The past few weeks we have had chances to interview a number of customers from a wide variety of backgrounds. This week we get to talk to David Wolfpaw! He has a fair bit of history with WordPress and web development, and I am excited for what he has to say about Sprout Invoices. But first, a bit more about David!
David Wolfpaw is a WordPress developer who handles ongoing maintenance and support through his service, FixUpFox. He organizes WordPress Orlando and regularly attends WordCamps to give development workshops and speak on freelancing, digital rights, and ethics on the web.
Me: Anything super interesting about you that you rarely share in conversations? I.e. hobbies.
David: I try to keep up with some news about the web outside of the WordPress space. When I’m not doing lectures and workshops on building themes and plugins, or other themes WordPress or business related, I’m talking about IndieWeb, ethics on the web, and related topics around.
What is it that you do?
David: I started my web development career building one-off sites for clients. I transitioned to using WordPress to accomplish this in 2008 and haven’t looked back since.
One thing that I did start to notice several years ago was the number of past clients who would return to ask for small updates, or hoping that I could help because in the time since I delivered their site they had lost it in a migration, or it was hacked and needed cleanup, or some other issue that could have been solved with preventative maintenance.
I started offering maintenance plans in 2014, and in 2015 I officially launched a service devoted solely to those plans, separate of my custom site and plugin development. This service would later turn into FixUpFox, which has been the majority of my revenue and focus for the past two years.
All of this is to say when it comes to WordPress, web development, and freelance work David has a lot of experience to pull from. David has a fair bit of wisdom that I know I benefited from getting, and I am hopeful that this will be of benefit to you. David is skillful with WordPress, as well as other integrations with Sprout Invoices and other add-ons. Here are some ideas of what David has managed to pull off thanks to Sprout Invoices flexibility, and his own personal skill. The result: a system he primarily only has to monitor, as opposed to lots of maintenance.
Me: What is your favorite WP plugin because it helps you run your business better?
David: Gravity Forms has been instrumental for myself and several client projects. The versatility of a stable form system with extensibility means that I can use it to pass support tickets to my ticketing system, send leads to a CRM, or build a fully functional systems processes for a client.
How has Sprout Invoices impacted your business?
David: I’ve been handling more of my client management directly from my site. This includes invoices and estimates, but also contracts, maintenance agreements, and support ticket submission. I’m working on a redesign of the site that better incorporates all of these features for clients into a more fully fledged portal and knowledge base. It’s thanks to tools like Sprout Invoices that I can do this through WordPress, an extensible platform that I am already well versed in editing.
How much time a week do you spend invoicing, and (depending on if you invoiced before this point), how much time did you spend invoicing before?
David: I spend a half hour or less per week invoicing. I ensure that my recurring invoices are properly going through and that non-recurring invoices are getting paid. Otherwise, it handles itself.
David has been able to use Sprout Invoices to solve a couple of issues he was having with his previous invoicing plans, as well as impact his ability to smooth out his work flow, into a system that meshes with how he wants to work. David is also concerned with his clients’ data and information being safe, which is why he prefers to use a system that helps ensure their protection.Through WordPress, his addons, and integrations, David has set a system that works for him! Thanks to the automated billing through Sprout Billings, David is able to work in the way that he desires.
What problems were you having with your invoicing, and how did Sprout Invoices solve them?
David: I was disconnected in my invoicing. I had clients that I was sending info to via email, managing via a slapdash CRM, and creating scopes and contracts for by hand, which I then imported into FreshBooks to accept payments.
How has Sprout Invoices impacted your ability to collect payments?
David: I have been able to sell recurring service contracts without having to regularly manage my invoices.
If there was one thing you could recommend for people considering to use Sprout Invoices, what would it be?
David: Consider the other things that you are doing with your clients, and see if they can be done within WordPress. Being able to keep all user information in one place makes it easier on myself, and hopefully on my clients as well. I have fewer sources of information to maintain, and can often save money over separate hosted platforms.
This is what Sprout Invoices strives to do: to help our customers get paid. David has a ton of knowledge and expertise on WordPress, and is able to set up a system that works for him and his business personally. This can be a reality for you as well! Rather than trying to wrap your head around a system built for ‘the masses’ you can have a system built for you, and we would be glad to assist with that! When it comes to customization and dealing with invoicing, Sprout Invoices is at the top of the game, and we are honored to have been able to serve David Wolfpaw, and appreciate the time he took out for us!