Technosailor.com

Over the past month and a half, I’ve been working tirelessly on building out the consulting arm of what I do. Recently, I posted a consulting page here that outlines some of the work I do and can do for clients and people like Thomas Hawk have been actively promoting me. I can’t say enough in thanks for all the people who have passed my name along to interested parties, both as potential employment material as well as consulting material.

Though my search continues, I am pleased by the amount of inquiries I have gotten during this time. Though I am still looking for a big longer term project of 4-6 months, I am feeling confident that I can sustain the work I do here based on a myriad of smaller projects from WordPress migrations, sponsored plugin development, strategy consultation as well as SEO.

Historically, I have turned away work that involves design, for instance, because I am not a designer. However, the amount of work I’ve turned away is significant and noticeable and I no longer want to do that. There are also other positions I’d like to fill.

As the economy continues to spiral downward, and more companies are trying to extend their runways for as long as possible, we are hearing about an increasing number of layoffs. When you’re a contractor, you always sort of have it in the back of your mind that your number could be called at any time.

That time for me is now. Lijit has been my primary client since May and it has been a good run. I came into that role to learn the art of business development and I learned a lot. I can’t say it was my favorite role ever, but it added to my experience and gave me an opportunity to look at the web industry from a different side. No regrets.

Forgive the marketing speak, but I’ve decided to do something that really is a special deal. I get inquiries everyday asking me questions about WordPress from “How to setup a category based structure for my blog?” to “What are the most essential plugins I need for my blog?”

If I could cut and paste answers and spend no time, I would, but really every situation is different. Most times I can’t answer these questions because of limits on my time, but I’ve decided to create a day-event where people could book my time for a bit and get any or all of their WordPress questions, recommendation requests and “how-to’s” answered.

A lot of people ask what I do. Depending on the person, I’m a blogger, or an editor. To others I’m a WordPress consultant. Still, to others, I work with Lijit as I used to work with b5media. Notice I said with and not for.

The choice of words is very intentional. Though I own the work I do, and make it mine (or I wouldn’t do it, to be honest), I am a self-employed contractor. To that end, I am constantly getting referrals, cold call emails, etc asking if I can help company X or person Y do task A, B or C.

Generally, an email will come that says something like this (fictional):