Being able to achieve 62000+ sales of a single WordPress plugin is no mean feat. Further, doing so in a span of less than four years with a 4.7 star rating just makes it better. This is exactly what WP Bakery has managed to achieve with their Visual Composer plugin.
So, when I decided to approach Michael, the CEO of WP Bakery, for an interview – (WP Bakery is the company that cooked Visual Composer) – I had my reservations. I wasn’t really sure if I would actually be able to elicit a response from him. I dropped him a mail nonetheless and waited.
It took some time, but I eventually did get a reply. Michael’s email to me answered a part of my question on what makes Visual Composer such a success- it is Humility. Here’s what he said.
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The rest, as they say, is history. I sent my questions across and got some really great responses. He spoke about topics ranging from what made him start development of Visual Composer to why he would like to be Toni Schneider for a day if given a chance.
So without any further rambling from my end let’s take a look at how a web designer becomes the owner of one of the highest selling plugins in WordPress.
Tell us something about yourself.
First of all thanks for having me. I started my career as a web designer and worked for various leading digital agencies with a focus on Adobe Flash and ActionScript. At some point, I discovered WordPress when it was in the early stage and it grabbed my attention. Step by step I examined and experimented with the capabilities of this newborn platform resulting in the development of WordPress themes and Visual Composer Page Builder eventually.
What prompted you to begin with Visual Composer?
When you work with a platform for a long time you start to see the things that should and must be improved in order to get out the maximum benefit. After working with WordPress, I saw how me and my customers are fighting with content management and spent their valuable time on something that could be performed more easily.
(I know what he means since we are using Visual Composer on the WisdmLabs’s website. It has made page creation EXTREMELY EASY, to say the least)
In the beginning I started to work on Visual Composer as a side project in order to improve my WordPress themes and it was mainly based on my requirements which proved to be problems all WordPress users were facing globally. People around the globe gave Visual Composer a try and saw how they can save their time and how easy it is to build same layouts they made previously by simple drag and drop.
How does it feel to be the owner of the highest selling WordPress plugin on CodeCanyon?
It is an honor for me to see how my product helped so many people around the globe. Nevertheless, you can’t just sit back and watch – Visual Composer requires constant improvements in different directions so it is an ongoing process. Me and my team are working hard every day by introducing new functionality, optimizing existing features and working hand in hand with our loyal customers to stay aligned with their needs and wishes.
All WPBakery themes are centered around blogs. Any particular reason for that?
Taking into account that different business spheres require different approach and solutions I would say it is not proper to try and handle everything at once. There are few good themes which cover multiple business disciplines and it took some time for them to get there.
At the beginning of my career as a theme developer I wanted to focus on a specific group of individuals who are active in terms of web development. Research showed that taking into account user requirements and my own experiences I need to focus on creative individuals who use blog type pages for both – blogging and portfolio. By defining this niche, I ensured that my solutions are focused on solving problems in and around their sphere of business in the best possible way.
Why do you choose to sell WPBakery products on CodeCanyon?
In the early stages of entrepreneurship, there are things you cannot handle yourself. There are people with great ideas and products who fail just because “they can do everything on their own”. I did not want to make such a mistake.
It is important to divide your business model and see if there is a ready mechanism or a trustful partner to handle some of the tasks. This is something I saw at Envato – they offered an easy to use platform which lets me focus on my primary business tasks. In addition – young entrepreneurs need to do a lot towards attracting customers and any help is valuable here. Envato has a huge number of users who are just waiting for game-changing products like Visual Composer, Revolution Slider and so on which makes it an ideal marketplace.
What are your views on the misuse of GPL? And how does this affect the industry as a whole?
I see here two basic problems – the first one is that people are willing to see what you want to see, not what it really means. People try to translate GPL in the form they wish it to be not it should be – this is a self-convincing process which is a hard to fight against. You got to talk to those people and be ready to explain the same things on and on several times before they start to listen.
The second problem is people who do not respect others’ hard work. There is nothing much to say about this as the reasons of such behavior are different. Here I can only add that I feel sorry for these people because first of all they do not respect themselves and by violating licenses, they clearly state that they are not able to create something by themselves.
What is cooking currently at WPBakery?
As always there are a lot of things that must be done to Visual Composer. It is an ongoing process where you just cannot stop. We want expand it to make an ultimate tool for WordPress and we are moving towards this direction.
Simultaneously, we have a few side projects which are currently in an early stage and have a classified mark on them 🙂 But once they see the light you will surely hear about them 🙂
Which of these personalities would you choose to be for a day – Matt Mullenweg, Joost de Valk or Toni Schneider and why?
You have named here some very impressive and influencing personalities and it is really hard to point out one. But if there is a choice to make I would say – Toni Schneider. He has been able to handle management processes of companies of different scales, sizes, and types. He is a hard-working leader who gathers bright minds around himself. At the same time, he’s been able to manage his time, to have enough of both – business and family. And this is something worth learning as you do not want to end up being completely alone with your companies at the end of the day.
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Once again thank you for the interview. I found few questions really forced me dig deeper into myself and this is something I would like to wish to all the readers. Look into yourself more often, examine your success and mistakes to learn from them and become better than you’ve been yesterday.
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That, dear readers was Michael from WP Bakery with insights on all things WordPress and then some more! Thanks a lot Michael for making the time for this interview!
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