Question: "I want to become a pro" (or some variation thereof)

In our forum we often get asked questions like this:

I want to know more about [insert topic here]. Where do I start?
I want to know more about [insert skill or profession here]. Can someone send me all the information I need?
Can someone please tell me how to become a professional [insert skill or profession here]?

There are a couple of problems with these kind of questions. For starters they are too vague and no one likes answering vague questions, so there's a good chance you won't get any replies.

Secondly, many people interpret these questions as being lazy. We're not going to pass judgment but you need to understand that there is a wealth of information available on the Internet for any profession. For example, if you just ask "I want to be an editor, what do I do?", it implies that you're made no effort to find out yourself. Instead, start by telling people what you've already done to learn about your chosen topic. This shows that you're prepared to help yourself, and it helps give people an idea of what you know and what you need to learn.

If you haven't yet done any learning, you need to do that first. Search this website and the Internet for tutorials related to your topic. If you can't find anything, you're not searching properly so you need to take a step back and learn how to use Google effectively (yes, we're serious about that).

After you've made a good effort to learn about your chosen topic, then you can come to the forum and ask for more information. Remember, you need to be very specific with your questions. For example, you can't say "I've learned some basics about photography and I'm ready to go to the next level". This is still too vague. Instead, try something like "I've mastered all the manual settings on my camera, but I don't yet understand the rules of composition."

In summary:

Use Google to find out what skills you need to learn.
Use Google to find tutorials that will teach you those skills.
Then, and only then, come to a forum and ask specific questions about specific skills you're struggling with.

And one final note.. don't ask people to contact you outside the forum (via email, phone, etc). If you do this, most people will simply ignore your message and move on to the next one.