During all of COVID, while my normal business is mostly shuttered, I have dedicated my “found time” to learning and then applying the newfound knowledge.  Mostly, I’ve been learning about marketing.  I’ve spent so many hours observing webinars, participating in Zoom meetings, listening to podcasts, watching how-to YouTube videos, perusing blogs, reading books, taking copious notes and being an active member in Facebook groups. 

And online discussions?  Try tippy tapping anything into Facebook, and I bet you there is a group for it already!  While I have often thought it would be particularly nice to be able to discuss all the stuff I’m trying to implement and process, the sharing and hospitable nature of online forums is beyond what I’d expected. 

I am blown away at all that is available on the internet.  It’s now my second nature to turn to the search bar and ask Mr. Google any and all questions that pass through my head.  What should a marketing funnel look like?  How do I create a sticky blog post?  What sort of advertising budget is normal?  

In fact, after this past week of particularly wonderful discoveries of treasure troves of useful information, I had bogged my computer down too far.  My two computer monitors had far too many open tabs.  I kept finding treasure troves of useful information; if I just bookmarked them in the browser, I feared I’d forget to come back.  (Today I finally came up with a better organizational system so I can go back to those spots, when I need each of them specifically.)

I appreciate this gift of learning.  It’s an excellent silver lining!