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Here at CrainWP, I specialize in WordPress Security, and WordPress Website Auditing.

Recently, I’ve been ‘auditing’ my life. I made a point 53 weeks ago today, to stop using social media and become more private.

Over the past week, I began deleting most of my websites, email addresses, iPhone apps, stored photographs and videos, I’ve marked furniture, clothing and tools for disposal, and basically anything else I no longer need, that I can throw away.

We all have things in our life we don’t need. They hold us back. They give us too much choice. They ruin our lives. We don’t need so much.

In most part, I originally began winding back from ‘showing’ too much, because I want a more private life. In doing this, I found that I have too much in my life that I don’t really need. It kind of begs the question, why did I bother in the first place? It’s a question that I simply cannot answer.

As part of my winding down / back, I disposed of my .com.au domain names. I don’t want or really need them. I registered a few .com domains, this being one of them.

With regards to email addresses, I had more than a dozen and I’ve wound that down to 3 now. When building websites for people, I’ve always recommended they use a free email address and stick with it, because domain names come and go, and if you use an email address from your domain name, then end up not renewing it, you cannot be certain that someone else will not register the domain, and all your dirty little secrets and private information will be viewed by strangers. There’s a function in cPanel, that allows all unrouted emails to be discarded (it’s called a black hole).

My ‘personal website’ is now deleted, so there’s absolutely no pressure to add content, update it or worry about putting something up that I may later regret, for privacy reasons.

Don’t get me wrong, one of the best things you can do, is have a personal website – you can post what you like without worrying about being banned, or people posting stupid comments.

I think I’ll keep this domain name, until such time that I want to also walk away from it as well. I’m pretty sure I’ll have it for another 10 years, we’ll see.

Scrolling through my phone contacts and messages last night, I kept coming across names of people that haven’t actually called me in years. I have ‘bumped into’ these people whilst out and about, and they all say the same thing – ‘you haven’t called for ages’!!. Seeing it takes two to tango, I saw no point in having their number, so I deleted them. Wasn’t only friends though, family were included in the mass deletion.

When I look at everything, all I see is clutter, and I want to clear it.

We now live in a world where we must have something due to FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. Trust me, you’re not missing out on anything.

In fact, Vicki and I sat down at Lake Alexandra Reserve in Mittagong the other week and had a coffee. Near us was a mother and her four children, and on the table was about $10 of hot chips. The mother pulled out her phone and began taking photos. I looked at Vicki and said ‘those were the days’, she grinned, then we started a conversation of when we were kids. I miss the ‘old days’.

Everybody needs to take a step back and go back to basics, so they can really enjoy what is important.

I’m probably just getting old, or it may very well be that I’ve now discovered what is most important in life, and I can tell you, it’s not ‘things’.

I’ll try to not put up much [ on this website ] that is not related to WordPress, but this is the only place I have now to voice my opinions, and let people know what I’m doing – well, those that are interested anyway.

Do you need A Life Audit? 

Perhaps your WordPress Website does, contact me.

Well, that didn’t take long. 10 weeks to be precise.

Due to demand, I’ve had to provide additional days and hours, and my hourly rate has been adjusted.

My new hours of availability are;

Weekdays – 9am to 6pm

Saturday – 9am to 3pm

Sunday – Closed

Public Holidays – By Appointment

I’d been contacted by several [ potential ] customers, requesting work outside of the hours I’d said I’d be willing to work [ As per a previous Post ], and because of this, I’ve completely ‘revamped’ the hours I’m available for hire, along with my rate.

Please take note; I’m not willing to work nights anymore though. I want to live a bit.

My hourly rate is now $100 per hour, which is $21 less than 18 months ago. I’ll be maintaining this hourly rate up until the day I decide to once and for all retire from this, but that is some time away [ Years ].

Contact me if you require my services, I look forward to working with you :)

So, it’s been almost 12 months since I last posted here, and hasn’t time flown.

I’ve made several posts, on my website(s), as well as on forums about me thinking about this decision, because there are quite a few things outside of WordPress, that I want to do.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I made the decision to give up Social Media. I still have my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Accounts ‘active’, although I’ve made changes so I cannot log into them.

The past few years has ‘forced’ me to be a bit more private, and not share things online. I used to enjoy taking photos around the house, be it with my pets, or home improvements that I felt proud of, and publish them, but I am just so much happier not to, now.

I get more enjoyment out of life, from being private. I can get out on the Kubota and mow the strip whenever I want. My partner can get her hands dirty in her acre of gardens that surround the house, which cannot be seen from any direction. We are secluded, yet not far from Mittagong, Berrima and Bowral, in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. We get more enjoyment from people not knowing anything.

Thankyou, stalker.

WordPress has been good to me, and I’ve enjoyed dealing with some very nice people. I believe there are going to be challenges ahead for newbies entering into this field, purely based on the fact that there are so many competing businesses out there, hoping to get your business. I’m not going to name them, but you know who they are.

I’d rather retire from this now, while I’m still reasonably young, and can enjoy life a bit more. I’d actually considered walking away from WordPress for about the past 4/5 years, but decided to continue with it, at reduced hours and days.

So, today – February 1, 2022*, is my very last day. The funny thing is, I was going to give 4 weeks notice here today, but whilst writing this, it has changed my mind.

Jobs that have come in over the past 2 weeks will be passed onto another developer, and I will no longer be accepting any jobs.

It’s been fun. You will still be able to contact me via this website, until I decide to remove the page, which will probably be in around 6 months.

Here’s to a private life.