Today I talk with Troy Dean, WordPress consultant and author at WP Elevation. In the interview below we discuss “The Land Down Under,” the current state of WordPress, and his eBook, 5 Things Every Small Business Can Fix on Their Website in the Next Week to Increase Leads. Check out the interview below!
You can find Troy on Twitter @troydean.
How did you get started with WordPress?
I was building my own content management system in Notepad+ way back in 2007 and I kept hassling a buddy of mine to teach me some PHP. His standard answer was “just use WordPress.”
After spending six weeks building my own CMS I decided to download WordPress and realized I would never get that six weeks of my life back. However, it was a great learning experience and I’ve been a huge fan of WordPress ever since.
When was the first time that you really got excited about WordPress and at what point did you decide to make it your career?
Discovering the plug-in repository was a huge eye-opener. The light bulb went off when I realized they were literally thousands of developers all over the world making my life easier. When friends started asking me if they could pay me to build a website I knew that I was going to double down and learn as much as I could to build a career out of my WordPress passion.
What you are currently working on?
We’ve just finished redeveloping the QuickBooks blog, which was a lot of fun. They’re a great team to work with and we’re really proud of the finished product.
How do you find balance between projects and downtime?
You assume I have downtime? Seriously though, I learnt a long time ago to be quite particular about the projects I take on. I never have more than three projects on the go. Regular exercise helps.
What was the inspiration behind your eBook 5 Things Every Small Business Can Fix on Their Website in the Next Week to Increase Leads?
Honestly, I published this eBook because I was sick of answering the same questions over and over again. It’s pretty basic stuff but it’s the same low hanging fruit that I see on 90% of small business websites.
Your podcast on WP Elevation is coming up on the half century mark, do you have any favorite shows or hosts?
Mixergy is probably my favourite podcast and Andrew Warner is definitely my podcasting hero. I was very fortunate to have him on my show and to be a guest on his show. He is the real McCoy and I have learnt so much from his interviews and courses that has directly impacted the success of my own business.
What is the WordPress community like in the “Land Down Under?”
The WordPress scene is really good in Australia as you would expect. There are some great innovations down under, such as Elliot Condon’s Advanced Custom Fields, our very own Video User Manuals plug-in and of course the great team at Envato. We get good numbers to our WordPress meet ups and WordCamps are definitely a highlight of our calendar year.
Where do you see WordPress going in the next 2-3 years?
I see a great opportunity for complete WordPress solutions for small business such as the recently launched Obox Instant.
As much as we all love WordPress there is a learning curve for newbies and a solution like this takes everything good about WordPress and packages it up for the small business owner who just needs a great result without all the details. I think we’re going to see more more players in this space.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges WordPress consultants will face in 2014?
Pricing and competition. The more WordPress becomes ubiquitous across the Internet, the more newcomers will be launching their own consulting business and the easiest way to compete for clients is on price. The big challenge for WordPress consultants is to truly understand the value they add to their clients and price themselves accordingly. WordPress is only a part of the solution we offer. Getting to know yourself and your unique value is hard work and takes time. That’s why most people don’t do it. For those of us who are prepared to do the work, there is a great career path as a WordPress consultant in front of us.
Favorite plugin?
Video User Manuals, of course.
Where do you go first to get your WP news, insights, and updates?
TorqueMag, ManageWP, The Matt Report and of course WP Elevation.
Anything I missed?
It’s true I am a professional voice-over artist and I sang at the Cadbury jingle here in Australia. You can take a listen here.
Thanks for sharing Troy!
Seems that managewp.org link is misspelled.