Matt will be joining us for the Running a WordPress Business session, which you can watch LIVE on February 15. He’ll be teaching us how to build an audience and a community around your business and services. This presentation is particularly important for anyone who is afraid to market or sell themselves.

Where can we find you on the internet?

You can find my podcast at: http://mattreport.com
You can find my company site at: http://slocumthemes.com
You can find our Web shows at: http://youtube.com/slocumstudio
You can find my mentorship site at: http://wpmentor.org
You can find me on Twitter as @mattmedeiros

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

In my previous career, I was Director of Product at a local ISP for 6 years. One of the companies we acquired had a web design arm back in mid 2006 that built using Drupal. I was tasked to lead that division and it became very clear to me that Drupal (at that time version 5) was too complex for the client’s we were working with. I discovered WordPress and The Standard theme around that time and have been using WordPress ever since.

From there, I started my own company with my Father called Slocum Studio. Today, we offer WordPress development and design services, themes and support.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

From a business development standpoint, it’s super flexible and can solve many issues for many verticals. We can build amazing blogs, e-commerce stores and custom web apps for different needs. I truly believe WordPress will be an OS for the internet.

What resources to you turn to when you want to learn something new?

I’m fortunate to have a great team at the agency lead by Scott Sousa and I lean on his expertise very heavily. When we’re researching something new or brainstorming a new feature for a theme or plugin, it literally starts by the writing on the wall.

We start sketching out the new ideas, how we envision the flow and design and start rapid prototyping. It’s a team effort to build new “stuff” on WordPress.

What is one piece of advice you have for someone looking to start a business?

I’m going to take the cliche route that I once mocked: Just do it and don’t be embarrassed of your first version.

You will fail.
You will pivot.
You will learn.

It’s a continuous cycle when you’re growing organic.

What advice do you have for others looking to become WordPress experts?

Tune into podcasts and get involved with the community. Don’t get overwhelmed, find yourself a mentor or start following some smart folks on Twitter. Engage them, but don’t hound them. Absorb the conversation going on around you and stay curious.

What is one interesting non-WordPress-related fact about yourself?

Probably the most interesting thing is that I started this company with my Father — something a lot of folks are surprised to hear. It’s not our first business together either. For most of my life we worked together at a Chevrolet and Cadillac dealership he owned.