Training an Assistant

Where do I start?

[afreshup]

My wife is quitting her job as an English teacher to join our business. My plan for her is for her to handle our writers, write articles and chase backlinks full time.

The problem is, she sometimes gets lost sending email's. She very smart, just not very computer savvy.

So, my question is: where do I begin training her? I am not a good teacher, so that's out. Can anyone recommend a good system, book or program that we can get her involved in?

Should I simply teach her how to chase back links and let the rest come to her?

[LifeinAsia]

She may not appreciate the title, but most of the "... for Dummies" books are good for newbies.

Is anyone else in your business good at teaching?

[brotherhood of LAN]

Some processes can be done 'by the book' where she doesn't have to be savvy, she just has to follow the instructions.

e.g. load up hotmail, enter "to" "subject" fields and then input e-mail.

Having little reminders of how to do things can help temporarily until she can use the knowledge more creatively.

Taking a short college course to grasp computer basics wouldn't be a bad idea, though if someone within your organisation has the time to commit, personal tuition would probably be better.

[lucy24]

If she is a halfway decent teacher-- let's assume for the sake of discussion that she isn't quitting because she has decided she is lousy at it-- she herself is the best judge of her own learning style. Teaching her yourself is a bad idea in any case because you will almost certainly end up not speaking to each other :)

There are lots of possibilities and they aren't mutually exclusive: one-on-one, from a book, hands-on; follow instructions, figure it out yourself et cetera. Since you know computers and she knows how she learns, your job is simply to find the materials. And keep reminding yourself that the two of you may have different learning styles, so she may be doing stuff that you would never do.

Just keep multiple backups and don't let her touch your .htaccess file ;)

[afreshup]

Thanks, guys, and girls. "let's assume for the sake of discussion that she isn't quitting because she has decided she is lousy at it"

That would be the correct assumptsion, she is a great teacher ... her problem is that she is being forced to work within the teacher's union and the politics of the job...

Another idea is, she is an art teacher by trade, English was what she was made to teach. With that being said, she is the most artsy creative person that I have ever met. She makes jewelry, stamps, cards, scrapbooks, flower arrangements and more. When we met, she was selling her jewelry at craft shows around Atlanta.

Our plan has always been to get her a site up and going. My thoughts were that she should work building links and stuff for our sites and ease into the arts and crafts niche.

Do you think we are better served simply letting her do what she is good at and letting me worry about the websites?

[LifeinAsia]

her problem is that she is being forced to work within the teacher's union and the politics of the job.

English was what she was made to teach.

we are better served simply letting her do what she is good at and letting me worry about the websites?

I think you've answered your own question. :)