Plan Your Business to Run Without You
Interview with Portia Burton, founder of DocumentWriteI met Portia Burton, @AgencyCecil, on Twitter.
One of her tweets caught my eye. She said she’s building her agency on systems and documentation so that it could run without her direct involvement.
That intrigued me. I had to find out more.
Are You Building Your Business to Run Without You?
Portia’s plan got me thinking. How many of us consciously start our business with the idea that it could run without us?
Too few, I’ll bet. Not me, either.
Most creatives build their business around themselves. They’re marketing themselves.
“Hey, work with me! Look what you get! A creative genius!” (Lots of !!!)
That’s fine for solo freelancers. Working solo, you are your company. But what happens when you build a bigger company? Is it still all about you? Can you go on vacation? Take a sabbatical? Or, gulp, sell your company?
Let’s learn more about Portia.
Extensive Dev Experience
Portia started her career in machine learning. She moved on to Python web development and then blockchain.
She’s been a software engineer at The Atlantic Magazine and a founding member of Protocol Labs’ community team.
When Portia started to program, she was curious about how to start her own business. Ten years ago, there weren't many resources for entrepreneurial nerds.
“You either were encouraged to create ‘the next Facebook’ or ‘the next Google’, or you were told to ask for tips or donations for your open-source software.”
To Portia, either way sounded like you would be begging someone for money to get started. That didn’t seem realistic to her.
Why Did Portia Start DocumentWrite?
After looking around, Portia discovered that there was no advice for technical folks on how to create and sustain an average business. Plenty of one-line suggestions but no roadmaps.
In particular, there weren't many resources on how to get your business started or how to market it.
Marketing was considered a dirty word in the software developer community, but it was obviously what many of these projects needed. (Marketing people are all nodding here, right?)
“I started DocumentWrite because I wanted to see geeky entrepreneurs win. I was tired of seeing my technical friends fit themselves into funding models that didn't work. Not every one can attract the attention of a wealthy VC firm or hit 100k in donations.”
Portia felt that many developers were playing small and not realizing the potential of documentation, aka geek content marketing.
Your Product is Only as Good as Your Audience Size
Portia realized that any product is only as good as the size of its audience. That doesn’t mean that you need to be “YouTube famous”, but you do need to be able to connect with potential customers who are willing to pay for the solution you’re offering.
“I thought the best way to do this is through education and useful content,” said Portia. “At DocumentWrite, we’ve spent many years creating software, giving talks, and writing blogs, so we know what works and what doesn’t.”
Excellent Documentation = Online Buzz
“Over the years, I noticed that the engineering projects receiving buzz on Twitter happen to be projects with excellent documentation. I'm talking about frameworks like Twilio or even WordPress,” said Portia.
“This was no coincidence. There is a sea of great tools for developers, but the ones that stand out are the ones with solid learning resources for developers.”
To Portia, that seemed like an opportunity. There weren't many places for tech companies to hire a trusted technical team to create engaging technical content and documentation.
“That's where DocumentWrite comes in. My company fills in that void and helps tech companies sustainably find paying users with content.”
A Background That Included Both Tech and Writing
Portia had the ideal background to start DocumentWrite. While she was a software developer at The Atlantic magazine, she noticed that all the engineers seemed to be liberal arts majors who had somehow found their way into tech.
“It was cool to work with a bunch of engineers who took writing seriously. I don't think anyone in the engineering department had a CS degree.”
Even her time at a blockchain company was writing-related. Portia was a “community engineer”.
What is a community engineer? “Basically, a nerd whisperer. I brought awareness to different open source projects and events the blockchain company was working on.”
Helping Clients Succeed with Documentation, AKA Geek Marketing
DocumentWrite primarily works with tech companies that create developer tooling and frameworks.
They show them how they can use their documentation to tell their story and attract their ideal paying subscriber.
Dogfooding Our Dogma
“In tech, there's a lot of talk about the 10X developer, but I think that's shortsighted. At DocumentWrite, we believe in building processes that enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things.”
Portia cracked me up when she said, “We dogfood a lot of our dogma!”
Internal documentation is essential to DocumentWrite.
“We have a robust internal knowledge center that educates our writers about processes and best practices. Our documentation is a living, breathing thing in our company, so we're constantly iterating upon it. We treat it like software.”
And that answers the question of how you plan your company to run without you. With the right documentation, ordinary people can do extraordinary things, with or without you.
Learn more about starting and running your agency in my book, How to Start a Successful Creative Agency. It’s the essential business guide for graphic designers, copywriters, filmmakers, photographers, and programmers.
“Hey Andy. I recently finished your book and absolutely loved it. I’m starting a design business with a colleague and it’s already been invaluable for us. It’s helping us organise the million things we have going on in our heads prior to the jump from full time. Hope you’re well. Thanks again for the great read.”
Will, Designer
Over 300 pages and 23 chapters, available at Amazon (Paper & Kindle), Kobo (ebook), Apple Books (ebook), and Gumroad (PDF).
The book is packed with useful information to help creatives start and grow their business.
Want a free taste first?
Sure! Sign up below to get a free PDF of Chapter 14, Working With Clients.
Questions? On Twitter, I’m @StroteBook. D.M.s are always open. Ask away.