Dan Norris on WP Curve and The 7 Day Startup – You don’t learn until you launch

Dan Norris – The Entrepreneur

Have you always known you wanted to be an entrepreneur ? Did you ever try taking up a job ?

Yeah I worked a job for 4 years out of University. I used to get pretty bored and eventually figured out if I wanted to avoid boredom I’d have to decide what I wanted to do every day. Becoming an entrepreneur was the easiest / only option I could think of.

Tell us about your WordPress journey – the where, the when , the how ?

I started our in the web industry before WordPress was popular. When CMS tools started taking off I got into WordPress, Joomla and Magento. Eventually WordPress became a clear winner, particularly for content-driven sites and small business sites which was my space. I ended up going for a WordPress specific service in 2013 with WP Curve because I saw other people doing it well (like WP Engine) and it felt like a good fit.

Dan Norris – With WP Curve

How has WPCurve changed your life ? And you ?

I have a lot more flexibility now and work less than I did with my agency and make more money. I get to work on other projects like presenting at events, writing books and building a brewery which is nice too! I also get to work with an awesome team that is growing quickly which is exciting and it’s rewarding to help customers get real results.

Working remotely , across continents at times – how do you handle that ? Any Challenges ?

We have a lot of software (35 different tools), we try to have regular calls with my co-founder and key staff and try to catch up in person when we can. There are a lot of challenges but lots of benefits too. We write a lot about building a remote team on our blog.

What do you think is the one single reason, WPCurve has met with the success it has ?

It was a simple idea that was very referable at the right time. I think that is the main reason it’s gone well. We’ve also done a good job at executing on things quickly and learning as we go. It was an idea that I launched in 7 days and that set the scene for how we would do things.

Any crazy customer experiences that you can share with us ? No names , of course.

Hmm better not haha. We love all of our customers 🙂

Where do you see yourself and WPCurve , say, in another five years ?

I find it pretty hard to see that far ahead. I will hopefully be building businesses, helping people build their businesses and writing and speaking about it which is pretty much what I do now.

How important do you think personal branding is for an entrepreneur ? Any tips ?

I’m going through this at the moment. It’s a bit hard to say. I’m generally in favour of having a simple consumer style brand as opposed to building a personal brand. But people do love to follow other people so I’ve started going a bit more personal branding stuff as I’ve realized that. I don’t think it’s for everybody but it makes conferences a lot more fun because people come up and act like they know you!

About The 7 Day Startup

Any key messages from your book “The 7 Day Startup” ? If you had to sum it up in just one line, what would it be ?

You don’t learn until you launch.

Am sure a lot of people would be inspired by your story – Who inspires you though ?

Anyone doing anything creative, generally the bigger the scale the more inspiring. I’ve had people read my book and start mid 6 figure businesses as a result. Those kinds of stories inspire me the most.