Tag: Community

  • People First, Profits Second: What I’ve Learned About Relationships and Sales

    For a good portion of my career, I treated business and personal relationships like two separate worlds.

    Work was work. Personal was personal.

    The reality is that those lines blur fast. Especially in sales. Especially when you’re working with people over long periods of time. Especially when money, pressure, and pride get involved.

    So let me lay it out simply:
    Sales is relationships.

    Selling With a Heartbeat

    In any sales process, you’re working with a real person, someone with a family, a career, a past, and a future. Sometimes you’ve known them in other roles. Sometimes you’ve never met. But if you want to earn their trust, it starts by showing up as a person, not just a pitch.

    Yes, I have goals.
    Yes, I represent a company.
    Yes, I want to close the deal.

    But if I lead with that, I lose the thing that matters most: connection.


    When the Deal Doesn’t Happen

    Here’s a hard truth: some deals aren’t meant to happen.

    Maybe the budget isn’t there.
    Maybe your solution isn’t the right fit.
    Maybe they just don’t want to move forward.

    That doesn’t mean the relationship failed.
    That doesn’t mean you lost.
    That doesn’t mean they’re not worth keeping in your world.

    One of the biggest mistakes I made early in my career was burning bridges if I couldn’t cross them immediately. It’s a short-sighted move. Because in business, as in life, people circle back.

    If you can maintain the relationship after the deal falls through, you’re doing it right.


    Emotional Triggers and Financial Stress

    Let’s talk about the pressure. The “I need this deal to pay my mortgage” kind of pressure. I’ve been there. When I was in that mode, I sold from fear. I made bad decisions. I acted selfishly. I damaged relationships that could’ve lasted.

    The irony is, the more desperate I was, the less people wanted to buy from me.

    Only when I got my personal finances under control, and stopped tying every lead to my survival, could I finally show up as a helpful partner, not a hungry salesperson.


    The Long Game

    Some relationships take months. Others take years. If you play the long game, if you show up honestly, consistently, and with curiosity, things tend to unfold.

    Even when you’re not “selling,” you’re building trust. Trust turns into deals. Or referrals. Or friendships. And sometimes, all three.

    Here’s my current compass:

    • Be honest. Even if it costs you a deal.
    • Be curious. Even when there’s nothing immediate to gain.
    • Be kind. Even if they pick a competitor.
    • Be patient. You don’t need to win every time.

    My Mantra

    Whenever I’m feeling anxious or out of alignment in a business relationship, I come back to a simple mantra:

    I’m enough.
    I deserve to be in the room, flaws and all.

    I have much to contribute.
    My experience and ideas matter–and can help others.

    I have much to learn.
    Every person I meet knows something I don’t.

    That last part has saved me more times than I can count. Especially when I feel like I need to prove myself.


    Final Thought: Relationships Over Revenue

    Agency owners, freelancers, consultants, we all live in the balance between relationships and revenue.

    You’re going to mess up sometimes. You’ll take things personally. You’ll push too hard or ghost someone who didn’t “convert.” I’ve done it. We all have.

    But with time, and a little humility, you can build a career where your integrity is the value prop.

    Because in the end, we don’t do business with businesses.

    We do business with people.

    And if you take care of the relationship, the sales will follow.

  • My first contribution to WordPress

    I didn’t set out to contribute to WordPress. I was just curious about a new feature.

    In WordPress 6.6, a new auto-rollback feature was being tested—something designed to help users recover automatically when a plugin update breaks their site. I’d heard about it through the usual community chatter and decided to give it a try. I figured at the very least, I’d learn something new. What I didn’t expect was to become part of the release process.

    Following testing instructions from Andy Fragen and Colin Stewart, I installed a special plugin that was intentionally built to trigger a PHP error. The goal was to see how WordPress handled failure—and how the new rollback system would recover from it. The test went smoothly. WordPress detected the problem, rolled the plugin back to the previous version, and sent me an email.

    But that email? It left me a little uncertain. It worked—but it didn’t fully explain what had happened. Which plugin had failed? What was restored? Did the update go through at all?

    I shared my feedback with the team: make the notification email more descriptive. A few tweaks to language could make a big difference in user confidence, especially for people who aren’t developers. The idea was simple—don’t just tell users something happened, tell them what and why.

    That small suggestion became my first real contribution to WordPress core.

    It wasn’t a patch or a line of code, but it was part of the process. The developers had done an incredible job making the testing environment clear and easy to follow. It felt approachable. And that changed everything for me.

    Since then, I’ve given a few talks about this feature—how it works, why it matters, and how it makes WordPress safer for everyday users. As part of my role at Kinsta, I’ve been lucky to speak with developers and agency owners about tools like this and how we can all make the web more resilient.

    I used to think contributing to WordPress meant writing complex code. Now I see it’s really about showing up, being curious, and offering what you can—even if it’s just a better subject line in an email.

    So if you’ve ever thought about contributing but weren’t sure where to start, this is your nudge: try something. Test a feature. Ask a question. Suggest an improvement. You might be more helpful than you think.

  • Building WordCamp Canada: A Conversation with Sofia Shendi

    Sofia Shendi has been working on the web for over 20 years, with roots in software programming and a deep passion for front-end development. In a recent interview for Kinsta Talks, I had the chance to hear more about her journey—and how she’s now playing a key role in organizing WordCamp Canada 2025.

    From Software to the Front-End

    Sofia began her career with formal training in software programming, specifically .NET. But as she quickly discovered, real-world demand pushed her in a different direction.

    “As soon as I got out of school, I couldn’t find work related to .NET. Everyone was doing PHP. So I started taking contracts, relearned everything on the fly, and fell in love with front-end development.”

    That flexibility became a cornerstone of her career. She freelanced for eight years, worked with agencies, and now finds herself at Kanopi Studios, where she helps nonprofits build better digital experiences.

    Discovering WordPress—and the Community Behind It

    Sofia has been working with WordPress since it first launched. What started as a tool for portfolio sites became a long-term relationship with open-source software—and the people who build it.

    “I’ve been working with WordPress from the moment it became available as an open-source platform… and I still rely on the skills I developed in those early years.”

    Recently, she’s done a deep dive into Gutenberg and block-based development. She admits the learning curve was real but says it’s been worth it.

    “That’s what I love about web—if you’re comfortable with constant change, you’re in the right place.”

    Getting Involved with WordCamp Canada

    Sofia didn’t plan to join the organizing team for WordCamp Canada—it just happened naturally.

    “I joined the Slack channel out of curiosity. I saw they needed help with French translations, and as a French speaker, I jumped in. From there, it just grew.”

    WordCamp Canada will take place October 16–17 at Carleton University in Ottawa, and Sofia is part of the team bringing it to life. She’s particularly excited about:

    • Welcoming first-time and returning speakers, especially those helping newcomers understand the WordPress block editor
    • Bringing together volunteers who want to make new friends and give back
    • Possibly organizing a Contributor Day, so more folks can learn how to contribute to WordPress

    Why You Should Get Involved

    When I asked Sofia what stood out most about organizing this event, she didn’t hesitate:

    “Everyone has been so nice. It’s always been my experience with the WordPress community—it’s a very welcoming group.”

    WordCamp Canada is shaping up to be a special event, with something for everyone—tech talks, networking, language accessibility, and a great setting in downtown Ottawa.


    Want to Get Involved?

    Here’s how you can take part:

    If you’ve ever been curious about joining the WordPress community—or you’re ready to give back—this is a great place to start.