In this episode of The WP Minute+ podcast, Matt is joined by veteran writer Maddy Osman to discuss the evolving landscape of content creation in the age of AI. Maddy shares her journey, including her recent book and course launch, and reflects on the impact of AI on writing and content marketing. They explore the balance between leveraging AI tools and maintaining human creativity, the importance of personal experiences in writing, and the need for businesses to adapt to changing audience behaviors. The discussion also focuses on building trust and community in a digital world, as well as the future of WordPress in the context of AI advancements.

Key Takeaways:

• Maddy discusses how becoming a parent has changed her career.
• She launched a LinkedIn Learning course based on her book, Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style.
• AI is a tool that can't replicate everything yet.
• Content creators are among the first affected by AI.
• AI can enhance workflows, but shouldn't replace human thought.
• Human experience is crucial in writing and content creation.
• AI can create efficiencies, but may lead to a toxic hustle culture.
• Brands need to guide users through new technologies.
• Content marketing is evolving in response to shifting audience preferences.
• Building trust and human connections is essential in business.

Important Links:

• Maddy Osman on LinkedIn
• The Blogsmith
• Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style

In this episode of The WP Minute+ podcast, Kurt von Ahnen and Toby Cryns discuss the complexities of integrating AI into agency work, the challenges of managing client expectations, and the importance of effective project management. They explore the importance of clear communication with clients and the financial aspects of running an agency.

The guys emphasize the importance of agency owners setting boundaries, managing client relationships, and recognizing when to delegate tasks to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Key Takeaways:

• AI is a tool that requires proper management and understanding.
• Clients often have unrealistic expectations about AI’s capabilities.
• Setting clear boundaries with clients is essential for agency success.
• Effective project management can significantly improve workflow and client satisfaction.
• Communication is key in managing client relationships and expectations.
• Emotional deposits and withdrawals impact client relationships.
• Agency owners should not hesitate to delegate tasks they find challenging.
• Financial management is crucial for sustaining your agency’s operations.
• It’s important to establish clear guidelines for client access to projects.
• Work-life balance is vital for long-term success in agency work.

Important Links:

• Kurt’s Agency: Mañana No Mas
• Toby’s Agency: The Mighty Mo!
• Follow Kurt & Toby:
  LinkedIn: Kurt | Toby
• The WP Minute+ Podcast: thewpminute.com/subscribe

In this episode of The WP Minute+ Podcast, Kurt and Toby look at the practical and emotional challenges of managing WordPress agency projects. From sales pitfalls to client relationship dynamics and infrastructure transitions, the conversation is packed with firsthand lessons and agency wisdom.

Toby kicks off the discussion with a cautionary tale about losing a major deal due to poor energy and overexposure to meetings, a common struggle in client-driven work. Kurt emphasizes the importance of emotional readiness and shares his go-to mantra: focus on the relationship, and the transaction will follow. They discuss strategies for rescheduling meetings professionally when you’re not at your best and the dangers of showing up unprepared.

They also reflect on project management as the core skill of running a successful agency, noting that it often matters more than technical skills. They explore “the messy middle” of projects, sharing techniques for refocusing clients during chaotic phases. Kurt values minimal viable products and clear deliverables, while Toby relates these lessons to both web work and personal projects.

Finally, they discuss when to let go of problematic clients or outdated tech stacks. Whether it’s walking away from HostGator or reconsidering tools like Divi or ManageWP, both hosts agree: trust your gut, set boundaries, and don’t let short-term financial needs sabotage long-term growth.

Takeaways:

• Rescheduling a meeting when unprepared is better than pushing through and blowing the opportunity.
• Project management is often the most valuable agency skill, especially in larger contracts.
• In big projects, refocus clients by reiterating core business goals and pushing toward MVPs.
• Listen to your instincts when deciding whether to keep a client or tool, and don’t ignore red flags.
• Website migrations and infrastructure shifts should be carefully planned, ideally with internal expertise.
• Clients rarely care about minor aesthetic tweaks; they want results and functionality.

Important Links:

• Kurt’s Agency: Mañana No Mas
• Toby’s Agency: The Mighty Mo!
• Follow Kurt & Toby:
  LinkedIn: Kurt | Toby
• The WP Minute+ Podcast: thewpminute.com/subscribe

In this episode of The WP Minute+, I sit down with Carrie Dils and Karim Marucchi to talk through FAIR—short for Federated and Independent Repositories—a new package management project launched under the Linux Foundation. If you're in the WordPress space and wondering what FAIR is, why it matters, and how it might change the plugin and theme ecosystem, this is the episode for you.

Carrie, one of FAIR’s elected co-chairs, walks us through the technical architecture and vision for FAIR, including how it aims to bring more resilience and transparency to how plugins and themes are distributed. Karim adds broader context from his enterprise experience, making the case for why redundancy and federation are vital for WordPress's future. We touch on the practical details of how FAIR works today—including Fastly nodes, AspirePress, and the .3 plugin release—while looking ahead at governance, funding, and how the Linux Foundation structures this initiative.

Of course, I have some tough questions: How will FAIR balance governance with innovation? Will it become “just another bureaucracy”? How do we avoid turning this into a divisive issue—FAIR vs. .org? We talk about those tensions and the team's intention for FAIR to extend WordPress, not split it. There’s also a good reality check on how plugin moderation, security scanning, and transparency are being improved through this effort.

Whether you're running an agency, building WordPress products, or just care about where the ecosystem is heading, this episode gives you a grounded view of what FAIR is—and what it isn’t.

Great Takeaways & Quotes:

• "This isn’t a fork. This is a failover." — Karim Marucchi
• "FAIR isn't just about today’s plugin distribution problems—it’s about creating a foundation for the next 20 years of WordPress."
• "We’re building a system where plugin trust, provenance, and availability don’t rely on a single choke point."
• "Yes, FAIR is about stability, but it’s also about discoverability—for both users and developers." — Carrie Dils
• "We’re not trying to replace .org—we’ve invited .org to join the federation."
• "Even though you don’t see a difference when you update a plugin, that’s the point. FAIR is meant to be invisible until you need it."

Important URLs Mentioned:

• FAIR Project GitHub (via fair.pm)
• Linux Foundation announcement on FAIR
• AspirePress

In this episode of The WP Minute+, Kurt and Toby explore the shifting landscape of WordPress, sparked by Toby’s visit to a no-code meetup in Minneapolis. They discuss the rise of non-technical entrepreneurs building functional businesses with no-code tools and how that approach compares to the traditional WordPress ethos of craftsmanship, responsibility, and long-term support. They reflect on the decline of accountability in some corners of tech, where lifetime deals and fast-money SaaS platforms are more about hype than sustainability.

They also explore how AI is reshaping development, from creating unmaintainable codebases to confusing newer users into thinking AI can replace skilled developers. This naturally leads to the question: Are live WordPress meetups and local communities losing relevance in a world where new tech communities are buzzing with energy? Kurt and Toby share personal anecdotes and weigh the pros and cons of continuing traditional meetups versus embracing newer, more generalist tech conversations.

Rounding out the discussion, they touch on sales strategies, LinkedIn lead generation, and their experiences with marketing processes that move the needle, versus those that make noise.

Key Takeaways

• No-code tools are enabling business owners to skip traditional coding, but often at the cost of long-term stability.
• WordPress’s commitment to backward compatibility and responsibility contrasts sharply with fly-by-night SaaS products.
• AI-generated code can lead to maintenance nightmares. Human expertise is still irreplaceable.
• Local WordPress meetups may be fading, but the need for authentic community and knowledge-sharing persists.
• Sales and marketing processes like LinkedIn automation can yield real leads, but need refinement and balance.
• Speaking gigs, courses, and books remain valuable tools for agency owners to build authority and generate leads.

Important Links:

• Kurt’s Agency: Mañana No Mas
• Toby’s Agency: The Mighty Mo!
• Follow Kurt & Toby:
  LinkedIn: Kurt | Toby
• The WP Minute+ Podcast: thewpminute.com/subscribe

In this episode of The WP Minute+ podcast, Kurt and Toby dive into the common misconception that WordPress (and websites in general) should be “easy.” They share stories about custom-coded nightmares, misunderstood AI-generated solutions, and the tricky line between client expectations and developer realities. The conversation touches on the perils of overpromising simplicity in web development and the challenges freelancers face when clients hand them projects that were “supposed to be easy,” often involving ChatGPT or drag-and-drop builders like Elementor.

Kurt also shares his eye-opening experience speaking to high school students about WordPress and running an agency. Surprisingly, most students had never heard of WordPress or open-source, revealing a gap in technical and entrepreneurial education. The episode concludes with a candid discussion on freelancing versus employment, benefits myths, impostor syndrome, and the emotional leap required to run a digital agency.

Key Takeaways:

• Many clients mistake ease-of-use tools (like Elementor or AI) for simplicity in execution.
• AI-generated code often introduces unexpected complexity and risks.
• Freelancers should diplomatically explain scope, staging, and testing needs, especially for “quick” fixes.
• Young people are alarmingly unfamiliar with WordPress and open source, despite growing interest in web development.
• Running a WordPress agency is accessible, but requires an entrepreneurial mindset, not just technical skills.
• Freelancers and consultants should confidently share their work and availability. Your visibility is key to opportunity.
• Financial freedom and geographic flexibility can be drastically improved by relocating or adjusting business models.

Important Links:

• Kurt’s Agency: Mañana No Mas
• Toby’s Agency: The Mighty Mo!
• Follow Kurt & Toby:
  LinkedIn: Kurt | Toby

This is the recording between Matt Mullenweg and Mary Hubbard on stage at WordCamp Europe 2025.

They covered everything from regulation in the EU, the FAIR package manager announcement, and new education pathways, to what’s next for WordPress core and the ecosystem. The session started with Mary interviewing Matt, followed by a live Q&A with the audience, tackling concerns from longtime contributors, organizers, and first-time attendees alike.

Matt opened with thoughts on the European regulatory landscape, pointing out both the good intentions and friction caused by cookie consent banners and compliance rules. He emphasized WordPress’ alignment with other open-source CMS projects like Drupal and Joomla, and the potential for advocacy through EU-based hosting companies. The topic of establishing a legal presence for the WordPress Foundation in the EU came up—an idea that’s being considered but seen as too complex to act on right now.

The FAIR project announcement got a cautious but open-minded response from Matt. While he acknowledged the potential of a federated repository for plugins and themes, he highlighted significant concerns around trust, rollout coordination, and analytics. He stressed the importance of plugin safety, org infrastructure, and recent advances in automated vulnerability scanning.

Then came a rapid-fire Q&A: contributors asked about AI in WordPress, the sustainability team’s future, WooCommerce’s branding against Shopify, Campus Connect’s expansion, funding WordCamps in underrepresented regions, and even the need to modernize internal tools like CampTix. A big highlight was the 150-hour university credit pilot launching in Pisa this month—an exciting new way to bring student contributors into the project at scale.

Have a listen to the whole audio episode while you're on the go!

In this insightful episode of The WP Minute+, Kurt and Toby dive deep into the business mechanics behind running a WordPress-based web agency. They explore the power of blueprints: predefined, productized service packages to streamline work, deliver consistent results, and increase profitability. Rather than reinventing the wheel for every client, creating reusable setups lets agencies charge more for less effort while offering high-value, fast-launch solutions.

They also confront the reality of burnout and the importance of creating systems that minimize stress while maximizing effectiveness. The conversation shifts into the freelancer-to-agency mindset transformation, stressing the need to move beyond hourly billing and toward value-based pricing. Kurt and Toby emphasize that many freelancers undervalue their work by associating speed with cheaper rates, when in fact, expertise should warrant higher pricing.

The guys also discuss client management, feature creep, and sales strategy. They argue that most clients are less concerned with WordPress release schedules than developers assume, and that focusing on sales and client relationships is more crucial than chasing the latest features or trends. They also highlight the importance of saying “no” to misguided client ideas and protecting your energy and time as an agency owner or freelancer.

Key Takeaways

• Productizing services through blueprints leads to faster delivery and higher perceived value.
• Burnout is real, and managing it requires delegation, focusing on strengths, and structured schedules.
• Value-based pricing beats hourly billing; charging more for faster, higher-quality outcomes is fair and smart.
• Freelancers transitioning to agency owners must start thinking about scale, margins, and team delegation.
• Client success starts with responsiveness. Answering emails and calls quickly can lead to upsell opportunities and long-term relationships.
• Sales and marketing should consume a significant portion of your weekly workload to maintain a healthy pipeline.

Important Links:

• Kurt’s Agency: Mañana No Mas
• Toby’s Agency: The Mighty Mo!
• Follow Kurt & Toby:
  LinkedIn: Kurt | Toby
• The WP Minute+ Podcast: thewpminute.com/subscribe