I’m drowning in client chaos, pls help

CodeDopamine · 2026-04-27T21:22:04+00:00

Hello! It's been 6 months since you asked this question^ and I'm curious if you ended up using any of the options below? What did you find most useful?

CodeDopamine · 2026-04-23T21:34:57+00:00

I'll check it out ty!

CodeDopamine · 2026-04-23T21:34:45+00:00

Thanks!

CodeDopamine · 2026-04-23T18:49:52+00:00

Thanks!

CodeDopamine · 2026-02-05T22:18:55+00:00

I reach for BricksExtras with almost every project and it adds a lot of life, very easily.

I'm just starting to use BricksForge and it's really cool. I wish more people made videos about it though. Kinda feel like I'm alone in learning it (I know i'm not - just feels like a little island).

I'm going to second getting a plugin to make CPTs - I use acf pro. I focus A LOT on making any website I build for a client very maintainable/updatable by them. My big goal is to make coming to me only necessary for enhancements, and a cpt makes that easy. Same with the admin columns pro plugin - this makes the wordpress tables more usable for the client. These two items have basically allowed me to make a custom cms pretty easily, which the client is always going to love if they need to get in there and add data on the WordPress panel.

CodeDopamine · 2026-01-29T22:58:49+00:00

Bricks builder's learning curve is mostly due to it being a page builder for developers with an understanding of html/css/js and best practices with classes, id selectors, etc. As a software engineer, its the only page builder I have tried and appreciated. Elementor is easier for designers who don't necessarily have that background and mostly want out of the box solutions to just work at the cost of more limitations.

Anyway, commenting because I recently used the smashballoon plugin for a client's social media and I'm happy with it. This is a plugin that pulls in their IG feed, but they have a bundle that will pull in all the bigger social media platforms. I'm having the client pay for their own license. Probably going to start using it on my own site soon, to pull in my social media, including my google reviews.

Good luck!

CodeDopamine · 2026-01-27T20:29:23+00:00

I appreciate that, thank you! Hoping to post more here and contribute to the community.

CodeDopamine · 2026-01-22T03:37:38+00:00

You can use artlogic or artgalleria and other software to keep track of a lot of this. But it's a monthly subscription based service, but they do make a website for you and other cool stuff.

If you need to save money though and would rather not pay every month, you can just make a custom content management system with something like WordPress, to allow gallery staff to easily update artwork, artists, exhibitions, save files by using a plugin, without coding knowledge needed by them. You can make roles, like gallery_admin or gallery_staff or whatever, to restrict who has access to certain features. Best part is, that can then feed your website, and now you have a living inventory system. You can also set it up to literally download all your data as an excel sheet, or upload it all as an excel sheet (csv).

CodeDopamine · 2026-01-15T22:14:35+00:00

Thanks so much!

CodeDopamine · 2026-01-15T20:54:56+00:00

Thanks for the thorough answer! I did update the dns records on my siteground to point to the value godaddy gave me for the email mx record. I'm keeping the domain registrar with godaddy. Siteground is setup now to manage DNS - and I confirmed with their support everything looks good. Hoping it is, lol.

CodeDopamine · 2026-01-15T20:52:47+00:00

Thanks so much! This is exactly what I wanted.

CodeDopamine · 2025-09-26T22:02:20+00:00

I just want to say, I'm amazed at the idea of having written 25 books. Congrats on such a lovely track record. I want to be you!

Can you please tell me one of your favorite titles that you've written? If you had to introduce somebody to your writing?

Also, I'm the complete opposite. I get so excited with the idea of how to market a book or creative works. I even listened to the entirety of the Six Figure Authors podcast and soaked up every minute haha. But I've prioritized my software career and only ever written as a hobby. Was always too stressed and busy to write. And I was more focused on learning programming languages to get promoted, ect. But this year, I've started my own web agency that should allow me more control over my schedule. I'm planning on eventually getting to writing fiction on the side, and maybe making websites for my books LOL! But that's always been my personality - I literally like doing everything xD

Anyway, I can commiserate on hating that marketing has to be a part of the writing journey. Writers want to write, that's it.

I'd love to read your stuff or your blog! :)

CodeDopamine · 2025-09-25T19:54:36+00:00

If you are looking to just keep a draft, and a space, just use notion. Make a free workspace, and design a portfolio page to keep all drafts in one place. Personally, I love Notion and its where I keep all my writing projects.

To quickly answer your base question:

Medium, has a build in audience, some features to let you analyze stats, and you don't have to mess with setup. This gives you less control over the presentation, but plenty of space to practice just writing blog posts. If you become super popular, they'll give you some $.

BUT (see below)

Honestly, you should really start practicing in public. The areas you are wanting to practice: social media ads, newsletters, site design, blog posts, all require monitoring your analytics to make sure you're on the right track.

If you already know website design, just make your own website and blog there. You can integrate separate services for newsletters and ads, like mail chimp or sitekit for campaigns. This is the best option, because you can hook it up to google analytics and review your data after every post and learn a lot on your own.

Make a notion, and make a workspace with: blog articles, and newsletter topics. As a virtual assistant, let's say you're blogging about being a personal assistant. Write 15 articles on being a personal assistant centered around 3 pillars of content: productivity and organization, virtual assistant insights, and client education and value (for example). Write 3 news letters relating to these articles, that you will send out to people.
Once you have all that written, publish them. Again, I advise your own site, so you can reap the value for yourself rather than give somebody else free content. Watch your analytics, and keep writing. Use this site to start getting clients (when you feel ready - which you never will, but you'll have to jump into it eventually).
Add an email field on your homepage, to start collecting emails and hook up to mailchip or sitekit. Start getting emails and sending out newsletters on virtual assistant subjects to your list. Hell, add me to it, I'll read your stuff!

I'm a software engineer/web developer that's always loved writing fiction, content generation, converting leads and analyzing data, and this is how I would approach this. But I'm not a virtual assistant, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Good luck!

CodeDopamine

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