#and i think a good easy simple base level start is engaging with media that isn't made by white people

[pumpkinrootbeer]

Hardware Store is a Weird Al song. During the bridge, he lists off a bunch of different tools and appliances very quickly, which I suppose could be considered "rap" if you've never listened to an actual rap song.

ANOTHER?? ANOTHER WEIRD AL SONG? IN THE POST ABOUT HOW WHITE PEOPLE CANT BE NORMAL ABOUT RAP MUSIC ?

[nickgerlich]

Exile Island

At the very beginning of this semester, we discussed the possible banishment of TikTok at the state level. We also noted there were about three dozen other states exploring possible levies against the Chinese-based social media site. It appears that this momentum has prompted concern—once again—at the national level.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew was called on the carpet last week, forced to testify in a Congressional hearing. And for the first time in what seems an eternity, both the Left and the Right have come together on something: They are all wary of TikTok.

The most obvious concern is national security. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that has been rumored to have connections with the Chinese government. Even if they don’t, Chinese law allows their government to force companies to release their data for scrutiny.

But that’s not the only concern, because the US worries that China could also isolate individual user data to the point that it could identify individuals who are vulnerable and may have something to hide. These people could be put in the awkward position of blackmail or worse; for that matter, it could identify people whose national loyalties are running thin. And if this is starting to sound like Cold War-era tactics when we were engaged in ideological warfare with the former USSR, you would be right.

To wit, I’m pretty sure that if we had TikTok back then and it were Russian-owned, they would have pinpointed one Lee Harvey Oswald a long time before he defected on his own.

Of course, there are marketing implications for all of this. Oh, and never you mind for an instant that a complete blackout in the US could keep you from whiling away hours on your favorite time-waster. Just get a VPN and tune in from somewhere else that hasn’t yet cracked down. That’s how we used social media in China in 2019. Easy peasy.

But back to marketing. Remember how we just discussed that ad budgets did not necessarily expand when all of the new digital options came along? That budgets had to be sliced into smaller and smaller slices? Well, marketers might just get back one of their slices. If TikTok is out of the question, it means that users will migrate to (or back to, in some cases) places like Instagram and SnapChat, not to mention a slew of Johnny-come-lately wannabes.

I’m sure the folks at Meta are hoping for this happen, because their ranks have been reduced by about 25% since last November (including the forthcoming layoffs). “You go, Congress! Make those bad boys go home!”

While TikTok, with its 150 million US users, certainly owns the space for short video clips, it has been copied nicely by everyone else. They may have initiated the format, but it was all too easy to mimic. The hard part for all the other social sites was trying to recapture audience. Banishing TikTok could make that part very simple now.

Personally, I think that Congress is chasing horses that fled through an open barn door long ago. Just think of all the data that have been collected since TikTok debuted in 2017. You can’t reel that in. At the moment, profiles, usage data, even search history have all been recorded for those 150 million users, which represents 45% of the population. Good luck, Congress. You are a few days late and many bytes short.

A broader issue that hasn’t been discussed much, if at all, is the First Amendment rights of US citizens. If I am hearing Congress correctly, we have these rights until we don’t have them. That’s the implicit message. And it is a slippery slope, because if they send TikTok into exile, what might be next? This worries me.

It is mildly ironic that we begin our term with this discussion, and now near the end of the term, we have to discuss it once more. If anything, it shows just how fast things can change, not just the tech we use, but the governance thereof.

It never ends, does it? Keep your ear to the ground, or else you might miss something important.

Dr “Tick Tock, Tick Tock“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

[qtfnews]

Digital Marketing

How Startups & Small Businesses Can Propel Growth With Digital Marketing

A small business that TEMPhas been having trouble wif prospective customers coming onto teh page and immediately leaving may want to start off wif a simple web design. If their budget allows, they may also want to subscribe to their SEO package since they are re-designing teh site anyway. Teh social media marketing agency may charge £2000-£5000 a month, but teh SEO and web design may lead to a high ROI month down teh line as customers begin to organically visit and stay on teh site.

Teh Importance Of Digital Marketing In 2023

Our world will see even more innovation and disruption in the next five years. To keep up with the trend, we’ll have to reinvent ourselves. their are many different ways that digital marketing will change in the coming years, but one thing is for sure: It is going to continue to grow.

Digital marketing allows businesses to engage wif potential clients worldwide. For example, you can target consumers in different countries and get their attention through social media ads wif just a few clicks. People who wouldn’t has heard of you're product otherwise can now no about it, which halps create brand awareness. In addition, you can target specific audiences based on their likes and interests.

Here are some areas where I think small businesses and startups should be paying attention:

The IoT will significantly influence how digital marketing evolves over the next decade. Market dominance is beginning to shift to gadgets like the Amazon Echo and Google Home. These gadgets use artificial intelligence (AI) to learn about us and make our lives easier. If you own a small business, you must consider how you can use these new technologies to connect wif clients and create more personal relationships wif them.

Today, IoT such as smart home devices are used for everything—from customer service to creating content. As a result, IoT has become increasingly essential and valuable to businesses, particularly those dat rely on data to drive their decisions.

Content Management Systems (CMSs)

CMS platforms like WordPress and Drupal are powering most websites. These types of systems has evolved considerably over teh last few years and will be even more advanced as time goes on. Any small business or startup can create solutions dat meet customers’ needs using tools like these.

Content management systems can help in improving teh resilience and responsiveness of teh workforce. Investing in CMS platforms can be a boon, especially for startups. These systems help save a lot of time and effort in building a website.

Social Media

Social media has radically transformed how people communicate wif each other, and their is no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

According to recent data, having a social media presence can boost a startup’s growth 10 times faster—and wif a smaller marketing budget. The good part is dat you can run campaigns and promote you're brand on social platforms to both generic and targeted audiences. Not only dis, but social media provides a platform to connect wif you're customers on a personal level and provides analytics to help you understand their psychology and needs.

Video Marketing

We’ve already seen video marketing explode in popularity and become a massive part of teh digital landscape. dis is coz videos are engaging and easy to understand, providing customers with an experience that traditional (static) ads can’t match.

me’m sure you have often found yourself connected to a brand on an emotional level. Video marketing can do dat for you. The key is first to understand your target customers—their age group, locality, gender, social status, etc., so dat your message resonates.

SEO

SEO is still an essential aspect of digital marketing and will remain relevant in teh future. It is especially vital for local businesses competing against more prominent players in their industry. Companies dat focus on organic search results (SEO) are likely to see more success than those dat don’t.

SEO plays a crucial deciding factor in you're visibility on the internet. From you're website to you're social media posts or marketing videos, you're visibility depends on SEO. Therefore, it is crucial to keep you'reself updated with the new Google algorithms and the latest SEO trends and use them correctly to expand you're business.

Visual Content

Teh world is full of amazing visuals, and good digital marketers no how to use them TEMPeffectively. Small businesses and startups should create original visual content that customers can’t find anywhere else.

There are endless possibilities for using visual content, including on your website and social media accounts. People are attracted to good visuals. But you must incorporate high-quality visual content and a value proposition. To establish credibility, your site must has an appearance dat your audience can trust. With the use of quality graphics, infographics and attractive photographs, you can build visual content dat will connect well with people.

Mobile Marketing

Most businesses have mobile apps nowadays, relying heavily on them to connect with customers. Consumers love apps coz they can access information whenever they want. By investing in mobile marketing, you can be ahead of teh curve. Find a marketer who ca help you incorporate mobile technology into you're strategy.

Livestreaming

Livestreaming is becoming more and more popular on social media. Companies can use this feature to connect wif consumers in real time. It halps to establish a bond wif you're audience, builds trust and credibility, and has the potential to turn engaged viewers into regular customers.

Takeaway

To succeed in today’s digital landscape, startups and small businesses need to focus on creating unique products and services and establishing their brand identity.

If you has just started or has a smaller business, you can use digital marketing experts to help you grow your business. An intelligent digital marketer not only knows how to set up a website, create content and handle social media marketing but understands teh value of analytics and other similar programs and how to use it to make intelligent decisions. You’ll need them to take your business to teh next level.

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

hey so i'm hoping to get some writing advice about creative burnout? like i seem to write in fits and spurts. some months i can churn out a oneshot or chapter everyday and some months i can do one (1) creative thing only. so i'm wondering how to prevent creative burnout and how to just create more smoothly <3 thank you!

Creative Burnout & How To Ward Against It

First, I’d like to preface this all by saying you’re definitely not alone. You probably already know this, but sometimes it’s nice to be reminded.

I know from personal experience that creative burnout can leave you feeling hopeless, detached from yourself—the kind of identity crisis no one needs in 2020. 

So buckle in, folks. It’s a dosy.

I. The Symptoms

Not to be the local WebMD page here, but signs of burnout can include:

Procrastination (more than usual)

Dreading writing and feeling stuck or overly perfectionistic when you try

Physical tiredness and/or irritability

Feeling like everything is monotonous

It’s more than just writer’s block. It’s a physical and emotional exhaustion response to something that goes deeper than a simple lack of inspiration. In my experience, and from a bit of research, I’ve found that what your brain is really looking for is dopamine.

Dopamine is essentially your brain’s chemical reward system for doing something interesting or exciting to you. As someone who is diagnosed with ADHD, I have chronically low levels of dopamine, so this is a constant struggle for me—but it is absolutely made worse by creative burnout.

II. The Problem

Studies have shown that the more we do A Thing the less that thing will give us dopamine (unless a component of the activity changes regularly). This is because eventually our brains desensitise to the stimuli provided by the activity, and subsequently, we become disengaged.

But it’s not necessarily The Thing (i.e. writing) that becomes boring. Actually, more than a few factors could be at play here, and the first step to finding a solution is to identify the problem.

1. ENVIRONMENT LACKS EXCITEMENT/CHANGE—

Sometimes, the monotony of everyday life can feed creative burnout. This becomes especially applicable in quarantine when you’re not leaving your house.

What we don’t realise is that even something as small as the variables of driving to and from work, or interacting with passing coworkers, gives us dopamine. So if you have the same routine every day that does not involve any added variables, your brain will begin staunching that dopamine supply.

2. EITHER TOO EASY OR TOO CHALLENGING—

In 1975, Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, coined the term “flow”, which refers to a heightened state of creativity and concentration on an activity. Csikszentmihalyi posited that if your skill level is equal to the level of challenge in any given activity, you will experience this state of flow.

The chart below is taken from Csikszentmihalyi’s own study on the subject of flow and motivation. It examines “your skill level” on the x axis in relation to the “challenge level” on the y axis.

Essentially:

Too much challenge + not enough skill = anxiety, worry (which might lead to procrastination and perfectionism)

Too much skill + not enough challenge = boredom, apathy (which might lead to monotony, irritability, and other depression-like symptoms)

Skill level = Challenge level = Flow

3. NOT ENOUGH “ACTIVE” STIMULATION—

When it comes to dopamine seeking, there is a distinct difference between active and passive stimulation in the brain.

Active stimulation is any form of activity that you have to actively engage in. For instance; exercising, doing a crossword puzzle, or reading a book. These kinds of activities not only give you dopamine, they also facilitate critical thinking and problem solving thought processes, which act as catalysts for creativity.

Passive stimulation, on the other hand, comes in the form of television, social media, and YouTube. It’s anything you can consume without having to actively engage. Passive stimulation will indeed give your brain dopamine, however, it won’t activate your creativity.

The problem also lies in the speed at which you receive the dopamine from passive activities. Passive stimulation is so easy to access that the more you consume, the harder it becomes to pick up active stimulation. Your brain expects a hit of dopamine just by picking up a phone or turning on the TV—it becomes addicted to the quick fix of a Netflix binge.

III. The Solutions

Based on the problems mentioned above, I am going to list a few solutions. Keeping in mind that not every solution will work for everyone, these can act as both preventative measures and remedies for someone who is currently burned out.

1. CHANGE UP YOUR ENVIRONMENT/ROUTINE—

Aim to do at least one thing per day that will add “variables” to the monotony. This can be as simple as going on a long walk, dressing up in that bold outfit you always wanted to wear to the office but never did, or sitting at a different workspace in your home.

Anything you can do that’s simple, but might provide an extra variable to your day to spice things up. Note: this shouldn’t be the same thing every day.

2. CHALLENGE YOURSELF MORE—

If you find yourself bored by your work, try challenging yourself more. This could mean setting goals for yourself that go a bit beyond what you’ve been doing. 

For example, if you’ve been writing 500 words per day, see if you can beat your own word count every day for the next week. If you’ve been writing mainly fluff pieces, switch it up and do an angst piece. See if you can write a book in a month, or start a blog where you don’t write fiction at all!

Anything you can do to add a little kick to your workload. Note: Beware of challenging yourself too much! This can lead straight back into burnout.

3. CHALLENGE YOURSELF LESS—

If you’re on the flip side of that coin, and find that you are anxious, procrastinating, and perfectionistic when it comes to writing, fret not. Just because you’re experiencing any of these things, doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing the job with your skillset.

It just means your perception of the job needs to be shifted.

Procrastination, at its heart, is a fear of failure, which results in actively avoiding the negative emotions associated with the task that causes this fear. Perfectionism is a type of procrastination that is a combination of a fear of failure and a fear of success (or, more accurately, other’s critiques of your success) all at once.

Neither have anything to do with your actual skillset, but they have everything to do with your perception of your skillset. Obviously, this is a harder thing to fix, as it has to do with deeply ingrained levels of self-esteem.

What I can offer you is a tactic to trick your mind into thinking you’re capable.

If you have a task, big or small, and you are feeling overwhelmed by it (like you might go curl up in bed and scroll Tumblr), immediately break that task up into smaller tasks. Keep breaking up the smaller tasks until you have the smallest possible part of the bigger task without doing nothing.

Then do that smallest possible thing.

If your goal is to write a 2000 word one shot, a small part of that task is writing half of it. An even smaller part of that task is breaking the one shot up into “scenes” and writing one scene. For instance:

Jude wakes up to a sore throat, a runny nose, and a fever.

She tries to go to work, but Cardan, being the mother hen that he is, threatens to never make her another grilled cheese sandwich (her favourite food) ever again if she doesn’t stay home.

Jude agrees begrudgingly, and Cardan sits her down in front of the TV with a bottle of Gatorade. He leaves to go get medicine from the store.

When Cardan comes back, Jude is worse than before. He makes her soup and saltine crackers and spoon feeds her.

She complains the whole time and, in her feverish state, threatens to never buy him another bottle of wine (his favourite food) ever again if he doesn’t let her feed herself.

Each bullet point represents one “scene” of about 200-400 words each. Obviously, there will be more details that you work out as you write. But with these five smaller scenes, your goal is no longer writing the 2000 word one shot. Your goal is writing the first of the five scenes.

If you complete the smallest possible task, you can stop, and you’ll still feel like you’ve accomplished something because you can cross off that task from your list. But chances are, by the time you cross off one task, you may have inspiration enough to keep going.

4. ENGAGE IN ACTIVE STIMULATION—

Since active stimulation has been proven to turn on the creative “tap”, try incorporating more of these activities into your daily routine:

Exercise: As the resident couch potato, I hate to say that exercising is good for creativity, but it is. Even if it’s just going on a short walk, so long as you’re moving.

Reading: Sometimes you have plenty of ideas, but no words to fit those ideas. Fill your well of words by carving out an hour or two each day for reading a good book.

The Creative Process: In the writing world, the creative process is a process of about 20-30 minutes that the writer partakes in every day before they start writing. This process should be creative, but also have nothing to do with writing. You can try colouring in a colouring book, painting, organising a page in your bullet journal. Anything that is creative but does not make you think about everything you have to do that day. Think of it as creative meditation.

Listen to music: Having APD, I personally can’t listen to music while I write. However, studies have shown that if you listen to at least ten songs per day, it will significantly benefit your dopamine levels and overall mood. If you’re like me and prefer to work in silence, maybe stick on a couple songs during your creative process. If you can manage music and writing together, get out those headphones!

5. KEEP A REGULAR SCHEDULE—

I know this is the most cliche point in the book, but it’s valid. This doesn’t mean do the same thing at the same time every day over and over, because ultimately we’re looking to avoid monotony. 

But having pillars of structure to bolster the excitement can definitely work to keep you from slipping into burnout. Going to sleep, waking up, and having your meals at relatively the same time every day are good examples of this. 

Feel free to change up the things you do between breakfast and lunch, but make sure you have those pillars of consistency so your brain knows that a break is on the horizon and doesn’t get tired.

6. PACE YOURSELF—

This is particularly difficult for those of us who are coming out of a creative burnout, but I urge you to pay special attention to this one. If we are suddenly hit by inspiration and the writing is flowing and flowing and flowing, eventually we will hit the point of highest dopamine capacity for writing.

Not putting a check on the flood of inspiration coming out of a creative burnout, I’d argue, is actually a guarantee that many of us will experience burnout all over again. It becomes this vicious cycle in which we are trapped.

While it feels great to write non-stop and receive immediate validation for that work, try to limit yourself to how much you’re writing and how immediately you post your writing (if you plan on posting it).

Whenever I finish a one shot or a chapter of something, I like to allow at least one day for editing before I post. This timeframe is important, because it acts as a buffer of rest between writing marathons. 

You can take however long you need for the editing process, but definitely make sure you have a set amount of time in place. Otherwise, your brain might not have enough time to come down from what is essentially a writing high, and you will always need to reach greater heights in order to achieve that same level of dopamine.

~~~~

Overall, the most important things to take away from all of this are: 

Change up your environment

Keep your brain actively stimulated 

Have pillars of structure between which you can run about chaotically to your heart’s content

PACE YOURSELF!

Hope this helped. Happy writing!

-Em 🖤🗡

Writing Tip Masterlist

Fic Masterlist

Celebrate 2K with me!

[mirai227]

How to go from beginner to intermediate in a language!

Hi! I recently reached an intermediate level in French, and I am on my way to reaching an intermediate level in Spanish too, so I thought I would try to offer some tips and ideas about how you could reach an intermediate level in your target language as well.

What does an intermediate level feel like?

So from what I can gather, the beginner level (about A1/A2 on the CEFR scale for languages) is where you can communicate on a very basic level, and can only really understand beginner learners' content. Native material is kind of a no go (except maybe for children’s content). You can understand about 30% of what natives say at natural speed, and can struggle through some basic articles with key vocabulary, as long as you are already familiar with the subject and the key vocabulary. You can express yourself in quite a limited way, and can speak about familiar subjects, while being able to provide some simple explanations why. This self-assessment grid can tell you more about what you can and can’t do at these levels.

At the intermediate level (about B1/B2), native material is slowly but surely becoming more easy for you to understand. For me, it usually means that I can understand enough words and phrases when native speakers speak to piece together what they are discussing, though I can’t really provide specifics. You can understand about 50/60% of what natives are saying about a relatively wide range of everyday subjects (though specialised language for complex adult discussions on things like science and philosophy is usually too difficult at this stage). You can express yourself quite well on a wide range of subjects, though in an often clumsy and simplistic manner. At this level, you should be able to survive in a country where the language is spoken, and operate fairly well in a professional setting (if the language required is not too complex). You will definitely make a lot of mistakes, but not too many, so you should be understood by natives. This self-assessment grid can tell you more about what you can and can’t do at these levels.

What should your goals generally be here?

Greatly expand your vocabulary.

Improve your grammar to a passable conversational level (watch this video clip to understand what I mean).

Get comfortable speaking with native speakers.

Make sure that most of your study time is spent consuming or using your target language. Minimise contact with the languages you already know, except maybe for grammar.

Spend a minimum of around 1-2 hours a day on your target language.

How should you reach intermediate level?

Use a textbook for around that level. For me, I used the higher tier textbooks for GCSEs, which is about the level that I wanted to reach. I went through the whole textbook, learnt all the vocabulary that I came across, and did all the practice questions that I could find. This helped me immensely. Textbooks are usually organised to provide the base of what you need to reach an intermediate level. However, they should not be used alone.

Find a native speaker to talk to! Seriously, this helped me so so much. Before, I was not comfortable speaking to natives in French at all, but I started to speak with a friend of mine twice a week, and I was absolutely stunned by how much more smooth and confident my speaking became. I looked up words that I needed to know while I was speaking with her, and this really helped me fill in the gaps of my knowledge. I also learnt a lot of the nuances in French and and discovered some really cool and useful phrases. Try making a habit of speaking either with someone, or by yourself every day. If you don’t know something, then google translate is your friend! That way you can learn really cool set phrases. You can usually find someone to talk to on discord servers if you join some language learning ones, though be very careful about revealing any personal details or your face. Arrange a fixed time a few times a week and stick to it!

Study every day. Seriously, I really dropped the ball with my Spanish and because of this, my progress has been really slow. I could be at the intermediate level in Spanish already, but because I’ve been so slow, I’m not. Figure out what time of day you are most productive at (for me this is the early morning) and set a fixed time for studying your target language. It’s okay to experiment a little, and for it to take some time to figure out your schedule. With languages, at this stage, it is very easy to forget things, so going a long time without studying (longer than a month) is really going to hinder your progress. Still, you should always be your first priority, so if things are too busy for your studies at the moment, then it is fine to put your studies on hold for a while, or even stop them altogether. Just make peace with the fact that your progress will be a little slower than you might like.

Do lots of practice questions for grammar. It is all well and good to hear about the rules and write notes down, but if you cannot use it in practice, then frankly, you do not know the rule. Find a grammar workbook, like this one, or this one, and work through it. You can use HiNative to find corrections if you do not know the answer. Then, try making sure that you actually use it in your writing or speaking. Experiment, and learn from the corrections that people make.

Keep a journal in the language, and post it on websites like Journaly. Write about subjects that you already know about, and make sure that you use as many grammar rules that you know as you can. Try to elaborate on your reasons and opinions on things. It will be difficult at first, and you will make absolutely loads of mistakes, but as time goes on, you will gradually start to improve. Look up words that you don’t know, and write them down so that you can learn them later.

Try listening to intermediate content. Yes, it will be difficult, and you won’t be able to understand much, but as time goes on, you will slowly become more accustomed to the vocabulary you need to reach that level. Make sure whatever podcast you are listening to has a transcript, and highlight and learn the new vocabulary that you have discovered using Anki, or any flashcard app. Listen whenever you have time to kill, like on the train or when you are doing the dishwasher - it’ll really help!

Text natives on apps like Tandem or HelloTalk. It’ll get you used to forming the written language more quickly, and will let you practice more conversational phrases.

Make sure that you have the basics of grammar down, like all the essential tenses and basic particles, before moving onto harder things. Find a list of grammar, or a textbook that specifically covers intermediate level, and do lots of practice questions on each one.

Watch some native content on YouTube on subjects that you are familiar with and really like. Again, this will be difficult, but helpful! Make sure the videos have subtitles in the target language so that you can follow what it is about. Do NOT use english subtitles. It is vital that you get used to understanding the language without the crutch of the languages you already know. Look up the words that you do not know, and learn them using whatever vocabulary learning method that you like.

Read children’s (like, young children) stories and books to practice reading. It will be surprisingly difficult, because the grammar used in children’s books is usually for around a certain degree of fluency. Learn the vocabulary you don’t know, and try to practice when you can.

Learner’s material and articles are usually quite good for reading as well, as they are frequently quite challenging. You can find some in your textbook, or online if you google “[language] intermediate reading exercises”. You can probably also find reading comprehension books online if you try hard enough.

Learn vocabulary in context instead of memorising lists of vocabulary. Find the vocabulary you don’t know in all the content you are consuming, or look up words that you want to use yourself, and write them down with example sentences. Then, learn them using flashcard apps or websites like memrise, quizlet and anki.

For your pronunciation, shadow native speakers. Listen to how they say words, and imitate them. Personally, I use Easy Languages videos for this, along with random YouTube videos with subtitles in the target language. If a certain sound is difficult for you, then be proactive! Look up YouTube videos and articles on how to pronounce the word, and keep on practicing until you eventually get it.

Engaging with people on social media can be a fun easy way of practicing your TL. You can read or listen to posts and leave comments.

That’s it! That’s all the advice I can possibly think of. I hope you found this post helpful!

Here are some articles that I have found useful in the past:

How You Can Become Fluent in a Language - In Just One Year By Ramsay Lewis

9 points about language learning and how I’m learning 20+ of them By @ravenclawhard

Language learning tips for beginner & intermediate learners 🌍 By Lindie Botes/ @rinkodesu

[moondustaeil]

𝐫𝐞:𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞.

↳ Ambrosia's not-so-happy life update.

trigger warning, this post includes: weight loss, food, calorie counting, disordered eating habits, suicide, insecurities, fears.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭?

As I contemplate whether I should make an earnest post look as aesthetic as possible, my eyes are tearing up to Lee Chansub's "Gone". Therefore, this chapter gets named after his lyrics.

Since when was it? It's a question that crosses my mind after deciding on the chapter name, even though I'm well aware of the number of days that have passed. Each day I write that significant number in my journal, but there must be more than the pen can write. Beyond my awareness: there must have been a certain amount of time spent on a prologue to pen down the event that ultimately led to this chapter.

Since where was it? There could be multiple meanings behind the question, but I can only formulate a limited answer despite the openness. As far as I'm in charge of this story, there is no why or where. Yes, I quite literally woke up one day and decided to go on a diet, simple as that. Before that day, dieting never crossed my mind: I never saw my body as too much or myself as too little compared to others. Can you understand now why I think a prologue was written for me and not by me?

Anyhow, let's have a look at how I think I experienced my life before the diet. Sometimes I think I don't even remember how I experienced the last moments of it, but that doesn't mean I don't know how it went. My life before the diet was pretty plain: I didn't engage in any social or physical activities and spent most of my time behind my laptop to write or lurk around on YouTube. Eating-habit-wise, I never ate much: three meals a day with occasional snacks, those snacks probably covering more calories than my meals did. Despite eating calorie-covering snacks, I would have given my all for fruit and vegetables, especially frozen fruit. Back then, I already had significant eating habits: I'd eat nuts when I was stressed, drink smoothies while studying for exams, eat sour sweets when I was bored. My body before the diet wasn't that noteworthy: I maintained the same weight for around three years and only ditched my tight jeans because covid had me feeling too lazy to wear them. A youth like this might sound boring to you, but I gladly lived my life like this and, I don't regret the way I spent it.

I can still recall up to two days before it began: I can tell the contents of those days like I was the supporting cast instead of the main character, simply because I can't remember the emotions. The two last days were spent behind my laptop, waiting for the exam results while eating spicy nuts (to keep the stress level low). When the exam results came, and I realised I passed them all, I must have felt relieved. But in my memory, I didn't and don't feel anything at all concerning my exams. And that's where it stops. I don't even know where it starts again.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲

It quite literally feels like I woke up with no memories of the first days of the diet: I can recall what I ate, but not what I did or felt.

On the first day, I drank a strawberry oat smoothie for breakfast. It was my first self-made smoothie which was convincingly delicious compared to the bought smoothies I used to have. That same day, I stopped eating snacks: unknowingly, I restricted them and wouldn't allow them for the months after.

That paragraph is all I remember from the first day, and if I were to write one about every day of that week, it would be less each day. Maybe those days just weren't memory-worthy enough as I don't want to search for a reason behind every single thing.

For approximately twenty-eight days after the first one, I have no recollections. The only way I can reflect on those days is by checking my calorie intake and physical activity. Though, it doesn't feel like I was the one who tracked it.

The first proper recollection I have is of a day I ate 180 calories for the first time: a number I can only wonder about now. Though it was my first time having such a low intake, it wasn't the last or lowest. The number 180 seemed to attract me as in the days that followed, 180 would be the maximum amount of calories I'd consume. Back then, I had no idea what TDEE or BMR (of any of the other terms) were, so I can't tell you what my deficit was. But I would burn around 1200 calories a day by exercising, and that should be enough to raise red flags.

From that point on, even though I was probably slowly killing myself, I felt alive. A growing obsession with food, weight loss and exercise was fueling my mind. While my body was left behind, trying to catch up with the pace. If I didn't lose more than 1 gram overnight, I'd starve myself the next day. If I felt too lazy to exercise, I'd punish myself for being lazy by doing more. My weight dropped a lot, up to the point where the scale sometimes seemed to skip numbers.

Then a parent swap came: I would be staying with my dad for two weeks. In advance, I had already figured out everything I thought I needed to know: how I would skip meals without him finding out, at what times I could exercise without him knowing, where I could throw away the food he thought I would eat. The day I packed my bag and left for his house, my plans turned into action.

The two weeks there went as smooth as I planned them to go. Even with bonuses: he worked up to three days a week and did not question it when I didn't eat. In those two weeks, I would replace kpop videos with programs I used to despise: supersize versus superskinny and mukbangs. The videos would satisfy my hunger in some way, even though they caused me to start nailbiting. I wouldn't eat: I would only watch as others fed themselves.

Since I lost the initial subject I wanted to discuss in this chapter (I'm so sorry), I shall be moving on to the next chapter.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨? 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐚𝐭?

It was at this point that people were starting to notice things that I hadn't. Sometimes those things were appearance-related and, other times it was personality-related or even habit-related.

It started with a compliment from my aunt, and I felt like I was glowing when she mentioned my visible jawline and thin face. Maybe I was slightly disappointed that she noticed the facial changes before my body but, at the same time, she noticed a difference!

After her, people started commenting on my body, and I worked more to achieve those comments. I saw them as comments rather than compliments: I didn't tire myself out starting from 5:20 am every day just to receive a meaningless compliment. I wanted people to take notice.

And, they did. People that directly surrounded me were starting to notice things that I failed to see. Mostly stuff that changed about my personality while my body was changing. My mother told me that I became the opposite of easy-going and friendly when others were around. My sister told me that my facial expressions had gone even further than my usual resting bitch face. My nephew said that all I would do was try to end up in arguments with others and that he didn't like being around me anymore. It hurt to have all of those things said, but at the same time, I was too in denial to care. The only thing I cared about was food, exercise and losing weight.

On rare occasions, I became aware of the person I became. Mostly when others would try to reach me by calling or coming over but I was too busy to talk to them, and if I did, I would talk about food-related things only. So, I shut everyone out.

I no longer talked to my friends daily, wouldn't reply to my parents sending me messages, didn't go on social media unless it was to look at food or triggering images.

The world consisted of me and was ruled by my obsession.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒: 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞

There is an unknown amount of time that settles itself between the previous chapter and this chapter. During this time, I once again feel like I'm just a supporting character: my habits develop and my obsession rules over everything I do.

Many of the things I did (which already wasn't a lot, to begin with), were based on stuff I said already. Though even more refined and obsessive.

When I closed my eyes, sleep would take me to dreams about food and weight loss. Approximately three times a night, I would open my eyes, assume it was morning and get ready for another day of exhaustion and starvation. Those nightly hours are still engraved in my mind and current habits: 12:00 am, 3:20 am, 5:28 am.

It is in this chapter that a slow awareness creeps up on me. The side effects are what wakens me when everything else consumes me: constant thoughts about food, the inability to sleep, not being able to think or focus, drifting from reality, always feeling cold, tingling headaches, not leaving the house for days unless it's for shopping (because I would look at food I couldn't eat).

"I need to stop," I told myself while I wrote in my journal how much better I would be if I lost some more weight because the scale is tempting me.

I didn't want to stop. I just wanted it to stop.

Though in reality, I had no control to stop myself or it. I had lost control long ago, and to this day, I still have no idea at which chapter I left it behind. Some days I thought of how to stop, but the exit sign was more like a full-stop as it led me to think of killing myself: it would make my family stop commenting on my condition and could give me a sense of freedom even though I would be dead.

It surely wasn't the first time I passed that exit sign in life, but it was the first time I felt determined to pass it by. All I wanted was to be able to sleep peacefully without thinking of food. *Snort*, such high standards.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓: 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬

Unexpectedly, a good dream did cloud over my bedroom. Even though it was simple, it's one of the dreams that I hope to keep in my memory forever. And for laughs, I'll share it.

TO1-member Donggeon was standing near my garage but, my mother's car wasn't in the driveway because she wasn't home. I was standing outside with him while he talked with Wei's Donghan (who was invisible to me). They were having a casual conversation in Korean. Then, he wanted to lean against the car that wasn't in the driveway, causing him to fall on all fours. He laughed at his stupidity and, at the same time, his ears were getting red from embarrassment.

That pretty much sums up the first not-food-related dream I had during my entire journey. And I still remember waking up at 3:20 am, laughing: it was stupid and silly but left such a big impression on me. And that's when I told myself: "I need to recover".

It sounds silly but I still, to this day, think that this dream set me off into recovery mode. Even though I felt like I had no control, I tried to take control: calculated a number of calories that I surely had to eat each day, planned Thursday to be my active rest-day, found less intense workouts to do in the morning, tried to replace the mukbangs in my watch later list by relaxing videos or recovery videos, scheduled to journal every day. Though I told myself I would do those things, it wasn't easy to put my words into action.

Yet, I fucking did it.

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔: 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

Not going to lie: I spent all night wondering how I was going to write this and all morning putting it into proper words. Hence, the reason why I'm feeling exhausted: too exhausted to continue writing it even though the blooming period is so close. So instead of giving a lecture on recovery: I will try to give my opinion on recovering and how I'm doing these days.

Each day, I still question whether I'm truly in a recovery of something. I never went to see a professional or verbally admitted to my problems, so I never learned whether I'm recovering from something or just making progress after a downfall. I might be familiar with the use of DSM-4 and DSM-5 but, that doesn't mean I'm qualified to judge on whether I had/have a disorder or not. Yet, I opt to use the terms disordered eating and recovery until I'm sure of what it was that I went through.

Some days it feels like I was faking all of it, but then I realise, how was I faking it while I was going through it and experiencing it? Perhaps some of you reading even think I am faking all of the above, but that's your opinion. I don't need to defend myself for feeling things.

Now, I'll update you on where I'm standing today because I guess I wrote six chapters in order to get to this point. We all know I like to write more than necessary.

⋅ My disordered eating habits and calorie intake: I have made quite some progress (even if I say so myself). Each week, I challenge myself to increase my calorie intake by 100 until I reach my maintenance calories. It isn't as easy as it sounds because by the time I actually dared to increase by ten calories, the week is over, and I have to adjust my goal because I wasn't even able to reach close to where I planned to be. This week my goal is to eat 800 calories a day: a number that unexpectedly is paired with a lot of guilt and fear, so I haven't been able to eat that amount yet. The maximum I've eaten is 641 calories a day. Together with that, I also promised myself to eat one fear food or not-eaten food a week: that way, I hope to stop restricting myself and learn to enjoy them again. Some lasting habits I developed: I fear eating too early and will try to push back eating as late as I can because it gives me the feeling that I can enjoy it for longer but I do have strict hours, I cut everything into mini pieces because it gives me the feeling that I have more to nibble on and more to enjoy, I read every single nutrition label multiple times (in the store and at home) because I fear that it might include too many calories or fat, I don't eat anything that I didn't plan and nothing that I can't track calorie-wise, I eat the same thing for breakfast every day because I feel like it's the only food I can trust. The urge to skip meals or lie about them is getting smaller, but the thought always remains in the back of my mind.

⋅ My weight: I'm at a weight that is still considered healthy according to whoever feels qualified to judge. However, I fear gaining weight every single day, which stops me from eating my weekly allowance. Despite eating more than at the start of this: I still lose weight. The weight loss fuels the bad habits once more, but I try to tell myself that my weight is only to indicate whether I'm close to my maintenance calories or not.

⋅ My body: my body kept most of its side effects inside until I started to recover aside from the ones that I've stated before. Yesterday was the first day that I didn't feel cold despite wearing a shirt only, so that was a win for my body. However, I do have constant headaches, get blackouts often and, I easily feel my energy draining whenever I do a little bit too much (which I didn't always feel when I was actively doing it). That being said, my abilities have definitely decreased: you can read what kind of exercise I do in the next paragraph, but it has decreased a lot because I will feel weak sooner than before.

⋅ Exercise: I am between struggling and not struggling with it. The reason why I started to exercise was to burn more calories than I ate. But back then, I had no knowledge of BMR and whatnot. These days I do a lot less impactful exercise than I did before, but I still exercise each day: I do 96 minutes of stationary cycling a day, go on daily walks and have the obsession to take steps whenever I'm standing still. As you might be able to tell, I feel like I'm on the line of having control here.

⋅ My personality/social life/hobbies: even though I was in denial about my changing personality for a long while, I eventually realised that people were right when they said I changed. The realisation came during recovery, mostly because I noticed how I was in a better mood than when I was at my lowest point. My social life is building up slowly and doesn't always include me having to talk about my weight loss or food, though people always mention it so, I do always end up having to talk about it without wanting to. As for hobbies, I found my interest in kpop and writing again but, it's still at a somewhat moderate level. I still find myself lurking at food-related posts or triggering things, but I can control myself better and watch some positive videos instead. Aside from that, I journal every day: I write down what I ate, my physical activity, what I saw as memorable in my day, and more.

𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞

That's pretty much all for the life update. I still left out a lot that I failed to remember while writing or felt too tired to write about, and I bet not a lot of you are interested in any of this anyway. I just felt like I owed everyone an explanation of where I've been and why I haven't been reblogging much or writing.

As I've stated a few times before, I don't know yet when I will get back into writing or posting content. And the past months made me realise that it might be good for myself if I take some time away from Tumblr: I won't be able to look for triggering content, won't be able to trigger anyone else on accident and can focus on working towards my goals.

I hate the word hiatus but I think this means that I will be going on semi-hiatus. On good days, I might still come here to talk to my mutuals or reblog some kpop content that I enjoy. But other times, I probably won't respond or interact much as I'm logged out.

For now, my semi-hiatus will continue until mid to end September. This might be shortened or extended depending on my progress and my personal needs.

Have a lovely day, moonflowers! 💌

[lokiondisneyplus]

Over five popular seasons, the story lines of “Better Call Saul” have unfolded across nail salons, fried-chicken joints and other strip-mall staples of American life.

When new episodes begin premiering next year, though, the locations that give the “Breaking Bad” spinoff its texture could be reined in or done away with altogether. The culprit? The novel coronavirus, which is limiting where the New Mexico-set AMC show can film, potentially altering both its style and substance.

“Like a lot of other people, we’re going to have to be very creative in where and how we shoot,” said Mark Johnson, the veteran producer who oversees the Vince Gilligan hit, whose writers just began collaborating on the series’s sixth season. “A lot of places just won’t let you in.”

Across the entertainment industry, casts and crew are beginning to return to work after a five-month hiatus. In states with loosened restrictions, such as Georgia and New York, production is starting to crank up under tight controls that alter how sets operate. Instead of crew members freely mingling, they’re being divided into “pods" that limit how production departments such as wardrobe or lighting can associate. Covid-19 officers monitor the health of the cast and crew to determine who is allowed on set. “Zones” dictate where those cast and crew can go.

These changes might seem technical, but they hint at the far-reaching effects the virus will have on final screen products. Interviews with 12 executives, writers, agents and producers across the Hollywood spectrum suggest a dramatically transformed world of entertainment. Until a vaccine comes along, they say, covid-19 will change what Americans watch as dramatically as it has where they work, shop and learn. Forget the new normal — movies and TV are about to encounter the new austerity.

Crowd scenes are a no-go. Real-world locations will be limited. On-screen romance will be less common, sometimes restricted to actors who have off-screen relationships. And independent films — that tantalizing side dish in the U.S. entertainment meal — could be heavily scaled back.

“A lot of people believe this is just about getting back to work,” said Mark Gill, a producer and former head of Warner Independent Pictures, the studio unit responsible for independent hits such as “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Good Night, and Good Luck.” “They don’t realize the massive cultural impact we’re about to face.”

For most of its history, Hollywood created entertainment based on a simple premise: Shuttle in large numbers of people and move them around at will. That’s certainly true of crews. But it especially applies to extras, the low-paid day laborers who pack sets and off-camera holding areas in order to create dense crowd scenes — and, in turn, lend the work real-world atmosphere.

Such scenes have of course been part of some of the most memorable moments in Hollywood history. From “Ben-Hur” to “Braveheart,” on-screen entertainment has become indelible thanks to hundreds of people you’ve never heard of packing tiny spaces, then moving as one when the cameras roll.

Yet the virus has essentially made these hires impossible. Many don’t want to risk their health for a $100 paycheck and remote shot at background glory, and producers don’t want to take on the liability even if they did. “Braveheart" used about 1,600 extras, many from the Irish Army reserves. Experts say the movie couldn’t come close to being shot today.

“Those of us in the entertainment business are not used to being told ‘no’‚” said Lucas Foster, a longtime Hollywood producer who counts the 2005 romantic-action hit “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and last year’s Oscar-decorated blockbuster “Ford v Ferrari” among his credits. “And when it comes to things like crowds, there’s going to be a lot of no.”

Foster understands the challenges personally — he’s one of the first producers to have made a movie in the age of covid-19.

In March, the Los Angeles resident was in Australia, several weeks into preproduction on a new version of “Children of the Corn” when the pandemic began to spread. Millions of dollars had already been committed to the movie, adapted from the same Stephen King story that yielded the 1984 cult hit. So rather than shut down, he decided to proceed — cautiously. Foster created a production bubble, consulted doctors regularly, procured large amounts of tests, and engaged in elaborate workarounds in realms like crowd scenes.

He said it worked, but with major accommodations.

“I had to figure out how to do a crowd with no more than a few people at the same time. And with very specific camera angles. And by taking actors who would normally be close together and making them not close together,” Foster said. “In the end, I’d get the scene I needed but it looked different than it would have before the pandemic.” (Computer-generated crowds, he and other producers say, only work for more distant shots; anything requiring close-ups needs the real thing.)

It helped, he noted, that many of his actors were children, who are believed less susceptible to the effects of the virus, and that much of the movie was shot in cornfields and other vast outdoor spaces, a luxury not all films have.

Producers say the added cost required to implement all the safeguards could also result in a lower-end finished product. Films and TV shows achieve their level of shine through an endless period of refinement, with actors and directors often attempt 10 or more takes of a scene. With everything now going longer — and thus costing more — they may not have the luxury.

One producer of multiple studio hits said he expects the number of takes to drop significantly as the virus balloons budgets. He also expected a diminution in night scenes, which tend to be more involved and expensive than day scenes. He said some productions will be able to make the switch, but not all will be as lucky.

Also unlucky, say Hollywood veterans: movies where characters seek to get lucky. Many insiders say romantic scenes will be a major challenge in movies. Two agents separately reported they had high-profile clients who told them they wouldn’t shoot love scenes during the pandemic.

“I think every agency right now is looking down their client list to see which actors have spouses who are also actors, because then we could try to get them cast, too,” said one of the agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by their company to speak to the news media. “I’m joking. Sort of.”

The added wrinkle is even if the actors trust each other in real life, many of their characters would still have to take precautions on screen.

“How do you send two characters on a first dinner date when people aren’t really going on first dinner dates?” said a creator of romantic comedies who asked not to be identified because they did not want to be seen as criticizing colleagues who are attempting new projects. “You can send them on a socially distant walk, I guess.”

Writers say that leads to a broader dilemma: how much to incorporate the pandemic into their stories. On one hand, they say they don’t want to pretend the virus doesn’t exist. But acknowledging it poses its own challenges.

“Do you really want your stars wearing masks because that’s what characters would do? Do you want to have people engaging with each other in groups no larger than six? Do you want to write stories where everyone is at a safe distance?” said Mark Heyman, the co-writer of “Black Swan” and “The Skeleton Twins” and creator of the CBS All-Access historical drama “Strange Angel.” “Because a lot of those things won’t be very much fun to watch.”

Yet if creators aren’t willing to do that, he said, it could lead to those shows or movies getting shelved out of a fear that audiences will judge them inauthentic.

Heyman was working on a series set in a high school for Netflix when the lockdowns began. That project has now been put on pause. “It’s not easy to make a show about high school,” he said, “when there is no high school.”

To avoid reminding viewers of the pandemic, creators may take an approach that will lead to an unusual trend.

“I think over the next few years you’re going to see a lot more movies set in the past,” Foster said. “Even movies written for the present will be changed. They’ll make it the ’90s because then you don’t have to deal with these questions. And then you can just put in some cool ’90s music, so everybody wins.”

A few creators have gone the other way, leaning in to the pandemic.

Writers on Apple TV Plus’s “The Morning Show,” set at a news program, have torn up existing scripts to make the pandemic a part of the story line, according to a person familiar with the show who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. But with a lag time of months between shooting and airing, experts say that creators also risk looking out of date by the time episodes release to the public.

Sensing an opportunity, horror filmmakers have also tried to embrace current events.

“The horror genre is very suited to the pandemic and lockdowns — we’re always trying to create a feeling of being trapped anyway,” said the horror filmmaker Nathan Crooker.

When quarantines hit this spring, Crooker gathered nine noted horror filmmakers and had them shoot an anthology film — short fictional movies connected by the larger virus theme — and titled it “Isolation.” He required filmmakers to use only the materials and people they were in lockdown with, even prohibiting Zoom and other technologies.

“I think we’re going to get a very cool effect that mirrors what people are going through,” Crooker said of his work. “But I don’t know that every movie that gets made would want to look like that.”

One consequence of the virus could turn out to be the movies that don’t get made at all.

Some of the most beloved films of the past two decades, from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” to “Whiplash,” “Little Miss Sunshine” to “Fruitvale Station,” were independently financed. But before rolling cameras, independent productions require insurance policies to protect them from workplace lawsuits, along with completion bonds, in which a guarantor assures they will step in with funds to finish the movie if production is halted.

Experts say no company will cover covid-19 with either policy, effectively preventing production.

“Covid is an absolute disaster for the independent-film industry,” said Sky Moore, a partner in the corporate entertainment department of the Los Angeles law firm Greenberg Glusker who has spent several decades putting together film financing deals. “The lifeblood of independent-film financing is loans, and loans need insurance. Now you have this massive hole in the middle of all of it.”

Moore believes the toll will be vast.

“I think 50 percent of the independent industry goes away,” he said.

(Movies financed by large studios do not buy these policies; Netflix or Disney would just absorb a shutdown or lawsuit as the cost of doing business.)

Even if they can work around the insurance issues, many independent films won’t get made because they simply won’t have the money. “It’s already hard to get funding for a lot of these movies,” said Shaun MacGillivray, a producer who makes large-scale independent documentaries. “And now you’re telling investors the budget is going to be 30 percent higher?”

The independent-film world is trying to push ahead, slowly. The Sundance Film Festival, the epicenter of the indie-film business, where companies like Hulu and Netflix sometimes pay more than $10 million for an independently financed movie, will hold a partially physical, partially virtual edition in January, albeit at just about half the length.

“We are reminded daily of the power of what is made newly visible to us, the importance of what we look at,” Tabitha Jackson, the director of the festival, said in a letter to staff this summer explaining why the festival needed to go on. “My hope for this edition of the Sundance Film Festival is that through a multiplicity of perspectives held by artists and audiences in their various communities we will also come to feel the power of where we look from.” Left unspoken: What happens in 2022, when the well runs dry because new movies can’t be insured and produced?

Whatever entertainment can get made, experts say, will have a more hermetic look. Even television shows, once shot heavily on sets, now often rely on the authenticity of locations; a police procedural feels like it does because detectives are popping into pizza places and apartment buildings.

“We don’t want everything to be a chamber piece,” said Johnson, the “Better Call Saul” executive producer. “But if many shows look different, I think that’s okay, because the world looks different.”

Then, considering the challenge further, he added, “And if that doesn’t work, then at least our show has a lot of deserts and open roads.”

[kariachi]

Okay, we’re going to have a go at gymleaders, what their jobs entail and what their salaries are, now. For those who haven’t been keeping track of this series on posts about estimated income for various pokemon-related jobs, here’s where you can find the ones on coordinators and trainers.

Okay, gymleaders are a bitch because when you play the games so many of them have fucking other jobs. So many. So we’re going to go with a combination of consistent things we see gymleaders doing or can infer they’re doing from within the anime and games, along with shit that just makes sense from a worldbuilding perspective.

So, with that in mind, gymleaders seem to be expected to-

Oversee and maintain a pokemon gym

Engage challengers in fair combat

Provide some form of reward to winners

Maintain several teams of varying sizes and power levels of the gym’s type

Mentor young trainers on the topic of pokemon

Act as local experts on pokemon

Act as experts on pokemon of the gym’s type

Act as defenders of their community from outside forces

Act as community leaders

Take part in efforts to maintain local ecosystems

Bit of a lot. Probably pretty stressful. Especially given we’ve seen gymleaders age 16 and younger.

Now, eventually we’re going to get to projected salaries, but first I want to sort out some reasonable ‘how’s, the role of gyms outside of gym battles, shit like that, because with things like this it’s important to have all your ducks in a row.

First, we’re going to go into why I only specify a ‘reward’ up on the list rather than ‘a badge’ or anything like that. Simply enough, it seems reasonable to assume not all gyms are officially certified. We see gyms in both the anime and games that aren’t part of the ‘gym challenge’ and don’t offer badges.

Noncertified gyms cannot give out badges, to prevent trainers being tricked into thinking they’ve become eligible to challenge the regional league when they haven’t. Instead these gyms will give items and sometimes pokemon to those who beat their leader. Reasons a gym may not be certified vary, from a lack of public interest, to not meeting the standards of their regional regulatory body, to simply being too new, and beyond. These gyms receive no funding from the League.

Gyms must be active and open to the public for two years, with a win ratio of 80% or higher against challengers to the gymleader- who must themselves meet the region’s requirements to become a gymleader- to be eligible for certification. Gyms must be recertified every two years.

Gyms must have a specific type focus, though gymleaders are not required to have teams solely of that type (the type must still make up at least 50% of the gymleader’s official teams however). Gymleaders can change their type focus as they wish, but any alterations to the gym itself will have to come from the community or their own pocket unless they recertify as the new type. Upon recertification as a new type the League typically provides set funds to modify the gym.

Certified gyms are often limited to one per town, though particularly large cities have been known to have two.

Gyms often hold several roles outside of merely acting as arenas for trainer battles. Typically they live up to their name, acting as places where locals or trainers specializing in a specific type can come to train their teams, with many noncertified gyms offering membership packages to bring in the money they need to run (certified gyms are restricted from offering membership services). They also often act as places for the community to congregate, as emergency shelters, and some host community support or outreach programs.

Gym trainers are often made up of a combination of local trainers, gym workers, and apprentices to the gymleader.

Certified gyms are funded by their regional League- which itself is funded by the cost of trainer licenses and the various fees to enter or view League-sanctioned events, along with fees paid by media channels to broadcast said events and vendors to work them- which pays the bills nessecary to keep the gym running, along with the salaries of gymleaders, gym workers, and apprentices, and for the care and feeding of gymleaders’ and apprentices’ teams. Additional money comes in the form of loss money from challengers, usually $300-400, which most certified gyms put towards their community-focused programs.

Noncertified gyms receive their funding via donations, membership fees, charging for serves, and loss money from challengers. Start-up money is generally provided by the gymleader from their own personal savings.

The process of becoming eligible to be a gymleader varies from region to region. In some locations an apprenticeship under the current gymleader and their word are enough to grant you the position upon their retirement, while in others the process is long and intense, involving a variety of extremely difficult challenges. Still the majority of regions in this day and age require three things to become eligible-

A good showing in a challenge against said region’s Elite Four and Champion, generally requiring the defeat of 3 of the Elites (a challenge one can’t undergo without having first become a League Champion in that region)

The passing of the region’s GEEs, ‘Gymleader Eligibility Exams’

Either an Bachelors degree in ‘Poke-Human Relations’ or four years apprenticeship under a gymleader

Individuals meeting these standards immediately become eligible to open or inherit a gym in that region.

Now we finally get to move onto salaries for the certified guys.

Gym workers were the easy part. The pokemon world, as mentioned before, doesn’t seem as shit as ours, so one can assume gym workers are getting at least a living wage- already determined to be about $20-25k, but such a prestigious job is also probably going to pay a little more than the norm. So we’ll go with $25-30k for gym workers.

Apprentices are a little harder. Their incomes seem to vary, which makes sense as an apprentice just starting probably isn’t going to be paid the same as one several years on. So we’re going to go with a ‘by experience in the gym’ system.

1-2 years: ~$20-25k

3-5: ~$25-30k

5-7: ~$35-40k

8-9: ~$40-45k

10+: ~$45-50k

‘But Achi, why so high there by the end?’ We’re getting there, loves.

Now gymleaders were what drove me up the wall, because I try to go for equivalences when I do most of my numbers stuff but figuring out an equivalent job was a bit of a bitch. So, I decided to work backwards a bit and asked myself a not-so-simple question-

“How much, based on what we’ve already determined, would it cost to raise nine children as a single parent?”

Because in the anime we’re shown that Brock was raising his nine younger siblings, on his own, with his only job being as leader of the local certified gym. Now, Pocket Monsters: The Animation, wants us to believe that being a gymleader leaves you no fucking money, nobody is being paid, you’re basically living off scraps, but what we’re shown here doesn’t match up with that. We get nine kids, being raised in what appears to be a nice house, by a single parental figure, and there’s no sign that they want for anything. There’s none of the typical shorthand for ‘we’re poor as shit’. So, presumably, being a certified gymleader earns you enough of a salary that you can support a large family on it, though maybe not easily.

So, I used the same budget calculator to work out an estimate on how much Brock would’ve been spending to support his siblings with a modest living. And it had to be estimates because the damn thing doesn’t go higher than four kids a household. Thankfully, as explained in earlier posts, we’re presuming transportation and healthcare costs aren’t a thing in the pokemon world for the standard person traveling around their area, and the pokemon are, again, presumably being fed by the League, so we were able to take numbers from some spots and move them into others. In the end, we ended up with $70-80k as the annual salary of a gymleader.

So, about three times the cost of living, a certified gymleader is certainly a lucrative position. The big question is, is it worth the fucking work.

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Modern Role Playing Games For People That Want To Get Into RPG‘s

You may have heard of a little game that’s come out recently called Final Fantasy VII Remake. There has been a lot of talk about this game having inspired a lot of people to play a game that they skipped back in the day or inspired them to pick up another RPG because they were so engaged in it. Final Fantasy VII Remake isn’t going to make it into this article because I haven’t had a chance to play it yet. But if you’ve always been curious about the RPG genre or maybe you have just finished Final Fantasy VII Remake and are hungry for more, I have a pretty good selection of RPG’s that could offer you the chance to get into a genre of games that maybe you hadn’t considered before. The games on the list are primarily “modern” and what I mean by that is the games will not be SNES era games but rather games that are probably more accessible and easier on the eyes. The games are (as always) limited to what I have had the chance to play. And the games that have been selected were chosen based on the following criteria: low complexity of combat, world building, leveling curve (lack of grinding), and visual appeal. Some of you may want to dive straight into the deep end and download some anime RPG on Steam or find a copy of Chrono Trigger or some certain PS1/NES era RPG and if you can do that then you are an absolute trooper but this post will focus on newer titles rather than the classics. Also if you want me to spotlight a game that you want to recommend put it in the notes because I love getting suggested games! And if you have any questions my messages are always open and I have all the free time to answer them. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way here are games that I recommend as good starting places if you want to get into RPG’s.

Kingdom Hearts

(PS2/PS3/PS4/XBOne)

Kingdom Hearts is a cross over series that blended the worlds of Final Fantasy with Disney. What makes this game attractive to new players is the Disney half and what hooks them in is the Final Fantasy half. The game is easy to pick up and keeps you consistently engaged in enough story and new locations to keep you wanting more after the credits role. The combat is easy, only requiring a few buttons and allows the player to advance effortlessly without having to worry about their gear or level. The platforming sections help form a cohesive world that is small enough to allow its player to mentally map the whole game easily. The game still tosses around complex themes and sullen moments so it is still very viable to play for adults even though it may take you a good while to start seeing the fruits of that. This is an easy pickup for anyone that is thinking that just maybe they want to try a role playing game that tells a large story in a manageable amount of time that doesn’t require a huge amount of your brain power to get through.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

(PC/PS4/PS3/XB360/XBOne/Switch/PSVR)

Skyrim is an open ended role playing game where you create a character and exist in a fantasy world full of dragons and wizards. It’s exactly what most people associate with when they think about fantasy and most of the time it is where people go when they want that sort of experience. If you are trying to play an RPG that tells bite sized stories but includes enough world building to have you reading Skyrim history books until 4 in the morning then perhaps Skyrim is a good game to try. The controls are similar to any other first person game so if you are not familiar with that then there is a learning curve attached to it, other than that there is a wide range of difficulties that allow just about anyone to be able to play through the game. The snowy vistas make this game a beautiful option and the way that the scope of the world reaches miles in front of you gives a really liberating sense of freedom. Skyrim has the potential to become a hardcore obsession but also allows a lighter and more casual experience for people who just want to see main stories.

Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

(PS4/PC)

Ni No Kuni II is a fun game that applies big ideas into digestible pieces. The combat is very simple to learn and fun to exploit. The game adds a strategy mode where you command troops that isn’t awesome but also introduces a town building mechanic that is easy to understand and gives you a visual sense of progression. The story is awesome and keeps the world of Ni No Kuni grounded into its fantastical fantasy setting that borrows a lot from everyday life. The game borrows from the art of Studio Ghibli and is heavily inspired by movies like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. If any of that sounds like it is interesting to you then this is easily a fun opportunity to bring a unique RPG into your gaming library.

Pokemon Sword and Shield

(Switch)

I’m willing to admit two things. The first being that I truly believe that Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum were the best Pokemon games and that normally I would recommend that someone just play that game instead. However, the second is that Pokemon Sword and Shield are the definitive versions of Pokemon that rid the game of the dated mechanics of previous titles. Pokemon is the monster taming game, the game is a celebration of being able to constantly change who you are playing as and it feels endlessly personal. Pokemon is a great intro to turn based combat that does a great job teaching things like elemental weaknesses and speed stats. This is definitely the easiest, most customizable, and cute, way to enter the RPG genre.

Persona 5 Royal

(PS4)

Persona 5 Royal is the definitive version of Persona 5 which is the latest installment in the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series called Persona. The game is about balancing daily high school life with traveling into another dimension to fight shadows. The game has a lot of things in it, a day to day manager, a dating sim, turn based RPG, fishing, darts, batting cage, etc. Persona 5 also drips with style, from the amazing art to the fantastic soundtrack. The combat takes some learning but if you set the difficulty all the way down it becomes an accessible experience at no cost to the gripping story. You are guaranteed to fall in love with this game if you end up playing it and it’s bound to create an obsession that has you playing Persona 4 as well as Persona 3. This is an intimidating game to start but with the difficulty set low you really can’t mess up the other portions of the game so there is always a good way to make sure you can experience one of the best games on the PS4.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes Of An Elusive Age

(Switch/PS4/3DS/PC)

Dragon Quest XI is the funniest game on this list. The writing also ironically follows plot lines from other media like Marvel Cinematic Universe or Dragon Ball. You’ll also notice that the game looks a lot like Dragon Ball so if you ever wanted a Dragon Ball fantasy RPG then you might be in luck. The story is driven home by its amazing cast and continues to supply the player with things to do way after the credits have rolled. The turn based combat is very traditional so maybe try this game if you don’t mind learning an older style of game play presented in a fun and easy to understand setting. Dragon Quest XI is guaranteed to hook you in with its likeable characters and grand story telling, if you are at all attracted by the promises of dumb humor, excellent writing, and incomparable character development you should plan on purchasing this game.

Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn

(PS4/PC)

An MMO is an RPG too. And as I’m writing this the current best place to live a virtual life is in Final Fantasy XIV. As someone who has tried almost every free to play MMO on the market I can say with absolute certainty that you get what you pay for and the subscription to FFXIV is worth every cent if you want to get into an MMO. The game is large and intimidating and complex, however, the game is also home to one of the friendliest communities I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing with and they make the game as special as it is. This is why people that don’t even like video games are drawn to FFXIV because it is an amazing social experience that also happens to be an amazing MMO experience. The story is the best in terms of MMO story lines and the combat is vast boasting 18 completely unique combat classes. I can’t recommend this game enough and if you have ever considered an MMO then I can guarantee you that this is the one that you want to be playing.

Fantasy Life

(3DS)

Fantasy Life is a game about grinding professions. It looks like Animal Crossing and kind of plays like Animal Crossing would if you could also slay beasts and smith armor in that game. If you are familiar with Life Sim games then this is just the fantasy RPG version of that. The game gives you a job and makes it insanely fun to do that job with fun mini games and a rewarding economy system. This is the “relaxing” game on the list so if you like games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon and you may want to try more combat heavy games then this is a great Segway into that genre of game.

Diablo III

(PC/Mac/PS3/PS4/XB360/XBOne/Switch)

Diablo III is probably the most famous ARPG which just means that you are looking down from an isometric point of view and are typically facing hordes of monsters to achieve hordes of loot. I would say that Path of Exile might be catching up fast to Diablo but if you want to ease into an ARPG then Diablo III is much more forgiving. The game is instantly rewarding and gives you a lot of customization with your skills and appearance. This game tells an epic story but has too much game in between story beats to make it worth playing for. Although I would recommend this game to a new player that only wants to play an RPG for its gear management and game play versatility without having to sit through endless cut scenes.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

(Switch)

In Fire Emblem: Three Houses you play as the combat teacher of one of three groups of kids. You decide what they learn and how well they get at it. The game is a strategy RPG so you are using your brain a bit more to assess situations than the other games on this list. However, Fire Emblem streamlines the system into something easy to understand that is accessible to most new players. While I don’t recommend this game to every new RPG player I’d say that if you really want a game that makes you think rather than hit buttons randomly than you might enjoy the deeper engagement that this game offers. Note that the Fire Emblem series is known for using a very evil emotional weapon called “party member perma-death” which you can absolutely turn off if you would like a less stressful experience. Or live for the thrill, I won’t tell you what to do.

Final Fantasy XV

(PS4/XBOne/PC)

Final Fantasy XV isn’t a normal Final Fantasy game. It is a road trip that you can’t truly appreciate unless you get distracted. Over the years RPG’s have been known for putting a large amount of side activities in their games, Final Fantasy XV takes its story and encases it in casual game play that involves long drive and lots of fishing and camping. This game is not for everyone but its more casual approach will appeal to a newer audience than a hardened veteran of the Final Fantasy series. People looking for their first RPG won’t be totally swayed by the story here but they will have seen that the journey can be fun if you let it.

So You Wanna Start An RPG

Take it from someone who has played the opening hours of a lot of games and then quit that sometimes you just can’t get yourself to like a game. You owe it to yourself to find in entertainment something that you like. I consider myself more of a casual RPG player, I’ve never beaten any of the classics and I can hardly finish a lot of the RPG’s that I own now. But I think that fickleness makes me a good source to recommend a good RPG for people that may not have the patience to play through a Final Fantasy IV or a Golden Sun. Also remember not to rule out experiences just because people say that they are “bad” because opinions are subjective to you personally. RPG’s have the power to tell moving and important stories, and as a player of them I hope I’ve given anyone reading this some incentive to experience a larger than life story.

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5 Actionable Steps to Develop a Successful Software Startup from Scratch

Entrepreneurs allured with the vision of creating a lucrative and successful business. They seek out unique and powerful business models, strategies to mark their footprints in the software landscape. Every innovator looks forward to delivering a productive and bankable product or service. In return contributing to the rapid growth of Software startup all across the globe every year.

Did you know? According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) massive statistical research, 137,000 startups are introduced in the market every day with estimated 120,000 startups eliminated each year.

If you follow the statistics, a tech startup’s success rate is one-fourth of what its failure rate is.

I would say, don’t believe the statistics!

If you are passionate enough for your software startup, just understand what it takes to outlive the chances of falling flat. This article will lay light on all the highs and lows, positives and negatives, strategies, and techniques to establish a successful software startup from scratch.

So, let’s begin!

How to build a successful software startup from scratch?

Consider these 5 steps to form an effective trade in this growing industry:

Step 1- Market research

For a software startup to generate profits, you’ll require a market that is prepared for the idea and technology, software that solves the pain points of the clients, and appropriate pricing that the market can afford. A large number of startups fail because of a poor product/service-market fit, hence, making informed choices that get along with the market requirements is very crucial.

Specialists claim that market research is one of the first vital steps while developing a startup.

What if you don’t undergo market research?

Many entrepreneurs are confident enough that they are going to deliver the right services to the market, but fail because of a poor market design strategy.

I am not saying don’t be confident, but follow the crucial steps!

Being confident is the key, but only if you are unlocking the right door. If the market is wrong, your product cannot win hearts and give you conversions.

What are market research types?

While market research has different types, based on the type of business you are targeting. Here are a few market research types-

Primary or secondary market research While primary research is collecting information yourself from various sources. Analyzing current sales volumes, metrics, and customers, secondary market research includes collecting data prepared by third parties like reports and study analysis from other entities from the same niche market.

Online and offline research A blend of both, online and offline research, delivers the most accurate market analysis. Online research gives out information in free and fast whereas offline research provides more in-depth results and access to information sources.

You can also take the help of Surveys, Interviews, Focus groups, and social media according to your budget and time, to ask the audiences what they think of the product/services.

Read Also: 12 Key Considerations Before Setting Up an eCommerce Startup

Step2- Proof of Concept

Although everyone is convinced with their idea and its problem-solving features, creating a proof of concept to analyze and test your idea and see if it can be followed in the real-world is important. Another benefit of proof of concept is, it will help you gather stakeholders’ trust that’ll convince them to invest in your idea. The process of “proof of concept” follows these steps-

1. Demonstrate the Requirement

It’s very important that the software you are investing your energy in, is actually on the customer’s needy list. It’ll be all for nothing if you aren’t sure that the audience needs the software.

2. Outline Pain Points and Gather feedback

Do some brainstorming to map out the pain points and determine how your software stacks up to relieve those pain points. When you are ready with a list of solutions, put those solutions in front of the stakeholders and potential users to know what they think and how they react. They might suggest an additional feature that makes your product/services more valuable.

3. Solution Prototyping

Your following step is to make a model that wraps your solutions into a simple item that you just can utilize to test with those you met already. This model ought to have the anticipated highlight set and UI/UX.

Once the model is built, test it together with your interviewees for extra input. Record their utilization of the item to track how instinctive the interface truly is, and discover it in case you ignore any critical usefulness.

4. Minimum Viable Product Creation

An MVP is a fully functional solution that is different from prototyping. It incorporates the most important highlights that are basic for tackling the essential torment focuses you distinguished. It ought to work on the user’s side rather like the ultimate item.

5. Roadmap Construction

From all of the data you’ve assembled in each of the past steps, make a guide that depicts what you’ve learned and diagrams a prescribed step-by-step handle for building the item. Think of this guide as a set of diagrams for developing a building. With this guide as a direct, everybody will be kept on the same page through item improvement and will have a clear picture of what the conclusion objective is.

Read Also: 5 mistakes a start-up makes when building an MVP

Step 3. Getting Associates and Partners

It is not possible to overestimate the value of collaborators, investors, teammates, co-founders of partners, remote developers, and the likes of a start-up company. You will need the support of others for the staggering success of a start-up venture. You can go easily alone, but together you can go faster.

Forging alliances and collaborations that can help you make the most of your new company or start-up project is important. You might need to find a technical co-founder who can handle the software team and work with them. An entrepreneurship experience can be an emotional rollercoaster trip, but you don’t just want a technical co-founder to be chosen randomly. Do not begin by inviting unknown individuals to be your co-founder of the methodology. Take the time to consider others, recognize them and first make sure the two sides feel happy.

Starting a new startup venture is challenging. Maintaining enough cash in your budget to keep your doors open is no easy feat, from ordering equipment and loading up on inventory to handling payroll and renting an office. But there is one way by which you can accept this challenge with confidence, getting an active investor!

An active investor is knowledgeable of the organization and can be actively engaged in most processes, particularly in areas of the company that includes sales and profitability.

According to the NSBA Economic Report, 27% of small businesses are unable to access adequate funding.

Hence, it is almost difficult to expand your small company without good finance behind you!

Step 4.Offering Easy Entry to Customers

Initially, it’s incredibly difficult to get traction. Most individuals are not chomping at the bit to spend time studying and saving money on new technologies to incorporate it. Create a blueprint on how you can get the first consumers on board. Consider a free offering for trial users, free updates, or a discount cost. For users who put friends aboard, you may even create rewards.

Another way to reduce the entry barrier for a SaaS product is to ensure that you deliver a selection of subscription levels that can cover the needs of all customer classes without asking them to pay for features that they do not require.

You should have a customer success team that monitors the customer’s usage levels, gives them quality notifications and satisfaction reviews. Among other items, invites them to customer-advisory board meetings. The client-success team should also be educated and willing to market.

Read Also: Which is Cheaper: In-House Team or Remote Developers

Step 5. Constant Software Testing and Analysis

The universe travels swiftly. Technology moves, behavioral habits of people change, new variables affect the desires of consumers. Thinking that the product has landed, you can’t afford to get complacent. Still pushing for improvement, keeping an eye on evolving trends. How the product has to react and change as a result. What you don’t calculate, you can’t adjust, so build a daily routine.

If you analyze key metrics, you will know what: features do not resonate with users anymore, new features users require, and features the app needs to keep up with the ecosystems of users. This insight will also help you strengthen your content.  You will understand, what is most important to consumers and how they interpret the benefit they get from your product specifically.

Hence, it is necessary to identify tests continuously (whenever possible with A/B testing) and, after making adjustments, track the successful progress.

Read Also: Boost Your Start-Up Cybersecurity with These Powerful Tips

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of stuff you should know if you want to create a software start-up from scratch. Let’s be frank, there is no right road to success for start-ups. Everything I can do is provide you with advice as to what you need. If you aren’t sure about getting started, consult a trusted mobile app development company in India. They will understand your software startup requirement and make sure that you don’t leave any gaps behind.

[workfromhome6q-blog]

Why Affiliate marketing online Is the best Approach to Get started a web-based Business

online business

If you have educated on your own more than enough with all the details obtainable to us through the internet, you then ought to have understood by since your pursuit of the job within the corporate ladder is futile at greatest. In essence, the reasoning is to commence being an intern, then an everyday personnel, then go approximately a supervisory and/or managerial position and eventually nearly the executive ranges on the corporate business that you're in. Personally, I have practically nothing versus this kind of aspiration as I way too once dreamt of these matters myself; nonetheless, the toll it takes to receive to exactly exactly where you would like to be could not less than acquire 30 a long time; twenty for anyone who is exceptionally great at it.

online business

The condition is every one of us cannot be extraordinary and aside from the fierce competitiveness in play, you may even have to confront the insurmountable amount of bureaucracy, racism, favoritism, gender inequalities together with other detrimental factors as a way to actually shift up the ladder. The trade-off is just not an ideal payoff even from an optimistically assessed standpoint. Consequently I'd personally advocate that you choose to start out your individual company along with the most affordable strategy to do it is by creating an internet online affiliate marketing blog site or web page.

Defining Affiliate marketing

Internet online affiliate marketing is an easy income-generating organization technique in which you're taking the role on the promoter and assist the manufacturers and sellers connect while using the conclude consumers. It ought to be apparent that no matter whether you take a passive or energetic job on this business enterprise, you might be not at all the originator or creator of the products/services you encourage. But you will get a small portion in the gross sales as payment even so. It is basically a 3-way partnership among you, the vendor plus the shopper.

What Internet affiliate marketing just isn't

In case you get an unsolicited email inviting you to definitely sign up for an affiliate network and it can be asking for an upfront payment, you then absolutely need to scrutinize them and find out no matter whether or not they're fraud or legit. Visit the Much better Small business Bureau (BBB) and learn about the corporate, if you cannot obtain any, then check out internet affiliate marketing discussion boards and dialogue boards. They might know a whole lot about these fraud sites as news spreads rapid in social media and forums. Yet another matter to search for is if these persons are marketing you unrelated merchandise or anything you won't ever be capable to use, much like the $350 "Secrets to Affiliate marketing Success" book or various other catchy titles; despite the fact that a couple of are genuine but they do not demand you that top.

The reality is you could understand basic affiliate marketing online from best position web sites and blogs. In reality, they can educate you additional practical facts than all those people specialized books and DVDs that other individuals are selling. Becoming an affiliate is free if you indicator as many as online marketing courses and the only matter which will seriously set you back funds is webhosting, and that is around $70 - $100 a calendar year in your internet online affiliate marketing weblog. Some other bills could include a singular website/blog brand (optional), your electric invoice; use a website writer (optional for the reason that you are able to publish the blogs you) and probably compensated advertising to market your site or blog site (optional).

Varieties of Affiliate marketing

What is actually intriguing about internet online affiliate marketing is you can earn commissions in additional ways than a lot of people think. Make it possible for me to explain the three diverse varieties of internet affiliate marketing and how it is possible to generate through them.

1. Unattached Affiliate marketing - Such a affiliate internet marketing will not likely demand much too a great deal do the job from you, you don't even have to set up an internet online affiliate marketing blog like these for Amazon Affiliate Plans. This is additional just like a PPC marketing and advertising (pay-per-click) in which you simply exhibit affiliate adverts on internet sites that enable this type of advertising and afterwards have a commission for each simply click by that web buyers make over the adverts.

2. Connected Internet affiliate marketing - Such a marketing is where by that you are needed to have some degree of involvement which is in which you create an affiliate marketing website or web site and always exhibit affiliate links on just about all within your website/blog internet pages. Additionally you gain a fee for each time a web consumer clicks as a result of the affiliate one-way links.

3. Involved Internet affiliate marketing - This sort of advertising may possibly involve you to in fact use the products/services prior to deciding to generate an evaluation about them and you ought to manage to publish a far more thorough and honest assessments.

You can decide on these 3 types of internet online affiliate marketing procedures, but most online marketing packages works by using the sort 2 affiliate marketing, that has some level of involvement and on the internet presence from the close.

Placing the Cogs and Wheels With each other

Given that you've an strategy of what affiliate marketing online is centered on and what its typical pitfalls are, you're able to start out your journey to economic flexibility and also a rich lifestyle! Internet affiliate marketing is just like several other sort of enterprise and you will have to strategy a method months or simply many years forward prior to deciding to start off, so I'll provde the essential system of tips on how to develop into an affiliate marketer, signing up for affiliate courses, starting your internet online affiliate marketing web site and many of the other essential information about this.

Actions to be an affiliate marketer:

1. Decide what area of interest subject you ought to use for your personal weblog or web site. It is greater to write reviews or common details about products/services that you are passionate about, because you may create greater article content for them in comparison to those that you don't like. By way of example, if you're mad about crochet or children bicycles, then that is the specialized niche you need to decide for the web site! Affiliate systems use a massive stock of things available and they do incorporate crochets and bicycles for the simple fact. If you're a lot more with the business-minded specific so you feel you may write pretty much on something, then by all suggests decide on the area of interest that's most rewarding amid the large amount.

two. Create your site and purchase an affordable but reliable web hosting. You do not have to have a net designer to construct an internet site or simply a weblog. You can use WordPress, Weebly, Internet.com, Blogger, eHost and many others to carry out that. Employing their user-friendly "click & drag" features you can develop your blog/website in 5 - 10 minutes!

three. Study basic SEO and use it on your blog or web page. Search engine optimization or SEO is a very good advertising tactic to allow for your website to become known throughout the entire world-wide-web or not less than the majority of it. If your site is easier to locate in search engines, then it's far more convenient for folks to visit it, and a lot more visitors signifies more revenue for you.

4. Learn social networking advertising and marketing to extend your presence on line. In reality social websites advertising and marketing or SMM is also a part of your grand scheme of SEO and without it, your SEO campaign would not be as successful as you'd expect it to become. There are pretty much billions of men and women hanging close to the website on a daily basis and significantly of them are in social media sites. It would be a logical choice to get visitors there for your web-site and increase your profits potential.

5. Study about paid advertising and consider it deeply on no matter whether you have to have to employ it or not. Paid out ads aid due to the fact they target the right kind of folks who are already looking for items that you choose to boost. Meaning there is a fantastic chance that they will buy. Wouldn't you need them to buy merchandise through your affiliate back links? I would!

6. Start filling up your internet site with content. In case you program to write down boring and unimpressive weblogs and articles or blog posts, then I'd advise you to no longer continue in your pursuit of creating an affiliate marketing website, since I promise you folks will not likely wish to read your blogs or visit your site. Produce content articles that will impress you first. This will let you know whether or not or not people will want to read about what you might have to say. In case you can uncover an extremely critical person to judge your writing, then that would be superior as it will help you greatly improve on your writing style. Reader engagement is absolute in affiliate marketing. It will determine your money capacity, so do your ideal in writing content to your site above all else.

The way you generate in internet online affiliate marketing:

� The manufacturer/seller signs a partnership deal with all the affiliate community or program and in turn, any time you signal up together with the affiliate network as an affiliate, the partner affiliate network gives you a little percentage share on every item you helped sold.

� You can expect to need to embed or display affiliate inbound links on your web site or affiliate marketing blog site with regard to the items you are promoting. The purpose of these backlinks is to guide your site readers on the seller's webpage (that's usually within the affiliate network's site) so that they could make purchases in the objects they like.

� The percentage fee on each and every sale range from 1% - 10% (some give far more than 10% but rarely) which is the way you generate revenue. For example, a web person happens by your website about coffee machines and he/she read your website critique or informative article. The reader was impressed by your blog and decided to simply click to the affiliate link, then make a obtain of one coffee machine worth $350. If the affiliate community allowed 7% of that sum to generally be your commission, hence your earnings for that sale alone will be $24.50.

� You may possibly notice that $24.50 is a small volume and not enough to convince you to definitely develop into an affiliate; having said that, in the event you were able to bring 10,000 visitors to your blog from the span of thirty days and about 4,382 persons bought coffee machines for themselves, then your earnings for that particular month ought to be $107,359! In case you are able to bring as a lot visitors to your site on an everyday basis, you then can bet that the monthly cash flow ought to be close to these numbers. Now you are able to appreciate the value that SEO and SMM can do for the internet online affiliate marketing business enterprise.

How Substantially can you Make?

The straight answer to this question is... there is NO LIMIT to how substantially you could receive. The site called Pickmyshaver.com all over October or November 2013 then 8 months later its regular monthly money became $8,446! If it had continued as is it would receive over $50,000 a month by now, except that it was purchased in Flippa by an anonymous buyer for $60,one hundred all over June 2014. That's just 1 web page and I'm pretty sure on your very best day you could manage 2 - 3 websites for internet affiliate marketing.

At this point I will let you use your imagination as to how substantially you could receive; or is it how hard you desire to get paid. It's entirely around you. I am confident that this article ought to support you have started in creating your very own internet online affiliate marketing weblog and make not just funds, but your liberty in the everyday worries of life. When you begin earning over $8,000 a month, then you definately can buy much more time to spend it using the persons that matters to you most - your family. I wish you many of the ideal and don't forget to drop a comment below and tell me how internet affiliate marketing has changed your life like it has changed mine.

Affiliate Marketing is the most profitable online business to make money online and build a passive income. In Empire Marketing proof you can find tips and secrets to create your business and conquer the financial freedom. We promote only the best affiliate marketing programs. All of those provide; top niche products, high paying and recurring commission plans, and marketing materials to promote their products. Moreover, every program is reliable and secure. Through the blog and other products like books and courses, we will lead you from the start in every stage of your business journey. Indeed, you could find suggestions on how to avoid mistakes and scam in Affiliate Marketing.

Empire marketing proof covers every aspect of affiliate marketing and other specific digital marketing and entrepreneurship niches as email marketing, SEO, paid ads, mindset, etc.. We suggest tools and strategy. We review products, software and programs.

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14 Business Ideas That Make Over $5000 A Month In 2020

In this article, I’ll tell you 14 business ideas with the minimum investment you can start in 2020.

In order to make money by yourself, you must be aware of some great business ideas.

So, what are the things that come into your mind before starting a business?

You must be thinking about what type of business suits you the most? How much money do you need to invest to start your business? How much profit could your business make?

There are over 590 million entrepreneurs in the world. Although some businesses are generating a lot of revenue more than 23% of small businesses fail within 1 year.

Some businesses have a low-profit margin that means until the business becomes successful, it won’t be able to make a lot of profit. While some of the businesses have a very high-profit margin, so they can easily make a living from it, even before they become successful.

As the economy continues to evolve, we will notice that the youth will start focusing more on small businesses or entrepreneurship rather than traditional employment.

Starting a business is never easy; there is no quick scheme to make money without any hard work. You need to start your business from scratch and gradually build it up. So, if you are dedicated enough to make money, all you need is 1 simple idea and you could be on your way to grow your business in no time.

So, today I will be going to share with you some of the best profitable business ideas with minimum investment to start making your income in 2020 without having any type of skill. Make sure you continue reading the article.

Below you’ll see some of the best business ideas to start in 2020.

1. Personal Trainer

Personal training is the field which will be around for a very long time because almost every individual in the world looks after their health and fitness. Clients pay a lot of money for personal trainers.

In order to become a personal trainer, you don’t really require having your own gym; instead, you just need a Certification in order to become a certified personal trainer. It depends on you how you utilize your certification.

You can work in commercial gyms, personal training studios, hospitals, health centers and you can also train your clients in their homes.

There are some trainers who charge over $15-$30 for every single hour. On average, a personal trainer can earn up to $42,000 per annum.

2. Consulting

Consulting is a service-based business. It is basically an act of giving professional advice, solving financial or operational issues that their clients might have.

Consultants are basically hired by the companies in order to resolve any specific issue that they are facing.

They are basically of 3 types:

Financial Consultants:- They majorly focus on finance and increases the company’s revenue. They work on global expansion and acquisition. They are the consultants that give advice to the highest level companies. The average salary of a financial consultant is $88,675 per annum.

Management Consultants:- They look at operations and making things more efficient for example, changing the organizational structure and strategy of other companies, develop services and reduces cost as well. The average salary of a management consultant is $83,771 per annum.

Technology or IT Consultants:- They are the ones who work with their clients and advises how to use information technology in order to grow their business and overcome any problem. An average salary of an IT consultant is 1,12,405 per year.

It is one of the best business ideas all over the world.

3. Moving Service

People really pay you money in order to move their furniture from one house to the next.

You don’t have to do all this stuff instead you can hire labor that will work for you. You can easily hire multiple people if you are engaged in a lot of work.

To grow your business, make sure you start advertising on social media platforms and run Google ads. You need a website for this. If you don’t want to buy a domain name, you can go to Wix.com and create a free website.

This will ultimately help you to expand your reach and getting more clients.

Make sure you come up with a business name and a legal identity which lasts for a long time.

You can either buy a truck or work with the moving truck random companies for your business.

To get more clients, you can also use TaskRabbit which is an online marketplace where you can get jobs like cleaning, driving, lifting heavy objects, etc. Here you can earn over $50 per hour.

4. Ecommerce

It is a billion-dollar industry that is growing every single day.

The reason is that no one really wants to go outside and spend their time purchasing any kind of stuff; instead, they can do a little bit of research on mobile and buy the product online without even spending more than 2 minutes.

You can leverage your own eCommerce brand just like Amazon, Shopify, etc. or become an affiliate.

You can also do dropshipping as well where you just have to build clients and ship the products directly from the manufacturer to the customer.

So, if you are good at building sufficient clients to increase the number of sales, you can easily make a full-time income from home.

It is one of the best online business ideas.

5. Online Freelancing

There are many freelancing sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, etc where you can offer specialized services to your clients. Here you can find professionals who are offering unique skills and jobs.

In fact, most of the service providers are young men i.e. between 18-35 years of age.

It is a tremendous opportunity to quit your regular job and become a freelancer to generate a self-supporting income.

In order to make money from freelancing, you need to figure out which specific skill or a job you can provide that suits you the most.

Read- 9 Highest Paying Freelancing Jobs In 2020

6. Content Marketing

Content marketing is the strategy of putting out content and letting the content do the marketing for you.

It is basically providing valuable information online and making money by selling the product or services on that subject to your audience.

Once you have a great product to sell, you need to decide where you actually want to sell. You can either go with a YouTube channel or a website or any social media platform.

In order to make money, you need a significant amount of traffic where you can sell your own courses, affiliate links or any other accommodation. This way you will be more likely to increase your sales online.

7. Drive With Uber

It is a pretty good way to earn a decent amount of money. On average, an Uber driver can earn up to $30,000 per year.

In order to become an Uber driver, make sure you follow all the steps:

♦ You need to be 21 years old or over.

♦ You require having a driving license.

♦ They will also be going to check your background i.e. you don’t have any kind of criminal history.

♦ You should be a good driver.

♦ You should be having your own car.

8. Proofreading

Proofreading is the process of analyzing the grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, punctuation and formatting the manuscripts, documents, and articles for websites.

There are actually more than 1000 companies all around the world who are willing to hire a proofreader just for editing their content.

All types of documents are written every single day consistently in order to grow their business and you will notice that people are offering services like proofreading, editing on these popular websites like Upwork, Fiverr, freelancer, etc.

On average, a proofreader can expect to earn around $25-$40 per hour.

So, if you are good at editing part, and you are willing to do it from home, then it is a very good source to generate your income.

9. Software Testing

Software testing is the process of evaluating any errors or issues present in the software. It is an activity that checks that there is no defect in the computer software.

There are many software companies that are looking for software testers who can test their software which are not functioning correctly.

You can go to user testing which is a good platform for testers and make an account on it.

An average software tester can expect to earn around $8,000 per month. If you are an expert in programming, you can expect to earn a 5 figure income as well.

10. Sell eBooks

If you are very passionate about writing books and novels, you must go for this business.

Here you don’t need to be an expert author; ebook is simply a combination of some sort of knowledge which is in the written form.

Once you write an ebook, you need to upload it to kindle publisher. You can sell your books on your website, Amazon or any other eCommerce platform.

If you publish your ebook on Amazon, you will notice that within 2-3 your ebook will be available on kindle store. Amazon ranks your ebook naturally.

When more and more people start downloading your ebook and leave a positive review on that, this will ultimately help to boost your rankings and you will be getting a lot of traffic and sales from Amazon.

On the other hand, you can also start selling ebook on your website, you can buy a low priced hosting.

It is one of the great business ideas to make a passive income.

11. Online Tutorials

In order to become an online tutor, you need to have excellent teaching skills in a particular field.

An online tutor usually makes around $10-$15 per hour and sometimes even more than that, it basically depends on your teaching skills and experience.

You can easily make an account and starts teaching on websites like elevate, Cambly, tutor, etc.

There are a number of students all around the world who need help to complete their home works and want to gain knowledge in order to pass their exams.

This is a good source to overcome your financial freedom and helping over 1000 students while working for just 3-4 hours a day.

12. Interior Decorator

This is one of the best and most evergreen business ideas all over the world. If you are a creative person and you love decorating the furniture of the rooms, then this business is perfect for you.

In order to become an interior designer, you really don’t need any extensive degree.

However, you can do certain courses just to enhance your skills and experience.

Many colleges offer associate degrees and short courses on interior design. You can also start learning from online tutorials as well.

The average income that an interior designer can expect is around $50,000 per annum.

13. Online Travel Agent

Travel agents are the ones who help people to arrange their plans on their holidays, giving them advice and also help in finding the best deals and reputable service providers.

They basically manage all the arrangements such as booking airline tickets, hotels, tour packages, providing transportation facilities and cruises for passengers.

Although there are many people who can do all this stuff on their own as well.

This field doesn’t require any degree or course, it depends upon them whether they work from home or not.

On average, an online travel agent usually takes 10%-20% on every booking they make i.e. if they book a hotel in $200, they will be getting around $20-$40 in hand.

Some of the best travel agencies are G Adventures, TrekAmerica, Contiki Tours, etc.

14. Advertising Agent

It is one of the best business ideas where you can make a significant amount of money without investing as well.

There are a lot of opportunities available out there whether you do Google advertising, Instagram ad agency or anything related to social media.

This is a massive opportunity for making money with your own digital advertising agency.

There are a bunch of businessmen who are looking to hire advertising agencies on their behalf in order to run their business.

So, if you have a good knowledge of running these ads, you can start making money today.

The average salary of an advertising agency is nearly $65,000 per annum. It may vary depending upon their skills and experience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that when you start a business, you need to put a lot of time and effort, especially if you work online.

Online working has its own advantages but sometimes it is tiring as well. You can’t expect to make money overnight even if you’ve got high skills.

So, in this article, I have talked about 14 easy business ideas with minimum investment that you can try to leverage in order to make a living and overcome your financial freedom.

I will upload more articles related to this, while in the meantime if you find something interesting in our article, you can share your views with us in the comment section.

Also, tell which of the technique you find best in our article.

Also read,

20+ Best Business Ideas To Start In 2020

70+ Small Business Ideas To Start In 2020.

10 Best Passive Income Ideas In 2020

14 Online Ways To Make Over $1000/mo.

16 Best Ways To Make Passive Income in 2020.

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safe place and grounding

Safe place and grounding.

Safe place is one of the most common relaxation techniques, which can also be known as ‘calm place’. It is a simple exercise that demonstrates how powerful the mind and our imagination can be. Images have so much more power than thought alone, so we need to uses this skill to our advantage. We can create catastrophic images that fit with our worries, but we can also create heavens that calm both our physical and psychological worlds. (Sereah D Rees 2019)

Safe place is used in a lot of therapies to help people feel calm. It is often used with people who have been through a traumatic event (which gave them PTSD) that has made their world feel very unsafe. It also helpful for people who have a very active imagination and report creating worrying scenarios in their mind. (Camillie Larsen 2016)

To make a safe place, there are seven points that you need to make a perfect safe place.

1.   Make room that for who you are

2.   Be vulnerable and allow yourself to build an emotional connection

3.   Be inclusive

4.   Give others a space to talk

5.   Know that your actions speak louder than words

6.   If there’s a physical environment, make it welcome

7.   Just one space is enough

IF AT ANY TIME YOU DON’T FEEL SAFE GET A NEW ONE!

This place can be somewhere you have been, somewhere you have seen in a movie or somewhere you have made up just for you. Whatever it is as long as you feel safe it will work. (Ladan Nikraven Hayes 2018) This skill allows you to relax. All visions can be strengthened by ensuring you engage all your senses in building the picture in your mind’s eye – it’s more than ‘seeing’. If you notice any negative links or images entering your positive image, then discard that image and think of a new one. (carol vivyan 2009)

Safe place is known to work for many people. However, there are a couple of people that can’t find a safe place but there are other ways around this, to help you get better again. Don’t panic.

Safe place is used in a lot of therapy’s but the main one it is associated with is EMDR. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing therapy. It is an interactive psychotherapy technique used to relieve psychological stress symptoms. You relive trauma (PTSD) or triggering experience in brief doses when the therapist directs your eye movement. This type of therapy can help you to process multiple trauma’s. (Timothy J Legg 2019). EMDR uses safe place technique in what’s called second phase also known as ‘preparation’. It is a really successful therapy which is evidence-based practice has been shown to have 80% success rates with PTSD. (sarah Osborne 2017)

Therapy’s such as EMDR uses safe place because when the you feel stressed and anxious (mainly for some people sights of an mental heath attack is about to happen) you image to be in a safe place. it is just as easy as it is difficult. The exercise will give you a chance to withdraw from a difficult situation to long enough to calm down and then use other skills such as grounding, to make sure that you stay within window of tolerance. ( Theresa 2017)

Grounding is a skill that you learn when starting therapy or counselling, its also used in yoga. It’s based on using your 5 senses. It is a particular type of coping strategy that is designed to ‘ground’ you in, or immediately connect with flashbacks or disassociation when you have PTSD, but it can help with other mental health attacks and everyday stress. (Mathew Tull PhD 2019)

There is around 54321 ways to ground yourself. (Dr Stephanie Cordss 2014) The most common and most simple method of grounding are;

1.   Sit down in a comfortable chair, one where your feet reach the floor. Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Breath in slowly and count to 3, then out slowly.

2.   Then 5 – 4 -3 -2 -1 grounding technique,

5 – thing you can see

4 – things you can feel

3 – things you can hear

2 – things you can smell

1 – things you can taste

3.   Find something and really focus on it

4.   Let your thoughts come and go

5.   Distract yourself

6.   Draw around your foot

7.   Get your adrenaline – fuelled energy out

(Dr Saraly Allen 2018) Experts say you should do 20 minutes of grounding 2 times a day, if you are prone to getting mental health attacks. This is good to do it everyday so it becomes a ‘norm’ and when getting the mental health attack your not having to think hard about what to do, you will just naturally do it. Even if you don’t get mental health attacks it’s still good for everyday stress. (Scott Jefferey 2020)  

When grounding yourself though an anxiety attack, the best method to use is feeling your feet on the ground, or your hands- on steering wheel or bracing yourself against a wall. Of course, leaving is always an option, but try to stay in the situation until your rational mind returns. This is the best way because it’s easy simple movements. (Linda Esposito LCSW 2014)

The grounding method isn’t just known for helping in stressful situations. It is a proven theory that measured positive effects of using grounding to enhance the depth and length of sleep, reducing pain, and reducing stress. One of the first studies on this came out in 2004 and found that grounding improved sleep and reduced cortisol levels, at stress hormone. ( Healthline wellness team 2020)

Grounding and safe place are 2 very different type of methods. Safe place uses your mind to get out of a bad mindset or situation, were as grounding, uses your surroundings to bring you out of a bad mind set and down to reality. However, by both being different they have the same purpose. They both bring you down to a calm place in your mind that helps you cope. In some therapy’s these are both linked to together, such as EMDR therapy.

I have my own experience with EMDR (I tried it two time’s). The first time I didn’t complete it because it was too hard to go through a time line of the events, and the second time I tried it I found a safe place but It got surrounded with bad links. This meant I had to change the therapy and used PICT instead. Even though I didn’t find a safe place, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for other people. This method might help them get thought what they are going through. Because I didn’t know how it felt it was helpful to research safe place as it means that I can see it from another person’s perspective that found this method helpful. This will benefit my work because it means I can add in photography that links with safe place.

For my end outcome I’m going to donate my photos to a charity that deals with mental health. To get the best image I need to see it from not just my side but someone else’s side, so it stands out and draws more people in.  

Even though I can’t do safe place. I still use grounding when I’m having a mental health attack. In my personal opinion I find that touch and smells help me more than the other senses at that time, so I just focus on them to get me into a clam place. When I am calm, I then use the other grounding methods. This is why in my work I’m using mix media and focus on touch because that’s what helps me and most likely other people. I can relate to what textures people most like when grounding.

Moving on with my project I’m wanting to look at safe place and other forms of senses that I can Interpret into my work as well as improving on the ones I’m already adding in.

[cronkmedia29-blog]

What is SEO for

SEO (Search engine optimization)

or search engine optimization, is the set of techniques that improve the visibility and organic positioning of a website in the search engine results lists.

This improvement in the "positions" of a web page (within the lists of organic search engine results), is obtained through a set of actions that the administrators of that site are responsible for implementing.

These practices or optimisations include a series of techniques On-page (SEO within the same web) and Off-page (SEO outside the web), such as:

The user experience

Improve loading speed.

Take care of the structure or architecture of the site.

The quality of external and internal links.

Create relevant and quality content.

The strategic choice of Keywords.

The headers H1, H2, H3, and H4.

The authority of the website.

The CTR, among others.

In short, if we had to explain in a few words the previous definition of what SEO is, I would personally start with just one. And this term is basic to understand this discipline: "positioning."

What is the ultimate goal of SEO positioning?

We have said that the objective of this discipline is to improve our positions in the search lists, to try to be as high as possible in the results offered by search engines to users.

But, this optimization of the SEO positioning of our site has a deeper and more important purpose than simply improving visibility.

And this ultimate goal is to also increase the quality of the organic traffic we receive so that we can enhance the conversions of our website.

 SEO Techniques From Cronk Media: Your Reliable Web Marketing Brisbane

To improve the positioning of your website in search engines you can apply these SEO techniques. You will see how your site improves positions within the search engine results.

1. Locate the keywords or keywords for your brand

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that will help you find the right keywords or keywords for your brand. Our advice is to select those that have a large enough number of searches and in turn, have low or medium competition.

 2. Design a web-based on usability

Your website must be simple and logical, in addition to offering quick and easy navigation. It must be usable for both users and search engines to favor the indexing of pages. One recommendation: do not create too many levels in the structure of your website. It is convenient to be at least three clicks from any section.

Your website must be responsive, that is, it adapts perfectly to visualizations from mobile devices. 75% of current searches come from mobile devices and Google values that pages have a responsive design.

 3. Use the keywords in your texts

In a text, the importance of keywords is measured by the number of times it appears. Repeating a keyword in bold is a sign of notoriety for Google. Do not overdo repeating it. The search engine could penalize you in organic positioning if it detects that you are using it unnaturally. The abuse of keywords in texts is known as keyword-stuffing. In this article, we tell you:

‘How many keywords are recommended in SEO?’

The most advisable thing is to write naturally, thinking of the reader, not Google's secret algorithms. An average of 5 or 6 repetitions of the keyword placed naturally and logically throughout the text is a good option. Use synonyms, plurals ... It is also advisable to insert in the titles (H1) and subtitles (H2) some keyword.

4. Build friendly URLs and enter a keyword

Edit the URLs so that they all include a keyword. They must be short and descriptive to provide information to the user.

 5. Write the keyword in the ‘title’ and in the meta description

The ‘title’ is probably the most important tag for SEO. What you include in it will be shown as a title in the search results, also in the browser tabs. Do not forget to include one of your keywords in the domain, it is extra to position yourself in Google.

 6. Optimize your web images

Google doesn't see the images, it reads them. All photos and graphics on your website must be optimized for SEO.

What does it mean? Write a text Alt and a descriptive title with your keywords. The images must be optimized in size and weight so they do not take long to load.

 7. Publish content regularly

Content creation is key to any SEO strategy. Content marketing is essential. Writing about current affairs is a good way to position yourself. Your articles must be original, contain keywords, be attractive and add value to the reader.

The longer the texts, the higher the engagement percentage. A 1,000-word text tends to position itself on Google. In any case, quality prevails before quantity. Do not forget YouTube videos. These belong to Google and it is logical that the search engine bar for the home in terms of positioning.

 8. Get quality links

Link building refers to getting strong links and quality pages that point to your website. If other important pages "point" to yours it is a sign that you are someone to consider for Google.

 SEO conclusion

In short, SEO adds value to your website. It is the way to communicate to the search engines what your business is about and with what keywords you identify.

The keywords are used by the search engines to relate them to the search terms of the users. If they match and you have a quality SEO, your website will enjoy a good positioning in Google.

If you improve your search engine rankings, you have more possibilities for users to find your website more easily and get more visibility.

Being in the top positions of search engines, not only brings visibility but also gives credibility and image to your brand, which allows you to maintain a good online reputation.

Cronk Media, the most reliable web marketing in Brisbane helps you create effective SEO EMAIL:  davidcronk@dcdigitalservices.com. OFFICE: 1300 186 262 

[andrea-noels-blog]

The Brand Ambassador Resume

Brand ambassador Resume Samples

Have you ever been at a store, an expo, or other event and noticed one or a few individuals that seemed to be representing a product? These people are called brand ambassadors. While it probably seems like something that would be both interesting and profitable, many probably wonder where to find this job and why they didn’t get the memo. Well, these opportunities do exist, but you need to be prepared with the correct skill set and a glowing brand ambassador resume.

What is A Brand Ambassador?

A brand ambassador is someone that is hired by a company to represent goods or services directly to potential customers. This form of marketing has many benefits and is an ideal way to reach the product’s target market. A brand ambassador must be fully informed of the product they are to represent, which is why there is often training prior to the event. 

What Do They Do?

Armed with all the information necessary to combat any question that may come their way, a brand ambassador serves as a spokesperson for the brand they represent. Usually when the product is food, there will be tastings offered to the public. Whatever the product, the brand ambassador should engage customers by a product demonstration followed by a discussion of the benefits and a short Q and A.

What Characteristics Make A Successful Brand Ambassador?

Because this type of marketing focuses on customer acquisition, it is necessary that the person feel comfortable approaching strangers in an effort to educate them on a particular product. Often an event will run for hours, so it is important for a brand ambassador to be positive and motivated.

Key Characteristics

·         Outgoing

·         Easy to talk to

·         Motivated

·         Passionate

·         Professional

·         Positive

·         Charismatic

·         Dedicated

Where Does A Brand Ambassador Report for Duty?

The location is dependent upon the target market that is trying to be reached. For example, a great place to conduct food demonstrations would be at a supermarket. Likewise, an ideal place to distribute cigarette coupons would be a gas station where people buy their cigarettes. Companies might hire brand ambassadors for an expo, festival, or event where potential customers are is likely to be. 

Does This Position Require Experience?

Companies are likely to hire candidates with prior experience and here is a reason for this. The interaction between a brand ambassador and a potential customer must go well, and for that reason they need to be assured the person representing the brand can effectively perform the necessary tasks. While this rings true, the fact remains that everyone has to start somewhere. If you have no experience, you will need one heck of a brand ambassador resume to compensate. If you can show that you have passion, you just might get your chance.

How Much Does A Brand Ambassador Get Paid?

Job sites such as indeed and Glassdoor measure the typical brand ambassador salary to fall somewhere between $20,000 and $50,000. Pay scales differ from agency to agency however, and some companies may choose to compensate employees on an hourly basis. The average pay per hour for a bran

d ambassador ranges from $10 to $16. In addition to the rate of pay, some agencies may also offer commission which acts as an incentive to generate leads for the company leaving both parties to reap the rewards.  

How Do I Apply To Be A Brand Ambassador?

Check all job sites for the latest brand ambassador job postings. Sites like LinkedIn and Indeed are a great avenue to explore and submit your brand ambassador resume to when looking for this type of work. In addition, it is crucial to have an online social media presence that paints a professional and reliable picture in the hiring managers mind. 

Is There a Need for Brand ambassadors?

There is absolutely a need for brand ambassadors! In today’s competitive market, companies have begun to shift their marketing strategy to utilize brand ambassadors as a marketing tool to spread the word about their product. Companies are well informed of the benefits to hiring for these positions which has led many companies to follow this marketing trend. 

Increasing Product Awareness

Brand ambassadors have the ability to bring a product front and center. How much easier is it to ask an informed human a question than to endlessly scan the back of a box? Hiring brand ambassadors to spread product awareness is a smart way to rise above the competition. 

Having a spokesperson standing beside your product will no doubt make it seem special in the eyes of the consumer. Lastly, not enough can be said about the significance of word of mouth marketing. Setting the stage for this positive product related interaction has the ability to turn people into customers. 

Market Research Findings

The 2015 Nielsen “Global Survey of Trust in Advertising” revealed that 83% of those surveyed admitted they were more likely to purchase a product based on the positive recommendation from someone they know apposed to any other form of marketing. This finding shows that customers are seeking out a one on one connection from a reliable source. Simply put, brand ambassadors can work wonders by constant customer engagement thereby slowly expanding brand awareness.

Virtual Brand ambassadors

A virtual brand ambassador can help to manage the product’s online presence by responding to negative comments on social media. It is important to address these and resolve any customer related issues to maintain a sense of trust between customers and the product. Websites such as Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are all important websites where you will want to have a social media presence.

How to Write an Effective Brand Ambassador Resume

Construct a resume that screams, “I’d be excellent!”  It is important to cater your brand ambassador resume to this specific position while showing you would be perfect for the job. Be sure to include a skill set that speaks of your superb abilities.

What Is The Best Brand Ambassador Resume Format to Use?

The optimum format for a brand ambassador resume is reverse chronological order. The hiring manager will want to see your most recent experience, which will show them your current abilities and skill level as a brand ambassador. Create an exciting document that flows naturally. A hiring manager should be able to read your brand ambassador resume and genuinely feel the passion you have for this type of work. 

Perfection Counts

Take time to perfect your brand ambassador resume as it is your one chance to make a great impression amongst the sea of applicants you are up against. Be sure to check for spelling errors. Nothing says unprofessional like a careless resume, and if it is messy then be assured they will think the same thing of you. Also, check to see that your contact information is up to date. People often can forget such a simple fix, while the ramifications of this tiny slip end up wreaking havoc on your efforts.

What If I Don’t Have Any Experience?

Are you trying to break into the industry? If so, you are probably finding it quite tough to construct a brand ambassador resume with no experience. Perhaps you were involved with the  promotional aspects or customer engagement at a previous job; If so, list it. Include all things relevant to the position and remember to wow them with your skill set and objective.

Should I Include Links to My Social Media Accounts?

Are you on social media? If you aren’t, you need to be. Knowledge of social media is an important skill that every brand ambassador should have, so be sure to include it. It’s quite possible that a company will do some online research, so why not save them a step? In today’s world, social media is an indispensable marketing tool with a wide customer influence. If you’re a social media wiz, be sure to let them know. Do you have a loyal group of followers? If so, definitely include that as it is music to any marketing departments ears. 

Conclusion

Companies are now more than ever realizing the benefits of employing brand ambassadors to spread awareness about a product or service. Market research has shown the positive impact that comes with having a face to represent a product. Needless to say, this marketing shift has paved the way for both the aspiring and seasoned brand ambassador and allows them to put their unique skill set to use.

 This type of position is certainly not for everyone, because it takes a certain type of personality to approach customers and boast about a company’s product in a meaningful way. Confidence, communication skills, and a positive attitude are all crucial character traits that a successful brand ambassador must possess.

 While a polished appearance and an outgoing personality are a must, just as important is a dynamite brand ambassador resume.  Take time to get your brand ambassador resume perfect, because a first impression sticks and you want to make it the best impression possible.

[doomedandstoned]

How To Get The Attention of A Record Label

~Bacon's Blog~

Photographs by Mo Nemo

People hit me up all the time asking for the best way to get a label’s attention. As there’s tons of labels out there -- and tons of bands, all in different situations -- what I’m going to talk about here is by no means definitive. That being said, I do think some of what we’re about to dig into is going to help just about any band figure out their label situation. Remember that at the end of the day, getting signed to your first label as a nobody band is based on kindness, gratitude, and engaging with your community. If you can’t be a cool guy in your scene, then nobody’s going to want to work with you. Underpin your approach to labels with the understanding that it’s really as simple as this. Once you’ve got that in your head, you need sick fucking music. Meeting all of these criteria puts you in a position to get signed, get opportunities, and reach that crucial next level.

The first thing you can do to get a label’s attention and make them want to work with you is to start hooking up shows. If you develop a reputation as the guy who puts on cool shows and helps to make sure a certain label’s bands feel catered to, then you’re going to get more opportunities. Eventually, people from the label will start to reach out and express their gratitude. The bands you hook up will tell their friends, who will in turn tell their labels. Fundamentally, most bands are in it to play cool shows. If you show initiative and prove that you can be a part of the world of live music, then you’ll start to get some real traction. It’s important to remember: fuckin’ nobody wants to book shows. If you show that you’re willing to get your hands dirty, people will respect and try to connect with you.

Now, some people reading this article may live in rural areas and maybe can’t put on a ton of shows. It’s easy to book shows when you live near a major market, but what if you live in the middle of nowhere? Well, you can start off by commenting on people’s Instagrams in a cool and friendly way at scale. This means that if you want a label to sign you, you make damn sure you’re dropping comments on their shit every day. The thing is, generic and forgettable comments (i.e. "sign my band") aren’t going to work. They need to be friendly and relevant. If your content is cool and proves that you want to build a relationship, people will take note and you’ll see them interacting back. It’s through showing a desire to make friends with people (and not just use them) that you’re going to get value. When people start to realize who you are and what you’re about, they’ll pay more attention. If they pay more attention, well shit, suddenly you’ve got yourself into a very positive situation — assuming you have the music to back it up.

Here's my secret that has opened a bunch of doors over the years, both for me and my bands. I write about everyone. A lot of people don’t realize this, but I write eight or more reviews every week. I’ve run Two Guys Metal Reviews for almost a decade, and I drop reviews about once a week on Metal Injection. Every once in a while, I sneak some coverage in through other places, such as premiers and interviews. The thing is, I used to write about bands way more often than I do now, cranking out something like fifty pieces of band coverage a month. This led to tons of really sick relationships, the majority of which I still pursue to this day. When I was writing about bands, I was able to open doors. Why? Because I was giving away an asset that everyone wanted: attention. Offering attention is what so much of this comes down to, because when you do it people feel catered to.

Now if none of this seems appealing to you, then start thinking of other things that you can do for bands on the label, or at least things you can do for the label that require no supervision on your end. I’ll explain this using an example from my experience. There are a ton of people who want to help out at Ripple or Prophecy, two labels I work for, but in most cases I know that it would just mean more work for me, because I’d have to make sure that all of their work was done right. I don’t want to have to do that. I don’t want to have to hustle my face off for someone else who’s trying to curry favor with me in the first place.

So think about things you can do for the label’s bands, and think about things you can offer that are easy to implement. This often entails things like graphic design. I know a few people who’ve opened doors by doing shirt designs for free, or even charging a discounted price — either way, they become known throughout the community as "the shirt design guy." I know other guys who’ve managed to get signed by doing layouts for a lot of their friends, then using that experience to start the dialog. Like I said, anything you can do to get people talking to you and seeing that you’re for real, not annoying, and have damn good music is going to be a good thing.

The music business is an unforgiving place and, yes, it sucks that you need to do a bunch of stuff for free to even get your foot in the door. The thing is, these things aren’t guaranteed to get you a label, nor are you guaranteed to not get a label by just staying in your room and cranking out good music. The thing I’m trying to outline here is simply the fact that if you connect with people, sharing your attention and passion for the music, then people are going to want to connect with you. People are going to appreciate the hustle you bring and reciprocate. You can either embrace that or shoot yourself in the foot. Give, give, give and you’ll be surprised how much more receptive people are to working with you. I didn’t invent the rainy day, I just have the best umbrella.

☀

Matt Bacon (IG: mattbacon666) with Dropout Media is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Matt also co-hosts the Dumb & Dumbest podcast with Curtis Dewar of Dewar PR.