I’ve been developing WordPress sites for more than ten years at this point, and have about 10 active clients. The problem is, I am moving away from dev, and recently got a job in an adjacent, but different industry. My clients haven’t disappeared though- they still want stuff! I cannot just walk away from them, but the few folks I know who work w/ WordPress are too junior to take over.
I am considering options:
1- find a person who can subcontract for me – I will manage the requests, and pass them along. I don’t love this, because I have too much to do as it is, and don’t really want the extra work.
2- find the right person to take over everything. It’s probably about 10 – 20 hours per week. If it’s a good fit it would be a good option.
3- continue to limp along and die an early death. Tempting but probably not ideal.
What the hell am I supposed to do? I’ve put all the feelers out and haven’t found a qualified dev to even broach the conversation with.
Sites are either legacy or block builder. Was starting to think about the FSE route when I got a great offer to do other stuff and leave freelancing behind. Sites utilize ACF heavily, and limited other plugins. Have a large project in the works and another large one brewing off to the side. About 5-10 ongoing clients that may need a good bit of work, or no work at all in a given month. The folks I work for are all good ppl, so I am trying to be as careful about this transition as possible!
I am not necessarily looking for candidates here, just more of a request for help- where do I find these folks!? Thanks!
edit: I figured out where to find these folks… here! RIP my inbox.
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That’s a tough situation – and I often wonder what I’ll do when the time comes to pack it in – I have around 80 clients, so it’s going to be tricky. For me, I’d guess I’d sell the client list to a small WP shop (I build and maintain, so the income stream is significant).
For you – do you know any other WP dev’s in your ‘inner circle’? I’m not sure someone would be up for buying a client list of 10 – though if you are also managing / maintaining the site and they provide a regular income, then that is worth something.
You may also want to add to your post that info (what you do for these clients), along with whether or not the location matters.
Oh, and RIP your inbox.
I’ve been thinking about the same thing when I retire, which is about ten years. I have a handful of good clients, and I only work part time, but I have had two of these clients for more than 20 years!
Someone suggested to me to sell my client list to an independent dev and stay in the mix for the last year, managing client communications and consulting if I need to step in (if things aren’t going well). That could be doable.
But, like you, I don’t really know any other devs that aren’t already working full time. The couple of devs I do know that would be willing are, frankly, terrible. I couldn’t use them in good faith.
I’ll be watching for an update! Good luck!
I’ve known people that moved on from their web dev biz and just referred their clients to fellow devs / agencies etc. It was up to the clients to make the switch. Surely you know others from years of doing this.
I know you aren’t looking here (like someone else said – RIP your inbox lol ). But I’ve ended up with lots of clients from people who were moving on to something else. I’ve also been that “subcontractor” with an email address with the company who just worked directly with the clients. I’ve been doing the wordpress / front end dev / CMS powered websites for over a decade. Pretty easy to find me if you know how to use google 👍
I’d be interested, 10+ years experience, how can I get in touch?
RIP your inbox haha. Although if you’re looking for a web dev with 10+ years in the industry I’d be happy to have a chat.
If it’s consistent work, I’m sure you could contact an agency to take them off your hands. If it was just like ‘change an image’ every 6 months I’d just tell your clients that you are shutting down your services, here are the top 3 local companies if they want to stay local, otherwise they will need to find someone new.
My old boss I used to work for has passed me a couple of clients because he shut up shop. It’s more just little edits than consistent work but I’m trying to build up a small freelance client base.
Rip your inbox indeed. I’m currently buying some small portfolios to add to my agency portfolio. Drop me a DM and let’s chat.
The amount of DMs you will get haha. You can try what we call open markets (upwork, freelancer etc) but you will have to be patient and have time to vet the good ones. We’ve been whitelabeling and subcontracting since 2008 and prefer clients with streamlined processes and account managers. Most of our clients found us through referrals, email and PPC. You actually reminded me of that one folk who wanted to retire and left me with 6 clients to deal with. It was chaotic in start but things worked out and we still work with them.
Try to find some junior and ‘educate’ him/her. Let him take over the simplest sites first.
My 2 cents.
I am interested to take those off your hand, I have a solid experience, building my own agency, I build, maintain, host, transfer etc… all my clients’ website and I have room for more,
Dm me and let’s have a call to talk about this if you are interested!
Hey hi , i have been working with wordpress since 2014, i am up to take this job. Recently i have been searching for work. And i am really in need of money and i want to work. It will be helpful if we can connect.
I have made several websites both on job sites as well as for product companies. I can share the project urls to you in DM.
Thank you 🙏
What does your retainer package look like? How frequent are the support requests? Where are your clients based in?
You can start off with option 1 and gradually hand your clients over as in option 2. It makes transition easier for your clients but make sure you are getting a share for your work. Maybe offer a 50/50 split for a year and handover fully next year.
Feel free to reach out to me. I am a WordPress dev and we can make a plan to make this transition smooth for everyone involved.
Many years ago I did the same thing, I sold for not much, but it wasn’t nothing. If your clients are all in a local or vertical look for someone in that same area to sell to, as they might value the leads the most. You need numbers, like I do X hours per month and the revenue is Y, a lot will rest on trust, so you will need to show the relationships are good and not sour. I worked my a$$ off for years and sold for less than what I make a month in a job, but I don’t miss people asking me why there email or printer didn’t work (never supported email or printers lol)! Good luck!
Hi
I can take up this task. You can review after a discussion.
Hope you respond.
I don’t do WP anymore, I specialize in Python Flask sites. Would be happy to point you in the direction of wp devs and agencies, or if your client list has an interest in more customized and scalable sites I would be interested in having that discussion with you. If you want the agency sale route, take a look in my business directory at marketing agencies or any other relevant category.