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You Never Really Know Someone Until…

June 17, 2014 by Nancy Fields Leave a Comment

Mystery Box - Question Mark Floating Out of Cardboard Box…You’ve Cleaned Out Their Locker.

This past weekend I began readying a space for a friend who’s starting a new business and needs a temporary office to get their idea off-the-ground. I’ll also be designing her new WordPress website so sharing my office for the next few weeks made sense. Little did I know what treasures awaited me.

What If The Locker Is Your Own?

While clearing an area I stumbled upon a box full of things from the summer of 2012, including these inspirational quotes:

  • “In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” Lee Iacocca

  • “A quitter never wins. A winner never quits!” — has been cited in print since 1918

  • “Plan your work  and work your plan.” author unknown

  • plus a note to myself “Make a plan!”

By June of 2012, my design business had changed a lot from when it began in 1993. During the mid-90’s until the stock market crash in 2008, I was putting out 70-90 print jobs a year: from catalogues to trade show signage and everything in between. My design for print business was wildly in demand — until it wasn’t.

Going through “my own locker” was an eye opener. I had no idea the level doubt and indecision that had crept into my psyche, and my business.

Looking back, the summer of 2012 was a turning point. That’s because two years ago I decided to try something completely new: learn WordPress and hire a coach to teach me how promote my business online.

WordPress Has Changed My Business For The Better

Today my weekly schedule includes:

  • writing an e-zine,
  • a blog, and
  • posting on Facebook.
  • I customize WordPress websites for other small businesses, and
  • train my clients virtually, on how to use WordPress and AWeber.

My design skills have not gone to waste. On the contrary, customizing WordPress websites with irresistible free offers (e-books), web headers, and custom logo designs has kept my design sense strong.

The Learning Never Stops

Two years ago Constant Contact was just an ad on the radio. “Email marketing. What’s that?” Today I’ve used Constant Contact, MailChimp, and AWeber (my email marketing program).

A recent request to set up 1ShoppingCart introduced me to VAClassroom. Thanks to their two-week training course I’m setting-up an autoresponder, newsletter and shopping cart later this week — plus designing a newsletter header — which does save my client time and money because the job stays under one roof, from concept to completion.

Copyblogger’s Authority webinars are on my weekly calendar, as are online coding classes from the Women’s Coding Collective.

Who knew WordPress would lead to many new ways of promoting my business — and offer me the opportunity to help other small business owners promote theirs? How lucky it feels to be living and working in rapidly changing times and have the courage to embrace these changes.

Feeling Stuck? Lighten Up!

I’m so glad circumstances forced me to empty that box. It’s rewarding to see how much my business has changed in two years. It’s liberating to leave the past behind and welcome the future with empty hands.

Filed Under: WordPress

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