Posts

Robert Crain

Hours Added

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 :)

/by
Robert Crain

I’m Back, For A Few Hours Per Week

Before anyone starts thinking, oh he’s struggling ‘ha ha’…..no, I’m not.

When I ‘retired’ in February, my intention was to grow Taken By Drone.com into a little side earner, but as you may be aware, it’s pretty much rained since February, and if it hasn’t rained, it’s just been too windy (gusty) to fly the drones.

There’s been a few people get a little irate because they’ve wanted photos taken, but they just cannot seem to grasp the whole ‘these drones cost thousands to buy’, and I just do not want to crash them or damage them due to bad weather.

So, here I am. No tail between the legs. That’s life.

The whole side earner was only meant to generate up to $18,000 P/A for me personally, doing only a few jobs per week.

I have changed the hours for WordPress work to 3 hours per day, working Monday / Tuesday / Friday.

In a way, this works out better for me, because I don’t need to leave home to work, and I’ll get to have more enjoyment from flying the drones as a hobby – which I’d love to get back into – as soon as this weather gets back to normal!

And to be honest, I’ve missed this since February. I began updating this website recently, and thought “yeah, I need to get back into this”. I love it.

Contact me, if you need any help with your website.

/by
Robert Crain

I’m Retiring* From WordPress

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.

/by