Offset the WordPress loop

offsetwploop

<?php
							  
    $number_of_posts_per_page = 9;
    $initial_offset = 1;
    $paged = ( get_query_var('page') ) ? get_query_var('page') : 1;
    // Use paged if this is not on the front page 

    $number_of_posts_past = $number_of_posts_per_page * ($paged - 1);
    $off = $initial_offset + (($paged > 1) ? $number_of_posts_past : 0);

	// WP_Query arguments
    $args = array(
        'post_type' => array('post'),
        'post_status' => array('publish'),
        'posts_per_page' => $number_of_posts_per_page,
        'paged' => $paged,
        'orderby' => 'date',
        'offset' => $off
    );

    // The Query
    $query = new WP_Query( $args );

    // The Loop
    if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
            $counter = 0;
            echo '<div class="row posts-row">'; //start the row
            
            while ( $query->have_posts() ) { 
                    $query->the_post();
                    $counter++;

            if ($counter === 1) {
                echo '<div class="col-sm-4 col">';//start the column
            }

				//display each post in a box
                echo '<div class="blog-box">';
                
                	//display the title
                    the_title(sprintf('<h3><a href="%s" >', get_permalink()),'</a></h3>');
					
					//get the post permalink
					$permalink = get_permalink();
					echo '<a href="' . $permalink . '">Read More <div class="arrow-right"></div></a>';		
                
                echo '</div>';//end the blog box and all of it's content



            if ($counter === 3) {
                $counter = 0; //reset counter
				echo '</div>';//end the column
            }

        } // End of the loop
		
		echo '</div>'; //close the row
		
		//display pagination
		echo '<div class="page-navigation">';
			the_post_navigation();
	    echo '</div>';

    }
    else {
            // no posts found
    }

    // Restore original Post Data
    wp_reset_postdata();

?>