Tag: shit

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Recycle, you naughty public!

It’s the one week of the year where retailers, brands, waste management companies, trade associations, governments and the media come together to achieve one goal: to galvanise the public into recycling more of the right things, more often.

Maybe it’s just the way it was presented in the Business Wales Newsletter, but this really irritated me. 

Many communities, including my own, have worked really, really hard to be plastic free (or almost – we still can’t convince the local shop to stop selling those little sand moulds that end up lost in the sand, and bodyboards that only last a week, grrr) so this feels like it’s just taking the piss. Most people in my village recycle almost obsessively. The Welfare Committee does loads of litter-picking, strimming and gardening-type work in the local environment. We gather the abandoned beach gear (who leaves two new 4/3 Rip Curl and Billabong wetsuits behind?!). We also run a bottle-bank which kicks back a small amount of money for our funds. We think about this shit all the time. 

But no! You are naughty, naughty, lazy public that should recycle more! We the businesses that make all this crap that you find it almost impossible to avoid buying (so hard to find dog food in tins instead of those awful pouches) will insist that you are more responsible! 

How about legislation to just BAN THEM from making this stuff in the first place?? We don’t need it! We don’t want it! Don’t push this onto us! Or force councils to recycle it at extra cost they just can’t manage! 

Retailers, brands and governments need to do a lot better, not just pass it on. 

recycle more
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You Know Nothing

“You know nothing. You know less than nothing. If you even knew that you knew nothing, that would be something. But you don’t.” – Harp, Point Break.

https://youtu.be/HuRXJFAsIBY

Thus begins Johnny Utah’s first day at the FBI. Nice way to welcome someone to the office…

In fact, Johnny is a “real blue-flame special” as Harp also notes – top of his class, football star, the works. But he’s still made to feel like he’s less than, before he’s even got started.

So, why would I write about coding? I’m no blue-flame special. I know nothing (and I know it).

But of course, I still know more than some. For example, if you want to learn to code, where do you start? I know about that bit!

It took me ages to find Code Institute and the Welsh government’s career-changers scheme (the Personal Learning Account) which would allow me to do the Web Application Development diploma. I kept looking at bootcamps, online courses, even full Comp Sci degrees, but I could never afford them.

(I know people self-teach from free courses, but I want to go deeper faster than I think that would allow me. I also know my propensity for procrastination – Lord knows what I’d end up actually learning.)

The first thing I can write about is that journey. Knowing I wanted to learn to code and develop, but not knowing how to go about it. The barriers to even knowing that it would be a possibility.

The main barrier was still in my own mind – is this really something I can do? Don’t I have to be good at (shudder) maths? And I’m a girl – is it even allowed?! And I’m too old! And so on and so on.

The thing is that even when I am an expert in something, I still feel like this. Imposter syndrome gets everyone.

So, I will just do it anyway! I want to write about my journey because I’ve always loved writing. I 100% want to use those hard-won skills and expertise to back up my journey, and maybe along the way (when I know a little more than nothing) I can be useful to others as well.

Theory is when you know everything, but nothing works.
Practice is when you don’t know anything, yet everything works.
In programming we combine theory and practice; nothing works, and we don’t know why.

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Free Fluff

“It’s a quick video about why you don’t need any special “skills” or “experience” to launch a full-time lifestyle business as an influencer…”

This influencer is peddling courses on how to make and sell courses – and telling people they don’t need any special knowledge to do that. What if you want to make a course about x but you don’t know any more than the next person? Who wants to be taught by someone who isn’t the best of the best at what they do? What if, like most people, you are not the best at anything, and really not qualified to instruct anyone on anything? What if you’re just out to make a quick buck off people, and you make shit courses?

Some of these internet influencer courses seem dangerous. You could pay a lot and really get not much back. I worry that most of these courses could have been written up into a great book, landed a publisher and been assigned an editor, gained reviews and so on. I worry that the ones that couldn’t get published like this are mostly the ones that are shite. I suppose it’s like indie publishing, self-publishing – there are some crappy books, and there are some good books. But with a Kindle title you might waste a few quid and then leave a review so others don’t do the same. With something like a freelancing one I’d like to do, you pay A LOT of money. I mean, like £800. And what if it’s rubbish? There’s a money-back guarantee, but what if it doesn’t work but you don’t find out till it’s too late? Or they quibble, or disappear? I just think there’s a lot of potential for bullshit like the above – bad advice from people who are well-meaning – and some who maybe aren’t. And there’s nowhere for honest reviews – their sites and social media are carefully curated shop windows, which is fair enough, but nowhere gives the downsides, the ‘didn’t work for me’ stories. Even the best books have some poor reviews, a balanced view.

Maybe this is me being too old to grasp the new paradigm…but there was an article about one influencer kid who is basically running a Ponzi type scheme, and it’s fucking with trading, which is real and serious money… People lose money, so they have to recruit new losers, and so on.

Anyway, I’ve unsubscribed from this particular brand of fluff. I still rate some influencers and online course creators really very highly – Renae Christine’s Cupcake Trainings, for example, which is ‘awesomesauce’ (free book image from Renae!). The quality of the free stuff tells me the paid-for would be awesome, totally worth it, but it’s just too expensive for me. Same for the freelancing course. One Of Many, which I also love, is more sensibly priced.

It’s fair play to those who are succeeding with this new way of connecting with people. But I’m going to steer clear of any more of the ‘free webinar with everything you need to know – then the hard sell at the end!’ type stuff. Some of it is bad, bad, bad. I’m quite susceptible to the marketing as well, and just ain’t got the dollar! Also…I just still really like books…and independent reviews…

I’m looking at ways to grow my writing and jewellery businesses, and turn it all into one lifestyle brand umbrella where I get to share everything I love about the surfer girl lifestyle and writing life with people, so I am interested in things like handmade business advice etc. I think there’s some great stuff out there, but I’m also pretty sceptical.