In 2012 I started my company Databeet and built my own website in WordPress. I wasn't planning on being in the WordPress business but stayed in WordPress business till the end of 2021. WordPress was for me not about building the website for the people asking me to build their website, but about getting them to think about the purpose of their business and/ or their website. Most of my WordPress clients had to get use to my way of work, but some stayed for years because they had ownership over their website by the way I worked. I taught them the basics of WordPress. Because of that I wasn't needed anymore when their website was running smoothly. This gave them power over their communication on the web.
After building the WordPress website for clients I taught them how to maintain the website and do small changes in WordPress. It felt like coaching them, because most of the time I was talking to them about their business instead of the website they wanted to build. But through getting to know their business I could make a unique website for them which they themselves could manage after it was built. By asking them lots of questions about the purpose of their website (blog 'Communication as a customer with the web builder’) not only I got a good insight in their business to build, they also got insight in how to go on further with their business. By doing this it felt like coaching them. I am not a coach, but at a network event where I was at the beginning of being an entrepreneur I was the only person there not in the coaching business. So I came up with the term WordPress Coach, because all the people introducing themselves where coaches. I even put the term Wordpress coach for a while on my website and business card. The name WordPress coach was received well at that network event with only coaches and with some clients but not all my clients got the point of the name WordPress coach.
At the same network event I was thinking about the difference between coach, ‘psycholoog’ and ‘psychiater’. I noticed that everybody could call themselves a coach, but most of the coaches where specialized in a kind of coaching. None of the coaches at the event was doing the same kind of coaching. I think being in the coaching business is hard because without standing out the coach won't make it. As I said before everybody can call themselves a coach. This is different for ‘psycholoog’ and ‘psychiater’, because in their business there is a minimum of education needed and most are specialized. Today (2023) I am reading the book ' New Female leader', thinking about how I started my career and how I switched to entrepreneurship, because I wanted a healthier life. The book explains the difference between coach, ‘psycholoog’ and ‘psychiater’. A coach works with me toward the future and the ‘psycholoog’ and ‘psychiater’ look into the past to go to the future. I agree with this difference, because after therapy I felt like being broken down. Although at the same time after talking to ‘psycholoog’ and ‘psychiater’ I started my own business. Those talks made me aware of what was the past and what I really wanted out of life. I went for my business and travels. I still go for both. I also slowed life down like in the blog 'Pace of walk'.
The purpose of hiring a coach to look at the future is also one I agree on with the writer of the book 'New Female leader'. In the past I hired a coach to hike the **Camino smart. The talks with 'Wandelen naar Inzicht' where not only about the Camino Portuguese I was going to hike in a few months in 2016, but also about how to shape life more into doing the things I really want, like:
living smaller
travel
go for a walk during a weekday if the sun is shining.
Another time I hired a coach was during the first lockdown in 2020 I needed to organize my thoughts about Databeet and as a bonus the coaches of ‘Wonderlijk Werken’ pointed out to me my core business which I could make lockdown proof in the future. This is still as it was in 2012 teaching others how to use (tech) tools smart. The Tech tools I teach are still Excel and Dataviz. (Tech) Tools helps business owners like me to work smarter, have more free time and enjoy my business and life more.
The book 'New Female leader' is inspiring me about a thought that has been crossing my mind for a while. I want to do more advise business, not only in using (Tech) tools smart but also in gender diversity participation. Especially why not all women have all the chances men have in life. In the past I worked on gender diversity for E-Quality and always try to keep integrating gender diversity in my blogs and other work. Reading the book 'New female leader' is part of the road toward integrating advise business into Databeet.
* I worked at E-Quality from 2005 - 2007. E-Quality merged and became Atria in 2012.
**I hiked the camino to think about what I wanted further from life and Databeet, not to party like some do on the Camino. I talked while hiking with my fellow hikers, but did not party with them or others. I am not a party animal and liked the quietness and calmness of the camino.