Hello, I’m Brian Gardner, and I’m glad you are here.
In 2006, I was working for an architectural firm as a project manager. I had a good job, but it wasn’t a great job. Truth be told, there was no path within that company which would have made me happy.
Before I started blogging, a friend recommended that I check out WordPress. Very quickly, I fell in love and really enjoyed the community that came with it. I downloaded a free theme, hacked away, and customized my blog.
Over the next few months, I started writing about my experiences with WordPress—building an audience around folks who were interested in what I had learned. Plus, they were downloading themes that I designed to boot.
I began moonlighting as a “freelancer” by customizing the themes I had freely available to download on my blog. A few hundred bucks a week was good spending cash, so I was living the dream, right?
Meh, not really. While it was great to have some extra money for vacations, what I really wanted was to be one of those “internet people” I saw working from coffeeshops.
The Accidental Entrepreneur
Life was going alright until I landed a gig with a real estate agent from Boston. I worked up a really nice design for him—one that I was particularly proud of—because it was more than just a “blog” theme.
I sent it off to him, and after a few days, he got back to me: Rejected.
Ironically, it wasn’t the design he didn’t approve of, it was the fact that I had created a custom homepage for him—something that resembled more of a full website look, rather than just a blog.
I went back to the drawing board and came up with something much simpler, which he approved of, paid for, and was on his way with.
I was left with something I thought was amazing, and was borderline depressed. I thought I was going to be stuck with this “masterpiece” I had created, but then I had an idea: ask my audience if they would be interested in buying it.
The WordPress Revolution
A couple of days went by before I had the time to do it, but I finally penned the blog post that would forever change my life—“How Much Would You Pay for a Premium WordPress theme?”
I took the rejected design I did for the Boston real estate agent and turned it into the Revolution theme for WordPress. I made $10,000, $20,000, $40,000, and $80,000 respectively the first four months. I was in shock, and told my wife Shelly that it was “financially irresponsible” for me to stay at my day job.
Some days I feel as though it was pure happenstance—that it was merely a stroke of luck and I was in the right place at the right time. Other days, I embrace the fact that I was smart enough to seize the opportunity which presented itself in front of me.
It’s been nearly 10 years since I took the leap of faith and became a creative entrepreneur. I can assure you it hasn’t always been easy, but not a day goes by that I regret my decision—trust me, it really is worth the risk.
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Control Your Own Destiny
If “living the dream” is your end game, I can help you get there.
Each week I share what I have learned as founder of StudioPress, creator of Authentik, and successful entrepreneur in the WordPress market. Just sign up below, and let’s enjoy this journey together.