Online Educator & Course Creator

(BTW, the full big-ass version is here. I wrote it to inspire people who fancy teaching online. Warning: it’s a loooong read though.)

Short-ish version here. 👇

Let’s rewind a bit…

Teacher

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved helping people.

Fun fact: I’m actually a qualified teacher.

I worked in UK schools for 10 years teaching 5-11 year olds (tough crowd). So I know a thing or two about breaking down tough-to-grasp concepts in ways that literally anyone can understand.

I loved being a classroom teacher. But, my enthusiasm for the education system waned when teaching became less about inspiring young children and more about ticking boxes, bureaucracy, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s.

My philosophy has always been: life’s far too short to spend it doing something you don’t totally love.

So I decided to leave the classroom behind and become a web designer instead.

Web designer

To say I had zero experience of building websites before deciding to quit my teaching job wasn’t wholly true.

I’d built my first website in 1998, back when the internet was in black and white.

So in 2003 I turned pro and started my own web design agency, learning on the job and hand-coding all the way.

I went on to have 16 years’ experience building websites and lead generating funnels for clients.

Back to teaching… but this time it’s different

Despite being the owner of a profitable agency, I often found myself feeling frustrated with client project work, unfulfilled, and searching for greater meaning.

Deep down, there was always a recurring niggle that I could never completely ignore:

“What are you doing, Dave? You’re meant to be a teacher.”‍

So In 2017, I threw my cards in the air again and returned to teaching—this time, online, combining my passions for teaching and WordPress.

The Elementor years

I quickly became well-known in the WordPress world for my Design Build Web YouTube channel (currently about to come out of a 3-year hiatus) and No Stress WordPress course.

For 3 years I helped 1000s of non-coders build their businesses faster and more profitably with WordPress and Elementor.

Sadly, by mid-2020 I could no longer wholeheartedly recommend Elementor anymore. And that, for me, meant I couldn’t teach it anymore either.

Chapter closed.

I built a house

For the next couple of years I switched to Webflow for a bit (I made a course on it too)… built our own ultra energy-efficient house (strrrrressss)… and took a bit of time off (see previous item).

It was during that time in the WordPress wilderness that I tried to figure out what to do next.

To Gutenberg, or not to Gutenberg?

By mid-2022 it was time for me to return to the world of WordPress. I missed the community. I missed teaching it. I missed using it.

So I spent a few months getting re-acquainted with the WordPress landscape. Two years is a helluva long time in WP land.

I spent a lot of that time figuring out if I wanted to use the Gutenberg block editor to actually design and develop websites.

My conclusion?

For writing and editing content—YES.

For actually building the website—BIG THUMBS DOWN.

While the block editor is fine for writing and editing content, for building websites the whole thing is badly conceived from the ground up, in my opinon.

And I see no signs of that getting better any time soon, even with necessary add-ons like the excellent GenerateBlocks.

My mind remains open, but for now, using the block editor to actually build websites…

..it’s a hard ‘no’ from me.

Bricks FTW

And so after months of trialling and testing, I’ve landed on Bricks builder as my builder of choice. And man, am I glad I did.

I really feel like Bricks is the holy grail of web design I’ve been waiting for my whole web design life—and let’s face it, that’s a long time.

It’s super fast, reliable (hello, peace of mind), and has tremendous features for quickly and efficiently creating dynamic websites, that are super easy to maintain and update.

I know the Gutenberg folks get excited about Full Site Editing and patterns and whatever, but Bricks already does all that effortlessly—without the funky UI and clunky workflow.

Yes, Bricks does have all the advanced features, if you need them. But I truly believe Bricks is also perfect for non-coder, non-techy, non-developers too.

If you can build websites with Elementor, you can sure build websites with Bricks.

My Design Build Web YouTube channel will be back in action soon, this time focusing on teaching Bricks.

And in early 2023 I launched Build With Bricks.

Build With Bricks is an online course, where I teach my step-by step process for quickly creating Bricks websites, with an efficient best-practice workflow.

My life outside teaching online is nice and simple, just the way I like it.

It seems I’m a solid INFJ, and proud of it. After a lifetime of trying (and failing) to be extrovert, I now know introversion’s my super-power (thanks to Susan Cain).

After a brush with testicular cancer in 2015, and a severe case of diverticulitis in 2020 that nearly killed me, I look after myself these days.

No caffeine, no alcohol. Lift weights 4x a week. Love hiking for miles in the beautiful countryside that’s now on our doorstep. Just started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Meditate every day. Eat a broadly carnivore diet.

Never felt better.

Music is my life. I’ve played guitar since age 7, saxophone since age 14. Played guitar in a band called Lithium Joe since 1993, and we’re still at it. Still rehearse, record, and play gigs. I love it.

My music listening tastes are pretty eclectic. I listen to all kinds of things, but have a particular love of 50s/60s bebop jazz, 60s ska, 70s reggae, 90s hard house, minimal techno, 80s indie, 90s skate punk, and a love of U2 that bit me when I was 11 years old and has never left me. I still think Bono is a bit of a dick though.

I’m a dad to two grown-up kids I could not be more proud of, and husband to an incredible wife who deserves a medal after all these years.

I’m a lucky guy.

We also recently built our own eco-friendly house. I’m just getting over the trauma.