I am a Newbie. There must be lots of us here because I see many cries for help in the forum. Well, I haven't cried for help yet but the urge is bubbling up inside of me - so maybe a yell for help will be coming soon. In the meantime, I have decided to write some newbie notes so other readers who feel the same sense of controlled terror can empathize.

I haven't touched, smelled, or tasted any of the hundreds of the amazing resources AU has offered so to browse them all on the AU website is, to say the least, overwhelming. So I suggest you do what I am doing, taking the measured approach, I'm in day 5 according to the Success Club so it must be article day. That's what I'm doing knowing full well that all those resources are out there staring at me wishing I would click on them and check them out. No, I'm going to resist those distractions like I'm resisting that brownie in the fridge - calling to me.

In between pats on my virtual head from Kyle and Carson I have "accomplished" getting my domain, starting the website, and a few other preliminary chores - the groundwork. And now it's time to write an article. Mind you, I have been told by my teachers I was behind the door when the writing skills were handed out. I was told that many years ago, however, and I might have picked up some tricks in the years since. I'll be carefully watching my article ratings ...

To my fellow newbies I say "keep chipping away", do something toward your goal every day. I could have said "learn something every day" but doing moves you forward as opposed to learning which keeps you in the same place while gathering some more knowledge. I think learning is great but doing is better - you're learning while you're moving forward at the same time.

My other message is don't be afraid to fail. AU is so rich with approaches failure seems really unlikely - unless you give up completely. As you build your business you are bound to learn what flies and what flops but along the way you will find out what works best for you. That's the business you want to grow. AU does not have a flop page that I know of. The boss is not going to go ballistic. Your coworkers are not going to grumble amongst themselves and ignore you at the water fountain.

So newbies I wish all of you the best in your efforts to start a new life at AU. We'll be there together.