I recently had the great opportunity to have my first mini-interview with a blogger who is really taking the Wordpress niche by force - Adriaan (Adii) Pienaar. Adii (pronounced AY-DEE) of South Africa calls himself a designer, blogger, Wordpress rockstar, and strategist. He is one of 2 people I have met online who I feel actually cares and doesn’t just ignore me. It is this kind of behavior that allows me to respect who he is and what he does.

If you haven’t read his blog yet, I highly recommend that you do so now. He covers so much information with such great personality that it is hard to leave his site. There is something about the way he writes that is so personable, not to mention useful.
If you haven’t already, check out his Premium News Theme. This beautiful, elegant, and practical design will fit just about any of your blogging needs.

Now to the interview:

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1. You consider yourself a wordpress rockstar. What is it about you that makes you unique?

Mmm… I guess it’s my Rockstar-like good looks… Nah, only joking… Seriously, I think my approach to blogging and WordPress development has been unique due to the fact that I take a personal interest in everything I do - I’m thus not an automated response robot, but instead I consider myself to be approachable to anyone. Adding your own personality to the mix is one of the most important aspects of building an online personality / reputation, because people don’t want to speak to or follow what a robot is doing…

2. Do you believe that the wordpress niche has become too saturated for startups to make a name for themselves?

Oh hell no! The WordPress market is wide open and demand is so much higher than the supply of quality WordPress related services - so there’s more than enough work to go around for the startups to get into the market.

3. Who/what has been your greatest source of inspiration as both a freelancer and a blogger?

That’s a tough questions, as I don’t think I’ve had any online role models… There’s obviously a few designers that I really look up to and follow religiously, but all my role models has come from more traditional spheres of life. Blogging and freelancing all comes down to being ambitious and making something work (in my opinion anyway) - and in that sense, Richard Branson is major source of inspiration for me business-wise.

The greatest inspiration in my life (in general, but it influences my blogging and freelancing) is my fiance, who just provides me with so much love, support and inspiration that it is literally impossible not to succeed!

4. What has been your greatest blogging mistake or error?

Trusting people that has proved themselves not to be trustworthy…

5. If you could go back in time and change something about your career or business, what would it be?

Nothing really, except that I just wish that I had started this journey of mine 6 months prior to when I did (beginning of this year).

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That’s my first mini-interview and I hope you enjoyed it. Adii has turned out to be a major inspiration in my blogging career thus far and I highly recommend that you check out his site and see what he is all about.
~Brian