New Product Journey: A Non-Techie Gaining Tech Skills

You know what’s so cool about this whole digital product project? Well, I’m forced to learn tech. I’m what you would call a non-techie, who has been placed in a position where she’s required to learn more and more tech in order to create her digital products.

I’ve got learning curves galore, springing up here at Degrees of Maternity. And, I must admit that I’m actually surprising myself with how well I’m taking each one of them on. I’m not saying that I’m mastering every new platform, online tool, or piece of software as I incorporate them into my repertoire. What I am saying is that I’m doing better than surviving. I’m actually rising to the occasion, learning as I go, and applying what I’m learning into my product planning process.

It’s exciting business! And let me just stop and give some encouragement to those of you out there that aren’t in complete harmony with all things technology. I want you to know that if I can survive my crash course in Digital Product Business, then there’s technological hope for you too, my friend.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it dozens of times. I’m old school and I can easily stay stuck in my comfortable rut, but the times have called for being mendable and moldable and receptive to change management. So, I’m currently flowing with the times.

Now, what I’m about to report to you may seem pretty insignificant; but coming from the perspective of knowing how hard it is for me to break out of certain comfort zones and routine ways of doing things, learning to create digital products on a small scale is a huge accomplishment.

Let me explain.

I must admit that I’m all-in and striving for the win, when it’s all said and done with the launching of my reading and writing digital products for grade school children.

You would really have to know me and my temperament when it comes to technology to understand that I ain’t playin’ around with this creative entrepreneurial stuff. As a matter of fact, here’s an excerpt from Playground Instruction for the Growing Adult, which will give you a little background on my relationship with technology.

“My children tease me occasionally about my unwelcomed ability to break technology/electronics in my home. This is not entirely true, though. I can’t help it if devices mysteriously break (or stop working) at the touch of my hand. These occurrences are what I call untimely coincidences, not me initiating the demise of all things technology. What I will admit to is the fact that some technology makes me uncomfortable. I’ve never been one to tinker with things, wonder how their inner workings function, or be mechanically-inclined in any sense of the term. And while I can navigate my way around a computer just fine, I’m far from being fluent in tech talk and in the working knowledge of all the many programs that one needs to successfully run an online business.”

So, when I say that I’m not going to let my hang-ups cause me to miss out on an opportunity of a lifetime . . . an opportunity that just so happened to present itself at this point in my timeline, I mean just that.

Listen. I love reading. I love writing. And, I love helping encourage children to develop those skills that are going to propel them forward toward meeting goals and successes in their lives. And if technology is the only thing that’s standing in between me and my opportunity to work in a meaningful capacity that helps others, then “technology, beware. You’re about to get handled.“

I know I’m typing all big and bad in this blog post, but I’ve done some heavy lifting lately that allows me to have a few bragging rights in my journey thus far. I don’t think I’ll go into any deep details of my tech accomplishments for today’s blog post, but I do want to list out three endeavors that I purposely avoided for some time, even though I knew they would be worthwhile opportunities to explore. And not only have I explored all three opportunities, but I’ve actually put them into practice in what I’m currently doing at Degrees of Maternity.

My small victories are as follows:

1. I finally started an email list. I initially set up an account with Mailchimp but switched over to Convertkit because of a few features that it offered me that Mailchimp didn’t. I had originally thought that Convertkit only had plans with fees. But once I found out that there’s a free plan, I was immediately “SOLD”. And since I’m newly building up my email list, the free plan gives me all that I need for the time being. I’ve been using Convertkit for about a month now for my freebie distributions. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but having an email list is actually kind of fun and is bringing me closer to folks that I know are truly interested in my current as well as future offerings.
2. I finally invested in an online course. I know there are plenty of free ones out there, but I’m talking about a course that costs a few coins – – approximately $100 in my case. Not too expensive and not too cheap, but just right in my opinion. I haven’t gone through the whole course yet, but I’ve been through enough modules and know enough about the success and credibility of the individual offering the course to know that it’s of great value for the cost. The course is specifically on how to successfully create printables to grow your email list and/or to sell for your business. And, the fact that I’m taking the course from an individual who is a successful mommy blogger who has helped so many other mommy bloggers achieve their own successes drew me to her course. The encouragement from her YouTube videos is one of the main reasons I started blogging in the first place. So, almost 2 years later, I decided to purchase one of her courses. It took me a minute, but I finally did it and I’m so glad I did.
3. I learned an easy way to make my PDFs editable, so they can be filled out online. I don’t know why I thought this was going to be such an incredibly difficult process to learn. But, I recently found out how truly easy it is. And, I can make a PDF editable for free by using an online tool from a site called PDFescape. Go figure. The same person whose course I purchased was the one who let me in on this golden nugget of a document-updating tool. And, I absolutely love it! I even went so far as to teach myself (by trial and error) how to use different features of the tool without having any instruction from anyone else. Yes, I’m pretty proud of myself for being a big girl and figuring some things out on my own.

So, you can see that I’m making some small strides in my own self-education with different aspects of technology and it feels good every time I do it. I’m making progress, folks.

Lastly, I’d appreciate it if you’d help me with some real-time self-education as well. As promised, I have some questions for you this week. And as always, feel free to respond to them all or any of them you’d like to answer. I’d love to learn from your expertise or opinions. And, you don’t have to be a parent or teacher to respond to the questions below. Everyone is welcomed.

1. What are 3 reasons some children may not want to participate in reading activities?

2. What are 3 reasons some children may not want to participate in writing activities?

3. What are 3 ways adults can help make reading more enjoyable for children?

4. What are 3 ways adults can help make writing more enjoyable for children?

5. What fun themes would be good for children’s activity books? (Hint: I’ve already come up with the following themes: sweets, safari animals, sports, insects, flowers, and construction/building machines.)

Feedback on this blog post or through my “Contact” page is always encouraged. Thanks in advance for your participation and Happy Monday!