Has Opinions Podcast

Has Opinions 18: Building a Laravel CI App

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Wed, 29 May 2019 16:24:00 +0000

Chris and Daniel discuss seeing Hamilton, the end of Game of Thrones, and side project updates.

Chris shares more details about Chipper CI and the process of building a continuous integration app focused on Laravel.

Daniel shares about updating Shop Plugins to a new ecommerce WordPress theme and doing SEO content updates.

Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 17: We back

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Fri, 17 May 2019 17:17:00 +0000

Chris and Daniel return after a few month hiatus with updates and more opinions!

Chris talks about shutting down back ops and a new project in the works Chipper CI.

Daniel gives some updates on his projects.

Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 16: 2018 Wrap Up and 2019 Goals

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Mon, 24 Dec 2018 17:30:00 +0000

In the last episode of 2018 Chris and Daniel talk about how 2018 went and some goals for 2019.

Daniel mentions his book podcast: The Book Alliance.

In 2019 Chris wants to get back to putting out free content. He also wants to work more on https://backops.app/

Daniel wants to "default to action", keep going on buildszn.com, and ship more.

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 15: Project Updates!

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Fri, 7 Dec 2018 02:25:00 +0000

Chris and Daniel talk about how Black Friday sales went and give updates on their side projects.

Chris gave an update on mysqlbackups.tv and previews backops.app

Daniel gave an update on #BUILDSZN and how sales went for shopplugins.com. Daniel also talks about a marketing audit report he got from Get Ellipsis.

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 14: Holidays for Developers

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 15:39:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about what it's like around the holidays when you're a developer.

How do you have a good holiday as a developer?

Deploy code the day before a holiday? No!

Code freeze a week before a holiday? Yes!

Chris gave an update on mysqlbackups.tv

Daniel gave an update on #BUILDSZN

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 13: How do you choose what to project to work on?

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Sun, 11 Nov 2018 16:00:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about the process of choosing which product idea to work on next.

When choosing an idea to work on for a side hustle what is the best way to choose an idea?

Daniel saw this tweet by Justin Sainton and responded with his answer:

Go with whichever sounds more fun and that you can get fast traction
on. Get something in front of people with money fast.

In the podcast Chris and Daniel talk about how they keep track of ideas, and how they choose the next idea that will get worked on.

Daniel just read Pieter Levels' book Make that has a section describing how Pieter chooses ideas to work on.

Daniel started streaming on Twitch for #buildszn and found this OBS tutorial very helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2HzbY8E4yQ

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 12: Building Houses and Businesses. #BUILDSZN is now!

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Fri, 2 Nov 2018 13:26:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about more home stuff. Chris is getting some remodeling done and Daniel is building a house.

Chris shares a humorous story about his time living in an apartment.

After discussing all of these home expenses we ask "How do we pay for this stuff?"

Is the answer "build an app"? Or maybe start a business outside of digital like a landscaping business? We discuss the thought process of choosing ideas to pursue and the process of executing on those ideas.

What do you do with business ideas you have?
Have you considered buying an existing business?
Have you thought about copying another business idea

Daniel announces #BUILDSZN which is a short and focused time of learning and building a saas. This is like a self-funded, self-directed startup incubator where success is defined by just doing it.

Chris updates on mysqlbackups.tv. He's about 20 videos in to building his info product. He's now working with a video editor and setting up a drip email campaign for new student courses.

We finish the episode talking about Jon and Justin's Build your Saas podcast. Jon, Daniel is sorry he called you "Jeff".

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 11: Should you go to that tech conference?

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 20:49:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about tech conferences and our opinions about them.

Daniel was a presenter at a free online conference before recording the podcast. So both Daniel and Chris share about the first conference they went to, traveling to conferences, and going to conferences with and without family members.

Chris made progress on mysqlbackups.tv this week and Daniel launched a new plugin at shopplugins.com.

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 10: Andrey Butov from Bootstrapped.fm

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 20:22:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel chat with Andrey Butov from bootstrapped.fm!

Andrey is the owner and developer at Antair. We talk about shipping apps, side projects, weightlifting, life with kids, and ignoring the iPhone 😱.

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 9: Hardware Bonanza

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 4 Oct 2018 21:28:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel give updates on the week and talk about the hardware we use to do our remote jobs.

Daily Drive

Desktop Computer Apple iMac 27 inch
Sit Stand Desk: IKEA Bekant, Jarvis Bamboo
Second Monitor
Mistel Barocco

Mobile Setup

Apple MacBook Pro
Apple iPhone X

Audio Gear

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Our side projects:

Has Opinions 8: College Degree vs Coding Bootcamp

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 09:33:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about building a closet recording studio, a do nothing weekend, and an example of a Computer Science Degree vs a coding bootcamp.

This week the struggle is real for Chris trying to build a studio in a closet to have a quiet place to record. Mics, tables, and legs, oh my!

Daniel spent the past weekend summoning the gig economy to bring him stuff so he could do absolutely nothing all weekend.

We spend the episode discussing a blog post from a local bootcamp written by a person who got a 4 year degree majoring in computer science, couldn't get a job after graduation, and then went through the bootcamp and got a job.

Why did a degree that costs upwards of $200,000 not provide enough skills for a graduate to get a job?

Was a coding bootcamp that costs $22,500 the only viable option to get hired in the tech industry?

Is this a roadmap to success or a cautionary tale?

Is there more to this story? (probably!)

We have opinions!

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@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 7: Deep Work and Kid Free Trips

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 08:10:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about kid free trips with our spouses and the book Deep Work.

Both of us had kid-free trips this past weekend. It's hard to do, but so very needed.

We spent most of the episode discussing the book Deep Work by Cal Newport.

If you ascribe to "Deep Work" how do you choose what work to work deeply on if you're a founder?
Example: Daniel could do deep work learning React, Vue.js or some other framework. Or I can hire someone to do tasks requiring that skill and instead do deep work learning how to identify and serve customers.

Daniel describes the book and how it's split into two parts: The case for deep work, and how to do deep work.
Chris has found time-boxing super helpful to get tasks done.

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@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 6: Health care and self-employment

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 21:40:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel have opinions on health care in the USA as a self-employed person.

We are each heading out of town this weekend with our spouse on trips without kids!

We describe the health care Marketplace which is where people in the United States can purchase health insurance when they do not get access to it through their employer.

Daniel is self employed and Chris might be one day so this is something we both think about.

We discuss the benefits of having an HSA and that sometimes the cash price is similar or close enough to the insurance negotiated price.

Going self-employed comes with risk because there is no guaranteed paycheck. Daniel shares that health insurance is just a small part of that risk and shouldn't be used as a reason to not start your own company or be independent.

We suggest:

Have an emergency fund
Decide what you think you might need for health insurance in the next year when deciding between high vs low deductibles (and how that affects your monthly payment)

We then discuss if there is a possibility or market for creating a company with other entrepreneurs purely to get a group insurance plan?

Has Opinions 5: Vacation is Productive, Tesla is your babysitter

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 6 Sep 2018 14:42:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel give updates on their side businesses and share their opinions about what a terrible financial decision cars can be.

Chris shares updates about mysqlbackups.tv and talks about updating an RDS server in production 😱.

Daniel shares about doing that content dance for growdevelopment.com.

Chris shares about his new project of remodeling a bedroom closet into a recording studio. This is the byproduct of having an infant in the house who you don't want to wake up. We also discuss if a sleeping baby can be left in a zero-emissions vehicle and when Tesla will make a robot babysitter 🤔.

The rest of the episode is spent discussing a quote from The Fizzle Show episode about "The Danger of Not Taking Time Off":

I realized in the course of doing business long enough, you really do
learn, oh man, i am the problem in my business right now. I'm the
problem because I can't think straight. I don't know what to do next.
I don't have the right mindset to get the projects that I'm doing over
the finish line.

Through trying to build a business to have the kind of lifestyle I
want, I don't have the kind of lifestyle I want because I'm always
on.

Time off is important stuff indeed. We also talk about the concept of a "Founder's Retreat" as described by Rob Walling.

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 4: Side Hustles & How Cars Affect Your Wealth

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 14:25:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel give updates on their side businesses and share their opinions about what a terrible financial decision cars can be.

Chris shares updates about mysqlbackups.tv.

Daniel shares some back story along with updates on shopplugins.com.

Cars are a necessity while living in a suburb like both hosts do. Cars can be a tool, or they can be a depreciating asset of doom. Daniel bought a used car this week and shares the thought process of that decision.

Daniel tells a cautionary tale about the cost of classic cars and says farewell to his beloved Vanagon.

We also discuss other thoughts like "Can using a Lyft be a viable alternative to a second car?"

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 3: Laracon, Side Projects, Dadops, and Social Media

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 21:46:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about Laracon 2018, our side projects, #dadops, and how social media sucks.

It's summertime so we have both been traveling. Chris flew to Chicago to attend Laracon 2018 and was rewarded with a case of plague. (He's all healed up!)

We talked about our side projects. Chris shared a new course he's working on https://mysqlbackups.tv/

We both have a wife and kid(s) and work from home so we talked about productivity and #dadops.

We laid out our opinions on how social media sucks lately, and how we wonder if a new contender like Mastodon might make social great again.

We also shared our opinions on living in the 46th North American market when it comes to tech talent.

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Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Daniel
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions: 2 Time, Money, and Freedom

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 22:12:00 +0000

Today Chris and Daniel talk about Time, Money, and Freedom.

We both got fired up about Tropical MBA episode 448 "The Cult of Early Retirement" so we wanted to share a bit about how we feel would answer the question of "What should you do after you get out of debt and get a handle on your income?"

We then talk about the different types of income streams available on the internet and our experience with some of them.

Email questions and comments to hosts@hasopinions.wtf

Find us on Twitter at at:

@growdev - Dan
@fideloper - Chris

Has Opinions 1: WoW again

daniel@growdevelopment.com (Chris Fidao and Daniel Espinoza) — Sun, 1 Jul 2018 22:12:00 +0000

Our first episode of the Has Opinions podcast where we discuss starting to play World of Warcraft after a many year hiatus.
We're just figuring out our audio setup in this episode.