elonās sudden re-branding of Twitter to āXā was almost a sign. (BTW, I need to talk about that, too.)
Now, donāt worry. Iām not going to go off and suddenly change the entire name ofā¦ everything. But, I am re-engineering some things. And part of that includes giving this very newsletter a new name.
The latest post on the site really dives into more detail about everything and where it stands so far. Thatās the featured article for this week, so thatāll be below.
Hereās whatās on the menu for this issueā¦
Letās Talk Aboutā¦ X š¤Ŗ
Iām Killing Off THE EDGE š
Are You An Entrepreneurā¦ Or Just Working A Job?
Some tool news and updates you may be interested in. šĀ
So, letās get movināā¦
Featured Article
Letās Talk Aboutā¦ X
Well, it happened. Elon has re-branded Twitter into X. I canāt say I think it was a great idea.
Iām not surprised, I will say. Anybody who has followed Elon knows heās had a long-time fascination with āXā. It was the original name for Paypal, in fact. Heās always had a grand vision of creating āthe everything appā. Essentially, something akin to WeChat over in Asia. So, on one hand, I wasnāt surprised.
What DID surprise me was the way it all went down. I personally think āTwitterā as a brand is so entrenched into the culture that killing off the bird doesnāt make any sense. Instead, Twitter should have remained a subsidiary or sub-brand under an umbrella of āXā.
As it is, thereās all kinds of confusion on where things go from here. Is ātweetā even a thing we do now? Do we āXā something? That sounds kinda stupid. š¤£ Plus, the domain of Twitter.com is still where you go but thereās that big āXā logo at the top. Just a lot of brand confusion there.
So, it didnāt seem very strategic. It seems like shooting from the hip. And heyā¦ Iāve done that before. šĀ
Plus, I donāt join the s**t-show of losers making fun of Elon Musk. Bunch of ankle biters if you ask me. Sure, Elon shoots from the hip and sometimes just changes his mind in public and can look odd, but I think heās pretty much the leading entrepreneur of our age. That man has had more impact on our world than almost anybody right nowā¦ and I think thereās much more to come. So, the ankle biters can sit there in their little cubicles all they want and play āarmchair entrepreneurā all they want. Thereās only one Elon. And thereās a reason he could afford to spend $44 billion on Twitter and buy it.
My only advice isā¦ keep using Twitter (or X). Either it diesā¦ or it grows and surpasses anything Twitter would have been. Frankly, Iām betting on the latter option. I donāt bet against Elon.
The platform will grow. The options for creators to build a brand there and earn revenue have gotten much better. The distribution power of Twitter is great.
And thatās my thoughts about X.
And BTW.. you can follow me on X here if you like.
And Threads? LOL. š Look, Threads has a place and it will probably stick around. But, it is not a Twitter (or X) replacement and it never will be. If anything, it is just poaching users from Facebook and Instagram. And user engagement has already nose-dived because, to manyā¦ it is boring.
Iām Killing Off The EDGE
Alright, so this weekās feature article explains all that is happening. Iām moving the chairs around in my business, so to speak.
I wanted to specifically call one move out here in the newsletter because it directly affects this newsletter.
I am changing the name.
I thought about polling it to get feedback on a handful of options I had in my hip pocket, but after some thinking, I just decided to roll with my gut here.
As I explain in my article, āThe Edgeā as a name doesnāt really lend itself to anything, really. As a brand, it says nothing about the value proposition of this newsletter. And, after switching over to BeeHiiv, I would like to turn The EDGE into itās own media property and intentionally grow the list.
I feel like a name change was in order. So, I picked one.
The new name will be The Morning WP. By the next issue, the name and branding will be different than normal.
Content-wise, it will mostly remain the same. My goal is that this newsletter is for solopreneurs and small business owners using WordPress as their platform. It will be a mix of growth strategies as well as WordPress-specific news and tools.
Of course, The Morning WP will remain the official newsletter for the Blog Marketing Academy. Nothing changes on that front. But, this re-branding will mean that it has the ability to exist on itās own and grow independently.
Funny, literally while I was writing this, I get the weekly newsletter from Letter Growth. They featured my RV newsletter (since I submitted it there), but look at the one right above me:
No, thatās not my āEdgeā šĀ
As you can see, thereās nothing unique about the word āEdgeā in a newsletter. That one isnāt me, but it one of a TON with that name. So, you can see why I am changing the name of mine. šĀ
Are You An Entrepreneurā¦ Or Just Working A Job?
Below is a snippet from this weekās feature article on the site. I thought I would share it here because itās definitely been on my mind this weekā¦
The changes Iām making are about a bit more than just brand names. It also goes to the nature of something Iām realizing yet again. More likeā¦ Iām reminded of it again because this is something Iāve written about before.
Being an entrepreneur is about more than just working for yourself. And I think I got way too lazy about it.
Iāve always self-identified as an āentrepreneurā. Butā¦ was I really?
When I listen to other entrepreneurs (not all, but many) I hear them talk about their multiple businesses. I hear them talk about spinning up new businesses and taking an āexitā by selling it off and moving onto the next game.
Where these entrepreneurs shine is that they are CREATORS. They think up ideas and they build businesses around them. The business isnāt THEM. It is separate and they look at each business like another of their children. Yet, unlike a child, eventually that point comes where they look for an exit and sell it off and move onto something else.
Entrepreneurship is about CREATION. It is about being an ARTIST and the canvas happens to be a business which solves problems for others and gets paid in return. These works of art (aka businesses) are each their own unique piece.
In contrast, when you become a consultant or a coach, in many ways youāre just creating an alternative JOB. And it can be a very demanding one, too.
And the world of that JOB means youāre not creating anymore. Youāre justā¦ working.
In many ways, Iāve come to realize that I wasnāt creating anymore. I was justā¦ working.
In fact, it has become even more pronounced as I began doing client work and becoming the sole provider of that service. Hey, Iām not complaining as I actually PREFER this kind of work to creating courses and such these days. š¤Ŗ But, stillā¦ my inner entrepreneur knows full well that Iām trading time for money and Iāve created a new job for myself.
So, not only do these branding and name changes put a little order into thingsā¦ but I think it also is a way of recognizing each of these projects as the separate companies that they are. Each with itās own systems.
Then, as an entrepreneur, I can renew myself into looking at each company like a canvas again. Something to create, to nurture, to grow. Not just to work in, but to work on. And eventuallyā¦ potentiallyā¦ exit and move on.
With the creative juices flowing, Iāve also got some other ideas for new companies that donāt exist yet.
For one, I know full well that doing credit-based tech work is basically hourly labor and not scalable. So, I am definitely eyeing productized services. The idea is there and it is brewing. More on that later. š
Techie Bits
Gridpane is going to be launching a new fully managed WordPress hosting offer called PeakFreq. And they are pretty obviously positioning this as an alternative to Cloudways.
Now, I really like Cloudways. But, like any host, there are some things I wish were different about it. It doesnāt help that Vultr is not available for new signups, either, because I do prefer that to Digital Ocean.
PeakFreq is specifically about Vultr. Gridpane also uses a tech stack on the servers which is indeed more performance-friendly for WordPress, making their hosting usually faster. I also like the personal nature of the GridPane founders and how accessible they are. I always enjoy working with real people. šĀ
Iāll keep an eye on PeakFreq and let you know if it shapes up as a decent hosting option. For now, Iām still a Cloudways guy. šĀ
In other news, NASA has a brand new website in betaā¦ and it is running on WordPress!
For those using SalesForce, the WPFusion Enhanced Ecommerce plugin has been updated to be able to sync orders and products from WooCommerce, EDD, MemberPress, GiveWP, LifterLMS, and Gravity Forms.
Whenever youāre ready, hereās how I can help you:
Concierge: Iāll be your āweb guyā, helping to maintain your site for you do you donāt have to think about it. Also includes access to my agency plugin licenses, site analytics, and a massive discount on any potential project work on your site.
Iāll Do It For You: Via my technical services, I can dive into your site and take care of the complex stuff for you. Whether it be just some tweaksā¦ or building out a full membership site and marketing automation funnel, I can ensure your WordPress site is working for you and not the other way around.
Book A Call Anytime. Via a private one-on-one call, Iāll make your businessā¦ my business. Easy peasy.
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