Tag Archives: community

Work and Life

Building the Future: A Strategic Plan for My Community-Focused Business

After thinking about the future of my business, I realized that I had made a major mistake in how I was going to hire people when I wrote that post about it earlier this year. In this post, I will explain the correct first few hires that I will make and why each one is vital in the order I will be hiring them as my income from online content allows me to do.

I will be the first person that will be hired by my company, and I will be setting it up as a Limited Liability Corporation or LLC for short. I do not know what name I will use, but I will have to check and see if it is available, and I will be using a lawyer to ensure that this goes smoothly, even though I have incorporated a company in Alberta before. I will be the company’s Chief Executive Officer as well as the Chief Content Officer, thus ensuring that all content produced by the company meets my standards.

I would like to point out that my vision for the company is to create family-friendly content and spaces to give parents a place to be able to send them online and not have to worry about exposure to content that is not appropriate for them. This blog will be transformed into a community website where that vision can be fulfilled. This will include moderated forums, safe games in the arcades, fun videos for them to watch and comment on, my weekly podcast, and of course, weekly blog posts about interesting topics from yours truly.

The second person the company will hire is a Chief Financial Officer when it can afford to do so. By hiring such a person early, the company’s financial future will be secured, preventing spending money that it doesn’t have. This person will also help to determine when it is safe to expand the team and hire the others I will be mentioning in this post. Ideally, they will have experience doing this, but willing to help a young company grow into a profitable one.

The next person I’ll be hiring will be working closely with the CFO and that is the person who will be in charge of human resources. Their job will be to hire everyone after them, following a priority list that I will be giving them, when the CFO says that they can hire someone. They will also be handing everything to do with employees – from pay to benefits and everything in between.

A Chief Graphics Officer will be the fourth person I’ll be hiring instead of the second one. This person’s job will be ensuring all graphics meet my vision’s standard as well as coming up with new graphics as needed for products and Minecraft mods and modpacks that future hires will need for their projects. They will also work with me to ensure my videos have the best thumbnails for whatever video platform the community website is using.

The next role to be filled will be the company’s Chief Programmer. They will work closely with me to not only improve the website but also modpacks that I am developing. This person will also co-head the future Creative department with the Chief Graphics Officer, ensuring that all coding meets the company’s expectations – from HTML and CSS to Java and PHP.

Reporting to the Chief Programmer and the Chief Graphics Officer will be the next hire, the Lead Developer. This person will be in charge of a development team for new mods for games and plugins for WordPress, as well as maintenance to existing ones. The ideal candidate will have a good sense of time management and team leadership, two critical things that I feel cannot be learned but are a part of a person from a young age.

After the above roles are hired, I’ll pivot and get the HR lead to focus on the community by hiring a Community Leader, a Public Relations team, and a moderation team for the forums. Existing staff members will also be required to act as mods, especially for topics that they have excellent knowledge in. I’ll also ask to hire an expert in Catholic religious teachings to help me with my podcast writing and maybe even hosting it alongside me. This will ensure that my community will get the best possible staff that will be focused on keeping all members happy and content.

After all these people are hired, I will ask the HR lead to look for experts in various fields that the forums are covering and that I’m interested in writing blog posts on. These will not be full-time employees but contractors who will help ensure that posts in their fields are high-quality yet family-friendly. They will be offered the chance to write guest posts on the site about their topic of expertise and will be asked to do a AMA in the forum corresponding with their field.

Hiring the right people at the right time is essential to ensuring my company grows into a stable and thriving organization. With a foundation rooted in family-friendly content, structured engagement, and community-building, every role I’ve outlined plays a crucial part in making this vision a reality.

By starting with financial stability and strategic hiring, I’ll be able to build a team that shares my passion for creating safe, engaging spaces online. As the company scales, these hires will help develop innovative content, powerful tools, and a vibrant community that members can trust and enjoy.

This journey is about more than just running a business—it’s about shaping an ecosystem that fosters creativity, learning, and meaningful connections. With careful planning and the right people by my side, I’m ready to turn this dream into a lasting success.

Site News

The Evolution of My Blog: Future Plans & Upgrades

I love sharing my thoughts here on WordPress, but I envision something even bigger—a thriving, community-driven platform where blogging is just one piece of the puzzle. As I build toward this goal, each upgrade will happen as resources allow, ensuring steady growth and, hopefully, the opportunity to turn this into a sustainable livelihood.

The first and probably the best change will be a custom domain from Idotz.net and hosting through DreamHost as they have Paypal payments. I would have loved to stay with WordPress.com but they don’t have Paypal as a payment option for any of their hosting plans or other website products like themes or plugins. I don’t want to dive back into credit card debt when I’m in the process of getting rid of it! This upgrade will give me more flexibility with site customization and ensure that I’m building something sustainable—without financial setbacks slowing me down.

The next update will feature me switching themes from Twenty Twenty-five to GeneratePress. This will allow me to totally customize my site to the way I want it to feel going forwards. Currently on WordPress my options are limited to what I can do as a free member, and my themes are limited as well. Having a totally customizable theme will totally change everything – even before the bigger updates that will come after this one! With GeneratePress, I’ll finally have full control over my site’s look and feel, from fine-tuning design elements to improving speed and functionality. Even before the bigger updates roll out, this shift alone will make a huge difference!

With the theme and basic hosting out of the way, I’ll start integrating my other sites into my blog by adding WooCommerce and bbPress. With plugins for both, I’ll be able to add a lot of features to the site like a shop, services, memberships, and even a donation form that WooCommerce will be able to handle the payments for via Stripe and Paypal. The forums will replace my current Discord server for a community hub and place to find my beta modpacks for Minecraft. With WooCommerce Members, only paid members will get access to certain forums and posts, just like they do currently on my Discord server. Also, I’ll be able to shut down my Fourthwall shop with a WooCommerce plugin for a site like Printify which can handle the physical merchandise for me.

The second to last update would be adding an arcade via the MyArcadePlugin for WordPress. With addons to add stuff like theme integration, contests, feeds, and notifications, it will be certain to draw in a lot of people of all ages and encourage them to return and play some more!

The last update will be moving my video content off of YouTube and to either self-hosting or Vimeo – I haven’t decided which one. Regardless, both would allow me to add video content to WordPress with plugins for each option, and for the ability to make playlists via series. This is where another exclusive feature for members would start to shine – exclusive videos and live streams just for them. Members would also get other perks like the Beta modpack testing and feedback area in the forums, exclusive merch and merch discounts, and even exclusive contests in the arcade I mentioned earlier.

These updates are just the beginning, and I’m excited to take this journey step by step. My goal is to create a thriving, community-driven platform where blogging is just one part of something much bigger. As my blog evolves, I’d love to hear what you think—what features are you most excited about? Drop a comment and let’s make this space the best it can be together!

Videos

Swag Plays Banished S2 E12 – Getting Another House Built

In today’s episode of Banished, join the hardworking farmers, laborers, and builders of Otterview as they come together to construct a stone house for a family in need. Witness the beginning of work on the future temporary housing area, designed to provide shelter for any others who find themselves without a home. Don’t miss out on this heartwarming episode filled with community spirit and dedication!