Podcast appearances and mentions of kevin stover

Gutenberg, WordPress 3.8 Release, WooCommerce & Jetpack WordPress 5.8 is still marching along with modifications for release in July. Eighteen bugs and fixes were applied from Release 3 concentrating on polishing existing default themes, fixing bugs in the new block Widget screen, and squashing Editor bugs collected during beta. WPTavern posted a review of the Gutenberg 10 updates in the plugin. The Query and Query Loop blocks were renamed, hopefully clearing up all the confusion for end users. The Query Loop block has been renamed to Post Template to better represent its purpose within Query, whereas the Query block label now refers to it as Query Loop. I enjoyed Justin Tadlock's take on WordPress theme lock-in, in the block-era. “I do not necessarily see this as a Bad Thing. We have always had these little silos in the WordPress ecosystem, and they have mostly worked out.” WooCommerce News. The first release candidate is now available for WooCommerce 5. The planned release date is July 13. Jetpack launched a new mobile app. Automattic has launched a new mobile app for Jetpack, available on iOS and Android. The app features an array of Jetpack-specific features, including: Backups and restoresSecurity scanningActivity monitoringSite statsAnd more Security in the news Ithemes Security Pro 7 was released with significant improvements and a redesigned interface. Tony Perez writes on NOC about how we communicate #wordpress and #security. People focus on all the tools and configurations, and not enough on the actions they're trying to prevent. He covers his approach in this article about WordPress in the Enterprise. According to ehackingnews.com Over 800 million WordPress-linked records are leaked in this misconfigured cloud database associated with DreamHost, a popular WordPress hosting platform. A fix was made “within hours” of the discovery. Grabbag Ninja Forms celebrates 10 years! Congratulations to James Laws and Kevin Stover. https://twitter.com/jameslaws/status/1409589138257371141?s=21WPEngine is now offering Local 6.0 Pro free for everyone. As of June 29, 2021, everyone has access to Local Pro tools and features for free. This is another great tool for developing locally.Alex Standiford at WP Dev Academy released his new course that teaches how to build modern, scale-able WordPress plugins quickly. If you’re a developer looking to up your WordPress game, this course is for you. Just how competitive is the membership plugin space? Learn how Paid Memberships Pro has grown over the last 8 years in my interview with Jason Coleman on the Matt Report.

Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards. In this episode, I bring on James Laws and Kevin Stover -- cofounders of Saturday Drive, the parent company of Ninja Forms -- to discuss why they are entering the world of eCommerce. I found this especially interesting given the market dominance of WooCommerce for general WordPress-based eCommerce needs. Saturday Drive purchased Exchange, the plugin initially developed by iThemes and then handed off to A.J. Morris, with the intention of making a play for the eCommerce market, much like they did successfully once already for the somewhat-saturated forms market. Episode Links Ninja Shop plugin Ninja Shop website James Laws on Twitter Kevin Stover on Twitter Sponsor: Sandhills Development Sandhills Development makes a suite of excellent plugins to power your WordPress website. Whether you need to sell digital downloads, restrict content, create an affiliate program, or manage an events calendar, they've got you covered. Thanks to Sandhills for being a Post Status partner.

Intro Buckle up for a whopper of an intro full of stories, humour, and fun. Well, at least one of those. In this episode Kevin not-so-humble brags about visiting Iceland. Apparently he’s going with a company called Adventures with Geeks, which will be mentioned again in the recommendation section. Rob sounds like he’d really like to go; look for his GoFundMe page coming soon. Rob takes a deep dive into the world of Live Action RolePlay, LARP. Apparently he desperately wants to “scare some nerds,” which makes him sound like an extra from a DirecTV sequel to Revenge of the Nerds. What drove James to become a vigilante? What terrible, unspeakable horror formed his specific hatred of LARPing? Stay tuned true believer, for this episode reveals his dark origins. (Soon to be a major motion picture written by Rob Alderman and Kevin Stover. I hear Guillermo del Toro is interested in directing) ‘Nuff said! BTW, Jeremy’s still mia. The Show Welcome to AIB Theatre. Today’s show, Why Won’t it Blend or Appliance Un-plugged, is brought to you by Ninja Blender. It features a harrowing tale of customer support gone awry. Will Charles, played by Kevin, be able to get support for his problems? Zach, played by James, does his best to assist. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing James and Kevin already have jobs, because the reviews aren’t kind. This begs, or at least passive-aggressively mutters, the question, “How do you handle trouble clients?” James, Rob, and Kevin dive into this topic in today’s episode. Rob suggests staying humble with clients and being willing to apologize for the situation, even if you aren't taking responsibility. Often, clients just want to be reassured that you hear them, and they are usually willing to talk about why they are upset. If they aren’t willing to talk about it, then maybe they aren’t your client. According to Kevin, setting expectations is also super-important. Whether you run a product or services business, letting customers know what to expect up front can avoid a lot of confusion and pain later. That’s why I write these show notes as honestly as I possibly can; I want the reader to know what they can expect from this podcast. The hosts also discuss the idea of intervening on behalf of employees when a client becomes abusive or aggressive. Rob suggests that the customer isn’t always right, but they should always be treated with respect. I don’t even have a joke about that. That’s just a good policy. In the end, James proclaims that it all comes down to communication. So, there you go. You don’t have to listen to this episode now. With clients, with your friends, with your spouse, just communicate better. Our Recommendations Rob recommends an article from NPR way back in 2010 that explores how a mother’s pitch and tone soothe babies and how that same science can apply to adults. He likes to use his voice to hug clients when he’s not allowed to hug clients, which doesn’t sound creepy at all. I’m not sure how good the science in the article is, but Rob’s voice definitely puts me to sleep. Kevin shills for Adventures with Geeks, a company that organizes retreats for those who work in or around the tech industry. One of their upcoming events is an adult summer camp, and judging by the description, I would say that the people behind it got to attend “regular” summer camp instead of “Christian” summer camp. I think Christian summer camp ended more teenage relationships than...whatever teens are into these days. I may be a bit out of touch with teen culture. James decides to completely subvert the point of recommendations by recommending something that you literally cannot yet consume. He hawks his yet-to-be-named podcast about parenting, specifically dads reviewing children’s books. At the time of this writing, the podcast has still yet to be named, much less recorded. I will say this though, it will be refreshing to finally hear a middle-class, middle-aged white man telling people how to parent.  

This week, our resident James Laws is joined by his Ninja Forms cofounder, Kevin Stover, and Phil Derksen, entrepreneur and founder of WP Simple Pay. Together they jump headlong in WordPress businesses, business models, and what it's like to sell a business. So, sit back and enjoy this post holiday episode of Mastermind.FM! Topics Include: Mr. Derksen's background. A brief on WP Simple Pay. Phil's main focus. The how and why of selling a business. Plugins, plugins, plugins. Underestimating the amount of work required in order to sell. Balancing split focuses. Supporting multiple customer bases. Metricizing potential. Arriving at a sales number [for a WordPress plugin]. SAAS and automatic renewals. Diversifying product and separating your businesses. Do businesses today get into plugin building just to 'flip' them? Quantifying a business or plugin's true value. Purchasing an external business: "Like stepping into a moving vehicle". Taking on support costs. Buyer's remorse? The startup fate: building software and not getting payed for it. Recommended steps toward initiating the sale of your business. WP Simple Pay today. Segmenting your customers. Talking to your customers. The "five question framework". Profound lessons, epiphanies, and warnings. Learning to market. Focusing conversion efforts on your pricing & checkout pages. Customizing your checkout beyond default EDD. Cutting the data you do not need. Phil's number 1 ecommerce hack. "Put your best testimonial on your checkout page." Social proof is king. Featured on the Show: Phil's Twitter WP Simple Pay MicroConf SureSwift Capital wpSaaS

On today’s episode, we’re talking to James Law.  James talks about how to prepare your product for SaasS (Software as a Service). He is an accomplished developer who built Ninja forms in 2011 with his business partner Kevin Stover even though there were many form builders in that space. (more…)

On today's episode, we're talking to James Law.  James talks about how to prepare your product for SaasS (Software as a Service). He is an accomplished developer who built Ninja forms in 2011 with his business partner Kevin Stover even though there were many form builders in that space. Matt Report - A WordPress podcast for digital business owners S5B: E6: James Laws of Ninja Forms on SaaS Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 / 00:38:09 Subscribe Share RSS Feed Share Link Embed Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 00:38:09 Guests : James Laws from Ninja forms is interviewed by Corey Maass and Sam Brodie. James honestly shares his experience in the forms builder space and where he sees the move to SaaS in his future. What you will learn from this episode: A business model and marketing strategy did not exist for Ninja Forms. (4:38) Ninja Forms was launched even though there were a lot of successful form builders in the space. (4:50) Ninja Forms was originally a premium plugin with a lifetime subscription. The lifetime subscription was honored although it was not a successful model for the creators. (5:18) In 2011 a light version of Ninja Forms was available with a pro upgrade offer. This was done to get a presence on the WordPress.org website. (6:24) Most users that use Ninja forms do not use everything that is sold with the plugin. This gave the owners the idea to segment the options and sell it through the EDD (Easy Digital Downloads) plugin. (7:33) James reached out the WordPress development community to offer partnerships with add-ons. (8:57) Pippin (from Pippin Plugins) built the Mailchimp add-on after reviewing the code base and signed on with the Ninja Forms partners. (9:15) The ecosystem for splitting the profits was set up using the Trello system. (10:25) Marketing a Move to SaaS: Struggles that people say exist in a saturated market may be a false standard. A saturated market proves that there is a viable market. (11:45) You need to look at plugins to service anyone. The plugin becomes a connector to the service. (22:18) Ninja Forms is looking to take a two-prong approach for SaaS.  If you are using the plugin in the WordPress space (it will function the same) and there will be a fully hosted SaaS version providing just the features that you need. (17:32) Build your product so that you can easily pivot. (35:15) Keep an eye out in your space and make sure you are watching what solutions are growing. (30:17) Be passionate about making the leap into the next space. Unique qualities of SaaS: Higher end hosting companies are starting to partner with businesses that sell and market software products. (13:56) The platform limits who you can sell to when you are concentrating just on WordPress. (15:33) You need to have a strong hosting partner that knows DevOps and server scalability well. (24:15) In a SaaS environment, you can control the interface that the client works with. (16:33) Branding becomes very important to get visibility in the forms space outside of WordPress. (26:30) The code needs to be written to exist outside of the WordPress space in order to expand the business. (32:40) The Ninja Forms partners are doing research with calls to other businesses to see if they can start with a wrap around business. (33:30) EPISODE RESOURCES Ninja Forms Corey Maass Kanban Sam Brodie Offsprout Follow James: James Laws Ninja Forms Ninja Forms on WordPress.org James on Twitter If you would like to co-host an Episode of the Matt Report reach out to Matt at the MattReport.com/contact. If you like the show please leave a 5 Star review over on the Matt Report on iTunes. Sponsors: Pagely Gravity Forms ★ Support this podcast ★

This episode we are down one Jean, but James brings a Kevin Stover and Zach Skaggs into the mix, to talk hiring and why anyone would consider leaving a stable job for that of bootstrap offerings. Topics Include: WP Ninjas history in hiring. The perspective of one who would trade mega-company stability for startup culture. Lifestyle over pay rate. Letting growth influence your hiring. Hiring for attitude and aptitude. Do they get it, do they want it, do they have the capacity to do it? Good onboarding is important. Don't over engineer.

Join me with the founders of WP Ninjas, James Laws and Kevin Stover. We discuss how their WordPress plugin business "found them" and the lessons they've learned over the years. If you're build products for WordPress, this is an episode you'll love.

Today we welcome co-founder of the WP Ninjas James Laws to the show. James originally appeared in Episode 13 of the podcast and today, almost a year and a half later, a lot has changed at WP Ninjas. We dig into how he and his co-founder Kevin Stover have scaled the business, what they've learned along the way, and what the future holds of the WP Ninjas team. The post Episode 46 – James Laws, co-founder of WP Ninjas appeared first on Apply Filters.

Today we welcome co-founder of the WP Ninjas James Laws to the show. James originally appeared in Episode 13 of the podcast and today, almost a year and a half later, a lot has changed at WP Ninjas. We dig into how he and his co-founder Kevin Stover have scaled the business, what they've learned along the way, and what the future holds of the WP Ninjas team. The post Episode 46 – James Laws, co-founder of WP Ninjas appeared first on Apply Filters.

James Laws and Kevin Stover from WP Ninjas join us to tell about their history as a business and the challenges and experiences they've had building their flagship product, Ninja Forms. The post Episode 13 – The WP Ninjas appeared first on Apply Filters.

James Laws and Kevin Stover from WP Ninjas join us to tell about their history as a business and the challenges and experiences they've had building their flagship product, Ninja Forms. The post Episode 13 – The WP Ninjas appeared first on Apply Filters.