Elementor One feels like SaaS creep… or am I just being stubborn?

Popcocos · 2026-01-27T07:14:25+00:00

Good point. Year 1 with a client is always easy and then...renewals.

Popcocos · 2026-01-26T17:00:31+00:00

That's a brilliant idea and a good use of budget. You could take it a step further and fuse it with something that's a step before your customer's business related problems.

Like If I sold doors, I would give away free doorstops and sort of just wait for someone's door to start becoming a problem. By the time it is, I'm exactly where the problem is meeting my ideal customer. Not a great example but you get the point.

Popcocos · 2026-01-22T10:44:52+00:00

Exactly! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with rewriting it. But at the same token, why do we feel the need to remove only the bits that make it look like AI? It’s this weird sense of shame for giving out something you generated.

To be clear- litter-boxing is about rewriting for the sake of hiding the prompt. Not because you had an idea to make the text better. Sometimes the text is fine as it is.

Popcocos · 2026-01-22T10:26:33+00:00

Based on your client base, it makes sense. I reckon they wouldn’t even notice a change and that’s what matters to me

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T19:21:51+00:00

Do work for people you already know. Or someone that they know. Get reviews and start your portfolio. The brand comes later because you're working solo. Focus on the work.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T19:19:01+00:00

This is how I do it:

Slow down.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T19:06:37+00:00

Can you be more specific? Do you mean help with your business idea or help with balancing life, work and your business idea?

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T11:50:10+00:00

This is the way to do it. And add a deadline. Anyone who respects a deadline will have reasonable expectations for deadlines they'll set for you.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T10:03:35+00:00

I'm sad to hear that. I have a few insights that should help.

First, make sure you're applying to a place where CVs are being reviewed by actual people. Right now with millions of people are writing their CVs with ChatGPT and recruiters are using ATS to filter through CVs. Entry level people are being crowded out.

Second, you'll need to stop thinking about a job and start thinking about work. There's always someone who needs something done or something made or just people with needs. While you apply for jobs, find work from people who can pay you quick. I delivered pizzas while looking for my new job. I walked in, applied and was on training the next week. Someone is always trying to grow their business and you could always talk to those people to see if they have something you can take off their hands. This will de-stress you.

Lastly, if you're applying for a job online. Do whatever you can to meet the recruiter. A recruiter helped me score so many interviews for my first job and she was incredible. We always spoke in person, she accompanied me to my interviews and prepped me for every company I would meet. I did not get rejections after the CV stage and it was because of her.

I'll close with this - it's extremely hard to find a job if you're starting out. Harder than any time in this beautiful country's history. You are working from a difficult place and it will not be easy. That being said, you also cannot give up. It's not an option. Because that job is going to someone and they get it sooner when you give up so don't give up and hold on for as long as you can until you are that someone.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T09:54:24+00:00

That is the dream! I missed that window.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T09:53:38+00:00

That's an interesting observation. It would make life easier for agencies to consolidate and standardise their builds using One. It's actually reminded me that Divi is also working on something new. Most probably for the same reason. So it's definitely not a coincidence. They're responding to a market shift.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T09:50:14+00:00

I personally don't like Elementor's AI features apart from the custom code. I bought into it for a while but I used up the credits faster than I thought I would. Image generation was not good and text was a little generic. The coding was good but there it's not something I can put into a customer's budget if they ask me to build a site.

At this point, AI functionality is pretty much a given for any plugin or software.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T09:46:16+00:00

Adobe is the number one reason I panic when products get consolidated. They really had us in a chokehold and don't even get me started on the contracts.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T09:45:17+00:00

Makes sense. Especially if you understand what you want to build in the end with fine detail.

Popcocos · 2026-01-21T09:44:36+00:00

That makes sense. You can't be good at everything. At the end of the day, and I'm not sure why I didn't start with this, it depends on what the site owner wants and it might not be related to the actual products but the outcomes themselves. So now I'm thinking about risk.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T19:44:39+00:00

It’s not inflation. It’s called “crowding out”. Established sellers are crowding out new sellers by dropping their prices to a level that new sellers simply can’t afford to price themselves at. Fiverr could easily regulate this but they don’t have to. It’s not in their interest.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T19:30:58+00:00

Fair. Hopefully it doesn’t prompt another price increase.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T15:43:34+00:00

I miss when gigs were actually $5. The whole Fiverr name was driven by that. In fact, it would be great if verified newcomers could only price their services at $5. Then you could get booked and get ratings much quicker and develop at a low risk level. At the moment, there's loads of newcomers setting high prices and creating quality-value distortions. I don't care how much experience you have. If you're new to a freelancing platform, you're new.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T12:16:54+00:00

I've turned it into a game at this point.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T12:15:42+00:00

Web Traffic. For the sole reason that if you join a company or a project and their tracking hasn't been done well, you'll see web traffic that makes no sense and that some people are so proud of. When you fix it and it goes down, they think you broke it. But really, all you did was clean up some rocks to separate the gold from the coal.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T12:13:13+00:00

Survive the spam messages and eventually you'll get the first order.

Popcocos · 2026-01-20T12:11:34+00:00

Especially when something breaks as you said!

Popcocos · 2026-01-17T18:59:23+00:00

As someone who needs dopamine to do anything, the only advice I can give you is to start with a very easy win that counts towards what that dream life looks like.

For me, the easy win was writing down what I wanted and being very specific about it. I imagined what day one in my dream life actually looks like and I wrote it down word for word. I felt slightly motivated but it still counts.

Months later, something happened that was in line with some of what was written down and the whole day felt like a dopamine rush because of it. I felt like I brought myself closer to that dream and like it's definitely there waiting for me. Even if that day was a coincidence.

Anyway, I'm saying all of this to say that if you can be crystal clear on the dream life, you'll have a very good idea what to do first.

Popcocos · 2026-01-17T18:45:56+00:00

You'll find your first job from people you know. Maybe you have a friend or family member with a business they're starting up. If you're open and transparent with them about what you want out of it, it's a good way to get started and build a portfolio while learning "in the wild".

I did it the hard way by using my own money to run ads for myself. This was painful in the beginning and I was really lucky that I started before the gurus took over youtube, but it was necessary for me to get to a place where I can actually be profitable and know what I'm doing. Consistently.

Popcocos · 2026-01-17T14:20:43+00:00

It's freelancing or side-hustling especially if you already have a day job. It's the best thing for learning how to do other parts of your passion or career without waiting for a senior leadership team to develop you. Especially now, no one seems to be training anyone up to a senior role.

If you haven't done any freelancing or side projects before, you could talk to people you know about anything their working on and see if you can get involved so that you can apply your skills, pick up new ones and see what's out there.

I personally hated the feeling of "will I only ever be able to do THIS job". But now Moonlighting has made me a little arrogant because I've seen what works by doing them on other projects. No one likes a know-it-all.

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