Every time I pick up a pen to write I see the bite scar on my hand.
Self-inflicted. (Not by my teeth!)
But certainly by my lack of experience.
We live on a larger section than most in our neighborhood. And down the back there’s a creek which runs along one side of our town. There’s farmland on the other side.
There’s also a LOT of trees around. And… until many of them blew down last year… we had a bunch of tall trees down the back of our property.
The screeching demons from the depths of hell would make their way along the waterway. And set up home in our trees.
These possums might look cute and cuddly. But my preference is to enjoy them as gloves and hats.
They don’t just stay up their trees. They raid gardens and fruit trees.
And the sounds of them scurrying along your roof at night — with their unholy shrieking — can make them downright terrifying.
They especially love our grapefruit tree. The fruit end up half-eaten. With gnaw-marks all over.
That’s not a happy outcome for those of us who like freshly squeezed grapefruit juice on a hot summer’s day.
Now, the farmers over the creek can use the usual way of possum despatch (a spotlight and a .22 rifle).
We’re technically in the suburbs… so have to take alternative measures to keep on the right side of the law.
Which means: trapping.
And that’s pretty easy because they just can’t resist a juicy slice of apple.
Now… I’m not going to go into gory details here.
Heck… the goriest detail is the blood gushing from the back of my hand.
Anyhoo… long story short: managed to trap the blighter.
And then what?
That’s kinda when my plan fell apart. I hadn’t quite figured out the next step.
I’m not sure why I did it… but my genius brain obviously thought it made perfect sense in the moment… but I opened the cage just a little.
Well, that “just a little” was just enough…
The smelly critter lurched forwards and got stuck half way out.
I instinctively put my hand down on it’s back… as I’d do for pets. Just to grab it and put it back in.
But they’re not quite as easy to manage as one of my cats.
They’re jolly strong.
So… while it lashed around… it quite easily managed to twist its head around in the direction of the hand that was pinning it down.
And…
You can probably guess the rest.
But if you can’t…
Blood.
Pain.
A few choice words.
Then… once again that terror of the night was free to plunder fruit from innocent householders.
Probably should have got stitches. Now it’s 1.5 inches of scarred flesh to remind me:
Be prepared.
And that’s also good advice for just about every endeavor… especially when the risks are high.
Or when not being prepared can lead to a huge waste of time.
And just a bit of planning or prior learning could have avoided such problems altogether.
It’s also good advice for my business.
So I try to not just wing it… but learn from others who have gone before… and can help me pick up the skills I need to do the best job I can.
I try to avoid picking up unnecessary scars along the way.
Although some scars are the sign of good things…
I’m thinking of “rite of passage” kinds of stuff. Like a client rejecting a proposal. Or dealing with a seemingly irrational client.
But some stuff we can make far easier for ourselves. And less likely to cause trouble. Just with a little preparation.
One reason I started this email list was to help other people who were walking a similar path to get ahead a bit quicker… and help them be a little better prepared to avoid pitfalls.
Being prepared is also why I took copywriting training through AWAI.
Copywriting is a skill that I’ll keep using in my business. Whether I keep selling my services as a “copywriter” or if I move on to other things.
Their flagship copywriting training is the AWAI Method. Which I suggest you investigate if you want to get prepared with this skill too.
Here’s my affiliate link to check out:
[https://milham.me/awaimethod]
Broken pencils are pointless,
Chris “possum hunter” Milham
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Chris Milham