Yesterday I had an amazing experience- I taught my fiancée, Mimi, how to ride a bike. At first I thought it would be a challenge. After all, teaching a grown up how to balance on two wheels isn’t a walk in the park.

It is much easier teaching children, as they are not afraid to fail. They try and fall and try again until they are able to ride flawlessly. As we grow older, our parents, schools, and society teach us to be careful, not to hurt ourselves, and to always watch out for something bad that can happen. Don’t get me wrong, these are excellent lessons, but this also leads to being afraid of taking risks and doing something that will bring lots of joy to their lives – like riding a bike.

When teaching Mimi how to ride a bike it really got me thinking of putting this blog in motion. I have known for a while that I have to start this blog to share my thoughts and knowledge on certain interesting topics (e.g. Biking, New Media, Advertising). However, I kept procrastinating as well as being afraid of the risks and the work that entails to actually produce a great blog.  And how does learning to ride a bike relate to all this?

Well here are the key takeaways from yesterday’s lesson. First, I got Mimi acquainted with the bike and how it works- the steering wheel, pedals, seat, gears and etc. I then demonstrated how to ride a bike by doing it myself to help her visualize how getting a bike in motion really works. We always see people riding bikes but do we truly observe how the person is riding a bike? Not really.

This relates to how this blog will benefit you in the future.

One of my goals is to help you by sharing my knowledge and thoughts on how you can market yourself online through various tools such as social media and blogs. I will explain how to use the different parts of the online realm (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, etc.) similarly to how I showed Mimi the parts of a bike and got her acquainted with them.

Getting back to the bike story, after I demonstrated to Mimi how the various parts of the bike work, she actually got on the bike and put the pedals in motion with my support of helping her balance on two wheels. Within the first hour, she was able to get comfortable in the driver’s seat pedaling away in the parking lot.

As you follow my blog, I want to be your support and I encourage you to ask me questions to make our experience together full of learning and teamwork through your ride you in the new media space. This also relates to my clients, whom I will guide and support when introducing new media tools to their marketing mix.

Of course there comes a time when you want to let go and ride by yourself.

Because after a while being supported is not as fun as letting go with the wind blowing in your hair. But riding alone is not as easy as it seems. This is why you might still need a quick refresher or update of the current social media scene once in a while by visiting this blog.

After you feel ready and comfortable, the most important lesson comes in to play- setting the wheels in motion.

Back to the bike lesson for those that just want to learn how to ride a bike. When riding a bike by yourself, your first step has to put the pedals in the proper position. Have the pedal that you use with your strong foot at the top, as this will give you greater leverage to set the bicycle in motion. When you actually put your strong foot on that pedal and want to start moving, you have to press down the strong pedal, release your left foot of the ground and follow through by pedaling with it. After that you have to keep pedaling to stay in motion.

Understanding these simple steps motivated me to start this blog. Over the past years I have been observing, learning, and practicing with some support on how to navigate the online medium. By implementing all that I have learned, it has become evident that learning how to stay in motion is the most important part, as you can’t learn how to ride a bike without doing it yourself.

Stay tuned and enjoy the ride!

Next lesson- how to break, turn and even navigate in traffic.

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Thanks for visiting and keep in touch ~ Alex.