Teacher
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved helping people.
Fun fact: I’m actually a qualified teacher.
I worked in UK schools for 10 years teaching 5-11 year olds (tough crowd). So I know a thing or two about breaking down tough-to-grasp concepts in ways that literally anyone can understand.
Here’s something that still makes me smile: the headteacher I worked under still tells people I’m by far the best teacher he ever worked with in his 40-year career.
I loved being a classroom teacher. But my enthusiasm for the education system waned when teaching became less about inspiring young children and more about ticking boxes and bureaucracy.
So I decided to leave the classroom behind and become a web designer instead.
Web designer
To say I had zero experience of building websites before deciding to quit my teaching job wasn’t entirely true.
I’d built my first website in 1998, back when the internet was in black and white.
So in 2003 I turned pro and started my own web design agency, learning on the job and hand-coding all the way.
I went on to spend 16 years building websites and lead-generating funnels for clients, getting deep into the tech and understanding how all the pieces fit together.
Back to teaching… but this time it’s different
Despite running a profitable agency, I often found myself feeling frustrated with client project work—unfulfilled and searching for greater meaning.
Deep down, there was always a recurring niggle that I could never completely ignore:
“What are you doing, Dave? You’re meant to be a teacher.”
But what really pushed me over the edge: I kept seeing absolutely terrible online education everywhere I looked. Boring webinars, rambling tutorials, courses that had no clear objective or result in mind.
So in 2017, I threw my cards in the air again and returned to teaching, but this time online, combining my classroom teaching skills with all that web design expertise I’d built up.
The online education years
Here’s what nobody tells you about making online tutorials: it’s way harder than it looks.
When I first started, I struggled with everything… the tech setup, the instructional design, even just figuring out how to explain things clearly on screen versus in person. I nearly gave up trying to produce the quality of education I had in mind.
But I kept at it, figuring out what worked and what didn’t through trial and error.
Fast forward to today:
I’ve created hundreds of hours of tutorial content across 10 popular online courses—including No Stress WordPress and Build With Bricks—as well as a YouTube channel with over 1.6 million views.
What I discovered was that people didn’t just want to learn WordPress—they were hungry for education that actually worked. Clear explanations, logical progression, someone who could make the complex feel simple.
My audience kept telling me I was the best online teacher they’d ever experienced. Not because I was the most technical expert, but because I’d learned how to help them actually understand things, and make it fun along the way.
And that got me thinking.
The next chapter
I’ve realised more recently that my real superpower isn’t teaching WordPress or web design specifically.
It’s creating educational experiences that genuinely change people’s lives. It’s giving them the skills, the confidence, and the clarity to do things they never thought they could.
So these days my work is twofold.
I still create my own courses that help non-coder WordPress web designers and small business owners succeed. I’m especially excited about soon delivering version 2 of my popular signature course, Build With Bricks, in a whole new way.
I’m about to get busy with my YouTube channel again, after a bit of recent neglect.
But I also love helping digital tech professionals and product companies create and launch their own tech-focused tutorials that their audiences and customers love (see how we can work together).
Most online education doesn’t fail for lack of information. It fails because it isn’t designed around how humans really learn.
I’ve seen both sides: what works in a classroom with kids, and what works online with adults. Now I’m bringing that experience together to help people create tech-focused education that makes a real impact.
In the end, it all comes back to the same belief: great teaching has the power to change lives. That’s what inspires me to do this work every day.
My life outside work
My life outside teaching is nice and simple, just the way I like it.
It seems I’m a solid INFJ, and proud of it. After a lifetime of trying and failing to be an extrovert, I now know introversion’s my super-power.
After a brush with testicular cancer in 2015 (yes, having just one is no problem), and a severe case of diverticulitis in late-2020 that nearly killed me, I look after myself these days.
Music is my life. I’ve played guitar since age 7, saxophone since age 14.
I’ve played guitar in a band called Lithium Joe since 1993 and we still rehearse, record, and play gigs. I love it.
My music listening tastes are pretty eclectic. I listen to all kinds of things, but have a particular love of 1950s/60s jazz, ska, reggae, 90s rave, hard house, techno, 1980s indie, and 1990s US punk. I also have a love of U2 that bit me when I was 11 years old and has never left me.
I still think Bono is a bit of a dick though.
I’m a dad to two grown-up kids I could not be more proud of, and husband to an incredible wife who deserves a medal after all these years.
I’m a lucky guy.