Also for some time I’ve wanted to extract that part of our products and turn it into its own little plugin because this is something that’s useful for a lot of people. Any “normal” WordPress user and anyone who builds and supports WordPress products will benefit.

And so it is done. I finally sat down, made the necessary extraction, and turned that functionality into its own standalone WordPress plugin.

What It Looks Like

Here’s a simple screenshot that shows the kind of information I’m referring to:

Contributors

Awhile back I conferred about this idea with Jon Davis from Shopp and he thought it made a lot of sense, and when I was at WordCamp Atlanta a couple weeks ago I chatted with Tom McFarlin from 8BIT about it and he thought so too.

But not only did Tom and Jon help validate that it was a good idea, they both jumped in to be contributors as well.

GitHub Repo

For any developer that might be interested, you can find the code in the following GitHub repository:

https://github.com/davedonaldson/WordPress-SysInfo

If you’re into that sort of thing and have things you’d like to see in the plugin, issue a pull request and we’ll see about merging it into the codebase.

WordPress.org Plugin Repository

Even though the GitHub repo is the source for the, um, source, the plugin can also be found in the Plugin Repository on wordpress.org:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sysinfo/

If you download and use the plugin, please consider rating it and giving it a quick review. We’d appreciate it.

Inspiration Came From ?

I must admit that like just about anything else, this is not an original idea. I saw something similar a long time ago in a WordPress theme (I think), but can’t remember for the life of me where. All I know is that it was pretty basic and I thought it would be good to expand upon it and add to our Max Foundry products to help streamline our support.

There are definitely other WordPress themes and plugin with their own debug-type information built in, but at least this way it can be used by anyone regardless of what theme and plugins they are using.

If you have any questions or things you’d like to see in it, let us know. Enjoy.

The post SysInfo Plugin for WordPress appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

And like any good conference, it was great to finally meet some people I had only known in the online world, such as Brian Krogsgard, Eric Hitter, Jen Mylo, Sara Cannon, and of course the 8BIT guys John, Tom, Chris, Jared, Michael, and their interns Cam and Jason (not to mention it was great hanging with Syed again). Good people all around.

Anyway, I’ve been asked several times for the slides for the two talks I gave, so without further adieu, here they are (the headline font didn’t come through properly during the SlideShare conversion, but they still look pretty good). Enjoy.

10 Things Every Plugin Developer Should Know

So You Want to Sell a Theme or Plugin

The post Slides for My Two Talks at WordCamp Atlanta 2013 appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

Obviously my goal of publishing one blog post per day for this year is gone, and that really sucks. I thought I’d be able to pull it off, but the new job threw an unexpected wrench into those plans.

The root of the issue is that I don’t work from home anymore.

The office where I work is a 30-40 minute drive each way, depending on traffic (I live on the far west side of Columbus but work on the far north side). Going to work everyday isn’t terrible, but coming home is the problem because I get a double-whammy on both ends.

Traffic up where I work is notoriously bad, so getting out of there during rush hour is just stupid. Then when I finally get around to my side of town, there is a whole mess of construction which adds even more time. The normal 30-40 minute drive quickly turns into 45-60 minutes to get home.

To keep my sanity, I’ve already taken to getting into work early so that I can leave before rush hour gets into full swing.

That means I’m getting up around 6:45 so that I can leave between 7:15-7:30 at the latest, which gets me to the office around 8-ish. Doing that means I should be able to leave by 4:15-ish, which gets me out ahead of most, but not all, rush hour traffic. At least it’s tolerable.

Once I’m home, I’m done thinking about work or code or any of that for awhile. It’s dinner, family time, or most likely, kids activities (baseball, dance, girl scouts, and/or drum lessons).

After we’re done running the kids around, we get home, maybe relax with a little TV, and then the kids hit the sack between 9:30-10:00. And I tell you, by the time that happens, I’m wiped out. Trying to write when you’re mentally exhausted doesn’t work.

Maybe I just need more time to get adjusted to my new schedule. My guess is it’ll take a good month to settle in to the routine.

I’m hoping that over the course of getting adjusted some sort of writing schedule will present itself. But if you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.

The post Writing Struggles appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

First, a quick reminder that the Micropreneur Manifesto is a free 14-page PDF put together by Rob Walling. It’s worth reading whether you’re a micropreneur or not, and it will only take 10-15 minutes to get through.

Now that we have that, here’s the cliff notes version of my Micropreneuer Manifesto posts:

Tenet #1: It’s Much Harder Than It Looks

Running a startup is very difficult. There are so many things to do, most of which falls on you, that everything literally takes twice as long as you think it will. It’s incredibly rewarding, but much harder to actually do than most people realize.

Tenet #2: There Is Power In Working Alone

Working with other people has obvious benefits, but sometimes they can slow you down in times when you can’t afford to be slowed down. Sometimes you simply can’t beat the productivity of putting your head down and getting stuff done.

Tenet #3: Focus On Your Strengths

Most people are taught that they should be well-rounded individuals, but when it comes to your startup, focusing on what you do best is the way to go. Let someone else do the things you aren’t good at.

Tenet #4: Freelancing Is Dangerous

Taking on contract work for your startup is very tempting, but every hour spent billing a client is an hour not working on your product. The money you can make freelancing is a steep slippery slope that should be avoided if you can at all help it.

Tenet #5: Seek Leverage

Leverage comes in many forms. An ebook, a WordPress theme, an iPhone app, a video tutorial – anything that makes money while you sleep. There is nothing better than waking up to email notifications of sales that came in overnight.

Tenet #6: Stay Away From Moonshot Ideas

You’ll have a better shot at succeeding if you focus on a niche market as that allows you to solve a specific problem for a specific customer. Keep things simple, small, and don’t try to boil the ocean.

Tenet #7: Product Last, Market First

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking if you build it they will come. The world doesn’t work that way. Do your research, figure out how to market your product, *then* start writing code. You’ll have a much better chance for success.

Tenet #8: Charge for Your Product

Don’t be afraid to charge money for your product; it’s probably why you got started in the first place. Do some market research, check how much your competitors charge, and then talk to potential customers to understand what your pricing model is.

Tenet #9: Passion Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

You don’t have to be passionate about the market you’re building the product for. But what you should be passionate about is the process of how to create something awesome for that market.

Tenet #10: The Pressure of Freedom

Being able to do your own thing brings a freedom many people only dream about, but you have only yourself to blame when things go wrong. Many people thrive under that kind of pressure while others simply aren’t cut out for it.

Tenet #11: Become a Black Belt Internet Marketer

If you sell anything online, it would do you well to become experienced in the world of internet marketing. Things like copywriting, landing pages, calls-to-action, conversion rates, SEO, Google Adwords, keyword targeting, and ecommerce tracking.

Tenet #12: Think Human Automation

The more tasks you can give to someone else, the better. This will allow you to focus on the big ticket items that need your full attention. There’s so much to do in a startup, finding people that can help you will do wonders for your business.

Tenet #13: The More You Do In Public, the Faster Things Will Move

The faster you put something in the public domain, the faster you can get feedback on it. The faster you can get feedback, the faster you can iterate, make adjustments, and continue to deliver an improved product.

Tenet #14: Failure Is An Option

In the startup world, failure is almost a way of life. But each failure is an opportunity to learn something new and to get a little smarter. And that’s the most important thing – embrace failure and learn. Simple as that.

Tenet #15: Live Like a Pauper, Treat Your Business Like a King

Running a startup requires personal sacrifices, and you have to be willing to make them in order to stretch your cash flow as far as possible. If you aren’t willing to make these kinds of sacrifices, then maybe running a startup isn’t for you.

Tenet #16: Reject Growth

Hold off on hiring people as long as possible because it brings a lot of baggage (payroll taxes, health insurance, vacations, etc). Instead, use freelancers that you can scale up and down as needed. Don’t hire people just to hire them.

The post The Micropreneur Manifesto: Cliff Notes Edition appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

The growth of a startup is usually talked about in two flavors: people and profits. Growth in profits is a big reason why a startup was founded to begin with, so that’s an easy one to think about.

However, the growth in people is a different animal altogether. Once you start hiring people, you have to worry about things like payroll taxes, health insurance, vacations, and HR policies.

Not only that, but you also have to think about employee growth. Will they need training? How about mentoring sessions? What are their advancement opportunities in your startup? They’ll want to know.

Instead of hiring people, at least in the early stages, use freelancers. This has big advantages because you can scale up and down pretty quick without having to invest a ton of time and money.

This is what we’ve done with Max Foundry. John and Nicole are both freelancers that have done, and continue to do, great work for us. We certainly wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have without their help.

Did we want to hire them as employees? Yes. But we never had the financial means to do so, and we also understood that hiring employees meant all those things I mentioned above. And that’s something we wanted to hold off for as long as we could.

So if you’re ever in the position to hire someone, think long and hard about it and don’t just hire for the sake of it. Be sure you’re prepared for everything else that comes along for the ride.

The post Reject Growth appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

Sit down and take a look at everything you spend money on. Cell phone, cable, groceries, entertainment, eating out, vacations – everything. I bet it’s a lot more than you realize.

Now start trimming the fat. Are your 4 DVRs really necessary? Put off your vacation for a year or two. Switch to a smaller cell phone plan. Clip coupons for your grocery shopping.

Those things I just listed? That’s exactly what I did when we launched Max Foundry (except for the DVRs – we never had them to begin with). It certainly was hard at times, and not taking a vacation the last couple years has sucked, but it’s the way it needed to be.

This is one of the harder adjustments to make in the startup world, but it’s fundamental to stretching your cash flow as far as possible.

To be blunt, if you aren’t willing to make these kinds of sacrifices, then maybe running a startup isn’t for you.

The post Live Like a Pauper, Treat Your Business Like a King appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

For many people failure is a hard pill to swallow. I’ve been open about my own struggles with my perceived failures of Max Foundry, so I’ve experienced it firsthand.

Looking back over the last couple years with Max Foundry, we’ve had more failures than successes. We tried and tested so many things that didn’t work, failing just became old habit.

But with each failure we learned something new and got a little smarter.

And that’s the most important thing: embrace failure and learn. Simple as that.

The post Failure Is An Option appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

An amazing thing happens when you put something on the Internet: someone will notice. It might not be immediate, but eventually people are going to discover whatever it is you did.

And if what you’re putting out there is a product or service of some kind, people are going to have their opinions, some of which you might not like.

That’s actually a good thing because it gives you the perfect opportunity to engage with those people and ask questions. Most likely the feedback you’ll receive will be highly beneficial and can make your product better.

As for the people who heap praise on your product, take that opportunity to thank them and ask them what else they’d like to see.

You have to engage with as many people as you can. Get those blog posts written and be sure comments are not only turned on, but that you are responding to them. Leave comments on other blogs to join in on those conversations. Send out a few tweets a day and retweet and reply to other tweets. Send follow up emails with those people who didn’t like your product.

For Max Foundry, we could have done a better job at this to be honest. We didn’t write nearly as many blog posts as I wanted, and I could have engaged more in conversations on other blogs than I had (although I’m getting much better at that as of late). Overall we did OK in this regard, but certainly could have done more.

At any rate, the whole point is that the faster you put something in the public domain, the faster you can get feedback on it. The faster you can get feedback, the faster you can iterate, make adjustments, and continue to deliver an improved product.

The post The More You Do In Public, the Faster Things Will Move appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Time is your most valuable asset”, and nowhere is that more clear than as the founder of a startup.

The manifesto suggests finding a virtual assistant, and while that might not be for everyone, the point is that you should outsource some work so that you can focus on the big ticket items.

This was another lesson learned with Max Foundry.

Our MaxButtons plugin allows anyone to create awesome buttons in WordPress, but the Pro version takes it a few steps further by providing pre-made button packs you can import into your button list and use as-is or tweak to fit your needs. The button packs are a huge timesaver and a big upsell for the plugin.

Creating each button pack takes time, and not only that, trying to come up with new designs for button packs is a process unto itself. We quickly learned that creating button packs wasn’t the best use of my time; I had bigger product issues to fry.

My partner suggested we put out a call on oDesk to see if we could find a designer who could create button packs for us, and luckily, we found Nicole.

For almost a year now Nicole has done a phenomenal job of creating all the button packs for MaxButtons Pro. She shoots me design ideas and pumps out a couple new packs a week, which has been a major contributing factor to the success of that product.

And the best part is that she just takes care of it. She creates the packs, puts them into the ecommerce product manager, writes the blog posts, and handles the social media aspects as well. It’s a beautiful thing.

Having Nicole take care of the button packs freed me up to continue pushing all major product development forward across all products, which was definitely the way to go.

If you have a need and can find the right people, outsourcing certain tasks can do wonders for your startup.

The post Think Human Automation appeared first on Dave Donaldson.

The middle of January was kind of crazy because I spent a lot of time talking to a number of people and companies about potential opportunities. Once people saw I was back on the market, I had a bunch of emails, tweets, and voicemails to follow up on, and for that I am forever grateful. Like I said before, maintaining your network is hugely important, and played a critical role in me landing at Znode.

A friend and colleague of mine who I worked with on some past projects contacted me and said I should look at Znode. He’s been there as a contractor for many months and gave me the rundown. It sounded good and he passed my info on to their recruiter.

I got a call the next day to setup an interview for a couple days later. The interview lasted a solid two hours and I thought it went pretty well. But it must have went better than I thought because at the end of that day Znode called and offered me the job.

Needless to say, I’m excited. They have some big things going on, and I get to be part of a really small team that drives the technical direction for the company. Technical leadership is something I’ve gotten good at over the years.

Did You Say .NET?

Eagle-eyed readers out there probably picked up on the “.NET Architect” title. Yes, I’m diving head first back into the .NET stack, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve still been doing some .NET stuff even with Max Foundry, so I never really got away from it. The .NET platform has always been my bread-and-butter.

Why Not Go Back to Indie Consulting?

I had a couple conversations about it, but ultimately it’s not what I’m looking for at this moment in time. My family needs some financial stability in our lives, and chasing down invoices isn’t appealing right now.

I was looking for a smaller company that I can continue to help grow not only with my technical leadership, but also with things I’ve learned over the last couple years with Max Foundry. And I found it in Znode. It’s about as good an opportunity as I hoped for.

So What About Max Foundry?

As for Max Foundry and WordPress, nothing really changes. Our man John Hartley is handling customer support, I’ll keep moving the products forward on the side, and I’ll also still be involved with WordCamp Columbus and the Columbus WordPress Meetup.

I’ve grown to love WordPress and clearly see its power as an application platform. I still want to be a part of that, and will continue to do so on my own and through the things we do with Max Foundry.

Do You Have to Wear Pants Now?

Haha, yes I do. I’ll be working out of Znode’s office, which means I have to get in my car everyday and make the 20-30 minute drive. But you know, as much as I love working from home, I think getting out of the house and collaborating with people face-to-face is something else I need right now.

Here’s to the next chapter.

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