My clients PAY ME to know about tech so admitting that I don’t always know what in the living daylights is going on with their website or their email software or their online course platform is sort of humiliating. Everyone wants to be the best at what they do. I do. You do. We all do. And almost every single one of us feel like we are near the bottom of the ladder compared to whoever else we see as better, at one point or another (okay let’s be real, MOST OF THE TIME).
Do you ever secretly feel like you’re probably the worst in your field?
Let’s talk about the fact that my business name is Your Tech Fairy, and how many hours of the week I spend on calls with various platforms’ customer support as if I don’t know the first thing about tech. I have made the absolutely dumbest errors in my own website. I am completely ashamed about this, but instead of parading a facade of I know everything in front of you, I decided to open up about it in hopes that someone out there will trust me more for it (lollll).
Maybe collectively we can question business gurus who never ever admit to any mistakes and they seem to have ALL the answers and no bad days. You know, the ones who definitely appear to be in the best in their field and no one questions it.
My website was down for nearly ONE MONTH, not too long ago. And by not too long ago, I mean in the year 2022, which is not even last year. Why? I was switching hosts (from Bluehost to Siteground, if you’re wondering) for my domain www.crystalbantel.com which is my main website and the thing that runs my email. Well, I made the mistake that no one has ever warned me about because I don’t even know if anyone out there is warning anyone about this… Maybe because it should have been just common sense? In which case, that’s an even bigger fail for me. I transferred my DOMAIN to a different host before transferring my WEBSITE. This made my website homeless. Literally. My website had no URL attached to it, so if you went to crystalbantel.com you would just see that dreaded 404 error code page stating that there is nobody who lives in this house anymore. So I went over to Siteground to figure out how to transfer my website after the domain. And aha! No problem they said. Migrating your website is easy using their migration plugin. Perfect. I downloaded the plugin to make it super simple. And then I realized that because I had taken the “home address” away from my website, there was no way for me to log in. Meaning, there’s no way for me to upload the plugin in order to migrate my website. facepalm It took countless hours of tedious live chat customer support, with both Bluehost and Siteground, to get to the bottom of my mistake and how to correct it. To make matters worse, this was during a time that I was at one of the lowest points in my mental illness, so it was excruciating. But after a few weeks of back and forth with the various customer support people, my website was finally back up and running. The website came back up about a month ago, that’s how recent we’re talking. Well guess what. My website is down again as of today. Why this time, you ask? Well because I was trying something new with my Domain Name Service (DNS) editor. In the world of domains, it’s like coding in addresses to various pieces of your domain. It’s complicated and I don’t want to bore you with it but I was feeling a bit confident toying around with that and trying something new I had just learned about and BOOM. Website is instantly down. I have already corrected my mistake and erased the A records to messed up my website. But the trouble is, I made the wrong code in a matter of 2 seconds, but to erase the code from affecting my website can take up to 24 hours to take effect. Cool.
So I could probably beat myself up, tear off my Tech Fairy wings, and announce that I suck and nobody should hire me. I am not the best in my field for hella sure!
But the truth is that not many people are as persistent as I am about learning how the tech works and problem solving. Honestly, I don’t think i know anyone who has the type of patience and resolve that I have about dealing with Customer Support to solve an issue.
I have gotten to the bottom of many issues for clients of mine and gotten their problems resolved satisfactorily in a way they never could have on their own.
Just a few weeks ago actually I was working with a client who was experiencing a unique problem where she was able to send emails from her domain email, but unable to receive any emails there! I had never heard of this problem before but I knew I could figure it out. I didn’t know that it would take me eight hours of Tech Fairy time to solve that entire issue. But just like I promised, I figured out her problem and solved it. Six of those eight hours were spent with Customer Support, again with various platforms. It was frustrating. And I only charged this client for 2 out of the 8 hours I spent on this because I felt bad for how much time this took even though it was completely out of my control, and because there wasn’t some amazing finished product to show for that time such as a glistening new website or something. But I figured it out. Because tech will not be the boss of me. I can figure tech out like no one else can. Not because I’m the best in my field, but because I am fierce, tenacious, and persistent when a tech issue arises for myself or my clients.
And do you know what? My client was happy with me.
She was SO grateful that I managed to make her email situation work properly. She sure as heck would not have had the first clue about how to get it fixed. In fact, she had gone for approximately 4 months without being able to use this email properly!
So yes, I may not be amazing at everything that I wish I was amazing at, but I will get it done. I will work on it until my clients are happy with it. And then the other things that I AM absolutely amazing at, those are the happy hours I spend working. After spending those insane hours figuring out her email issue, I got to fly through the rest of her checklist with ease and it was so much fun! I got to create her sales page, I set up her brand new Email Service Provider with one that works far better than the one she was previously planning to use, and I automated her lead magnet along with a nurture sequence of emails that would be sent out when her audience signs up. This is the stuff I live for. I love making things work. I especially love making things work that don’t make sense to most other people because it’s “too techy” and “too complicated.” Sometimes I get mad in the process as I’m trying to make it work for them, but that moment when it’s finally resolved…. oh man. SO SATISFYING. But even more than fixing things that were supposed to work in the first place, I love making things. Need a sales page? Let me build it. Need a series of emails automated to nurture your audience after they sign up for your lead magnet? Let me set that up! Best of all, need a new website? I want to create it for you. Because I’m really good at it.
I may not be best in my field – but I know what I’m doing and when I’m done, it will work.
And if something doesn’t work, you can bet your buns that I will make it work. How can you reframe your “bottom of the ladder” moments into realizing that you DO have value? I think we can spend most of our business lives believing that the shiny well to do business gurus out there really are the best of the best. But what if that’s just what we see on the outside? I wonder if maybe a lot of them have a team of people who curate everything around to make them appear flawless. It’s pretty easy to only post the good stuff on social media, for example. It’s easy to feel like since my own life is not in perfect order, at least on Instagram I can create an identity that is the way I wish I were all the time. And I mean, to a large extent we DO want to always put our best stuff out there. We want people to trust us and follow us because we know what we’re doing and we do it well. Maybe it’s just me . . . but i just feel like I can trust a business owner better if they admit the shitty stuff once in a while. It helps me believe that they’re not just hiding behind a flawless facade. I think that nowadays, real people want to buy from real people. I think that people want to not just see the FACE of the person they are buying from, but I think they also want to see the HEART of the person as well. Connection sells. Good marketing practices can be followed to a T, but if you can just connect with the heart of your audience, they will trust you SO much faster than a well crafted ad on facebook. This must be the reason social media apps such as Clubhouse and Tiktok have become so popular. Everyone craves reality and connection and behind the scenes nowadays, you know? Don’t get me wrong, I do think there’s a place for something curated like Instagram. But I look at that as the magazine that people look at, whereas super connective, behind the scenes style apps like Clubhouse and Tiktok are the living room where buddies get together to drink their favourite drinks together, play table games, and do life together. Gone are the days of a false front. You know how back in the 1800’s, stores would create a store front that was larger than the actual building behind it? I think a lot of business owners are still creating a false storefront. I think sometimes I still do it. It’s always a struggle knowing how much to admit and talk about, and knowing where to draw the line so that you don’t actually make your audience dislike you. I don’t know if I have this figured out just yet but I’m working on it. I would love to start a conversation about this if you’re up for it. Do you like it when business owners share real life, including their struggles, on social media, blogs, and emails? How much is too much? What makes you trust someone enough to buy from them? So let’s I would love that so much and I will absolutely respond to you. I’d love to compile these answers and do another blogpost or podcast with everyone’s thoughts on connection with your audience.