The Cloudways interview series is aimed at bringing forth successful WordPressers so that our audience can take some inspiration and learn from them while they are making a successful WordPress career for themselves.
Today we have one such successful personality, Mitchell Callahan, and he is going to share his secret to success and his journey in an exclusive interview with Cloudways. So without any further delay, let’s hear it from the man himself!
Cloudways: Hello Mitchell, and thank you for your time. Let’s start with the traditional question: Please tell us about yourself?
Mitchell: Hey, I’m Mitchell. I am the Co-Founder and CEO of SAU/CAL, a WordPress VIP Partner that specializes in WooCommerce Development.
I was born in Yellowknife, home of the Northern Lights, and the capital city of the Northwest Territories in Canada’s arctic. As a child living in such a remote part of the world, I always believed my future lay in the universe just beyond my computer keyboard. I began building websites while still in elementary school and first showcased my work nationally at the age of 14 during a live broadcast of a Canadian television show.
I have traveled to 40+ countries and lived in India and South Korea. Besides eCommerce and travel, I am fascinated by bitcoin and real estate.
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Cloudways: You are the Co-Founder and CEO of SAU/CAL. Tell me something about your company? How do you manage your responsibilities? Can you share any of your interesting stories?
Mitchell: Our company is distributed, which means we hire the best people from around the world. I am a certified WooExpert and WordPress VIP partner and I am working to drive more Fortune 500’s onto Woo.
My job is to keep the company moving towards where we’re going and ensure we’re who we want to be when we get there. That sounds kind of lofty, but really, it comes down to thinking things through from our customers’ perspective. And lots of Slack chats. So not that lofty.
Our culture is also important, which really means ensuring that the team feels seen and heard and the fact that they have meaningful opportunities to contribute only makes us better. It takes time but it’s worth it.
Dom and I try to stay true to our roots. I grew up in the frozen north, removed from everything and he grew up in a hotel. The world came to him but the only way he could see the world was through the internet. We met when I set up a side hustle while I was at university, becoming an internet provider for my residence. We bonded over the possibilities of the open internet and knew we’d build a business around it one day.
We tried a couple of different business ideas that either didn’t work or weren’t for us. But in building out one of those ideas, we really struggled to find someone who could build us the e-commerce site we really wanted. So we decided to become the experts we’d been looking for, and then realized, that was the business we needed to be in: building kickass e-stores that made money.
Cloudways: I learned somewhere you have worked on some of the biggest WooCommerce sites on the internet. Is there any project that you are proud of in particular? Can you share the most complicated or the most exciting project that you have worked on by far?
Mitchell: I love Phlearn. It’s like Netflix for learning Photography and Photoshop. It’s super-fast, has thousands of subscriptions, and it hums on WordPress VIP. Output is another project we worked on that was both challenging and exciting. After all, several top music producers use it, including Diplo, Lil Jon and Drake’s producer, 40. It’s pretty exciting to know that something you’ve built has helped make music that millions of people have heard.
Cloudways: What are your views about the future of WordPress? Will its market share continue to grow? What is that one feature you would love to see in WordPress?
Mitchell: WordPress already has a strong foothold in eCommerce, and to tell you the truth, it feels like we’re only getting started. One feature I’d like to see? I used to have a lot of answers for this, but honestly, I love it the way it is. Perhaps more rigid rules on styling for 3rd party plugins. Specifically, a rule-set for notifications, and how to organize your information so the UX is consistent.
Cloudways: Within the WordPress Community, who do you consider among your best friends?
Mitchell: The WooCommerce team for sure, as well as WordPress VIP. Any of the ancillary Woo stuff as well, shout outs to Metorik.
Cloudways: Do you think that WordCamps are one of the great reasons that WordPress is getting the right exposure in regional communities? What more can be done to grow the community?
Mitchell: I’m not a community expert, and I know this challenge is solved from multiple different angles. But yes I do think WordCamps add immense value and are a huge resource for those who are new to WordPress. Looking back, my first few WordCamps were incredibly valuable. Volunteering for one gives you a glimpse of all the work involved.
Cloudways: Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform offering 1-click installation for WordPress with great caching technologies and optimized servers. What’s your opinion about managed cloud hosting services such as Cloudways?
Mitchell: Managed hosting services are the new norm, but they were a major pivot from traditional DIY hosting of the past. There is so much value in them. They eliminate a lot of the pain points people had previously, and they make WordPress even easier and on par with SaaS.
Cloudways: We know it is hard to take out time from work, but we all need to relax once in a while :). What do you like to do in your free time?
Mitchell: Right now, it’s renovating my house, and preparing to be a Dad. In the summers, I like to disconnect and go live in the wilderness for a while.
Cloudways: Discussing everything in a short interview isn’t possible. If we’ve missed out on anything, feel free to discuss it here. 🙂
Mitchell: Just remember that the internet is a glorious place. It allows information, communication, entertainment and now commerce to be at your fingertips. It’s imperative that we keep it that way. It’s one of the many reasons why I love WordPress, and the entire open source movement.
Cloudways: Just to acknowledge our readers, can you please send us an image, What does your desk or workspace look like? 🙂
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]
