Building From the Ashes
The Long Road Through Tech, Writing, and Back Again
About six years ago, I was feeling lost.
You know it’s hard sometimes when you’re surrounded by constant digital reminders of what success is supposed to look like, and you still haven’t reached some mythical level yet.
When I was younger, in my early 20s, I only had a few dreams I wanted to achieve before I became 30.
Actually, I had multiple lists, but I settled for a few that I knew I could do well.
Early Dreams and Skill Gaps
When I was in my 20s, dealing with trying to become an established writer, I didn’t know anything about writing essays that moved people. I didn’t know anything beyond what I was shown how to do in class and the ideas I was given in my youth.
I believe we all have the capability to become better writers and storytellers to help others.
One of the coolest skills I ever seen was how professionals in the creative space were able to take a vague concept a client has and, with the help of their team, flesh the idea out in such a way that you can evoke not just a strong emotional response, but also create a life-changing moment.
The Startup Illusion
For example, when I went to college, most of my peers were entrepreneurs in training or had a side hustle they were doing.
By the time I went back to school, I was introduced to the world of startups, no regulations, and the era of everyone can become a $100,000 developer after 2 months of bootcamps.
The truth was a bit more complicated.
When I was in school, our professors who had closely studied changes in various industries did their best to help guide us.
Some of my peers went on to become heads of marketing departments, lead international projects, and travel the world.
Each time I’d get an update, I’d be shocked and inspired.
After Graduation: Uncertainty
When I finished school, I didn’t know what was going to happen.
I use to dream of becoming a software developer because I used to get my news from places like Built In, The Verge, and The Next Web. I used to spend my off days trying to be aware of industry trends so I could bring a more holistic approach to web development.
I didn’t have many digital projects to my name at the time. My background was more editorial than digital-focused at the time. I knew I wanted to build apps and tools to help others. I didn’t know where to start.
Choosing an Unconventional Path
Back then there wasn’t a clear path for a writer to go from traditional media to the world of tech.
I was told I either needed to go to college and learn how to do programming through a traditional computer science degree or enroll in some bootcamp. Instead, I did something different.
I decided to help local business owners and start solving problems.
This wasn’t a normal path.
I had to stay creative daily.
Some days, I had to deal with standard website issues, maintenance concerns, or just spend a few hours trying to troubleshoot the issues that business owners were facing with their clunky tools.
Just imagine having to spend hours out of your day not typing in how to build a website into YouTube, but instead having to figure out how to read documentation and figure out if you can use any open source solutions to help as you go.
Those lessons actually helped to strengthen my problem solving skills as I went.
Troubleshooting and Trials
While I was early in my developer journey, I used to spend hours trying to figure out how to keep my skills current.
The only way I knew how to keep my skills current back then was to read as much as I could on Medium, blogs, and elsewhere.
But what really helped me was spending my weekends and trying to build at least one project or at least one new feature.
I even kept an old sketchbook and would spend a few hours trying to do wireframes by hand just so I could visualize how to build a tool to help a business owner in case they needed something custom.
I would spend so much time trying to build out the mockups, I felt like all this learning was pointless, as months would become years, and I wouldn’t see the results I was looking for.
I eventually felt tired of trying to spend hours of my days just coding, and I asked around what else I could do.
The Social Media Shift
At the time, social media was still in its adolescent stage and wasn’t as time-consuming.
Back then, the myth was told to those of us that tech was better than working a regular job. We got told that a tech job could set you up for life. By this point, I’d seen people pivot from one digital community to the next.
To the untrained eye, this was chaos. To my young mind, this was an opportunity to learn.
Eventually, I learned that people, businesses, and well established brands will pay for access to an engaged community.
People love talking to people with whom they share interests.
People are lazy when it comes to trying to form those connections after they get locked into one platform.
This was before agencies had whole teams to run data and manage multiple accounts. This was before we had data scientists, data analysts, and people started to care more about their data.
These subtle shifts from social media being a good add on to brands and businesses realizing if we can get the eyes of the young people or get the eyes of the teens, we can make a brand that’s nearly as engaging as a Coca-Cola or Pepsi. Soon, more brands started to see the benefits of using technology to become more efficient at using user-generated content and storytelling.
Around this time, I was probably splitting my days between helping clients, juggling brands, and trying to figure out how to stay current when peers was saying the shelf life of a web developer was only two years because most of the front end work was starting to become outsourced, technology was changing again, or there was no longer a clear pathway to success.
The only path people seemed to talk about was finding work at some Fortune 100 or Fortune 500 companies or hoping you can land a CTO slot before you turn 30.
Brand Work and Burnout
When I decided to do marketing for the first time in a few years, the skills felt rusty.
But I knew I had two things going for me.
I knew how customers thought after talking to a few business owners, and I knew that most business owners are willing to pay extra for quality services when in a crunch.
At this time, I picked up another job and started working as a brand manager, and that situation opened my eyes to the world of what’s possible.
I had the role for a few months, and I learned how to handle building not just engagement, but I learned how to shape narratives based on the experience that I gained from running a few small teams.
I went from only working with a few teams to having to learn how to work with a fully remote team.
At first, the learning curve was a lot, but I learned how to adapt.
I learned what it’s like to create a whole brand from scratch and how to bring and lead a vision from a fledgling concept to an actual MVP that works.
Then burnout happened, and I needed to pivot.
I had been running so long as a developer, builder, and more that I forgot about trying to build with intention.
At that time, I was too busy trying to build brands that I totally forgot my why.
At this time, I was just through with the whole vision. I didn’t see a path forward in tech anymore.
In my 20s, I believed that we could make a difference and use these tools to build a brighter future.
I was wrong.
Worst yet, I couldn’t see a way out.
Using Writing to Forge a Brighter Future
Last year, I wanted to start over. I had tried multiple times to start an online business, and I had seen mixed results based on a variety of factors, including timing, industry, and skill gaps.
I did something different, and I decided to launch a newsletter to figure out how to stay current in a world full of information and confusion.
I got tired of seeing business owners wasting time and energy trying to figure out tools that weren’t meant for their team in the first place.
Think back to the first time you had an idea to do something cool, and you had the idea in your head, but you ended up spending months trying to make it happen when you could of just called an expert to help you.
I’ll never forget when I started this journey, I had no clue what I wanted to write about, but I decided to invest in a coach.
Slowly, I started to see a new way. A better way.
What helped the most about starting the new chapter was the chance to get back to why I started writing in the first place.
The more I looked for stories to tell, the more I started to see the issues that were really impacting business owners.
Too often, when we’re told to start a business, it’s from the perspective of seeing the big picture and worrying about the small stuff later.
That’s the wrong approach when you consider how the business landscape changes quicker than most of us could imagine.
Final Thoughts
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I started to realize something.
It took a few calls with clients before I started to see something happen.
The change wasn’t instant, but I’ll never forget having a conversation recently that I started to realize that I didn’t just have some vague idea of what to do, but I had an idea of how to help them.
If you had asked me a year ago if I could choose between helping a client or just waiting, I would have chosen working on anything but the boring stuff because I was told for so long that if you weren’t building something cool, there’d be no point.
I’ve seen recently the shift from being a spectator or quiet observer.
My coach was right, when you can help your first client, something changes.
For me, it was the realization that I have the chance to help.
I’ll never forget how devastating it was spending thousands of dollars on a website through some company that kept trying to convince me to add on products that I didn’t need.
Those experiences reminded me that I could do better.
I’ll be helping 5 business owners improve their storytelling.
It took me years to see the value of my own story, but the help I received along the way is what inspired me to want to help others.
The most powerful tool you have in your toolbox, as a business owner, is your story.
It’s time to share it.
P.S. If you’re ready to go from confusion to clarity, let’s talk.
Comment, “Let’s go” in the comments and we can get started.