What I’ve Been Learning — Jan 2022
Over at Taught by Humans, a big part of our ethos is our love of learning. Learning tech-related things, yes, but also just constantly learning news things and improving on what we already know. Each month we are going to give a short update on what we’ve been learning — here’s mine for January 2021.
January has been a strange month for me — very slow to start and then suddenly a whirlwind of fun events, plans and deadlines. My new year resolutions of taking things slow is very much out the window — I’ve completely changed the plans for my company (Taught by Humans) and working to steer us in the right direction. Here’s what I’ve been learning along the way.
PhDone (nearly…)
As well as Taught by Humans, I am working on finishing up my PhD. I’m very nearly finished, so very nearly finished, but actually finishing feels far away. This month I have been learning to let go of perfectionism and be happy with good enough when it comes to my PhD thesis (the big long write up of my research). I’ve also become a pro at formatting in Microsoft Word (which also makes me want to cry, why do the images move everything I edit??), including how to cross-reference figures and tables.
Learning How to Run a ‘Real’ Startup
If you’ve heard me talk about Taught by Humans prior to this month, I’ve been pretty set on it being a services-based company (i.e., we deliver education and consulting to make money). I’ve even called it an ambitious lifestyle business. To me, this meant not ever wanting investment or building a product…
WELL, for sometime now I’ve been taken by an idea for an EdTech platform. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I really, really think this idea has legs. So, Taught by Humans is shifting focus — we will still be delivering our services, and we still have the same values and motivation. This means we are becoming a “real” start-up. I say this as bit of a joke, I’ve constantly been told I’m not really running a start-up because it can’t scale, I don’t want investment, and so on and so on. We’ve always been a real start-up, but we’re just changing to build a product.
For me, this means learning a lot of new things — I’m trying to understand funding options, I need to get ideas out of my head for others to understand, what’s the difference between an MVP and a prototype — the list is long. I’m going to give a monthly update in this blog. Hopefully this will help some other people on their start-up journeys.
How to get ideas out of my head — as boring as this sounds, the most important step is just to start. Whether it’s on paper, in a Google Doc or a Miro board, just blurb everything out. Once all your ideas are out, start refining and ordering your thoughts. This process can be long and iterative, but keep going! The other bit of advice I’d give is to ask for feedback early and often. This helps make sure you aren’t talking in jargon and your ideas are clear. If you get stuck, change the how — I usually write in Google Docs, but if I’m having trouble with a certain part I switch to paper and pencil (or sharpies). If I’m struggling to put something in words I draw or create a diagram, then describe what I have drawn. Now I’ve got my process, I’m finding it easier and easier to communicate the complex ideas in my head!
Creating a (Basic) Content Management System
One part of being a solo founder I enjoy is getting to work on our website. In January, I’ve been working on adding our videos to our website with ways to filter and search (so a basic content management system).
If you’re technical, I am currently doing this entirely in the front-end, using iFrames from Vimeo. If you’re not, I’m trying to save on costs and security issues for the time being.
I’ve really been enjoying perfecting the pixels in CSS, working on responsive design (I’ve fallen in love with FlexBox) and adding some functionality using (vanilla) JavaScript.
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We are always learning, and want to share our passion for learning (about everything, not just tech) in this monthly blog series.
