WordCamp Portland and my podcast debut!

I had only been to Seattle WordCamps up until 2017. In the last two weeks, I attended in Sacramento and also this past weekend in Portland, Oregon.

I made my first weekend visit to Portland in 2009 for my 20th wedding anniversary. It was a no brainer to head to WordCamp Portland. Kill two birds with one stone. Celebrate my job and my anniversary. 28th year of marriage.  15+ years in business for myself.  Time flies, people!

The event was held at Lewis and Clark College. The campus was wooded and felt like it was in another world from downtown Portland (but only a few miles away). Lewis & Clark was named one of America’s top ten “Most Beautiful Campuses” by the Princeton Review. I appreciated getting to see this campus for the event.

There were a few people I knew from Seattle. It was a smaller crowd than Sacramento and felt more intimate at times. I attended two lectures before calling it a day. The first was on security from Adam W. Warner, SiteLock Product Evangelist.  He gave a great practical talk about safety as it relates to WordPress, but also your life in general.  Trust your gut, people.

The second lecture was from Jocelyn Mozak.  I have followed Jocelyn’s career for many years.  She went from a one-person operation like mine to an agency and gave a talk about the pros and cons of the agency setup.  I loved it because, for me, it affirmed my own business model.  An agency setup is not on my radar or something I want to pursue.  But running my business with agency best practices and referral partners is a way for me to grow my business without the headache of employee management.

Bob Dunn

After the lectures, I was on my way out for lunch and then calling it a day.  I had a cold from my trip to Sacramento (who doesn’t catch a cold when they fly?) and planned a good nap before heading out for dinner for the big anniversary.  I ran into Andrew Woods and stopped for a chat and that’s when Bob Dunn appeared. I had met Bob years ago at a Seattle WordPress Meetup and also watched him advance his career from designer to expert Woo Commerce Podcaster. Bob surprised us all with a microphone attached to his iPhone. The next thing I knew, I was answering questions along with 12 others for his podcast. Thanks, Bob for the experience and my first appearance on a podcast.