Build a Private Online Community with WordPress
I have built dozens of private online communities — fitness studios, churches, trade associations, professional guilds. Here is what actually works, and what do…
Writing
Notes from inside the studio
WordPress, BuddyPress, Laravel, Astro, AI. Search the archive or filter by topic.
How I Set Up a WordPress Staging Site on DigitalOcean: Subdomain and Temp Domain Approaches
Step-by-step guide to creating a WordPress staging environment on your existing DigitalOcean droplet. Covers both subdomain (staging.yourdomain.com) and tempora…
How I Set Up WordPress on DigitalOcean: Complete Server to First Post Guide
Complete step-by-step guide to setting up WordPress on a DigitalOcean droplet from creating the server to your first live post. Covers the full LEMP stack, SSL,…
The Hidden Costs of Running a Community Platform (That Nobody Talks About)
An honest breakdown of hosting, moderation, content creation, maintenance, and email costs that come after building an online community. Budget realistically be…
How Our Biggest Client Project Changed How We Work
Our biggest client project was an enterprise community platform combining learning, legal workflows, courses, and community. It permanently changed how we opera…
Thinking About Building a Community Platform? Read This First
Every week, someone reaches out asking me to build them a community platform. Sometimes it is a startup founder who wants to create the … Read more…
The Best Client Conversations Start With ‘Here’s My Problem’ Not ‘Here’s My Feature List’
The best digital projects start with problems, not feature lists. After a decade of building community platforms, here is why ‘my members cannot find each…
How We Help Clients Who Come to Us After a Failed Community Project
At least once a month, someone reaches out with the same story: they spent thousands on a community platform that doesn’t work. Here’s why it happen…
Why Claude Code Is the Only AI Tool That Stuck in My Development Workflow
Six months ago I was skeptical about AI coding tools. After tracking real numbers on client projects, here’s what actually changed — and what didn’t…
Why We Say No to Clients Who Don’t Know What They Want (And Why That’s Good for Everyone)
I turn down clients regularly. Not because I can be picky, but because taking on the wrong project hurts everyone. Here are the three types of clients we say no…
What I Got Wrong Building WordPress Products
Ten years of building WordPress products and the real mistakes along the way. How we broke the product lifecycle, scattered ourselves across too many small addo…
A Fitness Brand in Sydney, a Church in Ohio, a Trade Group in Lagos, a Consulting Firm in Toronto: 4 Community Stories
Four real community building stories from around the world. A fitness brand in Sydney, a church in Ohio, a trade group in Lagos, and a consulting firm in Toront…