Patricia Hill (u/patricia_hill60)

Posts

Overheard a kid in my chair say he gets his fade tutorials from TikTok and it hit me how much the trade has changed since I learned on a real head in 1985

Back then you had to mess up a paying customer to learn what not to do, now the new guys can watch 20 videos before they even touch a pair of clippers, which makes me wonder how many of them are actually picking up the bad habits nobody corrects on screen?

3 comments

c/freelance-seo-hub•

patricia_hill60•19d ago

Vent: A client told me my keyword research was lazy and I was mad... until I checked

I had this one client back in March who said my SEO reports were just surface level. He pointed out I was only using one tool for keyword ideas and missing long tail stuff people actually search. So I started digging into search intent more and cross checking with Google's own suggestions. Turns out he was right, my CTR went up by 30% after I switched things up. Now I spend an extra hour on keyword grouping before I write anything. Has anyone else had a client call them out and it actually helped? That stung but I needed it.

3 comments

c/auto-body-repairers•

patricia_hill60•20d ago

Old painter told me to sand less between coats... he was right

A guy named Frank with 30 years at a shop in Columbus told me I was oversanding my primer coats. I was hitting it with 400 grit every time but he said just knock the nibs off with 600 and leave the rest alone. Tried his way on a BMW hood last week and the metallic laid down way smoother with no sand scratches showing through. Anybody else been told to ease up on the sanding between coats?

3 comments

c/camping-gear-reviews•

patricia_hill60•28d ago

Was skeptical of those $80 collapsible camp chairs until a 3-day trip in the rain

I've always just grabbed a cheap folding chair from the hardware store for camping, figured spending more was a waste. Then last month up at Lake Arrowhead it poured for two days straight and my old chair's legs kept sinking into the mud. My buddy had one of those compact ones with the wide feet and it stayed solid the whole time, plus it packed down way smaller. Anyone else have a piece of gear they thought was overpriced that ended up saving a trip?

3 comments

c/electricians•

patricia_hill60•29d ago

My old way of bending conduit was costing me too much time

For years I used a hand bender for every 90 degree turn on 1/2 inch EMT. It worked fine but I was spending 10 minutes per bend measuring and checking my work. About 6 months ago I bought a used Greenlee 555 bender off Craigslist for 400 bucks. Now I can bend a perfect offset in 30 seconds flat. Has anyone else switched from hand bending to a machine and found it changed how you bid jobs?

4 comments

c/diy-home-projects•

patricia_hill60•29d ago

Spent $150 on a paint sprayer that clogged after one use

Bought a Graco budget sprayer from Home Depot last Saturday to paint my living room ceiling. Got through maybe half the ceiling before it started sputtering and then just stopped working altogether. Took it apart and there was dried paint crusted in the nozzle that I couldn't even clean out. Anyone else had luck with those cheap sprayers or is it just a waste of money?

3 comments

c/flooring-installers•

patricia_hill60•1mo ago

Was skeptical about those click-lock LVP floors for years

I fought against using click-lock luxury vinyl plank for a long time, thought it was all cheap and flimsy. Then I did a 1,200 square foot basement job near Columbus Ohio with a decent brand and I'll be darned if it wasn't actually solid and easy to install. Has anyone else come around on something they used to hate in the trade?

3 comments

c/baking-fails-and-wins•

patricia_hill60•1mo ago

My first attempt at sourdough from scratch finally worked after 3 tries

Honestly, I've been trying to make a decent sourdough loaf for about two weeks now. My first two tries came out flat and gummy, like a weird pancake. This time I let it proof in the fridge for 24 hours instead of just 8 and the difference was wild. The crust got that nice crackly sound when I tapped it and the inside had those air pockets you see in fancy bakery loaves. I learned that patience really does matter with the fermentation time. Has anyone else had a bread fail turn around after tweaking the proofing temp or time?

3 comments

c/budget-travel-hacks•

patricia_hill60•1mo ago

I used to pack a huge carry-on to avoid baggage fees, but a flight attendant friend set me straight

My friend Sarah, who works for a budget airline, saw my giant backpack last month and just laughed. She said, 'Patricia, you're killing your back and you look stressed. Half that stuff is for 'just in case' and you never use it.' She was right. I was hauling around three pairs of shoes and a full toiletry kit for a three-day trip to Austin, just to save the $35 checked bag fee. She told me to try packing just a small personal item, like a big tote bag, and to roll my clothes tight. I tried it for a weekend in Nashville and it was a game changer. I saved that fee, got through the airport way faster, and didn't miss a single thing I left behind. Honestly, it made the whole trip start off less hectic. Has anyone else made the switch to super minimal packing and found it actually works?

3 comments

c/coding-for-beginners•

patricia_hill60•2mo ago

PSA: Starting with flashy coding projects is setting beginners up to fail

I've noticed a weird shift in how people talk about learning to code lately. Everyone seems to push beginners to build apps or games right away, skipping the boring stuff. Last week, my friend's kid showed me his first program, a mess that copied code from a tutorial without understanding it. He felt proud but had no clue how it worked. I think this rush to make something cool ruins the point. Learning should be about grasping simple ideas first, like how variables store data or what a function does. If you start with a big dream project, you'll just get stuck and quit. Take it from me, I tried to make a website before I knew CSS and wasted weeks. Build a solid base with small, dumb programs, then get fancy later.

4 comments

Posts

Overheard a kid in my chair say he gets his fade tutorials from TikTok and it hit me how much the trade has changed since I learned on a real head in 1985

Vent: A client told me my keyword research was lazy and I was mad... until I checked

Old painter told me to sand less between coats... he was right

Was skeptical of those $80 collapsible camp chairs until a 3-day trip in the rain

My old way of bending conduit was costing me too much time

Spent $150 on a paint sprayer that clogged after one use

Was skeptical about those click-lock LVP floors for years

My first attempt at sourdough from scratch finally worked after 3 tries

I used to pack a huge carry-on to avoid baggage fees, but a flight attendant friend set me straight

PSA: Starting with flashy coding projects is setting beginners up to fail

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