Hello, thank you for the chance to do this interview and tell my story. I grew up in Washington state; have lived in Spokane, Seattle, Bellingham, Vancouver, Tacoma, and the small town of Moses Lake. After high school, I went to community college and then transferred to the University of Washington. There I earned two degrees simultaneously: Bachelor of Science in both Psychology and Biochemistry. The plan was to go to medical school and become a psychiatrist, but I ended up falling in love with web development instead.

The Journey Began

How and when did you find WordPress? Why did you choose and stick with WordPress?

I’ve been a web developer and designer for over 20 years. It all started with a plan to start my own web and graphic design business. I had solid graphic design skills, but also wanted to learn how to build websites and share content online. So I began my web-dev journey by checking out free books at the library and purchasing a few books that I could afford. I learned how to build dynamic websites using PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I soaked in everything I could find and built some pretty interesting websites.

Hungrily searching the Web for new scripts and ideas, eventually I found WordPress. Back then WordPress was at around version 1.5, and still very much just getting started. I thought it was a great idea: instead of having to hand-roll my own dynamic PHP/SQL foundation for every website, I could just install WordPress and go to town. It was a huge time-saver for sure. But back then WordPress was very bare-bones (and awesome), and so most of the customizing happened via plugins and themes.

As I dove in to the growing pool of great plugins and themes, there still was much work to be done in terms of customizing things juuuuust right for each site. You maybe found a theme that almost would be perfect, but there were things that you wanted to change, like how it handled paging, or maybe some of the CSS needed tweaked for whatever reason. Likewise with plugins, you really had to wrestle with the code to dial in the perfect setup. To help others along this path, I wrote all sorts of “how-to” tutorials on how to do “x” with WordPress. It was during this period of discovery and sharing that I really got “hooked” on WordPress. Since then it’s been 20+ years and I haven’t looked back. And in fact, a lot of those early tutorials are still available at my blog site, Perishable Press.

The Need for “Perishable Press”

Perishable Press logo

What inspired you to start Perishable Press? How is it different from the rest? Kindly introduce all the WordPress-related products/resources you own!

I started Perishable Press around 20 years ago. At first, it was just an outlet for experimenting with WordPress and web development stuff. Of course, WordPress makes it easy to share content, so I started posting about all the things I was learning about. There was hardly any traffic at first, and then as I continued posting about WordPress and development topics, traffic began to really pick up. Perishable Press started getting mentioned and the web-dev community started linking to my articles. It was a very inspiring feeling that added much fuel to the fire.

Since those early days, Perishable Press has gone through many changes, many themes, and much content. So far I have written close to a 1,000 tutorials at Perishable Press, and many more at my other sites, DigWP.com, WP-Mix.com, Plugin-Planet.com, and elsewhere.

As things were taking off, I partnered with Chris Coyier of CSS-Tricks fame. We wrote a book on WordPress called Digging Into WordPress. It was a huge success, and opened a lot of doors for me. I started doing video courses on WordPress at Lynda.com/LinkedIn, did a bunch of those. Also had the opportunity to work for a couple years or so as Editor for Smashing Magazine’s WordPress section. I continued writing and sharing new tutorials at Perishable Press and elsewhere, and had the opportunity to guest-post at a lot of different sites along the way.

So all of that — the climb to success — was the best experience of my online career. Really mind-boggling how fast time flies when you really enjoy your work. The years literally flew right by.

What challenges did you face while founding Perishable Press, and any other WordPress resources you own? Share your worst experience and the moment you are proud of.

The “worst” experience? I would have to say the worst was when our site, DigWP.com was hacked. From what I can remember, the site was running some plugin that had a security vulnerability. This was back in like 2010 when things were more “wild west” on the Web, and things like plugin security were a whole lot more relaxed and care-free. So yeah, the site was hacked with some worm-like script or something super scary. Chris and I jumped to action and got everything cleaned up and back on track asap. The entire event lasted only a couple of days, but the site received a lot of traffic and so the site downtime was pretty stressful.

And because you invited me to share my WordPress projects, here they are:

Main Websites:

Books:

Security Plugins:

My other plugins are available at WordPress.org (free plugins) and Plugin-Planet.com (pro plugins).

And last but not least, my latest WordPress plugin is Head Meta Pro, which provides complete control over all of your site’s meta and social media tags.

Myself with my Brilliant Team

Could you please share a picture of your team? And your workplace?

My team is just me. I am A-to-Z full-stack web developer and book author. Currently working out of my van, on the open road. #webdev #nomad #vanlife #minimalist

For anyone interested in my webdev and travel adventures, check out my social media profiles provided later in this interview (below).

Advice for Business Owners

Any advice for the ones who want to start their own business?

Work hard every day. Have clear goals. Stay focused and have faith. Everything else is just details.

Is there any particular niche (Agency, Blogging, Hosting, Developer, Plugin, Theme, etc.) that one should focus on to start a WordPress-based business?

Anything is possible if you have clear goals and work hard. So I don’t think it matters which niche you want to pursue. Unless of course you’re only in it for the money, then in that case: do some research on the current/latest trends and highest paying lines of work. Most likely it’s related to AI somehow lol.

WordPress & Beyond

What are your plans to grow “Perishable Press”?

Just keep writing and sharing quality content.

Where do you see WordPress in the next FIVE years?

I imagine WordPress will embrace AI heavily. As will just about everything else. You’ll be able to spit out WordPress sites with a simple prompt. Likewise content creation, updates, design enhancements, almost everything in WordPress will be powered by AI.

I hope that doesn’t actually happen. I prefer the way things are now. But here in 2025, all indicators are pointing toward near-complete AI takeover of the World Wide Web (and everything else).

Is there any threat to WordPress from competitors?

Always. Every CMS and website-creation app is gunning for WordPress market share. WordPress owns like 40% or more of the market, which gives competitors plenty of room to work. And they do.

My Love for the WordPress Community

Do you attend WordCamps and WordPress meetups? How are these meetups beneficial for you as well as the WordPress community?

Up until now, my entire WordPress career was based in a small remote town in the desert. There I raised a family and enjoyed my life and privacy very much. I didn’t travel or get out too much. So at this point, I have not been to any WordCamps. Now that I am working remotely while traveling around in my van, I hope to get a few opportunities to check out some WordCamp happenings.

Who do you consider among your best friends within the WordPress community?

The WordPress Plugins team is superb, and I want to give them a huge shout out for always being so supportive and all-around awesome. Over the years, I have worked with many incredible people, too many to name them all here. Everyone I follow on social media (e.g., Twitter and Mastodon) is completely awesome. And a special shout out to Ahsan Parwez, for his insight, inspiration, and patience 🙂

Who inspired you the most and wanted to read his/her story on WPfounders?

The man, the myth, the legend, Chris Coyier. Always inspiring work from Chris.

How I Keep Myself Updated

What resources do you follow to keep yourself updated with WordPress and the industry?

I am very active on numerous social media sites, so I get lots of WP and web-dev related information from there. Also subscribe to some great RSS feeds and email newsletters. And a simple prompt every now and then in your favorite AI engine can bring you up to speed very quickly.

I Have a Life Other Than Work

What do you like to do during your free time?

Travel. Try new food. Pray. Read the Bible. Listen to music. Watch movies. Organize my files and read the news. Take long naps on the beach. Walk around and check out new things. I also enjoy photography and thinking creatively.

How do you spend your holidays? (Christmas, New Year, etc.)

I really don’t do a whole lot to celebrate specific days. Thanks to God, every day is special and a blessing. I am glad just to be here.

What is your favorite travel destination?

Great question. I am currently figuring that out. So far, it’s gotta be Southern California. Just so laid back and warm and ocean and awesome food 🙂

Do you have a pet? If yes, please send over a picture.

Nope. Allergic to most animals. Have enjoyed the company of tortoises and beta fish.

I Reward Myself by 

When you achieve something outstanding, how do you reward yourself?

I might take a nap or eat out at a fancy restaurant. Call my mom and tell her about it. Maybe share on social media if it’s something relevant to my work and/or #vanlife #nomad travels.

Connect With Me

Facebook | Twitter | Mastodon | Bluesky | Instagram