HISTORY OF 2023
It was an interesting ride for the year 2023. There were a lot of lows initially, but as the year progressed, around the beginning of spring, things turned to mostly highs. Overall, the takeaways were mostly positive.
So what happened in 2023 you ask? Well, there was nothing much during the winter, other than several ER trips, taxes, and spring cleaning. Things didn’t pick up until early spring when I started to offer my WordPress experience and expertise by reaching out to non-profit organizations around the United States through Volunteermatch.
I ended up connecting with three organizations that allowed me access to their system and was able to help do some major house cleaning within their servers. The next step for 2024 is to revamp their site with WordPress page builders that will enable them the ability to make quicker changes to the site whenever they need to.
The other big thing that happened is that I finally registered for sole proprietorships with the state of Massachusetts. This means I am open for business and actively looking for new client work in the year 2024! Feel free to contact me at any time if you know someone who needs WordPress development help!
Now, this is a long overdue commitment that I should have made years ago, but it’s better late than never. I finally joined Post Status in early fall and I participated in my first WordCamp in Rochester, New York!
The immediate connection and openly friendly people I met there were an eye-opener for me. I didn’t know the guests, the speakers, or the organizers, but it also felt oddly familiar. Folks there immediately felt like family. We spoke about business and technology as if I had partnered with them for years but in reality, it was all due to the sense of community.
WelcomE 2024
Now that the calendar has turned, what do I have in mind for 2024? Well, to start the year strong I am proactively participating and connecting with the organizers from Boston WordPress Meetup. Helping to see where we can bring in more audience and also speakers. Hopefully gain enough traction to start up a WordCamp Boston again.
In terms of speaking, I have volunteered to speak and will start putting together some topics that will provide value back to the WordPress community. I’m going to ignore the fact that topics may have been a, “heard that done that before,” it’s for me to push myself out there and connect with others. Also, for those who are new to WordPress, it would benefit them.
This also leads to the fact that I am also actively looking for WordCamps to visit that may be within reach around the Northeast region of the United States. Ultimately, I would love to check out WordCamp US this year in Portland, Oregon.
Business Goals
As I mentioned before, I started my sole proprietorship in 2023 and will be looking for new business opportunities to collaborate in 2024. I registered with my local Chamber of Commerce to promote my web development business actively.
If the Chamber of Commerce hosts an organization meetup event, I will be there to connect with other local businesses to see what their plans are for the year.
Expansion beyond the local realm is also a key task. I have a few clients who I have been working with in 2023 and will ask their base of networks to see if anyone needs any assistance with web development. My stance on simple website builders such as Square Space, Wix, and Web Flow is that you can build a site, but you still need a designer and developer to help with custom features that those platforms will not offer. And if they do, they will certainly charge you for their services at a monthly cost.
My gripe is also that these platforms are closed communities, the technology isn’t open source and actively shared to be enhanced by the people on the open web. WordPress is not a priority platform. All codes and products are developed by individuals and organizations spanning globally. The vast majority of the code is developed openly by the public. It can be shared, modified, and enhanced for greater flexibility. Finding help is easy by reaching out to the contributor of that codebase. Share your insights and it may shape the future of that technology.
Contribution
This is a new territory for me. Not only is it a personal step, but also a step forward to help grow the WordPress community. What I am talking about is devoting some of my time per day, week, or month – haven’t decided yet – to giving back to Five for the Future.
For those of you who don’t know, it is an initiative to help promote WordPress by giving back five percent of your time, or your organization’s time, back to the community. You can contribute your time either by fixing bugs, enhancing code, improving the copy for any specific documentation, etc. I have been using WordPress for over 13 years now and it is time I give back.
2024 CORE KNOWLEDGE
A lot had changed for WordPress in 2023. For one thing, the platform turned 20 years old back in May. WordPress released 6.4 in November along with the new Twenty Twenty-four Theme and it is a breath of fresh air. New block and pattern elements to help redefine the way you build a site.
There’s a lot to learn due to structural changes with directories and file setups. However, I am actively keeping up with the technology this year and will keep my connections open with contributors, designers, and developers to expand on the knowledge.