I am Devesh Sharma, founder of a relatively popular and one of the oldest WordPress resource sites called WPKube. I currently live in Bali, Indonesia but I grew up in India and studied Bachelors of Business Administration.
The Journey Began
I have been using WordPress ever since I can remember, I did however spend a few months playing/using a CMS, Pligg (it doesn’t seem to exist anymore but used to be a popular platform for building social booking sites).
It began with a tech/blogging tips blog, where I ended up using WordPress and realized how much it had to offer including community support, tools, and other services. Even back then the support & tools available was better than any other CMS software.
After a couple of months, I started providing WordPress services and was making around $1k/month. I don’t do that anymore but that’s how I got into WordPress initially.
The Need for WPKube
WPKube Logo
When I started WPKube (circa 2010), there weren’t as many WordPress blogs as there are now. I can remember there were only a handful of sites that focused on providing WordPress guides or tutorials.
I think the big challenge for me initially was the language, as English isn’t my first language; I used to (probably still do) make a lot of grammatical errors when writing articles. I think the proud moment was when after years of working hard, I finally started seeing some real growth.
Besides WPKube, I founded MeridianThemes that fills a very small gap in WordPress and we have been doing well since we first started. It is a small boutique theme shop with premium support.
My Workplace
Devesh Sharma Workplace
Advice for Business Owners
If you want to start your own business, do it now. Don’t wait for a perfect time in the future. Another thing building a business takes patience, it took me at least a few years before I started making enough to live off of it.
If you ask me about the perfect niche as of now, I think the education (i.e. creating courses) is doing really well.
I’d recommend checking out Starter Story & Indie Hackers to get some ideas.
WordPress & Beyond
Right now, I am trying to focus more on one project, instead of spreading myself too thin. The main goal for this year is to produce more high-quality content with real tests/benchmarks, for example, we did a guide on top hosting providers by actually purchasing all the hosting accounts & domains ourselves.
Apart from that, I also want to start doing videos, but it is probably going to take a long time before we see anything ☺.
WordPress has been growing very fast and it is great to see how it has grown in the last 10 years. I think in the next five years we will see more and more developers building tools or plugins based on block editors.
I don’t think there is any threat to WordPress yet but other website builders are spending a lot on campaigns to get WordPress market-share. Wix recently took a direct aim at WordPress by sending Bose Noise-canceling headphones.
My Love for the WordPress Community
Unfortunately, I have never attended any WordCamp, however, I have donated to many but have never been able to attend one. And how the world is going right now I don’t think I’d be able to attend one anytime soon :D.
How I Keep Myself Updated
I usually keep an eye on my Twitter feed and subscribed to WPTavern.
I Have a Life Other Than the Work
I love beaches where I spend most of my free time. Usually (or at least the last few years), most of my holidays have been spent apart from my family.
I think it is safe to say my favorite travel destination is Bali ☺.
I Reward Myself by
I reward myself by traveling to different countries or going to new places.
