So, how did this idea of building a website even start? Well, it all goes back to my childhood.
No, just kidding (especially, since as a forty-something year old, the web wasn’t around when I was a child). I’ll go back a few months though. I’ve been doing a lot of ‘soul’ searching about what I want to do with my life, and even left a very good job to pursue my drive to create, and specifically to write (hence, the book, mentioned in my previous post). But, I’ve been struggling with what to do as a vocation…to make money. Do I want to return to a job similar to what I did in the past (where I developed internet and e-commerce products in the financial and media/publishing sectors), or do I want to work for a non-profit and do good for the world, or work for an arts organization, or an academic or educational institution?
Your Dream Career for Dummies
Someone I trust immensely recommended using a book to work through some exercises to help figure this out, and the book she recommended was Your Dream Career for Dummies. Perfect! No, seriously, it was perfect. It has some advice and practical information, but the best part of the book is that it’s filled with these worksheets where you spill out a ton of information about yourself (and who doesn’t like to talk about themselves?). Still…it could have been one of those books that seem like a great idea, you buy it, complete the first fifteen pages, get sick of it and never pick it up again. But, I had an approach that helped overcome that obstacle. I decided to speed my way through the book, to complete each worksheet in a few minutes, to not dwell, dawdle, and ultimately lose interest. I just did it fast. Maybe I sacrificed deeper insight for results, but I’m telling you, it still worked.
But I didn’t complete the book. I didn’t have to. I got around 75% of the way through and realized what I want to do (build my website) and put the book down and started my new project.
So, the way I arrived at this website was that common themes kept popping up in all of these worksheet exercises, themes that combine skills and experiences with passions and interests of mine.
Internet, website development experience
E-commerce experience
Passion for the arts, for creativity (writing, painting, drawing, photography, dance).
Desire to talk to people about these creative interests.
Desire to help, encourage, support, mentor others (e.g. make a difference in the world).
And the big one; the desire to work independently in some capacity.
The truth is, the actual idea for the website didn’t come right away. The first ‘aha’ moment was that I should build a website – leverage my web experience, my entrepreneurial interest, my desire to build something with my own vision. That aha moment happened right after I left Barnes & Nobles (where I was browsing some career-related books), and was walking on the sidewalk in the nice summer sunshine. I’m not sure if my hand hit my forehead, or if I actually said ‘aha’ outloud (probably not, I probably said it to myself). But there was definitely that feeling, of duh! Wendy, you should build a website, it’s the perfect project, perhaps a future source of income.
The problem with that aha moment, was that I had no idea what kind of website to build. So, the idea was basically like discovering that you should open a store, or start a business, or become CEO of a company. It’s kind of vague. So, I started to think, and ponder, and write things out, and review the worksheets in my dummies book. And probably within 1-2 weeks (my memory on the timeframe is vague), the idea came to me. It has to be a site about a subject I love, and what I love is being creative, so it has to be a site about creativity.
Now, that’s still a bit vague, but my fingers are getting numb from typing, so more later.
No, just kidding (especially, since as a forty-something year old, the web wasn’t around when I was a child). I’ll go back a few months though. I’ve been doing a lot of ‘soul’ searching about what I want to do with my life, and even left a very good job to pursue my drive to create, and specifically to write (hence, the book, mentioned in my previous post). But, I’ve been struggling with what to do as a vocation…to make money. Do I want to return to a job similar to what I did in the past (where I developed internet and e-commerce products in the financial and media/publishing sectors), or do I want to work for a non-profit and do good for the world, or work for an arts organization, or an academic or educational institution?
But I didn’t complete the book. I didn’t have to. I got around 75% of the way through and realized what I want to do (build my website) and put the book down and started my new project.
So, the way I arrived at this website was that common themes kept popping up in all of these worksheet exercises, themes that combine skills and experiences with passions and interests of mine.
The truth is, the actual idea for the website didn’t come right away. The first ‘aha’ moment was that I should build a website – leverage my web experience, my entrepreneurial interest, my desire to build something with my own vision. That aha moment happened right after I left Barnes & Nobles (where I was browsing some career-related books), and was walking on the sidewalk in the nice summer sunshine. I’m not sure if my hand hit my forehead, or if I actually said ‘aha’ outloud (probably not, I probably said it to myself). But there was definitely that feeling, of duh! Wendy, you should build a website, it’s the perfect project, perhaps a future source of income.
The problem with that aha moment, was that I had no idea what kind of website to build. So, the idea was basically like discovering that you should open a store, or start a business, or become CEO of a company. It’s kind of vague. So, I started to think, and ponder, and write things out, and review the worksheets in my dummies book. And probably within 1-2 weeks (my memory on the timeframe is vague), the idea came to me. It has to be a site about a subject I love, and what I love is being creative, so it has to be a site about creativity.
Now, that’s still a bit vague, but my fingers are getting numb from typing, so more later.
One Response
Judy
can’t wait for more of the story/journey