Adam W. Warner
wpdistrict.sitelock.com | @wpmodder
Adam W. Warner first discovered WordPress in 2005 and has since founded several WordPress-focused businesses that provide education, plugins and consulting services for online business owners. In 2016 he brought his passion for WordPress to join SiteLock as a Product Evangelist.
Adam has since delivered his zeal for WordPress to more than 40 WordCamps and other events all over the world and presented talks at 21. In addition to WordPress, Adam is passionate about his family, robots and of course, life, the universe, and everything.
WordCamp Session Title
You Created a Plugin. Now What?
Why Is This Important?
I created this talk for people with two distinct skill sets. The first are hardcore developers who aren’t interested in learning all there is to know about creating and marketing a premium plugin business. The second are people who can’t code but have an interest in building and marketing a solid software product.
Essentially, it’s my story of creating a sustainable premium plugin business after trying to build my own theme and plugins and failing miserably. It’s important to show others that finding someone with complimentary skills, can make or break your “big idea”.
How Did You Discover WordPress?
I was updating a hand-coded HTML website for my DVD memorial business in 2004 and it became very time-intensive. I learned about open source solutions and after trying a few, I settled on WordPress because it made the most sense to me visually.
How Do You Use WordPress?
Oh boy. It’s been a progression through my years with the software. As stated earlier, I started because of the need to create, manage, and update content faster and easier. As I learned about WordPress, I started blogging about how I was using it and writing tutorials about how to include certain features and functionality.
Always working a full-time job while also experimenting with building an online business with WordPress, I ended up convincing my employer in 2006 to let me build a blog for the business and that allowed me to work with WordPress every day and night.
I currently utilize WordPress to power my premium plugin business and also work full-time as SiteLock’s WordPress Community Evangelist in order to give back to the community and the platform.
How Has WordPress Impacted You?
WordPress allowed me to build on my passion for web development, marketing, and business creation. Before finding it, I was feeling like a bit of an imposter in the website creation space because I could visualize what I wanted to create, but being a mix of left brain/right brain, the execution of a pleasant design and inclusion of advanced website features was difficult for me to achieve.
WordPress quickly became my career, business, and daily life partner.
What Do You Do When Not Working?
Like many others in our space, it’s difficult to disconnect and actually not work. Add to that, WordPress is my hobby and also my main interest.
That said, with so much travel these days it’s increasingly important to get good quality time with my family so when I’m not working, it’s all about spending time with my wife and two toddler boys. There’s really nothing more important than simply “being there” with my boys.
What Is Your Favorite Candy?
Any kind of hard candy.