šŸŒ Justin's Blog

The personal blog of Justin Ferriman

Distortion, distrust, and the impact on our country.

The other day, I got to thinking about our current political situation during this election cycle, and I found myself wondering what the Founders of our country would be thinking about our modern election process.

Not the technology, or sheer number of votes compared to their era, but the overall sentiment.

Surely there was some level of distrust in the early voting, and understandably so. This was all so new, and the only thing most people really understood was monarchies. But they voted, nonetheless, with vigor and excitement. It was the dawn of a new way forward for not only our country, but the world as other countries began to follow suit.

Today, We Vote with Venom

Both sides of the political spectrum are rushing to the polls, all the while pointing fingers at one another.

Democrats donā€™t trust Republicans because they have a candidate who cannot conceive of any reality where he actually loses, and therefore will not accept the loss. I think this distrust is pretty well-founded, considering Republicans are raising the most asinine litigation currently, ā€œpriming the pumpā€ for an Election Day battle.

Republicans donā€™t trust Democrats because they feel like the election will beā€¦ stolen, I guess.

It seems that the only thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that if Trump loses, he wonā€™t accept the result. I canā€™t believe it has come to this.

Even worse, it has come to this and we accept it as our new normal! This is an embarrassing travesty of our political system, and the world is watching, collectively shaking their heads.

We need to be Careful

If the Republican Party doesnā€™t pivot from this ā€œany election we lose is a stolen electionā€ narrative, we will lunge further into a dark era of politics in the United States. This will trickle down to state government, and local cities and townships.

I canā€™t imagine this ever being the case, but itā€™s even possible that the Democrats retaliate against the Republicans by also claiming election fraud in any contest that they lose. Seems unlikely, but then again, so was Trump ever being president.

The danger Iā€™m seeing is that we are spiraling into a culture of disbelief. We are being told not to believe what our ears and eyes tell us ā€” but to trust politicians instead. This not only takes away our fundamental rights as citizens, itā€™s an assault against the very thing that makes us human: common sense and logical deduction.

Conspiracy theories are not a platform.

You cannot run a successful country on the notion of conspiracy theories. What matters are hard facts. Verified data is essential. And contrary to what Republicans would have us believe as of late, the opinions of experts (people who have dedicated their entire lives to a certain subject) carries more weight than the average person.

We are in a ā€œwar against intellectualismā€. Itā€™s the Dunning-Kruger effect gone wild. Someone needs to put an end to it, and that someone has to come from within the Republican Party leadership.

November is a Pivot Point

If Donald Trump loses in November, then it sets up the perfect opportunity for us to get away from this scary, new form of political discourse. Republicans would have been dealt another blow in the third major election cycle. It would be clear that their messaging is not resonating. The country doesnā€™t want it.

But if Trump wins, that hope is thrown out the window. The most infuriating part about all of that is his win would be without the popular vote. That is, without the will of the people. Again.

#politics

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This has been a long time coming, and I'm ready.

I typically donā€™t say much about politics on my more prominent social media (like on my Twitter account), mainly because I consider Twitter to be an extension of my professional networking, and I donā€™t like to mix politics with that part of my life.

But it doesnā€™t mean Iā€™m not political. Quite the opposite, actually.

Not many people know this, but one of my majors in college was Public Policy. I have strong convictions and opinions about social programs, policy, international relations, and the overall direction that Iā€™d like to see for our country.

For my close friends and family, itā€™s no secret that Iā€™m a registered Democrat. Iā€™m far more vocal about all of this on my Mastodon account, if youā€™re interested in connecting there.

Mentally Taxing Election Cycle

It seems like the norm for election cycles these days is hate, anger, fear, mockery, fabrications, exaggerations, and flat-out lies.

The shit is tiring.

I try to stay up-to-date with what is happening, but everyone from mainstream media to YouTubers just harp on the drama. The crazy things said. The absurd statements. The outrage.

I look at the calendar and I can't believe we are still a couple of months away from the election. We are getting battered over the head with negativity. At least thatā€™s how I feel, and itā€™s near impossible to stay fully engaged in the political process because of all the bullshit that is being thrown about.

But complacency is not an option.

The very clear reality is that this election is the most important one of my lifetime. Donald Trump is a disease on the collective conscience of this country. Heā€™s a habitual liar, racist, womanizer, and convicted felon who left our country far worse than where we are today by almost every important metric.

Some people say they can separate policy from the person. Setting aside the fact that his policies really hurt our country, I simply cannot relate to anyone who goes through the mental gymnastics to claim his personal flaws do not matter. The man is a narcissistic sociopath on full display, and proud of it. Itā€™s disgusting. He does not represent American values. Heā€™s the antithesis of it.

The unfortunate side story here is that the Republican Party has been completely hijacked, and it might not even be salvageable at this point. The results of this election will determine what happens next for the GOP. Do they revert to the conservative values and talking points of Ronald Reagan, or do they double-down on the MAGA path of division, isolationism, and hate?

Look, I donā€™t agree with most Republican policy, but I did respect it from people like John McCain, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Chris Christie. I have Republican friends and family who feel the same, and they are voting for Harris this cycle simply because they want their party back. I sincerely hope that they are able to feel comfortable again within their own party.

Civic Service is My New Path

As I knock on the door of 40 years old, Iā€™ve been heavily evaluating the next phase of my life and what I want it to look like.

In my 20s, I had an insatiable desire to be an entrepreneur and to own my time. This gave rise to LearnDash and the incredible journey that took me on. I grew as a person, got to express my creativity, and learned more about business than any graduate school could ever teach. I played the game, and I won.

Following the sale of LearnDash, Iā€™ve been trying to find that inner drive again. I tried land investing, podcasting for a bit, started another software company, until last year I finally landed on helping other entrepreneurs with coaching.

But business coaching isnā€™t my end game.

I enjoy coaching and my clients (who are more like friends at this point). I will continue to do it, but I donā€™t see it as my remaining purpose. Actually, since the ending of LearnDash, I have had this feeling that I want more out of my life than just entrepreneurial endeavors.

Which brings me back to this election cycle, and the fact that it has been a bit of an inspiration. It has reignited a passion that has been dormant in me for quite some time, one that I now feel capable of pursuing, freely.

Civic service is in my future. Hopefully one day as an elected official in my local government, but thatā€™s a future goal for a later time. For now, itā€™s about starting out at a grassroots level as I look for ways to get involved in local initiatives.

That entire prospect energizes me, and I'm going to start as soon as we officially move to our new home in Culver City.

#politics #personal

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The challenges and tribulations of pricing a product or service in the WordPress space.

Let's talk about the WordPress industry and pricing for a moment.

It's well-documented that WordPress products are underpriced because there is a certain price expectation from the community. Now, prices have slowly gone up (a good thing!) but not nearly on par when compared to other industries.

Not even close.

When I left LearnDash, the most common tier was around $199 (which would make it expensive across the WordPress space).

Teachable is like... $99/mo... for way less. And they easily make more money than LearnDash. I'm sure you can all think of 100s of other examples. But this also goes for WordPress related services.

By way of example, it's normal in non-WordPress industries for coaching to be $1,000-$2000/mo. Very normal, in fact. People pay this without blinking an eye. I could never charge this for my coaching.

And what I do charge is often met with hesitation, even though I have the background and accolades to justify charging more if I coached outside of WordPress.

The Concept of Value Fatigue

What ends up happening is prices stay low (in both products and services) and the people behind those offerings try their damnedest to pack insane amounts of value into the low price. Now, that's obviously good. But it has resulted in Value Fatigue.

All of us in the WordPress space are so used to the products and services we buy being overly stuffed with value ā€” far beyond the price we pay ā€” that it is driving prices down.

Newcomers go into the space (products or services) and see the main players are charging ā€œXā€ for ā€œYā€. So, they end up charging a price of ā€œX-1ā€ for ā€œY+1ā€.

Rinse and repeat for the next entrant. It's a race to the bottom for businesses, Value Fatigue for consumers.

I wish I had a solution for this, but it's very much intertwined with the culture of WordPress. The needle is moving up, but we are comparing that in a WordPress vacuum. By the same token, maybe it's not something that needs to be ā€œsolvedā€.

Maybe Itā€™s Okay?

Maybe the way pricing is in WordPress is fine. And look, despite low prices, many WordPress businesses do very well.

  • WooThemes crushed it early on and sold for tens of millions.
  • LearnDash (to my knowledge at the time) was one of the most successful revenue generating WordPress businesses at the time of sale.
  • Yoast has been cookin' for years.
  • 10up and WebDevStudios benefit from premium rates. Heck, I coach several ā€œsmallā€ product and agency companies that are making 7-figures.

While this is great, it's important to understand that these are all the exceptions. The freelancers out there busting their ass on the product or service they are selling are unable to charge what they really should be charging if they were outside of WordPress.

I coach WordPress folks who have started to brainstorm ways to branch outside of WordPress. Not for lack of love, but the grind is considerably more challenging, especially the pressure to continually pack more and more value wherever possible, leading to frustration and ultimately burnout.

#WordPress

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Stuck in the middle, and hating it.

In early summer, Lorena and I closed on a home as we look to move (one last time) to what is hopefully our long-time home. However, we have yet to move because we are still in our current home in San Clemente.

There are two reasons why we are in this situation. First, we have yet to sell our current home. This process has been harder than I imagined, Iā€™ll admit. It wasnā€™t helped by the fact that we had a sewage backup and needed to take the home off of the market for a few weeks to do the necessary clean-up and repairs.

The second reason is that we are also doing renovations on our new home. This is exciting because we are really making the home feel like ours before we live in it. Itā€™s very much in progress, so not living there is a good thing for the time being. It would be loud, dusty, and unlivable in some parts of the home. On top of that, though, we also experienced flooding at the new home!

So, that brings us to where we are: in limbo. We arenā€™t fully mentally here in San Clemente since we are trying to sell, nor are we mentally (or physically) in our new home. Itā€™s a weird position to be in, especially for so long. We are frustrated, but still excited. For now, Iā€™m just focusing on one day at a time.

#personal

Seeing family, boating, and laughs along the way.


Lorena and I took a long weekend to go visit my brother and his family in the suburbs north of Chicago. Normally, we see each around the holidays, but occasionally one of us will make a trip out to see the other. It was our turn.

It was a good visit, and always nice to see my nephews, who are growing up so fast itā€™s insane (at ages 11 and 13). I still remember the day the oldest was born! So crazy. Theyā€™ve settled in nicely with their life in the U.S. after six years living in England and Germany.

The big event of the trip was getting to see my brotherā€™s new boat. The weather was decent, though a bit windy. It was nice, and fun to get a glimpse into the routine of my brotherā€™s family. Apparently they do the boat thing nearly every weekend. Plus, my parents also came to visit for a night after celebrating their anniversary in the city, so we all got some time together as a family.

We spent the last day relaxing and then going to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. It was probably one of the better gardens that Iā€™ve ever been to ā€“ we didnā€™t even see it all, and we were there for two hours.

We are back in California now, trying to sell this home so we can finally move to our new house ā€” which has been the main stressor in my life for the past four months. Putting out the good vibes!

#personal

Making a big change... one last time!

Lorena and I have been living in San Clemente, California since January 2023, after moving from Austin, Texas. Itā€™s easily the most beautiful place I have ever lived.

Situated less than a mile from the beach, Iā€™ve had plenty of opportunities to go to the ocean ā€“ my favorite thing to do. There are palm trees all over, the sun is (almost) always shining, and the temperature doesnā€™t get too hot nor cold.

Without question, my favorite part of where we live is the ocean view from our upstairs living room, where I admired the sunset every evening.

That said, after some lengthy conversations for the past six months or so, weā€™ve decided that San Clemente is just not where we want to be for the long term.

Something Missing

To put it plainly: Orange County lacks the diversity we value.

Diversity in people, culture, thoughts, food, and activities. Itā€™s closed off and slow. In San Clemente, you find either retirees, or San Clemente families who have lived here for generations. Itā€™s not close to any real major city, so in many ways it feels like youā€™re stuck on an island.

At this stage of our lives, we desire more. We started to look at bigger cities again, specifically San Diego and Los Angeles. We actually met in San Diego, so it holds a special place in our hearts. But after a bit of conversation, neither of us were really that excited to go back. Nothing against the city personally, we just wanted to move onto something new and different.

Landing on Culver City

After ruling out anywhere south of San Clemente, our sights shifted north to Los Angeles. LA has the diversity we crave, and a vibe that we really mesh well with on a personal level. There are so many different neighborhoods, and each one has its own look & feel.

We spent many weekends taking trips up to learn more about the city and to see some homes. In the end, we found a place in Culver City. Itā€™s a great mix of a family-oriented community with easy walkability to cafĆ©s, shops, and more. As an added bonus, it has its own school district, police, and other public services given that it is a separate city from LA.

We are thrilled to have landed in a place where we are excited about the daily life, and the opportunities. Now all we have to do is sell our home!

#personal

The more I don't think about software, the more ideas that start to creep into my mind.

Itā€™s funny, when Iā€™m not thinking about starting a software company, I start getting flooded with ideas. And since Iā€™ve started coaching founders, Iā€™m getting more of these ideas.

A few have come up that are pretty damn good. Or at least I am interested in them because I really like the industry, which is the e-learning and online course space. This is a market that I have been involved with my entire career ā€“ even before my foray into WordPress.

But unfortunately, thatā€™s a problem.

Why is it a problem?

I am still bound by a non-compete clause after the sale of LearnDash, and that restriction doesnā€™t expire until 2026.

If I wanted to move forward in the e-learning industry, I would need to seek legal permission from LiquidWeb. Maybe that makes sense at some point, but for now Iā€™m pretty content just continuing with my coaching. At the same time, I can start doing some more market research to see if any of these ideas actually have potential.

#entrepreneurship

When times are tough, this is what I do.

A couple of weeks ago, the plumbing system in our home backed-up. As you can imagine, this was a pretty stressful (and disgusting) time. The plumber came out at 9PM but couldnā€™t fix anything. So, after I spent an hour cleaning the most impacted areas, Lorena and I had to head off to a hotel for the night.

Over the next few days, we had the plumbers come out to investigate further, a restoration company come to remove affected walls and flooring, and a contractor come to give an estimate on repair work. Oh, and did I mention that we are trying to sell our house? Yeah, itā€™s off the market as we deal with all of this.

This has been a stressful time for us, no doubt.

Keep Life Small

When these kinds of things happen, Iā€™ve found that I benefit by keeping my life small. What I mean is that I limit my thinking to the present. I donā€™t think too far into the future, nor about the past. This just brings unnecessary added stress.

By focusing on the present, I make sure all my energy and actions are relevant to the immediate items at hand. In essence, I ā€œwall offā€ my thoughts from anything else. I have tasks to do in the day, and so Iā€™m just staying in the moment. At the end of the day, I reflect on the day and what I need to get done the next day.

This process can go on for a few days or a couple of weeks. I donā€™t enjoy it, but it keeps me sane. Iā€™m a dreamer. I like to plan the future, and reflect upon my past experiences. But these things take up energy, and sometimes they can come with emotions that I just donā€™t have time to deal with. Between that time, I have a few distracting activities (like playing chess), so that I donā€™t wear myself out.

As time goes on and the major drivers of my stress become, well, less stressful ā€“ then I allow myself to expand my thinking gradually until things are back to normal again.

Everyone has their own methods of dealing with stress, so Iā€™d say do whatever works best for you. But if youā€™re open to new ways of thinking, I can vouch for this approach.

  • Keep life small.
  • Donā€™t think about the past or future, just the day youā€™re living.
  • Create checklists so you have a visual of your progress.
  • Pat yourself on the back for making that progress.

And remember: like everything in life, this is only temporary.

#mindfulness

Iā€™ve been playing online chess for a decade, which naturally means that I started later in life. Iā€™ve played countless games over the years, at times more frequently than others. Chess online can be fun, but it can also get a little boring.

Typically, I play on chess.com and lichess.org, but recently I found the FIDE Online Arena (FOA). This is the online chess site sponsored by FIDE, the organizing body for all things chess in the world (similar to FIFA for soccer).

Anyway, I was checking it out, and I learned that they had chess titles for online players. Specifically:

  • Arena Candidate Master
  • Arena FIDE Master
  • Arena International Master
  • Arena Grandmaster

These are different from over-the-board titles:

  • Candidate Master
  • FIDE Master
  • International Master
  • Grandmaster

The Arena Candidate Master (ACM) title.

The prospect of working towards an official title online sounded appealing, so I signed-up and started playing FOA rated games. All I had to do was maintain a score of 1100-1400 for 100 blitz games. Easy, right?

Well, not so much. The FIDE Online Arena has strong players. On chess.com, my rating is typically 1800-1900. My rating on the FOA site started off in the low 1200s. I had to really focus if I was going to get this title.

So, I slowed down and started playing more sound openings. I started practicing tactics as well when I wasnā€™t playing games.

Last weekend, it all came to fruition as I earned my Arena Candidate Master title (with a rating of 1337), which appears on the official FIDE site.

Iā€™m pretty happy about it if Iā€™m honest. And no, this title isnā€™t something thatā€™s highly respected in the hardcore chess circles (only over the board titles, like International Master and Grandmaster, get esteemed recognition).

But I donā€™t play in-person tournaments, so this is all I got.

Iā€™m going to savor it for the time being and just get back to playing for fun. One day, I might try for the Arena FIDE Master. Thatā€™ll take a considerable effort, though. For now, Iā€™m just enjoying this one.

#personal

Lorena and I just got back from Mexico City visiting her parents where her sisters also came in from Connecticut and New York. It was a good way to get a break from the normal routine weā€™ve had the past few months preparing for a move to a new city.

We celebrated Fatherā€™s Day and her older sisterā€™s birthday, relaxed, and got together with extended family during our week visit. It was really enjoyable, as usual.

Mexico is pretty hot in the summer, but not like Texas (which is terrible). It was nice to see the sun though because we have been experiencing a heavy dose of ā€œJune Gloomā€ this year.

Weā€™re back in California again, as we get set to move for what is hopefully the last time for a long time.

#personal

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