{"id":57,"date":"2011-12-04T20:43:45","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T04:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jepheverett.wordpress.com\/?p=57"},"modified":"2011-12-04T20:43:45","modified_gmt":"2011-12-05T04:43:45","slug":"a-personal-note-from-the-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"A personal note from the author"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot has changed since I wrote my last few posts, so here goes-<\/p>\n

For the last 18 months I\u2019ve been working (where I can find it lol) as a freelance IT professional based in Seattle.  after 10 years spent with fluorescent lights of retail shops shining on me, I had to make a break for it.  before my break I\u2019d spent 3 years seriously diving into all things IT, so at this point I\u2019m nearly 5 years into my journey shifting careers from retail to IT.  I\u2019ve been lucky enough to find a few part time and temporary positions to keep myself afloat, and have possibly more than my fair share of fun along the way.<\/p>\n

There have been some incredible ups and downs!  On one of my first gigs just a week or two after getting my website up, my business licensed, etc, etc, my car was broken into and my stereo was stolen in broad daylight, at about 9:30 AM.  The thugs even harassed me when I saw them circling the street (they had been chased away by the police, and left tools in my car, which I assume they were after.  I was so pissed I wanted to drag the assholes out of the car, but of course that wouldn\u2019t have helped my case any so I just let them know the cops were on the way back to take my statement and would be there momentarily and I thought a group conversation would help.  They left, obviously, but my car was thrashed for about $1000 worth of damage on a job worth only about $200.  Obviously my strategy needed to change.  I mixed things up and focused on longer term contract positions, and found a couple of more legitimate companies to work with.<\/p>\n

A few months later I was given the gift of a lifetime when my grandfather got me a new vehicle since I was in no position to fix my old one.  I also got lucky enough to do a few retail trainings for Microsoft around the country, rack up a few frequent flyer miles, and even sit in first class a couple of times.  The option of being a full-time traveling trainer seemed real, but way too surreal.<\/p>\n

The truth is that the road gets lonely, and there\u2019s nothing so rewarding as seeing the people you care about succeed. That takes work, generally in the same place everyday. There are plenty of days where I\u2019m so confused and frustrated that I hardly know what to do, and then there are those rare, beautiful days where something just clicks, and no obstacle seems to great.  I live for those days.<\/p>\n

Expect a series of posts on technologies, platforms, and projects that anyone can use to help build businesses.  I\u2019ll be focusing on free platforms and a DIY ethic, recognizing that even with a 3 year head start on learning IT I\u2019m constantly looking for help or support from the community, and I\u2019m hoping to start giving back by sharing some of the resources I\u2019ve learned about and helping others with them as well.  Since I\u2019m building with FREE open-source technology, I feel the least I can do is give the products I\u2019m working with a mention in my blog or MyLinkedFace-twit here or there in the hopes that the author\u2019s will get at least some of the credit they deserve as well.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a sneak preview of the feature of my next article on building http:\/\/business2way.com,<\/a> an ecommerce site on the well established Zen-Cart<\/a> platform.<\/p>\n

Zen Cart offers a mature feature set including integration with common payment platforms, as well as shipping providers, and even offers fairly easy to configure ACCURATE calculation of taxes based on your shipping customer\u2019s zip code, thanks to the handy TaxCloud<\/a> module.  Between community support on the forums and a variety of service providers with experience developing Zen Cart modules, there is always someone to turn to if you have a question or just need to get it done, fast.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned, or subscribe via RSS.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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A lot has changed since I wrote my last few posts, so here goes- For the last 18 months I\u2019ve been working (where I can find it lol) as a freelance IT professional based in Seattle.  after 10 years spent with fluorescent lights of retail shops shining on me, I had to make a break … Continue reading A personal note from the author<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computers-and-internet"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cloudagnost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}