The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The good: I am amazed at how quickly one can have a question answered around here. Right from the beginning new members are encouraged to Ask Questions, Seek Help, and Feel Free to Comment. I have taken that absolutely literally and liberally peppered online members with all the questions that came up as I made my way through the rest of the Getting Started Course.
In the Live Chat, I was very nervous at first - I felt like I was standing in the middle of a busy room where everyone was doing their own thing in small groups. To speak, to ask a questions was like getting on my chair and hollering out a directionless query. This weird feeling is because I don't "chat" on line. Ever. I don't even facebook. So this is a completely new experience for me. However, I decided that if I am going to participate in this community and benefit from the training here, I am going to have to get over that. So I stood on my chair and asked my questions. Within seconds, I was greeted, welcomed, and answered. (And I think helped off the chair . . . ) WOW!!! This is easier than school all those many years and dollars ago lol. Within two days, I am comfortable popping in and out of Live Chat to find quick answers or links to where the answers are from a friendly, helpful group. A warning here though: Live Chat can be far too interesting (ie distracting) and irrelevant to what I'm currently working on, so I don't leave it open or hang around. I get my answers, thank my tutors, and go back to work!
The bad: Boy am I ever feeling my lack of computer saavy. I think the only programs I've used with any regularity on my computer are my email, my Pages (and only to digitize what I've already written down longhand lol), my itunes, and Safari. I have not spent any time looking at the nuts and bolts of web building, and all the mysterious and mystical arcana involved. Making my website go live probably took me a lot longer than it should have - and I practically hi-jacked the kind members on Live Chat until it was solved (which it was). So this venture is really forcing me to build some muscle in places I didn't know I had any. Ouch. But in a good way. Today I have to learn how to make the website not suck . . .
The Ugly: I am paranoid and suspicious still. It's true and I have to acknowledge and admit it in order to stay grounded and focused on my goals, because i want SO BAD for this to work for me. But I am having a very hard time setting realistic goals. I see many members who have decided to spend their time promoting WA, and that's fine, but not what I'm here for. (This community wouldn't exist if not for those loveable IM nerds :) I want to learn this not for Internet Marketing in and of itself. I am absolutely confident that I have good "Niches" in my back pocket, and I know I can write good and interesting content for a target readership. As far as I understand, this is what I need to do to generate traffic. I need to learn how to make and income from the traffic - that's what I'm here for.
Every once in a while though I stumble across members who seem to have the same goals, with websites that are sleek and beautiful and are filled with content that really breathes. These are the people who inspire me. These are the members who have published the things they are passionate about.
Thanks to everyone who has been helpful, welcome to everyone who is new, and best of luck to all.
Tracy
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Hey Tracy.
I'll take "The Ugly". :)
The reason you're seeing a vast number of people interested in and discussing promoting WAU is because of *bootcamp* which was launched a couple of weeks ago. It focuses on how to promote WAU from a beginner's perspective.
There is absolutely no need to promote WAU. I never have and I believe the majority here don't. I earn my living online totally outside of IM. That said, I'm doing *bootcamp* because I have no reservations whatsoever about recommending WAU to friends or family. In the same way, that I don't have any concerns about telling them to sign up to Lynda ( http://www.lynda.com ) which costs more than WAU and isn't interactive and won't earn them a single penny per se.
If you never promote WAU that's fine. However, if you can't make back $359 within a year from being at WAU within a non-IM related niche then either you're bone-idle or you're doing it wrong. :P
There's nothing else to buy after you subscribe except your own domain names from a registrar outside of WAU such as Namecheap, or unless you decide you also want that spawn-of-satan service, Jaaxy.
I think less than a $1 a day to create your own online business from scratch is an absolute bargain. If you wanted to open a *real-world* shop, you'd be looking at start up costs of c. $200,000 in most cities.
However, it's not a race. There's no pressure to sign up to premium. Just take your time. You'll know soon enough whether WAU is for you or not. If it isn't then look elsewhere, it won't have cost you anything, except your time and I guarantee that won't have been wasted whether you stay or leave.
Rich.
Rich,
Thanks for this response. It gives me confidence that I'm not wasting my time here. I LOVE the fact that you believe I should be able to make back the membership fee. And you are absolutely right about the cost of a store front type business vs. a membership here. But even so, I'm far too Scottish to throw money into one hole just because it's cheaper than another ha ha. I am already accomplishing things that I didn't know I could do so easily (ie website) and still facing challenges (ie making it look better lol).
I am feeling pretty confident about being part of this community so far though. I am beginning to see that there is real value here even if I don't want to just promote WA. And ya, I can see how the new "bootcamp" would generate a lot of discussion about promoting WA.
So thanks for the encouragement and the reassurance!
Great Post! I didn't know anything when I first started either. Also, I have websites also promoting WA but also I have my passion niches too! So, you can have both. But, it does take time. Don't worry about the knowledge it will all come in time.
Best Wishes to You!
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Great post Tracy. We all go through the situations which you have detailed here. I had no idea about websites at all when I started, and last week I amazed myself by explaining all about them to a friend of mine.The training here is superb.
Regards
Hudson
I am beginning to see that! lol. Thanks for reading :)