From mastering HTML in the late '90s to building a thriving web development agency, Casper Voogt's journey in today's Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight showcases the power of strategic pivoting and relationship-building. His transition from a 9-5 job to running a successful web development business demonstrates how side hustles can evolve into flourishing enterprises. With clients ranging from small businesses to government agencies worldwide, Casper's story illustrates how staying adaptable with technology trends while maintaining a personal touch can lead to sustained entrepreneurial success.
Hi, Casper! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
We are focused on site (re)design and long-term support, often using Drupal or WordPress, but we also do plenty of custom development including API's and various integrations. We help small and big companies, organizations, governments, all over the world. We help site owners get the most out of their site over the long term.
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
After graduating from grad school and working a 9-5 for two years in Atlanta (2002-2004), I yearned for a work situation that would avoid commuting, be creative, and give me the flexibility to travel. I didn't yet know how to achieve it full-time, but did start doing some paid web work for customers, building that up as a small side hustle.
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
From 2005 through 2006 I was working a day job in Amsterdam and traveling a fair bit, sometimes a little too much for my employer's tastes. Towards the end of that period, I realized I was consistently making more in my web design side hustle (for 5 or so hours after my day job) than I was making with the day job, and I quit the day job to dive in completely. I haven't looked back since. It afforded me the flexibility to work and travel when and where I wanted.
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
Harvest has been great for time-keeping and invoicing. Looker Studio has helped us get useful data out of Google Analytics (much more useful than plain Google Analytics). WordPress paired with a visual page builder has been a great way to stand up a good-looking and functional site fast, and paired with Advanced Custom Fields and custom post types, we have been able to set up some complex but intuitive sites for customers, on a level similar to what we have done with Drupal and its custom post types for years, only Drupal lacks the visual page builder options that WordPress boasts.
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
I have had to pivot due to web technology trends multiple times. I started with basic HTML and CSS skills in the late 90s, but quickly realized I had to learn about databases and CMSes, which I did from 2000 through 2003 or so. After that I focused exclusively on CMSes such as PHP Nuke and Joomla, then WordPress and Drupal. I also had to learn responsive design and adapt to social media and SEO trends if I wanted my business to survive. After moving to the DC area in 2008, I realized I needed to focus heavily on Drupal because it was favored among governments, bigger businesses, and education, all of which are highly concentrated here. This helped me build our clientele to what it is today. More recently, Drupal has gotten more complex (too complex for many sites' needs), and we now are focused more on WordPress than Drupal for most sites. At each inflection point, I had to size up the situation and figure out what makes the most sense to devote energy to.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
In the beginning, I reached out to my network of friends and family and had them spread the word. I attended networking events. Some of those customers are still with us today.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
The more face-to-face time I can get with people, the better. A bit more service before and after the sale tends to translate into a lot more business long-term, both in the form of continued billing with dependable clients, and word of mouth. Make a point of staying in touch with customers (and past customers) personally, not via automated tools or social media.
Want to dive deeper into Casper's work? Check out the links below!
- Visit Plethora Design's website plethoradesign.com
- Explore other websites built by Casper: Marketlinks, Friends of Florence, VariQ
