Succession plan - what happens to my clients if I die?

[Jason Olson]

Curious if any of you solo freelancers have a succession plan to take care of your clients if you were to die unexpectedly.

I see two main options.

1 - Send clients a full backup of their site occasionally and tell them to hire another WP developer if I die.

2 - Arrange with another freelancer or agency to take over your sites.

Any advice? I'm brand new to this group and unfortunately I don't have any friends who are good with WordPress (completely self-taught), so my end goal might be to pursue option 2, but I wouldn't even know whom to ask. :)

Jason

[c...@cypresscreative.com]

Hi Jason

I have two other contractors I hire part time who have access to our CRM and our Google Workspace. The only thing missing is some formal emergency procedures, which I've started on, and now you're motivating me to finish.

If I were totally solo without hiring other people, I'd probably do #2.

Christian

[Barbara Schendel-Kent]

I am glad to see this subject brought up because I have thought about this for a long time. I do have a continuity of service plan *in my head* but have not done anything to formalize it on paper. For me, since I do have several WP friends, my plan is more like #2. It has actually been on my mind to pursue this plan this spring and get something set up semi-officially. This email thread solidifies my plan. Thanks for lighting a fire under me too! :)

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[Donna Homan]

I think creating a succession plan with another developer is the way to go.

I would be happy to discuss options and ways to work together.  Reach out to me at my business email of do...@delitewebdesign.com if you are interested.

Donna

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[John Visser]

I've been a self-employed developer since 1999, and honestly, this isn't really something I've given a lot of thought to.

That said, I've always been a firm believer in never holding the keys myself. All plugin licenses, hosting plans, domain registrations, etc are up to the client to purchase and renew. I set them up with 2 WP logins: Admin and Editor, and instruct them to use the Editor account when making content updates, but keep the Admin for emergencies (and tread carefully when using it).

So, in theory, if something happens to me, they'd have everything they need to transition to another developer. But I've never explicitly created a succession plan.

~john

John Visser  |  johnvisser.net
Tenacious, solution-driven WordPress development, optimization, and maintenance in Minnesota.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 2:43 PM Jason Olson <jro...@gmail.com> wrote:

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