Do-It-Myself
November 17, 2011
I’ve noticed a theme in the self-employment blogosphere and ezineosphere lately.
Is ezineosphere even a word? It is now!
The common message from several business consultants, marketing experts, and coaches is…
Don’t do it yourself!
I’ve read a lot of posts and articles lately on the importance of getting help with some tasks so you’re free to shine you’re beautifully shiny shine in other tasks.
Makes sense. Except when it doesn’t.
I just spent a frustrating few hours – maybe three or four cumulative over the past twenty-four – wrangling with my autoresponder to send out my latest newsletter. It may be that there were updates to the system that I have to get used to. It may be that I haven’t sent out a newsletter since we were in the long hot siege of endless days over 100 degrees. But it was pretty d@*&!# hard to get everything right this time.
The last hurdle, or hassle, I had to overcome had me stumped so I had to call customer support. The guy reminded me I didn’t pay for a support package, but he helped me anyway (thanks, dude), because my problem was:
“I can’t send my newsletter!”
Turns out there’s something glitchy in the way the editor panel deals with HTML code when you paste it in. The hard line breaks disappear, and then the system warns you that your HTML lines are too long. It takes your breaks and then says YOU screwed up!
Did you just get confused by that last paragraph? Then I’m doing well making my point. You see, after these hassles, one suggestion would be for me to hire someone to take my words and format my e-mail and send it out. But if I did that, I wouldn’t understand why there was a problem or know how to prevent it in the future.
Other than my insatiable curiosity wondering how things work, I could probably be fine outsourcing my newsletter publication. Okay, probably not fine, but I think I could handle it. The thing is, I work with a lot of solo entrepreneurs and I have lots of colleagues who are solo entrepreneurs. I help people learn how to do basic marketing things so they can use the confidence that comes from new skills to stand up to their fear and uncertainty.
I coach and train around the theme of Trailblazing, for goodness sake! That’s about being adaptable and flexible, ready to take on new challenges so you can take charge in your own life. While it’s possible for people to get help (or hire it) for all the areas of their projects and businesses they don’t know how to do, it’s more empowering to learn some new things along the way.
So I like being in charge of formatting and publishing my newsletter. That means when I’m talking to someone who wants to start a newsletter, I can talk about what I do. It’s not that advanced and it doesn’t involving hiring someone, which most people at the start-up phase aren’t ready to do.
And if I keep things simple enough that I can manage them, then I’ll be teaching self-employed people skills that are simple enough that they can manage them, too.
I do wonder if it’s a justification. Am I being too controlling, or maybe too cheap?
Could be! But mainly I want to be able to tell someone, “I know you can do this. Let me show you how.”
What do you think about hiring help versus doing things yourself? Join the conversation by leaving your comments.
My Evil Twin Blog
December 6, 2010
Earlier this week I saw a blog post by “indie-rock-star” blogger Ken Robert about deciding not to start a second blog for a new idea, but instead incorporating it into Mildly Creative. I follow Ken’s blog closely so I was surprised he referenced a prior post asking for feedback from his tribe on this question. I hadn’t seen the previous post so I read it and immediately thought…
Read more
Hallelujah Chorus
December 5, 2010
I haven’t experienced it, but I have heard that people gather in public in some places around Christmas to sing portions of Handel’s Messiah. That means it’s expected, with some showing up to participate and others to listen and enjoy. What happens when the singers slip in announced at a food court in a mall and start to sing?
I’m sure the people watching and listening in this video were entertained. Most probably understood how much preparation and practice it took to make this incorrectly named “flash mob” happen, and how much hard work was involved.
But what would you have thought?
Wow! That was amazing. I wish I could do something that well, but I just don’t have the talent.
~ or ~
Wow! That was amazing. I want to be part of something like that.
My hope is that you’re inspired to develop your own talents, collaborate with other talented people, and put it all together for your tribe to appreciate.
**Many thanks to my podcast co-host Francie Cooper for posting this on Twitter.
Pipe Dream?
December 4, 2010
This is my secret fear after training to be a Profiting From Your Passions™ creative career coach.
Some guy will say, “I can design and build my own instrument made of PVC pipe and I can masterfully play rock music, classical themes, and movie scores on it. How can I make money doing that?”
But after a little thought, I think I could come up with one or two ideas…
Refresh
October 26, 2010
While recording our podcast “en vivo” at a park today, my colleague and cool friend Francie Cooper and I were distracted by the playground, especially the swings. At the end of the podcast we had appointments and calls to get to. We had planning we needed to do.
But the swings were calling!
You can listen to the podcast that started all this by clicking here.
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