Today, we have a guest who is famous for his contributions to plugin development, especially in WooCommerce. He is a known speaker, founder, and a web hosting specialist with several years of experience working with a number of businesses around the world.
Without further ado; let’s talk to our guest to get to know him better.
Cloudways: Thank you for being a part of our interview series, Chris. Let’s start this interview with your introduction also letting our readers know what you wanted to be when you were a kid.
Chris: Thanks for having me! I am the Director of OPMC, we develop web-based business solutions for our clients. OPMC’s specialty focus areas are WooCommerce Plugins, Hosting, and Security. When I was a kid I wanted to be a lawyer. Not only did I rate myself as a good debater, much to my parent’s despair, but it was also the highest-paid job I knew as a 7-year-old. Thankfully, for my wife, who is actually a real lawyer, I didn’t pursue that dream!
Cloudways: Chris, you have built an amazing career in WordPress over the years. Please share with us some of the highlights of what it was like to start your professional career? When did you realize that you wanted to step into web development and then into WordPress?
Chris: My business career started in 2003 out of coincidence from a simple conversation with a friend who also wanted to start a business. I had limited website knowledge, but he knew some guys over in the Czech Republic who were developers and that’s really how it all started. We began hosting WordPress sites in the early days in an old Czech butchery, and tech support was only available to our Australasian clients outside of business hours – needless to say, that taught us a lot about what not to do! I learned a lot about HTML, WordPress and so on myself to get through the first few years, but thankfully now we have a team of specialists who know what they are doing. WordPress I discovered out of frustration with the tools we were using at the time, I would say post-2006, and it really was a turning point for our business. The same is true of WooCommerce. There was nothing quite like it before that, which is why we got involved in that plugin quite early.
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Cloudways: Everyone needs inspiration especially when they are at the start of their career. Who was your inspiration when you started to develop WordPress plugins? Who did you look up to? Also, what type of resources did you refer to for knowledge and inspiration when you started plugin development?
Chris: I am a firm believer in being proactive in your business to survive, grow, and stay relevant. In early 2011, I identified WordPress Plugins for WooCommerce as an opportunity for diversification for OPMC and maintaining a point of difference when web development was starting to become pretty crowded. The inspiration was most definitely moving into a less crowded, “blue ocean” strategy for services. The practical side came when our clients needed their WooCommerce store to work with their payment gateway – a pretty mundane situation, but the catalyst for our first plugin which we still maintain today. It started with a first monthly commission of just $40 USD, and it eventually snowballed for OPMC plugins from there. I was probably looking up to WooCommerce and the original owners of that business in Capetown, South Africa, more than anything else at the time. I was sold on their software and excited about the growth opportunities that came with easy to use and managed eCommerce WordPress plugins. Early on my resources were Google and understanding the marketplace to see where the opportunities lay for new plugin ideas. Google Trends is a wealth of knowledge for ideas 😉
Cloudways: So, Chris, you founded OPMC back in 2003. Tell us something about your agency. What services do you offer and what type of customers or clients do you deal with?
Chris: OPMC specializes in Plugins, Hosting, and Security for eCommerce. Our experience is that web technology can often be daunting for clients, but if you make it easy for them, and cut through all their technology barriers to progress and growth, their businesses will thrive as a result. This is because they can get on with what they do best.
For our Plugins division, we deal with thousands of clients across the globe 24/7. These clients range from technically superior in their abilities, to people new to the web and eCommerce who just need things to work well. As an example, we develop the official dropshipping plugin for WooCommerce, and customers vary from dropshipping newbies who are changing careers and have general questions, to seasoned professionals with specific and urgent requirements as they lose money when their dropshipping business isn’t running.
Cloudways: Setting up an agency can be really difficult and challenging. What were some of the challenges and hurdles that you faced when you were launching OPMC and how did you manage to cope up with them?
Chris: Mindset has up until a few years ago been a challenge for me. A limitation in your mindset, and what you and your business are capable of can form a self-imposed glass ceiling and be damaging. Mindset coaching, as well as meditation, have been really helpful here. Another area is leadership. As a business owner, you need to not only be a manager, but also a leader. As we grow, shifting away from management responsibilities and becoming the leader of our business has required a shift in thinking that has not only been inspirational but also benefited OPMC.
Cloudways: I don’t think there is a better time to ask you this. As a founder of an agency and a WordPress plugin developer, what are some tips that you would like to share with people who are looking to make a career in WordPress?
Chris: You should pick a niche to get really good at rather than trying to be everything to everyone. An investment of time in a WordPress Plugins business should start first and foremost with research – understand what people are looking for, what is in demand, what is trending, where there is a gap and where to stake your money. Quantify the demand first! Create an MVP – don’t get stuck in creating many products. Start selling it (this new “coming soon” product) before you have started making it, as you need to build interest. Learn from others and their mistakes – it is a fast-track to doing better from day one!
Cloudways: So OPMC is your main project. What other projects are involved in? Do you have a side gig that you work on?
Chris: We have a 2-year-old daughter and outside of work she is my main “project” and I try to spend as much time as possible with her. She is my “side project” as I teach her about the world and watch her grow, I say that also as she is often affixed to my leg – especially when she is hungry and wants me to fetch her something to eat!
Cloudways: I believe our readers would love to know who Chris Bryant is outside of work. What do you do in your free time? Any hobbies?
Chris: I absolutely love to travel, especially to faraway beaches with nice food! Unfortunately, this isn’t possible with the current pandemic, but we managed to get away to a deserted island just before all this started, so I was very grateful to have the time. It is really the best way for me to unwind and refresh the body and mind before coming back full of ideas and inspiration for the business. I enjoy photography too, and currently on the lookout for a new camera.
Cloudways: I am sure you have heard that WooCommerce is not reliable when it comes to running a serious online business. How would you respond to such a statement?
Chris: For me, it’s about how the tool is being used, rather than the tool itself. We have so many people come to us with WooCommerce problems, only to find the issue lies with the developer who poorly built the site, or that the client was poorly trained on how to use the software.
A well-managed site will achieve its desired objectives. I am also firmly of the opinion that full ownership of your business assets is fundamental to business longevity – if you don’t own it, you’re just leasing it on a temporary basis until something goes wrong. On a secondary level, preference plays a large role in people’s decision making.
The age-old debate of “What is better – WooCommerce or Shopify?” will always end up with half of the people on each side of the fence no matter what. You can have a serious online business on any platform if it’s done correctly!
Cloudways: So Chris, running an agency that develops WordPress and WooCommerce plugins and being a web hosting specialist yourself, I think it’s only fair if I ask you this question. In your opinion, what sort of impact a managed WooCommerce cloud hosting can create for businesses as compared to conventional hosting?
Chris: In hosting, we find service providers fall short on client’s expectations when they can’t deliver solutions. Nowadays just providing a hosting platform is not enough. OPMC hosts our client’s sites but also builds relationships and improves expectations and the value we offer with our service. We always find that while cheap hosting packages with lots of promises are appealing to new businesses, they eventually are looking for something better and willing to pay more because they need that service level, communication, and interaction with their supplier.
Cloudways: Being in the WordPress industry, one just can’t resist attending WordCamps.You have had the honor of not only attending WordCamps but also attending them as a speaker. As a developer and a WordPress user, how important do you think are WordCamps to the WordPress community?
Chris: WordCamps are a grassroots activity and essential to the WordPress community. There are also volunteers who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make those events successful! And so I would say that WordCamp volunteers are just as important as the events themselves and they make them what they are.
Cloudways: Unfortunately, the world is going through a pandemic and I can’t think of a single business that isn’t affected by the Covid – 19. Most of them have resorted to working from home. How are you and your team coping with the situation? What steps have you taken to ensure that work is as effective as it was before?
Chris: As a tech company with team members globally, we are already set for working from home. We have most recently invested our time and efforts to check in on the welfare of our team, and I ask them directly myself about how they are going regularly during a once in a lifetime period of great stress and anxiety for many.
Cloudways: I am sure our readers, especially the ones who are already running a business, would love to know some tips on working from home during these unfortunate times.
Chris: Stay focused. Know when to get some fresh air when you need it (and you can). Eat well but don’t eat too much junk. Exercise regularly and drink water… a dehydrated person is no more effective than a hangry one!
Cloudways: For our readers, please share the snapshot of your workstation 🙂
Chris: This is my home “COVID-19” workstation. We are all but officially on lockdown here.
Saud Razzak
Saud is the WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways - A Managed WooCommerce Hosting Platform. Saud is responsible for creating buzz, spread knowledge, and educate the people about WordPress in the Community around the globe. In his free time, he likes to play cricket and learn new things on the Internet. You can email him at [email protected]
