FocusWP’s co-founder Stephanie Hudson recently joined Tara Claeys and Liam Dempsey on the Hallway Chats podcast to discuss everything from entrepreneurship to craft beers! The conversation provided an insight into what life is like for the co-founder of a white label business mixed with the fun and charm you can expect from a conversation with Stephanie.

The Genesis of FocusWP

In an ongoing discussion about “saying yes” to anything, Stephanie shed some light on how openness and her desire to help others lead to the creation of FocusWP. At a Divi coffee meetup before WordCamp US in Nashville, TN she met Tom Jensen — a casual introduction that would have a huge impact on the direction of their careers in the years to come. Stephanie mentioned to Tom how much she enjoyed creating care packages for other people’s websites and shared her recipe for success with them. The week after the conference, Stephanie was shocked to receive a business plan in her inbox. FocusWP was born! As they grew their white label WordPress maintenance business, they began to realize that they could provide much more than care packages to help busy agencies and freelancers scale their businesses.

“We started doing little side projects [for our customers], and we realized…gosh, there’s so many more ways we could help,” Stephanie said. “So we added Development services. And then we added on copywriting services. Because these are the things that are hard to find. There’s a million developers, but to find somebody that you can trust that isn’t going to flake on your project, or that has the skill set that they say they have, or there’s quality control involved.” This desire to help others led to FocusWP becoming not just a maintenance company, but an on-demand copywriting, development, graphic design white label service company.

The Importance of Networking

Without networking, there is no FocusWP. Throughout the podcast, Stephanie touches on the importance of networking and the different ways it can help. “I’m a big networker. I’m very open to just sort of meeting people and having conversations. It almost always ends up with something cool happening,” Stephanie shared.

Even if it’s through Facebook groups, networking is a great way to not only grow your business — or create a new business — but also grow your personal skill set. Interacting with people with similar jobs and interests helps you learn from people who share your passions. These interactions help everyone involved.

Finding Your Niche

Creating a business is just the beginning. Building your brand and, more importantly, finding your niche is the next step. Many people get anxious just hearing the word “niche,” but it doesn’t have to be complicated! In fact, it can be as simple as tying something you enjoy or are skilled at into your business.

For example, to niche her agency, Stephanie marketed Sweet Tea Marketing to those tired of getting mistreated by negligent developers. Growing in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the southeastern United States, the idea was that Sweet Tea Marketing would give off a “friendly, southern vibe”. The agency went on to focus on craft beer, an industry that was (and still is!) booming in the Charlotte area. There’s no reason to overthink your niche. Go with what you know and what you enjoy.

Listen to the full episode on the Hallway Chats website!