In episode 37, we are taking our interview in a little different direction. I was going  to call it ‘Mark Forrester Unplugged,’  but that might have been a bit misleading. Instead, we are unplugging Mark from the typical interview questions he has answered in the past and getting to know Mark as a person, a shopper and yes, an entrepreneur. Listen in as I ask him some fun questions and propose a few interesting scenarios.

What I asked Mark:

* Some basics, like his favorite color, band, move, book and more

* A few fun scenarios that include his children, a unusual deserted island and a conflict with WooConf

* What his biggest frustration is when shopping online, what he would never buy online and a few more insights

* What he had wished he knew before going down the entrepreneurial road

* Which entrepreneur he looks up to

Thanks To Our Podcast Sponsor: SmallWoorld.com published by Prospress

Transcript

You can also download the transcript of this show: the-wp-ecommerce-show-transcript-october-26-2016

Bob: Hi, everyone and welcome to episode 37. Bob Dunn here, also known as BobWP on the web. Today we are slipping into a bit of a different interview format. Typically, as you have experienced, we’re bring in an eCommerce expert and ask him questions specifically around their expertise. But when I asked Mark Forrester, co-founder of WooThemes and WooCommerce to join, I thought about those dozens of interviews where Mark has shared his experiences around Woo and most currently Automatic.

We’re going to change that today. Instead, we are unplugging Mark from the typical, hard-hitting Woo question to learn more about Mark, the guy, Mark the entrepreneur and Mark the shopper. That doesn’t mean a bit of Woo won’t be scattered in but heck, why ask the same questions? With that said, welcome to the show, Mark and are you ready to roll?

Mark: Thank you, Bob. I am ready to roll and I look forward to untypical questions.

Bob: Very cool. Mark, I already gave a spoiler of what you do for a living but tell us something about Mark that people might not know.

Mark: Despite my fixed South African accent, I was in fact born in the UK. I lived there close to nine years old. What else? I’ve only been employed twice. Once as a pizza deliverer and once as a team leader at Automatic. Family wise, I have two boys. Malakai and Max. Malakai doing seven months today. Maximilian is four years old.

The entrepreneurial spirit: ‘only employed twice’

Bob: I’m intrigued at that ‘only employed twice.’ You obviously have other stuff between there but one time and then you moved from pizzas to Automatic but there’s all those in between, right?

Mark: Yeah, pizzas and then my move into more of an entrepreneurial journey. I’ve started a few businesses. I was a wedding DJ when I was at university paying for my beer tab and my rent but yeah, it’s been a long and winding journey until I found WordPress around 2005, 2006.

Bob: Okay. Yeah, so you’ve been an entrepreneur longer than you’ve actually been employed so to say.

Mark: Technically.

Favorite color

Bob: Very cool. Now, I have seven very basic and easy questions. The questions that come up over small talk when meeting someone for the first time and you’re sipping on a beer and you just don’t know what to say and then fill in the conversation. This is just going to tell us a little bit about Mark and  who is some of his favorite stuff. Let’s start with a really easy one, what is your favorite color?

Mark: At a dinner table, I would say, blue but to a WordPress community,