Isn’t is fascinating how much there is to learn in life? If we are open to it, not only do life lessons come to us each day, but the opportunity to learn ‘hard’ skills such as social media marketing.
When I decided to write and publish a book, I found a huge amount of help on-line. Susan Daffron of Logical Expressions was recommended to me by a friend Jill Nussinow, The Veggie Queen, and in addition to offering a plethora of free materials on her site, she held a self-publishers on-line conference which was also free. Paid attendees had more access than non-payers, but like the kid standing outside the fence of the ballgame, you could still watch the action – and possibly even catch a fly ball. I still refer to my many pages of notes taken by the excellent speakers she lined up for this event.
When I decided I needed a blogsite, I found huge amounts of free webinars and download on-line in addition to the general help regular folks who have been-there-done-that are willing to give. Denise Wakeman of The Blog Squad (great name!) offers an amazing amount of quality, valuable information – again, all for free. And then there are all the wonderful referrals. Just today, because i am on Denise’s e-mail list, she sent and invitation to a webinar Christina Hills was putting on. I had never heard of her, but as it happens, she is in my backyard, up in the Sierras, Grass Valley, CA.
Now I know these folks are trying to make a living, just like the rest of us, and my intention is never to just grab free stuff and never pay or offer anything in return. But when you are just learning, you just don’t know what you need.
As an example, last year, I was paying someone an hourly rate to teach me social media marketing, and although she is very nice, she didn’t tell me anything I couldn’t have found on my own – for free. But even so, it was fun to ‘get in the game’ and get started learning something new. And like a treasure hunt, that training, led me to other things I didn’t even know I wanted to do – such as the knowledge and ability to build a website. Previously, that would have scared me senseless.
Had I not been dipping my feet in the water for the past year, I would be completely lost in the training I’m currently doing with HubSpot, an internet marketing company in Cambridge, Mass. The material I’m learning and applying is complex, exciting, interesting, valuable and like all good classwork – exhausting. Oh, and it’s not free – although, once you sign on with them, they do give you tons of material to continue learning. So far, I’ve very impressed and feel the cost is well worth the value.
I put myself through college, so I appreciate the value of education. I put my heart and soul into learning something new and although I certainly haven’t mastered this stuff – not by a long shot – it feels good to be stretching myself out of my comfort zone.
I’m also taking Qigong classes and just today the instructor acknowledged us newer students by saying how easy it is to go about your day, knowing what to do and what is expected of you. And you can go through your whole life that way which is fine – but it’s not for me. I don’t get bored, I get thirsty, thirsty for knowledge.
When you try something new, it’s uncomfortable – sometimes physically, sometimes mentally and often emotionally. I love to learn so I often find myself in the role of new student and it’s always uncomfortable, but only for a short time.
As a kid, toward the end of summer, I began to get excited. I looked forward to the start of the school year and as an adult, I still look forward to it. The thing that’s missing for me now is that familiar smell of new fresh notebooks, pencils and erasers.
Remember that?
{ 0 comments }
