Well, I cannot tell you how this happened, but episode 300 snuck up on me. I had planned on doing a year-end show with my hosts, but now I’m heading off to New York City that week for the State of the Word.
As I thought about #300, I wanted to make it special is some way.
When we hit #100, my three hosts and myself had a fun time celebrating virtually and having a conversation.
At #200, I opted to share some stories of How WooCommerce Has Impacted the Lives of 7 Builders.
Staying course, and not making it about me, #300 gives me the opportunity to talk a bit and have you listen to some of my heroes. Namely, my hosts.
Where do I begin?
It all started with episode #5. Yes, 295 episodes ago. Back on May 16, 2018. Having done prior podcasts I made my way through them as a single host. I learned a lot. And I enjoyed it, kind of. Something always nagged at me. And that transpired into the fact that I wanted someone to host with me. To elevate the conversation. To bring in another perspective. And that is when I reached out to Brad Williams, and the rest is history.
You are probably thinking the same thing as me. Brad deserves some kind of an award just for putting up with me for this long.
And it grew from there
When the focus on the site grew around the podcast, in January of 2020, Jonathan Wold and Mendel Kurland joined us. Again, I was looking at bringing in more voices to the hosting side of things. One year later, more hosts were added. In fact, as of today, we have had 17 hosts in total. Seven of those are no longer on the show, but were instrumental in the growth of Do the Woo, and helped us to get where we are at today. They are Mendel Kurland, Noelle Steegs, Maja Loncar, Anna Maria Radu, Tonya Mork, Tammie Lister and Till Kruss.
There just came that time where they needed to readjust their focus and time. But each one of them knows the door is always open for them, and I am convinced they will materialize as, if anything, guests in the future.
The current Do the Woo team
A treasure trove of voices and personalities
When I decided to step back more from hosting and, instead, focus on elevating the voices through a variety of hosts, as well as guests, I could have never made a better decision in my life. And here’s why.
With the hosts that I have been lucky enough to convince in being part of this community, I could not have asked for more. Each personality shines. All of them are infused with their own sense of humor. None lack the gift of curiosity and live to learn. With their skills to put the most nervous guest at ease shows their love for people, diversity and conversation.
And there is nothing better in the world than to have trust with people you know. I give them very little direction, maybe some talking points. But the show is theirs and each one of them takes it on with humility, passion and a sense of fairness that you don’t see as much these days. They are not into sensation or drama, but instead, thrive to elevate the voices in the community.
And as a result, every day I count myself lucky and know that they are all heroes in the community we call WordPress.
I asked my hosts to share why they Do the Woo and support the Woo builder community
Abha Thakor
Hello. I’m Abha Thakor and I love supporting Do the Woo as a host, connecting builders and developers from all parts of the world. As a journalist and techie, it’s been wonderful to help tell the stories of people who’ve discovered the possibilities of eCommerce.
The stories really are amazing, ranging from bakers and musicians who have gone on to become eCommerce specialists. To people with a passion for business who find a new calling through the potential of the platforms available and a part of their ongoing development.
We’ve been inspired with stories of WordPress and WooCommerce solutions to help deal the product and economic changes. We’ve also heard how working with these Softwares, and learning alongside their communities, can be a route for better life/work balance.
Every week I hear from people who have been inspired to try new solutions or to follow the example of someone we featured. D the Woo is a very special place. And more so to work alongside bob and the rest of the crew to help spread the word about what is a truly global Woo community.
Brad Williams
Hey everybody, Brad Williams from WebDev Studios, and what inspires me most about the builder community is the absolute creativity that we get to see with everything out there. I love unique and interesting websites and projects and how we can use tools like WooCommerce and WordPress to build out things that maybe are a little less traditional that you would expect.
I love seeing the creativity, different designs, checkout processes, interesting blocks, and the use cases for WooCommerce that have really helped push the envelope. It’s inspiring to see now, just as it was 10 years ago.
So definitely keep up the great work, builder community.
Congrats and congrats to bob on episode number 300. It’s a crazy achievement. It’s extremely hard to keep the consistency that Bob does day in and day out. So hats off to you Bob, we are all better knowing that you’re out there helping push the envelope of WooCommerce and builders in WordPress in general.
Carl Alexander
Hey, this is Carl. This is gonna be a bit off brand, I’m usually very talkative.
I’m trying to think about what inspires me the most about our community and why I love being a host.
And I think it comes down to just I love helping people, I love sharing, I love that this is a community that’s about sharing and helping each other out and I feel that being a host and and talking about topics that don’t necessarily get covered as much or aren’t necessarily as sexy is just my way of shining a light and helping out other people that might be struggling or might want to know more about these topics.
And I think that’s what really inspires me is that it’s a vehicle to do that.
Jonathan Wold
My name is Jonathan and I give my time to Do the Woo because I really love the WooCommerce ecosystem. I think it’s a good example of an ecosystem. It’s been awesome seeing it grow. I love the impact that it has on WordPress more broadly. It has this great focus on helping people and merchants solve problems, create value. I love it.
I also just love hearing stories from the builder community and seeing the impact that sharing those stories can have. I love hearing about people who have made new connections because of Do the woo, they gained context and perspective they didn’t have before.
I think it’s fantastic, it’s really rewarding and yeah, I’ve enjoyed all the episodes that we’ve done and we look forward to doing. And really though, at the end of the day I just really like Bob. Bob’s fantastic. I’d do almost anything he asked me to do.
Kathy Zant
Hey, it’s Kathy Zant from KadenceWP.
I am so excited to be a part of Do the Woo.
I have gotten to speak to so many amazing people who build amazing things with WooCommerce and WordPress. And it’s such a joy to be able to give back to the community and have these discussions, finding freedom through building amazing eCommerce sites is really what this is all about. And seeing all of these new tools come to builders in this community is so exciting.
So thank you for letting me be a part of this and I’m very excited about what we’re doing in the upcoming year.
Marcus Burnette
Hi everyone, my name is Marcus Burnette and I’m part of the GoDaddy events and community team and proud to be one of the co-hosts of Do the Woo. If I remember correctly, I believe my first episode was in January of this year 2022, so I guess it’s only fitting that I reminisce about becoming a host as we close in on a full year.
I became a host after meeting Bob at WordFest in 2021. I had become much more involved with WooCommerce after being hired by SkyVerge and subsequently acquired by GoDaddy, who was looking to build something big leveraging WooCommerce. After chatting with Bob for a bit, we agreed that I might be a good fit alongside Ronald for an episode a month with someone working directly within the WooCommerce organization.
I’m still intimidated by how good Ronald is at podcast hosting and I’m constantly trying to figure out how I can improve to make sure our episodes are as good as they can be. The Woo builder community is a constant inspiration to me because that’s where my roots are before SkyVerge, then GoDaddy. I worked at a small agency designing and building WordPress and WooCommerce sites. I know the challenges Woo builders face and I’m excited that I get to be part of someone’s solution, both through the podcast episodes and my everyday work.
It truly is a joy for me to be able to share my knowledge and also learn right along with other Woo builders at the same time. Congrats on 300 episodes to Bob and all the other wonderful hosts that make this podcast so great.
Robbie Adair
Congratulations on 300 episodes of Doo the Woo, that’s an amazing accomplishment! I’m Robbie Adair, from OS Training, and I’m one of the co-hosts.
When Bob asked why I give my time as a co-host, I was a little taken aback, because I really hadn’t thought of it as “giving my time” but more as an honor to be a part of the show as a co-host, it’s truly one of my favorite volunteer tasks!
The guests that we have on the shows are top-notch, and the production is well organized and so streamlined that I feel a little guilty, like I’m not really doing work as a co-host, but rather just having great conversations with smart and experienced people for an hour at a time.
I have gained so much knowledge from others out in the builder community over the years, that I hope that in the episodes I’m involved in I can pull out information from our guests to help others as a bit of a payback and a bit of paying it forward as well.
I’m also proud to be a sponsor with OS Training, we feel that contributing to the ongoing success of Do the Woo is a win for the builder community and our OST members interested in WooCommerce and all the topics around Woo.
So again, congrats, and here’s to the future of Do the Woo!
Robert Jacobi
Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 300 episodes. Really amazing work, Bob. So why spend time with Do the Woo? Well, I think it’s really simple. It was one of the starting points for me to learn about WooCommerce way before becoming a host. I learned so much about the entire community, from plugins to people, to development.
It’s just a great resource where one can easily get deep into the WooCommerce community. Speaking of community, another wow. Having been a developer/builder many a moon ago, seeing an insanely complicated open source e-commerce platform grow is absolutely wonderful.
The dedication and intelligence of the community keeps me coming back for more. Everyone from the SMB to the Enterprise Developer Builder is actively participating and committing to a better e-commerce. Now that’s truly inspiration. So given the chance to participate as a host, was a no brainer really, to spend a few hours a month to participate in this community, for which I’m so thankful.
Yeah, no brainer. Just amazing getting to build relationships with the other hosts and guests. I just feel I get a ton more out of the experience than I have to put in at the end of the day. I feel lucky to be a part of Do the Woo.
Ronald Gijsel
Hey, Bob, it’s Ron here! One of the co-hosts on Do the Woo.
It’s been a journey. It’s quite a few years since I joined the team and it’s been an absolute delight to take part in every single episode.
I have a couple of highlights, but just to go back the first time I was interviewed by Bob on Episode 44. Back then I was working for different company. We we stayed on. You made some plans on iteration two of Do the Woo. We came up with various shows that included a set number of co-hosts like Robbie, Robert, Kathy and a few others on the way.
But I think one of the coolest things that happened as a reason not maybe as a result, but it all happened simultaneously, and I’m sure it contributes towards me getting a job at Automattic. It was the time I was applying for a job and in fact, I interviewed Matt Mullenweg back then. I’m sure he didn’t know that I was applying for a job, but looking back and also hearing the stories, that probably did contribute to being accepted. Because, of course, if you can hold an interview with your boss then I guess then you also fit within the company.
Then also, starting at Automattic, I realized how many folks, especially WooCommerce folks, I had interviewed over the time. Warren, and Paul, and some of the creative guys that I work with very closely at the moment and so many more.
So, I look back at Do the Woo being a quite a big part in my journey. I hope to do it for many more years. We certainly have a few plans.
And, Bob, Congratulations on your 300 episode and long may it live on.
Zach Stepek
Hey, this is ZacH Stepek and Bob asked me why I give my time as a host on Do the Woo and honestly it’s because I like seeing the community grow. I like seeing the WooCommerce community create crazy new things and that’s really what inspires me about the builder community that we are part of here. Seeing all of the things that all of you make and seeing you stretch the platform beyond anybody’s wildest dreams.
You know, when I first started with WooCommerce, it was very young and I never imagined back then that it would be powering the size of stores that it is now and it’s just a great thing to see.
So that’s why I’m here, that’s why I give my time and that’s what I like seeing from all of you.
And now you also know why I Do the Woo. And unsurprisingly, so much of what I love about these hosts and friends, came through in their own special voice. I am honored and humbled.
Also, there was that constant tone of it having just begun, let’s talk about next year.
Moving into 2023, more global diversity
You have heard me drop a lot of hints as what is coming here in 2023. I’m not going to drag you through my process of how we find hosts, but trust me, it’s not a simple task. With our reach and support into the global WooCommerce and WordPress community is extended, I know this must reflect in our hosts as well.
Are the current hosts going anywhere. I hope not, unless they haven’t told me yet. But seriously, I am looking at adding, not subtracting. As this process is in the works, and the mix of mediums coming your way for Do the Woo, at this point I really can’t share a lot of details and things are being worked on between now and March. But trust me, we have some exciting stuff lined up in both efforts and new hosts and guests coming to the show. And I’m just itching to tell you the details when they are ready.
Until then, we are heading into the close of the year. We’ve had a few unexpected breaks lately in our lineups, and will be taking off from the regular episodes the last half of December, with the last show of 2022 on Dec. 13th.
This will also be the week I’ll be in New York City attending the State of the Word. So if you are going to that, let’s connect. Also, in the New Year I will be heading to WCAsia and am really excited about not only visiting Bangkok but also meeting so many cool people I have yet to see IRL during that event.
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