The Builders

I’m joined today by Ryan Lawrence.  Ryan has been a freelance web developer, working from home, for more than 15 years.  As I have also worked at home for at least that long.. a bit longer.. we have a lot in common with how we manage working from home and dealing with our day to day. We talk in depth about having good work-life balance, how we personally manage it and the stresses of working and doing what we do.  We talk schedules, taking breaks, regular vacations, mixing work with pleasure.. and meditation.  It’s a GREAT episode.  Enjoy!

I'm back with Shoumo Ganguly in a valuable episode for small businesses looking to compete and reel in larger clients.  Shoumo's experience having worked inside larger corporations and organizations and understanding how they operate provides a lot of insights.  His experience as a consultant and mentor to small businesses shines through as well -- it's always good to talk to someone in the trenches and working through these issues with others. There are a range of challenges for small businesses when trying to become providers or sell services to larger businesses.  Learn how to navigate these larger organizations and set yourself apart.  What is the best way to learn more about the stakeholders and decision makers?  How do you prepare?  How do you deal with the complexity?  What can you do that brings value?  All these questions are answered in this densely packed, actionable episode!  I hope you join us!

Danielle is back with me for another episode. Today I wanted to talk to her about her new website service, “Overnight Websites”. I really wanted to dig into the idea.. we start by laying the groundwork and learning about the service itself.. the choices she made (eg, choosing Oxygen as the framework). Then we go deeper into the idea. I was interested in how she generated the idea, what inspired it and how it developed. We also, being the WordPress nerds we are, talked a bunch about WordPress, page builders, site builders, gutenberg blocks and more! We talked about what it's like to be a night owl.. (hint).. and her game plan. How has she thought about her new service and where she sees it down the road. AND.. how she'll get the word out. Enjoy!

In this solo episode I talk about a variety of topics.. My addition of YouTube as a place to post episodes, my experience with Riverside.fm so far. I talk about doing podcasting while try to run a very busy web design agency and business. The challenges there.. and how I'm careful not to add too much to my plate. I chose a couple other business related topics to dig into including ‘choosing your clients', how to let a client go, using tools to improve productivity.. and I end with some news. The closing of Hexater.com's WordPress theme marketplace.. and what the future brings. I hope you join me!

In this episode we're joined by Mohammad Nafisi.  Him and I met a number of years ago while he was going to a school in my hometown of Beaver Dam at Wayland Academy.  He was a student from Iran and met my nephews who also attended this school.  For the breaks he would stay with them, my family, and that's where I first met him - I came home for the holidays and there he was! We instantly had a connection.. he was so inquisitive and was really interested in what I was doing in tech.  After a few years out of touch, we reconnected this past year on LinkedIn.  Today he's just about ready to start his life after college -- looking to create a business startup.  We talk about his life, journey, his knowledge around startups and so much more.  Enjoy!

In this episode we have Wilson Mattos joining us.  He co-founded Rapid Crush and serves as it's current CEO.  Wilson and I first met many years ago at a seminar I spoke at (in 2009).  We remained friends and have had a number of great business adventures together..  In this conversation we start by digging into his roots, where he's from (Brazil), how he came to America and his journey climbing the corporate ladder to become a business leader and entrepreneur! We dig deeper into a couple of great topics and he shares some incredible nuggets.  We talked about partnerships, how him and Jason Fladlien first met and maintained their partnership for over 10 years.  We also talk about his team, culture and relationships.  Good stuff!  I hope you take a listen.. enjoy!

Today Vova Feldman, owner of the popular WordPress Platform, Freemius, joins me to talk about his journey and business.  We start out having him dig into his past and he talks about his family's migration from the Ukraine to Israel when he was 4 years old.  We learn how those experiences shaped him, how he discovered his love for building things, programming and business. From there we talk about how his company leverages and creates content for his user base and fans.  We discuss how he started his company, built relationships and found his first customers.  Learn how he prefers selling, his focus on the long game and his approach to marketing.  Great guy, great conversion!  Enjoy!

Quitting gets a bad rap.  Some people will tell you quitting is never a good thing.  But is that true?  The truth is there are different types of 'quitting'.  There's a spectrum.  And if you quit something it doesn't mean your overarching plans, goals or strategy has to change. In fact, sometimes quitting can be the strategy.  When we are testing something, we need to define when we are quitting.  In this episode I tell the story of products I tried to sell years ago and they didn't work.  I quit each attempt, but I didn't quit the idea and eventually succeeded!  I'm doing the same thing with this podcast and discuss that. Don't miss this episode!  Learn why micro-quitting.. is a good and healthy thing to do!

Join me for a discussion with Stephen Wilson Downey; our first guest from Ireland! Stephen and I first met on LinkedIn.  We got on a call and talked about his product (an AI-based WordPress plugin) and what he was doing in the WordPress space. Of course, that lead to him being on this podcast episode. Stephen's got an interesting backstory.. we dig into his roots, his journey as a chef and how he discovered his love for business and entrepreneurship. We of course also dive into what he's been building these last couple of years. We get into AI systems, machine learning.. well, if that doesn't pique your interest already, I don't know what will! Enjoy the episode!

In this solo episode, I'm back at it telling stories from my past. This is the story of how I first learned the power of systems and processes as a literal insurance salesman and how that carried over to my stint as an PPC advertiser, affiliate marketer, creating my own system and processes called “Campaign Blasting“.. to today running a web design agency and teams. This is without a doubt one of my favorite topics BECAUSE I think it has a significant impact on any business or endeavor. Systems and processes working in concert can help your business or agency become more efficient, consistent and streamlined. A system is a living thing.. everything under it can be iterated on and improved over time. It's a framework to help you continuously improve. Enjoy the episode!