Today, I reflected on my refusal to renew the business plan on my WordPress account.

What started as a limitation from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the spending limit on cards, turned into quite an experiment for me.

There were a lot of reminders from the WordPress team on renewal. I engaged one of the “Happiness Engineers” (that’s what customer care reps working in WordPress are called), and he told me point blank that I would lose most formatting, some blog posts and some capabilities if the account is not renewed. He also added that my domain osasuoviawe.com would now be read as osasuoviawe.wpcomstaging.com since it is hosted on WordPress.

I decided to brace for impact by backing up all my blog posts.

True to the Happiness Engineer’s words, I lost most formatting and my address now reads osasuoviawe.wpcomstaging.com. But all my blog posts were still available. Not so bad after all.

Then the discount offers started rolling in. 50% discount this week, 40% discount in 2 weeks time, 20% discount after another 2 weeks, and back to 40% discount now running. I wonder why they did not offer me a discount before my subscription expired. Actually I do not wonder why. I know why.

The whole scenario has made me deeply think about my next steps with this blog. If I build it into what my vision is, I cannot afford to skip an annual payment, or else, I would lose all formatting and have to start from ground zero again. It means this blog must be able to pay for itself indefinitely.

Another insight from the experience is “discounts are always available.” Maybe I should have asked the Happiness Engineer. I will now always ask for a discount. You never know.

I am thankful for serendipitous experiences that hold many lessons.