Learn and help

The whole reason I started crystallogical a few years ago was because I couldn’t believe how much people were being charged for websites, shopping carts, logos and constant subscription based offerings.  I had first signed up to Shopify because I wanted to make shirts with verses on them.  I set up my site connected it to Printful, which is a print on demand, drop ship t-shirt company.  I figured out how to use Shopify and Printful very quickly.  Quickly – really means several days for hours on end with lots of coffee.  I was so excited.  I used apps on my phone to create the images and then uploaded them to Printful and it auto populated to Shopify.  I also ordered all the stuff to make my own t – shirts at home and it was very cumbersome. I had a vinyl cutter, clamshell, many different types of iron ons as well including rhinestone ones.  I was determined to make something work.  I put so much effort in it I didn’t want it to go to waste. I promoted.  I shared on social media but truthfully no orders came in.  Shopify at the time was charging around $30 a month, then a fee for each shirt and some other transactional fee.  I couldn’t see putting that out every month and it hadn’t gone viral LOL.  So I figured out how to use Printful with WordPress and WOO Commerce.  I first tackled the majority of WordPress and a Theme, then I went to getting all the plugins configured including Woo and the integrations needed.   I self taught myself (that always reminds me of Austin Powers) with lots of trial and error, googled a lot, watched hours and hours of videos, learned about plugins, how to reshape images, how to create sliders, contact forms, set up e-mails with my hosting company, create so many pages, posts, menus, and then would delete them and try again until I liked it.  I found tons of sites helping me with html, css, sliders, etc.

When it comes to this big World Wide Web there is literally nothing you can’t do.  You can always find help on something and I have to say learning coding and website design there are so many people willing to help and love to do so.  I was determined to get my costs as low as I could in case I didn’t sell a single shirt.  I think I may have sold ten in all the years I had it up.  I learned something through that whole process that I was able to help so many others and even myself design more websites.  There were and still are so many times I have wanted to snap my keyboard in half.  Coders know this.  I haven’t and won’t because then I have to buy a new one and I am all about saving that ching ching. So many nights my eyes started to cross.  I had moments when I was so tired but I had to fix this one thing to get it to work.  Sometimes you really do have to turn it off and come back to it a few days later.  I will have dreams of how to create something just so I don’t have to pay a subscription fee.  My current search was how to create a plugin for booking appointments.  Took several thousand plugins and I think I finally found one and keep testing it to see if it works.

I also love helping people learn and not be afraid of tech whether they are using Mac or Windows, basic computer tasks or learning how to create a blog.  It’s not as hard as people think just because they have that stigma they aren’t techie.

So flash forward, my hunger to learn how to save $30 + dollars a month gave me so many skills that I can build sites for others.  I am now teaching myself PHP. I want to create my own themes and plugins.  I learned so much about hosting too.

Speaking of themes.  I had tried so many and when I came across Ashe I fell in love.  It was everything I wanted in a theme.  Themes on WordPress are a group of files (graphics, style sheets, and code) that dictates the overall appearance of your blog or website.  It’s like the shell to your site.  You can tweak the colors, fonts and layouts but it really does cut down on all the behind the scenes framework of a full site.  There are many out there and you can spend a lot of time trying one, getting it half way completed and then find out it doesn’t do something else you needed it to do and you have to start all over again.  Ashe was very functional with adding Woo and had great design and going Pro was totally worth it.

Check out Ashe Theme by Royal-Flush by clicking this sentence.

I have started to dabble many other coding languages but I have to admit and I don’t know if any other web designers will, I constantly find myself having to go back and reread or rewatch how to do it.  It does eventually stick.  Then once I grasp something I already want to enhance it more and there I go down a rabbit hole on how to get glitter to rain down on my header logo at https://www.comfyglam.com.  The point is you can start anywhere.  You can learn as you go.  There is so much to learn in web design, coding, hosting etc. Never give up, walk away when you need a break and come back refreshed.  You can do anything you set your mind to.  When you learn something don’t look down on others help them up along side of you so they will too when the time comes.  Patience is truly a virtue a lot of people in the tech industry need.  Be a blessing by helping others whether its with their smart phone or searching online or building a blog / shop for someone’s craft they do so well at.