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| Georgie and the hired help |
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Several years ago, I walked out (very dramatic.) on a well-paid job after 11 years because I
couldn't put up with the mediocre administrative and management decisions (anyway, that's
another story). I had no knowledge of Windows nor the Internet. |
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| The last thing I wanted to do was to work permanently again for someone else. I had had enough of that.
I wanted to work for myself at home. |
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| In the meantime, I decided to do temporary work. Every job
required Word 4 Windows. Yikes. I barely knew what it was. And I didn't even own a computer. |
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| I found even the process of buying a computer INTIMIDATING. I felt so stupid in the
store when the salesman talked about megabytes, ram, bits, etc, I nearly ran out the door. |
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| I eventually bought a brand name computer. Now, I had to learn Word,
and FAST. I used the manual that came with the computer because it cost nothing
and I could learn at home. BUT, it was so boring and time consuming. I just wanted to
NAIL it. And it was SCARY. I had no confidence, particularly when I hit one key and everything
went "skew-whiff". |
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But I now know
Microsoft Word is FUN and very EASY.
The difficult part is just not knowing. |
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| "Temp" work was fun, but I still wanted to work for myself. I gave the matter
a great deal of thought. Life today is full of CHANGE. There are no guarantees. I decided that
more than one stream of income was essential. Then, if one stream was slow, it didn't matter.
No stress. |
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| But what? I did a letter drop around my local area advertising my services.
Before too long, I had a casual job 3 days a week at a large publishing company a 5-minute walk from
home. It was great. No stress. More importantly, it gave me time to concentrate on what I was going
to do next. |
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| I, then, decided that I would pass on my knowledge of Word 4 Windows to others. I advertised
in the local paper and before too long, I had pupils coming to my home for lessons. I can't say
they came in droves (people are scared about learning a new technical skill); but those who did
come returned for more. It was another stream of income and it actually taught me heaps about
what people wanted to learn. |
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| The next thing that happened was initiated by someone else. A neighbour asked me to
teach her how to touch type. She had been learning from a thick manual for 5 weeks and hadn't
even typed the letter "g". I looked at the keyboard and realised that both
sides of the alpha keyboard are identical, so I split it in two and, then, came up with my quirky
method of learning to touch type in 2 hours. I then added touch typing to my advertisement
in the local paper. |
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| I felt my touch typing method was pretty unique. My pupils were saying things like
"Wow. This is so fast AND easy." Why not try to sell it? But how? Why not the internet? I rather
liked the idea of creating a product, popping it on a website and then, sitting back while it
sold itself. Easy. Ha. |
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| Once again, I didn't have a clue. First, I had to learn about the
internet.
Then, I had to learn html (the language of the net) and a graphics program to create my images.
Then, I had to design my web pages, learn ftp, etc, etc. |
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| To cut a long story short, I taught myself the workings of the Internet and set up this web site
totally on my own simply by using the step-by-step tuitions I found on the internet.
The biggest cost was my time. It WAS very time consuming I have to admit because no one
site had a tuition for everything I wanted to do. The information was scattered all over the
internet. Sometimes, I wondered if I would ever nail it all. |
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But I now know
Web Design IS FUN and
very EASY.
The difficult part is just not knowing. |
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| So, after trying different ways of learning various computer skills, I am CONVINCED that
learning by blindly following step-by-simple step instructions at home is the way to go. Not only did
I get a big thrill out of learning this way, but I gained CONFIDENCE. And this is "mega" important.
You stop being scared and look forward to nailing the next step. |
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| I had just put Nail It Now Typing Tutor on my web site when I came across something
I could not resist. I bought the resale rights (I was one of 10 people worldwide to do
this) to eShowcase, a hot new US software product that creates web sites instantly on the
Internet. Helen, my twin sister, shared the costs and is co-owner. If only eShowcase had been
around when I was putting up my web site, it would have been a breeze |
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| By the end of 1999, 12 months had gone by and it took me
all this time to realise that the role of web site designer is not for me. I wanted to sell eShowcase as
a product at a very reasonable price on the basis that purchasers would scan their own pictures,
create their own words, etc |
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| I discovered that small business owners just didn't
have the time (or the inclination) to do this; they wanted someone to do it for them. To cut
a long story short, I ended up spending many hours scanning pictures, communicating with clients,
helping them find a good ISP, web host, etc - even buy a new computer. |
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| As the price we were charging for eShowcase was not much more than you would pay for a
secure order form on your web site (which eShowcase included), our profits were totally eaten up
by the cost of the time we were spending on all this |
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| So, in 2000, I changed direction and have been doing what I
always wanted to do: sell products on the Internet (my typing tutor was severely neglected
during 1999) and passing on what I have learned to others who are where I was several years ago |
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| I have completely re-designed my site (again) and,
over the last couple of months, I have had a lot of fun researching the
search engines (if only they would stay still and not keep changing the way they work.). I am doing
OK on many of them (I appear in the top 10 of a few of them for my favourite keyword) |
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It's now 2002 (June) and there are now THREE
Microsoft Word tutorials on my web site:
Microsoft Word Tutorial 1
Getting Started - CONFIDENCE Builder
This tutorial is FREE to give you a
"taste" of my ideal way of learning a new computer skill
Microsoft Word Tutorial 2
Microsoft Word Is Easy When You Know HOW and
Microsoft Word Tutorial 3
Tabs, Tables, Tips and Tricks |
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My THREE Microsoft Word tutorials were created for users with Microsoft Word 97
(Windows 98) on their computers. No sooner had I finished them, than Mr Bill Gates brought out Microsoft Word 2000,
which varied quite a lot from the 97 version. As my tutorials are specifically designed so that users can blindly follow the
simple step-by-step instructions, the last thing I wanted was for a user to get stuck when they saw a different tool or menu
command. This meant that I had to create a 2000 version for all THREE |
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By the time Microsoft Word 2003 came out, I was in "smelling the roses" mode. I was still enjoying my webmaster life AND
being my own boss, but decided there were other things in life besides work, like family, friends, relaxing, playing with my dog,
reading newspapers, etc. I even went on a fabulous little cruise (I have always loved travelling by ship) |
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It's now 2005 and I am back in "serious work" mode. I have started my Microsoft Word 2003 versions x THREE and, at the same
time, I am learning a new skill - marketing. Everyone says it is the MOST important thing to do well when you
are a small business owner. Up till now, all I have done is ensure that I am in the TOP 10 of most of the search engines
on the Internet |
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I love the Internet; To sell my products, I make sure they are top quality products that WORK, provide heaps of
information and content on my site and easy navigation. Oh, and I do give away Microsoft Word Tutorial 1, which
has attracted lots of outside educational links to my site
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I don't have a clue about marketing, so it is a huge learning curve, especially as I am working on marketing OFF the
Internet and especially as I am a person who, when asked to sell a book of raffle tickets, buys them all herself! BUT
I know it's going to be FUN and very EASY. As usual, the difficult part is just not knowing |
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34 Tucker Avenue, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia, Phone: 61 3 9646 9511;
email: georgie@nailitnow.com.au |
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