My Journey into WordPress

It all started during my freshman orientation. The head of the English department walked in and said something that changed my life: “If you’re going to be a journalist, you need to do three things. Write a story and tell the truth, tell both sides of the story, and you need to have your own blog, or no one will publish your writing.” In that moment, I asked myself, “How do you build a blog?” That question sparked my journey into the world of WordPress. What began as a simple curiosity soon evolved into a full-fledged career, and I’ve never looked back.

Since then, I’ve dedicated over 15 years to mastering WordPress and providing unparalleled support to businesses and individuals looking to create, maintain, and optimize their websites. My goal has always been simple: to provide the kind of support I wished I had when I was first starting out.

Passion for WordPress Support

WordPress is more than just a tool—it’s a platform for building communities, businesses, and ideas. My passion lies in helping people harness its full potential by offering the best support possible. Whether it’s troubleshooting a plugin issue, optimizing site speed, or walking someone through the basics, I’m committed to making WordPress easier for everyone.

In 2016, I had the chance to sit down for an interview on the WP Round Table Podcast. During the conversation, I shared my journey, my beliefs, and the driving force behind my work: helping others succeed through WordPress. If you want to get a deeper sense of who I am and what I stand for, I invite you to watch the video below.

I’ve done a lot with WordPress since 2010.

Here’s a brief look at my journey from a WordPress enthusiast to a WordPress Support Specialist and Consultant. I began by attending and presenting at WordPress Meetups, which soon led to organizing and sponsoring WordCamp events. In 2014, I joined a popular WordPress podcast, and from there, I turned WordPress into not just a career, but also a passion and a lifelong hobby.

The WPWatercooler Podcast Network

The WPWatercooler Network is a podcasting venture created and operated by my friend, Jason Tucker. The network features three weekly podcasts focused on WordPress. Every Friday, I join the conversation, which you can catch live on YouTube.

My first appearance on WPWatercooler was in Episode 81, where I discussed my interest in WP Multisite. I reached out to Jason Tucker about being a guest on the show, and since then, he has invited me back regularly. For years, I’ve dedicated 30 minutes each week to sharing my thoughts on WordPress topics.

WPBlab, also known as The WordPress Marketing Show, was originally launched when the platform Blab provided a new way to host online shows. Jason Tucker co-hosts the show with my good friend Bridget Willard. Over time, the show has grown significantly, exploring new and underrepresented topics in the WordPress community. My first appearance on WPBlab was on Episode 11.

Dev Branch is a monthly podcast on the WPWatercooler Network, designed specifically for developers. It dives deeper into technical topics, which sometimes get too advanced for the typical WPWatercooler audience. Being part of the inaugural episode was an exciting opportunity.

Valley West Mortgage

Last Held Title: Creative Director

One day I was looking for jobs on Craigslist. I came across a post titled: “Seeking WordPress website administrator”. The post mentioned the company was a small mortgage broker in need of guidance with their WordPress Site. In our meeting the owner mentioned having a previous web developer. They needed to fill the open position. I accepted the job once the offer landed in my inbox. I had my own office and the Best Office Desk Setup. Free range to fully rebuild the company website, marketing and branding. I was my own department.

We turned the website from a landing page/brochure website into a full fledged Loan Officer’s assistant. Mortgage websites are simple in design and embed a number of services to collect and store data, show thier interest rates and start the loan application. We did everything in-house and with WordPress. Everything a Loan officer needed from their clients. We built into a step by step contact form powered by Gravity Forms. By the end of the form, a user would have all the correct information uploaded and selected to start the loan application process. Over time we fine tuned our online mortgage shopping experience to meet the demands of the loan officers and needs of our users.

Working for a small business and appearing on recurring weekly WordPress podcast really helped me transition into WordPress Support. When you work in WordPress Support there are a lot of emails. You have to be able to read, understand and respond. There are also team & client calls. You’re going to be talking on camera frequently. I did all these things while working at the mortgage company and organizing a WordPress Meetup.

Maintainn WordPress Support

Last Held Title: WordPress Support Technician

Maintainn Support was cool company. I was able to work with some of the smartest minds in the WordPress industry/community. Originally hired as a WordPress Support Technician. I performed a lot of tasks during my time as a WordPress Customer Support Technician. Updating content is a big part of support. My job also involved updating our clients Core WordPress files, plugins and themes on a weekly schedule. At one point, we were updating 550+ websites, every Tuesday and Wednesday. Including visiting the website after updates are applied – to check if anything broke. That’s a lot to do in a single day. Some updates were applied by using a service. Some had to be updated using subversion. Which goes to show you every WordPress website is different in every way and requires care and proper attention.

My job duties also involved talking to clients on video calls and live chat. Our project manager would lead the conversation. Once we had a support agreement in place, it was my job to understand how the website works and integrate our support services. Learning the skills needed to specialize in WordPress Website Audits. The company has their own custom built WordPress Support Plugin installed on every site. Helping developers find specific answers about a clients server environment and WordPress install. Once we understand how your website is put together from a server level, we can begin installing subversion, creating a staging site and applying updates. I’m very fortunate to hav my name on a widely used plugin in the WordPress repository.

Bulk hours is another part of the job at Maintainn. The company allows anyone to purchase a bulk number of hours to use towards fixing/installing software. Clients would come in the door needing to have their E-commerce plugins updated. That’s not something you do in under an hour. My schedule was always full between emails, updates and bulk hours projects.

WebDevStudios

Last Held Title: Back End Developer

WebDevStudios and Maintainn are owned an operated by the same parent company. When one side of the business needed help, we would change gears and help where we could. It really helped our Maintainn support techs provide top level WordPress support by being apart of the build process. Clients from WedDevStudios usually became support clients over at Maintainn. Once the building projects were finished, they handed us the keys. Who better to update and manage your website than the team who was part of the build process. Being able to work with those teams and be apart of the culture taught me a lot about the WordPress industry.

WebDevStudios and Maintainn have same intake and onboarding processes for their Enterprise and Support Clients. Our technicians were proficient in auditing a website, integrating our support features and applying updates. When the development teams started each project they had a briefing from our support technicians, logins and credentials readily available and all of the tools needed.

Plaza Hotel & Casino

Last Held Title: Full Stack Developer

I heard about a job at the Plaza from one on my friends in the WordPress meetup. He had worked with the person hiring for the company. We talked about how my services could benefit the company. They made me an offer I could not refuse. I accepted a job within the company as a Full Stack Developer. My job duties include managing the website properties, working with the marketing department during events on property and room sales and meeting with departments heads to report our departments progress. Basically everything I did at Valley West and WDS combined.

Marketing is the main focus of my time currently. Our team is responsible for delivering email offers and news blasts to email subscribers. We track the users engagement and review the data to generate online sales revenue. The marketing efforts are simple in design. Send out an email. Get people to click and buy. The team I work with is one of a kind and their sales strategies are unmatched. I’ve had the privilege to work with this team and enjoy every day.

The casino is a privately owned company and one of the only hotels not owned by a major corporation. It’s also the first Las Vegas hotel to produce a Podcast about the casino industry. It’s called On The Corner of Main Street. I’m a Co-Host with a few team members and the CEO Jonathan Jossel.

Lets get started

I’ve done a lot in the WordPress space while not working directly in the WordPress industry. Casinos, Mortgage Brokers and Realtors all need WordPress Developers. Below are two buttons. One is for my power user one on one training sessions. The other is for my blogging training sessions. I’ll show you how to use WordPress like never before. I also can answer all of your questions. Click a link and get started.