Pull Quote: Learn, build, and show the world what you have.

From WordPress to Freedom

Hello there! Do you know that having a WordPress knowledge can change your life for good? Yes! It can.

In the last half of 2020 which of course can be said as the pandemic year, I made more than $750 (300,000) creating websites with WordPress. Perhaps I could have made more even as a beginner, but I also had a full time job which didn’t make it easy for me as a beginner at that time. I didn’t quit my job at that time and I still haven’t cos WordPress is now easier and I started managing both ends well enough after few months.

How I Started

I was already a graduate of Computer Science and finished my service year by October 2019 but as regards employability I only had a beginner knowledge in HTML and CSS, of course I had pages created with that but I couldn’t make them really interactive cos I didn’t know enough JavaScript and I also had little knowledge of PHP. Here in my country, no one really hires Junior developers with no JS knowledge, then I needed money to keep myself learning.

The bail out, I understood I needed to be skilled, so I began to see what I can do. One morning in May/June 2020 I decided to rearrange my workspace, then I found an old jotter of mine. Going through it, I found my jottings from watching a video on 4 professions you can learn on your own and get skilled with it (Note -not exactly the video title). On the list was WordPress, I went online and started searching on becoming a WordPress developer as a beginner. At this time, I already had a job, the pay was low which is also why I was thinking of learning new skills, meanwhile, pandemic also joined.

The most helpful resource for me during my search then and till now is the WP Beginner website.

With the little internet/data I had, I started reading, learning and practicing. I learnt how to register a domain, get a host and build with WordPress. I saved some money, registered 2 imaginary domain names, hosted them and built them with WordPress and Elementor, this was already early 2020.

What next, I had to show people what I knew and what I have done with what I knew, cos no one would know if I didn’t show it. I posted the 2 websites on twitter, got some likes and comments, then got some messages to create 3 websites for some clients, I kept building and showing it, and the rest as they say is history.

By the end of 2020, I already created about 10 websites and since then I have been making some side income as a Website creator aside my full-time job as a stock/store manager.

My challenges 

No active WordPress community here to support, and sometimes I have a block as to what to learn next and how to get clients.

I solve what to learn with trying new things or interests, I recently enrolled in a UI/UX design class and I can say I really explored, cos I will be finishing an online internship this week of writing in July, 2021.

In summary, learning about WordPress is something you can turn to a skill, a full time job, a side hustle and other cool things. Learn, build and show the world what you have.

With WordPress, you can create amazing things and earn more.

Thank you for reading.

6 Comments

  1. Interesting read Yusuf, glad you found WordPress to be a useful source for your empowerment. Love your one-page personal website, you could link the logos in your portfolio section to the sites if they are live so your prospective customers can also see those without needing to ask for them.

    Building and managing a community as a volunteer does take a lot of toll on a person, I would know.

    I am sorry you have not been able to get a community of support in Ibadan, if you would be interested in contributing to growing the community in Ibadan, kindly DM me on our WP Nigeria Slack and we can talk about ways you can get things going over there. We did have that problem in Lagos as well, in our early days, covid has not made 2020 easy for anyone, but we can all do our small bits here and there.

    1. Thank you so much Mary, I am glad you found my story interesting.

      Oh, I wouldn’t have really known you checked my website. Thanks, I will work on linking the logos to the respective websites.

      Alright, I will chat with you on Slack soon.
      Thanks once again for reading :).

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