Episode 127 – Dean Burton

Introducing Dean Burton

Dean has been working with WordPress as a customer success lead at WP Buffs. He works alongside the team there to make sure that their clients and agency partners are successful.

Show Notes

Website | wpbuffs.com

Twitter| @burtondean

Instagram |@burtondean

Preferred Pronouns | He/Him

Episode Transcript

Tara: This is Hallway Chats, where we meet people who use WordPress.

Liam: We ask questions and our guests share their stories, ideas, and perspectives.

Tara: And now the conversation begins. This is Episode 127.

Liam: Welcome to Hallway Chats. I’m Liam Dempsey.

Tara: And I’m Tara Claeys. Today we’re joined by Dean Burton. Dean has been working with WordPress as a customer success lead at WP Buffs. He works alongside the team there to make sure that their clients and agency partners are successful. We’re glad to have you here. Welcome, Dean.

Dean: Hey, thanks for having me. Thank you.

Liam: Hey, Dean, nice to meet you. Thanks for joining us out here. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, please?

Dean: Yeah. Thanks. I’m Dean. I’m from the UK, currently living in Spain. I work for WP Buffs. We’re a WordPress maintenance care and support company. I’m the customer success lead over there. So I get to do all the fun stuff like keeping customers happy alongside the team.

Tara: How did you discover that position? Were you were already working with WordPress before you started doing that?

Dean: Yes. This is a really good question because my journey was kind of all over the place before I came to WordPress. I was freelancing, so I was building websites as a freelancer kind of half successfully but also struggling because I was learning WordPress at the time as well. I think most freelancers start out that way with WordPress. I was exploring free WordPress before I began working with it officially. I followed that usual path of I guess discovering WordPress and then eventually working with it. And then eventually I found WP Buffs and spoke to Joe and Nick and then became part the team eventually. But it took quite a while to get to that point definitely.

Tara: Joe was one of our very first guests on Hallway Chats. I’ve known him for a long time and it’s been great to see his company WP Buffs expanding and to have a team of great people like yourself. Have you worked on a team like that before or is this your first…? As a freelancer, we often work alone a lot. So what’s it been like working on a team?

Dean: Outside of WordPress and tech world, I’ve worked on teams before. For me, working in a team like this is not new. The one thing that was new was working with free WordPress and working 100% remote. So I did have to make a big switch when I came over to WP Buffs. Of course, as a freelancer, I was working remote as well, but you’re so distracted by the hundred different hats you try to wear as a freelancer or an agency, and you kind of almost forget you’re doing it remotely, I guess. I think one of the big switches for me was really settling into the remote work and how the communication worked in a remote team. That whole thing was kind of brand new to me really. I have little maybe work experience, it was just kind of coming into a team that was already set, and I was like, “Wow, this is just like a brand new world to me.” But it was fun.

Tara: That’s interesting. We were talking before we started that you live in Spain but you’re originally from the UK. So you’re remote working from your expat life.