I have been putting off my return visit to Mail Chimp.  Partly because I have no clue how I am going to change the setting that has led the Chimp (whose name I am deciding upon) to think I am Andy.  And also because I am scared that I am going to get administrationally stuck very soon - exactly at the point that it wants me to import my contacts.  For goodness sake, I don't even know who some of the contacts are in my address book.  Now, if the Chimp can sync with Google then I am sorted, at least in terms of transferring contacts.  I doubt even Google can help me discern who some of the addresses belong to.

But this is the reason I am not worried.  Because before I had to truthfully face my Admin Eejit identity I was already being introduced at events as "The most entrepreneurial person I have ever met" and this was by a woman who has been awarded a UN Woman of Peace Award for her incredible entrepreneurial investment into the world of human trafficking.  I present to you... drum roll... Miss Shannon Hopkins.  When I'm not beating myself up about my inability to perform in the admin drop-out team I'm saying "Who Cares?".  Of course, many of you do care.  But I'm leaving the joy and satisfaction of admin to you and instead I'm enjoying an ice-cold G&T, or room temperature water.

So, back to Mail Chimp.  I am now sitting in front of a screen which says:

Shit.  I have to create a list.  So far their navigation and process has been thoroughly straightforward and obvious and I doubt it's possible to create a campaign without first creating a list.  What kind of campaign am I creating anyway?  Oh yes, that's right, a campaign to go back to the days of quills, pigeons and messengers.  At least in those days you bought some extra time for yourself.  Talking of which, there was a fascinating programme on Radio 4 the other day which talked about the ways we are interacting in the current Social Media context, compared to the days when we primarily interacted through hand-written correspondence. 

Let's create a list.  At first it seemed to be going so well.  They give you clear examples of what is a good entry in a field and what isn't.  However, I am getting back a RED error message for my first entry.  The others, so far, are all fine.  That's good at least.  RED is never good - it is the colour that school teachers used to scribble their comments and criticisms across your "I tried my best" home work.  And even if I didn't try my best it was the hardest I was ever going to try for that teacher based on their ability to make their subject have any contextual meaning to my life.  I have a business associate, fast becoming a real-life friend, who replies to my emails with red type.  I have asked him not to but he ignores me - I now know some of his secrets so we are even.

I have resorted to asking Andy why the Chimp thinks I have an incorrect value.  It turns out that he had the same problem.  So I did the obvious thing and copied their suggested entry directly.  It still says the value is wrong.  I think in this case that the Chimp might have made a mistake.  But what am I to do?  For now I'll carry on with the process and try not to get too frustrated if the Chimp turns me away a bit further along.

Sorted the problem with a simple "_".  Also, the Chimp now calls me Bea.  There is magic in here somewhere - admin isn't meant to be this easy.  I shall down tools for now and do the next task another day.  Know any other Admin Eejits?  Send them a link to this blog and make them feel better about themselves.

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