Dustin works at SEO.com where he does SEO all day as his career, and hack WordPress sites at night and on weekends. “I’m an entrepreneur by nature, and enjoy coming up with business ideas.”

Dustin knew about WordPress but had always considered it “blogging software”. “When I started working with a friend on some projects in early 2010, he turned me on to WordPress despite my resistance. After we worked on a joint project for a client, I bought dustinnay.com and started building a blog. Later that year I attended my first WordCamp, founded the WP Meetup SLC group, and just kept learning and experimenting.”

Dustin wanted to share his story and insight to share the resources he’s found and show that everyone can learn WordPress. “I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed when they first start with WordPress, particularly non-developers (like me!).” Tolkien fans may have already picked up on the sly reference to The Hobbit in his presentation’s title, and warns that the presentation “will be peppered with references to Middle Earth, and possibly other geeky things.”

Though jazz isn’t what he listens to most of the time, Dustin’s favorite jazz performer is Tommy Flanagan. You can find him blogging on his new home at Oh Wise Geek.