About me
... and this is my story... :)
I started working way back in 1992. My family had a restaurant and they were counting on me to help. In two years I dedicated a good part of the weekends serving at the table while I was about 16 years old.
At school I was a little rebellious. I was never a brilliant student but I never had any major difficulties in understanding either. A certain level of neglect made me lose two years in highschool.
I entered University at 20. I spent the first year doing the minimum and in the second year I decided to do a part-time at a famous pizzeria to see if I could earn some extra money.
It was 24 hours a week that consumed me a lot of time. With what was left, I should focus on studying, but that was not always my option... Result: I failed on the second year.
I decided to let go the pizzaria job and that time was an "ahah" moment. Hospitality is tough. Very hard. My respect and empathy for those who do it is enormous.
Meanwhile someone injected me with the Erasmus "virus" and there I went to Alicante in Spain. Certainly one of the best years of my life at all levels - I didn't deserve it.
I came back to find out I had failed again! I had done enough in Erasmus but the college credit system and my neglect to scrutinize it didn't end well.
I wasn't let down by the event and used all the positive momentum post erasmus to carry out my best academic year. I crossed out 12 subjects out of a total of 13, which were the most difficult in the degree and which I had left behind.
Such success gave me encouragement to make a presentation to the university's dean, so that he would authorize me to enroll in the 5th year subjects (and thus be able to go from the 3rd to the 5th) in order not to lose 12 months enrolled in just 3 subjects.
I had to insist, persist and spend some time in the "office" between lines for assistance but I managed to get to the end goal - I am very grateful to those who gave in to my reasoned request since at the time I had no knowledge of similar cases.
Finally in 2004 I graduated in tourism management and planning at the University of Aveiro. But all the lost years left a mark: I couldn't waste any more time...
Click here to read the rest of the story.
My skills and what I can do for you and your business
WordPress
I'm pretty good at implementing WordPress websites. I have much experience and know-how about the vast library of available plugins and how those work with each other.
I can save you a lot of headaches maintainning your website too. I know what to do before updating the system and also what to do if something goes wrong.
Multilingual websites
I lost count of how many multilingual sites I have implemented. It is a pain sometimes because it involves a lot of copy / paste and automatic translations aren't usually a good option.
I definitely can help you with your multilingual website.
WooCommerce
I built several Woocommerce online stores over the years and I'm getting a specialist. WooCommerce is a special "beast" and has many small details to take care especially if your project is also special - many products, selling internationally, many shipping options, integration with external systems for stock managment, etc.
I feel confortable with many of these details and in case is too much for my "plate" I know people :)
Other special websites
Do you need a private area for your clients to login and access their documents?
Do you need an automation to pull information from google sheets to the website?
Do you want to present an inventory of something and it needs to be easy to manage? (example: real estate objects)
I have the skills and experience to implement these kind of systems.
Design, user interfaces and user expericence
I'm not specialized on these subjects but I have some education and experience on it.
Anything that could need a more deep understanding and specialization I can help with outsourcing.
Google Ads, Facebook Ads and other paid ads systems
I'm also not specialized on these subjects but I have some experience and I can help at least with some directions.
Other digital marketing skills
I "touch" almost all of the digital marketing fields of knowledge so I could be a good partner for consulting or give you a second opinion.
Do you think I can help?
Great! Click to start a project or send me an email.
I'll see you on the other side. :)
About me
We were now in the middle of Euro 2004. As a recent graduate in tourism, I found a job opportunity at Porto airport. It was a fantastic experience as a board operator. Its functions were to be the link between the crew and the various services at the airport, from the moment of landing to the moment of take-off.
The championship ended (I watched "that" final from the company's office at the airport) and I was dismissed with a certain light at the end of the tunnel that indicated a possibility of returning.
As I had developed a taste for technology, computers and the internet during my university years, I decided to enroll in a professional course specializing in e-commerce.
It would take about 9 months and the conclusion of this course would give access to a professional internship. I ended up in the company I wanted and met people with whom I maintain professional and informal relationships to this day - three of them are my current clients.
The 3-month internship ended and I was invited to do another internship - the famous professional internships that today continue to exist for recent graduates. While I was making up my mind, a professional school, to which I had applied for during the course, contacted me to replace a teacher in a certain tourism subject.
I decided on this path because I would earn more and work less time, so I could start developing the "little web animal".
And it was with this available time that I started to study and learn more about website hosting, domain registration, development and implementation, advertising with Google Adwords, and that gave me the entry into the world of webmasters and digital marketing.
My path as a "tourism" teacher, although it was an enriching experience, would have been short and the airport services company did not contact me again.
Thus, since the end of 2005, all professional dedication has turned to "online". In 2010 I focused (almost) exclusively on the WordPress platform. To this date, I count more than 200 sites developed, hosted or maintained.
During all these years I also published several websites under various domains, and tried out business models in the virtual world.
Now is the time to "clean the house" and the decision of taking the opposite route, that is, focusing and consolidating everything under a single name: ajoscoa.
It is an acronym resulting from my full name which has the advantage of being available both as a domain and as a name for social accounts on the most popular networks. Also, it has seven letters and I have a special appreciation for the number 7. :)
For following years my goal is to collaborate with SMEs and other independent professionals that want to get more leads and customers, increase their profit margin per sale, and sell more to their current customer base.
Being aware and improving the levels of these 3 metrics is halfway to ensuring the success of any business.
This is my short story and my intention for the short term future. I hope it generates empathy with the right people.
All the best,
P.S. I must finish by thanking D. Elisa and Sr. Almeida (my parents). It may be a common place for many children, but the truth is that without them I would be nothing like what I am today. Dona Elisa put up with a lot of my irreverence and gave me extra "chips" in moments that only a mother's love grants. To Mr. Almeida for putting me working on the "tables" at 16 and for the effort he made to keep me at the university at times I didn't always deserve it. To both of you for the constant and unequivocal support I receive to this day: I will always be with you.