Hello Untemplaters! I wanted to take a few minutes to formally introduce myself and give you an update on the current goals for the site. So with no further ado, hello everyone my name is Sydney and I’m the new Untemplater.com dedicated webmaster, staff writer, community builder, and cheerleader all in one!
I want to give a big thank you to the founders for their genius vision and hard work in creating Untemplater and our community. The founders were so successful in 2010 they are now fully committed to their own sites and projects full time, and are living proof that you CAN work where you want…live how you want…be who you want to be! Another big round of applause goes to Norcross for the sweet site design, and to all the past contributors for your insightful posts and stories – hope all of you will continue to share your expertise and latest projects with us!
Who’s This Sydney Gal?
Now for a little bit about me. In a nutshell, I’m a glass half full California busy bee gal currently working two jobs in addition to Untemplater. By day I’m a full time Customer Relations Manager at an awesome office job, and by night, weekend, and in anytime I can squeeze in between, I’m a property manager and the Jane of all trades for Untemplater. Is it really possible for me to do all of that and not be a walking zombie? Absolutely, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.
Now if I had to pick just one word to describe myself I’d probably pick “nerd” as I love writing vba macros and complicated Excel formulas at my office job, am so attached to my iphone I suffer from vibranxiety (aka phantom vibration syndrome), and am always sitting in front of a book, newspaper, or computer at home or in the library. I wasn’t always so actively geeky though. Believe it or not, I used to be a total sloth. I slept in until 12 on weekends, watched 6+ hours of TV a day, didn’t socialize or keep in touch with family/friends, and just shuffled my way to and from a boring job everyday with no purpose and no sense of direction.
My Quarter Life Crisis
Then I went through a quarter life crisis and tried to break into acting, singing, and teaching music lessons. I grew up performing in school plays, playing piano and violin, and singing in the choir. So much of my childhood was involved in the arts and music that I thought it was my destiny to break free of the corporate world and go back to my artsy roots. I decided to take the leap, and gave it my all. I took acting classes and singing lessons, posed for headshots, started playing music several hours a day, went for auditions, gave lessons to some beginner violin students, etc. etc. To my surprise though, by the end of just eight months I lost interest in it all and really missed office work, and most of all – my computer!
Long story short, I found my passions in my current jobs and count my blessings every day. Even though I lost a lot of money in the eight months I tried to become a full time actor/singer/musician, I have no regrets and actually appreciate what I have now even more. Now that I’m married and my 30’s are right around the corner, my hopes are aimed towards savings as much as possible and retiring from my CRM job in few years so I can start a family and blog for Untemplater as a SAHM (stay at home mom).
Content & Community
One of my main goals with Untemplater is to publish more regular content and have a nice variety of topics to keep things fresh and fun. I want to rebuild the activity within the community, get more dialogs going in the post comments, and find more guest writers to share their insights with us. If you are interested in submitting a post for publication please read through our style guide and instructions on our Write For Us page.
Interview Series – What Are Your Dreams? What Is Your Story?
Untemplater wouldn’t be what it is today without you! We want to hear about the projects you’re working on, your rises and falls, how you got to where you are today, and your current motivations. If you’re interested in sharing your story, please submit a brief summary of your current projects, explain how Untemplater has helped you, and list 3 things you think readers would be interested to learn about you. Please submit through our Contact page and include “Interview Series” in the subject line.
The Yakezie Challenge
Sam at Financial Samurai recently shared a post with us on the best place for entrepreneurs to live right now. We got to talking and I immediately became enthralled by his current initiatives with Yakezie – a personal finance and lifestyle blogging network he created that also features a quarterly writing contest for students! I think joining Yakezie will do great things for Untemplater and we are joining the Yakezie Challenge! Over the next six months, we will be working hard to get Untemplater’s alexa ranking below 100,000, build relationships with current Yakezie members, market the site, and bring in more readers and contributors.
I’ve also been so inspired by the Yakezie Writing Contest that I’d like to donate a portion of Untemplater’s profits to the contests. It’s impressive how well written the finalist essays were in the last round and I love supporting motivated youngsters who are in need.
In Closing
I think it’s going to be a fun ride getting to know you, building our community and outreach, publishing a variety of posts, and keeping the Untemplater dream alive. Work where you want…Live how you want…Be who you want to be!
Definitely welcome to the Yakezie! I joined last year and I agree that it has been so beneficial! It’s a great group of bloggers – Good to have you aboard!
Thanks so much Dana. I’m really looking forward to what’s to come in the next six to twelve months. It’s been great so far getting to know the members and challengers. There are so many great blogs in the network!
Welcome to Yakezie! It’s the single best thing I’ve done for my blog, and I’m sure you’ll find the network and relationships beneficial here. 🙂
Thanks so much! Yeah it’s so awesome getting support from so many people and I know I’m gonna learn so much that will help the site. My list of things to do and learn is so long now and I love it! There are so many fabulous blogs in the network.
Just wanted to say I’m excited by the prospect of new and varied content! Although I’ve been reading for a long time and Untemplater definitely helped motivate me to actually pick up and leave for Asia, lately it’s seemed to be pretty much solely focussed on entrepreneurship – great for those who dream of that, keep on writing for them but don’t forget about the rest of us who are seeking different paths (which I’m reassured by the above and your veganism post already that you won’t). Looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labour here, Sydney.
Hi Ruth! Thanks so much for your comment. That’s so exciting you’re off exploring in SE Asia. I’ve only traveled as far as Japan so I’m really hoping to go explore Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia either this year or next for my next adventurous vacation. I haven’t been back to Europe in a couple years though so that may come first as I’m starting to crave the tastes and sights of Italia. I’ll be putting up my results on the 7 day vegan challenge tomorrow so be on the lookout. 🙂 thanks
I used to change phones every year. Literally. Treo. Sony Ericsson. Palm. Then I got the first gen iPhone and everyone new one since. Technology is amazing but changing so fast!
Will definitely be in touch!
I know! I’m kinda bummed the iPhone5 may be coming out in the Fall bc then I’ll feel like mine is outdated but I don’t plan on rushing out to buy it. Doesn’t sound like the new features are worth upgrading right away from the 4 but I love that they are increasing the megapixels in the camera.
I’m new to Untemplater and it seems like a great community with people I’m looking to be around.
Look forward to what you write and hope I can share a guest post in the near future!
Do you have a Twitter account to follow or just follow Untemplater?
I am addicted to my iPhone too. My fiance calls it my girlfriend. 🙂
Hi Benny! Welcome 🙂 Drop me a line anytime through the contact page anytime or PM through twitter. Right now I’m just tweeting via Untemplater and yes I totally understand the iPhone addiction! I had a Samsung Blackjack for the longest time and thought it was pretty good. Then one day it stopped holding a charge all together and I decided to look into other options and the iPhone and wow I no idea what I was missing. Technology is amazing!
Great intro – who would have thought you’d miss your computer so much.
Welcome to the yakezie!
Thanks! Haha yeah I know I’ve grown so attached to it that I even have to take it with me when I go on vacation now. In the past I’d want to be unplugged from everything on trips but now I actually look forward to taking my laptop on the road.
Welcome to Yakezie! I joined the challenge back in February and have never regretted it. It is, simply put, a great group of people.
Thanks Denise! Congrats to you too for joining in Feb. 🙂 It’s great how supportive everyone is and I can already tell I’m going to learn so much and I’m so pumped for how it will help Untemplater, the community, and the writing contest winners too.
Thanks Sydney! I really believe education is so important for everyone to achieve whatever it is they want. A great education shouldn’t be available only to certain individuals. A great education should be available to all, no matter what your financial health looks like.
I’m very disappointed with the US educational system we have in place compared to the rest of the world. The government should be spending more on our teachers instead of less. It’s absolutely ludicrous for our budget not to invest more in our youth.
As for the Yakezie Network, our goal is to be the most supportive and collaborative network on the web where we can improve our own sites, leverage off eah others relationships, and do some good in the process. What is life but a whole bunch of goodness?
Really excited to see you rejuvenate the Untemplater community and have you as part of our Challenge!
Best,
Sam
Hi Sydney,
Thanks for telling us a little bit about yourself and welcome to the Yakezie Challenge! We’re excited to have you and your community here at Untemplater. The “Lifestyle” portion of our “Personal Finance and Lifestyle Network” is VERY important to us, because we believe that once we have our personal finances down, we can live the lifestyle we want, freely!
The Yakezie Forums is the best place to introduce yourself and mingle with your fellow challengers. It’s a 6 month process to build all those new relationships. I’m certain you will have a lot of fun, and break Alexa 100,000 in the process!
See you around Syd!
Best,
Sam
Thanks so much Sam! Yes, I’m very excited about getting to know the Yakezie members and my fellow challengers. Having a supportive network is what it’s all about. I also think the interview series on Untemplater will be a great way to get to build our community. Love what you’re doing with the Yakezie Writing Contest too! There really are some super talented high school students out there and it’s great to see them participating and getting support.