Hi Reader,

summer time in Europe means holiday season. And that means lots of time spent traveling.

So why not benefit from all that time you need to sit in a car, bus, train or plane, and learn something?

Which is why I'm sharing four podcast episodes I recently listened to, and enjoyed a lot.

​A Deep Dive into Block Bindings, APIs, and the LSX Tour Operator Plugin with Ash Shaw​

In this episode of Woo DevChat, hosts Zach Stepek and Carl Alexander chat with Ash Shaw from Lightspeed about the evolution of WordPress development and his journey in the tech industry.

The team at Lightspeed is behind the LSX Design block theme, as well as the LSX Tour Operator plugin.

This is a deep dive into the technical and commercial aspects of building with blocks in 2024. It's a must listen.

​Special Episode with Matt Mullenweg: “What Would Matt Do?”​

Matt Mullenweg, Katie Keith, and Matt Cromwell talk about building successful WordPress products. The conversation touches on product development, customer experience, marketing, and sales.

For example Matt is open about his failures when it comes to Jetpack. A useful plugin we all like to hate.

Now even if you are not in the product space, it's always interesting to listen to Matt in such a context. Compared to his public appearances at WordCamps, Matt is a lot more open, and "real" for lack of a better word.

​Insights from the 2023 State of Enterprise WordPress Survey with Mario Peshev​

Three WordPress agency CEOs get together to talk about what they know best: the business of building websites for Enterprise clients.

On the panel are Mario Peshev from Devrix, Tom Willmot from Human Made, and Brad Williams from Web Dev Studios. And they discuss the results of the State of the Enterprise in 2023 report.

Even if you do not work in the Enterprise sector, this is worth a lesson. Because this is the part of the WordPress space that pushes the boundaries of what the software can do.

And many of the development best practices, as well as marketing and sales approaches end up getting adopted by the wider agency ecosystem.

​Surveying the WordPress industry: Revenue trends and challenges with Kyle Van Deusen​

Kyle runs the micro agency OGAL Web Design, and is the founder of The Admin Bar community.

Nathan and Kyle discuss the results of the 2024 WordPress Professionals survey done among the members of The Admin Bar.

According to the survey, 72% of the respondents charge less than $5K per website. So we are talking entry-level and beginners here.

But this does not mean that there isn't anything to learn.

For example about a third make most of their income from recurring sources. And 41% of those who niche down make more than $100K a year vs. only 28% of those who don't.

And that's what I find so interesting. When I started out in web design, it was sold the same as print. One-off project, starting from scratch, all custom. Discover, design, develop, and on to the next one.

But this approach is broken. And it's great to see people like Kyle and others teach a more business-savvy and sustainable approach.

So I got a lot out of the conversation. And you will too.

Cheers,
Fränk

P.S.: If you have a recommendation I should listen to, just reply!