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Clarity

Mario Peshev

Sofia, Bulgaria

I've helped over 300 SMEs and fast-paced startups with growth strategy and technological advice, automating internal processes, generating higher revenues through inbound marketing and technical solutions, solving operational problems, and refining their high-level business strategy.

My advisory firm works with startups, agencies, and non-tech businesses that need to fill in a gap and fix problems they can't identify well.

My top three goals are:

1. Enabling new revenue streams
2. Automating processes
3. Optimizing human resources

I also own DevriX, a 50+ international WordPress agency working with automotive and airline providers, media outlets generating 400M+ page views a month, LMS platforms and large multisite corporate platforms.

My strategies have been featured in Forbes, HuffPost, Inc, Entrepreneur, Business 2 Community, Apple News, and many more.

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48 Calls

48 Reviews

29 minutes
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Digital Strategy Business planning Project Management Business Strategy Operations Management Business Growth Strategies Growth Strategies Digital Transformation Start-up Operations Agency Leadership

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High-Scale WordPress Architecture

My agency manages digital publishers generating over 400M monthly page views. We build infrastructures for media outlets across the board, scaling performance and Lighthouse scores, and optimizing ad operations as needed.

I've personally contributed to several WordPress Core releases and have authored 150+ WordPress plugins. I was in charge of building 9 WordPress-based SaaS solutions (including 2 in-house products) and consult dozens of medium and large enterprises on scaling the platform for success.

Business Advisory for $1M - $25M Companies

I provide business advisory services across several dimensions of operating a business:

1. Business Strategy
2. Marketing & Sales
3. Technology
4. Operations
5. Recruitment
6. Management

I work directly with executives and directors (individually or in small groups) to uncover flaws in existing strategies, define new processes, identify areas for automation or new monetization channels, optimize the hiring process, and establish successful management practices.

My background is in training for companies like SAP and VMware, along with running several 7-figure businesses over the years.

Answers 22
Reviews 48

Answers

Mario Peshev answered

What learning path do I have to take to become a "full-stack" web developer?

The "full-stack" is a vague term, but in the context of web development I would define the following group of skills:

* HTML/CSS (the basics)
* JavaScript (extent may vary on the platform)
* A script-based programming language (one that allows you to think in procedures as well)
* An OOP language (or the flavor of the first language with all of the OOP paradigms in it)
* Database programming
* Design patterns
* MVC in particular - most frameworks out there are MVC-based

That would help you to program in most popular languages out there and be effective while working HTML5 paradigms, JavaScript libraries and frameworks, and incorporate them in all web-driven languages or platforms. Depending on the type of work there may be other sections, such as:

* Computer architectures - I don't believe you can be a senior backend engineer without understanding the actual hardware components responsible for everything
* Networks and server management - some good basics of hosting management skills
* Security - related to everything before, but it's another important topic for full-stack developers to always take into account
* Performance and scalability - writing a high-performance code is a skill that depends on your understanding of the server stack, the memory layer, CPU executions etc.
* DevOps paradigms - testing (all sorts of), continuous integration, tooling (version control, automated deployment, staging setup)

UI/UX/etc don't click with me when I hear "full-stack web developer" - that is more of a frontend developer/designer aspect, and is definitely not a requirement for full-stackers. It's always helpful to be able to wear more hats - design, UI/UX, marketing, soft skills could help you build a better product, lead your team or be a mediator between the team and the client, but it's hard to juggle with everything and the first group is easier to keep together in the same basket while improving your skills.

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Web development

Web Design

Web Applications

Mario Peshev answered

How to get out of the shell, to stop thinking "do I really can?" and start making things I've ever wanted, like expand my business?

I've seen that syndrome over a hundred times while mentoring and teaching courses and everything can sum up in a single term: Motivation.

The low level of motivation is the reason for you to keep asking that question without taking action.

Lack of motivation is caused by different factors, and could be tackled with different actions. The easiest way to fight that is by leaving yourself no choice.

"Just do it", as a popular brand says in their motto. If you work full-time, quit. All of your income should come from your business venture, so you better get that going ASAP.

If everything is too vague, break it into groups and subtasks. Define everything in details and set milestones. Deadlines are always a good motivator. Announce them publicly to everyone - if you count on your name, you better not fail that.

If you are afraid of the competitors, find your unique selling point. Beat them with a killer feature and sell it at your best.

Whenever my mentees or students have doubts, I outline them the alternative. A boring 9-6 job, a mean manager, tedious tasks, lack of progress. Planning in iterations with pressuring deadlines leaves you no time to think of "can I" since you're too busy to execute the plan and progress further.

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New Business Development

Life Coaching

Mario Peshev answered

If choosing between spending your marketing budget on Google or Facebook, which way should advertisers go and why?

The comments above are spot on.

Depends on the type of service/product, where your target group is and the payment strategy as well. Facebook may get traction for freemium or cheap products and help you if you start with a good referral strategy, due to the social element of the network.

Google may target more serious customers looking for an actual solution.

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Facebook Marketing

Facebook Advertising

Google AdWords

Mario Peshev answered

Many companies try online marketing but fail to see positive results. What are they doing wrong?

Common issues are:

* Sending the wrong message to a specific target group
* The product/service is too complicated or not appealing enough
* The reputation is not there - case studies, testimonials and actual reviews

More expensive products and services need a solid portfolio of existing customers and successful projects or stories. Marketing is not a one-shot thing and prospects often have to be warmed up for weeks or more in order to get comfortable and convert to users. That's where freebies, educational resources, free consulting and more come into play.

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Online Marketing

Digital Marketing

Marketing Strategy

Mario Peshev answered

How can I market my management consulting service through a website?

Definitely work on educational resources for management. Authority and reputation require transparent actions, which should be tutorials, free ebooks or other online materials that focus on the best management practices, programs and strategies.

Free content would bring more traffic from Google and social networks. Free ebooks and other "products" can be used for capturing emails. Consider a free email course on project management that you promote with lead capture forms, exit intent popups and others.

Start promoting on LinkedIn and other social mediums, partner with other websites, guest post on blogs that focus on project management or other complimentary services that rely on good project management strategies in order to be successful and profitable.

If you are certified PMI/PMP/PRINCE2 manager, add that to your website. Try to partner with certification authorities and provide services for them with some attractive discount.

There are other ideas that you could implement as well, contact me and we can chat more.

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Web development

Web Marketing

Business planning

Mario Peshev answered

Should I create a WordPress site or build a custom website?

We have been building large traffic and content solutions on top of WordPress for years. WordPress will excel both in your initial phase, saving time and costs for building a decent solution, and your growth scaling. Some of the largest news websites are built on top of WordPress, since it started as a blogging platform.

Example lists:

http://vip.wordpress.com/clients/
http://www.wpbeginner.com/showcase/40-most-notable-big-name-brands-that-are-using-wordpress/

WordPress is popular enough to support a large number of services out of the box (with plugins).

There are plenty of managed WordPress hosting solutions such as SiteGround that are optimized for WordPress projects, caching plugins like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache that do most of the heavy-lifting if you want to skip the optimization until you become profitable.

You can also find various security extensions for two-factor authentication, file monitoring, or other goodies - as well as integration to CDNs and software firewalls.

Schedule a call and I'll help you plan your strategy, avoid obstacles and grow with time.

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Web Design

Website Development

Mario Peshev answered

I am seeking to add 900 email subscribers (currently have 141) to ProjectManagementHacks.com by May 1. I am looking for suggestions for grow faster!

Seems like you're headed in the right direction, especially with the webinars and the guest blogging - these are a great way to increase the interest to your service.

Also, 900 subscribers by May sounds totally realistic.

However, the website definitely needs a lot of work. It looks like a general blog, nothing too professional to convey trust and authority. No additional pages for your services, it's hard to get in touch with you, the only lead form is the Hello Bar on the top (that is a bit too large).

The landing page and the exit intent popup are also really bad - you'll have to work on the design aspects or use plugins such as OptinMonster for optins and Unbounce/LeadPages for landing pages.

No related posts, no way to convince a user to stay after a post is done.

The list is long, I can share a few other things as well and help you with the design concept and measuring your leads if you're interested.

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Email Marketing

Growth Strategies

Mario Peshev answered

Many businesses hire an Internet advertising agency to run their online marketing campaigns but fail to get positive ROI, why is that?

Advertising is one of the ways to get traction, but for most brands it takes over 6 months (or a year) to build any income at all. It's a good way to promote local stores or coffee shops, and cheaper products, but the cost per click is high for online products and the initial investment is significant, and often acquiring a customer costs more than profit.

For some brands getting a large number of initial users is essential to get the business profitable at a later point. Many startups invest in different forms of inbound or content marketing and build their steady traffic from freebies, tutorials and other relevant resources for their users, referral programs, freemium models and other tactics to bring users without investing in standard advertising.

Advertising is a helpful addition when you implement retargeting pixels and promote to the right channels.

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Internet Marketing

Online Marketing

Mario Peshev answered

As a startup, is it better to find a way to pay for services (i.e. design) or trade equity for it?

William explained the basics of the problem, so it's really up to you.

It's a matter of risk and initial investment. If you believe that your startup is a winner (which is logical, otherwise why spend time on it?), then you'll probably expect it to grow to a $1M/$10M company. You can calculate the equity then, or the rough amount of work based on time spent * hourly rate.

The other part is the risk. If you're wrong, equity will cost you less. If you rely on a loan/mortgage, this could pay back later or you'll be debt-dependent later on. It's a matter of calculations, risk, planning and connections.

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Early-stage Startups

Start-ups

Equity Funding

Mario Peshev answered

What should I do to have my first client on Clarity.fm?

Other than answering questions and optimizing your profile, another starter idea is bringing your existing clients to the platform.

Quick consulting or support for a retainer client? Bring them to Clarity. You can embed their widget to your website as well, or share it to your social media profiles.

Clarity also provides a VIP link feature for free consulting - a fair way to help a few people and add some value while building your reputation along the way.

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Social Media Marketing

Online Marketing

Digital Marketing

Mario Peshev answered

How does a bootstrapping startup organize an exceptional team with no budget?

I was hesitant when I was invited as a CTO in a startup few years ago, but eventually I got in.

Finding someone willing to commit in exchange for promising isn't easy. The main thing is for you to be excited and passionate about your idea and meet technical experts who would be willing to join your venture. Also, have a good idea of the expected ETA for your revenue plan.

A good example is ABC's reality show "Shark Tank" - the sharks wouldn't invest in a business owner who is not dedicated enough, and occasionally they'll invest in a founder since they believe that he or she can take the product to the next level, even if it's not there yet.

You can join some startup communities or attend technical conferences, or check with your university/high school friends who got involved with the tech world.

The only thing I'd keep in mind is that if your idea is not proprietary and you don't have any competitive advantage (such as being a recognized marketing expert, have tons of contacts in your niche), your idea may be implemented by someone else, so make sure you're adding your bit on the table other than a good idea itself.

Let me know if you want us to discuss that further.

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Team Building

Early Stage Startup

Early Stage Investment

Reviews

Great call, gave us some valuable insight on the business side of WP SaaS development. Highly recommended.

Leo Ludwig Source: Clarity

Mario was an absolute gem to speak with. Tons of knowledge. Hire him if you can!

David Kim Source: Clarity

Very knowledgeable and helpful. Will be using again!

Clint McCarver Source: Clarity

Mario was perfect for me because he experienced exactly the same issues Im facing right now and I look forward to speak with him again as I implement his advice!

Andrea Di Rocco Source: Clarity

First time Clarity user - the service was valuable in facilitating connecting to a resourceful expert. Mario is professional, super responsive and a provided immediate expert guidance and answers in half the scheduled time! Highly recommended.

Iva Koberg Source: Clarity

This was my first call on Clarity and it was a great experience. It's evident that Mario has a deep understanding of the open source development scene - he has quickly identified some issues in the business model that we discussed and offered potential solutions. Totally recommended!

Daniil Demchenko Source: Clarity

Mario went above and beyond our expectations in answering our questions on the call and even answering a few short followup questions via private message. Highly recommended!

Steve Black Source: Clarity

Exceptional pieces of advice! Looking forward to our next call!

Tosho Trajanov Source: Clarity

I contacted Mario for advice about web hosting requirements for my high-traffic website. He gave me excellent advice and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend his consultations.

Kris Gunnars Source: Clarity

Great call. Very knowledgeable and insightful!

Juliana Blackett Source: Clarity

Excellent advice by Mario. He is quite knowledgeable on the WordPress domain. He shared his strategies that we can apply to grow our business.

I would definitely be seeking his advice in the longer run again...

Neeraj Agarwal Source: Clarity

Member since August 2014