Showing posts with label confidence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confidence. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Creating my own Website

A year ago I never would have dreamed I'd be poring over websites and books toward the purpose of creating my own website. I know of a woman who's been taking classes for at least months in order to learn website design. And I'm not artistic enough to think of myself as a website designer. Weirdly, I think of myself more as a website builder. I want to make a website; I'll think about "design" either as I go or after I get it made. I know it's not likely to be as pretty as some of the amazing blog websites I see, but still... 

The fun thing is, this is the era, now is the time to create a website. I found out that I don't have to learn the programming languages that I think all website designers used to have to learn before they could create. The tools are available and probably almost all of them are available for free. Which means that a person can create even their own family business on a very shoestring budget. What a time we live in! Not too many years ago, a person had to have a storefront to have a business. Okay, maybe more years ago than I think--I guess I'm getting old, and can remember things that most people today might not. 

It's an amazing time we live in, and when people complain that they're not in the top 1% of one of the richest nations in the world, I have some questions: 1) Why do you need to be in that top percentage? 2) How many people can expect to be in the top 1%? (Answer: Only 1%. And when you join that 1%, that means you shoved someone else way down into the 2% category, which is now part of the 99%. How uncharitable of you!) 3) Whose fault is it that you're in the percentage that you're in? (Answer: Only yours.) 

So in today's technology, if you have internet access, you basically have the resources you need to be as rich as you want. You don't even have to go to school to learn website design; just do your research on the internet. And the answers that the internet doesn't have for you, you can find in books that you can check out at your library. Learning doesn't have to cost you money! Starting a business hardly has to cost you anything. It just takes some initiative, time, willingness to learn, creativity, and...courage. I dare you, get to it. Bump someone else out of the top 1%. But be charitable in the process and help others along the way.

So here are some websites that are at the tip of the iceberg of what's out there on the internet for potential business owners: 

My Own Business – An international nonprofit organization helping people succeed in business since 1992. Offers a free training course for prospective business owners.
My Own Business, home-based business page

And here are some for (business) website building, starting with being an affiliate (this isn't what I'm aiming at, but I'm glad it's there in case I want an easy way to start) and I haven't personally checked these out, so beware: 

AFFILIATE, READY-MADE BUSINESS WEBSITES: 


MAKE YOUR OWN WEBSITE (though I'm not sure we need to know programmer tools and coding any more; still learning): 


Let me stress that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Look for articles on e-commerce, customer care, time management, boosting productivity, etc. If you don't find what you need online, go to the library and get books on creating a website or starting a business or e-commerce. No matter what you need to learn, the information is available for free.

I also want to share that in one book that I checked out of the library, Basic Website Creation, by Peter Cope, the author describes (to my amazement) how you can make a website (not hosted, just designed) on Microsoft Word. Really. If you have MS Word, you’re probably halfway there. Try it out, you have nothing to lose!
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Saturday, May 7, 2011

Sometimes You Can Just Learn by Doing

I'm not very technological, but I have kept up with the things I want and need to be able to do by just trying them out. I remember when I first started using a computer, I was afraid that I'd touch some button and do irreparable harm. Little by little, I found that it isn't very easy to destroy a computer with the touch of a button, and so my confidence with that has increased such that I rarely look at the keyboard. I know this is an elementary example, but it's the first one I remember dealing with where there was a hurdle of fear in the way of learning.
More recently, I got a cell phone and found that it wasn't much good if I didn't have people's phone numbers at my fingertips. I had to learn how to program the numbers in, and I put it off longer than I should have, and that delay caused a nuisance; promptness would have supplanted that nuisance with a convenience. I finally sat down to learn how, and found that it was just a matter of intention and attention. Technology is almost always intended for convenience, so learning to do things is generally user-friendly and intuitive. You might need someone to just sit down with you for a few minutes and get you off to an easy start, but once you know, you're equipped. Even my 80-year-old mom now knows how to program her phone, but she just did the other day so she'd be ready to go on a trip. She's had a cell phone for years and never had the convenience of the numbers in it.
Learning by doing also applies to blogging. Blogger.com makes blogging pretty easy; just sign on and follow the instructions. If you have trouble, they have help links; for that matter, there are lots of bloggers around and you could ask for help from someone you know. From my own experience, I just tried it out, and kept doing it. Now I have four blogs going, one of which I've had for a number of years.
Learning by doing isn't just for technology; here I am a "housewife," but I've fixed appliances, plumbing, and lamps, refinished furniture and used various power tools, not because I was taught to do any of it, but because I just started and kept going until it was done. Not very often have I ever gotten stuck or caused more harm than good. (Sometimes I wish I didn't know how to do these things, because then all the maintenance ends up being my job; but still it has saved me a lot of money and the frustration of dealing with repair people.)
My point in writing this is that if there is something that has just immobilized you because you're afraid to start, I recommend that you get whatever minimal help you need and just try it. Get an instruction booklet; go online and google for an instructional video; even take your gadget to the library or to a store where they sell the things, and ask someone. I find that techies in stores are almost always happy to share what they know. Chances are, though, that if you just sit down with a cup of coffee and try pushing the buttons or connecting the plugins that make the most sense, in many cases, you can figure it out on your own. If not, then you can always find help somewhere. Once you figure it out, it will build your confidence for the next thing.
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