I've been running this website with the help of Squarespace since January of '05. In a former incarnation of my professional life, my job had many webmaster / online maintenance duties. In fact I'd dabbled in "putting stuff online" for years. And so when I discovered that ordinary people (read: non techies) could create and maintain perfectly beautiful sites without the need for expensive software, hours of training, or a background in programming - I was, quite literally, beside myself. These sites were much further along than any I had personally ever developed without the help of this content management system. And so I told everybody who would listen to me about Squarespace. Come to think of it, I still do.

During that time, I discovered that although the Squarespace training resources are remarkable and thorough and getting better all the time, some people still don't want to be bothered working their way through the process of learning how to build sites on this platform. Lots of 'em are happy to have someone sit down and show them how to make simple updates, but quite a lot of the people I meet still want someone to guide them along the way.

So I started helping other people do this.

 

What does that mean? I'm a sort of "non-techie" with a bit of understanding of how the web works, who's also creative and patient and enthusiastic... who genuinely likes collaborating with others. Particularly when it's on projects like the ones I've seen evolve through the Squarespace platform. A platform that lets us blog, post photo galleries, Amazon lists, discussion boards, standard web pages...etc., without having to buy web development software! Which is only the tip of the iceburg...

 

As much of a leap as it may seem, at first glance, these projects aren't that far off-base from my jewelry designs. Think about it: I design jewelry that helps people look good when they wear my pieces. Same thing with a website! I've discovered a tool that helps us "look good" online. It's a tool that's helping me improve my ability to market my jewelry designs. And sometimes I get to help other people learn how to use it to market their own projects.  Plus? Every time I help someone build a new site using this platform, I learn something new that I can use to make my own site better. Good stuff, no?

 

 

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