What saved me from a rut of running my business in isolation was a meetup.
WP Freelancers Meetup by Seattle WordPress Meetup.
Joining this meetup emphasized how important it is to connect with other freelancers no matter where you are in your WordPress business. Let me add this: you should join it, ESPECIALLY when you’re feeling bad about your business.
Running a website-building business, I felt down so many times I lost count.
- I hit roadblocks.
- I couldn’t keep up with things I should be doing.
- I take too much time trying to solve problems alone and label the practice as being “resourceful”.
- I have courses to take that tell me I’d get results if I do the work. But I lose focus.
- I don’t make enough effort to make connections with fellow business owners.
- I struggle to promote myself online or share my knowledge in a way that attracts the right audience.
As an immigrant using English as a second language, I’m too conscious about my speaking skills, especially when it gets technical.
A lot of what holds me back is fear. Fear of putting myself out there and making mistakes. This fear leads to no actions and keeps me in my comfort zone; the zone where new ideas, solutions, and opportunities expire.
The truth is I know that I will always feel empowered whenever I do something difficult or challenging to my personality, like talking with other people in the same industry. But knowing the truth doesn’t make it easier.
Until I was too sick of my limiting beliefs and finally said, “F*ck this, I’m gonna do it.” So, I joined the meetup.
I chose WP Freelancers Meetup because I have enough WordPress experience to relate to other attendees. It’s an appropriate start that eases me into participating in the discussions rather than being paralyzed.
In the first hour or so, I wasn’t bold enough to contribute anything but only listening. In the next hour, I stumbled my way to ask my questions. The feedback I got was tremendous and beyond helpful. It’s heartwarming to see how much people are willing to share their knowledge and experience to help get one another unstuck.
Here is what I gained from the meetup:
- Valuable resources of tools and suggestions to help with my current web issues.
- Hearing stories of those who are more experienced about their work processes, from onboarding clients to web development to dealing with conflicts, etc.
- Getting to confront my fear of improvising public speaking or expressing my opinions. In other words, having casual conversations with multiple people online.
- Getting to feel more comfortable being the one and only female Asian immigrant who speaks English as a second language. Learned to never let that intimidate me or make me feel less than.
The meetup taught me to embrace participating in a community more. A community filled with discussions of topics of interest from people with diverse experiences is such a treasure. It inspires you and opens up your mind. The meetup taught me that running a business in isolation could only get me so far before I die of loneliness and ego.
To find a WordPress meetup in your location, look for the WordPress Events and News section on your WordPress dashboard. Or visit WordPress meetups.
Now tell me, have you found a community you want to join?