After almost a year and a few months with WA, I shamelessly have to say this is my first blog post! So many times, I find myself being described as an introvert/recluse, but truthfully I'm just so into all the things I do and love doing that I forget that there are people around that might benefit or find a nugget of inspiration in my words. I have to admit that I do visit WA just about everyday and love reading all your blogs and training, so I am around but mostly incognito.

To put it simply, I'm not used to sharing my life or my thoughts so openly. So for all those who are following me in this WA community, I apologize for my lack of interaction. This first blog is my attempt at turning over a new leaf and becoming a little more pro active.

I can't make any promises as to how often I'll write on this blog, because coming out of one's comfort zone isn't that easy, but if I can help feel free to pm me any time.

For all the Newbies on WA

First of all, if you have any doubts about joining WA, erase away that negativity. I was like most of you the first month or two, doubting the legitimacy of it all. I have to say that, after a year of belonging to this community, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I made the right decision.

I went from knowing completely zip about anything to do with online business or marketing, to now doing SEO work and building websites for companies, both locally and internationally. Did I know what I was doing the first SEO job I got? Are you kidding, after I accepted the job, I thought to myself, What were you thinking?

You see this first job of building a website happened only 4 months after I joined WA. This website was for an International Company, and their future business was depending on this website I was about to build. Did I know what I was doing? hmmmm, Not at all and as a matter of fact, I didn't even know what SEO was, YET.

Did It All Work Out?

Yes, it worked out better than I could have ever dreamed. Did I make MISTAKES? I made loads of them, but I didn't give up. I would screw up royally and then it would take me days to figure out what I did wrong. I still look after their website, plus they want another one built at the end of this year, and I have gained a few more jobs from that one website, alone. Mind you this all happened in the first year of joining WA.

One of the lessons I learned from doing that one site was having to force myself to step out of my comfort zone. Since that one particular job was international and based out of Asia, all of our communication was done through teleconferencing - and in my case, this happened to be Skype. Yea, another piece of technology I had to learn.

Benefits and Cons

Working from home does have it's Benefits, and it's Cons. I just love the fact that you don't have to get really dressed up to work from your home office. One thing that didn't occur to me when scheduling my International Skype call to discuss the website development, was that they might want to video conference.

Yea, you got it, my first website job, and out of the blue they make a last minute, knee-jerk decision, that they would like to video conference. So, here I am in my jammies, in front of the CEO of this International Company, along with his Board of Directors (who happened to be all dressed up in suits, sitting around their highly polished conference table) and here I was discussing a topic I know little to nothing about. First BIG Mistake. :-) Talk about wanting to regress back into my hermit cave.

For all those who are wondering why I was in my jammies, Shanghai business hours happen to be my nighttime. Who would have thought, that skype could be viewed on an 80 inch monitor? :-)

Wake Up!

So, for anyone who still reading this blog post, the moral of my little story is to make as many Mistakes as you have to and be proud of them. Chauk it all up as a learning experience. Realize that it is only through our Mistakes that we really learn.

And as so many have said before me...

• Take ACTION!
• Fake It Until You Make It!
• Never Give Up!
• Stay Positive!
• Do Something Everyday Towards Your Goal
• Take the Word FAIL out of your Vocabulary

What Direction Will You Go In?

It's funny how your life can take a complete different direction then originally planned. I started out looking for some sort of direction to help me build a website to promote my books as I could not afford to pay someone to do it for me.

I have to smile, because "is that website built"? The answer to that is "Not Yet". It's on the near future TO DO list. That's not saying I haven't built any sites for myself, as I have 5 of my own websites up at the moment all at different stages, promoting products or information and all making a little money.

As for my books, I'm just putting the finishing touches on the 3rd book of a 12 book children's story book series. Which I'm going to self-publish on Amazon, in Kindle format and Print. So there you go another new learning experience. Don't you just Love Life!

As some of you might already know, I'm an artist both traditional and graphic and I'm not all that technically savvy. So what I'm trying to say, is if I can pull this off with all the help and everything I've learned from WA, then anyone can do it.

So between my clients sites and my own dabbling with affiliate sites, and my process of learning - making mistakes - and learning more, I'm kept pretty busy. There are so many different ways to make money online, and the synergy of this whole WA community with its New Open Education makes for an unsurpassed learning opportunity.

So if, you are a Newbie and you're still reading, then know that you are in the right place at the right time for Success.

I hope I didn't put everyone to sleep. But one of my goals this year was to open up a little more.

So, can I cross that one off the list? :-)

Judith