After a year at elementary school, I was moved to a larger primary school which was slightly further away. I had to cross a fairly busy road, and the final one hundred yards was up quite a steep hill. Mum however, let me walk there alone. It was too far to walk home and back for lunch, so I had to eat lunch which was provided by the school at minimum cost.
That highlighted another of my disabilities, which, up to now, I haven’t mentioned in this series of posts. My hands shook uncontrollably, my right hand more so than my left. Over the years Mum and Dad had tried to teach me how to use a knife and fork properly and cleanly, but with little success. More often than not Mum would cut my food into bite sized pieces and I would stab them and eat from my fork which I used with my slightly steadier left hand.
Now, at school, Mum wasn’t around, and I was on my own. For the first few weeks, I had to stab large chunks of food and gnaw at it with my teeth, which couldn’t have been a very pleasant sight. But I persevered, and I found that by resting my right elbow on the table to steady my lower arm and hand, within a couple of weeks I could cut my food without spreading it all over the table.
As well as the problem of eating properly, there were many more children at the new school than there had been at the first, most a lot older than me. The task of getting myself accepted as being just another schoolmate had to start all over again, but this time it would be harder. I can remember one afternoon I was walking home and an older boy threw a stone at me. Although I saw it coming, I wasn’t able to move my head slightly so it would miss me. It hit me on the cheek and a little blood flowed. The older boy laughed and ran away. Shit, I thought. I saw it coming and probably had half a second to move my head two inches so it would miss. Olympic sprinters can move their whole body 5 yards in half a second and I couldn’t move my head 2 inches in that time. I’ve got to do something to improve my reaction time..
However, I managed in the end to make friends with most fellow pupils, as I added joining in all the games they played during the breaks to my “get to know me” strategy. Even though everybody was faster than me and I hardly ever made any contribution to whatever game was being played the very fact that I was seen to be running around, participating the best way I could, helped to get me accepted into the school community as an equal partner.
There lies today’s lesson from my experience. All aspiring Internet Marketers should participate wherever they can. Participate in Facebook Groups, participate in Facebook Fan Pages, and participate in forums. Participate by writing blog posts, create YouTube videos, do everything you can to get yourself known to as many people as possible. Be yourself, don’t pretend to be anything you are not, just like I did at school. However, just like the chap who hit me with a stone, not everybody will like you. Don’t get annoyed if people unsubscribe from your email list. Don’t waste your time on these people, just accept the fact that, no matter how good and helpful you think you are, even if that’s true, not everyone will agree. Finally, if you offer an answer to somebody else’s problem, be absolutely certain that your solution is the best one.
Where do I get all the information, to do all of this stuff? You may be wondering. From your mentor of course. If you don’t have a mentor yet, then get one NOW. As I’ve said before in this series of blogs I can recommend Dean Holland, but the choice is yours. The main thing is that you choose carefully.