A few months ago, I was regularly making YouTube videos and working on WPEdge Solutions. Then life changed—fast.
Several major events happened almost back-to-back. Any one of them would have required an adjustment. Together, they became overwhelming, and somewhere in the middle of everything, I stopped making videos.
It wasn’t a planned break. YouTube simply had to take a back seat while I dealt with life.
A Major Move to Jacksonville
The first big change was moving from Birmingham, Alabama, to Jacksonville, Florida.
That is normally about an eight-hour drive, but it feels much longer when you are driving a U-Haul with your car on a trailer behind you. I got a late start, drove for about five hours, stopped overnight and finished the trip the next morning.
The move didn’t happen without a few problems, but I made it to Jacksonville and began settling into a new home and a new stage of life.
At the time, I was working remotely in a consulting job I had wanted for a long time. I believed the move and the job were the beginning of something new. About a month after arriving in Jacksonville, however, I unexpectedly lost that job.
Losing My Job Changed the Questions I Was Asking
Losing a job is difficult at any age. Losing one around the time you turn 65 makes you ask some different questions:
- Will I find another regular job?
- Am I ready to retire?
- What do I want the next few years of my life to look like?
- Should I finally give more attention to the WordPress work I have done on the side for years?
I’m still looking for the right answers.
For most of my working life, WordPress was something I did alongside a regular job. One reason I kept that arrangement was health insurance. Now that I’m on Medicare, that concern has changed. It doesn’t automatically answer the question of what I should do next, but it gives me more choices than I had before.
Turning 65 Felt Different
Some birthdays come and go without changing much. Turning 65 felt different to me.
Maybe it was being on Medicare. Maybe it was being without a job. More likely, it was the combination of several changes happening at once.
I started thinking about work, retirement, money, purpose and how I wanted to use the experience I had gained over the years. I realized I wasn’t ready to retire completely. I may want to slow down, but I’m not finished working, learning, teaching or building something useful.
The most honest way I can say it is this: I’m 65, but I’m not done yet.
Health Concerns Added to the Weight
After arriving in Jacksonville, I found a new primary-care doctor. I was diagnosed with depression and began taking medication. Soon afterward, I was diagnosed with skin cancer.
Cancer is a frightening word. Fortunately, my doctor told me that the type I have is treatable and can be removed. That was reassuring, but the diagnosis still added to everything else I was trying to process.
The move, job loss, milestone birthday and health concerns all arrived within a short period. Looking back, it makes sense that I didn’t have much energy left for recording videos.
I Never Stopped Thinking About the Channel
Before moving, I had created enough videos to cover about six weeks because I knew I would need time to get settled. Six weeks became eight, and eight became twelve. Before I knew it, months had passed without any new content.
Even though I wasn’t recording, I never stopped thinking about the channel.
I kept asking myself what the next video should be and what direction WPEdge Solutions should take. The experiences I was going through changed my thinking. I no longer wanted the business to feel like a traditional web-design agency focused mainly on selling and building websites.
I wanted it to reflect what I enjoy most: teaching, helping people solve problems and sharing what I have learned.
Nearly 20 Years of WordPress Experience
I started using WordPress in 2007 when someone unexpectedly asked me to help with a website. I had no idea what I was doing at first.
Over the years, I built websites, fixed problems, tried different tools and made plenty of mistakes. I watched WordPress, themes, plugins and hosting change dramatically. WordPress followed me through different jobs and stages of my life.
That experience taught me something important: my value isn’t only in doing the work for someone. I can also explain what I’ve learned, help people understand their choices and guide them while they work on their own websites.
I don’t claim that my way is always the best way. It is simply the approach I developed through real projects, successes and mistakes. If sharing those experiences helps someone avoid a problem or make a better decision, then the experience becomes more valuable.
The New Direction for WPEdge Solutions
WPEdge Solutions will remain focused on WordPress, but the content will become more personal and experience-driven.
I’ll continue creating practical videos and articles that explain WordPress in simple language. I’ll show you how I handle problems today, how I approached them in the past and why my methods changed.
The goal is to:
- Teach you how WordPress works.
- Help you solve real website problems.
- Share lessons from nearly 20 years of experience.
- Involve you in what I’m learning and building next.
I don’t want every video to consist of me clicking through settings while using technical terms that make the subject harder to understand. I want it to feel more like we are sitting across the table, talking through the problem together.
Your Questions Can Help Shape Future Content
I know a great deal about WordPress, but I don’t know what particular problem you are facing.
If you have a WordPress question and can’t find a video or article that addresses it, leave a comment on the video or contact me. If the question has a quick answer, I’ll point you in the right direction. If it requires research or testing, it may become the subject of a future WPEdge video.
That is how I want this community to work: your real questions help shape useful content for other people experiencing the same problems.
I’m Still in the Middle of the Story
I don’t yet know whether my next chapter will involve another regular job, more WordPress consulting or some combination of the two.
I’m still working through Medicare, career decisions, health issues and what life at 65 looks like. WPEdge Solutions is also a work in progress. Some ideas will work, and some won’t. When something doesn’t work, I’ll adjust and try something else.
What I do know is that I have experience worth sharing and work I still want to do.
If you are navigating a similar transition—whether it involves work, retirement, health or deciding what comes next—I would like to hear about your experience. What helped you move forward? What would you do differently?
We may be able to learn from one another as this next chapter unfolds.
Need Help With Your WordPress Website?
Start with the free videos and articles here at WPEdge Solutions. If you still need help, you can schedule a free 15-minute introductory call with me. We’ll talk about the issue, determine whether I can help and decide whether a paid working session makes sense.
Book a free 15-minute introductory call
I’m Rob McDonald. I’ve been using WordPress since 2007, and I’m still learning, teaching and figuring out what comes next. I hope you’ll come along for the journey.