It all started with the free WordPress.com site themes. I kept wanting to make my site look better, tweak that one thing, change a font. Been there? It either did not feel right or just didn’t work. My stubborn self decided to look around.
That is when things got fun. I then, ventured into deeper waters. Ooh! The real WordPress. Now, I felt like a big girl. I was working with premium themes on my own hosting account. What?! Ok, when I first saw my dashboard, I about had a full on anxiety attack, no joke. I started to tinker with the ready made theme-a-roos that were in the repository and it was so much better than .com BUT- I knew there had to be even more.
I started to mess with those by making new graphics and changing theme color schemes. Man! I thought I was the shiz. I admit, it looked pretty good but the perfectionist and over-achiever in me said more, more, more. Off to YouTube I went. I watched a bazillion videos on set-ups, customization and stuff and was in awe. I felt like a kid in Toys R Us. The people were talking about different frameworks, huh? What is a framework? So, more studies were in order.
I first installed a couple of themes that were paid “premium” themes (like theme forest and elegant themes) and there was a huge difference in the flexibility and customizing options. I was on to something.
Whoa. Then I discovered Genesis by accidentally being in a Facebook group for developers. Guess what- I had to test it out. I installed the framework, since now I knew what that meant. Love it! It was a whole new world where I could be creative and do things the way that I wanted to. Then, I discovered all of the child themes. Holy Moly! Now, I was a real big girl. 🙂 
I have installed, tweaked, removed, changed, a ton of child themes to date. ( oh my poor site and friends that got virtual whiplash from the changes) I loved each one for different reasons. . Talk about experience. Right? OK, I have broken my site a few times but ya know what- each time was a total learning experience. Now, I know how to fix stuff. I learned about plug ins and widgets. Which ones worked and which ones I thought completely sucked or even crashed my site.
Fast forward to the day that I heard the word Thesis. Umm, like a school paper, no, for WordPress. I just had to give it a whirl. Totally different animal than Genesis and it took a while to figure out how to work it and what boxes were. After a few meltdowns and long walks, I figured it out.
I myself, prefer to rock Genesis framework. It is easy to use and does great with search engines.
One size does not fit all! Every theme, all frameworks are different and serve a purpose. I honestly cannot say that I like one over the other because I think that it depends on how you want your site to look visually, how you want your content to be delivered, and many other factors.
Do me a favor. Next time that you browse for themes, don’t judge how your site will look by how it looks “in the box” or in the demo. You have to use some imagination, check out the theme options, color schemes that are available, etc. If you need help deciding, come on over and ask. Usually, if there is a minor change in the theme’s styling, you can find someone to help you out and not have to pay a zillion bucks.
Some of my friends probably have thought that I was going nutso but really, I was teaching myself how to build and rebuild, customize, and fix things. Would I change it? Probably not. I would not know what I know now had I not experimented and got over the fears that I had of techie stuff. It also taught me what to look for and what questions to ask someone who is wanting a design or redesign on their site because 9 times out of 10, I have tried the theme that they are dreaming of (or in some cases, have seen someone else using)
Well, the saying is something like, your purpose will find you. It did. I fell in love with creating WordPress sites. To me, it is like painting a piece of art that will better someone’s life and business, not just hung on a wall.
What will I do with all of this know-how that I developed over the last 2 years? I want to use it to help you. I am currently offering site set ups and am in the midst of creating a course that will show you all that I have learned so that you can create your own site and be your own designer . I promised my friends that it would be not so techie and worded in a way that non-nerds can understand. lol
You can sign up to be alerted with any news about the launch.
I am excited about this new chapter in my life and biz and look forward to how it can help you.
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