We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cortney Robinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cortney below.

Cortney, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

In the late 1990s, I went to college for Computer Networking, but life took me far from that industry. In 2020, after supporting roughly 5 or 6 business owners with their WordPress websites as a Virtual Assistant, I decided to take a course that would advance my knowledge in the WordPress platform. After taking the course, the instructor advised that we all change our online titles to Web Developer. My first client was a local small business owner whose website was down and she needed assistance getting it back up and getting her stock input on her website so that 24/7 anyone could see what she had available or what her shop was selling. I began to work with her, taking pictures of her items in her shop and uploading them to her website, along with the sku numbers, item count, price, and a description. That was definitely a lot of work, but it was worth it since I learned SO much about virtual assisting at the time.

I began to differentiate assisting from development, which led to my next client who needed support with her website, and all her social integrations. This was even more fun and interesting as I was able to learn the ins and outs of a podcasting coach.

Cortney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have always been fascinated with technology and had a love of reading since a very young age. My dad and granddad often bought new gadgets, would have me read the manual, and tell them how to use the new device. Thus began translating technology, though I started with people who already understood mechanics. As I began working for myself, I often became the voice-activated hands for others over the years until I began customizing website templates for others. I went to college for Computer Networking so Computer Science and Web Development were already interests of mine, but I didn’t realize how much this industry was also pure fun for me. HerWebBlooms offers web development services specifically for web designers and brand strategists. We also offer basic security guidance services, integration & automation, along with troubleshooting. For a few years now, troubleshooting has been our most sought after service. Often clients need support with missing or broken links, malware, and website critical errors all of which we have solved. What sets HerWebBlooms and myself apart is the need to translate and educate everyone we come in contact with about their website and how to secure and maintain it, how to care for it in such a way that it continues to work for their business. I am most proud of the team that supports HerWebBlooms, along with the quality of work that we offer. HerWebBlooms is not an order filler, but rather a problem solver for the long-term. I don’t want my clients to not be equipped to tackle this same problem in another month or two. Not only do I solve today’s issue, but I also look at what is happening in the industry and help to protect my client’s business for the long-term. This would be very similar to buying a mobile device today that not only can make phone calls and send texts, but also one with a bit more processing speed to enable juggling video conferencing with presentations, while also sending emails, without any lag. We don’t just look at today’s problems, but using industry research prepare you for tomorrow. HerWebBlooms also doesn’t try to look so far into the future that the solutions may not be relevant in a few months. We aim to support your business with the best the industry has to offer today that will enable you to grow and scale without too many challenges in the future.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Back in 2018, I had just pivoted from transcription into virtual assisting. I was helping my clients with whatever they needed. Those tasks truly varied across the board as I was trying to find my footing. I was working in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Libsyn, Facebook, Instagram, Booj, WordPress, Wix, and any other platform that any paying client needed assistance in. Toward the end of that year, a colleague reached out to ask for some support. She was in a course and there were a lot of videos. She was watching them, but they also required implementation within the class. She wanted to know if she could outsource the implementation to me, as she was juggling a few other successful business ventures. I let her know that I was available as she needed and we set up a system. I would watch the videos, take notes, and then implement what was in the videos. I completed the videos and the implementation process in record time. She then went on to mention that she had other course-mates who also might need this same service. She began to send a stream of people in my direction who, sure enough, needed the exact same service for the exact same course. This course involved setting up a business website and so I became the voice-activated hands for many of the students in that course. After working with the website platform for a while, I started to notice that there were certain areas that I was not able to customize, and I couldn’t figure out why. This led me to take a course specifically in that website platform, which was WordPress. WordPress and Squarespace are now my favorite platforms to assist my client’s with, due to its individual flexibility and customization.
After I took the course, I began to come away from assisting with and supporting administrative and social media tasks, and filtering down to website development and troubleshooting specifically. This was the best pivot I could’ve done for my business as this was speaking to my wheelhouse. I know how to do many things, but not many bring me as much joy as troubleshooting website issues.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

In the beginning of my working history, I used to work for corporations and businesses with many locations, both national and international. Money was often the focus for those positions. Working a job that you may or may not be interested in only has one goal: to make more money to get to where you want to be. I did this for about a decade, always making more money each year than the last, climbing the corporate ladder. As I began working from home, I realized how much I thrived working with a team and how much more work happened when the teams I was with were encouraged. At one point, I became a team lead for an agency I was working with. I’m a friendly person by nature and so I’m always trying to help the team, especially knowing that life happens. Quite often the team was motivated by being heard, being acknowledged for their hard work and dedication to the goal under pressure. The differences that I saw in the smaller company versus larger corporations also inspired me when I began my business that I would definitely look out for my team as we would be able to go farther together. I have seen this play out since 2019 when I began to focus on web development. I started alone, but I now have an amazing team that is steadily growing. As we continue to support one another, I know that our clients will always receive the best.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://herwebblooms.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herwebblooms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/herwebblooms
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/herwebbloomsllc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/herwebblooms
• Other: Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cortneyflrobinson/