A Good Friend of Mine Makes the News

One of my good friends (fellow WordPress blog designer and webfidante) Cory Miller, sent me a link to a local Oklahoma newspaper article that he was featured in. Cory’s a very talented blog designer and writer, and I am very privileged to consider him a friend of mine.

I think it’s great that a matter of a few months ago, Cory barely knew how to change some css on his blog theme, and now he’s the owner of Rockin Themes and is the full time webmaster for the talented Penelope Trunk.

Way to go Cory, and glad to see you in the spotlight!

Defining Success as a Designer

Recently I was tagged by Char, and am being forced (reluctantly) to answer some questions regarding achieving success as a designer. I say reluctantly because I hate to say that I am having success, since it’s really such an arbitrary term, often used in the context of self-promotion. (Which this is not!) Here goes…

1. How did you get started in the business?
A few years ago I began creating websites with html code/Microsoft Frontpage as sort of a hobby – my wife and I were pregnant, and I wanted to create a fun site, which resulted in PregnancyEtc.com. After making some money with that, I decided to sell the site and move on. (At that point I had been introduced with the concept of blogging.) I really wasn’t a fan of any of the WordPress themes I found, so I decided to teach myself php and css, so that I could customize my blogs the way I wanted them to look. And that was all she wrote…

2. What kept you going in those early years?
I found that I loved the idea of blogging, and also creating something unique – and in all honesty, the idea of making money on the internet was the initial driving force behind me pursuing the web design thing.

3a. Did you ever feel like you weren�t good enough or you would never make it in this industry?
Without a doubt, 100%, yes.

3b. How did you work through that?
Because I had a passion for creating websites and blogging, it was very easy to stick with it out of love of the game. Since I am a refiner, I continued to redo certain things, and it taught me a lot. Which in turn meant I was able to take my design to higher levels.

4. Do you look at others today and think �Wow, I wish I were that good�?
Yes, I do. There are other designers and internet moguls that I wish I could be, mostly ones that have established themselves as the elite in their field.

5. How do you measure success?
I try as hard as I can not to focus on things like having a Technorati rank of #35, or that I have done a lot of high profile themes. Being humble is something I try to maintain all the time, so for me, if I am happy doing something, then it’s considered success.

6. By your standard, do you think you are successful?
I am currently happy, so yes I consider myself successful!

Okie dokie, I am tagging Cory Miller and Nathan Rice.