Category Archives: Discussion

How Shutterstock Does Coupons Right

Light Bulb With Blue Background

There I was – minding my own business buying some stock photos to make my blog posts a bit prettier. And as I went to the checkout I noticed that there was a question:

Do you have a coupon code?

Shutterstock Order Summary

Well, I didn't but the fact that they asked the question means that they exist. So I did what any person does when they see an opportunity to save a little money. I went to google and I typed in:

Shutterstock coupon code

Hoping to find a site that would give me a discount. And I did actually in the very first search result.

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Easy Membership Sites With WooCommerce Memberships

Lock

Two years ago I wrote a post about how hard it was to setup a membership website with WooCommerce. It took twenty two steps and it required two plugins.

Not ideal.

At the time we thought it best to integrate with an existing solution that already had some users. Sounds smart but it forces users to go through the extra steps to make the integration work. And as someone who has to setup his own site & his own accounts I hate when someone drags me through extra steps.

End users don't care what powers their technology. They just want to solve their problem. Which is why we set out to build an entirely new system.

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Always Be Learning

Reading Book

In 2011 I joined a small ad agency and moved from a team of 4 developers to a team of 1 developer. Just me.

If you've ever worked on a small team or by yourself you know how challenging it can be to learn & improve. You'll be able to get by just fine but you know there are smarter and faster ways of doing things. And every day you feel farther and farther behind.

It only took a couple months of this before I forced something to change. I started a WordPress meetup group. And in one of the very first meetings someone talked about backing up your site.

I started backing up my sites the very next week. And then you'll never guess what happened. A week later we got hacked. Hardcore. Viagra images all over the “site”. Not good.

And thanks to my backup I had it cleaned up in less than an hour.

Small Continuous Improvements

I've always loved learning but this experience made me realize the importance of continuous learning. That you might not know what you need to know. And there's value in learning every single day.

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How I Left My Job

Tying Shoe Laces

Automattic is a great company with an amazing vision and purpose. And two months ago I left.

There wasn't any crazy drama (although that would make this post more interesting). I simply wasn't working on things that excited me. And eventually I to got into a “good enough” slump and that left me drained. I missed that feeling you get after a solid day of work and you want to tell everyone the amazing things you're working on.

Work is such a big part of our lives and our identities and I didn't want that part to be unfulfilled.

I'm mostly writing this for myself but if you're thinking about leaving your job I hope it can provide guidance.

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2016 Q3 Business Review

Map & Moleskine Notebook

Over the weekend we slid into quarter 4 and that’s the end of the first quarter working for myself.

I wish I could say I've already mastered cashflow, selling projects, and creating products but I've only just begun. I think I'm doing a good job so far but I realize that I don’t know what I don’t know and that scares me.

I’ve always had side projects but there’s a huge difference between a side project that brings in fun money and a project that has to pay your mortgage. I need to build up client work and work on my own projects to bring in recurring revenue.

So I’ve decided to hold my self accountable. Not by putting something on my to-do list. But by posting it publicly right here.

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Leaving Automattic

TLDR; I’m leaving Automattic. My last day will be August 25th. I’ll miss working with this incredible company – mostly because of the incredible people. 🙂

Why I’m Leaving

Let me start with Automattic is the best job I’ve ever had. By far.

Anytime there is a merger or acquisition there’s bound to be some restructuring. And gradually over the last year I did less and less of the things that I like to do.

I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing. I just know that I need to be challenged to continue to grow. I’m keen to dig more into product management & product marketing.

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Speed Above All Else

I've been at Automattic for 10 months and one of the most fascinating aspects about Automattic is how fast everything is. New projects will get spun up, team members added, and a minimum viable product (MVP) out the door in less time that it takes your typical company to green light the project. How is this possible? Automattic is faster than WooThemes ever was. And Automattic is 450 people and WooThemes prior to the acquisition was 50 people. How can a 400 people company move this fast?

The unbelievable speed is due, in part, to how empowered all employees are to solve their day to day problems.

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