Just over 2 years ago, I was sitting in what seemed like an ever-shrinking cubicle at a major Seattle based company making updates to websites for upper management. I suppose I made a decent (average) living, and my job was secure, but at the same time I felt that I was under-challenged, under-utilized and ready for a major change in my life. Needless to say, I thought about quitting my job more than once per day (sound familiar?), but to what end?
There were countless times during my years at that company when I tried to make a difference by presenting alternative ways to implement and manage their internal network of websites. In the end, all of these ideas were either dismissed or put off on the basis that these “alternatives” were unknown, untested and unsupported open source technologies such as Joomla, WordPress, etc. I specifically remember one manager telling me that my ideas sounded amazing, but a little “wild and crazy” for the company.
Making the Decision to Change
It was pretty much at that point that I realized if I didn’t at least try and do something different, I would wake up one day (years later) in that same ever-shrinking cubicle working the same dead end job. I was ready to step up to the plate.
As much as I wanted to, I knew that I couldn’t just walk into work one day and quit on the spot. I had responsibilities – a wife, a house and bills to pay. With that in mind, I researched and then approached my manager about taking a 2 month “sabbatical”… a trial run if you will. Basically a leave without pay, but at least I would still have a job if I needed one at the end of those two months. Management signed off on it (no questions asked) and off I went into the unknown.
Getting Your Feet Wet
My plan was simple… I had a passion for web design and I was determined to turn that passion into a career. The first step was to get my name out there, and I figured the best way to do that was to start a blog and begin writing about web design, development and other related topics. Please keep in mind that my skills as a designer/developer were all self taught to that point (still are actually), so I really was not all that confident about doing this – but I had to try.
WordPress seemed to be a trendy topic at the time, so in January of 2008 I launched a site called WPelements.com and started blogging about WordPress. Really, all I was doing was writing about things that I myself was learning at the time as I played around with the platform. I spent hours on end every day working with WordPress, reverse-engineering themes and tweaking code. WPelements.com gained some traction right after I released my first free theme called “Massive News” which was downloaded a few hundred times within the first week. Right after Massive News, I released my first WordPress plugin called the “Featured Content Gallery” which was also an instant success. I remember thinking that this was my ticket into something new, a step toward that “big change” in my life that I was searching for. Soon after I released Massive News, the emails started rolling in from people looking for custom WordPress development services which is how I started my (short) freelance career.
By the time my two month sabbatical was up, I was confident enough to walk back into work and put in my two weeks notice. Actually, what I said was… “I am prepared to give you two weeks, but if you can let me go in a week that would be great because I’m really really busy”.
Trial and Error
During the first two months of 2008, I was able to build enough of a name for myself where I could sustain my income by doing freelance WordPress design and development work. However, it was about that same time that I realized that I still was not quite happy with what I was doing for a living. Basically, it was the exact same thing I was doing at my previous job, just with clients instead of managers. Back to square one… something needed to change once again just two months into my entrepreneurial career.
The WordPress community was growing, and I took note of a trend which was on the rise… “Commercial WordPress Themes”. Brian Gardner pioneered (or at least was one of the first) the idea of selling commercial WordPress themes in August of 2007 with a theme called “Revolution” (now StudioPress.com). Shortly after Brian, a few others popped up selling their own themes as well including Adii with his “Premium News Theme” (now WooThemes.com). To say the least, the idea of creating a theme and selling it as a commercial product perked my interests. I remember emailing both Brian and Adii about their businesses looking for tips on how to get started. Surprisingly, both of them already knew about me and what I was doing with WPelements.com, and gave me the inspiration to try selling some themes of my own. Let me say that Brian and Adii are some real stand-up guys who I am happy to consider my friends even though we are each others competition.
Then Success
I had created a site called TrailerFlick.com in December of 2007 which never became popular, but there was always interest in the site design by random users who just happened upon it one way or another. I created TrailerFlick.com to provide an alternative method of viewing movie trailers, and the design was simple… just a grid of movie posters that when clicked would display the trailer in a pop-up window. This was actually the first live website I had ever built entirely on WordPress. In February of 2008 I had a client that found TrailerFlick.com and wanted a WordPress theme based on the design for his own movie production studio. I spent a week tailoring the theme for this client who in the end never paid up. I decided that this would be a good candidate for my first commercial theme, so I cleaned up the code, called it “Video Flick” and threw it on WPelements.com for just $5.00 per download. I just want to take a second to thank that client for never paying his tab.
The interest in Video Flick blew me away, and I immediately knew that had something on my hands that I could build into a real business. One theme at $5.00 per download was definitely not enough to make a living, but it was good extra cash to throw on top of the freelance work I had at the time. As the months rolled by, I released two more video-centric WordPress themes (TV Elements followed by Video Elements) and started charging $25 a piece. By June of 2008 I knew there would be no looking back and that I had a substantial business on my hands. Not many theme developers (if any) were creating video-centric WordPress themes at that particular time, and I think that releasing a commercial solution for video was the key to growing my business as fast as I did.
At that time, I was still doing freelance work and blogging about WordPress on WPelements.com, but I finally decided that neither blogging or freelance work were really what I wanted to do which is why I designed a simple theme store and moved all my commercial themes over to Press75.com separating my theme business from my freelance business and blog. By August of 2008, I had doubled my income on Press75.com with only 4 themes at $50 a piece. This allowed me to completely close the doors on freelance work to focus 100% of my efforts on commercial WordPress themes.
Nearly one year and about a dozen themes later, Press75.com continues to grow and I just launched a second site called ThemeGarden.com in hopes to expand beyond my own personal brand. Needless to say, I could not be happier with what I do for a living. I get to design and create WordPress themes that are used by thousands of people around the world, and the best part is that the only one telling me what to do and how to do it – is me.
Let Your Passion Drive You
I really don’t consider myself any sort of talent when it comes to writing, but if you have stuck with this story to this point, a few more minutes aren’t going to kill you. I didn’t write this for recognition, or to brag about what I consider my own personal success. Honestly, I’m sure most of you don’t even know who I am or what I do, nor do you probably care. The whole point of writing this article was to share with you that life is in fact, what you make of it. If you want to change, there really is nothing stopping you from doing so. That is not to say that change is at all easy, or something that will happen over night. It took me more than 10 years of working at a company, developing skills, experimenting with different ideas and just growing up before I found the confidence to do really go after my passion.
Also, it is my strong belief that if making money is your only goal in life, you will probably spend the rest of your life chasing that goal and never end up where you want to be. I realize that the title of this article is “How I Monetized My Passion”, but what I really mean by that is money can sometimes become a by-product of chasing your passions. Money is not a bad thing, but it really should not be your means to happiness. When I left my day job two years ago, money was never my end game, and I hope it’s not yours when/if you decide to make a major change in your life. Let your interests and your passions be the driving force behind change in your life – I did.
Very inspirational! Thank you, and congratulations on your success.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and thanks for your comment.
Well, put. Congratulations on your success.
I have been looking for a good wordpress theme for my video production website for 4 years and haven’t found anything I thought was worth putting my time into. Most where too clunky and didn’t have any balance between media and information.
I discovered Vidley and I’m pretty sure it is the answer to my search. So I signed up with your subscription today and am redoing my video website after 5 years of the same static webdesign.
I look really forward to working with your code to help my small video production business’s web presence.
Thank you,
Patrick Green
334 319 1060
http://www.patrickgreen.tv
Thank you very much for your comments. I really do hope that Vidley and ThemeGarden.com ends up being a good match for you.
Nice read, thanks for sharing your story
Only took me a month to actually getting around to posting it. I’m glad that everyone is finding this interesting. Thanks for reading.
Fascinating story, especially your history with WordPress. What do you think have changed between now and then in the community?
Also do you have a plan on writing about the business aspect of Press75? Would love to learn about that, too.
The WordPress community has grown substantially since I got started back in 2007. So much has changed since then and I think most importantly… WordPress is no longer considered just a blogging platform. I really do believe that commercial WordPress themes and the community surrounding all of us has substantially helped to change what WordPress is today.
I do plan on blogging more about my experiences with the business… just a matter of finding time.
I’m at that stage with work, shame my WP skills aren’t that good to follow your lead yet :)
Don’t sell yourself short… and just keep doing what you love.
Hey Jason, how old were you when you left your cubicle?
Was 32 years old when I left my job. Seems like ages ago.
Great story, Jason! Congrats on your success.
Thank you very much. Appreciate the comment.
Yeah, the story was alright. I guess.
;) No, seriously. Very inspirational stuff. I don’t think I could ever get tired of hearing about it. Keep writing.
Very good post Jason. I’ve considered entering the custom theme business for quite some time but it seems that the market is too saturated. However, I do think that there is an opportunity for a niche market of building child themes based on frameworks from designers like you, Brian, Adii and Chris Pearson.
I too would like to know more about the business end of things. Seems like the two major hassles are managing affiliates (and not getting scammed) and support.
The market is a bit flooded, but there is definitely plenty of room as long as you have a unique and quality product to provide. Many of the new sites popping up are obviously in it just to make a quick buck which in my opinion is definitely not the way to go.
Going after child themes is definitely something worth while looking into if you are panning on getting into the game.
Thanks for the inspirational article Jason!
Michael’s comment was interesting: “However, I do think that there is an opportunity for a niche market of building child themes based on frameworks from designers like you.”
I know your theme licences are GPL (please correct me if I am wrong), so is there an issue with people setting up a business based mainly on producing child themes from fully developed themes such as yours?
I know legally it may be OK (becuse of the GPL licence), but would you be annoyed or would it be considered poor practice for someone to try and profit by producing child themes that derive from your hard work (which presumably you would not get a penny for).
Perhaps theme developers should consider revising their licence model so they at least get commission or some other form of payment from child theme developers making heavy use of their themes? I don’t really know an awful lot about the licencing side of things so have probably missed something obvious.
What are your thoughts Jason?
David
Yes… all my themes are GPL licensed, and of course there is no issue with you setting up a biz and producing child themes or even modifications of my themes. Again, I think the key would be making them unique, or adding value that was not there before.
It is a little upsetting to see people just re-releasing unmodified versions of GPL’d themes to make a quick buck and then send support back to the originator of the theme. I really don’t see how that adds value back to the community. But if you take a GPL’d theme and make it your own… add functionality and style, that’s a whole different story. I would really love to see someone actually do something like that for a change.
However, if you do just want to re-distribute unmodified code, I would recommend just joining my affiliate program where you probably stand to make more money anyways.
Chock up another success story, thanks for taking the time to write up. The business you crafted is a great lesson in shifting from an hourly wage to a product business. Best of luck scaling your business far beyond yourself!
Passion and frustration were the magic motivators.
Thanks Mark…
Great story, hope to have the a similar experience one day…. thx for the inspiration!
Glad to provide it…
Nice Article Jason,
Hits the bone of Freelancing / Starting your own business and why people do it! Glad you found your niche in this market as i hope to one day :)
Great post. I started my own blog using one of your WPElements themes and pretty much each site I have launced since then has used one of your designs.
Making that jump out of working for someone and working for yourself has to be tough. I think I need to pick up a few more skills before I can do that.
This was a great article. I find the timing to be perfect. Just yesterday, I was having an awesome converstion with a friend re: our businesses. It made me think long and hard last night about what my Brand/Passion is and where I want it to go and my business.
Having an inspirational story to reflect on makes thinking of the next steps forward very exciting.
Thanks.
It is very exciting indeed. I am really glad to hear (if anything) that my story is providing some inspiration for people just like me. Have fun with your business, and I wish you the best in moving forward with it.
David brought up a point that I neglected to address in my comment about a niche market based on child themes for designer’s frameworks. If I were to consider such a business I would definitely first contact the designer and get permission.
In my opinion a synergistic relationship would be the only way for the niche child theme market to be successful. And I would not be opposed to paying a royalty or percentage of sales to the designer. In that way it would be a win-win situation and both businesses would benefit.
Like Jason I design web sites because I love to design and I’m not looking for a lucrative market to take advantage of because of the money. I’ve been doing the freelance thing since striking out on my own two years ago and I too have discovered that working with clients is still like working for someone else.
Jason, maybe you should considered a “Certified Child Theme Developer Program”. ;)
Definitely something to consider if there is enough interest in a “Certified Child Theme Developer Program”. Let me think about how to put something like that together, and I will let you know.
Yeah, if it’s something you think you’d like to put together shoot me an email. I would be glad to help you flesh it out.
Good article :)
Amazing article! Congratulations on your success and I applaud your courage!
Coincidentally, I am in a very similar boat right now.
After having worked for 13 years in the tech industry, I decided to call it quits, and go after something I am really passionate about.
Am a bit scared of taking this big a risk, but your blog post reinforces confidence in myself too, as I can relate very well to it
Trust me… I was scared to bits when I left my secure day job, but after a few months, that feeling was totally gone. Wish you the best in any future venture you take on.
Very inspirational, thanks!
As I am struggling to identify my passion, I am glad that once I have found it, there will be a road to happiness as you described it in such an amazing and inspiring way.
Thank you for letting me read about this.
Very happy to hear you found it worth while to read. Best of luck with your goals.
That is a very inspirational story. I am 100% self taught and learned so much about WordPress in your Press 75 support forums when I first got started. I would read your answers to peoples questions then play around with code. I’ve been “out of the cubical” for about a year now and sometimes its tough but I would rather work 100 hours a week for my self doing something I love than working 40 hour for someone else making 3 times the money.
That awesome Chris. I am glad to hear that Press75.com has helped you tone your WP skills.
You sound like me. LOL. I work on my site all the time. The main feature of my site “The Virtual Piano” has been played more than 13,000,000 times. I get more satisfaction out of this than I do with the money I make. Ever since 1998 I have been working on making a website people want to go to, and enjoy. Each positive comment I get on the website is worth $50 to me. If I make enough money to live on then great. But I have already accomplished my twelve year old goal and am happy with that. ButtonBeats.com I get about 2,000 unique visitors a day.
Very cool…
Jason, I love your story and it really hits home for me. I recently left my well paying job to start my own business. Definitely a slow start but after persisting things are really starting to heat up.
Keep making amazing themes.
Good to hear your business is on the rise. Good things can sometimes take time.
Jason,
Thank you for taking the time to write this. It is very inspirational.
Mark
Thanks for reading. Again, I don’t consider myself a “writer”, so I am glad that you stuck through it and maybe got something out of it at the same time.
Many thanks! Am kinda in the same situation.. really inspiring!
Wow! This is freakin’ AWESOME ARTICLE. Keep all you’re dreams going.
:) Jackie
thanks for the post. very inspirational and real. I am sure lot of developers/designers could relate this story to theirs. good luck!
Abhishek Allen
Found this story from Hacker News .. inspiring. Great job, and all the best. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading… I was checking out the comments over on Hacker News just a few minutes ago.
I was just browsing through the internet and your article grabbed my interest.I read through entire article and blog for this article.
The desire and increased passion to turn your ideas and thoughts acquired over 10 years pushed you to take the first step.
You inspired me.
Congratulations to you. I wish you the best of the best.
Thanks
Sarath.
You make a good point about the time I spent at that company. Who knows what would have happened if I had left earlier (before improving my skills). Thanks for your comments…
Hi Jason,
Great post. It was encouraging and inspiring to read (more since I can relate to it and am in a similar boat).
I have one question. I’m working on my new venture in my spare time as well and planning on asking for a Leave of Absence/Sabbatical soon. What convincing reason did you give your manager that he had no questions in return? :) I could use some pointers here.
Good luck!
Vin
I was very honest with them and said that I had some personal goals that I wanted a chance to go after. I didn’t mention exactly what I was going to be doing, but I think they knew that I was experimenting with going off on my own. This was a very large company, and I pretty much guarantee that I wasn’t even missed during those two months, or after I left.
Your story really gave my plans a boost. Just earlier this morning, I was finding myself swamped and realizing that my idea is gaining traction, it will only get worse. It’s admirable what you’ve achieved.
In fact, I am thinking of buying one of your themes!
Thanks for that…
This is a really strong and inspirational statement – I hope it gets spread throughout the world. Keep it up!
Thank you very much for reading…
Great article! Inspiring! Thanks for sharing.
How did you get the initial traffic to your site?
It was as simple as releasing a few free themes and blogging about WordPress. I think after I had some content, the traffic just came naturally through search and links.
Amazing story and very inspirational! Keep up the awesome work!
Thanks for reading, and I will…
very nice…keep up the good work..best wishes for future also…. thanks
Thank you, I was inspired whilst reading… and then when I reached the part where you said you made Featured Content Gallery, I was even more inspired because I use it on quite a few websites :-).
I think there’s another prerequisite though aside from passion – it’s the desire to make a difference in people’s lives, which you have definitely done so!
Chris
Thanks for your comments Chris. Yeah, that Featured Content Gallery plugin is maintained by someone else now, but it was the first plugin I ever made for WordPress. Amazed at how often I still see it used.
Thank you for posting, very inspirational!
awesome story. Dont think Im in as bad a situation as you were back in the day but I definitely want to go in your direction
Just want to clarify that there is absolutely nothing wrong with working for a company, or maintaining a “day job” if that is what makes you happy. I just think for some people, working for a traditional company is not a good match.
Hey Jason,
Little did I know, way back when I bought Video Flick from WPElements, that you were only just starting out back then. You do great work, and I’m glad to see that it is paying off for you. Keep it up! As for me, I’m full of ideas, but I need to pick ONE and do something about it!
Great interview on WordPress Weekly last month, BTW. One of the best episodes I’ve listened to.
Staying concentrated on one idea alone is sometimes the hardest part. Like you, I have so many ideas running through my head that it’s hard to keep on a single task. Glad you like the WPW interview… it was fun.
Amazing post. Very inspirational. I’ve been considering doing something similar myself. I’ve been creating custom wordpress themes for clients and while freelancing is an ‘ok’ operation, dealing with clients is not something I particularly enjoy, especially considering I’m still in college.
I suppose the reason I haven’t ventured forth with my ideas is knowing I’m not particularly skilled and the wordpress themes marketplace seems quite “saturated”.
There are other options such as creating child themes for established theme frameworks, or become an affiliate for an established theme marketplace, or post your files on ThemeForest.net. There are plenty of ways to make a name for yourself in the WordPress community.
This article has been floating around the twittisphere for a few days now, I’ve even re-tweeted a few times because I liked the title.
I just read the article & reaized I’ve purchased your themes & mentioned your sites in MY blog! I used Revolution for a client site.
Strong work!
Thanks… glad you like my work.
I really enjoyed this article. I think many entrepreneurs have gone through the same process. Not all may come through on the other side, but it’s always worth giving it a try.
It all comes down to life quality and when you are an enthusiast, like you are, it’s emotionally painful to have a day job that does not deliver life quality.
Good stuff, keep it coming :)
Thank you very much for your comments. Glad you enjoyed the article.
Very well put. I too work in the Seattle area and at times have become frustrated when presenting new ideas in the Instructional Design field. I am constantly looking for new ways of presenting training information outside of the standard view of what training in the corporate world should be.
Your story is very inspirational for me! I will definitely be mentioning your sites in my blog.
Glad you enjoyed the read… makes me want to write more.
I’m really glad that you have done this. Congrats. I think that the hardest part is about self confidence and unknown. Personal belief is a major part here.
And, I think that this was a big step up for your personality too.
Good job ;)
Very true… leaving a secure position for something that you have no idea what the outcome may be is scary to say the least, but exciting at the same time.
Flip – awesome story, Jason.
Hey guy!
Really great article. It reflects the spirit of entrepreneurship. I’m from Brazil and I’m glad to tell you most of us get inspired by this stories.
By the way, I’m starting to follow you on Twitter (mine is http://www.twitter.com/axcdnt).
Thanks guy!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks for the follow.
Thanks for the inspiring article, Jason. I’m not in any position to put any of your themes to use, unfortunately, but even just looking at them without witnessing their functionality, I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoy your designs. You do awesome work, and it’s refreshing to see that passion translate into such quality. Thanks again for the article, and congratulations on your success!
-Mark
Thank you very much…
I came here from twitter. Thank you for sharing your story. It is very inspirational!!! Since I am from Bhutan where GNH (Gross National Happiness) is the pursuit of our growth, I strongly agree that ‘money’ should not be the means of ones happiness!!!
You are welcome… thanks for reading.
I read this on a Tweet from SmashingMag on Saturday morning at around 630am. It was the best thing to read when you wake up that early. And I knew exactly who to forward this post to. A buddy of mine who is a freelancer and tells me the exact same story.
Wish you all the best and thanks a ton for sharing!!
Didn’t realize SmashingMag tweeted it… Awesome!!! Glad you enjoyed the read.
Thanks for writing this, it’s a very helpful article. I recently started to become an independent developer, and reading this post was very insightful.
Cheers and I hope for your continued success. Thanks!
To you as well… thanks.
Thanks for the article. I really like the ideas that money is sometime the by-product of chasing your passion :). And I think Steve Jobs, Bill Gate are great example for this.
Jason, Congrats and taking the leap and creating your own success!
So many WP Themes out there – most of them are utterly unremarkable. The themes I’ve found on WPElements & Press75 have stood out as exceptional.
I’m sold on Video Elements – my only beef is the Comments section feels a bit under-designed. With no segmentation, all the comments seem to run together.
The Synthetik theme, however, with it’s vertical “Admin” color bars, segmented comments and alternating gray-white backgrounds looks organized and effective.
Still gonna buy Video Elements, but just sayin’ if you ever feel like tinkering w/ the “Comments” design…
@nikolas_allen
I will definitely take that into consideration when updating the theme. Thanks for your comments.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience ! These words were exactly the reading I needed right now. Thanks again.
Amazing Article man! Very inspirational… Good to know who’s the “Daddy” behind Press75 and ThemeGarden! Keep up the good work man.
Thanks…
Thank you for the inspiration to Jason as well to all the others commenting on his article. Nice to hear about a passion that makes a living instead of eating it up. :-)
Thank you!
I have been thinking of launching my own wordpress premium theme-ing business. But have been afraid to make that investment in time at the sacrifice of other earnings.
This article is inspirational indeed!
Best of luck with any potential endeavor you take on. I think the key to getting in the WP theme game now is to bring something unique to the table… so many themes out there that just seem to be carbon copies of each other.
Hi Jason,
I’d like to indicate this article in a translated version to a brazilian entrepreneurship blog reference with all the merits to your text . If I’m able to, please tell me.
Thank you
Go for it… please just reference the original article.
today i was able to read a very interesting, honest and inspirational article and i have to thank you for that jason
Thank you for taking the time to read it.
Rad Story. Similar to how I started my web/ graphic design business.
I have heard it from your proud Mom. It was nice to hear you tell your success story. Congratulations! We wish you lots of satisfaction in following your passion.
Julie
Thank you very much Julie.
Hi Jason,
thanks for sharing your experience & your thoughts about it.
First I thought: Oh no, not another Gary Vaynerchuk story – rich guy “taking a risk” & using social media as a channel to promote himself.
Glad you disappointed my prejudices quite quickly ;-).
You were in a situation we all know – working a job & earn your living, taking care of your loved ones. Big obligations… how will it be if there’s no guaranteed monthly salary anymore? Will it be enough to pay the private fix costs?
That’s why I like your post the most: you did test drive running your own business and did not jump the fence without knowing what’s behind it. Which would be all right if you’re on your own, but quite irresponsible if your family relies in you.
I’m working as an employed it consultant & the big question always is: why don’t get paid the per diem rate directly?
In my case, the answer is simple: I want to gain enough experience before taking the big step. Plus I don’t want to be distracted by all the bureaucracy involved in running a business right now & concentrate on sharpening my skills.
And it’s a cosy feeling to know that there’s a reliable payment at the end of the month ;-).
To put it short: I like your article, especially since you show a reasonable & save migration strategy.
Cheers
5v3n
Glad you enjoyed the read and thank you very much for your comments. Having just been there only two years ago, I had a feeling this would hit home for allot of people out there currently in the same position. Taking a risk, but playing it smart at the same time was definitely the right move for me.
Jason – AMAZING article!
this really has inspired me. Ive been working in the tech industry for 5 years now and I’m only 21, but already do I want to venture off into my own business.
This working 9-5 is overrated. This post really has inspired me and encouraged me that it IS in fact possible to break out of a day job to pursue your dreams.
Thank you!!
Thanks Joe… Really happy to find that this article has been inspirational at the very least for so many people. With you the best with any venture you decide to take on.
I think I now understand what you’re doing!proud of you I am still in my shrinking cubicle!
Thanks Ingrid…
It looks like that I am stalking you Jason, not easy to exist once you enter your network LOL.
Anyways just want to say that story like yours makes me really happy, I was the same way and as well decided to start on my own. There is nothing better from working by yourself, for yourself if you know what I mean, even if you have to work for less money. Doing what you love from your own place is the dream of many developers out there and yours came through.
I started on the beginning of WordPress, however didn’t always have the benefits working from home. Even though I am not really active in WP community I do follow your work, as well as Brian Gardner’s, Adii’s and many others. You guys are an inspiration to all of us.
Sorry for long post,
Emil
Thanks for your comments Emil. Glad you enjoyed the read.
Thank you for reading my mind & bolstering my courage.
Noting your themes for some future blog work/upgrades.
Thanks for reading…
Great read Jason, very inspirational :)
Thanks… and glad you enjoyed it.
I’m really glad I stumbled onto this post, Jason. I never knew the back story of Press75!
You’re a big inspiration – lots of us are still stuck in that cubicle…
Glad if anything to be an inspiration to so many people. Thanks for reading…
this is such an inspiration… i have that same feeling of wanting more mixed with the fear of not knowing what’s next to happen… it’s been two years now, and with heaven’s blessings, clients and inquiries were continuous month after month… one really has to have that drive to risk themselves to the unknown
Pleased to hear that my/our five bucks for your first commercial theme in the past smoothed out the way for your career decision. It’s just the beginnig…
Keep yourself clean!
Mic
Thanks Mic… good to hear you were there for the beginning. Seems like ages ago.
Thats was truly inspirational. You said your knowledge was self taught?
Now that’s commendable. I;m also a wed developer. Keep up the great work.
Yes… pretty much my entire skill set has been all self taught. Still plenty to learn :)
hi jason, this post was inspiring. i am a recent fan of wordpress and its many possiblities. i want to go beyond just using what is out there to creating something of my own. most of my web programming and development skills are self taught cos i presently cant afford the alternative. i would like some help in learning how to build my own wordpress templates. i really like your designs. am a quick study and like to read so all i really need is some hand-me-downs, and i can pretty much get rolling from there. hope to hear something positive from you. thanks.
My best recommendation for someone like you would be to head over to WordPress.org, download the latest version and try and create something of your own out of the default (twentyten) theme. This is basically how I learned everything I know about WordPres… by just diving in. Hope that helps.