Episode 38 – Persistence & Success with Security Consultant Robert Abela

This episode James and Jean are joined by Robert Abela, an EU based freelance IT consultant and WordPress Security Professional with WP White Security. Robert is a major player in advocacy for WordPress security, and owns the No. 1 WordPress Monitoring & Audit Trail Plugin. Additionally, aside from his own security blog, Robert is also a guest blogger on many web-security blogs and websites. Topics Include: Robert's journey with WordPress. It all started as a hobby. Robert developed on the side, but never considered himself a developer. At the same time he had a WordPress security consultancy business. He began working with a friend, but development was sporadic. After searching on a shoestring budget, Robert started working with a part-time dev. Started his premium add-on model. A multitude of competitor plugins were launched. His developer saw this as a sign of defeat and jumped ship. To make things worse, competitors knew popular people in the community and received a lot of coverage. Down but not out, Robert considered pulling the plug. Unstable sales resulted in a personal lost of $8,000 in the first year. Obligated to increase the sales - Robert sought to expose the add-ons without "in your face" advertising. His execution resulted in increased revenue, sales, and popularity. $30+k revenue this year. WP Security Audit Log is now the Number 1 plugin amongst its competitors (in terms of active downloads). Lessons learned: Never give up, but be realistic! Numbers/statistics are a good indication of how successful your product will be. Keep an eye on the competition, though don't let that hold back a good idea or plan. It's important to be first on the market, but it's not the end of the world if you're not. Success is not easy! If it were easy, everyone would be successful. The Plugin/Security: Hardening Blocking (firewalls, etc.) Control (privileges/permissions) Logging Keeping a watchful eye. Easing the process of troubleshooting. Detecting possible attack attempts. Doing forensics work in the unfortunate case of a hack cleanup. Featured on the Show: WP WhiteSecurity WP Security Audit Log Ninja Demo