Meet Brian Shim | Web Developer, Blogger, and YouTuber

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Shim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was previously director of engineering for a major consumer electronic music equipment brand. It was a good job, but I had a desire to return to designing things rather than managing logistics, personnel, schedules, manufacturing, and so forth. I also wanted to be able to set realistic schedules with enough time to do the highest quality work, and not rush things out the door half-baked. I was also after a better work-life balance. Finally, all of our products were made in China of course, and I didn’t want to contribute to that system anymore.

I had been doing web development as a side hobby and started taking on some nonprofit clients (churches) and they seemed to like my work. I also had blog, DisableMyCable.com, that I was monetizing with ads that was actually starting to make some money. I figured, between the two sources of income, maybe I could do this full time.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My business has two parts.

First is the web development part where I create websites for paying clients. Sometimes I create sites based on a design that has already been done (by an agency for example). Other times to do design and implementation.

The latter is what sets me apart from a lot of agencies, designers, and developers. I do both design and development.

I got started by doing side projects while I had my other full-time job. Eventually, I decided to jump in and took a year off to learn everything I could about developing websites.

I’d say it was pretty easy because I loved it. It’s hard to beat someone who is doing something that they love. Even if I wasn’t getting paid to do web development, I’d still be doing it in some capacity just for fun.

And, there were tons of resources available online and in person as I mentioned before.

The second part of my business is my blogging, where I have a portfolio of sites that are monetized through ads and YouTube which make passive income.

I love that part as well.

It really has a symbiotic relationship with my client business because I learn a lot of stuff from my own sites that I can apply to my client sites, especially with respect to search engine optimization.

I’d want the world to know that I live and breathe web development, and that I do it because I love it. It’s not just a 9-to-5 job for me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have a whole website devoted to this: https://www.ladateideas.com/

But to give you the short version, I would take any visitor to LA to see the things the town is known for: the beaches, Hollywood, downtown LA, museums, and amazing restaurants.

For the beaches, I’d hit up the Santa Monica pier and Ocean Avenue, plus the Venice Boardwalk of course.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is touristy but hey, that’s what we’re known for, so I’d take them down Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset. The best view is from Yamashiro, so I’d do a dinner there, then go up to the Griffith Observatory. Oh, and if it was during the summer, I’d go for a show at the Hollywood Bowl. Probably the best Middle Eastern restaurant in town is Saffy’s in Hollywood, so I wouldn’t miss that.

For celebrity sightings, I’d try Merois at the Pendry in West Hollywood, Mother Wolf, or Funke in Beverly Hills.

There are tons of great museums, but the “must see” ones in LA for an out-of-towner would be the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Getty (Villa and Center), and the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena.

In Downtown LA, I’d hit up Grand Central Market, the Bradbury Building, and have dinner at 71 Above or Perch.

I’d also go to the Arts District which has some of the best restaurants in LA including Girl and the Goat and Bestia.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
People asked me how I learned everything I needed to develop websites, and a lot of it came from the web development community.

For example, WordPress is the most popular web development platform and it’s completely open-source. There are tons of free resources online, as well as in-person camps and Meetup groups devoted to WordPress. Those were huge in getting me started in web development.

Same thing with Linux and other areas of web development. There are a ton of free resources out there if you just search them out.

So I owe some of the credit to experienced folks who devoted their time to teaching others.

Website: https://brianshim.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianshimla/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianrshim/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianrshim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/disablemycable

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/disablemycable

Other: https://www.disablemycable.com/ https://www.ladateideas.com/

Image Credits
All photos by Brian Shim