My Website Journey – How it all began
I can easily remember how my website journey began. It was the first time my youngest daughter was ill. She was two years old and had been suffering for a while, so much so that I had to give up work.
I remember sitting there in the house thinking that although I was looking after my daughter, I needed some kind of other stimulation, always having worked part-time. But what could I do from home?
I trawled the Internet looking for something I could do. Envelope stuffing, delivering leaflets, data entry, oh, and the usual ‘Earn $5000 overnight by starting your own business’ – I wasn’t fooled. What I did come across, however, was affiliate marketing. It seemed simple. Set up a website, place some adverts, and there you go – money in the bank.
If at First You Don’t succeed…
As you can imagine, it didn’t really work that way, and over the next few years, my website journey took many turns. I tried so many different things, even after returning to work part-time. I found it so difficult being away from home and my kids needing me. I’ve tried network marketing, making my own crafts and personalised chocolates, and running my own blog. I was determined that, from my study of affiliate marketing and websites, whilst I was off work, I could create my own business online.
And so it begins…
In 2009, my website journey took a path in the right direction, and I created my own online business. The blog that I started in 2008, ‘Pink Heaven Party Ideas – Party Ideas for Girls’, became so popular that I was receiving 40,000 visitors a month globally! So I put my affiliate marketing skills to work and started advertising on the site. The sales started trickling in, but I was making money! Even though it was part-time, I was earning £300 to £400 a month, on top of my part-time job, by writing a couple of blogs and putting some adverts on them.
As my time became less, with family and job commitments, the site started to dwindle, and I was also losing interest.
The Next Chapter…
I had made the site with a template website builder. Despite learning about online businesses, SEO, and website building along the way, I could never get it to look exactly how I wanted it to look! I eventually convinced my husband, who had a background in computers and coding, to write me a website in code that looked exactly like I wanted it to. The problem now was that if I changed my mind or wanted to add anything, I couldn’t!! I was also fed up of being told ‘what you want just can’t be done’. I just don’t believe in can’t – there has to be a way!!
My Website Journey with WordPress begins!
Fast forward a few years, and some other failed businesses. I won a place on a WordPress course. Now I had heard of WordPress, but I took one look and thought this is not for me, it all seems so complicated – and I’ve always been quite techy!! But once I started the course, I was hooked; it’s the only online course that I have ever finished! It was like finally seeing the light at the end of a dark forest pathway. My website journey had a new direction. I learned so much. So after that, each of my business ideas had a beautiful website to go with it, and with the number of businesses I had, I was building up quite a collection of websites!
Then, in 2013, my love of events and my love of learning led me to start an Events Management degree, which I completed in two years. I loved learning, but the need to run my own business was still there, so I also took extra modules in starting a business, determined that when I graduated, that is exactly what I was going to do.
It didn’t quite work out like that, but about a year later, and at the end of my marriage, a local business had come across one of my many business websites and asked me to create one for them. This then got seen by another business, then another, and it kind of snowballed. So, without thinking about it or planning anything, I found myself running my own business. Which was just as well, as I was struggling to hold down any job with my daughter’s illness and the constant demands of family life.
My New Business begins to grow
I started off doing anyone’s website who asked me and for next to nothing, but the more websites I built, the more skills I developed, and I found that there was a certain type of people who I loved working with – other female entrepreneurs!
My website journey has found the right route! I understood their struggle. I understood their need to be able to run an online business from home so that they could still be there for their family. I understood their need for wanting to provide for their family whilst still having something that was theirs – something that they had built from the ground up.
And I could help them do that by providing them with a website – their businesses debut into the online world – their chance to become a real superhero and have the best of both worlds – work and family!
The Wonderful World of Websites is born
That was back in 2015, and since then, my business has gone from strength to strength, with my events and business management degree enabling me to help them even further.
In 2016, I rebranded from my own name to Website Wonder Woman, and I love how my clients always tell me I really am their Website Wonder Woman. I’ve made so many connections and friends through running my business. I love going networking, working with clients (who usually hang around way after the website has been finished as we have built up such strong relationships) and using my creativity to bring ideas to life and enabling the women I work with an ability to get their business online, start making the money they deserve and achieving their dreams!
Want to know more about what I can do for you and your business?
Then feel free to contact me, I LOVE to chat!