Advanced WooCommerce Development, Lessons & Challenges

Marcel:
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Woo DevChat. This is our last episode of the year. Hello, Mike. How are you?

Mike:
I’m good, Marcel. How are you?

Marcel:
I am very good. Can you believe it? It’s already December.

Mike:
Yes, I can.

Marcel:
I think we have to explain why we’re laughing so hard at this introduction. We just tried to record like 10 minutes ago, and I was explaining why I felt a little bit ridiculous using this term: “Can you believe it? It’s already this month or that month.” It’s something people regularly do, and it’s basically the last month where you can say that, right? Because January doesn’t work. “Can you believe it’s already January?” That’s the only month this expression is not valid.

But I guess it’s a good one for December because sometimes the year passes so fast that you can’t really believe it, right? Mike, how has the year been for you? What can you say about it?

Mike:
It’s been a weird year.

Marcel:
Weird.

Mike:
Yeah, but I’m satisfied with how it turned out. Lots of learning, lots of challenges overcome. Yeah, and lots of squash played, so that’s a huge win.

Marcel:
That’s good. Yeah. Oh, you’re asking how about mine? Okay, I’ll answer you. No problem. It’s going to be an interesting episode today, people. It’s our last episode of the year, so yeah, I think we’re allowed to make it as loose as possible.

Well, actually, it’s been a very good year. And this time around, I didn’t make any resolutions—those things people make, like “what to expect for next year” and all of that. I used to be a big believer in those things, writing them down, and for the first months—February and March—fighting for those items on the list. And then, every single year, you realize: why are you fighting for those items?

Some of them are ridiculous. Some of them are very feasible and achievable—you don’t need to put them on a resolution list. You’re going to get them either way. So, taking all of that into consideration, I’ve completed maybe half of that list. But not because I really wanted to—just because it naturally happened.

Do you have some sort of resolution list for the year? Do you do that?

Mike:
I make one throughout the year. So, my goal for this year was to launch my new homepage. It was a very short list. A very short list. I thought that would give me a greater chance of actually achieving it. Normally, I would take a long, made list of places I wanted to travel to. I did that as well. But professionally, it was to launch the new homepage, and I gave myself 12 months to do it. And I think we’re going to make—

Marcel:
It alright. There’s very little time. We’re expecting that you’ll want it soon. Maybe by the time this episode goes live, you already have that up. Going to make sure that we add it to the show notes. People should check out your website—your new website.

Mike:
What about you? What’s on your list?

Marcel:
Oh, well, on my list on the professional side, I mean, it was just mainly that this huge client that we’re working on would work out, and it did, and it’s working out very well.

And the other thing that I had personally was to learn maybe different programming languages and different ways of getting websites online. We are sort of hung—not hung, but we are all very much WordPress experts—and there are so many other platforms and ways to spin up websites nowadays. I wanted to just learn a little bit outside of the WordPress environment—how to create pages.

I’m talking about Tango and Next.js and other stuff like that, but also learning a little bit more about Gutenberg and React and all of that. So, those boxes are checked. All the other ones that are not checked are not worth mentioning because I don’t want to get depressed in this episode about not having achieved them.

So, I think we can move on now. It’s been a very good year, and I’m not going to put high expectations on next year. I think it’s going to be a natural follow-up to this year. I just hope that we get less distracted by things that are not necessarily good for the community. And this is as far as I’ll say about it—that’s my hope.

Mike:
Yeah. Well, my father always said the key to happiness in life is low expectations, so low expectations for next year sounds like he would agree with you.

Marcel:
I’d say I will happily meet your father in December 2025, and we will both talk about if that worked or not—how low your—

Mike:
Expectations are for life.

Marcel:
Right, right. Well, having that said, what wouldn’t be a great episode without having somebody that we both very much admire and call our friend. Today, we’re thrilled to welcome Chase!

And I was hoping I could just try to say Chase’s last name before we went on air, but I’m going to do that training right now. So bear with me if it’s not the correct pronunciation. And we’ll ask Bob not to edit this out because I really want to try this out and see if I can nail it the first time. So, it’s Chase Gruszewski.

Chase:
So close. And to be honest, I’m not even sure I pronounce it correctly. So, it’s a Polish name. As far as I know, the pronunciation is Gruszewski.

Marcel:
Gruszewski. Okay.

Chase:
I was speaking with somebody who immigrated to the U.S. from Poland, and she was telling me I was pronouncing it wrong. She had a different emphasis. It sounded like we were saying the same thing, but with a different emphasis. So, I’ll caveat that by saying your native Polish listeners might take issue with me saying it’s pronounced Gruszewski, but that’s how I pronounce it.

Marcel:
Alright. Now that we know Chase’s last name, I’m not going to repeat that. No, wait—Gruszewski. It kind of makes sense because the W makes a U sound. Okay, never mind.

I was going to say, Chase, welcome to the show. You are an expert WordPress developer, and you’re a top-rated contractor at Codeable. That’s not debatable. You’ve helped numerous businesses and individuals optimize their websites, enhance their digital presence, and you’ve been involved in web development for over a decade. You’re specialized in—I can say—custom plugin development, performance optimization, and maybe also WooCommerce?

Chase:
Yeah, that would all be fair. Really, the functionality of websites is where I find my sweet spot rather than design. If your website doesn’t do what you want it to do, that’s where I come in.

Marcel:
I know that you’ve worked with clients across the globe, delivered high-quality tailored solutions, and exceeded expectations. And you’re just generally an awesome person to work with. Welcome to the show!

Yeah, so we’re going to just basically talk a little bit about your journey, what WooCommerce is for you as a developer, and dive into your WooCommerce journey. So, to start this conversation, why don’t you tell us how your journey started and how you first got in contact with WordPress and WooCommerce?

Chase:
Sure. I kind of came to web development from a non-traditional standpoint. I had previously been working in manufacturing at a small company. Because it was a small company, it was one of those things where if you needed some sort of specialized software tool or something like that, you had to build it yourself. So, I would do that from time to time, and I found that I really enjoyed it—more than my actual job.

So, I started looking into, okay, if I wanted to do this for an actual job—if I wanted to work for myself in software development—how would I do that? Well, if you want to work in web development, working in WordPress is a no-brainer just in terms of market share, the amount of people who work with it, the flexibility, and the number of things you can do with it.

I tell my clients all the time: “We can do anything. It’s just a question of whether we should and whether it makes sense for you.”

And then, with that, if you want to win work, you’ve got to work with small businesses. WooCommerce and WordPress are kind of no-brainers in terms of the amount of people out there using WooCommerce, the support it has, and the way it’s been maintained, developed, and moved forward over the years.

So, that’s how I came to be doing what I’m doing now. It’s been 11 years since I quit my day job—I think I might be counting that wrong. Before that, I was moonlighting. But I made the commitment a little while ago, and it’s been just a wonderful journey.

It’s been so fun working with people from all over the world, learning their businesses, learning what they want to do, the difference they want to make, and helping them do that. So, that’s kind of how I came to where I am now.

Marcel:
And so, I understand that you started locally with businesses from around your area, but you eventually ended up on Codeable. How did that come about?

For people who don’t know, Codeable is an awesome platform to get expert help on WordPress and WooCommerce development. You can hire experts who are the top 2% of WordPress developers. And we’re not sponsored, but Codeable is a huge friend of ours, so I can say that.

How did you find out about Codeable?

Chase:
I’d been working with some other freelance marketplaces, and basically, with those, it’s very much a scramble to the bottom—who can lower their prices the most.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, so my cost of living is not the lowest in the world, certainly. That was very difficult to compete with. I could find customers and had been able to kind of cobble together a business that way, but it wasn’t quite doing what I wanted it to do.

So, after I got some experience, I thought, “How can I up my game? How can I work in a community, establish a sense of community?” Codeable definitely has that.

We do compete with each other for business, but we also collaborate quite a bit. We help each other, and we really try to do what’s right by the client.

So, I started looking around at, okay, once you’re a well-established freelancer, what are your options? Since I’d been predominantly working in WordPress, Codeable was a no-brainer.

It was a Google search that got me there. I started to go through the application process, got a feel for the culture, the values, how they vetted experts, the way they valued client interactions, and found that it really aligned with what I like to do with my clients.

I don’t do pressure sales. I do “Does this make sense?” sales. “Are we a good fit?” sales. And that’s really what the interaction was like with Codeable.

It’s been home ever since. It was a nice journey to get there.

Marcel:
That’s really cool. Right, WordPress, WooCommerce, and we mentioned custom plugins, building custom development for clients. But at some point, you specialized in WooCommerce, right? Was that from the beginning, or did WooCommerce come along because you had people who also used WooCommerce and you started getting interested in it?

How is it that today you can say you’re an expert in eCommerce? How did that come to fruition?

Chase:
It was really just a matter of that’s where the business pulled me—where the market pulled me. It wasn’t from a strong, personal background. I’ve never set up a retail store for myself or sold anything from home.

But I started to have a lot of clients using WooCommerce. And because I am a self-taught developer—I think 99% of all web developers are self-taught developers—I fall into that vast majority.

Marcel:
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I went to WooCommerce Developers College.

Chase:
College, yeah, exactly, exactly.

Marcel:
One here in Porto, another one in Lisbon. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Chase:
Exactly. None of us have degrees in WooCommerce. But it’s one of those things—it’s open source. You read the code, you learn how it works. It’s a lot of lines of code to learn, but you learn it over time.

I found I really liked the way it was structured. I liked the flexibility it afforded—the things it allowed me to do for my clients and the ways I was able to create unique value propositions for them. They could go to the market and provide their services however they needed to.

So, I’d say it was just that the business kind of pulled me in that direction. It wasn’t any sort of grand plan, but over time and through several different customers and a variety of fun, creative projects, I landed at a place where WooCommerce became squarely in my wheelhouse.

Marcel:
That’s great. Would you say that you now prefer to work with WooCommerce-related clients or projects, or is it just that WooCommerce is what you’re currently focused on? Did you develop any special relationship with the platform itself or the tools?

I mean, there are other eCommerce solutions out there. So my question is: why specifically WooCommerce? Is it just because it’s a WordPress plugin, or what is your criteria for choosing it as your preferred eCommerce platform?

Chase:
It really checks a lot of boxes for me.

It’s open source, which means it’s secure. And I have to explain this to a lot of people because in general, open source software is much more secure than proprietary software.

The simple reason for that is you’ve got more developers looking at it. We’ve got developers on Codeable, for example, who will find a security bug in some other open-source piece of software, and it gets patched within three hours of someone discovering it.

Compare that to proprietary software—it’s only the in-house team that can really find and fix the security bugs, not the entire world.

WooCommerce is very secure, and that’s important for a lot of clients—especially when they’re staking their livelihood on their ability to keep their business and their customers secure.

It’s very flexible. Not everybody needs that flexibility, but some people do.

For example, Shopify is a competitor, and I have nothing against Shopify. But Shopify is certainly not as flexible as WooCommerce. If you have a value proposition that requires you to sell things in a unique way or present products differently to customers, you’re not going to have the same options with Shopify.

Not to say I haven’t met phenomenal Shopify developers, but Shopify fits a very specific niche. It’s great if you have a product, and you sell that product for a fixed price. But that doesn’t fit everybody’s business model.

I’ve found that WooCommerce can be tailored to fit almost any business model out there. That’s key, especially with what I like to do—solving unique problems for clients looking to do something special for their customers.

Mike:
It’s nice when you know you can find a solution. I get some clients who are considering moving to Shopify because they’re frustrated with certain aspects of WooCommerce—like maintenance, things breaking with plugin updates, or whatever.

I usually warn them: even if you switch to something like Shopify, you’re probably just going to have new frustrations. They’ll be different kinds of frustrations, and you won’t have the same freedom or flexibility to fix those frustrations compared to staying with something you can customize however you want.

With Shopify, you’re very much boxed in and restricted. So, I think it’s important to bear that in mind when people want to switch. There’s no perfect eCommerce solution; otherwise, we’d all be using it.

Chase:
Right, exactly. Do you want a walled garden or a wide-open field? Both have their drawbacks, but some people need that walled garden, and others need the wide-open field.

Marcel:
You mentioned open source, and I think one of its main advantages is that if the code is out there and it has a bug, there are multiple well-intentioned people who will find and report it. That means bugs get fixed faster.

We all benefit from those attempts. Obviously, we hope our own clients don’t get hit by bugs, but it’s still a major advantage.

Another point: if you’re working with a client who has a vulnerability and someone breaches their site, you can patch it immediately because it’s open source. You can even edit the source code of WooCommerce or WordPress itself if needed, just to protect the client.

With other platforms, you can’t do that. You can’t change Shopify’s source code to protect against vulnerabilities. That’s something clients don’t always realize upfront, but once they do, they often see how stable and versatile WooCommerce is as a solution for their eCommerce website.

Chase:
Not to get too philosophical, but it’s amazing. Study after study has shown that open source is more secure.

It’s kind of a positive reflection on humanity. You’re basically saying, “Here’s the code—everybody can see it. You can use it for good or bad.”

And enough people choose to do good things with it that they overwhelm the bad actors. It’s kind of cool.

Marcel:
Who would’ve thought that transparency is the way to go? Who would’ve thought that being open about your intentions and your work could lead to such benefits?

Marcel:
Yeah, I wanted to talk about advancedwoo.dev—and you can take that clip later for the audio because this was my best impersonation, my best radio voice.

It’s basically a list of topics currently offered by you to inspire and educate current WooCommerce developers. Do you want to talk a little bit more about this Advanced WooCommerce Development website that you’ve created?

Chase:
Sure. It’s definitely a pet project of mine. I am the client of it—or the general internet is the client of it. It’s entirely something that came about as an idea I wanted to create.

It’s not that the documentation for WooCommerce isn’t great—it is great. And it’s not that there aren’t other tutorials out there—there are a ton of tutorials. But I found there was a gap.

On one side, you have the documentation and source code—things that go very deep. And on the other side, you have beginner-level information, like how to set configurations or enter basic information in the WordPress admin area to configure WooCommerce.

There wasn’t really something for developers that felt productive and filled the gap between those extremes.

By productive, I mean something that gives developers what they need quickly and effectively. A lot of educational content is in the form of long-form videos.

I don’t know about you guys, but when I’m looking for information and I see even a six-minute video—that’s about as short as you can make it—I still think, “Six minutes is too long.”

I have a very specific question and need a very specific answer. I wanted something searchable, self-directed, and flexible. People should be able to go as deep or shallow as they want on a topic, with links to resources if they need more.

With all those criteria in mind, I ended up in some unexpected places. For example, I realized: “Oh, PowerPoint is actually good for this kind of structure.” Who would’ve thought PowerPoint could be good for anything?

It’s not built on PowerPoint—it’s built on Slide.js—but it works in a similar way. There’s a reason PowerPoint is used for billions of presentations. It’s good at something—it’s just often misused.

I also structured it around adult learning principles. A lot of educational material is very directive and instructional. I wanted this to be self-directed, self-paced, and something people could explore as they needed.

It’s really just something I wanted to do. I carved out time to create the topics that are there now, and I have plans for more topics as I carve out additional time.

Marcel:
For everyone listening, we’re talking about short courses on specific topics: automated testing, the WooCommerce data API, REST API webhooks, the WooCommerce session, the WooCommerce cart, and the WooCommerce checkout.

So, the goal is for people to go through these courses, learn about different subjects, and test things as they follow along. Is that right?

Chase:
Yeah, it includes knowledge checks throughout the courses. It’s set up so that you can interact with the material as a guest without signing up. You don’t have to create an account or anything.

The only benefit to signing up—also completely free—is that you can track your progress if that’s something you’re interested in.

But the courses are designed to give developers the tools they need for their specific projects. We’re all intellectually curious, but we’re most intellectually curious when we have a job to do.

So, it’s there to help developers solve specific problems, whether they want to dive deep into the fundamentals or just find a quick solution to their immediate challenge.

Mike:
I get most intellectually curious when I’m trying to avoid certain kinds of work. Procrastination, right? I think, “Oh, now I really need to learn how to do this other thing I’ve been putting off.”

Chase:
Yeah, I would say the automated testing course is great for that. If you want to avoid doing something, it’s a great distraction.

Not that automated testing isn’t work—it’s a tremendous amount of work. But it’s kind of like developer candy because you’re writing code to test other code. That’s fun to me.

Marcel:
Wait, is that a thing? You write code to test other code?

Chase:
It’s true. Absolutely.

Marcel:
Wow.

Chase:
It’s a measure of how good a client is, actually. If a client is willing to pay for regression testing—even though the money doesn’t go toward building new functionality—you know they understand the importance of a stable codebase.

That’s a great client—one you hold on to—because they understand technical debt and why it needs to be addressed.

Marcel:
I was just joking, honestly. I’ll take that course, for one. And second, I believe it’s so important to write those tests because it’s the only way to be sure things will work. You don’t want to wait until someone else crashes your system for you.

Mike:
So, Chase, how do you prepare for writing these tutorials? How do you choose the topics and design the courses so they’re easy for developers to follow, understand, and actually implement?

Chase:
That was a big part of this journey—figuring out a repeatable process to generate the content. Since it’s a passion project, I knew I needed defined steps to make the work manageable.

The least structured step is selecting a topic. Honestly, the way I choose a topic is that someone plants a seed in my brain, and I decide, “Yeah, I want to do that.”

It could be from seeing other developers talk about a particular issue, seeing a new feature in WooCommerce Core, or noticing recurring questions about a problem that keeps coming up. Sometimes, it’s just thinking, “Oh, that’s a topic with enough depth to make an interesting course.”

The next topic I’m focusing on is high-performance order storage (HPOS). I’m overdue for creating a course on it because it’s been in WooCommerce Core for a while now. It’s a fascinating change to the structure of WooCommerce, and it gives us a glimpse into the future of its codebase.

Once I pick a topic, I use something similar to the “Five Whys” process. It’s typically used for problem-solving: you start with a problem, ask why it exists, answer that, and then repeat the process five times to dig down to the root cause.

I adapt that for course design. For the topic, I ask:

• Why does this topic matter?
• Why would developers care?
• Why does it work the way it does?

I keep digging deeper into those “why” questions. And since developers also care about the “how,” I add a “Five Hows” process to explore how everything works step by step.

I scribble all of this down, then go back and underline the most interesting or useful points. From there, I break the material into two sections:

1. Fundamentals: These focus on how the code works and the theory behind it.
2. Practicals: These are real-world examples and use cases that developers can apply to their projects.

Interestingly, I thought the practicals would be more popular because they solve specific problems. But in practice, it’s the fundamentals that see the most traffic. Developers seem to prefer diving into the core concepts rather than following toy examples that might not directly apply to their work.

Mike:
I remember when I was creating tutorials, I’d be super excited to tackle a really complicated challenge. I’d pour hours into making detailed documentation—step-by-step instructions to build something. I’d publish it, feeling really proud, and then… no one cared.

Chase:
I’ve had that experience too! It’s been fascinating to see which topics actually resonate with people.

For example, I create these courses partly because I enjoy the process, but also because they help me. I use them as references for myself when I forget how something works.

But yeah, sometimes I find I’m the only one referring back to certain material. It can be frustrating, but at least it’s useful to me!

Mike:
Exactly! I’d think, “I needed this tutorial when I was struggling with this problem, so surely others will too!” But then it turns out no one else has that same exact problem—or they’re not looking for that solution.

Chase:
Right. And it’s a reminder that every developer’s journey is unique. What’s frustratingly complex for one person might be trivial for another.

Mike:
So, of the tutorials you’ve made, which one are you most proud of—and why?

Chase:
The WC Data course. That was the first one I created, and I’m proud of it for a couple of reasons.

First, it helped me establish the process I now use for creating all my courses. And second, it filled a gap in the community.

WC Data is very technical—it’s the engine running in the background. A WooCommerce store owner who isn’t a developer doesn’t need to know about it. But for developers, it’s a key piece of how everything connects in WooCommerce.

It’s still a very popular topic. Even though other courses, like the Session, Cart, and Checkout topics, have surpassed it in traffic, I’ve had a lot of developers reach out to me about the WC Data course, saying it helped them understand how WooCommerce really works.

So yeah, I guess I’m proudest of my oldest “child,” but I love all my courses equally.

Mike:
I’m sure that’s what all parents say: “No favorites.” But the oldest does tend to hold a special place!

Marcel:
The challenge with making tutorials, at least for me, is maintaining them. You create something, and it works for a couple of weeks. Then someone comes along and says, “Hey, I tried this, and it didn’t work.”

You start asking questions and realize they’re using a newer version of the software, and the updates broke everything. Now you have to go back and fix your tutorial to reflect the changes.

Would you agree that maintaining tutorials is one of the hardest parts?

Chase:
Absolutely.

I actually include a comment in my course code to track the last WooCommerce version I reviewed it for. It’s not something users see—it’s just for my own reference so I can know how long it’s been since I updated it.

Thankfully, WordPress and WooCommerce place a premium on backward compatibility. Most changes are minor enough that they don’t break the tutorials outright.

The biggest gap in my material right now is high-performance order storage. In some of my courses, I talk about how WooCommerce’s default storage isn’t very efficient. That’s outdated now because HPOS has improved things significantly.

But yeah, keeping tutorials up to date is always a challenge—especially for a passion project like this, where it’s not tied to a client or funding.

Marcel:
By the way, how do you pronounce the abbreviation for high-performance order storage? Is it…

Chase:
I say “HPOS.”

Marcel:
Oh yes, another one for the group. Okay, hold on. Continue—sorry!

Chase:
Yeah, I’ve been saying “HPOS.”

Marcel:
We had an episode where we discussed for far too long how to pronounce it—HPO or HPOS.

Mike:
I used to say “H-P-O-S,” which is longer, so not very efficient. We eventually landed on “HPOS,” which seems to be the prevailing one.

Chase:
And it’s good to stay away from “P-O-S” as an abbreviation because, at least in English, that acronym carries some less-than-flattering connotations. So, “HPOS” works for me.

Marcel:
You’re right—better to avoid that association.

Anyway, Chase, going back to your project, one thing I find really interesting is how much effort you’ve put into making advanced content for developers. Most of the WooCommerce resources out there are for beginners—how to set up a store, install plugins, or configure settings.

But for experienced developers who want to dig into advanced applications or solve unique challenges, there’s not much out there. That’s what I find so fascinating about your project.

I was wondering if you’ve ever thought about making it more searchable—maybe adding a search engine to let users look up specific functions or hooks? It could help make your content even more discoverable. Right now, it’s hard to compete with all the beginner-level content cluttering Google search results.

Chase:
That’s a really good point. Right now, the site is searchable, but only within each individual topic. For example, if you’re on the “Sessions” course, you can use a key combination—Control+Shift+Find—to search within that topic.

But yeah, it’s not as intuitive as I’d like. I’d love to make the entire site searchable across all topics. Maybe even add a chatbot or something to help users find exactly what they’re looking for.

I know what you mean about the frustration with beginner content dominating search results. Sometimes you’re just trying to find an advanced solution, but all you see are articles that suggest installing a plugin or hiring a developer. It’s hard to cut through that noise.

Improving searchability is definitely something I’d like to address in the near future.

Marcel:
Do you think your project is also helpful for store owners—or is it really just for developers?

Chase:
It’s mostly for developers. Store owners usually need more personalized guidance because their setups tend to be unique.

For example, when developers create a custom solution for a client, they’re the ones who understand the design decisions, the touchpoints, and the technical details. That’s why I believe it’s the developer’s responsibility to document those specifics and explain them to the client.

There are some general resources for store owners, but those are usually too generic to be helpful for a custom setup. A custom Ferrari needs a custom manual, right?

I do think developers can make life easier for store owners by embedding user-friendly guidance directly into the WooCommerce admin interface. For instance, adding tooltips, contextual help, or simple walkthroughs within the backend can go a long way.

But it’s hard to create a one-size-fits-all solution. Every client and every project is different.

Mike:
It’s nice when clients actually care about learning how to use their new “Ferrari,” but some of them don’t.

I’ve had clients tell me, “When I want to make changes, I’ll just come back to you and pay you to do it.” They’re not interested in learning how to operate the backend, even if it’s in their best interest.

Personally, I prefer working with clients who already have a developer or a team on hand because they’re usually more excited to learn the technical side of things. Business owners tend to care more about results—like how much money their site will make or how much more efficient their team will be.

Marcel:
Exactly. I’ve also worked on projects where we embedded guidance directly into the backend. For example, we added meta boxes to specific admin screens with instructions on how to fill out forms or use custom features.

But even with that, some clients will just hire you again for updates. And that’s fine, but it’s also good for them to have the tools to handle basic tasks themselves.

It’s tricky. I think documentation and training are essential parts of delivering a project. Even if clients don’t use it, having thorough documentation helps you as a developer if you ever need to revisit the project later.

When you’re searching for old code or trying to remember how you implemented a specific feature, good documentation can save so much time.

Chase:
Absolutely. And it’s fascinating to see how different clients approach this. Some want to know how to change every little thing themselves, while others just want to pay you to do it.

As a developer, it’s important to figure out what the client wants early on. If they want to make their own updates, you need to build the project in a way that empowers them to do that. But if they’d rather rely on you for changes, you can focus more on efficiency in the codebase rather than making the admin interface user-friendly.

Marcel:
Exactly. And it’s always a balance. You don’t want to spend unnecessary time on training if the client won’t use it, but you also want to leave them with a solid foundation.

Chase:
Yeah, and finding that balance can make a huge difference in how the project is built and how much value it brings to the client.

Marcel:
Chase, this has been absolutely awesome. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode—our last one of the year!

Before we go, I want to ask you the same question I asked Mike earlier: How has your year been? And what are your expectations for next year?

Chase:
It’s been a year of change. One of my biggest clients graduated from WordPress to their own custom-built platform. Their business had grown to the point where that made sense for them.

It was bittersweet—kind of like sending your kid off to college. I was sad to see them go, but happy to see them get a solution that was tailored to their needs.

2024 has also been the year of integrating AI into workflows—for my clients and for myself. It started in 2023, but this year, it really took off. If you’re not using AI tools at this point, you’re already behind.

It’s been an interesting year overall—a reorientation for my business. I’m hoping to dedicate more time to advancedwoo.dev next year.

As for New Year’s resolutions, I’ve been keeping track of mine, and I’m about 75% of the way there. I’m trying to sprint to the finish and see how much I can accomplish before the year ends.

Marcel:
That’s awesome!

Mike:
We hope to see you again next year.

Marcel:
Right. We wish everyone great health, lots of energy, and renewed hopes for the new year.

Thank you, Chase, for joining us. Thank you to everyone for listening in. Happy New Year, and we’ll see you all next year! Bye-bye!