What a wild year…full of drama, thrills, and excitement. I can honestly say I didn’t see it coming.
- WPJ website visits grew 300% – 300k visits this year compared to 100k last year
- 160 posts written, about 90 published – basically one every 3-4 days
- Released 7 free WPJ plugins (and 1 paid) – used in over 250+ active sites.
- Released the WP Speed Optimization Courses (originally to help Walter) – but it’s now grown into a massive faction of its own.
- Raised $8k for HelpWalter.com – thank you for all that supported!
- Built many new admin and Gutenberg sections for internal WPJ use
- Got so damn swamped (even during lockdown season) – that I shut down all new client projects in MAY
- Expanded JohnnyVPS webhosting in many more servers around the world, set up new backup system and WordPress tools
- Added incredible new members to our internal team – awesome developers, engineers, admins, tech staff, support staff
- Half-dozen vendor partnerships signed
- Affiliate programs released – for both WPJ and JVPS
- So many new toys, themes, plugins, and services played with. Too many to list. I got to poke into some of the most coolest products/services in WordPress and so inspired by them.
Challenges overcome
- Webhosting support staff. It’s so tricky to hire admins to cover the clock, and also tech support to deal with client issues in the middle of the night. But we like our people now and the existing team has only grown closer.
- Plugin updates. It’s a nightmare to stay on top of all our little custom creations. Adding some developers was absolutely key to help us maintain this growth.
- Documentation writing. The absolute best way to do this is to build tools that don’t need documenation! It’ll never be 100% possible but you can get really damn close.
- Microphone. Finally found a really nice microphone setup for my Youtube videos. Hahaha!
Future ideas in testing
- WPJ site design adjustments – already tested 100+ revisions. It’s so much to think about…adjusting for what my future site will be and how it caters to users.
- Created free theme (in beta) – not sure it ever launches given how busy we are…but enjoying lots of testing with no pressure
- Teasing the idea of our own control panel once again – but I highly doubt this one. It’s too much work!
- JVPS server tweaks – we are always playing around. Some are performance related, others are security related. Improving workflow so we can more efficiently manage hundreds of sites.
- We have to add more to our team. I didn’t want to and I still don’t but we have no choice. Growth is inevitable. The hard part is not losing your core values. Luckily for me…WPJohnny has been fantastic at helping me find other incredible talent with the same values.
What doesn’t change?
My no-BS values gets stronger. We’re all busy. We all got shit to do. I make guides that help me and my clients first and foremost. It just so happens that they also help other people as well.
I want a site that creates clarity (not confusion) in this wild wild WordPress world.
- Promoting and supporting the work of top developers.
- Not making noise unless I have something (important) to say, or something (truly new) to offer.
- Not doing things I don’t enjoy.
- Technical growth – still so many things (and so many viewpoints) to learn from.
- My messy multi-tasking – only the people who know me best, know just how many things I do on a daily basis. I’ve learned to make peace with this part of myself. And will address it in the future with increased delegation.
Thank you for the journey
There have been so many people who helped me along, whether big or small, that will never know how much impact they had on my work. The success is all ours to enjoy!
- chatting me through complex technical concepts
- helped my clients so I could sleep
- connecting me with key industry people
- foretelling insider events in the industry
- giving feedback or suggesting new ideas for my work
- referring incredible clients (and great people) to me
- clients being awesome clients (sooooo important!)
There’s probably a million other things that happened but I can’t remember now. None of it matters. We’re alive, happy, living and loving life. Wherever you are…enjoy the moment. Thank you guys for being a part of WPJ!
Happy new year everyone…and may reality continue to exceed your dreams. 🍾🥂🍻Johnny Nguyen
Thanks, Johnny, for all the great information, strong opinions, and no-BS guides and reviews this year. Excited to keep learning from and contributing to the community in 2021.
Thanks for the comment and great to have you, Nathan. Looking forward to a huge 2021 as well.
I’m part of the +300%. I am as happy as a clam after finding this site. Truly the best resource for WordPress out there. Learned so much. Practical, informative, in-depth and, critically, all based on real-life ‘in the trenches’ experience. Some of the free guides on here are amazing. Punchy, no-nonsense writing style a major bonus. No ads and barely any mention of the paid services as well. Incredible. Astounded WPJ can deliver so much on this site and also run things behind the scenes. Thanks Johnny!!
Thank you for the lovely comment, Maynard. See you around. 🙂
Happy new year Master Johnny !!! Best WP site on the internet. Keep doing what you’re doing !!!!
Happy new year to you too, Regev! Thanks for being here as always.
Hi Johnny, I am happy that I recently found your blog. Thank you for the educational information, it helped me a lot.
That is great to hear. Thank you for this comment.