🌐 Justin's Blog

Here Comes Connecticut

November 9, 2021

Lorena and I are off to Connecticut again to visit family. The trip is quick to celebrate a couple of birthdays, but it’s means a little more than that to me.

A year ago, visiting Connecticut was the first trip Lorena and I took together, and it was the first time I met her family.

Fast-forward to today, and so much has happened. We were engaged, moved to Austin, Lorena left her corporate job, we got married, traveled some more, I sold LearnDash, and now Lorena’s fitness business is starting to gain momentum. We are only just starting our lives together, and we have created some incredible memories already.

It’s always easy (and fun) to look ahead and what is to come, but I have always been someone who looks back at the path traveled. We lived a lot of great life this year, although it wasn’t without a little heartache.

One year later and life is so much different. I am not meeting strangers for the first time, I am part of the family, and it feels good.

#personal

Always Be Learning

November 2, 2021

What is happiness to you?

How do you continue to have vigor for life?

What motivates you daily?

These are questions I have asked myself over the years, and when I think on the answer, I always come to the same conclusion:

Happiness is learning.

Vigor in life is when something I learn becomes useful.

Learning new things is what motivates me daily.

I believe that humans are not meant to be stagnant physically or mentally. If we aren't moving our bodies and minds, we shut down. The easiest way to prevent this is to always be learning.

This doesn't necessarily suggest that you need to learn something new. It can simply be learning an existing skill more deeply. For me, that would be learning to speak Spanish. I could study it my entire life and still never reach the same level as my English — but that doesn't mean I will stop trying!

I recently started a blog written only in Spanish as a way to practice writing and my vocabulary. It's a challenge, but I think I am up for it. I am aiming for a blog post per week on entrepreneurial related topics.

What are you learning?

#happiness

Matt's Page Builder

October 20, 2021

I remember when Matt Mullenweg first announced the Gutenberg editor for WordPress, there were a slew of review posts (many critical). I have been largely quiet on the matter, as I have always felt that time was needed to give it a chance to fully develop.

When I heard news that the classic editor in WordPress was going to be replaced, I was pretty happy about it. Truth be told, the classic editor was so dated it was becoming embarrassing. While once a class leader, by 2018 it was more enjoyable to write in a Google Doc.

WordPress was ready for an upgrade. While I knew it would mean a lot of work for my developers to update LearnDash accordingly, I was pleased with the direction Matt and the WordPress core team were taking to remain competitive (and to keep their investors happy).

What I didn’t expect was a complete shift from the typical WordPress value proposition.

In my ignorance, I thought that the updated experience would focus on making a killer writing experience for bloggers. Something like Medium or Substack, but better. Something done the “WordPress way” that helped writers bring their words to life on the world’s greatest CMS.

What we got was something in-between a page builder and writing tool, and as of the date of this article, it’s not a class leader in either category.

You can’t be two things at once, at least not very well. Yet, this is what we have with the Gutenberg editor.

From Day 1, Gutenberg was sold to us as a front-end page builder.

First, it was pretty apparent to everyone that it was nothing close to a front-end builder. Like, not at all.

That was a mistake, and I think the core team realized it afterwards. Since then, corporate has changed that terminology slightly to “full-site editing”, and it has caught on. This is probably for the best, as there is nothing front-end about Gutenberg, but it still conveys a similar value proposition to users.

But not only were we promised a site builder, we were also told that the new editor experience was an excellent writing tool. It was clear to all of us in attendance during its unveiling that Gutenberg was definitely not that, either.

I was okay with this at the time because everything was new. It has been years since then, and Gutenberg has come a long way (in particular as a page builder). I have seen folks create some pretty attractive websites using it. I particularly think that Kadence does an impressive job with their layouts. Websites using Gutenberg also load very fast, which is of critical importance.

But I feel that these page building developments have come at a cost: the writing experience in the Gutenberg editor is pretty bad. Is it the worst thing out there? No. It’s sufficient, but its performance largely depends on your site and the number of plugins you may have installed.

Now, I know of regular bloggers who think it’s somewhat enjoyable. While that’s great, I have to ask: is the writing experience actually better than platforms such as Medium and Substack?

I put out a tweet about how I felt Matt’s Gutenberg editor was positioned more as a page builder, and not for writing. I received some replies from folks who said they have grown to appreciate it, like this one from my friend Alex:

I like the block editor. It’s a little quirky sometimes, but I’ve gotten quite comfortable with it. Now when I go back to classic I feel the same as you.
— Alex Standiford (@AlexStandiford) August 28, 2021

This seems to be the prevailing sentiment. The experience is something that you get used to using. Though, I am not certain if that's the tagline WordPress would want to use:

“Writing in WordPress: you'll get used to it!”

The lack-luster writing experience is what gets to me the most. So much so that I don’t even bother using WordPress for this blog. I use WriteFreely instead, another open-source software but with an emphasis on writing and simplicity (I have a deep-dive article that I am finishing related to this. If you’re interested, subscribe at the end of this post to get notified).

All of this said, I always recommend WordPress to people looking to build a business that relies upon organic traffic from Google. And as a CMS, WordPress can’t be beat! You can create super advanced functionality without any code.

So, what is the real plan here?

I have to believe that there is a long-term plan with the editor experience that we are not privy to in the WordPress community. This feels especially true given the large amount of investment to come Automattic’s way in recent years. But to be fair, long-term plans are never shared from corporate. Two and three-year plans maybe, but not five to seven-year objectives.

And while the community has for the most part adopted Gutenberg, it did feel a little forced. Meanwhile, Elementor continues to crush it. This is starting to create an awkward scenario where Matt’s homegrown page builder is losing out to a third-party page builder for WordPress. It’s not a good look currently, but I do think that the gap is starting to narrow.

I continue to pull for Gutenberg. I know that it will grow as a page builder, and maybe along the way it can become a decent writing tool as well, but I am not confident that this is a top priority. Regardless, there are smart people behind the whole project, and it shows.

#WordPress

Scenes from Tahoe

October 17, 2021

Lorena and I completed a trip to Lake Tahoe (and Reno, NV). It was two purposed: to relax, and to see if we might be interested in moving there in the near future, as life in Texas is not really for us.

The short of it is that we think we could see ourselves in Reno. It’s an interesting area with a lot of outdoor activity. Austin has a better city, but the surrounding area and weather make Reno tempting.

No decisions being made just yet. We want to visit some more places first before we make the decision to pack-up.

Until then, here are a few glimpses of the scenery around Tahoe. It’s absolutely stunning. If you haven’t gone, grab an Airbnb. It’s worth it.

#personal

Offering Lifetime Deals

October 8, 2021

I don’t know when it happened, but sometime within the past three to five years, “lifetime deals” (LTD) for software really started to become a thing.

As a consumer, you love these. Pay a little extra upfront, lock-in the price, and never have to worry about paying again. The company gets a little extra money, and you get a lifetime benefit. Win-win, right? No, not at all. This is all win for the consumer. While offering customers a lifetime deal is tempting, if you ever want to sell your business, then you better avoid them.

Full disclosure: at one point, I gave a lifetime deal for my software, but it wasn’t really planned. Renewals weren’t a thing in WordPress back in 2013, so I didn’t really know anything different. The industry matured over time, and yearly renewals eventually became the norm.

The only other time I offered lifetime pricing was to satisfy my ego by selling LearnDash for $999 just to prove to AppSumo that I didn’t need to bother with their bogus pricing model after they wouldn’t stop bothering me about listing on their website. I sold ~20 in four days, then stopped the experiment.

All this is to say that the lifetime deal business model was never an intentional, long-term pricing strategy for me.

If you ever think that you one day you will want to sell your company (spoiler: you will), then you are doing your business harm by offering lifetime deals.

My friend Pippin Williamson sold his company the same week that LearnDash was sold. But before he made that big sale, he sold a single product from his portfolio. He wrote a blog post, and in it, he said:

All products and companies will ultimately always meet one of three fates: they will slowly fade away and die; they will be discontinued; or they will be sold or transferred to someone else to carry forward. There are no other possibilities. One of those three things will always happen.

Pippin Williamson Founder, Sandhills Dev

If you are a founder, then this will one day be your fate, too. Hopefully, you will be selling! That is far more fun than closing up shop. 😆

I will cut straight to the point: investors hate non-recurring revenue. I mean, you wouldn’t either, right? Let’s say you are looking to purchase a company and last year it did $2,000,000 in revenue and all of it represented lifetime deal sales. Wouldn’t that make you nervous? It should.

First, there is no guarantee that the following year will be better than the previous. With recurring revenue, that becomes highly more likely because of the snowball effect. Growth rules the day, always.

Second, the customers who made up that $2,000,000 can never be sold to again for the product they are using. Yes, in theory you could sell them a complimentary product, but there are no guarantees that they will want that product. Whereas, you know they want the product that they purchased the lifetime deal.

When I was selling LearnDash, I gave many management presentations to prospective buyers. Each one of them asked about the lifetime access that the earliest of customers had to the product (back in 2013)! They disliked it and wanted to quantify the loss of future revenues because of it.

Fortunately, the impact of lifetime licenses was so small at that point, it was not a major valuation factor for me. Still, I had to put their mind at peace about it. Had we offered those every year, I think those particular conversations would have been a lot more difficult.

While there are many reasons why you should not bother with offering lifetime deals, this is one that isn’t talked about enough. To be honest, I wasn’t even aware of this downside until going through an acquisition process myself.

Instead of offering a lifetime deal, think creatively about other ways to increase revenue while simultaneously delivering continuous value to justify recurring payments.

#entrepreneurship

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

It was the most profitable year ever, but all I could think about was walking away.

While the motives may vary from person to person when selling a business, the decision to actually move forward with a sale is almost always the result of deep personal reflection. It’s a moment where you assess your desires and weigh them against how you spend the majority of your time (working).

This is the same process people go through when switching jobs. Yes, there are external motivators (money, more time, better title, etc.), but it all begins with an honest understanding of personal goals in light of current circumstances.

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

Managing the business had burned me out
I no longer felt passionate about WordPress or e-learning
I was carrying guilt for that lack of passion

For me, being passionate about what I do is non-negotiable. When I’m passionate, I get excited. When I’m excited, work doesn’t feel like work. Ideas flow naturally, and great results tend to follow. But without that passion, everything felt heavy.

Easy Became Hard

I knew something had to change when the tasks that once came effortlessly became my biggest hurdles.

It became hard to manage employee requests, hard to handle upset customers, hard to navigate software development challenges, and hard to push timelines forward.

When things feel hard, my creativity dries up, and creativity is the reason LearnDash succeeded in both the e-learning and WordPress spaces.

At first, I thought maybe I just needed to take a step back. I reduced my hours and empowered others on the team to take on more responsibility. But even after that, the feeling persisted, if anything, it got worse.

That’s not to say I was depressed. But I was deeply exhausted. I was “punching in and punching out” every day. No drive, just crossing tasks off a list. I knew what needed to be done, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I simply didn’t care anymore.

And that indifference led to guilt.

In my mind, I was letting my employees down, our customers, and also the community that we built. The company deserved better, and I knew it. That guilt was perhaps the hardest part, and it was constantly battling my ego. I hate disappointing people, and I felt like I was disappointing everyone, even if they didn’t know it.

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.

In hindsight, I see that this did in fact happen with Liquid Web. The product, the customers, and the employees are all in a better place.

Finding My Spark Again

Stepping away from e-learning was exactly what I needed.

Not many people know this, but e-learning is all I've ever known. Even when I was doing internships in college, it was in the e-learning space. My consulting career also was all about e-learning, and that transitioned into LearnDash.

I care about this space. It energizes me, and I want to see it be better.

For now, I continue to keep my finger on the pulse of the industry. I enjoy interacting with folks on LinkedIn (let's connect if we aren't already), discussing both the flaws and opportunities that exist in e-learning.

I must admit, it feels good to be back in the fold.

#entrepreneurship

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