Topic: Using social media to grow personal brand and build your freelance business
A cheerleader for small business owners and buying local, Isaac “loves the heart and soul that local businesses put into their products and services.” He’s especially interested in helping people build their personal brand using stories on social media. When he’s not at work, you can usually find Isaac and his kids riding their bikes at the local skatepark or sampling local coffee offerings. Isaac is a native of Northern California who transplanted to Phoenix ten years ago to work for GoDaddy.
How did you get involved in WordPress?
I was running my own personal blog back in the early days of blogging. This was before we had CMS-style options like WordPress. Every post was coded by hand and it took forever. I found WordPress and it changed everything – literally. I could post what I was thinking without fussing with the HTML. WordPress gave me the freedom to focus on content rather than layout, and I fell in love. It removed every barrier to blogging and I could focus on the content instead of the code on every single post.
What do you do with WordPress?
WordPress powers my personal site and any sites I need to build quickly. I’m one of those people that always likes trying out new themes and tricks that I’ve picked up from the WordCamps I attend so my site is never really “done”. I get really excited when I see people adding little tweaks that really make WordPress personal to them.
What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?
I’ve been traveling to various Camps for the past year and I love the WP Community. I fell in love with what WordPress can do – I’m still hooked because of the amazing people in the WP Community. I’ve met some of the most genuine and amazing people visiting WordCamps across the US. I can’t stress this enough – Meet as many new people as you can at your local WP Meetups and Camps and you’ll stay motivated all year. When you start to struggle, you’ll have a network of peers to lean on and get inspiration from. It’s amazing!
Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?
Well I’m obsessed with Texas. This is where I’ll end up moving to when I retire. I want to talk about social media and personal branding because that’s what I’m passionate about. We have these tools and social networks available to us and we can use them to help our clients be the best they can be at every stage of their business journey. I’m excited to share the same tips and tricks I use with our employees here at GoDaddy to build up personal brands and help people get their message out there. Just like a credit score, you have a personal brand even if you don’t know it. I want to show you how to use social media to build your brand and find more clients, encourage your existing client base, and network with others in the WordPress community.
Why did you decide to speak on using social media to build your freelance business?
Back in March of this year I had a random video on Facebook go viral. The video had 14k views overnight and last time I checked it was up in the 80million view range. I was lucky because I already knew a few tips and tricks to help it get noticed by news outlets as it got more and more popular. I learned so much in a short period of time and I’m passionate about sharing that knowledge with other people. Just like the plugins we use on our sites, social networks are unique and I want to help people leverage those networks to get the most out of them.
What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?
You’ll walk out of my presentation understanding the different social networks and how to leverage them for what you want to accomplish. You’ll know how to take advantage of Facebook video and how to find great articles to share that build you up as a WordPress subject matter expert. You’ll also walk out knowing how to find others just as passionate about WordPress as you are and how to join in on conversations taking place so you can add value to the greater WordPress community.
Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 11-12. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!