What I Learned by Asking, "How Did You Build That?"

Over the last few months I’ve interviewed dozens of people and have asked them all a very pointed question: “How did you build that?” In that time I learned not only common tools, rational, and methods for getting a project to launch quickly, but I learned about the generosity of the WordPress Community. In this talk, I will go through the most important lessons I learned and some of the most common tools to get the job done.

Transcript

1. What I Learned from Asking, “How did you build that?” Joe Casabona wp1mo.in/wcdc-learn @jcasabona
3. @jcasabona Sometimes, all you have to do is ask.
4. @jcasabona Why Did I Start How I Built It? • In short, I was asking. • Having Conversations asking folks this same question in preparation to launch WP in One Month • Saw great value • Wanted to make them public
5. @jcasabona Tools of the Trade
6. @jcasabona Tools for Automation • I’m a one-man band, so automation tools are important to me. • In Episode 12, Chris Lema talked about using Zapier to “connect the dots.” He automated his sales funnel, and even mailers. • In Episode 2, Rebecca Gill told me about Follow-Up EMails for WooCommerce, which keeps buyers engaged • In Episode 34, Shawn Hesketh talked about engagements in LifetLMS
7. @jcasabona Lesson: Automations can lead to deeper personal interactions
8. @jcasabona Tools for Development • My guests ranged as far as IDEs go - Atom, Sublime, PHP Storm, etc. • In Episode 18, Pippin Williamson talks about the benefits of having a light development environment • Both Joost De Valk and Daniel Bachhuber talked about using automated testing tools for coding and use-cases
9. @jcasabona Lesson: Use what you’re comfortable with!
10. @jcasabona Recurring Tools • Mailchimp or some other newsletter program. Email is still the best form of marketing! • WooCommerce or EDD. Many guests used one of the other. WC if they wanted to do more than just digital products • Zapier for automation • Genesis for Theme Building
11. @jcasabona Great Advice
12. @jcasabona Build an Audience Troy Dean, Justin Ferriman
13. @jcasabona Scratch Your Own Itch
14. @jcasabona Listen to Your Customers Scott Bollinger, GiveWP
15. @jcasabona Communicate
16. @jcasabona Never Stop Learning Shawn Hesketh, Kiko Doran
17. @jcasabona Just Do It
18. @jcasabona –Randy Pausch “The questions are always more important than the answers.”
19. @jcasabona Ask Questions Listen to the Answers Ask Follow-Ups Never Stop Learning
20. @jcasabona Front End Developer 
 Teacher Joe Casabona casabona.org wp1mo.in/wcdc-learn