For the better part of the last 10 years, Marcus has been a WordPress designer and developer, focusing on small- to medium-sized businesses that wanted to sell their products online. He worked for a small marketing agency in Orlando, Florida, for a majority of that time, but also on his own as a freelance digital marketer.
Starting in early 2020, at the onset of a global pandemic, he joined an amazing team of distributed, WooCommerce-focused customer support specialists at SkyVerge. This position gave him the opportunity to share the knowledge he gained as a developer, back to other developers and agencies.
In October of 2020, SkyVerge was acquired by GoDaddy. Though ownership had changed, the mission remained the same: to level the playing field for eCommerce businesses everywhere.
Almost a year later in September of 2021, Marcus joined the GoDaddy Pro team to bring his WooCommerce expertise to another group of people devoted to helping web professionals build the best sites and online stores they can for their clients! Now, he gets to actively share about eCommerce resources and products through the community, attending WordCamps, and by hosting virtual events.
In addition to his work with GoDaddy Pro, he co-hosts one podcast episode a month for Do the Woo and also co-hosts his own podcast with fellow Floridian TJ Rogers called The HeadingTwo WP Podcast. He is also a team co-rep for the WordPress Photo Directory.
When work is over and it’s time to play, he enjoys photo walks, travel, and spending time with his beautiful wife and their two wonderful daughters.
What do you enjoy most about working in WordPress?
The single greatest thing about working in the WordPress space is the people! It’s a cheesy answer, but it’s 100% true. From top to bottom, this space is filled with kind, generous folks.
I’ve had the benefit of growing up with the web. From table-based designs in HTML to CSS stylesheets to content management systems, I’ve seen it all emerge. In the beginning, it was a smaller group of people who had the access and know-how to build for the web, but over time that group grew drastically.
Eventually, I had to choose a content management system to keep up with the demands of clients and the progress of the web. I didn’t originally choose WordPress, but came back to it a few years later as it became the best choice for me and the agency I worked for. Why did we ultimately come back around to WordPress? The community!
My first local WordCamp in Orlando, I (hesitantly) approached one of the speakers with a quick “newbie” question – hoping they’d just give me a moment at the end of a long day of sessions on the final day of the camp. They sat and talked with me for 45 minutes! I’m sure they were ready to leave (they had a flight to catch!), but they took the time to welcome a newcomer to the community.
I’ve since met countless others who have shown me that same generosity—regardless of whether I wanted to “talk shop” about WordPress or just work/life in general. Everyone is extremely approachable and kind, whether they just stepped off the stage from their hundredth time speaking or just starting building websites yesterday. The community is what makes WordPress so special.
What do you love most about your Post Status membership?
When I started at SkyVerge, I was lucky enough to be able to get a Post Status membership as part of the team there. I had heard a little bit about this WordPress group, but wasn’t sure what to expect once inside.
What I didn’t realize was how much I had missed out on waiting until then to be a part of this group! Post Status is a hyper-focused subset of the WordPress community—a place where the most active participate in safe discussions around the WordPress project, the community, events, and the whole ecosystem.
More than just a safe space, it’s a way to collaborate and discuss the future of WordPress and related projects. It’s a place to connect with other folks in the space to continue to innovate on everything WordPress.
What I love most about being part of this group is just that, that I feel like I’m a part of something. Something good. Something important. I love the connections that I’ve been able to make and the access that I have to people who can make a change.
Plus, it means more people have access to me. Post Status is a great place for conversation and collaboration and I’m open to all of it anytime!
What business/web/WordPress advice do you have for others in our industry?
My advice to the industry is simple and something that I try to live by: learn something new every day. It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be new.
When I worked in an office with a marketing agency, we would often ask each other at the end of the day “so, what did we learn today?” Sometimes it was the beginning of a new programming language. Sometimes is was simply that a client loved the color green.
That’s stuck with me over the years and I try to remember to ask myself the same question. What was the key takeaway today? What new knowledge do I now bring to every discussion moving forward? Am I able to provide new value to those around me?
No matter what you do in business, the web, or WordPress, always make sure that you’re growing in some way, learning something new each day.
You — and your whole team can join Post Status too!
Build your network. Learn with others. Find your next job — or your next hire. Read the Post Status newsletter. ✉️ Listen to podcasts. 🎙️ Follow @Post_Status 🐦 and LinkedIn. 💼
