 So my topic is my journey with WordPress and the opportunities it gave me. I'll be sharing my story, how I started with WordPress, and then how I went on to starting my own personal blog, and how I was able to benefit from my own blog. I'm a front-end developer, blogger at libraryfrances.com, and also a social media manager for the PR Boy. The PR Boy is the PR frame for fashion brands in Abuja and Lagos. And yes, you're able to see the last one. Yeah, privileged. Okay, my social media handle is at libraryfrances, Twitter, Instagram, and maybe on Facebook. Alright, like I said, what will cover my personal story with WordPress and why you need a personal website. Then I'll summarize my points and then you'll be able to ask questions. So in the beginning, I started with WordPress in 2013. Now it's in my 211. I graduated from the University of Potacot. I studied gas engineering. People always ask me what's the relation between gas, not even electrical and technology. But I discovered that it's about passion and what you enjoy doing. So I learned WordPress in 2013. I learned on my own, but initially I paid someone to teach me. So this guy, I paid him 5,000 ERA. He said he was going to teach me WordPress and he just told me, put your team and just write some text. He didn't even show me anything at all. But I was curious enough. I was willing to learn. I went on to study on my own. I downloaded a lot of materials and I started building websites with localhosts for those who are tech savvy. I don't know, localhosts, does anyone? That's what's in my audience so I know how to break down things. Okay, using the localhosts meaning I was able to do it on my own laptop, not taking it online. So I practiced on my own laptop. That's how I was able to learn. I downloaded materials from Google. I searched using the PDF query. When I'm in PDF query level, I said WordPress tutorial, then I put file path PDF. It helps me to get material. So if you're searching for something, maybe a document on how to learn anything, I think that's the best way to search. You put, after I type the document, you say file type and then put a column then PDF. Brings out those materials for you. So that's how I got those materials and I learned. Yeah, and it was awesome. I enjoyed every bit of it. I was able to do a website on my laptop and I saw how awesome everything was. Then, my first freelance job, someone called me and said, okay, I know you can build websites. I needed to do a website for... He was into processing visas and admissions for schools. So I told him, okay, I could do that website. Remember, I've no yet hosted any website at all. When I'm a mean host, I mean for a site to be like, for everyone to be able to access it. All I did throughout my learning process was to use my laptop and then practice. So I took a leap and I told him, yes, I could do it. And then he gave me the job. I did it. I think he paid me... It was big. $70,000. I collected that money. I was shocked. I was like, is this how I can make money with WordPress? Just the knowledge I have. And I finished the website for him. I showed him and he was happy with it yet. So becoming good with WordPress, I discovered that, yes, I could do his own website but I needed to learn more. So I went to download more videos, learn about plugins, learn about components that could use to make a website better. Editing CSS. So for those who are not tech service, CSS means cascading style sheets. It helps to control the presentation of your website, meaning your color, your font styles, your line height, this spacing on your website. So remember once you make an installation of WordPress, if you don't know how to control those colors, you'll be limited somehow. So CSS helps you to do that. So I learned CSS. If I don't like it seen on your website, I could change it and make it better. So that's how I started getting better with WordPress. People started knowing that, yes, I could do better. I could make WordPress sites better. So you get the whole story at the end. Then a major opportunity came for me. I think these words really transformed me for my life. The Commonwealth Games Federation, that's the Commonwealth Games Federation in the UK, they were looking for a web developer, or let me see, a website manager. So they contacted our school, and the University of Watercourts, and our school made an advert that they were looking for a website manager. So someone called me, that someone had helped before, talk about websites, do consultancy, and he called me and said I should apply. There's a vacancy for me to get a job with the Commonwealth Games Federation, and the opportunity was to work in Lagos. So I applied. They called for an interview. I was the only engineer today. Others were computer science students. So normally you'd expect that I wouldn't get a job but I'm not a computer science student. So we did the interview. I was the first to go in. They gave us something to do, live, and I did it. I did it on that five minutes. Then they now asked me for other works I've done. I showed them that, okay, then there was a site I did for one guy you worry, an online store. I used WooCommerce. WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress that turns your WordPress site into an online shop. I showed them that yes, I've done this worry shop. They should go and check. So they searched and they saw it and they were like, okay, okay, that's good. And then after two days or so, I got a call that, oh, you've been selected. You have a workshop in South Africa. The next month, I said, wow, is this how WordPress is taking me places? So, yes, I went for the workshop. I came back to Lagos. I started my work. I started managing their website. If you know about Nigel Lupi Committee, Nigel Lupi Committee, they're in charge of sports, politics, common world things. So I was the one managing the website. I had access to everything. I met a lot of people. I met the minister of sports, all the big sports people you could take. I met Choma Junwa, we took a picture. I was just everywhere. They were like, ah, that tech guy, that tech guy, that tech guy. And I was not really taking pass it to my own estimate because for me, for it to be really tech, I should know front end development, no back end, no the programming languages, PHP, JavaScript, you know, all those kind of things. But I just knew WordPress then and a little bit of tweaking on it. So that was it. And then I did my work well, did another website for them, and I was moving. So yeah, traveling to South Africa. After South Africa, I went for another workshop. I went to Kenya. I went to Botswana. I went to Togo. So it was really awesome to think that WordPress made all these things possible. At the end, I would join everything together for you to understand how you could really benefit from your knowledge of WordPress. So, yeah, now it's mirrored. That's how I felt at that moment. And all this happened under one year, you know. And it was really awesome. So yeah, the first picture on your right I painted for me to be on my left. Now it's me in South Africa. And then the second was a Rwanda at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center. I paid a visit to that place to see people they killed and all that trilling the genocide. Then the last one with the white man, it's with the development manager for the Commonwealth Games Federation. So we're discussing, now we're in Botswana having a workshop. We're discussing that he said he was bringing in his software to Nigeria. Not to Nigeria but I said that he was asking how could he make his software and he used his sports management to Nigeria. And he asked me that question because I told him that I used WordPress to build our website in the office here in Nigeria, meaning their own country office. So he said, do you know about WordPress? I said yes, I know about WordPress. And I said wow, that the support document for the software is built on WordPress. I said, oh, that we now should support WordPress. But he was not interested in me and he was like, how do we bring in this software to Nigeria? And I told him, it's simple. Just do a training for people to use it. And then he said, okay. And in the entire Africa all the offices in Africa nobody was using this software. So he not say that, okay they're going to join I think about 17 or 16 countries to do the training. So Nigeria, because of me, Nigeria will host it. So I started planning how to host the training. And then yes, because I knew WordPress, we did the training as about 17 African countries there. All of them came. So you see the process how my journey was going. If I didn't know WordPress wouldn't have been interested in me if I wasn't interested in me. We couldn't have trained the entire Africa on this software. So yeah. And then I started I started leading a mentorship program for a community for the fellowship community as an alumni while I was in school I was in the fellowship and then I graduated and became an alumni. I said I should lead a mentoring program whereby those who have graduated years ago and are now professionals they could mentor the younger generation. So I was wondering I just graduated two years ago there are others that could lead this program and do it better but why are they really selecting me? So the idea was I needed someone that was really techie and would help run everything online. We do the program online everyone works remotely we have mentors in the UK mentors in the US mentors here in Nigeria mentors communicate with their mentees by either WhatsApp call, video call and all. So I did the website for the program we share success with the inspired younger generation we do interviews for people that are really successful in their careers and it was really impactful a lot of people were amazed and were really inspired especially the younger generation and last week or so they gave me an award for excellent leadership for providing leadership and helping out to impact the younger generation. So now to what if you've already given anything for my story let me start with this So starting my personal blog I discovered that I had a lot of stories to share I had content maybe I love sharing my own personal experiences I feel like I can just use that I know that I'm not alone Alright yeah so maybe like sharing your stories on Facebook like sharing your Twitter and all So I started my own personal blog LibreFrancis.com where I share my own stories just anything that interesting So what I did all the travel I did from South Africa to Kenya and all I put up these stories there I'll tell you why Why? Alright I'll answer your question So Why do you think you need a personal website from your own understanding Let me just one person share my personal stories Perfect It's some reason I'm concerned there Alright Perfect So how many of you have a personal website? You have your own personal website Me and your own name So I think my own name part of your own name Who else? Okay There's three It doesn't be a name But is it your own personal I don't mean a business kind of I mean like your own personal stories So the main aim of this talk is for us to have our own personal work presence If we cannot do the local installation I think there are other workshops for that You could use www.wordpress.com Create an account If you want the free platform So if your name is Francis Don't use www.francis.com to be Francis.wordpress.com You don't have to pay But if you pay you'll get Francis.com So The first thing why you need a personal website Connecting with people and building a network So I told you that I shared my own personal stories So what I observed was When I went to Rwanda I enjoyed the country and all it was so awesome perfect When you are checking out from the airport They bring dogs Come and set you back So you just drop your bag And then dogs come and be sniffing it So all these experiences were amazing for me So I shared them on my website And people get to read And then I get people saying We are in Rwanda I'm going there Next month, what do I need I started making friends with people that I haven't met before On LinkedIn I shared my experience with the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center How people were killed And trying to advocate for people not to fight and going towards And the responses I got It was really fulfilling And people were sending me a request I want to be a friend I want to be with you I want to work with you And all that Then when I came to Lagos initially Everyone knows that Lagos has traffic Yeah And the traffic was really bad So I shared that experience And then house rights Oh my god After I came here I got an agent fee Caution fee Which other fee again I was like I'm just coming from Portugal The same pay house rights The highest you can do is biking for the landlord Tell me all these things I was like this guy You want to dupe me So it happened like 5 I've never known about this And I was like wow This is a good story to document And a couple with the traffic And all So at first I shared it on my Facebook page The responses were like wow Is this what happens in Lagos And all that And I shared it on my website And remember when you have more friends When you have similar minds You're growing your network And then if you need something to do It's easier for you to do it With them because they already know Who this person is For example If you search your name on Google now What will they really see That's the question You should ask yourself So it helped me to connect with people And also to build My network Now I have a network of people Expecting me to please come back to Rwanda Please come back to this one Just because of that experience I shared So yeah Building a personal brand Remember I talked about If you're being searched on Google What will they find About you So building your own personal brand Having a personal brand Is the future Of opportunities Do you know why These days it's difficult for you to trust anyone And when you're trying to do A business with you Most people will search about you online To see what you really To see the kind of person you are And to know who truly this person is So if someone wants to search About me I'm sure they'll go and say This guy loves traveling I'm surprised This guy is a cool guy And all So having your own personal brand There's this guy I think he's Jeff Bezos or Elon Mox that said Alright He said you can tweet now Tweet using WC Lagos As the hashtag Maybe some awesome stuff I've said Just keep tweeting My handle is there So building a personal brand Most times There's this quote that said Your personal brand Is what people say about you When you're not there It means that someone is searching About you You're not there to prove a point It's not as if you're making a pitch To that person They will go online And check about you I'm telling you that that's the future Of working with people now People will go and check about you Know who this person is But if you If you have good content You can put out People will know that This is what interests this person This is what this person is good at This person can This person has worked with the common world This person has worked with this organization And people have a problem with documenting What if I didn't share those things Of my personal I wouldn't have the network I have now There was this After sharing my story on LinkedIn About traffic Okay, this is what happened Once he was a company He shared on LinkedIn That he cut down the time For workers Living in the office From 5 to around 4 Because of traffic So they come in by 9 And they live by 4 So they are able to get home on time So I told him on LinkedIn That's really awesome What he did is really great And I told him that the traffic in Lagos Is really crazy In fact, I shared my experience here On my website So he read it On the post I added someone And he was laughing That's why they don't go like This is really awesome Because I was trying to say some Lagos workers Should work from home The internet has made everything easy And then he sent me a friend A LinkedIn request And I was like, let's be friends We need to work on something Let me keep the rest So Building a personal brand Having your own personal website Helps you to build Your own brand Then adding value And embracing the society There was this tweet A very big magazine said About Wanda Trying to create the impression That the country wasn't a good country I replied With my own experience I was like, see This country have been there They have I thought it was a joke Until I entered When I entered I saw about 15 Different ones to choose from And it was also You don't horn You don't just horn When they take me to the hotel And the guy was like I said I'll let you come You know That kind of Nigerian spirit And you're used to horn for traveling Like a gentleman You know I'll let this thing open And he was like They don't horn like this I just felt I just respected myself And I was like I'll document this You know Also the airport The airport experience The helmet, you then not move on bike Without your helmet You know And Rwanda is also the second Second easiest place To do business in Africa Yeah Higher than Nigeria But we'll get better So after I shared this experience That was the highest time I got The highest views I got So you see with that I was able to change people's perception About Africa Especially the western world They didn't see that country As anything Rwanda has its own airline They have about 11 planes Or it's 11 And on those planes they have Internet So I told them that yeah They have this thing I'm busy I'll go get you for Rwanda And I'll go get you for my money You know So adding volume The number is 2 I share In Kenya And then in Botswana How awesome And then my own country too Nigeria But I'll get more content For Nigeria So yeah you'll be able to I remember when you're sharing these things Your network is building You're getting to know more And the more people you know The more For yourself Good Speaker engagement So let me assume you're good with What life is now Such engine optimization You're a consultant Right? Or what you love doing Okay let me use my own place of work In fashion industry now I manage Social media handles And I will use social media strategies For brands Very big brands So Imagine You're good With Your fashion stuff You know how to see What this is You're good with that And then you post your picture You try to explain your different Fashion aesthetics on your website And all that You try to talk about the fashion industry What you're really passionate about Or you're good with web development Or you're good with leadership And all your stories You try to channel them Into all this And then there's a call for application To be a speaker at an event And then you send your application You know that your resume Will be your website Because that's the only thing you can prove to them That yes I'm good at all this But then once you begin to get Those engagements You begin to call You for other ones And people will get to see what you do I also guess why they accepted My Because of my personal work So getting jobs and contracts Let me wrap up with this While my present job When I went for the interview I was seated And the person told me I'm checking your website now And I was like And then That's how I got the job Because it gave me an edge A mat That got a job Because people were applying If he just tweeted his website To the celebrity That this is what I do Instantly they gave me that A story on mat On the website That's what I do So in summary Do excellent work When I mean do excellent work Share valuable content Create online content Build good relationships In building good relationships It's time to do an excellent work If people don't know you for something good They wouldn't recommend you For other jobs If I wasn't good with that guy That told me of a job But I wouldn't have trouble To those countries If I wasn't good with my first job Like keeping to time Keeping to deadlines I wouldn't have been where I am today Have a personal website To help in your personal branding To help you in building networks To help you Being able to Influence society And add value to the country And contribute to open source I think we talk about that more So finally As long as you are creating Online content You are creating future opportunity That's what Gary when I trick said So yeah I will say thank you Very much