Jeffro – The WordPress Ninja From the WordPress Tavern

A month back, when I started this blog, I wanted to interview a number of people that are very active in the WordPress community. One of the first names that came to mind was Jeffro from Jeffro2.0, WP Tavern and the WP Weekly Podcasts.

I contacted Jeff because I was interested to see how the WP Tavern is evolving into THE WordPress community site. We also had a little chat about the WP Weekly podcasts, which is pretty interesting to read.

Thank you Jeff for answering these questions for WP TOY!

1. You have recently started WP Tavern, a WordPress community site. How is that going? Is it what you expected it to be?

The WordPress Tavern is doing great. So far, it’s doing much better than I thought it would. Initially, I didn’t think it would do that well because there are already a wide assortment of WordPress centric sites that exist out on the net. However, the forum as well as the site is doing great the the audience so far appears to be sticky meaning, they are diving deep into the site while revisiting a few times a week.

2. What did you learn from setting up WP Tavern? Have you made mistakes you’d do different if you could start over?

I’ve learned a lot from starting WPTavern, most importantly, how much hard work it takes to have a good looking design. I initially wanted to launch the site in the beginning of March which I did but the site was too dark, and I had too many issues with the theme since I had rehashed it so many times prior. I think I redesigned the site 2 or 3 times before I fell on something that worked.

When you’re a one man shop, it becomes really frustrating to spend all sorts of time on the design of the site rather than the content. While I could have hired someone to do the design, I was running a tight ship and I couldn’t afford a custom design. So, I settled on Justin Tadlocks Hybrid News theme which I had been eying ever since he released it. So far, its turned out to be just the theme I needed.

Once the design for the site was finished, I then had to work on the design for the forum but thankfully, I found a forum skin which matched pretty well with the site design without needing major changes. I can’t tell you how relieved I am to work on content instead of design.

3. Could you explain how you prepare your WP Weekly Podcast?

People might flip out when I tell them this but in an ideal situation, I prepare the shownotes for WPWeekly 24 hours in advance. However in most cases, I prepare the shownotes the day of the show. Sometimes, just a few hours or an hour prior to the show. The reason I can do this is because I know what the show is going to be about week in and week out. It’s not a different subject each week which requires research.

I also have quite a few loyal listeners which at times will bail me out by calling in so I can turn the show into a roundtable. If I’m conducting an interview, I’ll tap into the WPTavern community to see if they have any questions they would like me to ask.

4. You keep doing the successful WP Weekly podcast pretty intensively and you publish A LOT about WordPress. You also work at a grocery during the day. How do you stay motivated in those though work-weeks? Do you still have time to relax?

What a big question. It’s a challenge no doubt about it. If I had my way, I would create content centered around WordPress 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unfortunately, I have to pay the bills and right now WPTavern is not allowing that to happen although in the past few weeks, it’s made progress. I work the night shift two nights in a row at work and it makes it very difficult for me to get posts on the site on either Wednesday or Thursday, couple that with trying to live a normal life and it’s a pain in the rear.

However, the future post feature of WordPress is a godsend. I’ve only recently taken advantage of this feature of WordPress and it’s taken some stress out of my life as I can sit back and know that in a few hours, a post has been published. During that time, I can work on other things such as participating in the forum, participating in the WordPress community or, replying to comments on the site.

My ultimate goal is to have WPTavern be my full time job. In terms of relaxing, it’s hard because playing games and what have you involves using my computer which is the same computer I use to generate content. This means I’m the PC more than I ought to be and sometimes, this can cause health problems such as a sore back or signs of carpel tunnel. I’d like to spend more time reading but I just haven’t found a way to work it into my schedule.

5. What are your future plans for WP Weekly and the WP Tavern?

My future plans for WPWeekly and WPTavern is to invest some of the income I make from WPTavern into audio equipment to possibly enhance the production of the WPWeekly podcast. This includes a soundboard, etc. My plans for WPTavern is to continue the pace of providing my unique insight into the happenings within the WordPress community.

I want to publish more screencasts instead of doing text only content. Screencasts offer the unique ability to walk people through something with both audio and visual context rather than just plain text. I am thinking about a possible marketplace somewhere down the road or some consultation services but those are beyond the horizon. For now, I just want WPTavern.com to continue to be a friendly atmosphere to discuss all things WordPress.