Three Actions When You Hit a Tech Snag

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

It happens to me daily and sometimes several times a day: I hit some snag with a technical issue. I don't like it when this happens to me. Sometimes getting through the tech issue can consume hours of time and energy.  Yet it is a reality of our world and culture—whether we like it or not. In this article, I want to give you several illustrations of tech snags and then several actions to take when it happens.

This coming week for several days I'm attending a bootcamp (an intensive conference). As a part of the preparation, the leaders asked us to survey our target market with a specific question. I crafted my question but then needed to figure out which online tool to use for collecting the input. I know about several of these tools but each tool I tried, I ran into technical snags where when testing it, I could not get it to work properly. It was frustrating and time consuming to resolve. To resolve it, I reached out to one of the leaders of this bootcamp and asked for help. In a short time, I got a response and worked through the issue and made my survey.

One of my relatives struggles with technology issues—like when I want to send this person some photos from my phone. Each time when I speak with her, she claims, “I'm dumb with _____.” When I hear these types of statements, I explain to her that everyone struggles with these issues and it has nothing to do with being dumb or smart. It is a part of our world and culture. I hope my explanation helped her work through the tech snag. My caution to you is not to speak such things to yourself because they become self-fulfilling. There is a solution to whatever issue you are facing, you just need to persevere and find it.

This week I found a charging device for my phone. I had purchased this device months ago but never used it and the charge had worn out so it wasn't working. As I looked at this device, I could not figure out how to charge it. I was inclined to throw it away—yes that frustrated with it. Eventually my wife found a connection on the device (which was not immediately obvious to me). This connection was different from anything I had seen before. Instead ot throwing it away, I looked to see where I could possibly plug this connection. With a couple of attempts, I found a place to start recharging this device and got it to where it is a useable tool again. I'm glad I didn't throw it away.

My hope is you learned some insights with each of these three recent tech snags. The overriding principle I want to emphasize is: there is an answer to your tech snag. You have to use different resources and persist to resolve it. Here's three possible actions when you hit a tech snag:

1. Ask Google to help you. Yes this one is obvious but many of us forget to use the obvious tool called Google with tons of technical help for you.   

2. Go to YouTube and search for videos that will help give you the answer. Whether basic or advanced, there are often resources here to help you with your tech issue. 

3. Ask someone for help.  Is there an online help tool? Can you fill out an online form and write support to resolve it? Is there a friend you can email or call and ask for help? I pay an annual fee to the Geek Squad and don't use them often but when I need them, they readily come to my help on some technical issues. Also use inexpensive tools like Fiverr.com.  I have a designer with a good rating that I use for some small design issues occasionally. Maybe Fiverr would be a route to help you through your technical issue.

4. (Bonus Action) Keep working at it until you find the solution. It may not be something you can resolve in a day or two, but keep chipping away at it and you will find the answer. You can't be the only person who is having such an issue that needs resolution. You have to be persistent with these tech snags to get them resolved. 

These tech issues are going to continue. We live in a technology driven world. Do you have another resource or maybe another action item? Let me know in the comments below. 

Tweetable:

What actions do you take when you hit a tech snag? Get ideas and insights from this prolific editor and writer. (ClickToTweet)

Social Proof Is Required for Experts and Teachers

If you are an author or speaker or teacher or expert, are you backing up your expertise with social proof?

With a few key strokes on Google, anyone can check out the background and expertise of another person. Now admittedly not everything on the Internet is true (a fact you have to keep in mind) but each of us have access to the information. 

Last week I was teaching at a writers' conference. During a break, I checked out the bookstore and noticed one of the participants had written a book with tips about Twitter. As I flipped through the book, it had some good information. Then I wondered about the credentials of the author. With my smartphone, I found this author on Twitter and began to follow her. I noticed the number of her followers (less than 1,000). To “qualify” as a Twitter expert, I expected this author to be above average with at least several thousand followers. Next I checked out her page for this book on Amazon. This book had been out several years and had four reviews. To her credit, these reviews were Four and Five Star but they were few in number—not at least 25 reviews or hundreds of reviews for this book. I did not purchase the book at the conference because this author did not have the social proof to be writing on this topic.

While at the conference,  I taught a class on the business of writing and included information about some of my own social media techniques. In the weeks ahead, I will be teaching this workshop at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference as well as at Write To Publish. Anyone can follow me on Twitter or check out my books online. They will discover my social proof backs up my expertise for what I'm teaching.

Everyone has to begin their platform building and their presence in the marketplace some place. If you want my free ebook on Platform Building Ideas for Every Author, follow this link. For many years I've been encouraging authors to blog, write book reviews, get reviews for their own books and take an active role in social media. You have to be wise about the amount of time you spend on these endeavors because they can become a huge time suck. But it does not have to consume massive amounts of time. The key is consistent and focused effort.

My caution is to understand you need to build the background and expertise in an area before you jump in and publish a book or teach a class about it. If you are just beginning in a particular topic or area, one key method to build expertise is through the world of print magazines. If you don't know how to get started,  follow this link for a detailed article. In general, print has a higher standard of excellence than online publications. The articles are short and easy to create through interviewing others or your own background. As these articles appear in print, they will add to your own expertise in a topic and give you this required social proof to begin writing books or teaching workshops on the topic.  

Tweetable:

Teaching on a Topic or an Expert? Why Do You Need Social Proof? Find out here. (ClickToTweet)