Third Time Lucky How I Conquered WordPress
Finding your voice as an author is a tricky thing. It’s like painting a picture or sculpting a statue — you have to figure out how to use your voice, what kind of tone you want to establish, and then apply it properly in order to get the desired effect.
As meek and mild-mannered as I may seem at times, there are actually several reasons why I have made it this far as an entrepreneur and writer. My self-confidence has grown over the past few years not because I always talk with an intense level of passion, but because I develop my skills by talking about things that matter to me and trying to convey that message through different mediums.
This article will discuss one such tool: WordPress!
WordPress is a free website control panel that allows you to create your own web pages or blogs. Not only can you easily edit and update content yourself, but there are also plenty of third party apps and services that help you spread your online presence even more.
It’s tough to find positives about paying money for something, right? Luckily, the opposite side of that argument applies here! There are some incredible resources available completely free of charge from the community. You should definitely try them if you are ever looking to take your writing career seriously.
In this article, we will be discussing one such resource: WPBeginner.com.
I got fired
A few months ago, I was completely stuck as to what to do with my life. Between paying bills, working full time, and trying to launch my business, life had become hectic and stressful.
I spent most of my free time in front of the computer either writing or researching how to make the blogging community grow. It was hard to find motivation to put aside my laptop for something else at times, but I knew it was needed.
At this point, I didn’t know what to do next, so I decided to give word press a try!
It was more expensive than some other website platforms, which is why I hesitated at first, but I paid for extra service packages because I wanted all the features.
The hardest part about deciding whether or not to invest in WP was the cost per month. Luckily, I found a good deal that made me very happy.
For the last month, I have been using WordPress through Blogger and I can tell you from experience that it’s worth the investment.
I got a bad evaluation
A few months ago, I made the switch from Blogger to WordPress as my hosting platform and website domain. It was my third time using this software, and version 3 is totally different than versions 1 and 2!
I loved my first two experiences with blogging, but it just didn’t feel right anymore. My style had changed and so had what types of content I wanted to create, so I needed a new home for that. Plus, I wanted more features, which you can get with paid WP services or through plugins.
It took me a couple weeks to fully transition over and launch my new site, but everything has been going great since then!
There were some things I learned along the way that helped make the process easier, like how to edit HTML codes and colors. These are things almost anyone can pick up, even if you aren’t very web savvy.
So, whether you are thinking about switching away from an existing service or creating your own, read on to learn more about why and how to do it.
I became a bad employee
After spending months learning how to create a website, edit websites, design layouts, and coding in general, it is very hard to find employment as a web developer. Employers look at your portfolio and show off what you have done before they give you the job.
In fact, most employers require a high school diploma or some sort of college degree along with having a rich portfolio that shows your skills. These jobs are not easy to come by and even more difficult to keep!
Since I no longer had my own site where I could showcase my talents, I started making YouTube videos instead. My channel now has over 1 million views and I continue to gain followers and subscribers daily!
My next step was posting all these tutorials online so other people can learn too! While this is great for me, I learned something else from doing it – being a good teacher demands a lot of patience.
I would spend hours editing scripts and filming new lessons while also keeping up with comments and messages to make sure everything makes sense. It took a lot of effort to teach others technology and software so if you want to be paid for teaching others, you will need to put in the work.
These days I get about 30-50 dollars per hour depending on how many students I have and how much content I create. This money goes mostly towards bills and food due to the cost of education.
I started to get angry with my coworkers
A few months ago, I had the worst day of my life. To make matters worse, it was my job as an editorial writer for a major website that people read regularly to feel bad about myself even more.
I got into an argument over something trivial with one of our writers and then came back from lunch feeling frustrated and down. It was around this time when another employee asked if someone could do their work because they didn’t have access due to being blocked.
Since I worked in the tech department, I knew what software everyone used to edit content so I pulled out mine and opened up Photoshop. Only to discover that not only did noone else use photoshop, but none of them knew how to take advantage of all its features either!
It was at this moment where I lost control. My blood boiled and before I knew it, I just smashed everything in sight — including the computer and phone I saved by using outside of work hours.
I became a better employee
As mentioned earlier, word press is a great way to start your own business or run an existing one. With it being a popular platform, there are plenty of resources available online and through community groups.
Running a website using word press can be quite easy to do if you are familiar with computers before hand and have some knowledge of web design.
By investing time in developing your skills as a writer and blogger, you will improve your writing quality and promote yourself professionally.
There are many free accounts you can use to test out different features such as publishing, comments and pages.
I learned a lot of things
I learned how to do my own themeing, colors, fonts, and layouts for my site! I also learned how to edit plugins and add new features to existings.
I loved learning about blogging software because you get to test your skills as you learn. You are able to play around and see what works well for you and what doesn’t.
The hardest part is knowing when to stop editing and creating. Even if you make your website look best than ever before, there will always be someone who has done it better or more creatively than you.
I changed my work environment
After spending almost two years struggling with WordPress, it was time to find a new home for my website. Since most people start creating blogs at around the same time, I had a chance to evaluate several options by looking at how others managed their websites.
I considered switching from self-hosted WP to one of the many free blogging platforms like Blogger or Medium. However, none offered the advanced features that I needed so I ruled them out.
Then I looked into paid hosting services such as Squarespace or Wix but I didn’t feel comfortable paying monthly fees every year that may no longer be necessary.
So instead, I chose Google Suite because it’s free during your first year and then cost just $5 per month per account afterwards! You get access to Gmail, Drive (for files), and YouTube channel all for this price so it’s really not much more than buying a standalone app.
Google handles everything else so you don’t have to worry about software maintenance or plugins. They also offer 1 GB of free storage which is enough for most beginners. This way you can still save lots of money in the long run if you decide to move onto bigger sites later.
My site now lives at www.EmmaDarling.com where it will stay for the foreseeable future.
I got a new job
A few months ago, my life changed drastically when I received an incredible opportunity to move in with my girlfriend and her two young children. My apartment was too expensive for our budget, and we needed more space since my gf is planning on having another child soon as well!
We had been talking about moving in together for over a year at this point, but she was always putting off things like finding a house or going through the process of proving herself as an adult before offering that to me.
Now that both those hurdles have been cleared, we’re making it official! It has really opened up lots opportunities for us; not only are our lives easier because we don’t have to deal with separate rooms or schedules, we now get to help take care of each other’s kids while also keeping tabs on each other during non-parent time.
Since I left my position as a writer at a major website nearly a year ago, I have struggled to find work where I can use my writing skills on a constant basis. This has made it hard to stay motivated, to invest in myself, and to put in the effort necessary to become successful as a writer.
As I mentioned earlier, I had been looking for employment outside of just writing online content for websites and magazines, but I gave up due to lack of motivation.
