#truly my fortune was favored in that very specific instance

[ariadne-mouse]

Doodle prompt: Essek’s infographic on the optimal bowl of soup.

Today's flavor: blended zucchini soup with herbs, black pepper, lemon, and a splash of oat milk

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 53

Wasil (One Who Has Reached)

Wasil denotes a hero of spirituality who has reached the final point in the journey made to attain perfect knowledge of God and is meticulously careful to follow His decrees in parallel with the profundity of that knowledge. A wasil has also reached the highest point on the horizon of the heart and spirit, where he or she can observe the Divine manifestations. In Turkish, such an individual is also called an eren (one who has attained and been matured, or one with perfect attainment).

With the term wasil, we indicate a hero of truth whose particular efforts have been crowned with particular aid, and whose particular instances of turning to God and devotions with particular sainthood, and who has therefore been honored with an indescribable nearness to God. A wasil is a sincere one who is continuously drawn toward God in spiritual raptures, and who has programmed his or her will to reach and meet with the Ultimate Truth. Such a one is also a guide who leads others to God without any deviation.

My star was dim and my fortune did not smile on me;

All the days of my life were passing in darkness. But it was a day when one with perfect attainment came to my aid, Then I lived glorious days, and I experienced happy ages. Whether during journeying or upon reaching the horizon of meeting with God, a wasil is extraordinarily meticulous in God’s orders and prohibitions, and tries his utmost to perform the duties of worship fully, constantly considering His inconceivable Grandeur. Even though they are completely sincere and earnest in their devotions, still they tremble with fear that they are unable to observe their duties toward God. With sensitivity proportionate to their efforts, and with a transcending profundity, they do their best to carry out their responsibilities. Such sincere and profound devotions and continuous, earnest efforts receive extra favors from God Almighty. As stated in the Prophetic Tradition, whose meaning is directly from God, When I love him, I become his power of hearing with which he hears, and his power of sight with which he sees,[1] the Almighty, with ever-flowing gifts, makes the wasil hear what will be heard and see what will be seen, and has such a one travel around the station of being loved by Him to reach horizons where the wasil will fully grasp the things which are pleasing to Him.

Though all those who have reached the final point discussed have common perfections, it is a reality that there are some significant differences among them with respect to the specific nature and relative comprehensiveness of their attainments.

Some of them are in unceasing rapture, drowned in the experience of being in the constant company of God, and lead their life fixed on their target with their intellect, logic and reasoning under the direction and protection of Divine manifestations. Any deviation from their target is out of the question, for since their being or self- consciousness has been burned away with the rays of the Divine “Face,” they cannot see, hear, or feel anything other than Him and they live in constant spiritual intoxication. Their intoxication is to the extent that they never think of calling at the shores of sobriety or the quays of carnal reason. It can actually be said that even if they want to think of doing so, they are unable to. It is true that some certain temperaments who have reached this rank have suffered some confusion, but this has rarely taken place. Some among this rank may lose their power of reason, which makes humans responsible for their acts, simply because of the intensity of their feelings of attraction toward God; thus, some of their resulting attitudes, words, and acts may be contrary to the rules of Shari’a. The utterances of Jibali Baba,[2] for instance, and words such as, “There is nothing but God in my cloak!”, “Glory be to me, how grand I am in respect of my essential qualities!”, and “I am the Truth!”—which were uttered by Bayazid al-Bistami,[3] Junayd al-Baghdadi,[5] and Mansur al-Hallaj, respectively, men who were considered to be among the greatest figures of the Sufi way—and other similar statements are effectively attributable to the intensity of the feeling of attraction and to their spiritual intoxication.

Contrary to the exhaustion and calmness caused by unions in physical terms, a wasil is always active, as if programmed to act, observe, love, and learn incessantly. This is why there is a continuity in the relationship of the wasil’s spiritual life with eternity, while carnal love dies away because of this union. The spiritual union or meeting with God at the end of the spiritual journeying is so different that its pleasure continues to deepen more and more; one who has reached this point experiences ever new instances of union, as if favored with union at every moment. Nasimi[5] voices this kind of union, which is the highest point to be reached for a traveler toward God, as follows:

The place where I am has developed into no-space; This body of mine has become a soul completely; God’s Sight has manifested Itself to me; And I have seen myself intoxicated with His meeting. A call has come to me from the Truth: “Come, O lover, you have intimacy with Us! This is the place of intimacy; I have seen you as a faithful one!” In order to be able to reach this point, a very important factor for the traveler, in addition to a particular aspect of human free will, is a feeling of attraction toward God. It is said that a feeling of attraction toward God, the Ultimate Truth, is actually better than the act of worship formally carried out by humanity and the jinn, and this has been circulated among the saints to emphasize that the feeling of attraction toward God is a means of God’s nearness, which both humans and jinn can attain through repeated, regular worship.

The feeling of attraction sometimes comes as a Divine favor in return for an initiate’s sound intention and steadfastness to reach God, and it serves them for reaching the heaven of perfections in an instant. At other times, it happens in order to save initiates from the troubles of journeying, as God Almighty favors them with the partial or particular manifestation of the truth stated in, All-Glorified is He Who took His servant for a journey by night (17:1), carrying them to the point where they can experience God’s nearness according to their capacity. In whatever way it occurs, there can be no doubt that this feeling of attraction is a gift from the All-Merciful.

In one of his poems in his Diwan Kabir, Jalalu’d-Din ar-Rumi describes an instance of meeting with God, which he attained through such a feeling of attraction, as follows:

The mount of love of meanings has taken away both my reason and heart. Ask me where it has taken them. It has taken them somewhere beyond which you cannot know. I have reached under an arch where there is no moon, nor skies. I have arrived in such a world that it is no longer a world. When the All-Beloved Soul appears like the Canopus[6] from the side of the Pillar of the Yemen[7] beyond all terms of quality and quantity, no longer does the moon, nor the sun, nor the pole of the seven heavens remain. The lights of the All-Beloved Soul overwhelm all of them. The ascension toward God and meeting with Him which was achieved by the great saints, according to the capacity of each, is a manifestation of the Ascension of the Messenger of God and his meeting with God, which is expressed by Suleyman Chelebi[8] as follows:

At that moment, the Divine Being manifested Himself in such overflow that There was no longer space or the heavens. The difference between the ascension and meeting with God that is achieved by great saints who follow in the footsteps of the Messenger, which are a manifestation of his Ascension and meeting with Him, compared to the Messenger’s own Ascension and meeting with God, is as great as the difference between a saint and the Messenger.

Among those who have reached the final point of nearness to God are others who, having drowned in the spiritual experience where the existence of all things and beings including themselves is annihilated in the Eternally and Truly Existent One’s Own existence, crown self- annihilation in the ocean of annihilation with a return to life in the horizon of sobriety. They do so in order to be able to have others feel the spiritual pleasures they have achieved, through the windows of the states and stations they have attained, and thus they share the favors that have been accorded to them with those souls that are capable of receiving. Thus, as a requirement of being heirs to the mission of Prophethood, they graciously return among us.

These noble servants of the Ultimate Truth are extremely meticulous in observing the Divine orders and prohibitions, both at the beginning and end of their journeying. They never display attitudes or make utterances which do not conform to the rules of the Shari’a, either in their experiences of attraction toward God, or in the peaks of their disclosures and observations of the Divine truths where the lights of the Divine Face burn away everything. Without exhibiting any attitude that is irreconcilable with servanthood to God, they always try their utmost to carry out whatever servanthood to God requires their willpower to do, as decreed in, And (continue to) worship your Lord until what is certain ( death) comes to you (15:99). They carry out their duties of service according to the depth of their knowledge of God and love of Him, and commensurate with their experiences of attraction. They prefer being servants at the door of the Ultimate Truth to all other achievements and stations, and they always give precedence to servanthood to Him over the rewards that come from Him. Regarding their knowledge of Him as insufficient on any given occasion, they emphasize their inability to give due thanks for God’s favors to them. Saying, “We have not been able to worship You as worshipping You requires, O Worshipped One,” they confess that they have not been able to do anything worthy of mention in the name of worshipping God. With the words, “We have not been able to know You as knowing You requires, O Known One,” they excuse themselves for their lack of sufficient capacity of knowing God. And by uttering, “We have not been able to thank You as thanking You requires, O Thanked One,” they sigh with a deep sense of shame as they are unable to give due thanks for the limitless favors of the All- Favoring.

These people of great stature are extraordinarily self-possessed, exceptionally aware, and full of feelings of fear and awe, even when carrying out their duties with the deepest commitment and responsibility. It can be said that their inner worlds are best pictured and manifested by the Divine declaration,Who do whatever they do and give whatever they give in charity and for God’s cause, with their hearts trembling at the thought that they are bound to return to their Lord (remaining anxious, for they are unsure whether God will accept from them and be pleased with them). It is those (illustrious ones) who hasten to do all kinds of virtuous deeds, and they are in a virtuous competition with one another in doing them (3:114). In any case, God knows the ultimate truth in all matters.

O God! Show us the truth as truth and enable us to observe it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and enable us to avoid it. And bestow Your blessings and peace upon our master, Muhammad, whom You have chosen among all creation, made perfectly pure, and favored with Messengership, and on his Family and Companions, whom You have chosen and favored with blessings.

[1]al-Bukhari, “Riqaq” 38; Ibn Hibban, Sahih, 2:58.

[2] Jibali Baba is one of the saints who lived in Istanbul just before its conquest by the Turks in 1453, and died during the conquest. According to some, he is Jebe Ali Pasha, who was one of the saintly commanders of the Turkish army during the conquest. The district Jibali in Istanbul was named after him.

[3] Abu Yazid (Bayazid) al-Bistami (d. 804–874): One of the greatest Sufi masters. He was from Bastam, Iran. Junayd al-Baghdadi said: “Abu Yazid holds the same rank among us as Gabriel among the angels.” His life was based on self- annihilation and the practice of devotion.

[4] Junayd al-Baghdadi (830–910): One of the most famous early Sufi masters. He lived and died in Baghdad. He enjoyed great respect and was known as “the prince of those having knowledge of God.”

[5] Imadu’d-Din Nasimi (1369–1417): Azerbaijan’s outstanding poet of the fifteenth century, wrote in Azerbaijani Turkish along with Arabic and Persian. He was very accomplished in lyric poems.

[6] Canopus is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina, and the second brightest star in the night-time sky, after Sirius.

[7] The Pillar of the Yemen (Rukn Yamani) is the southern corner of the Ka’ba which faces Yemen.

[8] Suleyman Chelebi (1351–1422) is the writer of the famous Mawlid (whose original name is Wasilat an-Najat, meaning “The Means of Salvation”).

[kewltie]

contains: slavery, caste system 

Quirkless. Lesser. Lesser than humans.

The thick metal collar goes around his neck and closes with a secured beep. "Be good to your new master, Izuku," the Headmaster instructs. "You're the pride of our academy so try not to shame us. Always remember your lessons and oath."

"We serve at the behest of those who greater than us," Izuku recites solemnly. A mantra that was beaten into him since he was taken from his mother's arms by the DQA when he was only just eight years old and deposited in one of its many training academies.

"Good, good," the Headmaster says, looking particularly pleased with himself. "You're quite fortunate that you're benefactor is such a high profile character that you might be able to pay off your contract debt in ten years or so."

"Yes," Izuku agrees, even though he wouldn't have acquired such a debt if he wasn't stolen away and forced to learn at the feet of adults who claimed to know better. Claimed they were there to help him because he is quirkless. Useless. He must be taught to serve society better.

"Will they--," he swallows the flash of nerves for a moment, "may I know who is to be my new master?" The Headmaster grins, eyes twinkling brightly against Izuku's shadowy apprehension. "I have no doubt that you may already know his name."

"A public  figure?" Izuku murmurs thoughtfully. A politician or an idol perhaps? Someone whose name and face is spread everywhere enough that even locked away in the fortress of the academy Izuku would still be familiar with him to recognize who he is. "A celebrity then?"

The Headmaster snorts in amusement. "Close enough," he answers. "In his line of work he might as well be with the way the media and his legion of devout fans like the sink their teeth into him if they could." Izuku blinks, mind racing as he connects the dot. "A prohero?!"

His eyes widen and lower jaw dropping in surprise when the Headmaster gave a short nod. "I believe he's around your age, so young still but a prodigy they say. Having broken into the top fifty ranking in only two year after his graduation from U.A, now he’s among the top ten. His performance had truly been impressive.”

Izuku's heart stops.

U.A., the school Izuku had once dreamed of going to before it all came crashing down. In another life, in another world it would have been his alma mater, but this is his reality now. Now, he can only glimpse of those heroes on TV and thinks of all the could haves, would haves.

That should be me out there, his younger self had thought with a yearnful heart as he pressed his hand against the screen of the TV, but the academy was no place for broken dreams and fanciful wishes. It carved out every weakness of his and crushed it under its firmed teaching.

Izuku may have outgrown those childhood fancies, but he never stopped looking toward the sky like a bird with clipped wings. If he couldn't be one of them then he wanted to know everything about them. News clippings, scholarly journals, and books, he had devoured it all.

"I know you always did have a fondness of the proheroes scene," the Headmaster comments idly like Izuku's earlier obsession with heroes, though argue by his handlers that it had truly never gone away, wasn't a topic of heated contention throughout his years at the academy.

"This is the best match up we could ever hope for. You're one of our most brightest students--one I, dearsay, haven't seen in decades," he says, looking fondly at Izuku as though Izuku hasn't been dragged into his office so many times for corrective behavior measure.

Izuku has always been a good boy, but never an obedience one, his former teachers would often lament about that fact. It's precisely why although Izuku had had broken so many grounds and records at the academy, consistently ranked at the top of his class, but finding him a proper sponsor was hard.

On paper, he was perfect, if choosing to ignore his long disciplinary paper trail, but once the sponsor had met him in person and saw all the cracks of his polished submission in the rigid of his shoulders and eyes unwilling to fall to the floor, they knew right away--there was something terribly wrong with him.

Like, how he was a failure for being born quirkless so they had to carefully train him up with the best money the government could buy in hope that one day he could serve their best and brightest. Even then he'd failed to live up to their expectations of him.

"This pro-hero," Izuku says slowly and carefully. "Does he know of me?" Will he also be disappointed when he meets Izuku like all the rest?

"He specifically requested you. He was very insistent about it," the Headmaster responds, and then he frowns. “Rather forceful actually. Wouldn't take no for an answer. I'd even suggested going through our catalogues of other Lessers first before he make up his mind, but he nearly rip my head off." His frown deepens as his face pinches at the memory. "Such a crude behavior indeed. I almost wanted decline if it wasn't for his reputable reputation as a hero."

Izuku's eyes widen. "He asked for me personally? Who is he then—tell me?!" he demands, taking several steps toward the Headmaster with hands extended out as thought he was going to shake the answer right out of him. 

"Izuku," the Headmaster snaps, eyes narrowing in contempt. "Calm yourself! You’re not a child anymore. You're a representative of this elite academy, so such ill manner does not become us!”  

Izuku freezes, quickly dropping his hands to his side once more. "I--" His gaze fall to the ground as heat rises to his cheek. "I deeply apologize, sir. I don’t know what came over me like that." He quickly falls back, putting enough distance between them to regain his composure. 

The Headmaster sighs. "I know you're excited because this may be your last chance at getting a benefactor after so many fail sponsorships, but do not forget your place, Izuku." 

Izuku’s mouth dries and there’s an awful twist in his guts as another lecture starts rolling in. 

"It's with your head bowed, eyes down, and on your knees at the feet of your master. You're incredibly brilliant and talented student, but no matter how good you are you're still a Lesser," he explains as though Izuku hadn't heard it a hundred times before. "You'll never amount to anything spectacular compare to the rest of us. Such is the plight of the quirkless." 

Izuku bristles, hands clenching and unclenching at his side but he holds his tongue. If he says the wrong thing again, it'll cost him maybe everything. 

It only takes one chance. That's all he need. A reason to get out of the academy's iron grip and its intense scrutiny so he'll have room to breathe and plan his way out of these shackles that bind him.

Freedom on bent knees and a collar around his neck. Oh, the irony.

"I keep that in mind, sir," Izuku murmurs, plastering a smile that he doesn't quite feel on his face. "When will I meet my new master then?"

"Now," the Headmaster says with a wave of his hand toward the exit of his office. "I'll take you to him right this instance."

Izuku jerks in surprise. "So soon?!" he asks. Though he'd long accepted his fate is not his own, but he hasn't been mentally and emotionally prep for a meeting with the man whose name will be carved onto his collar. 

The Headmaster purses his lip unhappily. "He wants to meet you right away even though I'd insisted we give it a few days to prepare you first, but he's--" he scrunches up his face in annoyance, "extremely vocal about what he wants. Twenty billion yens will get you a whole lot of favor it seems."  

Izuku chokes on air.

Twenty billion yen?! "Is that--" Izuku starts and then stops, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. "I-Is that how much he'd paid for me?" 

The Headmaster frowns, scratching his chin as he steers Izuku out of his office. "It's how much he's sponsoring you for." 

"Ah, I see," Izuku replies, even though he doesn't see how is that any different. No matter how they may have prettied it up, it's still an exchange of money for a service and in any other world that would be frown upon but here's it's a way of life for the quirkless. 

The Headmaster escorts him through the winding halls of the academy where several students--their age vary as young as seven to even older than Izuku at twenty-seven--roam unrestricted in the hallway during their free period. 

The campus is a sprawling education complex.

They're always learning to be good, better, for their master. Everything is for their master. From basic domestic skills like cooking and cleaning to learning violin first hand under a maestro, and then there's math and physics. The education here varies and complex.

It's all in service of their master in the future. They must be mold to be whatever their master needed. Trained to be the best so they can serve to the best of their abilities as companion, assistant, and consort. They have to be everything and nothing at all.

Coveted by those who only saw value in the rarity and the novelty of owning a Lesser, Izuku and his kind are ornament pieces meant to decorate the arms of their master but once their master get bored of them, they're quickly discarded and are no longer of any worth.

They are consider a priceless treasure up until the point when they're not anymore. To be treated like a commodity, with no inherent worth until others deem it so, is not the way Izuku wanted to live.

But nobody had given him a choice in that regard. Him and thousands of others like him. 

"We're here," the Headmaster says as they stand outside of one of the private VIP rooms where they often entertain special guests visiting the academy. It's a place Izuku had been to many times before, presented to potential sponsors like a piece of meat to be sold.

There's a price on Izuku's head, a price on the head of all the students here. It an arbitrary number, but it's important enough that people have live and die by it. Izuku knows his worth and it has little to do what anyone else think, but it all comes back to money in the end.

Money from sponsorship that lined the pocket of the academy, money that kept Izuku and others collared and trap in their gilded cage and it is ultimately money that brought Izuku right in front of this door to meet the man who will decide his fate. Izuku puts on his warpaint.

He wears an indomitable smile on his face as though it was carved from stone as the Headmaster pushes the door open and leads him in. His eyes flutter shut for a moment and he breathes as he steps forward onto the battlefield with nothing but his wits to guide him through.

The room opens up to marble titles lining the floor, lights cascade down from a crystal chandelier hanging above, several muted grey accent chairs surround a glass coffee table, the walls are painted white on white, and even the rest of the decor stay resolutely neutral in colors. 

It's simple, clean cut, and modern. And it left Izuku feeling cold and bereft every time he walk into this room. The only jarring difference this time around is the other person in the room beside him and the Headmaster. His presence alone immediately takes up all the space in Izuku's head and leaves him startlingly breathless and dazed with confusion.

Domineering is a word, Izuku would use. All-consuming is another. It's like stepping into a vortex and getting swept right up in the eye of its storm. A furious red storm that Izuku had been caught in since he was a child, fallen under its spell with a single infuriating glance. It's those same pair of eyes that had looked at him with contempt and scorn back then as though whatever they found of him it was sorely lacking. 

The man doesn't rise from his seat and didn't offer a single word, but Izuku knows him, knows him like he knows his own heartbeat. The slope of his shoulders, the wide expanse of his back, the hard plane of his chest, every inch of him Izuku had a glimpsed of on the TV screen, he’d committed it all to memory.

It been more than ten years since they have stood right in front of each other, Izuku had changed since then but so did he. He's taller. Bigger. His presence more pronounce and dizzying in way like he'd finally grown into the great person he always boasted to be.

But then again, he wasn't ever boasting. He had meant every word of it. Believe it like it was a certainty that carried him through every one of decision and action. Izuku have always admired that decisive nature of his and here he is again, appearing before him like a dream made real.

The Headmaster lowers his head slightly in greeting. "Zero-san, I have brought him just as you requested," he says, stepping aside to let Bakugou Katsuki have full view of Izuku like he hasn't been boring a hole in Izuku's head since the moment they'd walked through the doors.

All the training that got him here, he had things he been primed to say, it all went out the window the second Izuku had seen him because nothing had prepared him for this, for reuniting with his former childhood friend again after more than a decade. Bakugou Katsuki is the one person he would have never expected to come here, let alone if it’s for Izuku. The last time they had seen each other, they’d parted with a lot of tears and vitriol thrown at each other.

“—I never want to see you again, you useless nerd! I hate you, I fucking hate you. Go away!”

The marks left over from that fight had never truly healed. Years later, he still carried those bitter words to into his dream, always wondering if he had another chance maybe he could have mended their tattered friendship again. Now, staring into the eyes of the nightmare that had haunted him ever since then, a strange mixture of wariness and curiosity warring within him.

“K-Kacchan—?” he asks, moving in stuttering steps as though he was pulled forward.

“Izuku! What are you doing?!” the Headmaster hisses, scandalized tone leaking into his voice, but Izuku found it was impossible to heed his words. “Stop that now!”

He takes another step and another, and then the collar around his neck constricts and sends a jolt of electricity throughout his body, dropping Izuku to the floor in shock. Izuku’s trembling hands fumble at his collar as he desperately tries catch his breath.

Out of the corner of his panic stricken eyes, he catches the sound of heavy footsteps as Katsuki makes his way to the Headmaster in three long strides. He grabs the Headmaster by the collar of his shirt and shakes him. “What the fuck did you do him, you bastard?!” is the first thing Katsuki says, and it’s so, so fierce and cutting that the words cut through the air like lightning.

Izuku recoils, fear taking hold of him for a second.

The Headmaster’s mask of composure doesn’t slip one bit, not even in the face of a top twenty rank pro-hero. Wordlessly, he carefully removes Katsuki’s hand from his person and smiles reassuringly. “Zero-san, it was just a precaution to control him in case the Lesser acted out. Don’t worry, he’s fine,” he promises, his voice slipping into a melodious and soothing tone.

Right away, Izuku can feel the earlier rise of panic and anxiety stirring inside of him is quickly disappearing under the Headmaster’s emphatic quirk. As a level four, the Headmaster has masterful commands of his quirk that let him use his voice to inject emotions into everyone nearby. It’s one of the many reasons he was left in charge of the Lesser Sponsorship Program because he could easily defuse any complicated situations if it arise to that. “Your merchandise remains unharmed,” he is quick to assure Katsuki, instilling as much calm as he could in those words that Izuku’s head is fuzzy with warmth, choking on a sweet toxic scent and if the Headmaster had asked, Izuku would have walked into fire for him.

But Katsuki is not Izuku, he isn’t defenseless babe against such a measly mind altering quirk. Katsuki snarls, shoving the Headmaster abruptly back. Hastily, he wraps a hand around his biceps, nails digging into his skin as he winces in a pain but whatever he did, he sobers up quickly after that.

A level four quirk user going up against a level six, who had been training and perfecting his power since he was young to able to use it at professional level and fight for his life and the lives of millions of other, is a joke in many ways.

The Headmaster is completely outmatched this time.

“Cut that shit out or I’ll blast a fucking hole in your head,” Katsuki bites out, vicious and meaning every word of it. Both of his palms are crackling with intent.

For once, the Headmaster acquiesces as he steps back and fixes his shirt. He remains cool and unperturbed, but the slightest tremble in his hands says otherwise. “I apologize, Zero-san, if I offended you somehow,” he offers, and slowly the tense air around them clears out.

Izuku can finally breathe properly now as thought a spell was lifted from him.

“Yea?” Katsuki sneers. “And who said you can put a fucking collar on him?! I didn’t tell you to do any of that shit.”

“Sir with all due respect, it’s standard procedure to assure the safety of our clients. We put it on every one of our Lessers when they’re meeting with their potential sponsor for the first time and during their probationary period,” the Headmaster explains as calmly as possible against Katsuki’s rising anger.

“He’s quirkless! What the fuck can he even do to me, huh?! The day I let a loser like him get the better of me is the day my old hag of a mother stop nagging me about useless shit,” Katsuki spits out.

Before Izuku can even let Katsuki’s jab against him sink in, he is drag up from the floor by the arm. Just as he got both feet planted on the ground, Katsuki’s hand reaches for him, his palm hovering right over Izuku’s throat. Eyes wide with shock, Izuku can feel the heat emanating from Katsuki’s touch and he quickly squeezes his eyes, mentally preparing for the pain to come.

It never did. A crackling pop erupts near his ears and he hears nothing else except for the burnt smell of metal teasing at his nose.

He gingerly opens his eyes to see whatever remains of the collar on the floor and Katsuki already retreating several steps back with a scowl on his face. Pawing his hands clumsily at his throat as though to make sure it’s real, his neck feels strangely bare and light for once.

“You won’t be needing this anymore,” Katsuki asserts, but it wasn’t aim toward Izuku.

“That was unnecessary, Zero-san,” the Headmaster rebukes, but he moves no actual move about it. Izuku casts a quick glance at the Headmaster beside him and sees while he’d managed to keep his voice even, he is clearly shaken by the Katsuki’s abrupt and forceful action.

Izuku has no doubt the Headmaster has every reason to be terrified.

Even at eight, Katsuki was rated by the Bureau of Quirk Testing to be a level three, making him leaps and bounds ahead of kids their age. Under the Number System, the government gives the most benefit and support to those people with higher quirk level. In a caste like class system where society value those with active overt quirk that are flashy and useful, Katsuki was already set apart from everyone else a young age. He was already overpowered and talented back then, but it was untrained and wild.

Now, seeing tit up close and personal, the way he had blasted the collar off of Izuku without leaving a single singed mark on him, it was so precise and in control that Izuku can’t help the swell of admiration rising up in him. Their years apart had done wonder for Katsuki’s burning talent. While Izuku was learning to get on bent knees and serving his future master properly, Katsuki was honing his skills and fighting villains in order to keep their world safe. The difference in their two diverging paths is a bitter pill for Izuku to swallow.

He digs his nail in palm as he curl right fist, but his expression doesn’t change. Katsuki’s entire series of action remain a puzzling mystery to him. Izuku knows Katsuki, of the young boy who was once his friend and then nothing at all, but that was back then; he doesn’t know of the man who stands before him now.

Katsuki is silence for a moment, his eyes unflinchingly rakes over Izuku as though he prying apart Izuku piece by piece to see what he is made of. Izuku shrinks into himself unconsciously under the intense scrutiny.

“Fuck this shit,” Katsuki declares finally, breaking the stilted silence, “we’re getting out of here.”

Izuku’s jaw drops in surprise. “W-What?”

“Wait—sir, you can’t take him yet!” the Headmaster interjects quickly.

Katsuki’s head swivel toward him with a glare. “Didn’t you get the money I wired to you?” he demands .

“Well, yes, but there are still paperworks for you to sign,” the Headmaster answers. “And I would like go over our ninety days grace period in case you any sort problem arise or you find our Izuku lacking during that time.”

“No need. Send it all to my lawyers,” Katsuki instructs, and before the Headmaster can get another word wedge in, he takes Izuku by the hand.  “Come on.” He drags Izuku forward with a forceful tug. “This entire place creep me the fuck out,” he says, cursing a storm under his breath as they leave behind a disgruntle looking Headmaster, who clearly never dealt with such a whirlwind in the likes of Bakugou Katsuki.

Izuku quietly lets Katsuki drag him of out the room and into the wide hallway, and leads him out across the campus without any further exchange. They didn’t speak much or at all in the VIP room previously, but the things he wanted to say and ask were things he doesn’t know if he could.

It’s all very, very different now. They’re not kids anymore; Katsuki who stands at the pinnacle of society while Izuku is just a lowly Lesser. He doesn’t know what he can hope to expect from this version of a much older and mature Katsuki.

He can only hope to find out in the following days, that is if Katsuki doesn’t send him back right away once he realize Izuku is not what he wanted.

In their silence, they march through one of the big botanic gardens where most of the students congregate in their free time and in their hurry they stir up enough commotion with Katsuki’s recognizable face and fame, and then there’s Izuku’s notoriety.

Loud whispers swirl around them as they make their way the garden.  

“Is that Ground Zero?!”

“Wait, what is he even doing here?”

“—and with Midoriya of all people?”

“Did nobody warn him that Midoriya is a defected goods with how many sponsors he had turned over?”

“How much you bet Zero will send him back here in a week.”

“Not even. Watch, it’ll be just three days.”  

Izuku grimaces. They haven’t step off the academy yet and the rumors are already running amok. Izuku’s stellar reputation in the academy precedes him once more.  

“Ignore those fuckers,” Katsuki hisses, tightening his hand around Izuku’s own as they make it pass the garden and enters the main pathway toward the visitor plaza, where the entrance and exit is tucked away in. “I’ll kick their ass for spouting bullshit if I didn’t want to get out of here as soon as possible. The longer we stay here the more I want to blow up this entire place up.”

Katsuki’s hatred for this place is made obvious, but then why did he even come here in the first place? Is it really for him? But, then why? What did Katsuki even want from him? All these questions dog his step and confuses him even more. But in that moment he realizes there’s something even more important that he was forgetting.

“Kacchan, wait,” Izuku calls out, pulling to a stop.  

Katsuki’s arm is yanked back and he too halted in his spot because of Izuku. “What now, Deku,” he snaps, turning around with an impatient expression on his face.  

“I have to clean out my dorm first,” Izuku tells him, shifting his foot nervously. “There are things I want to get.”

Katsuki clicks his tongue in annoyance. “Just leave it. Whatever you need I’ll get buy it for you later.” At Izuku’s frown, he sighs. “What other useless things do you even that is important enough to stay at this cesspool any longer?”

Izuku bites down on his lower lip, pauses, and looks away. “My mother’s mementos,” he answers finally.

A beat, then. “Fine, we’ll go get your stuff first but after that you’re coming home with me,” he states, like it’s an unshakeable true. “No more fucking detour, you hear me?”

And that’s all it take, just those few words is all the assurance he need that maybe this wasn’t some cruel joke after all. Home. With Katsuki. He is going home with Katsuki. Katsuki wants him enough to take him home. For what reason, Izuku doesn’t know yet but he takes note that Katsuki hasn’t let go of Izuku’s hand since they’d walked out on the Headmaster.

Katsuki’s hand rough, full of calluses and little cuts and scars, but it’s warm and he holds Izuku’s with immeasurable care. Though Katsuki’s words hadn’t been kind, his hands speak for what couldn’t be translate into words.

This he will trust. In this he hands over his fate to Katsuki, so please, please don’t disappoint him like the rest of the world had. Katsuki has him by the his heartstring and Izuku hopes he doesn’t regret it.

[my-miraculous-headcanons]

Maximilian’s Fic Recs

My personal recs for the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. I’ll be rating each story out of 5 stars for both angst and fluff. Honestly, I’ve read a whole lot of stories that I just absolutely love, but these are the top ones that I remember.

I should make a point of saying this— Not all of these are romance fics. In fact, most of these are probably not going to be romance fics. My favourite fics tend to be ones that don’t focus strongly on romance. 

I’m also going to try to be as vague as possibly in my reviews so I don’t spoil anything too much. If you want anything more specific, you should check the summaries the authors put up on their stories, as well as the maturity ratings.

Incomplete and/or Ongoing Fics

Through A Doll’s Eyes — Incomplete Angst:✦✦✦✦✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✧✧ Review: This story is simply phenomenal. It deals with the idea of inanimate objects having a sort of a soul, specifically objects hand-made with love and care. There were many instances in this story where I was close to tears. I loved it, I loved Marinette, her perseverance, and heart of gold. The way she watched over her families over the years and cared so whole-heartedly. I’m upset that there wasn’t more. Unfortunately, it hasn’t updated in a long while, and I don’t think it will in the future.

Red For Fortune — Incomplete/Ongoing(?) Angst:✦✦✦✧✧ Fluff:✦✧✧✧✧ Review: REALLY loved this!!! Honestly, I love any fics that touch on Marinette’s biracial heritage, but this one seriously takes the cake. And I like that this is one of the stories where they don’t make the nice white friend somehow knowledgable of racial issues. They don’t understand what’s racist and what’s not, they don’t understand why Marinette’s so upset, and they need to figure out why they’re wrong on their own. They’re ignorant, aren’t excused for their ignorance, and aren’t portrayed as being a horrible human being at the same time. They fucked up and need to learn a lesson, simple as that.

Voyance — Incomplete/Ongoing Angst:✦✦✦✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✧✧✧ Review: I honestly wasn’t expecting to get so enamored with this story when I first clicked on it, but it quickly dug its way into my heart and planted itself there. It’s an ongoing story that is truly satisfying, to say the least. Characters are told point-blank what they’re like and how they need to improve, and no matter how indignant the character is, they always leave respecting the tarot reader’s abilities. (Except maybe Alya, but that’s for a reason.)

#BonAnniversairePrincess — Incomplete Angst:✦✦✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✧ Review: Truly one of the sweetest fics I’ve read. Marinette being treated like the princess she deserves to be is one of my favourite things to see in fanfic. (If it wasn’t obvious already, I REALLY love her.) 

Missing — Incomplete/Ongoing Angst:✦✦✦✦✦ Fluff:✧✧✧✧✧ Review: No fluff to see here! A good, angsty Marinette-centric fanfic without really focusing on Marinette’s point of view too much, which is something I love quite a bit. The Lila salt is strong in this one, too, which basically makes me love it more and more. I’m anticipating each and every update.

#No R-Agrestes — Incomplete/Ongoing Angst:✦✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✦ Review: Honestly Marinette is an absolute walking, talking natural disaster in this and I need you all just to read it please it’s just. So funny and good. 

Complete and/or One-shot Fics

Oleanders and Belladonas — Complete Angst:✦✦✦✦✧ Fluff:✦✦✧✧✧ Review: This is a fic with an akuma that’s treated like a legitimate murder mystery, and I’m in love with it. I’m a HUGE fan of murder mysteries, but I’m also not a fan of children dying or there being too much gore. This is not a terribly gory story and still manages to give you a sense of suspense and thrill, satisfying all my wants. I was positively giddy through a lot of this, and not because it was funny. It was just that good. 

What The Cat Dragged In — Complete Angst:✦✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✧ Review: I’m usually not crazy about crossover fics, but this was done rather beautifully. Many characters truly shine in this, both in personality and intelligence, and I sincerely loved every word. Every part of this story is engaging and fun. 

Girl’s Night Out — Complete Angst:✧✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✧ Review: This is honestly just one of the most hilarious fics ever. Marinette is a badass, Adrien doesn’t know what the fuck is going on, and everything is practically burning down around them. I couldn’t ask for anything better even if I tried. 

The Second’s Lament; Walking to Paris — Complete/One-shot Angst:✦✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✦ Review: This story honestly is just straight up adorable. It’s sweet, long, and calming. It’s just absolutely beautiful, and I wish there was more. I have a soft spot for unusual scenarios like this. I also have a MAJOR soft spot for friendship bordering romantic Marichat. This story encapsulates EXACTLY everything I want in Marichat and I’m just ecstatic about it.

Elephant — Complete Angst:✧✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✧ Review: Another absolutely hilarious shenanigans fic that I will NEVER forget. I’m particularly happy over the fact that there’s two endings you can pick from, which is weird because I’m not one to like multiple endings. I suggest reading this when you need a laugh or a pick-me-up, because this will certainly do the trick.

Welcome to WC — Complete/One-shot Angst:✦✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✧ Review: Honestly this is so funny and cute at the same time. The fact that these two idiots just ignored everything around them was so funny I can’t even describe it. I found myself struggling to keep quiet. 

Botched Blind Dates — Complete Angst:✧✧✧✧✧ Fluff:✦✦✦✦✦ Review: This is just wholesome all the way through, and also pretty hilarious. I love the whole blind dates trope, especially in AUs, but this concept, which expands on Nino’s interest in film (which I’m VERY happy about), is even better and much more engaging. I also love that Chloe is considered a friend and good person without sacrificing her key characteristics. 

Series

I won’t be putting an Angst/Fluff rating on these since the different stories within the series can have varying levels of angst and fluff.

Unconventional Scenarios — Incomplete/Ongoing Review: I had fun reading all of these stories. At some points it was depressing, in others it was super funny, and sometimes it was just super sweet. 

Allez Savoir Pourquoi — Complete Review: Honestly one of the most well-written soulmate AU’s I’ve read in a while. Marinette and Adrien are adorable in this, and Adrien’s STILL a Big Dummy which I am happy about, because that’s my favourite characteristic of his.

Miraculous: Tales of Littlebug and Chaton Noir — Incomplete/Ongoing(?) Review: I have nothing to say other than you should do yourself a favor and READ THIS. I think about it all the time. Every day. Nothing can possibly top how cute this series is. I daydream about it and giggle randomly sometimes when I remember it. It’s just,,, SO ridiculously cute.

BAMF Mari — Incomplete/Ongoing(?) Review: I honestly love any story where Adrien realises that Marinette’s a badass, and this series takes that idea and ramps it up to a million. It’s funny, awkward, and adorable. I love that it almost entirely switches up the dynamics- Marinette’s calmed down and Adrien’s a total ball of anxiety and teenaged hormones. It’s brilliant. I guarantee you’ll be smiling throughout the whole series.

It Was Only Meant To Be A One-Shot — Incomplete/Ongoing Review: I very recently read this and I loved absolutely every minute of it, and I can’t wait to see the next installation to the series. Every character gets their moment to shine (with the exception of Gabriel), and this includes Emilie Agreste, who isn’t treated as a flawless human being. There’s No Camembert in Tibet, the sequel to the first fic, Plagg and the Butterfly Costume, was completed about two days ago, and I’m very satisfied. And super excited!!!

Some of my angst/fluff ratings may not be totally accurate because I haven’t had the time to reread every fic, but I believe it’s still accurate enough.

This list will definitely be updated in the future.

[patchcreator]

'It's in My DNA': A Roundtable Q&A

Impressions gets candid with a couple of females leaders in the decorated-apparel sector.<br> The world has seen a social change in the past couple of years, with ladies in all sectors being embraced in duties varying from managers and also supervisors to C-suite execs-- and every leadership sounded on the proverbial ladder in between.<br> As 2020 unravels, female business-leadership duties have actually hit an all-time high. According to 2019 Grant Thornton LLP research, 29% of senior-management duties are held by women, while 87% of global organizations now contend the very least one woman in a senior-management position. Consisting Of MOTORCYCLE PATCHES BUSINESS.<br> Today, ladies are promoted as part of varied workforces that include a cornucopia of identities, personalities and ethnic cultures. Similarly as diverse are the histories as well as experience degrees these ladies leaders bring to their particular tables, and the decorated-apparel sector is no exception.<br> For example, prior to becoming head of state of Madeira USA, Shirley Clark was the business's sales supervisor as well as had experience from various other markets. Jeanene Edwards, vice president of advertising, Fruit of the Loom/JERZEES, remained in journalism prior to operating in advertising and marketing with a national seller. Michelle Moxley, director of development, The M&R Cos., has a history in visuals arts. After working as a development musician for Nike and also the Jordan brand name, she was Gildan's Honduras R&D embellishment supervisor.<br> Carleen Gray, CEO, GroupeSTAHL North America, has been with the company for 22 years. Wedged in between was a job in the automobile industry, where she states lessons learned in the decorated-apparel sector helped significantly.<br> "There was a six-year period [beyond Stahls'] when I worked within the automobile market, and I never dreamed my decorated-apparel experience would help me there, but it was essential in managing the Jeep, Dodge as well as Chrysler retailing programs," she states. "My whole job has been deeply lodged in structure brands as well as assisting people expand their services with decorated clothing.<br> Impressions just recently sat down with Clark, Edwards, Gray as well as Moxley to discuss their experiences in the market, responsibilities to future generations of women leaders and also much more.<br> Perceptions: This sector historically has actually been viewed as well as defined as male dominated. Do you assume such a characterization is fair or real? Why or why not?<br> Shirley Clark: Maybe it's since I grew up with 5 siblings, however I've never truly felt that assumption. My procedure has constantly merely been to finish the job. In the case of my own occupation, this has typically been to protect growth in sales, to increase the reach of a firm [as well as] to have a favorable impact on whatever market I remain in.<br> Jeanene Edwards: I assume you could say that any kind of industry historically has been male dominated. The decorated-apparel market is much more well balanced due to the extremely individual nature of selling clothing. From individual monitoring at exhibition and representative open-house occasions, I talk to as numerous ladies as I do guys. And also regularly, it's the women who are asking thorough inquiries regarding our product line, our printability and our rates. It's apparent that they're the business proprietor or manager and also have a substantial role in its success.<br> Carleen Gray: That characterization is absolutely changing-- a lot so that I do not also like to reply to this kind of concern. At Stahls', becoming the CEO had not been so much of a gender development-- Stahls' has actually had ladies in leadership placements from the first day. It was more about the truth that someone was promoted to this position from within the ranks, and that is what made it considerable for every person at the firm. For me, success isn't about appearing a glass ceiling or changing stereotypes; it's concerning just how well somebody does a job.<br> Michelle Moxley: I think it's coming to be more varied each year. There are more females in dominantly male placements than ever. There is still a strong masculine aspect, yet it is definitely extra well balanced than, state, even 5 years back.<br> Perceptions: Is it sufficient for a female to do her job and work hard in order to succeed in this market?<br> Edwards: I've always been fortunate to work for organizations where your job performance, not your gender, identified your success. At Fruit of the Loom, our CEO is Melissa Burgess Taylor, so we've absolutely broken the glass ceiling right here. My recommendation to males and females is that if you intend to do well as well as prosper, you need to show campaign as well as exceed and past your existing work obligations.<br> Moxley: Is it [sufficient] for anyone? Sometimes I believe I work harder than the following guy, or I have to since I am female, however various other times I assume it's since it's in my DNA to function actually hard. It's what I do, and also if my sex was various, I would certainly still do it. If your gender is interfering with you being successful, it says much more regarding the people you are helping than anything else. Discover a new path, forget the people that aren't your cheerleaders.<br> Impacts: What challenges or barriers have you faced as a female in this industry, as well as exactly how did you overcome them?<br> Gray: The capability to face challenges head on is much easier with the appropriate team. So much of my confidence originates from knowing the group's staminas. Company obstacles we've encountered consist of implementing new technology, financial management, policy and also compliance, recruiting top skill, locating the right approaches for growth and more. In the future I've found that sticking true to an easy tenet, such as "Get [Things] Done," is what actually works.<br> Moxley: I remember my very first exhibition, 2003 possibly, someone commented, "You don't resemble a screen printer." It had not been till much later on I realized the comment was in reference to me being a female. I am not a figure or an underdog. Sometimes in this sector, I have actually been labeled "the lady." You manage it and also push via it. Be tough, hold true and also understand you can be as good as the next "person"-- much better, also.<br> Impacts: Who has had the biggest influence on your job?<br> Clark: Probably my predecessors, in every setting I've held. In each situation, they have actually established the bar, providing me an objective to go beyond and setting the stage for development and also development. It has after that depended on me to step up, develop a road map and also move a business into higher market share and sales.<br> Edwards: My first job was benefiting Pace Membership Warehouse, a start-up subscription storehouse club that was eventually marketed to Sam's Club. Celia Swanson was the only women vice president and she was a fantastic instance of how women can lead and be valued in a male-dominated organization. She took place to end up being the first female executive vice head of state of Walmart.<br> Gray: Ted Stahl has been a directing force, ideas as well as advisor from the beginning.<br> Moxley: My concept has constantly been that there's no college for this. So I've always tried to find individuals that I appreciate most and also weasel my way into collaborating with them. Benefiting Larie Thomas truly subjected me to the best structure for the job selections I made. Working with Jamie McCrae educated me how to make solid industry relationships. Dealing With Beppe Quaglia has actually been a continuous ideas. Ultimately, benefiting Dave Gardner was a true emphasize of my profession.<br> Impacts: What duty do you think you need to future generations of "glass ceiling-breaking" women, if any?<br> Clark: I try to enable ladies and men to accomplish their roles with support and also the devices they require to prosper. I maintain an open-door policy, listening to concepts as well as suggestions. My obligation to women specifically would be to mention that-- if they have the capability as well as commitment-- there is no reason that must stop them from being successful and also making the respect of their peers.<br> Edwards: The best recommendations I have is to take responsibility for your own growth as well as look for opportunities to show what you can do. If you feel you've hit a glass ceiling in your organization, you can make them mindful that it's there. Finally, if you're not being offered the chances or even the credit score you feel you should have, after that it could be time to seek them in other places. In today's hot job market, skilled individuals have great deals of opportunities.<br> Gray: The largest responsibility features the understanding that you are making decisions that affect everyone in the firm. Both males and females. I have an obligation to concentrate on making the right company decisions for our customers, our firm and our employee for the long haul.<br> Moxley: Do what you enjoy, like what you do. My responsibility to ladies in my market is to continue being me as well as do my very best. I try to pay it ahead as long as I can, yet I anticipate credibility as well as real investment from those I collaborate with. "Believe in something and also be that thing" is my adage.<br> Impacts: What recommendations would you give to other women seeking to do well in this sector?<br> Clark: This is an incredibly innovative industry, and also one that is pretty nurturing contrasted to others. Imagination, excellent service and product high quality are going to give one a significant edge, despite sex.<br> Edwards: Printed garments and also promotional items are terrific job courses for ladies, as the industry relies upon connections and solution, which are areas where women often tend to stand out. Do impressive job and it will represent itself. If you provide unique items with a stress-free experience, your customers will certainly tell others, particularly in our social media-driven globe.<br> Gray: Don't hesitate to speak up. Claim what you actually rely on. Wonder and show inspiration. Be the individual that figures it out.<br> Moxley: Learn from those that came prior to you; constantly agree to find out something new; neglect the naysayers; and also be an initial.

[merrybrides]

14 Pieces of Actual, No-Silly Wedding Planning Advice

There's a lot of wedding advice floating around the Internet. Problem is, a lot of it is useless fluff dreamed up by a) relatively well-heeled editors contractually obligated to spend their days inventing absurd nonsense to fill pages surrounded by advertisements b) people who've never planned a wedding/mistakenly think their very specific experience can be extrapolated. Or both!

Sure, those mason jars wrapped in polka-dotted ribbon are a cute idea on Pinterest, but it's a good way to wind up sobbing in the middle of your local Michael's two weeks before the big day. And all that money-saving advice? Yeah, the buffet's going to save you, but not as much as you may think.

Maybe you're planning to tie the knot at a 50-person backyard barbecue. Or maybe you're hosting 350 friends, family and business associates to some Gilded Age castle. Whatever. Here are a few pieces of real-talk wedding advice that you can actually use.

1. Maybe pay someone to do that. Are you supremely artistic and experienced in the ways of crafting? Is your great aunt Martha Stewart? Unless the answer to one of these questions is yes, think very carefully about any D.I.Y. projects. Examine your own abilities with a critical eye. For instance, I once tried to complete a "Cosmos manicure" and ended up looking like I'd let a four-year-old paint my nails. Face the music: Despite what Pinterest would have you believe, some of us are just not talented at some things. And your wedding is probably not the time to learn that lesson. It'll only be more expensive when you have to replace everything at the last minute.

2. Not everyone gets a date, and that's fine. Look, lots of us wanted everyone we've ever known and loved at the ceremony. But that's just not feasible unless your daddy is a robber baron. You'll want to invite as many significant others as possible, of course, and if someone is flying from Shanghai to Cleveland for your reception, you'd better allow them a date. But at some point, it's time to hitch the caboose to the gravy train, and once you do, stick 100 percent to your guns. Consider preparing an email in advance for anyone who truly does not understand that money doesn't grow on trees.

3. You are not the Lone Ranger. Perhaps you want to be the Stanley Kubrick of weddings, strictly controlling every single aspect of the entire production. But that way lies The Shining, my friend. When someone graciously offers to help, come up with some very specific detail they're well-equipped to handle. (If you've got it covered or this person is an absolute incompetent, politely decline, but I urge you to consider the offer, even if it's as simple as logging RSVPs.)

Also, on a more specific note, unless you're wearing that $100 H&M dress, seriously consider having more than one bridesmaid. If I'd known how much work getting my wedding garments and dress on was going to be, I'd have a bridal party of eight or nine really strapping gals.

4. Write thank-you notes as gifts come in. Do not get behind, unless you want to spend your honeymoon crafting odes to the lovely Waterford from Aunt Mildred.

5. Be ready to show some backbone. I'm willing to bet that most readers of this blog are very, very committed to not being a power-drunk nightmare-person Bridezilla during their planning process—and that's great! Never, ever be nasty. But know that it's perfectly okay to say no, no thanks, not gonna to happen when your florist tries to talk you into expensive hot-pink table overlays. (You'll also need to be prepared to wield that NOPE like a broadsword if you've laid down a law like no kids or no cellphones, by the way.) Let's practice together!  SORRY NO!!!!!

And once you put down a deposit on something, don't feel guilty about making sure that vendor gets her job done. If you're paying for a wedding planner, don't let her drop the ball. If your sample floral arrangements are the wrong color, speak up.

Now, a corollary: Pick your battles and save your emotional energy for the big stuff. Maybe you hate your cousin's formal kilt, or your bridesmaid's spray tan, or the best man's habit of wearing lime-green socks with dress shoes. For God's sake, just let it ride. Save your fury in case the limo never shows.

6. All you need is Google Docs. I've got a binder, a website, several notebooks and pieces of wedding-related paper lying all over my house. But the only tool I really needed to get through this without rending my garments and running screaming into the night was Google Docs. Sure, maybe your dad still hasn't gotten the hang of the Internet. But that's what the export to PDF function is for!

7. If you must give favors, give food. Don't give your guests something they're just going to throw away. No one in the history of party planning has ever gone wrong with a light snack. Definitely do not D.I.Y. anything. (See above.)

8. Limit your options. Planning my wedding I couldn't have any old thing that flitted into my brain, because I am a graphic designer and paid for my own wedding. 

A lot of things were simply out of budget. But honestly? THANK GOD. There are too damn many options out there, and limitations are your friend. The name of the game in wedding planning is eliminating as many possibilities as fast as possible. If you're pretty sure you don't want to get married in a barn, put your blinders on and stop looking at barns.

And for the love of God, do not let yourself get bogged down in any single decision. I spent weeks scouring New York City for wedding shoes and a hair comb. My mistake was ever considering more than five options in the first place.

9. Ask (politely!) for discounts. Hey, it can't hurt.

10. Treat thy bridesmaids as thou would like to be treated. I'm not talking no diet commands and no haircut lectures. That's table stakes. I mean don't pick a bridesmaid dress that would look good on you but not them. There are more body types than stars in the sky; maybe give them a choice of five dresses and let each pick her fave. It's not the end of the world if they don't match. Don't ask them to spend a fortune on something they'll never wear again, and give them some sort of thank you at the end.

11. Stop trying to be so damn unique. Look, weddings are not original. They are a template, a form letter drawn up hundreds of years before we were born. No matter how much money you throw at the planning process, your wedding is not going to be one of a kind. You don't need a special, hand-crafted symbol of your cosmic love on every escort card. Chill.

12. There is no perfect dress. You're probably not a paragon, and you're not marrying one, either. We live in the world of reality, not Platonic ideals. So do yourself a favor and pick a gown that's beautiful and within budget. Don't let the dress shopping drag on until the entire experience curdles.

13. Ask yourself: Who actually cares? Agonizing over whether to have a champagne toast, or pay for chiavari chairs, or (god forbid) shell out for peonies? Here's a question you should seriously ask yourself: Are my guests really going to care? Because this is technically a celebration of you, but REALLY it's an enormous party that you're throwing for your friends and family. This is not your fifth birthday party at McDonalds. You are hosting these people that you love. Every decision should come down to whether the guests like it, appreciate it, or notice it at all.

Remind yourself (as others have reminded me) that people care about the dancing, the food and whether a good time was had by all. They don't care about how much painstaking effort you put into the hand-aged programs and the very firm email you wrote to get the perfect amount of greenery in the centerpieces. You're better off focusing on the broad strokes that best facilitate the party than bothering overmuch with small details.

14. Have fun. Unless you are Olivia Pope and thrive on details and chaos, it's easy to get overwhelmed. (Yes, even if your plan is simply to order 25 pizzas and surprise all your buds at a bar, you still have to write the ceremony, write up the invites, etc., etc.) But this is fun! It's a happy occasion! Go forth and drink until you can't feel your face! And remember, as long as you're married at the end of the night, it was a success.

[tabijastrology10]

Free online kundli reading : Benefits of kundli

What is kundli? and   how to read kundli for marriage and career? Free online kundli reading   provides information about is the karma of the past lives and various aspects of life such as destiny, profession, marriage, career, relationships, health etc. From the kundli of an individual, it can be easily understood how the person will behave.

What is kundli?

In general , the kundli is also named as janam patrika or horoscope. A Kundli is an astrological chart that can be created on the basis of  the exact birth date, time, and place  of an individual. It is an astrological chart which shows the exact position of heavenly bodies and planets at a particular time and It contains the details of all  major astrological  aspects of a person at the time of his/her  birth. This chart tells  the location of various zodiac signs, planet and other aspect which are  considered in an  astrological analysis.

How does kundali  help you?

A chart is widely divided into 12 houses in which the planets and stars are occupied, and they change their position as the time passes by. These houses are though governed by a zodiac sign. Whatever the planets that are placed in these 12 houses can show both positively and negativity on each other in specific periods of duration. 

Therefore, Kundali is divided into two types. They are:

1. Natal Kundali:

Natal chart is something that is wholly based on the personal details of the individual.

2.Horary Kundali

Horary chart deals with the preparation of the kundali with the questionnaire of the individual when he or she meets a specialist in astrology.

Coming to the natal kundali, when the astrologer comes to know about the specific date of birth and time of birth along with the latitudinal and longitudinal parameters of the person, then the astrologers find it very easy to predict the past, present, and future of that person. 

        Then the predictions made from such a chart would yield good outcomes, and the practical ones are heard from them. 

          Since the birth chart has no errors in it, the person suffering from anything kind of difficulty can be aware of the prognoses made by the experts. 

         It was said that through kundali, one could find the nature, character, career, health, finances, intelligence, his or her relationships, and other aspects of his or her life can be noted. 

        Also, along with the above parameters, the lucky numbers, fortunate planets, blessed days, lucky colors, and other variables like weaknesses and strengths of a human can be evaluated from this birth chart.

          Kundali depicts both fortunate and unfortunate times in a person's life.

         Thus Vedic astrology has given remarkable preference to this birth chart or kundali or also so-called horoscopes. 

 How to read kundli for marriage and career?

In countries like India, Kundali is made right after the birth of the new born and prediction about its future is done well in advance then itself. There are many areas of life not only marriage but other things where we can use Kundali as the source to influence the perfect path. There are references of attribute-matching which is also called as Guna milan that are made through kundali. It also helps to known whether arrange marriage can sustain or not after clarifying certain Mangal dosha of groom and bride.

How to find marriage date  from my kundali, you must first understand the way an individual’s Kundli is structured. For starters, an experienced astrologer will determine your Ascendant Sign on the basis of the time and date of your birth. This sign becomes the first house in the birth chart, with all the other signs arranged in a circle in a counter-clockwise manner. These houses are fixed, which means that while other celestial bodies like stars and planets may move through them, they themselves remain in the same position on the birth chart.

In order to understand  how to read kundli ? or whether it is your career, relationship, finance, or even personality, online kundli can help you know everything associated with your life. Whichever planet you are exposed to and whichever information you wish to predict about, kundali is the best source to get all the important information. Kundali making is one truly authentic information that we get and it is certainly the best thing you can use as the source to predict and get alert about the consequences that are likely to happen due to your past or present behavior or circumstances. So what are you waiting for? Visit our websites tabij.in  today and aware yourself about the important occurrence that are soon going to take in your life.

Houses are fix segments that represent specific areas of your life. Before jumping into planetary placements of government jobs in Kundli, let’s understand bellow the points:

The 10th house is to ensure govt   job in kundali

         Lord of the 10th house has its position in quadrant/trine

         When Lord of the 9th house has its position in the 10th house

         Lords of 10th and 9th houses interchange their respective signs

         Lords of 10th and 9th houses are conjoined

         Lord of the 10th house has its position in 11th, 6th or 3rd house

 Now that you are pretty much clear about   Kundali  reading for career and marriage, make sure you use it as a way to give yourself boost to do better in future. Don’t just completely rely on it but use it as the source to avoid mistakes and stay alert from committing one. There are many experts who can help you read your prediction with such kundali. There is some interesting software as well available which you can check online and know your prediction. The accuracy is quite good and the results that you get are quick.

How does kundali affect on individual’s life?

According to astrology the planets are positioning weakly or badly but on many instances they would rule in the favorable position. All these actions of celestial bodies or planets have a tremendous effect on our lives. To actually understand any kind of positive or negative aspect of the human life, the entire free online kundali should be studies. Kundali can be considered a map of an individual’s life. Looking only through one aspect provides a biased and subjective point of view of an individual’s life. This is the reason that it is considered significantly necessary to talk with an astrologer for a complete overview and an unbiased outlook on the person's life.

Vedic Astrology is the study of planetary influence on the human lives. Planets exercise an influence that can be either positive or negative. The position of the planets in various zodiac related houses define their influence, whether it would be benefic or malefic.

It is equally important to also consider the placements of the planets so correct ups and downs of the individual’s life can be ascertained and understood. Marriage predictions are the most vital section of astrology. In India or Hindu religion, people seek advice from the great astrologer for marriage through Kundli matching   of both the individuals.

The free kundli online also guides and influence the career that is the best for the individual. So, yes it is highly preferable and convenient to follow the path shown in the kundali. Want to get for more information related to kundli then you may   visit tabij.in or call  +91 9776190123 where you can find  the exact solutions.

[ledenews]

J.P. Dutton – Serving Through It All

It was four years ago when J.P. Dutton decided to run for a seat on the Belmont County Commission and he did that because he believed a more conservative approach to the budget and the county’s debt would benefit the residents in the long-term. Dutton is running for re-election for a number of reasons, but one of them is to see through the cracker proposal in the Dilles Bottom area, a project he inherited when taking office and one which once again has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Will it happen? If not, what then? Hope is high, but that answer will not arrive now for another six-to-nine months. For now, it is about the impact COVID-19 has had on sale tax collections and county services. That is the balancing act he and the two other commissioners now must perform to preserve services for the people.

The Chik-fil-a opened at the Ohio Valley Mall two months ago and has offered drive-thru service.

How have you and your family handled the COVID-19 pandemic?

My family and I have handled the pandemic much like many other families across the Ohio Valley. We adjusted very quickly, especially in the beginning as each daily press conference from Governor Mike DeWine seemed to bring additional responses to a rapidly changing situation. Taking extra precautions became very routine, not just for everyone in our household but for others around us as well.  Showing a lot of appreciation for those working under more difficult circumstances has been important to us as well.  We have been assisting within our community with local efforts targeted at addressing specific needs that have emerged.  Finally, with three school aged children, we worked through daily assignments despite challenges that exist as it relates to broadband access.  COVID-19 has really highlighted even further the challenges that rural communities face as it relates to broadband quality and the disadvantage of substandard access. This is particularly true in Appalachia.  As a county, we have worked to be proactive over the past few years.  In the fall of 2017, we signed an agreement with Agile Networks to utilize the county's vertical structures (water tanks and 911 towers).  Agile has similar agreements with the State of Ohio in regards to MARCS towers which are used by the State Highway Patrol.  This agreement brought increased broadband service to residents near these structures.  We have also had discussions with companies like AT&T and Comcast to continue to stress the need for increased access in Belmont County and continue to search for possible innovative partnerships through the Belmont County Port Authority. As for Comcast, during this particular time, we have worked to connect them with Belmont County school districts in regards to the company's attempt to assist during the pandemic.  Specifically, we reached out to school superintendents and connected them with contacts at Comcast.  We still have a long way to go but we will continue to work to get there.  The youth of the Ohio Valley need these improvements so that they can have increased access to technological improvements in education and further compete with other students across the globe.

What financial impact will the closure of the Ohio Valley Mall have on Belmont County and the offered services?

Any long-term closure of businesses is difficult for a local government, particularly one whose general fund is fueled primarily by local sales tax. With business closures like those at the Ohio Valley Mall, sales tax revenues are expected to decrease significantly during this time. However, I remain very optimistic as businesses continue to reopen and we eventually emerge completely from the pandemic. Our local economy was strong prior and hopefully will rebound quickly. As for the Ohio Valley Mall, the property owners continue to advance future development while adjusting to changes in commercial real estate. Dunham's Sporting Goods and Chick-fil-A are a couple of recent projects that have been terrific additions to the community.  We look forward to the near completion of Five Below as well as the Hampton Inn.

The Belmont County Courthouse was closed just three months after the Christmas holiday because of the coronavirus pandemic.

What is the projection for the decrease in sale tax revenue throughout the county and what measures have the commissioners considered?

It is too early to have exact figures of the current impact. Sales tax collection numbers delivered from the state of Ohio run a couple months behind when the original transaction takes place.  April's report will be the strongest indicator, but unfortunately it is not yet finalized at the state level.  State guidance points to a potential 20 percent decrease in revenue for 2020.  This type of reduction would make the 2021 budget extremely challenging.  Unlike the federal government, Belmont County cannot operate in a deficit. Therefore, shortfalls in funding as compared to a prior year result in a reduction of funding for operations for that fiscal year. Fortunately, we have made conservative budgetary decisions before COVID-19 ever emerged. For instance, for the past three years, the Commission has taken an aggressive approach to county budgets with numerous cuts. Our office has always taken the largest cut in each of these years.  For example, our current budget is 11 percent less than last year which was nearly 10 percent less than the year before that. Most importantly, these reductions did not result in a decrease of services to the residents of Belmont County.  In addition, our Board has made great strides to further strengthen Belmont County's debt position. In the last three years, the Commission secured two major financing packages with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to better finance existing water and sewer debt. In fact, the water package was the largest USDA package ever secured in the State of Ohio. These two packages make certain that water and sewer debt will be paid in the future by the Belmont County Sanitary Sewer District enterprise fund and not the county general fund. Unfortunately, this organization of debt has not always been the case causing a significant burden for Belmont County meaning that the general fund paid debt obligations that it should not have. Additionally, last year, the Commission expedited the total repayment of the new office building of Belmont County Senior Services as well as the 2008 expansion project of the Belmont County Jail.  Both of these projects are now paid in full.  This year, the Commission completely paid off a $1.6 million sewer project that was over 15 years old and was not eligible for the USDA package. This project was a perfect example of good initiative that unfortunately lacked an effective payment plan and therefore stayed in the debt portfolio without any payments taking place except interest. These recent activities place Belmont County in a very good debt position moving forward and strengthens its favorable Aa3 bond rating with Moody's, which is in the high-quality standard. Hopefully, these prior decisions of reducing budgets and eliminating debt obligations will lessen the financial impact of COVID-19. That being said, we will work extremely hard to work through the remainder of this fiscal year and prepare for the next.  We take our budgetary responsibilities very seriously even in a typical year.  All options are on the table, but we hope to limit the impact as much as possible.

This land once was home to First Energy's Burger Power Plant, but it has been cleared and sculpted in preparation for new development.

With the announcement that PTT Global will not make a final financial decision on the construction of a petrochemical "cracker" plant for six-to-nine months, many residents of the Upper Ohio Valley have grown pessimistic concerning the project. How do you and the other commissioners handle the negativity? What do you say to those residents?

Honestly, there has been very little negativity to handle. The recent announcement in regards to the project timeline was not surprising. At this point, everyone can relate to the complications that COVID-19 has had on all aspects of each of our lives. In this case, it is not hard to imagine how the pandemic would complicate the environment needed to make a major financial investment that is international in nature. I would describe the community reaction that we receive in general as supportive and optimistic. There have been major milestones reached over the past several months. Most recently, Belmont County, Mead Township, and Shadyside Local School District finalized a local tax agreement with the project leaders.  In general, one familiar with the project location cannot drive past the site today and not recognize the tremendous amount of excavation that has occurred since last summer. While a final decision has not been reached, tangible progress continues to occur.

Do you remain confident the project will take place? Why or why not? (please explain)

I am very confident in the individuals leading this incredible effort towards a final investment decision. The project leaders have been very open through the entire process. They have been responsive to community questions and demonstrated a real commitment to developing strong relationships throughout the Ohio Valley. Due to this emphasis on communication and community, this project has developed tremendous backing at the federal, state, and local level. It truly is a team approach that has garnered real buy in from those involved. Read the full article

[sunshineweb]

Mamba Mentality and How to Win at the Stock Investing Game

I have a confession. I have never been crazy about basketball. I played the game in school, but my body was too frail for the 625-gram ball to find any meaning in my life, like cricket and football did.

It was this lack of craziness that the only superstars from the game I ever knew of were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, also because the names sounded similar.

It was early this year that I first heard about another of the game’s legends, Kobe Bryant, and because of the news of his demise in an air crash. Then, the more I read and saw of this man just led me to feel an immense amount of respect for his basketball prowess and the efforts he made over the years to reach the pinnacle.

As I read about Bryant, I realized that life for him was not free of controversies. The worst came in 2003 when he, at the top of his career, was charged with sexual assault. He proclaimed himself innocent and the charges were later dropped. Bryant and his accuser reached a civil settlement, and his reputation was badly tainted.

This is when he named himself “Black Mamba” as an alter ego to cope with the backlash. Bryant adopted the nickname to separate his life on and off the court. As he said in an interview with The New Yorker in 2014 –

The name just evokes such a negative emotion. I said, ‘If I create this alter ego, so now when I play this is what’s coming out of your mouth, it separates the personal stuff, right?’ You’re not watching David Banner — you’re watching the Hulk.

Black mamba, by the way, is a species of venomous snake native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Bryant said of the animal that inspired the name –

When I step on that court, I become that. I am that killer snake. I’m stone cold, man.

Anyways, the reason I bring Kobe Bryant to you today is because there are not too many people in the world who have approached practice and mastering the craft as he did during his basketball career. And there is a big lesson that I can take out for investing in stocks from Bryant’s playbook, which I will share soon.

Anyways, another basketball great, Phil Jackson, while sharing an insight into Bryant’s mentality, said that the amount of work he was putting in every day to get better was radical –

…we saw a guy that did some miraculous things. It was dedication. I often went to work at 8:30, and if we had a late-night, that’s pretty early. I’d pull into my parking spot, and Kobe’d be there taking a nap in his car. He’d been there since 6:30 working out. He had a remarkable drive towards getting better. I’ve never seen another player attack his personal habits the way he did.

In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Bryant decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary “Mamba mentality.”

Thus, was born his autobiography, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.

The book chronicles Bryant’s life journey and reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. He has also shared how he studied an opponent, how he channelled his passion for the game, and how he played through tough injuries.

One of the most insightful parts from the book for me personally is when Bryant explains how his obsession with gaining any advantage he could get during games led him to study the referee’s handbook. Yes, the referee’s handbook!

He understood that every referee was in charge of a specific part of the court, as he wrote –

I made a point of reading the referee’s handbook. One of the rules I gleaned from it was that each referee has a designated slot where he is supposed to be on the floor. If the ball, for instance, is in place W, referees X, Y, and Z each have an area on the court assigned to them.

This helped him figure out that there are certain areas on the floor referees don’t see that good. He claims he got away with a lot of small things frequently when he was in those situations during games –

When they do that, it creates dead zones, areas on the floor where they can’t see certain things. I learned where those zones were, and I took advantage of them. I would get away with holds, travels, and all sorts of minor violations simply because I took the time to understand the officials’ limitations.

This passage establishes just how badly Bryant wanted to win, even if that meant working on the blind spots of not just his opponents but also the referees overseeing the games he played.

There are all sorts of stories related to Kobe Bryant’s ultimate competitiveness and approach to basketball. This one is just one of them that proves only the truly greats pay such attention to details in combination with the hard work they put in at the game every single day.

From Bryant to Ben The game of investing in stock market has no real referee to oversee it. But there is one person taking advantage of whose blind spots, like Kobe Bryant did in his game, can lead you to create wealth over the long run.

That person is none other than Ben Graham’s hypothetical Mr. Market.

In his 2012 shareholder’s meeting, here is how Warren Buffett described this idea of taking advantage of Mr. Market’s occasional blind spots –

…the beauty of stocks is they do sell at silly prices from time to time. That’s how Charlie and I have gotten rich. You know, Ben Graham writes about it in Chapter 8 of the Intelligent Investor.

You know, next to — well, Chapters 8 and Chapters 20 are really all you need to do to get rich in this world.

And Chapter 8 says that in the market you’re going to have a partner named “Mr. Market,” and the beauty of him as your partner is that he’s kind of a psychotic drunk and he will do very weird things over time and your job is to remember that he’s there to serve you and not to advise you.

And if you can keep that mental state, then all those thousands of prices that Mr. Market is offering you every day on every major business in the world, practically, that he is making lots of mistakes, and he makes them for all kinds of weird reasons.

And all you have to do is occasionally oblige him when he offers to either buy or sell from you at the same price on any given day, any given security.

And unlike basketball referees, Mr. Market is much helpful and accommodating. This is simply because unlike referees who are strict and sober, Mr. Market is “a psychotic drunk.” As Buffett said in his meeting –

The stock market is the most obliging, money-making place in the world because you don’t have to do anything.

You know, you sit there with thousands of businesses being priced at the same price for the buyer and the seller, and you don’t — and it changes every day, and you’ve got lots of information about most of those businesses, and you don’t have to do anything.

Compare that to any other investment alternative you’ve got. I mean, you can’t do that with farms.

If you own a farm and the guy has the farm next to you and you’d kind of like to buy him out or something, he’s not going to name a price every day at which he’ll buy your farm or sell you his farm, but you can do that with Berkshire Hathaway or IBM.

It’s a marvelous game. The rules are stacked in your favor, if you don’t turn those rules upside down and start behaving like the drunken psychotic instead of the guy that’s there to take advantage of it.

And here is Buffett in his 1987 letter talking about how investors, chasing fancy strategies and unreasonable returns have forgotten the simple lesson from Graham that can teach them to take advantage of Mr. Market’s occasional blind spots –

Ben’s Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today’s investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising “Take two aspirins”? The value of market esoterica to the consumer of investment advice is a different story.

In my opinion, investment success will not be produced by arcane formulae, computer programs or signals flashed by the price behavior of stocks and markets. Rather an investor will succeed by coupling good business judgment with an ability to insulate his thoughts and behavior from the super-contagious emotions that swirl about the marketplace. In my own efforts to stay insulated, I have found it highly useful to keep Ben’s Mr. Market concept firmly in mind.

You see the parallel with what Bryant did to succeed, don’t you?

He succeeded massively by coupling good judgment of the game of basketball while keeping the referees’ positions and their blind spots firmly in mind.

Anyways, following a super-successful career in basketball, Bryant’s second act was in, well, investing.

In 2016, near the end of his career, Bryant started Bryant Stibel, a US$ 100 million venture-capital fund with Jeff Stibel, an entrepreneur and investor. The fund was backed by Bryant and Stibel’s own capital, and invested largely in technology, media, and data companies.

He told CNBC in an interview in 2016 that he hoped to be remembered for investing more than basketball in 20 years. “Championships come and go,” he said, “But if you really want to create something that lasts generations, you have to help inspire the next generation.”

While talking about investing, Bryant was talking not about months or years, but generations.

If you too have that in mind, i.e., generations, while looking at wealth creation through equities, you will find ample opportunities to take advantage of Mr. Market’s occasional slips.

But if all you are focused on is him, i.e., stock prices, you will end up playing to his book and never be able to put your focus back on the game. You will end up being his servant, not master.

One of the factors that made Bryant such a legend was that he stacked the odds in his favour by understanding how the referees moved around the court, and patiently waiting for them to reach their blind spots that he could take advantage of.

Likewise, investing is about bringing the odds in your favour by understanding Mr. Market, and patiently waiting for him to make you a deal you simply cannot refuse.

You may, well, call it the Mamba Mentality.

P.S. There was some distant connection between Bryant and Buffett. In 2014, Bryant invested about US$ 6 million of his own money in BA Sports Nutrition, a sports drink startup. In less than four and a half years, his investment surged to be worth roughly US$ 200 million when Coca-Cola (in which Buffett’s Berkshire owns a stake) brought a minority stake in the startup in 2018.

* * * Stuff I’m Reading (New Feature) Based on requests from people loving my Saturday posts, I’m starting this experiment to be more regular in sharing stuff I’m reading and thinking about, in bits like pieces. Let me know if you find this useful, so I may carry on. Here are the five bits from today –

Staying with Kobe Bryant, here’s a lovely poem he penned – Dear Basketball.

Scott Galloway, prof of marketing at NYU Stern, writes about the there unlocks in the business world that have created over $500 billion in shareholder value, and the fourth unlock that was revealed recently.

Morgan Housel writes – “History is only interesting because nothing is inevitable. The biggest lesson from the last three months is that whatever your view of the future is, it’s probably wrong. Things change in ways people can’t imagine at times they never considered.”

PD Mangan’s short but extremely useful guide on how to be healthy.

May help some people, young and those seeking new opportunities – best career advice I’ve ever received.

Useful? Want to see this regularly?

* * * That’s about it from me for today.

If you liked this post, please share with others on WhatsApp, Twitter, or just email them the link to this post.

Stay safe.

With respect, — Vishal

The post Mamba Mentality and How to Win at the Stock Investing Game appeared first on Safal Niveshak.

Mamba Mentality and How to Win at the Stock Investing Game published first on https://mbploans.tumblr.com/

[bumpsweat]

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Start Making Money Fast Trading Options

Individuals need to begin making cash quick. The best system to use for that objective is exchanging alternatives. At the point when a great many people consider alternatives they accept that there dangerous. Which truth be told, they are for the individuals who don't exchange them effectively stock trading alerts

Investment opportunities are utilized to make use and control hazard. The systems I gained from my tutors are beneficial and straightforward once you get the hang of them.

There are two kinds of choices, calls and puts. There are additionally two things you can do with any alternative, either get it or sell it. The most fundamental technique for utilizing alternatives is known as a secured call. The procedure is made out of two unique positions.

In the event that you were long basic xyz which is exchanging at $15.00 you would sell a call alternative against it and gather cash in your record for selling that choice.

Purchase 100 portions of xyz at $15.00 and sell 1 agreement (which is equivalent to 100 portions of load) of the 15 hit calls with 30 days until lapse and gather $1 per share or $100 absolute.

At termination you profit if xyz is exchanging above $14.00. Truly, you can make cash in any event, when your stocks go down!

• If XYZ is above $15.00 you will sell your offers at $15.00 and keep the $100 you gathered to sell the alternative in the start of the exchange.

• If you purchase a call alternative you reserve the privilege to purchase a particular basic for a specific measure of time at a particular cost.

• If you sell a call alternative you are committed to sell a particular basic at a specific cost inside a specific measure of time.

• If you purchase a put alternative you reserve the option to sell a particular basic at a specific cost for a specific measure of time.

• If you sell a put choice you have the commitment to purchase a particular fundamental at a specific cost for a specific measure of time.

In the event that this is your first time finding out about choices I know it's befuddling. Be that as it may, trust me, exchanging choices will enable you to begin making cash quick.

By selling alternatives you can begin making cash quick by making a predictable month to month salary that you can copy again and again.

Making cash in exchanging is tied in with giving yourself an edge. Through different alternative selling systems you can do precisely that. 80% of alternatives terminate useless! So who's creation the vast majority of the cash? Believe it or not, choice merchants.

Choice Selling

There are such huge numbers of approaches to profit. Exchanging alternatives is the one that can truly transform you. There are such huge numbers of circumstances you can place yourself in through exchanging alternatives that give you a numerical edge.

The vast majority think exchanging choices is unsafe. The explanation is a great many people lose cash who exchange choices! 80% of choices terminate useless. Things being what they are, who's creation the entirety of the cash? The individuals who are purchasing those alternatives or the individuals who are selling them.

The explanation individuals state that alternatives are dangerous is on the grounds that they don't get them. In the event that they did they would have a very different supposition. Simply ask a fruitful market producer what the person thinks about alternatives. Market producers that I pursue know a ton of approaches to profit.

They are going to recount to a totally unique story. Alternatives lessen hazard and amplify benefits whenever exchanged accurately. In this page I will give you a portion of my preferred procedures that put me on the triumphant side. The side where I have the scientific favorable position.

Positive time rot implies that consistently that passes choice premiums rot or dissolve. As such if stock xyz is exchanging at $20 today and the $20 call is exchanging at $1.95 then daily later all different things being equivalent that alternative will exchange for under $1.95 on the grounds that there is less time for it to merit something.

There are a couple of significant parts to my general exchanging plan.

1. Cost and plan for entering

2. Picking the right methodology

3. Plan for leaving the exchange

4. Position Size

Each of the four of these pieces to the riddle are significant. The one I will concentrate on now is picking the right system.

Coming up next are my preferred characterized chance alternative spreads.

• Verticals

• Calendars

• Butterflies

• Iron Condors

• Diagonals

At the point when I was searching for approaches to profit I started exchanging. The issue I had as a learner with my exchanging was I adapted these techniques and began exchanging them yet I didn't have an arrangement for leaving and dealing with the positions. That part is similarly as significant as the real system.

For instance, one of the procedures I started exchanging to make additional cash is known as a bull put spread. The exchange is made on a stock you believe will go up. I would gather $2.00 on a $5.00 wide spread. At that point I would basically put it on and let it on and let it go with no leave plan. I needed to discover approaches to profit however I was losing $3.00 on my losing exchanges utilizing this procedure with no arrangement.

A portion of these would terminate useless and I would make the $2.00 however some would conflict with me and I would assume the maximum misfortune. Presently I figured out how to deal with those positions and make the $2.00 on my champs reliably and just lose $1.00 or less probably! Exchanges that go out on a limb contrasted with remuneration aren't getting down to business after some time.

Controlling danger is the most significant piece of exchanging. It's fundamental to make great predictable gains however it's progressively imperative to have little failures contrasted with your potential gains on your triumphant exchanges.

The best exhortation I can provide for starting dealers is the accompanying focuses.

1. Find the same number of fruitful merchants who have been around for a short time and adapt precisely how they exchange.

2. Learn as much as you can about every one of their exchanging styles since what one individual does probably won't work for you and the other way around.

3. Learn systems that bode well! In case you're going to purchase choices profit.

4. Have an arrangement to get out and limit hazard. As such, realize what the most dire outcome imaginable is before you even enter the exchange.

5. Ensure you can make enough on each exchange to legitimize being in the position. At the end of the day, if your think there is a half possibility you will win a specific exchange and you can make twice as much as you're gambling, than that bodes well!

6. Learn position estimating! Never at any point chance all the more then 3-5% of your portfolio on any one exchange. I never chance over 2% and that is exceptionally uncommon. I for the most part risk.5% of my record per exchange.

To summarize everything, there are numerous approaches to profit. I think exchanging is truly outstanding. It's uncommon to discover an open door that can have an arrangement behind it where are the situations both positive and negative are comprehended. On the off chance that the great versus awful situations bode well with that arrangement than that is an arrangement that will work after some time.

You can likewise begin making cash quick by purchasing choices. The most significant piece of alternative purchasing is you must have to know precisely which choices to purchase. You would prefer not to purchase an inappropriate choices since you'll lose the entirety of your cash!

Choice Buying

We as a whole need to make cash quick. Fortunately there are approaches to do it's basically realizing what they are and how to apply them. Numerous individuals state alternatives are hazardous, which they are in the event that you don't get them.

• If you comprehend alternatives you can utilize them to decrease chance and augment benefit.

• If you like to exchange directional or pattern exchange there is no preferred method to do that over alternatives.

• Lastly on the off chance that creation immense touchy gains in your exchanging account premiums you, at that point you have to figure out how to purchase choices accurately. It is the most ideal approach to make cash quick.

For instance, purchasing an alternative that has minimal possibility of regularly being worth cash doesn't bode well. The pitiful part is individuals do this the entirety of the time in light of the fact that those alternatives are generally modest.

There are two segments of an alternative. They are the inborn worth and extraneous worth. How about we start characterizing them both

• Stock xyz is exchanging at $60.00.

• The $50 call with 100 days until termination is exchanging for $11.00

The characteristic estimation of that choice is $10.00 in light of the fact that the contrast between the cost of xyz and the strike cost is $10.00.

The extraneous estimation of that alternative or time premium is $1.00 on the grounds that that is the additional premium paid for the choice that has no genuine worth.

This is a decent choice to purchase since it is route ITM (in the cash). You would prefer not to purchase alternatives with a great deal of outward worth. Those are the ones you need to sell.

In the event that you purchased this alternative you would start to profit as the stock ascents since it has a high delta (pace of progress of the choice). This choice would make cash quick since it would move rapidly in cost with the stock.

How about we take a gander at another guide to bring home the purpose of the sort of alternatives you need to purchase.

• Stock xyz is exchanging at $60.00

• The $60.00 call is with 45 days until termination is exchanging for $3.00

The inborn worth is $0.00. It has no genuine worth since it's OTM (out of the cash)

The extraneous worth is $3.00. This is the sort of choice you need to sell in light of the fact that consistently that sits back premium paid will diminish.

In the event that you purchased this $60.00 call you would require xyz to revitalize passed $63.00 at lapse to profit.

Thus, the system I prescribe is to purchase ITM (in the cash) choices with a delta of in any event (.7) or higher and at any rate 60 days until lapse. Obviously this must be went with a sound exchanging plan to limit chance by utilizing stop misfortunes and supporting methods.

On the off chance that you need to make cash quick, at that point this kind of system should some portion of your portfolio since it enables you to go out on a limb and make huge increases.

In any exchange you have to have characterized hazard. The most ideal approach to achieve this is by having a particular arrangement for your exchanges before you're even in them. Individuals who prevail with regards to exchanging don't enable their feelings to become possibly the most important factor.

In the event that you have cash in the business sectors whether you're overseeing it or giving somebody a chance to oversee pose yourself this significant inquiry. What is my general hazard and when do I intend to take my benefits? In the event that you don't have the foggiest idea about the response to t

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25 Ways to Increase Online Sales

Increasing online sales is the primary goal of countless businesses, large and small alike. Whether you run a mom-and-pop retail business or work for a vast ecommerce giant like Amazon, increasing sales through online channels is a little like bowling a strike – it looks a lot easier than it actually is.

Fortunately, there are dozens of ways you can make more sales online, many of which you can implement right away. Some of these tips focus on specific strategies you can implement, whereas others are more generalized. In this post, we’ll be looking at 25 such strategies, so whether you sell physical goods or run a service-based business, here are 25 actionable techniques you can use to increase online sales performance.

25. Be Honest in Your Sales Copy

This might seem painfully obvious, but it’s amazing to me how many sites write checks their products can’t cash. Not only is honesty in your copy crucial to your business’ reputation, it also fosters and encourages trust in your brand. Don’t make claims you can’t substantiate, and don’t use hyperbole lightly – today’s consumers are hypersensitive to marketing BS, so be honest, straightforward, and approachable in all your sales copy, from your homepage to your email campaigns.

This PETA ad was pulled from billboards in the U.K. by the Advertising Standards Authority in 2013 for making unsubstantiated claims.

This principle also applies to how you position yourself as a business. Ever come across a site that’s obviously run by one or two people, but features copy that would be better suited to a multinational enterprise company? This approach not only makes you look foolish, it also damages your brand’s credibility. If you’re a small company, take pride in that and be upfront about it – many consumers are turning to smaller businesses precisely because of the more individualized, personal service they can offer. Don’t try to be something you’re not.

24. Get More Ad Clicks with Ad Extensions

If you’re selling stuff online, ad extensions are a no-brainer – this feature (available in both AdWords and Bing) allows you to make your ad bigger with more places to click. And it doesn’t cost any extra! AND it increases your ad’s click-through rate! Amazing, right?

In the above example, the links to “Men’s Sunglasses” and “Women’s Sunglasses” give people who are looking to buy a new pair of Ray-Ban’s two additional places to click. This saves the potential customer a step and makes it easier and faster to find exactly what they want (so they go to your site instead of a competitor’s).

23. Show Off Customer Testimonials and Trust Signals

In today’s social media environment, customer feedback has never been more important. Fortunately, this means that your satisfied customers can provide you with one of the most valuable weapons in your arsenal – testimonials.

Legions of satisfied customers are considerably more influential than even the best-written sales copy, so make sure you include gushing testimonials and reviews from your hardcore brand evangelists gushing about how wonderful you are. These might appear on your product pages, landing pages, pricing page, even your home page. For more info, check out my post on the power of customer testimonials.

Similarly, the inclusion of trust signals can be an excellent way to increase online sales, as it creates a more favorable perception of your brand in the mind of the prospect and can potentially overcome hesitations preemptively. If your business has any professional accreditations (even something as routine as a Better Business Bureau certification or membership to your local chamber of commerce), put these trust signals front and center on your site. If you have an impressive list of satisfied clients, make sure your prospects know about it.

22. Create a Sense of Urgency

It’s important to be honest and transparent about who you are and what you do, but there’s no rule against creating a sense of urgency to persuade prospects to buy from you right now.

Many consumers respond positively to incentives that create a sense of urgency, from time-sensitive special offers to limited-edition products. Although the ways you can accomplish this are as diverse as the products you can buy online, some strategies may be more effective than others. For example, if you don’t (or can’t) make a limited-edition product to entice prospects, maybe you can offer a financial incentive to customers who commit to a purchase right away, such as free shipping or a discount.

In AdWords, you can use ad customizers to display a countdown on a seasonal offer or limited-time sale:

However you choose to do it, creating a sense of urgency is a great way to increase online sales.

21. Offer a Bulletproof Money-Back Guarantee

Oftentimes, one of the most powerful factors in a consumer’s decision not to buy something is risk aversion – the desire to avoid a potential loss. Most times, this perceived risk is a financial one. Why should someone buy your products? What if they don’t work, or the customer doesn’t like them? Even small purchases can carry the risk of “buyer’s remorse,” so overcome this objection from the outset by offering a bulletproof money-back guarantee.

The more risk you remove from the prospect’s decision, the more likely they are to buy from you, so take away anything that could dissuade prospects from buying from you.

20. Offer Fewer Choices

To many businesses, this concept is simply unthinkable. Surely offering more products is a great way to increase sales! Well, not necessarily. In fact, in many instances, a greater variety of choice can lead to indecision on the part of the prospect, which in turn results in lost sales.

If you have a wide range of products, consider structuring your site or product pages in a way that offers visitors as few choices as possible. This reduces the possibility that the visitor will be overwhelmed by dozens of different products. This can be accomplished by arranging your products into increasingly narrow categories (an added bonus of which is offering visitors greater ease to find exactly what they’re looking for), or you could place greater emphasis on fewer individual products. Either way, remember that the more choices you provide, the more likely a customer is to bounce and go elsewhere.

19. Target Lookalike Audiences on Facebook

One of the best ways to increase online sales is to use the data you have about your existing customers to find people just like them. Facebook allows you to do this through the targeting of lookalike audiences.

Lookalike audiences in Facebook are essentially users on Facebook who share characteristics and behaviors to customers in your database. You upload your data to Facebook, which then cross-references its own data (and information from third-party data brokers) to create matches based on the criteria you specify. You can also use tracking pixels and data from app installations to help you create lookalike audiences. This is an excellent way to make the data on your existing customers work for you, as it effectively allows you to greatly expand your reach with minimal effort and use highly targeted ads to entice Facebook users who are very similar to your existing customers.

Check out this blog post about Facebook ad targeting to learn more about lookalike audiences.

18. Reduce Friction in the Checkout Process

According to Business Insider, approximately $4 TRILLION worth of online merchandise was abandoned in incomplete shopping carts last year alone, of which 63% was potentially recoverable. This is a truly jaw-dropping statistic, and one that reveals how crucial it is to nail your checkout process.

Similar to the point above about user experience, reducing friction in your checkout process can have an incredible impact on your conversion rates. Just as you should make it as easy as possible for visitors to use and navigate your site, you should make it even easier for them to actually buy what you’re selling.

Eliminate any unnecessary steps in your checkout process that could dissuade a prospect from converting. Skip unnecessary fields in forms. Don’t time them out and make them start over from the beginning. Here are some more tips on battling shopping cart abandonment.

17. Provide as Many Payment Options as Possible

Okay, so your business takes credit cards. What about Google Wallet payments? Or ApplePay? What about Stripe? WePay?

Consumers have more choice than ever before in terms of how they actually pay for goods and services, and not everyone prefers to use American Express. By offering more payment options, including newer services that are becoming increasingly popular on mobile, you’re making it easier for prospects to give you their money. Sure, it can be a hassle to optimize your site (and checkout process, as we discussed above) to include all these options, but doing so is a great way to increase online sales, particularly if your site has strong mobile traffic.

16. Invest in Quality Product Images

There’s compelling evidence that well-presented food actually tastes better than sloppily plated dishes. Given how important appearance is in relation to how we perceive things (including other people), it stands to reason that investing in quality product photography will have a similar effect on visitors to your site.

Regardless of what you sell, include high-quality images of your products – no tiny thumbnails or poorly lit shots taken in your stock room. Also be sure to include a wide range of images. It might seem overkill to include shots of your products from every conceivable angle, but try it out. People love to kick a product’s proverbial tires before buying, especially online.

15. Get Rid of Your Landing Pages

We’ve mentioned this strategy before, and it usually raises more than a few eyebrows to say the least. However, we’re not advocating for eliminating landing pages unncessesarily, but rather optimizing your online ads to align with how many consumers actually browse the Web and shop online.

Call-Only campaigns in Facebook and AdWords are an excellent example of a situation in which removing the traditional landing page entirely makes a lot of sense. Most people don’t want to spend several minutes browsing pages on their mobile device – they simply want to get in touch with your business.

By utilizing Call-Only ads, you’re making it easier for prospects to reach out to your business, eliminating one of the leakiest stages of the classic online sales funnel completely, and potentially increasing the volume of calls to your business – one of the most valuable lead sources to many businesses. People who call you are practically begging you to sell them something.

14. Give Gmail Ads a Try

After years in and out of beta, Gmail Ads are FINALLY available to everyone. This is an exciting way to reach prospects and increase sales.

If you’re already reaching customers when they search and when they browse on social, why not go the extra mile and hit them while they’re in their inboxes, too? One of the most effective ways to use Gmail Ads is by targeting competitor keywords. People who are in the market for your competitors’ products are getting emails from your competitors that mention their brand terms right now. By targeting those same terms you can show up in their inboxes and hopefully change their minds.

13. Keep Messaging Consistent Across Campaigns and Your Site

Ever clicked a PPC ad that grabbed your attention, only to be taken to an irrelevant landing page (bad) or the site’s homepage (worse)? Did you end up buying whatever you were looking for from that site? Probably not.

A display ad for Air Canada, and its accompanying landing page

If a user clicks an ad for a specific product or service, the page they’re taken to should be about that specific product or service – not a related category, not a special offer for another product, but that specific product. Make sure your messaging is relevant across your PPC and paid social campaigns and the pages associated with them, so that ad clicks actually turn into sales.

12. Answer Every Question and Address Every Objection in Your Copy

One of the most dangerous pitfalls you can fall into when trying to sell online is making assumptions about your prospective customers’ knowledge of your product, service, or even market. Many companies mistakenly believe their customers know more about what they’re selling than they actually do, which results in unanswered questions or objections that are failed to be addressed – both of which can harm sales.

Consider every question you can possibly think of about your product, and answer it in your copy on your product pages. Similarly, think about every potential objection a prospect might have about your offering, and preemptively overcome it in your copy. This might seem impractical, but remember, you’re not bombarding prospects with unnecessary information – you’re giving them exactly what they need to make an informed decision. This approach is also an excellent exercise in writing tight, clear, concise copy. If you’re worried there’s too much copy, you can always trim it down. Just keep the focus on the customer and how it benefits them, not why your company is so awesome.

11. Give Away As Much As You Possible Can for Free

People love free stuff, and the more you give away for free, the more favorably prospective customers are likely to perceive you and your brand, which can result in more online sales.

Awesome!

Look at your current offerings. Can you give anything away for free? If you’re in the software business as we are, it’s easy to offer free, no-obligation trials of your software. Even if you’re not, you can just as easily give away samplers, trial memberships, two-for-one offers, and other reward-based incentives. Giving stuff away for free isn’t just a great way to improve people’s perception of your business, it’s also a great way to introduce them to your must-have products and tempt them to buy more.

10. Create and Target Detailed Buyer Personas

I’m going to go ahead and assume that you’re already creating buyer personas (because if you aren’t, you’re in real trouble), but I am going to challenge you to create even more detailed buyer personas than you have in the past.

If you’ve ever looked at the targeting options available to Facebook advertisers, you may have seen the amazing granularity with which you can target users on Facebook – advertisers can target users based on the square footage of their home, the university from which they earned their degree, and even where they plan on going for their next vacation (as Margot revealed in her fascinating post about amazingly granular Facebook audiences).

Obviously, this degree of specificity may be a little overkill for your buyer personas, but the better you “know” your ideal customers, the more likely they are to respond to carefully crafted messaging tailored specifically to their lives. Push yourself to create more detailed buyer personas than you ever have before. To learn more about this process, check out my detailed guide to creating buyer personas.

9. Implement Tiered Pricing

When you go to a restaurant, the chances are pretty good that you’ll invariably choose one of the mid-priced dishes. This is because many restaurants manipulate psychology to push people toward the mid-range meals. We’ll often avoid the cheapest dishes – and the most expensive – making the middle-tier options the most appealing. This is a technique known as “decoy pricing.” The same principle can be leveraged to increase sales online with tiered pricing structures.

By including a third “decoy” option in your pricing structure, you can push people toward the middle option – the one you really want them to buy. Sure, some people will go for the most expensive option anyway (which is a bonus, revenue-wise), but most will subconsciously avoid the decoy and choose the middle-tier option, which is precisely what you want them to do.

Many companies leverage this psychological principle (also known as the “asymmetric dominance effect”) to make us buy what they want. To learn more about decoy pricing, check out this post by Neil Patel at MarketingLand.

8. Add an Opt-In Pop-Up Offer to Push Them Over the Edge

If you're looking to increase sales in retail, don't ignore the potential of opt-in offers – prompts that encourage people to sign up for your newsletter, mailing list, or loyalty programs. Using opt-in offers can not only significantly increase the number of contacts in your database (a major asset for future email marketing campaigns), but also increase online sales in the short term.

Prospective customers who are on the fence about buying from you may well be swayed by a well-placed opt-in offer for, say, free shipping, or 10% of their first order. Even if they decide against the purchase at that time, but do sign up for your opt-in offer, you’ve still added them to your database and they may choose to return later to complete the sale.

When launching an opt-in offer, be sure to test every element for maximum optimization. Test the phrasing of the copy, the position at which it appears on your site, and the flow that visitors are directed through the process. A/B test different offers and see which ones yield a greater volume of sign-ups. Consider having the pop-up be triggered by a site exit so visitors see it just before they're about the leave the page. The more people that sign up for your newsletter or loyalty program, the more potential sales you can make in the future.

7. Grow Online Sales with Mobile Optimization

The number of online businesses with poorly designed, badly optimized “mobile” sites is amazing.

Mobile search has already eclipsed desktop search in volume. If you don’t want to leave sales on the table, it’s vital that your site is optimized for mobile – and not purely from a technical perspective.

Make it as easy as possible for mobile visitors to buy whatever you’re selling. This may involve an extensive overhaul of your checkout process (see tip #18), or the design and launch of an entirely separate mobile site. Amazon’s mobile site is an excellent example of how mobile ecommerce can (and arguably should) be done, but you don’t need Amazon’s resources to create a compelling, user-friendly experience for visitors on mobile.

Navigation and user experience are among the most crucial elements of a well-designed, highly optimized mobile experience. The harder it is for visitors to find – and buy – what they want, the more likely they are to abandon your site altogether and take their business elsewhere. Pages should load near-instantaneously, and navigation should be logical. Don’t ask for too much information, only the bare minimum you need to either make the sale or market to prospects later. Allow visitors to come back to their carts later, even on another device. Don’t expect mobile visitors to convert in a single session, because they probably (almost definitely) won’t – but they might convert later, if you make it easy for them to do so.

Think of your mobile visitors and do everything you possibly can to make it effortless for them to buy from you while they’re on the go.

6. Impress New Customers with an Amazing Follow-Up Email

Sadly, the customer experience typically ends for many businesses when they’ve finally got their hands on a customer’s money. This is a terrible mistake for customer retention. To increase sales volume online, make sure you have a thoughtful, considerate, genuinely useful follow-up procedure in place for new customers.

As a hardcore computer geek, I’m always ordering stuff from Newegg.com – replacement parts, new components, and other deliciously geeky stuff. The reason I’ve been a loyal Newegg customer for many years isn’t just the price of the goods (which is highly competitive), but rather the focus on customer service and the follow-up process Newegg has in place.

Whenever I place an order, I receive detailed summaries of my purchase (including vital tracking information so I can hit “Refresh” on the order page to see where my stuff is), as well as customer service information, links to relevant products I might be interested in, and all sorts of other resources. I’m prompted to leave reviews and feedback about my experience, encouraged to contact a real person if I have questions about my order, and can even discuss or answer questions about my purchase for other users who are considering buying whatever I just splurged on. Generally speaking, it’s just a great shopping experience – which is why I’ve been buying my hardware from Newegg for years.

Don’t forget about your customers as soon as they’ve given you their credit card details. The more attention you pay to them after they’ve bought something, the more likely they are to become fiercely loyal brand evangelists who will not only turn into satisfied repeat customers, but will also go and tell and their friends (and blog readers) about how great you are. When a customer buys something, offer them something for free (see tip #11). Talk to them on social media (more on this shortly). Send them a thoughtful, useful follow-up email with incentives to buy from you again. However you do it, make your customers feel like the precious little snowflakes they are – think relationships, not transactions.

5. Nail Your Value Proposition – And Make It Immediately Obvious

Far too many companies lose sales and waste time by focusing on themselves. Remember how we discussed that people don’t want to buy things, only solve their problems? Well, another painful truth is that unless your customers are the brand evangelists we’ve been talking about, the vast majority of them don’t care about you or your company – only how your products or services will make their lives better. This is why your value propositionshould take center stage in all your marketing communications and site content.

Essentially, your value proposition is the primary reason customers should buy from you, not your competitors, and the promise of the value prospects will receive by investing in whatever you’re selling. Value propositions can be broken down into three main areas:

Relevance: How your product/service will solve customers’ problems

Quantifiable value: The specific benefits your product/service offers

Differentiator: Why customers should buy from you and not a competing company

When you break down a value proposition into these three components, it becomes easy to see why these elements should inform virtually everything about your marketing messaging and site content, from the copy on your homepage to the content of your email marketing campaigns. Why wouldn’t you focus exclusively on these aspects of your products?

Take a look at your landing page copy, sales collateral, and other marketing materials. Is the value proposition immediately obvious? If not, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Everything your prospects see should tie back to your value proposition in one way or another. The greater the perceived value you can create surrounding your products or services, the more sales you’ll make.

4. Use the Voice of the Customer for More Resonant Ad Campaigns

Hopefully you’re already using PPC and paid social to expand your reach and find new audiences. However, the language you use in your campaigns can have a tremendous impact on your conversion rates (and, therefore, your sales), so my fourth tip is to use “the voice of the customer” in your campaigns – but what does this mean?

The voice of the customer is a market research technique that aligns copy with the needs, wants, pain points, expectations, and aversions of the consumer being targeted by that particular messaging. This process often includes language and phrasing used by customers themselves during market research and focus group testing.

The example above, from accounting software company FreshBooks, uses the voice of the customer to great effect. During its market research, FreshBooks discovered that its target market (small-business owners) found bookkeeping to be painful and challenging, and so it incorporated language used by its target market in its messaging.

This technique can be extraordinarily powerful, as you’re using the exact phrasing used byyour ideal customers to reach your ideal customers. To learn more about how to incorporate this into your own campaigns, check out this post on the voice of the customer.

3. Pinpoint Your Best Attribution and Conversion Paths

Sometimes, it feels as though you’re doing everything right, only to see your conversion rates hovering somewhere between “miserable” and “pathetic.” Oftentimes, this isn’t anything to do with the messaging or positioning of your ads (though it pays to look at this closely), but rather a misunderstanding of when and where conversions are happening.

One of the first things you should do if your conversion rates look low is to examine your attribution models and conversion pathways in Analytics. You may be surprised to find that parts of your marketing strategy that seem like conversion duds actually have a big influence on your online sales. For example, maybe organic search isn’t a great channel for converting into sales, but people who find you first through organic search, and thensee a Facebook ad are highly like to become a paying customer. If that’s the case, you should double-down on content marketing and pour some money into Facebook remarketing too (see Tip #1, below).

2. Actually Talk to Your Prospects on Social Media

Active engagement with prospects via social media is overlooked as a potential sales tool by far too many businesses because it is perceived as having a negligible impact on actual sales – when in fact this is one of the best ways you can increase brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and sales.

Think of a time when you tweeted at a company, or commented on a brand’s Facebook page – and the company actually responded to you personally. What effect did this have on your perception of that brand? I’ll wager it became significantly more favorable. Providing fast, honest answers to questions that potential customers have about your offerings is an excellent way to increase sales, as the more attention you are perceived as paying to potential customers, the more likely people are to want to buy from you. This also results in unsolicited social feedback among users themselves – the kind of brand exposure and “advertising” you just can’t buy (well, not in a way that sounds legitimate, anyway).

1. Use Remarketing to Close Way More Deals

No matter whether you’re running a PPC campaign or a Facebook advertising campaign, any digital marketing initiative takes time, money, and effort to accomplish. If you’re not using remarketing, you’re essentially banking on prospective customers converting immediately, which almost never happens (and is exactly as crazy as it sounds).

Whether you’re remarketing your content or a specific time-sensitive sale offer, remarketing is arguably the single most effective way to increase sales online. Not only does remarketing keep your brand at the forefront of prospects’ minds, it also provides would-be customers with numerous additional opportunities to convert. Given the often-fractured customer journey, which now usually takes place across at least a day or two and several devices, remarketing also closely aligns with how today’s consumers prefer to shop – which is wherever and whenever they choose.

Remarketing is a complex, nuanced topic with unique considerations depending on whether you’re remarketing with paid search or paid social, so check out The Complete Guide to AdWords Remarketing Best Practices and The Ridiculously Awesome Guide to Facebook Remarketing.

How to Increase Online Sales [Summary]

Try these 25 tactics to start closing more sales online:

Use Remarketing to Close Way More Deals

Actually Talk to Your Prospects on Social Media

Pinpoint Your Best Attribution and Conversion Paths

Use the Voice of the Customer for More Resonant Ad Campaigns

Nail Your Value Proposition – And Make It Immediately Obvious

Impress New Customers with an Amazing Follow-Up Email

Grow Online Sales with Mobile Optimization

Add an Opt-In Pop-Up Offer to Push Them Over the Edge

Implement Tiered Pricing

Create and Target Detailed Buyer Personas

Give Away As Much As You Possibly Can for Free

Answer Every Question and Address Every Objection in Your Copy

Keep Messaging Consistent Across Campaigns and Your Site

Give Gmail Ads a Try

Get Rid of Your Landing Pages

Invest in Quality Product Images

Provide as Many Payment Options as Possible

Reduce Friction in the Checkout Process

Target Lookalike Audiences on Facebook

Offer Fewer Choices

Offer a Bulletproof Money-Back Guarantee

Create a Sense of Urgency

Show Off Customer Testimonials and Trust Signals

Get More Ad Clicks with Ad Extensions

Be Honest in Your Sales Copy

[lipstickndjays]

Child Garments For Your Infant Shower Present

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free baby stuff expecting mother

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[ledenews]

J.P. Dutton – Serving Through It All

It was four years ago when J.P. Dutton decided to run for a seat on the Belmont County Commission and he did that because he believed a more conservative approach to the budget and the county’s debt would benefit the residents in the long-term. Dutton is running for re-election for a number of reasons, but one of them is to see through the cracker proposal in the Dilles Bottom area, a project he inherited when taking office and one which once again has been delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Will it happen? If not, what then? Hope is high, but that answer will not arrive now for another six-to-nine months. For now, it is about the impact COVID-19 has had on sale tax collections and county services. That is the balancing act he and the two other commissioners now must perform to preserve services for the people.

The Chik-fil-a opened at the Ohio Valley Mall two months ago and has offered drive-thru service.

How have you and your family handled the COVID-19 pandemic?

My family and I have handled the pandemic much like many other families across the Ohio Valley. We adjusted very quickly, especially in the beginning as each daily press conference from Governor Mike DeWine seemed to bring additional responses to a rapidly changing situation. Taking extra precautions became very routine, not just for everyone in our household but for others around us as well.  Showing a lot of appreciation for those working under more difficult circumstances has been important to us as well.  We have been assisting within our community with local efforts targeted at addressing specific needs that have emerged.  Finally, with three school aged children, we worked through daily assignments despite challenges that exist as it relates to broadband access.  COVID-19 has really highlighted even further the challenges that rural communities face as it relates to broadband quality and the disadvantage of substandard access. This is particularly true in Appalachia.  As a county, we have worked to be proactive over the past few years.  In the fall of 2017, we signed an agreement with Agile Networks to utilize the county's vertical structures (water tanks and 911 towers).  Agile has similar agreements with the State of Ohio in regards to MARCS towers which are used by the State Highway Patrol.  This agreement brought increased broadband service to residents near these structures.  We have also had discussions with companies like AT&T and Comcast to continue to stress the need for increased access in Belmont County and continue to search for possible innovative partnerships through the Belmont County Port Authority. As for Comcast, during this particular time, we have worked to connect them with Belmont County school districts in regards to the company's attempt to assist during the pandemic.  Specifically, we reached out to school superintendents and connected them with contacts at Comcast.  We still have a long way to go but we will continue to work to get there.  The youth of the Ohio Valley need these improvements so that they can have increased access to technological improvements in education and further compete with other students across the globe.

What financial impact will the closure of the Ohio Valley Mall have on Belmont County and the offered services?

Any long-term closure of businesses is difficult for a local government, particularly one whose general fund is fueled primarily by local sales tax. With business closures like those at the Ohio Valley Mall, sales tax revenues are expected to decrease significantly during this time. However, I remain very optimistic as businesses continue to reopen and we eventually emerge completely from the pandemic. Our local economy was strong prior and hopefully will rebound quickly. As for the Ohio Valley Mall, the property owners continue to advance future development while adjusting to changes in commercial real estate. Dunham's Sporting Goods and Chick-fil-A are a couple of recent projects that have been terrific additions to the community.  We look forward to the near completion of Five Below as well as the Hampton Inn.

The Belmont County Courthouse was closed just three months after the Christmas holiday because of the coronavirus pandemic.

What is the projection for the decrease in sale tax revenue throughout the county and what measures have the commissioners considered?

It is too early to have exact figures of the current impact. Sales tax collection numbers delivered from the state of Ohio run a couple months behind when the original transaction takes place.  April's report will be the strongest indicator, but unfortunately it is not yet finalized at the state level.  State guidance points to a potential 20 percent decrease in revenue for 2020.  This type of reduction would make the 2021 budget extremely challenging.  Unlike the federal government, Belmont County cannot operate in a deficit. Therefore, shortfalls in funding as compared to a prior year result in a reduction of funding for operations for that fiscal year. Fortunately, we have made conservative budgetary decisions before COVID-19 ever emerged. For instance, for the past three years, the Commission has taken an aggressive approach to county budgets with numerous cuts. Our office has always taken the largest cut in each of these years.  For example, our current budget is 11 percent less than last year which was nearly 10 percent less than the year before that. Most importantly, these reductions did not result in a decrease of services to the residents of Belmont County.  In addition, our Board has made great strides to further strengthen Belmont County's debt position. In the last three years, the Commission secured two major financing packages with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to better finance existing water and sewer debt. In fact, the water package was the largest USDA package ever secured in the State of Ohio. These two packages make certain that water and sewer debt will be paid in the future by the Belmont County Sanitary Sewer District enterprise fund and not the county general fund. Unfortunately, this organization of debt has not always been the case causing a significant burden for Belmont County meaning that the general fund paid debt obligations that it should not have. Additionally, last year, the Commission expedited the total repayment of the new office building of Belmont County Senior Services as well as the 2008 expansion project of the Belmont County Jail.  Both of these projects are now paid in full.  This year, the Commission completely paid off a $1.6 million sewer project that was over 15 years old and was not eligible for the USDA package. This project was a perfect example of good initiative that unfortunately lacked an effective payment plan and therefore stayed in the debt portfolio without any payments taking place except interest. These recent activities place Belmont County in a very good debt position moving forward and strengthens its favorable Aa3 bond rating with Moody's, which is in the high-quality standard. Hopefully, these prior decisions of reducing budgets and eliminating debt obligations will lessen the financial impact of COVID-19. That being said, we will work extremely hard to work through the remainder of this fiscal year and prepare for the next.  We take our budgetary responsibilities very seriously even in a typical year.  All options are on the table, but we hope to limit the impact as much as possible.

This land once was home to First Energy's Burger Power Plant, but it has been cleared and sculpted in preparation for new development.

With the announcement that PTT Global will not make a final financial decision on the construction of a petrochemical "cracker" plant for six-to-nine months, many residents of the Upper Ohio Valley have grown pessimistic concerning the project. How do you and the other commissioners handle the negativity? What do you say to those residents?

Honestly, there has been very little negativity to handle. The recent announcement in regards to the project timeline was not surprising. At this point, everyone can relate to the complications that COVID-19 has had on all aspects of each of our lives. In this case, it is not hard to imagine how the pandemic would complicate the environment needed to make a major financial investment that is international in nature. I would describe the community reaction that we receive in general as supportive and optimistic. There have been major milestones reached over the past several months. Most recently, Belmont County, Mead Township, and Shadyside Local School District finalized a local tax agreement with the project leaders.  In general, one familiar with the project location cannot drive past the site today and not recognize the tremendous amount of excavation that has occurred since last summer. While a final decision has not been reached, tangible progress continues to occur.

Do you remain confident the project will take place? Why or why not? (please explain)

I am very confident in the individuals leading this incredible effort towards a final investment decision. The project leaders have been very open through the entire process. They have been responsive to community questions and demonstrated a real commitment to developing strong relationships throughout the Ohio Valley. Due to this emphasis on communication and community, this project has developed tremendous backing at the federal, state, and local level. It truly is a team approach that has garnered real buy in from those involved. Read the full article

[sunshineweb]

Mamba Mentality and How to Win at the Stock Investing Game

I have a confession. I have never been crazy about basketball. I played the game in school, but my body was too frail for the 625-gram ball to find any meaning in my life, like cricket and football did.

It was this lack of craziness that the only superstars from the game I ever knew of were Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, also because the names sounded similar.

It was early this year that I first heard about another of the game’s legends, Kobe Bryant, and because of the news of his demise in an air crash. Then, the more I read and saw of this man just led me to feel an immense amount of respect for his basketball prowess and the efforts he made over the years to reach the pinnacle.

As I read about Bryant, I realized that life for him was not free of controversies. The worst came in 2003 when he, at the top of his career, was charged with sexual assault. He proclaimed himself innocent and the charges were later dropped. Bryant and his accuser reached a civil settlement, and his reputation was badly tainted.

This is when he named himself “Black Mamba” as an alter ego to cope with the backlash. Bryant adopted the nickname to separate his life on and off the court. As he said in an interview with The New Yorker in 2014 –

The name just evokes such a negative emotion. I said, ‘If I create this alter ego, so now when I play this is what’s coming out of your mouth, it separates the personal stuff, right?’ You’re not watching David Banner — you’re watching the Hulk.

Black mamba, by the way, is a species of venomous snake native to parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Bryant said of the animal that inspired the name –

When I step on that court, I become that. I am that killer snake. I’m stone cold, man.

Anyways, the reason I bring Kobe Bryant to you today is because there are not too many people in the world who have approached practice and mastering the craft as he did during his basketball career. And there is a big lesson that I can take out for investing in stocks from Bryant’s playbook, which I will share soon.

Anyways, another basketball great, Phil Jackson, while sharing an insight into Bryant’s mentality, said that the amount of work he was putting in every day to get better was radical –

…we saw a guy that did some miraculous things. It was dedication. I often went to work at 8:30, and if we had a late-night, that’s pretty early. I’d pull into my parking spot, and Kobe’d be there taking a nap in his car. He’d been there since 6:30 working out. He had a remarkable drive towards getting better. I’ve never seen another player attack his personal habits the way he did.

In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Bryant decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary “Mamba mentality.”

Thus, was born his autobiography, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.

The book chronicles Bryant’s life journey and reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. He has also shared how he studied an opponent, how he channelled his passion for the game, and how he played through tough injuries.

One of the most insightful parts from the book for me personally is when Bryant explains how his obsession with gaining any advantage he could get during games led him to study the referee’s handbook. Yes, the referee’s handbook!

He understood that every referee was in charge of a specific part of the court, as he wrote –

I made a point of reading the referee’s handbook. One of the rules I gleaned from it was that each referee has a designated slot where he is supposed to be on the floor. If the ball, for instance, is in place W, referees X, Y, and Z each have an area on the court assigned to them.

This helped him figure out that there are certain areas on the floor referees don’t see that good. He claims he got away with a lot of small things frequently when he was in those situations during games –

When they do that, it creates dead zones, areas on the floor where they can’t see certain things. I learned where those zones were, and I took advantage of them. I would get away with holds, travels, and all sorts of minor violations simply because I took the time to understand the officials’ limitations.

This passage establishes just how badly Bryant wanted to win, even if that meant working on the blind spots of not just his opponents but also the referees overseeing the games he played.

There are all sorts of stories related to Kobe Bryant’s ultimate competitiveness and approach to basketball. This one is just one of them that proves only the truly greats pay such attention to details in combination with the hard work they put in at the game every single day.

From Bryant to Ben The game of investing in stock market has no real referee to oversee it. But there is one person taking advantage of whose blind spots, like Kobe Bryant did in his game, can lead you to create wealth over the long run.

That person is none other than Ben Graham’s hypothetical Mr. Market.

In his 2012 shareholder’s meeting, here is how Warren Buffett described this idea of taking advantage of Mr. Market’s occasional blind spots –

…the beauty of stocks is they do sell at silly prices from time to time. That’s how Charlie and I have gotten rich. You know, Ben Graham writes about it in Chapter 8 of the Intelligent Investor.

You know, next to — well, Chapters 8 and Chapters 20 are really all you need to do to get rich in this world.

And Chapter 8 says that in the market you’re going to have a partner named “Mr. Market,” and the beauty of him as your partner is that he’s kind of a psychotic drunk and he will do very weird things over time and your job is to remember that he’s there to serve you and not to advise you.

And if you can keep that mental state, then all those thousands of prices that Mr. Market is offering you every day on every major business in the world, practically, that he is making lots of mistakes, and he makes them for all kinds of weird reasons.

And all you have to do is occasionally oblige him when he offers to either buy or sell from you at the same price on any given day, any given security.

And unlike basketball referees, Mr. Market is much helpful and accommodating. This is simply because unlike referees who are strict and sober, Mr. Market is “a psychotic drunk.” As Buffett said in his meeting –

The stock market is the most obliging, money-making place in the world because you don’t have to do anything.

You know, you sit there with thousands of businesses being priced at the same price for the buyer and the seller, and you don’t — and it changes every day, and you’ve got lots of information about most of those businesses, and you don’t have to do anything.

Compare that to any other investment alternative you’ve got. I mean, you can’t do that with farms.

If you own a farm and the guy has the farm next to you and you’d kind of like to buy him out or something, he’s not going to name a price every day at which he’ll buy your farm or sell you his farm, but you can do that with Berkshire Hathaway or IBM.

It’s a marvelous game. The rules are stacked in your favor, if you don’t turn those rules upside down and start behaving like the drunken psychotic instead of the guy that’s there to take advantage of it.

And here is Buffett in his 1987 letter talking about how investors, chasing fancy strategies and unreasonable returns have forgotten the simple lesson from Graham that can teach them to take advantage of Mr. Market’s occasional blind spots –

Ben’s Mr. Market allegory may seem out-of-date in today’s investment world, in which most professionals and academicians talk of efficient markets, dynamic hedging and betas. Their interest in such matters is understandable, since techniques shrouded in mystery clearly have value to the purveyor of investment advice. After all, what witch doctor has ever achieved fame and fortune by simply advising “Take two aspirins”? The value of market esoterica to the consumer of investment advice is a different story.

In my opinion, investment success will not be produced by arcane formulae, computer programs or signals flashed by the price behavior of stocks and markets. Rather an investor will succeed by coupling good business judgment with an ability to insulate his thoughts and behavior from the super-contagious emotions that swirl about the marketplace. In my own efforts to stay insulated, I have found it highly useful to keep Ben’s Mr. Market concept firmly in mind.

You see the parallel with what Bryant did to succeed, don’t you?

He succeeded massively by coupling good judgment of the game of basketball while keeping the referees’ positions and their blind spots firmly in mind.

Anyways, following a super-successful career in basketball, Bryant’s second act was in, well, investing.

In 2016, near the end of his career, Bryant started Bryant Stibel, a US$ 100 million venture-capital fund with Jeff Stibel, an entrepreneur and investor. The fund was backed by Bryant and Stibel’s own capital, and invested largely in technology, media, and data companies.

He told CNBC in an interview in 2016 that he hoped to be remembered for investing more than basketball in 20 years. “Championships come and go,” he said, “But if you really want to create something that lasts generations, you have to help inspire the next generation.”

While talking about investing, Bryant was talking not about months or years, but generations.

If you too have that in mind, i.e., generations, while looking at wealth creation through equities, you will find ample opportunities to take advantage of Mr. Market’s occasional slips.

But if all you are focused on is him, i.e., stock prices, you will end up playing to his book and never be able to put your focus back on the game. You will end up being his servant, not master.

One of the factors that made Bryant such a legend was that he stacked the odds in his favour by understanding how the referees moved around the court, and patiently waiting for them to reach their blind spots that he could take advantage of.

Likewise, investing is about bringing the odds in your favour by understanding Mr. Market, and patiently waiting for him to make you a deal you simply cannot refuse.

You may, well, call it the Mamba Mentality.

P.S. There was some distant connection between Bryant and Buffett. In 2014, Bryant invested about US$ 6 million of his own money in BA Sports Nutrition, a sports drink startup. In less than four and a half years, his investment surged to be worth roughly US$ 200 million when Coca-Cola (in which Buffett’s Berkshire owns a stake) brought a minority stake in the startup in 2018.

* * * Stuff I’m Reading (New Feature) Based on requests from people loving my Saturday posts, I’m starting this experiment to be more regular in sharing stuff I’m reading and thinking about, in bits like pieces. Let me know if you find this useful, so I may carry on. Here are the five bits from today –

Staying with Kobe Bryant, here’s a lovely poem he penned – Dear Basketball.

Scott Galloway, prof of marketing at NYU Stern, writes about the there unlocks in the business world that have created over $500 billion in shareholder value, and the fourth unlock that was revealed recently.

Morgan Housel writes – “History is only interesting because nothing is inevitable. The biggest lesson from the last three months is that whatever your view of the future is, it’s probably wrong. Things change in ways people can’t imagine at times they never considered.”

PD Mangan’s short but extremely useful guide on how to be healthy.

May help some people, young and those seeking new opportunities – best career advice I’ve ever received.

Useful? Want to see this regularly?

* * * That’s about it from me for today.

If you liked this post, please share with others on WhatsApp, Twitter, or just email them the link to this post.

Stay safe.

With respect, — Vishal

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