Obstacles as Accomplishments

byiPhoneGirl

364 followers

Updated 7 years ago

Okay, many of you know my niche is iPhones and Apple products. (I run a local buy, sell, and repair shop called Tulsa iPhone Girl, so it only made sense.) One of the main ways I plan to target traffic is through DIY repair tutorials, so today I began work on my first.

I started the day super excited, then I faced so many setbacks, I was completely stressed and almost ready to say forget it for now. First I had to build a box for photos, then find a tripod so I wouldn't have to hold my phone while doing the repairs. I took photos every step of the way (about 150 to begin with), then struggled with both transferring to my computer and finding an editor that would do what I needed! Ugh!! I stuck with it, though, and - 12 hours later - finally finished with the images. (I haven't resized them yet, so I'll only share one.)

I have a ton of work to do still - putting them in order, resizing, all the step-by-step instructions, etc. Tutorials are definately going to be the most time consuming part of my site. What I really want to share, however, is what I realized throughout this process today.

1. Every new undertaking involves a steep learning curve.

I'm not sure why I expected this to be easy. Maybe because I'm a quick learner and most things do come easy - at least the "learning" part. This is more than taking a course and studying, though. This is ACTION! This is blood, sweat, and tears to make my vision a reality. I'm thankful for these challenges I faced today, as now I have a better idea of exactly how high of a hill I'm going to be climbing.

2. Challenges and struggles are NOT a good reason to give up.

So many times today, I could have stomped my feet, thrown a tantrum, and threw my hands in the air. It would have been a great excuse to let all those doubtful thoughts have their voice. I could have given up and given in ... but then where would I be? Where would this dream be? The only way I am going to succeed at this endeavor is to refuse to give up, no matter what. Quitting can't be an option - I want this too much.

3. Be flexible. There is accomplishment in simply overcoming obstacles.

I began my day thinking I would finish the entire tutorial today. I honestly did not realize how much would go into it, although I knew what I wanted the finished product to look like. About half way through the afternoon, I was feeling a bit defeated. So I changed my goals. Rather than dwelling on the fact that I wasn't going to finish in one day, I adjusted. I decided to continue to look for the right photo editor and just try to finish putting the images together. I feel just as accomplished now as if I had been able to finish - and I know after a full week of work on one post, I will feel 10x that same accomplishment.

Thanks for listening. It's been a long, challenging, but productive day, and I am very proud of myself. Maybe this can be an encouragement to someone else somewhere along the way.

- Jennifer

Oh, one more thing ...

Can anyone give me a rough estimate of what size to use for my photos if I want to do 3-5 in a straight line across the page between paragraphs of text?