Case Study: John Paul

How did you find out about WP Rockstar?

Well, I tried out the five day coding challenge and then the GeekPack®, and I think I saw it in a Facebook ad first and it just picked my interest at the time.

What was your life like before you joined WP Rockstar?

Well, I was in the U.S. Army for a while and worked in defense and government projects after that. And I left all that to try and start a microbrewery and make beer. That didn't work out. And then I was involved in another not so successful entrepreneurial venture, but I began experiencing some kind of increased health challenges from my military injuries, and that was making that a little difficult. So I needed a change and I began looking for options. And that's kind of when I came across the WP Rockstar program.

What actions did you take as a result of taking the course and being part of the Rockstar community?

Well, I left my partnership in that venture. I started a digital media marketing agency called CajunCom and I used a GeekPack® inspired website to do that. I began working on developing the agency and attracting web clients. Then I've got my home office, if you can call it that, out of my bedroom. That's still my home, but it's not my bedroom anymore.

Did you have experience as a freelancer or building websites before WP Rockstar?

A long time ago I kind of had a hobby, but technology has changed pretty dramatically since then. It was a much earlier version of HTML. Though I do have some experience from a project management perspective, working on web development projects, but not as not as a designer, not as a coder or developer.

Have you ever had any contact with coding before the course, or did you feel intimidated by it?

I wasn't intimidated by it. I haven't had, like I said, done a little HTML in the past, touched on binary or touched on basic ways, way back. Right. And I work with Cisco networking. So programming. Yes, I've done. But just not necessarily the role coding of it before code.

How long did it take you to earn back your enrollment investment?

It's a little longer than I had hoped, about three months. But that was mainly because I had had a surgery and the recovery was a little more challenging than I expected.

Can you talk a little bit more about your first project, your first client? Where did you find them?

I had been pursuing a lot of the methods to capture new clients using cold calls and prospecting, like the geeky map method. I'd done a couple of sites for free for friends just to get some referrals, but it took leveraging a contact that I had from being his patron. It was an attorney I had used once, to get the first client that was, you know, a paying client.   We had several more proposals using this method for years, people I have done business with as like a customer and developed a rapport with. So I'm kind of leveraging that and hopefully I’ll close a couple of those next week.

And that's how you made your first thousand dollars, it was this one project?

Yeah, it was a $2,000 project.

How much time on average did you put into the course?

That varied quite a bit. I'd say I started right after my surgery and I was recovering and frankly, I couldn't stay awake or do a whole lot with the laptop. So maybe one hour a day at first. But I know I tried over the following weeks to boost that to about maybe six, sometimes 8 hours a day, just trying to hammer out.

Did you feel supported when going through WP Rockstar and being part of the Rockstar community?

I did. I did. I suspect I raised a few eyebrows when I first began participating. I am a guy, a grumpy old vet and the GeekPack® target audience does seem to be, you know, mainly women, which frankly, I didn't catch on to until after I was participating. But I don't think that was a problem. The Rockstar team did a good job. They responded to my direct messages. The Facebook group was great. I had a small group in Slack, you know, small groups that kind of go through. I had a little back and forth, but I think they got a little lot lost in their projects. I found very positive engagement in the Facebook group and with the other participants.

What are your future plans?

Well, I'm going to try and grow this marketing agency. I want to go huge with it. I want to bring in enough clients to, you know, bring in some several full time employees because I want to step back from doing it all. Obviously, I want scale. So my focus is on building sites, cutting strategy, and business development. I'm an introvert. I don't really like the sales aspect of it at all, you know? And eventually, hopefully, I'm going to find a nice little forested place off the beaten path and relocate their work from home and, you know, spend time with family and maybe hopefully one day open that brewery still as a retirement gig also.

Do you plan to offer more services if you're starting the agency?

Yes. Yes. We're focused on Web development, but in addition to that, traffic, sales funnels, digital advertising, I'm trying to get some content work going. Social media management kind of we're trying to do kind of a total solution, even a little brand development. A one stop shop!

What stood out to you about WP Rockstar?

I am kind of related to Julia's story, the back story by military government career. You know, it forced me to be an extrovert to succeed. I did. But that's just not what I like doing. I needed a path that was gonna let me focus on my family without doing a thousand sales calls a day with a fake smile. And WP Rockstar appeared like a pretty strong, organised training system for achieving that.

What would you say to someone who's on the fence about joining WP Rockstar?

Evaluate your priorities. Deeply. Question why you would not do it if it helps you achieve your long term goals you know, nothing ventured, nothing gained. So sometimes you get to step off the ramp and trust that the parachute opens.