This episode is sponsored by Ninja Forms
About Rene Morozowich:
Based in Pittsburgh, Rene is a digital strategist and website magician who loves helping creative, service-based businesses develop their online presence. She’s also passionate about business books, goal setting and finances.
Find Rene Morozowich: Rene Morozowich LLC | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Podcast speaker:
Welcome to Women in WP. A bi-monthly podcast about women who blog, design, develop, and more in the WordPress community.
Angela Bowman:
Hi, welcome to Women in WP. Today’s episode is sponsored by Ninja Forms, a professional form-building plugin for WordPress. I’m Angela Bowman.
Amy Masson:
And I’m Amy Masson.
Tracy Apps:
And I’m Tracy Apps.
Angela Bowman:
Our guest today is Rene Morozowich, joining us from Pittsburgh. She builds and maintains websites for small business.
Angela Bowman:
Welcome, Rene.
Rene Morozowich:
Hey, everyone. Thanks for having me.
Angela Bowman:
We like to start off each episode asking our guests how they got into WordPress.
Angela Bowman:
How did you get started?
Rene Morozowich:
So a few years ago I was working at a job where I was way underutilized. So I had a lot of time on my hands, and my son was young at that time… I mean, he’s still young, but he was younger, and I really wanted to teach him about money.
Rene Morozowich:
So I started a blog and then I learned more about WordPress and I took a Skillcrush course. And then halfway through the course, which was only three months long, so a month and a half in, I knew somebody who needed some help, and then I started working for an agency, and then it all just snowballed from there.
Rene Morozowich:
So, that is how I got started.
Amy Masson:
So what job were you doing before, when you were being underutilized?
Rene Morozowich:
At that point, I was a business intelligence developer. So a BI developer.
Amy Masson:
What’s that mean?
Rene Morozowich:
I worked with SQL Server and reporting. So it was for a local company, maybe I shouldn’t say too much, where they sold a product… So basically just taking data and then presenting it in a format that could be used by management or sales people, managers, all that good stuff so…
Rene Morozowich:
But my background’s in programming, so I’ve worked for a bunch of local businesses in that capacity. Which was good in a way, I do like programming and I like that stuff, but it just didn’t really fit that well.
Rene Morozowich:
I always tell people, I really hate to have to ask somebody if I can go to the dentist. I want to leave early to go to the dentist. I don’t want to ask you if I can do that. I’m just going to do that.
Rene Morozowich:
So that’s why this is a better fit for me.
Tracy Apps:
What kind of programming?
Rene Morozowich:
So various types over the years. I started back… I’ve been graduated 20 years now. So I started at PPG in 2001 and they used VB6. So then .NET stuff after a while. I worked for a company that used VBA quite a bit, some C#, I taught C++ for a while. And then I did more with SQL Server. So… SQL Server has its own SQL statements and language store procedures, tables, all that good stuff.
Rene Morozowich:
So I did a smattering of things, a little bit of JavaScript and whatnot.
Tracy Apps:
I love it. So my first… I started off, I was like… I had not had any programming experience whatsoever. And then I just decided I was going to become a computer engineer and go to an engineering school. They put me in C++ programming right off the bat. And I was like…
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah, like “What’s happening here?” Yes, totally.
Tracy Apps:
There was this one part where we had to have a helicopter and you’re supposed to have the blades spin, and you have to have that go, and then the bird was supposed to go this way. And then the cloud was supposed to… The only thing that didn’t spin was the helicopter blade of mine, so I was overthinking it so much.
Rene Morozowich:
I had two semesters of it and I did not understand what was happening. The whole first year of computer science, I did not know what was happening. I had a friend who lived down the hall and every day he would help me. I just didn’t get it.
Rene Morozowich:
After the first year, I got it. There was definitely a switch that had to go off. But in the C++ class, we didn’t even have computers. She would write code up on the board with chalk.
Amy Masson:
Oh my gosh.
Angela Bowman:
No.
Rene Morozowich:
And she would say, “What’s wrong with this?”
Rene Morozowich:
And I was like, “What is wrong with this?
Rene Morozowich:
Something is wrong in the world here, cosmically. So why did I do this? Yeah.
Tracy Apps:
That’s how my Fortran class was. And I was like I’m not learning anything.
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah. I had two semesters of COBOL, because that’s done me a lot of good.
Rene Morozowich:
We’d have to print our stuff out and go to the basement of the computer science building, and pick up the green bar paper and you’re putting it all out there and you’re like why am I doing this?
Rene Morozowich:
But it’s good. I’m glad that I did it. And I think it taught me some concepts that are useful. If nothing, troubleshooting. I’m a good troubleshooter. So problem solving, that’s just one of those things.
Tracy Apps:
Yeah. And that’s actually what I was going to say. It was like… Yeah. All of those things that you can use, absolutely. And plus the struggle was real. And then you were like, “Oh, back in my day…”
Rene Morozowich:
I know, right? Exactly.
Amy Masson:
Back in my day, we did Pascal programming.
Rene Morozowich:
We didn’t have the internet.
Amy Masson:
But that point though, that being able to use those skills, even if you’re not writing in that language, or programming anything, being able to use those skills to logic out different situations, is so useful and applicable, not just in technology but in so many life situations.
Rene Morozowich:
I teach my son, I’m like, “Okay, here’s a problem that you have, tell me five ways that you can solve this problem.” And he’ll give me two half answers. I’m like, “No, no, no. Let’s talk about problem solving and troubleshooting.” This is what you’re supposed to learn now so that you can be good at it later. So yes, absolutely, 100%. Problem solving all the way.
Amy Masson:
And did you actually end up with a degree in computer science?
Rene Morozowich:
I did. And I double majored in religious studies. So I got out of there with religious studies and computer science.
Angela Bowman:
Well that’s so fascinating because I got my first degree in computer science and then when I went to get my BA, I got it in religious studies.
Rene Morozowich:
Oh, that’s awesome.
Angela Bowman:
Yeah. And I loved religious studies. And I thought about going to doing computer science at the same time, but the trouble with our university is the engineering building where all the CS classes are, is so far across campus.
Angela Bowman:
That it’s like, unless you’re majoring in that and spending all your time on the other side of campus, there’s just no way to get over there. I had one math class I was signed up for there and I even just never went to class and just showed up for the tests because it was too far to go to.
Tracy Apps:
Sorry, I can’t get a degree in this. Your building is too far away.
Amy Masson:
I got to pick one. And the religious studies is a little more fun.
Angela Bowman:
So my son is now applying to colleges and this is a whole big process and he wants to do computer science and music. And when I say that to people, they’re like, “Wow, those are so far apart.” And in my mind it makes absolute perfect sense that those two would go together.
Amy Masson:
We even had someone on the show who is a musician and she’s also a programmer and she felt like her musical stuff really fed into her ability to program. So I really feel like there’s a word camp talk right there.
Rene Morozowich:
That’s true.
Amy Masson:
Yeah, Tracy.
Tracy Apps:
Well I mean yeah, exactly. All right. Sure, I’ll do something. I play drums and when I don’t play… I read something where the study because brains are fascinating and, of course, I just can’t get enough of science journals and stuff like that.
Tracy Apps:
And that music and especially something that is creative but then also rhythmic, has that structure order and the creativity. It balances both sides of your brain. So… And I feel like… Because when I went from computer… I went from engineering into graphic design and everyone’s like, well, that… I went into art. I basically finished with an art degree and it was like, “Well, that doesn’t make any sense but it does because it’s that… it’s creating something.
Tracy Apps:
It’s either creating it with code. It’s creating it with notes and rests and rhythms, so it does. There is a lot of things and I think there’s some really cool options for overlapping them. And like the… What was her name, who does the gloves, the musical gloves? It’s a TED Talk, too.
Amy Masson:
Imogen? Imogen Heap.
Tracy Apps:
That’s it.
Amy Masson:
Imogen Heap. Got it.
Tracy Apps:
Yeah. And that’s using that and where that’s a new instrument and it’s fascinating to watch. So yeah, absolutely. You should watch that TED Talk.
Amy Masson:
Wow. Okay, going in the show notes, I promise.
Amy Masson:
I’m so curious about this transition from being a full-time employee, having to get permission to go to the dentist, which I have such empathy for, I just can’t be told what I can and can’t do. Even though freelancing is so hard and it’s just like…
Angela Bowman:
Could you go to the bathroom on your own? Because I find that I work for myself. I take a really long time before I finally give in and go to the bathroom. Much more [crosstalk 00:09:29].
Amy Masson:
Like, just a couple more minutes… Yeah.
Angela Bowman:
Longer than I ever did. Yeah. When I had an… job in a company.
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah. Those bathrooms sure….
Tracy Apps:
I feel so called up right now.
Amy Masson:
So, to freelancing, there’s so much to building websites. There’s the design aspect, there’s the coding aspect. There’s just learning the WordPress environment. Where do you find you are most comfortable? Where are some of your struggles or do… Would you just… Are you an all in one person where you do the design and coding and how much of the WordPress BHP have you gotten into?
Amy Masson:
Tell us your whole experience with getting into this world?
Rene Morozowich:
I am not a designer, but I am attentive to design. So if somebody can get me started or if somebody provides a design, that’s great. And I can normally do like polishing finishing touches.
Rene Morozowich:
I can tell if something’s not lined up correctly, I have a big eye for detail. So I love designers. I just find it difficult to start from scratch and just whip something up.
Rene Morozowich:
So I do have some clients who come with their own design they’ve had a logo created or branding created elsewhere and they work with that designer and just bring a full design with them. I did a site early this year, last year, I don’t know the time blurs together. A woman in Pittsburgh who has a blog that talks about allergy free recipes. So the top eight. So it’s Okta free.com, little plug for Liz. And her designer Randy had created the whole thing and then we just made it all happen.
Rene Morozowich:
So I’m definitely much more comfortable. We did a lot of things, custom post types, we did search, I think we did search WP on that one, facet WP, definitely a lot of that stuff. I’m much more comfortable there make…
Rene Morozowich:
Because it works or it doesn’t work. If you wanted to search, if it doesn’t bring the results, then it doesn’t work. So you have something to go on. Where I tell my clients that if they ask me to do design, I will belabor the color of that button for hours. And I just… And I’m still not happy with it at the end.
Rene Morozowich:
So I’m much more comfortable with the implementation of things. I generally don’t do much coding from scratch, but I can get my way around things fine.
Rene Morozowich:
So many things are already built. I don’t need to rebuild gravity forms or an events calendar because that stuff’s already great and it’s already out there. So modifying maybe or tweaking something that already exists is cool.
Tracy Apps:
How has your transition been into the block editor?
Rene Morozowich:
I really like the block editor. I didn’t put my sites on classic editor a long time ago, like a lot of people did. I converted anything that I could at that time and, and over time and anything that I can do now to use the block editor, I like to do on client sites.
Rene Morozowich:
Sometimes the site requires more design. So maybe I’ll use Elementor with some layouts, but I do encourage clients to use the block editor for their blog post or whatever that is.
Rene Morozowich:
And I’m super excited about full site editing. I taught a class this semester, that’s just wrapping up. My students are actually waiting for their grades. Now I have a big project to grade this weekend. And I really wanted to you introduce full site editing to the point where we could use it. Because they saw the limitations of the themes that we had chosen in that they wanted to do something a little bit different, but they couldn’t.
Rene Morozowich:
So we used the 2021 theme, and we also used Astra. We did two sites with the same topic. And they really couldn’t see any way to change certain things without pro options. Where I feel like full site editing, they’ll be able to do those things. Now, maybe even next semester, I don’t know if I’ll teach next semester or next fall, but I don’t know if it will be ready quite then. Because I still do struggle a little bit with the block editor in certain things. Like, I want things a certain way and you’re like, where is the button? How do I hover and get the thing to do what I want to do? So I think it’s coming and I use it when I can, when it’s not too frustrating, but you know I don’t think it’s a hundred percent yet, but I am looking forward to what it is.
Tracy Apps:
Yeah. I can never find where that button is [crosstalk 00:13:56]. It always. There’s so much…
Rene Morozowich:
There’s so much hovering that happens.[crosstalk 00:13:58] hiding the things. Yeah.
Tracy Apps:
Exactly.
Amy Masson:
Yeah. And it just seems like with tools like Beaver Builder or Elementor or any of the other page builders, you actually have an outline of your container. And Tracy did a talk at WordCamp US about well just coding some CSS to create these outlines. But the fact that like I was… When I had my zoom crash on this client call last week, I was showing her how to do columns in the block editor. I’m like, that’s it, it was the block editor that caused my zoom to crash.
Angela Bowman:
The columns in the block editor are so hard. Why did they make it so hard?
Amy Masson:
But it just like… I just wanted… So we had our three columns, we have the items in the column and I wanted to select the column block, the full… Not the inner columns, but just you can’t.
Tracy Apps:
Doesn’t the button that, that says what it is… You used to have to click on it and it would go to the upper level. But now I think you hover over it and it gets you like upper level.
Tracy Apps:
I don’t remember… Something changed and that there’s still the outline view that you can use to do that. But you’re right. It was not intuitive.
Amy Masson:
You have to sprinkle salt around your whole workstation.
Tracy Apps:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Amy Masson:
You have to turn counterclockwise three times.
Angela Bowman:
Do the macarena.
Amy Masson:
Have a special… Do the macarena, say a special incantation to the… To our mascot and then…
Rene Morozowich:
Keep your fingers crossed.
Amy Masson:
Keep your fingers crossed. Then, you can navigate to the block you want to be in.
Angela Bowman:
I just say no columns in the block editor, because it’s just not worth it.
Amy Masson:
That’s what I’ve… No
Angela Bowman:
It’s just… I always end up, yelling at the screen and being like, go in the column.
Amy Masson:
Now we just… I’m happy with doing that for all my clients can use the block editor for the blog posts. I teach them. So we use… I say you can use headings, images, paragraphs, lists, that’s it. Buttons?
Tracy Apps:
I don’t know why this…
Tracy Apps:
So from my talk, why is there not just a setting that says turn on outlines. I mean I’m just throwing that out.
Tracy Apps:
Hey, user experience people at automatic and… Just give me a checkbox.
Rene Morozowich:
Show me something, show me something.
Tracy Apps:
Yep. I will get off of my soapbox now.
Rene Morozowich:
If you’re passionate about something, get up on that soapbox.
Angela Bowman:
Yeah.
Angela Bowman:
So you’re also a meetup leader.
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah.
Angela Bowman:
And you kind of went from zero to hero, right?
Amy Masson:
I mean, it took a long time.
Amy Masson:
I started going to the meetups and well, I found out about meetups, like what is a meet up? And then I drove to the south side, one time, and rolled into this place, and then there’s like some other people. Melinda was there and she was very nice and very helpful. She… Her and Terry had run the meetup in Pittsburgh for a long time. And so I went to a bunch and then a few go a bunch, you start doing things.
Amy Masson:
So then I started running meetups and… In person. And then we had the first Mega meetup. I think it was 2019 where basically it was like a mini WordCamp. We had like three talks and pizza. So we called it Mega meetup and we got a Wapuu made my partner actually made, made a Wapuu to look like Mega Man. And yeah, we’ve been doing mostly stuff online lately.
Amy Masson:
We just had one recently. So just to shout out to Josh Pollock of Caldera Forms. He is building plugin machine, which is an app that will help you build plugins because that’s complicated. And it’s cool.
Amy Masson:
So we’re on YouTube and we have a website, WP Pittsburgh.com. And then we keep our stuff, our online meetups, we just record them and we put them on YouTube and it’s been cool to see the subscribers come up and up and up. So we have like a hundred and some subscribers now, which I’m really excited about.
Podcast speaker:
Hey women and WP listeners.
Podcast speaker:
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Podcast speaker:
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Podcast speaker:
And now back to our show.
Angela Bowman:
I thought we were on our way back to being able to meet in person again. And then it just was, the rug has been ripped out from under me. Like it started to get better. And then it just, we’re like, oh, it’s on the down sleep and down swing. And then they’re like, nope, back up.
Angela Bowman:
But it’s… I think almost as bad as it’s ever been.
Angela Bowman:
So I don’t know.
Tracy Apps:
I’m worried about Omicron because of how many mutations it’s had. But that’s a whole other podcast. Right? That’s all.
Angela Bowman:
I do listen to a lot of COVID and read a lot of immunologists and epidemiologists posts.
Tracy Apps:
Me too. I’m but they’re on TikTok.
Angela Bowman:
No, I do TikTok too. I have a variety of sources, both…
Tracy Apps:
Do you follow Kat…
Angela Bowman:
Audio, video and print? Of course I follow Kat.
Tracy Apps:
Kat Epidemiologist? Yes.
Angela Bowman:
Yeah. Yes. Of course I do.
Amy Masson:
[crosstalk 00:19:53] That’s going to have to go on the show notes too.
Angela Bowman:
In the show notes, we will list all of the TikTok epidemiologists that we follow.
Angela Bowman:
I’m actually a big fan of LaughterinLight. That’s my new favorite.
Angela Bowman:
So yeah. I spend too much time on TikTok.
Amy Masson:
Yeah.
Angela Bowman:
But I have not wandered into… I have not… Here’s something we haven’t done.
Angela Bowman:
I have not ever stumbled into WordPress TikTok.
Tracy Apps:
Well, that’s funny you say that.
Tracy Apps:
What would you expect WordPress TikTok to have?
Tracy Apps:
There’s a very strategic reason why I’m asking this.
Rene Morozowich:
I don’t TikTok. What is TikTok?
Rene Morozowich:
I mean, I get that there’s like videos, but like, is that it?
Angela Bowman:
No. So yes. It’s like videos, but you just… You’re like one minute and you can just scroll and then if you don’t like it, you scroll and then it learns what you like and it’s…
Rene Morozowich:
Is it like Instagram reels?
Angela Bowman:
Yes.
Rene Morozowich:
Okay.
Tracy Apps:
Instagram reels basically just changed the…
Tracy Apps:
I actually did a TikTok on this. About… They just moved the controls to the other side…
Rene Morozowich:
Oh okay.
Tracy Apps:
And that was what it is.
Rene Morozowich:
All right. So that’s what it is.
Tracy Apps:
Yeah. But it’s…
Rene Morozowich:
I’m terrified of reels. I am… It scares me.
Rene Morozowich:
And people… I see people doing all the things and they’re dancing and they’re mixing it up with music.
Rene Morozowich:
Oh my God. For me to get a post out with like a picture and content at the bottom, it takes me forever. So I don’t know, I feel like I’m too old for it or something? I’m not sure.
Tracy Apps:
Well, there’s no… You’re not too old for it. Trust me.
Tracy Apps:
It’s a matter of… You have to kind of find yourself into, get away from the viral dance, whatever TikTok and everything. And then getting into the doctors, nurses, lesbian TikTok, epidemiologists.
Angela Bowman:
I’m totally on lesbian TikTok and I’m not even a lesbian. So… I don’t know.
Rene Morozowich:
Like your own… Interests. Your own interests.
Tracy Apps:
Exactly. Exactly.
Tracy Apps:
And there you have a wide of variety of ages. There’s even like a grandma, like she’s like TikTok grandma or something like that and she does these dances. And yeah, there’s a whole bunch of that.
Rene Morozowich:
So it’s like real people are in there, but all the other people who are like really good at it are the people that you might see at first.
Rene Morozowich:
Because they’re so good at it.
Tracy Apps:
Exactly.
Rene Morozowich:
They’re getting showcased. Okay. So you kind of have to dig down to get the people to maybe like you. Well, not like you, but like me, like real.
Tracy Apps:
Exactly that.
Rene Morozowich:
Not professional.
Angela Bowman:
So WordPress TikTok.
Rene Morozowich:
Yes.
Angela Bowman:
WordPress. So what should it have?
Rene Morozowich:
I mean, I feel like it needs tips. Like I need… Why is 5.9 delayed? I mean, there has to be something with people who… All these companies are buying all these other companies. What does it mean?
Angela Bowman:
Tracy’s taking notes.
Rene Morozowich:
Is that going to have any effect on me? If my favorite, whatever plugin got bought by something else?
Angela Bowman:
Okay. So, what I’m hearing right now is that the Women in WP are going to create WordPress TikTok.
Rene Morozowich:
You heard it here first.
Tracy Apps:
This is our 2022 goal.
Amy Masson:
Yes.
Tracy Apps:
Also, StellarWP is hiring someone to do TikTok. As well.
Amy Masson:
Oh.
Angela Bowman:
Okay. WordPress did here first.
Amy Masson:
I’m excited.
Tracy Apps:
WordPress TikTok. So any… Please everyone. Give me your thoughts on WordPress TikTok.
Tracy Apps:
Because the… One of the things is like, yeah… There’s such a wide range, there’s lots of people on TikTok, but because it does have such a large body of younger people as an audience and to inspire and encourage the next generations to use WordPress as opposed to something else to keep that going and keep making it better and get more feedback and keep improving it and get people interested in joining the community. That’s kind of a good platform to do that.
Angela Bowman:
I feel like shortcuts would be… WordPress shortcut.
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah. Shortcuts.
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah, like how to get control of your columns. Tell me.
Angela Bowman:
Tracy’s first TikTok. How to use Gutenberg columns. It’s going to teach us… I’m very much looking forward to this.
Tracy Apps:
Follow for part seven.
Rene Morozowich:
OK. Wait, let me ask about the TikTok again. Is it just you, you’re filming you? Or are you… Can you film like the screen too?
Tracy Apps:
The possibilities are endless.
Rene Morozowich:
Okay. I might look at it.
Tracy Apps:
So right. So another company that is paying me to do TikTok content. This is so weird to me, it’s a puzzle subscription company.
Tracy Apps:
So what I did is I was, all right, well, I take a video of me putting puzzles together and do like a time lapse. But then I take pictures of the pieces, in detail and then use this one filter, which makes you can put your eyes and your mouth and your nose on it.
Rene Morozowich:
Wow.
Tracy Apps:
And then I make them have like characters that…
Tracy Apps:
The latest one, Harold is gone missing. And so I made like a missing pieces’ department and they call like this… Like that… It’s so ridiculous. I can’t even, I call it Pieces of our Lives.
Rene Morozowich:
Wow.
Tracy Apps:
So it can be anything. But the one thing that I’ll say that I feel that draws a lot of people that at least that I follow that have kind of created a community in TikTok is that it is not polished like Instagram. It’s not overloading, with your family and politicalness on Facebook, but it’s people like I’m in my pajamas and I’m just… I just have this question or I just have this… Watching someone completely redo her house, and it’s amazing.
Tracy Apps:
So it, you just have to find yourself in the right spot.
Amy Masson:
Sounds like there’s just, there’s a lot more expressiveness to it. I would say, as opposed to… Instagram is just very… Like you said, it’s very almost scripted and it’s very, to be very beautiful and all of that.
Rene Morozowich:
Honestly, for me, like what on earth do I post on Instagram?
Rene Morozowich:
Like I sit at a computer. Like, what do you want me to take a picture of?
Angela Bowman:
Right.
Rene Morozowich:
Like this is where I struggle so much. I’m like, I don’t know what to put on here.
Amy Masson:
So TikTok might be your thing. Because TikTok’s broad, TikTok’s real. It’s kind of in the moment, it’s often not polished. It’s just, it’s more…
Tracy Apps:
And you can use other people’s sounds and then just lip sync over it. That’s that was one of the big [crosstalk 00:26:37] thing…
Amy Masson:
That’s pretty popular thing.
Tracy Apps:
Exactly.
Tracy Apps:
So like, oh, I don’t have anything to say, but I just… This person said something really funny, so I just can use that sound again.
Amy Masson:
Rene, I think you’d make a great TikToker. There’s something about the way that you talk.
Rene Morozowich:
So I’ll tell you this.
Amy Masson:
Yes.
Rene Morozowich:
So I’ve been looking for some protein powder, right?
Rene Morozowich:
So I started… And this is weird.
Rene Morozowich:
I started doing beach body earlier this year. I… It’s a thing, it’s a cult. I don’t know. But I haven’t ever really been able to figure out how to work at home… Work out at home.
Rene Morozowich:
Like I can work at home. I can home at home, but I just couldn’t… I don’t know something was like short circuiting my brain. Like I don’t know how to work out at home. It’s ridiculous.
Rene Morozowich:
So a friend of mine does the beach body, she’s like, oh, the beach body. Okay, cool.
Rene Morozowich:
Okay, fine. So I get into it. There’s a group, we’re doing a thing, whatever. So they have the Shakeology. It’s disgusting. I can’t, oh, I can’t.
Rene Morozowich:
I took like one sip one time and I’m like, I can’t do this. So I have a client, who has a gym and I went to the gym, they also have a supplement shop. And I said Erin hey, do you have any protein powders here? Do you have any samples? I’d like to try them, whatever. So we, my partner and I have been trying them here and for some reason just decided to video us trying them. And the first one I tried, he said this taste like, I think a cent candle would taste like, which was really funny to us. But so I don’t know, it’s like a short video.
Tracy Apps:
This is quality content here. I would… I’m following for this.
Rene Morozowich:
Like, I don’t know, maybe that would go on TikTok. But okay, let’s take a step back though. What does… Who is using TikTok?
Rene Morozowich:
I mean, is it like a small business using TikTok and if so, what are they using it for? But maybe not, maybe it’s just a personal thing.
Tracy Apps:
Well, there are… So one of the things is that, because I’m such a nerd, I can’t stop but researching this stuff anyway, about algorithms and all of the back and stuff of TikTok.
Tracy Apps:
Anyway, but all of the most recent feature updates have been geared towards advertisers, marketers, and businesses. So there is a whole… Now you can sign up for a business account and they do have an ad platform so that…
Tracy Apps:
So they are actually creating these tools and there’s actually a fully functional desktop application of it. So you’re not, you don’t have to be using on a phone. So you can schedule posts using the web app of it.
Tracy Apps:
So all of those kinds of things, it is at least positioning itself. So that it is a place where, small businesses and companies and stuff.
Tracy Apps:
Still, the primary use is personal. But I can see the direction they’re trying to make the platform go. And so I’m assuming that that’s going to become more and more popular to do that way.
Rene Morozowich:
Fascinating.
Rene Morozowich:
I may just do it. I may just look at it.
Tracy Apps:
Yes. Okay, great. [crosstalk 00:29:33]
Rene Morozowich:
Oh my goodness.
Amy Masson:
I see your face, your voice the way you say things, you can say things just so straight, but there’s like, even when you’re asking a sincere question, you have…
Amy Masson:
There’s like a humor. You have an underlying humor to you. And so I think you could really bring that out.
Rene Morozowich:
Thanks. That’s sweet.
Rene Morozowich:
I still like Twitter. Like you can just say a thing and then that’s it. You don’t have to like dress it up.
Rene Morozowich:
Although I have seen people put voice tweets on there lately, and I’m really fascinated with the voice stuff. I have a colleague of mine who sent me a voice recording and it also had a transcript and I was fascinated and I asked him what app it was and he told me what app it was for the phone.
Rene Morozowich:
And so now, instead of sending text messages to my friends, I’ve been sending them voice messages like this morning, I sent one to my sister. I was like, Hey, remember that time we did that thing at the Christmas tree, whatever, whatever.
Rene Morozowich:
And it was just a voice recording. I don’t know why I was just I’m like compelled to… I don’t know, I want you to hear me instead of read the words? I don’t know.
Tracy Apps:
There’s a… You could do that. Like read funny tweets.
Tracy Apps:
There’s some guy that does that too.
Tracy Apps:
We have now changed this to Women in TikTok, right?
Rene Morozowich:
Right. Way off track here.
Amy Masson:
WordPress Women.
Rene Morozowich:
No WordPress. Yeah. That’s a cool thing.
Amy Masson:
There we go.
Tracy Apps:
WordPress… Yeah.
Amy Masson:
This is what the pandemic is brought to us.
Angela Bowman:
Well, did you everybody know that today is the three year anniversary of my tweet.
Rene Morozowich:
I saw that.
Angela Bowman:
That started Women in WP, when I was like, what did I actually, I have it right in front of me, I have an idea for a women of WordPress podcast, a podcast made by women for women about being a woman of WordPress. Would anybody be interested?
Angela Bowman:
And then I had like way more responses than I thought possible and was really overwhelmed. And then now we’re here. Here we are.
Rene Morozowich:
Great.
Tracy Apps:
Here we are.
Rene Morozowich:
Be careful of what you preach.
Tracy Apps:
Three years.
Angela Bowman:
You can’t just throw anything out there and leave it.
Tracy Apps:
That is true.
Angela Bowman:
Things happen. Right?
Angela Bowman:
So here we are.
Rene Morozowich:
I’m doing tweet 100.
Angela Bowman:
What is tweet 100.
Rene Morozowich:
What? Oh my goodness.
Rene Morozowich:
I don’t know. I’ve been seeing it. People tweet every day for a 100 days. That’s tweet 100.
Angela Bowman:
Well, I do that anyway.
Rene Morozowich:
You do that anyways, everyday tweet forever, yeah.
Rene Morozowich:
I wrote my newsletter recently about challenges. So I… With the beach buddy, whatever, I started doing a program Its morning Meltdown 100, it’s just a hundred days of workouts. And I’m like, I might as well tweet 100 too, because that’s a hundred days of the same thing.
Rene Morozowich:
And then I mentioned some other challenges. But I love a good challenge. A good something to spur you and get you excited and… To do a thing.
Rene Morozowich:
Oh yeah, maybe that’s a good TikTok. What kind of spurs you up. Yeah. I saw your face there…
Angela Bowman:
I did…. The last one challenge I did was when I ran every day.
Rene Morozowich:
Wow.
Angela Bowman:
My plan was, I was going to run every day until COVID-19 was over.
Rene Morozowich:
Oh my God.
Angela Bowman:
So, that didn’t work.
Tracy Apps:
So it’s your fault.
Angela Bowman:
It’s my fault.
Angela Bowman:
I only can make it 184 days. On day 185, I was like, screw this.
Tracy Apps:
Nope.
Angela Bowman:
Oh my gosh. Sorry. I ruined the world with my running COVID-19.
Amy Masson:
It’s all my fault. Whenever I buy a concert ticket, we get a new variant and it ruins everything. So…
Rene Morozowich:
We’re supposed to go to a show next week on Tuesday. I hope it’s okay.
Amy Masson:
I’m going to a show tonight. And I just was going to maybe not go. And then I thought, I’m boosted?
Amy Masson:
I’m just going to wear my really great mask that has the small particle filter thingy in it. And I’m just going to wear it tight and wear it the whole time and pray.
Rene Morozowich:
You have to take your card with you.
Amy Masson:
And we have to take our card with us.
Tracy Apps:
I feel like if you’re boosted and you’re wearing a mask, your chances of actually contracting COVID are very small. So…
Amy Masson:
It seems like it’s mostly in… Yeah, like in people’s homes where even if they’re… Whatever, they’re not wearing their masks.
Amy Masson:
I think it’s more in situations where people aren’t wearing their masks, like at parties and stuff like that. But…
Tracy Apps:
I’ve heard so many people who are vaccinated who are getting it lately. A handful of people that I know I’m like… Terrifying.
Amy Masson:
Yeah.
Amy Masson:
Or they’re wearing crappy masks. Like this dance class. I heard of 50% of the people, they were wearing masks, but… And they were all vaccinated, but they still got it.
Amy Masson:
But you know, some people just wearing those crappy… If it’s leaky… It’s just kind of a piece of cloth covering your face, that’s not really protection.
Amy Masson:
Mine is like tight, it’s got the filter. I mean, it’s as close to a K and N95 as you can get.
Tracy Apps:
I did research and found medical grade surgical masks that were made… I just, I…
Amy Masson:
Yeah, of course.
Tracy Apps:
But I mean, because the symphony is going on and they both require you’re vaccinated and you wear a mask. And I’m like, I feel safe going to that because people do comply to that. And I’m like, that is perfect. Yeah.
Angela Bowman:
Yeah.
Angela Bowman:
When we went to the Green Day, Weezer concert back in August, that had been postponed for a year because of COVID-19. And it was at Wrigley Field and it was outside and we were sitting down and I’m feeling pretty good. And then as people started mulling in and like taking up the seats around us, one by one, each of us put on our mask and then we did the whole concert in our mask.
Angela Bowman:
And this was before things were awful, awful. But it was… Yeah, I was pretty nervous about that one. Even though it was outside, there were so many people, so many people.
Amy Masson:
We will get through this and we will see each other in person. I hope.
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah, someday.
Angela Bowman:
One day. Well, it has been wonderful having you on the show today.
Rene Morozowich:
Thank you so much. I had a great time.
Angela Bowman:
Before we go. Can you tell everybody where they can find you online?
Rene Morozowich:
Yeah. You may be able can find me on TikTok sometime. No promises though.
Rene Morozowich:
If you go to my website, it’s Renee MZW.com, MZW.com, because my last name is really long. So it’ll redirect you to the right place, which is reneemorozowich.com.
Rene Morozowich:
But my socials are at the bottom. So on my Twitter and Instagram and LinkedIn, no Facebook. And yeah, find me there.
Rene Morozowich:
I didn’t do a… People are like, you just post in that Facebook group. I’m like, I’m not on Facebook. I’m not on Facebook, so I’m not doing Facebook, but I may do the TikTok.
Angela Bowman:
Okay. And thank you to our sponsor Ninja Forms.
Podcast speaker:
Thank you for listening.
Podcast speaker:
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Podcast speaker:
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