Elliott Richmond joined the Jukebox Podcast to talk about two things that have shaped his last two decades: building with WordPress and turning a simple idea into a small business. A developer since the b2 days, Elliott has worked across CMS platforms, freelanced, contributed to the community, and today splits his time between development, making YouTube tutorials, and running a micro pizza operation.
From village project to licensed model
During COVID lockdowns Elliott and his wife launched a local pizza delivery service to help their village when other outlets were closed. What started as a short-term community project became a sustainable micro-business with five staff. Rather than a traditional franchise, they license the model to other operators and bundle a custom plugin to replicate their ordering and delivery flow.
Pizza Pilot: a freemium plugin
Elliott developed a freemium plugin called Pizza Pilot (with a Pro tier) to handle the specific ordering and logistics demands of the business. Key features include:
– slot-based ordering and time restrictions for production windows
– postcode distance checks for radius-based delivery control
– options for collection vs delivery
– flexible configuration so the same system can serve bakeries, pop-ups, or any business with restricted delivery windows or zones
Licensees buy the business model and receive the plugin as part of the package rather than paying ongoing franchise fees.
WordPress as the glue
The stack behind the operation is WordPress: core WordPress, WooCommerce, Jetpack and Elliott’s custom plugins. That combination handled payments, geolocation, time slots, and ordering complexity—letting a low-friction idea scale to a small team and multiple licensees.
Working with wordpress.com / Automattic
Automattic reached out to Elliott (via Michelle Frechette and Stacey Carlson) to sponsor content about wordpress.com. The collaboration gives him early access to some tools and a brief to produce videos through the year. He creates content for his own YouTube audience while aligning parts of it to be useful for wordpress.com users. The brief is intentionally flexible: Automattic suggests audiences and priorities, provides themes and guidance, and trusts creators to produce authentic, educational material rather than tightly scripted promotions.
Content approach and format
Elliott plans a mix of long-form deep dives and short-form clips for social. He sees creators filling an important documentation and education gap—especially as WordPress evolves fast around blocks, templates, patterns, and AI-driven features. His goal is practical education: explain what features do, where to find them, and how to implement them, not just repeat release notes.
How he creates videos
His process is deliberately low-friction and iterative: capture ideas with voice-to-text in Notes, do a rough brain-dump, polish with AI, then shape a loose script. When recording he uses prompts or flashcard cues rather than reading word-for-word. Editing is iterative—record, edit, step away, then return to refine. Simple motion graphics and analogies help make abstract or technical concepts (templating, the block editor) easier to understand.
YouTube as feedback loop
Elliott treats YouTube comments as real-time product feedback. Comments often inspire follow-up videos, reveal misunderstandings to address, and sometimes bring critical perspectives that become constructive when directly responded to. That back-and-forth helps both education and product usability.
Production kit and accessibility
Elliott’s gear is intentionally approachable:
– Camera: iPhone
– Lighting: DIY diffusers and small LED solutions
– Audio/monitoring: studio monitors (from a music background)
– Editing and motion graphics: DaVinci Resolve (paid for advanced features; free version is strong)
– Workflow: Notes app for ideas, voice dictation for brain dumps, AI for initial polishing, manual editing in Resolve
His point: you don’t need expensive equipment to start. A quiet room, a decent phone camera, basic lighting, and editing software are enough to begin. The harder, more valuable work is scripting, structuring explanations, and refining how you communicate technical ideas.
WordPress.com vs self-hosted WordPress
Elliott emphasizes that wordpress.com and self-hosted WordPress.org run the same underlying software. The difference is managed hosting and added platform services. Tools like the Studio app can offer local development files plus managed performance and security, which appeals to developers and site owners who want control without hosting overhead.
Future plans and community
From b2-era beginnings to modern block development, Elliott’s habit of learning and teaching has created diverse opportunities. He’s excited to make videos on developer tools (for example Xdebug in Studio), Gutenberg patterns and templates, and AI-related features. He also plans to weave pizza-related demos into technical lessons where it makes sense—things like a dough calculator or showcasing the pizza plugin in action.
Where to find Elliott
YouTube: elliottrichmondwp
Website and blog: elliottrichmond.co.uk (note: double L, double T in his first name)
This episode shows how WordPress can do more than power websites: it can be the core system for small local businesses, a platform for educational content, and a springboard for creative side ventures. Elliott’s mix of practical development, accessible teaching, and entrepreneurial experimentation illustrates the varied paths available within the WordPress ecosystem.