Journal Of A NewB

[LadyGardenSnake]

damn EbonyTraffic, it has been awhile since I wrote you all. All I can say is what a week. This industry is literally kill or be killed. Never before have I been in an industry where competition arrives literally on the HOUR. Competition is nothing more than a stat on a message board. Everyday I see new members joining EVERY single message board I frequent, and I only visit eight. All I can do is thank God for letting me basically learn the basics of this industry as quickly as I have. I feel as though I'm playing a sport basically. For example here is an analogy that former sports players would be able to relate to. Back when I played sports I used to have to play through pain because I was always the smallest on the field or court so I had to work that much harder, usually hurting myself. No matter how hurt or tired I was I would have to basically do it because I had no choice. Getting better in this industry is like that to me. Four hours is now my normal amount of rest that I get per night (which I might add is on my sofa because I can't make it to my bed). Seven in the morning and I'm up, one contact killing me, yet I don't have the time to take it out. Every single second counts while I'm in this learning stage. This shit is really crazy. Now luckily I can see my progression, so I haven't gone insane yet. I can now look back on my older galleries and think "what the fuck was I doing?" My stats are finally starting to roll in, no sale yet but shit my stats are moving the way they are suppose to be. I also have a pretty nice method of submitting/organizing my galleries. Considering the fact that I am hand submitting all of them I had to come up with a system that wouldn't drive me fucking crazy. I really do have a new found respect for everyone in this industry who has accomplished things?traffic, sites, full time or part time status. If you are actually making head way in this industry I am basically in awe of you. Not ass kissing but a new found respect. Any who I got some shit to write about in this journal so here we go.

Coming Up With a System

Well what can I say, without a system I'd be fucked. Correction, with out a system that is actually working I would be fucked. If you don't know what a system is then I will try to explain it. Keep in mind that I don't have too many hours of sleep logged on my bed so it might sound funny. A system - a series of steps to get your work done, all the while keeping you organized and aware of your current situation. The way I came up with my plan was almost like I was figuring out a math problem. I had probably 8 variables, all of which were completely different from the other, but affected each and every other variable in the equation. Trying to tie the variables together was actually the easy part; the hard part is testing it. Luckily I haven't had any major problems with my system (still working the bugs out) so no unneeded anxiety, yet. Also the fact that I actually SEE progression shows me that the system works. It might not be perfect but damn it, it works. I also know that the more I use the system the better I will get and also the system will get.

Getting Organized

Now besides just coming up with a system you have to get organized first. This has by far been my most time consuming task. There is so much information (well not very much in comparison to others) that I have to account for, and then manage to shuffle into a form of data that can be used by my system. This actually reminds me a lot like I'm writing a program. For example after I get the system up and working, not perfect but working, then I take all the different ideas that I have and some type of way get them to work in that system. Now I haven't programmed in years but it feels like I haven't missed a step. Getting organized is actually more important than anything else. You can always change a system to fit your information, very easily, but getting your information to fit a new completely different system WOULD be a bitch, taking away from time that you already DON'T have. Last but not least learn something new every day. I try to learn as much as I can EVERY day. Be it searching for people who have advanced in this industry, posts on message boards, to asking any and every question that pops up in my crammed little head. If you screw up then so what, don't even consider it a screw up because you attempted something that the majority of the people wouldn't have even thought of doing. I have really learned that you have to fail in this industry to learn. Well excuse me; I have to fail in order to learn. And when I say fail I don't mean just complete and total failure, I mean you either didn't get the desired result that you were looking for, or you are totally off in left field. Learn from others mistakes as well. That is damn near the best reason for me going to the big ass message boards because everyday there is another horror story about how they fucked up and don't know where to go from there. Luckily I found Ebony Traffic and the wonderful people of the board who are helping me through this stage. I would have found myself making the same mistakes had it not been for a lot of you all. Anyway that's my 30 minutes so I have to get back to work.