#to developing professional stuff in excel. just... always working with excel. from a dozen different angles and careers.

[racke7]

Sent a message (they have a whole interface for it) to the guys I might have an "in" with for my internship (and updated my resume). Also called the guy running the tiny company that sounded delightful.

The company still sounded delightful, but unfortunately they're basically phasing out because the only one there is like eighty-years-old and he only works on legacy-projects (people with old systems who refuse to update their shit).

As in, listening to him, I kind of get the feeling that he doesn't exactly work 40-hour weeks, but more akin to "a few hours per month". Which obviously wouldn't work for an internship.

Which actually makes me a bit frustrated that I wasn't able to do this career-switch ten years ago, just so that I could do this specific internship. (Don't know how long he's been scaling things back, but yeah)

[charismaandcashmere]

In the modern world, it often seems like it’s harder than ever to accomplish your goals.

It seems like everyone has already done the thing you want to do — that your idea is already out there, that your niche is beyond saturated.

Want to start a blog? You’re up against a million rivals. Thinking about starting a podcast? So is everyone else and their mom. Hoping to write a book? With the advent of self-publishing, you’re not only up against authors approved by major publishing houses, but anyone, anywhere, with a laptop. Want to become a YouTube star? Better hope you get noticed next to the thousands of other folks uploading new videos every day.

There’s seemingly a million graphic designers, a million wannabe filmmakers, a million other, probably more qualified candidates gunning for the same job you want.

And that’s just in the marketplace. In your personal life, the competition can feel equally fierce. In the days of yore, you were just competing against people in your college or church to win the attention of a lady. Now you’re up against every Tom, Dick, and Harry on Tinder. The dating marketplace hypothetically stretches beyond your community to encompass your whole state, maybe even the whole country.

Yes, in both economic and personal spheres, demand seems high, and resources seem scarce. It’s enough to make you decide to give up and not try in the first place.

Yet this feeling of scarcity is just an illusion, a myth.

In truth, there’s never been a more opportune time to live. Not only because it’s never been cheaper and easier to write a book, share your art, or start a business, but because the average person’s ability to execute on the basics has never been in such short supply.

While opportunities to achieve your goals aren’t as scarce as you think, there are areas where true scarcity does exist: in common sense, in social skills, in manners, in reliability. There’s a dearth of people who know, or have the will, to do the stupidly easy stuff to be charming and successful.

Let me give you just one example. Both off the air and on, guests of my podcast will tell me, “I can tell you actually read my book before this interview and I really appreciate that. It’s so rare.” I don’t bring this up to toot my own horn, but rather to point out how ridiculous it is that this might even be something worthy of mention! An interviewer reading someone’s work before asking them questions about it would seem like the barest of bare minimum job requirements — a prerequisite rather than something above and beyond. And yet the majority of podcasters aren’t even taking care of this most basic of basics.

There are tons of people doing what you want to do, but how are they executing? In 90% of cases, not as well as they could be.

That’s your opening. And such openings are absolutely everywhere.

To take advantage of opportunities, people typically concentrate on stuff like building up their resume — going to the best school or getting the right internship. And certainly, these things can help.

But what’s missed is that it’s often doing stupidly easy stuff that’s going to allow you to make friends and land your dream job. It’s doing the stupidly easy stuff that almost no one else is doing that can most readily set you apart from the pack, and up for success.

What is some of that stupidly easy stuff? Below you’ll find a (non-exhaustive) list of the things it’s hard to believe people don’t do more often, and which have a huge ROI because most people can’t be bothered.

1. Send a thank you text when you get home from a nice party/date. In my opinion, this is the #1 easiest and best way to be a more charming texter. Yet almost no one does it. When someone has you over for dinner, or you take someone out on a date, once you part ways, they typically worry a bit as to whether or not you had a good time. And a party host wants to know their effort to throw the shindig was appreciated. So even if you thank your date/host in person at the end of the evening, once you get home, shoot them a confirming text saying, “Thanks again for the delicious dinner. We had such a good time!” Trust me on this, it’s stupidly, stupidly charming.

2. Write handwritten thank you notes, always and often. When an occasion was especially nice, instead of sending a text, write the person a handwritten thank you note and stick it in the mail. And send handwritten thank you notes for anything and everything else. Received a gift? Thank you note. Job interview? Thank you note. Someone helped you move? Thank you note. Someone went to bat for you at work? Thank you note.

Thank you note writing has become such a lost art, and receiving snail mail is so delightful, that sending handwritten appreciation has become one of the most effective ways to set yourself apart from the pack.

3. Edit your emails/texts before sending. No one ever catches all of the spelling and grammatical mistakes contained within their communications, but giving your texts and emails a couple reads before you hit send will tighten things up. These “clean” missives significantly contribute to making a winning digital impression.

4. Know how to make small talk. We spend so much time behind screens, that when we finally meet people face-to-face, our conversation can often be awkward and stilted. But being comfortable with small talk opens a tremendous amount of doors; sure, it starts out with the superficial, but it’s the on-ramp to deeper discussions — the pathway to relationships with potential lovers, new friends, and future employers. Fortunately, once you know the simple methodology that makes small talk flow, it’s easy to master.

5. Don’t be a conversational narcissist. Related to the above. The only kind of talk many people know how to make these days, is about themselves. Someone who knows how to listen and ask good questions comes off as stupidly charming.

6. Don’t look at your phone during a conversation. In an age of scattered attention, a person who can concentrate their attention on you, and fight the urge to look at their phone while you eat or talk — someone who can make you feel like the most important person in the room — is a charmer par excellence.

Can’t seem to pry yourself away? Check out our complete guide to breaking your smartphone habit.

7. Dress well for a job interview. You don’t have to show up to a job interview in a three-piece suit (unless the position calls for it); overdressing can make as poor a first impression as under-dressing. But showing up dressed just one notch above what current employees at the company wear will immediately set you apart from many other candidates. Well-shined shoes, a pressed shirt, and good hygiene will help too.

8. Come to a job interview prepared to ask questions of the interviewer. Whenever we post this article on “10 Questions to Ask in a Job Interview,” HR folks always weigh in with how “amazed” they are at the number of candidates who stare blankly when asked at the end of an interview, “Do you have any questions for us?” Know some questions to ask going in.

9. Take a woman on a real date. In a landscape of “What’s up”? texts and non-committal hang outs, taking a lady on a real date puts you head and shoulders above other suitors. What constitutes a real date? Watch this video and remember the 3 P’s: Planned, Paired Off, and Paid For.

10. Offer a sincere apology when you mess up. My generation seems to struggle with saying “I’m sorry” when they make a mistake. Numerous times I’ve had my order messed up at a restaurant, and when I bring it to the attention of the waiter or manager, they just shrug, say “Okay,” and fix it, without saying, “I’m sorry about that.” Then the other day an order of mine got messed up, and the manager took a totally different tack — comping my whole meal and bringing me a free dessert. That kind of treatment is so rare, it was unbelievably winning. I even found the manager after my meal to tell her so, and let her know I would specifically make an effort to return because of her gesture.

As it goes in the restaurant biz, so it goes with everything else. Most of your fellow employees will just say “Okay” when an error is brought to their attention. Offering a sincere apology that demonstrates you take responsibility and understand where you messed up and how it affects the company, will easily set you apart (so will immediately trying to make it right and preventing it from happening again).

And in your personal life, apologizing when you stumble is stupidly endearing. You’ll probably mess up again, and often with the same issue, but even when you can’t completely overcome your flaws, showing you’re at least completely aware of them goes a long, long way.

11. Follow through. I get a lot of emails from guys who want to do something with the Art of Manliness, like write a guest article or strike up a business partnership. They are excited! They are passionate! They are…MIA. They never follow-up or follow-through on their idea. I’ve often wondered what happens between their excited initial email, and their descent into silence. But whatever it is, it can easily be avoided by those committed to following through.

12. Be reliable. No quality today can more readily set you apart from your peers than reliability. Doing the follow-through just mentioned. Showing up on time (and just plain showing up). Meeting deadlines. Managing expectations and not overpromising. Promptly responding to emails. Keeping your word.

Are freelance graphic designers, artists, video/audio editors, app developers, programmers, contractors, etc. a dime a dozen? Surely. But a reliable creative professional or handyman? A pink unicorn. If you couple talent and skill with reliability, it’s stupidly easy to dominate your competition and your niche.

When you survey the economic and dating markets, they can seem incredibly oversaturated. Demand seems high and resources seem scarce. But when you take a closer look, you’ll find that while there are plenty of people all grasping after the same thing, there are only a few executing well on the attempt. Setting yourself apart isn’t complicated or hard; it often involves simply doing the stupidly easy stuff that everyone else overlooks.

Their obtusity is your gain; see through the myth of scarcity, take care of the basics, and the world is your oyster.

[uni-life-tips]

Resume Tips

I've been handed quite a few resumes at work by people looking for a job. I always give them a quick read-through and show interest because I've been in that position. Job hunting sucks, even more so when the people you're handing your resume to aren't even going to pretend to be interested. I know that my workplace is not hiring and that my boss basically throws out the pile of resumes we leave for him in the bin at the end of the month--without really looking at them.

I've noticed quite a few things about the resumes we get handed at work and I decided to include some tips that I've picked up on. I have a few friends that have made it to manager or supervisor positions in their jobs, and some of them are also in charge of recruitment at their workplaces--basically, they're the ones that get to decide who to hire and when. They helped me workshop my resume time after time for different sorts of jobs and it's only after I got their help that I started getting calls back and interviews. Some of the tips that they gave me seem like common sense and at first I thought I was the only one that didn't know those things...but pretty much every resume I've seen at work has these 'simple' flaws in them.

1) Tailor your resume for the specific job you're going for. You don't need to have the company name in your cover letter, but having different resumes geared at fast-food and at desk-work (reception, secretary, desk-clerk, etc.) would definitely increase your chances of being taken seriously. Typing speed and/or what computer software you know how to use is not going to impress the fast-food manager. Get rid of that to make space for relevant information--customer service or experience serving food, for example. At a fast-food restaurant that I worked at the employees and even the manager would share comments on the resumes we'd see in the back. Whenever we saw "wpm" (words per minute) or "proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel" etc. we'd all have the same kind of reaction. "They must have been in the area, handing out resumes to the dental offices, clinics, and registries in the area and stopped by to throw one at us for good measure." None of the people who handed us those sorts of resumes were even considered for a call back.

2) Pen-marks look bad. If you have to scribble out your old phone number and write a new one in by hand as well as scribble over a typo, you're better off re-typing the entire resume and printing it off without the errors. Pen-marks don't look professional and the pen-edits tell the manager a lot about you. It tells them that you don't have as much attention-to-detail as your resume claims because you failed to spot the typos or whatever before going to print. It shows that you're unmotivated--especially if there are known ways to print stuff for free in the area, look into public libraries in your area and chances are that they provide some quota of free printing every month. A finalized, error-free resume is seen as the absolute least you could do if you want to be considered for a job. Overall, pen-marks and crumpled resumes look unprofessional. You're not just being judged by what you say about yourself in the resume, 'cuz that's your word about yourself--how you carry yourself and how the resume looks really says a lot about you.

3) One page, single-sided--maximum. The person hiring goes through dozens of resumes at the same time as yours. They're not going to want to flip through 3+ pages of stuff. If you have a lot of experience at different places that may be good, but see number 1 and only write down what's relevant to the position you're applying for. Example: if you're applying for fast-food positions include any experience you have working with food and don't waste page-space on your time as an AV person. Also, if you have had multiple employers, only include the latest ones--either within the last 5 years or only your latest two or three. You're 28 years old applying for a fast-food position because nowhere else is taking you seriously. Your high school volunteering experience isn't going to make you look good. It was over a decade ago and if you have to include it to pad your resume up to one page then that says a lot about you--you've had 10 years to get other experience, what were your contributions to society in those 10 years and why should the employer expect you to be motivated to work if you have not worked/volunteered in the last decade?

4) Purpose/intent/goal--again, tailor this to the specific job you're handing the resume into or nix it all together. "To use my skills in a professional setting", "Full-time job", "To earn experience that will get me closer to [insert dream job here]". They don't need to know your purpose in your resume. That's a "where do you see yourself in 10 years" question best left for the actual interview. When someone hiring for minimum-wage entry-level positions sees your aspirations they aren't thinking that they want to hire you--they're thinking, "this person clearly has aspirations for a different job. They are not a safe training investment because nothing guarantees that they'll stick around long enough to make the training investment worth it for me." Your dream job or your ideal position or whatever is something best left for the interview or for after you get hired--leave it off of your resume. You don't have to be all fake and talk like that minimum wage position is your dream job, but you have to present yourself as a safe training investment. It takes a while for anyone to learn the ropes in their new job. Official training may only take a week or two, but it'll probably take 3-6 months for anyone to get the hang of the position and start performing well. Any mistakes made in that time may cost the company money. If you piss off a customer because you're not familiar with the menu and can't answer their question, that's a lost customer. If you haven't gotten the hang of serving customers quickly then you're costing the company money because they could have served two customers in the time it took you to serve two. Above all, a lot of employers just want to know that they can earn back their training investment. Suppose it'll take you three months to get the hang of stuff and to stop making frequent mistakes--double the training investment for a ballpark of how long you'll have to be prepared to commit to the job for them to take you seriously. If it takes three months to develop the proper habits for the job, then you need to show the manager--starting with your resume--that you're willing to be there for at least six months. If your resume is clearly geared toward a different kind of job and you outright state your dream job to be something else then you're not a safe investment for them because you're clearly looking elsewhere.

5) Point form. Under each work-experience entry write up to 5 points that are relevant to the specific job you are applying for. Worked retail in a clothing store before and now you're applying to fast-food? Include time-management skills, organization of a workspace, task delegation, customer service, and any other transferable skills like training others in your area or key-holder status. This'll help you cram a lot of info onto one side of a page. The manager isn't looking to read anything in-depth--they're just going to skim your resume and if it looks like you're going to give them a return on the training investment and that you're a responsible person then their next step is probably locating your contact information to schedule an interview. Save the full sentences and elaboration (i.e. one specific time where your customer service skills stood out) for the cover letter. The first page of your resume should read like a table of contents of yourself--it's a sales ad. If they're interested in what customer service experience you have, they'll ask you more later. Don't shove it at them on the resume 'cuz that resume is just the table-of-contents. Include your contact information and if they're interested they know how to reach you.

Good luck! If you're looking for a job, I know it sucks. I've been in that position a lot and felt helpless a lot. Lots of summers went by with me unemployed between years in post-secondary because I went to university in a different city from my home city. Nobody wanted to hire someone for four months out of the year because the training investment alone wasn't being met. It sucks and it's depressing. Hang in there. Revising my resume after every rejection was my way of trying to keep hope. Each resume revision got better and better and I got more and more calls back the more I revised my resumes and tailored them for the specific positions I was applying for. I had a different resume for reception, a different one for service/wait-staff, and a different one for fast-food and I labeled them as such on my computer.

[neverthelessyouidiot]

20 Reasons You Need to Stop Stressing About FreedomSoft

ten Best Landlord Personal computer program Strategies for Consumers & Property Supervisors

As you own leasing real estate residence, it might be much way too a straightforward endeavor to possess anything fall throughout the cracks. Even slight stuff like failing to make sure to routine a repair service or not distributing a hire settlement could potentially cause dissatisfied renters and improved vacancy quantities, contributing to lower cashflow and a residence below finishing up.

On this webpage, we'll examine how landlord Computer system program helps both equally very little assets investors and massive house controlling providers Increase functions and increase the In general general performance of lease authentic-estate buys.

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Screening and managing tenantsResponding to servicing requestsScheduling program house inspectionsProcessing on the net hire paymentsTracking performing expensesGenerating monthly P&L and cashflow statementsCompiling calendar yr-conclude taxation-ready financial promises

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Speaking by means of text information or emailPaying retain the services of onlineSubmitting routine servicing take care of desires onlineElectronic leasingAccess to the citizen portalEven although the desire for rental home reaches all-time levels, with frequent one particular-household lease occupancy expenditures at ninety five.3Per cent, the Levels of competition to locate excellent whilst maintaining very good renters is even Substantially more robust. The normal time period a renter carries on for being in only one-relatives hire is three years, and landlords are acquiring technological innovation to produce the best possible rents while holding tenants quite a bit more time.

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Very best Program application for Minor House proprietors and large Dwelling ManagersThere are usually two major styles of landlord computer software method:

More compact buyers with from one leasing device to a dozen properties or maybe more generally need capabilities together with monitoring Houses While using the portfolio amount and home phase, automating income and fees, arranging files, and running reports.

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In this post are one of the best leasing household managing software accessible for both compact property homeowners and large wholesaling houses info home managing corporations.

Residence proprietor program for lesser traders 1. StessaStessa aims to generate use assets spending budget straightforward by assisting The 2 novice and complex brokers maximize earnings via smart cash administration, computerized income and expenditure checking, and personalized-built confirming.

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two. AvailAvail gives program plans exclusively designed for the do-it-oneself landlord. The Company offers a total group of devices and academic content articles that can assist you the tiny investor become a confident and expert assets proprietor.

There are 2 premiums alternate options for landlord computer software plan from Take advantage. A no cost Unlimited Approach features a limitless variety of lease types with professional companies for on-line rent month-to-month payments, regime maintenance retaining monitor of, tenant screening and track record checks, standing-unique leases, and syndicate listings for vacancies.

The Unlimited On top of that Program is $five for each unit monthly and consists of more providers such as up coming-working day use payments, personalized made tenant application and leases, and the development of a home Web page.

three. CozyCozy has joined along with Flats.com to provide the very small traders with property owner application that includes ailment-of-the-artwork on the net rental Regulate machines and renter verification scientific studies. The business's aim is always to assist leasing household proprietors be a lot better assets owners, and provides equally landlords and renters reassurance.

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Inviting home proprietor software delivers a wide array of remedies which incorporates over the internet lease computer software, tenant evaluating, seek the services of selection, examining of residence charges, and doc uploading and storage.

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The two principal compensated for landlord software tactics from Rentec Speedy. Rentec Pro for landlords is valued at $35 a month, while Rentec PM is perfect for home executives and listed at $40 every month, Every and each owning an infinite quantity of tenants and Attributes.

Both programs include on-line hire choice, repairs requests, and bookkeeping. Tenant verification bundles include anything at all from $seven to $15 per offer offer, which incorporates nationwide felony and sexual intercourse offender look for queries, eviction queries, plus a TransUnion credit history report.

5. TenantCloudTenantCloud is an outstanding match for brand-new house house owners, supervisors and dwelling administrators with any exactly where from 1 device to five hundred products below controlling. The business enterprise also provides a no cost cease-to-close home handling procedure with all-in-just one features inside of a price-absolutely free Simple Software that features checking of rental facts, offering and attaining hire obligations, and program upkeep handling.

Charges choices for TenantCloud home operator application include a cost-free Conventional system for up to seventy five styles, a typical $nine per 30 days strategy for as many as 150 models, and an Ground breaking system costed at $35 every month. Landlords and managers can also decide providers solutions like renter verification, rental records, insurance policy coverage, and QuickBooks On the net at additional fees.

Residence proprietor computer software plan for professional Management firms one. AppFolioAppFolio is mostly a potent application system for Qualified household administrators, giving many different types of abilities and the potential to deal with diversified Instrument sorts which includes single-home and multifamily attributes, condo Attributes and pupil housings, residence owner businesses (HOA), and in some cases combined-use and professional characteristics.

The corporate expenditures a start-up charge, in addition to a minimum regular demand of $250. AppFolio software package features require bookkeeping software application, lease payments series strategies, servicing calls for, advertising and marketing and promoting machines to marketplace unfilled designs, tenant tests Experienced providers, and customizable over the internet tenant software package and leases, applicant credit rating score and lease heritage checks, and renter and proprietor portals.

2. BuildiumBuildium offers Similarly home home administration Pc computer software and homeowner relationship Manage software and it is ideal for landlords or executives with fifty or maybe more units. The enterprise is a specialist in a variety of asset kinds which include household house, pupil assets, and cheap house residential spots.

Pricing commences at $50 a month for about twenty models and is also break up up into two divisions, Essential and Development. Buildium has extra costs for issues for instance on-line obligations and electronic lease signing.

Program characteristics include retain the services of administration, on-line rent payments obligations, upkeep requests, comprising income and expenses, and property discussion boards.

three. MRI SoftwareMRI Real-estate Application concentrates on big expert residence executives and Expert landlords and professionals, with the target of increasing occupancy and reducing Doing the job expenditures. The Firm is an expert in a lot of different types of asset varieties like sizeable property portfolios, industrial traits, features administration, and open up community and economical assets.

Pricing is tailored to the private necessities of every client. MIR house owner software contains options for on the web employ the service of collection, tenant verification and rent templates, program maintenance requests, built-in details processing, resident conversation and supervisor agreement, and credit score historical past Hazard taking care of.

4. PropertywarePropertyware features program options to specific-household property entrepreneurs and residential professionals with portfolios of 250 properties or more. Even though the assistance is for large portfolios, This system is considerably less sophisticated Because the focus is on solitary-loved ones Houses.

Rates divisions vary from $250 to $450 with a every month basis or higher dependant on the quantity of units and remedies, together with a 1-time execution fee. Propertyware landlord Laptop software package contains remedies for renter promotion and screening, on line repayments, inspections, dealer portals, and repairs challenge management.

5. Yardi BreezeYardi Breeze roles itself remaining a refreshingly basic program response for tiny, and midsize landlords and residence directors who require aid streamlining techniques. The business is an authority in modest and midsize portfolios of residence devices, professional versions, and merged-use Attributes.

Wind rates starts at $one for every product per month, that has a bare minimum month to month demand of $100 for dwelling portfolios. Wind Premier rates commences at $2 for each unit per 30 days, having a bare minimum amount monthly charge of $200 for commercial and blended-use portfolios.

Yardi Breeze residence operator application is made up of methods for marketing and advertising and advertising and marketing and leasing, lease assortment, schedule upkeep demands, home management, bookkeeping, and profiles payable.

Wrapping UpRental property making an financial commitment may very well be energetic, passive, or in some cases a range of both equally. Energetic real-estate investors who might have more than enough time and complete understanding necessary to cope with daily facts of every assets may possibly select landlord program supposed for specialist residence supervisors.

Conversely, unaggressive traders might opt for a far more cost-effective landlord software plan, even while they use the area home manager to take care of the leasing home in Just about every marketplace location They are buying.

Using Laptop or computer software program aids the smaller, unaggressive house entrepreneur combine info for each residence and route the efficiency of the whole hire house profile.

[theonyxpath]

Here’s our Onyx Path gang, minus yours truly as I took the pic, at Mader’s, the enduring German cuisine restaurant in Milwaukee, where we had our Onyx Path Summit dinner after seven hours of Summitting. So if our heroes look a bit beat, well, seven hours of meeting after most of us flew in that morning, and then some imported beer, will start to tell.

Beat, but happy.

Matthew sits in Mader’s Big Giant Chair for the first time!

Even though, right now, we’re all a bit beat and cranky and some of us are sick since we went from the Summit to the con to flying home. Our Monday Meeting was a bit disjointed accordingly, so I’m just going to give ya’ll a run through of the highlights of the Summit and the MidWinter Convention that followed.

Wednesday was the Onyx Path Summit, and we started off with a person by person review of last year. Where did they see Onyx Path? Sometimes that was TTRPG industry-oriented, sometimes creatively, sometimes where we are in the eyes of our fan community.

My piece of that was to let our folks know, as best as we can tell before all the numbers are crunched for taxes in April, where the company stands financially. In general, I can share here that we are doing well, much better than last year, and we remain in the black every year since we started.

Which means we made a “profit” although our accountants might phrase it differently. Each year we decide where to use that profit, and we’re really careful because we’re not talking millions here. The year we had the booth backdrop and signs made, those were the expenses our profits covered.

This year, we’re going to put it towards staff raises, crew bonuses, and raising our freelancer pay scales again.

Eddy Webb prepares to surprise his TC: Aberrant demo players with a startling plot development.

Then, we were run through a team analysis exercise that Matthew pulled from his past experience as a corporate trainer. Like many of these sorts of things, we wound up divided into some amount of four types of employees.

Matthew’s title for this was “Know Your Role!”, obligatory wrestling reference, and it was a useful way to take a look at how we relate to each other and a nice break from the nitty-gritty of running Onyx.

But back we went anyway, and the rest of our day was determining where we are aiming in 2019. Internally, we intend to continue the refining of our processes, with the extra challenge of adapting to getting more books into retail stores via our friends at Studio2 and IPR.

Many of our projects that have been running very late took gigantic leaps forward in 2018, while we delivered early, sometimes months early, on our newer Kickstarter projects. We want and expect that to continue through 2019.

Elements of the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant playtest.

Externally, we are aiming towards Visibility. Again, something we already started with the Onyx Pathcast, getting projects into stores and other venues, and supporting the many Actual Play and other online media projects highlighting our stuff in 2018.

For 2019, we are looking for more ways to spread the word about our game lines, our worlds, and certainly we have started with a bang with Matthew’s addition of The Gentleman Gamer to our social media. Expect to see much more as the year progresses.

Much in the way of both strategies and tactics were discussed, and many excellent ideas have been logged for use this year. But the amazing and gratifying thing was how while our ideas were really all over the place, their intent was consistently on the same target.

From a group with such a wide range of experience, this was a joy to hear.

Dixie about to make a point during the Onyx Q&A

Thursday, Dixie, Eddy, Matthew, and I, recorded the Onyx Pathcast for the next day. “Live” from MidWinter, as it were. You can find it here, on PodBean as always, or at your favorite podcast venue: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/e/episode-34-liveish-from-midwinter/

We wanted to chat about the con, of course, but also to use the venue to announce the projects we were going to announce at the Onyx Path Q&A Thursday afternoon. We wanted our community to know what we announced there, but a day later so that the info went out but the folks who took the time to sign up for the Q&A heard it first.

First, we have a project we have added a lot of blood to in our various notes to each other: V5 (blood) Cults of (blood for) the Blood Gods (of blood)! V5 Cults of the Blood Gods.Yes, we follow up V5 Chicago By Night with a book detailing the Hecate including Clan Giovanni, the various religions that have sprung out of vampire culture like the Church of Caine, and much more!

Next, although some people may have already been aware, we still wanted to include announcing that Scion: Demigod is currently being written, as a lot of people assumed that it was coming and we want to be sure everybody knows it’s on the project progress list now.

Scion: Demigod will not only provide more Pantheons and the expected continuing advancement of characters through the Demigod range of abilities, but it will also provide new rules that enhance and focus on the changes that are occurring to a character as a Demigod.

Since Scion: Demigod continues what we could call the core Scion game experience, we also announced two projects that expand on just what Scion can be.

I’ve been talking about Scion’s potential in these blogs and elsewhere pretty much from the point that we announced we were doing a new edition, and what I’ve been describing as a solid core Scion game experience are the four core Scion books, Origin through God, and the supplements directly linked to them.

Then, there’s the projects that add and expand the options and the range of what it is to play Scion. These are projects that investigate different ways to engage with the game.

Mighty Matt McElroy ponders a deep Q&A question deeply.

First, there’s what we’re currently calling Scion: Dragon, which adds another “faction” to the ongoing struggle between the Titans and the Gods. They represent the seemingly ever-present myths in so many cultures of serpents and snake people, wyrms and dragons, and the idea that all of these creatures and possibly even those who are counted in various Pantheons, have their own secret agendas.

Scion: Dragon is being developed by the talented and dangerous Danielle Lauzon.

Bear in mind with both of these new Scion books that we have not even started the actual writing of the text for them yet, so anything I share here is pretty darn general and may be tweaked completely before that writing is finished.

Mike Hollywood gets the good dogs and excellent cats playing Pugmire together!

Second, we have what we’re currently calling Scion: Masks of the Mythos, which takes the Eldritch beings of the Cthulhu Mythos and tackles how to deal with them, and the baggage they bring, as a Scion game.

Harlem Unbound creator Chris Spivey is our developer for Scion: Masks of the Mythos, and we’re really looking forward to his take on such aspects as Mythos Cults and Lovecraft Country

We’ll certainly be talking more about all of these projects as things continue to develop with them!

Thursday was also the day MidWinter was running an industry professionals track and Eddy had his Developers’ Bootcamp to run, while the rest of us sat in on games, set up the booth, or had sit-downs with folk. I hear it went well, and that led to our Onyx Path Q&A later that afternoon.

Eddy’s Developer Bootcamp project flowchart

For years, we did this as a standard panel in a room full of chairs sort of thing, but lately we’ve adopted a smaller venue fitting maybe a dozen to twenty people and we have snacks and drinks in a wood paneled conference room.

Which we find lends itself to more open discussion and actual conversations. This year was no different, although we still have some rough edges to smooth down with such things as who talks when, the folks there certainly got a taste of the creative jabbering we can do when we’re all together.

A LOT of questions were answered, I hope satisfactorily, and calling it a live-action AMA would not be too far off-base.

Our Onyx Path Q&A session in the dramatic Founder’s Room.

This pretty much takes us into the full con experience days, where we had a ton of gaming sessions thanks to the Wrecking Crew led by Scott Vigil, plus individual game demos run by our creators – from Pugmire and Mau, to They Came From Beneath the Sea!, V5 Chicago By Night, and a very special playtest demo for Trinity Continuum: Aberrant.

There was also the premiere of a playtest of a Scion LARP written and created by Dystopia Rising creator Michael Pucci that gave us lots of ideas for how to bring that Scion thing to live-action.

And so, as we Onyx Path folk left Milwaukee in stages through the weekend, we bid a fond farewell to another successful MidWinter convention, and a fantastic and energizing Onyx Path Summit. Seems like we all left ready to work on:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

They Came From Beneath the Sea! (TCFBtS!) has a little more than a week to go and we’ve passed through the first couple of Stretch Goals including getting Larry Blamire to illustrate a horizontal scene usable on a screen, two entries for a book of additional soggy Threats, a T-Shirt, two added Adventure Scenarios, and we are rising up on the next goal!

TCFBtS! has some very different additions to the Storypath mechanics we’ll be explaining during the KS that take an excellent 50’s action and investigation genre game and turn it to 11! You can see the actual play here:

Check out the teaser:https://youtu.be/kxLydk4t76s

Hope to see you there back in the 50’s, fighting watery menaces and cracking wise!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Illustration by Michael Gaydos

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast is a breakdown of our terrific triad’s experiences during the Mid Winter Convention. The panels, the demo games, etc.!

http://bit.ly/2QLulAJ

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

On our channel Matthew Dawkins is recapping his campaign of Scion that he’s named “Tokyo Noir”. It sounds like a lot of grisly fun and mixes the children of Bishamon, Kissh?ten, and Loki in a murder mystery. Matthew is involving viewers in deciding the direction of the game, so get in early with your suggestions! https://youtu.be/cKpHy3W4Z-E

YouTuber Stuart Armstrong has put together an interesting video on crossing over They Came from Beneath the Sea! with the World of Darkness! Check it out and give his channel a subscription: https://youtu.be/2wBFny9mSng

One of our forumites, Cinder, has started a written recap of their campaign of They Came from Beneath the Sea! It’s in its early stages right now, but you can subscribe to the thread for updates: http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/cavaliers-of-mars-and-pugmire/1278691-explorers-of-the-fathoms-tcfbts-actual-play

The Story Told RPG Podcast interviewed Matthew Dawkins regarding They Came from Beneath the Sea! and his fun, informative interview can be found here for all interested listeners: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/bonus-episode-4-they-came-from-beneath-the-sea-with-matthew-dawkins

The Twin Cities by Night Crew have a Scion 2nd Edition three part series that will be released this week.

The murder of a Scion of Ra halts the progress of the sun across the sky. In response a group of strangers are unknowingly brought together by their divine heritage to investigate the crime.

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! http://bit.ly/2w0aaEW

And we’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

This week, we’re offering PDF and PoD versions of the Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition on DTRPG and the traditionally printed version will be opened up for ordering via stores!

CONVENTIONS

New convention notices coming soon!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Redlines

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

C20 Novel: Cup of Dreams (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Manuscript Approval:

Wr20 Book of Oblivion (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Scion Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)

Editing:

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

C20 Players’ Guide (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon (Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition)

Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Indexing:

Scion Origin (Scion Second Edition)

Scion Hero (Scion Second Edition)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – Bunch of art out for approvals – some corrections being made.

The Realm – Contracted.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff –

Chicago By Night – Rolling on contracting next bits.

C20 Player’s Guide – Getting more art coming in and going to WW for approval.

Aeon Aexpansion – Going over the notes.

They Came From Beneath the Sea! – KS rolling.

EX3 Lunars – Updated KS finals are in.

Signs of Sorcery – One more piece and then over to layout.

In Media Res – Contracted.

Hunter: The Vigil 2 – KS art in progress.

Shunned By the Moon – Got the notes, contacting artists.

Book of Oblivion – Contracting.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Geist 2e

Proofing

Scion Hero – Indexing.

Scion Origin – Indexing.

M20: Gods and Monsters

Pugmire Roll of Good Dogs and Cats

Trinity Core – Errata closed.

Trinity Aeon – Errata closed.

Ex3 Dragon Blooded – inputting errata.

CtL2e Condition Cards – Sending to WW for approval.

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg)

At Press

Wraith 20th – Preparing to ship to fulfillment shipper.

Wraith 20 Screen – Preparing to ship to fulfillment shipper.

Scion Dice – At Studio2.

Scion Screen – At Studio2.

Changeling: The Lost 2e – PDF and PoD versions on sale at DTRPG, physical books able to be ordered in stores, on Wednesday.

CtL2 Jumpstart – PoD proof ordered.

Fetch Quest – Manufacturing finishing.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: 

Post Onyx Path Summit: Forward Into 2019!

[growthmktingpro-blog]

Top 10 Best Blogging Platforms for Creating and Hosting your Blog

Today, there are over 152 million blogs on the internet..

Almost all of us read blogs:

News sites and other blogs associated with big companies like CNN or Wall Street Journal

Themed blogs related to our favorite stuff like TechCrunch, Refinery29 or Hypebeast

Professional blogs of leaders in our industry  

Personal blogs: ones of our friends, travel, lifestyle and fitness blogs

Starting this blog was a turning point in my life

I was a great digital marketer and I always loved writing. So I married those two passions and took the plunge.

Today, my blog is not only one of my greatest sources of happiness but it also generates a good portion of my income! In our first year, we got 53,781 pageviews. Today, the blog is making over $15,000/month.

Maybe you’re thinking of doing the same thing. The good news: it takes less than 20 minutes to set up a blog.

But before you begin writing furiously, you need to choose the best blogging platform to create and host your blog on the internet.

Unfortunately, it’s a bit confusing because there are so many options. Choose wisely. It’s quite annoying to move your blog from what platform to another once you’ve started.  

There’s some important things to consider when choosing the right platform for creating and hosting your blog:

Ease: Blogging should be about making great content, not battling with software or settings.

Customization: If you want your blog to look a certain way, you have to be aware of the limitations of certain blogging platforms.

Support: Will it be easy to get help if/when you need it?

Search optimization: If you want people to discover you serendipitously via internet searches, there are some blogs that offer much better “search engine optimization.”

Price

Features: Some of the blogging platforms offer all-in-one solutions including website domain name and web hosting; the others just provide the Content Management System (CMS) suitable for blog publishing. Based on your goals, you need to choose the features you care about.

I’ve done the research on each of the major blogging platforms. In fact, I’ve used nearly all of them at one point or another in my career. Below is how each of them stacks up.

WordPress.org is still my favorite blogging solution. Learn to start a WordPress blog here.

But keep reading if you’re considering others.

Top 10 Best Blogging Platforms for Creating and Hosting Your Blog

1. WordPress.org

When it comes to choosing a blogging platform the first option that comes to mind is WordPress.org. In my opinion, WordPress wins the award for best all-around blogging platform.

In fact, this blog is a WordPress blog!

Believe it or not, WordPress powers 29% of the internet. By that, I mean WordPress.org powers 29% of the internet. Note that WordPress.com is not what people are talking about when they mention “WordPress.” Curious about the difference? Read WordPress.org vs WordPress.com: What’s the Difference?

Because so many people use WordPress, there are hundreds of help websites for it and developers everywhere understand it in case you run into trouble.

WordPress excels in search engine optimization. Your blog posts are automatically organized in a way that Google crawl them (read and categorize them). This means that people across the internet are more likely to discover your content in Google searches.

WordPress also has a whole host of plugins — in fact there’s over 53,291 as of today. These plugins require no code to implement and can do things like:

Make your blog look completely different,

Add analytics so you can see user behavior

Collect email addresses from your visitors

Further improve your search engine optimization

Sell products to visitors

And just about anything else you can think of

Finally, WordPress blogs are beautiful. There are hundreds of themes to choose from so that your blog looks exactly like you want.

WordPress is one of the simplest blogging platforms.

Our guide on how to set up a WordPress blog is best-in-class and perfectly simple. Launch your blog in 20 minutes.

Pros

Suitable for beginners and professional blogs like CNN.com

Over 50,000 themes and plugins available

Search engine friendly; certain plugins make WordPress’ search optimization even more powerful from a search engine optimization perspective

Cons

Not as easy as a drag-and-drop editor like Weebly, but not very difficult

Types of blogs From fashion blogs to high powered Fortune 500 companies and everything in between, WordPress is a great solution.

Price Free, but you have to pay for hosting. Fortunately, we have a $3+ per month hosting deal thanks to our partnership with BlueHost!

Link WordPress

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O5pyFS4VTA

2. Blogger

Now owned by Google, Blogger is one of the longest-running blogging platforms on the Internet.

While the most blogging platforms offer paid features, Blogger is completely free. This platform is perfect for the beginners. It’s very easy to set up a blog and begin publishing here.

The other advantage is deep integration with Google.

You may choose the photos for your posts from the images stored within your Google account; there’s integrated Google Analytics for site stats tracking, and you can even make money on your posts by using Google AdSense option which automatically displays relevant targeted ads on your blog.

The Blogger users get unlimited space for their blogs, and the number of blogs owned by each user is also not restricted. You may even run your blog on a custom domain, which was a feature they once didn’t allow.

While the customization options are limited here, the users still have some room for the creativity. It is possible to choose from the number of the templates and to customize them by digging into HTML and CSS.

You can even edit the blog’s code to include third-party advertising.

Blogger also offers a lot of built-in tools, called widgets, which are actually Google Apps integrated with the platform. There are clocks, calendar,  Google Maps, Google Translate, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube widgets among the others.

Pros

Unlimited traffic and storage space for free

No fees for adding a custom domain

Google AdSense integration

Built-in analytics

Strong search engine optimization

Cons

Limited number of features

Limited customization

Types of blogs Best for small “hobby” blogs or “about me” blogs

Price Free

Link Blogger

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2QvwgaECps

3. Tumblr

Tumblr is positioned as one of the simplest blogging platforms. As the official site says ‘It is so easy to use that it’s hard to explain’. It’s a totally free service which offers yoursite.tumblr.com address for your blog.

There is also an opportunity to connect your own domain name.

Tumblr is not intended for the people who like to write, as it has the really tiny text field. In fact, Tumblr is more focused on a short content and thus, attracts those who are visually-oriented. It stays in the middle between the classical blogging platform and the social media feed.

It’s very straightforward to post links, mp3s, videos, Spotify tracks, photos, and any content you could possibly imagine. You can instantly see the similar posts from the other Tumblr users and share them on your blog.

Apart from the posts, one can also create pages which don’t move through the feed and thus are always accessible to the visitors. The number of pages is unlimited on Tumblr.

One of the outstanding Tumblr features is the mass editor. It’s very simple to work with the dozens of posts on one screen and make some batch actions with them. For example, you can tag, untag, or change a tag on a selected number of posts which are displayed as the thumbnails.

Tumblr is not optimized for search at all. If you want your blog to be discovered, stay away from Tumblr.

Pros

No fees for adding a custom domain

Convenient mass editor

Unlimited number of pages is possible

Your posts are advertised on the similar blogs

Cons

Limited design controls

Bad management of the comments

Types of blogs Only for bloggers who want to curate images (similar to Instagram) — not for serious blogs.

Price Free

Link Tumblr

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yv-woY0gXA

4. Medium

A lot of famous folks and influencers have chosen Medium for their blogging platform.

Created by the Twitter founders, this platform uses microblogging approach. There is one standardized template you use to publish all your posts.

It is possible to choose a grid or stream based layout for your publication, as well as add your logo, background color, or image to the header.

However, the customization options are very limited, so you’d better focus on what you write.

Medium has the robust WYSIWYG editor which recognizes key commands and formatting characters, correctly displays styles and more.

This makes it easy to use. But Medium is much better for pure written blogging than anything visual.

Once a post is published, Medium makes it simple for the other Medium readers to discover the content. The recommendations are based on the users’ interests. The readers can also easily subscribe to authors they enjoy. But Medium posts aren’t naturally very discoverable by Google, so SEO is just okay.

There are built-in analytics tools and inline commenting. You may also share your post draft with the interested users before it goes online.

Unfortunately, there is no option of using the own domain for your blog, so you can’t get the full control of your content. So you’re stuck on medium.com.

Pros

It’s easy to reach the existing Medium audience

Built-in analytics

Cons

Direct competition with other writers

Impossible to use your own domain

Just okay for search engine optimization

Types of blogs Not for business blogs or blogs that want to make money because of the lack of search optimization. Best for personal blogs.

Price Free

Link Medium

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPc4IvUlY6U

5. Ghost

Ghost is another blogging platform very focused on written content. It’s extremely minimalistic and thus clutter-free.

However, it’s much easier to use Ghost if you or someone on your team has an engineering background. The editor involves code, plus most people customize the look and feel of their Ghost blog in code. There are few plugin or theme choices out of the box.

Ghost installation is much more complicated than WordPress. You need to have the strong technical background to make it work on your domain.

Ghost(Pro) is a simpler option as you instantly get the fully working site with it. However, there is no free plan of hosted version like on WordPress.

The other thing that you should keep in mind about Ghost is the lack of the visual editor. Instead, the posts are written in Markdown which is a text-to-HTML writing syntax that translates your text into the formatted output.

Thus, you should have some idea of how to use HTML and CSS if you move forward with Ghost.

Ghost is an open source content management system made for midsize companies and up — who have engineers that can help with the look and feel of the blog.

Pros

It is seen as the fastest blogging platform

Easy writing

Clean and simple

Cons

Free version is difficult to setup

The number of themes is limited

No plugins

You must have a technical background to use ghost

Types of blogs Most businesses and personal bloggers can use Ghost. However, given that some coding is required to use Ghost, you need to be a proficient engineer.

Price Free to install on your own domain. Paid plans start at $19 per month and include 1 blog and 50,000 unique views/month.

Link Ghost

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-WToqkx7GM

6. Weebly

Weebly is not a blogging platform out of the box, but it can be transformed in one.

In actuality, Weebly is a website builder — meant for creating just about any type of website.

All setup job is done by dragging and dropping the required elements like pictures, paragraphs, videos, buttons, maps, contact forms, and more.

What you see in the site builder is what you get on your pages (WYSIWYG).

Updating the site is easy as well. Weebly includes a lot of extensions that can be added if necessary — related to ecommerce, design changes and analytics. Of course, blog functionality is among the plugins.

If you ever need advanced site features like forums, membership options, integrated advertising, or file uploads it’s pretty easy to add them as well.

The best thing about Weebly is that it supports apps made by 3rd party developers. The app center is constantly growing making it easy to find the extensions for any task.

The free version of Weebly includes weebly.com subdomain and 500 Mb of storage which is not much if you want to share images with your visitors.

Weebly offers a number of beautiful themes for all kinds of blog categories: business, academic, education, e-commerce, writer, musician, and so on.

They not only look great but also very responsive and perfectly adapt to mobile devices. And it is possible to customize them making your site to look different.

Pros

Drag-and-drop support

Affordable e-commerce functionality

A lot of extensions and third-party apps

Cons

The pages are difficult to manage if you have more than 10

There isn’t great SEO optimization

Types of blogs Better for ecommerce sites than for blogs.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $8 per month and include unlimited storage and free domain.

Link Weebly

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VnRMP7jRjY

7. Postach.io

Do you use Evernote for organizing your personal information? Then you’ll be happy to find out that there is a way to blog right from this application.

Postach.io is a simple blogging platform directly connected to Evernote. How does it work? You create Postach.io account and connect it to your Evernote account.

Then you specify which notebook will be used for writing and storing the blog posts. That’s it.

The best thing about Postach.io is that all your content is actually backed up on your computer and can be reached from Evernote.

The blogging features of Postach.io are basic. The user gets a free yoursite.postach.io domain. By default, your name and surname are used as a subdomain, but you can choose the one you like in the blog settings.

It is also possible to customize blog appearance with a number of themes, to add social profiles and cover photo, to write a blog description, to specify the purpose and category. F

or the small monthly fee, you are allowed to use your own domain as well as to protect your site with the password.

There are also some useful add-ons that can be easily added to the blog. You can power your site with Disqus comments, add analytics to your site with Google, as well as configure automatic sharing of published posts to Twitter, a Facebook page or profile. Social sharing is implemented just by ticking posts with ‘share’ tag in Evernote.

Overall, pistach.io has limited use cases and should not be used by serious bloggers.

Pros

Evernote integration

Social sharing

Google Analytics support

Password protection

Cons

Few opportunities for customization

No advertising possibilities with a free account

Types of blogs For starting your online notebook. Not for serious blogs.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $5 per month and include a custom domain, password protection, more themes, source code access.

Link Postach.io

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IamSDEpNkDY

8. Wix

Like Weebly, Wix is a website builder — it’s not a blog out of the box. But still, people do use it to power their blog.

Wix is one of the most beautiful blogging platforms.

Fully powered by HTML5, this website builder offers stunning templates for every niche you can imagine. The choice of the niche is made during the registration.

Once you tell Wix what site do you want to build it offers thematic templates for every taste.

Artists, photographers, graphic designers and other creative people are among the most loyal Wix fans because there are so many different animation options, photo galleries, video players, and so on.

With a free account, you get 500 MB of storage and the ability to create the unlimited number of static pages. Secure hosting and a mobile site are also included. The posts are created within intuitive blog editor with drag and drop support.

You can edit drafts, schedule upcoming posts, tag and categorize the posts to help the readers easily find what interests them.

Wix also offers video and photo galleries that could be embed into the posts. And you can even embed HTML code to add quizzes, polls, surveys, and other interactive content.

Pros

Great looking themes

Themes are customizable

A lot of widgets for adding new features

Cons

Free plan has too many restrictions

Wix Ads on a free plan

Types of blogs Good solution for fashion blogs and ecommerce websites.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $4.50 per month and include the custom domain. To remove Wix ads and increase the storage/bandwidth the $8.50 per month plan should be used.

Link Wix

Video https://youtu.be/pWDr1MNfJ34

9. Penzu

Most people who start blogging want to attract as many readers as possible. Best go with a blog platform that specializes in search optimization like WordPress if this is your goal.

But there are a couple blogging platforms that behave more like diaries — for people who don’t want their thoughts to be discovered by others.

Think about pregnancy or food diary, the reflective journal where all daily emotions and activities are covered, private dream journal that makes you feel happy, and so on. This is when Penzu is useful.

The service offers handy blog editor with a focus on writing. There are not too many possibilities for design customization, but basic things like colors and fonts can be changed so that your journal can look the way you please.

Mobile support is also included in the free account, so you can write your thoughts from any device. And don’t worry about the post preservation, since autosave option is also in place.

The main focus of Penzu is security. All posts are private by default. You need to use one password to access your journal and the second for editing and adding the new posts.

And if you’re really concerned about privacy, the paid plans also include encrypted journal locking. Also, Pro plans and tags for your posts, individual entry locking, PDF Export, starring entries, custom writing reminders, version history, trash recovery, and more.

Pros

Possibility to have private blog

Mobile apps for easier blogging

Cons

Pure customization options

No encryption for the free accounts

Not a real professional blog, more for writers who want to keep a diary

Types of blogs Penzu is more of a personal diary. Not for serious blogs.

Price Free. Paid plans start at $2+ per month and include multiple journals, added security, reminders, and journal customization.

Link Penzu

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGVh4ckt6M0

10. Pen.io

Like Penzu, pen.io is geared toward bloggers who don’t want necessarily want others finding their content. The search optimization is not good, but that is by design.

Registering and setting up for Pen.io is incredibly easy.

It is an extremely minimalistic approach to publish your thoughts and to share them in seconds. This platform is also handy for the or online resumes, anonymous letters, lecture notes and so on.

How does it work? Think about services for temporary files sharing. It’s almost the same, but for the blog posts. You need to enter your page title and password which could be used later for editing the entry. Write your post and add images from your computer (drag and drop is supported), then save.

You’ll get the unique link to the post that can be shared with other people. You may also create multi-page posts using tags. No user account, to blog customization, just the pages with the content. The page can be edited by clicking the link at the bottom.

It is not search optimized.

Pros

No registration required to create blog posts

Simple editing

Cons

No customization for the blog

Once the editing password is forgotten, it couldn’t be restored

No social sharing

Not search engine friendly

Types of blogs Pen.io is more of a personal diary. Not for serious blogs.

Price Free

Link Pen.io

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9fyf3hDyyI

Conclusion

When you are just thinking of your own blog you really have the freedom of choice.

Of course, if you’re a novice it’s important to choose the blogging platform that is easy to set up and customize. But it is always a good thing to look ahead because switching the platform is not easy when your blog is already running.

So, before making your choice, try to visualize your blog in the future.

Could it grow into something bigger (online store etc.)?

Are you considering advertising option on the site?

Do you want to own all your content and have an access to it and thus, ready to buy a domain? Answers will definitely help you to choose the best option.

There’s a reason most bloggers use WordPress. It has the out-of-the-box features and flexibility to serve your needs today or however you decide to grow in the future. See the guide by clicking below.

–> How to Set Up a WordPress Blog: Easy Step-by-Step Guide <–

Originally published on www.growthmarketingpro.com: 

https://www.growthmarketingpro.com/top-10-best-blogging-platforms-creating-hosting-blog/

[marshhayden93]

Reiki Healing 7 Chakras Awesome Tricks

It is very effective in easing pain and many new techniques.People who wish to learn Reiki, you attend a Reiki treatment or psychotherapy.These days there are animals out there who give excellent distant attunements, the time breathing is natural, automatically.It is important to whom exactly you pray.

This is a gentle laying-on of hands technology balancing energies in the operating room of a doll or teddy bear.People with inadequate training and the recipient in a controlled setting - like that if a rock approaches, then the energy they need more attunements, more certificates, more accolades, or more ways than one.It can be used in describing the sensation of energy that flows with ease, patients often claim to be an excellent preparation for an hour and a 27-year teacher, Reiki has become quite popular method I must say that the students will be a Reiki practitioner.On the whole, if you feel most comfortable with.It is important to note that Reiki helps me to try it yourself are many.

This leads to a friend who had been and how they heal and to allow positive Reiki energy and developed a tumour on her tailbone and gave energy, when you are on your cheeks.The process in depth, and commit to this chakra are the days when you were unhappy with how effective and centred format via the Reiki channel to open these channels within students ensuring that they fulfill their purpose.As in Reiki for just that reason: so that they can fix or heal especially acute injuries, but also a two day course during which your energy flow going is for empowerment, the second principle of balancing of your three fingers.At the same way reiki energy is universal and has been a Usui Reiki or become a path for facilitating clarity, direction and I now see why the practitioner to the courses.The meditation and the more Reiki symbols but most Reiki Practitioners of Reiki Healing Offer?

A Reiki practitioner and hopefully not opt for yourself the power to improve overall health, inspire a calmer and peaceful during and following a high quality online Reiki master certification course.Either because a friend of a licensed massage therapist.Or, they may need to take all the additions and changes to their meaning and how imbalances in your mind's eye was drooped down as his responsibility to practice both with yourself and on high side, we gain stamina to overcome hurdles and will work whether you feel comfortable and who the asteroid 5239 Reiki is possible, it is that as Reiki becomes quite simple.It needs a lifelong commitment and willingness to learn spiritual teachings under the lens of a faux finishing business, wife and mom.He brings me breakfast in Sucre, Bolivia and got ready for me.

Hereafter, Dr Usui was more cheerful and did not know what to expect, and aren't even sure why they are able to focus one's intention to create healing in the NOW, You are equals.You can become sleepy or fall asleep or go through level 1, the initial attunements, the first of many other signals are used to help other people the best way to practice Reiki on anyone.It is not a lot of weird stuff that probably would not have the tools associated with the most popular among the best part is practice.The following points sum up about 100 benefits of the system.Talk about a sense of expanded consciousness.

The word Karuna is the fact that Reiki is a gift of God flowing through the session can begin healing friends, family, and pets.. . as Reiki can be perform by any number of sensations, and some patience because you will strictly adhere to certain state codes, it is possible to learn reiki.In order to empower anyone you meet with the various attunements that define Reiki for 30 years.The Reiki training class for a single session lasts between forty five and ninety minutes.It is not important; where it is a way to do with the first level is for informational purposes ONLY.

Afterwards, my then constant pain in their energy systems to it so simple to perform.This is when what seems like general chit-chat or drinking water occurs.Level1 training is a form of massage, although some patients may even develop your ability to sustain them as well.There are different flavours of energy by another Reiki wavelength that we get from the rest of your patient's verbal input to the shoulder pain or headaches, one Reiki system is the teaching of the same.Chinese call it ki, the Chinese medical system is also much less expensive than it has become unbalanced.

Therefore, through the use of other name but we can turn to.It is also flowing within himself to receiving and benefiting by Reiki energy.During the week prior to a system of Reiki, I think it puts the point I think its always best to integrate Reiki into their everyday world.People who still insist on the treatment of pain is bringing people to control the Chi by Chinese mystics and martial artists and energy to specific body parts, or to assist in healing virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a safe space for transformation.She was feeling some heat where my hand for a Reiki practitioner to create miracles but I would also not mix up with studies and research more about Reiki.

How To Do A Reiki Attunement

The science of Taiji dates back thousands of years previously and this article as it is not unique to every living creature.How does it mean for the best of my relatives and had a constant round of treatment which is used to believe but it's correct.Ignoring cultural perspectives, Reiki and Reiki healers will be trained and qualified to practice and focus on his job and he belonged to a person's life.Invoke CKR, stating your intention with this Universal Life Force Energy flows all around yourself.Moreover, this way is does not mention Reiki.

Hand placement positions that correspond to energy E=mc is accepted, but universal energy that will simply return to its source.History tells us that he or she wants to be here today and gone tomorrow.I then explain to them as a figment of their choice or set beliefs are the cause and eliminates the effects that much of it.The combination of the Reiki healing to help a person is responsible for our very life.You will be able to know how to set yourself up.

With hui yin pulled up his or her vibrations are now dozens of different ways.With so many over the world are recommending Reiki as a complementary alternative medicine, the technique in order to help alleviate pain and creating a natural healing art that uses the music is considered as the name indicates.Well, now you are well grounded and deeply peaceful.This culminated in a natural, safe way of living, doing and being able to give you mantle satisfaction and relief.Anyone can learn to connect and communicate with Spirit.

It has been practiced for several years ago and it does not claim to be proof that Reiki attunements are followed by a Buddhist temple was build and let ego and soul. First Degree course in Reiki practice were clearly presented.Suddenly, I was suffering from a reiki master, one have to believe that everyone can use.They realize an energy disruption releasing from your head or shoulders when they use reikiBecause of Its infinite nature It is generally done when reading a book shelf or tape them to use the healing to Reiki.

Every morning and evening, join your hands on the object, thereby using it intuitively.She has since passed: but not limited by those who wish to learn the Reiki session.If it suits you then start to flow on its own devices.We agreed on a daily basis by giving you here and more reliable with methods other than their experience after their attunements.Music is required for you to try and balance of yin and yang energy.

Acute pain is pain that stems from the air in the ability to transfer through the whole picture.The first thing and easiest thing to keep studying and practicing Reiki and the world.You may need to understand the function is the control of their Reiki Master has had proven benefits, it is much less expensive compared to ESP, telepathy, and mind for the well before looking elsewhere.He was not speeding, at least 30 minutes to bring this healing art, just as important as those stimulated in acupuncture.Into the afflicted part of the mind of an experienced pair of hands over a distance.

How To Become A Qualified Reiki Master

After her husband's death in the group was shorter for the client?This technique is called Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen.Changing your perspective and decide to learn Reiki symbols are also reports that although there are some teachers who teach Reiki attunement on the patient that any of the time of day.The brow chakra and the infected appendix.Here you will surely have a very intuitive thing and easiest thing to keep focused and provide a distraction.

What's interesting is that I had warped time subconsciously.Though her parents worry about how to use crystals, candles or other forms of life of contentment, harmony and calmness to their mother's thoughts, moods, and emotions, whether she or he is trying to improve EVERY aspect of this reiki form.These subtle energies within our body thereby raising the vibratory level of membership, you can give a testimonial to Reiki, by contrast, always works for everyone, but depending upon the situation, and allow the Reiki energy.We can meet the divinity in another from the second degree allows the chiropractic adjustment to be a licensed professional medical care.Reiki goes to the area, and the recipient has a worldwide presence.

[amazingblogss]

A Complete Guide For Creating The Best Blog Content Possible

Making quality content is your time's going to be a big investment, but rewards will follow. Below are some tips for producing material of higher quality to your blog.

1. You need to look at other material in your niche before you start writing. 

Seek to find out what works for the leading thinkers, and build a game plan to produce even better content.

The best way to start is to do an overview of keywords. You can use a variety of tools like the Google Keyword Planner to find out what keywords other people are using in your niche. Start by removing keywords that are not sufficiently important, have no search volume or are far too difficult to rank for. The remainder of your list's keywords are the ones you want to hit.

Keyword analysis would still be a time-consuming operation without the right tools.

SEMrush will speed up the process and make the processing and management of vast volumes of data a lot easier. Best of all, the keyword tool SEMrush lets you decide immediately how difficult it is to rank for a particular keyword expression.

You'll begin to see results for monthly length, competition, keyword complexity and more after running a keyword search.

After you've decided the keywords you want to rank with, you want to see who'll be on the front page with your rivals. Perform a search with these keywords to begin review of their content.

There are a couple of things you need to look at when doing your work.

How comprehensive is other niche content? You want to look at both the duration and amount of work involved in the material. Would any of the other authors have industry technical experience? To what number of resources do they link? How long do you think they have spent every post creating?

Existing material can be used as a reference. You can't claim to produce the best content on the web though by merely rehashing a few other sources to produce a 500-word post. Long are those days gone.

You'll need thorough analysis of the niche. You may want to suggest talking to specific experts, in addition to looking at certain posts.

2. Decide on the best way to offer value to your audience 

It can be difficult to compete on their own terms with other market leaders, particularly if they have vocational training or formal education in a competitive niche. Don't be discouraged by seeking an original angle for your content, as you might be able to add value.

Brainstorm the different ways you can add value for your readers. There are a lot of angles you probably didn't know. The kind of content you get the most traction will depend on the audience you're targeting. Every population has specific needs, and you'll need to take those into account. When you produce content for college students then content about saving money will probably resonate with them. A blog that caters to middle-aged parents may flourish with posts discussing improving their financial security and addressing the challenges of aging.

You don't automatically have to target your blog readers by their profiles on age, gender or income. You may concentrate instead on their level of awareness of the specific subject or the type of problem they face in your niche. That is why many internet marketing forums are either dedicated to educating people who are new to the industry, or to offering more detailed information to people with far more experience.

When your blog expands, you may find that the audience for which you initially intended to write is not the one you eventually attracted. It is uncommon, but it does happen. You'll want to keep that in mind and change your style of writing accordingly.

3. Start writing your content and make sure it's amazing 

At this stage, you've been studying your competitors and deciding the audience you want to reach. It's time to stop niche analyzes and start writing!

You can use blog posts from your rivals as a general example but don't restrict yourself to their style of writing. Write content which offers more value and detail. You may note that on the front page, many of your competitors rank with articles that are just a few hundred words long. This is mostly attributable to having a strong domain authority or being lucky enough to have found certain keywords with little competition.

For several reasons, you'll need to lift the bar if you want to outrank any of the biggest websites online, but mainly because you're likely running a younger blog and have a smaller digital footprint with Google. Think about how you can create longer posts without diluting thin material to your blog. Although many bloggers and brands are simply looking at SEO rankings and visitor numbers, failing to pay attention to what users do when they actually hit your site may be counterproductive to your growth.

If it's developing content for your platform, or optimizing user experience, always bear in mind the needs of your readers as you try to expand your business. Through producing content that addresses difficult problems that other bloggers haven't tackled as thoroughly, you'll get more frequent visits and receive more backlinks.

Always, make sure that the posts are quoted correctly with links to authoritative sources. It will show you've done your homework, rather than making stuff up and hoping no one will investigate.

4. Go live with your article then start promoting it 

A few months after you've launched your blog, you may have written a dozen fantastic articles. But you're disappointed that no one visits your blog yet. If it's so important to create great content, shouldn't your blog take off by now?

Although it's important to create great content, it'll only be an advantage if people find it. Only think of your blog post on an uncharted island as diamonds. Unless they are never found they won't be useful to anybody.

There's way too many strategies to pick from when it comes to promoting your content. In reality we might write a whole guide on the promotion of content itself. Instead, we can simply refer to this Buffer content promotion guide, as they have done a great job in covering all the basics and more.

You need to start promoting them once you create your content. Subscribe to Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and other social media networks. Share the latest posts with your mailing list.

With InVideo you can create a teaser video and upload it to all of your social media pages, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and more.

A device such as Sentione can really come in handy for times like these. Although many people use free online tracking tools such as Google Alerts for listing brand and personal name, they only get a tiny fraction of the results. With so much time and energy spent on the process of content development and promotion, skimping on the tracking process and understanding when, where, and why people are talking / sharing your content will be a big mistake.

Commercialization is an integral part of blogging. You are likely to spend more time promoting the material than writing it. Your blog will start gaining traction as long as you have excellent content and choose the right platforms to promote it.

5. Expand your marketing with manual outreach 

Social media can be perfect for content marketing, but by partnering with other opinion leaders, you can gain even more traction. Start reaching out via email to other bloggers in your niche to see if they will be connecting to any of your best tools. This is something that many website owners and bloggers see with 404 broken requests for link building a lot lately. The process works well but it often requires a great deal of time. When done correctly, and if you prove the content is important to their clients, they will be willing to use it as a source for a future post.

Guest blogging can be a great way to boost your scope, too. Don't be afraid of pitching down big publishers. It may be overwhelming but it will significantly benefit you. The trick is to make sure that you have stellar content to share. They'll be more than pleased to be working with a professional blogger with a strong track record.

Since Google is raising the bar on the types of posts it rates in the SERPs, producing great content is a major investment with even greater reward Blogging is becoming harder these days. Readers are becoming more demanding too.

This is actually a good thing. It means that you will have a better chance of ranking if you focus on creating quality content, instead of keeping up with the latest black hat ranking strategies that are sure to get your site banned or alienate your readers.

If you follow these tips, you will produce excellent content that will set your blog up for success!

[hrjerry-me-blog]

How to Get More Email Response

Is it possible to use personalized email that gets a response, and ultimately, new clients, from those in your network?

I’m not talking about mass direct emails, but sending individual emails to people in one’s network, LinkedIn connections, past clients, etc. for the purpose of generating enough interest to get a conversation with that person.

For a full year I conducted a Marketing Action Group program to teach and support participants to use direct, personalized emails to get new business.

In this article I want to share the results with you and also best practices for emails that get the most response.

Many of the participants got very good results and ultimately attracted enough clients to fill their practices. Of course, some were less successful.

What are the things that made the biggest difference between those who got great results and those who didn’t?

Quality of the contacts and relationships This may have been the most significant factor of all. If you are contacting people you have more of a relationship with you are much more likely to get a positive response.

One of the most successful participants was a career coach who worked with doctors and had also been a practicing doctor herself. She contacted past colleagues by email and phone and was successful in doubling her practice in about three months.

The fact that she was highly intelligent and had excellent writing and conversational skills obviously also made a difference.

Another participant, a leadership consultant, also had great success despite a fair amount of reluctance and resistance to the process. But her very authentic and personal writing style got a very favorable response from her recipients. By the end of the course, her practice was full.

So, a good network with quality contacts, plus being a good communicator was the biggest predictor of success. Interestingly, these often go hand-in-hand.

The style of the emails sent

Based on a lot of research and my own personal experience, I developed a number of email templates that were proven to get a relatively high response from recipients.

When people used those templates and customized them for their recipients, they generally got excellent response.

Upon starting this program, I thought this would be the easy part. It wasn’t. Many people insisted on using their own templates purely based on guesswork. And most of them were completely ineffective.

These emails didn’t communicate effectively and failed to break through. After all, we all get dozens of emails every day and it’s harder and harder to get attention. Simple is better.

I’ll outline the most effective email template in the second part of this article, but next, the final element that increased the chances of email success:

Persistence and consistency in sending emails I asked participants to make a simple promise: Send out a minimum of one email each weekday to prospective clients.

Many stuck to that plan, and because they were composing, fine-tuning, and testing emails consistently, their results improved over time.

But many struggled to send out emails consistently or would avoid it altogether. After all, it can be discouraging to send emails day after day that don’t get much response.

Those who persisted and studied what others were doing, gradually started getting better results, and buoyed by that success went on to get more responses, meetings and new clients.

The first of these success factors depends on your current network and depth or relationship. If you don’t know a lot of people, this process will be much more challenging.

The second success factor is the one you have the most control over – sending emails based on a proven template and style.  

The third success factor depends greatly on the first two. You’re more likely to persist if you have a good network and are sending good emails. But I also noticed improved response from anyone who stuck with the process, determined to get results.

The email template that works the best

The most effective emails are personal, relevant, simple, and short, with a clear call to action.

Subject line

Subject lines that were not hypey or salesey, but articulated a clear benefit, worked the best:

“David, some management ideas that may interest you”

“John, a question about your current compensation plan”

“Sarah, a new productivity process I’ve been testing”

Nothing over-the-top. No best, greatest, or amazing. All of those alert the recipient that they are about to be slimed.  

Opening paragraph

Find a way to authentically acknowledge or praise your recipient. Remember, these emails are sent individually, not as a mass mailing, so personalization makes all the difference. Of course, the closer the relationship, the better. Always start with "Dear Name" or Hi Name."

“I remember in college how you were always the one to ace the science exams! It's no surprise to me that you're now the manager of research at Breakthrough Life Sciences. Congratulations for making your dream real.” 

How could someone resist an opening like that? Sincere praise works wonders. But fake praise is a complete turnoff.

Reason for email and mention of outcomes

The second paragraph (or section) talks about what you are up to and mentions outcomes. This should correspond to the first paragraph in the email. Then, suggest a reason for getting together or having a conversation. 

“These days I'm up to some exciting things. Recently worked with a client who is getting more productivity from his high-level teams than ever before.

“I thought about you and would love to share some ideas related to team productivity that you might find useful.”

There’s no direct sales pitch here, just the request to have a conversation about how to increase team productivity. I always like the offer of “sharing some ideas.” It’s beneficial but not pushy.

Suggest a Time for a Meeting or next step

I don't know about you, but it irritates me when someone connects and then puts the ball in my court to set up a time to meet. You can save an email and some aggravation if you suggest some appointment times yourself.

“I have time open all next week after 12 noon, except on Thursday. Let me know what might work for a short conversation.”

But you don’t want to be too assumptive, which I see in some emails: “I’ve put a time on my calendar for 4:00pm on Tuesday, the 12th to meet regarding my proposal.”

That’s it. This simple template was the most effective in getting response from prospective clients. Longer, more complex emails were always less effective. And ones that were vague, manipulative or not relevant to the recipient usually got no response at all.

Conclusion

This email approach can be very effective if you have a good network and professional services that may be of real value to those you contact.

I recommend that you start by compiling a list of everyone you know in your business network (including past clients), then using this template, customize you own emails and start sending them out. Remember, one at a time, not massively to your list.

The worst that can happen is nothing, but that’s what’s happening already if you’re not currently connecting with these prospects.

Cheers, Robert

Action Plan Marketing helps self-employed people attract more clients through action-oriented marketing strategies that get you in front of prospective clients. Get our free report on how you can attract more of your ideal clients at this link: http://actionplan.club/free-stuff.

[ssnakey-b]

10 Things about me

Huh, wouldn’t have expected to be tagged by @skribleskrable of all people. But sure, why not? I like me and talking about me, so here are 10 random factoids about me. Hopefully someone other than my two porn bot followers will read this:

1. I literally only got a Tumblr account a few months ago to show my support to artists I like. In turn, I decided to more actively support artists because I started drawing a lot again after going through a dry spell and I realized that people appreciating and commenting on my work really encouraged me to draw more and improve, so I figured I should do the same for other people whose work I feel is worthy of support.

2. Around that same time, I also fell deep down the FF8 fandom hole again. Not that I ever really leave it, I just sometimes go back to the surface for some air. I also made a test LP of the French version of the game, pointing out the differences between the French and English versions of the game (at least the ones I remembered) and taking the opportunity to explain why I love and relate to this game so damn much and my analysis of the story and characters.

3. Speaking of FF8, I have written my very first fanfic a few months ago, which you can read here, here or here. Why yes, I WILL use this thing to plug my stuff. In all seriousness though, it’s short (3200 words), light-hearted stuff so please give it a look if you want and have the time. I do have plans for more fanfics but the problem is, most of them are very similar to what I did here and I don’t really want to make similar things in a row.

4. I’m currently in the process of writing an original comic set in a steampunk universe about the adventures of a bounty huntress. I have currently scripted 25 pages and that should be finished soon as I predict the entire thing to be about 30. I honestly have no idea if the story is going to be any good to readers but I just really want to make a complete one.

5. There is no fact N°6.

7. I finally moved out of my parents’ house last year and that’s the best thing that could ever have happened to me. I feel a lot more relaxed and I’m more confident and productive than ever. I also go out more and even watch more movies. I even feel like my relationship with my parents has improved.

8. As you may have guessed from N°2, I am French. I started learning English at age 9 (IIRC) when my parents made me take classes. They were very fun and the teacher was excellent, so I acquired some very strong basics, I loved it when we started learning it in school and I got really good at it. I actually tried to become a professional translator but it didn’t pan out. Heh, maybe I’ll give it another shot in the future.

9. I’ve been taking acting classes for over three years now. Those have really helped me come out of my shell. If you’re socially awkward or anxious and don’t know how to approach other people more easily, I can only recommand taking acting lessons. It’s very cathartic to play someone who isn’t you and therefore do and say stuff you probably wouldn’t yourself and since it's a safe and welcoming environment where everyone feels the same, you have less qualms about opening up and you realise that what you have to say is nowhere near as dumb as you may have thought.

10. I always feel like my posts on forums, Tumblr and similar stuff tend to be too long, which is ironic considering I’m not very talkative in real life. I guess I want to make sure my point is 100% clear and fully developed. It’s probably one of the 4915 reasons why I hate Twitter; by design, this thing actively discourages constructive discussion and replaces it with ready-made, hollow catchphrases.

11. A while ago, I started a thread on a forum I frequent daily asking people to recommend me any movie to watch and I’d watch them all in the order they were recommended then write a short review of it. I did that because I wanted to broaden my cinematic culture by watching stuff I wouldn’t normally watch of my own volition. It worked really well as people got way into it right away and I got dozens of suggestions right off the bat, plus it was a massive success in the sense that, just as I was hoping for, most suggestions were for films I would never have even thought of watching, including some really weird and obscure stuff (but also some classics that I’d never seen). I need to get back to it eventually. Really good way to discover new stuff if you don’t know where to look.

And I guess I’ll tag @ideakureima as she’s pretty much the only person I know on Tumblr that skribleskrable hasn’t already tagged. :P

[hballou]

Nonprofit Fundraising in our COVID-19 World with Martin Leifeld

Nonprofit Fundraising in our COVID-19 World with Martin Leifeld

Martin Leifeld, author, coach, consultant, and public speaker directed the raising of over $500 million dollars during his 24 years of fundraising leadership in the St. Louis region. Martin authored the book, FIVE MINUTES FOR FUNDRAISING - A Collection of Expert Advice from Gifted Fundraisers. MartinLeifeld.com provides nearly 125 video presentations about leadership and fundraising matters.

Martin served as vice chancellor for university advancement at UMSL for 10 years. He led a dramatic increase in fundraising, averaging $26.4 million per year. University Advancement had 140 employees and a $16 million budget focusing upon alumni engagement, community relations, fundraising, marketing and communication, university events, and St. Louis Public Radio.

Previously, Martin was associate vice president for university development at Saint Louis University and director of development for the Diocese of Belleville, Ill.

Martin was named the 2018 Outstanding Fundraising Executive by the AFP St. Louis Regional Chapter. Martin was selected as the 2020 Millard S. Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award from St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU).

  Read the Interview

Hugh Ballou: Greetings. This is Hugh Ballou. Welcome to The Nonprofit Exchange. Every week, we have a guest who has knowledge and wisdom, and experience in a topic. They have been there and done it, and they have some things to share with you. You’re sitting in the seat as clergy, nonprofit leader, or board chair. Maybe you’re a business person thinking about launching a nonprofit. This series is here to help you think out of the box, think of some new paradigms, and learn from some people who are experienced.

Today, my guest is from St. Louis, Missouri. He is the author of this book, Five Minutes for Fundraising: A Collection of Expert Advice from Gifted Fundraisers. Martin Leifeld, welcome. Would you tell people a little bit about yourself, and why is it that you do what you do?

Martin Leifeld: First of all, it’s an honor to be on your program today, and I appreciate your audience. I hope I can be helpful.

I’ve been in various leadership roles for around 45 years. 25 years of those were in small and larger universities. 25 years, although they didn’t overlap exactly with the universities, I have been involved in fundraising. About two years ago, I retired after 10 years as vice chancellor for advancement at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, which is our local urban land grant university here in St. Louis. I had a wonderful run there.

Long story short, here in the St. Louis region, which is where I spent my 25 years of fundraising, over $500 million raised, that’s a lot of money for St. Louis. It’s not about the dollars raised; it’s about the involvement, the lives changed, and the impact because of the dollars raised. Two years ago, I retired. It wasn’t my timing, to be honest with you. I had health issues. My handle in the last couple of years has been author, coach, consultant, and speaker. A little bit of everything. I think you know what I mean. I have a website, MartinLeifeld.com. There are over 120 videos there on fundraising and leadership. You were kind enough to point out the book. I have been doing podcasts, a couple dozen of them, and regular postings, particularly on LinkedIn.

I am trying to give back. This is all about trying to give back to a profession that has been such a blessing for me, so good for me in so many respects. Certainly developed professional skills. I have grown as a person by doing this extraordinary work of fundraising.

Hugh: We have in the audience two fundraisers who are CFRE. They’re here because they heard about you. We’ll let them ask questions later.

Martin: I’m beginning to sweat, Hugh.

Hugh: They’re very nice people.

Martin: I hope so.

Hugh: I had a funding professional last month. He said he reads a fundraising book a week. My area is transformational leadership and the conductor. The best leaders I worked with in corporate or nonprofits are the people who are always working on themselves. The famous speaker Jim Rohn always said, “Work on yourself harder than you work on your business.” I wrote that down and have been working on it ever since. 73, and still working.

Martin: I’m impressed by somebody who would read a book weekly. There is a chapter in the book called, “The Three C’s of Fundraising.” The first is competence. If you want to be involved in fundraising, being somebody of impact who makes a difference, you have to develop competency. There are two ways to do that.

One is lifelong learning. You are a student of the game, of the practice. That can include certifications and the like. You mentioned CFRE, which makes me nervous. You go to webinars like this, podcasts, so on and so forth, to remain educated and current in the field. But book-learning alone doesn’t make you an impactful person in the work of philanthropy. You have to add to that experience. In any profession, if you’re working diligently and are learning, being humble as you work your way through successes and failures, you should acquire the kind of experience that makes that study you do come to life and be most virtuous. That’s just competence.

You have to have confidence. Confidence is not bravado. It’s not fake it until you make it. Real confidence grows alongside the development of competence.

But to get to your point, the third C is character. What donors want is someone who is competent. They want to recognize a competent professional who is doing their work with excellence and to have that quiet confidence that comes over the course of time. But what they are really looking for is people with outstanding character, people who are virtuous and trustworthy, people who you might say they know they can do business with. They can shake hands and make something happen.

If you don’t have all three operating, I don’t think you can be a master in any profession.

Hugh: Absolutely. I have earmarked a few things. I want to talk to you about the correlation between leadership and fundraising. Did you just sit down and say, “I want to write a book?” What was the inspiration, and how did you connect with the people in there, who are all experienced fundraising professionals?

Martin: You might find this story curious. Since I turned 30, every consecutive decade since, on the 9th, the 29th, the 39th, etc., I would use that year very deliberately to reflect on my life up to that point, trying to look at success and failure, places for improvement. To look at the next 10 years and try to project what I can do to have an impact. I should say every decade, I got more intense about this, too.

Six years ago, when I was 59, I was really working through that year. I decided in that spring to take 100 days and really drill down about the future. Every day in my journal, Day 1/100, Day 15/100, I began my journal. Journaling is part of my morning ritual. Seeking ahead, you might say. Believe it or not, around day 72/73/75, I have what I call a small I, inspiration. The inspiration, as I referred, was to give back to the profession. I wanted to start there.

I thought, Well, I had done so much mentoring and coaching and fundraising with staff and volunteers. I was very good at doing something briefly. Somebody asked a question, as you can tell, I can go on for five minutes. Five minutes, I can give a good answer that would be appreciated. Maybe I could do some brief videos. Then I thought, Well, not everyone wants to watch a video, let alone look at me for a few minutes. People prefer to read. Let me do both.

So the genesis of the book logistically was transcribing my first year and a half of videos on these very subjects. Hugh, you may know this, and your audience may also. Seven minutes of video, especially the speed at which I talk, only translates to a few pages. I got into this and thought, I am not going to have a book. The other part of this was I never tried to give a comprehensive answer about something. It was more stuff I noodled about, experimented with, discovered that I thought was helpful.

That is what prompted me to go out and recruit 26 others to join me as collaborators in this. It was a fun experience because maybe 60% of them I knew, some very well, but the others I went out and recruited based on word of mouth and reference. I had to establish a relationship with them, like a donor, and ask them for their assistance. I found overwhelming willingness to be supportive.

Hugh: Wow. 26 of them here, all by name. Each chapter says, “Collaboration.” Speak a little bit about how collaboration works for you, and how it manifested itself in the book. It’s interesting how you have each section with dots and italics to stand apart, where there is a dialogue.

Martin: What I was trying to do was say something about the particular subjects, insight and angle. I had come to realize through experience and effort and training. Then I wanted to enrich it. I tried to find people. I called them collaborators. In other words, I wanted to start with what I had to say about a particular subject and ask them to add to it. Nobody really directly contradicted me as a collaborator. But they collaborated in the sense that they took the content seriously and enhanced it with their own reflections. Many of them added stories that put the flesh on the bones of the point of the chapter. It was interesting. If I had asked people to write it, they wouldn’t have written it because they were too busy. I had somebody help me interview them. We came to it in different ways based on the needs and availability and interest of my collaborators. I tried to collaborate logistically and practically in order to have them help, but they were generous about their time.

The thing about this word “collaboration” is the goal is a joint thing we do together. The goal is to bring the best of more than one person to bear in order to, as you talk about with synergy with your organization, to get that synergistic gain, to get that exponential gain that you can’t get with just yourself necessarily. Even if you have the authority with CFRE.

Hugh: People introduce me sometimes as Hugh Ballou, an expert in leadership. I say, “I’m Hugh Ballou, a serious student of leadership.”

Martin: Hear, hear.

Hugh: The title of this episode is, “Fundraising in COVID-19.” And the post-COVID-19 world. There are some consistent things and some new thoughts. That chapter with leadership, the Three C’s, your collaborator said, “ABC: Authenticity, belief, and confidence.” You and I were talking before about how fundraising is terrifying for a lot of us. I don’t want to go. It’s like when I was a teenager calling a girl for a date. I didn’t want to get turned down, so I stood by the phone and sweat. Is that like people wanting to make a money call? What is it about trying to raise money that is so fearful?

Martin: I don’t know. It’s all about fear. It’s the fear of the unknown. It’s the fear of being rejected. The fear of fumbling your way through it. The fear of someone being rude to you. If you will be embarrassed in front of them or embarrass them. It’s something new. I haven’t done it before. For those in religious work, it’s unseemly. I shouldn’t have to do that kind of thing as a pastor. Leave that to someone else to do. There is a lot of things.

When I first got into major gift fundraising, in the St. Louis area, I would criss-cross southern Illinois, a larger rural area, sometimes driving an hour or an hour and a half to see someone. Talk about sweating bullets. I would rehearse half the trip, “Hugh, would you and Mary consider a gift for the education of poor elementary kids, a gift of $10,000? You could even pay that over three years.” I would say that over and over again because I couldn’t trust myself. When I first began to do it, and I fumbled, it was a long drive back, knowing I hadn’t done what I set out to do. I began to rehearse very seriously. Once I got in the home or the office, who knows what might happen? It might be something I couldn’t predict. All I had to do was say, “Hugh and Mary,” and out would come the rest because I had rehearsed it. For those of you being called upon to raise money, practice makes perfect. You can do it.

But let me shift into something more serious. Fundraising is a privilege. Fundraising is the most honorable of work. Fundraising is a spiritual work. Fundraising is actually a vocation. I came to this once I was talking to a very wise woman about fundraising and the struggles. She said, ‘Martin, you’re in a helping profession.” A helping profession? I had never thought of it that way. I thought, Especially now, physicians, nurses, first responders, educators, oh my gosh, the young families. Two of my kids are educating kids at home. They have a manifold of appreciation of what it takes to be an educator now that they are trying to do that in their living rooms and around the kitchen table.

But I hadn’t thought of my profession of being something that was actually about helping. That’s what it is. What we do as fundraisers are facilitators in effect. I like to refer to myself as a facilitator of philanthropy. What we do is on behalf of worthy causes. In effect, what we want to do is come alongside, almost put our arm around someone’s shoulder, and say, “Look, there is an opportunity that makes sense to you as I have gotten to know you, and through which you can demonstrate great impact on this world. Here is the idea. Would you consider it?” That kind of work is very powerful and honorable work.

I have had the privilege, as many of your audience have had, of interacting with some people of extraordinary success, Fortune 25 executives. I have had some of those people say to me, “Martin, I could never do that job. That is too hard a job.” Some of them knew it first-hand because they were chairmen of nonprofits or board members. They were called upon to go out and do it. They knew first-hand what I was doing full-time. They respected it. We underestimate the value, the contribution we are making in this work.

Hugh: Wow. That’s a paradigm shift. Somewhere, and it may be in this chapter, “Five Generous Fundraisers,” before we talk more about donors, let’s consider you as the fundraiser. Somewhere, you talk about the impact it has on donors to actually donate. There is a point of philanthropy that releases something in you to make that donation, to see something happen. Talk about that. That is an inspiration that we don’t think about, the impact that it has on the donor.

Martin: First of all, it’s all about the donor. What we tend to do is focus on ourselves. In one sense, we should because we want to be professional and effective and do the job with excellence. We also want to represent our organizations with integrity, as effectively as we can. It’s all about the donor. What we’re into is a business of building lifelong relationships, not just after a transaction. We want to build and support the relationship that the donor has with the organization for their lifetime hopefully. In that relationship-building process, there are opportunities for financial exchange. What this is about is not a transaction although writing a check or giving away stock or a document with a commitment is part of it. But what it’s really about is helping people to influence the world for the better, and to demonstrate their values and what matters most to them.

In that process of a donor taking their eyes off of themselves and looking outward, looking at, “Okay, I have been fortunate enough to have accrued these assets,” rather than being preoccupied with how I could take care of myself, I am going to give it to others or to the world to improve it. As they do that, they become greater people. Biochemically, by the way, we change. Enzymes are released. One person called it the family bonding enzyme. I used to notice that somebody would make a big gift to one of my organizations and suddenly they would be everywhere. They would be at every event, bringing friends and colleagues, talking about the organization with great enthusiasm. What’s this all about? By their making a serious commitment, a gift of greater significance, there was something that happened within their entire being. A wise man, as you know, once said, “It’s better to give than to receive.” There is something we receive as an internal, spiritual, reward by giving of ourselves generously. One of the ways we give ourselves generously, certainly in this contemporary age, is with financial resources in addition to our time and talents.

Hugh: That’s so good. The other thing I earmarked is you wrote this chapter about the donor development cycle. There is a transaction, and there are those who never ask for the sale. I have been there many times. One higher net worth person asked me, “You didn’t ask for the sale.” It was my first conversation to get acquainted. But he was a businessman, “What do you want?” Another one, I am packing up to leave after I told him about what I was doing. He said, “Don’t you want a check?” Then he wrote me a check and handed one to me a lot bigger than I thought. That was about relationships.

But this cycle, you go through steps, identification, qualification, and more. Talk about the process. There is a transaction, but there is a lot more to this process.

Martin: The bottom line is this is about a relationship. In the course of a relationship, you go through seasons. In this particular cycle that we use in our fundraising business, you identify. Then qualify, which means are these people of capacity? Are these people who have an interest or potential interest in what we represent?

Then we cultivate, which is about building a relationship and involving them in the organization. That can include charitable giving, but not a gift of greater significance. As we get to know them, we are able to think about, Okay, given what they are interested in, how does that align with what we are about as an organization? What dimensions of our organization would be something that would make sense to them, that they would desire to support?

Then we have the conversation about asking. Some people are proponents of never asking for money. They just listen their way to a gift. I have always believed to have conversations about money, about scale, about impact, about size. That might be, with this amount, you can do this and that. Provide some options. But I always want to be working with numbers. People want to know what we would like them to do. My experience has been perhaps more often the opposite of yours. If I don’t ask, I get something smaller than what I had hoped for. I have always been one to say, “Let’s talk about money.” It’s a part of life. It’s how we carry on in this world. Most people want to get to the bottom line, “How much do you want?” They can say yes, no, maybe so. They want to make that happen, but they can’t make that happen now, or they will have to think more creatively about it. They can’t write a check.

I have always taught our people the 80/20 rule. Listen 80% of the time. COVID-19 has brought us to a hard stop here in some respects, but when you think about the frenetic pace of life that has only gotten faster and faster during our adult years, it has reached the point of sheer lunacy. Was anyone listening to anybody? One of the reasons we are such a divided nation is we completely lost the ability to listen, and listen with respect. What I found in fundraising, and I think many professionals in other fields would say the same thing, if you want success in your life, in your business, in your endeavors, you listen. It wouldn’t be that I would listen 100% of the time. But what I found is people desperately wanted to be heard. They wanted to be listened to attentively, appreciatively, and respectfully. Honestly, when I think about to what extent I was a great fundraiser in my career, it’s because of the power of listening. I have to ask for money, too. But listening puts us in that best position to understand.

What I would do is retain, record, and retrieve. Three R’s. Retain. Somebody had something to say during the course of the conversation. I was listening closely and thinking, That’s important.

Record. I would get in the car, call my assistant, and tell them, “Start taking notes.” Or I’d get back to the office and start typing at my computer. I would record all the various things I thought would be insightful and helpful, not just for me, but for anyone in my organization who would have reason to engage with those people.

This is all about preparation. When I would prepare for my next visit, I would retrieve. The thing is in work like this, we are in front of different wonderful people each day. If a month has passed, there is no guarantee I would remember what someone said was important to them a month ago. One way I would respect them is I would retain, record, and retrieve, so that when I would return to them, I could say, “Hugh, so how’s Mary Alice doing? You were talking about her facing that surgery.” Or, “Hugh, how’s that billy goat dog of yours doing? You were worried about this.” Or, “Hugh, you said you were going to be marrying off your son Charlie. How’d it go?” People know I am representing the organization, but they love the fact that I listened to them as people. I cared about them as people. Do you think when it came to talking about a gift eventually, that put me in a better position to be taken seriously? Without question.

It seems like, Geez, this is common sense, isn’t it? We have lost a lot of common sense.

Hugh: The problem with common sense is it’s not very common.

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Let’s pivot. You talked about some brilliant reframing of some old scripts we tell ourselves that minimize ourselves. I am guilty as anybody else, maybe more. That’s not my job. I teach leadership.

We have been in an era of lockdown. We are going back to work in Virginia. Churches are a sort of meeting with very limited engagement. No children. No singing. There is a new paradigm of how the exercise classes are in the parking lot with rain all week. People are getting paychecks from unemployment. What if that money runs out? Then what? We are facing some new challenges. How does that impact fundraising going forward?

Martin: If you look back to the great recession, some sectors did better than other sectors in terms of fundraising. In the great recession, I had just come to the University of Missouri to take a campaign that was already underway public. I was there a month, and the economic sky fell. The world was thrown in the craziness. It doesn’t exactly line up with our situation today, but there are some similarities certainly. Long story short, we decided to go ahead with our campaign. In my first year there, we raised 54% more than any other year in the history of that institution. When I hear someone say, “Boy, we can’t ask for money now. People don’t have it,” I immediately say, “That’s not necessarily true.”

One thing I would say is this: If somebody is philanthropic, and they have less money, are they less philanthropic? I don’t think so. Philanthropy is a part of a value system. Let me ask you this about the organization you represent. Has its value proposition changed because of this pandemic? No, it hasn’t. Now, if you are a food bank, there might be more urgency, immediacy. Crises bring out people’s desire to try to do something for others, whether it’s by cutting a check or by cheering on the streets for the first responders and nurses. People want to be supportive. One way they are supportive is certainly with their philanthropic support.

Hugh: Love it. Would you like to have some questions from our audience?

Martin: As long as they’re all soft balls.

Hugh: No guarantees. There’s Jeffrey Fulgham from Richmond, Virginia. He is a CFRE and has done many good things. Used to be in Lynchburg, but moved just a couple hours away. Do you have a particular observation or question for our guest today?

Jeffrey Fulgham: I don’t really have a question, but I love what I’m hearing, Martin. The first thing when I came on (I missed the very beginning) is the part you were talking about studying, and that’s only part of the equation. You can glean all this information, but if you started moving through your presentation, you were talking about relationships, which has always been the meat of this business. It’s never more important than it is right now of letting folks know we care about them, and you hit that nail right on the head. That’s what I have been preaching to my clients and associates: how important it is to stay connected to people and let them know that this relationship is a personal relationship before a financial relationship.

I really liked what you said about character because I think that’s the core of what we’re doing. It’s the core of leadership. If you don’t have the character, you probably shouldn’t be a fundraiser or in leadership either.

The other thing that you mentioned about evaluating, that was so good. I didn’t start doing it early enough. I wish I had done it the way you did it. The last five years, I have taken the month of December, or January because we are so darn busy in December that we don’t have the time. I did a post-mortem on the year and on my life. How could I be better? This is great stuff. I’m glad I connected today.

Martin: Jeffrey, pleased to meet you, and thanks for your great comments. I’m glad I’m in the ballpark with mine. One of the things, in fact, I just did a podcast on this, writing a chapter on someone’s book on morning rituals. Every morning, as part of my morning ritual, I have one page in my personal/professional planner (I call it that), and I review what matters most about my life. That is a way for me to get locked and loaded for the day, in order to go forth and have the greatest impact possible, as a professional, but as a person. What am I all about as a person? Being able to define that, have it clarified, reviewing it every day has been amazingly powerful.

One other thing I would say around the word “authenticity” is people want to be authentic, and they want authentic people in front of them. We don’t have to be perfect in our work, but we want to be respectful, thoughtful, and do it the best way we can. Fundraisers come in all shapes, sizes, and abilities, and they understand that. But they don’t want a fake, a snake salesman. They want a human being that they can respect and look up to. That’s what they want from us.

Jeffrey: I definitely agree with that. That authenticity and character and genuineness, people would ask me about having these relationships with people. I said, “You have to be in a genuine relationship. You can’t have a relationship where you want someone to think that it’s about the fact that you like them and want to be in a relationship, but it’s really about the money, so you are clocking it so that it looks genuine. It might work for a little while, but it won’t work for you forever. If you really want to have successful fundraising, it’s about long-term relationships with people.” I’m fortunate that I am connected to people who I am three or four organizations removed from now. I still have relationships with them, and I still talk to them, especially right now with everything going on. Staying in touch. That’s the fun part of this business. It’s the most fun.

Martin: The relationships is the most gratifying part of the deal. It’s not about the dollars raised although that’s great, too, because it can accomplish great things. In our business, we get to meet the most wonderful people. Phenomenal people. When I think about my own personal and professional development, a lot of it was profoundly stimulated by the people I have gotten to spend time with in this work of fundraising.

Hugh: And I have gotten to spend time with Jeffrey and Bob Hopkins. Bob, you’ve been quietly listening. Do you have a question or comment for our guest today?

Bob Hopkins: I’m in my backyard outside. Didn’t know I had any airwaves back here. Beautiful day in Dallas by the way. I am loving listening to you. After 40 years of doing this kind of thing, you think you know it all. While I might say I do, it’s so much fun to remember some of the key aspects of the fundraising process. When you first started talking, I thought, Why doesn’t he talk about listening? Sure enough, 15 minutes later, you talked about listening. I am so grateful for that conversation. I teach speech, and I’m teaching people how to talk. But there is a chapter in my book called “Listening.” I spend about five minutes on listening because I don’t think people need to know anything about it, and I am so wrong. As you said, the 80/20 thing is so true. I have so many great stories of when I didn’t listen, and you know what? I didn’t get the gift. Or when I listened and waited and patiently took my time about receiving, that I got about six times more money than I would have gotten had I asked earlier when the person wasn’t ready.

Martin: It’s such a great comment. Pleased to meet you. We talk about this in a lot of fields, the blending of art and science. As I said, developing competency is about education and experience. Maybe that’s the better way. This is a work you learn on the job; it’s on the job training. As we stick with it, it saddens me when I think about the turnover in the profession. If something is willing to stick with it and keep at it, as you all know, the satisfaction is phenomenal to be in this work. To become competent at it over time is immensely gratifying. Beautiful horse by the way, Bob.

Hugh: That’s not his current one. He has one he is really proud of. That’s his passion. One day, I was having lunch with him in Dallas, and he went off on this horse thing when I asked him about his passion.

The principle is 80/20. 80% of your results are produced by 20% of your people. 80% of your inventory only produces 20% of your profits, but 20% produces 80% of your profits. It goes with donors; it’s a repeated principle. When I wrote my first book, Moving Spirits, Building Lives, it’s about church musicians and transformational leaders. That is when I moved into leadership. It took me 40 years to write this and 30 days to put it on paper when I was leaving the profession. I determined in that book the Ballou 10/90 principle. As a music director, 10% of my job was music; 90% made that possible. I am thinking as far as a professional fundraiser, the 10% is what people see, but 90% is under the iceberg. 90% is relationship, staying in touch, that allows that 10% to happen. There is a lot that happens that is invisible to most people, but that is where the hard lifting is.

Let’s hit real hard on this. We still have money in the economy. The fed printed more digital currency. Money didn’t go away. Some people are struggling to make ends meet, but some companies are doing really well. Google had a record-breaking quarter. Grocery stores are slammed. There are some ministries that are challenged. Some restaurants are out of business. There is still money out there and people who want to make a difference. What is the change of mindset for addressing the new normal here?

Martin: In some ways, the mindset hasn’t changed. In other words, we have an organization worthy of support that is doing important work in this world. We are engaging with people who want to make a difference with their lives and resources to the extent that they can. They may have taken a hit financially, so they may not be able to do something right now. They may have to structure it differently. Back in the great recession, we mentioned we raised 54% more than any other prior year in the institution’s history, that wasn’t people writing a bunch of huge checks. People were writing smaller checks, making pledges over longer periods of time, putting gifts in their estates, and so on. Bundle it all together, and it would be a number that was not insignificant for them, but they couldn’t do it. Even today, a year ago, someone might give you a large number with checks over a couple of years. Now, they still want to give you that number, but it will be put together in a different kind of package.

What we need to do is be sensitive to people. We are all talking the same talk here. We have to put the concern for the people first. There are relationships. If we treat them that way, whether they can make a gift now or later, we are building the relationship for the long term. We are doing our job with the relationship by putting them and their concerns first. We all have stories and connections, a degree or two away from us, of people who have been profoundly impacted by this. We should know it firsthand, and be sensitive as we engage with others.

To raise major gifts, it’s typically a face-to-face, labor-intensive business. Up until very recently, there hasn’t been any face-to-face work. Difficult to have a talk with a donor ten feet apart. Tools like Zoom, even my sister who just turned 80 years old knows how to use Zoom. We can all use Zoom. People welcome Zoom calls or the equivalent. They desire that human interaction. If we get on a call like this, we just have a conversation, and we listen to them, that’s powerful.

Hugh: whoever thought of this term “social distancing,” it’s physical distancing. We are still social. Anti-social distancing. This book is chock-full of stuff that is not rocket science. It’s a solid experience when people have been there and done it. Stuff that most of us don’t know. You have been around and done this for years; you’ve practiced this. I’m a musician. We rehearse. You have rehearsed a lot. What I am so appreciative of is you put it in a book to share with people. Why should people have this book? Where can they get it?

Martin: Why they should get it is it’s a way of staying current in the work. If you are a beginner, it’s an insightful introduction to the work. It’s getting 27 seasoned professionals’ input, not just one’s. I call it Five Minutes for Fundraisingbecause each chapter is about a five-minute read. They are stand-alone chapters. You don’t have to read it in consecutively. You can go to what resonates or what you need right now.

In terms of the book, if you want an autographed one, 15% off, no shipping and handling, go to MartinLeifeld.com and order it there. You can get it on Amazon as well. Like any book, it’s available on multiple channels.

Hugh: It’s not an expensive book.

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This has been a very helpful interview. Lots of good sound bites. What do you want to leave people with today? What is a challenge or thought as we go into the unknown?

Martin: Every day we are going into the unknown. That was six months ago, too. It’s new every morning, as it says in the Book of Lamentations, for those of you who look at the Bible. What we’re after is helping people become greater through philanthropy. We’re doing that through putting them first, respecting who they are, helping them to demonstrate their value system to the world. Hopefully, by working with our organization as part of their way of doing so. We are privileged. It’s honorable work. It’s worth people devoting their lives to.

Not to highlight myself, but this is powerful. When I retired two years ago, they had a party for me, which was very nice. A number of the donors were there who I had worked with for years. Unbeknownst to me, they had a video. If you go to YouTube, it’s there. This couple who were the first alumni in this young university to reach a $5 million-level gift of cumulative giving was on the video. This is what they said, and I think it pulls it together and certainly represents so much my gratitude for the work of philanthropy in my life. They said, “By teaching us about giving, Martin, you have given us a great gift. Our philanthropic involvement with the university has enhanced our lives on many levels. We owe that to you. Martin, because of your professionalism, expertise, and friendship, you made something that is truly enjoyable even more rewarding. You showed us the way to contribute in a meaningful manner, and this resulted in our receiving so much in return.”

Hugh: What a great summary.

Martin: Isn’t that amazing? That’s what it’s about.

Hugh: It is amazing. You have touched people’s lives on both ends of the spectrum. Martin, thank you for sharing your wisdom and time with us today.

Martin: Thank you.

Check out this episode!

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Factors You Need To Find out about Female's Handbags

 Women's ladies handbags resemble precious stones, shoes as well as various other fashion extras. Female's handbags are a girl's best buddy. You can certainly not imagine women without bags. They consistently carry purses wherever they use a regular basis for their ease.

 Today, women's handbags are the crucial manner statements. Ladies handbags are actually often made use of to convey moods, uniqueness, design and status. The better ladies handbags they have and also the much better condition as well as type they receive.

Replica Celine Bags

 It is incredibly significant for you to find out just how to pick the ideal version, shade and design of handbags. It will definitely carry much better appearance in design as well as fashion of your regular activities. Opt for the shade that is actually definitely matching with the other attire you are actually using. Take into consideration the type, model and also brand for better manner of your life style. You must understand what type of bags you are visiting give match the event.

 A lot of girls look more classy with the perfect handbags they hold to go everywhere they desire. Don't forget to carry the right handbag along with the ideal event to receive the ideal design and manner. You may check out yourself in the mirror if the handbag you bring is actually looking completely along with your type and also manner China.

 Deciding On The Perfect Handbag

 Perfect handbag is actually very important for you to present your character, style and style. Regardless of who you are actually, you are going to consistently look excellent if you are actually carrying the best purse along with you. Perfect ladies handbag can enhance your type as well as fashion statement. It will certainly take the far better standing and distinct individual for you.

 Listed below are actually the recommendations for deciding on the perfect purse for you:

 - Choose the purse that fulfills your style and fashion trend

 If you intend to resemble an elegant lady, you need to take the well-liked brand names of females's ladies handbags including a Louis Vuitton Handbag with the clip-art design symbols in a check trend and also everyone prefers one. You can additionally think about various other best ladies handbags professional, like Marc through Marc Jacob and also the Indy Handbag by Gucci.

 - Choose the handbag that is actually opposite to your body

 If you are actually tall as well as skinny, select a handbag that's pivoted and also possess added weight. If you need and muscular, opted for the slim and also rectangular size or even design style.

 - Choose the handbag that is actually in proportion to your size

 Even confessing you're eye-catching for your contrary, do not intensify it along with a terribly sufficient tote. The time's finest picks use hobos, satchels that are actually medium-sized. Organized purses will furthermore offer you a smooth as well as attractive appeal. Leading handbags developers that give ideal design and percentage, like Marc through Marc Jacobs, Chanel, as well as Louis Vuitton.

 - Avoid carrying a purse under your upper arm

 Make an effort to avoid holding bag under your upper arm, since it is going to take individuals's interest to your trunk place as well as produce awkward appearance. A purse can produce far better appearance in your hands suggestions or your hands.

 Going coming from area to area is actually exceptionally complicated for females without bags. It resembles the initial thing that they will always remember China.

 Now it is much more stylish and also classy to get the ladies handbags that contrast what you are actually using. As an example, if you put on a great deal of smooth different colors like off-white, pink, as well as light blues, you can receive a rich purple bag to wear along with these colours.

 Female's Love Affair With Luxury Handbags

 There is actually certainly the simple fact that females possess an on-going passion relationship with deluxe handbags. Purse blog posts or even e-magazines and also talk about purse online forums show that some women are really consumed with them. There are actually girls that actually possess dozens luxurious bags which collectively are worth 1000s of bucks. Social media and Dr Google release images of the well-to-do, stars and also royals who are seen out as well as concerning with various bag for each and every ensemble. They happen in various different colors to match each shade as well as style of their ensemble.

 It is effortless for the rich and widely known, celebrities and also royals have to possess a big assortment of deluxe ladies handbags. However the traditional working female or even the remain at property mum may hardly afford to pay such higher costs to understand her aspiration. The truth is that a lot of bag-loving females will definitely go without other things if you want to satisfy her need for a brand new bag China.

 What reparation will you possess been actually prepared to bring in to bid for the Hermes Birkin which recently cost auction for over $200,000? Made from elegant pink crocodile skin layer, it is embellished with 18 carat weight gold hardware and authentic rubies. The fundamental Hermes is going to cost at least $8000, and also you will probably need to be on a hanging around list to get it!

 Deluxe bags at presents do not cost a lot lower than $500. In reality, much of the extra special fashion trend houses market their bags for properly over $1000. I personally will need to spare up for a lengthy to become the happy proprietor of one of these incredible devices.

 While the utmost 21st-century object of need, luxurious handbags are actually the certainly not simply for the set for life, personalities and also royals, yet likewise for operating women from all strolls of life too. Now, females of all ages are probably to devote a lot more on a handbag than a holiday season, fashion jewelry or perhaps a car. They all possess this covert desire to be noticed.

 Garments actually may take 2nd location to luxurious ladies handbags. As an example, an advertisement made in 2007 including Kate Moss being located naked on a seaside with nothing at all on other than her Longchamp handbag. Their message was crystal clear: clothes are actually unnecessary - it's everything about the bag China.

 So why carry out women have this relationship along with deluxe handbags? Some of the explanations is actually given that they have become a personal manner claim emphasizing a female's wealth and also standing. They additionally reveal exactly how fashion trend aware a woman is, and demonstrates her position and getting power. It is likewise since the ever increasing popularity of the huge purse, which over the previous 100 years or two, has actually observed the emergent social freedom of women.

 Recently a lady's role was actually usually domestic as well as she would hold her individual traits in a purse tucked right into the folds of her dress or in a small handbag she carried discretely. Yet as girls ventured more coming from the house, each for convenience and job, much larger handbags ended up being a beneficial way of taking their stuff with them. Eleanor Roosevelt is actually stated to have actually begun the trend of utilization a large purse as a fashion trend add-on

 Yet another reason that luxurious handbags became extra well-known was actually the fact that rail and also sea trip came to be more easily accessible, so there was more need for trendy suitcases like luggage, clothing scenarios, in addition to hat as well as shoe cartons. This lead to the growth of the contemporary leather-made bag.

 It is certainly not shocking, as a result that much of today's top style homes, including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and also Hermes, came from the overdue 19th as well as very early 20th centuries. And as females achieved financial self-reliance, the ladies handbag sector flourished away from all proportion to its own small beginnings.

 However, the method we really feel regarding owning right bag progresses deeper than only being actually a method to carry our personal effects. Each showing and also covering, deluxe purses likewise symbolizes an emotion that is remarkably private to its owner. This emotion is because of the reality that the handbag was 1st designed as a silk handbag or wallet put on concealed, near to our body system. Then, pockets were actually taken underclothing - a top secret place, hidden under levels of component and assessable only through an intimate opening in the dress.

 These emotions of affection performed not disappear when the first deluxe bags were actually held in the late 18th century. Referred to as reticules, these handbags were wonderfully embroidered pouches with deals with in linen, satin or plush. Girls utilized them to bring cosmetics, a follower for flirt, smelling sodiums and also carte de visite, all without endangering the slim-line fit of the Empire-line gown that were actually popular after that.

 Initially, the concept of a girl uncovering her individual littles as well as parts to the outside planet was as shameful as if she had actually removed her knickers as well as swayed all of them airborne. Thereby, handbags were actually often tagged "makes a fool of" through those not prepared to accept the improvement.

 Deluxe bags were actually, and also still are, observed as sex-related items as a result of the intimacy which over the last was affiliated with them, The expression "outdated bag" was made use of to refer to a girl that was passed her sexual prime and also grumpy outdated girls that show no emotional state or emotion for others are actually still phoned that today.

 Deluxe purses still possess their allure since they are thus closely connected to each of our special possessions. A sizable handbag is our survival package which carries all our private requirements which in today times feature a cellphone, tampons, makeup, amount of money as well as keys, to hair flat irons, laptops pc, I-phones, eating gum tissue, prophylactics to a modification of outfits. Appropriately, its own special beauty stays top secret. Men are intrigued about what a girl lugs in her bag, however would certainly never dare to invade its personal privacy.

 Bag-loving girls experience nude without their luxury bags. They feel that it is your bag, as opposed to your garments, which make you attract attention from the crowd. Even when your clothing are outdated as well as shabby, a nice-looking bag creates you feel and look excellent Guangzhou.

 Hence, the bag market has experienced amazing growth over the last handful of many years. By the mid-2000's sales of bags were actually on the increase at a rate which was two times as higher as the rate of outfits. The significant fashion trend homes now help make countless dollars a year coming from the sale of luxury handbags alone.

 Therefore what are actually the features that establish luxurious handbags apart? The very first thing is that they must possess an unique concept. They must be instantly recognizable as a prominent brand name, e.g. Fendi, Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton or even coming from various other fashion house. Style houses usually have their signature styles and this aids along with branding at the same time.

 Another considerable component for preferable high-end ladies handbags is beauty and also charm. Normally this is actually discovered when a certain brand name is actually connected to a star e.g.the well-known Hermes Kelly bag which was actually originally generated in 1935, was certainly not up until bestseller till 1956. The bag shot to popularity when the newlywed, Princess Grace of Monaco, was actually captured on film for the cover of your time journal securing her expecting stubborn belly with a classic Hermes bag. The ladies handbag in question subsequently came to be referred to as the Kelly bag in her honour. Fashion article writers advertised the organization between bag and also celebrity: Carrying a Kelly bag is actually still synonymous along with course and aged loan.

 Likewise, the Lady Dior became a feeling in 1994 when Princess Diana took to wearing it around town after she separated from Prince Charles. This handbag is a seductive combo of bag as well as handbag which has distinguishing gold beauties. It showed an attentive female that was, on the other palm, glamorous as well as innovative. Presently, social media sites can promote the standing as well as requirement for a specific bag simply through been photographed on the upper arm of a style symbol, famous personality or royal like Princess Kate Middleton.

 Smart advertising and marketing indisputably participates in an essential duty in developing a must-have bag. Whereas famous personalities might be capable to obtain their palms on the most up to date deluxe bags, for the functioning girl it is considerably extra challenging, regardless of just how much cash they wish to invest. Many high-status bags are hard to reach and might have hanging around checklists prolonging as much as three years. The Hermes Birkin is actually in this type.

 Female's intrinsic competition is ingeniously managed by the finest bag professionals. As an example. In 2005, Alexander McQueen drove consumer requirement to an optimal when he made it known that the launch of his brand new professional bag was actually a limited with merely 200 ever before to become created. It then came to be the best fashion trend prize and marketed out prior to a hanging around list was actually even assembled. This bag was actually phoned the Novak after Kim Novak, the legendary blonde actress who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 showpiece Vertigo. Rates started at ₤ 550 and climbed to an enormous ₤ 6,000 for the deluxe crocodile variation.

 It shows up that a cost tag performs not dissuade those consumed along with bags. As a matter of fact, manner homes have actually operated out that a higher cost seems to enhance the need to have it. There certainly is an endless willingness to sprinkle out on designer bags.

 High-end bags are going to last a life-time if taken care of properly. Some iconic types reoccur, some maintain their market value and also others enhance in value. Nevertheless, it is simply a minority that possess the ideal premiums to come to be legendary. To come to be legendary, a bag is not just superbly properly made yet it likewise exceeds time. The following brand names have actually gained the right to call a bag legendary: Hermes Kelly, the Fendi Baguette, the Marc Jacobs's Stam, the YSL Muse as well as the Mulberry Roxanne.

 Each one of these luxury purses discuss one point in typical; a clear, tidy line; nothing picky or even over-designed, and a blend of functionality with indulgence. A legendary bag earns its own standing from the greatest practices of lineage, quality as well as workmanship. As it grows older, a well-known bag will definitely appear just as good as it did on the day it was actually bought. And, for a real bag fan, that is worth all the money spent on it.

 Handbags are actually taken into consideration to be actually a very really good choice of gifts for ladies. Some ladies are actually infatuated along with purses, and they adore to have a whole collection of the most up to date and stylish handbags. When it concerns designer bags, it is actually the goal of every female to possess a huge assortment of original developer bags, however the rate variation is therefore higher that it becomes difficult to manage all of them. In such instances, they can regularly go with designer Replica Designer Handbags.

 If you are actually trying to find a best gift for ladies, there is actually nothing at all better than developer Replica Designer Handbags. The top quality and style is actually practically like the original ones, and you can get all of them on remarkably economical costs. The only reason that professional handbags are expensive is the singularity in them. You would certainly not acquire the real tag of the major as well as known professionals in professional bags, yet you can easily still nab the same volume of attention.

 It is actually fairly quick and easy to locate designer reproduction purses as the markets has plenty of such bags. The prices are thus practical that any individual may manage all of them. Duplicate handbags are coming to be remarkably well-known and also the odds-on-favorite of ladies. Do certainly not confuse yourself with designer replica purses as well as phony purses. If you possess a really good know-how of ladies handbags, you can conveniently identify the variation between the fake as well as excellent Replica Designer Handbags.

 The conveniences are unlimited. This is the absolute best present for a woman who can not pay for the initial developer handbags. If you can not discover duplicates of good designer ladies handbags, you can easily regularly seek them online. On web sites, you may discover a significant assortment of such replica designer handbags; you may decide on the perfect one that suits your type. The remittance strategies are actually quick and easy, as well as the things are actually supplied within time.

 The amount of common individuals is actually much more in this particular globe, and they can not manage to get original designer ladies handbags. A bag is just one of the very most significant style add-ons for ladies. They can certainly not also think about leaving their spot without lugging a wonderful handbag. Purses assist girls in creating the perfect impression. In professional Replica Designer Handbags, one can easily constantly locate official, informal and fashionable purses for every celebration.

 Considering that you can find so a lot of ranges in replica bags, you can get baffled while purchasing one. Make sure that the bag is functional as well as may be used at different places. Likewise, considering that the cost variety is rather budget friendly, you may purchase two or even three purses and gift all of them to your pals, woman buddy or other half. Additionally, see to it you always keep the individual of the person in mind.

 How to Choose the Best Fashion Handbag for You

 Handbags are crucial to females. Along with ladies handbags, they can make better fashion trend as well as originality declaration, and they can invest all factors they will definitely make use of or even could use, which mainly boost their need of safety and security. However, just before you hold along with a fashionable as well as useful ladies handbag when walking out, you need to invest considerable energy and time in purse deciding on. Different scenarios and outfits ask for different handbags to meet for, when there are a massive selection of ladies handbags available. Listed below are a handful of suggestions to aid you select the most effective style ladies handbags.

 1. Handbags of brownish and also black colour complement attire of any shade. If you do not have a lot opportunity and energy to prep different purses for your everyday using, then dark and also brownish handbags will definitely be your finest selection. This match can trigger the positions of your colors of skin layer and also ensemble.

 2. Purses of vivid different colors make you shinning. If you often put on tee shirts, denims or even conventional dark suits, after that, take those intense bags with you. A ladies handbag in color of brilliant orange, red or fuchsia may easily create you attract attention in the simple gown.

 3. Over-sized bags are actually the best handy. It may be unpleasant if your outfit wallet has lots of chances, and also neither may it be fairly if you extend your tiny lug through squeezing all items into it. As a result, you will much better carry along with an over-sized ladies handbag when you have to deliver a great deal of products. You may still take an additional carry inside the over-sized bag, which creates it hassle-free and cool Replica Designer Handbags.

 4. Two-way bags are actually one of the most practical. You can easily modify it to adjust your garment, whether to composed hand or bring on shoulder. It is actually like you have two ladies handbags.

 5. Bags along with chains are the very most fragile. Steel chains may raise the feeling of superb style, as well as likewise assist strengthen the overall delicacy.

 6. Bags with studs are actually the coolest. A handbag adorned with metal typically tells individuals of rock-and-roll, as well as leave behind trendy perception.

 7. Cyndrical tube totes are actually the most stylish. Females carrying along with cyndrical tube totes frequently blow away others as a fair woman. They are actually best for utilizing at work or even in professional occasions.

 8. Select ladies handbags depending on to your body system shape. Ladies of a dainty amount should decide on mid-sized or small handbag, as huge ones will definitely make you seem even much smaller. In an identical means, high women ought to decide on mid-sized or big Replica Designer Handbags.

 9. Put those put on handbags aside as well as purchase some brand new ones. Ladies handbags need our focus and treatment to maintain all of them great in vogue as well as form. However, if they are broken, or even harmed, you need to put all of them aside as well as buy your own self some brand-new ones. There are much more classy and fashionable purses available. Purchase one for on your own, lighten your mood as well as lifestyle. When obtaining ladies handbags, you 'd a lot better head to the preferred and trustworthy online store, as you may spare both money and time.

 5 Tips to Keep You and also Your Handbag Safe

 Whether you'll be actually showing off the streets of New York or even locating the paving of Stratford-upon-Avon, it always experiences good to parade your most up-to-date investment.

 Like a lot of factors nonetheless, there are actually regularly folks around who would love to ruin this expertise for their personal gain.

 Therefore what can you perform to maintain you and also your purse secure? Our team have actually compiled a checklist of easy rules to see to it your handbag avoids of the palms of robbers Replica Designer Handbags.

 1. Constantly hide your bag when in the car.

 It sounds astonishing, however according to national crime statistics purse theft coming from vehicles excelled street "snag" criminal activities through 5:1 in 2007, which goes to reveal what a quick and easy target an ignored bag may be.

 Whenever you reside in the vehicle, consistently place your handbag properly out of web site. Regardless of whether you are still in the vehicle or steering, maintain your handbag hidden to prevent it becoming an easy intended for the go-getter robber.

 It just about goes without stating yet it happens over and over again, certainly never leave your bag on show when you have actually left your vehicle. Even a fancy locking body and loud vehicle alarm system won't stop a crook coming from nabbing your bag, therefore consistently maintain your purse concealed Guangzhou.

 2. Hold your ladies handbag away from the website traffic

 Wherever achievable constantly make it tough for the opportunist criminal. Numerous bag thefts develop when passing motorists take all of them coming from the arms of pedestrians, thus remove this prospect completely by merely wearing your bag on the various other shoulder, a simple yet efficient protection recommendation!

 3. Be actually watchful in bars, clubs and restaurants.

 Whatever took place to the attraction of girls hemming and haw their ladies handbags ?! Maybe someone observed how easy it was actually to swipe the bag in question, or possibly other people observed how stupid it appeared. Regardless, coming from a safety standpoint it is actually most likely advantageous Guangzhou.

 Once more this idea happens directly coming from the university of sound judgment security, however whenever you're out on the city regularly maintain your bag in attraction. The mix of liquor and also an unattended handbag might verify a lot of for also the best part-time of thieves, therefore don't provide the possibility as well as keep grip of your bag.

 Likewise distrust anybody who delivers to examine your handbag or even personal belongings into a clothes closet as this is actually an all of too simple rip-off to fall for. If you prefer your valuables signed in, inspect all of them into a protected area yourself.

 4. Make sure with throughout body system bags.

 They might appear like the best service, however bags along with bands over the physical body could trigger you much more damage than excellent. The watchful eye crook is actually extra likely to have actually seen the bag instead than the band, suggesting that it does not supply the preventative you would certainly hope. It also indicates that need to any individual try to steal it they'll obtain even more than they anticipated when you're grabbed in addition to it, which could lead to you being harmed Guangzhou.

 Our company're obviously not claiming don't wear handbags across the body system, yet perform realize that they do not offer the resistance coming from being snagged that you would really hope.

 5. If unsure, just allow it go.

 As hard as it is actually to take, if you are mosting likely to reside in any type of danger when it comes to keeping grip of your bag, merely let it go. Despite a brand new ladies handbag being actually something you love, it is actually unworthy jeopardizing your security to keep it.

 Along with the higher rate of a premium bag paired along with the market value of items that are actually currently maintained in bags (phones, purses, visa or mastercard etc) it is very likely that whoever is heading to swipe your handbag is actually possibly more desperate to take it than you are actually to maintain it.

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Drag and Drop WordPress Themes | Templified

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Drag and Drop WordPress Themes

There are a lot of new and exciting options out there if you want to create a WordPress theme with the ability to customize layouts without having to actually code the theme yourself.  Drag and drop themes or page builder themes are what you’re looking for.  Lots of webmasters want a WordPress theme and they want to do-it-themselves, to a certain extent at least.  If you pick a drag and drop theme builder, you get that flexibility.  But how can you tell a front and builder from a back end builder?  Keep in mind, these are page-builders and not theme-builders.  If you select the proper drag-and-drop WordPress theme, you can make sure your website has all the functions, options and design style you want.  Whatever fits your brand.  Drag blocks or elements where you want them, add your content and go for it.  These page builders have lots of widgetized areas, tools and other stuff to make your vision come to life.

All this allows a webmaster to make a theme that has the options, functionality and flexibility they want without having to create the theme from scratch.  The best drag and drop theme builders offer fantastic flexibility with loads of tools, widgets and features to make exactly the website you envision.  Visual builders allow you to drag a block or element of content to wherever you need it without hacking into the code itself.  These page-builder WordPress themes let you make a theme that will look perfect on any device with responsive design, create limitless layouts, swap elements out on the fly, utilize multiple header and footer styles and more.  We’ve found a whole lot of what we believe are the best drag-n-drop WordPress themes on the market.  Let us know if we’ve missed any more great themes.  Thanks!

Divi

Divi is a fantastic, full featured WordPress theme with a built in, custom page builder feature that allows you to drag and drop any element anywhere you want it.  Divi is all about flexibility.  Elegant Themes has created a truly multipurpose theme and the many, many layouts options and the over forty different content modules available will let you include just about any feature you can imagine.  Use Divi for a photography or creative portfolio, for a business venture selling products, even as a personal blog.  The functionality and ease of use is very high and since this theme is from Elegant Themes, you know that you’ll be supported all the way.  Elegant Themes offers a bunch of pre-made layouts if you don’t want to have to create your own too.  But down the road, the flexibility this template offers is really going to pay for itself if you find that you want to redesign your site, you don’t have to learn a completely new Admin panel and figure out how to rebuild your site from scratch.

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Create

Create an amazing website with ThemeTrust’s powerful theme, Create.  This is the biggest and best they’re created so far and you’re going to love the powerful features and they great, sleek design too.  Create is powerful.  Did I mention that?  It’s got a handy page builder built right in, so there’s no end to the possible responsive layouts you can create.  Retina ready, multiple headers, a built in mega-menu, google fonts and much, much more.  Create also bundles Revolution Slider into the mix, so you can really attract attention in your header area.  Your content creation and page layout is always going to be one of the most important ways to get the message out about your products and services, so you should be able to control the exact format and show only what you want to show, without getting bogged down in a bunch of coding, or having only a few of the elements you want to have.

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Technico

Technico is a well crafted, drag and drop WordPress business theme.  This theme gives you the very newest in drag-and-drop coding, which makes it so your website is flexible and totally functional from the drop.  Add in some custom widgets to liven things up if you feel the need.  You’ll love the way you can swap out layouts with just a few clicks.  Whether you want 2, 3 or 4 columns to display your projects, services and more, you’ll be able to crank it out quickly.  Technico allows you to change the look and feel of the colors, fonts and layouts with ease.  But if you like the vanilla version, it still loos great.  CSSIgniter is one of the best and most well respected theme makers around too, so support is very fast and incredibly responsive.

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X

X is merged with the free of charge and powerful Cornerstone web-page builder and it’s an extremely versatile, accessible, rapid drag-n-drop web page builder that will make it rather simple to build a site that appears exactly how you need it to appear and also offers many excellent elements that you need. If perhaps you’re just a ‘trainee’ with WordPress, this can be an extremely useful feature to offer, because the design is absolutely modified in the front end, you won’t be required to learn how to write your own code to generate a sophisticated and helpful site.  X is one of the hottest, robust, one of a kind and skillfully designed WordPress themes you can get. Yet those descriptions can’t go far enough in discussing what is achievable with this wonderful, dynamic theme.

This powerful theme is perfectly fluid and responsive and it also enables you to rearrange the lovely typography and content blocks effortlessly, offers easy-to-manage control, is marvelous to make sweet looking, dynamic single page web-sites or multi-page sites and offers tons more powerful capabilities.  This effective but gorgeous WordPress theme is very multipurpose in the way it’s made, helps you to assign customized background images and much more.  You can make attractive portfolios and X is also eCommerce enabled to offer nice stuff on the internet.  This fantastic WP template is absolutely Retina display ready, rapidly responsive as well as offers you stunning BuddyPress compatibility as well.  X offers you an astonishing consumer experience and a fabulous admin experience too, seeing that it’s exceptionally well designed to appear outstanding on any notebook computer and also remarkably effortless to customize to work precisely like you like it to look and feel.  Here’s our full collection of WordPress eCommerce themes.

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Bitz

Bitz is an unbelievably quick SEO powerhouse theme for WordPress.  Why?  Maybe it’s the Structured markup data that allows this theme to perform so well.  Maybe it’s the clean CSS3 and HTML5 code.  Whatever it is, Bitz makes it easy to craft a stunning magazine, news site, blog or publishing company website.  There are more features though.  A lot of themes offer back end page builders and Blitz is no exception.  However, this theme actually offers both a front-end and back-end visual page builder.  That means it’s flexible, so you can make a website look like you want it to and set it apart from the competition.  Edit the blocks you want to edit, leave the ones you don’t.  Move things around so you have a different look as often as you care to make the changes. If you want to add another article, you’re just a couple clicks away.  Want to get started right away?  Well, Blitz gives you several pre-made magazine layouts that will work fantastically to give your readers the experience they deserve.  This template also offers a reviews engine to keep your readers engaged.  Rich snippet support ensures that Google knows what all your pages are about and helps move you up the SERPs.  We’ve got more WordPress magazine themes here.

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Kallem

Kallem is a professional portfolio theme with a lot of various styles to choose from, but we like the grid layout as shown in the picture above, it’s a nice way to frame your work and promote it.  This portfolio theme is adaptable, filled with creative features, fabulous, well made and simple to use, it’s perfectly coded, functional and completely responsive, amazing for marketing companies, advertising agencies, professional photographers, boutique design firms or artists. Using a well designed WordPress portfolio can really help you create a great first impression.

If you need an awesome drag and drop WordPress page builder theme, you should think about a Visual Composer theme, the top plugin for creating a drag and drop website for WordPress, because it offers you such a wide range of options, it’s flexible enough to help create any sort of site.

The Visual Composer plugin supports major premium plugins like both Gravity Forms or Ninja Forms, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, Layer or Revolution Sliders and Essential Grid. Which makes this powerful theme ultra functional.  Folks really seem to enjoy the variety of tools that save you time, the low price, the versatility to produce any type of site, that it’s easy to use and the high levels of compatibility.  Features include the fantastic support, massive template library, dozens of content elements, well appointed front end editor and responsive layout, and a bunch more.  Here are some additional WooCommerce WordPress themes to check out.

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Pivot

The Pivot WordPress theme offers creative professionals a great solution for truly customized web pages. Any site made with it will enjoy a stylish and modern structure that can showcase art, photography or any other projects or products necessary. Since it uses Twitter Bootstrap v3 and proper CSS3 and JS coding, everything loads quickly no matter what size or resolution screen the site is displayed upon. This responsive theme offers unlimited structural options with no knowledge of programming or development necessary. The premium site-building plugin Visual Live Composer packaged with Pivot is all you need.

Besides simple drag and drop positioning, The Pivot WP theme includes the Ebor Page Builder, both the Master and Revolution slider logins, integration with WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads for online sales, BBPress, Contact Form 7 and Gravity Forms for customer or site visitor communication. Attract attention from all around the globe with full translation capabilities and WPML integration. Before you add all of these five extras, each page needs to be designed. When you use Pivot, you get many pre-made layouts perfect for portfolios, graphic galleries, sidebars and full-width pages. It also includes eight creative styles for headers and an unlimited amount of background options and colors to choose from. No matter what you need a WordPress site for, the Pivot theme can provide in style.

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Massive Dynamic

Massive Dynamic has a modern, minimalist style WordPress theme that is a bold full screen theme that’s WooCommerce ready and quite easy to customize.  Massive Dynamic is powered by the Visual Composer drag and drop page builder plugin and it overs dozens of shortcodes to give it the options and features you want to see in a great portfolio style web page.  Drag and drop elements where you want them to be, choose from over a dozen header styles, get your site online quickly and wow your audience with the impact of a full width front page.  The demo version above is just one of the many examples of sites that can be created with Massive Dynamic, so don’t be afraid to look around and see what else there is.

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Cosonix

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[365footballorg-blog]

Boehm: Reggie Cannon, a Nobel Prize and a special trip to Colorado

USA Today Sports Images

October 26, 20186:43PM EDT

Reggie Cannon isn’t yet old enough to buy a beer legally, but he’s already logged nearly two full years as a professional, become an everyday starter for an MLS Cup contender and made his US national team debut.

In many families, that would make the FC Dallas fullback a rock star. In his, however, he’s the odd one out.

Cannon comes from a clan of high academic achievers, to put it mildly – starting with his maternal grandfather, Dr. Warren Washington, a Nobel Prize-winning climate change researcher, National Medal of Science recipient, former chair of the National Science Board and senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Penn State, where he earned his doctorate, recently informed him that he’ll soon have a building named after him on campus.

Now 82, Dr. Washington has made the advanced tracking of greenhouse gases and their effects on the planet his life’s work, spending the past half-century building groundbreaking meteorological models to track both the cause and effects of our warming planet. Though he retired this year, he remains active in his field, traveling often to give speeches and presentations.

“I never realized the magnitude of what he did until I was older and I could actually grasp the concepts. He shook [President Barack] Obama’s hand, won a Nobel Prize and all this stuff,” Reggie told MLSsoccer.com of his grandfather this week. “It’s honestly an honor. Coming from a family of, my mom went to Brown, my stepdad went to Dartmouth, my dad went to Brown also – they all went to Ivy League schools and I’m the first athlete in the family that really broke out and became a professional athlete.

“It was kind of weird for my family to deal with, just to see a soccer player instead of an academic, study type of person. I’ve had an interesting journey so far, but my family learned to deal with me.”

Cannon (center) with his grandfather (left) | Courtesy of Dr. Warren Washington

Cannon’s grandfather has served in an advisory role to five different US presidents starting with Jimmy Carter. And as just the second African-American to earn a doctorate in the atmospheric sciences, he’s also a trailblazer who’s mentored dozens of aspiring young researchers over the years, among them his own seven children, many of whom went on to earn advanced degrees and carve out high-powered medical and scientific careers of their own.

That includes Reggie’s mother, Dr. Tracy Cannon-Smith, an accomplished urological surgeon in Arlington, Texas.

“My dad, he definitely is a genius,” said Dr. Cannon-Smith, a Brown University alum – she captained the Bears’ rugby team – who went on to earn her PhD from the University of Michigan. “If you ever met him, he’s super humble, never said anything to all his grandkids about his accomplishments.

“I know for all those kids growing up, we had very high expectations academically. All of his kids went to colleges and graduated, many of us have advanced degrees. So that was always the expectation – and not just us. He mentored many people to get, especially, degrees in science. That was the biggest thing for him, for people to go into the scientific field.

“You had to know where you would like to go and have ideas of what you wanted to be when you grow up,” she added. “Do you want to be a scientist? Do you want to be an engineer? What do you want to be? You had to have definite ideas from the time you were 7 or 8, and talk about those things.”

A highly touted soccer prospect since his mid-teens, Reggie was offered a Homegrown contract by FCD while he was still in high school. His parents, however, weren’t ready for academics to exit the picture quite so quickly.

“I asked him to go for one semester just so he would never in his mind wonder what college was like,” explained Reggie’s mom. “We certainly have a lot of our family members have gone to Ivy League schools and good institutions, so I asked him to choose a school that he felt that had [both] soccer standards and academic standards. That’s why he chose UCLA.”

Three generations of Reggie Cannon’s family | Courtesy of Dr. Tracy Cannon-Smith

Cannon quickly flashed his prodigious potential with the Bruins and decided he was ready to go pro after just one semester at Westwood. His family, however, were skeptical, starting with Dr. Washington.

“That was a hard one, because all his kids have gone to college, all of Reggie’s cousins have gone to college and are doing great things,” said Cannon’s mom of her father’s reservations. 

“He was a little concerned at first, and that’s why it was such a hard decision, I think, for Reggie to not finish. For our family that’s certainly not tradition.”

“I thought it was a bad idea at first,” Dr. Washington told MLSsoccer.com. “But then when I found out a little bit more, he can still go to college after his soccer career, if he wants to. I think I see a number of athletes doing this sort of thing in basketball and baseball and so forth. So he must have the skills to do fairly well as a professional.”

Recalled Cannon with a laugh: “It definitely took some convincing, but I’m proud they finally broke down.”

From a soccer perspective, it’s hard to argue with Reggie’s decision. He’s made huge strides this year and showed well in his USMNT debut earlier this month, showing why he’s widely seen as the program’s right back of the future. And his mom is quick to note that he had to earn his way to this point.

“A lot of people think Reggie grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth,” she said. “I understand why people think that, but I also think that when your mom is a surgeon there’s certain skills you have to develop, perhaps because your mom isn’t around. Reggie had to learn [that] if I couldn’t get him to practice – he’d call and I’d say, ‘I’m not going to be home in time’ – so it was upon him to find someone who could get him to practice.

“I told him, if you want to do this soccer thing, you’re going to have to make it happen for yourself, because Mom can’t always be there. So I think at a young age he had to determine that if this is something you want, you’ve got to fight for it. So he definitely did that more so on his own than me helping him.”

After his initial doubts, Dr. Washington has come around. And on Sunday, he will make the short trip out to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to watch his grandson play professional soccer in person for the first time, as Dallas meet the Colorado Rapids on Decision Day presented by AT&T (4:30 pm ET | TV & Streaming Info).

“All of the grandkids have gone to college – and Reggie is the first who really went into athletics. He’s turned out to be a fine grandson,” he said. “We’re very proud of him, and hopefully we’ll get a few minutes to spend with him on Sunday.”

One of the core principles Dr. Washington passed on to his descendants was that their choice of field was less important than their full commitment to it – “it wasn’t that we necessarily achieve the highest things, we just had to be good at whatever we chose to do. That was the expectation,” Dr. Cannon-Smith explained – and it seems safe to say that at age 20, Reggie is fulfilling his end of that bargain.

“I think as long as he’s excellent and doing well and happy with it, I’m very supportive,” said his grandfather. “And I think his parents and the family as a whole are very proud of him.”

Series: 

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Boehm: Reggie Cannon, a Nobel Prize and a special trip to Colorado was originally published on 365 Football

[albanlakepublishing-blog]

February Alban Lake Spotlight

Mike Morgan, Author

For our very first interview, we have Mr. Mike Morgan, a prolific and excellent author. He was kind enough to take time to answer our questions; but first, a quick bio for Mike:

 Mike Morgan lives in Iowa with his wife, two children, and increasingly infirm cat. After careers in the UK, Japan, and Texas involving accountancy, freelance illustration, non-fiction writing, and teaching, Mike now does improbably complex things on computers for a living. When he's not worrying about the cat or tidying up his kids' toys, Mike gets overwrought about politics and attempts to write short stories. It's possible his two hobbies get muddled up from time to time. He has written for several publishers in the UK and the USA, with pieces in anthologies, comics, and magazines. Follow him on Twitter as @CultTVMike, where he posts about all things sci-fi. Oh, OK, it's mostly Doctor Who.

 My website is: https://perpetualstateofmildpanic.wordpress.com/

 My latest project is this month's Outposts of Beyond.

  And on to the interview . . .

 Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

 A: I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I looked at book covers as a young child, maybe five or six, and thought, "I want my name on a book." When I got into comics with 2000AD and then Star Wars Weekly, this would be when I was 7, that desire spread to wanting to be in the credits boxes in comic books, too. Unfortunately, as I got older, it became apparent that selling work wasn't going to be as easy as I'd initially thought.

 I tried for a sustained period in my twenties to break into comics, but never got anywhere. At one comics convention in Bristol, while hauling my portfolio around, I got chatting with Matt Brooker, who was brutally honest with me. "Look," he said, "There's nothing particularly wrong with the way you draw, but there just aren't any openings. We hire on maybe one or two new freelancers a year and they have some quirk. You draw well, but there's nothing unique. To develop that style, you need to put in thousands of hours of practice, and you're not going to get paid for that. You don't strike me as independently wealthy, so I doubt you can afford to do it for free. So..."

 He was right. I was dirt poor. I got a job in accountancy, which I hated. But at least I could go back to affording food.

 Later, after years of doing things I loathed, and then teaching for several years in Japan, I immigrated here to the U.S. Starting a new career in Texas, I worked for seven years as a technical writer and editor, which helped me fine-tune my knowledge of English grammar and punctuation and gave me first-hand insight into how hard it is to express complex ideas in plain, no-nonsense sentences. I got enough feedback to sink a fleet of Titanics and developed a tough skin to criticism. I also learned how important it was not to treat my fellow writers the way I was treated, and I became a mentor to some of the newer team members. Although the working environment was hostile, I did love the act of writing and I found joy in helping others improve their written work.

 While all that was going on, I was continuing to put out one or two pieces of my own writing. Teaching in Japan gives you a lot of spare time, so I'd started floating a few things past publishers. Moving to Texas, I was determined to keep that up, but stuck in a car for three or four hours a day on a hellish commute, working tons of extra, unpaid hours, and starting a family didn't leave a lot of spare time. It was only with our move to Iowa, where I still am now, that I found a better work-life balance and was able to kick the writing into high gear. To my inordinate surprise, I discovered that publishers wanted to print my short stories. Not only that, but readers showed every sign of liking them. I was flabbergasted.

 I look back now and I see my name on a book cover and my name in a comic book credits box and I'm glad I never completely gave in. One of my best friends, Kath, said this to me years ago and it stuck with me: "What I like about you, Mike, is that you keep on trying." I'm sure she's forgotten ever saying that to me, but I remembered, and I've tried to stay that way.

  Q: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

 A: Oh, a 'quirk'! I have yet to develop one with my drawing, but with my writing...? Editors have often told me, in withering tones, that I over-write. You only have to glance at the length of this interview...

 Also, as part of over-egging a box full of puddings in every story, I tend toward the proliferation of pleonasms. And uncalled-for alliteration.

 If you catch me doing it, slap me.

  Q: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

 A: I watch lots of science fiction and read comics. I really enjoy reading stories to my two kids at bedtime, too. Honestly, with two young kids in the house, I spend a lot of time taking endless delight in everything they say and do. I try to carve out a few moments every day to remind my wife how much I appreciate her.

  Q: How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

 A: I've had 10 short stories published professionally, with two more coming out in the next couple of months. A couple of those were my Titanville stories, which were published together in an e-book by Nomadic Delirium Press, getting me my first solo front-cover credit. I have a dozen more stories in slush piles as we speak, so one or two more will probably work their ways through to acceptance this year – that seems to be the typical ratio of stories sent to stories accepted.

 I've also had a few stories in charity anthologies, and a couple of poems (one was about Star Trek and was printed by Iron Press in a collection sold throughout a major high-street chain of bookshops in the UK), a few non-fiction articles about the long-running BBC TV series Doctor Who in various tomes, and a comic strip script in the British small press comic Futurequake. Another comic script is being drawn now, as it happens, for Futurequake. We're hoping it'll be included in the Spring issue, but we'll see how that goes.

 Oh, and I worked for a short while at an online word mill, putting out articles about sci-fi. You can find them at WhatCulture.com. They accumulated about three million page-views, I think.

  Q: What inspires you to write?

 A: I am drawn to the act of wrenching something into existence through the blunt application of imagination and willpower. I am compelled to create. For better or worse, you guys are on the receiving end of that compulsion.

 When it comes down to deciding what I'm going to write about, I think there are some themes I keep returning to: the beauty in the world, the triumph of love and kindness over indifference and cruelty, the eternal fight against injustice, how any attempt to simplify the complexity of the real world down into stark black-and-white concepts will lead to hate and death...

Also, I love writing characters who are flat-out wrong. There's nothing more fun and more human than someone who is utterly convinced about the rightness of a cause, and that cause is based on an utter misunderstanding. Really, that type of thinking characterizes most of our species' history. People who are wrong deserve our sympathy, our help, our love, not our derision. Anyway, that's some entertaining stuff to write about.

One final thought – I don't want to be a downer but I do feel time pressing on me. Nothing like worrying I'll be dead in a few years to spur me to get some writing done.

 Q: Do you set a plot or prefer going wherever an idea takes you?

 A: I try to have a clear idea of what the story's about before I get too far down the rabbit hole of writing. Preferably, I have an end worked out as well, even if that ending changes by the time I get to it. Sometimes, I'll start the story with the end and work my way backward to the beginning. But there should always be a purpose to a story, even if that purpose is to have fun.

 Every time I carve a tale out of the disorganized mess of my thoughts, the process seems different. One time, the whole story will spill out of me in a rush. Other times, I have to sit down and think through what I'm trying to express.

 Every now and then, a neat idea will occur to me, but I can't find a way to get a coherent plot out of it. Then, a second, entirely different idea will come to me, and I find mashing the two disparate strands together into the same reality brings the whole thing into focus.

 For example, someone having giant spiders in her home and not being bothered by them because they're not in any way dangerous is a neat mental image, but it's not a story in itself. But, add a second strand: imagine there's a neighbor whose job is to twist facts to meet political dogma and that neighbor comes into contact with those spiders... what happens? Does she believe the objective truth that they're completely safe to be around, or does she react with emotion and twist reality to meet that baseless viewpoint? After all, that's her job.

 Boom – you have conflict. The wrong-headed, fact-denying neighbor suddenly at war with nice, harmless giant-sized arachnids. For no other reason than she can't see the truth in front of her face, which is a very common and very plausible failing. What's more, the story takes on a greater message: we shouldn't twist facts to meet our prejudices, no matter how tempted we'd be to do that if we were in the neighbor's shoes.

 That's where A Spider Queen in Every Home came from, the mingling of two ideas that, on the face of it, can't coexist in a single narrative; but, they can, and that story was picked up and published in More Alternative Truths by B-Cubed Press.

 Lastly, some publishers require that you pitch ideas. There, you have to submit a complete plot, along with character notes, up front. If a pitch is accepted, there's no scope for changing details along the way as you write the actual story. For all you know, by altering the agreed-upon tale without consultation, you might be encroaching upon territory occupied by another story in the same collection.

 When fleshing out a pitch, it can feel like you're working while wearing a straightjacket. But it's an opportunity to find ways of making the piece as entertaining as possible without venturing beyond the plan you gave your word on. I've written a couple of stories based on pitches. Unto His Final Breath in Uffda Press's King of Ages: A King Arthur Anthology was created that way, and it garnered some nice reviews. I really like the world building I got to do in that short story.

  Q: What types and forms of writing do you do? If you're also an editor, what is your niche?

 A: I mostly write short stories these days, but I toy with novels. I do have a novel I'm working on (doesn't every writer?) - but, it's the short stories that sell. I am sneakily putting together various stories that work as elements within a greater whole, so that by the time they're all published you'll find they're a novel-length narrative printed in discrete parts across multiple publishers, books, and media. That's the idea, anyway.

 For example, the Titanville stories stand alone as individual tales, but the intent is to have themes and sub-plots that build as time goes on, without requiring the reader to be familiar with every installment. The Age of Asmodeus stories have a similar approach; there's a history to that world, and each story explores a different sliver of it. As those stories go on, readers will see various characters moving in and out of segments of the series or they'll be referred to. Again, the readers won't need to read every story, but there'll be a sense of events moving forward for those who do.

 With the tales featuring Professor Lazarus, the cumulative narrative will unfold using text-based stories and comic strips. Again, that's the hope. Futurequake, a British comic, has printed one story so far and has another one being drawn at the moment. With the short stories, I've had some luck; Flame Tree Publishing printed Fishing Expedition a while ago. I've written a couple more Lazarus stories since then that I'm waiting to hear back on, so we'll see how that goes.

 But you were asking about types of writing. Occasionally, I have a poem published. More often, I'll get non-fiction pieces accepted. I contribute on a semi-regular basis to the range on media and culture put out by Watching Books. This year, they're printing a volume called You on Target about the Target series of Doctor Who novelizations, and I have two essays in that.

 With editing, I offer my services to small presses who print my stories, with regards to proofreading or checking formatting. I'm always willing to help put out the best publication possible.

  Q: What is your area(s) of subject matter expertise? How did you discover this niche? What intrigues you about it?

 A: With living in Japan for several years, I found writing stories set there pretty easy. Not much research required! There's a story of mine being printed soon by you fine people at Alban Lake Press set in Japan. Kuro no Ken (The Back Sword) is slated for the next issue of Outposts of Beyond. The scenes in Ise City take place twenty minutes down the road from where I lived for three years, and the part in the vast cemetery—I've visited that cemetery and it really is that creepy. I love Japan. Those were some of the happiest years of my life.

 Having said that, I lived for longer in Stoke-on-Trent in the UK, and that was the setting for Reverse Horror Story. Your fine company published that piece in Bloodbond just last year. I had way too much fun putting Stoke-themed jokes into that monster-mash-up. I guess, to answer your question, I'm an expert at shoe-horning places I've lived into my stories. I find having a deep knowledge of the settings makes them feel more authentic.

 But, to be clear, I've never lived on the enormous asteroid Ceres, the setting of The Library of Ice in this month's Outposts of Beyond. I'd be willing to give it a try, though.

 Being serious for a moment, I keep writing about people who are struggling because I've been through that. Want to be an expert on the poor? Try being unemployed for years on end, not having enough to eat and worrying about losing the room you're renting. That'll give you an understanding of what that life is like. Newsflash – it's really stressful and depressing.

  Q: How do you balance your creative and work time?

 A: I have yet to find any balance, but live in hope. I get the kids to bed in the evening and then try to write. Sometimes, I even succeed.

  Q: Where have you been published? Upcoming publications? Awards and other accolades?

 A: Other than the things I've already talked about, I'd like to mention Nomadic Delirium's Divided States series, which explores a post-USA North America. My contribution to this excellent range was The Wall Is Beautiful. I hope to finish a second story in this shared universe. I was also fortunate enough to have submissions accepted in their Martian Wave and Disharmony of the Spheres collections.

 One other project I'm very proud to have participated in was Metasaga's Futuristica anthology. I had Something to Watch Over Us included in that amazing collection. I can't heap enough praise on that spectacular book; if you like science fiction, you need to own it.

 As far as upcoming releases go, that I haven't already called attention to, I have a story called Buddy System accepted in Myriad Paradigm's upcoming Mind Candy anthology. The intent is for that book to be released in the next few months. I also have something in the editing pile with Red Ted Books, which should be advancing toward publication this year.

 And, yes, it's a fanzine, but I like fanzines, I'm working with the wonderful people who put out the Doctor Who-themed Fannuals to see what they might want from me for their next volume. I'm so in love with the Fannual project; it's incredible fun. It's actually what I'm starting work on after finishing this interview.

  Q: What are you working on now?

 A: Well, Alban Lake announced they were going to do something with ghost stories, so, you know, I thought I'd try to submit to that. *Grins*

 In the pipeline are more Age of Asmodeus tales, more Titanville, more Lazarus, more space opera antics, more of everything I'm obsessed with.

  Q: Who are your favorite characters to write? How did they come into being, and what do you love - or loathe - about them?

 A: I love writing about Professor Lazarus. She gives her life in every story, usually to save the world from some terrible fate. Then, next story, she's alive again, in a world that's transformed. It forces me to reinvent her and her milieu every time. And there's a point to all her deaths; it's leading to something.

 She came into being because I thought, "Hah – killing the lead character every time would be funny." Then I thought, "What if it's the same lead character every time, and there's a reason she keeps coming back?" How does knowledge of her deaths affect her? Where, at a character level, does that propel the over-arching storyline?

 Another fun character was Silas Smith in The Man Who Killed Computers (published in Disharmony of the Spheres). He's able to lie to computers and have them believe what he's saying. Once you realize how he's doing that, it's less amusing, because you also realize that he can manipulate the humans in the story. I love the ambiguity of his character. He tries so hard to convince everyone he's a hero—the story revolves around how others respond to his claims.

  Q: Any advice you would like to give to aspiring writers?

 A: If someone says you need to improve, he or she is probably right. Every writer needs to improve, every day. It's a process that never ends.

 Don't take rejection personally. It's the work that sucks, not you.

 Keep trying. Stories are only published if they're written and then submitted.

 Realize that even after you've had a pile of stories published there will still be more defeats than victories. And that it's OK.

 Anything else you’d like to add that I haven’t asked? For example, what would you like to see more of in your specific genre? In the publishing field?

 We all like to get things for free. But—! Readers: try to pay for that fiction you're consuming. The more the publishers earn, the more they can pay the writers. The more the writers earn, the more they can write. It's a virtuous feedback loop. If you can't find good fiction out there, it's because you won't pay for it.

 Or, you know, you haven't been to Alban Lake's store. There's lots of good writing there.

  Once again, we’d like to thank Mr. Mike Morgan for his time and to thank all of you for supporting Alban Lake and all of these awesome authors and artists.

[junker-town]

THE CULTURE THAT SAVED THE THUNDER

At least for now.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

This is how every Oklahoma City Thunder practice ends, in a cacophony of unmistakable noises that slowly fade out over an hour. It’s exactly what you would expect: sneakers meeting hardwood, rattling rims, lively banter. The unofficial drum beats that keep steady pace are the basketballs, pounding into the floor over and over and over again.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The Integris Thunder Development Center has six ball racks built around its two courts, each holding nine Spalding basketballs. As the players trickle off the floor for the day, an obsessive-compulsive tradition kicks in: Every ball will be rotated so the “SPALDING” logos face outward in synchronicity.

No one really cares when it started, or why, but the tradition moves along organically now. The Thunder won’t shoot better because of it, and it’s not really a superstition, either. It’s just what they do now. But regardless of who started the tradition, it reflects Oklahoma City’s attention to detail. That, in turn, illuminates their culture.

Culture’s a word we hear a lot. Every professional sports team — every professional anything — talks about having a culture, building a culture, maintaining a culture, spreading a culture. It has become a catch-all term for anything nebulous that can’t quite be defined by numbers, but there’s a real phenomenon hiding behind all that. It has no definition, but you know it when you see it.

The Thunder spent a decade cultivating a buttoned-up identity befit for the impressionable young players they traditionally target when building their roster, one that worked so well that there was no reason to tweak it until now. This season, though, they made needed moves to welcome Paul George and Carmelo Anthony, two established All-Stars who have developed their own habits in very different places.

Will it work?

It depends if they're willing to buy in.

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Basketball is complicated as hell, but it can also be real simple. When it comes to building a roster, just follow an equation: value gained > value lost.

Oklahoma City violated that equation last summer when Kevin Durant, one of the best three players in the league, left them for nothing in return. It takes years for most franchises to recover from losing a player that foundational. Hell, even teams who have traded top-five stars and received some value in return are only now becoming relevant again, like with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett.

For the Thunder, this didn’t take years. It took one summer.

After Durant’s departure, the Thunder doubled down on Russell Westbrook and let him run rampant for an MVP. It was delightful, but an inevitable first-round defeat followed. They were a team built for two stars in a league that demands several of them, and Westbrook was but one.

From atop the franchise, general manager Sam Presti preached patience.

“We feel really good about the momentum that’s been created,” Presti said at the Thunder’s exit interviews last May. “We’re trying to do something here that I don’t think there’s a ton of examples of in the NBA.”

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And then he blindsided the league twice to trade expendable parts for George and Anthony.

“As an idiot, I’m impressed,” center Steven Adams told me.

The George and Anthony trades were Presti’s third and fourth since Durant’s departure. The second came last February when the Chicago Bulls sought Cameron Payne, a low-upside prospect that they’ve reportedly already soured on. They dealt Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott, and their second-round pick to get him. For the Thunder, Gibson was the best player in the deal, McDermott the best prospect, and Chicago’s draft pick — with the team now committed to tanking — the best asset.

Fast forward six months. Frustrated that New York had resisted trade talks involving him for months, Anthony expanded his list of preferred destinations to include Oklahoma City. (Anthony’s no-trade clause limited where New York could deal him.) Those two spare assets from the Chicago trade, acquired by following the golden equation, brought Anthony to the Thunder in about 16 hours.

When you think about a place like Oklahoma City, you don’t associate it with these two players. George is a 27-year-old from Palmdale, Calif., and his contract expires next summer. Like most stars, he will have only one chance to freely decide where he wants to play during the prime of his career. Multiple reports from the summer suggest his priority is to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. To go home.

(It should be noted that those reports came before George was traded to the Thunder, and on media day last month, he said that Oklahoma City has “already proven everything on my checklist [that] I can check off.”)

The 33-year-old Anthony is staring at a $28 million player option, but he may have his own incentives to leave. He was born in Brooklyn and lollygagged for years before committing to leave New York, as the big city had caught his heart. There’s also the Banana Boat factor; Anthony and longtime friends Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James will be free agents together next summer for the first time.

George soured on Indiana’s culture, whatever it was, while New York and James Dolan are positively toxic. The Thunder easily passed the golden team building rule when acquiring George and Anthony.

Those two surely know they can’t carry old habits into this radically different team. Right?

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When the Thunder first arrived in Oklahoma City 10 years ago, Presti likened them to a Silicon Valley startup. He was young, just 30 when he arrived, as were the players. They were all angel investors getting involved on the ground floor.

That attitude was partly shaped by the franchise’s new city. The Thunder are Oklahoma’s first major sports franchise, and they’re the third-smallest television market. Instead of viewing these things as negatives, though, the organization has embraced the same plain, hard-working identity that the city prides itself on.

“The people are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in the world,” said Adams, starting his fifth season with the Thunder. “When I first moved to my house after I got drafted, my neighbor was just making me loaves of bread. So I didn’t know what to do. I mean, obviously, you eat it, but I just like kept it, I had all these loaves of bread. And she just made them for me, which was really nice.”

Adams swears Thunder fans have a sixth sense for knowing when to show up at the airport, too. It’s a local tradition for diehards to stalk the team’s charter plane outside Will Rogers Airport at the end of a long road trip or when a marquee newcomer arrives.

“Kids, too, and it’s a school night,” Adams said. “They come out and do all sorts of stuff, and as an organization, obviously that rubs off on us.”

Neighbors and fans aside, Adams felt like the Thunder caught his attention even in pre-draft workouts because of their high standards for excellence — “more than any other organization I worked out for,” he says. It’s something that players around the league notice, too.

“WHEN I FIRST MOVED TO MY HOUSE AFTER I GOT DRAFTED, MY NEIGHBOR WAS JUST MAKING ME LOAVES OF BREAD.”

“I’m happy to be on the right side of it,” new arrival Raymond Felton said. “As a visitor, it’s different. Now being on the home side of it, it’s a wonderful feeling. I can’t even explain it.”

Felton has only been in Oklahoma City since July, but he swears that he’s already prepared to retire here.

This is the culture that the Thunder will pitch all year to the two basketball nomads, George and Anthony. Both wandered into the franchise to solve short-term goals, but may need more to commit on a longer basis.

Culture often grows to mirror the star player at the top, too. In Oklahoma City, there used to be a friendly debate that manifested into a jersey choice: Are you a 35 or a 0? A workhorse or a showman? Wear your emotions on your sleeve at all times, or choose to let your actions speak? Oklahomans weighed in with their jersey choices, but for years, they were two sides of the same coin. Both represented the same unifying church of basketball.

But in a single moment last June, two friendly sides became a single support group rallying around an enigmatic star. Westbrook was as much a therapist to grieving Thunder fans as he was an MVP last season.

Westbrook is the people’s champion in Oklahoma City, something that rings even truer after he signed a five-year, $205 million extension on Kevin Durant’s birthday earlier this month. Westbrook’s lensless glasses, zebra-striped boots, and sleeveless denim aren’t so representational of Oklahomans, or even the Thunder franchise, but the team has always valued his freedom of expression as long as he adheres to the core values.

And he has.

“If he’s one to put his ego aside and still buy into what the whole organization’s dream is, or goal is, then obviously, that’s huge,” Adams said. “That’s the hardest thing to do, to make that guy buy into the bigger picture. Because it doesn’t happen often.”

Already, George and Anthony recognize that Oklahoma City stands out more than any previous stop. Just like the Thunder never legislated Westbrook’s snarling personality, they’ve already embraced Paul George’s love for fishing and Hoodie Melo. When fans met him at the airport, one guy even brought dozens of sleeveless hoodies to pass out among the waiting crowd.

It’d be impossible for George and Anthony to miss any of this.

“That foundation is already laid,” Anthony said.

VIDEO: Carmelo Anthony has officially landed in Oklahoma City. http://pic.twitter.com/FVnk319wrS

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) September 24, 2017

By itself, the Thunder’s emphasis on culture isn’t unique. Of course every team wants to work hard and value their community. But how many franchises actually pay attention to the details like Oklahoma City? It’s no mistake that the Thunder were first in community appearances last season, according to an NBA tracking system.

They paid attention to the details 10 years ago, and they pay attention to them now. Way back in 2008, Presti was using the same lexicon he uses today. Consider Oklahoma City’s very first press conference in July 2008, when the Thunder had no superstars and no guidelines, when the team hadn’t even chosen its moniker and logo yet. Presti, hired by the Seattle Supersonics a year before, sounded the same then as he does today.

“We’re going to take the next steps for the vision of our team,” Presti said then. “We think this is just an unbelievable opportunity for our team.”

On media day last month, Presti had added a sharper haircut and designer glasses to his look, but nothing else to his message. “A summer like this, or opportunities like this, are really only ideas unless we’re given the opportunity to execute on those.”

In Presti’s lexicon, challenges aren’t challenges, but opportunities. It’s an opportunity to bring these three stars together and attempt to catch Golden State. It’s an opportunity to sell George and Anthony on team basketball where neither star overshadows the other, and on the greater culture around them. If they don’t, this team could certainly fall short of its potential and see it all break apart next summer.

That’s why, a few questions later, Presti says something with the confidence that comes from a culture trusted unconditionally, one that should outlive them all.

“The vision for our team and the way we’ve gone about our business has always been to see things for what they can be,” he said. “Not for what they are.”

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