#lead generation for beginners

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One Simple Shift Built a Real Estate Wholesaling Empire and a Dream Life with Chris Logan

Key Takeaways Wholesaling is more about marketing and solving problems than about traditional real estate. Consistent focus on one strategy leads to faster, sustainable results in business. Virtual wholesaling can outperform local deals when systems and markets are chosen wisely. United States Real Estate Investor The REI Agent with Chris Logan https://youtu.be/3ny8hgMTAQY Follow and subscribe to The REI Agent on social Facebook Instagram Youtube .cls-1fill:#fff; Linkedin X-twitter United States Real Estate Investor It's time to have an investor-friendly agent on your team! It's time to have an investor-friendly agent on your team! United States Real Estate Investor The Grind is the Gateway From the very beginning of this episode of The REI Agent Podcast, host Mattias Clymer reminds listeners of a fundamental truth: the early grind phase of any journey can feel long, discouraging, and even fruitless. But this episode proves what happens when you refuse to quit. He shares how it took him three years of consistent effort in real estate before things truly began to move, and that’s exactly why guest Chris Logan’s story hits home. Chris, a powerhouse in the world of virtual wholesaling, didn’t just stumble into success. He carved his way forward, starting with a book recommendation that changed his life: Rich Dad, Poor Dad. From that single spark, Chris immersed himself in the world of wholesaling and never looked back. “Most people are not investing in real estate… they’re just buying liabilities. And that keeps them stuck.” How One Book Ignited a Wholesale Revolution Chris’s story starts the way many dreamers do, with a burning desire to change his life. A casual chat at church led to the book that cracked open his mindset. One late night, he read Robert Kiyosaki’s now-iconic words and realized something vital: he didn’t need a mountain of money to start building wealth. “I finished the entire book in the same night because it was blowing my mind.” That initial fire led to action. Chris found himself at real estate events, enrolled in bootcamps, hired a mentor, and began learning the art of connecting motivated sellers with eager buyers. He explains how wholesaling isn’t about real estate as much as it is about solving problems, marketing, and communication. The Stigma, The Strategy, and the Surge It wasn’t long before Mattias and Chris dove into the elephant in the room: Why does wholesaling get such a bad rap among real estate agents? Chris laid it out boldly and honestly: “There’s bad agents and there’s bad wholesalers. But just because some play dirty doesn’t mean the whole game is broken.” The discussion breaks down why wholesalers are often misunderstood, especially when they earn five-figure profits on a single deal. But Chris flips the script. He reveals the grueling, high-empathy, problem-solving nature of his business. Whether it’s a bullet hole in the wall or a seller in jail, these aren’t MLS-ready listings. They’re headaches few agents would touch, but opportunities wholesalers specialize in. “You make an amount that is in proportion to the size of the problems you solve.” Systems, Niches, and the Power of Focus Chris opens the curtain on how he’s scaled to over 600 virtual deals. Cold calling, tired landlord lists, and a laser-focused marketing strategy are the heartbeat of his operation. But the true secret? Simplicity and focus. “If you focus on everything, you achieve nothing.” His team doesn’t dabble; they dominate. Chris warns against spreading yourself thin by trying to be both an agent and a wholesaler. He encourages listeners to choose their dominant business model and master it before branching out. In a world full of shiny object syndrome, this advice is gold. Virtual Freedom and the Art of Choosing Better Markets Chris also shares why being “virtual” has transformed his life. Tired of massive ad spend and tiny results in his home market, he started targeting better states using a two-step method based on population and price points.

The results? Massive. Now his team closes deals in multiple states without ever stepping foot on a property. “Sometimes the best deals aren’t found in your backyard.” He even breaks down the difference between title states and attorney states, emphasizing how crucial it is to choose the right battlefield. Pick Up the Phone, Get Paid If you’re just starting out, Chris says, forget all the tech and tools. Your best ROI is in conversations. Cold calling isn't glamorous, but it's where the money—and transformation—live. “Do the uncomfortable. Pick up the phone. That’s where your future begins.” And yes, he uses AI, but only as a support tool, not a replacement for human interaction. Because in today’s noisy world, the real differentiator is being a real person. The Golden Rule of Revenue Mattias wraps up the conversation by asking for golden nuggets, and Chris delivers. His best advice? Focus only on what creates revenue first. Don't get distracted by busywork. Start every day with a task that leads to income, even if it’s uncomfortable. “Big results come from small activities done consistently.” And when it comes to books, Chris leaves us with two more powerhouses: The One Thing by Gary Keller and The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Together, these three books helped shape the relentless entrepreneur he is today. The Path is Clear. The Work is Worth It. This episode wasn’t just about wholesaling. It was about commitment, courage, and clarity. It’s a reminder that anyone, from churchgoers to full-time agents, can reinvent their life if they choose a path and stick with it. “We become who we’re meant to be by hearing the no’s and overcoming the rejection.” Whether you’re thinking about wholesaling, selling, investing, or just starting, this episode is your proof: it’s not where you are now, it’s where you’re willing to go. Are you ready to get uncomfortable? That’s where everything changes. Stay tuned for more inspiring stories on The REI Agent podcast, your go-to source for insights, inspiration, and strategies from top agents and investors who are living their best lives through real estate. For more content and episodes, visit reiagent.com. Related Articles Therapy You Didn’t Know You Needed (Holistic Wisdom for Real Estate Professionals) From For Sale Signs to Life Design (How The REI Agent Transforms Real Estate Into Holistic Wealth) Achieving Holistic Wealth and Success Through Real Estate (Insights from The REI Agent) Partnering with Investors (How Real Estate Agents Can Exponentially Maximize Profits) United States Real Estate Investor Create healing and connection within yourself, your family, and your community. Create healing and connection within yourself, your family, and your community. United States Real Estate Investor Contact Chris Logan Virtual Wholesaling Made Simple Facebook Facebook Group Instagram United States Real Estate Investor Mentioned References Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki The One Thing by Gary Keller The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy Batch Leads Reonomy United States Real Estate Investor Transcript Welcome to the REI Agent, a holistic approach to life through real estate. I'm Mattias, an agent and investor. And I'm Erica, a licensed therapist. Join us as we interview guests that also strive to live bold and fulfilled lives through business and real estate investing. Tune in every week for interviews with real estate agents and investors. Ready to level up? Let's do it. Welcome back to the REI Agent, it's Mattias here. I was reminded, I just interviewed Chris Logan and I was just reminded about being relentless, kind of when you're getting started, especially kind of keeping the end in mind and not getting bogged down by the in-between or the getting started. That's such a hard thing to probably to understand and to realize. So I am one of my maybe gifts or Erica might think is a weakness, is a very future-minded. I kind of have

my head in the clouds and I'm thinking about like, you know, down the line, like what can be all that kind of stuff. So I sometimes, you know, that part of the journey, like the grind phase where we're like, I'm trying to get something started. You know, I'm working in real estate sales. When I first started in 2014, you know, it took me like three years to really get rolling. But it didn't ever discourage me that I wasn't there yet, if that makes sense. I didn't expect to like pick up my business just to just take off immediately. And I was also working at a job. So I wasn't like completely, I mean, I was in it. I was working and doing everything I could also working at the job because we're also paying off debt at the time. And that was also kind of the top goal was to pay off the debt. So quitting the job didn't make sense at that time. But anyway, so really just focus on what could be, like in the future, like where I was going to be, I was going to be a real estate agent. I was going to be, I was going to be successful at it. And I was going to do all the things that I needed to do to be able to become successful. So I was, you know, trying to help top agents as much as I could, so that I could be benefits to them, that I could then get some good business, but then also trying to mimic what they did to be successful and just kept going. It's that grind phase that really probably can halt some people. We probably had the opposite of that happen through the pandemic, where people getting in kind of saw success really quickly. It was a lot easier to get business. And then once things slowed down a little bit, that they might have, you know, it might be a bit jarring to like have such easy success and then to have to kind of learn how to be mining your database to reach out to past sales, et cetera, if you weren't practicing that during the pandemic. So, yeah, I think regardless of if you have that very beginning, or if you're maybe kind of going through the grind phase now, it's just important to kind of see where you're going to be and to kind of not get bogged down in that, like, you know, you're not there yet. And to focus on what will be and to understand the steps that are needed to get there and just kind of fall in love with the grind, keep showing up. Yeah, it's true in the gym too. Like, you know, if you have a goal of lifting a certain amount or whatever, or running a certain speed, you can lay out the steps to getting there. And if you just fall in love with the grind, you'll get there before you know it. And if you're not disappointed, not sure at this point that you're not there yet every day, and you're just kind of enjoying the process, this is the best mindset to be in. But yeah, so Chris Logan is on the show. He is a wholesaler. I think it's one of those maybe taboo topics with real estate agents or misunderstood. And we kind of got into it a little bit. I think I realized that, you know, the model of, you know, percentage versus two different contracts like the wholesalers do, it's probably one of the fundamental reasons that it's a bit of a disconnect. But he talks about how there can be really good synergy between agents and wholesalers. We also talk about how it's important to be focused kind of on one rather than the other. I think there's multiple reasons for it, but also, but probably one of the biggest ones is to kind of, you know, niche down and be focused on one area. And those are kind of two different areas of real estate. So just as you wouldn't necessarily be, you know, a condo specialist and a luxury mansion specialist. If you're really trying to niche down in an area, it probably doesn't make sense to be a wholesaler and a real estate agent if you're really trying to focus on one or trying to focus on building a successful business. It's better to kind of get more narrowed down focus. But anyway, so this was a really good conversation. If you don't understand wholesaling as well,

or maybe you have a bad tasting mouth about it, I think listening to Chris will help with that. So without further ado, here's Chris Logan. Welcome back to the REI Agent. We are here with Chris Logan. Chris, welcome to the show. Mattias, thanks for having me here today, man. I'm super pumped to be, you know, with you here on the show and just provide value to your audience here today. Yeah, super exciting. It's a good topic. If you're hearing this and not seeing this, he's got virtual wholesaling made simple as a tagline here. I think that in the real estate sales world, we often, there's a stigma that comes with investors in general, and I think wholesalers in particular. So I think it's good that we just take that head on and we just dive right in. But before we, I guess maybe before we do that, let's just hear about how you got into real estate to begin with. Yeah, yeah, great question. So I got started like most people do in real estate with just a desire to want to get into real estate to change my life because a lot of us when we're first getting started, I think that's a big thing that we gravitate towards, right? We look at real estate and we translate that into freedom because we see what it's done for other people. And then you see books out there, people on TV, the HGTV shows and all that stuff. And you're just like, man, like that could provide an amazing future. So it all started for me when I was at my church and I was telling one of my friends that I was looking to get into real estate. He was super successful. I didn't know that he was in real estate, but he's like, the first book that you want to read is Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, right? So I got that book and I started reading it at night before I was about to go to bed. Needless to say, like it took a long time to go to bed because I finished the entire book in the same night that I got it because it was just like, it was blowing my mind. You know, there was concepts in there that I was not taught growing up and it flipped the whole model of go get a job, you know, to nine to five, you know, save up money to 401k and retire at 65 years old. Like, you know, it just, it flipped that whole model on its head and talked about how like that's backwards and that's what keeps most people broke, right? And so most people are not investing in real estate or they're just making money and they're buying doodads or liabilities, right? And it keeps them stuck where they are. And that, I really resonated with that message. So one day I was at my girlfriend's house and I was checking my email and I saw a banner ad back when those were a thing back in the day that Robert Kiyosaki was coming to Tampa. And I was like, man, I just read this guy's book. I have got to meet him, shake his hand, tell him how much he's changed my life just from my mindset growth that I've gotten from this book. So I asked her to come with me because I didn't want to go by myself. And I get there and he's nowhere to be seen, right? Obviously he wasn't there. But what I did take away from the event was something even more valuable. So it was like a three-day event. And at the last day, we learned all this stuff about real estate. And they threw all these different strategies up on the board, this whiteboard, right? The speaker at the front of this huge whiteboard and this hotel ballroom. And he's like, here, you can make money in development real estate, right? You can make money by creative real estate by doing like sandwich lease options and all these creative ways, right? To buy real estate with no money down. But then they got down to this one strategy that I just really identified with. And that was wholesaling. What he said, basically, you could take a piece of paper and flip that piece of paper for tens of thousands of dollars. You could do it multiple times a month and you need good credit to do it. You didn't need to have large stacks of cash in the bank to be able to get involved in these deals because you're not physically buying the house.

I was like, man, that makes sense. So I looked at my girlfriend, who's now my wife. And I was like, we got to do this. So we went to the back of the room. We signed up for another two or three day boot camp they had in Miami. And we went there and we learned the ins and outs of wholesaling. So fast forward from that, we eventually decided to hire a mentor on that journey because learning this stuff just from a boot camp was kind of a lot to put in place. And then two years, we were wholesaling locally. So we were like driving to sellers' houses, meeting sellers and all that. And then two years before COVID, we decided to go virtual, which is a huge blessing, right? So now we were doing all these transactions over the phone, not meeting these sellers or anything. So when COVID happened, like everybody else was scrambling and we had one of our best years ever. Fast forward from there, we run a fully virtual wholesale business. We do deals in multiple states across the country. We've done over 600 deals, scaled our business to over seven figures. And now we find a lot of passion in showing others how to do what we did and live the lifestyle that we have. Awesome. Yeah, thanks for that intro. Robert Fiyosaki has changed many people's lives. And I was actually just recording a podcast earlier today. And I find it funny. I heard once, I don't know if it's true, but I heard once that this story is complete BS. It's not true. He created it to sell board games as like the get out of rat race board game. But I mean, the power of a story, I think that's the beauty of the book is it's relatable. It's not just like this abstract concept. So it's like, yeah, it's a storyline that you can digest more easily. Well, the big thing I think I got from it, right? So whether his story is legit or not, the thing that I think I got from it and what I love most about it is how simple like you kept everything, right? So that's something like I'm really big on, right? Because like a lot of people overcomplicate stuff and it puts a big barrier in front of them from being able to learn and to actually be able to use what they paid money for or to use what they're trying to get started with, right? And so that holds so many people back. But when you can make things simple like Robert Fiyosaki did for me in that book, right? And gave me a pathway forward. I mean, that can change people's lives. And so that was like the biggest thing because before that book, I tried to ask people for like investing advice. They're like, yes, you can do the S&P 500 and you can do this, that and the other and invest in these things. It was so complicated. I was like, man, I don't get it. And then when he kind of broke it down in that book, I was like, I understand it. And then I felt empowered that I could actually make this happen. I can make real change in my life. Totally true. Yeah, I love that. Okay, well, let's get into a little bit more in case somebody's listening that doesn't know what a wholesale is. Can you explain what that is? Sure, yeah. So wholesaling real estate, okay, is like, first of all, let's talk about wholesaling is not. So a lot of people think that wholesaling is a real estate business and it couldn't be further from the truth. Wholesaling real estate is a sales and marketing business. Almost has nothing to do with real estate outside of the fact it's like the widget that's involved in the process, okay? So here's how it works. Basically, what you do is you do marketing, okay? So whether that's making phone calls, sending pieces of mail, knocking on doors for some people who are local, we do it virtual, so we don't do that. We prefer picking up the phone. But anyway, you're calling sellers who are in motivated distress situations, right? Maybe they're behind on their payments. So they're facing pre-foreclosure. Maybe they're behind on their taxes for two years or more. Maybe they're going through a divorce. They're going through a bankruptcy.

Maybe they have a lot of violations on their property from the county because they haven't been keeping up the property and it's like an eyesore. So we wanna find these properties, these worst houses in the best neighborhoods, right? And get in touch with the owners of those properties. And we wanna make an offer on those properties, okay? So I'll give you an example. Let's say we make an offer to a seller for $150,000 for a property we found. Now, we made that offer for $150,000 because we know through our other types of marketing we've done, we've come across a buyer who's willing to buy properties in that same area for $170,000. So we put a contract in place for that seller for $150,000. And we fill out another piece of paper called an assignment of contract, which allows us to sell that contract. We have the seller to that buyer for $170,000. And then we walk away with the money in the middle. The difference between the price of the seller and buyer, that $20,000. Now, it doesn't always end up being that amount every single time. There's a range that you can make, but that's just an example of how it goes together. So you wanna think about it more like a glorified matchmaker. You're matching a motivated seller with a buyer who wants to buy. And you're just collecting the money in the middle. That's it. Didn't invest any of your own money into the deal. You didn't involve any loans. There's no risk to you at all. It's just like an amazing thing because you can be paid very well for putting those two types of people together. Yeah, yeah. And so it's obviously different than what an agent does. Yeah, totally. In terms of finding a buyer or whatever, or connecting the two parties together. I guess let's talk a little bit about why or what perceptions people might have and why you feel like that's not valid. If you're a licensed agent and you're talking to a wholesaler or you hear about it, there's some stigma there. So what have you heard? Are you familiar with those unimagined? Sure. Yeah, no, absolutely. For sure. So I'm sure we both can agree that when you're talking about realtors in general, there's a percentage of those who are probably not very good at what they do and they give being a realtor a bad name, right? Maybe what they'll do is they'll tell someone they're gonna crawl over a broken glass to get their property sold, right? But at the end of the day, all they're doing is throwing the property up on the MLS and just waiting passively for phone calls, not doing anything, right? So it exists in both sides. And then on wholesalers, right? A lot of agents are like, oh, a lot of wholesalers are bad. They take advantage of people, blah, blah, blah. Here's the thing, just like anything, you have a certain percentage of people who are not committed to doing business the right way. And you're gonna have that percentage that can ruin it for all, right? And so the biggest thing that I feel like wholesalers have to keep in mind when networking with agents and agents have to keep in mind when networking with wholesalers is how one person acts does not mean everybody else is like that, right? So having an abundance mindset, an abundance mindset, like how can we work together, right? Like how can we create synergy? Like how can I help you, you help me type of thing. And when you do that, it can be amazing. I have a lot of agents that I work with that brings us a ton of great buyers for our deals, buyers that are outside the country that I'd never be able to get on my own. But agents can help us get more eyeballs on our properties. And in wholesaling, that's the name of the game. Sometimes other wholesalers say, you don't wanna work with other wholesalers, and you can't. No, like other wholesalers could have buyers for your properties that you don't, right? So it really comes to like how you approach business. But one of the biggest things that I find that gives wholesalers a bad name is some of them are just in it for the money.

That's all they care about. They could care less about the seller situation helping them solve their problem. It's just, it's dollar signs for them, and that's all that matters. So for me and our team, what sets us apart, just like agents can be set apart, how they do business is that we actually care about solving the seller's problem and making sure that we are the best fit. I mean, we've told sellers sometimes, hey, based on what you're asking for this property, we're not gonna be the best fit for you. But we do have some realtor partners that we work with that can get you top dollar for your house since it seems like that's what you're looking for. You got a house that's in great condition, right? Yeah, because if a person, yeah, the house didn't need work or they had money to do the work, they had time, they had a lot of time, et cetera, putting it on the market would make sense. Who you're typically working with is likely people that don't have all those items usually they need to sell really, really fast. Yeah, exactly. We're the first people to tell sellers, if we feel like that's the best move for them, hey, that's the best move for you. Happy to refer you to a great realtor that can help you make that happen, right? But the majority of the sellers that we work with, probably 75% of the sellers that we work with are people who are not in that type of situation and don't have that luxury, right? They're a situation where they want two things. A lot of realtors feel like, why do people work with wholesalers, right? Why wouldn't they just work with a realtor? Why don't they just list their property? They'll get more, right? So when it comes to working with a wholesaler, sellers care about two things, right? And what I typically find is those two things are speed and convenience, right? So they want someone that can move forward right now, right? The typical wholesale deal takes anywhere from two to four weeks to wrap it up, right? In a market like we're in today, where properties are sitting on the market for a long time, you have 60, 90, 180 days sometimes the property's sitting on the market. Closing in two to four weeks, if there's a significantly motivating circumstance, can be really attractive to those sellers. Also with a wholesaler, they can sell as is, where is. They don't have to clean the house. They don't have to make it show ready because some of these sellers are kind of like embarrassed about the condition of their property and having people over, right? So some of them also are not really even considered safe enough to put up on the MLS, right? And so there's a huge opportunity for wholesalers to work with agents because sometimes agents have investor buyers they could bring for their deals. And there's a huge opportunity for agents to work with wholesalers because sometimes in agents marketing, they're gonna come across these opportunities or they're gonna come across somebody who really needs help, right? And they have two options. They can either say, nah, that's just not for me. That's not the type of properties I work with or they can be a resource. Totally, totally, right? And so then like, you know, or they could be like, you know what? I actually have someone that I can connect you with. I feel like he'd probably be a better fit to work with you, right? So cool if I pass your phone number along, right? That's a total win because if the wholesaler's licensed, right? A lot of them aren't but some states it's now required, right? So if the wholesaler's licensed, they can work out some split on the commission or the assignment fee, right? But if the wholesaler is not, then again, he refers people to the agents that have goodwill. Maybe they can hook them up with MLS access or something like that or they can find some other type of win-win but there's always synergy if you're willing to look for it. Yeah, I work with a wholesaler that will give me, he's given me a couple of referrals over the years.

Nothing like formal, nothing, you know, there's just been like, but you know, he also knows whenever there's a property in my buy box, like I act, I move fast. Yeah, and that's what wholesalers love, man. Wholesalers love that. If you're a buyer that can move quick and you have the resources to be able to do that, you don't play games, you're easy to work with, wholesalers love easy. Because these properties are often like, I mean, they can often be pretty nasty and they could often scare a lot of people away. And to have somebody that comes in, you know, able, willing to buy cash, no inspections, that kind of stuff and not renege closing a couple of weeks. It's good to have those buyers and so that's a valuable thing to him as well. Totally, yeah, for sure. I guess one of the things that I have heard that has left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, even though I understand wholesaling, is when I hear a wholesaler, and this could be, again, one of those not best actors, making an exorbitant amount of profit on a property where it's like almost, I don't know, like it would almost be, let's just say that it's like a piece of land that they got in contract for very little and maybe almost doubled what the profit or what was being sold for, almost doubled it in their wholesale fee, which I mean, you're talking $5,000, that's one thing, but if you're talking like, you know, 75 or whatever, that's a very different kind of situation. So there's been times where I've heard of an exorbitant fee that I felt like that's just, you know, that feels a little bit not great to me. Yeah. Just because I don't think that the seller in that circumstance has any idea what they're selling it for and sometimes the seller doesn't have any idea that the contract's gonna be sold. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a great thing. You know, so there's a lot of ways that you can view this, right? So there's the story of the plumber where, that was the plumber's FedEx, I think. Anyway, I'm gonna butcher this, but there's a story of FedEx where like they had their shipping facility and everything came to a grinding halt. Like their, you know, supervisor, their floor supervisor comes down and he's like, oh my gosh, this is crazy. We're gonna lose so much money because we can't get these packages out to people and everything like that. They're like, call the guy. So they call the guy who's like the electrician who's specialized in fixing these things, right? And he says, he's like, I need you to fix this because we're losing all this money. We gotta get this fixed. And the guy goes, okay, no problem. So he takes a minute, looks around. He sees like this one pole hanging. He goes over to it, tweaks it, fixes it. It's back up in like five minutes, right? The guy goes, oh, thank you so much. This is amazing. You know, how much do I owe you? Right, and he said $10,000 or he said something like that, right? The guy's like $10,000. He's like, he was $100 screw, right? But not, yeah, the 9900 was like knowing where to like fix it, right? So there's a couple of different ways you can look at it like that, right? So that's one way that you can look at it. The other way to look at it, and I think this is a perspective that a lot of agents don't have because they just don't understand because they're not wholesalers, right? Sellers will come to them and they will say, hey, I'm willing to sell my property to you for 150,000, right? Now, the wholesaler looking at that deal, right? You know, I don't think anybody would do this. Nobody would come to like, the wholesaler is gonna look at that and say, yes, I can do it or no, I can't, right? And the seller is gonna be like, okay, either way, right? Now, let's say the property value of that was like double what the wholesaler got under contract with them, right? The wholesaler is not gonna be like, hey, man, you know, your property is worth a lot more. I'm gonna give you more, right? Like nobody does that. Like if you go to buy a car and you say, hey, you know, I like this car.

They're not gonna tell you like, hey, well, you know, that's a bad example. But my point is, like no one's gonna come back and say, hey, like, you know, I could give you like $150,000 more for this property or $100,000 or whatever the case is. Just because this, we're not like, wholesalers are not like an appraisal service, right? They're coming to us because they need to sell their property and quick. They have an asking price. It either works for us or it doesn't. And then we move on. The primary goal though is getting the sellers like what they need for the property. Because I think that something that people have in the back of their mind too is like, oh, well, you know, the property's worth so much more. But it's like, if they wanted to go the route of an agent to where they could maximize that value and that was their goal, they would do that. But in a lot of cases, these people have to move very, very fast. And they just need the money in their pocket. And so that's why they approach a wholesaler who can help them do that. Yeah. And I think at the end of the day, that's another we're talking about it. Probably one of the fundamental differences is the percentage versus just like, the way that the two different contracts work on a wholesale deal. But yeah, so tell me a little bit about, yeah, your marketing that you're doing. So I would imagine like buying lists and sending mailers and calling. And this is, and how do you pick your markets? Yeah, great question. So the primary way that we reach out to sellers and like the best way by far is picking up the phone and cold calling. It is like amazing because you could be talking to a motivated seller this afternoon and someone that needs to sell their property fast, right? And so that's the way that we really prefer to do it. I started doing it myself. And then what we ended up doing is hiring other people eventually that could make calls for me. This is like an overseas VA that's making the calls. We grew that to like 10 people and we have a call center and all that stuff. But it's a really easy way to scale because you get your deal yourself, then you hire someone else to make the calls for you. And then as you get leads and deals, you can gradually start adding more people on and just like growing that. And that's kind of like our model where we've had the most success with. So when it comes to lists, a lot of people really overthink the lists. It's any type of list that has motivation, right? So if it's a seller that is facing foreclosure, if it could be also one of my favorite lists is the tired landlord list. So this list is a list of landlords. They've owned their properties for like 10, 15 years. They're tired of tenants and toilets. They tried to time the market. It didn't play out, right? And now they're just like, I got to sell this stuff so I can retire and just enjoy the rest of my life, right? And so a lot of times what I like about these sellers is they'll not only have one property, but they'll have two, three, four, five properties. And that can be a very attractive thing. So we can help them by getting them what they need for the properties. And then from there at the same time, they create money in the process. Well, the headaches you often with those is and the thing that they want to offload is getting rid of a bad tenant, right? Like having that eviction process. They know the house is destroyed. It's a tenant's bad. They're not paying rent. And they want to get rid of this and they don't want to deal with it. Yeah, totally, man. And that segues perfectly from the last point we made as far as wholesalers and fees. I truly believe that you make an amount that is in proportion to the size of the problems you solve. A lot of the problems that wholesalers go through and solve, realtors wouldn't want anything to do with it, right? We're talking like $150,000 in code violations on a property, right? We're talking like seven family members where the owner passed away, the beneficiaries are like seven different family members.

They hate each other and you almost have to be like a mediator to calm everybody down and like a counselor almost type of thing, right? So there's things like that. There's crazy situations where the owner of the property is in jail and there's just so many. There's a property I went into, my wife and I went into one time and there was a hole in the wall and I said, hey, just curious, what's this hole in the wall? I kind of had an idea what it was. He's like, oh, that's a bullet hole. I'm like, oh, okay. It kind of looked like that to me and he said, and I said, what's going on with the bullet hole? He's like, yeah, he's like, I tried to shoot my roommate. He's no longer here anymore, but that's what that was. And I'm like, I'm just curious. So when you say he's no longer here anymore, like what are we talking about? He's going, no, no, he's alive. He just got out of jail and he's fine. He lives somewhere else now. And I'm like, probably a good idea. Agents would be out of their fat. We got the deal on their contract, man. We got that thing sold. We made some great money on it. Chris, as you've gone through these properties and been wholesaling for a while, have you been tempted? Have you kept any for yourself? Have you done any murders or flips yourself? Man, you know, what's funny is we, yeah, we've bought a good amount of properties. The one thing that I wish we would have done is bought properties a lot sooner. And the reason for that is because I go back and look at properties that we wholesaled like 12 years ago and maybe at the time, like we sold it for 105,000. That thing's worth like 350,000 now. So there's one thing I could go back and do. I definitely would change that and I would buy properties a lot sooner. We've flipped properties. We've done a lot of flips, but then we realized that that track for our business, it wasn't what we wanted to do because we can make as much wholesaling or more wholesaling properties and flipping. And we don't have to manage contractors and yeah, just headaches and still get a great deal to our end buyers. So, yeah. Yeah, I think that would be true. I've known of, I mean, yeah, people will buy things off auction or also maybe even buy it from a wholesaler and then just turn around and sell it again. Yeah, yeah. I've heard of things like that in the past, but yeah, I mean, I think like if you're, depending on your end game and you're coming across all those properties, coming across those tired landlords who potentially own things out, right? There's a lot of opportunity for building up your own portfolio. Totally. And trying to build up a rental portfolio so that you can, yeah, have more passive income, get back to that Robert Kiyosaki drink. Yeah, yeah, totally. Like that's something that I'm really passionate about sharing with other people now, right? Is that you start out wholesaling, right? Because wholesaling, it gives you a foundation of sales and marketing. It helps you like get a good feel of the business, right? And on your journey of wholesaling, you're gonna come across a lot of different types of properties. And we recommend wholesaling for a minimum of 12 to 18 months, not doing any other strategies, not buying properties for yourself or anything like that. And at the end of 12 to 18 months, you're gonna have a great understanding of what a good deal looks like, what a bad deal looks like, so you can make more confident buying decisions. And that way you don't have to risk like hard earned dollars on a flip that went sideways because you underestimated the repairs, overestimated the repairs, underestimated value, overestimated value. And you'll just have a better grasp on the business. And so wholesaling can provide that phenomenal foundation to kick off that and really prepare you. Because one of the biggest mistakes that I see people doing, they get into real estate, they watch HGTV, right? And they will buy a property and renovate it, no mentor, like no guidance.

They're taking their retirement funds, borrowing from their 401k, putting into it. And I know people that have lost money on three to five flips in a row. And they're like, man, maybe I gotta slow this down. And that can totally take them out of the game, right? And so why risk that? Why not wholesale and get that down, understand what good deals look like, what bad deals look like, and then from there, stack some cash. And then by the end, you can make more confident buying decisions so those situations don't happen and you can just really set yourself up right. Yeah. And I think that brings me to another point. You talked about it like a good starting point. I think that usually, and if you're looking, if you're primarily motivated to get into real estate in the investing space, usually wholesaling is where people start. But if you're just kind of interested in real estate in general, maybe selling real estate as an agent is where people start. And it's kind of like either way you can do it. And I think I would also say that, especially if you are looking to work in your own market, I think there is a bit of, I think you'd be very careful. I think it's better, like you said, partner with the wholesaler as opposed to do both. I think it's a little bit tricky. You can kind of look at it like it's like, I mean, it's this wholesale versus retail, right? I mean, that's how you really can boil it down. I mean, we are the Kroger, the Costco, whereas a wholesaler would be providing food for the Kroger and the Costco. And I think that you can work with investors that will flip the product from the wholesaler and then sell that on the market. But it can be a little bit tricky to, I think, let me describe this the best way possible. I think it's like more, you want to make sure that what your reputation, what you're putting out into the community, if you're working in your own local community, is consistent and it's not confusing to people. And I think that's maybe one of the ways that it could get a little blurred if you're trying to do both. Yeah, so I feel like, piggybacking on what you said there, I feel like you have to have a dominant business model, a model that always takes the lead, right? So I'm licensed, but I also wholesale, but my retail side does not take the lead, right? My wholesale side takes 100% lead. So if you're an agent, you just have to decide which side of the business do I want to take the lead? Because you could take down listings that don't work out for wholesale deals because you're doing a lot of marketing, you're going to come across a lot of that opportunity. But one of the smarter ways that I like to look at it is doing what you just said, where it's like, if you are an agent and you want to take advantage of some deals that are not like listing material, like you can't list them because they're in too rough a condition, build a great relationship with a wholesaler and hand that off to them, let them do it. And then if you're a wholesaler, you don't have to become an agent, like you could basically build a great relationship with an agent, have wholesaling be your main thing and just pass off listings. So I feel like you do have to pick your main path that you're on, right? Because we only have 100% of focus and being a great agent and being a great wholesaler, both require 100% of focus individually to be successful. Because when you start doing 50 here, 50 here, it's like you're diluting your focus. So I really feel like, and it's hard to get the traction that you need to succeed the success in the timeframe that most people want to expect it. So having that primary way to lead is huge. I think that's even like maybe the better point overall is that like people say the riches is in the niches. And if you're trying to be everything, if you're trying to be a luxury listing agent and you're trying to be a wholesaler, it's just like different worlds typically. So yeah, that's a very good point as well.

Another question I have is I know that in Virginia, law has changed here recently where wholesalers are supposed to only be able to do, or somehow only allows for like one deal or something to happen without having a license. Have you come across that in any of the markets you work in? Yeah, so Illinois is also one like that where you can only do one wholesale deal a year without having a license, right? So there's a few different ways that you can look at this, right? So number one, if you want to, first of all, I think these regulations are great. Like I love them because it really gets rid of the people who shouldn't be doing this in the first place, right? So number one, in a territory like that, if you're committed to your market and you really want to work in your market, then get your real estate license, right? But if you're like, I don't want my real estate license because wholesaling is my main thing, right? You can just pick another territory. It doesn't matter like in another state. And I actually have a two-step process for identifying the top areas to wholesale. Cool, if I share that? Yeah, absolutely, please. Awesome. So there's two things that we look at in a territory to see if it's going to be a great place to do deals, right? And so the first thing that we look at, and by the way, the great thing is you can actually find this information for free using a tool called Google that most people know about, right? So the first step is you go to Google and you're going to type in the county that you're looking to start. See, I find most people, when they're looking to get started in a territory or thinking about starting somewhere, they usually have an area in the back of their mind, like, oh, I had family that lived there or I used to live there or I had a friend that lives there. So they have these types of ideas in their mind. So here's how you test that territory to see if it's going to be a good place to start. So the first thing you do is you go to Google and you're going to type in the county in the state that you're looking to start in and then population, right? And then what's going to happen is Google is going to kick back with the results and it's going to tell you the population size in that area. Now, you want a county with a minimum population of 250,000 people. The reason you want a population size of 250,000 is anything less than that, you're typically going to fall into like a rural territory where you're not going to have a problem with sellers saying yes, right? But you're going to have a big problem getting those deals sold because there's not a lot of buyers. That's the reason those sellers are so open to selling so quickly, right? At a population size of 250,000, you're looking at more of like a major metro type of an area, okay? So plenty of buyers, plenty of sellers, like people moving into the area and lots of people that want to sell so it gives you a long runway. The second step that you want to do is you want to go to Google again and you're going to type in the county in the state where you're starting again, same as we did just a second ago and then you're going to type in median home price. Now, I'm assuming everybody on here knows what median home price is, but I'll just break it down real quick. If you pick your house on a timeline, you have the $50,000 and less houses on the left and then on the far right, you have the multimillion dollar houses. The median is the one in the middle. It's the house that most people can afford, the most popular house being bought and sold and it's what everybody's looking for, right? So you want that median home price to be a minimum of $200,000, right? The closer to 200,000, the easier it's going to be to do deals. The farther you get above that, the harder it's going to be to do deals and we like to cap that out like at around 450,000. So if you can pair those two things together, that is all the makings of a fantastic market to start in.

Okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, my market might be out on both ends. Yeah, and that's the cool part about being virtual, right? Because let's say, for example, that you're having a tough time. I had a friend of mine that lives in California. He came to me one day and he's like, Chris, man, it is tough to do deals here. He's like, I'm spending like $8,000 to get a property under contract and get the deal closed, right? Now think about that. If he's spending $8,000 in marketing to get a deal under contract and get it closed, if he wants to do three deals a month there, he's got to pay $24,000 a month in marketing, right? That's tough for a lot of people. So instead, I was like, brother, you got to come to Florida. And he's like, but I don't understand. I live in California. You're in Florida. How do we make that happen? So I broke down our simple process for doing deals from home anywhere in the country. And he started doing deals in Florida. He was blown away. He was starting to put deals under contract for anywhere from $500 all the way to like 2,500 bucks. And that was a huge shift for him. Same amount of effort, but drastically different result. A lot of people bang their head against the wall for too long before they're like, man, this really hurts. And they feel chained to their area. But the truth is, sometimes the best deals aren't found in your backyard. Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely true. And I think there's a mental block there. If you're looking at the buy and holds as well, I mean, if that's all you want, like, I mean, I think just looking at your market is what this felt like as the safest thing, right? But if you expand, you can definitely get higher cash flow or maybe if you're targeting higher appreciation, there's arguments to both ends of that equation. But yeah, learning how to invest in other markets is a pretty critical thing if that's what you do. Yeah, and to piggyback on that, like there's also other factors in markets, right? Some states are title states and some states are attorney states, right? So simply meaning for those who don't know what I'm talking about here, a title company, the third party company that is responsible for handling real estate closings and they're a neutral third party that basically facilitates the paperwork to transfer ownership from the seller to the buyer. That's it, right? And some states you have title companies and I find the states where you can use title companies is the easiest state to do deals, right? But if you're in a state like New York where it's an attorney state, it's super tough to do deals there because attorney get involved, they want retainers and there's no guarantee the deal is going to go through and then you're out these thousands of dollars in the meantime. And so we typically find that the easier states to do deals in are title states and those are the ones that we really recommend. That makes sense. Yeah, totally makes sense. Yeah, I mean, so what are some places that you go to buy lists to get your data from? Yeah, sure. So there's a source that we love, it's called Batch Leads. Happy to give you guys a link where it can give your audience a discount. But it's Batch Leads and basically they have all these lists built into it like tired landlords, senior owners, pre-foreclosures, delinquent taxes, inherited properties, all these different types of lists, right? And then you can even stack motivation inside that software so like later on, vacant property but he's an out-of-state landlord, right? So you can get really niche if you want to but the point is that they give you the list of homeowners who could be a great fit for what we got going on, right? And then the best part about it is they also give you the phone numbers to call those people. Usually with other softwares, like you have to pay anywhere from 6 cents to 25 cents to get phone numbers for these motivated homeowners but Batch Leads, when you upload your list, it gives you phone numbers and it's pretty accurate too.

Okay. And have you had experience or I mean, this is a selfish question here. Jordan, fire him off, yeah. Have you looked at multifamily data in Batch Leads? Do they have, is there any difference between residential and commercial, for example, as the quality of data or access to data? Yeah, so when it comes to residential data, like we've really tested it and it's super accurate. The commercial data, I haven't really dove into that side since we mainly focus on the residential side. We do some syndications and stuff but we haven't really marketed a lot to commercial stuff in there. But there is another software you can get on the commercial side of that's your thing and that's called Reonomy and that has some pretty accurate stuff. And then you can also do that other one called, the name's escaping me right now. I'm invested in the stock, I'm just trying to remember what it's called. Can't remember. But for commercial, I recommend focusing on a software that specializes in commercial data because there can be some things in there that you'd want to know that maybe those other softwares could have. Often, it could be owned by LLCs and it's not as easy to find data, et cetera on that. But yeah, that makes sense. What is your typical conversion? Where per lead, how much dollars spent do you typically have to spend to get one back? Yeah, great question. So what we typically find is with our team and our systems that we got dialed in, it takes anywhere from 25 to 35 leads to get a closed deal, right? So 25 to 35 leads to get a closed deal, yeah. And so the amount we have to spend to get that varies but on average, we see it somewhere between 1,500 to 2,500 bucks. Okay, okay, yeah. And that's mainly because we have a team, people are calling, they are coming through the dirt to find the gold, there are gold prospectors, you know? And then yeah, and then we're making the calls and getting those deals under contract. Yeah, I'm sure you have systems for following up and all that kind of stuff as well after you find a possibility in the dirt. Yeah, well, what I've seen is with cold calling, it can take anywhere from three to four months to like fully ramp up, right? So if someone's starting from square one and they're starting to cold call, they could expect that they're putting two to three hours a day into it, they could expect to get their first deal inside 90 days, right? But what's funny about cold calling is what I've known this and I've seen this like clockwork is that they get their first deal done and because of the follow-up and they were consistent with that, the second deal is like right around the corner. So they always usually get that second deal right after their first one. That makes sense, yeah. It's definitely the money's in the follow-up, right? I mean, it takes, that's the same in all these worlds we're talking about. Like, you know, I haven't really bought leads from the realtor side because I don't really enjoy playing secretary and doing all this stuff you're talking about. But I think that, you know, having some systems, I know there's also, I don't know if this would be good for cold calling necessarily, but there's also, you know, AI systems now that you could have, you know, an AI phone call, you could have an AI chatbot and the goal not to be pretending to be a person but maybe to like getting an appointment scheduled. So having an inbound people, oftentimes inbound leads from realtor stuff like comes in because they clicked on something and they weren't necessarily to talk to somebody, right? And so they get a call from like 15 different names like, oh, what's happening? But if you can like, you know, have the first step, be like, hey, you know, this is just a scheduler system. If you want to get on, you know, meet in person or whatever, like, you know, here's some availability. And then get that appointment booked as opposed to, you know, spending me personally being on the phone with all the different people that are mostly not wanting to talk to me.

That's just exhausting, so. Yeah, like if you haven't been in the business for a long time and you're brand new, I highly encourage making those phone calls yourself because most people suck on the phone when they first get started. And you gotta have those, you gotta put those reps in so you can get comfortable talking with people, right? So many people are not comfortable talking with people that that's how you build that skill, right? And the first time you do it, it's a little painful like going to the gym but the more you do it, the better you get. And it's gonna give you a higher return on all the other marketing you do down the road. I had a mentor of mine once tell me on the journey, he said, if you can't make money from not spending money on marketing, then you have no business spending money on marketing because you're not gonna make money there, right? So going back to your point with the AI is if that was me and that was something I was gonna do, like what I would recommend probably is having some type of bot on your website where people like chat with an AI agent or whatever, they could do those things, they could book, they were gonna do that. But when it comes to making the calls, just based on some rules that have gone in place by the TCPA rules, right? Like there's rules going on right now where AI calls are being put in the same categories like ringless voicemail and there's like big lawsuits for that going on, right? So I would not recommend like replacing a physical person to like make those calls. It's just not worth the risk but definitely using AI integrated into your business to streamline things like website reach out, maybe even when people DM you on Facebook, your business page or something like that to help, 100% but- Yeah, and the thought was, if there was an inbound call from an ad as opposed to an outbound, which maybe it will be able to adapt, but still, yeah, it's not something I'm actually implementing. It's just an interesting way of kind of filtering, maybe a way of trying to filter the serious from the not so serious, but you probably are not gonna get the same results as they actually talk to somebody. Yeah, because like one of the things is like, you know, AI is becoming so prevalent, like I use it a lot in my day-to-day, I'm sure you use it a lot in your day-to-day, right? What I constantly look at in trends and marketing is what is everybody doing and then I wanna do the opposite, right? Because what I found is when the noise gets so big from everybody doing the same thing, like it's so easy to stand out by doing the opposite. Like if everybody's doing AI callers, then I'm like, hey, they're like, it's so refreshing to talk to an actual person, you know? And so it can have just like a dramatically different impact, but no, like AI is amazing. I feel everybody should incorporate in their business for sure. And it can make your life 100% easier and by, you know, streamlining a lot of things that would otherwise take you hours to do. Yeah, that's, yeah, it's all, I think it's good to like, to use it daily, to figure out how to use it effectively and how it works with the overall strategy. For sure. Chris, I'm curious if you have any golden nuggets to share to our listeners. I know I gave you a couple options how to take that before we go on air here, but what golden nuggets do you wanna share with our agents or investors that listen to this podcast? Sure, yeah, so one of the biggest things I can tell you guys, I have a lot of people that come up to me and they ask me like, Chris, would there be anything that you would do differently in the beginning of your journey that could have helped you get results faster, right? And the answer is 100% yes, okay? In the beginning of my real estate journey, I was focused on everything, multiple different types of opportunities. And it took me like six months to get my first deal because I was focused on everything, right? And then I read one book that really changed my life it was this right here, The One Thing by Gary Keller.

And this book talked about the importance of focus and how if you focus on everything, then you're gonna really achieve nothing, right? And that big results can come from small activity done consistently every single day. So when I read that book, I shut out all the distractions, I tuned into my one thing, right? Which was wholesaling. And then not far after that, did I get my first deal. But I feel like that's a big problem that a lot of people have in the industry today, right? Everybody's focused on like, I'm gonna do wholesaling, I'm gonna do rentals, I'm gonna do creative finance, I'm gonna do innovations and this, that, and the other thing, right? And they're running in all these different directions and they get stuck in analysis paralysis. They're sitting there and they're like, how do I analyze this deal 50 different ways? And they do zero deals. It's kind of like the wholesalers who have the best CRMs are not doing any deals. They have amazing CRMs, but they're not doing any deals. And then that even brings it back to filtering the question even more. So the question they ask you in this book is, what's the one thing that I can do today that makes everything else easier or unnecessary? I think it's something like that, right? And I take it a step further to saying, what's the one thing that I can start my day with that can produce revenue for me either this week or this month, right? And if it doesn't produce revenue, then I'm not allowed to do anything else until I complete my first task, that task that involves creating revenue. And nine times out of 10, it's doing the uncomfortable. It's talking with people. It's much more comfortable to shuffle things around on your desk, pick out new office space, you know, go buy a new computer, fiddle faddle in the automations and this new CRM and stuff like that. It's much easier to do those things than to pick up the phone and have a conversation. And if there's anything that I could do from the very beginning that would change the game, I'd recommend anybody else to do is that right there. I love it. That's a really good point. Thank you. I got to ask also then the book that you recommend or the other book that you think everybody should read. We have, we have, we're down. We have the one thing. Those are great. Those are both really good books. Yep. There's one more. Yes. I'm sorry. Repeat that one more time. Do you have another book that you do want to recommend or are those the books that you want to recommend? Got it. Okay. I want to make sure I got your question there. So yeah. So there's another book that I'd recommend. It's called the compound effect by Darren Hardy. That's a really good book because I noticed two things from people when they first come into real estate. Most people are not focused and they're not consistent, right? The one thing helps you with focus. The compound effect helps with consistency because people will oftentimes they'll commit to a certain result, but if they don't see that result they want within a certain period of time, they kind of fall off and they're like, Oh, it doesn't work. Right. But the thing is momentum takes a long time to build. And when it hits, right. If you don't stay consistent, it takes forever to get back. Right. It feels like you're climbing up a mountain just to get back to the pace that you were at before. But the biggest thing I would say is for people to completely detach themselves from the end result. Right. Because it's not an end result that we get. We want the, we get, we want on the journey of becoming the type of person that can accomplish that end result. Right. We become who we're meant to be by hearing all the no's overcoming the obstacles, the rejection. Right. Because all those things fuel our soul and make us stronger. Right. And we can do one of two things in those moments where we face those obstacles or challenges. We can either say, this is too hard. You know, I'm not really willing to do this. Right. Or we can say, you know what?

Dust myself off, take another step and keep going. Because the only difference between me, you, anybody else. Right. Is like, we didn't stop. We just kept going. Right. I could have given up a million times. Right. On my journey. And I probably thought about it several times. But the key is just to not give up and keep taking steps forward. Yeah, that's so true. I think, you know, it took me a good three years in real estate sales to really kind of feel like momentum was starting. And it's, that's a long time. To, you know, get up every morning at 5, answer emails. I was trying to vlog and do whatever I could to get myself out there. So, yeah, absolutely. Those are great recommendations. That, shoot, man, that's a really great playbook. If you want to get started in this business, you know, wholesale, resale, retail, I mean, those are great books to start with. So, Chris, if anybody wants to know more about you, follow you on social media, where can they find you? Yeah, sure. The best place you guys can reach me is on Facebook. I actually have a free group that you could join called Virtual Wholesaling Made Simple. You'll see it. It's a link in my bio. And yeah, shoot me a DM. Love to connect with people. I really enjoy connecting people who are new on the journey or are looking at wholesaling as maybe it's something they want to do. We do free trainings in there every Wednesday at 6pm. And yeah, I look forward to connecting with y'all. Awesome. Thanks so much, Chris. Thanks for being on the show. Yeah, Mattias, thanks for having me on. It was great. Thanks for listening to the REI Agent. If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe to catch new shows every week. Visit REIAgent.com for more content. Until next time, keep building the life you want. All content in the show is not investment advice or mental health therapy. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.

[narayan-074246]

Tumble with social media

Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to promote products, services, or brands. It involves creating and sharing content to engage audiences, build brand awareness, drive website traffic, and generate sales. This can include posts, videos, ads, and influencer partnerships on platforms like Tumble, Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok.

For more continue,,,,,,,

[techsavvy-agcy]

What is Lead Generation? The Beginner’s Guide to Generating Business Leads in 2025

Lead Generation

Lead generation is critical for the success of B2B enterprises since it allows you to identify your brand, interact with potential clients, and guide them through the purchasing process.

 However, despite its importance, successful lead creation remains one of the most difficult tasks for marketers.

61% of marketers said their top challenge was generating traffic and leads.

We understand why you feel overwhelmed. You must establish a system that generates content, drives traffic, converts prospects, and qualifies them before passing them to your sales team.

You must do so at scale while competing for your buyer's attention in a congested media environment.

However, it does not have to be as daunting as it appears. This comprehensive guide breaks down each stage of establishing a lead generation plan into simple, achievable steps.

Whether you're a complete newbie or an experienced marketer trying to improve your strategy, this guide offers actionable suggestions and simple explanations to help you create more high-quality leads.

 Ready to learn more? Let us begin.

What is a lead?

A lead exhibits interest in your company's products or services but isn't ready to buy yet.

This interest is manifested in the form of an information exchange, such as providing a name and email address in exchange for content.

Do not mistake leads for prospects. There is a distinction. A lead is a potential customer who needs to be qualified before becoming a prospect. (This suggests they're a good fit for your company and might want to do business with you in the future.)

Leads are classified into four types based on their amount of interest:

1. Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): These leads expressed interest through marketing activities such as downloading a whitepaper, attending a webinar, or completing a contact form. They are more likely to become clients than general connections.

2. Sales Qualified Lead (SQL): The sales team has verified these leads and determined that they are ready for direct sales contact. They often show a stronger desire to buy and frequently match the traits of an ideal consumer.

3. Product Qualified Lead (PQL): These leads have tried a product, usually as a free trial or freemium version. They exhibit behaviors showing a willingness to convert to paying consumers, such as regular use or engagement with premium services.

4. Service Qualified Lead:  These leads demonstrate an interest in a company's services, usually through early consultations or requests for more information.

What is the lead generation process, and how does it work?

Lead generation entails enticing and engaging your target audience so that they are willing to provide you with their information.

This method generates targeted traffic to your website, collects visitor information, and nurtures individuals who match your buyer personas.

This is the first step towards establishing a genuine relationship with a prospective consumer.

Lead generation can typically be divided into two types.

Inbound lead generation

Inbound lead generation draws in potential customers with beneficial content tailored to their needs and interests. It's different from old-school outbound methods, like cold calling, because it uses things like blogs, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing to bring people in, keep them interested, and build a relationship of trust.

By tackling the challenges and interests of the target audience, businesses can transform visitors into leads through effective calls-to-action, landing pages, and lead capture forms. This strategy provides a cost-efficient and sustainable method for acquiring qualified leads and nurturing them into devoted customers.

Outbound lead generation

Outbound lead generation is a proactive method in which firms contact potential clients directly. This technique entails identifying prospects and reaching them through various channels, including cold calls, emails, direct mail, and advertising. The idea is to pique these prospects' attention and turn them into leads before guiding them through the sales process.

Outbound lead generation is based on targeted efforts to identify and engage potential clients who are not actively looking for the product or service. Outbound lead generation, while more intrusive, can create leads rapidly and produce instant benefits, making it an important component of a holistic marketing strategy.

Why is lead generation important?

Over 30% of B2B sales require one to three months to close. Lead generation is key to B2B success. Why? The solution can be summarized in two words: sales cycle.

Why does this matter? Capturing a potential customer's information early in the process allows you to influence them. With purchasers confronting more distractions than ever before, you'll need every bit of influence you can get.

You can also classify leads after you have acquired their information. This means you assess which are most likely to generate revenue for your company and devote your time and efforts to converting them.

If you can create a lead generator that produces high-quality business leads and scales, you've discovered the key to creating long-term success for your organization.

The sales lead generation funnel.

At first glance, your potential purchasers may have a somewhat random approach to purchasing. They make purchases on occasion, but not always. However, this could not be further from the truth.

While every customer makes a purchase differently, there is a process that leads up to their decision. Marketers created the lead generation funnel concept to help them visualize and influence the entire process.

B2B enterprises require a lead-generating funnel because, in most circumstances, a purchase takes a long time. According to research, 48% of organizations claim leads require a long sales cycle before acquiring.

48% of companies say leads require a long sales cycle before purchasing.

Your organization need a patient and consistent approach to sales.

Instead of focusing on generating a sale immediately, as may be the case with a B2C company, a B2B marketer must build a long-term sales strategy. This enables them to segment potential clients, nurture them properly, and hand them off to sales teams when they are ready to buy.

Unfortunately, 68% of organizations have not yet identified their funnel.

In this chapter, we will explain what a business lead generation funnel is, how to describe it, and how to create one.

What is a lead generation funnel?

A lead generation funnel depicts a person's path from the moment they provide their information to the moment they make a purchase.

 Defining this is critical because 50% of qualified prospects are not ready to purchase on the first contact.  Your funnel gives a road map to get them there.

 It is depicted as a funnel because, at each level, fewer people match the criteria required to do business with your organisation.

 Only a small percentage of those early leads will convert into clients.Lead generation funnel

Content is essential to your funnel.  But, before we go into what material works and why, let's talk about why it's vital.

Why content is critical for your lead generation funnel

Content is the unifying factor throughout the lead-generating funnel. Whether it's a blog, an eBook, or a case study, your material will be the key to converting your lead into a prospect and a customer.

The key is in segmentation. Use your content to determine where someone is in the buying process, and then supply them with tailored material to lead them to the next stage.

With marketing automation solutions and retargeting, you may provide timely content that addresses your leads' concerns. With each piece of engaging content, your lead will move through your funnel towards purchase.

Let's have a look at the various content categories that can be used at each step.Lead generation

Top of the funnel (TOFU)

A lead generation funnel begins when your audience first sees your website.

The top of your lead-generating funnel should be focused on attracting a wide range of potential clients. The idea is to increase awareness and trust without focusing on your items.

There are several marketing strategies you may use to attract people at this step of the funnel, including:

Blogs

Guides

Social media

Podcasts

Videos

Your first goal should be to provide value to connect with your target audience.

You want the reader to feel comfortable enough to offer you their personal information.

Middle of the funnel (MOFU)

The center of the funnel is when visitors are ready to convert into leads.

While the previous phase of the funnel established a personal connection with the visitor, this is where you apply that trust to develop a business relationship.

To obtain the visitor's personal information, you must provide gated content that addresses a problem or meets a demand.

After gathering their information, you can interact and educate them more, eventually positioning your offering as the solution to their concerns.

Use your market research to identify a significant pain area that your readers may be interested in.

Next, produce content that directly addresses this, such as:

eBooks

White papers

Webinars

Newsletters

Tools

Your chosen material will be determined by your available resources, target audience, and offering.

Bottom of the funnel (BOFU)

When a lead hits the bottom of your lead-generating funnel, it becomes a prospect.  They've been taught about the potential answers to their problems, which should include your product or service.

You are now their go-to resource. It is time to sell.

Bottom-of-funnel material is designed to convert prospects into purchases.  They're almost there; all you need to do now is help them overcome their objections.

You can use the following content kinds at the bottom of the funnel:

Case studies

Comparisons

FAQs

Demos

Reviews

At this point, people know, trust, and like you enough to contemplate doing business with you.  What they need now is confirmation that their purchase selection will be correct.

Each sort of content helps to reduce objections and motivates the prospect to become a customer.

Content is included at every stage of the lead generation funnel. Each stage necessitates a different content strategy: at first, low-touch, instructive content that engages individuals is required, while later phases necessitate high-touch, transactional content that decreases purchase barriers.

Creating your lead-generating funnel is critical to your organization's success. Remember, this is a long-term procedure that will demand patience; the sooner you begin, the better.

Begin by identifying your funnel, which should be tailored to your specific needs, offerings, and industry. Then, understand where your content belongs in each stage of the funnel so you can arrange it effectively.

How to generate leads

Now that you've covered the fundamentals of a lead generation plan, it's time to get into the fun part—generating leads.

To begin with, it may seem frightening. But don't worry; you're not alone.

63% of marketers believe their top issue is getting visitors and leads. Many more claim their lead-generating activities are just marginally effective.

80% of marketers say their lead generation efforts are only slightly or somewhat effective.

It does not have to be that way.

The complete process of lead generation may be summarized into five basic steps:

1. Understand your buyer persona.

2. Create engaging content.

3. Target the correct audience.

4. Capture their information.

5. Qualify your leads.

If all of this sounds unfamiliar or difficult to understand, do not panic. In this chapter, you'll learn how to implement the first two phases, and the next three chapters will go over how to attract, capture, and qualify leads.

Let's get started.

1. Understand your buyer personas

Throughout the lead generation funnel, content is essential for converting visitors into leads and leads into customers. However, content alone cannot persuade consumers to give you their personal information. Your material should address an unmet demand or problem that they have.

If you can address and solve your visitors' concerns through your content, you will have laid the groundwork for a successful lead-generation campaign.

This poses the question of how you detect and handle the issues that your visitors confront.

The solution: use buyer personas.

How to use personas for your lead generation

Personas are a marketing word for idealized versions of your clients.

Personas are created by combining quantitative and qualitative data from existing or potential clients.  That implies you can construct personas based on your existing consumers or clients you want to attract but haven't yet.Buyer persona

The purpose of a buyer persona is to uncover common features among your customers and keep your marketing team focused on their demands.  In practice, you may create personas using two types of data.

Quantitative data can assist you in understanding the hard numbers that make up your clients, such as:

Age

Gender

Job Title

Location

Industry

This data type is available through web analytics (e.g., Google Analytics) and visitor identification software.

Qualitative data, on the other hand, allows you to add depth to your personas by introducing unique parameters such as:

Words people use to explain their problems.

The challenges they confront every day.

They want to enhance their current position.

These responses can make the difference between knowing and understanding your personas. The former is logical, and the latter is emotive. To design usable and actionable personas, you must consider both sides.

Qualitative data can be extracted using surveys and interviews. Most importantly, you may use your existing customer service, business development, and sales channels to better grasp your customers' precise expressions, phrases, and concepts.

Once you've created your buyer personas, you should understand your target audience's main concerns and, more crucially, how your firm can position itself to address them.

How to use personas in your content creation

If there is one difficulty that all marketers confront, it is the absence of personalization in client communications. Consumers are tired of being bombarded with more impersonal communications, thus 81% expect brands to understand and know how to approach them. Unfortunately, 83% of marketers struggle to create personalized content because they do not understand their clients.

Personas help you develop more relatable content for your target customer segments.  You may design more personalized content at each point of your funnel rather than one-size-fits-all.

Here's how to construct personas and utilize them to inform your content creation.

Step #1: Segment your content based on your personas

As mentioned in the last chapter, the content you develop for each step—TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content—will vary in length, type, and amount of information. However, it should change depending on the information gathered from your personality.  This is how you personalize messages to make them more impactful.

For example, if one of your personas has a limited budget, price worries may be a significant impediment to their progression through your funnel.  They may enjoy your goods or service but believe it is too expensive.

The purpose of your material for this buyer is to emphasize your value and their possible return on investment. They cannot make an informed selection if they do not grasp the context surrounding the pricing.

Step #2: Create content for each stage of the funnel

To help your price-conscious buyer overcome their fears, you must provide them with the appropriate content while making a decision. You must convert them after attracting them with an engaging blog post or capturing their information with an eBook.  This may include writing comparative articles, emphasizing product tiers, or offering an ROI calculator.

Understand what is preventing them from going from one level of the funnel to the next, and then produce relevant content to solve these issues.

Step #3: Deliver the content at the right time

How do you determine when to provide your ROI calculator to a price-conscious buyer? They have visited your pricing page but have not converted. They are ready to buy. Now is the opportunity to resolve their pricing worries.

This phase requires you to know what information your consumer has already viewed to determine where they are on their journey.

Once they've read information that corresponds to one of your funnel stages, it's important to provide content that will help them progress to the next stage.

Step #4: Deliver it on the right channel

You must distribute your content correctly and at the proper time.

Your personas should describe where your buyers go online to consume instructional content, research items, and make purchasing decisions.

For example, your price-conscious buyer may conduct competition research on websites such as G2 or Trust Radius, as well as comparative searches on Google. In this case, paying for ads on search engines or review sites will allow you to drive your buyer to specialized content at this critical point of the purchasing process.

The lead-generating procedure you've seen so far serves as the foundation for your entire work. As a result, you must ensure that it is properly configured.

It's not as difficult as it appears, and you will not do it right the first time. But it isn't the goal. The idea is to create a process. Once you have this, you can adjust, improve, and repeat it numerous times.

Your revenues will increase as your lead-generation process matures.

Lead generation marketing strategies

You understand how to arrange your lead generation funnel, develop buyer profiles, and provide relevant content. Now, use your lead generation technique to reach out to your target demographic.

How do you persuade people to visit your website and generate leads?

It isn't as simple as it appears. Two-thirds of marketers say the most difficult task is driving visitors to generate leads.

Companies are releasing more content than ever before, and ad budgets are expanding year after year, making competition for eyeballs tight.

To achieve outcomes, you must be laser-focused on your goal.

In this chapter, we'll look at three different strategies to attract traffic to your lead-generating funnel.

1. Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of boosting the number and quality of visits that come from organic search results.

Why is SEO vital for lead generation? Because it can assist you attract a large number of visitors to the top of your lead-generating funnel.

Once a piece of content ranks highly for a relevant search query, it will generate consistent traffic. More crucially, the traffic is free.

Numerous things influence your search engine ranking. We will not discuss them here. However, assuming you have the essentials in place, here are three measures you can take to ensure organic search traffic begins to generate significant leads for you.

Step #1: Define a set of keywords

To begin, you'll need to identify a selection of relevant keywords. These keywords correspond to the search terms individuals employ when seeking out content; a higher frequency of searches for a particular query equates to greater potential traffic for your site.

Should you possess a Google Ads account, you can kickstart your keyword research using Google Keyword Planner. Otherwise, consider utilizing a premium tool such as Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush. These platforms integrate Google's data with their unique insights to generate keyword estimations, aiding you in pinpointing effective keywords.

The accompanying illustration displays Ahrefs' analysis of search volume and difficulty for the keyword "SEO strategy."SEO strategy

By taking into account both traffic volume and keyword competitiveness (as measured by the number of links pointing to the top 10 results for a specific phrase), you can get a more balanced picture of how much work is required to rank for a given keyword.

The prior example has a large number of searches and is extremely competitive.  As Ahrefs states above, to rank in the top ten results, you would need backlinks from approximately 99 domains.

When searching for terms, be practical. Strike the ideal balance between high volume, low competitiveness, and relevancy.

Relevancy is highly specific to your firm. Ideally, you want search queries that are relevant to your product or service. Examine your buyer personas and the issues your audience is attempting to solve.

If you can assist in answering a question on these issues, you've made the first step towards offering your solution as an answer to their possible problem.

Step #2: Create content and optimize it

Following your keyword research, you must generate content to rank for those keywords. The content you publish should aid people with enquiries and problems unrelated to your solution. For example, if your product helps users produce leads, we'll create lead generation-related content (such as this guide). When brainstorming prospective content ideas, examine the search engine results for your chosen keywords.  This can assist you in understanding the kind of content that is currently ranking.  Then design something better.

Before you publish a piece of content, you should optimize it.  This list from Moz's on-page ranking factors page provides a more complete picture.

To increase your chances of ranking quickly, try to gain a few internal and external links to your recently published post. This allows search engines to find your page faster and gives it more authority.

Step #3: Offer a lead magnet

After you've begun attracting organic traffic to your content, you can start generating leads.

To convert visitors into leads, you should provide a "lead magnet." This is a gated piece of material, such as an ebook or webinar, that continues to benefit the reader.

The lead magnet should provide depth to the initial piece of material that your visitor ingested.

For example, Pipedrive's post about defining lead prospects includes an eBook as a content upgrade:

For readers, this lead magnet is a natural and helpful next step. Once they've finished the blog and have a grasp on defining their leads, their immediate follow-up question will probably be, "Now, how do I find these leads?" Pipedrive addresses this concern right away.

This method of collecting reader information is very user-friendly and doesn't feel intrusive.

2. LinkedIn advertising as part of a lead generation campaign

LinkedIn is the best-paid site for B2B lead generation, with over a billion users and detailed business data on each of them.

According to a study, 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers, with 40 million holding decision-making roles.

As a result, there are some significant benefits to using LinkedIn for lead generation:

You can produce leads who are true decision-makers and have an impact on the buying process.  The detailed user data allows you to easily target your customer profiles.  Campaigns can produce rapid results since you get what you pay for. LinkedIn provides a lead generation ad type, which means users do not have to leave the platform, and landing pages are not required.

To start a LinkedIn ads campaign, you have to define an objective like:

Website visits

Website conversions

Lead generation

Because your goal is to produce leads, you should use the website's visit or lead generation objectives.

The website visits objective allows you to send traffic to a landing page on your website, whereas the lead generation objective allows you to generate prospects from within LinkedIn.

After the campaign objective has been defined, you need to select the targeting, which can include:

Company

Industry

Demographics

Education

Job Experience

Interests

The choice you make will depend on your company's needs. LinkedIn’s depth of data allows you to target your buyer personas precisely.

After the targeting, you need to create an ad, for which you have several options to choose from:

Sponsored content

Sponsored InMail

Text ads

The Sponsored Content ad type is the best fit for driving traffic to content.

A website visits campaign directs visitors to a landing page on your website where they can enter their information to download your content.  Make sure your ad explicitly mentions that the information is gated so that consumers aren't upset when they click your ad and are taken to a download form.

A lead generation campaign will link them to a LinkedIn lead form with their information pre-populated. This decreases the friction involved in gathering lead information.

Before you can publish your ad campaign, you must first decide on a bid and budget. This will determine the quantity of money you will invest and the traffic you may anticipate to attract.

As a rule of thumb, the more money you put into a campaign, the more traffic and leads you can produce.

3. Co-Marketing

The goal of co-marketing is to establish genuine relationships with companies that share your target demographic but aren't direct competitors.

Why? You may use your expertise in content development and audience to generate leads.

Instead of drawing "cold" traffic to a TOFU piece of content (traffic that is unfamiliar with your brand and must be made aware of its existence), you leverage the audience's trust in your partner.

When 84% of buyers start the sales process through a trusted referral, your partner's prior relationship with their target audience is invaluable.

Here's how you get started with co-marketing.

Step #1: Identify potential co-marketing partners

The core concept of co-marketing revolves around collaborating with businesses that are targeting the same audience as you are.

Begin by seeking out companies within your industry—those that serve the same customer base but provide different products or services. Here are a few illustrations to get you started:

If your business sells human resources software tailored for sales managers, you might want to team up with companies that offer sales software.

Should you be selling email marketing tools to traditional retail stores, think about forming alliances with providers of payment processing, accounting, or other marketing software solutions.

For those selling analytics software designed for established financial organizations, such as banks or insurance firms, consider partnerships with financial software providers.

To ensure a strong synergy, make sure to review each company's product range, content strategy, and mission statement for compatibility.

Step #2: Find potential content ideas

After you've listed your partners, you should seek potential collaboration opportunities. Consider which stage of the funnel you are most interested in enhancing.

If you want to attract more quality traffic, consider producing a guest post or a guide. If you want to get more leads, consider producing an eBook. If you want to attract more prospects, consider hosting a webinar together.

Once you've identified a few potential concepts, pitch them to your potential partner. Make it clear what's in it for them.

You should have detailed information about your audience's demographics, internet traffic, email list size, and social following. Your goal is to ensure that they understand the importance of reaching out to your target audience.

Step #3: Promote each other's content

After you and your partner have generated the content piece, it is time to promote it to both of your audiences.

Use all of your owned media channels, and ensure that your partner does as well.  This could involve email marketing, social media, live chat, website content, and blogs.

The goal is for both organizations in the relationship to market the content they make to their engaged audiences.  This is an excellent opportunity to reach a targeted, interested audience through a brand they already trust, which is tough to achieve through other channels, such as paid advertising.

The three tactics stated above are only a few options that can be implemented. What matters is that you use your strengths to meet your company's needs.

Creating a channel strategy takes time. Try to strike a balance between short- and long-term needs. If you accomplish this, you will get quick results, gaining support for your strategy and laying the groundwork for long-term success.

Now that we've addressed this crucial component of your lead-generating plan, let's look at how to capture leads.

Lead generation techniques and examples

No matter how great your content is, if you can't convince them to give you their personal information, you won't get any leads.

With data indicating that the number of individuals leaving forms is continually increasing, it's safe to assume that capturing people's information is becoming increasingly difficult.

So, what is the solution?

Well, the method you use for people's information and the amount of information you request will have a significant impact on your conversion rates.

In this chapter, we'll go over three distinct lead acquisition approaches and discuss which situations they work best in.

1. Email capture forms

Email capture forms are the most common approach to creating leads.

You must be forthright and transparent about what information you are requesting and why.  This candour is essential when requesting personal information, especially when establishing trust.

However, 81% of people have abandoned a form after starting to fill it out. Forms may be frequent, but that doesn't imply people enjoy filling them out.

So, if you want to use them efficiently, you need to be a little imaginative.

Here are five ways to use email forms to increase conversion rates and lead generation.

Connect with the content they are reading.

Relevance is the foundation of an efficient lead capture strategy.  That is, you want to provide relevant content to the piece they are now reading.

For example, in an article about Instagram statistics, Hootsuite provides readers with a checklist outlining the steps one Instagram user did to increase their following by 600,000.

When you click the link, a pop-up form appears, asking for personal information and allowing Hootsuite to acquire a lead without interrupting your reading experience.

Only ask for the information you need

A major issue with lead capture forms is the friction they add to the reader experience. Adding a lead capture form frequently interrupts the reader, causing them to leave your page or site.

The key to an effective lead acquisition strategy is to keep friction as minimal as possible.  By only requesting the necessary information, you make it easier for the user to participate.

For example, blog subscription boxes frequently ask for merely the reader's email address.  This is all you'll need to send a generic blog update.

However, in the middle of the funnel, organisations frequently want more information, such as job title, company size, and name.  This information will be critical when tailoring content or distributing leads to your sales staff.

According to studies, the average lead capture form has five form fields. However, this does not imply that you can or should use that many fields; various studies have shown that using fewer fields leads to higher conversions.

The key is to understand how your future messages should be personalized.  This will direct you to the information you should gather while collecting a lead.

Don’t make your forms look like forms.

To reduce friction and enhance conversion rates, make your lead capture forms appear like a natural part of your content—that is, don't make them look like forms.

Type form's lead capture forms, for example, provide consumers with a more conversational step-by-step procedure rather than asking for information in a single large form.

Use conditional logic

Another technique to improve the effectiveness of your lead capture forms is to utilise conditional logic. Conditional logic allows you to personalise your capture forms based on the user's answers.

With conditional logic, you can ensure that you only ask queries that are relevant to the user.

This reduces the size of your lead capture form, which reduces the friction it can cause.

Use pop-ups wisely

The pop-up is one of the most prevalent lead capture forms accessible.

Sumo discovered that the typical pop-up converts at a rate of 3.09%, which is hard to ignore.

Readers, on the other hand, dislike pop-up ads.  73% of Internet users automatically reject pop-up advertising.

 Despite these obstacles, if used correctly, a pop-up can still be effective.  That involves knowing when to activate one.

 To begin, consider adopting exit intent technology.  This displays a pop-up only when someone attempts to leave your page.  A well-written message here can persuade someone who has just read part of your information.

 The example below from Coschedule recognizes that the visitor is going to leave and offers them an additional piece of relevant content before they depart.

You might also consider triggering your pop-ups based on other action-based behaviour, such as the percentage of the page a user has scrolled or when a button is clicked. The more the user scrolls down your website, the more intent they have demonstrated and, as a result, are likely more susceptible to your message.

Forms are still an excellent way to capture leads; simply remove any evident sources of friction.  If you don't, you won't generate any leads. Keep your forms current, concise, and, if possible, entertaining.

To reduce friction and enhance conversion rates, make your lead capture forms appear like a natural part of your content—that is, don't make them look like forms.

Type form's lead capture forms, for example, provide consumers with a more conversational step-by-step procedure rather than asking for information in a single large form.

2. Site chat

Site chat solutions can help your visitors answer their questions and concerns, reducing friction and drop-out rates in your lead-generating funnel. 42% of people prefer to communicate with businesses using this channel.

Aside from being an excellent customer support tool, site chat is a great approach to acquiring leads in a more conversational format.

Aside from middle-of-funnel lead acquisition, site chat can also be utilised to collect more information from high-intent visitors and route them directly to sales.  HubSpot does an excellent job doing this on its pricing page.

 By asking a few precise automated questions, they can deliver more accurate pricing to the consumer and more detailed information to their sales staff.

Website chat is a versatile tool. It can aid the reader by answering sales-related questions and perhaps generating leads.

Furthermore, they personalize and conversationalist the interaction between the company and the reader, deviating from the norm for most corporate engagements.

3. Website visitor identification

Website visitor identification is a method of recognizing your visitors even if they do not complete one of your lead generation forms.

Visitor identification software identifies organizations that have visited your website and adds employee contact information to the list.

What distinguishes this from other methods of content-driven lead capture? With visitor identification, you can focus on leads with intent.

Filter your leads by website pages visited, for example, and send your sales team a list of firms and contact information for those who visit your price page.

These are high-intent leads who want to purchase your product right away. They only need one last push from your sales team.

With Slack integration and automated emails, you can notify your sales team as soon as a hot lead visits. Does your sales staff exclusively use your CRM? Not an issue. Integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, and other platforms allow you to build deals, tasks, and deadlines in your CRM.

If the leads aren't ready to buy yet, add them back to your retargeting efforts to start the nurturing process.

 This is an excellent addition to the usual lead capture methods discussed above.  Instead of merely collecting person-level data from a tiny percentage of your website users, you may collect company-level data from a huge number.

 This allows you to automate your lead creation process while minimising friction for your potential buyer.

The lead capture process entails gathering the most important information from your visitors and using it to drive lead qualifying and guide your sales team's efforts.

 If you don't acquire the most important information from your visitors, you can always add it at the lead nurturing stage or through data enrichment.

 When in doubt, test your site to see which lead collection approach generates the greatest quality leads.

 Now that you know how to capture leads, it's time to learn how to qualify them.

Lead generation ideas checklist

Here's a comprehensive list of effective lead-generation strategies designed to attract high-quality prospects:

1. Create gated content: Provide valuable resources such as eBooks, whitepapers, or studies that users can access by submitting their contact details.

2. Schedule webinars and online events: Webinars are an excellent way to display your talents and engage your audience. Promote these events and collect leads during the registration process.

3. Use email marketing: Create targeted email campaigns that nurture potential customers by providing relevant material and solutions that help them throughout the sales process.

4. Use social media advertising: Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram provide targeted ad options for reaching specific demographics and collecting leads through forms or landing pages.

5. Create an Engaging Quiz or Survey: Develop compelling quizzes or surveys that not only pique consumers' interest but also show their preferences.   This method allows you to acquire valuable insights while generating high-quality leads.

6. Create a Referral Program: By rewarding your most delighted customers, you can inspire them to become brand ambassadors. Word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied clients are often the best source of high-value leads.

7. Optimize Your Website for Lead Generation: Include lead capture forms, appealing calls-to-action (CTAs), smart pop-ups, or exit-intent offers to increase the effectiveness of your site in obtaining visitor information.

8. Use SEO and Content Marketing: Put SEO tactics into practice to increase natural traffic to your resource pages, case studies, and blog entries. High-quality content that answers the questions of your audience can help you create leads naturally.

9. Offer trials or offers: Offer free demos or trials so that potential customers can experience your product or service for themselves.   Use sign-up forms to obtain information on leads.

10. Organize contests or giveaways: Organize a contest or giveaway that participants can enter by submitting their contact information. Use social media and email marketing to promote it for maximum effect.

11. Collaborate on podcasts or guest blogging: Assemble a team of like-minded businesses or prominent figures in the field to contribute to podcasts or guest blogs. Use this opportunity to promote lead magnets or increase website traffic.

12. Use LinkedIn for outreach: LinkedIn is a great way to find business-to-business contacts. Develop connections with decision-makers, offer relevant material, and speak with prospects directly using InMail.

13. Run Google Ads for specific keywords: High-intent keywords can be targeted using Google Ads. You may create leads from people who are actively looking for answers by sending search traffic to landing pages that are optimized.

14. Put retargeting campaigns into action: To re-engage visitors who did not convert on their initial visit, use retargeting advertisements. This motivates consumers to visit your website again and maintains your brand at the forefront of their minds.

15. Join forces with influential people in the field: Work together with thought leaders or influencers to market your goods or services to their audience, creating leads via their connections.

How to qualify leads

You still have work to do after capturing your leads. Now is the moment to qualify them.

An effective lead generation plan must include lead qualifying. You can find your quality leads here.

It is impossible to overestimate the significance of concentrating your marketing and sales efforts on prospects that are likely to convert.  Inadequate lead qualification before the sales process accounts for 67% of lost transactions.

67% of lost sales result from not properly qualifying leads.

However, 61% of business-to-business marketers forward all leads straight to sales.

To make sure your sales force concentrates on excellent leads, you will discover in this chapter how a basic lead qualification procedure operates.

A 3-step process to qualify your leads

Many of your leads won't be ready to buy or the proper match for your business, even if you put a lot of effort into producing pertinent content and attracting targeted visitors.

You can ascertain whether your leads are qualified to convert and whether they are a good fit for your goods.  This is commonly accomplished by marketers using a technique known as "lead scoring."

Lead scoring is a lead qualification technique that lets you automatically assign a number to your lead according to a predetermined set of standards.

Which leads are most pertinent to your sales team will be determined by the final value.

There are three steps in the full lead qualification process:

Step #1: Define the ideal lead

The goal of the lead qualification procedure is to eliminate leads that aren't relevant and won't become worthwhile clients. To accomplish this, you must determine the characteristics that your most valuable clients share both during their time as clients and in the period before purchase.

These qualities may include:

Online behaviour and demographic information

Details about the company

Each is given a unique set of traits and values that are developed using historical sales data, analytics, and intuition.

Ask your sales staff to inform you what qualities your leads should possess first.  You should see trends in your previous sales that help you understand the qualities you chose.

To find out what your most important customers have in common, look through your CRM. A higher level of intent may be indicated by accessing a pricing page on your website, for example. At the same time, look at your website analytics to see online behaviour before the purchase.

 Once a collection of attributes has been determined, make a matrix and give each one a value; the greater the score, the more valuable the attribute.

How well a firm fits your product or service and how far along they are in their purchasing process will be indicated by the combined score.

Step #2: Collect the information

Once the right lead has been identified, you must begin gathering data to support your qualification procedure.

To get the lead-scoring process started, your lead capture form should request information.  Achieving a satisfactory conversion rate while also gathering as much information as you can from your leads is the ideal goal.  Your visitors are more likely to leave your lead capture process if you ask for more information because it creates more friction.

As you begin gathering information from your leads, combine it with a marketing automation or CRM platform to score them.

That smooth connectivity is made possible by the majority of sophisticated CRM platforms, such as Salesforce and HubSpot. However, if such connectivity is not possible, you can utilize an API or a platform like Zapier to link your CRM with other technologies.

Step #3: Score the leads

Having established your cri It's time to begin rating your leads now that you've established your criteria and gathered your information.

This feature is often integrated into marketing automation systems and CRMs.  All you have to do is set up the rules such that the leads are automatically scored using the standards you established in step one.

After setting this up and gathering data, determine the scoring criteria that lead to purchases for each of your audience segments. After completing this, you may configure alerts to notify your sales staff when leads get close to certain scores.

Don't fall into the trap of assuming that lead production stops as soon as you collect lead information.  It is about quality above quantity.

As you qualify and score your prospects, your sales team will know which ones to pursue and which should be fostered further by the marketing team.

It is a learning process that should be constantly adjusted and enhanced.

The better you get at it, the higher quality leads you'll generate.

12 top tips for successful lead generation

Enhancing and fine-tuning a data-driven lead generation campaign entails using data insights to improve plans and achieve greater results. Let us look at some of the top tips.

1. Define explicit objectives and metrics: Create SMART goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Select KPIs such as conversion rates, cost per lead, lead quality, and ROI.

2. Use analytical tools:  Use Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Marketo to track and analyze campaign results. Gather B2B data from a variety of sources, including CRM, email marketing, and social media, to create a holistic insight.

3. Categorize your audience: Categorize your audience by age, gender, geography, and occupation.  You should also categorize according to behaviour, taking into account previous purchases, online interactions, and degrees of involvement.

4. Tailor the content:  Make sure your material addresses your target audience's specific demands and challenges.  Test various forms, including blogs, videos, and infographics, to see which ones resonate the most with your target audience.

5. Revamp the website and landing pages: Improve navigation, loading speed, and mobile friendliness. Strategically place clear and engaging calls to action throughout your website and landing pages. Streamline forms to reduce friction and boost submission rates.

6. Use Marketing Automation:  Create automatic email sequences that nurture leads based on their behaviour and engagement levels. Use lead scoring to prioritize sales leads, focusing on those who are most likely to convert.

7. Customize campaigns: Use interactive content to personalize emails, landing pages, and website experiences. Customize messaging for different categories or individual leads to increase relevance and engagement.

8. Monitor and optimize paid campaigns: Evaluate and improve PPC bidding methods regularly.  Continuously assess ad performance and optimize for higher click-through and conversion rates. Implement retargeting tactics to re-engage visitors who have expressed interest but have not converted.

9. Assess and understand data: Conduct regular reviews of campaign performance data to detect trends and insights. Use heatmaps to visualize user interactions and areas of interest on your website.

10. Keep the information fresh and new:  Ensure that your material remains relevant and achieves top SEO ranks. Stay on top of industry trends and changes in customer behaviour, and adjust your plans accordingly.

11. Test out several channels and ideas:  Investigate new marketing methods and platforms to increase your audience reach.  Try out new lead-generation strategies such as interactive content, chatbots, and AI-powered personalization.

12. Synchronize the sales and marketing teams:  Encourage regular feedback from sales and marketing to ensure ongoing refinement and alignment.  Make sure that all teams strive for the same sales goals and targets, enabling open communication and collaboration.

[cool-wilson-david]

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[sheeezu]

My shifting guidebook.

This is my last post, as melodramatic as I was in my last post, since both the posts I've made on here and reddit i got busy with responding to dms (for those confused check my first post) so i didn't permashift.

Unfortunately i still couldn't respond to all the messages and questions sent to my inbox and dms, mainly because of the different time zones and general laziness from my side.

I appreciate everyone who asked questions, although i felt it's a bit unfair since the answers to very common problems didn't reach everyone, and i want everyone to shift, i want everyone to shift tonight, so i decided i'll make a post to share all my knowledge, whatever i know, sort of like a parting gift.

And this isn't going to be a beginners guide, mainly for people who need a final push, and most importantly, for emergency shifters.

Onto the questions (: Divided into categories, skip through according to your needs :)

Detachment from CR, attachment to DR:

How can i detach from my CR/attach to my DR?

Generally, detachment can be achieved by numbing your emotions in your CR. But first, I would advise you to refrain from extreme and unhealthy detachment, because you'll end up getting stuck in a endless cycle of messing up your CR and not shifting (because you'd have no control over yourself, which would lead to your subconscious getting grounded in the messed up version of your CR; assuming that unhealthy detachment is daydreaming about your DR all day without any sense of where you are, without a strong mindset, when you eventually snap back you'll think even more vividly of your CR)

But- "unhealthy" attachment can be utilised to your advantage, to shift, in a controlled manner.

Pick a day to shift, let it be a weekend. After dusk, only indulge yourself in your DR. (When you're sure you have free time and you won't be disturbed) for me, I hid under the blanket, with a fully charged phone, I spent a portion of the hours listening to subliminals, and a portion of the time scrolling through pinterest with spotify in the background (things that remind you of your DR)

I recommend listening to detachment from CR and attachment to DR subs, and if you are a permashifter, and it's your deadline, go all out.

This is my advice for detachment from CR during the day, during the method it'll be different.

How can I detach from my CR while I'm shifting? I can't divert my attention away from my CR body/mind.

I'm writing in the pov of my own method.

The only way you can let go of the CR while you're shifting is with a calm mind. If you're overthinking about how you're going to carry out your method, whether you'd wake back in your CR, you'll have trouble reaching a detached state.

To detach, first of all, make yourself comfortable, do not try to force yourself into doing something, or laying in a position which makes you uncomfortable. Next, think of thoughts which pushes your CR to the side, your CR is just another reality, and you're the creator of it, treat it like its any other pebble on the road.

Affs: (again, void reality meaning your CR)

"Void reality? Huh, can't seem to remember what that is..."

"It's so peaceful not being in the void reality, going to fix it when I eventually return from my DR" (I vividly remember saying this, if you're a permashifter, make it so it fits your situation)

"..."

(Not saying anything says a lot, fall numb to your void reality and go onto your DR)

Remember, you're not answerable to your CR, its not your boss or captor, it's actually the opposite.

To attach to your DR during the method, in the middle phase of my method, say identity affs until you feel familiarise with your DR self, think of memories, have a small conversation with your DR loved ones, do a small rewind of your DR life in your mind, so you can ground yourself. I won't be going into much details on how to shift by becoming your DR self, my first post says it all.

How to detach from CR body?

Detaching your thoughts is basically detaching your CR body, the 30 second black out state is basically a window to shifting, because when your CR shuts up for a even just a few seconds it will give you the opportunity to divert your attention to your DR, no matter how fidgety you are.

Problems faced while shifting:

Something always itches me when I try to shift, any advice?

Before you're shifting, take a look at you're environmental factors, why are you feeling itchy in the first place?

If it isn't bugs, dry skin, I recall that during the method some symptoms are just itchiness.

Say affs to block off your senses first of all, until then try to control yourself

Affs:

"I have stopped sensing my void reality (CR)"

"I have stopped hearing, feeling, seeing my void reality"

If the need gets overwhelming and you're just starting your method, make yourself comfortable and move a bit, or just itch it, you can still shift.

I always fall asleep when I try to shift, what should I do?

During the day you're going to shift, and you know you're just tired and lack sleep, take a nap during the day.

If you didn't nap, or just generally feel sleepy still, turn my method into a sleep method, by letting yourself fall asleep while you're actively acting, thinking like your DR self (you'll wake up in your DR the next day)

Sleeping is a good tool for shifting, especially if you're starting to doze off while doing your method, you can achieve other states such as sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming or mind awake body asleep state, so don't get discouraged, if you prefer awake methods, there are some subliminals you can use to stay awake.

I always fear or dread shifting while doing my method and back out at the last minute.

(Copypasted from reddit)

Familiarise yourself with your DR, it's not scary if you know where you're laying, who you are, what's next to you and who's going to be in the room.

If you already start acting like your DR self then in theory fear shouldn't be here (why would you be scared being yourself in an environment which is supposed to be familiar to you?)

It also depends upon the kind of fear

Fear of spirits snatching your soul mid shift - listen to safety and protection subliminals (no, I wasn't personally possessed by demons last minute but it will put your mind at ease)

Fear of the unknown - familiarise yourself with your DR and shifting

Fear of symptoms - don't focus on them

Just know that nothing fearful will exist as long as you don't allow it to exist, you're the creator of your reality.

Trouble focusing while shifting.

Once you're even a tad bit detached from your CR, you would have no trouble focusing, because it's only your CR body's mind which is causing you trouble, the semi-void state in my method (when you don't feel your body that much, you force yourself to not have thoughts) is all you need to do to go onto the next phase of your method, and trust me, it'll feel very easy for you.

Prior to shifting, listen to frequencies, subliminals, basically flood your subconscious with your desired affs (calm mind subs, focus subs, general shifting and void state subliminals) when you're shifting, stare at the blackness and think of it as a milky way, like you're stargazing, I don't know why but your hyperfixation allows you to focus; count to a hundred, visualise your DR memories, youll eventually reach a trance state where you're focused and ready to shift. (if you can't visualise, then think of it in the form of a story)

Misc:

For folks with ADHD:

(Copy pasted from reddit)

I'd recommend try listening to subliminal (especially bundles) when you aren't feeling like doing anything or if you think your messing up.

Also try to keep yourself as comfortable as possible, if you can distract yourself in a way you aren't attached to your CR activities, for example watching movies or shows or youtube video which require minimal effort and attention

And im saying this only if you're utilizing a single day for shifting, or practicing LOA

while doing the method, i'd try to use as less time as possible, and if you feel off, then you can open your eyes and try the method after a small break.

Can I shift to-

Yes, yes, yes. You can shift to anywhere your mind can think up of, it really is that simple. You can shift to the past, shift to prevent a certain event, you can shift to a reality with a confusing concept, you can shift to become a chair.

Did you shift to a animated DR? How was it like?

I shifted to a pokemon DR where I studied pokemons for a living, but I quickly shifted back after 2 days because I got bored.

Personally for me I get creeped out of anything that's eerie or out of the ordinary.

So basically I scripted that it'll feel normal and I wouldn't even question it.

So I didn't, and now that I think about it, everything was proper, people had noses it wad 3D and everything, so just this reality except everyone looked unnaturally good and the world's graphic were different. If the entire world looks the same then nothing feels weird.

Your opinion on clones/time period?

I don't really care about clones or what they are, mainly because I believe in the consciousness theory, and the multiverse theory is a subdivision of consciousness theory, you basically let yourself believe there is a multiverse and for that reason it exists.

So in perceptive of the multiverse theory, your "clone" is just a body, which comes under your command or control.

It can't mess up your CR life, it'll make the same choices as you like you would have made if you were present in your CR.

Personally I had scripted that when I shift back I will wake up the next morning, following the night when I was shifting.

So my "clone" was just sleeping.

Secondly, stop stressing over your clone,

It'll just do what you want it to do, or just live life how you'd normally would

If you script your clone is a superhuman for the time you're in you DR, you'll shift back to a parallel reality of your CR where a superhuman lived your life for a while, but if you want you can just shift to a better CR like I did.

...

Those are all questions that came in my mind, I tried looking back into the chats and inbox to find more commonly asked questions or something I didn't clarify in my first post but most other questions had straight forward or a clear enough answer.

I really wanted to expand this post with more sections and questions, but in my opinion my first and this post combined are a lot of their own, I think I clarified a lot.

It's been a week being on Tumblr, and I loved helping people out, everyone was kind and unique in their own ways, I looked through my followers scripts and blogs and I enjoyed everyone's dedication to shifting, and their DRs (btw, I hadn't expected to get so many follows and notes, I'm genuinely suprised even now)

It had been a lovely experience being on shiftblr, in my opinion it's the best shifting, or just generally the best community on the internet.

As much as I would like to stay and blog regularly on here, I have to go back home, I'm permashifting in (from the time this post went up) 7 hours, and this time I'm not staying, so refrain from asking me questions after that, I won't respond, but this post will still be up.

Farewell, I hope your shifting journey conclude today and each of you live happily in your DR, with your well deserved love, respect and peace.

Goodbye c:

(Within the 7 hours, I may be partially active, if there is any question that is truly different and a genuine struggle for you, inbox me, I'll try my best to answer; I may as well post my DR script in my last few hours, since some people asked, remind me if I forget; also not posting on reddit, ive already annoyed the mods so much by breaking several rules)

[lilithrosexoxo]

Jackpot

Summary—You and Dante have always talked about pegging but, neither of you have ever made a plan to go through it. That changes after tonight, a night filled with new experiences and sensuality.

SMUT WARNING (18+ only): Anal Fingering, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Pegging, Anal

pairing: Dante x reader 

w/c: 2064

You run up to Dante with a giddy expression while holding a black bag in front of you. This is something you two have discussed before but never made a solid plan on when it would happen. You decided you wanted to surprise him today.

Dante looks at you suspiciously, you look like a kid in a candy store and it’s lowkey making him nervous.

“Babe, what do you have in the bag?", he questions.

“Take a guess, it’s something we talked about before’, you say with a mischievous smirk.

“Oooo is it the new dance dance revolution from Japan!? Aww babe you’re the best”, he says as he goes to hug you.

“Not quite”, you whisper as you slowly pull the box out the bag and show it to Dante.

You see his eyes widen and a blush flow across his cheeks. The box being displayed is a pegging kit for beginners. You two discussed trying it out months ago but neither of you ever took the initiative to make it happen but you decided to make that change today. You finally decided to explore the sex shop that you pass on your way home and lo and behold right in the window was a pegging sex kit. Right then you felt the urge to grab it before you could chicken out of the idea. You were so excited after the purchase that you raced home, driving way over the speed limit so you could get Dante under you as soon as possible. Just the thought of the man as a blushing blubbering mess as you ram into him had you feeling hot all over and running up the stairs to your apartment even tripping on the top step in your haste.

“Oh..  and you want to do it now?”

“Yes love, I've done plenty of research over the past couple of months and I promise to make you feel good”, you grab his hand and lead him to the bathroom’ “now let’s strip and get all cleaned up before we start”.

xoxo

You lay Dante on the red silk sheets below as you climb on top of him. Your kiss is a clash of teeth and tongue as you kiss each other desperately. You feel lust pool within your stomach as your tongues move against each other. His tongue just feels so good against your own it has you moaning. You bite his plush lower lip before moving to pepper his jaw with kisses as you move lower. You feel the heat radiating off his body and bite his neck, making sure to leave a mark. Dante is gorgeous and both men and women always have their eyes on him so anytime you get frisky you make sure to leave plenty of marks to claim him as yours. Yes jealousy is not a good look on you but you honestly can’t help it. You move to play with his nipples, twisting them between your fingers causing him to groan. You grind your weeping core against his cock and the feeling makes you a moaning mess as your clit grinds on his throbbing length. 

“Yeah baby use my cock, your pussy feels so good drooling all over me”, he whispers huskily in your ear. 

“Fuck Dante you feel so good”, you whine as you grind your hips faster. 

Dante holds onto your hips and starts thrusting his cock between your soppy folds. You almost get lost in the sensation until you remember this night is all about his pleasure and trying something new. You stop moving your hips and Dante groans underneath you.

“Dante tonight is all about you, let me make you feel good”, you say as you kiss him softly before sitting up.

You look down at his cock and his tip is flushed an angry red and leaking. You figure now is the time and grab the lube from the nightstand and apply it generously on your middle finger. Dante sits up on his elbows and looks down at your lubed up finger and gulps nervously.

You can sense the nerves rolling off him and the hesitancy.

You cup his face with your non-lubed hand and rub his cheek with your thumb, “Baby it’s me, you know I would never do anything to hurt you. You trust me right?”, you say as you take your hand away and begin gently kissing his inner thighs. You want this to be a good experience for him and have no problem taking your time to make sure he’s comfortable.

Dante knows you’re right. You would never hurt him and with this realization his body relaxes. 

“Yeah babe I trust you”. He can feel his heart hammering in his chest with excitement and nervousness swirling in his stomach. This is something he’s always been interested in trying but never trusted a partner enough to explore, that was the case until he met you. He feels your finger swirl around his entrance and takes a deep breath.

Your eyes meet and you gently prod at his entrance working him open. You slowly slide your middle finger in all the way to the knuckle. 

“You’re doing so good”, you coo sweetly as Dante groans. Fuck it’s only one finger but he already feels like you’re so deep. It’s a feeling he’s not uncustomed to but it’s not unpleasant as he wills his body to relax. He knows the sooner he adjusts the quicker it’ll feel better. He sees you squirt more lube onto your finger and feels you wiggling around like you’re searching for something.

“Babe what are you ee-”, He yelps as he feels a jolt of pleasure run through his body as you find his prostate. He sees you have a devilish smirk on your face as you insert another finger and gently massage the spot.

"What's wrong babe cat got your tongue?', you question as you rub against that spot.

He feels his brain going fuzzy as the pleasure zips through his body he can't even respond to you. Fuck he would’ve done this sooner if he knew it was going to feel this good. He feels pre leak from his tip and goes to wrap a hand around his cock that you quickly swat away. He groans as you pick up speed thrusting your fingers in and out of his puckering hole.

You feel blessed by the vision currently bestowing you. Dante is panting heavily and his cheeks are flushed a rosy pink. His eyes are closed in pleasure as he throws his head back and releases a high pitched whine. His fluttering hole is sucking your fingers in every time you pull them out. Just the thought of such a powerful demon hunter losing himself in pleasure from a couple of fingers has your core clenching pathetically around nothing. You decide to surprise him with some extra stimulation and lower yourself to lick a long languid stripe from the base of his cock to his reddened tip as you continuously thrust your fingers inside.

“Fuck, just like that”, he shouts so loudly you’re pretty sure the neighbors heard it. 

You lick all the pre leaking from his tip savoring the taste. You slowly sink further and further down his massive cock until you gag, wincing as you feel the corners of your mouth stretch to their limit to accommodate his girth. Taking Dante down your throat is always a struggle no matter how many times you do it but the look on his face makes it worth it. You slowly work your mouth up and down as pearly tears well up in your eyes and drool pools in the corners of your mouth. 

Dante feels like he’s floating on cloud nine especially when he looks down and sees you gagging on his cock.

He feels the pressure building in his balls from your skillful tongue and fingers. He feels like he’s about to burst at the seams.

“Y-Y/N, fuck I’m so close, p-please”, he stammers.

You’re surprised it usually takes longer for Dante to cum but the dual stimulation must be getting to him. You ease your mouth off and remove your fingers resulting in a whine from Dante.

“Now now don’t be so impatient Dante. This isn’t the main event”, you chuckle. 

You get up and insert your legs into the harness and attach the dildo. You grab the lube and squeeze a handful onto your hand before gliding the cold sticky liquid over your cock making sure you’re lubed up as much as possible. 

You look at the swell of Dante’s ass and can’t help but to slap his cheek leaving a red handprint in your wake. 

“Babe please stop teasing me and put it in already. The anticipation is killing me”, he whines.

You chuckle and push his thighs in towards his chest, “Hold them right there for me sweety”, you say and he quickly holds his legs in place. You rub the tip of your lubed dildo around his pink fluttering hole and slowly start to push inside. You hear Dante mutter a curse word and immediately stop.

“Fuck babe please don’t stop”, he groans.

You continue to push inside until you're buried to the hilt and your hips are flush against his ass. You don’t move to give him time to adjust to the feeling. The dildo in the kit wasn’t exactly small or large, just around medium sized but this was his first time being penetrated and you didn’t want to overwhelm him.

“How you doing Dante? Feel good?”, you ask as you pepper his face with kisses and gently thrust inside him.

“So fucking good, you’re so deep’, he slurs. He feels so full, it’s a new feeling but it feels euphoric, "Babe I'm ready you can move", he pants.

You begin to move and he can feel you continuously glide against his prostate and it has him panting hard. He hates to admit but he can already feel the telltale signs of an orgasm coming on. He looks up at you with hazy eyes and sees a warm genuine smile plastered across your face.

You give Dante slow sensual thrusts trying to convey your care and love to the man through your bodies. 

Dante is melting under you, not a thought is going on in his head besides how good this all feels. You’re ramming into his prostate with each thrust and it has him leaking like crazy. You take the time to pinch and pull on his perky pink nipples to add stimulation. He feels like he’s losing his mind from all the pleasure he’s experiencing.

“You’re taking me so well Dante” you coo sweetly, “Still feeling good baby?”, you check in as you slow your thrusts so he can answer.

“S-so good babe, please don’t stop. Fuck me!”, he shouts as he grips onto your hips and starts pulling you harshly to him.

Well if that’s what he wants and he’s feeling good you think to yourself as you pick up the pace. Loud squelch sounds are echoing through the room as skin slaps against skin. The headboard is banging against the wall and you’re sure you’ll both get another noise complaint from your sexual escapades. With Dante’s moans and groans floating through the air all the sounds are creating a nasty symphony that has your slick dripping down your thighs. You lean down and press your lips against his swallowing his moans.

He breaks away to warn you, “Babe I’m about to cum!”. 

Pride swells in your chest as ropes of cum spurt all over his abs as he cums untouched. It was a glorious sight to behold as his back arches, his face scrunched in bliss with his pink lips forming a perfect O and his milky cum glistening and dripping down on his abs. You stop thrusting to take a finger and run it through the sticky mess before moving your finger to your mouth and licking it clean. You moan at the taste making Dante groan underneath you at the debauchery.

“Babe that was freakin awesome but boy am I beat”, he says as he flops his head down on the pillow, “but don’t worry I’m not gonna leave you hanging. Come ride my face, it's the best seat in the house,” he says as he grins up at you.

[parkjayssi]

✦ PAC : QUE SERA SERA

what do your guides want to tell you?

like & rb are appreciated

do not copy or steal my work

i'm a beginner in tarot so please take everything with a grain of salt

🎃 | pile one!

pile one, it seems the guides have some good news, especially on the financial side considering how i've pulled a suit of pentacles here. this means all your tangible goals have a high chance to manifest itself into your reality. the guides want to let you know that working towards your tangible goals is the best right now. a mix of manifesting and striving to work towards your goal is advised by your guides as they will have blessed you with countless opportunities in the upcoming months. you are advised to stay focused and walk ahead, as whatever you wish for is to be soon in your hands. make sure to not lose focus as it may destroy the very chance you've gotten. as for anyone in relationship, or wanting to be in one, you all will have your wishes fulfilled as there is a high chance of your relationship turning out to be prosperous and secure. either way, anyone attracted to this pile is going to have good days ahead so don't stop manifesting for what you desire.

🎃 | pile two!

pile 2, is there a decision you're struggling with that has led you to question your beliefs? or just how you view the world in general? the guides have told me to deliver this to you : "let go of all the worries, and be born anew". whatever you are worried about is just not worth it. the decision has led you feeling trapped, not knowing what to do and has you standing at the crossroads. the guides tell you to think twice before going forward but to also shed your old self while doing so. the universe is testing your beliefs and ideals, and in doing so is leading you to the path you deserve. whether you want to shed it or not is something that depends on you.

🎃 | pile three!

whatever you are working on pile 3, the guides want to tell you only one thing - that is - to stop being so uptight about it. is there something you're really dead set on? a plan? a trip? whatever it is, you are advised to be flexible and not stick to what you really think is perfect. whatever you plan to do is not going to go exactly how you want and that's life. the guides tell you to embrace those ups and downs and enjoy the journey instead of being uptight on making it perfect. who knows? maybe you would find something worthwhile during this journey that will stick to you for a lifetime.

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Advice for beginner Hellenists

This isn't necessarily a post where I include a list of Gods, epithets, resources, and offerings for said Gods, but rather, hopefully soothing the worries of those of us who are starting the journey into the religion. As someone who was once in a religion that made other religions sound like something absolutely terrifying, my journey into Hellenism was once which was also... pretty terrifying, and this fear was mostly just from my own mind.

Anyways, my list of Advice:

You can literally just start praying. If you want to get more formal, you can absolutely get more formal, but you very much don't have to. I've definitely had my first prayers to some Gods be "hello, [God or Goddess's name], I want to worship You! Please lead me in my journey. Thanks!" I can promise you, the Gods are much kinder and more understanding than any of us fully know.

You can also just start worshiping in general. I feel like I've seen on occasion people worried about the Gods not "calling" to them. This is definitely not something that needs to happen pre-worship. If you find them interesting enough to pray to, then that in and of itself is enough.

In a similar vein, I wouldn't be too concerned about the idea of "signs". I feel like there's a tendency for folks to be incredibly worried about everything when first starting out - the behavior of a candle, the sighting of an animal, a strange dream, all can suddenly seem to take on jarring significance. But I can promise you, the Gods don't constantly give out signs, and frequently, these strange occurrences can be attributed to the mundane. When something comes from the Gods, you will know, trust me!

You don't have to worry too much about the idea of cleanliness, be it spiritual or physical. Khernips are cool, and I'd definitely recommend integrating them into your practice sooner or later. Hygiene is cool too! But if I'm being honest, we in the modern day are far more physically clean, and a lot less likely to regularly encounter the type of pollution that would have been encountered in ancient Greece.

The Gods will be at varying distances over the course of your worship. Sometimes, They will feel close, joyfully, burningly so. And sometimes, They will feel far, and prayers may even feel a bit futile. Both of those are perfectly okay, and neither of those will be permanent.

And, once again in a similar vein, you will likely not find yourself having constant, close mystical experiences with the Gods (i.e., conversations, visions, etc.). These experiences are rare and far between, and I would advise that you not make them a central part of your worship. They will come when the Gods deem you're ready for them, and you definitely won't be expecting it. Focus on the little things!

My final thing (for now) is that you also shouldn't put undue pressure on yourself to be doing some sort of big offering to the Gods. If that's what you can afford, that's great! But if not, fresh water, a small wildflower that you came across and picked*, or a small bit of a meal also count as a good offering!

And with that, my (much longer than I was previously planning on) list of things for beginners to keep in mind! A lot of this list is made up of things which I picked up along the way, and a lot of it is also made from my own personal hindsight being 20/20. I hope this is helpful to someone, and that it maybe soothes some of the (incredibly common) worries which so often accompany those who are venturing into the world of Hellenic polytheism!

[topazadine]

Writing Post Masterlist

All my posts about writing - plus some I absolutely loved by other writers.

Masterlists by Other People (all good)

"Writing Tips Masterpost" by @deception-united - Deception-United has an incredibly wealth of resources available, far more comprehensive and detailed than mine. Go check it out!

"WQA Post Master Lists" by @writingquestionsanswered - Another fantastic and wonderfully comprehensive resource that covers damn near everything you need to know about writing. Genuinely one of the best free resources on writing that you could find on the internet.

General Advice for a Happy Writing Life

"The Myth of the Martyr Artist" - An incredibly important post, perhaps my most important one ever, that discusses why mental illness is a burden, not a benefit. I have no idea why this even needs to be said, but it does, apparently.

"Building Self-Esteem as a Writer" - Why you gotta be nice to yourself. You gotta.

"Identifying bad writing advice" - Warning signs that the post you are reading kinda sucks and you should click off.

"Advice to Beginner Writers: The Good, the Bad, and the Unpleasant" - How long it takes to become a good writer, what to focus on when learning, and why fanfic is such a useful tool.

"Mindset Shifts: Fanfiction -> Original Fiction" - What fanfic writers should know about deciding to take on original characters and stories.

"Defeating Protracted Writer's Block" - What to do when you find it impossible to write for days, weeks, or months at a time.

"Five Common Anxieties of Newbie Writers, Demystified" - Explorations of five mindsets that can set younger writers back as they learn their craft, including overcompetitiveness, overdescribing, and fearing they're "too old."

"Good Motivations for Continuing to Write" - Why it is crucial to have a passion for writing beyond fame and fortune.

"Extremely controversial writing opinions that will make you mad (but I'm going to say them anyway)" - Things you really don't want to hear, but need to be said. A bit of tough love, including the insignificance of ideas, the cold hard truth about how non-writers react to your writing, and the essentiality of having a well-rounded life.

"Why Mindfulness Is a Key Practice for Writers" - On the need to slow down and let our brain rest - plus some options that are categorically not sitting there in dead silence (boring).

"Writing When Happy" - Wherein I hijack someone's question to discuss the Myth of the Martyr Artist, why we might self-limit because of it, and how to do the impossible: write when we're happy.

"The Neurodivergent Writer’s Guide to Fun and Productivity" by @bookishdiplodocus - Excellent advice on how enjoying the process and reminding yourself that writing is supposed to be fun can help you stay motivated and productive, even when your brain is not cooperating.

"The Glorification of Self-Deprecation in Art/Writing Spaces" by @nicolkoutoulakiauthor - I've discussed before how crucial it is to have a healthy self-esteem when writing, but Nicol does it even better here. Nicol also includes some excellent reframing tactics so you can stay motivated.

Generalish Writing Advice (multifactorial)

"Signs That You Will Probably Finish Your Writing Project" - An analysis of the mindset that leads to results, and encouragement on how to develop them.

"'How Do I Start Writing?'" (Or; A Psychoanalysis of Newbie Writer Fears) - Inspired by the dozens of Reddit posts that ask this exact same thing, often with useless responses. So why do people ask this? I offer my theory.

"I Can Think of Ideas But Can't Write Them!" - A consideration of the many reasons you might find it difficult to get started on your precious idea-baby.

"How to elevate your writing style with 6 simple hacks" - Information about how to develop a prettier prose style, catch errors, develop good dialogue, and focus on brevity.

"How to improve your writing style : a 5-steps guide" by @writer-logbook - Especially great information on why reading widely is so helpful for your craft!

"Some Writing Advice" by @whispers-whump - Especially great discussion of why you shouldn't write what you mean.

"Practical Writing Advice Part 2" by @so-many-ocs - Does what it says on the tin. Simple, easy-to-follow advice that can break you out of writer's block.

"25 Prose Tips for Writers" by @thewriteadviceforwriters - I absolutely love the emphasis on sound and harmony here. As someone whose entire book series revolves around the magic of poetry, of course I think this is incredibly important advice!

"Pacing and Show Don't Tell" by @mylordshesacactus - Two for one deal! First, learn more about why pacing is important; then, look at some examples of the classic advice "show, don't tell." The post does a great job on breaking down what show don't tell actually means and what is not a violation of this guideline so that newer writers aren't confused.

Writing tools

"How to Build a Sustainable Writing Habit Through SCIENCE (Fuck Off, NaNoWriMo)" - Why NaNoWriMo doesn't actually motivate young writers and how to do better through a spreadsheet (yes, really, a spreadsheet). It also explains the importance of intrinsic motivation!

"'I've Outlined Too Much and Now I Can't Write!' (Or: the Double Outline Method for Overanxious Plotters)" - Some of us tend to go absolutely ham on our outlines, to the point where they're practically their own books. But then we also tend to not actually do the writing attached to said outline. Does this mean outlining is useless? Of course not. My method lets you have your outline and eat it too. (.... Wait.)

"'How Do I Make Myself Start Writing?' (Tips to Get the Damn Thing Done) - In this post, I provide a step-by-step guide to start writing, including a few tools to help improve motivation and concentration.

"How to Write Faster (And, Hopefully, Better Too)" - Eliminating distractions and forcing your brain to write is key to getting more done. Here, I explain how you might be limiting yourself by too much thinking and not enough doing.

Worldbuilding

"Stop Making Everything So Damn Complicated!" - Why fantasy (and scifi) does not need to be dizzyingly intricate to be enjoyable.

"How to Kick Ass at Worldbuilding" - I offer some suggestions on how to create a grounded and interesting world that will not bore your readers, based on real life examples.

"Grounded vs. Airy Fantasy" by @aethersea - Excellent breakdown of different levels of groundedness in fantasy and why it's important to understand your own approach.

"Fantasy Guide to Building a Culture" by @inky-duchess - Thorough and methodical analysis of what can create a compelling fantasy culture, including those things that many fail to think about when writing.

"Writing tip - Research" by @pygmi-cygni - Fantastic assessment of the importance of research, including for fantasy stories. As Pygmi-Cygni said, a lot of people claim that they don't need to do any research for fantasy novels, which isn't true! Any parallels to IRL need to be realistic, or you will lose credibility.

Plotting

"How to Use Chomolungma for Writing Adventure Stories; Or, the Plot Mountain Method" - If you're sick of saving felines who should really figure their own shit out, it's time to head to Plot Mountain. In this post, I offer you an alternative to the formulaic "Save the Cat" and "Hero's Journey" which also incorporates tension, characterization, and forward momentum.

"Avoiding Melodrama In Your Writing" - The most annoying all things: melodrama. My least favorite thing. Do not do it. I will show you how.

"How to Find a Plot When All You Have is Characters and Setting" by @rheas-chaos-motivation - This is a common problem for many writers, when you have cool characters or an intriguing setting. This short post can help you kickstart your ideas for how to create an intriguing plot that has built-in tension.

Description

"Remembering Perspective When Writing Descriptions" - Key factors to think about when describing other characters or settings from your POV.

"Description, Momentum, and Tension; Or, How Not to Bore a Reader" - Why, when, and where to put description so that people don't skip over it. Hopefully.

"Writing Notes: Seasons" - Each season has both benefits and downsides. In this post, we look at the negatives and positive aspects of each so you can decide how a particular season may strengthen your themes - plus some descriptions to help inspire you.

"Writing Advice: Spicy Mundanity" - Wherein I explain how to stop having boring descriptions by packing in characterization.

"How to Write Smut?" by @unfriendlywriter - Wonderful examples of how to write heartstopping smut.

"How to pull off descriptions" by @fictionstudent - Fictionstudent has a ton of great posts, both about film analysis and about the art of writing. I especially liked this one because it discusses how important perspective is for descriptions and the importance of filling in the details as a character would rather than just throwing it all at the reader at one time.

"How to avoid White Room Syndrome" by @writerthreads - Fantastic and focused advice on how to ensure you're offering readers just enough setting to help them envision the world.

Characterization

"Writing Relatable Characters; Or, Using Human Failures to Your Advantage" - Explaining how you can use character flaws and human needs to create a relatable character. Also explains the basic development of a plot, which is about equilibrium.

"How NOT to Write a Character" - Wherein I give you some examples of annoying characters we want to punt off a cliff so you can watch yourself.

"Writing Strong Female Characters" - Why you should give your female characters a secret goal, as well as how to avoid common 'strong female' stereotypes.

"Writing Compelling Trauma in Fiction: Dos and Don'ts" - How to avoid melodrama and create intriguing emotional wounds for characters.

"Quality Assurance Checks for Character Development" - Thought exercises that can help you differentiate characters, prune down unnecessary characters, develop true chemistry between LI and MC, and avoid having too many POVs.

"Developing Character Agency (Or; Cutting the Plot Strings)" - A discussion of character agency and how to ensure your characters are not bound by the narrative.

"Writing Notes: Thought Distortions" by @literaryvein-reblogs - Some psychological concepts you can use in your writing to add depth to characters.

"Questions about your character’s perspective on love and relationships" by @luna-azzurra - Excellent questions that can help you delve into your character's attachment style, what baggage they may bring to a current relationship, and how to create conflict through mentality.

"How to Write a Confession of Love," also by luna-azzurra - Perfect discussion of how to create tension, the utility of setting, not making it perfect, and including the other character's response.

Revisions

"Common Writing Issues that Reduce Readability" - Examples of fixes for four common issues: double describing, long sentences, overexplaining, and head hopping.

"How to Avoid Purple Prose" - A critical part of the revision process is making sure your writing is clear and balanced. In this post, I show a blatant example of purple prose and provide suggestions on how to make a more elegant passage.

"Differential Diagnosis When Your Writing Is Getting Worse" by @ariaste - Fantastic explanation by a professional writer about why you might feel like your writing is getting worse and what to do about it.

"How to Make Your Writing Less Stiff Part 3" by @physalian - Physalian's whole blog has some excellent advice, so definitely give it a look!

"How to Improve Your Writing" - Also by literaryvein-reblogs, this offers some excellent exercises to help with sentence-level issues, such as modifiers, parallelism, and details.

Publishing

"How to promote your book online : a discussion about social media (and few tips)" by writer-logbook - Great tips about how to get more interest in your book. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on patience and consistency. Writer-logbook has some excellent info overall about the nitty-gritty of writing, so I definitely recommend poring through their blog in general. (That's why they're included here twice!)

"A masterclass in how not to market your books, in one singular tweet" - Wherein I help you derive lessons from an abysmal tweet by an author.

"Mistakes I Made When Self-Pubbing My First Book (Part 1: Mindset Edition)" - I talk about how being delulu is not the solulu, that yes marketing is important (even if it is horrible), and how a bit of self-confidence can go a long way.

"Mistakes I Made When Self-Pubbing My First Book (Part 2: Presentation Edition)" - Graphics and covers and blurbs! Learn about them. Do not do what I did.

"Mistakes I Made When Self-Pubbing My First Book (Part 3: Ads and Reviews Edition)" - Why you have to get reviews. You gotta. And you gotta demand them. Shake those reviews out of your readers. You'll thank me later.

Specific Research Advice

"Assassination Methods Through the Decades: A Writer’s Handbook" by @hayatheauthor - A thorough review of different assassination methods, including a section discussing common assassination methods by region!

"How to Write Someone in a Wheelchair" - A group effort! This is a reblog chain discussing body language in manual wheelchairs, the mechanics of power wheelchairs, wheelchair propulsion methods, and a reminder that just because someone is in a wheelchair doesn't mean they can't walk short distances.

"Writing Research Notes: Caves" - Oh caves how I love them. Caves. Let me tell you about them if you want to write about caves. Blessed.

"Writing Research Notes: Horses" - A beginner's guide to horse mindsets, whether horses like working, approaching horses, how to ride, and tips on training.

"Writing Research Notes: Bipolar Disorder" - Written by me, a writer with bipolar disorder! This shares basic facts about bipolar, offers a list of symptoms you can use, and cautions you against spreading misinformation through poor characterization or myths.

"Writing Research Notes: Politics" - I provide a quick overview about governments and international relations, based off my suffering while getting an MA in International Relations.

"Stop Doing This in Injury Fics!" by @pygmi-says-hi - Discusses some common errors when writing whump/angst. The fever part was especially helpful for me!

"Writing US Military Characters" by @lookbluesoup - An explanation of the habits and mentality of US military characters. Many of these were quite helpful for my fantasy military characters, so you can get a lot of mileage out of these for soldiers in other militaries too!

Little Funsies

"What Painting Style Is Your Writing?" - A short exploration of different writing styles to help you better understand your own approach.

I'll be adding onto this as I continue to scroll through my old likes and, of course, as I find more resources.

[3liza]

i think RFK being an outspoken anti-food additive guy is going to be disastrous for food safety cultural awareness generally. one of the absolute worst things to be a stopped clock about bcause every single Colbert report liberal is going to get so reactionary about it. i mean food safety/additive scolds like myself are already on very thin ice re: sounding insane. i had many frustrating discussions with fellow leftists about PFAS (teflon) in the years preceding the recent "oops it turns out teflon toxicity has been a massive coverup this whole time" articles because "they tested it and it was safe lol".

teflon is an interesting example in particular, because for decades all veterinarians and bird owners above the beginner level of bird ownership have been aware that using nonstick cooking utensils inside your house was a great way to instantly kill all your birds, even if you weren't superheating the pans or using steel wool on them or otherwise intentionally aerosolizing them. it was just a known thing, not to do that. but for some reason this literal canary in the metaphorical coalmine was considered unimportant to the assumption that PFAS chemicals were completely safe for humans. this wasnt really a "dose makes the poison" situation either, nor was it like a "dogs cant metabolize grapes and will die from eating a snack that is healthy for humans", it was more like "you can have a little bit of lead paint as a treat but it costs another cubic inch of your brain every time you take a sip". the safe amount of PFAS to have inside your body or the general environment is zero, every particle above that level is bad for everyone. birds just die sooner from it because they're very small and very porous. i mean teflon still hasnt been regulated or demonized properly, that;'s going to take decades, as it did with arsenic, cigarettes, asbestos, lead, etc. until something like 26,000 people a year (as quoted in this video) are dying from provably PFAS-caused disease, the FDA isnt going to regulate shit. which is how it is with every horrible thing americans eat and probably a big reason why people with various chronic illnesses usually report feeling mysteriously less bad when traveling in most of europe, even when eating foods theyre "allergic to' in the USA

[cool-wilson-david]

LeadsMate AI by Firas and Rahul Review

LeadsMate AI by Firas and Rahul – Enhance Your Lead Generation Efforts with AI Insights and Automation for Higher Conversions Using LeadsMate AI LeadsMate AI by Firas and Rahul is quickly becoming an indispensable tool for businesses aiming to modernize their lead generation process. Powered by state-of-the-art AI, it pulls data from a variety of sources, such as Google, LinkedIn, Facebook Meta,…

[call-sign-shark]

Pairing: The Darkling x Heartrender!You || The Darkling x HeartrenderOC!Reader

Summary: A public confrontation during dinner escalates and leads General Kirigan to show his quiet but firm protection of you to everyone. Especially Zoya.

Words: 4K

TW: graphic mention of injury, humiliation, reference to past prostitution, slight alteration of canon events: Zoya was never Kirigan's fav.

Part IV - The Fear Within

Previous || Masterlist || Next

As you walked out of the training room alongside General Kirigan, his shadow-like presence enveloping you entirely, murmurs erupted behind you. They were only whispers and yet sounded as loud as the cacophony of screams and cries that followed the frightening silence after a bomb exploded.

Did you see what she did to Zoya? The way she almost tore her apart?

Broken ribs, one lung reduced to mush, heart badly injured, the healer who took care of the arrogant Squaller couldn’t believe such damages were the result of a Grisha. While Heartrenders had always been the most feared and valuable soldiers of the Second Army, none of them could induce that much damage with one sole flick of the wrist. Let alone a beginner who had only used her abilities a few times. The origins of your power remained a mystery for everyone including Zoya, yet she was at least sure of one thing: hadn't General Kirigan intervened, she would have died today in a painful, gruesome way.

Following the incident, you had quietly followed the Black General through the corridors until he stopped and turned to face you. His dark eyes, darkest as the blackest moonless night, had bore into you, as though searching for something.

“You need to control it,” He had said, his tone still firm but the pace of his voice slower, for he was carefully choosing his next words, “Your power is immense. I can feel it pulsing around you like a chained beast… But it’s dangerous.” He let out a long exhale through his nostrils, “You can’t let anger guide you.”

The weight of guilt you felt in your weaving chest became heavier, settling over you like an anvil, “I didn’t mean to—”

“I know,” Aleksander interrupted, his gaze softening ever so slightly, “But intention doesn’t matter when lives are at stake.” 

You simply nodded, unable to find the words to respond, and watched him disappear upstairs with his black kefta dancing behind him like shadows lingering in his wake.

Weeks passed and life at the Little Palace soon fell into a rhythm for you — a rhythm laced with unrelenting tension and exhaustion. Days were a grueling cycle of harsh training sessions where you pushed your limits under the watchful eyes of Ivan and the disdainful stares of your peers. As for your nights, they weren’t any better. Here in this foreign place, terrifying memories of your past impatiently waited for you to sleep in order to plague your dreams, turning them into nerve-wracking nightmares. And when the nightmares wouldn’t come, it was the shadows that crept into your room at night, seeming to carry Aleksander’s presence with them and to watch you as you rolled over in your bedsheets.

Despite everything, there still were moments where you could breathe again and they were when Fedyor spent time with you. Admittedly, you had found an unlikely friend in him considering how everyone carefully avoided you, but his cheerful disposition, unwavering kindness, and humor gave you a sense of normalcy in a world that constantly reminded you that you didn’t belong here. Nevertheless, Fedyor wasn’t always there, his frequent missions for Kirigan leaving you alone to fend off the cold hostility and wariness of the other Grisha. You couldn’t blame them though, not after almost killing a well-known figure of the Little Palace in front of their eyes.

Kirigan too was rarely present during the day, the last time you truly spoke being your last discussion about the necessity of learning to control your powers. For weeks, your encounters with him were fleeting — just brief moments stolen between his duties as General and your relentless training. Yet, even in his absence Aleksander was always there, making you silently understand that he was watching over you. Not in a way that felt overbearing but in a manner that made you hyper-aware of his presence nearby. 

Sometimes it was a brush of his warm hand against your freezing one as he handed you a training sword. Some others, a shared glance across the room that made your heart miss a beat. Or the way he stood a tiny bit too close when he spoke to you, his voice a velvet promise that made your skin prickle. Each time, his intensity steadied you and unnerved you all the same for you hated how easily he seemed to consume your thoughts for some unknown reasons.

Once, during a passing encounter in the hallways, Kirigan stopped beside you, his void-like and unfathomable gaze sweeping over you as if carving every detail of your face in his memory.

“You’re improving,” He said with an even tone, though his somber pupils gleamed when the Palace’s light hit them at the right angle.

You couldn’t help the shiver that ran through your spine, nor control how your pulse quickened a little under his scrutiny, “Thank you, General.” You replied, your tone neutral despite the inner turmoil he triggered in you. His lips curled into a small, enigmatic smile that disappeared as fast as it had come before he walked away, leaving your heart racing even more.  Why the fuck am I feeling like this whenever he’s around? you thought. 

Since your childhood, you have always considered yourself an anomaly. Like an island detached from the ocean of emotions that seemed to flood the others so effortlessly. You were cold, unfeeling, almost clinical, which had often left you wondering if something fundamental within you was broken. Like, an essential piece of humanity missing. Joy, sadness, empathy — they had always felt more muted than they should have been, like distant echoes you could experiment but never fully grasp.

But not with him.

The weight of him was thrilling each time he entered the room and you hated it. Hated the loss of control, the way your supposedly buried emotions now surged to the surface like a storm breaking through the calm waters. To be honest, you didn’t know what unnerved you more: the way he looked at you as if you were the only person in the room or the way you found yourself wanting to be looked at like that by him. And there was more to it, something deeper. It wasn’t just about his commanding presence nor the unbearable tension when your skin brushed his, but it was a pull. A tug at something unseen within you. As though your souls had already known each other in another life, an unspoken murmur of recognition that both terrified and soothed you. You couldn’t understand this foreign ache of familiarity in his presence. 

The ache of something that called you home.

The dining hall was alive with chatter, filled with a background noise that only served to highlight how utterly alone you were even surrounded by the crowd of Grisha who lived here. Prior to going downstairs for dinner, a gifted tailor named Genya had asked you why you weren’t wearing the red kefta given to the Heartrenders. To this, you had simply replied “Why should I bother? I’m not one of them” and proceeded to leave, closing your grip on the collar of the white and comfortable fur coat you had found in your bedroom’s closet. Quickly sneaking into the dining hall, you walked to the far end of a table and sat there.

With your gaze fixed on your plate, you were trying hard to ignore the whispers all around you. As always, the other Grisha avoided you, their fear palpable and their resentment an unpleasant feeling that washed over you. Fedyor’s absence was particularly striking tonight. How much you would have loved him to be next to you, listening to his stories and laughing at his gossip but here you were, without an ally. 

You were about to bite into your fork when the room fell silent with the kind of quiet that only preceded trouble. Wondering what was happening, you looked up and quickly understood: Zoya had stepped into the dining hall and was approaching you, a cruel smirk playing on her pretty lips.

“Still sitting alone, I see. Fitting for someone like you.”  Her voice was loud enough to draw the attention from the nearby tables. Attention… Everything you didn’t need.

You didn’t respond, keeping your pale eyes firmly on her as she slowly moved her wrist to make the content of the cup she was holding swirl. It was probably wine.

Unfazed by your silence, she leaned closer and continued to taunt you, “You know, for someone so dangerous you’re awfully quiet. And out of place. Like a wolf pretending to be tame.” 

“And you’re awfully chatty for someone who begged for her life a few weeks ago.” Your words felt like sharp shards of ice that pierced through her ego. “Have you finished yet? I’d like to eat without having to bear that stupid voice of yours.” 

But Zoya wasn’t finished. 

“Tell me first... What does it feel like to be the monster even among deadly Grisha?” 

This time, your grip tightened on your fork as Kirigan’s words circled in your mind like a broken record.  You need to control it. You need to control it.

“Struggling to reply? Here, let me help.” Joining words to deeds, the Squaller let out a bitter giggle and, with a theatrical flourish, she lifted the cup she was holding and dumped its contents  —a thick, deep crimson liquid — onto your white outfit. The splash of its cold content against your chest made you freeze instantly. It was the metallic scent that hit you first and made you understand what the liquid was even before you saw the dark crimson stains on your dress and coat: it wasn’t wine. It was pig’s blood.

A chorus of gasps echoed through the room, overhung by Zoya’s and her friends’ laughter that rang hollow in the silence.

“Red suits you far better, Sankta!” She sneered.

Rage suddenly boiled beneath your skin, making your body stiffen and your little hands tremble – not with fear, but with a fury so cold it scorched you alive. And even though the whispers and laughter around you were deafening, resounding like a thunderstorm, you could barely hear them above the buzzing in your ears. For a moment, your vision blurred as you stood up in one violent motion, your chair falling to the ground with a loud thud. Your brutal movement led Zoya to take a step back, anticipating your reaction and potentially violent way to attack her back but nothing came. 

You stood rigid in front of her with blood splattered on your diaphanous skin and white outfit, your chest heaving as your quick, shallow breaths resounded in your skull. The crimson streaks soaked the fabric and created a grim contrast with your pale, delicate figure. Of course, you’d have loved to erase the smug smirk on her lips by pouncing on her and ripping her face with your own sharp nails in an animal-like fit of rage, but your body was petrified. Your eyes burned with uncontrollable anger, unblinking, as your fists clenched at your sides, even more trembling under the weight of the humiliation.

“You—” Your throat went dry before you could say something else, your resentment so deep that it strangled you, choked every word you wanted to utter and every insult you wanted to scream.

“What’s the matter, little Saint?” Zoya tilted her head, beaming.

“Is this how we treat one of your own, now?” 

The shadows in the corners stretched toward the two figures standing, creeping slowly in black smoke curls, and the more they came close, the more it seemed to feed the storm that was building up inside you. As the atmosphere became heavier, silence fell again in the room and hushed all whispers as the Black General appeared, emerging through the thick fog of his darkness. Without wasting time nor condescending to glance at Zoya, Kirigan moved toward you with an unsettling calm, his pace conveying determination and his boots echoing softly against the luxurious stone floor of the dinning hall. The two obsidian of his eyes, sharp and as dark as midnight, locked onto you as if you were the only person in the room worthy of his attention. And despite the silence, the weight of his presence was deafening. 

When he reached you, General Kirigan stopped, standing close enough for you to feel the shadowed intensity as well as his power radiating from him. Not a single word was uttered, not a sound escaped his charming lips. Instead, his hands rose, unhurried and confident, to undo the few closed buttons of your blood-splattered fur coat. The gesture might have been simple, but it carried a startling intimacy as his fingers brushed gently against the edge of your collarbone when he lifted the coat away and let it fall at your feet. The intense feeling of humiliation still crashed against you like brutal rogue waves crashing against the shore, rendering you unable to hold his gaze. As you bowed your head, your fierce nature momentarily flickered at the sight of your ruined dress with its thin white fabric soaked through and clinging to you like a second skin. But even drowning in humiliation, the light touch on your collarbone sent a surge of electricity through your whole body.

In this moment suspended in time, Kirigan’s eyes dropped, lingering on your body for a bit too long. Surprisingly, his expression held no disgust or pity — only something unreadable, almost reverent. Something scorching, making you feel exposed both physically and emotionally to the extent that your breath hitched in your tight throat. As if he had stripped you naked with the sole power of his eyes. 

“Look at me.” The Black general said in a low voice, the very top of his index finger delicately pressing under your chin to force your gaze to meet his, dizzyingly deep and intense.

Blood rushed quicker in your veins in return, every fiber of you reacting to him in an uncontrollable instinct. It was only then that he shrugged off his own black kefta in a fluid movement, but the subtle care with which he unfolded the luxurious garment and wrapped it around your shoulders was anything but cold or impersonal.

 The fabric of the kefta was thick and warm, its weight providing a comforting and protective embrace that immediately calmed both your fury and feeling of shame down. Finally, your petrified body came back to life as you batted your doe lashes as though you had just woken up from a terrible nightmare. It had been the unmistakable scent of him — earthy cedar, spiced amber, and a fragrance darker, undefinable — that had helped you emerge from that feral state of rage. A hypnotizing, reassuring smell that enveloped you like a shield and anchored its owner’s presence in every thread. 

He patted your shoulders, then took one step back just enough to give you more space. “You’ll sit with me,” he said, his voice low, cutting through the tension like a blade, and his tone leaving no room for argument.

You almost opened your lips to speak but restrained yourself to do so for the way he uttered his order had been truly disarming. It wasn’t a question, not even a suggestion. No, it was a statement, one that accepted no debate. And even though the only thing you truly wished at this moment was to run away from this hellish place and lock yourself in your bedroom, you still followed Kirigan when his hand pressed lightly to the small of your back to guide you forward under the glance of every member of the assembly and a gutted Zoya. 

One step after the other. 

The dining hall seemed to fade as he led you across the room, his touch steadying your trembling steps and giving you the strength you lacked to ignore all the pairs of eyes that were riveted on you. Once he reached his table, Aleksander pulled out a chair, the scrape of wood against the floor creaking, and he gestured for you to sit. Hesitation crept into you but the way his dark, shining eyes softened ever so slightly — not in kindness but in reassurance —  encouraged you. Moreover, pushing him and rushing out of the room wasn’t an appropriate option anyway so what else could you do besides sinking into the seat? He took his place beside you as the officers seated at the table exchanged confused looks but knew better than say something for their deference to the General was absolute.

The dinner unfolded, and exquisite plates followed, but the humiliation you had suffered earlier lingered, giving you a bitter taste in your mouth. And there were their eyes, their fucking eyes staring at you in a way so nerve-racking that you wished you could have plucked them out of their sockets with your nails.

It was halfway through the meal that Kirigan’s gaze flicked discreetly toward you, with an expression still unfathomable. One look was all it took for him to sense the unease that seeped through every bit of you. Maybe that was why, hidden beneath the table, his hand sought yours. You froze slightly, surprised at the sensation of his fingers finding you, warm and firm, and lacing yours together without hesitation. 

“Let them stare. They’ll grow bored of it really soon.” 

The gesture was grounding, a silent lullaby for your soul, and relaxed you enough to allow you to exhale a shaky breath.

“I feel like an animal in a bloody zoo.” You whispered, the word ‘zoo’ spat with disgust as it painfully reminded you of the Menagerie. For the umpteenth time, Aleksander seemed to read through your thoughts for his gaze briefly dipped to your wrist, catching the faint outline of a tattoo partially obscured by the sleeve of his kefta you were wearing and that was too large for you. His brow furrowed slightly at this observation, curiosity gleaming in his dark eyes but you turned your arm and hid the mark right away before he could study it further.

“I know the feeling.” Kirigan replied after a few seconds, his voice briefly letting you grasp a tinge of humanity before he turned to stone again and shifted his attention from you to discuss war strategies with Ivan. 

Your shoulders relaxed a little bit and, finally, you started to eat — or rather to carefully pick a few things from your plate just so you wouldn’t have to sleep with an empty stomach. Your two hands remained intertwined during the entire meal, his thumb sometimes brushing lightly against the back of yours in a soothing caress, like an anchor amidst the storm. Admittedly, the intimacy of it sent a jolt through you in a mixture of comfort and confusion that only deepened the inevitable pull you felt toward him. The way his touch quieted the turmoil in you was both thrilling and suffocating, a contradiction that left you shivering… As you always did when he was around. 

It was wrong.

This whole situation made no sense. And still, you tightened your grip around his hand. Needy. Surely.

Tenderly.

The office was dimly lit by the dozen candles flames dancing around, feeble and slow, and casting their long shadows across the walls. 

Zoya was standing stiffly near the doorway, arms behind her back and her posture irreproachable, though her confident demeanor crumbled under Aleksander’s cold, unwavering gaze. Leaning against his desk, the shadows around him curled faintly at his shoulders as a visible manifestation of his restrained anger.

“Close the door,” He ordered without looking at her with a voice calm but edged with steel. Wasting no time, Zoya obeyed. The click of the latch sounded far louder than it should have in the silence of the office. 

Aleksander spoke first while looking directly at her, his pitch-black eyes sharp and accusing. She couldn’t help but notice that he had fetched his kefta back from you once you had reached the door of your bedroom safe and sound “Do you enjoy embarrassing me, Zoya?”

She gritted her teeth. “With all due respect, General, I’ve done no such thing. I merely—”

“You merely threw blood on a member of this court.” Cold fury crackled from his tone. He had given her no chance to justify her behavior for he had already charged her guilty,  “In front of everyone. Did you think that it was acceptable behavior for a soldier under my command?”

Zoya stiffened, “She’s dangerous. A liability. I was making a point—” Her lips tightened into a thin line.

“A point?” Aleksander’s voice had turned into a hiss now , “What point, exactly? That you are envious of someone stronger than you? That you cannot stomach the presence of someone who makes you question your own worth?”

“She doesn’t belong here!” Zoya burst out with trembling words but her tone bore clear hints of both defiance and frustration. “She almost killed me! You’ve brought in a wild animal and expect us to treat her like—”

“Quiet.” His order was like a whip, “You will not speak of her like that again. Do you understand me?”

As Zoya’s fear momentarily eclipsed her anger, she stuttered, “General, I only meant—”

“Do you know what I meant, Zoya?” Against all expectations, the tall darkness’ voice was deceptively soft and still, and yet it cut deeper than any shout, “I meant for you to serve this court with dignity. To protect your fellow Grisha, not humiliate them for sport. Tell me, did you feel powerful when you poured that blood on her? Did you feel strong?”

This time, the fierce Zoya Nazyalenski looked away, “I was protecting us,” she muttered, though her speech lacked conviction. “She’s—”

“She is under my protection,” Aleksander interrupted, “And that should be all you need to know. You will respect her because I demand it. Not because you like her. Not because you understand her. But because you respect me. She’s part of this court and you will treat her accordingly.”

Tears started to prick at Zoya’s eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “I’ve served you faithfully for years,”  She lamented, “And you would cast a loyal follower for her?”

Aleksander leaned over his desk to come a tad bit closer to her, his gaze filled with threats that didn’t need to be spoken to be horrifying. “For someone with your talents, Zoya, you can be remarkably shortsighted. This is not about her or you. This is about the unity of Grisha, something you should value more than your petty grievances.”

For the first time in years, the Squaller flinched as though struck by lightning, her confidence shattering in millions of shards like a broken mirror under the General’s unemotional eyes. He straightened and waved off the topic, “You may go. And if I hear of any more incidents, there will be consequences far greater than this conversation.” 

At first, she remained still and hesitated, as if she desperately tried to search for some trace of leniency in his expression but she found none. Just plain disappointment and anger as cold as the deadliest blizzard. For Zoya, pride had always been her armor, but today it cracked, leaving her exposed to a truth she could no longer deny: the General’s favor was a fortress she would never breach. A fortress you had conquered in the span of a few weeks while she had worked on it for years. As the door closed behind her, the sound was not just the end of a conversation—it was the shattering of the illusion that she still stood untouchable.

And even though no one had overheard what they had said, many saw Zoya leaving the General’s office in tears. Quite a paltry price to pay for the humiliation and pain she had bestowed upon you earlier.

Please consider reblogging and commenting if you want the story to continue. It is what motivates writers to write the next chapters...

tags: @lunawants , @emtaz-art, @lightinbug, @kmc1989, @thepassionatereader @mystic-mara @m-riaa @kallista-diune

[txttletale]

after being interested from seeing you post about mtg but too intimidated by how complicated it seemed, a friend recently taught me how to play and ive been having so so so much fun!!! ive mostly just been playing standard/jump in on arena so far, but i wanna start building a commander deck soon. my wuestion here is twofold, i guess - a) do you know any commanders you consider easy or fun for beginners (colour doesnt really matter to me; ive been finding enjoyment in all of them so far, altho im sure ill develop a preference once i have a better grasp of the game lol) and b) whats your own personal favourite commanders?? ones you play or ones you just think are neat :) anyways thank you for being at least partially responsible for getting me into mtg, ive been having an absloute blast, i hope you have a very niceys day :)

yippee! i'm glad you're having fun, magic is a really deep and exciting game.

to point 1: i'm increasingly of the mind that apart from like, extreme edge cases where you're playing, like a mairsil combo deck and have to learn a bunch of specific sequencing and rules minutiae, i think that looking for an 'easy' commander is a very overrated. resonance and stickiness are a huge part of how easy it is to learn a card or deck's mechanics, so if you have a special little guy you love i would play him no matter how comparatively complex he is compared to, like, monogreen ramp

if there's one piece of general advice i'd give to a beginner, it's to steer away from 'feast or famine' type commanders: a lot of commanders, especiually since wotc started intentionally pritning 'commanders' rather than just legendary creatures, are enormous resource snowballs, such that letting them be on the board for a turn cycle or two will put their player unstoppably far ahead. unfortunately the correct counterplay to these kinds of commanders is for everyone to kill them instantly the moment they're cast and genreally not let their playtrs play the game -- so they often lead to having games where you are either being ganged up on and beaten to death or stomping everyone. some popular examples of commanders that i think create these play patterns are miirym, krenko mob boss, jodah the unifier, kinnan bonder prodigy, and korvol fae-cursed king.

so generally i tyhink especialyl as a newer player you will have fun with slightly lower power commanders who aren't wearing a big PLEASE KILL ME sign on their heads. but other than that i truly think you should pick a blorbo or gameplay style that appeals to you on a visceral, emoitional level, and find out if if it's actually fun to play or not. actually that reminds me, try to also pick a commander that, like, rewards you for executing your deck's gameplan, or helps you execute it, but isn't the sole engine behind your deck -- commander is full of good removal and board wipes, and you will have a lot more fun if you're playing a deck that can still function evne if your special guy is in time out.

to point 2: i have quite a few. my first commander and overall one of my favourite still is the celestial toymaker (nei lpatrick harris jumpscare). i love him because -- while he is an example of the kind of commander i think ultimately can lead to bad gameplay patterns where big parts of your deck are dead without him -- he turns this extremely stupid fucking mechanic into a real theme. i fucking loe playing my toymakre deck, and doing a silly voice and saying PLAY MY GAME... WHO WANTS TO PLAY MY GAME? every time i have some silly choice to force someone to make. play piles with meee (also esper control is a shell that's just really fun for me regardless of commander or theme so that helps a lot too)

other commanders i have that i really enjoy... i think gor muldrak is really cool, hios abiltiy is so odd and niche and finding ways to make use of it is so much fun. only good simic commander. tip: [peer pressure] is an awesome win condition for him.

i really enjoy zedruu also, for similar reasons to the toymaker: giving people stuff is such a funny mechanic, and while the commander gets osme flak because a lot of people build around lieke, dogshit cards that are unplayable if you don't have zedruu to donate them, i think you can build a much more fun and resilient zedruu deck by relying on symmetrical soft stax pieces and oubliette-style effects where it doesn't mater to you who owns it. getting to play perplexing chimera in that deck delights me.

gallia is great. straight up i made a deck for her because i think she's cute. her joy is just so infections, i don't even like gruul aggro as an archetype generally, but something about playing gallia and being like NO THOUGHTS HEAD EMPTY TURN SIDEWAYS ILL DISCARD WHAT I DISCARD is very refreshing considering i usually like playing very controlly-pillowforty high-interaction decks wth 50 quajillion counterstpells.

oh and finally... the red death. i fucking love goad, im the goad liker, i enjoy goad, and i set out to make a Good Goad Deck and immediately got sidetracked form any of the stronger commanders for the format by this stupid little bebo with the meme eyes. i donit know what happens in fallout 76 and i dont care this little guy is my friend and he is SO funny with cards like psychic possession. Our card draw :)

for an honorable mention, two decks i really love but not really because of their commander: i have a huge amount of fun playing the new zimone (who has displaced vorel of the hull clade) at the helm of my millennium calendar deck. it's fun to have a deck where i can slot in all the werird counter-dependent artifacts like lux artillery and darksteel reactor, and it's a very fun supervillanious feeling watching the table scramble to stop me as my Sinister Calendar ticks up

and i also have a zoraline eggs deck nbecause i loved bloomburrow bats, built a zoraline bats dekc, then thought, hmm, i could be doing al ot more with her than just bringing back mediocre bats for a small lifegain pawyoff. Liek bringing back mediocre artifacts that ic an crack for 2 life and a card draw. it's a very intricate little device of a deck once it gets going and although it's not very strong it's very very fun. looping an executiuoner's capsule or a tainted sigil is what its all about babey!