Be Independent And Learn

Be Independent And Learn

Something that never ceases to amaze me in online groups (cough Facebook cough) is that some people need a lot of hand holding to do anything. They don’t seem to be able to be independent and learn.

 

Be Independent And Learn

 

Be Independent And Learn

 

This might come off as a bit harsh, and I’d like to preface it a bit first to soften my cranky pants. My biggest ah-ha vs duh moment in blogging was when I couldn’t work out how to make featured images not look crap. Yes, the technical term, “not crap”. I was choosing an image and overlaying the title of the blog post on it. But the words would often be cut off in odd places when it was used as a featured image. It looked awful. Even to me, and I have no design skills. I reached out to a friend, because I was SO UTTERLY out of ideas on how to make it not look like shit. She suggested the simplest thing – upload the plain image as a featured image, then another version with the title on it as text for use in the blog post (and as a “pinnable” image). 

 

It was probably the biggest challenge I had faced in blogging and my friend had the answer ready. She probably doesn’t even remember she gave me this tip, but it solved it. I still create my blog images this way to this very day.

 

Why share that? Because I am trying to acknowledge that we all have things we need help with, small as they can seem from the outside. 

 

Want to read my newest book? You can find out about it here.

 

But

I feel like some people want to be spoon-fed every single tiny step along the way. I’m not good at spoon feeding. I like to help people with big ideas. Sometimes that can mean breaking things down but it doesn’t mean explaining every single step to take forever and a day. There are simple things that you can extrapolate from what someone has already told you, rather than going “but that’s not my exact screen so give me more info/do it again” or “but how do I find the help page of X company” type of attitude. If you can’t find the help page/knowledge base of a company/service, then my patience won’t let me help you! Go have a look, then ask again if you can’t understand what they have written.

 

We all need help in business and blogging from time to time. Just try and learn and be independent along the way as well, ok? 

 

17 Replies to “Be Independent And Learn”

  1. Ness,
    I hear you. I’m one those have a go with Google University kind of people…. sometimes it works, other times … I like to think of those as adventures!

    SSG xxx

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Exactly! Be adventurous 🙂

  2. Oh my goodness yes. People who say ‘I haven’t been taught how to do it?’ Seriously?

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      At least try and then come back with a specific issue or question – that’s ok, the haven’t even bothered type…ugh

  3. I thought Google generally had all the answers. I also think in terms of learning, we are more likely to remember and learn independently as opposed to when someone tells you something. Doing our own research, figuring it out, applying it – all helps.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Also a good point – doing is part of learning.

  4. So much of what we do in blogging is because we’ve had to learn to do it by ourselves as in your example! It’s one thing I pride myself on throughout my years of blogging, I’ve taught myself so much and although it’s not perfect it meets my needs and I’m thrilled to have learnt it independently. I remember when I was studying my degree by distance with 3 teenage girls at home, and working at the same time, I had a steep learning curve but the exhilaration when I did it was the best! #lifethisweek

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      Oh my blog is very far from perfect, but I can run it all myself, which is valuable to me.

  5. As Debbie said, there is so much to learn in blogging. I’m amazed by how much I’ve learnt over the past few years. I gave up asking my sons because they just get cranky with me. The other thing I’ve found with blogging as that the community is so generous. You can find information on just about anything you need to know just by being in a few blogging groups.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      The community is so great – there are so many things I have learned from friends and fellow bloggers.

  6. Now I think I need to pay more attention to my images. I have a ways to go to make my blog posts look polished! 🙂

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      There’s always something more to do. But if you’re happy with your images, then that’s what’s most important.

  7. I have the worst memory but I try to teach myself most things. Then I forget how I did it and have to learn all over again. Google is my best friend when I’m blogging.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      At least you know you can always learn 🙂

  8. Recently I read someone said “but I wasn’t taught about that at school”….and the responses was “yes you were, but you were talking.”

    That tends to be me.

    However, I am always grateful when someone who knows more than I do…blogging is an example here too…and helps with a simple solution. MY techie guy (who still helps me out gratis…was the one who set my blog up as is now back in 2012-13…and he told me as a photo-heavy user in post how to reduce the size so the host would not have so much data to load and keep. Works a treat. Every.Single.Time.

    Thank you for linking up for Life This Week. I have created a list of lovely regular linkers such as you on the right hand side of my blog. It’s now showing more of the community that gathers here each Monday to share our stories. Great to see you here too. Next week’s optional prompt is to ‘share your snaps’….hope you will be back. Denyse.

    1. Vanessa Smith says: Reply

      A good techie person is good!! Keep him. I don’t really have one so I just keep backups and hope nothing goes wrong 🙂

  9. I think we all have had to figure stuff out abvout blogging as we go along. My writing and posts look much different than when I first started. I hope the change was for the better!

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