Get To Know Colin Dowling
Colin Dowling is Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Media Temple. Before transitioning to Media Temple, Colin worked in Enterprise Accounts and Agencies at WP Engine and was Vice President of Sales at ISON, LLC.
We’re thrilled Colin will be speaking at WordCamp Sacramento 2016 on Leveraging Partnerships to Grow Your Web Development Business!
Speaker Q&A With Colin
To help you learn even more about Colin, we asked him to answer a few questions for us — some WordPress-related, and some others we think you’ll appreciate 🙂 Be sure to give him a shout out on Twitter and don’t forget to use our hashtag #wcsac.
What inspired you to give this talk at WordCamp?
I work with developers every day that do amazing work yet still struggle to keep the pipeline full. How many times can you ask past clients for new referrals before the well runs dry? How many times can you go to the same network events hoping that THIS TIME a potential new client happens to show up? How many times have you said “yes” to a project that was uninteresting or didn’t align with your skills just because you needed the revenue?
Building a robust pipeline doesn’t have to keep web professionals up at night. The resources you need are right under your nose! I’m excited to share some tips with the community about how to build their business whether they are a freelancer or a full dev-shop.
How did you discover WordPress?
It’s been at least a dozen years since I started my first blog at WordPress.com. Since then I’ve tooled around with other options but I’m an impatient person — WordPress is fast and flexible and lets me get my ideas online fast (which is my favorite thing about it!).
How has WordPress Or WordCamp impacted you?
I’ve made amazing friends at WordCamp and built a career our of being a WordPress enthusiast. I’m not much of a developer, if I’m being honest. But I do feel expert at recognizing how WordPress can impact businesses of all shapes and sizes. I’ve introduced WordPress to organizations large and small that have come away thinking, “Where has this been all this time?”
How do you primarily work with WordPress?
In the literal sense, I help sell infrastructure and managed services to power WordPress sites. (Full disclosure: I also sell those things for other non-WordPress projects.) But that simplifies things a bit much. I believe we are only just starting to realize what the internet can be. The potential is vast and I think that WordPress is going to continue playing a big role in the coming years. So I’d rather say that I like to help people solve digital problems. Maybe I sell infrastructure. But just as often I introduce people and companies to a new technology or developer, help them open their eyes as to what really is possible.
What does the WordCamp theme Discovery mean to you?
Like I said above, the internet is still in its formative stage. We are only just discovering what’s possible and things we can’t imagine right now will seem common for the next generation.
What is the latest book you read?
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.
What is your favorite restaurant? Favorite menu item?
Faith and Flower, Oxtail.
What TV series are you current binging on/into?
The Wire and Newsroom.
What do you do for fun?
I enjoy being outside. Mowing the lawn, hiking, sitting by the pool, golf. Outside and (trying to be mostly) unplugged is good.