#i edited professional headshots in the past and i could not stop thinking about it when i watched these scenes

[valentjin]

linkedin profile pic energy

[wondersbeyondcompare]

Some stuff

About Kodi and Majid’s parents that I was thinking about while making lunch the other day!  Really, this is just a poor attempt on expanding on the bois in general, but oh well! Thought it would be easier to put these thoughts in a separate post instead of adding to their profiles since this wasn’t directly relevant to them  (・・;)ゞ I guess?? dshgfjhdsf Honestly, I think this is more for me just so I can get some stuff straightened out. I’m pretty bad w/ consistency after all...

Majid’s Parents

EDIT (06/13/2021): Drew up some new headshots for Majid and Kodi’s parents! Hopefully they look a bit better than before!

Past me writing Majid’s bio: Yeah, keep the part about his parents vague;;; Idek what to do about that

Me on Monday rolling up some embutido for lunch: Hey, y’know what-

- Mother: Lara (won’t reveal her last name; when asked for it by Majid’s father, she jokingly suggested she take his last name instead) - Father: Kadir Ansari - Compared to Kodi’s parents, these 2 have much more info behind them b/c I have to explain both of their disappearances, so (・_・;) get comfy - Kadir---> Simple businessman in the Land of the Hot Sands; Made and sold jewelry for a living; Had a fairly small shop dedicated to his craft - Lara---> Runaway criminal from a land up north (if you ask me to clarify which country it is, I will cry;;; what does the Twst world even look like in the 1st place??)

 Didn’t kill anyone, but rather a string of robberies and prison escapes up her sleeve; had a large family that she had to provide for, unfortunately this landed her in a lot of trouble

- Lara snuck into Kadir’s place late at night by climbing in through his window

She was immediately asked to leave

Kadir eventually relented since she had nowhere to go/he already had a long day at work and didn’t want to argue

- Once Lara explained her situation to Kadir in the morning, she was asked to leave again.

After breakfast ofc

Use the shower if you want to, but don’t use up all the hot water

And he would give her some money and other basic necessities to use on the way, but (￣ヘ￣) that was it 

She really needed to go, tho; Kadir didn’t want to charged w/ harboring a criminal

- Lara begged to stay w/ Kadir, telling him in tears that she would do anything for him so long as he gave her a place to stay for the time being

Well... it wouldn’t hurt to have some extra help in his shop... and it would be heartless to kick a crying woman back on the streets, especially in broad daylight...

Fine. She can stay. But only for a little while, okay?

- When it comes to personality, Kadir is often seen as a serious man. He can become surprisingly raucous and joking w/ his friends and frequent customers, but otherwise, he was all business.

Has a fairly straightforward way of speaking; like Majid, he might come off as a little rude sometimes

His resting face makes him seem unapproachable at first, but he’s a pretty reliable guy

- Compared to Kadir, Lara has a more easygoing demeanor; fairly sly as well

Develops a habit of teasing Kadir once she warms up to him, either through her words or by constantly sticking close to him (this is probably where Majid got some of his clinginess from ngl); she wanted to see what exactly was behind that ever so serious facade

Kadir tries to brush her off most of the time, saying it’s not appropriate, especially in front of the customers; slowly becomes fond of it as time goes on

Tends to beat around the bush when she speaks; she won’t lie, but she won’t give you all the truth either

Oh! Yeah, and she’s pretty good at sleight of hand tricks too! :D These tricks seem to be a little more than just mere illusions at times, tho...

- Both of them are unbelievably stubborn (ah, yes, this trait comes from both sides of the family)

- They tend to butt heads a lot at the beginning; enemies to lovers 30k

- Speaking of tropes, these 2 probably become involved in a fake marriage thing so Kadir’s reputation doesn’t suffer when people see him bringing a strange woman into his house every night after work (*exchanging rings* “This doesn’t mean anything, okay? I just can’t have any more rumors.” “>:3c Okay, Habibi~” “... And don’t ever call me that in public, or I’ll pretend to not know you.”)

- It’s also a bit difficult for Lara to work at the shop at first

Kadir can be really picky when it comes to quality, and he certainly won’t lighten up on any of his wokers, regardless if they’re newbies or not

That and Lara can be heavy handed at times; knocking over display cases as she gestures to them and accidentally breaking parts of jewelry

I would love to say that she eventually gets the hand of everything, but :/ she really doesn’t; she’s entertaining to watch, though lol

- Once Kadir and Lara actually start falling for each other, they try to flirt in subtle ways, trying to get a reaction out of the other; or, at least, they think it’s subtle; oh gosh, their poor, poor coworkers ( ; ω ; )

- Lara might have had to wear some form of head covering/head scarf while working or out in public in general; her blonde hair and pale complexion makes her stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd, and she can’t risk getting recognized and taken back to jail again

- Majid... was an accident.

His parents were excited for his arrival nevertheless; Kadir would’ve bought a bunch of stuff beforehand like the worried father he was; Lara is happily spoiled w/ the amount of food she gets to eat during pregnancy (girl loves her food)

Once Majid was born, you bet he was coddled over; was often called Lara’s “little treasure”; Kadir was tempted to make Majid kind of like a mascot for his business, but decided that wasn’t professional (he really wanted to tho;;; thinks about it everytime he sees his son’s cute pudgy face)

- Lara was eventually caught and arrested; sent back to her home country for trial a few years after Majid had been born

Kadir leaves Majid w/ a trusted friend of his in order to attend Lara’s trial

He... doesn’t come back

The friend couldn’t afford to take care of Majid on his own, so he drops him off at an orphanage, promising to come back for the child once he had enough money to support them both

This man in particular works hard to set up his own appraisal/curio shop in the future and ohoho >:3c things are really coming together now

- Majid spent some time in the orphanage before escaping; he didn’t like how strictly everything was run

escaped enough times that the staff members soon gave up on him and let him roam free

surprisingly, no one (w/ a few exceptions) remembers baby Majid nor his parents; the Ansari jewelry shop was closed down and set up for lease the day Kadir disappeared; what happened in Lara’s trial was essentially a mystery, but perhaps the consequences of it could explain these odd events...

Kodi’s Parents

A bit shorter b/c these 2 literally had one (1) summer to themselves before creating the child, so there’s no slow burn here

- Mother: Colette Sepiama (Maiden name: Roussel; took father’s last name in remembrance of him)

- Father: Dimitri Sepiama 

- Co+Di= Codi (but, like, with a “K”)

- 1st meeting was a bit odd

- Colette was having a beach vacation, chilling as she collected seashells along the shore

And then some naked guy approached her, asking for help while sobbing his heart out

Didn’t want to find out what kind of “help” he needed, so she tried to power walk away, but he ended up tripping while following after her

Stared at the sad scene of a butt naked man crying into the wet sand for a couple of moments before wrapping him into a towel and paying a visit to the nearest souvenir store

He eventually calmed down enough to explain himself once he got the Hawaiian touristy shirt and khakis on (oh, gosh, now I’m getting Crowley flashbacks  (;;;*_*) make it stop-)

- Dimitri was part of a little “experiment” a friend of his was conducting, testing out various potions on him at any opportunity

Yea, they were a pretty messed up friend; at the very least, they made sure none of their potions would kill him outright

One of the potions gave him human legs (since he was a cuttlefish merman beforehand)

The trouble was: How does he turn back?

- They were the kind of couple who shares one braincell, spending the entire summer working together trying to figure out a solution to his predicament

Also, Colette lowkey thought Dimitri was lying about the whole cuttlefish merman thing, but since she thought he was kinda cute, she agreed to help him out

- I mentioned this before in Kodi’s profile, but I guess I’ll mention it again; Kodi’s pre-contract self was basically a male version of his mom

Basically, she was the type to always keep her emotions in check (well, it’s not as if she had a choice; she was awful at trying to show her emotions)

The type of person whose angry face and happy face were exactly the same

But she was kind enough and didn’t discriminate, even if the person she was dealing w/ claimed to be a mermaid from the deep sea

- In contrast to Colette, Dimitri is more like Kodi’s post-contract self

He cries;;; a lot

He’s just in a new and frightening situation, okay??  (╥﹏╥) And his human body was significantly shorter than his merman body, so everything is gigantic to the now smol boi; he often follows behind Colette because, even tho she’s taller than him, he finds her reassuring

Colette finds his personality cute; she likes being relied upon

- ahsghj I can imagine these 2 going on library dates, flipping through books and maybe falling asleep at some point as the setting sun casts an amber glow over them through the dusty windows, and it’s honestly the cutest thing

- Also, neither of them have magical abilities, but Colette’s grandmother did; it basically skipped a generation

This is why Kodi’s magic is weaker than others’, but he works hard to improve himself

- At the end of the summer, Dimitri is turned back

Turns out the potion only lasts for a certain amount of time :/ wow

They probably had some sort of tearful parting at the beach, w/ this time Colette breaking into tears instead of Dimitri

- Couple weeks after the vacation :D Colette finds out she’s pregnant

Realizes her relatives probably wouldn’t believe her if she told them the truth, so she fabricated a story about a simple meeting w/ a cute guy on vacation she hooked up with

I mean, she wasn’t technically lying about that

Bonus! Berenice’s Parents

A perfectly normal, perfectly boring family

- Cassidy is on the left and Argos is on the right!

- Since Berenice was based off the spirits in the whirlpool as well as the river Styx itself/herself, I searched up the parents of the goddess aaanndd

- Kind of?? Based them off Tethys and Oceanus??? Tho they are both of fairy descent; Cassidy is half and so is Argos, so maybe (´･_･`) that would work out? In terms of making a child of their own??? I didn’t want to go against the set fairy lore in stuff like Pixie Hollow, so-

- I always covered the tops of Berenice’s ears to avoid raising any suspicion of her true background, but, yea, they are slightly pointed as well. Much smaller than her parents, maybe abnormally so, but they are there (side note: if you saw me accidentally draw berenice w/ human ears (*⁰▿⁰*) no you didnt)

- They lived with Berenice in an area just outside of the Valley of Thorns called the Land of Lotuses, so there was a large fairy population here too.

- As such, Berenice never thought to question if the life she was living was considered “normal” in the eyes of outsiders. So you’ll often hear her describe her past life as boring and ordinary, both to make a person lose interest and just b/c she truly thought she lived such a life.

- I described Berenice as being an only child, but I never go into detail on what happened with her family after she died 🧐 Did she perhaps unknowingly gain another sibling? Or two? Or three???

- lol wait I just remembered I described them as getting up there in age. Maybe in human standards they were, but they were still considered like??? Middle aged??? When it came to fairies???

- They had no prominent influence in the Valley of Thorns nor in the Land of Lotuses, but they were both considered a respectable people involved in an overseas trade business when living in their old coastal town.

- Both settled down in the Land of Lotuses to raise Berenice and also to hide away from a scandal that ended up bankrupting their company but shshhhh

[kenzieam]

Linked - Chapter Two

Rating: M (smut, language, mature themes, potential major character death)

Genre: Drama/Angst

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Bucky and Levi find themselves connected through tragedy, can they let go of the past to find their future????

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I have not added to this since last September, shame on me!! Reread Chapter One here and let me know if I should continue with the story.

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WHAT ARE YOU DOING? The voice in Bucky’s head screamed. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAY NO! DANGER, DANGER! You don’t want to get involved with this! She doesn’t want you; YOUR WIFE KILLED HER HUSBAND... HER HUSBAND KILLED YOUR WIFE. WALK AWAY!

His mind was screaming loud enough that it wouldn’t surprise Bucky if Levi could actually hear his thoughts and he winced internally as he caught sight of her hand, clutching white-knuckle tight to her messenger bag.

Shit.

Despite his misgivings, Bucky nevertheless sat at the table the hostess indicated, pausing awkwardly as he debated holding out Levi’s chair for her. She sat quickly, however, as if expecting him to offer and not wanting it. King clamored into his own chair; reaching for a menu, asking for a chocolate milk and maintaining a rundown of the best parts of their game all at the same time and Bucky couldn’t hide a smile. He would rather rip his tongue out by the roots than admit it, especially in his present company, but King had become very precious to him in a short amount of time and he very much looked forwards to seeing the little guy. Maria had been totally against the subject of children, but Bucky had always wanted to be a dad. He needed to be careful though, he knew, for this was a minefield he wasn’t sure he would ever be either ready or able to walk through.

“What do you want, Coach? I want pizza!”

“King, keep it down.” Levi chastised gently.

“Sorry, mom.”

“It’s alright, just use your inside voice, okay?”

“Okay.”

Levi’s eyes flicked unwillingly towards him. “What do you want, Mr. Barnes?” She asked softly, sounding nervous.

Jesus, doll. You. “Call me Bucky, please. Pizza sounds good...?” Bucky offered shyly.

Pizza safely ordered (half-pepperoni, half-Hawaiian – gross, mom!), Bucky cleared his throat and asked tentatively, his heart hammering in fear. “How are you liking it here so far?”

Levi looked startled for a micro-second before answering. “It’s nice. I met Nat and Steve right away, so that made everything so much easier, I-” a loud chime interrupted her, and she flushed. “Sorry.”

Bucky watched as Levi reached down and rustled in her messenger bag, pulling out a tablet and tapping quickly at it before tucking it back inside.

“Sorry about that,” she repeated. “That was a client.”

“What do you do?” Bucky blurted, his nerves loosening his tongue. “Sorry, I-”

“No, it’s alright. I’m a graphic designer; but lately I’ve been designing a lot of book covers.”

“Like novels?”

“Yeah, just small time. First-time authors, independents, people that haven’t really made it big yet.”

“How does that work?”

Levi flushed, glancing down at her glass before answering, her fingers toyed with the condensation forming at the base, drawing small but enchanting patterns. “I’m compiling a catalogue of images and pictures of subjects; I snagged some professional editing software a while ago and can manipulate a stock image fairly realistically. Some are live models, others are no-license. The client emails me what they’re looking for, I make something up and send them a few choices; it’s fairly straightforward really.”

“Live models... like pictures of real guys, like Fabio?”

Levi giggled, a sound that arrowed straight into Bucky’s heart. “Not that famous, but a few wannabe models have let me take their picture, usually in exchange for a series of headshots. They get their portfolio; I get a few brooding pics.”

“Shirtless?” Bucky wasn’t sure where he was going with this, but the idea intrigued him.

“Yes, mostly. Why, are you volunteering?” Levi snapped her mouth shut in shock. What the fuck is gotten into you?

Now Bucky flushed, eyes flicking to Levi’s for a heartbeat; a shy grin pulling at his mouth and the sight arrowed straight into Levi’s heart. “Think I’d make it?”

Fuck, yeah. But I don’t want to share. "I think you’d do. Romance readers love a dark and handsome mystery.”

“You think I’m handsome?” Bucky teased, loving the way Levi’s face went so adorably red, her amethyst eyes widening as she realized her slip.

Finally, the universe took pity; Levi was saved from answering by the arrival of their pizza and King’s triumphant shout.

The next few minutes were spent eating, King devouring his slice with typical 5-year-old gusto.

“How do you like coaching so far?” Levi asked, wiping tomato sauce from her bottom lip, something Bucky suddenly and desperately wanted to do with his tongue.

Bucky struggled to focus on her question and not her plump lips and what they would look like wrapped around his cock.

What the fuck, dude???

“A lot actually. I didn’t expect to, honestly; I was just going to help Steve out a bit. I played soccer in high school and a bit for my university team, so I guess he figured I knew what I was doing.”

“You played for your university? You must have been good.”

Bucky flushed. “Yeah,” he hedged, unsure whether he should mention that he had already been drafted in the pros. “But I busted up my knee pretty bad and decided to get out.”

“That must have sucked.” Lev offered quietly, looking surprisingly upset at the news.

Bucky nodded, clearing his throat. “I lucked out with a good surgeon. I signed up for the military and, after a couple of tours I got out and into security. Mostly I just consult now.”

“Is that how you met Steve?”

Bucky couldn’t stop a wide smile. “Yeah, he wanted me to review and streamline the security system for his business.” He hesitated before adding, “I was always pretty mobile with that anyways, consulting all over the country, sometimes the world. I didn’t need to stay in one place, so... it made it easier when I decided to move… after-”. He broke off, Levi would know exactly what he meant without him spelling it out.

“Yes.” Came her quiet reply. “I understand... About that, did you ever-”

“No.” Bucky kept his voice gentle even as his heart raced. “Not now, please.”

Levi nodded shyly, her cheeks going pink. King had fallen silent, looking between the two adults, puzzled.

“What’s going on?” He asked, a pizza slice forgotten in his hand.

Levi sent Bucky a beseeching look. She’d not told King who Bucky was. At most, he knew that his coach’s wife had died, but he didn’t know that she’d taken his father with her.

“Nothing, buddy.” Bucky grinned in King’s direction, but Levi could see the faint tightening at the corners of his eyes. Fortunately, King, who was uncannily observant, even for a child, took Bucky’s lie at face value and happily tucked back into his pizza.

‘Sorry,’ Levi mouthed, and Bucky shook his head gently, returning quietly to his pizza.

Lev refused to let Bucky pay for full bill, insisting on half and completely crushing any thoughts that this had been anything but an entirely platonic meal.

But, whether by luck or serendipity, they found themselves again at May’s after the next game, sharing a table due to King’s enthusiastic ‘Coach! Sit with us!’ that he’d bellowed across the room.

The third time was planned, and Levi felt herself almost ashamed at how much she began to look forward to aftergame pizza with Coach Barnes.

*****************************************************************

King ran ahead, hollering at the top of his lungs to his teammates, who shouted and yelled back. Levi followed behind, trudging really, she’d not gotten much sleep last night, and stumbled, biting back a surprised squawk, when a soccer ball connected suddenly with her temple. She staggered, clutching at her head but the ball hadn’t been flying with too much force and it had startled her more than anything else.

“Hey!” Bucky appeared like magic, the offending ball in his hands. He touched her shoulder, peering into her face with concern. “You okay?”

Lev nodded, not wanting to make a scene, she probably could have avoided being hit if she’d been more cognizant of the field, but Bucky wasn’t having it.

“Fucking Seymour. I’ll handle this.” He marched over to the nearby group of players and spoke in low, furious tones to them, starting in on their coach, obviously the maligned Seymour, when he bumbled over, trying to cover up the fact that he’d been too busy playing Candy Crush on his phone to monitor his players.

Lev continued walking, almost scurrying, picking up speed to avoid any other flying missiles and sat gratefully on her usual spot at the bleachers. Her eyes drifted to find Bucky,he was still speaking to the other coach and it was starting to look heated, but then Bucky took a visible deep breath and stepped back, obviously pulling himself away before things got out of hand. His eyes searched for her and he exhaled noticeably once he found her, moving unerringly to her side, concern evident on his handsome face.

“You okay?” He murmured, reaching up to brush where the ball had connected. His touch left goosebumps in its wake and Lev hissed at the contact, at the tingle of energy that frizzled between his fingertips and her skin. He seemed to feel it too, eyes widening slightly and pulled his hand away, not fully dropping it, gaze searching hers. “Lev?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry, I should have been paying attention-” Levi ducked her head.

“Not your fault.” He retorted curtly. “Wayne Seymour needs to be watching his players better.” He visibly exhaled out his mounting irritation and leaned down to meet her eyes again. His brows drew together in question and he looked so startingly puppy-dog at that moment that Lev forgot how to breathe.

“James, I’m fine.”

His brows jumped slightly, nobody called him by his given name, he always corrected them and told them to call him Bucky, but hearing Lev say it made something inside him sit up and pay attention. Reluctantly, he drew away; he had to start coaching but right now he wanted nothing more than to stay beside her.

His hand, drifting without official orders, rested lightly on her knee for a beat before he pulled it away, startled by his actions. It wouldn’t do for the coach to be seen touching one of the player’s moms, but his hand suddenly ached as it was drawn away, tingling to touch her again.

“Pizza tonight?” He asked, stumbling over his words.

Lev studied him for a beat, her cheeks going adorably red. “We’ll see you there.” She replied softly.

***************************************************************

“Coach, can you come to my party?!” King asked excitedly, bouncing in his chair like it was a small trampoline.

Bucky took the empty chair at the table, mouthing a ‘Hey’ to Lev before focusing on King. “What’s that, Little Man?” He’d heard King babbling something about this during drills earlier, but he’d still been so caught up in Levi being hit that he hadn’t paid much attention.

“My birthday!”

Lev hushed King with a low shushing sound. “His sixth birthday, I’m planning a small get-together this weekend; King’s teammates, some school friends and their parents. You’re certainly invited, can you make it?”

“Of course.” He grinned down at King. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Yay!!”

“Kingston Sebastian Riel!” Levi hissed. “Tone it down.”

“Sebastian?”

“His father and I couldn’t agree. Brock wanted Kingston, I wanted Sebastian. We ‘compromised’.” She made air quotes with her fingers.

“I love that name.” Bucky smiled. That had been his name, whenever he’d indulged in picturing having children with Maria, naming his son ‘Sebastian Barnes’.

“I don’t need to use it very often; King usually knows how to behave in restaurants.” Lev replied, eyeing her son.

“Sorry, mom. Sorry, Coach.”

Lev’s serious demeanor broke and she ruffled his hair. “Inside voice, remember. I know you’re excited but we’re not the only people here, right?”

“Yes, mom.”

Bucky gazed at Lev while pretending to peruse the menu. She wasn’t like some of the other mothers out there, that let their kids get away with murder, ignored the little darlings as they ran around screaming and disturbing people, getting in screaming matches with bystanders that told her to rein in her offspring. She loved her son, that was obvious, and she loved him enough to actually parent him. That distinction mattered to Bucky, something that he probably would have argued with Maria about, had she ever agreed to having children. She had been raised to believe herself always correct, her parents always backing her, no matter if she was right or wrong in any situation, and it had chafed Bucky at times; something he found he could reflect back on now, with time, although with no less diminished guilt at remembering your dead spouse as anything but an absolute water-walking saint.

“Mom, I have to go to the bathroom.” King announced. When Lev moved to stand, he continued. “I can go myself.”

Lev looked torn, then nodded slowly. “Wash your hands.”

King nodded once then disappeared.

“What can I bring?” Bucky asked.

“Sorry, what?” Lev pulled her attention away from the direction King had gone, focusing back on Bucky.

“What can I bring to King’s party?”

“Oh,” Lev cleared her throat, thinking for a moment. “Beer? If you want to drink any, I don’t have a lot hanging around and… I’m not sure how many are coming, but maybe a chair too. The backyard is pretty big and there should be room, but you never know.”

“Any food?”

“No, thank you. I’ve got it.” Lev’s lips curled in a small smile and Bucky wasn’t surprised to feel his heart skip suddenly in his chest. This had been happening more and more around her and he was losing the strength to fight it.

“What does the Little Man want?”

“You don’t need-”

“I want to.”

Lev chewed her bottom lip before answering. “He talks a lot about some ‘Ronaldo’ guy?”

Bucky chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah, I’ve heard him during practices. Cristiano Ronaldo, he’s a famous Portuguese soccer player. Think he’d like a jersey?”

“He’d probably never take it off. But James, seriously-”

Bucky leaned forwards suddenly, resting his hand onto of Levi’s and startling her silent. “Please. I’d like to.” A little awkwardly, he pulled his hand back, straightening slowly in his chair, cheeks heating.

“Do you have any children, James?” She asked, abruptly but not unkindly.

“No.”

“Did you ever want any?”

Bucky traced the edge of his glass, staring hard at the liquid inside. This seemed both an insanely private question to ask, but also one he didn’t mind answering, at least for her. “Yes. Maria-”

“I’m back!” King announced, as if he’d trekked to Papua New Guinea and was just now arriving home, footsore and weary from outrunning cannibals.

“Did you wash your hands?”

“Yes, mom.”

A part of Bucky was insanely grateful when the pizza arrived moments later, and he was saved from further discussion of children he’d wanted but never had the chance to have.

*****************************************************************

Lev opened the door, a slight look of panic on her face and smiled widely when she saw who it was.

“Bucky, hey! I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

He’d thought about it; for some reason, after their last pizza ‘date’, he’d spiraled down into a dark shame, one he’d not felt since those early months immediately after Maria’s death. It must have been because of Lev’s question, harmless as it was for someone you could consider a friend, someone you shared dinner with on the semi-regular now, to ask; but it had triggered something inside him, a buried guilt, a hidden tangle of emotions he’d been too afraid to grab and study up close, but King meant too much to him to bail and, if he was being honest with himself, Levi did too.

“Sorry I’m late-”

“No, it’s fine! I’m just a little-… I haven’t had a get-together like this since before…” She broke off, cheeks going pink and Bucky knew immediately what she meant, how she felt.

“Here, let me take that-” Bucky reached for the bags of chips grasped tightly in her fingers but she pulled away.

“No, thank you, it’s fine. You’ve got your hands full too.” She said, jerking her chin at the six-pack of beer and folded lawn-chair taking up most of his hands. She paused for a moment and took a deep breath, gifting Bucky with a genuine smile. “Thank you for coming, I’m glad you’re here; and King’s going to go crazy.”

Their eyes met and held for a heartbeat and something warm flashed in Lev’s gaze, something that matched the tentative eagerness burning low in Bucky’s chest.

“C’mon in.” Levi shook herself slightly, as if breaking out of a trance and smiled a bit nervously. “I’ll be right out, just head on through the kitchen and out the back door. Everyone’s out there, you’ll see Steve and Nat right away.”

“Okay, thanks.” Bucky tried not to look as Levi sashayed in front of him, unaware of how the natural sway of her hips made adult thoughts flood his mind. Maria had not had curves like this, she’d been almost fanatical about calorie counting and restriction, resulting in a toned but unwelcomely bony body under Bucky’s caresses, but Lev was curvy, deliciously so, in all the right places. He didn’t mean to compare, but Maria had lamented to him many times about all the squats and lunges she did and how she still never achieved an ass even close to what Lev seemed to have naturally. His hands ached to touch her soft skin, trace her delicate lines and supple curves, lose himself in her feminine body.

A chorus of greetings hit him as he stepped outside and Steve launched himself at him, tearing Bucky from his musing as he prepared to collide against a brick wall, reaching Bucky in about two bounds; half-dragging him towards where he and Nat were seated, managing to yank the beer from his hands, open Bucky’s chair, push him to sit in it and slap him on the shoulder all at the same time.

A lot of the parents and kids Bucky realized he knew, mostly from soccer, and Nat and Steve introduced him to the rest. Most of the kids were screaming like banshees in a large bouncy castle set up in the corner of the yard, while others ran around holding all sorts of toy, shrieking at each other at the top of their little lungs.

Two tousled heads of hair, one chocolate brown, the other blond suddenly appeared at Bucky’s side, waving foam swords and screeching his name. It took Bucky a moment to recognize Steve’s boy, Hunter, and King, and then King was scrambling into his lap like a puppy, narrowly missing his balls.

“Coach! COACH!” He bellowed, as if Bucky were miles away across a shadowy moor and they were reduced to using only their voices for communication.

“Hey, Little Man.” Bucky leaned back from the dangerously waving weapon, thighs tensed to protect his jewels. He caught Steve’s smirk at his situation but then Hunter decided to do the same, leaping into Steve’s lap with the same reckless enthusiasm as King and Steve was suddenly too preoccupied trying to protect his own nads from destruction.

“You came to my party!”

“Yeah, buddy. I did.”

Grubby hands unexpectedly wrapped around his neck and Bucky suddenly didn’t care about anything else. Wrapping his arms around King, he basked in the little boy’s enthusiasm, the fondness for this child he’d held in his chest sharpening into something far more profound and intense.

When King finally scrambled back down and bounded away to rejoin his gang of rabble-rousers; Steve, who’d managed to detach his own son and send him on his criminal way as well, slapped his shoulder and grinned widely at him, making Bucky’s cheeks go pink.

Other parents eyed him with small smiles as well, making Bucky clear his throat self-consciously, and then Lev was back, falling into the empty chair beside Bucky with a laugh and a groan and his attention was immediately diverted, pulse beating just a little bit harder as he caught a hint of her scent; reminding him of sunshine and meadows of beautiful wildflowers.

Lev seemed more relaxed and a small, fleeting part of Bucky hoped it was because of him, but he pushed the thought away quickly. He couldn’t feed this wolf anymore; he couldn’t keep up with this idea that there was something between him and Lev. They were joined by tragedy, united by death and that was as far as it should go.

But if that was the way it was supposed to be, why was he so drawn to her? To her son? Why had he found his thoughts turning more and more to them, rushing into his mind first thing in the morning, the last scene to play in front of his eyes before he closed them at night?

Why, if this wasn’t ever supposed to be his, did he want it so badly?

Despite his turmoiled mind, there was enough going on in the backyard for him to push it aside, at least pretend it wasn’t gnawing insidiously at his brain and Bucky was surprised when he started to enjoy himself. He had avoided large crowds, big gatherings, since Maria’s death and had never truly been a social butterfly of his wife’s caliber anyway but, before he realized it, a few hours had passed and even the kids were starting to wind down.

King had looked adorable, pink-cheeked and grinning, as he sat in front of his cake, blowing out the candles with not too much spit thankfully, when his guests had finished singing. Some friend of Nat and Lev’s had made it, and had tasted surprisingly good, although the almost neon icing had taken more than a few hard sucks to completely pull the stain from your fingers.

Each present had been worth a cacophony of yells from both the birthday boy and his guests, but it had been the last one, Bucky’s gift that seemed to have the showstopper. When King had opened the gift bag and pulled out the pint-sized Ronaldo jersey, his eyes had gone huge and, when Lev had leaned over, murmuring to him who it was from, the little boy’s eyes had searched the crowd for Bucky and he’d scrambled from his chair to launch himself at him, crashing into his arms with a howl of pure excited glee.

“Thank you!” As fast as he’d landed in Bucky’s lap, King had again scrambled away, tearing off his shirt to yank on the jersey before snatching the new soccer ball from Uncle Steve and Aunty Nat and scampering away, leading a whole posse of screaming kids behind him

“Good job, man.” Steve murmured, leaning over to Bucky’s ear.

 King had then bounded up to him, begging him and Uncle Steve to come play soccer with him and Hunter, and that had taken up Bucky’s attention until Lev called a game over and Bucky had finally looked around, realizing that almost everyone was gone.

 “Mom. MOM?!” Hunter bellowed, running up to Nat. “Can King stay over? PLEASE?” He grabbed onto Nat’s shirt and tilted his head up, sending her an angelic look that left no doubt as to who his father was. Steve had used that same pleading puppy-dog look on Bucky last weekend when he’d begged him to help move an obnoxiously heavy fridge from his garage to the dump.

Nat glanced up at Lev, brow raised, and Lev smiled, shrugging. “If you think you can handle both little monsters tonight, go ahead.”

“Get your stuff, buddy.” Nat grinned.

“YAY!!” Both boys screamed, dashing into the house, barely avoiding a crash as they both tried to fit through the doorway into the house at the same time.

Bucky hovered, knowing he should be leaving but not able to muster the energy. He wanted to stay, even a bit longer and so far no one had zeroed in on him and demanded to know what he was still doing here. He watched with a fond smile as the boys reappeared, carrying an assortment of varied weapons and miscellany and shooting at each other with small Nerf guns.

“Did you pack any clothes?” Lev asked dryly, snagging King by the back of his shirt as he scampered by. He was still wearing the Ronaldo jersey.

“Clothes?” King asked, confused, peering up at his mother as if she’d suddenly started speaking a new language and Lev smirked. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“Have fun today?” Nat asked Bucky innocently, stepping over to lean her back against Steve’s chest, who immediately wrapped his arms around her and dropped his chin to rest on the top of her head as he too awaited Bucky’s answer, a cat that got the canary grin on his big stupid face.

“Yeah, didn’t expect it to be so…”

“Insane?” Steve suggested.

“Loud.” Bucky finished. “I should know better, coaching half of them but still…”

“You’ll get used to it.” Nat replied, a knowing gleam in her eyes that made Bucky frown in confusion at her. Steve mumbled something in her ear, brow furrowed, and she just giggled, pressing a kiss to his chin and whispering back.

Lev reappeared, carrying a small backpack shaped like a Stegosaurus and called King to her. He skipped up, becoming serious when Lev dropped to one knee and gripped his upper arms gently, whispering earnestly and probably telling him to behave tonight. After a moment, she pressed a kiss to his forehead and the boy made a show of squirming away and wiping at his face, but the delighted grin on his face showed his true feelings.

A few minutes later, both yelling boys had been herded into the SUV and Bucky found himself standing alone beside Lev, waving as Steve and Nat backed out of the driveway and drove off with a honk.

“I should go.” Bucky mumbled, wanting to do anything but. He’d been spared any comments by Steve and Nat as they’d bundled the boys into the vehicle, but that didn’t mean he’d be safe later from any ‘observations’ they’d make of how he’d stayed later than them.

“NO,” Lev’s cheeks went pink “I mean…. stay for a bit, please. Today was so crazy we didn’t get any real chance to talk-” She trailed off uncertainly, her cheeks full on red now, matching the heat in Bucky’s face.

Twist my rubber arm, doll.

“Sure, okay.” He exhaled a little shakily, timidly, lips curving into a smile at Lev’s delighted grin.

“Go grab a seat, I’ll be right back.”

Bucky nodded, venturing into the backyard and sitting on the high-backed bench closest to the freestanding patio heater. The warm glow was comforting against the beginnings of twilight chill, while a firepit squatted nearby, ready to be lit as well.

Levi returned a few minutes later, carrying two bottles of beer and a blanket under one arm; then, after the briefest pause to peruse seating, plunked down on the same bench with Bucky and handed him a bottle.

“Here, try this.” She grinned. “An old friend of mine got me started on these oatmeal stouts; I didn’t have enough to go around.” She pulled the blanket between them. “Cold?”

Bucky gestured with his chin to the heater. “Nah, I’m good.”

Lev smiled, turning to face him and pulling her feet up to sit cross-legged. She squirmed for a moment to adjust the cushion at her back then opened the blanket to lay over her lap and settled back with a sigh.

“Thank you for staying.” She said quietly. “It’s nice to just sit down for a few minutes.”

“No problem.” Bucky mumbled, hiding his please grin behind another swallow. “This is good.” He nodded to the sweating bottle in his hand.

“I know, right?” Lev smiled, then fell silent, regarding him quietly long enough that Bucky felt the urge to start squirming in discomfort. “How are you doing?” She asked gently and Bucky knew immediately what she was referring to.

“Getting better.” He replied, his voice low. “Having work and the team to coach definitely helps. You?”

Lev nodded, then swallowed, looking suddenly uncomfortable herself. She glanced up at Bucky from under long lashes, looking surprisingly anxious. “I uh…” she cleared her throat. “I shouldn’t let you think the wrong thing about me and Brock, we…” she broke off, picking anxiously at a cuticle.

Bucky’s brow furrowed in confusion as he waited quietly.

“We weren’t like you and Maria, we weren’t… forever.” she finally continued, looking ashamed. “I was… I had divorce papers drawn up, I was ready to give them to Brock, but then he…”

Bucky stared for a moment, stunned. A thousand thoughts suddenly racing through his head. A small, secret little part of him rejoiced; Levi had been ready to leave her husband, akin to available, before his death. She’d already been looking to move on.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered, knowing his words were totally inadequate and also, not truthful.

“No, it’s fine. We weren’t working out. I… I was young and stupid and thought the college boy I fell in love with would change, grow up with me. He wasn’t a bad guy, we just…. I was hopeful and naïve, and I forgave a lot.”

Anger burned low in Bucky’s chest; what had Levi been forced to ‘forgive’?

“It’s not stupid,” he began and, at Lev’s confused brow lift, continued. “Hoping someone will grow up, most people do.”

“I’m happy he’s gone.” She whispered in a rush then clapped her hand over her mouth, mortified. “I don’t mean it like that,” her eyes were huge. “I just…. It’s extreme yes, but… I don’t have to deal with him anymore, try and work with him over custody of King or anything.”

Bucky nodded, reaching over to squeeze her knee. “I understand, it’s alright.”

Lev wiped at her cheeks. “I mean, he would have fought me on everything, just to be a dick.” Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, but thankfully Bucky’s words seemed to have mollified her guilt. He never would believe she’d truly meant she was happy Brock was dead, she wasn’t that type of person, even if a small, secret part of Bucky was.

“How’s King doing, if I can ask that?”

Lev nodded. “No, it’s fine, you can ask. He’s… surprisingly good, actually. Brock was never really in his face anyway, never really a hands-on dad, so there wasn’t much to miss.”

“He didn’t help out?”

Levi shook her head, her tears finally stopping. “No. Not when King was a baby waking up all night hungry, or teething, never. He… I don’t know, he looked at King like an accessory or something. An object to compare to his friend’s kids. He didn’t like that King couldn’t walk as fast as his friend’s boy, or that he wasn’t using full sentences as soon as his boss’ daughter. Never mind that they weren’t the same age, King was never good enough for him, he was always pushing him to do more and… sooner rather than later it would have started to mess with his head, make him think there was something wrong with him when there’s not.”

Rage burned low in Bucky’s chest, a whole new facet of hatred for Rumslow. What kind of man treated his wife and kid that way? King was an incredible little boy, smart and articulate, kind and funny. Bucky knew he’d be proud to call King his own.

“I feel so guilty.” Levi whispered, the tears returning. She dropped her head into her hands. “I don’t regret having King at all, and I will always be grateful to Brock for giving me him, but…. What was I thinking? Bringing a child into that type of environment?” She shuddered. “Right up until King was born I hoped my pregnancy would trigger something in him, some switch would flip and he’d stop being such a frat boy, start paying attention to me and my wants, and the baby he’d helped make. But he didn’t, he wouldn’t.” Her voice broke and Bucky stopped thinking about what was right and proper in this situation.

Setting down his beer he scooted towards her, drawing Levi into his arms. She clung to him with surprising desperation, burying her face in his throat and, if the timing weren’t so gloomy, he probably would have groaned at the sensation, at the shiver of delight that shot up his spine.

“Hey,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her hair and closing his eyes, indulging in a heartbeat’s length of adoring the feel of her so close to him. “Hey, stop thinking that. You’re not a bad person, you’re not a bad mom; all that shit, that’s on him; it’s not your fault. He sounds like a total asshole, who wouldn’t love King? He’s such a special little man. Shit, I would’ve-” he broke off, suddenly dangerously close to unsteady ground, that minefield he’d worried about stepping through.

Lev went still in his arms and he could feel her desire to ask him to elaborate, to explain what he’d been about to say.

Shit, I would’ve treated you and King like the treasures you are, I never would have taken you for granted that way.

Levi raised her head; eyes glittering with tears and searched his face. Bucky gazed back down at her, dangerously close to letting everything he was fighting so hard not to feel flood his eyes. Her eyes dropped to his lips for a heartbeat, then back up to his eyes and time stood still.

Fighting himself every inch of the way, Bucky slowly lowered his head, searching Lev’s gaze for permission, some hint that she either wanted this or suddenly was coming to her senses and wanted to stop; but she never wavered and, as their lips touched in a sweet and tentative way, her lids fluttered shut in relief and Bucky let his own fall closed, warmth flooding his body.

Desire raged hot and hard in Bucky, demanding more but he kept the kiss light and gentle, a shy exploration of each other’s mouths, the taste of stout still on their tongues as he slicked his along her bottom lip then plunged gently inside as she parted her mouth for him, a sweet moan rising in her throat.

Pulling back, easily one of the most difficult things Bucky had ever done, he rested his forehead to hers, fighting to calm his breathing, to control his body from all but attacking her.

Lev panted with him, fingers curling against his shirt then one tentative hand reached up to cup his face, rasping against the stubble and he leaned into her touch, letting out a low groan.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, each word burning like acid. “I shouldn’t have.”

“It’s okay.” She breathed back.

“I… we need to-” He couldn’t force the words and so he acted instead, pushing gently away from Levi and returning to his end of the bench. He shivered at the loss of her body, her heat, against him and Lev watched him for a moment, multiple emotions warring in her eyes.

Part of Bucky hoped she stayed over there, while a bigger part wanted her to close the distance again.

Finally, she relaxed her shoulders and managed a shy smile, then unfolded the blanket to its full size and offered him one side. Bucky accepted, draping the cover over his shoulders, allowing himself this substitution. They shouldn’t be crawling all over each other, kissing, but they could share this blanket, that was bashfully intimate as well and far more the speed they should be going if they did plan on seeing where this went.

Levi settled back against the bench, turning to face forwards. There was space between them now, so much that it would difficult to lean over and nudge the other with their shoulder, but close enough that, if one dared, they could hold hands under the blanket.

For a time they were silent, gazing at the emerging stars, or the muted red glow of the patio heater, listening to the sporadic sounds of life around them, the occasional vehicle, owl hoot or dog bark but then Lev exhaled slowly and spoke, her voice hesitant.

“We were interrupted at dinner, but I asked if you ever wanted children. I don’t want to pry, but-”

“No, its fine.” Lev had bared enough of her wounds tonight, it was time for him to disclose a scar or two. “I did… I do. But Maria wasn’t interested… ever. It wasn’t a big deal when we got together but… as time passed, seeing friends have babies and stuff, I started to think about it more and more. I…” He trailed off, studying his hands knotted together, fingers twisting. “I kept putting it off, really talking about it with her though. It was obvious what she felt, she’d never babysat as a teenager, she never offered to hold any of our friend’s babies, even if I was always asking, just to feel that little bundle, that tiny weight in my arms; I’d test the waters, and hint and stuff, but she would always laugh and be like ‘no way’ and I just… let it go until there was no more time.”

“She never would have?”

Bucky considered a moment. “No, I don’t think so. One of the things I always loved about Maria was her conviction, even if it was against me. No meant no to her, every time.”

Levi gazed at Bucky silently, but he kept his gaze down. He wasn’t ready to show her, she wasn’t ready to see, the emotions crashing through his eyes right now. Finally, he found the strength to say what had been nibbling at the corners of his mind for some time now, a hard truth that had come with hindsight and miserable evaluation during long, sleepless nights, something he’d never even voiced out loud before, not ever really examined up close, just knew deep down, no matter how hard it was to acknowledge verbally.

“I think…. It would have been the issue that pushed us apart eventually… if she hadn’t died.”

He heard her breath catch but was too scared to look over and squeezed his eyes shut, praying that Lev didn’t show kindness right now, some form of acceptance for his stark confession, maybe reach over to touch him, or whisper sweet words, because he was too raw, too open right now for it to do anything but agonize.

“I’m sorry.” She finally murmured, barely audible but he heard her in the silence, felt the pain all the same.

 Me too.

[ronaldsmcrae86]

How to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job as a Freelancer (11 Pro Tips)

Want to use LinkedIn to find a job?

You’re not alone.

With over 300 million monthly LinkedIn users and over 20 million job postings open at any given time, LinkedIn is a virtual gold mine for freelancers (or anyone, really) looking to find their dream job.

Of course, where there’s gold, there’s competition. To stand out from the crowd and land any of those great jobs on LinkedIn, you need a plan.

That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide. It will give you a step-by-step walkthrough of the most effective tips to leverage LinkedIn’s massive job platform — tips that’ll help you find, and land, a new job.

And we’ll start with arguably the most important one…

1. Create a Standout LinkedIn Profile

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile should be your number one priority if you want to land a freelance gig.

First impressions are integral in your job search. It’s essential to ensure that your LinkedIn profile offers a testament to your writing career, expertise, and experience level.

Try these top tips to enhance your LinkedIn profile to attract more freelance clients:

Create a succinct LinkedIn headline that captures your expertise in three key phrases

Fill your bio with relevant words and phrases so it’ll rank higher in LinkedIn job searches

Specify details of past freelance work experience

Offer an industry-specific writing sample

Link to examples of published content writing

Include a digital portfolio of your best freelance work

Use a professional, approachable headshot for your profile photo

Post an up-to-date, well-presented resume

Demonstrate your expertise and technical ability using Skills & Endorsements

Offer social proof with recommendations from your past freelance client base

Remember to make sure your profile is visible to everyone — especially your profile picture as professionals are less trusting of candidates without professional photos. You can do this by going to LinkedIn’s homepage (or any page, really), clicking “Me” in the top-navigation menu, and going to “Settings and Privacy”.

In addition to pictures, I highly recommend creating a video resume or animated explainer video that details your writing process, your style, your quality, social proof, and more.

Editor’s Note: If creating a video resume sounds daunting, check out this great guide from Madeline Mann. It’ll show you how to create a video CV even if you don’t have any editing skills (or enjoy speaking on camera):

Finally, make sure your profile is grammatically correct before applying for any jobs. According to Talent Inc., 79% of employers will ignore LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and job applications that have spelling or grammar mistakes in them.

If you’re prone to mishaps, use spelling and grammar tools like Grammarly and Hemingway to ensure your LinkedIn profile is free of errors and easy to read.

2. Fill Out the “Open to Work” Section

If you want to land freelance clients, you need your LinkedIn profile to be visible to potential recruiters, writing clients and LinkedIn connections.

Just under your profile picture, you’ll find a small box that invites you to show that you’re job hunting. By switching on this feature, your next potential employer can see you’re ready to take on a new job.

If you haven’t changed the settings, simply:

Click on the box that says “Show recruiters you’re open to work”

Fill out the pop-up with your relevant writing skills and geographical availability

Save the changes

To make sure it’s changed, check back to the box under your profile picture.

If you’ve done this correctly, this box should state that you’re #OpenToWork.

3. Personalize Your Job Applications

Gone are the days when you could print a hundred resumes for your services and send them to “Dear Sir/Madam.” No, you need to personalize each job application.

By customizing your resume and cover letter for each specific job posting, prospective employer, and related industry; you’ll find potential employers to be more responsive.

A whopping 1/3 of employers say that a non-customized resume is a deal-breaker. If a job seeker turns in a generalized resume with no connection to the job posting, employers will simply ignore them.

With this in mind, you should be tailoring your resume and cover letter to speak to each individual job.

My advice?

Craft templates using a document collaboration tool such as Google Docs or Microsoft 365 that you can then customize for each prospective employer or client.

Try these tactics:

Find out the name of the hiring manager and address your job application to this person directly

Document relevant industry-related work experience

Research the prospective employers business and figure out a problem that you specialize in solving

Offer previous client testimonials as social proof of your best work

Include points about why you like the job posting and how it suits your skill set

If applicable, link to a portfolio of your work or to published works from previous jobs

Only present up-to-date work

Avoid rambling on about irrelevant achievements

4. Research the Companies You’d Like to Work With

The first step to finding companies you’d like to work with is figuring out which niches or industries most appeal to you.

For example, if you were a writer, ask yourself questions like these to find your ideal niche/industry:

What style of writing do you excel most at?

In which industry-areas do you enjoy writing?

What values would I like the companies I work for to uphold?

What types of projects are a no-go for you?

Next, take your top industries, and find companies within those sectors that implement your values and excite your passions.

Follow these accounts to add them to your LinkedIn connections so you can stay up-to-date with their progress.

Now, search within those organizations for job roles that suit your expertise.

So, if you’re a writer, you might search for roles like:

Content Writer

Content Marketer

Social Media Manager

Content Marketing Manager

Content Strategist

Digital Marketing Manager

Content Manager

You can search for such openings in the “Jobs” section on the left-hand side of the target company’s LinkedIn page:

Source: Contentsquare

The “Jobs” page will showcase the company’s top available job postings right now. These are usually ordered by how recently they’ve been posted.

Hopefully, a job posting will jump off the page.

But if not, use the advanced search function to search for relevant job titles.

When you search for a job posting, LinkedIn will lead you to a list view of each job opportunity.

Click on each job opening to see a full job description of the job opportunity. You can save jobs that catch your eye or apply directly from this page.

LinkedIn also shows you how many applicants have applied for your dream job, as well as any mutual connections you have that work for the prospective employer.

Not finding any good job openings with a company you really like? No worries. You can “Follow” the company and create a job alert:

LinkedIn will then notify you whenever a new position opens within the company.

5. Build Your Network and First-Degree Connections

Start building your first-degree LinkedIn connections by adding people you know from real life — even if their own job roles are irrelevant to your career.

Begin with your professional circles. Add:

Previous clients

Past employers

Other colleagues and ex-colleagues

Connections you know from your general career

Professionals outside your industry that you know through business

Next, add professional connections you know from your social circles. Find LinkedIn connections for:

Friends with professional careers

Associates with similar job interests

Alumni and school friends succeeding as professionals

Friends of friends who thrive in the professional world

People you’ve hired for their services

To exhaust everyone you know, run through your Facebook contacts, email connections, phonebook, address book, old wedding invitations, and more.

Remember, it only takes one excellent lead to land a career-changing job.

You may find that your real-world contacts have LinkedIn connections with a job opportunity available that neither of you had considered, making way for an introduction.

Remember to include everyone from your aging rolodex. You never know which alumni or school friends may be the connection to your ideal job.

But don’t stop there.

You can have up to 30,000 LinkedIn connections, so take full advantage. Try searching for connections who would hire someone with your very particular set of skills.

Let’s go back to our writer example. If you were a freelance writer looking for paid job opportunities, you’d want to ask yourself who the key decision makers are when it comes to hiring content writers.

As a content writer looking to build a LinkedIn network, you’d want to connect with content managers of companies with job openings you’re interested in. You could also try connecting to:

Content marketing managers

Content managers

HR managers of content agencies and writing firms

Marketing managers in small business in your industry

When asking to connect, take advantage of the “connection request” message box with a succinct call-to-action. How you word this could make or break your connection.

Include a link to an appointment setting page, your writer website, or use a landing page builder to get more leads.

You only have 140 characters, so try something like:

Thanks for connecting, Jamie. I think I can help you with X. Let’s book a call! [link]

When it comes to outlining ‘X’, refer to:

A LinkedIn job posting you have seen

A common interest

An post written by the connection

An issue your connection is having

Something you’ve noticed on their website, social networks, etc.

6. Ask Your Connections for an Introduction

When searching for job opportunities, you may notice that LinkedIn alerts you of mutual connections.

Each of these mutual connections is a potential gold mine.

If you see that one of your connections has a link to a job or professional you’re interested in, ask them for an introduction.

But don’t stop there. Sift through your first-degree connections’ connections. You may find second- and third-degree connections that could be useful to you.

Additionally, when searching for prospective employer connections, prioritize those that identify mutual connections.

These second- and third-degree connections are warm leads. They could be your ideal client, but without an introduction, it can be tough to get your foot in the door.

When connecting to these prospective employers, ask your first-degree connections to warm these prospects up for you with a referral.

Asking for a referral is easy — just craft a personalized message. If you’re a writer, it might look something like this:

Hi X,

I hope you’re well and everything with life and business is prospering. I saw that you have been doing X,Y, Z.

Currently, I’m in the process of pivoting my career/accepting new freelance clients. During my search, I found LinkedIn job postings that have mutual connections with you.

If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d love you to introduce me to [name the connection]. I’m interested in connecting as they have a [job/role/network] that I’d be interested to explore.

Would it be possible to connect the dots for us?

I recognize that you’re busy, and hope you’re thriving.

Thanks

[Your Name]

If you’re confident in your relationship with this connection, contact them directly or send them an InMail.

If you’re not all that familiar with them, don’t be shy. They may have seen your work posted on your LinkedIn profile or know your work from mutual connections.

You can use the official LinkedIn referral system to ask for a referral for a job directly.

If you see a job posting in the “In my Network” search, click the “Ask for a Referral” button if you have mutual connections.

7. Share an Update of Your Availability (and Tag for Searchability)

Use LinkedIn as a place to regularly let potential clients and employers know about your availability.

Release weekly posts that let people know your schedule.

By demonstrating that you’re available for work, your connections may be able to direct you to positions they know about.

Plus, if you’re a freelancer, showing your schedule sends a virtual signal about the demand for your work. Try posting a weekly updated schedule that blanks out unavailable times.

This is especially effective if your freelance diary fills up fast, as it creates urgency and implies that your work is high quality.

To optimize your job updates for the best visibility on LinkedIn, try these tactics:

Tag companies and professionals within your niche

Tag companies with open job postings

Use relevant industry and topic-specific hashtags

Tag your current clients

Tag past clients in case they need new work

8. Engage with Industry-Specific LinkedIn Groups

Depending on your profession, you may straddle a few different industries. Luckily, you can find a LinkedIn Group for everything.

Find the LinkedIn groups where the industry professionals relevant to you are congregating. This is where key decision makers will be asking for tips and referrals for hiring and managing remote workers.

You need to establish a reputation in each relevant LinkedIn group. Do this by:

Sharing content from other members of the LinkedIn group

Liking and commenting on posts by other members

Ask questions to learn from other LinkedIn members

Share content from industry thought leaders that you think the Linkedin group members might enjoy

Make a website and share your own content to show expertise

By contributing to the group, you show any onlooking potential clients that you’re established in the industry.

You also broaden your LinkedIn network, boosting the number of connections on your LinkedIn accounts.

This creates a snowball effect where you see more and more relevant job openings in your feed. As you build an industry-specific LinkedIn network, you’ll find you can automate the process for sourcing each new client.

9. Share Valuable Content as an Industry Thought Leader

You need to establish your credibility, authority, and expertise to build trust with potential freelance clients. This demonstrates you as a thought leader; a freelance professional worth high rates for high-quality work and forward-thinking ideas.

Since your own work requires you to create outstanding content, demonstrate these skills by implementing your own personal evergreen content strategy for LinkedIn.

If you’re put off by the time commitment to develop such a strategy, don’t be. You can easily set up a content marketing workflow to streamline your efforts and become visible across multiple mediums.

Build a LinkedIn content strategy where you release regular self-authored content that shows your passion and interest in the industry, alongside your exceptional content-creation prowess.

Source: Katie Wager

In addition, be sure to leverage things like infographics that are easily shared on LinkedIn. These can go viral far faster than just text-based articles alone.

For example, pick a subject matter that is of interest to your target market (like how CEOs sleep) and create a great infographic for your article:

Source: Sleep Junkie

Use these articles as a way to:

Share valuable insights from your industry

Demonstrate how you would solve problems in your sector

Given personal opinions on current affairs related to your industry

Share content and insights from other industry thought leaders

Teach potential customers the value you have as a freelance content specialist

Show prospective clients how your finished work looks

If you don’t have time to create content, you can always consider creating your LinkedIn content strategy and outsourcing it to another content writer.

Since content needs to be thorough (around 1,890 words minimum, according to experts), don’t settle for the first or cheapest writer you find.

By paying someone to create a regular, high-quality LinkedIn campaign, you’ll show consistency to your prospective clients and you’ll appear in job searches more often.

If you’re really struggling to get your own ideas down, at least try to share engaging industry-specific content.

10. Interact With Other Thought Leaders’ Content to Increase Visibility

Increase profile views and set the way for partnerships and referrals by interacting with other experts in your industry.

Marketing guru, Gary Vaynerchuk, explains this idea well with his $1.80 strategy.

Here’s the idea:

Find 10 top hashtags for your niche. Comment on, share, or like the top nine posts of each of those hashtags. Tailor your interactions to establish the importance of your particular freelance services within this niche.

Repeat this process and you’ll start to form LinkedIn connections with others in your industry, priming you for referrals.

Why is it called the $1.80 strategy? Because you give your “two cents” over nine posts across 10 hashtags. $0.02 x 9 x 10 = $1.80.

Try using sales tools, like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, to pinpoint important industry professionals.

11. Reach Out to the Hiring Manager (Bonus Strategy)

While you can apply for a job offer through the normal LinkedIn channels, why not show some initiative?

Find a new opportunity you like where the hiring manager is considering hiring someone full-time. Instead of applying for the job, try to connect with the decision maker by sending a direct InMail or cold email offering your freelance services.

Try to include a stellar portfolio, including links to your work, an introductory video, and a landing page to book an appointment.

Ready to Get a Job Using LinkedIn?

For many freelancers, LinkedIn is the go-to resource for making new connections and landing their next job.

How about you?

Ready to expand your professional network? Ready to end your job hunt and land your dream client?

Follow the strategies outlined in this post, roll up your sleeves, and make it happen.

The post How to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job as a Freelancer (11 Pro Tips) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-use-linkedin-to-find-a-job/

[williamlwolf89]

How to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job as a Freelancer (11 Pro Tips)

Want to use LinkedIn to find a job?

You’re not alone.

With over 300 million monthly LinkedIn users and over 20 million job postings open at any given time, LinkedIn is a virtual gold mine for freelancers (or anyone, really) looking to find their dream job.

Of course, where there’s gold, there’s competition. To stand out from the crowd and land any of those great jobs on LinkedIn, you need a plan.

That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide. It will give you a step-by-step walkthrough of the most effective tips to leverage LinkedIn’s massive job platform — tips that’ll help you find, and land, a new job.

And we’ll start with arguably the most important one…

1. Create a Standout LinkedIn Profile

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile should be your number one priority if you want to land a freelance gig.

First impressions are integral in your job search. It’s essential to ensure that your LinkedIn profile offers a testament to your writing career, expertise, and experience level.

Try these top tips to enhance your LinkedIn profile to attract more freelance clients:

Create a succinct LinkedIn headline that captures your expertise in three key phrases

Fill your bio with relevant words and phrases so it’ll rank higher in LinkedIn job searches

Specify details of past freelance work experience

Offer an industry-specific writing sample

Link to examples of published content writing

Include a digital portfolio of your best freelance work

Use a professional, approachable headshot for your profile photo

Post an up-to-date, well-presented resume

Demonstrate your expertise and technical ability using Skills & Endorsements

Offer social proof with recommendations from your past freelance client base

Remember to make sure your profile is visible to everyone — especially your profile picture as professionals are less trusting of candidates without professional photos. You can do this by going to LinkedIn’s homepage (or any page, really), clicking “Me” in the top-navigation menu, and going to “Settings and Privacy”.

In addition to pictures, I highly recommend creating a video resume or animated explainer video that details your writing process, your style, your quality, social proof, and more.

Editor’s Note: If creating a video resume sounds daunting, check out this great guide from Madeline Mann. It’ll show you how to create a video CV even if you don’t have any editing skills (or enjoy speaking on camera):

Finally, make sure your profile is grammatically correct before applying for any jobs. According to Talent Inc., 79% of employers will ignore LinkedIn profiles, resumes, and job applications that have spelling or grammar mistakes in them.

If you’re prone to mishaps, use spelling and grammar tools like Grammarly and Hemingway to ensure your LinkedIn profile is free of errors and easy to read.

2. Fill Out the “Open to Work” Section

If you want to land freelance clients, you need your LinkedIn profile to be visible to potential recruiters, writing clients and LinkedIn connections.

Just under your profile picture, you’ll find a small box that invites you to show that you’re job hunting. By switching on this feature, your next potential employer can see you’re ready to take on a new job.

If you haven’t changed the settings, simply:

Click on the box that says “Show recruiters you’re open to work”

Fill out the pop-up with your relevant writing skills and geographical availability

Save the changes

To make sure it’s changed, check back to the box under your profile picture.

If you’ve done this correctly, this box should state that you’re #OpenToWork.

3. Personalize Your Job Applications

Gone are the days when you could print a hundred resumes for your services and send them to “Dear Sir/Madam.” No, you need to personalize each job application.

By customizing your resume and cover letter for each specific job posting, prospective employer, and related industry; you’ll find potential employers to be more responsive.

A whopping 1/3 of employers say that a non-customized resume is a deal-breaker. If a job seeker turns in a generalized resume with no connection to the job posting, employers will simply ignore them.

With this in mind, you should be tailoring your resume and cover letter to speak to each individual job.

My advice?

Craft templates using a document collaboration tool such as Google Docs or Microsoft 365 that you can then customize for each prospective employer or client.

Try these tactics:

Find out the name of the hiring manager and address your job application to this person directly

Document relevant industry-related work experience

Research the prospective employers business and figure out a problem that you specialize in solving

Offer previous client testimonials as social proof of your best work

Include points about why you like the job posting and how it suits your skill set

If applicable, link to a portfolio of your work or to published works from previous jobs

Only present up-to-date work

Avoid rambling on about irrelevant achievements

4. Research the Companies You’d Like to Work With

The first step to finding companies you’d like to work with is figuring out which niches or industries most appeal to you.

For example, if you were a writer, ask yourself questions like these to find your ideal niche/industry:

What style of writing do you excel most at?

In which industry-areas do you enjoy writing?

What values would I like the companies I work for to uphold?

What types of projects are a no-go for you?

Next, take your top industries, and find companies within those sectors that implement your values and excite your passions.

Follow these accounts to add them to your LinkedIn connections so you can stay up-to-date with their progress.

Now, search within those organizations for job roles that suit your expertise.

So, if you’re a writer, you might search for roles like:

Content Writer

Content Marketer

Social Media Manager

Content Marketing Manager

Content Strategist

Digital Marketing Manager

Content Manager

You can search for such openings in the “Jobs” section on the left-hand side of the target company’s LinkedIn page:

Source: Contentsquare

The “Jobs” page will showcase the company’s top available job postings right now. These are usually ordered by how recently they’ve been posted.

Hopefully, a job posting will jump off the page.

But if not, use the advanced search function to search for relevant job titles.

When you search for a job posting, LinkedIn will lead you to a list view of each job opportunity.

Click on each job opening to see a full job description of the job opportunity. You can save jobs that catch your eye or apply directly from this page.

LinkedIn also shows you how many applicants have applied for your dream job, as well as any mutual connections you have that work for the prospective employer.

Not finding any good job openings with a company you really like? No worries. You can “Follow” the company and create a job alert:

LinkedIn will then notify you whenever a new position opens within the company.

5. Build Your Network and First-Degree Connections

Start building your first-degree LinkedIn connections by adding people you know from real life — even if their own job roles are irrelevant to your career.

Begin with your professional circles. Add:

Previous clients

Past employers

Other colleagues and ex-colleagues

Connections you know from your general career

Professionals outside your industry that you know through business

Next, add professional connections you know from your social circles. Find LinkedIn connections for:

Friends with professional careers

Associates with similar job interests

Alumni and school friends succeeding as professionals

Friends of friends who thrive in the professional world

People you’ve hired for their services

To exhaust everyone you know, run through your Facebook contacts, email connections, phonebook, address book, old wedding invitations, and more.

Remember, it only takes one excellent lead to land a career-changing job.

You may find that your real-world contacts have LinkedIn connections with a job opportunity available that neither of you had considered, making way for an introduction.

Remember to include everyone from your aging rolodex. You never know which alumni or school friends may be the connection to your ideal job.

But don’t stop there.

You can have up to 30,000 LinkedIn connections, so take full advantage. Try searching for connections who would hire someone with your very particular set of skills.

Let’s go back to our writer example. If you were a freelance writer looking for paid job opportunities, you’d want to ask yourself who the key decision makers are when it comes to hiring content writers.

As a content writer looking to build a LinkedIn network, you’d want to connect with content managers of companies with job openings you’re interested in. You could also try connecting to:

Content marketing managers

Content managers

HR managers of content agencies and writing firms

Marketing managers in small business in your industry

When asking to connect, take advantage of the “connection request” message box with a succinct call-to-action. How you word this could make or break your connection.

Include a link to an appointment setting page, your writer website, or use a landing page builder to get more leads.

You only have 140 characters, so try something like:

Thanks for connecting, Jamie. I think I can help you with X. Let’s book a call! [link]

When it comes to outlining ‘X’, refer to:

A LinkedIn job posting you have seen

A common interest

An post written by the connection

An issue your connection is having

Something you’ve noticed on their website, social networks, etc.

6. Ask Your Connections for an Introduction

When searching for job opportunities, you may notice that LinkedIn alerts you of mutual connections.

Each of these mutual connections is a potential gold mine.

If you see that one of your connections has a link to a job or professional you’re interested in, ask them for an introduction.

But don’t stop there. Sift through your first-degree connections’ connections. You may find second- and third-degree connections that could be useful to you.

Additionally, when searching for prospective employer connections, prioritize those that identify mutual connections.

These second- and third-degree connections are warm leads. They could be your ideal client, but without an introduction, it can be tough to get your foot in the door.

When connecting to these prospective employers, ask your first-degree connections to warm these prospects up for you with a referral.

Asking for a referral is easy — just craft a personalized message. If you’re a writer, it might look something like this:

Hi X,

I hope you’re well and everything with life and business is prospering. I saw that you have been doing X,Y, Z.

Currently, I’m in the process of pivoting my career/accepting new freelance clients. During my search, I found LinkedIn job postings that have mutual connections with you.

If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d love you to introduce me to [name the connection]. I’m interested in connecting as they have a [job/role/network] that I’d be interested to explore.

Would it be possible to connect the dots for us?

I recognize that you’re busy, and hope you’re thriving.

Thanks

[Your Name]

If you’re confident in your relationship with this connection, contact them directly or send them an InMail.

If you’re not all that familiar with them, don’t be shy. They may have seen your work posted on your LinkedIn profile or know your work from mutual connections.

You can use the official LinkedIn referral system to ask for a referral for a job directly.

If you see a job posting in the “In my Network” search, click the “Ask for a Referral” button if you have mutual connections.

7. Share an Update of Your Availability (and Tag for Searchability)

Use LinkedIn as a place to regularly let potential clients and employers know about your availability.

Release weekly posts that let people know your schedule.

By demonstrating that you’re available for work, your connections may be able to direct you to positions they know about.

Plus, if you’re a freelancer, showing your schedule sends a virtual signal about the demand for your work. Try posting a weekly updated schedule that blanks out unavailable times.

This is especially effective if your freelance diary fills up fast, as it creates urgency and implies that your work is high quality.

To optimize your job updates for the best visibility on LinkedIn, try these tactics:

Tag companies and professionals within your niche

Tag companies with open job postings

Use relevant industry and topic-specific hashtags

Tag your current clients

Tag past clients in case they need new work

8. Engage with Industry-Specific LinkedIn Groups

Depending on your profession, you may straddle a few different industries. Luckily, you can find a LinkedIn Group for everything.

Find the LinkedIn groups where the industry professionals relevant to you are congregating. This is where key decision makers will be asking for tips and referrals for hiring and managing remote workers.

You need to establish a reputation in each relevant LinkedIn group. Do this by:

Sharing content from other members of the LinkedIn group

Liking and commenting on posts by other members

Ask questions to learn from other LinkedIn members

Share content from industry thought leaders that you think the Linkedin group members might enjoy

Make a website and share your own content to show expertise

By contributing to the group, you show any onlooking potential clients that you’re established in the industry.

You also broaden your LinkedIn network, boosting the number of connections on your LinkedIn accounts.

This creates a snowball effect where you see more and more relevant job openings in your feed. As you build an industry-specific LinkedIn network, you’ll find you can automate the process for sourcing each new client.

9. Share Valuable Content as an Industry Thought Leader

You need to establish your credibility, authority, and expertise to build trust with potential freelance clients. This demonstrates you as a thought leader; a freelance professional worth high rates for high-quality work and forward-thinking ideas.

Since your own work requires you to create outstanding content, demonstrate these skills by implementing your own personal evergreen content strategy for LinkedIn.

If you’re put off by the time commitment to develop such a strategy, don’t be. You can easily set up a content marketing workflow to streamline your efforts and become visible across multiple mediums.

Build a LinkedIn content strategy where you release regular self-authored content that shows your passion and interest in the industry, alongside your exceptional content-creation prowess.

Source: Katie Wager

In addition, be sure to leverage things like infographics that are easily shared on LinkedIn. These can go viral far faster than just text-based articles alone.

For example, pick a subject matter that is of interest to your target market (like how CEOs sleep) and create a great infographic for your article:

Source: Sleep Junkie

Use these articles as a way to:

Share valuable insights from your industry

Demonstrate how you would solve problems in your sector

Given personal opinions on current affairs related to your industry

Share content and insights from other industry thought leaders

Teach potential customers the value you have as a freelance content specialist

Show prospective clients how your finished work looks

If you don’t have time to create content, you can always consider creating your LinkedIn content strategy and outsourcing it to another content writer.

Since content needs to be thorough (around 1,890 words minimum, according to experts), don’t settle for the first or cheapest writer you find.

By paying someone to create a regular, high-quality LinkedIn campaign, you’ll show consistency to your prospective clients and you’ll appear in job searches more often.

If you’re really struggling to get your own ideas down, at least try to share engaging industry-specific content.

10. Interact With Other Thought Leaders’ Content to Increase Visibility

Increase profile views and set the way for partnerships and referrals by interacting with other experts in your industry.

Marketing guru, Gary Vaynerchuk, explains this idea well with his $1.80 strategy.

Here’s the idea:

Find 10 top hashtags for your niche. Comment on, share, or like the top nine posts of each of those hashtags. Tailor your interactions to establish the importance of your particular freelance services within this niche.

Repeat this process and you’ll start to form LinkedIn connections with others in your industry, priming you for referrals.

Why is it called the $1.80 strategy? Because you give your “two cents” over nine posts across 10 hashtags. $0.02 x 9 x 10 = $1.80.

Try using sales tools, like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, to pinpoint important industry professionals.

11. Reach Out to the Hiring Manager (Bonus Strategy)

While you can apply for a job offer through the normal LinkedIn channels, why not show some initiative?

Find a new opportunity you like where the hiring manager is considering hiring someone full-time. Instead of applying for the job, try to connect with the decision maker by sending a direct InMail or cold email offering your freelance services.

Try to include a stellar portfolio, including links to your work, an introductory video, and a landing page to book an appointment.

Ready to Get a Job Using LinkedIn?

For many freelancers, LinkedIn is the go-to resource for making new connections and landing their next job.

How about you?

Ready to expand your professional network? Ready to end your job hunt and land your dream client?

Follow the strategies outlined in this post, roll up your sleeves, and make it happen.

The post How to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job as a Freelancer (11 Pro Tips) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/how-to-use-linkedin-to-find-a-job/

[jackrobertphotography]

February 2020 | New Studio Space in Downtown Greenville | Kyiv, Ukraine | London, England | Greenville, South Carolina | Commercial, editorial, wedding photographer - Jack Robert Photography

January- leading into February, I was in Detroit to spend time with family and photograph three amazing couples. I had three engagement shoots within a week there! For the first photo shoot, we had a golden hour sunset shoot planned. I met up with Clint and Serene at the Detroit Athletic Club, however they ended up arriving one hour after the scheduled time (no worries) - which pushed me to take on the challenge of photographing with street light instead of natural light. There wasn’t a golden hour anyways- it was overcast. Despite the darkness and challenge of photographing with only street light- I think we got some solid shots! We wandered around, took photos and walked to the nearby Madcap coffee. Then we took an Uber to the David Whitney Building where the Aloft hotel is- which made for a gorgeous photo! To finish off the night, we had a delicious multi-course meal from Michelin Star and James Beard Award Chef Thomas Lents at the Apparatus Room in the Detroit Foundation Hotel.

The first day of February, I met another awesome couple where they are to be married: Matthaei Botanical Gardens. All I can say is WOW! What a gorgeous place to get engagement photos done- especially in the cold weather! Celeste and Forest hadn’t taken any photos together- the last time they had professional photos was eight years ago! I was honored to capture such special moments for them and to put them at ease in front of the camera. Look at the review they left me on WeddingWire:

Celeste MacQueen

5.0 STARS

Best Photographer EVER!

Let me start off by saying that we have not even gotten our actual wedding photos done yet just our engagement photos, and we are already so thrilled that we hired Jack! We have never been photo people by any stretch of the imagination, yet Jack made us feel super comfortable the entire time. He was so professional, and is incredibly prompt when replying to messages. I've heard horror stories from past brides about how long the had to wait for their photos so i was super surprised to receive our engagement photos just a few days after the shoot! Jack is truly about his couples, and i would recommend him for anything you need photographed.

By the end of the shoot, there were massive snowflakes falling outside and I was able to convince Celeste and Forest that a photo in the snow would look amazing- even in their non-winter clothes 😊 They were down, and I think we got an awesome shot!

The next day I met up yet another awesome couple, Laryssa and Marcello. They’re Italian so by default they are a good time. We decided to go with the Belle Isle Casino (not what you think!) as a backdrop, check out how beautiful it was: After some solid shots at the Belle Isle Casino, we made our way over to the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory AKA Belle Isle Conservatory and ended up taking photos in there, too! Two conservatories in two days! Turns out they are amazing places for photos- so glad we were able to do it!

When the weekend was over I made my way back to Greenville, South Carolina for a solid week of editing and photographing. Here’s some huge news: I struck a deal with Parlour Nouveau and Walter and Woods to open a studio in their space on Lauren’s St - one block of Main Street downtown Greenville- starting March 1!! I’m going to be focusing on package deals for headshots, fashion and beauty portrait sessions that include hair and makeup ALL IN ONE PLACE! I’m really excited to have this space to explore lighting techniques and make more studio photographs! I’ll also be able to focus more on product photography as well! Please message me on Instagram @jackrobertphotography or email to stop in, have a shoot or chat about the space!

In other cool news- not only I was able to photograph the wedding for Karen and Keith in December, but on February 6, I photographed the grand opening of their business on Woodruff road- Stretch Zone Greenville. The night consisted of food, fun and free stretches! They are certified to stretch you out- and it’s certainly worth it! I know you’ve probably never had a professional stretching session (unless your an athlete) but it’s a very good experience and I highly recommend you try it at least once!

From February 8-21 I was in Kyiv, Ukraine with my wife! Then February 21-23 Had me in London to photograph a world class opera singer and her family - Aivale Cole - who is a featured vocalist in the soundtrack for The Fellowship Of The Ring.

On Sunday the 23 I flew back to Greenville, SC so I could photograph Upstate Forever’s 2020 Forever Green Luncheon on Monday the 24. Upstate Forever is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects critical lands, waters, and the unique character of Upstate South Carolina. 

Directly after the Upstate Forever Luncheon- I headed over to Parlour Nouveau and Walter And Woods to photograph Bourbon and Blowouts in partnership with Makers Mark Bourbon

Also on the 24, I flew to New York City with Tiana Schowe to film and photograph her giving a presentation at the United States second largest independent real estate firm- Douglas Elliman.

I was also honored to have a headshot session with Douglas Williford - the Manager of the Douglas Elliman (The Triangle Below Canal Street) TriBeCa Office in New York City.

In February 26 I flew back to Greenville just in time for Upstate Business Journals networking event- Business on Tap hosted in the Greenville One center this month.

February 28 I was hired by the awesome people at Forest Kitchen Design to photograph a lovely kitchen they custom designed!

All in all, I’m incredibly thankful for all of these opportunities I get. I won’t ever take all the travel, experiences and people that I get to meet for granted. Here’s some tips for photographers: be flexible, kind, honest and upfront with all of your clients. They will write you awesome reviews and you’ll have a great business.

[kennethherrerablog]

These 31 Tips Will Give Your Resume an Edge in the 2019 Job Market

When you’re on the job hunt, you only have six seconds to hook a recruiter or future employer with your resume.

Six. Seconds.

And with the rise of applicant tracking systems (those doohickeys that scan your resume), figuring out what to include, what to trash, what to highlight and what to downplay on your resume is getting even more difficult.  

We already have an in-depth guide to writing a resume that should help you get started. And, we’ve covered some general guidelines for writing a resume for recent grads on writing a resume.

But with more than 7 million job openings in the U.S., we knew it was time to get serious — and give you a shotgun blast of tips that will help you stand out among the 6.5 million job seekers jostling through the labor market.

We chatted with several human resources and recruiting experts to find out the latest trends in resume writing and bring you inside knowledge about how to make yours stand out.

31 of the Best Resume Tips to You Get Noticed

Blasting your resume out likely won’t get you noticed, unfortunately.

That was the case for Austin Garcia-Cooper, a business development associate at Kobie Marketing in St. Petersburg, Florida, who found himself unemployed in 2018 when the startup he worked for went through layoffs.

“In pretty much all of my previous job hunts, I got lucky and was able to rely on various contacts to get me introductions to decision-makers at companies,” he said. “I hadn’t had to lean on a strong traditional resume, as I was able to almost go straight to the interview process in the past.”

This time, he knew he’d have to rely on a strong resume to hook recruiters.

These 31 tips should help you get started on your resume, and guarantee you get noticed.

Just Get Started on Writing Your Resume

Procrastination can be one of the biggest hurdles while writing your resume. It represents the whole of your working life and you want it to be absolutely perfect, right?

You’ll be constantly tweaking the document to tailor it to each job in which you apply, and to incorporate feedback from friends and even HR managers with whom you’ve interviewed. So it doesn’t have to start out perfect — it’s not a static document.

The key is to just sit down and get started on your resume right away, said Colin McIntosh, CEO of Sheets & Giggles, former recruiter, and author of the second most popular Reddit post of all time on the “jobs” subreddit — a resume guide.

“It’s like fishing without bait; make a resume on day one of a job hunt,” he said.

1. Ask yourself a set of questions before getting started

To get in the right mindset for writing your resume, start by asking yourself — and answering — a set of questions. According to Jessica Hernandez, founder of North Florida-based Great Resumes Fast, these can include:

What are you most proud of in your professional career? You’ll want to focus on accomplishments rather than specific job duties while filling out your resume. Ask yourself this question about each previous job.

How did you add value — efficiency, cost saving or just happiness — to the company at which you last worked? Recruiters and HR managers want to see quantifiable results when they look at your previous positions. Did a process you implemented lead to a 10% growth in sales?

Can you explain what you actually did at your previous positions? For recruiters, clarity is king when it comes to describing your previous positions. Explain to a friend what you did at a previous job — do they understand your role? Avoid jargon and cliches.

2. Block out time to write your resume

Whip out that bullet journal, planner or even your Google calendar and carve out a specific time frame — an hour or two — and sit down and write. Just think: If you don’t have a resume, you can’t get a job and you won’t get paid.

“Don’t wait because you’re nervous about rejection or [have a] fear of failure. Decision paralysis can be a killer when you’re overly worried about bad outcomes.”

3. Spend time poring over the job description/listing

Grab a red pen or highlighter, print out the job description and start highlighting words or phrases you see repeatedly. Once you’ve done that, circle the ones you know you have in common with the description.

For example, if you see “analytical thinker” several times and you consider yourself one, circle that. These will likely be keywords recruiters are looking for on your resume.

4. Reach Out on LinkedIn

Don’t be shy: Make a connection with someone at the company over LinkedIn and ask what key skills or qualities they might be looking for in a candidate. This will help you bolster those keywords.

“I actually did this, but didn’t until after a month or two of searching,” said Garcia-Cooper. “It was super helpful to pick someone’s brain who hires people or got hired for a similar job that you would want; they obviously did something right.”

5. Tweak your resume based on the jobs you’re applying for

Your resume should not be static. That is, you should be customizing it for each job you are chasing.

Garcia-Cooper applied for jobs in a variety of industries, which means he had to tailor his resume for each position. This isn’t uncommon, and you should be prepared to tweak your resume based on the position and keywords in each job description.

6. Pay someone to write it

This may not seem like much of a tip, but if you want to get right to the job hunt, pay someone else to write your resume. Take it from us, writing is hard, and there are plenty of companies that have sprung up out there offering resume-writing services.

Loren Margolis, CEO of Training & Leadership Success, suggests reading reviews of these companies and asking for resume samples before paying for the service.

“One easy rule to follow: If an agency or individual doesn’t show you their templates up front and explain why — for free — they’d want to make certain decisions on your format, don’t work with them,” McIntosh said.

7. Shell out cash for the design

If you’re not the design-savvy person, it might be worth to pay for a custom template to get you started. Don’t just go with the first free template you find in Microsoft Word.

Garcia-Cooper used Visual CV to design his resume instead of going with a template that’s already out in the wild. This is especially helpful if you’re not the creative type and will incorporate many of the tips we highlight below.

Keep Formatting Simple

It might be tempting to add color, graphics or even a headshot to make your resume stand out. But according to resume experts, it’s best to keep it as simple as possible.

You can always add inline links to your LinkedIn profile or personal portfolio on your resume if you want to show off your creative side.

8. Don’t choose a fancy font

Err on the boring side with your font selection. Recruiters are looking for something easy to read that won’t be distracting — think Arial or Georgia, said Margolis.

9. Stick with a classic color scheme

We get it, you want to wow a recruiter or future employer with your creative spark. But you’re not Elle Woods, and as much as it may hurt, you want your accomplishments to speak for themselves. A fancy font can distract from that.

“I’ve seen a lot more color in resumes recently from applicants,” said McIntosh. “But I wouldn’t recommend that. Black and white is always the way to go.”

10. Use bulleted lists under each previous position

Short bullet points will highlight your accomplishments while making it easy for future employers to scan your work history. Also, it should (hopefully) make you mindful of rambling too much about your job history.

Recruiters will spend between six and 10 seconds reading your resume, so you want to make it as skimmable as possible, Margolis said. Short bullet points will highlight your accomplishments while making it easy for future employers to scan your work history.

11. Write in the software you want, but save it as a .pdf

Submitting a Word document of your resume could cause an applicant-tracking system to ignore it and also give recruiters without Microsoft Office a headache. Save your resume as a .pdf to avoid any problems with cross-compatibility.

12. Stick to 1 1/2 pages or less

There is still some disagreement about resume length among HR professionals.

Margolis said it’s OK to write your resume so it ends up longer than one page — but stop at 1 ½. Recruiters are more inclined to read past the first page than they have been in the past, but remember, they’ll still give you only six to 10 seconds.

McIntosh remains in the one-page-only camp.

13. Be aware of white space

Try to let your resume breathe. Add a few carriage returns between sections, or use a template that formats text so it isn’t crammed together.

Your resume is a single document aimed at summing up your entire professional life, so it’s not a surprise that you’ll want to jam as much information into 1 ½ pages as possible. Don’t do it.

“You don’t want a recruiter to get tired reading your resume because it’s filled with so much font,” Margolis said.

14. Consider a website

Since you only have 1 1/2 pages to sum up your career, you might want to consider making a website to expand on your experience — or include your professional portfolio. Make sure it is optimized for mobile devices, since a recruiter might open it on their phone.

“That is a terrific way to showcase not just your resume, but also your background,” Margolis said. “You can create a story about how well qualified you are for the jobs your targeting.”

The Nitty-Gritty: What to Include on Your Resume

15. Think about accomplishments rather than roles and responsibilities

When you’re writing your resume, think more about what you have accomplished at each step of your career rather than what your responsibilities were. Did you edit a daily e-blast or have a hand in launching a first-of-its-kind online newsletter?

If you started with those questions from earlier in this post, you should have a good idea what you accomplished at each position.

16. Keywords are still king

Your resume will likely go through an applicant-tracking system, which will search for those keywords we discussed earlier. Recruiters will do the same as they skim your resume for those six seconds. So include the relevant phrases or words for the job description (those you highlighted and circled earlier) throughout your resume.

“However, while you want to incorporate keywords from the job posting in your resume, my advice is don’t get too crazy,” said Mikaila Turman, a vice president and expert in recruiting at Inflection, an Omaha, Nebraska-based company that uses big data to perform automated background checks.

17. Don’t include the dates in your education section

Regardless of how old you are, you can avoid any chance of age discrimination by excluding dates under the education section of your resume.

“Protect yourself and do not put graduation dates on your resume,” Hernandez said. “It’s pointless to do so.”

18. Consider omitting your first name

Don’t hide your name, but consider using your first initial to avoid any unconscious gender bias as well. McIntosh said this a positive trend he’s noticed in the world of resume-writing.

You should, however, still use your full name in the application and in your email.

19. Eliminate your address

Don’t put your exact address if you’re applying for jobs within the area. The street name and number will just add clutter.

But, what if you’re applying for a job in another state and don’t want to be at a disadvantage due to relocation? In that case, either exclude your location altogether, or add “Moving to:” in front of the city and state of the job to which you are applying.

20. Fill in the gaps

If you were truly unemployed, add a section in which you describe yourself as an independent consultant. Under the description, write that you needed some flexibility to take care of personal matters, McIntosh suggests.

When Garcia-Cooper was job hunting, he was working for his father’s landscaping businesses. But he didn’t include that on his resume because he didn’t think it was applicable experience.

He could have included it, one recruiter told him, because it shows that he was always working.

“I remedied this by realizing that there was relevant experience in almost all of my previous jobs,” he said. “It just came down to framing it correctly.”

21. Show some personality with an interests section

Including a section in which you list your hobbies and interests will help avoid being seen as a faceless resume and give something for recruiters to connect with.

“If you put “Seinfeld,” I promise someone will ask you what your favorite episode of Seinfeld is — (mine’s ‘The Soup Nazi’),” McIntosh said.

22. Don’t be afraid of life links

In the past, including links in your resume might trigger a spam filter through certain email clients, so human resources experts advised against including them. That’s changed, said Hernandez, and including links to your LinkedIn, personal website or portfolio can add depth to your resume without making it too long.

“I would say this very important — especially in 2019,” she said.

23. Get rid of the objective

Consider skipping the objective section at the top of your resume, which just takes up valuable space.

“The truth is, your objective is painfully obvious,” said Heather Rothbauer-Wanish, owner of Feather Communications, a resume-writing business in Wisconsin. “In fact, you wouldn’t be sending a resume if you didn’t want a new job.”

24. Be specific and avoid cliches

There’s nothing more grating for a recruiter than reading a mealy-mouthed jumble of cliches. And with the algorithms within applicant-tracking systems searching for specific words and phrases, it’s always best to be as specific and clear as possible in position titles, accomplishments and job responsibilities.

25. Avoid pronouns and use action verbs

Avoid using “I” or “me” while writing your resume. Use action verbs like “built” or “launched” at the beginning of bullet points.

“Resumes are like no other document you’ll ever write in that you’re supposed to sound like a caveman,” said Margolis.

26. Don’t try to quantify skills

Hernandez said you should avoid terms such as “proficient,” “experienced” and “skilled in” when describing software or skills. If you have some experience in Excel, just put “Excel” next to a bullet point in your skills section.

Make It Bulletproof: Proofread Your Resume

27. Print out your resume in a huge font size

You’ll probably read through your resume so many times on your computer screen that your eyes will cross. Printing it out will help you catch mistakes you might otherwise overlook.

Pro-tip: Use a much larger font to help yourself identify mistakes even more. There’s no quicker way for a resume to end up in the trash than being riddled with grammatical or spelling errors.

“Reading aloud is helpful, too,” said Margolis.

28. Have a friend read your resume

Ask one (or many) of your friends to read through your resume to try and catch any mistakes. You should also ask them to read it for clarity.

Does it convey exactly what you have accomplished? Is it clear what value you will bring to the company?

29. Pay a copy editor to read it

Go on Fiverr or Upwork and look for proofreaders or copy editors to take a look at your resume. Since it’s only one page, you’ll likely pay $5 or $10 — which could be worth it to catch a small mistake before a recruiter has a chance to notice it.

30. Use this naming convention for the file

Here’s how you should name your resume file: “[First name] [Last name] [Resume].pdf”. It will help recruiters identify whose resume they are looking at right away.

31. Ask for feedback if you get rejected

Most recruiters will be happy to provide feedback on your resume if you don’t happen to land that job you were chasing. In fact, that’s how Garcia-Cooper learned he should avoid leaving gaps in his work history.

Alex Mahadevan is a data journalist at The Penny Hoarder.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

These 31 Tips Will Give Your Resume an Edge in the 2019 Job Market published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

[lindyhunt]

The Best Editing Apps for Photos

By now, it's clear that creating great visual content is critical for marketers -- and that's especially true on social media.

As of 2017, Instagram has doubled its monthly active user base in the last two years, which means a lot more people are viewing and sharing photos in 2018. Plus, visual content is 40X more likely to get shared on social media than other types.

In other words, people like to be shown, not told -- and in turn, they share.

For that reason, it's important for marketers to know how to create compelling photos for their business' social networks and blogs. And while it can be worth putting the investment of time and money into photo editing software on your computer, many of us are exclusively using our phones to take pictures and could stand to edit them without uploading them to a desktop. That's especially true when you're posting in real time, like at an event. Luckily, there are numerous great inexpensive and free photo editing apps out there for mobile devices -- some of them even cost just a few bucks. But which apps are the best?

Check out our short list of 12 apps below -- organized by apps that are compatible with both iOS and Android, apps offered just for the iPhone, and apps designed to edit face-focused photos.

Inexpensive and Free Photo Editing Apps for iOS and Android

1. Afterlight

$0.99 | iOS | Android | Windows

There was a time when I was a bit more old-school in my photo editing. I counted on Instagram tools alone, sometimes combining them with the "enhance" feature on my phone's Photos app. Then, I learned about Afterlight -- a somewhat rudimentary tool, but one that has all the features you need to do a basic photo edit.

From controlling the color tones, to adjusting exposure and brightness, to rotating and straightening a photo, it has everything you need for lighting or color fixes. It also contains 74 filters, including a Fusion feature that lets you mix tools, filters, and textures to create your own personal look. Into frames? Afterlight has a whopping 128 to choose from, boasting a perfect pairing with Instagram.

My favorite tools, though, have to be the ones for Brightness and Shadows. Some pictures do well with a decrease in shadows and increase in brightness for cleaner, fresher look. But flipping those around can also create a more mysterious, nighttime feel -- That's what I did with this photo of tree ornaments.

2. VSCO Cam

Free | iOS | Android

Over the past few years, VSCO Cam has become a highly popular photo editing app for mobile. While it does boast a wider set of editing tools than most other editing apps, its main claim to fame is its filters.

These filters have a softer, more authentic look that resembles real film, compared to the over-saturated looks of many Instagram filters. Plus, it's great for when you need to edit a photo on the fly. Simply upload the photo to VSCO Cam, slap on one of the great filters -- I used C1 below -- and call it a day. (There are more filters available for purchase, too.)

3. Photoshop Express

Free | iOS | Android

Believe it or not, Adobe Photoshop isn't just for your computer. Adobe Photoshop Express puts most of what people love about Adobe's popular photo editing program in their pockets -- lighting, color, and sharpness options included.

Photoshop Express is especially useful for making photo collages -- something the app's developers likely highlighted for mobile users who want to share many photos at once on Facebook or Instagram. The app's "Decorate" setting even allows you to annotate your photo with digital stickers before saving and posting directly on social media.

Although this photo editor makes Photoshop's best features easily accessible, keep in mind it does carry the natural limitations of a mobile app. Specifically, you can only upload JPG files smaller than 16 megapixels (MP).

Nonetheless, what it does on a smaller platform is still super impressive. You should also try similar Adobe photo editing apps such as Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Capture.

Here's how Photoshop Express helps you choose different collage orientations for multiple photos:

4. Snapseed

Free | iOS | Android

Snapseed is another app that's great for basic image enhancements. It's got all the classic adjustment tools, such as tuning, cropping, and straightening. Plus, its sharpening tool is one of the best we've seen -- it really does enhance a photo's detail, without making it look grainy, like many other photo sharpening adjusters out there.

But what makes this tool particularly unique is its "Selective Adjust" tool. It allows you to pinpoint an area in a photo and adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation of that single point. So if you want viewers to focus on a certain part of your photo -- say, the buds in the center of a plant -- then you can make the buds more vivid.

Want more help with Snapseed? Google, the maker of the app, created a dedicated support page with tips and instructions.

5. SKRWT

$0.99 | iOS | Android

Ever taken a picture of something straight-on -- a doorway, a building, your food -- and found the perspective was just a little bit askew or tilted? The SKRWT app lets you adjust the perspective of your photos to make the lines look clean and square.

Have a look at what I was able to do with a simple window shot.

Before:

After:

At first, the "before" image doesn't look that skewed, but seeing the "after" version really shows what a difference symmetry can make. If it bugs you to see a photo that's slightly at an angle, then this app is well worth the dollar.

6. Live Collage

Free | iOS | Android

Collages made on Photoshop Express can be great, whether it's to show a comparison (like a before-and-after series), or to highlight multiple photos from the same event or theme. But our favorite photo collage app is Live Collage, mostly because of its wide variety of layouts. It contains several options for photo organization, both classic and fun, with interesting and colorful backgrounds. Plus, you can add customized text in different fonts, colors, and sizes.

If you're strapped for time, there are basic photo editing options within the app, too, making it a handy one-stop shop.

7. Foodie

Free | iOS | Android

If you're anything like I am, your personal social media feeds are loaded with images of food. It's no wonder that food-specific apps are coming out of the woodwork to make photos look even more delectable.

Called out by Bustle for taking "food pictures to some next level gorgeous," Foodie uses more than 30 filters and other editing features to turn what might otherwise be a humdrum snack into a visual feast.

When I applied the CR2 filter to a photo of chocolate candy, this was the result:

Best Photo Editing Apps for iPhone

8. Camera+

$2.99 | iOS only

With the highest price tag on the list, you have to wonder what makes Camera+ so special. When it was first released, Lifehacker called it "The Best Camera App for iPhone," with TIME writing, "If the iPhone's standard camera is like a digital point-and-shoot, the Camera+ app is like a high-quality SLR lens."

While the app has many of the classic photo editing tools like color tints, retro effects, and crops, there are a few gems that make it unique. First is its image stabilizer, which helps you capture the sharpest photos possible before you even take a picture. It also lets you zoom in up to 6X, which can really up the quality of your shot if you're trying to hone in on something far away.

Finally, its Clarity filter is what The Wall Street Journal's Kevin Sintumuang calls its "secret sauce -- it adds pro-camera crispness to almost any shot." I'd have to agree -- just check out how it enhanced this photo of my dog.

9. Mextures

$0.99 | iOS only

Mextures is one of the more advanced apps on this list -- and its crown jewel is layer-based editing. That allows users to stack different adjustment layers on top of each other, moving and editing them individually, allowing for nearly limitless creativity. You can also apply multiple filters, textures, and blending models to the same photo to create a really unique look. If you find an editing formula you really like, you can save it to apply to other photos later, or even share it with your friends.

Here's what happened when I took a simple photo of candlesticks on a white background only and applied three enhancements -- Waterfront overlay, Bokeh Baby Overlay, and the Color Dodge blending mode.

10. Enlight

$3.99 | iOS only

I'll just say how I feel: This app is incredible.

Winner of the Apple Design Award in 2017, Enlight will change the way you see even the most ordinary picture the next time you open your iPhone camera. Among its 10 different photo editing features, the app's Photo Mixer allows you to blend multiple photos together -- or combine a photo with text -- for a super artistic result.

According to Les Shu of Digital Trends, Enlight is "a powerful Photoshop-like app, minus the steep learning curve."

Check out a stunning example of what the app's Photo Mixer can do below.

Best Face Editing Apps

11. Facetune

$3.99 on iOS | $5.99 on Android

Never take a selfie you don't like again. Facetune is considered the top photo app in more than 120 countries, allowing you to make up for unflattering mobile photos with professional-level corrections to numerous facial features.

The app offers eight different types of corrections and enhancements to a person's face in a given photo -- including to the hair, eyes, skin, and smile. Taking a new professional headshot? I highly recommend you touch it up in the Facetune app before adding the photo to your LinkedIn profile (not that I don't think you're beautiful already).

Here's just one example of a skin tone correction done with Facetune, making all the difference:

12. Visage Makeup Editor

Free | iOS | Android

Disclaimer: There's absolutely nothing wrong with under-eye circles. We all have them, and we sometimes wear them like medals. (We do, however, take issue with and don't recommend a lack of sleep.)

That said, when it comes to sharing photos of ourselves on social media, vanity sometimes enters the picture. Sound familiar? There's an app for that.

We like the Visage makeup editor, which instantly retouches photos and lets you add some special effects, like a "Pop Art Style" filter that can make your selfie look slightly Warhol-esque. The app comes equipped with some interesting backgrounds, as well as lighting and color features, with more available for purchase.

The only drawback? The free version is a bit ad-heavy, and unless you upgrade to pro, your finished product will be stuck with a branded hashtag at the bottom.

Now Comes the Fun Part

See how easy it is to create and share visual content? Of course, mastering these apps will require a bit of practice, but if you're unsure where to start, just look around you -- that's what we did when we tried each of them.

Think about your marketing goals for this year. Then, ask yourself what kind of photos will help you accomplish them. From there, you can pick and choose the best apps from this list.

So start getting visual. We can't wait to see what you create.