She had a dream to run her own company one day. She had no idea how to go about it and the thing that scared her the most was the whole notion of marketing. She knew she couldn't just rent out some retail space and hang a sign and hope people would show up.
One way or another, she got my name and asked my wife and I over for dinner. We enjoyed a fantastic meal and then she shared her dream.
It was a doable dream. It wasn't crazy.
And her challenge – in terms of getting her name out there and making herself known, wasn't as hard as she thought it would be.
All because of WordPress.
He had a full time job. He had a wife and kids. But he had a passion – and in this case it was a passion to build custom computers in a day when people were getting them from big box retailers.
His worry was all about collecting data. He would need a lot of it, if he was going to design the perfect, custom computer. But he didn't want to send out forms to fill out.
He knew it could be done online, but he had no idea how to integrate form services with a website. Of course, with Gravity Forms or Ninja Forms it's way easier than he ever thought it would be.
All because of WordPress.
They poured every bit of money they had, as a married couple, into restoring a pair of sailing boats. His part-time substitute teaching salary covered enough for them to live on (barely) but every minute of his time when he wasn't in a classroom was spent, with his bare hands, restoring these boats.
Three years later they were running a private charter sailing company in San Diego.
With a website that let people find them, get their phone number, and even (using Appointy) book a charter. It's taken time and it wasn't easy – because they're sailing and business people and not programmers. But they've pulled it off.
All because of WordPress.
(And a lot of manual labor to restore those boats. Let's not forget that part.)
WordPress helps you say YES!
I know I spend a lot of time telling you that your rates are too low (if you're a freelancer that wants to survive).
I know I spent a lot of time helping you learn to say no a lot (if you want to be in control of your own life).
But all of that is for one important reason: so you can say yes to really important things.
One of the things my wife and I enjoy is sailing. So every few months I call a place or two to see if we can get out on the water. That's how we found San Diego Sailing Tours.
I talked to a few others who were basically jerks on the phone. These guys weren't, so we booked an afternoon charter and got ready to have a great time on the water.
What I didn't expect, but was thrilled to hear, was that their website used WordPress.
“Is there some kind of book or resource that I could get to help me learn what I'm doing?”
Um. Yes. I think I may know how to help you.
WordPress gives you tools to change lives
When I started working with WordPress, fifteen years ago, I chose it (instead of DNN – don't waste time looking it up) because it was easy. I chose it because I could hack my way around it.
And mostly I choose it because it would let me help startups quickly. After all, I was helping them with business and strategy. It just turned out that they all needed websites too.
What I didn't realize then, but know now, is that WordPress has given me a superpower. It's crazy. Because the truth is, it's not a super technical and difficult platform to learn.
But it's hard enough for many people that they give it a pass. Not because they don't like it. But because they're insecure of their own abilities or worried that they might break things.
And so I get the incredible opportunity to show up, into someone's life and/or business, and say yes.
I have a power they don't have. I can make the pixels dance. I can make the code obey.
And I can bring their dreams to life.
All because of WordPress.
I'll be honest…
I'm pretty sure my wife doesn't think what I do, in my spare hours, helping people with WordPress is all that special. She wouldn't call it a superpower at all.
She looks at Captain Kyle and his wife Ashley (also on the boat today) and considers sailing a superpower. They can, after all, predict the wind.
But that's ok with me. Because I can offer Kyle and Ashley any help they need. And because of that help, their business could improve. Their lives could change (for the better). And we might even sail to Cabo San Lucas.
All because of WordPress.