Make money online
What happened to the “do it yourself” idea?
I have been running forums for 6 years now. Started as a totally “noob” admin and made my way by learning all I could about forum scripts, modding the skins, adding plugins etc. I made mistakes and was able to learn a lot at the same time. Never wanted to depend on anyone, never knew how to sum up my “courage” and bug others to assist. All the “do it yourself” thing was good in my case .. from a brand new web designer with no knowledge (not knowing where to add some Java script code in the page for instance, or create a banner in Photoshop) I got to owning over 30 sites and having a small web design firm. And, at the same time, found out that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
I am not saying all these to brag (yet again), just to get something straight. As much as I didn’t like asking all people to do my job, I dislike people who come and bust into my private life EXPECTING me to do their work.
My main webmaster forum is up for almost 4 years. It’s a small and friendly community, with some amazing members and some kids who are an inspiration. 4 Years ago I was one of the few crazy admins to let 13 year old kids run my community (as moderators). Sure, they don’t have too much access to the real stuff (I never let another admin), but still, if they wanted to do damage, they could.
No, they didn’t do anything wrong, in fact they are still the pillars of the community and have grown into amazing young men. At 13 they were already coding in PHP, something I still don’t since I don’t have the time or willingness to learn this. I was always amazed seeing kids get so serious in such heavy business and by themselves. These kids were resourceful, wanted to learn all they could and all day long they’d buzz with I don’t know what code or SQL command.
From them I learnt a valuable lesson: DO IT YOURSELF while also look for guidance. My community taught me to not be ashamed to ask for tips when I get stuck, because in the end it’s a community, but never be too lazy to apply the knowledge myself. NO ONE is willing to do your work and it shouldn’t be like this. I would go and ask them for guidance, then try on my own, get stuck again, ask again and repeat till I was able to solve this. Everytime I put my mind into something I was able to solve it. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Some time ago, the biggest issue I met as a forum admin, was trying to merge 2 forus. My women forums “ate” a smaller one and I really wanted to make the 2 run as one. Even if there were 2 forums running on the same script (phpBB 2.0), they were modded differently (I had installed tens of plugins, as I usually do) and there were some HUGE issues.
I worked for an entire week. Trying to merge, even to fix the faulty code I was able to get from the official forums. Took me more than 100 hours of serious work, database deletion, re-population, making mistakes, deleting again and so on. It was the first time in my life I thought “OK, now this is somethign I won’t be able to do”. And still I wanted to do it. And guess what .. after 1 week and way too much cursing, I was able to integrate the second forums and welcome my new members.
Never did I think about letting others do my job. Sure, if I wanted, I could pay and have it done. But asking someone to do this for me FOR FREE was never an option for me.
Because I know how busy I am and how much it makes me angry seeing people sit on their b..tt and expecting me to do their work. I am always available for some hints, I can google together with you (maybe I get some better results), I can guide you as much as I can, but I will never do your job.
It amazes me how fast people think it’s OK to let others work for them. Or take anything for granted. I started a promotion on my Romanian webmaster forums (I give 5 hosting/domain accounts based on points received by posting) and was shocked to receive messages from people .. something like this:
Hello dojo. I need a domain. Can you please give it to me? I don’t want to lose time posting, I just need it fast.
Yeah, sure, you have to post some messages and even this is too hard for you. Why not take the shortcut? Why bother make any effort at all, when you can get it for free (or at least think you can get it?)
There are still people coming and asking for me or others to install a script, install a plugin, why not even create a unique skin for it? They won’t put any effort into their site, but expect to earn at least as much as Chow does for other people’s work. No, it never occurs them to pay for the job, they are just expecting someone else to work.
I know we’re speedy. I know people want to start earning money from their sites the day before yesterday if possible, no one things about tomorrow. No one wants to pay for anything, but they all expect any problems to be solved by others, who should be as stupid as to do this.
All I was able to accomplish and all I can still manage to succeed in needed WORK. My own working hours, sleepless nights and reading thousands of articles, tutorials and tips. I tried to solve issues, asked for hints and then got back to the drawing board. Nothing comes free, nothing comes without work. Everything you do and learn will be useful one day. Maybe this is why I never cheated at any exams. I tried to learn and take them, never relied on others to do my papers, never relied on them to “whisper” something during the exams.
There is a fine line I think. One needs to also get over one’s pride and know when to ask for help (I try to), but also be ready to apply all the knowledge and solve the issues. Unless you are paying someone big bucks to design a site or implement a script, you could as well try to do these yourself.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
My main motto is another one (wherever you go, go with all your heart), but I think this one is also a good one. Try and fail, and learn from your mistakes. It will make you a better web designer, a better forum manager, a better person. We all make fun sometimes about the “do it yourself” slogan Nike made popular. Sure, we think about many things (even sex related), there are bumper stickers mocking a this. The main idea is to just grab the bull by the horns and start solving your problems. See what’s not working, ask for hints and then try again.
I think it’s a way of life. And once you learn how to NOT depend on anyone, you’ll be free. And success will follow.
Absolutely true. Being a self-taught web developer, PHP coder, and Photoshopper, I must say that DO IT YOURSELF has been a way of life for dedicated and intelligent people since the beginning of mankind. By DOING IT YOURSELF, you learn a lot more, feel a lot more satisfied, and rise above the rest of civilization in a way that cannot be described. At the same time, you mustn’t become pricky, and refuse the advice/guidance of others, or lose faith in the power of the community.
Can’t say more. If we want to achieve something we need to learn. Many people act like they lost they ambition and want to pass life at easy level. It’s not my style.
Yes you are right, i don’t think anyone should sit around waiting for other people to do things for them. That way they will never grow. I have to say getting people to your sight can be real work anyway but laziness is not the way forward
There are times I need help or a professional. I cannot do everything on my own, but I am willing to pay for this. Just expecting someone to come and do me favours out of the blue is wrong in my books. I am so happy others agree with this.
I was able to learn so many things and even get a new career just by trying something out. Thank you all for the positive comments
Good post. I agree that webmasters are part of a special breed of go-getters that don’t just sit around. I too wish to make a living off the web. It’s fun and visitor behavior and usability is very interesting to me. To me, the office job with benefits is increasingly becoming something for those that sold out and have no real innovation. JMHO.
I totally agree. In my case, all my friends think that I can build them websites, and they do not consider the fact that as a consultant who builds websites in my spare time, I charge for my services. They know I roll out websites every few weeks for clients, its surprising they don’t ask to hire me.
so true. doing some of the work yourself (or especially a lion’s share of it) really acquaints you with important tasks. later, when you choose to delegate, you have a better idea of what to expect from others.
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I support this BUT I have a great coder who helps me and charges a very low price. But when it comes to marketing, graphic designing, etc.. its all about ME
Do it yourself also goes with scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. It’s good to offer help, and of course, nothing wrong with asking for help.
I agree about do it yourself, but we have limitation and cannot mastery in a lot of thing. We can save much time and efforts by delegate anything that we belief we are not capable with.
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