webdevstudios

Meet the Speaker: Lisa Sabin-Wilson

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Lisa Sabin-Wilson is Chief Operating Officer and partner at WebDevStudios, a leading WordPress agency who’s motto is “Build Big or Go Home”. She is a very active member of the WordPress community, as a contributor, frequent speaker, and published author.

In addition to being an expert on all things WordPress, Lisa has a unique background that we felt would be perfect for Prestige Conference Minneapolis. She didn’t go to school for tech. In fact, her first college major was Vocal Performance, with a minor in Music Education. After changing directions to pursue a career in nursing, she spent a decade working as a Registered Nurse.

It wasn’t until she embarked on ANOTHER career change that got her on the path to Internet Technology. Now she’s one of the most successful and sought-after people in the industry. At Prestige, she’ll be sharing her career change story, and for those who are considering a similar jump, how to push past basic success into the realm of profitability.

For those that haven’t met you yet, please share a little about what you do for a living.

I work with a large team of talented developers and designers to build amazing, custom web sites and apps in WordPress for clients.

What first got you interested in WordPress?

I started using WordPress in 2003 and was enamored with the ability to run a web site and publish without needing to be overly technical (at the time).

You’ll be speaking at Prestige about making a big career change. Without giving away any spoilers, can you share a little about how you started pivoting from one career to the next?

My natural curiosity led me towards internet technology, it wasn’t planned - it just happened. At the time, I worked a full time(+) job in nursing. I used my off time to self-teach myself things like PHP, CSS, HTML, JS and WordPress core, as much as possible.

What was one of the biggest challenges during the initial transition phase?

For a year, I worked two jobs. I was a Registered Nurse by day, and I was a web designer by night. I wouldn’t have kept that up any longer than that if I wasn’t convinced that I could make a living at web design someday.

You do more than just make a living at it these days. You’ve written several books about WordPress and speak frequently on Internet Technology topics across the country. How does an expert like yourself continue learning?

I read my books. 😉

Just kidding - - I consume as much material as I can online and I rely on my team of extremely talented developers and designers, they constantly bring new ideas and techniques to the table.

Speaking of books, what are you reading right now?

Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Back to this massive career change - How has your career as a web designer & business owner been influenced by people you met during your nursing days?

My biggest influence and mentor is a close friend who is a physician and has taught me much about interpersonal relations, human dynamics and (believe it or not) the art of negotiation.

Any industry predictions for 2016?

Continued growth and adoption of WordPress as the content management system and web application framework of choice, not only for developers, but for large enterprise organizations - we are already seeing that with the likes of Microsoft moving key web properties to WordPress.

What’s coming up next for you?

In the short term, personally - I’m working on my annual vegetable garden, that takes up the majority of my off-work time in the spring/summer months.

Professionally, I have the 7th Edition of WordPress For Dummies coming out this fall, followed shortly by the 3rd Edition of WordPress Web Design For Dummies in the winter. At WebDevStudios, I continue to work with my talented team on amazing projects.

You’ve spoken at Prestige Conference before (different topic). What are you looking forward to most for this upcoming event?

The people, always!

Meet the Speaker: Dre Armeda

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Where do we start with an introduction for Dre Armeda?

  • He loves tacos.
  • He loves Harleys.
  • He loves his Jeep.
  • He makes a mean stank face.
  • He loves WordPress.
  • He’s an incredible businessman.

And that’s just scratching the surface.

Dre Armeda is Vice President of Operations at WebDevStudios, one of the top WordPress design and development firms in the industry. He’s also cohost of Dradcast, a weekly video podcast that primarily concentrates on the latest news around WordPress, upcoming WordPress events, and the wonderful community surrounding - you guessed it - WordPress.

He’s got some serious startup chops, too. Dre is the co-founder and former CEO of Sucuri, a well-known website security company. At Prestige Conference this August, he’ll be discussing his role with Sucuri and decisions that led to him ultimately pulling the ripcord to move on to new projects.

We asked Dre to answer a few questions so you can get to know him a bit before the conference.

In 3 sentences or less, please describe what you do for a living:

I am part of the WebDevStudios team where I am helping shape and scale the business.

Why this career and not something else?

There is nothing more satisfying than taking a team and growing it!

I am also a web geek, so being able to do so in the world of web geekery is super awesome!

Once you figured out where you wanted your career to go, how did you start making things happen?

Blood, sweat, tears and a lot of luck! I have always wanted to positively impact a large audience. I have tried to stay involved with projects and companies that afford me the opportunity to do so.

What were some of the biggest roadblocks you encountered on your path to success?

Having a large family. Early on after the military, having a large family presented a lot of risk in terms of being able to easily pivot. With the strong support of my wife and family, I was able to take on a bit of that risk knowing they would be there every step of the way.

In addition to working for WebDevStudios, you also co-host Dradcast. What’s it like working with Brad in two different endeavors?

Before my involvement in WDS, there was already that relationship there with Brad, and the show. It was very comforting having that bond as we started moving towards me joining WDS.

Brad is one of my best friends in the world, and we knew that would need to be separated from our business together. We are aware of this, and being able to separate the friendship and our business together makes for pretty smooth dealings on both fronts.

Throughout your career, who have been your most valuable mentors and how did you connect with them?

I learned a lot about myself and my ability to motivate a team while in the military. Senior Chief Henderson who was my Chief while stationed in Naples, Italy had a lot to do with that. He also helped me learn to look at the bigger picture. He taught me to take into account long-term impacts whether positive or negative. He taught me to make decisions by calculating the risks you will encounter now until you’ve reached your overall mission. Business strategy is something I now work with every day, and an area that has become a strong suit. I owe a lot of that foundation to Senior!

Have you learned any lessons through jiu jitsu that helped your business?

Another strategic thing in my life! BJJ is about dominating an opponent physically. Maximizing physical efficiency, dominance on your opponent with the least amount of energy expended. It’s the gentle art, meant for the little guy to maybe not beat a larger opponent, but also not lose against the larger opponent. It has taught me patience, forward thinking, and also to leave my ego at the door. BJJ doesn’t lie, you get on the mat, and you either win, or you learn, there is no faking Jiu Jitsu. In the short term, people can lie in business, they can fake it, but if they aren’t performing, or never really producing value, they will be exposed.

So the take away is to continue to work hard, even if you are trying to fake until you make it. Eventually, if you are working hard, you will learn, and you will provide value!

What’s coming up next for you?

My goal is to continue helping mold and scale WebDevStudios. We are a strong and smart team, and we have some of the greatest clients in the world. We’re working full time with WordPress and really pushing the envelope with WP.

I love to help scale business, I love working with smart people to get there, and we’re doing just that, so I guess you can say I love what I do :)

As a side effort, I have been toying with Jiu Jitsu clothing, print work like vinyl and t-shirt printing. It’s a fun side thing that I enjoy.

In terms of hobbies, I spend a ton of time on the mat, I want to be a Jiu Jitsu black belt one day.

I am also a dedicated coach and administrator for our city girls fastpitch softball league. Helping progress these young ladies towards higher education through softball is a passion of mine. I am working hard with the league and our city decision makers to try and get these girls dedicated resources by way of fields of their own within Menifee city limits.

Lastly, I have been building a rock crawler the last year. I enjoy my time in the mountains trying to break my Jeep!

Any industry predictions for 2016?

I think you will see more acquisitions and mergers. Funding of WordPress focused businesses won’t stay a rarity forever.

I think you will see a few more mashups indeed, and specifically, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a couple to a few of the WordPress top agencies combining forces in some capacity.

It’s inevitable, and I think it shows the progression of a young industry.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One’s Looking) By Christian Rudder

Favorite junk food? (Even if you don’t eat it often)

Not eating too much junk food right now, but I have a soft spot for peanut M&M’s :)

Name one thing you’re looking forward to for Prestige Conference Minneapolis

Of course the people, telling my story to anyone who will listen in hopes it will help them down the road.

Most importantly, I want to train with Kiko!

Meet the speaker: Brad Williams

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He’s a published book author, the founder of a prominent WordPress agency, and he’s been developing websites for over 20 years. He’s also the only “official” guru we know. (He won the SitePoint Forums ASP Guru of the Year Award 2005 - 2007).

Brad Williams is the co-founder of WebDevStudios.com and co-author of the books Professional WordPress and Professional WordPress Plugin Development. He’ll be joining us at Prestige Conference Las Vegas to discuss hiring employee #1 and the process of moving from self-employed to building a team.

In 3 sentences or less, please describe what you do for a living:

I am the Co-founder and CEO of WebDevStudios.com, the Co-Author of Professional WordPress 1E-3E & Professional WordPress Plugin Development, and a Co-host on the DradCast WordPress podcast. I also Co-organize the Philly WordPress Meetup and WordCamp Philly.

You could say I love WordPress and might be slightly addicted! 😀

Why this career and not something else?

I have always been fascinated by computers and technology. My first computer was a Commodore 64, which is the first machine I learned to program on around the age of 10. Over the years I knew computers were the future for me, but I wasn’t entirely sure what area of computers I wanted to focus on. Then the internet was born and that question was very easy to answer. I wanted to build websites.

When did you figure out what you wanted to be when you grew up?

I knew from an early age I wanted to work with computers and specifically the internet. When I first experienced the internet I knew I was home. I began coding websites early on when most of my friends had no idea what the internet was. I think I rolled out my first static HTML website on AOL 2.0 over at 2400bps modem.

Once you figured out you wanted to build websites for a living, how did you start making things happen?

When I knew building websites was it for me I sought out every single computer course I could take. In High School, I took every programming course available, which was one. I also took courses at local community colleges that were available. My Parents were extremely supportive and helped me not only find these courses, but get me there as well.

If it wasn’t about computers I wasn’t interested, which is why I wasn’t a great student. When deciding what to do after graduating High School I came to the conclusion that college was not for me. Instead, I decided to join the United States Marine Corps as, get this, a computer programmer. The Marine Corps sent me to extensive training for computer programming and I served 4-years in the Corps learning as much as I could. My military career really laid the groundwork for my career in computer programming.

Who were your most valuable mentors and how did you connect with them?

I think my most valuable mentors were the developers I worked with over the years that were better than me. They gave me the mentorship, training, and drive I needed to push myself to bigger and better things. The best way to push yourself to greatness is to work with people smarter than you.

That’s why I consider my team at WebDevStudios my mentors now. They are hands down the best WordPress developers and designers out there and inspire me on a daily basis.

What’s coming up next for you?

I am always striving to grow WebDevStudios to be the best WordPress agency on the planet. We started the company on a coffee table and have grown into an amazing agency with a portfolio that still boggles my mind.

We also love to push the envelope of WordPress and create websites and apps that blow people’s minds when they realize its WordPress. You can expect to see much more of this in the future!

Any industry predictions for 2015?

I strongly feel the WordPress REST API is a game changer. I expect to see completely new commercial markets emerge that interact with WordPress through this new API. We’re already seeing this is some spaces, including Reactor from AppPresser.

What book(s) are you reading right now?

I don’t generally read books, I just write them. 😉

Favorite “guilty pleasure” song or band that you can’t help but rock out to?

Christmas music. I love Christmas music!

Name one thing you’re looking forward to for Prestige Conference Las Vegas:

Networking with new and old friends alike. Also, warm weather!