Take one sheet of paper and write down your questions (make up your own) and then answer them, leaving room to revise, later. Use one sheet for each question. Sample questions:

Why are you doing this?
Who is/are ultimate benefactors?
What do you want the people to feel when they see your ad/page/site?
When would you like to have it completed?
Where is your most likely audience sure to go? (to get ideas now and to learn how to put yourself in front of them later)
How are you going to get there? (define what you can or are willing to do/learn yourself and what part you want to delegate).

Then after all that is determined, have fun and get in there. There are how many pages on the internet? Make it a game, challenge yourself. See how fast you can solve your current problem. But don't sacrifice quality for speed. Sometimes if you would have just checked out one more link, you would have saved yourself several hours of grueling. Don't look at it as grueling. It's a self-led education. Class can be fun or tedious. When it becomes tedious or frustrating, jump in and ask the wealth of information out there if there's an easier way to do that part. That will also get you in touch with friendships you can nurture as you go, which will turn out to be invaluable.

Tips I've discovered:

Not getting the right results? Change your keywords, experiment, change your search engine. Utilize the free programs out there. Start with sites you know aren't trying to sell you something (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft). Don't buy into answers when you're not sure you trust the source. There are lots of free tools. Computer frustrations? Try running a live version of Linux. It doesn't change your system and there are less unsecured ports. Certain things may work better. Don't want to learn a new system? Refurbished computers with latest software and memory requirements are about $225 at some of the computer warehouse sites. Look for a local store on their websites so you can check them out in person. A new computer made me feel great!

I use Mozilla's Firefox browser, and it I love it. But it can get crazy, let me explain. I, at most any give time, have like 40 tabs open (my bookmarks library is huge, because I don't want to lose anything I've found). If I'm done for the day and want to start again tomorrow, I go to Bookmarks, Bookmark All Tabs (at once!) and give it a name like today's date so I can come back to it. Then clearing out your tabs is like clearing out your mind. Have a bookmarks folder and sub folders under each category of your business and pleasure related topics, just like a filing cabinet. Relate each to a specific thing you are learning.

Play some music while you're learning. Take a break and watch a movie. Most of all, like I said, enjoy the process. Pat yourself on the back all the way. You're worth it. You can do what you think is impossible! Organizing is the fastest way to get there. Hope I've helped!

Linda Jackson