| Barbara Kingsley spent 12 years as a high school English teacher, then six more doing PR for her school district. She retired in 2018. | | Then, in January 2024, she picked up her phone and started posting on TikTok. | | I couldn't contain my emotions, and out it came. I immediately found a community. | | | A year later, she had over 100,000 followers. Not bad for someone who describes her setup as "me and my phone." | | Barbara posts as Buzziebeeteacher — a nickname that's followed her since her days as a bass player, a daycare teacher, and eventually a high school English teacher in Pennsylvania. | | Her content started as political commentary and evolved into satire. She's funny, sharp, and completely herself on camera. | What she learned about growing on social media | | A year in, 100,000 followers, and Barbara has figured out what works. A few things she'd tell anyone starting out: | - Watch before you commit. See what's working for creators you admire, then start experimenting.
- Don't obsess over quality early on. Be consistent first. The quality will follow.
- Always tag your content with your name from day one. Barbara learned the hard way that untagged videos can be used by others — and monetized — without your knowledge.
- Pick a posting cadence you can actually maintain: starting at three videos a week makes it hard to drop to two without the algorithm penalizing you.
| You've got to have tenacity like a bulldog hanging on to the mailman's pant leg. | | | Barbara had a WordPress.com account from years ago, set up after she retired from teaching. Life got in the way, and she forgot about it. | | When TikTok took off, she came back. | | She needed a place to send her followers. Somewhere she owned, where she could sell her books and build something more permanent than a social media profile. | | TikTok could disappear tomorrow. Her website won't. And having her own branded .com domain — buzziebeeteacher.com — was a big part of that. | | TikTok has my whole portfolio at any moment. But my name — that's my brand. What more can I say? | | | Barbara started building the site herself using the AI website builder, then discovered she could schedule a call with the WordPress.com team to get help. | | I knew what I wanted, and you guys polished it off. It's been great. If you're thinking about buying WordPress, buy Premium — because you can schedule help at your convenience. It's the greatest thing since soap. | | What the website does today | | buzziebeeteacher.com is Barbara's hub — a place for her books, her music, her bio, and her social links. It's where TikTok followers who want to go deeper can land. | | The domain was a big deal for her. It gave her brand a proper home. | | That's like MickeyMouse.com. It's right there. It's not going anywhere. | | | She's got more plans, too. A finished cookbook written in calligraphy she wants to digitize and publish, a kids' book, music, and videos on the site. | Your story deserves a home, too | | Barbara built an audience of 100,000+ people on a platform she doesn't control. Her website is the one place that's truly hers. | | WordPress.com gave her the domain, the platform, and the team to help her pull it together. She brought the personality and the plan. | | The rest? Still being written. | | | | |
