2017 in Review

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Brian R.

It’s so hard to believe that 2017 is nearly over. I feel like it was only a couple weeks ago that I sent my “New Year, New Training!” email to announce all of the excellent speakers that were coming this year.

In that email I said we would be hearing from 24 presenters at an average pace of two per month. I also mentioned that I had hired an assistant and that I was working on some other things I couldn’t share about at the time. Now that the year has passed, I’ve been longing to conduct a recap and see how I’ve done. I’ve now done just that and I thought I should share with you five major areas of focus for 2017:

Loads of new training from lots of new faces
Joining forces with 10 strategic media partners
Hiring an assistant for the benefit of all
Adding new services through private training
New full-time focus on WPSessions

Let’s dig in!

1. Loads of new training

All told, I hosted 17 sessions this year. I fell short of the original plan to host 24 sessions, due largely to changes in schedules for our presenters, but I’m happy with every single one of these sessions!

Here’s the full list of sessions from 2017:

What I find most remarkable about this list is that it would cost more than a full VIP Membership to buy only the presentations from 2017. Except, as a VIP you also get the entire backlog of sessions (another 60hrs of content), several highly-detailed courses, and discounts with popular products and services you’re probably using already. I’m just putting that observation out there, no pressure 🙂

2. Joining forces with awesome new partners

A major shift in how I previously operated the business occurred this spring when I began pursuing dedicated media partners, in lieu of one-off session sponsorships. Each of these partners help keep session broadcasts free and keep WPSessions running.

I had two rules for each of the partners I approached: 1) they had to be the producer of a tool or service that I use and love; 2) I would only forge 10 partnerships for the rest of the year. I want to be clear that I am the one who made first contact with each of these companies and I believe they’re the right/best answer in each of their domains.

With that, these are the awesome folks who made the cut:

SearchWP – WordPress core search sucks, and SearchWP fixes that in a big, big way. You can control which fields are included in search, how valuable each field is for ranking, and more. I can’t imagine launching a site that has visitor-facing search without this plugin.
SproutApps – Dan is the sole proprietor behind this incredible suite of tools made to make life for independent contractors and small businesses better: Sprout Invoices – an invoice generation and payment portal; Sprout Clients – a super simple CRM, and Help Scout Desk – a seamless integration between Help Scout and WordPress. All of them are awesome.
WP Migrate DB Pro – Effortlessly migrate content from one WP install to another. You can even push or pull data between sites in addition to doing a traditional export and import. CLI commands, media library integration, and other similarly great features make this my go-to tool for active development on all production sites and redesigns.
Beaver Builder – the only page builder that I even consider using. All content is compiled back to HTML and stored into the content area, portions can be saved as reusable template partials, and every single module can be handled differently for responsive layouts. They’re keeping a close eye on integration opportunities for Gutenberg too, so no need to worry about picking up a soon-to-be outmoded tool.
WooCommerce – the tool I use for every ecommerce site I build (including WPSessions). I love its flexibility and extensibility.
Sucuri – the only security company I trust with important sites. Sucuri provides monitoring and remediation services, among other things, to help you keep sites free from harm.
Gravity Forms – The form plugin I use on my site and sites I’m personally responsible for. I don’t think I’ve ever had a single complaint about using this plugin and the team continues to make it better each and every year.
WP All Import – The best tool I’ve found for bringing in foreign data into WordPress in a systemized way, without writing a pain-staking, custom migration script. Within WP you can specify the data source, drag & drop each piece of data into where it belongs (title, body, terms, meta, etc.), apply templates or transformations to each piece of data, and then save that import script for re-running again either manually or on an automated interval. It’s incredible.
Pantheon – the most agency- and developer-focused web host that I have found. Their infrastructure and tooling is pretty perfect for all of us, and perfect for our clients too. My two favorite things: 1) mutli-dev environments you can use to spin up individual sites for each feature being tested; 2) every account is free and fully-featured until you decide to launch the site to the public.
Hover – the only domain registrar I use and recommend (I seriously, genuinely love working with Hover). They have no upsells and zero friction between picking your domain and owning your domain. The DNS tools are crazy simple to operate. And all of it can be done effortlessly from your phone, too (I speak from first-hand experience, because that’s how I originally acquired WPSessions.com).

3. Hiring an assistant for the benefit of us all

Immediately at the start of the year I had the opportunity to hire Cate DeRosia as the first (and only) paid contractor to assist with WPSessions. Her help has been invaluable to me all throughout the year.

Most of Cate’s time and attention has been spent transcribing the back catalog of training videos. Thus far she has transcribed over 53 hours of video! Soon this effort will be visible to you as closed captions and on-page transcripts of our entire video library. This will allow you to read the training rather than listen, if that’s what you prefer, or jump to the specific section of video that narrates the subject you see in the transcript. I’m super excited to roll this out across 2018.

Besides transcribing, Cate has provided assistance with administrative work of the site: preparing session descriptions, navigating session scheduling, and other helpful tasks. I’m confident she would have been of even more help if I could have been bothered to properly outline and delegate other things that need to be done in this business.

In all, hiring Cate is handily the single best decision I made for WPSessions in a long time. I definitely recommend you consider hiring a quality assistant for your own work. But please find somebody else, because I really like having Cate in my corner and don’t want her to leave WPSessions for whatever exciting things you’re doing.

4. Introducing new services: private training

I actually piloted this service quietly in 2016 with two different teams, then rolled it out quietly again to two more teams here in 2017. This was one of those things I teased in my “New Year, New Training” email in January. Now I’d like to officially go on the record to say that Private, Team Training is something WPSessions proudly offers. I call it “team training”, but in reality it’s useful for individuals who want to increase their edge, teams who want to grow together, and your clients who need to learn how all of their new tools work.

Through this offering I am able to provide highly relevant and targeted training directly to you(r team or clients), in private, and deliver exactly what you need to learn at precisely the time it is most useful to learn it. For example, do you have a complex ecommerce project on the horizon? I can deliver a presentation, answer questions, review proposals or code, and help you move in the best possible direction. Need to learn how to better leverage the WP REST API? WP-CLI? Implement better workflow and project forecasting or management processes? Need a better on-boarding or vetting process for new hires? Yep, I can help with those, too.

I’ve worked with several leading WordPress agencies and shops, have run my own development and consultancy business since 1999, and have sold and built web services ranging from sub $1,000 to the many hundreds of thousands of dollars. I’ve managed teams of 3 and teams of 30. I’ve helped with hiring, training, leading, and developing. My experiences are varied and my insights are many. And I’d love to help you or your team learn, grow, and do better in 2018!

There is just one catch. This new level of service is extremely limited and only available through an application process. You can learn all about it and get in touch to discuss things further on the Team Training page.

5. A new full-time focus on WPSessions

I was also very quiet about this transition. In June I stepped away from many years of working in the agency space and leapt into full-time focus on all-things WPSessions. I didn’t want to make a lot of noise about it at the time because I knew how much work was still ahead of me steering WPSessions back towards a successful path. Now that we’re six months past the change I feel like it’s finally time to let the cat out of the bag.

A significant portion of my energy these past six months has actually gone towards developing two different on-boarding programs as part of the new team training service. The rest went towards coordinating ever-changing speaker schedules, speaking at and attending several conferences, and designing the upcoming training curriculum for 2018. If you’re reading things closely, good news, I’m about to reward you with a little nugget that most other people won’t hear about until a big announcement several months from now: I’m personally producing dozens of hours of short, focused tutorial videos to help you learn just-in-time what you need to know to complete a current task or project.

I’ve really enjoyed working only on WPSessions these past many months and am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue this focus throughout 2018. The business currently has enough cash reserves to fund me through May of 2018. Between now and then I’d like to sell enough VIP memberships or Team Training contracts to fund training and development through to 2019. That means, if you like what I’m producing here and want it to continue, you should consider investing into one of those. And if you don’t like it that much, no hard feelings! Perhaps the content that arrives in 2018 will change your mind 🙂

Thank you, and thank our media partners!

With all things considered, 2017 was an incredible year for WPSessions. I’m looking forward to making 2018 even better. This site wouldn’t be possible without the multitude of customers and media partners that I’ve had the privilege of working with throughout the year. If you’re in either group, thank you very much for funding this and investing in me, yourself, and the broader WordPress community.

If you’re a beneficiary of the training provided here, please reach out to each media partner and tell them “thank you”, too. Here’s a list of their twitter handles:

@SearchWP
@_SproutApps
@DliciousBrains (makers of WP Migrate DB Pro)
@BeaverBuilder
@WooCommerce
@SucuriSecurity
@GravityForms
@WPAllImport
@PantheonIO
@Hover

If you’d like to stay informed with all the good things that are coming to WPSessions, you should join the newsletter! I send out a once-per-month update and an occasional (but rare) announcement or reminder.

PS – Don’t miss out on the 12 Days of WPS give-away! There are 78 different prizes available, including a lifetime VIP membership. There are different prizes with new opportunities to enter every day.

Meet Bryce Adams, WordPress Expert

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Brian R.

Bryce presented Lessons Learned Building a WordPress SaaS on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 5pm EST. You can also purchase the recording to watch at any time for just $19.

During this session, Bryce explained the lessons he’s learned and mistakes he’s made while building a custom reporting service for WooCommerce. In particular, we spent a lot of time talking about the logistics, costs, and challenges presented by creating a SaaS.

Without any further ado, here are Bryce’s answers to my interview questions.

Where can we find you on the internet?

I’m mostly on Twitter @bryceadams but also have a personal blog at https://bryce.se. I don’t have much time to write posts these days but when I do, they tend to end up on Metorik’s Behind the Scenes blog. Why? Well, they’re all mostly related to Metorik, so why not?!

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Many years ago I made my first blog, which of course ran WordPress. Slowly over the years I needed to customise more parts of the blog and other blogs I built for friends, so I began picking up the necessary developer skills and eventually ended up with my first real job in the WordPress space at WooThemes, working in WooCommerce support.

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

I’m working with Laravel & Vue a lot these days, so mostly Laracasts. But honestly I just haven’t really had the time to invest in learning recently. It’s something I’d love to dedicate more time to though.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

The action/filter system really is quite good and unique to WordPress. It makes extending WordPress really that simple, which is great since it allows people to start writing code in moments.

What is one surprising thing you’ve learned while building a software service?

It’s as hard as everyone says 🙂 Juggling 100 different things at once, wearing the hat of a developer, designer, marketer, CEO, etc. all at once is truly difficult. But also, more significantly, it’s truly fulfilling. Building something from scratch into something that puts food on the table, without relying on any one individual or company is an amazing feeling. On top of that, working with some of my amazing customers to hear about how Metorik helps them grow their own businesses is very inspiring and motivating.

Is there a lesson you’ve learned since starting Metorik that would have saved you a lot of time or headache if you had already known it before starting the project?

I can’t think of any specific lesson, but I try not to hold too many regrets, so not really. Probably just that building an entire app is hard, and maybe I would have spent more time learning about all the technologies I use beforehand, but I didn’t really have much time as I wanted to get started the second I could.

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

Build stuff. Anything. Learn, of course, but turn that knowledge into something tangible.

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

I used to own a few motorbikes/dirt-bikes and loved it!

Thanks Bryce!

If you want to learn more about selling a software as a service and you’re looking for a six month head start, make sure you register for Lessons Learned Building a WordPress SaaS.

Meet Kyle Maurer, WordPress Expert

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Brian R.

Kyle will be presenting Mastering WordPress Troubleshooting. You can join us for free for the live broadcast on Friday, January 20, 2017 at 1pm EST. You can also purchase the recording to watch at any time for just $19 (or $9 if you’re reading this before the broadcast).

During this session, Kyle is going to show you how to tackle any and every difficult bug you might encounter with a WordPress website, whether you currently understand the problem or not. By the time the presentation is done, you’ll be equipped and ready to identify, research, and solve even the trickiest of website bugs.

Without any further ado, here are Kyle’s answers to my interview questions.

Where can we find you on the internet?

https://realbigplugins.com
http://realbigmarketing.com
http://kyleblog.net
Twitter: @MrKyleMaurer
Github: brashrebel
WP Slack: brashrebel
Post Status Slack: kyle

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I wrote a poem about that once over on my w.org profile. I also wrote a really long story over here on HeroPress.

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

Post Status Notes keep me very informed of everything important happening in WordPress. I also routinely peruse managewp.org and wptavern.com for more news. But probably my best source of information is podcasts. I listen to many different podcasts (and co-host a couple) on many topics. Some of the more educational variety which I enjoy include WordPress Weekly, Apply Filters, Shop Talk Show, Post Status Draft, Art of Value, Kitchen Sink WP, Startups for the Rest of Us and a few others.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

WordPress is packed with hundreds of things we take for granted. The user roles and capabilities system and multisite are so awesome and powerful. But I also love little things like get_plugin_data() and all the other core functions which power the plugin system.

What is your most frustrating thing to debug/troubleshoot?

Humans. When it comes to WordPress though, email issues are typically quite tricky just because there’s so many points at which something can go wrong. Others would definitely be anything that requires waiting as a part of the troubleshooting process like cookies, caching, crons, DNS propagation, etc.

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

Paying for WP Sessions is a great start. But really, “expert” is an elusive and lofty title. It isn’t easy to become an expert in anything. My advice would be to work hard to immerse yourself in things that really challenge you and maybe even scare you. Hate public speaking (of course you do, everyone does)? Do that. Speak at local meetups and WordCamps. Those events will challenge you to become proficient in a topic and will work wonders for your self confidence. Also partner with others on ambitious projects that are just a little beyond what you already know. Avoid what’s easy. Make yourself uncomfortable.

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

m a pretty long time, die-hard fan of the Michigan Wolverines and the Green Bay Packers.

Thanks Kyle!

If you want to learn more about troubleshooting your own problems and how to save yourself both time and hassle, make sure you register for Mastering WordPress Troubleshooting

Why should you attend WordCamp US?

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Brian R.

Me with Diane Kinney at WordCamp San Francisco 2014

I want to tell you a story about the value of time. And I don’t strictly mean about value in terms of monetary sense, I mean in terms of intrinsic worth.

The Value of Your Time

On one hand, your time does have a direct monetary equivalent – in that you trade time for money. On the other hand, you also have time that is as measured beyond any monetary gain. This time is precious to you – it is infinitely valuable. For you, this time cannot be sold at any cost.

A Tale of Two Trips

Many years ago I had dreams and hopes of attending WordCamp San Francisco (WCSF). The cost of attendance was just beyond my reach and every year I said to myself, “not this year, but definitely next year.” I said this to myself several years in a row. The funny thing was, each year I would start to see commentary flowing from people who were at the event and immediately regret my decision to stay home.

Eventually, I did make time and set aside money specifically so I could attend WordCamp San Francisco and my experience was indescribable. As a result I went again the following year. This year I immediately registered for WordCamp US once tickets became available.

The cost for me to attend WCSF, both in terms of money spent and the opportunity cost of my time away, was not insignificant for me. The benefit of attending, however, far surpassed any amount of money I could have spent.

I cannot fully describe to you how beneficial this trip was to me. I hope that I can at least demonstrate its impact through the Great Big Give-Away that I am hosting.

Last year I had the opportunity to do something like this for the first time and that was huge for me. This year I am excited to do it again. I promise you that I have so many other ways in which I could spend the $2000 but I am going to give away as part of this promotion, but I know that this is the right way to spend that money.

How can I be so certain? Let me share with you and excerpt from last year’s Grand Prize winner, Diane Kinney. I asked Diane if she wouldn’t mind sharing a little bit about her experience. Like me and my first trip, she two had trouble putting this into words.

Here’s what Diane had to say…

When I noticed WPSessions had created a VIP package, I was excited to join and take advantage of the high level content. Many of the presenters were folks I knew so there was no question the quality would be great. There was a giveaway for a trip to WCSF, but since I don’t win things, that was really an afterthought.

To my complete surprise I won! My WordCamp travel budget had been emptied for the year, so this was an incredibly amazing opportunity to attend what ended up being the last WCSF! I got to see old friends and meet new ones, experience the incredible vibe of such a large WordCamp, and explore San Francisco by adding a few days to my trip. I also got to meet (and hug) Kim Parsell in person for the first time, and that became a very precious memory.

I’m so incredibly grateful to Brian and WPSessions.

– Diane Kinney (@dkinney)

Enter: The Great Big Give-Away

I really, truly want to give as many people as possible this kind of experience. Not just by sending them to events like WordCamp San Francisco or WordCamp US, but also in the daily operation of WPSessions.

I obviously cannot afford to pay for everyone to attend WordCamp US (though I wish I could!) and I also cannot afford to provide regular discounts to the WPS VIP Membership and still provide quality training from the caliber of speakers we host.

Instead, what I can do, is best highlight the value of both opportunities and do my best to bring at least one more person with me whenever I can. That’s the impetus behind The (next) Great Big Give-Away that I’m hosting.

Now is Your chance!

Register to become a VIP Member today! You’ll gain access to our growing training library (over 70 hours currently) learning directly from several of the world’s foremost WordPress experts. You’ll also gain access to some pretty awesome and exclusive stuff, like our VIP member community, exclusive discounts to other sites, and other extra-special stuff.

Additionally, if you join or renew today (by 11:59pm EST on October 26, 2015), you’ll have a chance to win $2,000 USD to pay your way to WordCamp US (and maybe put some money back in your pocket, if you’re able to travel for less than that). You’ll get a full year membership to Post Status. You’ll also get some exclusive, limited-edition WPSessions swag. You can read all about the prizes in our announcement blog post.

If you’re ready to invest in yourself I really want to help you do that!

Become a VIP today!

So, why should you attend WordCamp US?

Your time spent at WordCamp US will return value in dividends compared to time spent elsewhere. There are going to be more than one thousand other attendees and some of the best speakers you’ll hear at any WordCamp – throughout the United States and beyond!

PS – If you were moved by this story, I hope you share it! Please use the hashtag #WPS2WCUS. Thanks!

The Next Great Big Give-Away: #WPS2WCUS

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Brian R.

Good news everyone! I really enjoyed running last year’s give-away so I’m doing it again. The prizes are even sweeter this year and also more plentiful.

If you’ve been on the fence about becoming a VIP Member and indulging in our 70+ hours of WordPress training from many of the top WordPress experts, I would say now is a pretty good time to pull the trigger.

Not convinced? Let me give you 3 more good reasons to consider…

#1. I’m bringing you to WordCamp US

I’m going to pay $2,000 (USD) of my own money to get you to the inaugural WordCamp US. If you haven’t heard anything about WCUS yet, let me take just a moment to tell you about it. WordCamp US will take place from December 4th-6th, 2015 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA – featuring two full days of sessions plus a contributor day. I can already tell that it’s going to be a lot of fun.

If you live within the continental United States this should be more than enough to cover your entire trip (flight, lodging, meals, etc). If you’re from outside the US it should, at the very least, be enough to pay for your flights and at least make the trip possible for you. The $40 event ticket is also on me, in addition to the $2,000 for travel, lodging, etc.

#2. You’ll get a Post Status Club membership.

I love Post Status. And the Post Status Club membership has made the site even sweeter. Every day – right now, even – people are hanging out in the Post Status slack channel talking about WordPress, Business, ecommerce, health, fitness, and just about every other topic that humans converse about.

Whenever relevant news happens you’re the first in-the-know because Brian Krogsgard, the man behind Post Status, personally writes you an email with the important details. These emails are never sent too often nor are they too infrequent, they arrive precisely when they need to. It’s the only newsletter I actually want to read.

I love Post Status so much I want to share it with you, which is why I’m going to buy you a year-long membership. If you’re already a PS Club member this will automatically extend your membership by another full year.

This means you’re also coming to the Post Status WordCamp US Party, a very exclusive event limited to Post Status Club members.

#3. Plus some super special, super secret swag.

Not very many people in this world have had an opportunity to get their hands on our limited-edition swag, but thanks to this give-away you will soon be able to count yourself among them. You’ll get a custom designed t-shirt, some sweet stickers, and a few awesome buttons. It’s all top-quality stuff that I’m sure you’ll love.

How many people can win?

One (1) randomly selected Grand Prize winner is going to get a $2,000 cash disbursement for attending WordCamp US, plus a free event ticket. They will also get a one-year membership (or membership extension) at PostStatus.com and invitation to the official Post Status WordCamp US Party. Finally, the winner will also get a custom WPSessions swag package.

Five (5) additional randomly selected winners will receive a one-year membership (or membership extension) at PostStatus.com and a custom WPSessions swag package.

Or, maybe more…

What are the odds of winning?

1 in 16, or better. Your specific odds of winning one of the prizes in our random drawing is entirely dependent on how many people register or renew their VIP Membership. I promise that your chance of winning will never be lower than 1 in 16.

How is this possible?
If more than 100 people register within this window I’ll double the prizes to ensure (and improve) your odds. This means two people coming to WCUS and 10 people winning a PS Club membership and swag pack. Yes, even if registration only reaches 101 people, we’ll still do double of everything. If more than 200 people register we’ll increase the prizes again.

If you do the math, 101 entries with 12 prizes means you’ll actually have roughly a 1 in 8 chance of winning something awesome, which is the same as if 50 people register. If only 30 people register you’ll have a 1 in 5 chance of winning. If only 6 people register, congratulations, you’re an automatic winner!

How can someone register?

This give-away is just for VIP Members. Specifically, VIP Members who register or renew their membership between today and Monday, October 26, 2015 by 11:59pm EST. And that’s all you have to do.

Actually, if you registered for a VIP Membership any time in the past couple of weeks you’re also automatically included, too.

Rules for Entry

This give-away is restricted to WPSessions VIP Members only. All VIP Members who have registered or renewed during the contest dates are automatically registered and eligible to win, no additional purchase is necessary. Must be at least 18 years old at time of drawing to win. Open to all VIP Members, worldwide.

The grand prize cash prize will be disbursed only after winner submits flight and lodging receipts as proof of intent to travel. I earnestly want you join me at WCUS, that’s the whole point!

Read the full legal terms of the give-away.

Spread the word, increase the pot!

If you post about this on Facebook or tweet about this give-away on Twitter you won’t actually impact your entry in any way (positively or negatively). You may just improve everyone’s odds of winning something, though. As I mentioned above, as soon as we cross 100 registrations the prizes will double, crossing into 200 they will triple, and so on.

Please be sure to use the hashtag #WPS2WCSF anywhere you share this online.

I look forward to seeing you in the VIP community, and I look forward to bringing you with me to WordCamp US!

Become a VIP Member

Meet Justin Sternberg, WordPress Expert

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Brian R.

Justin will be presenting Custom Meta and Settings with CMB2. You can join us for free for the live broadcast on Friday, May 29, 2015 at 3pm EST. You can also purchase the recording to watch at any time for just $9.

During this session, Justin is going to talk about how you can leverage the incredible work that has gone into the CMB2 library to quickly and easily create custom meta inputs for all of your different post types. What’s more, CMB2 can also be used for creating settings pages, managing user meta, and even for creating visitor-facing forms on the front-end of sites. It takes care a of a lot of tedious work, leaving you time to take care of the important things.

There aren’t enough nice things I can say about how great and genuine Justin is as a person. He’s the perfect person to have at the helm of the CMB2 project as he takes a very pragmatic approach to problem solving. I’ve had the privilege of knowing him for a number of years now and it is my absolute pleasure to host him here on WPSessions. I can only hope you’ll someday get an opportunity to know him as well as I do!

Without any further ado, here are Justin’s answers to my interview questions.

Where can we find you on the internet?

http://dsgnwrks.pro
http://jtsternberg.com
https://twitter.com/jtsternberg
https://www.facebook.com/Jtsternberg

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I began working with WordPress around 2009 as I was looking for a cheap CMS solution to use for our church’s website.

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

Usually I keep a log of things I want to learn and as resources float in front of me (via things like Twitter, or JavaScript Weekly, etc), I bookmark them so that when I get a chunk of time to research and learn a new thing, I have a backlog of resources to pull from.

Also, when it comes to getting some advice about WordPress-related questions, having a crowd on Twitter to poll is immensely valuable. Other than that, it’s the usual: google, stack-overflow, digging into the source code, etc.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

How flexible it is. There are so many awesome nuggets you can find just digging through core. My appreciation for that in core has been the driving philosophy behind the development of CMB2.

How did you inherit the codebase for CMB2?

I began using the original, Custom Metaboxes and Fields for WordPress by Jared Atchison, Bill Erickson, and Andrew Norcross. I loved the utility-belt nature of the library, but found there were just a few things I thought would make it really killer… I started submitting pull requests, and after a few of those Jared offered to give me commit access.

After taking over and driving development of that library for over a year, we (WebDevStudios) approached Jared about transferring the project over to us. It wasn’t much longer after that we decided to completely revamp the library, and CMB2 was born.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve made using CMB2?

I think the story|ftw plugin is a pretty cool example of what you can do with it.

What does the future hold for CMB2?

The road map is long and arduous… We have many goals like allowing wysiwyg fields to be repeatable, making repeatable groups more robust, Adding a tabbed UI, Adding customizer and widget support, etc, etc. The list gets longer every day. 🙂 My overriding goal is to continue to refine CMB2 and sand down the rough edges. There’s only so much time in a day, so contributions are welcomed and encouraged!

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

Practice, practice, practice. Just start building plugins and releasing them. Who cares if there’s already one out there.. if yours does something just a little bit better or different, release it. You’ll be surprised by A) how many people will appreciate it, B) How many bugs can exist in software 🙂 and C) how much you can learn by releasing code publicly. Also, It’s never too early to try and start contributing to WordPress core. You’ll never have a higher-caliber group of people looking over your code than when contributing to an open source project, especially one as established and popular as WordPress. Oh, and did I mention practice?

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

I am a licensed minister, so I could marry you or bury you. 😀

Thanks Justin!

If you want to learn more about how you can use CMB2 in your own projects to save yourself both time and hassle, make sure you tune in for Custom Meta and Settings with CMB2

Meet Konstantin Obenland, WordPress Core Contributor

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Brian R.

Konstantin will be presenting Creating Themes with Underscores. You can join us for free for the live broadcast on Thursday, May 14 at 8pm EST (UTC-4). You can also pick up the recording to watch at any time for just $9.

During this session Konstantin is going to talk about the 1,000 hour head-start that you can get from utilizing the _s starter theme. And, even if you’re not interested in working with that theme specifically, you’re going to learn a lot of best practices and considerations you should utilize when building/editing a theme for any project.

Konstantin was kind enough to answer our interview questions so that you can learn more about what makes this WordPress core contributor (and project lead for the 4.3 release) tick. Enjoy!

Where can we find you on the internet?

I mostly blog at konstantin.obenland.it and you can find me on most services by my last name, obenland, like Twitter, GitHub, etc. I prefer to limit my Facebook to actual friends, and try not to treat it like another LinkedIn.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I got started in 2009 when I was working on a friend’s website. My brother and I wanted to build it with our custom PHP framework and were looking for a nice-looking backend. WordPress had that in version 2.7 and so I copied its HTML and CSS to work on top of our framework. After two days of doing that I was fed up and just used WordPress itself to build the site.

It’s still live by the way: http://crazystunters.de/

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

Mostly online tutorials and manuals. A lot of times I also buy books to get a more in-depth understanding of a topic.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Definitely its plugins and themes system. It makes it so easy to extend WordPress – one of the major contributors to its success over the years. I’m sure the majority of WordPress dev, including me, started by either fiddling with theme code or writing a small plugin to scratch an itch.

What first attracted you to WordPress themes?

Nothing really. To this day I consider myself much more a plugin developer than a theme author. What got me started with themes was that I was looking for a good way to give back to the community and at the time felt like reviewing themes for the WordPress Theme Directory would be the most impactful way to contribute.

Reviewing themes taught me what a good theme should look like, which let me contribute to Twenty Twelve in a meaningful way. So the answer to your question would probably be that it was attractive because it was easy to understand.

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

Find a way to contribute!

Never in my life did I learn as much as in the five years since I joined the WordPress community and started contributing to core.

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

Not sure how interesting it is, but part of how I learned English was by memorizing and translating Eminem lyrics.

Thanks Konstantin!

If you’d like to hear Konstantin’s insight on creating excellent WordPress themes make sure you watch Building Themes with Underscores.

Meet Scott Bolinger, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Brian R.

Scott will be presenting Building Mobile Apps with WordPress, which you can watch LIVE on April 23 at 4pm EST (UTC+4). If you can’t make the live broadcast, the recording will be available for just $9.

During his presentation, Scott will teach us how to leverage the WP-API to create entirely custom JavaScript-based interfaces for WordPress. He’ll then take this and some other tooling to compile it into native iOS and Android apps. It’s a really smart process and the end result is just cool.

I had an opportunity to ask him a few questions this week. Check out his answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Twitter: @scottbolinger
Personal: ScottBolinger.com
Business: AppPresser.com

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I started doing client work using WordPress around 2008, then started a premium theme company in 2010. I founded AppPresser in late 2013.

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

I’ve learned a lot from code academy, lynda.com, and Treehouse, but mostly just trying stuff and when I get stuck Google it.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

The new WP-API of course! [Ed. Still a stand-alone plugin, soon to be a core feature of WP]

What attracted you to mobile app development?

I’ve always been interested in mobile web, and mobile apps were the next level. I decided to make a run at it, even though I knew nothing about apps. I’ve learned a ton, my favorite part is the UI for mobile. The transitions, animations, menus, interactivity, etc. can be so beautiful and intuitive if you do it right. The mobile web just doesn’t have that.

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

Do it all day every day, and hang around people smarter than you, and you’ll get there slowly. WordCamps and meetups are a great place to learn.

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

I traveled the world for 6 months with my wife when we first got married, I have a music degree, and I’ve completed a marathon in under 4 hours.

Thanks Scott!

If you’d like to hear more from Scott, specifically about doing some really cool stuff with WordPress, then you’ll want to check out Building Mobile Apps with WordPress.

Learn to Build Mobile Applications using WordPress!

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Brian R.

The wait is finally over! This month we resume a regular schedule of amazing WordPress education. And that’s not all! This month I also get to reveal a new pricing structure and a new way to watch all of our sessions going forward.

New Session Structure!

The single biggest struggle of organizing the monthly sessions here at WPSessions has always been coordinating a window of time that works for all of our excellent presenters. This issue is compounded as they are rarely presenting from the same continent, let alone the same time zone.

To simplify everything, all of our sessions going forward will feature a single presenter who will be instructing on a single topic. We’ll balance this, too, with an increase in frequency of broadcasts. As our speakers are able, we will host more than one live event per month.

New Session Schedule!

Instead of hosting these uniformly on Saturday afternoons, we’re going to try something different. Because WPSessions has a world-wide audience, it’s impossible to pick a single day and time that works well for everyone. So, instead, we’re going to try a lot of different dates and times.

At this moment it is completely the speaker’s option on which day of the week and which time of day they present.

After we’ve gotten a few under our belt (or enough people sound-off in the comments about which days and times are best for their schedule) we’ll likely settle into a uniform and predictable schedule – possibly even ramping up to two live broadcasts at different times for the different hemispheres.

New Session Pricing!

Thanks to our amazing sponsors, LIVE broadcasts will be 100% free to everyone all spring and summer long. I’ve always wanted more people to be able to access this amazing content and be engaged during the live Q&A period during the event, so I reached out to some amazing folks and am finally able to do it.

The recorded content will remain a paid-only feature of the site, and VIP Members will still get the recordings included as part of their benefits.

This Month: Learn how to Build Mobile Applications Using WordPress

Scott Bolinger is going to walk us through the easiest way forward with creating mobile apps using WordPress and JavaScript.

We’ll learn how to use the budding WP-API to make it easy to get data in and out of our WordPress site, how to build a lean front-end using AngularJS, and how to compile the whole site into a mobile application package that is ready to distribute via the various app stores.

You can attend this session having never used the WP REST API or any of the other technologies we’ll be discussing. No matter what, by the time the session is over you should have enough working knowledge to build a working mobile application using WordPress.

Learn More and Register Today

Five All-new VIP Courses Announced

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Brian R.

Today I get to reveal to you the next five courses coming to WPSessions.

Even more exciting, I get to reveal to you the next five instructors who will be teaching those courses. These should all be names that you recognize, which is my favorite part about this. If you don’t know them already, be sure to follow them on Twitter so that you can get to know them. They’re just incredible!

All five of these courses are already in production and will be released as they’re ready. Our first course, Writing your First WordPress Plugin, is already available and ready for you.

Without any further ado, let’s take a look at the new courses!

Greg Rickaby – Mastering Sass: Beginner to Expert

How many lines of CSS would you say go into the typical web project? What about just those lines for accommodating fluid, responsive break points? How about for browser compatibility? Typography rules? Color schemes?

The amount of CSS we use to make the web beautiful has increased in step with the amount of control granted to us by browser engines. And it is unlikely to decrease any time soon.

Enter Sass: an elegant solution to writing fewer lines of CSS while, at the same time, doing an order of magnitude more with them.

Recently, Sass was adopted by the core WordPress development team in order to optimize how the admin area of WordPress is styled. You probably already knew that, and you probably hear it mentioned everywhere because it is an extremely popular way to style the web.

Follow along with Greg as he carefully explains the basic building blocks of Sass, gradually walking you through to several expert design practices. Whether you’re afraid of Sass, are just starting to use it, or have been comfortable with it for some time, there is something for you in this course.

About Greg Rickaby
Greg stumbled upon WordPress in 2006 and has been converting PSD’s into child-themes ever since. He started as a freelancer and now works full-time with WebDevStudios as a Design Lead. You can find his blog at GregRickaby.com.

When offline, Greg loves to make homemade pizza and watch football (he’s part-owner of the Green Bay Packers). Saturday you’ll find him with a beer in one hand and grilling with the other. Sunday, he’ll be behind an audio console at Wiregrass Church – making praise and worship come to life.

Follow Greg on Twitter

Zack Tollman – How to Optimize WordPress Performance

Zack Tollman loves WordPress performance. He has worked to optimize WordPress for peak performance on a number of sites. In this course, he shares all of the tips and secrets he’s collected over his experienced career.

The course begins by introducing a number of simple tools we can use to measure performance – if you can measure it, you can optimize it! Zach also starts off with explaining some of the most basic principles to website performance, from server response time through the entire cascade of HTTP requests and browser rendering. From there, we’ll focus on some of the server-side configurations you can do to improve site performance and then progress towards optimizing the rendering path on the front-end so that the most important elements load first and fastest.

The topic here is quite advanced, but Zack explains it with such relatable, easy-to-understand concepts that viewers of all skill levels will be able to follow along. He’s a master, and we’re thrilled to host him!

About Zack Tollman
Residing in Portland, Oregon, Zack longs for the cold, snowy days of his Alaskan youth. He enjoys strumming his guitar, playing hockey, and spending time with his wife and dog. Otherwise, you’ll find him at his computer meticulously spinning lines of clean WordPress code.

Follow Zack on Twitter.

Chris Lema – How To Make a Membership Site

There are a lot of questions you need to answer before building a membership site. We’ve addressed many of those, in fact, in our session titled “Building Membership Sites”.

The list of tools available to help you build a membership site is almost endless. Oftentimes, it’s hard to know where to begin and which tools are best for your specific needs.

Chris Lema helps you cut through all of that. He lays out the feature sets of several popular choices for membership sites in a way that makes it incredibly easy to compare and decide what’s right for you. From here, we go through the process of actually building, populating, and testing the membership site; this course covers the entire experience, beginning to end.

About Chris Lema
Chris Lema is the CTO and Chief Strategist at Crowd Favorite. He’s also a daily blogger, a public speaker, and product strategist. He helps companies leverage WordPress, and helps WordPress companies find leverage.
Follow Chris on Twitter.

Tom McFarlin – Using the WordPress Plugin Boilerplate

Ever since creating the WordPress Plugin Boilerplate in 2011, Tom McFarlin has received numerous requests to detail exactly how he uses it and what incredible it can do. In this course, Tom takes us through all of that.

The WordPress Plugin Boilerplate is a standardized, organized, object-oriented foundation for building high-quality WordPress plugins. It follows WordPress coding standards and has received contributions from developers worldwide. In this course, we’ll talk through some of the organizational decisions that have gone into the Boilerplate, and we’ll take a look at how to build a WordPress plugin using the Boilerplate.

About Tom McFarlin
Tom McFarlin is a self-employed WordPress developer. He runs Pressware and lives just outside of Atlanta, Georgia with his wife, two daughters, and two dogs. He also blogs daily at tommcfarlin.com.

Follow Tom on Twitter.

Brian Richards – Up and Running with Unit Tests

Do you hate buggy software? I certainly do! One thing I hate even more, though, is creating buggy software.

After years of what I would call “traditional” development my eyes were opened to the power of Unit Tests. After that, everything changed. The way I used to build things included lots of manual testing, lots of broken code, and lots and lots of expletives. It’s one thing to write a function and assume it works, it’s another thing entirely to write a function and have it verifiably work, every time.

In this course we’ll start at the very, very beginning: What is a unit test, and why should you care? Then we’ll look at a couple of examples of what a unit test does, followed by a complete walkthrough the entire process of configuring your local development environment to support unit tests. We’ll also setup a new project with unit tests so that you can see how to set your best foot forward, as well as how to convert an existing project to use unit tests so that you can carefully and confidently refactor and improve legacy code. Finally, we’ll go the extra mile and setup remote, continuous testing integration. If you write software in any capacity, it is imperative that you learn and master the art of testing your code.

About Brian Richards
Hey, that’s me! I run WPSessions.com and get to build really cool things with WordPress (almost) every day.

Outside of WordPress, I spend a lot of my time chasing my two-year-old son around the house. And… that’s it really. I’m either building cool things with WordPress, thinking about building cool things with WordPress, or taking a break from WordPress and relaxing with my family.

Follow Brian on Twitter

VIP Exclusives

Each of these individual courses would be tremendously valuable on their own, and as a VIP Member you can access all of them!

If you haven’t already joined, or haven’t heard about the VIP program offered here, this should give you 5 compelling reasons to register. You’ll also gain access to every single live and recorded session we broadcast, all future courses, plus exclusive discounts from incredible shops and services, all for an entire year (and a few other things that are still forthcoming).

If you have any questions, I encourage you to leave them in the comments below or send them via the contact form.

Become a VIP

Meet Chris Ford, Design Expert

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Brian R.

Chris will be presenting during the Design for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on September 20. During her presentation, Chris will teach us how to build products that people love to use, and that other designers and developers will love to work with and recommend. Are you building products in any capacity (websites, plugins, themes, even services)? Chris’s talk is for you.

Check out her interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

I blog mucch less regularly that I’d like to at creativityincluded.com. Probably because I tweet way more frequently than I want to @ci_chrisford.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I’d been a web designer since 1996, but for three years I took this weird side road into being a professional scrapbooker (yes, that’s a real job). I designed a series of idea books for a major manufacturer and created the brand and publication design of a scrapbooking magazine. I also art directed several issues. During that time I met a lot of really cool women who owned their own photography studios, kit clubs and manufacturing companies. One of them, Pink Paislee, wanted me to build a website using WordPress and a Revolution theme. The rest is history!

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

I read like, constantly. Blogs, Twitter, Medium, books–pretty much anything and everything I can get my hands on. If you’re interested in seeing what I’ve been interested in lately, here’s a recent reading list:
Design is a Job by Mike Montiero
The Art of the Pitch by Peter Coughter
The Year Without Pants by Scott Berkun
Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown

I also like to talk with people who are smarter than I am, so I go to local Meetups and WordCamps to have actual face-to-face discussions. I love being in the same room with people like Chris Lema, Wes Chyrchel, Jessica Barnard, James Archer, Taylor Aldridge, Bryan Monzon and Thom Meredith and getting to talk about everything from Minecraft to horror story authors to teaching techniques.

I think constantly learning is the best part of my job. Everyone you meet has something to teach you if you listen and are open to it.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

My favorite feature of WordPress is modularity. I’m a designer. I can write code, and I have written code, but it’s not what I love to do, and it’s not what I’m best at. It’s a necessary evil, at best–so being able to install Gravity Forms and use conditional logic to build a form that solves a design problem without having to write a Perl script makes me happy 😀 (Yeah, I’m old enough that I had to do that on a lot of projects. It sucked.)

What attracted you to design?

I was always a storyteller. In the 7th grade I was co-editor of the yearbook and was introduced to proportion wheels and proper croppers. In high school I was on the newspaper staff and was introduced to a Macintosh and Aldus Pagemaker. I took drawing and painting classes my first go-round in community college. But it wasn’t until I went back to school in my mid-20’s that I knew I was going to be a designer. I was taking a bunch of general ed classes so I could transfer to a four year university, and added a graphic design class because it sounded like a fun break from everything. I went in to a class taught by Candice Lopez and knew I’d discivered what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I promptly dropped all of the other classes and took a full load of design courses.

What is your favorite aspect of design?

Telling a story. I use the words “visual language” a lot, because to me, that’s what design is–telling a story with color and rhythm and contrast and type. When I was younger, I wanted to be an author or a journalist. I still write a lot of my own copy and enjoy the challenge of writing a really good headline, but my best stories are told visually.

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

Practice. I see so many people who want to become an expert in a year. When I was scrapbooking, people would come up when I had a computer at an event and ask me how I got so good at Photoshop. They’d always looks so disappointed when I’d tell them “Well, I’ve practiced eight hours a day for the last 15 years.” Even when you have a natural talent, the more time you spend practicing it, the better you’re going to be. Another bit of advice is to be a sponge. Hang out with people smarter than you. Ask questions. Observe. And finally, once you know something fairly well, teach other people. Nothing has made me think about how and why I do things quite like sharing it with other people in a class or presentation.

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

I took Roller Derby classes a couple of years ago. I learned how to do a 180 degree knee spin, baseball slide and whip. There is nothing that feels as awesome as skating so fast you’re just on the verge of losing control 😀 I loved it because it taught me I was capable of doing so much more than I ever thought I could.

Thanks Chris!

Make sure to get your ticket for “Design for Developers” so that you have an opportunity to ask Chris questions of your own during the live event.

Meet Michelle Schulp, Design Expert

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Brian R.

Michelle will be presenting during the Design for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on September 20. During her presentation, Michelle will teach us how to talk like and talk to designers, explaining many of the nuances of design language and how designers work. Do you want to work with better designers? This talk is step one.

Check out her interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Business: http://marktimemedia.com

Personal: http://mynameismichelle.com

Twitter: @marktimemedia

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I’d heard of WordPress back in college but didn’t start doing any work with it until maybe 2010? I attended a WordPress session at the CMS Expo, and later my first WordCamp (Chicago 2011) and became hooked. The more I learned (and the more involved I became with the community) the more I wanted to work with it! I guess you could say I drank the Kool-Aid 🙂

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

For all topics I have an interest in (design, web, and WordPress included) I have a core library of actual books that cover a lot of the high level education. Outside of that I’ll typically turn to a combination of Google and People I Know to find answers. I’ve got a list of trusted design and WordPress sources that I know I can find quality answers from online when it’s for work, otherwise it’s sometimes a bit of a trip down a rabbit hole to see what I can learn!

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

My favorite thing about WordPress is the Template Hierarchy. One I wrapped my mind around how it worked, I realized how powerful it was. The ridiculous amount of flexibility and granular control it gives you over the display of content without having to hack or break anything is fantastic. The fact that it allows you to create new page templates, child themes, etc. has enabled me to build some pretty custom sites for clients for a reasonable cost. And the fact that many plugin developers are emulating this functionality for their own templates is pretty awesome too.

What attracted you to design? What is your favorite aspect of design?

I’ve actually been doing visual things my entire life, whether through traditional art mediums or on the computer (one of the first programs I ever used was Kid Pix when I was in preschool). But though I did “art” for all of my life, I was always much better at technical execution (drawing what I could see) than personal expression (drawing what I felt or thought). What attracts me to design is that it isn’t really “art,” but visual problem solving. You still need a strong sense of aesthetics, but it’s for a specific goal. I think the fact that design is as much social, economical, and psychological as it is aesthetic is one of my favorite things about it.

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

1) Get involved now. Whether that’s attending meetups, hanging out on the forums, showing up at WordCamps, speaking, teaching, whatever your local or online community is doing. Being involved helps get you name recognition for sure, but it also gets you a network of people that can help you OR that you can help! Yay community!

2) Read read read! There are so many great online resources- blogs, news sites, magazine articles, the Codex- and several books available written by prominent community members. If listening is more up your alley, there are lots of podcasts as well. There’s almost TOO MUCH information out there about WordPress! So you can definitely find resources that suit your needs.

3) Be active on Twitter. I know it can sound kind of lame to people that don’t know what I mean (140 characters? Really?) but I have gotten so much help, feedback, support, and even work referrals from the community members and friends that I converse with on Twitter, as well as solidifying relationships with people I have met at WordCamps.

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

I’m a band/marching band geek. Played flute and piccolo through college, where I had the opportunity to perform in such awesome places as Carnegie Hall and the Great Wall of China. I still have my flute and pick it up on occasion.

I also like to occasionally paint (and sometimes sell) impressionist versions of iconic things, like cityscapes or scenes. Right now I am on a sci-fi kick and I’m going to do more in this series 🙂

Here’s my shop: http://mynameismichelle.com/shop

Thanks Michelle!

If you’d like to hear more from Michelle, specifically about “How to Speak Unicorn” and understand common design terminology and methodology, make sure you get your ticket for “Design for Developers”

Meet Natalie MacLees, Design Expert

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Brian R.

Natalie will be presenting during the Design for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on September 20. During her presentation, Natalie will teach us about functional design and how it’s even more imperative than aesthetic design (both are important). Our users are NOT robots, so we should be designing our tools to be used by real humans.

Check out her interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Business site: http://purplepen.com
Personal site: http://nataliemac.com
Twitter: @nataliemac
Facebook: /nmaclees

Those are probably the best ones. 🙂 Of course there are like 100 more, but that’s the stuff I use most often.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I got started with WordPress in 2005 when a client requested a blog she could use for her poetry and photography. I did some research and decided WordPress seemed like a good direction to take. I modified Kubrick to make her a ‘custom’ theme and the site is still live today. 😀

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

If it’s something completely new to me that I’ve never done before, I like to start with a book. If I’m looking to further my knowledge on something I already have some familiarity with, I’ll usually stick with blogs, podcasts, and community. I love reading Little Big Details, Sidebar, WP Beginner, WP Tavern, and, each December, 24 Ways. For podcasts, I listen to Jeffrey Zeldman’s Big Web Show, Boagworld, Unfinished Business, Businessology, DradCast, UIE Brain Sparks, and WP Watercooler. For community, I like meetups, but online, I like Facebook groups like Advanced WP and Stack Overflow.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I love that it puts the ability to add and edit content into the hands of users who aren’t proficient in writing code. When i’m creating sites for clients, I go out of my way to ensure that as much of the site as possible can be easily updated or changed around by my clients.

What attracted you to design? What is your favorite aspect of design?

I’ve always loved making things. Even as a kid, I preferred toys like Colorforms, Fashion Plates and LiteBrite to toys like dolls. I desperately wanted to go to design school after graduating from high school, but got talked out of it and into earning a more ‘sensible’ college degree instead. But if you’re meant to do something, it’s going to find you, so I found myself designing stuff for a living anyway, even though I didn’t get the degree. I started in the world of print doing posters, flyers, catalogs, and packaging. I briefly worked designing trade show booths. Then I discovered the web and haven’t looked back. Web design wasn’t even a career option when I graduated from high school, so I had to spend time doing other stuff while the web was invented and grew popular enough to be a viable career option.

I love the feeling of solving a puzzle – working out how to tell a story, how to make a layout work, how to fit pieces together into a cohesive whole.

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

Get involved in the community! WordPress has one of the most open, generous, gracious, welcoming, awesome communities out there. You’ll meet person after person who is smart, cool, nice, and fun. Get out to meetups and WordCamps. Participate in online communities. If there isn’t a meetup in your town, start one!

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

I’m an extreme introvert, which I think surprises people sometimes because I do work so hard at organizing meetups and speaking at conferences. But I’ve found that when I put forth the effort to organize a meetup or present a talk, people will approach me to start conversations and I don’t have to worry about being the one to approach people.

Thanks, Natalie!

If you want to see Natalie present “Your user is not a robot: Bringing design thinking to your development process”, get your event ticket today!

“The Great Big Give-Away” Winners Announced

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Brian R.

If you follow @WPSessions on twitter (and, really, you should), then you saw “The Great Big Give-Away” winners announced the day the contest was over:

Thrilled to announce that @dkinney is the grand prize winner of the #WPS2WCSF give-away. Now on to our three runner-ups!

— WPSessions.com (@WPSessions) August 1, 2014

And here are the three #WPS2WCSF winners of the full-year membership to a site of their choice: @MichaelBeil, @pixel_happy, & @_middlesister

— WPSessions.com (@WPSessions) August 1, 2014

It took quite some time to collect all of the details I wanted for this blog post because, as it turns out, it’s really hard for anyone to decide which education site is the best place to dig-in and invest yourself for a whole a year.

To recap, here are the prizes that were offered to 4 VIP members drawn at random:

Grand Prize: $2000 cash to attend WordCamp San Francisco 2014.
First Runner-Up: One Year Membership to any education-based site.
Second Runner-Up: One Year Membership to any education-based site.
Third Runner-Up: One Year Membership to any education-based site.

After much deliberation, our winners have all decided where they wanted to plant themselves. I sent them all a few interview questions so that you can learn more about them and, for the runner-ups, which sites they chose and why.

Grand Prize Winner: Diane Kinney

Prize: $2,000 cash prize to attend WordCamp San Francisco 2014

Diane Kinney is the Creative Director and co-founder of The Versatility Group, a full service firm providing websites and other online solutions for 15 years. She is an award-winning designer focused on WordPress design and development, graphic design, and marketing services. In her previous corporate life, she led large scale application development projects, managed multi-disciplinary teams, and oversaw Operations including marketing, customer service, and business development. She gets excited about applying the lessons from her diverse background to web and marketing projects.

After a very successful stint in the corporate world, she took the plunge and started her own business providing consulting, marketing and web design services around 2002. In 2007 she had her client with a WordPress blog. As WordPress evolved, Diane and her team focused on it as their tool of choice. In her own words, “I like projects where we are solving real problems, with a strong focus on business goals, processes and marketing. In addition to being a designer and developer, I have significant experience running both large operational teams and application development teams and that gives me some unique skills to offer clients.”

What is your favorite thing about WPSessions so far?
I enjoy seeing people I know or have admired share their knowledge. We all have a tremendous amount to learn from each other.

What is one specific thing you want to learn in the next year?
My greatest interest is in best practices. There are millions of code snippets and tutorials, but I’m interested in the best way to achieve results from code standpoint, i.e., don’t write a new query, modify the loop, or this method is outdated or performance heavy. I’m also interested in plugin development and the newer developments tools like Grunt. I guess that’s not one thing!

What would you tell someone who’s on the fence about getting a VIP membership?
Get a VIP membership because you are supporting a growing business that is bringing the best of the WordPress community to you in a convenient format.

Follow Diane on Twitter

First Runner-up: Michael Beil

Prize: One Year Membership to Treehouse

Michael Beil is from Belleville, WI. He spends most of his time working on the web, playing music, and drinking coffee. He also wants you to know that his last name is pronounced “bi-el”, as in “liver bile.”

Michael chose Treehouse specifically because they gift a membership to students for every membership purchased. The moment he saw that he wanted to buy a membership so that he could donate one. This offer only exists for their premium memberships, though, which were beyond the $350 prize he had won. So, Michael chose to pay the $140 difference to get the premium membership.

What is your favorite thing about WPSessions so far?
WPS is a great way for me to digitally connect with various leaders in the WordPress community, further sharpening my skills.

What is one specific thing you want to learn in the next year?
NodeJS. Ok, not really. I really want to learn how to make my workflow more efficient.

What would you tell someone who’s on the fence about getting a VIP membership?
Just do it. You won’t regret it. Brian has only the best people on WPSessions.

Follow Michael on Twitter

Second Runner-up: Yael Reinhardt-Matsliah

Prize: One Year Membership to Christina Sell Yoga Class

yael Yael is a life-long student who loves to learn. She studied Economics and International Relations while in college, and POLS/Public Administration in graduate school. She then took it upon herself to learn about design and development. Additionally, Yael is a certified yoga teacher and intends to open a donation-based yoga studio soon!

In fact, Yael opted to invest her $350 membership prize money into yoga instruction in order to increase her own hours-based certification level for opening and running her own studio. How cool is that!?

What is your favorite thing about WPS so far?
I have learned so much the last 5 weeks. I’ve incorporated WordPress security into my design packages (I was kind of ignoring the security threats before listening to the security webinars) and started using Exchange (again, because of the eCommerce webinars). I love that the webinars address both site owners and developers.

What is one specific thing you want to learn in the next year?
Well, I’m really working on improving my coding skills, but my biggest need is learning how best to manage client relationships, how to set beneficial boundaries with clients, and how to price.

What would you tell someone who’s on the fence about getting a VIP membership?
First, the VIP membership is a great savings versus a month-to-month payment. It also helps you commit to the learning opportunities that will be on WP Membership each month. I am committed to learning as much as I possibly can over the next year from those who have excelled and succeeded in the WordPress community. Surrounding yourself with those more skilled and successful will help improve your own set of skills and practices, which will naturally bring more success to your business.

Follow Yael on Twitter

Third Runner-Up: Karin Taliga

Prize: One Year Membership to Lynda.com

Karin is a mostly self-taught digital aficionado with her feet firmly planted in the analog world. In a way, she is addicted to learning in whichever field she finds herself. She claims that this, combined with her perfectionism, can be both a weakness and a strength (but she’s working on making it more the latter than anything else). Karin is Swedish with a background in performing arts.

Karin chose Lynda.com mostly because of how well it will fit in her current schedule. With a new baby, she doesn’t have large blocks of time to dedicate to herself. The bite-sized chunks in their courses, paired with the ability to watch videos on a tablet – even while offline – is what she finds most appealing.

What is your favorite thing about WPS so far?
The expertise and generosity of the presenters. They really know what they are talking about and are willing to share their knowledge with us.

What is one specific thing you want to learn in the next year?
Multisite. Managing a site network and bending it to your will, both from a developer and site manager’s perspective.

What would you tell someone who’s on the fence about getting a VIP membership?
It’s an incredible value for the money. For less than going to an actual conference, you get a wide variety of topics presented by experts in their field, plus the ability to ask questions and get them answered live. All while not having to travel anywhere. This is great for Europeans like myself that rarely get to WordCamps in the US.

Follow Karin on Twitter

Help me say “Congratulations!”

Drop your comment below and join me in congratulating each of these awesome people.

I have truly enjoyed giving each of these gracious winners their gifts and am thrilled to have created this opportunity. I can honestly say it won’t be the last time WPSessions hosts a give-away like this (and odds are fairly good that existing VIP members will be included in future drawings as well, in case you’re holding out). So, if you’re on the fence, now would be a good time to join the VIP program 🙂

Join us for “Design for Developers” on Sept 20

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Brian R.

How would you rate your design skills and sensibilities?

So often we hear about how designers should learn development. Very rarely do we hear anything about how developers should learn design. And yet, so much of the decision making for user interface and interaction – decisions often made by developers – are actually in the design domain.

This month we’d like to turn the tables and bring about awareness and better decision-making when it comes to building products that will surprise and delight their users. We’d like to underscore the importance of leveraging, at the very least, a basic understanding of design and interaction principles and the profound impact that can have at every level of project development.

Your Instructors

It is my pleasure to announce that Michelle Schulp, Natalie MacLees, and Chris Ford will be leading us through a wide gamut of design fundamentals. I cannot imagine a better team who is more adequately prepared to speak on this topic. These three women are leading authorities on the matter, and they’re here to share from their vast depths of wisdom and experience.

Topics Covered

Michelle will be kicking off this month’s session with “How to Speak Unicorn”, a fun presentation that will bring you up to speed on common design language and terminology. This is especially useful to help bridge the communication gap between designers and developers, and clients as well.

Next, Natalie will teach us about all the ways in which “Your User is NOT a Robot.” This is an extremely important reminder to all of us who are completely entrenched in problem solving. There is this tremendous expanse separating us from the real humans who actually use the tools we’re building, and it’s so difficult for us to see things with fresh eyes from their perspective. Too often we fall into solving the wrong problems, or solving the right problems in the wrong way. Natalie will help you guard against that.

Finally, Chris Ford will walk us through five principles to “Write Better Code by Design”. Through this presentation she will help you to build products that your users and other professionals will absolutely love. They’ll help you sell hundreds of copies because they themselves will delight in using and working with the product. You’ll also learn the five simple ways you can improve your theme or plug-in’s code by leveraging the same thought process designers use.

Join Us Live, Septmber 20, from 1-4pm EST

If you’re a developer or a designer looking to improve your footing, this is the session for you. Learn to solve the right problems and forge stronger relationships with your peers.

Save 20% if you buy your ticket by September 12 by locking in the early-bird discount.

Get your ticket today!

Announcing The Great Big Give-Away

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Brian R.

Finally. Finally I get to blow the lid off with this announcement I’ve been sitting on for months. MONTHS!

I’m paying $2,000 to bring one VIP to WCSF.

I’m giving one (1) lucky VIP Member a $2,000 USD cash prize specifically so they can join me at WordCamp San Francisco 2014 (WCSF). For everyone in the US, this should be enough to pay for your entire trip. For everyone outside the US, well, it should pay a good chunk of the way to get you here.

After four years of talking myself out of going, in 2013 I attended WCSF for the first time. My experience was beyond amazing, and I want to offer the same opportunity to you. If you’re serious about building websites with WordPress, you’ll seriously want to attend WCSF!

I’m also buying 3 VIPs a full-year membership elsewhere.

In addition to the grand prize of this give-away, I’m also providing three (3) other VIPs with a full year membership to any other training site of their choice, up to $350 per membership. Yes, I will pay more than what you paid to become a VIP for a premium membership at Lynda, or Treehouse, or Tuts+, or whatever other site you’d like to join – even if it’s not strictly related to web development!

The only hard requirement is that the site offers some level of instruction or education in order to help you better yourself. And, if it’s a really awesome site, I might join, too!

Who can win?

This give-away is exclusively for VIP Members. Plus, with the VIP program currently capped at a max of 100 members, this means each VIP has a 1 in 25 chance (or better) of winning one of these awesome prizes.

This is just my way of saying “thank you” to all VIPs for putting their faith in me and what I hope to accomplish with WPSessions in the next year.

Not a member yet? There’s still time!

The drawing for this give-away will not happen until August 1st. Everyone who registers as a VIP Member by 11:59pm PST on July 31st, 2014 is eligible to win. So, if you haven’t registered already, register to be a VIP today!

Rules for Entry

This give-away is restricted to VIP Members only. All VIP Members are automatically registered to win, no additional purchase is necessary. Must be at least 18 years old at time of drawing to win. Open to all VIP Members, worldwide.

The grand prize cash prize will be disbursed only after winner submits flight and lodging receipts as proof of intent to travel. I earnestly want you join me at WCSF, that’s the whole point!

Read the full legal terms of the give-away.

Get The Word Out!

I’d appreciate it greatly if you would share your thoughts about the give-away on your blog, via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, your local meetup, and anywhere else you talk about WordPress. Feel free to use the hashtag #WPS2WCSF. This has no impact on your chances of winning (neither positively nor negatively), it would just be you taking some time to be awesome. Of course, if you promoted it using an affiliate link, it could put money back in your pocket (30% of all referrals, in fact, if you’re also a VIP member).

VIP Prices Announced

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Brian R.

Today is the day! VIP Memberships are officially on sale.

For now they’re available by invitation only. I’ve already emailed my first 100 invitees with the opportunity to join. If you missed out on joining the invitation list, you can still sign up for the waiting list.

If any of the first 100 invitees fail to register by 9am EST on Tuesday I’ll be extending the same invitation to everyone on the waiting list.

The Price

VIP Memberships will start at $297/yr.

Yes, for less than the cost of a single college credit, you can get an entire year of education from the world’s foremost WordPress experts. That’s less than you would spend on a flight, or even a hotel room, when traveling to any WordCamp event – and those are only a single weekend!

How good is this offer? Well, let’s do some quick math.

At the rate of attending one $30 session per month, you’re already saving $63 per year. If you choose to attend both sessions each month, you’re saving $423 per year!

This doesn’t even factor in the many different benefits like your ability to download every video, watch all past sessions (a rolling $300 value), and all of the additional content that is VIP exclusive (in-depth courses, speaker video interviews, discounts to other WP shops, etc).

The Savings

All told, a VIP Membership contains approximately $1440 worth of priceable goods. At $297/yr, that’s already an 80% discount.

Early adopters won’t be paying $297, though. This week only, I’m introducing VIP Memberships at $247/yr, an immediate $50 savings to all of you amazing people ready to journey with me.

If you’re among the lucky group of people on on my invitation and waiting list, your price is even lower.

The first 100 people to register from either the invitation or waiting list will receive an additional $50 discount, bringing their grand total down to $197. That’s a full $100 off!

How do I register!?

Registration is currently by invitation only. You can request an invitation by clicking the banner below.

Introducing the New VIP Program: Level Up Your WordPress

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Brian R.

Update 2014-07-05: The VIP Invitation list is now full, but you can join the waiting list to be invited as soon as space is available by using the same registration form, linked below.

For months I’ve been coordinating, planning, and building the “next big thing” for WPSessions. Today I’m thrilled to share it with you: WPSessions VIP.

I’ve grown tremendously as a developer in the past year – real, measurable, meaningful growth – much of it thanks to WPSessions instructors. WPSessions has budded into an incredible resource, not only for myself but for hundreds of others, too. I alluded to all of these things, plus the hint of more to come, in my Year in Review post a couple weeks back.

What is WPSessions VIP?

You can read all about the perks of being a VIP member on the VIP announcement page, but here’s the tl; dr version:

Access to all sessions – past, present, and future – for as long as you remain a member.
Access to all-new long-form courses – Pre-recorded, deep dives into specific WordPress topics (e.g. “Writing Your First WordPress Plugin”, “Understanding and Leveraging Caching”, “Building a Portfolio Site”, etc.).
Consistent New Content – Last year I committed to add 12 new sessions, we’re already at 8 this year and we’ve only just begun! I’ll continue to add live sessions and pre-recorded courses every month to the benefit of us all.
Downloadable Videos – Take the entirety of the WPS library wherever you go, even if you’re going – gasp – offline!
Exclusive Speaker Interviews – Watch and learn great behind-the-scenes details from many of the experts who present on WPS (and even some who haven’t, yet).
Member-only Discounts – Save bundles of money on quality products and services from companies you know and love
Better Affiliate Payout – VIP members will earn a 30% commission, instead of the standard 20%, on the affiliate program we just announced.
Community Forum – Discuss the sessions, courses, tricky project issues, whatever you have going on (note that StackExchange is an excellent place for WP-specific coding problems).

As you can see, the new program includes a ton of new benefits. Prices will be announced soon, and those on the invitation list will get the best deal.

Available by Invitation Only, with a discount

In order to provide the best possible experience and level of attention for VIP members, I’m limiting the registration to invitation only.

The first 100 people to register for the invitation list will also receive a nice discount towards their membership.

I’ll begin sending invitations early next week, so you have until Friday to get on the invitation list.

Is WPSessions VIP for you?

I know this program sounds pretty incredible, and I truly believe it is, but it’s not for everyone.

There are a lot of people looking to “become a WordPress expert in 24 hours”, and this isn’t going to do that (honestly, nothing can do that, and anyone who says differently is selling you lies). There are even more people looking to become incredible developers without putting in the necessary work. The VIP program isn’t for them.

The VIP program is for people who are serious about improving their skills, who understand that it’s only through determination and hard work that they will see measurable progress, and who choose to press forward because they know it’s worth it – both for themselves, and for their career. WPSessions VIP enables that process to happen faster, more thoroughly, and with a higher quality of mentor than you’ll find anywhere else.

I’m not selling some kind of magical shortcut here. I’m selling the right answers from the hard-won experience of other expert developers. It will help you to learn faster, but you need to put in the time to soak in these experiences and shared knowledge, and maximize your return on investing in yourself.

Request an invitation today

You can read all about the new VIP Program using the link below. Thank you for believing in WPSessions, and I truly hope I can help you be empowered by WordPress.

Step 1: Tell everyone how much you love WPSessions; Step 2: Profit!

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Brian R.

Today I finally get to invite you to join the brand new affiliate program here on WPSessions. For the first time ever, you can earn money for every person you refer who purchases a session, starting at 20% per sale.

I’m telling you about it today because on Monday I have an absolutely colossal announcement to make, and affiliates are going to be the first to hear about it. In fact, they’ll be the first to hear about many new things coming to WPSessions this summer and fall.

If that’s piqued your curiosity, hop over to https://wpsessions.com/affiliates/ to register. It should only take you a minute, and if you’re already a customer you can login using an existing user account.

Oh, and by the way, don’t forget about Working with BuddyPress this weekend. I’ve seen a preview of the speakers’ slides, and they’re awesome!

WPS Year in Review

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Brian R.

As of this month, WPSessions is officially one year old. This has been an incredible trip!

I built this site in order to better educate myself. The problem I was facing at the time is that I simply didn’t know enough about a certain topic to execute it well in my job. I was frustrated by this for two reasons: 1) I needed to know the information relatively quickly; 2) I didn’t know where to acquire the knowledge. I knew that there were people much smarter than me, and I thought, “wouldn’t it be great if I could just hire them to teach me?”

And then I did exactly that.

In this moment I realized I could do this for a lot of topics, and hire the experts who I believed to be best positioned to teach me more about the things I needed and wanted to know. WPSessions was born!

What have we learned?

session_thumbs

In twelve months I have hosted twelves sessions, and I have learned something new in each and every one of them. Here’s a short list of some of the things I’ve learned personally:

Building WordPress Plugins – in this I learned that WP’s HTTP API is simpler than I realized, and that the plugin submission and review process for WP.org is very, very awesome.
Building a WordPress Business – here I learned about how important the right team members are, and how instrumental many small decisions are to the longevity of a business.
Performance-Driven Development – this is where I learned how to easily stress-test a website, cut some bulk from each page load, drive WordPress via command line, and how caching actually works.
WordPress Theme Bootcamp – I learned neat things about icon fonts, Sass, how styles actually cascade in a browser, how to easily extend the Theme Customizer, and some facts about internationalization (i18n) I had never heard anywhere else.
WordPress Unit Testing – this was a big one for me: I learned how to write testable code, and how to actually test that code.
WordPress and Backbone.js – I learned here that Backbone is a very accessible and lightweight framework for building very robust, interactive websites. It’s even great for simple things, because it adds much-needed structure around what could otherwise be a spaghetti-mess of code.
Running a WordPress Business – Content marketing and building products people actually want. I learned about promoting a business without becoming a corporate shill or sellout.
Building a Membership Site – I learned that there are more questions than answers when it comes to building and running membership sites. The insight from Shawn Hesketh on running WP101 for five years was just incredible.
eCommerce for Site-Owners – I learned about so many little things that each of the WP ecommerce plugins offer. This is VERY good for deciding which platform is right for a website’s needs.
eCommerce for Developers – In this course I was surprised to learn how easy it is to write an extension for each of the popular ecommerce plugins. I had written for a couple, and I knew those were easy to do, but I didn’t think that was true for each of the big four.
Security for Site-Owners – I picked up a couple of useful plugins during this session, and learned the proper way to go about preserving data after a site has been hacked.
Security for Developers – I finally learned what each of the common web exploits can do, and several of the many things that can be done to clean a hacked site. Sucuri is amazing and their team is well-versed.

Who have we learned from?

I was floored in 2013 when I asked a number of well-known WordPress experts if they would teach me – and random strangers on the internet – and all of them said, “of course!” Over 50 different people, in fact.

We couldn’t hear from all 50 in just one year, but we were able to hear from 34 WordPress experts. I was also able to briefly interview almost every single one of them, and you can click through to those interviews below:

speakers

How about the stats?

I suppose the real interesting metrics are the behind-the-scenes details, right? Well I’m going to share many of those, too. First, lets get the base metrics out of the way, then we’ll dive into sales and revenue.

Traffic

traffic

According to Google Analytics, WPSessions has seen over 18,000 unique visitors in the past twelve months, serving out over 100,000 page views across 31,000 different sessions. Can you guess from the spikes which days I announced the next session, and which days held each session?

Email Subscribers

subscribers

The most steady graph of all the charts I’m able to produce with my stats is my email subscriber list. I started with exactly zero subscribers on June 1, 2013. I now have over 700 people registered to hear from me 2-3 times per month (if you’re not subscribed and you now want to be, scroll all the way to the end of this article and opt-in).

A useful tidbit for anyone who is questioning, “should I start a mailing list?” – Yes! All of my awesome subscribers have been one of the greatest things about WPSessions. 50% of my list regularly opens my emails (thanks!) and of them roughly 20% click through to whatever I’ve referenced. My numbers are definitely better than many others, and I’ll be writing another blog post that dives into the whys of that in the near future.

Social Media

On the social media fronts, I saw the same gradual growth on Twitter (@WPSessions) as I’ve now reached 620 followers. Facebook has been a lot slower, only reaching 200 fans in roughly the same period of time. Engagement on Twitter is also significantly higher than engagement on Facebook, and I’m not surprised by that.

Sales

I launched WPSessions in 2013 with three major and specific goals in mind:

Educate myself and others.
Pay presenters for sharing their time and expertise.
Provide education for free to those who cannot afford it.

customers

By those metrics alone, I have to say that WPSessions has been far-and-away a smashing success! I have learned a ton, and I know that many of the 709 customers who have registered for 1,304 sessions since June 2013 have learned quite a bit as well. I can’t speak for every attendee, but I know that my skills are measurably better thanks to WPSessions.

To date, WPSessions has paid $4,450 to presenters. There were a few who refused to accept payment, and a few others who requested their payment be given directly to a charitable organization. I’d like to see the amount paid to speakers more than double in the next year, because these experts are amazing and they deserve it.

The “given away for free” metric is the one I’m most pleased about, and grateful for the opportunity to provide. So far I’ve given away more than 785 free sessions by making each session available for free after 6 months. I also gifted 2 VIP Passes back in November and 12 different scholarships for all of the 2014 sessions. All told, that’s over $30,000 in free education.

Demographics

In the early spring I sent a survey to all existing customers. I received 85 responses, which is a sample size of about 16%. Here are some of the stats I collected:

income

5% only use WordPress for fun/hobbies, not profit.
38% do part-time/occasional paid work with WordPress
57% build or run WordPress sites full-time.

ability

15% self-identified as Power Users (comfortable installing themes and plugins, but not with code)
40% identified as Beginner Devs (comfortable with small amounts of code)
32% identified as Intermediate Devs (have written a custom theme or plugin)
13% identified as Advanced Devs (live and breath custom queries, external APIs, etc)

And here’s a stat I thought was particularly neat: half of the respondents who identified as power users (not developers) also said they build and run WordPress sites full-time. A full-time income because they understand their tools extremely well.

Revenue and Profit

I’ve been hesitant to share these numbers, but in the spirit of openness I think it’s only right that I include them.

I should preface this by saying I had absolutely no expectations for profits when I created the site. Ancillary to the three goals I listed above, my only directive was to spend less money than the site was able to generate. I invested a few thousand dollars of my own money up-front to secure presenters and get the site started with the simple hope that I would see that money return to me after the first three sessions. It almost didn’t, and you can see a drop in all the charts where I took some time to evaluate whether or not I could afford to keep the site running.

But, I pressed on and was thrilled to see that the site continued to grow month-to-month.

revenue

The blue line in this graph is the site’s revenue, and you’ll notice that it has more or less hovered in the same area. Overall, WPSessions had roughly $17,000 in revenue, and roughly $6,500 in expenses. The addition of sponsors in the past two months has aided in WPSessions growth tremendously. That puts the site at roughly $10,000 in profit, which is almost $900/month on average. I think that’s just incredible!

Except, it doesn’t stop there…

Those profits have already been re-invested into something that I’m really excited to share with you in the next two weeks. There are a lot of great things that will be coming to WPSessions in the next 12 months, including multiple thousands of dollars in prizes and give-aways.

So, that’s 34 experts, 12 sessions, $17,000 in revenue, $30,000 given away in free sessions, $4,450 paid out to presenters, and almost $10,000 invested in what is sure to be an exciting and much-talked-about release coming in another two weeks. I can’t wait to share it all with you 🙂

What’s next?

In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes stats about what makes WPSessions tick, including the plugins I use to keep the site running, the customizations I made to meet my specific needs, and the research I conducted before deciding on each product and service. The most fascinating news, though, is the evolution of WPSessions, happening at the end of the month.

Until then, I hope you join us for this month’s double-session, Working with BuddyPress, featuring six of the foremost BuddyPress experts. It’s going to be really great!

What do you think?

I’m most interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this year in review. So please, share your thoughts in the comments below. Are you a customer? A casual visitor? A stranger who has just been watching WPSessions from the sidelines? Please don’t be shy 🙂

Meet Brad Williams, WordPress Expert

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Brian R.

Brad will be presenting during the Security for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on May 31. During his presentation, Brad will teach us how to properly escape and sanitize data to protect against the vulnerabilities demonstrated by Chris’s presentation.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Twitter: @williamsba
Blog: http://strangework.com
Biz: http://webdevstudios.com

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I started using WordPress in 2006 when I created my first blog. Being a developer, there’s only so long you can use a piece of software before you want to explore under the hood. I started hacking away at some plugins and the rest is history.

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

There are so many great resources out there for WordPress. I generally just search for what I’m trying to do on Google. I also dive into the WordPress core code pretty often to really learn and understand how various parts of WordPress work. Believe it or not, I also consult my Professional WordPress books to refresh my memory on different WordPress APIs and functions. When I first started WordPress development I frequently hung out in the #wordpress IRC channel on freenode. Over time I went from asking questions to answering them. It was a great way to learn.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Tough question, but probably custom post types. When CPTs were officially introduced in WordPress core, the game changed. WordPress became a full-fledged CMS that could rival many of the other popular open source platforms on the market.

What sparked your interest in web security? How did you get from there to here?

Web security becomes a big part of your life if you’ve ever had a website hacked. I had experience with this very early on in my web development career when a site I created from scratch was hacked using a very basic SQL injection technique. The thought of losing everything you have worked so hard to build should scare anyone into wanting to be more knowledgeable about web security and how to prevent hacks and exploits.

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

Get involved! Attend local meetups and WordCamps. Interact with the community. Talk to other users, developers, designers, really anyone that is doing what you want to do. The WordPress Community is so open and friendly, everyone truly wants to help each other, and is very open to doing just that. Reach out, you’ll be surprised at the response you’ll receive.

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

I joined the United States Marine Corps right out of high school and became a Marine Corps computer programmer. I did one tour in Kuwait and Iraq in 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. During that time I actually programmed in a wartime environment with a gas mask on. I’ve had that skill listed on my resume ever since. 🙂

Thanks, Brad!

If you want to see Brad present on sanitizing, escaping, and validating data, get your event ticket today!

Meet Chris Wiegman, WordPress Expert

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Brian R.

Chris will be presenting during the Security for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on May 31. During his presentation, Chris will teach us about the many types of vulnerabilities that plague the web, what they do, and why you need to care.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Work: http://ithemes.com
Personal: http://chriswiegman.com
Twitter: @ChrisWiegman
WordPress: https://profiles.wordpress.org/chriswiegman

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I started dabbling in WordPress in about 2008 or so while working for Southern Illinois University. I started really using it in projects in about 2010, also for SIU.

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

Google and blogs. I keep a long (400 site) list in Feedly which keeps me up to date with what’s going on and helps me both find new things to learn and expand on those topics.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Easy barrier to entry. It’s one of the few projects that really can be brought up in about 5 minutes and rarely has issues in that respect.

What sparked your interest in web security? How did you get from there to here?

My first interest in security wasn’t web security. It was aviation security. My first day as a professional pilot was 9/11/01 which really got my attention for the first time. When I left flying and returned to SIU in 2007 to work in tech the university was experiencing numerous security issues with their sites and I vowed that it wouldn’t happen to my department. Everything just kinda spiraled from there.

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

Just do it. Put yourself out there and be willing to give back while listening to both your role-models and others.

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

I’m probably the only pilot who can say I’ve gone through a 6.7 earthquake in the airplane. I was giving a safety briefing to passengers before takeoff at an airport about 15 miles north of Kona on the Big Island when the 2006 Hawaii Earthquake hit.

Thanks, Chris!

If you want to see Chris present on understanding web security exploits, get your event ticket today!

Meet Tony Perez, WordPress Expert

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Brian R.

Tony will be presenting during the Security for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on May 31. During his presentation, Tony will walk us through how to professionally clean a site after it has been hacked.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

You can find me at @perezbox on Twitter, and find insights at the Sucuri Blog: http://blog.sucuri.net

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I got started with WordPress in 2010, I was introduced to the platform and its community by my brother-in-law, Dre. At the time I was in Technical Architect designing enterprise systems for the Department of Defense (DoD). Working on a specialized technology known Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

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

When I want to learn something I turn to my technical advisor, Google, and as of late I have been turning to to Twitter as well. When it’s WordPress related I go to websites like WPBeginner, WP101, and how could anyone not go to Chris Lema’s website.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I like how easy to use WordPress is, it’s actually why in 2010 I opened a design / development shop with Dre, CubiTwo. Having worked for years on closed systems I knew first hand how hard it was for clients to adopt web applications and usability and ease of use was key. When I saw how easy WordPress made this for the end-user I knew it was a step in the right direction.

What sparked your interest in web security? How did you get from there to here?

Interestingly enough, I first got into Web Security in 2008 / 2009 with DoD when I was tasked with putting together security documentation for our applications. I actually hated the entire process, but if you have ever worked with the DoD you understand why – it’s red tape hell. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2011, when I was invited to join the Sucuri team that I gained a much deeper appreciation for website security specifically. The challenge with things though was that I was going from one industry to another, for those that have ever done that, you know how challenging that can be. Unlike school though, it’s amazing how much you learn and absorb when you’re really interested and passionate about something. While not a developer, I quickly got into the domain of testing proof of concepts, leveraging toolsets, and really working to understand attackers and their tactics. Somewhere in this process I was so acclimated with the entire process that it became second nature, it’s really unclear at what point that was.

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

In terms of giving advice on how to become an expert, my number one recommendation is not to work to be an expert. Work to learn your trade, the best experts are those that don’t categorize themselves as an expert, instead aim to learn their trade and work to produce something of value for the world. This can happen in months or years, stick to it and have more confidence in yourself than anyone else.

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

I’m a pretty adamant Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and love to compete when possible.

Thanks, Tony!

If you want to see Tony present on how to clean a hacked site, get your event ticket today!

Who is the best WordPress web host?

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Brian R.

There are a lot of factors to consider when you’re choosing the right host for your business, website, or project. A lot.

I can’t pick the best web host for you, but I can help you ask the right questions, and I can tell you why I love my host – SiteGround – so very, very much.

Questions to ask before picking your WordPress host:

Do I need a dedicated server, or a VPS, or will a simple shared hosting account do?
Does this host understand WordPress, or is it just another piece of software to them?
Does this host care about the WordPress community?
Are they connected enough to understand my particular needs?
Bonus questions:
1. Does this host provide 1-click staging environments?
2. Does this host provide command-line access via SSH?
3. Does this host support WP-CLI?
4. Does this host support git access?
5. Does this host provide any type of automated backups?
6. Does this host offer any advanced server-side caching?
7. Will this host restrict the types of web software I can run?

How do you choose?

Many different hosts can answer most of the above questions positively, and help guide you to the plan that is best for your needs. Several hosts can answer all of the above questions positively, especially if that’s what you want to hear.

Very few hosts can answer all of the above questions positively, and really mean it. Because of this, I encourage you to do your research first before signing with any host.

Don’t just read the testimonials and content they’re sharing, look out at the web and see what other real people are saying.

What’s so great about SiteGround, anyway?

Let me begin by being very clear: SiteGround is not paying me to endorse them. I really do love their service and quality. As a result I signed up for an affiliate account so that, if you find value in what I’m sharing, you might just use my affiliate link to compensate me for the favor of turning you on to such a great host. If you’d rather browse their wares without sending me a kick-back, well, just navigate your browser to SiteGround.com. They’re still awesome, and I hope you give them an honest consideration.

SiteGround responds, fast!

WPSessions.com runs on SiteGround hosting, and it’s amazing. I’ve emailed their staff a couple different times to ask a couple different questions and I was provided prompt replies that actually fully answered my queries. I also interacted with their live chat just prior to joining, and again just after joining, and my experience there was equally stellar.

SiteGround cares about developers.

I signed up for the GoGeek account, which gives me access to the server via SSH with git and wp-cli preloaded. It also grants me access to one-click staging environments and a ton of other useful features.

All of WPSessions is stored in a git repo, and I can easily push changes directly into production. The WP-CLI integration gives me the ability to manage the entirety of the site via command line, if I wanted. If you’re curious about WP-CLI, we have a free session that deals with using it specifically: Performance Driven Development.

SiteGround cares about your site’s performance.

One of the times I contacted SG was to ask for advice on configuring some caching plugins with their servers. Instead, they configured for me a “SuperCacher” WordPress plugin that they built specifically to support several helpful and advanced caching solutions that are configured at the server level. All I had to say is that my site is running WooCommerce and to not cache the cart, checkout, nor account pages.

Here’s the crazy thing with that, though. This caching was just a precaution for a large spike in traffic I was expecting (more on that in a later post). Even without this extra varnish layer my site was already running faster than my experiences with most other hosts. Let me underscore once more that this is just a standard shared hosting account – not a VPS, not a dedicated server – and it’s lickity-split quick!

SiteGround cares about WordPress.

A year ago I had no idea that SiteGround even existed. Then I saw them as a sponsor at a WordCamp. Then another. Then another. Since then I’ve seen their presence rippling all throughout the WordPress community. I’ve found helpful articles written by their staff published all over the web, too. SiteGround has invested in the WordPress community because they understand its magnitude and significance.

As a matter of fact, one of the experts presenting in the Security for Site Owners session, Daniel Kanchev, is a SiteGround employee. That happened because they reached out to me, after seeing the resource I’m trying to build, and asked me to tell them if I ever needed a presenter. I knew they knew their stuff, asked if one of their expert staff could present in May, and here we are. Again, they are invested in our community.

Is SiteGround right for you?

I honestly don’t know. Your needs could be completely different from mine, and so you might need a different level of service from your web host. I can tell you, though, that my experience with SiteGround has been nothing short of amazing. Don’t just take my word for it, though, exercise your Google muscles!

If you liked this article, you might also like the article Brian Krogsgard wrote on PostStatus about The Cost of Running a WordPress Website (bonus: PostStatus also runs on SiteGround hosting).

Maybe a 60% discount would help you choose?

I don’t advocate for buying something just because it’s offered at a special price, and I certainly don’t think it’s wise to make your decision based on which option is least expensive. But, I do believe that a little economic incentive is sometimes the right way to encourage people to make a decision that is ultimately best for them. In fact, that’s the only reason I gave SiteGround a shot after I first learned about them.

So, as a special thank-you to WPS subscribers, and to help you come to the same realization that I’ve made, I’ve worked out a special deal with SiteGround so you can get a steep discount on any hosting plan. Just use the link below, and enjoy. Also, you’re welcome!

See SiteGround Plans and save 60%

Join us for back-to-back WordPress Security events in May!

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Brian R.

Do you sometimes worry about security vulnerabilities that affect your site, or sites you’re responsible for? How about hackers or spammers showing up in force trying to bring your site down?

Maybe you’re a developer, and you’re worried about the code you write, unwittingly putting other people at risk.

This month, with help from – and thanks to – iThemes Security, Sucuri Security, and Siteground, we’ll be diving head-first into understanding, preventing, and fixing security problems with your sites, themes, and plugins.

Our goal is to help you put your concerns to bed so that you can rest easy at night.

On May 17, we’re running “Security for Site Owners” where you can join Dre Armeda, Jason Cosper, and Daniel Kanchev and learn about the preventative measures you can take to protect against attacks and also what tools and resources are available to you in order to recover from attacks.

On May 31, we’re running “Security for Developers” where you can join Chris Wiegman, Brad Williams, and Tony Perez and learn about what types of vulnerabilities exist, how they can be exploited, how you can prevent them in the code you write, and, finally, how to actually clean an infected site from start-to-finish.

Here’s a video where I explain it all in limited detail:

You can save 20% on each session if you buy your ticket today. Click on the product banners below to get your ticket and learn more:

Meet Glenn Ansley, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Brian R.

Glenn will be presenting during the eCommerce for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on April 19. During his presentation, Glenn will walk us through the best way to develop add-ons for iThemes Exchange.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Twitter: @glennansley
Work: iThemes.com

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Been working with WordPress since 2004 when I stumbled into web design during grad school.

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

Google, books.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I enjoy the hooks API the most. I think the hook API is what sets WordPress apart and made it so popular… even though most users don’t it exists.

What is your favorite Exchange feature/aspect?

It’s modularity and the simplicity that creates in the admin screens.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about ecommerce over the past 5 years?

eCommerce encompasses a ton of niche areas that you wouldn’t expect at first glance and making all those work together is very complicated.

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

Make a list of the features you need and find the solution that works best for you. If multiple solutions work, make sure you pick on that supports its customers well

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

If you’re already a PHP developer, find time to read every line of the core WP source code in the evenings when you would usually spend time reading. Familiarity with core will be your tipping point.

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

I have a wife and 4 kids. I constantly have to remind myself that work is the distraction and not them.

Thanks, Glenn!

If you want to see Glenn present on developing for iThemes Exchange, get your event ticket today!

Meet Daniel Espinoza, WooCommerce Expert

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Brian R.

Daniel will be presenting during the eCommerce for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on April 19. This is actually Daniel’s second appearance on WPSessions (read his first interview). This time around he’ll be talking about building extensions for WooCommerce.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

I blog at http://daniel.gd
I’m on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/d_espi
And Google+ at https://plus.google.com/+DanielEspinoza1/

What is your favorite WooCommerce feature/aspect?

I love how easy it is to setup and get selling. Also, I like the one page checkout.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about ecommerce in the last 5 years?

I’ve learned that people should focus on product and customer first. I built several ecommerce sites for customers between 2008 and 2011 who focused mostly on the custom design, but they are no longer in business. The ones that focused on what they were selling and who they were selling to are still going strong.

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

For physical products spend money on great product photos. Whenever I buy online I want to see what I’m buying clearly and from many angles. Also, if available in your country use Stripe as your gateway!

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

My wife and three young kids are moving toward being nomadic. We sold our house and are traveling around the world, currently two months in Europe. We still have an apartment in Texas, but may not renew our lease and become totally nomadic.

Thanks, Daniel!

If you want to see Daniel present on developing for WooCommerce, get your event ticket today!

Meet Andrew Munro, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Brian R.

Andrew will be presenting during the eCommerce for Developers session, which you can watch LIVE on April 19. I invited Andrew to speak about building add-ons for Easy Digital Downloads because he has written over 20 of them.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Website: http://sumobi.com

Twitter: @sumobi_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sumobicom

GitHub: https://github.com/sumobi

PS, @sumobi, if you’re reading this, I’d really like to drop the underscore on my Twitter handle.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

My first foray into WordPress was in 2010 when WordPress 3.0 had just been released. Up until that point I had been using ExpressionEngine (EllisLab) as my CMS of choice for client websites. I started by using the Genesis Framework (StudioPress), which was excellent, but I discovered it shielded me from knowing how a lot of things work in WordPress. Not to say it’s bad of course, but I wanted a deeper understanding of WordPress.

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

wordpress.stackexchange.com has always been immensely helpful when I’ve been either stuck or wanting to learn something new. I haven’t needed to post a question in a very long time, guess I’ve learnt a lot!

By far the best resource has been other developers’ plugins. Scouring through the code of another plugin is fascinating. Not only do you always learn something new, but you discover a more efficient way of doing something that you can then apply to your own plugin development.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I like to get my hands dirty so for me it’s the extensibility that WordPress provides through action hooks and filters. Provided that a plugin developer has added sufficient hooks/filters inside their plugin, they provide immense power to anyone wanting to extend the functionality of that plugin. They’re also very easy to learn!

What is your favorite Easy Digital Downloads feature/aspect?

Again, the extensibility of the plugin and the clean, well-structured code. Easy Digital Downloads recognises the need to be extensible whilst focusing on doing one thing right: selling digital downloads. It has a plethora of useful hooks and filters, and at the time of writing there are well over 200 add-ons available, all built on top of Easy Digital Downloads.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about ecommerce over the past 5 years?

If you intend to sell products online, be prepared to get extremely cozy with your chosen e-commerce platform. Suggest features and ideas to the developers, help other customers in the forums, contribute bug patches and write plugins if you can. I honestly believe that the strength of the e-commerce platform directly correlates to how well your online store does. The e-commerce platform is what helps you put your products in front of your customers, and ultimately how your customers will pay for your products.

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

Do your research and choose your e-commerce platform wisely. Spend time with it to make sure it can do everything that you need it to do. If it can’t, make sure it has add-ons that can, or there are developers who can build it for you. An e-commerce platform with great technical support will also be crucial to the success of your business.

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

Study the inner workings of your favourite WordPress plugins, the ones you trust and use for every project. Try to extend their functionality to do something unique for your purpose. If you happen to find a bug, try and fix it yourself rather than opening up a support ticket. You’ll be amazed at how fast you learn, not to mention that warm fuzzy feeling when you give something back.

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

I’m glad you didn’t ask for a “non-computer related” fact, as this answer would be empty! As much as I love to code, designing websites and logos is also a passion of mine. Being able to take a project from start to finish is exciting. I also like to dabble in 3D modelling, which I find fascinating. I even have one of those fancy 3D mice and a drawing tablet. I’m proud to say I haven’t used a standard computer mouse in 14 years.

Thanks, Andrew!

If you want to see Andrew present on developing for Easy Digital Downloads, get your event ticket today!

Meet Benjamin Bradley, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 15, 2014 by Brian R.

Benjamin presented in the eCommerce for Site Owners session, which is available for immediate replay right now. Benjamin gave us an incredible walkthrough on using iThemes Exchange. If you think there’s no such thing as a simple solution to ecommerce, you clearly haven’t heard enough about iThemes Exchange.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

You can find me just about anywhere. But like the cobbler’s children never getting new shoes, my sites are not updated unless I’m testing new code or trying something out. I’m the man behind the microphone at WebDesign.com, so you can normally find me there. I’m also at http://www.benjaminbradley.com and http://b.enjam.in. On Twitter: @benjaminbradley.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I’ve been involved with WordPress since the code was split from the b2 blogging system. It has come a LONG way since then and is fascinating to watch the expansion.

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

I’m a trial and error kind of guy. I’m always trying new things and discovering new ways to break the internet and my computer. I’m a big believer of learning as you grow. So I’ll jump on Google to research an idea and then just run with it… learning while I grow.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

My favorite aspect of WordPress is the extensibility. Using WordPress as the base or “foundation of the house”, the end result can be constructed to do just about anything. We used to do a fun type of class at WebDesign.com where members would find a function or type of site that exists on the internet (not powered by WordPress) and I would reproduce that functionality or look USING WordPress.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about ecommerce over the last 5 years?

The most significant thing I’ve learned about ecommerce is that it is like an iceberg. It looks simple on the surface but the moment your site/boat gets closer you realize how much larger that iceberg is under the surface. There are tools that can help “simplify” the ecommerce process but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of confidence. I’ve always told freelancers that the moment a client requests an ecommerce site, just triple your rate your were going to charge them.

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

My biggest tip for anyone wanting to add ecommerce capabilities to their OWN personal site would be to use what works for you. Just because “everyone uses X” or “my co-workers 12 year old ‘webmaster’ son says Y is the bomb” doesn’t mean it will work for you. Try things out, read about different systems, and find something that YOU like to work with. Because at the end of the day, only you are going to be working with the code… not that 12 year old and not everyone else. Also, you might want to know your “restrictions” or “limitations” before you begin your search. If you absolutely must use a certain payment gateway, well your decision making process may already be made up for you.

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

Get involved in the WordPress community. Sort of like how Smokey the Bear says that “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Well… Only you can make yourself become a WordPress expert. Nobody else is going to give you that crown. Read all you can, experiment with code, do ACTUAL client development, write articles, review themes/plugins, attend WordCamps and speak at them, hang out in the “Happiness Room” at a WordCamp, get involved in a WordPress community. Only you can do it.

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

I’m a firefighter/paramedic here in the Washington DC area. And a few years ago when I was doing a live training event at WebDesign.com (which the Global Broadcasting Studio is in my house), I heard a massive explosion that shook my house. I told everyone on the live training that we were going to take a short break and I ran outside to see my next door neighbors house had exploded into a massive fireball (boiler exploded). I spent the next few minutes providing “first due” engine feedback to dispatch and removed the older couple from the house. Ten minutes later, I hop back on the live training call and let everyone know that during the break, I rescued a family and their cats from a burning building but its now time to get back to learning Custom Post Types. (We have a lot of funny stories at WebDesign.com).

I have to say, none of my “we need to take a quick break” stories are even remotely as intense as that. Thanks, Benjamin!

If you want to see Benjamin present on using iThemes Echange, get your event ticket today!

Meet Patrick Rauland, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Brian R.

Patrick presented in the eCommerce for Site Owners session, which is available for immediate replay right now. In his presentation, Patrick walked through installing and using WooCommerce in great detail. Hands-down, it is the best demonstration of WooCommerce I have ever seen.

Check out his interview answers below.

Where can we find you on the internet?

The best place to find me is SpeakingInBytes.com. I like to blog about whatever I’m learning at the moment. There’s a lot of WooCommerce goodness there and plenty of other tech & WordPress posts. You can also follow @BFTrick on Twitter.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I used to do a lot of customer PHP work right after college. Worst. Thing. Ever. Don’t do it. By the time you’ve coded your 3rd or 4th login page you quickly start to look for prebuilt solutions that handle all of the common content management system problems. WordPress was the easiest to setup so I went that way.

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

Honestly, Twitter is the best source of news out there. I follow specific people who are leading the way in their industry and they supply me with the best articles about that industry.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Pfew – big question! I would say the customization. Everything is open source so if you like the way something works but want to tweak something you can do that! With hosted e-commerce solutions you don’t have that opportunity. You can be locked in and I like the freedom to change things if need be.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about ecommerce over the last 5 years?

E-commerce can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. I’ve seen successful stores who just run WooCommerce, a couple free plugins, and a free theme. I’ve also seen customers with 50+ WooCommerce plugins who appreciate every bit of value they can get out of these extensions. They send customers follow up emails, they subscribe them to newsletters, they have fancy table rates for shipping, etc. E-Commerce doesn’t have to be complex. You can start out with something simple and add on more features over time.

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

Start with the basics. Don’t plan out an entire e-commerce experience without first installing a plugin and seeing how it works.

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

I’m very much a go-getter, so you just have to jump in! If you want to learn something, you do it by getting your hands dirty. Everyday try to learn something new. Push yourself to learn more and more about WordPress. If you learn some (small) thing new every day in a year you’ll know a ton.

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

I love acro yoga! Being able to trust and communicate with another person while you’re suspending them in the air or visa versa is an amazing experience.

Thanks Patrick!

If you want to see Patrick present on using WooCommerce, get your event ticket today!

Meet Justin Sainton, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Brian R.

Justin will be joining us for the eCommerce for Site Owners session, which you can watch LIVE on April 11 and 12. Justin will be teaching us about setting up an WP e-Commerce shop, which is especially great because he is the lead developer for the project.

Where can we find you on the internet?

zao.is is our business site, @JS_Zao on Twitter. Those are the best places to hit me up 🙂

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Started back in 2007 building a couple non-profit websites using WordPress as a CMS. Back then, WordPress was this brave, new world to me. I had zero experience with it, but I pitched it as the “Future of CMS” to the clients, and they bought it. Happily, both non-profits are still running smoothly along on WordPress 🙂 Once I got my feet wet on those projects, I never looked back.

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

It depends – I feel like I’m always in some state of learning – whether it’s with WordPress, running my business, eCommerce specifically, etc. When it comes to WordPress, I find following core development on Trac to be one of the best ways to stay fresh and always be learning something new. I also have a ton of great colleagues who are über-smart that I hit up from time to time.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

There’s so much! I think, as a developer, one of my favorite areas in WordPress is actually the HTTP API. I’ve been using it for 5+ years and I actually still learn new things about it when I dig through it. It’s such a helpful tool, especially in eCommerce.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned about ecommerce over the last 5 years?

That it’s hard. Really, really hard 🙂 When you’re building a platform intended for usage all around the world, it can be very tricky to ensure that you’ve built something that works in all jurisdictions, across all industries, while still being a usable piece of software. Also, taxes are just as hard in eCommerce as they are in real life 🙂

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

Don’t use PayPal. If you can, use Stripe. Hire a professional, because reasons (See #5).

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

Open up WordPress in your favorite IDE, get a cup of tea, and get to know it. Really spend some time in the source code. If you’ve ever wanted the magical ability to be able to tell the future, follow along in Trac! It’s a fantastic (albeit intense and at some times overwhelming) way to stay on top of where WordPress is headed.

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

One of my favorite things in the world to do is to play the piano. I’m not that great at it, but man, I REALLY enjoy it. Also, I have an incredible wife and three beautiful kids – all of whom make me varying degrees of crazy. 😀

Thanks Justin!

If you want to see Justin present on using WP e-Commerce, get your event ticket today!

Meet Mika Epstein, WordPress Expert

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Brian R.

Mika will be joining us for the eCommerce for Site Owners session, which you can watch LIVE on April 10, 11 and 12. Mika will be teaching us about setting up an Easy Digital Downloads shop and sharing from her personal experience of running an ebook store.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Personally: http://ipstenu.org

WordPressily: http://halfelf.org

Everywhere I am, I’m ipstenu 🙂 It means Epstein.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Around 2007, seriously. Before that, I used WP 1.5 and played with it, but 2.1.2 was the first version I seriously used for more than just blogging. Basically I’d broken my old script, and needed a way to cross-post to livejournal.

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

I usually learn something new out of necessity. I need to do something, I can’t, I learn. I’m very haptic, though, so I learn by doing and breaking and blowing up. I call it the Ms. Frizzle style of learning, because I know I’ll make mistakes, but I feel like I understand everything better in the end. I read a lot of examples too. I’m the person who thinks the “Hello World” examples are perfect.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Extendability! I love that the basic system works, and I can add what I want. When I started using WP, I had been using MediaWiki and a couple other systems. I was always turning things off because I didn’t need them or want the overhead. The lean and mean WordPress install was magical.

What is the most significant thing you’ve learned since creating an ecommerce shop?

People WILL pay for products, even if you offer them a free option. And they’ll pay more often than they would if you give it away and let them pay later. Basically people are way more honest than DRM seems to think.

What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?

SSL is for everyone, even if it’s hard. You make your mark by being trustworthy, and HTTPS means (generally) you’re safe. Except for the Heartbleed thing. I’ll talk about that in my session!

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

Have fun. I never set out to being an expert, I just wanted to write and post news. I became an expert in the things I did because I’m good at them. But you don’t HAVE to code like Helen to be a WordPress expert. Find what you’re good at and enjoy, embrace it.

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

I’m a member of the SCA – Society for Creative Anachronism – which means I spend my weekends playing pretend with my friends and it’s totally awesome.

Thanks Mika!

If you want to see Mika present on using Easy Digital Downloads, get your event ticket today!

Surprise! Watch TWO Sessions in April

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Brian R.

For the first time ever, WPSessions will be hosting two live sessions in a single month. This isn’t a surprise to keen observers of the homepage, of course, because they have already seen the “Upcoming Schedule” section towards the bottom of the page. What you’ll notice now, if you hadn’t already, is that there are two sessions scheduled for every month going forward. I’ll be writing more about this soon.

The important takeaway for now is this: in addition to “eCommerce for Site Owners” on April 10 & 12 – featuring Mika Ipstenu, Patrick Rauland, and Benjamin Bradley – we are also exploring “eCommerce for Developers” on April 19 – featuring Andrew Munro, Daniel Espinoza, and Glenn Ansley.

To give you a taste of what to expect from these sessions, here’s a teaser video:

But wait, there’s more!

You can save 20% on your ticket to the Developers event if you buy it in the next 72 hours.

Not only that, if you buy an early-bird ticket to eCommerce for Developers, you will also be sent a 50% discount code for eCommerce for Site Owners. This means you could attend both sessions, all 6 presentations from all 6 experts, for only $40 – if you move quickly.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your ticket to eCommerce for Developers today!

Join us for “eCommerce for Site Owners” on April 12

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Brian R.

This month is actually a very special one at WPSessions. For the first time ever, we’ll be hosting two live sessions in a single month!

The first session is “eCommerce for Site Owners”, and that will be taking place on April 12th, starting at 1pm ET. You can save 20% if you register before Friday, April 4.

In this session, Mika Epstein, Patrick Rauland, and Benjamin Bradley will walk you through installation, configuration, and actual usage of Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, and iThemes Exchange. By the time the event is done you should know precisely which plugin is right for you, and how to get up and running with no hassle.

I could write all about it here, but all the information you need to know is on the session’s product page.

I do, however, want to say thank you the sponsors for this event. Easy Digital Downloads, Exchange, and BackupBuddy are all stellar products built and supported by even-more-stellar people. You’ll get to hear all about two of those products during this month’s session and see first-hand why I like them so much.

Meet Drew Strojny, WordPress Expert

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Brian R.

Drew will be joining us for the Building a Membership Site session, which you can watch LIVE on March 29. Drew will be joining Chris and Shawn in a panel discussion, answering your questions about the ins and outs of running a membership site. Drew has a particularly unique vantage point because he has run his own successful sites AND also runs an incredible membership platform called Memberful. Don’t miss this opportunity to ask him questions!

Where can we find you on the internet?

The Theme Foundry: https://thethemefoundry.com
Memberful: https://memberful.com
Twitter: @drewstrojny
Github: dstrojny

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Back in 2008 most of our small business clients needed a website they could manage themselves. They certainly didn’t want to be paying us every time a change needed to be made. I had been using WordPress for our own site and I figured it would be easy enough to teach them how to use it too.

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

I’m very much a do it yourself learner, and I’m lucky there is so much great information available on the internet for do it yourself learners. I usually dig into the subject matter at hand and try to find some experts in the field to research and look up to.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I can’t name a specific feature (lots of great features to choose from), but I love the extensibility and flexibility of WordPress. It gives you the power to do so many things quickly and easily with your website. It’s also very reassuring to know the software is continuously being improved by the WordPress.org developer community.

What is one piece of advice you have for someone building a membership site?

Don’t wait! Planning a complex strategy isn’t a good use of your time. Your most avid supporters and readers are going to sign up anyway, even if you offer them nothing in return. They’ll pay you because they want to support your work. Nothing more. If you already have an audience, every day you wait to start your membership site is costing you money.

The first step is to get some simple membership software like Memberful set up with your website, and announce that option to your loyal supporters. Use the announcement post to plan out what you’ll offer and solicit some feedback from your community. Most importantly, this will get you selling right away. It will also lay the groundwork for offering some paid content in the future.

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

Learn by doing and watching others in the community. Contribute to WordPress is some way and start attending WordPress events. The WordPress community is accepting and friendly, so find a mentor to help you get more involved.

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

I played football at Duke University and was a 2 time captain of the football team. I was then picked in the 2004 NFL draft and spent 3 years bouncing around the NFL as a journeyman lineman with a handful of teams. It didn’t end up working out as a career choice, but it was an amazing life experience. I got to watch Super Bowl XXXIX from the sidelines in 2004 and have an NFC Championship ring to show for it.

Meet Chris Lema, WordPress Expert

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Brian R.

Chris will be joining us for the Building a Membership Site session, which you can watch LIVE on March 29. During his presentation, he will walk us through a multitude of excellent tools, platforms and services for running membership sites. By the end, you should know precisely which setup will be best for your needs.

How and when did you get started in software?

I started working with software as a database and systems analyst in 1994. It was at Berkeley Lab and we were just starting to play with the Internet and browsers and what we could do with them.

What compels you to try so many new and different tools?

A lot of people are really good at using the tools they know. But I find the real value – for others – is when you’re aware of which tools are best of the job – which is less a function about knowing one really well, and more about knowing the differences between them, so that you can make the best decision possible.

What is one piece of advice you have for someone building a membership site?

Start simple and small. Make sure you solve non-technical issues like attrition before investing tons of money into software solutions.

You seem to have a lot of great advice. Where else can we read your opinions on membership sites and software and other things?

I write regularly at chrislema.com

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

I wrote my first software application when I was seven – copying hundreds of lines of code out of a magazine.

Meet Shawn Hesketh, WordPress Expert

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Brian R.

shawnhesketh Shawn will be joining us for the Building a Membership Site session, which you can watch LIVE on March 29. He’ll be teaching us the lessons he’s learned from running a wildly successful membership site over the past 5 years and, in particular, the things he wished he had known before starting.

Where can we find you on the internet?

I’m nearly always “on” via Twitter @leftlane, but you can also find me on Facebook or Google+. And I blog infrequently at ShawnHesketh.com.

You can follow @WP101 on Twitter as well, in addition to its own Facebook and Google+ pages.

Oh, and I’m always open to helpful pull requests for the WP101 Plugin at: https://github.com/leftlane/wp101plugin

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I started designing websites in 1994, using WYSIWYG apps like Adobe Pagemill. As my skills and the complexity of my clients’ sites increased, I migrated to more powerful apps like Adobe GoLive and Dreamweaver. But by the mid-2000s, clients began to request the ability to edit their own content, using their web browsers, and after attempting to learn several CMS systems, I was relieved to discover WordPress 2.3 in late 2007.

Compared to Joomla, Drupal, and Expression Engine, I found the WordPress UI to be super-intuitive, and thankfully, so did my clients. So I began recommending WordPress for nearly all my web design projects, and with very few exceptions, I’ve never looked back.

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

I think I learn about most WordPress resources via Twitter, and thanks to the many talented WordPress developers who are willing to share their discoveries and hacks, it’s a gold mine of learning. But I also subscribe to Post Status, WP Tavern, and Torque, which is where I often hear about new WordPress products and services.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Honestly, the best “feature” of WordPress is actually the community itself. Like so many others, I turn to Google whenever I’m stumped, and I’m surprised how often I land on tutorials by the über-talented Carrie Dils, or Bill Erickson. I’m grateful for the help that’s readily shared by others within the WordPress community, and I’d be lost without their help!

But I think my favorite aspect of WordPress itself is simply its extensibility. I can’t remember the last project I worked on that didn’t make use of at least one Custom Post Type, and these days, there just isn’t much that you can’t build within WordPress.

What is one piece of advice you have for someone building a membership site?

Assuming you’ve already validated your idea for the membership site in the first place, my top piece of advice is to give careful consideration to the platform on which you will build your site. Will it be around for the long-haul? What payment gateway(s) does it support?

The most challenging thing we’re currently dealing with is migrating from older membership plugins that are no longer being actively developed, and the fact that we’re stuck with thousands of recurring subscription profiles in PayPal. Migrating to a new membership plugin now requires some tricky custom coding, since all those PayPal IPN notifications will break in the process, requiring us to re-invite all our members to re-subscribe on the new system. Don’t get stuck like we did!

Read everything my friend Chris Lema’s written about membership sites and make an informed choice that will serve you and your members for years to come. I’m also blogging about the lessons I’ve learned along the way, in hopes of helping others avoid some of the mistakes I made along the way.

But even more important, never lose sight of the fact that it’s all about people. Whether you’re building a membership site around a hobby, shared interest, or how to build a successful online business, ensure that every piece of content you create and every single interaction with your members is helping you build long-lasting connections and relationships that will encourage, empower, and enable folks to accomplish their own goals. In the end, it’s all about them… not you!

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

In my experience, one of the best ways to become more proficient in WordPress is to start answering questions for others. Often, their questions will drive you to look for answers you might not otherwise have come across on your own. Whether it’s answering questions for your own clients, at your local WordPress Meetup group, or helping people in the WordPress.org Support Forums, nothing else will stretch your own knowledge quicker!

You may not consider yourself an expert, but remember… wherever you are with regard to your own WordPress skills, there’s someone else who could benefit from you’ve learned.

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

If you follow me for any amount of time, you’ll quickly learn that I’m a bit of a cigar aficionado, and I’m always down for a nice cigar and a glass of Scotch with a late-night conversation. But many people don’t know that I’m also a huge sports car enthusiast, having raced a Mazda MX5 for years in our local sports car clubs. We also watch just about every Formula 1 or IndyCar race on TV, and we try to attend almost any race within a day’s drive. If it goes fast, I’m probably a fan!

Meet Adam Pickering, WordPress Expert

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Brian R.

Adam will be joining us for the Running a WordPress Business session, which you canwatch LIVE on February 15. He’ll be teaching us about how he built a theme shop that has morphed from niche to niche, becoming even more successful with each iteration.

Where can we find you on the internet?

On twitter as @adampickering_

[Ed. Adam’s current theme shop, Astoundify, is among a select few reputable sellers selling amazing themes on ThemeForest]

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Back in 2008, when I saw a need for band WordPress themes, there wasn’t really anything out there that looked decent. At the time, I was working with a band as their sound engineer. They wanted a website, so I decided to create a set of WordPress themes for bands and called it BandThemer.com. They ended up using one of the themes so it was a great place to start with WordPress.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

The ability to make almost any type of application or website. If you can think of an idea you can built it with WordPress.

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

I usually search for new projects on GitHub to see what others are working on, and also check out sites like hacker news, designer news, and https://news.layervault.com/stories to see whats trending and to keep fresh.

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

Don’t let fear hold you back. Try something completely new and innovative when starting a new business. Think about how you can make a new spin on an old idea or create something that has never been done before.

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

If you’re looking to get into WordPress, reach out to others in the industry to see if you can collaborate on a project or create a plugin or theme that extends an existing platform. I think if you can collaborate with others you can reach a larger audience than trying to do it all by yourself.

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

I’m really into cooking. I spend time most evenings creating new recipes i’ve seen on television shows or something I’ve seen online. It’s a really great way to relax.

Meet Matt Medeiros, WordPress & Business Expert

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Brian R.

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.

Meet Andrew Norcross, WordPress Expert

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Brian R.

Andrew will be joining us for the Running a WordPress Business session, which you can watch LIVE on February 15. He’ll be telling us what it’s like to leave a stable job to run an independent business (and how simultaneously great and terrible it is to make that decision). If you’re looking to venture out on your own, this session is not one to miss!

Where can we find you on the internet?

Usually twitter (@norcross), since that’s the only social network I actually use. I occasionally jot stuff down on my personal site (andrewnorcross.com) and post weird stuff to tumblr (x.norcross.co). Oh, and when it’s business time, reaktivstudios.com.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

About 7 years ago. I had built a server and had to install something on it. After fighting with Movable Type for a few weeks, I got WP up and running and haven’t looked back.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

This is an instance where the sum is greater than all the parts. While I love certain parts (combining CPTs, taxonomies, and meta data), the fact that I can dig through and find the best tool inside of WP to accomplish what I want is fantastic. I rarely feel limited.

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

It usually starts with needing to accomplish a specific goal. Once I have an idea of what I want, I start with the ol’ Google to see what else is out there. I look for plugins that may already exist, or other folks who have tried to do it. At this point it’s more mastering specific parts than learning something completely new.

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

Get your shit in order. my own experience, and many others I’ve spoken with, is that when it gets moving, it goes FAST. If you don’t have your house in order (admin stuff, taxes, workflows, etc.) you’ll struggle a lot more than you’d otherwise have to. Get a good foundation and you can build as needed.

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

Don’t try to become an “expert”. Try to learn your craft the best you possibly can, and figure out where your way of solving problems matches up with the overall needs and opportunities of the community.

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

I spent almost 10 years in the banking and finance industry, and didn’t write a line of PHP (or HTML or CSS, for that matter) until I was 26.

Meet Brianna Norcross, Accounting Expert

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Brian R.

Brianna will be joining us for the Running a WordPress Business session, which you can watch LIVE on February 15. She’ll be teaching us about the ever-important business side of running a business (the when and how of hiring a project manager, how to avoid tax-time hell, and et cetera).

Where can we find you on the internet?

Business site: Reaktiv Studios
Twitter: @sarcasmically

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I used WordPress for blogging for a few years before I met Norcross, but got into the business side of it when we decided to grow Reaktiv. It was clear some sort of management (both financial and project) was necessary, and Andrew was not interested in doing that, so that end of the business fell into my lap– in the name of bootstrapping our biz– and it turns out I’m not terrible at it (or the devs aren’t brave enough to tell me), so I’m still here.

What is your favorite thing about accounting or project management?

REPORTS. Analyze all the things. It’s the most fun.

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

For accounting, the IRS.gov website is wicked fun. It is the most helpful government website. For WordPress stuff, I don’t. There was a time I tried to learn the basics so I can help out the devs if necessary but I think we’ve all realized it’s just better if I just… don’t. I do love Treehouse and Code Academy for those times I feel like I should know a little bit of code.

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

Plan. PLAN. Have at minimum a clear idea of what you want, and if you’re really on top of it, have an idea of the best way for YOU to get there. I know things will change but you have to go into it with something other than “I want to make lots of money!” Also, keep in mind that YOUR best way to get there may not look the same as another company’s best way to get there. That last point been the biggest lesson I’ve gotten from running Reaktiv this past year.

What advice do you have for others looking to become accounting/project management experts?

I’m going to defer to accounting/project management on this one again. I’ve never met anyone who wanted to become a finance/project management expert, but if they did I’d say you’re going to need a bunch of books and a client/company who doesn’t mind you just seriously (temporarily) messing up their books for a year while you learn.

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

I used to work for a company that leased semi-trucks/trailers and I spent a lot of my time repossessing 18-wheelers from angry truck drivers across the nation. Most fun I ever had at a job, hands-down, and really suited my TVMA (foul language, extreme situations) personality. When I became pregnant with my daughter, my bosses tried to pitch a show about me, pregnant and pissing off/outscheming truckers nationwide, to [pick one of those “reality TV” type channels]. Super trashy, and I’m so glad nothing ever came of that, because I’d hate to have to laugh at myself FOREVER.

12 Days of Christmas Give-Away

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Brian R.

Update: The contest is now closed. Congratulations to all our winners!

I have been waiting for weeks to let the cat out of the bag on this one. For the next 12 days I’m celebrating growth and knowledge by giving away 12 full-year scholarships to 12 bright and hungry individuals.

I’ll be picking a new winner every day at 12pm ET, so the sooner you enter the better your odds of qualifying.

What can you win?

Each winner will get access to every new session published in 2014. That’s approximately $360 in live, personal training from the smartest and most-talented WordPress experts.

What do you need to do?

Simple, I want to hear about why you (or someone you know) would benefit from a full-year scholarship to WPSessions.com. What do you want to learn? How will you put this knowledge to use? What more can you do with another year of steady and continued growth under your belt? Tell me all this and more in a comment on this post, and if I like your story you get the next 12 months of sessions for free.

This is not a random drawing! I’m looking to hear from real human beings about their experiences, hopes and dreams. Tell me why you (or someone else) should have this scholarship. Be personable! Sell your story!

How to Win:

Only the first two steps are required, the other three are completely optional (but can’t hurt your chances). Make sure you use the same email for Steps 1 and 2, otherwise I won’t be able to verify you followed instructions nor inform you that you’ve won!

[Required] Leave a comment on this post telling me why you (or someone else) would benefit from a full-year scholarship to WPSessions.
[Required] Join the WPS Mailing List using the form below (if you haven’t joined already). I promise it’s not spam, and you can unsubscribe whenever you wish.
Write a tweet about @WPSessions in some capacity. Help tell the world we exist. This is completely optional, but I sure would appreciate it! (Optional)
Follow @WPSessions on twitter. (Optional)
Like WPSessions.com on Facebook. (Optional)

Some suggested tweets:

You can tweet whatever you want about @WPSessions. If you’re out of ideas, though, here are a few you can swipe:

I’m really glad @WPSessions exists, and I’m stoked for the #12daysWPS give-away: https://wpsessions.com/12-days/

Learn from the top #WordPress experts and become one yourself, check out @WPSessions: https://wpsessions.com/12-days/ #12daysWPS

For the next 12 days @WPSessions is giving away a full year of access for FREE to 12 different people: https://wpsessions.com/12-days/ #12daysWPS

Build your #WordPress skills with some help from @WPSessions. Get started with some free lessons: https://wpsessions.com/12-days/ #12daysWPS

This month @WPSessions is giving away $4,000 in scholarships for #WordPress training: https://wpsessions.com/12-days/ #12daysWPS

#12daysWPS Winners

Dec 14 – Gloria Antonelli
Dec 15 – Praveen Selvasekaran
Dec 16 – Patrick McGilvray
Dec 17 – Paul
Dec 18 – Amanda Rush
Dec 19 – Tunbosun Ayinla
Dec 20 – Jennifer Doyon
Dec 21 – Giacomo Neri
Dec 22 – Allen Moore
Dec 23 – Chris Wilson
Dec 24 – Jose Castaneda
Dec 25 – Jan Dekker

Congratulations to everyone who won! It was very difficult to pick just twelve winners from all the entries. Thank you to everyone who entered, I hope to see you engaged in the site throughout the year!

How Much Better is Better?

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Brian R.

Over Memorial Day weekend this past May I paused for awhile to reflect on how much I had grown as a web developer in the past year. I thought about the investments I had made in myself: the conferences I attended, the books I read, the software I purchased, the sites I followed, the memberships I had acquired. I weighed each of those things and evaluated if they really helped me to become better, and how much better (if at all). When I was done I realized that something was missing, and that I probably could have learned more, spent less, and been even further ahead.

So, with that information in hand, I canceled several memberships that weren’t providing me with a good return on my investment. I dwelled on what next step I could take to best hone my skills, and learn about the exact topics I wanted to learn. In the end, the answer was clear: I needed a site like WPSessions.

I started WPSessions in June with a few small goals in mind. Not least of these was my desire to increase my own knowledge of creating websites – to create better websites. A close second to increasing my own knowledge was facilitating the growth of others. My rationale here is that a rising tide raises all ships. If I can find a way to make myself smarter, and also make everyone around me smarter, that can only mean good things for everyone.

With a tool like WPSessions, I found the exact solution I needed to my personal growth problem. I found a direct connection to WordPress experts from around the world, and I found the opportunity to not only increase my own skills, but the skills of those around me.

Ask yourself these questions…

If you’ve never taken the time to reflect on your growth and what brought you there, I encourage you to take a minute to do that now. It was of great benefit to me at the time, and I think it’s something I’ll make a habit of doing every December now. To help you get started, honestly ask yourself these four questions:

If you had learned some small, new thing each month for the past year, how much more would you know today?
How far would 12 powerful new skills take you and your business? How much more marketable and profitable would you be for your clients or employer?
Do you think you could earn another $500 for those skills? Another $1,000? Another $5,000?
At the very least, how much better do you think you would be at building and maintaining great websites?

What’s your next step?

As I said earlier, for me, the clear and definitive answer was that I needed a site like WPSessions. For you the next step coule be entirely different, and only you can know the answer to that.

If you’ll let me, though, I want to give you the exact opportunity I’ve just described above. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to greatly improve your skill-set over the next year. Specifically, I want to give you VIP access to the next 12 months of sessions here at WPSessions.com and help you bolster your knowledge and marketable skills. I want to help you learn exactly the things you want to learn.

What’s a VIP?

vip_pass As a VIP, you’re getting access the entirety of the next 12 months of sessions. Because you’re a VIP, you’ll have an opportunity to direct what we learn. In December, I’ll send you an email to help prioritize the topics we each want to learn and establish the session line-up from that. This perk is exclusive to VIPs — no one else will have this opportunity!

Plus, to help get you started on the right foot, I’m also giving you immediate access to all five of the previously recorded sessions.

What’s on the road map for the next year?

I’m glad you’ve asked! First, let me say that the next year of sessions have not been scheduled yet. And for our VIPs, this is a remarkable benefit. One of the beautiful things about an un-fixed schedule is that it’s flexible. This means we have the opportunity to change the lineup to best suit your needs. And that’s an opportunity that is exclusive to VIP members.

I have spoken with more than 40 WordPress experts, people you already know if you’ve spent any time in the WordPress community. Every one of them has expressed great interest in teaching something over the next year. And together we’ve loosely discussed some potential topics they might want to present, including:

Using Backbone.js with WordPress
Selling commercial themes and plugins
WordPress as a Web Application platform
WordPress and ecommerce
Security hardening and best practices
Using WP’s built-in APIs
WordPress and AJAX
Theme and Plugin Mastery courses
Building Membership Sites
Getting the most from your tools, and finding better tools
and others…

Don’t concern yourself too much with that list if you’re not interested in much of it. As a VIP, you get a say in what we learn and when we learn it.

What do you think?

To recap, I’m offering access to all five current sessions ($120) plus access to an entire year of new sessions (roughly $360). That’s $480-worth of instruction from the leading WordPress experts. For VIPs, though, the price is only $195. That is a savings of over $285 (a 60% discount!). And this awesome opportunity ends today.

To be clear: the VIP Pass will cease to exist after today. It’s not that the price is going up – you won’t be able to get it at all, period.

Really, all you have to ask yourself is, “How much is an entire year of untold growth and knowledge (plus increased performance and profitability) worth to me?”

If you do better with visuals, like myself, I’ve put everything in this easy-to-digest table:

Become a VIP!

Included Item	Price
A full year of new sessions 12 months of sessions, valued at $30/each VIP-Exclusive Perk: You choose which topics are covered and when. No one else has this opportunity.	$360
Bonus: WordPress Unit Testing What is Unit Testing, and why is it important? Getting started with Unit Testing Writing your first Unit Test for PHP Learning to Unit Test JavaScript	$25
Bonus: WordPress Theme Bootcamp Working with Icon Fonts Embracing the Cascade Sass and CSS pre-processing Preparing Themes for Translation Integrating the Theme Customizer	$45
Bonus: Performance Driven Development The why, when and how of caching Working with better tools WordPress on the Command Line	$25
Bonus: Building a WordPress Business Your First Hire Your Team is Family Successful Business Panel Discussion	$25
Bonus: Building WordPress Plugins Writing your first plugin Creating a Settings Page Working with the HTTP API Submitting a plugin to WordPress.org Providing Automatic Updates	~~$25~~ Free!
Regular Price	$360
Included Bonuses	$120
Subtotal	$480
Immediate 60% Discount	– $285
Grand Total	$195

~~$480~~ $195 (an instant $285 in savings!)

Become a VIP!

Meet K.Adam White, WordPress Expert

Posted on November 26, 2013 by Brian R.

Join K.Adam White for WPSession #5: WordPress Unit Tests on Saturday, November 30. He’ll be talking about JS Unit Testing.

Where can we find you on the internet?

My personal site is kadamwhite.com, but updates aren’t exactly a daily occurrence. You can more reliably find me over on Twitter as @kadamwhite, or track me down on GitHub or Flickr. I work for the amazing folks at Bocoup, an Open Web technology company in Boston — we’re over at bocoup.com (@bocoup on Twitter). Check us out on the web, or if you’re in Boston drop by for a meetup, training, or just to grab a coffee!

When and how did you get started with WordPress ?

Some time in 2006 I was sitting in our college cafeteria and saw a friend updating a really cool-looking website. I asked her what she used to run it, and she told me WordPress. I got my own site up and running on our house server in early 2007, and went from there. I returned to WordPress after graduating, when I began picking up web design work from my friend Joey Brunelle, founder of Goose Rock Design. I began to teach myself PHP, then jQuery, and WordPress lead me into all the programming roles I’ve held since.

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

I’m lucky enough to work for a company where I am surrounded by amazing coworkers who don’t shrug off questions and curiosity, so I soak up as much from my team as I can. As a consulting engineer at Bocoup I get to work with a variety of clients, which keeps me exposed to a range of new technologies. And of course I love attending conferences and meetups—I’ve never come away from a conference or WordCamp without a list of new friends, and new things to learn!

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I used to say the ecosystem, meaning the flexibility of plugins and themes: If you want to do X in WordPress, you’re pretty likely to have a choice of X 1, X2 , and X3, if not more options . These days I think I’d have to say the philosophy, though. The strong guiding principles of the project (and the lead team’s dedication to upholding them) sets an example for other open source projects to follow.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned/discovered while unit testing?

Unit testing makes me consider more angles as I code. When you’re thinking about every input/output scenario, you catch edge cases and weird conditions earlier, and sometimes you find ways to optimize the code. Writing a test this summer lead to removing an entire module from our app, for example: Once I tested it, I realized it wasn’t doing anything useful!

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

Keep an open mind; get to as many in-person events as you can; smile; listen; ask “why” when people tell you what to do; and try ignoring their advice at least once, to see what breaks!

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

Coding is still only the second-most-fun paying gig I’ve ever had! I DJ’d in college, and (while I don’t play much these days) I still love finding new interesting blends of musical styles. At one point, I was pretty sure I had the largest bagpipe techno collection in the midwest!

Meet Alison Barrett, WordPress Expert

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Brian R.

Join Alison for WPSession #5: WordPress Unit Testing on Saturday, November 30!

Where can we find you on the internet?

My development blog: http://alisothegeek.com/
Twitter: @alisothegeek

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

In 2008, I was working at a small agency in Minneapolis, where I was one of two web developers. I discovered WordPress somehow—I can’t remember what led me there—and I decided to try it out on a client project at work. We started building all our client sites on WordPress after that.

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

I usually turn to blog posts I find through Google. Before working at Automattic, my WordPress education was almost exclusively through blogs and online tutorials. Since joining Automattic and becoming more active in the WordPress community, I’ve made lots of friends that I can go to for help, too!

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

For me, nothing beats empowering the user to put their own content on the web using WordPress. Even though I’m not working with clients in an agency atmosphere anymore, I still remember how great it felt to see a small business owner or manager of a non-profit realize they could put content on their new site without a developer’s help. Getting your message online is a powerful thing, and WordPress lets anyone do that.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned/discovered while unit testing?

My favorite moments in unit testing are when running or writing the tests reveals a problem with the code I didn’t see before. It feels great to know that the extra work of writing out unit tests pays off like that.

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

Consume all the information you can. Read tutorials, find blogs, and follow other WordPress experts on Twitter. Play around on a local WordPress installation. Read core code. The more information you take in, the more you’ll be able to do and figure out on your own. Chances are you’ll be considered an “expert” long before you believe it yourself.

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

Learning drives everything I do as a hobby. Right now I’m learning to speak Spanish. My favorite games are those that have a steep learning curve or take practice to master. When I read, it’s usually non-fiction books; the fiction I do read is sci-fi/fantasy because I love learning about these complex imagined universes. I recently re-read the MYST novels and reignited my passion for the language from the videogames (D’ni). In college, I spent an entire summer learning how to solve a Rubik’s Cube without needing to memorize turn sequences. I’m a nerd when it comes to learning.

Meet John P. Bloch, WordPress Expert

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Brian R.

John will be joining us on November 30 for the WordPress Unit Testing session. He’s also a pretty smart guy 🙂

Where can we find you on the internet?

My employer, 10up, can be found at 10up.com and my personal site is johnpbloch.com. I can also be found on twitter@johnpbloch. I suppose I’m on Google+ too, but I don’t actually use it for anything but hangouts.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I got started with WordPress in 2008 when a group of friends and I started a blog together and decided to migrate off of blogger to a self-hosted WordPress installation.

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

That depends on the subject, but generally Google, which leads me to Stack Overflow/Exchange. When it comes to languages, I generally check for a Learn Code the Hard Way book first. Those books are phenomenal (and generally free!). For unit testing, my go-to resources are (in this order) Eric Mann, The Grumpy Programmer’s Guide To Building Testable PHP Applications, The Grumpy Programmer’s PHPUnit Cookbook (the last two both written by Chris Hartjes), and the PHPUnit docs. Finally, I also try to avail myself of the wealth of knowledge that is the WordPress community. There are a lot of brilliant people out there and most of them are happy to answer your questions and give you pointers. You just need to engage the community in good faith and you’ll find your way.

On a more practical note, if you just follow Brian Krogsgard and follow everybody he retweets you’ll be off to a good start. 😀

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

wp-admin/admin-post.php. Best super-obscure part of WordPress. I’m always finding new and crazy ways to use it that still blow my mind.

What is the most interesting thing you’ve learned/discovered while unit testing?

We, as developers tend to have a cognitive bias against simplicity. We all know that programmers are known to tend to over-complicate things, but unit testing large codebases will teach you an entirely new definition of complexity. Sometimes even a function that looks very simple belies a complexity that good unit tests will very quickly uncover.

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

Read through the runtime execution of WordPress. Seriously. Go line-by-line reading what WordPress does from start to finish through an execution. Try to find all the hooked functions and read through them at the right place. It will open your eyes about what actually happens inside.

Use version control

Turn XDebug on and get interactive debugging and script profiling working

Finally, just DO. Build. Tinker. Play. Break. Iterate

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

I studied English Lit in college and was teaching myself how to build websites at the time out of pure fascination. I can recite the first 11 lines of Beowulf in Old English. W.H. Auden, Wallace Stevens, and W.B Yeats are awesome.

Get a Head Start on Unit Testing

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Brian R.

If you’re eager, as I am, to get started with unit testing, I am very pleased to report that Ben Lobaugh (@benlobaugh) is speaking about this very topic at WordCamp Denver this weekend. If you have the opportunity, you should absolutely attend the event. I know you won’t be disappointed.

If you cannot attend, I have good news! Ben has written an incredible blog post about getting up-and-running with unit tests. In it he discusses briefly the merits of testing your code, how to install PHPUnit and the WordPress Testing Library, and even takes things to the next level with an intro to”continuous integration” (tests that run automatically every time you commit new code).

Read what Ben has to say on unit testing.

Ben’s post is a seriously great pre-requisite for this month’s session: WordPress Unit Testing. Once you’ve wet your appetite with Ben’s article you can satisfy your hunger learning from three more experts with live Q&A. If you haven’t gotten one already, you can save 20% on your ticket by purchasing it by Friday, Nov 15.

Writing Clean, Testable Code

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Brian R.

Earlier this year my eyes were opened. While casually browsing around the web I happened across an amazing video featuring a man named Miško Hevery. In this video, Miško, a Google employee, was training other Google employees on the extreme importance of code testing.

The truth about Unit Tests

At the time, I knew only very little about unit tests. I knew that they were difficult to create and challenging to implement. As it turns out, I didn’t actually know anything.

Unit tests are both easy to write and simple to implement. What is difficult, though, is modifying your behavior in order to write clean, testable code.

I can say this: since watching the one-hour video below, I have completely changed how I approach functions and writing code. Everything I build is significantly better and easier to work with because of this.

If you’re even remotely interested in growing as a developer, I cannot stress enough the value of these lessons from Miško. You would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t watch this video. Seriously.

Writing Testable Code

But wait, there’s more!

When you’re through with this video, I also recommend reading Miško’s complimentary blog posts on the same subject: his Comprehensive Guide to Writing Testable Code and the more sussinct Top 10 Tips for Testability. Finally, don’t forget to attend this month’s session on Unit Testing.

How can we develop better?

I’m always interested in learning more and getting better. Do you have any great advice to share? Have you learned something new? Please share in the comments!

Join us Nov 30 for “WordPress Unit Tests”

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Brian R.

For our fifth session, join Alison Barrett, John P. Bloch, and K.Adam White as they walk us through using and creating unit tests. These experts really know their stuff, and this session isn’t limited strictly to WordPress (even though the examples provided will be geared for WordPress projects).

“What is a unit test,” I hear you ask? Well, a unit test is a way for developers to validate that they code they’ve written is serving its intended purpose and producing the expected results. There are many ways to test code, and this way happens to be a very, very good one. Check out our blog for more information on the benefits of unit testing, and the role it might better play in your business.

Session Schedule

This session will be broadcast live on November 30, 2013 starting at 1pm ET.
All recordings will become available for replay at 4pm ET.

Topics Covered

Why is Unit Testing important?
Unit Testing: The Scary Parts
Lessons Learned from Unit Testing
Getting Started with PHP Unit Tests
How to write testable code
Identifying scenarios/code that are hard to test
Writing your first Unit Test
How to write a JavaScript Unit Test
How to run a JavaScript Unit Test
What does testable JavaScript look like?
Unit Testing for jQuery – Can it be done? If so, how?
And more!

A bit about your experts:

Each of our speakers brings with them several years experience working with WordPress.

Alison Barrett

Alison works for Automattic, the wonderful company behind WordPress.com (and many other good things). She works on the Janitorial team, a team that focuses on internal projects that help the company run better. Alison is a relative new-comer to unit testing, which makes the lessons she’s learned all the more relevant to anyone just beginning the trek into unit testing. She loves making WordPress plugins, and also learning more about the WordPress APIs, both of which are primary focuses on her blog, Aliso the Geek.
Follow Alison on Twitter

John P. Bloch

John has been working with WordPress for more than half its current life span. John currently works for 10up as a Senior Web Engineer where he helps build powerful and user-friendly solutions for our awesome clients. He is very passionate about building stable, tested solutions and wants to share this passion for excellence with you.
Follow John on Twitter

K.Adam White

K.Adam has a deep-seated love for Javascript. He has spoken at a number of WordCamps now on the topics of Javascript and themes, JS and Plugins, Backbone + WordPress. He’s also very out-spoken about working with Grunt.js and several other JavaScript-based tools. If you write JS in any capacity, K.Adam’s presentation on Unit Testing in JavaScript is one you really won’t want to miss.
Follow K.Adam on Twitter

Don’t Miss Out!

When you join us live you’ll have an opportunity to ask these experts whatever questions you like. This is an incredibly valuable and rare opportunity. If you cannot make it to the live event you can of course watch the recording immediately after it is finished airing and send your questions in ahead of time.

Get your ticket today! (20% early-bird discount if you purchase before Nov 15)

Meet Brad Parbs, WordPress Expert

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Brian R.

Brad will be joining us for WPSession #4: WordPress Theme Bootcamp on September 19th, 2013.

Before you get too far into reading this, I want to give you the same warning Brad gave me. His answer to the bonus question at the end answer might just be the best answer ever, so be prepared (and don’t skip ahead).

Where can we find you on the internet?

The best place to find me is SnowDayGroup.com & BradParbs.com. I tweet at @BradParbs.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I got started with WordPress a few years ago while working at a web development company. We were making simple sites, and needed a way to build out sites quickly and easily. We were using a custom-coded PHP CMS that was very insecure. WordPress let us give our cusomers an amazing experience, and it was easier for us to use, too!

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

The first place I always go is to the Codex. The amount of amazing information there is great. If I’m developing some custom functionality for a client, and I don’t know where to start, I’ll usually look at a few other plugins doing similar things to see how they were done.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

My favorite thing about WordPress isn’t a feature in the code – it’s the Community. The fact that things like WPSessions can even exist is because of all the awesome people in the WordPress community. As someone who runs a local WordPress Meetup group, I’ve gotten to see people progress from just being introduced to WordPress and then getting to the point where they’re giving talks about it. No other community has the breadth of information, resources, and everything else that the WordPress community has. It’s really, really amazing when you take a step back and look at it all.

What is one thing you wish you knew about WordPress themes when you were getting started?

The thing that really tripped me up when I first starting making WordPress themes was the template hierarchy. I remember always struggling with it. I always had to use the Debug bar to look at what file was being loaded, and then guess what I should name the new one. After I learned how the template hiearchy actually works inside of WordPress, I started feeling so much better. I could finally create the files I needed to have really quickly. The template hiearchy is a very powerful beast.

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

If you want to be a WordPress expert, there’s two things you need to do. First, you want to surround yourself with smart people that know more than you. I do this by going to as many WordCamps as I can, as well as helping organize my local Meetup group. By forming these connections, you’ll have an indispensible resource of people that you can ask questions, learn from, and potentially collaborate with.

The second thing you need to do to become a WordPress expert is keep pushing yourself to do more things. If you’re a theme author, build a plugin that you can put on WordPress.org. If you’re a plugin author, build a theme to release. The more projects you can work on, either for clients or for yourself, the better you’ll be. If you are scared of using something in WordPress, just do it. The worst thing that will happen is that you’ll fail. And we all fail. It just means you have to keep working at it and learning more. The awesome thing about doing something new is that you get to learn a whole ton of stuff!

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

Probably stuff about cats.

Meet Lisa Sabin-Wilson, WordPress Expert

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Brian R.

Lisa will be joining us for WPSession #4: WordPress Theme Bootcamp on September 19th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Business: WebDevStudios.com
Personal: LisaSabin-Wilson.com
Twitter: @LisaSabinWilson

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

2003. I migrated off Movable Type onto WordPress based upon the recommendation of a friend, after they listened to me whine about having to rebuild all of my archives whenever I made a simple template or CSS change.

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

You mean aside from my uber talented team at WebDevStudios?

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Inline help in the Dashboard & the help and tips you get on every screen. This is huge for users of the software.

What is one thing you wish you knew about WordPress themes when you were getting started?

How to properly enqueue scripts and styles. I wish I could go back and redo every theme I’d ever done in the beginning.

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

Set aside adequate time in your day/week/month to keep up.

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

I am an avid football fan. NFL: Packers.

Meet Paul Clark, WordPress Expert

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Brian R.

Paul will be joining us for WPSession #4: WordPress Theme Bootcamp on September 18th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Slides & talks: pdclark.com
Company: brainstormmedia.com
Twitter: @pdclark

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I was working my way through college doing graphic design and computer work. I was one project away from swearing off website work altogether, because I was so tired of getting maintenance calls from clients: “Can you change this comma? Update this text?”. I wanted to be creating solutions for people, not acting as a gatekeeper to their content!

I tried WordPress on the website that I swore would be my last. It was a game changer! I finally felt like I could provide an experience to clients I could be proud of. That was in 2006. I’ve been creating sites with WordPress ever since.

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

I rely much less on the large publishers (TutsPlus, Smashing Magazine) than I used to. You can get so much more information by jumping in with the people who are dealing with problems every day.

I read the WordPress source, and scan through the source of new plugins I find interesting or are by authors I respect. Pippin Williamson, for example, is known for his great tutorials AND has awesome source code to read through.

Regardless of what you’re trying to learn, or where you’re going for information, there is one strategy that will always hold true, and will always get you ahead many of the people out there: If you want to learn something, break something!

You have to dig in, and you have to fail — over and over again. Once things break, go onto stackoverflow.com, or look at example solutions from great thinkers on wordpress.org. Learn from them, then find ways to make things better.

It’s much, much easier to pump out a hacky solution than to read through someone else’s code, understand it, and adapt it. That’s what turns people into skilled and mature programmers: putting ego aside so that you can learn before you do (and then fail… and do again).

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

The Customizer! Duh!

The new JavaScript features are a place where people working on WordPress Core have really pushed the envelope in making use of modern techniques. The new Media Library (with backbone.js) and the Customizer are awesome examples of this. Because of all my time spent with the Styles plugin, I’m partial to the Customizer. 🙂

What is one thing you wish you knew about WordPress themes when you were getting started?

Oh man… I don’t know if I could narrow it down to just one! Let’s do three:

A lot of the things you might put into functions.php should probably go into a plugin. There’s no difference in how the code operates, but packing features into individual plugins will increase your re-usability, stability, and make it a LOT easier to identify what your code is doing (because you have to write a description!).
Understand the template hierarchy. I see programmers doing somersaults all the time to achieve things that are built into the naming conventions of a WordPress theme. A lot of flexibility can be achieved just by naming your files correctly.
Look at the body classes. Again, I see programmers frequently go to great lengths to target styles for some custom post type or home page element… When really all they need to use is .home or .page-id-5.

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

Read the source (of WordPress, and of plugins). Break something every day.

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

Again with only one? I’m going to do three again. 🙂

My wife and I have an Irish Wolfhound. They’re super-sweet, but super-huge!
My favorite way to relax is Boxing.
When I started freelancing, I was sleeping on couches in my college dorm lobbies. When I started growing the team at Brainstorm Media, I was maintianing relationships with clients in America while working nights in Southeast Asia. That’s the awesome thing about working on the web — you can get started from anywhere!

Meet Christopher Cochran, WordPress Expert

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Brian R.

Chris will be joining us for WPSession #4: WordPress Theme Bootcamp on September 18th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

christophercochran.me
@tweetsfromchris

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I first got started with WordPress while on an college internship with WebDevStudios in 2008. My studies were more in print, illustration and logo design, but the web has always been an interest of mine. Taking on the internship, I quickly learned and adapted to the world of the web. At WDS I’ve worked with many different technologies, even touched Drupal, but ultimately over the years the focus became more and more WordPress centric. Back then, my starter theme of choice was sandbox, oh how I loved thee, and owe much to it, since I came into the web scene knowing very little, sandbox was my guide to WordPress theme-ing.

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

I’m really a hands on learner, and learn best from just diving in. With WordPress, I normally dive directly into the source, to figure out some new feature in a new release, or see how they may go about something PHP related. Even outside of the WordPress I turn to other’s code, searching through github repos. Open source for the win!

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

The community, I honestly can’t say I would be where I am today without WordPress and all the people I have met through the years.

What is one thing you wish you knew about WordPress themes when you were getting started?

More PHP. After a few months with WordPress, I took a beginner PHP course at a local college, and it opened my mind to so much. I think just knowing some the basics of PHP could help out any person out there looking to build awesome themes on top of WordPress. Also, that Flash was on its way out. I spent a lot of time learning actionscript to do Flash sliders (by client requests), which could have been spent on learning js.

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

Don’t avoid challenges. Take them head on and come out knowing more, even if you find yourself not able to take it on yourself, reach out to the great community for help, and learn from them. I also really encourage creating patches for core, or submitting a theme to the WordPress.org theme repository. You are getting a free code review, and giving back to the community, it’s a win win.

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

I collect license plates, and street signs, the older the better. Rust just adds to its character (or shotgun holes). My goal is to have a plate from every state. Only missing 10; Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oregon, Alaska, Washington, Hawaii, and New Mexico.

Meet Sara Cannon, WordPress Expert

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Brian R.

Sara will be joining us for WPSession #4: WordPress Theme Bootcamp on September 16th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Work: http://ran.ge
Personal: sara-cannon.com
Twitter: @saracannon

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I learned basics of HTML while in Design School and started diving head first into web design. I found WP around 8 years ago while doing non-profit work. I was looking for great free solutions. I stumbled upon Joomla but then wanted something better- which lead me to find WP.

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

Google 😉

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I love how you can customize and organize metadata so it can display beautifully on the front-end.

What is one thing you wish you knew about WordPress themes when you were getting started?

I wish I knew to not be intimidated. Once you understand the basics, it’s easy to catch on 🙂

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

Never stop learning. Always be curious as to why things work the way they do.

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

I’m a visual artist. I love painting, drawing, and sculpture. 🙂

Get Theming with “WordPress Theme Bootcamp” in September

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Brian R.

Each of our sessions typically feature 3 separate presenters focusing on a specific aspect of some WordPress topic, but this month we’re pulling out ALL the stops! For this digitally-broadcast event, we have five speakers. Five!

This week, for our Fourth Session, you can join Sara Cannon, Chris Cochran, Paul Clark, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, and Brad Parbs to learn about many of the different aspects of WordPress Themes. Each of these incredibly talented individuals brings with them a unique perspective and an exhaustive list of experiences with WordPress theme design and development.

Because we have such an action-packed lineup, this session is going to diverge from our traditional model. Rather than try to fit everything into a single awesome-filled day we’re breaking it up across several awesome-filled days.

Topics Covered

Designing for User Experience (UX)
Designing quickly with Sass
Integrating the Theme Customizer
Internationalization
Building for a broad audience
Creating a better theme development work low
Working with Genericons (and other icon fonts)
And more!

Session Schedule

In addition to watching each event live below, you can also re-watch (or catch later) the recording from each presentation.

Sept 16 (Monday)
7pm ET: Sara Cannon: Working with Icon Fonts

Sept 18 (Wednesday)
7pm ET: Paul Clark: Integrating the Theme Customizer
8pm ET: Chris Cochran: A Better Theme Process

Sept 19 (Thursday)
7pm ET: Lisa Sabin-Wilson: Preparing Your Theme For The Rest of the World (internationalization)
8pm ET: Brad Parbs: Getting Sassy: Fun with CSS Pre-processors

About the Speakers

Brad Parbs

Brad Parbs is a core contributor, plugin author, theme designer, open source fanatic, and startup lover. Brad has created open source WordPress tools, themes, and plugins. Brad currently runs Snow Day Group, a Milwaukee-based web development, a WordPress development agency. When not making things with WordPress, Brad drinks Chai Tea, plays with his cats, and listens to loud music in his car.
Follow Brad on Twitter

Chris Cochran

For the last 5 years Chris has been working to merge his love of design and his love for development together with WordPress. Not satisfied to stop there, Chris also spends his free time exploring cooking and music. He’s a very creative guy, working to make the internet a better place one site at a time. He’s a pretty popular guy in the Genesis theme community, and has done some pretty remarkable things with the theme.
Follow Chris on Twitter

Lisa Sabin-Wilson

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is the co-owner of WebDevStudios, a design and development company specializing in customized WordPress themes and plugins, and the author of WordPress For Dummies. As the “For Dummies” brand franchise author on all things WordPress she’s also written several other WordPress-related books. She’s worked with WordPress since 2003, and is also a regular public speaker on topics such as WordPress, blogging, design, and social media.
Follow Lisa on Twitter

Paul Clark

Paul is a seasoned developer with 17 years experience in creative applications and 10 years experience in web programming and team management. He has built a lot of really cool websites with WordPress, and is a pretty prolific speaker. Recently, he released a plugin named Styles that extends the capability of the WordPress Theme Cusomizer.
Follow Paul on Twitter

Sara Cannon

Sara has a passion for art, design, and typography. She is Partner and Creative Director for Range – A design and development shop specializing in WordPress.
Follow Sara on Twitter

Don’t Miss Out!

When you join us live you’ll have an opportunity to ask these experts whatever questions you like. This is incredibly valuable, given how vast and deep each of these expert’s knowledge is. If you cannot make it to the live event you can of course watch the recording immediately after it is finished airing, and ask your questions ahead of time.

Get your ticket today!

Meet Aaron Jorbin, WordPress Expert

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Brian R.

Where can we find you on the internet?

My personal site is aaron.jorb.in and I use aaronjorbin just about everywhere. Github (github.com/aaronjorbin) and twitter (@aaronjorbin) are the two best places to keep up with what I’m working on. I work on all things front end for Privia Health (www.priviahealth.com)

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

My first exposure to WordPress was in 2007 when a few friends and I built a satirical site based around the idea of future news. From there, I found small projects on craigslist ($25 to move from one host to another) that slowly built to people hiring me for custom plugins, themes and sites. After about two years of this, I started to follow core development and tried to become a part of it. A few rejected (and rightfully so) patches later, I finally was able to get some code added to core. now 3 years later I’m still contributing patches when I have the opportunity.

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

My friends and coworkers are my biggest bringers of knowledge. I rarely have to search out new knowledge, I just have to start chatting with them, see what they have recently starred on github or look at what they are tweeting.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

I love the plugin api. Actions and Filters makes it incredibly easy to build so much.

What is your favorite development tool and why?

Unix. I can’t tell you how many times cut, time, grep, cat, |, or nc are all I need to figure something out.

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

Read the source and start contributing. Find bugs and fix them. The more intimate you are with WordPress core, the more you’ll be able to writ code that is forward compatible.

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

I spend my free time volunteering as a Simulation Director for a collegiate Model United Nations conference.

Meet Daniel Bachhuber, WordPress Expert

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Brian R.

Daniel will be joining us for WPSession #3: Performance Driven Development on August 4th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

daniel I’m the Senior Engineer at Human Made, an uniquely-awesome agency headquartered in the UK. We split our time between client work and products like Happytables and WP Remote.

Generally, you can find me on:
Github – Specifically the Human Made and WP-CLI repos.
Twitter – Links and snark.
My blog – WordPress and personal.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

Oddly enough, my first WordPress site still lives on. A buddy and I wanted to get our student newspaper on the web, so we created a WordPress.com site for it. It served our needs for roughly six months, then we went about setting up a WordPress.org install. I can’t claim any credit for it, but The Pioneer has gone on to win a few awards for their online presence.

Also funny in hindsight: I distinctly remember scratching my head the first time someone tried to explain to me how The Loop works 🙂

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

It really depends on what I’m working on. If I’m approaching an entirely new technology, API, etc., I’ll do a bit of research (aka Googling) to see if anyone has written a nice introductory post to it. Otherwise, it’s straight to the documentation, then on to see if I can apply it.

Specific to WordPress, learning how to read core is a godsend. If I ever have a question about how something works, it’s straight to the code.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

The usability of the WordPress admin. It’s the lingua franca for managing content. When working on a project, as long as I stay within WordPress’ UI conventions, I hardly ever have to explain how a feature works to an end user.

What is your favorite development tool and why?

Salt (and Vagrant). I know I should say WP-CLI, which has also changed my life, but the Salt / Vagrant combo has radically changed my development / deployment workflow.

Salt is a way of describing a server with easy to use YAML configuration files. Vagrant makes it possible to boot that server locally.

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

Find someone you can work on a project with (open source or otherwise) who will tear your code to shreds. Literally.

Criticism is the only way you’ll become a better developer — hubris gets in the way of learning.

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

I’m (hopefully) running 41 miles around Mt. Hood in a few weeks!

Meet Zack Tollman, WordPress Expert

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Brian R.

Zack will be joining us for WPSession #3: Performance Driven Development on August 4th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Zack Tollman I am a developer with The Theme Foundry and you can see all of our awesome themes on thethemefoundry.com. I write about WordPress things on tollmanz.com and tweet from @tollmanz.

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

I think I first installed WordPress in 2005 or 2006. I was initially intimidated by it because it was such a large project with so much code. I took a closer look at it later in 2006 when I became fed up with writing a custom content management system (CMS) solution for a client. I knew that WordPress provided this for you out of the box and decided it was time to learn how to use it to power my sites rather than waste more time trying to build my own custom CMS.

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

I usually turn to people. I have found that building relationships and mentorships with people who can do things better than me is a really rewarding experience. In the WordPress community, we are extremely lucky to have WordCamps all over the world, which enable and foster these types of relationships. The friendships that I have made at these conferences (as well as other places) have been the single biggest asset to me as a developer.

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Currently, I am in love with the ID3 tag support for audio files that will be released in WordPress 3.6. If you have an audio file that is properly tagged, WordPress will read this data upon upload and make it available to you. It even adds an embedded album cover as a featured image for the attachment. Huge props to Scott Taylor (@wonderboymusic) for this significant contribution.

What is your favorite development tool and why?

Git is my favorite development tool. After starting to use it on a daily basis, I’ve come to view it as a tool and not a version control system (VCS). It has some extremely powerful features (e.g., bisect, reflog, merge strategies) that give you a lot of flexibility with and insight into your codebases. I could give up a lot of development tools, but definitely not Git.

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

Go to WordCamps. Talk to people. Do not build stuff alone. Be open to criticism and feedback. Solicit criticism and feedback. Give criticism and feedback. Trust your instincts. Do not forget to sleep.

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

I love hockey.

Learn about Performance Driven Development on August 4, 2013

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Brian R.

For our 3rd session you can join Aaron Jorbin, Daniel Bachhuber & Zack Tollman and learn how to dramatically improve your development prowess. These three experts will teach you how to write better code, improve site and network performance, and how to improve your development workflow, too.

In this session we are going to delve deep into code performance. We’ll look at the tools you should use (Xdebug, JSPerf, curl-loader, etc), and why/when they’re beneficial. We’ll talk about transients, object caching, page caching, and other caching patterns that are quite successful when paired with WordPress. Finally, we’ll dive into the intricacies of navigating between local and remote development. We’ll also touch on WP-CLI, and other tools, systems and strategies for sanely taking your fine-tooled code into production.

Topics Covered:

Basic caching concepts of object and page caching
Implementing object and page caching in WordPress
Patterns for caching in WordPress
Several development tools, and why you would use each of them:
- Xdebug’s Profiler and a front end viewer for it’s output
- Curl-loader
- Chrome dev tools
- JSPerf
- WP-CLI
And more!

A bit about your experts:

Each of our speakers brings with them several years experience working with WordPress.

Aaron Jorbin

Aaron Jorbin is working to make the web more usable and accessible. Born and raised in suburban Chicagoland, Aaron and has been taking things apart and figuring out how things work since he was a young child. He is a big believer in open source technology and building extremely usable and highly efficient web applications.
Follow Aaron on Twitter

Daniel Bachhuber

Daniel is currently Senior Engineer at Human Made, one of the United Kingdom’s leading agencies. Most previously Daniel was a Code Wranger for Automattic’s WordPress.com VIP. On days he’s feeling particularly ambitious, Daniel enjoys photographing, adventure travel, and conspiring on ways to make a better world.
Follow Daniel on Twitter

Zack Tollman

Residing in Portland, Oregon, Zack longs for the cold, snowy days of his Alaskan youth. He enjoys strumming his guitar, playing hockey, and spending time with his fiancée and dog. Otherwise, you’ll find him at his computer meticulously spinning lines of clean WordPress code as a developer at The Theme Foundry.
Follow Zack on Twitter

Don’t Miss This

When you join us live you’ll have an opportunity to ask these experts whatever questions you like. This is incredibly valuable, given that they contribute to the very tools we use to build the internet. If you cannot make it to the live event you can of course watch the recording immediately after it is finished airing.

Get your ticket today!

Meet Cory Miller, WordPress Expert

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Brian R.

Cory will be joining us for WPSession #2: Building a WordPress Busness on July 13th, 2013.

Where can we find you on the internet?

Cory Miller My focus is on iThemes, so iThemes.com. I blog about entrepreneurship, marketing and career advice at my personal site at CoryMiller.com. Tweet @corymiller303. Oh, and if you want to see just cute pics of my adorable infant son, Caloway, then http://instagram.com/corymiller303 🙂 #proudpapa

When and how did you get started with WordPress?

In 2006 when I started a professional blog and wanted to do more with it and found WordPress. I was hooked at how easy it was and wanted to learn how to tweak my site design.

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

I eat books.

If I’m not learning, I’m dying … and reading books in particular (along with blogs) is the best way to learn new stuff.

I post my reading list here: http://corymiller.com/reading/

What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?

Being able to get a blog started in 5 minutes. The ease of use of WordPress has always been my favorite feature and hope that never changes. It’s what has made WordPress great.

What is your favorite business-related book and why?

I can’t pick just one, man. 🙂

I believe entrepreneurship is one of the ultimate ways to find true work-life alignment. So here are my recommendations for that.

Start with Why by Simon Sinek — a great book to start your pursuit of purpose and passion in your work
On Writing Well by William Zissner — foundational book on writing, if not THE best desk reference, and yes, even web designers need to write well
Rework by Jason Fried — the new way and philosophies of work on the web
Content Rules by Ann Handley — foundational desk reference on content that sells — order a print copy to put on your shelf and give to clients
Do the Work by Steven Pressfield — just do it, a true motivational book we circulated throughout our entire team
Total Money Makeoverby Dave Ramsey — get your finances straight and a healthy perspective on money so you can do what you love
The Leadership Challenge – James Kouzes — if you’re going to have employees, start reading this now
Never Get a ‘Real’ Job by Scott Gerber — motivation on launching your business for a younger generation
Standout by Marcus Buckingham — learn more about yourself
StrengthsFinder by Tom Rath — learn more about your strengths and how to use them (also great for teams)
Success for Dummies by Zig Ziglar — just good, down home advice
The Brand You by Tom Peters
12: Elements of Managing by Rodd Wager — even if you don’t manage anybody, see 12 great principles of how you and I work best
Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No by Cloud and Townsend – establish good boundaries in your relationships and free yourself to be happy
Crush It! by Gary V — great book to pump you up if you’re considering starting your own business
Free Agent Nation by Dan Pink — the rise of the indepent worker
Drive by Dan Pink — learn how instrinc motivation works … and what really motivates you in your work
The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters
The Guerrilla Marketing Job Escape Plan
Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career
Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod – straight up great advice
Just Start: Take Action, Embrace Uncertainty, Create the Future
Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives
The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman – the founder of LinkedIn talks about approaching your career as a startup
Tribes by Seth Godin — tribes are everywhere – learn how to start, build and lead them
Writing That Works: Learn How to Communicate in Business — a desk reference for your career
The Dip by Seth Godin — when to quit or keep going
The Janitor by Todd Hopkins — a great story about putting work and life in perspective
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform by Nancy Duarte
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte
Presentation Zen by Gary Reynolds
ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett — ignore the title, these guys are the best at blogging
Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success by Penelope Trunk — great, sharp, awesome career advice
Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields

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

Immersion.

If you want to become an expert you have to immerse yourself in the subject. If it’s WordPress that means these things:

USE WordPress. Know it inside and out. Blog with it. Build sites with it.
Embed yourself in the community. Go to WordCamps. Meetups. Or start one in your city.
Bleed the brand. Champion WordPress everywhere.
Find problems people have with it … and solve it for them. Whether it’s a service or a product, or just installing WP for them.
Play nicely with others. Meaning don’t get consumed in DramaPress. This is software. It helps us do things better. Remember, it’s about people. WordPress won’t show up at your funeral. But people will.

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

I’ve got 33 hours of seminary training. Extra bonus: I’m a pretty dang good snow skiier.