I was talking to my friend S. today about why a blog just like this one could help one’s business.
On this site I blog my technical stuff all the time.
You might be surprised to learn that’s mainly so I can actually keep a record of some of the things I have learned which is a fraction of all the things that go past my desk every day.. Hopefully your Google search brought you here because of the terms used, so you know I have dealt with your situation on some level.
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Make blogging as easy, fast straightforward and trouble free as possible:
This blog was “written” On the free WordPress app for the iPhone into which you can dictate which I’m doing right now
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If what you are blogging about seems too simple to mention remember that people enjoy simple stuff when they are having trouble with it, so long as it’s explained in an un intimidating way.
Nothing is more frustrating than to hear somebody say to you: “oh that’s simple enough” when you know that it’s not – to which the response must be
“If you find it so easy, you go ahead and do it”
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Do just one thing and prevent self censorship
So, why do corrections from the outset🥸? Fix it later but get it out the door.
It’s not a nuclear weapon or a defibrillator design. No-one will die.
it won’t even harm anything except your own self critic & ego if it’s Not Quite Right –
yet. Because it seldom if ever IS right.
Be Judicious With Your Critics- I don’t; mean ‘choose sycophants’ I mean choose those who have constructive insights and well proven techniques, not anecdotal things like:
‘Cat Pictures Always Improve Rankings!’
I just corrected that paragraph right now before finishing. Mistake. Better to go back and fix it after. I am subject to breaking the ‘rules’ I am talking about, too
Try to avoid overthinking things and just get the stuff out there with as few technical obstacles as possible
Case in point for my friend’s blog -she is a smart, determined virtual assistant which in simple terms means being roaming office assistant and facilitator with high attention to detail mostly working online who won’t give up when things get “interesting”.
She was just asked by client ‘R’ to file paperwork for a fictitious business name renewal. This is a bit of bureaucracy which anyone who runs any kind of business is really supposed to do and on the face of it appears easy if you do it more than once-
She spent some time that I will not go into researching the county and state websites for the correct way to do this and any missing pieces of the puzzle.
Yes, of course it is easy to do but somewhat trickier to get it right
There’s a reason to take a driver test, for example,
because it’s easy to drive a car but you need to get it right :-)
Interestingly this morning after my rambling about what a good idea this was, then I realized, “If it’s so easy, why don’t I just do it?”
Why ask your dog to do tricks that you wouldn’t do yourself?
so here we are. This. Here. Now.
I timed this initial free-ish form dictation and it was completed in under 10 minutes. corrections may take another 15 minutes because Google likes images put in with the blog. Here, I hope this one will Help! “You Just Never Know”
( I avoid that term but used it anyway)
That’s possible on the WordPress app on the iPhone but it’s far easier and basically faster to do that step from a full screen on my laptop.
All about Efficiency. 60 seconds. I timed it.
But that is a whole different blog about making your blog itself tasty to Google. Which brings me to one final point:
Do one thing. Do only one thing. Do nothing but that one thing.
What I mean by that is right now, I am dictating a blog and not messing around with WordPress being funky, Internet woes, or my rotten typing skills or being distracted by the need to go to the bathroom or figure the right moment.
There never is the right moment except: now.
Surely I could afford 10 minutes right now, couldn’t you?
And why not dictate your Blog while in the bathroom
(That’s two things but one is automatic, I assume, so may not count?).
And if your technology is letting you down so you cannot get done with that one thing?
Stop that one thing so the Obstacle Itself becomes that One Thing.
I was strongly influenced among others by the author A.J.Jacobs about this.
“Identify The Problem” is always the 1st. step in troubleshooting.
Then, Visit That.
I really propose it in my personal life and technology career everything consists of
one work around or another at a time and occasional single Final Fixes; But not Often..
That’s One More thing: done.
Breathes Again.
-paule