THE STORY: From zero to something

Building a website from scratch is pretty straightforward nowadays, thanks to the advancement of technology that can do wonders if used correctly.
The availability of various website builders and content management systems like WordPress, Wix, and Ghost.io provides the foundation needed to start building your site.
Additionally, numerous templates, plugins, and AI-driven tools offer flexibility and control, making customization more effortless than ever.
But what if you don’t have a clear goal in mind and you jump straight into the building phase without knowing what to do next? Well, that happened to me, and to be honest, it’s not a pleasant experience.
So buckle up because I’m about to tell my tale my way, and it’s going to be a long ride.

It has been a whole year since I started experimenting with this site, and I was not sure what I should do with it. I was alone and tangled up in problems that I once decided to give up because it was so frustrating to deal with my mind, but everything changed when I met my lifesaver friend, who provided the support and guidance I desperately needed.

The one who was once 100%:

When I bought this site, my excitement was sky-high. I was like, I can do anything I want, and the adrenaline rush of my thoughts was so high that I could turn the world upside down. It was my first experience, and I thought building a website and establishing an online presence would be child’s play. But I was wrong; the reality was much more challenging than I thought.

The lazy lad:

Naturally, I am a very lazy person and don’t like doing things that are forcefully imposed upon me, and at that time, my mind was pushing me to do something. I tried many ideas in the back and struggled a lot during that period, but I was not fully satisfied with the results of my efforts, and because of that.

I erased everything and started anew multiple times, only to destroy my creations again. This cycle of creating and demolishing went on for so long that it sucked up all my passion and increased my stress. The process crushed all my dreams of building a successful site. My mind made me sick and frustrated. All that remained in me was emptiness—no more ideas growing inside me, no more passion left to give me the drive to go on. All that was left was a desert. A vast, empty desert that could no longer nurture new thoughts. I also faced financial difficulties, which made me realize I needed a break to heal and think through my goals.

I was like a sailor in a vast ocean who set sail without a map and no clear goal in mind and quickly met his demise and got lost.

I decided to step back and sort things out, so I took a break despite knowing I might have to start from scratch later. During this period, I did nothing with the site and little with my life, allowing myself to think and heal.

Fluctuations:

When I was struggling with my thoughts and goals, there was another hurdle I was facing, which people call financial problems.
The thing is, I used up all my savings in the process of building the Website that wasn’t even live at that time, and I also had an emergency where I needed the money; you could say that I was between a rock and a hard place.
I come from a middle-class family where you should probably know how hard it is to maintain a normal lifestyle.
People like me wait for weeks or months to buy something new.
Why? Because there is a famous entity that runs people’s lives, and we call it the budget system.

Let me tell you something about this budget. This Mr. Budget system is a ferocious thing; yes, it plays a crucial role in our lives by making sure everything is in check, which means it tells you how much you saved, how much you spent, or have you spent inside that safe zone which you created for yourself. It’s handy to have Mr. Budget on your side as it helps to keep us inside the safe zone, but Mr. Budget also likes to play with emotions. You see, we humans are strange creatures. First, we place rules and boundaries around ourselves and call that safety, and after that, we defy our own set of rules in the name of freedom.

The same goes for Mr. Budget; we make a budget to keep track of our expenses and to take control of our money. we convince ourselves that we’re going to play it safe, but what happens afterward is we break our safety measures to fulfill desires or to use the expenses for some emergency;
but when we look back at the budget, we see a big hole left behind.
Although Mr. Budget is essential in daily life, it comes with a tiny problem: I call this problem “the red line,” you probably know this as a budget cap or limit.
Crossing this red line does nothing except create a gap in the budget, but it becomes hard to fill that gap again, and the same happened to me.

The lifesaver:

Some individuals are natural influencers; they attract and impact their surroundings without realizing it. They emit a certain aura that people feel attached to.

I can’t find words to describe the conversation; let me explain it this way. When I was on a break and almost decided to quit, I met a friend of mine and told him the whole story. I told him I wanted to do something different with the site, but now, I am not sure what this “different” thing is that I am so hung up on. After listening to my blabbering for an hour and a half, he asked me questions.

Below is the exact word-for-word conversation of those questions that I had with my friend.

 

The convo:

Friend: can you tell me what skills you have?

Me: Am I here for an interview?

Friend(with a serious face): let me ask again, what skills do you have?

Me: let me see, So I know HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and although I don’t have a proper grip, I somehow manage the task at hand.

Other than that, I know video editing and a little bit of graphic design, and that’s pretty much it.

Friend: is there any notable problem you encountered where you used your skills to solve it, and did that solution helped you to save your time, money, and effort or any of these?

Me(after a long pause): Yes, I remember this one time when I was tasked with writing summaries of all the major wars fought from the 1500s to the present date, and they provided me with a list that had all the names of the wars.

It was tedious work, and I was frustrated with constantly switching between my document editor(Grammarly) and Wikipedia. Searching for information on the war, skimming through large sections, and writing it all out was too much effort for me.

I decided to find a solution to that problem so I could view the information from Wikipedia without going out of my editor(Grammarly) tab.

After browsing numerous sources and tutorials and experimenting with several programs, I couldn’t find anything that suited my needs.

It was starting to become a nuisance for me until I came up with an idea,

I developed a Chrome plugin(web extension) to use Wikipedia within the active tab.

The structure was simple; I would enter the word, click the button, and it would send a request to Wikipedia, displaying the results within the plugin. I built this tool in under 2 hours, using my coding knowledge and a little help from Chat-GPT.

Friend: what was your feeling when you solved this problem?

Me: Well, honestly. It felt good. I was relieved because that little tool saved me much time and effort.

Friend: Do you think anyone other than yourself might also need the tool you developed?

Me: I didn’t ask anyone. Maybe someone needed it, maybe not.

Friend: So you didn’t bother to—

Me(annoyed with questioning): could you please stop puzzling me with all these questions and come out with the solution already?

Friend: The solution to your problem lies in your last answer.

Me: What! Where?

Friend: when you said, “Maybe someone needed it, maybe not.”

I was about to tell you, but you interrupted me. Let me complete it now. When you built that tool, it helped you fix your problem, right? But you didn’t think anyone else would’ve needed that, you know why?

Me: Why?

Friend: Because you were being unintentionally selfish. By no means am I questioning your character; I know you’re not a selfish person. That’s why I used the word ‘unintentionally’: because you weren’t aware of it. And you did the same thing this time. You wanted to do something different just so you could show it to others. You were thinking about your interests rather than focusing on what value you can provide to others using your skills and knowledge. And I think that’s why you accomplished nothing in the end.

(His words hit me unexpectedly. I knew he was right to some extent at this point.)

Me: So what should I do now?

Friend: Why don’t you pick up where you left off? Provide tools that can be valuable to others or serve some purpose. Even small things can make an impact if they provide value, so use your skills or even get help from AI because not everyone can do that either, you know.

(It was the moment of realization for me. Maybe I subconsciously knew about my goal all along, but I needed someone to bring it out)

Me: Alright. I’ll do as you suggest, but you will be joining me on this journey.

Friend: Nah, I’ll pass on that

(After a long debate, quarreling, and reasoning, I somehow managed to lure him into my plan, and what you see on this Website is also his doing and not mine alone. I wonder if maybe I am selfish after all.)

                                                                              Curtain falls

What I learned:

• Having a passion for something in life is very important because it gives you the energy to pursue the right things, even when you face hurdles and failures along the way; that passion never dies. However, meaningless or aimless passion can make your life more difficult. So, think through your passion and create goals to achieve. Passion without a direction is like a fire without a purpose. It only consumes energy and time without giving any results. Create goals to achieve, make plans to execute, and be passionate about them; let the plans be the direction, goals be the destination, and passion be the light that points to the destination.
• Having someone by your side can make your efforts worthwhile. Whether the outcome is in your favor or not, you’ll have someone to share the burden with.
• Winning or losing does not matter; what matters most is whether you took the chance or not.
• Hardships and failures are essential because they highlight areas where you need improvement. As Oden from the anime One Piece once said, “Oden wouldn’t be Oden if he wasn’t boiled.”