Hey everyone! As promised here’s the new post for Monday. If you missed it on Facebook, last week I mentioned that I would try to post on Mondays now so it will be easy for everyone to know when new stuff is out. Not to mention it gives me the weekend to at least think about what I want to write about.
I don’t want to spend a lot of time explaining my absence but a bit of background might keep you up to date on the last couple of months.
Many of you know I’m a chef by trade who left the industry after over twenty years to spend more time with my family. But after so many years of long hours I was without things to occupy my time after the kids were in bed and that led me to starting this blog. So with absolutely no history of writing or even reading blogs, I set out on this journey.
But after half a year of sitting at home I HAD to get back in the kitchen and as luck would have it, a very good friend of mine from my teen years had a restaurant that was in need of some help. So I went to work for him and his wife. And I still am to this day.
Since starting with them, the location has moved from a small town to the center of an Army base here in my home of Maryland. Being on a military base has some pretty awesome advantages for someone like me who still wants to stay in the kitchen, but not kill himself and miss out on all the firsts of my three daughters. Things like, being closed on the weekend and every holiday known to man. In my business, that’s unheard of. So I’m finally doing a Monday to Friday, 9-5 gig. PIE!!
Having “normal” business hours has given me the time to learn many of the things I was oblivious to when first setting up this blog. Like CSS, HTML, Java Script and PHP, which are the parts that keep a website working. Things I didn’t even know I needed to know! And as it turns out, I really love working with these.
So much so, that a few months ago I was confident enough with what I had learned, to offer help with (small) issues on Craigslist and my personal Facebook page. To my surprise, It wasn’t long before people started contacting me. Some I was able to help. Some I referred to other sources of help. But all this motivated me to learn more and continue.
After a few weeks I began to get even more requests for help and decided it was time I began to charge a small fee. And just like that, I became a “freelancer” without even setting out intentionally on that path.
To date I’ve done a couple dozen jobs ranging in size and scope from very small style changes to building a complete site from scratch and had a ton of fun along the way.
So that’s where I am today. It’s amazing to me when I look back over the past year at where my path has headed. I started a blog just to have an online place to chat and rant and because of that I’ve met tons of cool people, learned skills I didn’t even know I wanted to learn and am now in a place where I’m considering a complete jump in industries. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Let’s see where this ride gets off. I just know none of this would have happened if I hadn’t started this blog and if none of you hadn’t checked in to read it. Thank you all.
I’d especially like to thank the people who trusted me to work on their sites for them, not the least of whom is Genese at BMOREDIVAS She’s become a good friend and regular client. I’m grateful for her. She runs a lifestyle blog worth reading. And there are others to mention, but Genese is the only one I asked permission, so I’ll just say thanks to all my awesome clients.
While on the topic of thanks I should mention I probably wouldn’t have started a blog at all if I hadn’t read an article on AndreaDekker.com that led me to another site, AmylynnAndrews.com, that guided me step by step through the initial process. My thanks to both of them.
And up till now most of the technical know-how I’ve acquired has been through countless hours of frustration, emails to other bloggers (thanks Tonya and Jen) and my go-to source for knowledge, YouTube. Especially the channels, Devtips and CSS Tricks as well as LevelUp Tuts and many others.
I guess that about catches everyone up on what’s been happening at the Olivas home. I start officially taking classes in web development in the Spring. After 22 years out of school, this should be interesting! But as much as I’ve learned , and am learning, I felt some credentials would be a good thing. Wish me luck!
Hope to have you all back next Monday to see what’s new. I’m going to spend this week trying to find a few last minute Christmas deals or at least some deals for my daughter’s birthday in January. If I find any good ones, I’ll pass them on to you also.
Oh and lastly, If you like what I’ve been writing, thanks. You can help me out by following me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google+ or by signing the email list. I’d really appreciate it. It helps to motivate me when I know there’s someone actually reading what I write. See you next week!