🌐 Justin's Blog

Finding a Cause

October 6, 2021

For a number of years now, I have had an urge to take contribute to a non-profit cause. The problem is, I can never land on where to dedicate time and money.

Growing up, I used to help the less fortunate through my church. There is a part of me that feels like perhaps this is the “easiest” way to get back involved with making a positive impact in the lives of others. But in my typical fashion, I like to really overthink things. Who wants easy, anyhow?

I have been afforded many opportunities in my life, and I want to give back. I simply do not know where.

With kids?

With adults?

With entrepreneurs?

I’d like to make some meaningful impact, somewhere. At this point, though, I am spinning my wheels on the matter.

#personal

Why I Sold

October 1, 2021

Since selling LearnDash, I have received countless messages of support and congratulations, all of which have further validated my decision that Liquid Web is the perfect new home for the LearnDash brand.

And as you would expect, I also have received a number of questions. Many people wanted to know why I sold in the first place.

Recently, I had a Twitter Spaces conversation with David Bisset from Post Status and Marieke van de Rakt (CEO at Yoast). We talked about a lot, but the main point was for us to explore reasons why WordPress companies are selling like crazy, and what this may mean for the greater WordPress market going forward.

While we did venture into a variety of different topics, the overarching theme seemed to be around why a business owner would choose to sell. I gave my thoughts during the call, but they were more general. I have had some time to think more on the topic, especially how it relates to my reasons for making the sale.

The motives for selling all start from the same place.

While the motives may vary from person-to-person on selling their business, the decision to sell the company in the first place is always the result of self reflection. It’s a moment where you assess your desires and measure those against where you spend the majority of your time (working).

This is the same process that people go through when switching jobs. Yes, there are outside motivators (money, more time, better title, etc.) but it starts with understanding personal desires given prevalent circumstances.

When I did this in 2020, I came to realize a few things which ultimately led me to sell:

I was not passionate about WordPress or e-learning anymore.
Managing the business burnt me out.
I was feeling guilty about my lack of passion.

For me, it’s important to be passionate about what I am doing. When I have passion, I get excited. When I get excited, work doesn’t feel like work. I didn’t have passion, so everything seemed hard.

It was hard to deal with employee requests, it was hard to deal with upset customers, it was hard to deal with software development issues, it was hard to push forward with a timeline. When things feel hard for me, I become less creative. Creativity is why LearnDash has been able to compete so well across both the e-learning and WordPress verticals.

I thought perhaps I just needed to work less. So, I augmented my schedule and empowered other employees to do more, but after some time I still felt the same… worse perhaps.

That’s not to say I was depressed. I was bored, and tired. I was “punching in and punching out” every day. No drive, just getting tasks done. I knew what I should have been doing, but I just couldn’t anymore. I just didn’t care.

This lack of caring made me feel guilty. In my mind, I was letting everyone down, from my employees to my customers. The company deserved better and I knew it. The guilt was probably the hardest part of it all. I hate letting people down, and I was letting everyone down (at least in my mind).

To put it another way: LearnDash wasn’t living up to its full potential. It needed fresh ideas. It needed a new energy and I couldn’t bring it. A sale would infuse the company with exactly what it needed while taking care of both employees and customers.

I sold because it was in the best interest of everyone, including myself. I feel lighter now. I don’t have the guilt, and I am excited to take on new entrepreneurial projects in industries completely unrelated to e-learning and WordPress. I’m just as excited to see how the company takes off now that it has the backing of folks that are willing and eager to take it to the next level.

Exploring Twitter Spaces for personal use.

As an aside, this was my first Twitter Spaces experience. It was pretty cool!

I appreciate how it fosters a dialogue rather than a formal interview or podcast format. Actually, it makes me want to host these with some of my friends. We talk about business pretty regularly. I think having this in a public forum could be insightful for aspiring entrepreneurs.

If you’re on Twitter, then follow-me! This way you’ll be alerted when I'm having discussions on Twitter Spaces. These will be calm, informal conversations. Don’t expect fancy editing or audio. I suspect my friends and I will talk about what we always talk about: the success and (funny) failures of starting, growing, and selling a business.

#happiness

Trip to Lake Tahoe

September 27, 2021

You ever get that feeling where you just need a break?

Lorena and I are at a point where we need to get out of our place. A change in scenery to clear our minds. Yes, we just got back to Texas from a roughly two-month trip, but those were different.

When we went to Mexico and Michigan, we went to see family. We love seeing family, and had a great time. This trip to Lake Tahoe is different because it is a trip for just us two. We have only done this once before, over a year ago, when we went to a cabin in California.

As of now, we don’t have many plans scheduled for our visit (which will be in early October). We are currently keeping an eye on the Caldor fire as that is still causing a lot of smoke around the lake. Depending on how bad it is, we might shorten our stay in Tahoe, and spend more time in Reno.

Speaking of Reno, this trip is also an opportunity for us to see what the area is like. If we decide that Texas isn’t for us, then we’ll need somewhere to go. From what I have read, Reno is an intriguing option!

#personal

Links

September 24, 2021

Grandma

September 23, 2021

Today, I am grieving the loss of a special woman.

As a child, I loved visiting my grandparents’ house, and thinking back, this was mainly because of my grandma. She loved my brother and me, and always made our visits to the countryside in Ohio fun.

Unlike our home in Michigan, there were acres of land to run around on. We drove tractors and shot BB guns. We ate the pies and jams she would make, and we never wanted to leave.

Grandma was the life of the family. Everything revolved around her. She made the plans, she had the holiday gatherings. She ran the show. Life was always that way, and I loved it. It was comfortable and full of love.

My childhood was defined by these events and my grandma’s house, but in early adulthood that all changed. In 2004, grandma had to have a surgery to remove some cancerous polyps from her colon. It was to be pretty routine, but she was scared. The day of her surgery, I talked to her on the phone.

I told her everything would be okay, and that God would make sure of it. I was wrong.

I’m fuzzy on the exact complications, but it doesn’t matter. She went septic after the surgery, and almost died from the complications. Thankfully, my dad made the decision to have her airlifted to The Cleveland Clinic. They saved her life, but her life would never be the same.

Grandma became a different person. She didn’t initiate conversations anymore. She struggled to walk, and she was worried when leaving home. When I came to visit her in the years after her incident, she wouldn’t get out of her chair to greet me at the door, opting instead to continue watching her favorite TV shows.

Occasionally, I would get a glimpse of her former self when we would talk about stories from the past. These moments were fleeting though, and they always left me with a reminder of what once was, and that always made me sad.

While her new personality was a hard, stark contrast to the grandma of my childhood, there was some silver lining: my grandma didn’t know that she had changed. The rest of the family was sad, but she was not. In her mind, she was the same person as always. It gives me a little comfort in knowing that this is how she saw herself, and she never knew the difference. While the rest of us in the family had emotional pain, at least she did not.

In my adult life, I really liked talking to my grandma about her past. It was special for me because it felt like “the old days”. She would tease my grandpa, remember the smallest details of a trip with friends, and finish a funny story with her famous giggle.

As of yesterday, grandma is no longer physically with our family. She lived a long life. She had children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that loved her. My grandpa remained by her side until the end. She passed away without any pain, in her sleep, in her nursing home bed.

I am sad. I am emotionally overwhelmed with memories of her voice, her laugh, and her hugs.

I’ll miss you deeply, grandma. I will always love you.

#personal

Selling LearnDash

September 21, 2021

LearnDash is now part of the Liquid Web family of brands, I learned a ton along this journey.

Selling my business was one of the most stressful and challenging things that I have ever done as an entrepreneur. In the end, it took just about a year from start to finish (October 2020 – September 2021).

If you’re interested, you can check out the official announcement on the LearnDash blog, or check out Liquid Web’s press release.

LearnDash started making sales in early 2013. It was meant to be a lifestyle business for me, initially. But slowly over time the company grew into something more than that. With employees and customers from all over the world, LearnDash carved out a unique space in both the WordPress and e-learning industries.

When the pandemic arrived in 2020, LearnDash was very well poised to be found as people scrambled to create online courses – be it for extra income or to augment their entire business model. It was an insane time in more ways than one. The already healthy company grew even more in team size and in revenue. It was clear that the business was bigger than me, and far from the lifestyle business I created.

It didn’t take too long before I started receiving offers for LearnDash from venture capitalists. Truth is, this has been the case for the past few years, but during the pandemic that interest skyrocketed. I would get contacted literally every other day from investment firms looking to get a piece of the e-learning pie.

Now, I have always been one to pursue happiness, and this was the main driver for selling LearnDash. The truth was that I no longer had the same inspiration that I did for the industry, and this meant that I was getting in the way of the company’s true potential. LearnDash is bigger, and more important, than me. It deserved more so that it could reach that next phase of its potential.

The continued growth trajectory for LearnDash is huge, especially since it straddles both the WordPress and e-learning industries so well (which is unlike any other WordPress product, ever). Both the WordPress and e-learning markets will continue to grow in importance, and LearnDash will continue to be a leader in that space. Even more so with the backing and leadership of Liquid Web.

I hired investment bankers to market and sell LearnDash.

Given LearnDash’s unique position across two industries, I felt like professional representation was needed for the sale. In October 2020, I was introduced to the investment banking firm, Angle Advisors. I can say with confidence that had I not done this, LearnDash would have never found its new home with Liquid Web.

These folks are incredibly smart. Much smarter than me. We spent the remainder of 2020 preparing the financials and creating a management presentation. In January of this year, Angle Advisors reached out to hundreds of potential buyers. A large percentage of these companies were interested in learning more. They indicated this by presenting an offer for the company (usually a range). Those that made respectable offers were invited to a management presentation.

Let me tell you something about management presentations: they are stressful, and they are long. Each one that I gave was about two to three hours long, and in it, I discussed everything about the business. Its history, its present status, its position across the markets, the growth opportunities, and so on. It’s an informative presentation and a sales presentation all in one.

When all the presentations were done, the stopwatch began. The companies had to decide if they wanted to make a formal offer. Only three companies decided to drop out of the process. The rest submitted offers.

Moving into the due diligence phase.

With Angle Advisors’ guidance, an offer was accepted and the “one-on-one” relationship with the potential buyer could begin. I know that I said the management presentation is stressful, but honestly the due diligence phase is the most stressful part of it all. Just because you enter into this phase doesn’t mean that you will for sure close the deal. Either party can decide to move on for a variety of reasons.

In this phase, you set an agreed upon closing date for the deal. Leading up to that date, you have to provide the buying company with any piece of information that they request. Information on financials, market, product, legal, and so on — reaching back three to four years (sometimes longer). There are meetings, many meetings. The days are long and tiring for everyone involved.

In the latter stages of this phase is when the lawyers really start to get involved. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to worry about that too much since I was working with Angle Advisors (and they brought in Varnum Law to provide the counsel).

Once all the requested information has been shared, all questions answered, and all contractual agreements made from a legal standpoint, the closing can occur, and the buyer becomes the new owner. You finally can “hand over the keys to the house”.

LearnDash is in the perfect home with Liquid Web, and holy crap are they ready to take it to the next level! I’m especially thrilled that Chris will be taking an active role as General Manager. He is incredibly smart, and has deep roots in the online education space. He gets it.

What is next after you sell a business?

This is probably the most common question people have for a founder after they sell a business (besides curiosity on the sales price, which I am not sharing, sorry).

As I mentioned earlier, I live my life by prioritizing happiness. This has led LearnDash into the Liquid Web portfolio, and in the near term I am still very much part of the LearnDash team. I am in the middle of some exciting initiatives that I’ll be helping to see to the end (LearnDash 4.0 being one that I’m very eager about getting released). I will then be an active advisor to the company.

I get excited about new challenges. WordPress and e-learning have been good to me, but I’m running on fumes at this point. I’ve been involved in these two industries my entire life (e-learning since 2004 and WordPress since 2006).

I have interests outside of software and WordPress that I will have time to pursue. One in particular is starting a fitness brand with my wife, Lorena. I will be documenting this journey, so if you’re interested in hearing about the ups-and-downs of that adventure, check back here often.

I have learned a lot over the years about running (and now selling) a business. Things like competing, brand positioning, driving sales, and more. I plan to share these lessons learned on this blog. I’ll share exactly what it takes to build a multi-million dollar WordPress business across two industries.

Think of it like a conversation between friends. I had so many questions when starting out, and while there is no substitute for direct experience, a little guidance from someone who has been there before can be reassuring.

I won’t be selling courses or products, just writing. If you would like these insider tips, then just sign-up below. By doing so, you can also email me at anytime with your questions. All you have to do is click “reply” on a new post, and it’ll land in my inbox.

#WordPress #entrepreneurship

❤️ Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

Rededicating to Spanish

September 10, 2021

As of writing this, I have been studying Spanish for a year and a half. I’m so close to fluency, all I need is one more push!

This journey has been simultaneously one of the most challenging and rewarding activities I have done in my life.

My wife will tell you that I am too hard on myself when it comes to my Spanish. That may be true. I want so bad to be more comfortable with the language. The reality is that I have good days and I have bad days.

Some days I am crushing it! I understand what people are saying to me (for the most part) and I am able to respond in a way that makes sense and that they understand. This made visiting family in Mexico all that more enjoyable. We spoke Spanish, not English – and I loved it!

Other days, I’m terrible. I don’t understand what people are saying to me. I get nervous and “close up”. My mind gets tired, and I can’t keep up with the topic of the conversation. Someone makes a joke and I completely miss it. These days are hard. It makes me feel foolish, and I feel like giving up.

I don’t have overly ambitious goals with Spanish.

I know that many people dream of being completely proficient in another language. And I admit, it would be cool to be like my wife, who has command over Spanish and English.

As great as that would be, my ambitions are far less than that. Ultimately, I want my level to be a very comfortable CEFR B2 (for speaking only).

The CEFR B2 level is considered the first level of fluency in any language. If you are at this level, then you have “upper intermediate” proficiency. That sounds just perfect for me. I don’t care about sounding like a native or advanced sentence structures.

In reality, I don’t even care too much about writing perfectly, either. The only time I write in Spanish is when I am texting with family, and my phone helps out if I get stuck. Ultimately, my goal is to spontaneously interact without too much strain for me or the other person. To understand what people are saying to me 95% of the time.

To get to that level, I will need to work harder than ever.

I’m at a point where I’m pretty good in Spanish. Strangers compliment me, I usually understand the theme of a conversation, and I can crack a joke here or there.

The thing is, I have been in this place for a good majority of this year. My gains in 2020 were far greater, but I also worked harder. This year, I have given myself permission to be lazy. I’ve gotten comfortable with my current level.

To get to a solid B2 though, I need to change my habits. I need to actively study again.

Here is what I am doing:

Starting 1-on-1 online languages classes again with my teacher (3x per week for 1hr).
ANKI flash cards for B2 level grammar and vocabulary.
Reading Spanish books.
Watching movies & shows in Spanish (with Spanish subtitles).
Making a point to speak to Lorena more in Spanish.

This was the formula I used last year, and it worked really well. I’ll need to do this for at least four to six months consistently to see the results I desire.

Honestly, I know that I will never really be done with learning Spanish. The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. I will always be aware of where I can improve.

#personal

Life Back in Texas

September 8, 2021

Lorena and I land back in Austin… But will we stay?

For two months, Lorena and I have been away from home visiting family. First we were in Mexico and then for a short period in Michigan.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the road, but I’m excited to be home in Austin and to get back into a somewhat predictable routine.

Speaking of home, this trip has made me and Lorena think hard about where it is we want to live. There are good things about Austin, but we cannot stand the heat. Almost four months straight of 100+ degree temperatures can really start to take a mental toll.

Granted, we have not even been in the city for a year, so there is still an opportunity to experience some weather without the intense heat. There are certainly aspects about the area that are nice. The property values, no state tax, cost of living, space, sufficient airport, family in Dallas, and population diversity are all positives.

If the weather wasn’t so intense from May through September, we probably wouldn’t second guess Austin. It has a lot going for it.

In the coming months, we will be looking at potential options and taking a few trips. If we decide to move, then that will likely come in a year or so. Or, we will make Austin our home – time will tell!

#personal

Affiliate Program Money

September 3, 2021

Affiliate programs can be a huge hassle, but the extra money is worth it in the end.

If you sell a product online, then you probably have toyed with the idea of having an affiliate program. That is, giving people a commission if they refer a new customer to you.

Affiliate programs have been around for a very long time. I made my first money online back in college when I joined an affiliate program (regrettable, of a pyramid scheme… don’t judge). The concept is simple enough: refer people to a product that you like, and you earn a little money if that person buys the product. It’s win-win. Well, at least that’s the idea.

Is having an affiliate program worth the hassle? Yes, and here’s why.

The reality for consumers is that if you Google the product, you’re bound to find an endless number of websites with biased “reviews”. The authors are just in it for the money. And in most cases, they don’t even have experience with the product that they recommend.

For product creators, parting ways with a percentage of revenue can be a tough sell. Why give up money if you don’t have to? Also, is it worth the time to deal with the fraudulent purchases and scammy affiliates that sign-up?

I have been on both sides of this debate. At one point I had an affiliate program, but then I got rid of it because people were abusing it. They were purchasing my product through their affiliate link, then arguing with me when I nullified their commission. But later down the line, I implemented it again, and it resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in extra income every month.

If you sell a product (or are thinking about selling a product), then you probably have some questions:

Should you have an affiliate program?
What are the benefits?
How much should you offer?
Where should you promote it?
What are the risks?
What software should you use?

I want you to feel confident in your decision, so let's tackle each of these. I’ll answer them to the best of my ability. Remember, this is based 100% on my experience. Spoiler alert: the affiliate program that I implemented for LearnDash is a net-positive (in more ways than just cash).

Should you have an affiliate program?

Yes.

Don't question this.

I've done a ton of research. I've tested having one versus not having one. It was better for business to have one.

When you don’t have one, you’ll get people asking you if you do, anyway. It’s better to say “yes”. Some people just want to tell their friend about your product, and they want a little kick-back for doing so. If you don’t have an affiliate program, they may recommend something else (and there goes your customer).

What are the benefits of having an affiliate program?

There are a few, but mainly you get customers that you perhaps wouldn't otherwise because folks will want to promote it.

But another really nice benefit is that you'll form partnerships with influencers (big and small) because you have one. I've blindly reached out to influencers before and used the affiliate program as a carrot by sharing the conversion rates and what that means from a dollar standpoint.

This strategy ultimately led to some popular websites and YouTube channels promoting the product.

What is the best commission for your affiliates?

If the product is over $100, then 35%. Only on the first purchase, not on automatic renewals (if your product has those). If the product is under $100, then you can still do 35%, but it's less enticing. Personally, I’d probably go with 50%.

I did 35% when LearnDash was priced under $100. The program wasn’t super popular. Things got interesting when the price went up.

On a related note: raise the price of your product to reflect the value that it gives someone (I will talk more about this at a later date).

Where should you promote your affiliate program?

Don't let the affiliate program deter you from your main business priorities – it can easily be a distraction. Include an “Affiliate Program” link in the footer on your website. Also include a visible link to it on your customer dashboard, and mention it in your onboarding emails. That's it. As you build an audience for your product, people will naturally ask about the program.

What are the risks of an affiliate program?

The main risk is people will become an affiliate and then purchase your product. This happens a lot and was the reason why I killed the program in the early years (I just didn't want to deal with it).

When this happens, just delete the commission and remove the affiliate as it's a violation of your terms. By the way, make sure that you have specific affiliate terms and conditions, and ensure that affiliates agree to these terms before they sign up.

The other risk is someone creating an affiliate account and using stolen credit cards to make purchases.

This sounds like a far-shot, but it happens. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with this, and it was a bit of a headache as it resulted in a boatload of credit card disputes (naturally) as people saw purchases that they did not recognize. Disputes nuke your reputation with credit card companies, and if you get a bad reputation, you can no longer accept credit cards. Yeah. It’s kind of a big deal.

In this case, I found out what was going on the early side. I refunded the remaining commissions to the stolen cards, deleted the affiliate, then contacted the payment gateway processor (Stripe) to inform them what happened. It was all resolved in the end, but it was stressful at the time.

While this scenario is far rarer than dealing with people purchasing through their personal affiliate link, it’s still a possibility to be aware of.

Which affiliate program software is best?

If you're using WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads for your shopping cart, then use AffiliateWP.

If not, consider using Shareasale (this will cost you more, but less managing of the risks I mentioned above). Their UI is absolutely terrible, though. It’s honestly one of the worst I have ever seen, so searching an alternative to Shareasale might be worthwhile.

If you have a shopping cart with its built-in affiliate tools (like SamCart or Thrivecart), then use that. I have the most experience with iDevAffiliate. It's not great, so I wouldn't recommend it. I had to use it because the shopping cart in the business was Zoho Subscriptions, and it was the only one that would really work for our use case.

Don’t overthink the affiliate program, just do it!

I’ll admit that I wasted a lot of time debating implementing an affiliate program, and then how I wanted it to look once it was implemented. Just put one into place and move on with your core business.

In the end, it’s better to have one than not to have one. You will need to spend a little more time managing it, but it will make you money.

#entrepreneurship

Weightloss “Cheat Code”

August 31, 2021

I'm about to share you with you a cheat code for losing weight.

If you exercise a little already and want to lose a minimum of five more pounds without doing anything different in your exercise routine, then you're in luck.

Ready?

Stop drinking alcohol.

I did this a couple of years ago and without changing anything else, I ended up losing weight. Same thing with my brother. Same with my best friend.

If you stop drinking empty calories, then you're in the clear to lose weight fast, at least five pounds (but because people usually people eat like crap when they drink, they often lose more than that).

You can do it! But if you need some help - this book is my #1 recommended resource.

#health

The motives for selling all start from the same place.

Exploring Twitter Spaces for personal use.

I hired investment bankers to market and sell LearnDash.

Moving into the due diligence phase.

What is next after you sell a business?

I have learned from people sharing, so I plan to do the same.

I don’t have overly ambitious goals with Spanish.

To get to that level, I will need to work harder than ever.

Should you have an affiliate program?

What are the benefits of having an affiliate program?

What is the best commission for your affiliates?

Where should you promote your affiliate program?

What are the risks of an affiliate program?

Which affiliate program software is best?

Don’t overthink the affiliate program, just do it!