Case Study: Lydia Brinkmann

How did you find out about WP Rockstar?

I think I found out about WP Rockstar by seeing an ad where Julia was throwing her laptop down in frustration. And the words in the ad appealed to me. And so then I think through that I joined The Screw the Commute Facebook group, and I had already been looking for ways to work from home. So I was interested in ways to work from home. And I had started a blog on WordPress. So when I saw her offer and, and everything, I was very interested also.  

What was your life like before you joined WP Rockstar?

Before I joined WP Rockstar, I was a Spanish teacher and very busy with my kids and and let's see, COVID was starting and I wanted a way to work from home and keep my kids at home and so I was just researching lots of different ways to do that.  

What actions did you take as a result of taking the course and being part of the community?

From taking the course, I felt confident to offer WordPress services. Actually, right about the same time I started the course. I was offering freelancing services. I was helping teachers. As a former teacher myself, I was helping teachers create teaching materials and so they were paying me for that. But I didn't like the pay and I also wasn't that interested in the work. And so I was working through the course at the same time, and just being in the course gave me confidence. I saw people saying, I need help with my WordPress website and I was like, I think I can help you with that. And so I got just a few small jobs at first where they just needed they already had a website and I just helped troubleshoot a couple of areas on their website. One lady had a website, but she didn't like it and it wasn't very good. So I did build her a starter site, so I just like when I was still in the beginning of the course, I didn't feel comfortable taking big WordPress jobs, but I felt the confidence to start taking some WordPress jobs. And I felt like if I had any questions like that GeekPack® community was there to help me with any problems. So confidence was a big thing.  

Did you have an experience as a freelancer or building websites prior to joining WP Rockstar?

I did build a couple blogs, just like hobby blogs. I was hoping to turn them into affiliate marketing blogs and it was more of a hobby and let's see where this goes. So I did have a little experience with WordPress, but not much. And I and I had lots of questions when I made my blogs, I was like - This doesn't look quite right, didn't feel right yet. And then I also did have a few freelancing. I was teaching online a little bit and creating materials for other teachers online. So I was just starting in the freelancing field. Right about the same time that I started the course.  

Did you have ever had any contact with coding before the course, or did you feel intimidated by coding?

No, I didn't have any experience with coding. My mom was a computer programmer and I thought I never want to do anything like that. And I, I got frustrated with technology. I, it was definitely not on my radar. I was like, that coding is something people go to college for years for like that. It didn't even make sense to me to think about coding. No, it never crossed my mind until I saw the five day coding challenge that Julia does, and then I felt like, Wow, I actually got this.  

How long did it take you to earn back your enrollment investment?

I wasn't trying to hurry to earn back my investment just as my own personal choice. And I was making money freelancing in other ways. So I was okay with taking my time on the course. So I wasn't in a hurry to earn back the money through website building. So I, I don't remember. It was, it was probably six months before I did, but that was my own choice that I was going slow at the course and earning money in other ways until I felt like I wanted to go full with websites.  

Can you talk a little bit about how you made your first thousand dollars if it was one project or more and how you found your first client for your first web design client?

I think that I had small projects under a thousand and several of those pretty early on, and I don't think those added up to quite $1000, but probably getting close. And then my husband's law firm actually needed a website updates, so they hired me. So that was my first, just $1,000 check. So, so yeah, that was just someone in my family and, and then the next one, the next $1,000 was actually a job offer in the GeekPack® Facebook group. Somebody put a job offer in there. And I was one of the people who applied and I got it. So that was my second $1,000 earnings. And most of the clients I got on Facebook actually.  

How much time on average do you think you put into the course?

I personally put blocks of time where I was working hard on the course and then I took a couple of months off just because of my own schedule. We had a big move in our family, so I just went at my own pace and I was really happy with that. So some months I would spend 2 hours a day, probably six days a week, and then I would do a couple of months without working on it at all and then come back to it. So that was my personal choice. That's how I approached it, but definitely, one or 2 hours a day for a few months feels right to me.  

Did you feel supported when going through the WP Rockstar curriculum and being part of the GeekPack® community?

I definitely felt supported going through the curriculum and I noticed in the GeekPack® community that every question was answered in a friendly way and people were happy to help in the group and support me with any questions I had. So it really grew my confidence and my ability to move forward.  

What are your future plans?

My future plans are to just keep offering website building and also some add on services like if they want website building plus Google business profile optimization or some social media branded posts. I feel like as their website developer, I have insight into their business already, so it makes sense to offer them extra things. So that's my plan going forward also.  

What stood out to you about GeekPack® and WP Rockstar?

WP Rockstar, of course, stands out to me as having a lot of information, and I love that there's so much about just building your business. Like, I can totally see somebody just gaining skills to build their business and deciding websites work for them, but they get so much just from the building. The business aspect and being part of GeekPack® just feels like support, competence. Yeah, like a community where I feel like I'm starting to get to know people, even.  

What would you say to someone who is on the fence about joining WP Rockstar?

I think you can definitely gain confidence and skills to freelance to work from anywhere through this course and I think if you're on the fence about it, you know, you can definitely make your money back through the course. And I think you'll gain so many skills and confidence that you'll be glad you did it.