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Profit Sharing WordPress Plugins

The next great idea for your website is sitting in your head. Some clever WordPress application developer could turn out that plugin. It takes money to hire a WordPress plugin developer, but the cost of building a plugin could be 10 to 50 times the cost of buying a ready-made application. The gulf is what keeps your great idea from being reality.

What if I told you that there was a way to close that gap?

Profit sharing is a way to get a custom WordPress plugin developed – without breaking the bank. Here’s how it works:

  • A proponent for a new plugin will propose a new plugin that doesn’t exist in the WordPress ecosystem.
  • The proponent and I define the plugin and work out the resources required (i.e. time) to build this plugin.
  • That development time becomes a budget. The proponent would fund that budget.
  • Once ready for use, the proponent gets the plugin.
  • The developer polishes the plugin and posts it on a digital marketplace: the first choice is my product site, http://products.shawndewolfe.com but we could instead or additionally post it on a third-party marketplace like Envato.  (By “developer,” I mean “me”, but there could be other developers, designers and content people involved.)
  • The income is split between the developer and the proponent. Once the proponent has earned back their budget, a new percentage split comes into play and the proponent continues to earn for the remainder of the lifespan of the product.

Developers have long heard “you build it, and I’ll split the profit with you”. Developers have good ideas, too. They can couple their idea with their technical knowledge to create terrific products.

The key part of this equation is risk. A good idea could be a sentence; it could take weeks of evolution. When it gets into the hands of the developer, executing those ideas is where the heavy lifting starts. The risk shifts to them. If the project is large, it could preclude other work. Profit sharing is a proposal to diminish that risk and share the reward.

Do you have a good idea for a plugin? One that you need, that others in your field may need too? Let’s talk.

At the outset, we establish the scope and the budget. How long will it take? Extrapolated into development hours, how much will that cost? The proponent will pay that amount for the development project as though it were contracted work. After the launch, we split the profits: 80% for the proponent to recoup the development fees; and 20% for the developer to realize the reward. After the development fees are recouped, the formula shifts to 50/50 between the proponent and the developer.

After the release, it’s on the developer to maintain and evolve the code. Both parties will market the product and drive sales. The end result is a terrific product and a revenue stream for everyone involved.

Interested? Click here.