#would you believe that I created this image all the way back in january STRICTLY BECAUSE I HAVE THAT MUCH BEEF WITH CAESAR?

[obscureenthusiast]

-Brutus and as many as 60 co-conspirators, circa March 14th, 44 BC

[citizensmth]

So... what comes next?

Regardless of your political allegiances or personal feelings about Donald Trump, it is a national security concern when the president is ill. To make matters worse, the White House isn’t exactly being transparent. At times they seem more concerned with projecting a certain image than providing a timely, precise assessment of the situation. It is also a significant national security threat when a huge chunk of the senior Executive Branch, unknown numbers of White House staff, and a growing cluster of US Congressman are under quarantine or sick. It’s never good to have a government in quarantine. 

So on that note, I’ve seen a lot of discussion on what happens in the event that a President or presidential candidate is incapacitated from COVID or dies during an election. I love a good thought experiment so let’s break this down. This is all based on my best understanding of current rules/regulations/precedence/ect. I try my best to be accurate but I’m only human and not a lawyer. Opinions and speculations are strictly my own. 

Scenario 1: President is alive but incapacitated or unable to continue serving as President until he recovers.

So the basic idea of having a VP as a spare in case the president dies is pretty simple. In practice however, the transfer of power in the original constitution is pretty vague outside of the president suddenly dropping dead in the middle of a term. The 25th amendment was adopted a few years after the Kennedy assassination to address some of these grey areas. Fun fact, the 25th amendment contains the only means of forcefully removing a president from office other than impeachment (section 4 of the 25th amendment).

Ok, so back to our scenario. If Trump is incapacitated (say, on a ventilator) or is too unwell to continue serving, the 25th amendment can be invoked to temporarily transfer power to Vice President Pence. This can be done 2 ways. First, Trump can declare in writing that he is unable to discharge his duties (section 3, 25th amendment) and transfer power temporarily to Pence. Presidents actually invoke section 3 pretty routinely if they know they will be unavailable for a time such as undergoing a medical procedure. Trump remains in office as president but Pence becomes ‘acting president’ for the time being. Second, the Cabinet can strip Trump of his power if they believe he is unfit but he refuses to turn over power to Pence (section 4, 25th amendment). Section 4 has never before been invoked but it exists as an option. 

In terms of the election, the ticket would be unchanged. A vote for Trump-Pence is still a vote for Trump-Pence. Trump is still president and Pence is only a temporary ‘acting president’. The assumption is that Trump would eventually resume his duties and his place at the top of the Republican ticket.

Scenario 2: A president running for re-election dies before the election

So if Trump dies before the election, Pence would immediately be sworn in as President. Since that would then make him the sitting president during an election year, precedence says he is automatically the GOP nominee. This close to the election, it is too late to officially withdraw a candidate and re-submit another one. Even if you could still replace a candidate, there isn’t time to re-print ballots. But since he was part of the original ticket on the ballot, I don’t see this being an issue or a source of confusion. I imagine votes already cast for Trump-Pence will simply count towards Pence alone. It is unclear how this will impact the electoral college. Likely, the votes will be allocated as normal to the Trump-Pence ticket, with Pence officially becoming President elect instead of Vice President elect once the vote is certified. The Speaker of the House is next in line should something happen to him while he does not have a VP. Assuming he wins, I speculate he would vet and select a VP for his administration before inauguration. But until there is a VP to serve under him, Speaker of the House remains next in line. A presidential candidate has never died so close to an election. 

Scenario 3: A presidential candidate dies before the election

If a candidate dies after the primary, I believe RNC and DNC rules state that the leadership meets to vote on a replacement. However, this close to an election, it  is past the deadline to officially withdraw a candidate from the ballot and re-submit another candidate. Even if that were not the case, it is too late to-reprint ballots. My best guess is that the VP pick would become the top of the ticket, similar to scenario 2. This seems like the easiest thing to do. It does not require withdrawing the ticket and it minimizes confusion at the polls. It is unclear if this would create headaches for the electoral collage. I imagine electoral college votes would likely go to a Biden-Harris ticket as normal with Harris officially becoming President elect instead of Vice President elect once the vote is certified. In Congress there is also the practice of ‘widow’s succession’ where a spouse steps up to fill the void left by a Congressman’s death until the next election or until a special election can be held. This practice was actually pretty common in the early 20th century. Senators can be replaced by a Governor’s appointment, a president can be replaced by a VP. But Congressmen, who serve short 2 year terms, have no replacement strategy so widows succession made some amount of sense to prevent political infighting and ensure a smooth transition after a death. I highly doubt widow’s succession will ever be invoked or even suggested if something happens to Biden, especially with such a capable VP pick ready and able to step up on the ticket. 

Scenario 4: A candidate dies after the election but before electoral college meets and the vote is certified

This scenario creates the most headaches. The rules are most murky during this scenario and things will likely get very, very messy. Elections are run by individual states and states have different rules impacting how electoral college votes must be allocated. At present, some states require that electors vote for the candidate that won the popular vote in that state. Some states don’t explicitly bind electors to the winner of the state popular vote but impose penalties on so called ‘faithless electors’. Some states have no laws on the books and voting for the winner of the state popular vote is merely precedence. In general faithless electors are not very common. There actually HAS been a candidate death between Election Day and the electoral college. In 1872, Democrat Horace Greeley (ran against President Grant) died before the electoral college met. 63 of his 66 electors voted for other people. Unfortunately, things are not as simple in 2020 as they were in 1872. There is a question about whether or not certain electors will be unbound if the candidates to which they are pledged dies before the collage meets. The courts will almost certainly have to get involved and possibly the House of Representatives. The 20th amendment of the Constitution mandates that a president MUST begin their term on January 20 and if the electoral collage remains inconclusive, the Constitution (via the 12th amendment I believe) leaves it up to the House of Representative to hold a contingent election and vote on a winner (I think the Senate votes on a VP). The House HAS previously decided an election. In 1824, neither John Quincy Adams nor Andrew Jackson secured a majority of the electoral college (there were 4 candidates that year). The matter went to the House which voted for Adams to become President. Should the election end up in the House of Representatives, the Democrats have the majority. Since someone MUST be seated as President on inauguration day (Jan 20), I am not 100% sure what happens if the election remains a total mess and the House is hopelessly deadlocked. I think under the 20th amendment, the Vice President elect becomes acting President until the matter is resolved. If there is no Vice President elect, then the Presidential Succession Act states the Speaker of the House becomes acting president. 

Scenario 5: President-elect dies before inauguration but after the election is certified. 

This one is actually pretty easy. In this scenario, the Vice President elect becomes the president elect and is sworn in on inauguration day. This is covered by the 20th amendment. 

Whew! Well, that was quite a thought experiment. If I write any more it will be the beginnings of a book. That ends my civics discussion for the day. 

[thesjt]

My SJT: Richard Harris

Confessions of a playwright

Stepping Out author Richard Harris recalls an uncomfortable encounter on the train to Scarborough – with a few diversions along the way…

I have a confession to make. I think I have inadvertently made a dent in the reputation of one of my heroes.  

Richard Harris and Alan Ayckbourn at the SJT Season Launch 2019 | © Tony Bartholomew

It began on my train journey from London to Scarborough where I had been invited to attend Paul Robinson’s 2019 production of my play Stepping Out at the Stephen Joseph and also to break bread with Paul and the aforementioned hero – so a double whammy for me.  

I like going places by train. Even on continental holidays. (Remember them?) I tell people that this is because train travel is more ‘natural’. Unlike air travel, I say, you get the sense of actually going somewhere and of getting some feel for the places you’re passing through to get there. And at a reasonable speed. The truth is that I can’t stand flying. This stems from my National Service in the RAF where I was offered the choice of becoming a fireman or a typist. I chose typist because I’m a coward and I suppose that’s why I became a writer. It seemed like the logical progression. I must point out that I wasn’t just a typist: I was a flying typist – that is, I was attached to the Examining Wing of the Central Flying School and flew all over the world typing reports on the standard of flying instruction in the RAF. The Wing was made up of 18 or so ace pilots – all of them not long out of active service in WW2 and who still wore sheepskin-lined leather jackets and took piston-engined planes up early in the morning when the air was clearer and good for the carbs and they could roll and loop to their hearts’ desire. By the time I was demobbed, three of them had died in air crashes and I had typed detailed reports of their and maybe two dozen other fatal crashes. This made me a tidge uneasy and when the first BEA flight I took had one of its engines fail and we came in sideways, I thought that’s it, genug ist genug, which meant that my poor pre-teen children spent most of their summer holidays cooped up in railway carriages being stared at by Italian farmers and their sheep as we made the long and hot journey that Spartacus and co made down the leg of Italy – in their case to get crucified, in our case to get to Corfu.

I have it on good authority that God wasn’t keen on flying either. He believed that flying was strictly for the birds. Which is why Joseph and Mary made their journey to Bethlehem by donkey and not by El Al or more probably Al Italia. Had He not finally cracked and allowed someone in His Image to invent the aeroplane a lot sooner, we might be celebrating Christmas on December 21st. Mind you, had he not allowed the invention of the donkey, they might well have had to walk and so we would be celebrating on or around 7th January.

So. I’m sitting on the train on the first leg to York opposite two middle-aged ladies doing a crossword puzzle and trying to ignore me but, being a bit over-excited at the day ahead, I initiated conversation by way of having a go at the so-called cup of tea I’d just bought from the buffet trolley. This didn’t get much response so I broadened it to a go at teenagers on bicycles, fly-tipping, the public school system, people who are victims to their iPhones and even managed to get a bit in about when I was in hospital with what they thought was a stroke because my speech was slurred so they got me a speech therapist. That is, I was on a really enjoyable old man’s rant. When I finally paused for breath – which I told them was in short supply because of the pollution drifting over from wherever – one of them nudged the other into asking: “Who are you? And why are you going to Scarborough?”  

The finale of Paul Robinson’s production of Richard Harris’ Stepping Out | © Tony Bartholomew 

I told them, in all mock modesty, that I was a writer and that I was going to see my play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. I didn’t tell them my name because doing so generally leads to my being told I look much bigger in films. Me being a writer with a play on interested them about as much as what size shoes I take and they went back to five down, their faces making it clear that one more word out of me and they’d pull the communication cord. I did what I always do in such circs, which is to feign sleep, nailing it home with a few snores. Through half-closed eyes I saw them whispering as one of them consulted an iPad.  “Here we are” she said. “The Stephen Joseph Theatre.”   “Does it mention any writers?” said the other. “Yes… Alan Ayckbourn.   He’s a Sir”.

“A Sir?” She ‘wakened’ me with a vicious nudge. “Look here,” she said. “Are you Sir Ayckbourn?” And here’s the rub… I don’t know why – perhaps it was my one chance of fame – but I didn’t deny it. I didn’t say no, I didn’t say anything. I just gave what I hoped was a slightly amused smile.  “Call yourself a Knight Of The Realm,” she said. ”Going on like that? You should be ashamed of yourself!” And they got up and moved to another seat.

Changing trains at York, I saw them with two men on the opposite platform. One of them pointed at me and they all shook their fists. That’s what I mean about making a dent, you see. I have this recurring dream in which in some yet-to-be-written unauthorised biography of Sir Alan, the exchange on the train will have grown into a 20-page chapter entitled  ‘The True Nature Of The Man’, as told by two women he had tried to charm and, having failed, abandoned heartlessly.

If it ever happens, I’m sorry Alan. But the production was excellent and the meal was lovely.

Richard Harris is one of the few writers in this country who have combined a successful career in both theatre and television.

Theatrical successes include Outside Edge (Evening Standard Award), The Business of Murder, which ran for seven years at the Duchess and Mayfair Theatres, Stepping Out (Evening Standard Comedy of the Year Award, and Molière Award for the Paris production), The Maintenance Man at the Comedy Theatre and Albert and Virginia at the Arts Theatre. Visiting Hour was performed as a platform production at the National Theatre. Dead Guilty played at the Apollo Theatre and his version of Ibsen’s Ghosts was produced at the Comedy Theatre. Surviving Spike, based on the book Spike, An Intimate Memoir, by Norma Farnes, was produced at the Edinburgh Festival. Going Straight completed a successful national tour, as did The Last Laugh, based on the original Japanese. Liza Liza Liza was originally produced at the Tabard and subsequently completed a national tour. He has co-written three musicals: Stepping Out, Large as Life and West Five Story. His latest play, Dog Ends, was produced at the Tabard Theatre.

Richard has written many plays for TV and has contributed to countless TV series such as The Darling Buds Of May and The Avengers. He co-created the series Shoestring and Man in a Suitcase.  His script Searching For Señor Duende won the New York Television Festival Gold Award for best writer. He wrote the first ten hours of A Touch Of Frost and a comedy-drama series based on his play Outside Edge, for which he won The Writers' Guild Best Comedy Award, The British Comedy Award for Best Series and The Television And Radio Industries Award for Best Comedy. His series The Last Detective was based on the books by Leslie Thomas. His radio play Was It Something I Said? was winner of the Giles Cooper Award.

Screenplays include Strongroom, I Start Counting, The Lady In The Car, Orion's Belt and Stepping Out, adapted from his own stage play and starring Liza Minnelli.

[the-fandom-newsletter]

Fandom Newsletter #8

Today is Friday, January 25, and it’s 2019! Welcome back to our first 2019 Fandom Newsletter, a provider for all things fandom!

Writers: Blackpurrl, Fyne, YoursTruly, and Atlas

Editors: Fyne and YoursTruly

“You don't have to be ruled by fate. You can choose freedom. And I still believe that that’s something worth fighting for.” -Castiel, Supernatural

Let's get started!

First up we have Fyne with the Supernatural, Sherlock, and Mythology fandoms!

Sherlock: Does Sherlock look up to/respect his older brother? Throughout the entire BBC show we see Sherlock being annoyed by Mycroft and at some points, Sherlock can be seen belittling Mycroft. But while the boys have a relationship that is rocky at times, I have reason to believe that Sherlock actually looks up to his older brother. In Sherlock's mind palace, when Mycroft is giving advice to further a case in some way, he is always higher up than Sherlock. Plus, Sherlock is always looking up at him. Is it possible that this is symbolism? Yes. Is it probable that this is just a cool coincidence? Also yes. Just thought I'd put it out there, folks. You decide.

Supernatural: Dean Winchester never saw his mother burning on the ceiling. I know, bold statement. But let me elaborate. When his mother's death was happening, Dean was a child in his room. When John ran in and told Dean to take Sam and run, I don't believe Dean ever even looked up and saw his mother on the ceiling. True, John probably explained to him later on how his mother died, but the image was mostly left to his little imagination. Fast forward some years later and Jessica is burning on the ceiling as well. Dean rushes into Sam's room to find Jessica, and he looks up with a face of absolute horror. This is the first time he's able to see what he had only imagined happening to his mother, and now it's actually happening before him. Something he had thought about his entire life, finally right in front of his eyes. And to be honest, it's probably even worse than he ever imagined. Hence the look of horror.

Mythology: This week's legend originated in Greek mythology and who we're talking about is Medea. Medea was a princess of Colchis, and she was known to be skilled in magic and sorcery. In the legend, she fell in love with Jason (son of Aeson and the boy who assembled Greece's bravest heroes to sail in the Argo in search of the fleece) and helped him (against the will of her father: Aeëtes) obtain the Golden Fleece (The Golden Fleece was the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram. The fleece in this legend is a symbol of authority and kingship). When Jason left Colchis, Medea ran off with him and even lived as his wife for years. Medea ended up bearing two of Jason's children during their marriage. But later on in the legend, Jason wished to marry Creusa (daughter of King Creon of Corinth). When Medea found out, she sent Creusa an enchanted wedding gown that burned the poor girl to death. Medea then completed her revenge on Jason by killing her own two children. (In some versions of the legend, the angered citizens of Corinth stoned the children to death instead of Medea). Afterward, Medea fled to Athens, where she later married King Aegeus.

Next, we have YoursTruly with the YouTube, Horror, Tim Burton, Hannibal, Movies, and Marvel fandoms.

YouTube: Fallout between James Charles and NikkieTutorials! Both makeup artists on YouTube uploaded a video of the same title with the same idea. No big deal, YouTubers follow trends all the time, right? Wrong. James Charles posted this video just a few days after Nikkie and didn’t credit her for starting the trend. He then tried to claim that he started the trend and Nikkie just so happened to have the same idea, despite him uploading AFTER her. We sure do love a good sister scandal!

Horror: The horror movie Escape Room is gaining major popularity online. The movie is set to be released next year, but they have started an online competition to see who can solve their puzzle. Anyone who is crafty enough to solve it is entered in a cash giveaway. Each day they change the puzzle. Can you solve the puzzle? Test your skill here, if you dare.

Tim Burton: Burtonists are all awaiting the release of Dumbo. Many fans can’t wait to see how Burton will put his dark twist on this Disney classic.

Hannibal: Fannibals are getting even more excited with continued talk of a season 4. Showrunner Bryan Fuller has begun talking about seriously giving the fans a fourth season following Alana and Margot. Will we get the season? Guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

Movies: Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda is a massive success! Fans of the original say that the movie perfectly continues the story of Mary Poppins and brings back the same characters and charm as before.

Marvel: Fans are starting to get their conspiracy theories about Avengers: Endgame circulating. Seemingly every fan has an opinion on who will die for good, who’s coming back, and how they will defeat Thanos. What are your thoughts? We’d love to hear what you have to say on the topic! Also, the backlash from fans after the newest movie from Marvel Into The Spiderverse mixed up Spider-Woman and Spider-Gwen! The movie introduces a character which is very clearly Spider-Gwen (identical costume) as Spider-Woman. These two characters are completely different, both in personality and very obviously in costume and appearance.

Then we have Blackpurrl with the Harry Potter fandom.

Harry Potter: If you’re big into Harry Potter I’m sure you already know this, but recently we’ve been told that Harry’s scar isn’t just a lightning bolt. It’s also the hand motion used when the spell Avada Kedavra is cast. 

And finally, we have Atlas with the Gaming, TV, Musicals, Celebrities, and Voltron fandoms.

Gaming: A Fisherman's Tale is a VR game where you break reality. Read more about it here.

TV: After spending an estimated $12-13 billion in 2018, reports estimate that Netflix will probably spend up to $15 billion in cash in 2019. The popular streaming platform continues to collect and create new content every month in addition to reinforcing its abundance of original programming – and there appears to be no slowing down for Netflix. Imagine how much they will spend in 2020.

Musicals: Lin-Manuel Miranda recently raps at a fan for filming his musical Hamilton. Anyone who has ever seen a show of any kind is probably familiar with the phrase, "The use of recording equipment is strictly prohibited," and knows that the punishment for breaking this rule is a risk of being tossed out of the performance. You would think that Lin-Manuel wouldn’t take to kindly to being recorded on stage, and you would be right. But the way he did it is absolutely legendary. In character, Lin-Manuel self-edit live on stage, as he changed the words to one of the show's songs to call out the lady. He sang: "Lady filming in the fourth row, please stop it." The line was originally: "The problem is I got a lot of brains but no polish.” What an icon. 

Celebrities: Demi Lovato posted a snap to her instagram in which she is wearing a one-piece bathing suit. She is a queen demolishing the thought that the only way for women to look sexy is by wearing a bikini. Demi has been known to fight against sexist stereotypes before, and we’re glad that she’s still up and kicking these assumptions and knocking them down. Thank you, Demi!

Voltron: The showrunner of Voltron made a post confirming the show was celebrating its final day behind the scenes. Joaquim Dos Santos, one of the show’s executive producers, shared the bittersweet announcement alongside a touching message. Excuse us while we dab our tears. “This is it...our last day at Dreamworks on Voltron. It’s pretty surreal. We started this ride in June 2014 and we just had our final watchdown on the final episode of Season 8. I just wanted to take a moment to say that is has been an absolute honor and privilege to work alongside such a talented and dedicated cast and crew, both at Dreamworks and Studio MIR, who came together (like Voltron) to make something truly special. To the amazingly passionate VLD fandom, we couldn’t have made this journey without you. Your passion, creativity and love is infectious and has helped us up in tough times and creative low points.” What a way to close such an amazing time in our lives. 

Now let's move on to our news segments, where Fyne talks about positive news, news about mental health, and news about the LGBT community, plus Blackpurrl talks about World News.

Positive News: 2019 is just around the corner, and 2018 is soon to be left in the dust. While this is a fairly good thing because of 2018 having some pretty horrid things go down during it, not all was bad. Here is a list of some good things that happened in 2018.

LGBT: India’s supreme court has gotten rid of a ban on gay sex that has been around for centuries. Gay sex became a criminal offence again in India in the year 2013. The law, named Section 337, was brought back into the limelight. But recently, the nation’s supreme court voted to throw the law out the window in September. There is a new ruling that consensual gay sex (among consenting adults in private) is no longer a crime. Yay for gay people in India!

Mental Health: Our veterans are people who sometimes have to suffer in silence. I mean, it can be hard to get people who feel a pressure to be what they believe to be strong to open up. But there's something that could be a way to help us access these vulnerable people and it's called fishing therapy. Psychologists say that fishing can be an effective way to help with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and reduce symptoms. It was discovered that: “It could be helpful for veterans by chance, after chatting about how going fishing cleared their heads while they were having a pint.” It has been shown that overnight fishing trips have reduced PTSD symptoms by at least 30% in patients! For some, it was even the first time the patients left the house in years. Progress! An article by Metro even interviewed a veteran who has suffered with PTSD for the past 20 years of his life. This man went on one of the trips. He said: “Fishing is so helpful because it is a break to completely turn your brain off. It is the quietness of it with no distractions. When I came back for the first week, I slept properly every night and I struggle to do that.” (Iraq and Northern Ireland veteran: Stewart Bayford, 48)

World News: On MLK Day, Trump reminded black voters of what they lost with his election. Read about this here.

And now for our weekly tidbits where Blackpurrl gives a test and a trivia fact and Fyne asks a question to our followers.

Weekly Test: Animals!

1. How many mammals lay eggs? A. One B. Five C. All of them D. Two

2. True/False? Bees can only sting once, but wasps can sting many times.

3. Which animal is a mammal? A. Fisher B. Lionfish C. Basilisk D. Toad

4.  Which of these fish is a shark? A. Parrotfish B. Lionfish C. Dogfish D. Catfish

5.  Which one of these animals is a bird? A. Fisher B. King fisher C. Marten D. Beagle 

Weekly Trivia Fact: Did you know that beavers are among the few animals that mate for life? Once beavers find a partner, they stay together for as long as they live. Talk about TIl death do us part!

Weekly Question: If you didn't have to sleep, what would you use the extra time for? Let us know.

And for our last segment, the personality quiz.

Which of the 7 dwarves is you?

Question #1 - When a stranger attempts a conversation with you, which of the following can describe how you act?

A. You try to be polite, but strangers make you nervous.

B. You acknowledge the person, but you really don't like to talk to strangers.

C. You tell them to go away because you're busy.

D. You tell them that it's nice to meet them and invite them to join you in watching some TV.

E. You greet them warmly and crack a few jokes to break the ice.

Question #2 - Do you think you're an optimist, a pessimist, or a realist?

A. Definitely a realist. That glass is just a glass.

B. Probably an optimist, but that can change.

C. Pessimist. That glass isn't just half empty, but its also filled with poison.

D. Realist. Why put so much thought into it?

E. Optimist. That glass is half full and also contains rainbows and sunshine.

Question #3 - Favorite color?

A. Red

B. Purple

C. Black

D. Blue

E. Yellow

Question #4 - Your crushes all have one thing in common. What is this thing?

A. They're all intelligent.

B. They're all shy.

C. What is a crush?

D. They're laid back.

E. They're funny.

Question #5 - Pick a Snow White character.

A. The Huntsman

B. The Magic Mirror

C. The Evil Queen

D. Snow White

E. The Prince

Question #6 - Pick a Snow White song.

A. Heigh-Ho

B. Someday My Prince Will Come

C. Whistle While You Work

D. I'm Wishing

E. With a Smile and a Song

Question #7 - Which of the following would you like to do after a long day of work?

A. Read a book.

B. Make something. Anything.

C. Shoot some darts.

D. Sleep/Watch TV.

E. Sing/Dance

Results:

Mostly A's - You are Doc! You're the leader of nearly every group you are put into, even if you're not very good at it. You're very wise and like to think carefully about problems when they arise. People look to you for advice and guidance, but it can take a while for you to give them a good answer to their questions because you're quite a nervous person.

Mostly B's - You are Bashful! You are very, very shy, but people love you for who you are. You tend to blush easily, and your hands are almost always fiddling with something. While you're not big on talking, you do really enjoy listening. You like stories and poems, and you are big on music. When you want to get someone's attention, you tend to just stare at them, and when they notice you, you probably unknowingly flutter your eyelashes.

Mostly C's - You are Grumpy! No matter what anyone says, you're always complaining. You see the glass not only as half empty, but thrown across the room and shattered. You never seem to agree with anyone, but if any of your friends need you to help them out, you're the first person to their rescue.

Mostly D's - You are Sleepy! You tend to be fairly lazy, and when you have nothing else to do you're probably in bed or on the couch. You enjoy the simple things in life and you're not afraid to indulge in some relaxing activities. You're probably the type of person who is always tired and yawning, but your friends enjoy spending time with you when they need some calm. 

Mostly E's - You are Happy! No matter what life throws at you, you're always laughing and trying to find the sunny outlook. You see the glass as half full, and you even see your favorite drink inside the glass. You get along with everyone, but people can get angry at you because you can never seem to take anything seriously.

That's all for today! Goodbye all for this year, and we’ll see you soon! Happy 2019 with another Fandom Newsletter!

Signing off,

Atlas, Fyne, Blackpurrl, and YoursTruly

Test Answers: Animals!

1. D 2. True 3. A 4. C 5. B

[slrlounge1]

How I Make $200K A Year From Instagram

You are probably sitting there like, “Seriously, another post about Instagram? These are so played out!”

But what if I were to tell you that I got 158 wedding leads and made $191,211 in 2018 from Instagram alone with very minimum ad spend.

It’s Not About You

We use a very straightforward method that isn’t used by many. It has nothing to do with the amount followers you have or how cohesive and colorful your feed is. Honestly, it really has nothing to do with YOU. I’m a strong believer that no one really cares about the things you like or your top five favorite things to cycle through; they actually care about how those things make them feel.

Team Growth

Now, as we go through this, I will share this past year’s numbers so you can see how this works. Up until October of 2018, it was just my wife and I. To keep up with the demand, we hired six photographers, two videographers, an admin, and an editor. Before we grew our team, our customer inquiries broke down like this:

40% did not book because we were too expensive

30% did not book because we were unavailable

10% did not respond and were likely price shopping

20% booked us

Now that we have photographers and videographers at different price points, I honestly think these numbers will grow exponentially. We’ve already booked 8 weddings within our first month of trying it! You can see all of this represented In the graph and table below! A lot of the December weddings will most likely book; we’re just waiting for meetings and payments.

Success Without Fame

Here’s the kicker. This isn’t because we have a bunch of followers or are well known; actually, no one really knows who we are! We aren’t celebrity photographers with a bunch of followers and we don’t speak at many conferences or win a bunch of awards. We started our business six years ago and went full time four years ago!

I don’t have the stats for before July 2017, but if we only had 7K followers in July 2017, I would assume we just had 3-4K followers in April 2016 when we were still generating leads and $50-$70K a year from Instagram.

So to say that it has a significant impact on our business is an understatement. It’s responsible for 40% of our revenue over the past 12 months! The fantastic thing about that is that it’s mostly organic! We have only spent a total of $1027 on Instagram ads since January, and over $500 of that was on our shop, not for booking clients. That’s over an 18,000% return on our investment in 2018 and 99% profit margin. Those are odds I’d be willing to invest in every year!

  Profitability over popularity

Now, the information I’ve just shared begs a number of questions:

If it’s not because of how many followers we have or how popular we are, well then how are we getting so many inquiries with only 4-12K followers?

How are we running these ads?

How do I grow my following and engagement through Instagram?

Let me answer all of those questions as simply as I can: It’s all about profitability over popularity.

Max Follows

If you have ever looked at our Instagram, we are CONSTANTLY maxing out the number of people we follow. For some of you that don’t know, the maximum amount of people you can follow is 7500 people. We do this because Instagram is incredibly powerful for finding the exact client you want to engage. Where so many people make a mistake is that they expect people to engage them and they think that their photos have some magic pixie dust for creating engagement. That’s only the case if you are Fer Juaristi or Benj Haisch, haha! But for the rest of us mortal photographers, it just doesn’t happen, so we have to create it!

How do we do that?

Go and find your target audience! It’s hard for us to unfollow a lot of people because 90% of the people we follow are potential brides that we have engaged in one way or another! If you want more information on this and how we find them, it’s a lot to type out. Check out our podcast episode on finding the right audience where we specifically break this down! Over the past year, this has been our pattern for the number of people we follow! It’s all extremely strategic and has been incredibly beneficial!

Instagram Ads

Let’s talk Instagram ads! People are afraid of these because they have no idea how to use them! I published a podcast about utilizing Instagram ads for your business so make sure you check it out on iTunes or the podcast website!

When it comes to Instagram ads, there are two ways of running them: 1) Extremely specific ads created in the Facebook manager, and 2) boosted posts. Facebook ads manager is extremely powerful and is terrific for reaching the exact bride/demographic that you want! I occasionally do these. Now, I know some people say “NEVER BOOST A POST!” I think this rings very true when referring to Facebook, but not Instagram. Instagram is a different beast.

With Instagram boosted posts, I’m going for brand awareness. Studies show that someone needs to see your brand seven times before they begin to recognize it! I want to put my brand in front as many people as I can as often I can so that I’m the first person they think of whenever they get engaged! I want to be like that annoying person who sales Rodan & Fields or Tupperware or ItWorks, except without the annoying part. Come on, you all thought of someone when I said one of those products. That’s how I want to be! Boosting my post allows me to do that especially during times where everyone is getting engaged and also specific booking seasons. I talk more about it on our podcast on episode 26!

If you REALLY want the best bang for your buck, Instagram ads are insanely cheap. You can see in the ROI image above that there sometimes where I am paying 11 cents per click. That is INSANE! Take advantage of that while you can!

Engagement Wins

When it comes to growing your engagement. It starts with you. I’m going to shoot this STRAIGHT and keep it 100 when it comes to engagement. Sure you could post about you and what you love in life, your adorable dog, and the photos you love. You might even expect people who resonate with you to follow you, engage and then book when it’s time. But let’s be honest, we live in such a narcissistic culture that people who post, especially some of our target audiences, LOVE to be engaged but rarely engage in return. How many times have you been sitting on train or plane and seen someone scrolling through their Instagram feed, never liking and commenting on the photos they see? I see it ALL OF THE TIME!

We have to go to them.

You may be saying, “Wow, that sounds like a lot of work.” And it is, but when we make $200K from Instagram, I can’t help but see that as active marketing (a.k.a. Work). It needs to be budgeted as an allotted time in your day as you work on marketing.

If you run a business, you don’t want to get sucked into the black hole called Instagram. So let’s look at what it looks like to streamline engagement efficiently.

Keyboard shortcuts

We have keyboard shortcuts for everything! It’s easy to target people who get engaged, buy a new house, celebrate an anniversary, find a venue, or wear a wedding dress, etc. Once you find them, make sure that you sound authentic. If you do, it’ll save you from spending a ton of time writing the same thing over and over.

Case in point: Below is a photo of a girl on Instagram that got engaged. Look at the difference between what we told her and how authentic it is rather than the four other wedding professionals above us.

There is a HUGE difference from what we said, and they said. I don’t know who else she reached out to, but she reached out to us and booked us! There is a lot more to go into about this, but I don’t want to bore you. If you’d like to hear more about this, it’s on that same episode of the podcast as finding the right audience. We also talk about it during a talk we gave at the Showit United Conference and that talk is also on our podcast, episode 39!

If you use an iPhone, here is the breakdown below on how to set up shortcuts. I also use these for hashtags, so for all of those that copy and paste; you are welcome.

  People don’t want to feel like they are being pitched to or annoyed. They want to feel like you value them!

Instagram Stories

Oh man! This is SO key in so many ways. One of our most popular podcast episodes goes a little more in depth about the power and benefits of Instagram stories, and in one of our most recent episodes, I talk about how this is just going to become more vital as I look at Instagram trends for 2019. The fact that Instagram now has two distinctions between portfolio and personality is huge! We can keep our feed well-curated and professional while at the same time staying extremely personal with our stories.

Direct Messages

Also, PLEASE don’t be afraid to slide into the DMs. Don’t be a creep about it, but it’s a lot more inviting than you think. People post specifically to be engaged in some way or another, and if you can provide a form of affirmation, you can create a positive experience and boost your brand awareness. I have liked and commented on people’s photos for months without a peep back, but once I connect with them through a DM because of a story they posted, that engagement goes to the next level! I can’t tell you how many times I have responded to a story, gotten into a conversation, told them how I couldn’t wait to meet them, and then they tell us that they have already planned on hiring us, or they love following us or have been talking about us to their boyfriends or other friends. Seriously, don’t be afraid!

I have created POWERFUL connections through DMs while using keyboard shortcuts. When you can create a transformationally positive interaction with someone on social media, everything changes and almost ensures they book with you. Here is just one example, and this is strictly using a keyboard shortcut!

  Who do you think that girl is hiring when she gets married? No question!

Highlights & IGTV

Don’t sleep on these two just because not a lot of people are emphasizing them. There was a time where we said Instagram stories wouldn’t compare to Snapchat, so don’t be surprised when the same happens with Youtube.

I know I’ve said IGTV doesn’t compare to Youtube. We like to use IGTV to put our portfolio videos or slideshows from sessions and weddings. Goodness, gracious. There is so much to go into about this, but remember one thing: The best way to benefit in the engagement area is to utilize the new features Instagram comes up with. Instagram loves rewarding good behavior. Feed the beast, and in turn, you will be rewarded with its loyalty (or a baseball signed by Babe Ruth – see the movie Sandlot).

Conclusion

Now, I know that was a lot, and trust me, there is A LOT more I can say and teach on this subject. I can’t tell you how to grow your Instagram from 1K to 20K or 100K, but I can tell you how actually to make money with Instagram! I have a lot of friends with 20K, 50K, and 100K Instagram followers, but they make NO money from it. All you need to know is how to leverage the attention you do have for your business!

If you want more information on these topics, check out our podcast for information! I have talked A LOT about all of these! Episode 26 & 39 are really great places to start! The culture hacks series is all about Instagram!

We also have a couple of Freebies on our educational site that you can grab and quickly step up your social game! Check those out here!

from SLR Lounge https://www.slrlounge.com/200k-in-one-year-from-instagram/ via IFTTT

[theconservativebrief]

Listen to this story as an episode of The Impact, Vox’s podcast about how policy affects people.

SEATTLE — Last January, half a million Seattle residents received a small white packet in their mailboxes. Some thought it was junk mail and tossed it in the recycling. Others thought it might be important — the return address showed it came from the government — but forgot about it, letting the envelope gather dust on a side table or desk.

Those who did actually open the envelope, however, found quite a surprise: free money, courtesy of the city of Seattle.

Each packet contained $100 in “democracy vouchers” that voters could donate to local political candidates of their choice. Voters could redeem the money by writing the candidate’s name on one of the blue slips of paper, signing it like a check, and then mailing it back to the city — or handing it to a candidate in person.

“I felt like a bigwig that usually donates all the time,” says Gina Owens, a 60-year-old Seattle resident who is raising her three grandchildren in public housing. She had never donated to a campaign before the democracy vouchers. “Being able to contribute to a campaign like that was really awesome … like Bill Gates!”

Seattle’s experiment is an unprecedented campaign finance experiment that acknowledges getting big money out of politics is, for the time being, impossible. Recent Supreme Court cases like Citizens United allow wealthy individuals and corporations to funnel unlimited spending into Super PACs.

Instead, democracy vouchers attempt to fight big money by increasing the clout of small money — in Seattle’s case, by sending residents $43 million in potential campaign contributions. Voters get to direct their $100 as they like to candidates running for office in the city.

“I view this more as a way to get people into the process than as a way to get big money out of politics,” says Wayne Barnett, the executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, which administers the program. “Frankly, you can’t do that right now, since independent expenditures are protected under the First Amendment.”

Javier Zarracina/Vox

The Seattle project is funded by taxpayer money, so the experiment is fundamentally about public financing. But the bigger question the Seattle experiment poses: Can small money become a dominant force in American politics? In the post-Citizens United era, can it defang the power of big money?

Certain data from Seattle’s experiment suggests the answer may be yes. The number of small donations in Seattle tripled during the cycle when the project launched, from 8,200 in 2015 to at least 25,000 in 2017. The program also shows signs that it’s getting new people involved. The same report estimates that 84 percent of democracy voucher donors had never given to a campaign before.

Still, the data also suggests it’s really hard to bring small donors into the fold — even when the city literally mails out free campaign donations. Only 3.3 percent of Seattle residents who received democracy vouchers actually used them, city statistics show. The other 96.7 percent received free money in the mail, and lost it, forgot about it, or threw it in the trash (or, because its the Pacific Northwest, the recycling bin).

And those donations that did come in were won at significant effort: Seattle spent just about $1 million to stand up the program — to do things like build an office, print the vouchers, and hire staff — in order to bring back $1.1 million in democracy voucher donations.

Barnett now gets phone calls from other cities about whether they should implement the Seattle experiment. He tells them it’s a great program; Seattle is planning to stick with it for the next round of municipal elections. But it also comes with really big trade-offs.

“It is not a cheap program to run,” he says of his advice to other cities. “I think the question is whether [a city] is willing to pay to get more people involved in the political process. It’s kind of a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty kind of thing.”

The idea for Seattle’s democracy vouchers was not born in the Pacific Northwest. Instead, it first showed up on the New York Times op-ed page in November 2011.

It had been nearly two years since the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United ruling, which found that the First Amendment protected wealthy donors’ rights to spend endlessly in support of the political candidates they favored.

Super PACs — which can raise unlimited funds and overtly spend them on behalf of a candidate, so long as the spending isn’t coordinated with the campaign — were quickly becoming a dominant force in American politics. Even in municipal elections like Seattle, independent expenditures that the city couldn’t regulate were on the rise.

This left campaign finance reformers scratching their heads about how to keep big money out of politics, with these independent expenditures strictly off limits.

Harvard professor Larry Lessig had an idea. In his New York Times piece, he outlined a plan for how “more money can beat big money.”

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Set Super PACs aside, he argued. They’re untouchable. Instead, focus on getting so many small donations into politics that they overwhelm the influence of wealthy corporations.

“So long as elections cost money, we won’t end Congress’s dependence on its funders,” he wrote. “But we can change it. Almost every voter pays at least $50 in some form of federal taxes. So imagine a system that gave a rebate of that first $50 in the form of a ‘democracy voucher.’”

Lessig outlined a system where federally issued vouchers would finance congressional elections. In return, candidates who wanted to receive these vouchers would have to agree to not accept any donations larger than $100.

This system didn’t exist anywhere. Some cities did have generous public matching programs to increase the reach of small contributions. New York City, for example, will match each every $1 contributed by an individual with up $6 of public financing.

But the idea of just handing out free money? That was unheard of.

Alan Durning launched a nonprofit, Sightline, in 1993 to champion environmental and climate policies. But Sightline kept running into the same problem: Oil companies and other industries had so much money and influence that they easily shut down the policies Sightline was pursuing in the Washington legislature.

The nonprofit made a strategic shift. It decided that in order to actually pass climate policies, it would need to first reform campaign finance policy. Durning looked at the idea Lessig proposed and thought, why not try it?

“There were a bunch of thinkers and scholars who were talking about it, but it had never been attempted in the world. Well, because fools rush in where angels fear to tread, I said, wow, we should try that!” says Durning.

Seattle voters had narrowly rejected a ballot initiative that would have created a public matching system in 2013. Durning began working with those campaign finance reformers to go even further and run a campaign to put democracy vouchers on the 2015 ballot.

“It’s the most egalitarian and transformative model of an alternative way to fund campaigns,” he argues. “Here’s a method where everybody you meet has $100 worth of coupons that can fund a campaign. The whole game could change.”

The Seattle version of Lessig’s plan envisioned providing all residents eligible to donate (not just registered voters but also ex-felons and legal immigrants) with $100 in democracy vouchers.

In order to receive these new vouchers, candidates would have to commit to only accepting cash donations less than $250. Candidates who didn’t participate in the program, meanwhile, could accept donations as large as $500.

And to make sure that vouchers only went to candidates with a serious campaign, those who wished to participate would also have to gather $10 donations from 400 registered Seattle voters, along with their signatures.

The vouchers would be limited to Seattle-specific elections, as a city does not have authority to create a similar program for residents to donate to federal or state elections.

On November 12, 2015 — nearly four years to the day after Lessig’s op-ed ran in the New York Times — democracy vouchers won in Seattle. Sixty-three percent of voters in a ballot referendum supported raising their own property taxes in order to give all people a chance to donate to local campaigns.

In November 2015, Seattle residents voted overwhelmingly to create a democracy voucher program.

It fell to Barnett to turn the public will into reality — and he had about a year to do it. It was not easy. Barnett discovered that logistical hurdles were a much bigger impediment to the program’s success than the public’s attitude.

“I was excited but also very worried,” Barnett said of the day the voucher program passed. “We had to implement a program to distribute 2 million vouchers, get them back, and make sure they are converted into contributions. So I was pretty terrified.”

Barnett and Rene LeBeau, whom he hired to run the program, faced a litany of unprecedented questions large and small: What should the vouchers look like? How would they convince voters they should open this piece of mail? Should the city include prepaid postage in each packet, increasing the odds that the vouchers would be used, but also increasing the costs?

The city eventually settled on blue-and-white vouchers. It mailed them in white envelopes that said, “Your democracy vouchers are here!” with “$100” in large print on the front, to entice residents into opening the package. And after significant debate, Seattle did include prepaid postage in all of its 563,000 voucher packets, which it believed would lead to more vouchers coming back to the city.

Seattle sent out half a million democracy voucher packets on January 3, 2017 — the first business day of a city election year, just as the ballot initiative directed. Then they waited to see what would happen as $54 million in potential campaign contributions landed in mailboxes across Seattle.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now know quite a few things about what happened in the country’s first campaign cycle with democracy vouchers.

For one, a diverse set of candidates were enthusiastic to use them — and this wasn’t guaranteed. In order to accept democracy vouchers, candidates needed to agree to a low campaign contribution limit ($250, rather than the $500 donations they could accept if they didn’t participate in the program).

“My concern was that we were going to mail out 2 million vouchers and there were going to be no candidates signing up for the program,” says LeBeau.

Six candidates in Seattle elections used the democracy vouchers in 2017. This includes Teresa Mosqueda, who raised $300,000 with vouchers and ultimately won a seat on the Seattle City Council.

She argues that the program helped ensure a diverse slate of candidates — people like her, who aren’t wealthy and don’t have moneyed connections. Mosqueda worked full time during her campaign and lives in a one-bedroom apartment that she rents.

“I still pay student loans and I’m 37,” she says. “Knowing that we were going to be able to organize folks to turn in vouchers, that we were going to be able to see small-donor contributions really make the decision in the election … that really was a green light saying go.”

Democracy vouchers were Mosqueda’s largest source of campaign funding, accounting for two-thirds of her $459,000 fundraising total. “If I was out door-belling in the evening for three hours or so, I could walk away with $500, $600, even $700 in vouchers on my own,” she says. “That was really incredible.”

We’ve also learned that democracy vouchers appear to have led to more small donations. In 2015, the last cycle before the program, an estimated 8,200 Seattle voters contributed to candidates. In 2017, that number tripled to 25,000. An analysis by the nonprofit Every Voice, which supports the program, found that that democracy voucher donors “better reflected Seattle’s population including young people, women, people of color, and less affluent residents.”

But we also know that the vast majority of Seattle residents chose not to participate in the democracy voucher program. Only 3.3 percent turned in their vouchers, meaning 96.7 percent did not.

“A fraction of those [vouchers] we sent out came back,” Barnett says. “So if you look at the program that way, some might say it was not successful. I think if you look at it from the other way, which is we more than tripled the number of people who contributed to campaigns, then it is successful.”

Seattle residents I interviewed were a bit sheepish in admitting they recycled or lost their vouchers. Most of them knew about the program. They remembered seeing the vouchers. It’s just that even with the free money, donating to local candidates wasn’t high on their priority list.

“I think I put it to the side and was like, I’ll do it later, and it got recycled,” Alice Tattersall, a 28-year-old nursing student, said.

“It just fell off of my radar, fell off my mind,” Seattle resident Chris Bradbury told me. He thought the vouchers were probably still hanging around his house.

One Seattleite asked if he could still use his voucher, and I had to tell him it had expired.

One major flaw with the first round of the democracy voucher program was that the mailings went out in January (required by the ballot initiative) but elections didn’t happen until November. That seemed to give Seattle residents plenty of times to lose track of a few pieces of paper.

Bradbury, for example, assumed his vouchers were still hanging around his house somewhere. “I can guess, like, three places, two drawers or a box. That’s a lot of potential money and influence that is just sitting in one of three places in my house, and everybody else’s house.”

Even Mosqueda, the City Council member, accidentally threw her vouchers in the recycling initially, assuming they were junk mail. She eventually realized what they were, retrieved them, and donated the money to her own campaign.

“If someone like me who was so engaged in the process almost recycled these vouchers, then we’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that when they get mailed out, people know what they’re receiving,” she says.

The democracy voucher program currently generates a low return rate and is expensive to run. For every $100 in democracy vouchers spent in 2017, the program has about $100 in implementation and administrative costs. That money goes toward printing millions of vouchers, mailing them out, paying for the postage for voters to send them back in, and hiring staff to process the thousands that do come back to the city.

In 2017, the city spent just over $1 million running the democracy voucher program. Some of those costs are expected to go down (building out an office space, for example, which cost $225,00). But others will go up: Seattle wants to build a new web portal where voters could donate vouchers electronically rather than hanging on to their sheets of paper.

“That’s an awful cost-benefit proposition, considering how few citizens are going to be able to redeem vouchers,” says Robert Mahon, a former chair of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission who has been critical of the democracy voucher program (but did donate his own).

Seattle is now raising $3 million annually in property taxes for the democracy voucher program. The question Mahon has: Are the vouchers the best use of that money? Could the city better spend it on increasing affordable housing in the city, improving the schools, or myriad other priorities that could always benefit from additional funding?

“The question is, is it worth the expenditure?” Mahon says. “Could there have been an alternative way of encouraging participation? Let’s incentivize people to give $25 by matching or super-matching those contributions, which we can do without the administrative costs. Because in this system, the challenge is all the paper that is going out.”

Barnett is now in the midst of preparing for the second cycle of democracy vouchers, when the city has elections in 2019. He’s working with independent evaluators to better understand why so many vouchers weren’t returned.

“Was it something we could have done to educate them more to get more people to use them?” he says. “Or was it just that they don’t view local governing as really relevant to their lives? Those are all possibilities.”

Barnett’s office is working hard on the first possibility, addressing possible design flaws in the program. Seattle plans to create a digital system, for example, where residents can contribute their democracy vouchers electronically rather than squirreling away four pieces of paper for months on end.

He thinks this could raise the rate of return but is skeptical about whether it will save the city much money. “The danger right now is that everybody views this going online as a panacea,” he says. “We’re still going to have to get people to opt in to the [electronic] program before we can not mail them a voucher.”

The second question Barnett raises is arguably the scarier and harder problem to tackle: What if voters simply don’t care about local politics — that even when they get free money to donate, they don’t see the point of putting it toward one candidate over another?

Voter turnout in Washington state hit an all-time low in 2017. Most Seattle voters didn’t participate in that election. And nationally, the Pew Research Center recently ranked the United States 31 out of 35 developed countries in terms of voter participation.

Seattle in particular has relatively homogeneous politics — enough of a liberal lean to get the democracy voucher program off the ground in the first place. Only 8 percent of Seattle residents supported Donald Trump in 2016, a smaller percentage than even San Francisco. Some express a view that most candidates are probably just fine.

Annamarie Oommen, a 26-year-old former campaign worker who did use her vouchers, describes voting in Seattle as “choosing between two very progressive candidates in any given race.”

The democracy vouchers made it easier to donate to campaigns, but not effortless. Free money didn’t do the work of helping voters figure out which candidates deserve that money — or convince voters that this money would affect the outcome of Seattle politics. And that extra effort, required on the part of voters, actually stands to be a big obstacle to making small money a dominant force in American politics.

Nevertheless, other cities are increasingly interested in the Seattle model. Council member Mosqueda has given multiple presentations about the program; when I interviewed her this spring, she was just about to head to Austin to present to its city council on the idea (the city ultimately decided against moving forward with the program).

“I think it is good that Seattle made the decision that it’s willing to pay for this program,” Barnett says of democracy vouchers. “But processing 72,000 vouchers, printing and mailing vouchers to everyone in your city … it’s a daunting task.”

Original Source -> Seattle’s radical plan to fight big money in politics

via The Conservative Brief

[slrlounge1]

How I Make $200K A Year From Instagram

You are probably sitting there like, “Seriously, another post about Instagram? These are so played out!”

But what if I were to tell you that I got 158 wedding leads and made $191,211 in 2018 from Instagram alone with very minimum ad spend.

It’s Not About You

We use a very straightforward method that isn’t used by many. It has nothing to do with the amount followers you have or how cohesive and colorful your feed is. Honestly, it really has nothing to do with YOU. I’m a strong believer that no one really cares about the things you like or your top five favorite things to cycle through; they actually care about how those things make them feel.

Team Growth

Now, as we go through this, I will share this past year’s numbers so you can see how this works. Up until October of 2018, it was just my wife and I. To keep up with the demand, we hired six photographers, two videographers, an admin, and an editor. Before we grew our team, our customer inquiries broke down like this:

40% did not book because we were too expensive

30% did not book because we were unavailable

10% did not respond and were likely price shopping

20% booked us

Now that we have photographers and videographers at different price points, I honestly think these numbers will grow exponentially. We’ve already booked 8 weddings within our first month of trying it! You can see all of this represented In the graph and table below! A lot of the December weddings will most likely book; we’re just waiting for meetings and payments.

Success Without Fame

Here’s the kicker. This isn’t because we have a bunch of followers or are well known; actually, no one really knows who we are! We aren’t celebrity photographers with a bunch of followers and we don’t speak at many conferences or win a bunch of awards. We started our business six years ago and went full time four years ago!

I don’t have the stats for before July 2017, but if we only had 7K followers in July 2017, I would assume we just had 3-4K followers in April 2016 when we were still generating leads and $50-$70K a year from Instagram.

So to say that it has a significant impact on our business is an understatement. It’s responsible for 40% of our revenue over the past 12 months! The fantastic thing about that is that it’s mostly organic! We have only spent a total of $1027 on Instagram ads since January, and over $500 of that was on our shop, not for booking clients. That’s over an 18,000% return on our investment in 2018 and 99% profit margin. Those are odds I’d be willing to invest in every year!

  Profitability over popularity

Now, the information I’ve just shared begs a number of questions:

If it’s not because of how many followers we have or how popular we are, well then how are we getting so many inquiries with only 4-12K followers?

How are we running these ads?

How do I grow my following and engagement through Instagram?

Let me answer all of those questions as simply as I can: It’s all about profitability over popularity.

Max Follows

If you have ever looked at our Instagram, we are CONSTANTLY maxing out the number of people we follow. For some of you that don’t know, the maximum amount of people you can follow is 7500 people. We do this because Instagram is incredibly powerful for finding the exact client you want to engage. Where so many people make a mistake is that they expect people to engage them and they think that their photos have some magic pixie dust for creating engagement. That’s only the case if you are Fer Juaristi or Benj Haisch, haha! But for the rest of us mortal photographers, it just doesn’t happen, so we have to create it!

How do we do that?

Go and find your target audience! It’s hard for us to unfollow a lot of people because 90% of the people we follow are potential brides that we have engaged in one way or another! If you want more information on this and how we find them, it’s a lot to type out. Check out our podcast episode on finding the right audience where we specifically break this down! Over the past year, this has been our pattern for the number of people we follow! It’s all extremely strategic and has been incredibly beneficial!

Instagram Ads

Let’s talk Instagram ads! People are afraid of these because they have no idea how to use them! I published a podcast about utilizing Instagram ads for your business so make sure you check it out on iTunes or the podcast website!

When it comes to Instagram ads, there are two ways of running them: 1) Extremely specific ads created in the Facebook manager, and 2) boosted posts. Facebook ads manager is extremely powerful and is terrific for reaching the exact bride/demographic that you want! I occasionally do these. Now, I know some people say “NEVER BOOST A POST!” I think this rings very true when referring to Facebook, but not Instagram. Instagram is a different beast.

With Instagram boosted posts, I’m going for brand awareness. Studies show that someone needs to see your brand seven times before they begin to recognize it! I want to put my brand in front as many people as I can as often I can so that I’m the first person they think of whenever they get engaged! I want to be like that annoying person who sales Rodan & Fields or Tupperware or ItWorks, except without the annoying part. Come on, you all thought of someone when I said one of those products. That’s how I want to be! Boosting my post allows me to do that especially during times where everyone is getting engaged and also specific booking seasons. I talk more about it on our podcast on episode 26!

If you REALLY want the best bang for your buck, Instagram ads are insanely cheap. You can see in the ROI image above that there sometimes where I am paying 11 cents per click. That is INSANE! Take advantage of that while you can!

Engagement Wins

When it comes to growing your engagement. It starts with you. I’m going to shoot this STRAIGHT and keep it 100 when it comes to engagement. Sure you could post about you and what you love in life, your adorable dog, and the photos you love. You might even expect people who resonate with you to follow you, engage and then book when it’s time. But let’s be honest, we live in such a narcissistic culture that people who post, especially some of our target audiences, LOVE to be engaged but rarely engage in return. How many times have you been sitting on train or plane and seen someone scrolling through their Instagram feed, never liking and commenting on the photos they see? I see it ALL OF THE TIME!

We have to go to them.

You may be saying, “Wow, that sounds like a lot of work.” And it is, but when we make $200K from Instagram, I can’t help but see that as active marketing (a.k.a. Work). It needs to be budgeted as an allotted time in your day as you work on marketing.

If you run a business, you don’t want to get sucked into the black hole called Instagram. So let’s look at what it looks like to streamline engagement efficiently.

Keyboard shortcuts

We have keyboard shortcuts for everything! It’s easy to target people who get engaged, buy a new house, celebrate an anniversary, find a venue, or wear a wedding dress, etc. Once you find them, make sure that you sound authentic. If you do, it’ll save you from spending a ton of time writing the same thing over and over.

Case in point: Below is a photo of a girl on Instagram that got engaged. Look at the difference between what we told her and how authentic it is rather than the four other wedding professionals above us.

There is a HUGE difference from what we said, and they said. I don’t know who else she reached out to, but she reached out to us and booked us! There is a lot more to go into about this, but I don’t want to bore you. If you’d like to hear more about this, it’s on that same episode of the podcast as finding the right audience. We also talk about it during a talk we gave at the Showit United Conference and that talk is also on our podcast, episode 39!

If you use an iPhone, here is the breakdown below on how to set up shortcuts. I also use these for hashtags, so for all of those that copy and paste; you are welcome.

  People don’t want to feel like they are being pitched to or annoyed. They want to feel like you value them!

Instagram Stories

Oh man! This is SO key in so many ways. One of our most popular podcast episodes goes a little more in depth about the power and benefits of Instagram stories, and in one of our most recent episodes, I talk about how this is just going to become more vital as I look at Instagram trends for 2019. The fact that Instagram now has two distinctions between portfolio and personality is huge! We can keep our feed well-curated and professional while at the same time staying extremely personal with our stories.

Direct Messages

Also, PLEASE don’t be afraid to slide into the DMs. Don’t be a creep about it, but it’s a lot more inviting than you think. People post specifically to be engaged in some way or another, and if you can provide a form of affirmation, you can create a positive experience and boost your brand awareness. I have liked and commented on people’s photos for months without a peep back, but once I connect with them through a DM because of a story they posted, that engagement goes to the next level! I can’t tell you how many times I have responded to a story, gotten into a conversation, told them how I couldn’t wait to meet them, and then they tell us that they have already planned on hiring us, or they love following us or have been talking about us to their boyfriends or other friends. Seriously, don’t be afraid!

I have created POWERFUL connections through DMs while using keyboard shortcuts. When you can create a transformationally positive interaction with someone on social media, everything changes and almost ensures they book with you. Here is just one example, and this is strictly using a keyboard shortcut!

  Who do you think that girl is hiring when she gets married? No question!

Highlights & IGTV

Don’t sleep on these two just because not a lot of people are emphasizing them. There was a time where we said Instagram stories wouldn’t compare to Snapchat, so don’t be surprised when the same happens with Youtube.

I know I’ve said IGTV doesn’t compare to Youtube. We like to use IGTV to put our portfolio videos or slideshows from sessions and weddings. Goodness, gracious. There is so much to go into about this, but remember one thing: The best way to benefit in the engagement area is to utilize the new features Instagram comes up with. Instagram loves rewarding good behavior. Feed the beast, and in turn, you will be rewarded with its loyalty (or a baseball signed by Babe Ruth – see the movie Sandlot).

Conclusion

Now, I know that was a lot, and trust me, there is A LOT more I can say and teach on this subject. I can’t tell you how to grow your Instagram from 1K to 20K or 100K, but I can tell you how actually to make money with Instagram! I have a lot of friends with 20K, 50K, and 100K Instagram followers, but they make NO money from it. All you need to know is how to leverage the attention you do have for your business!

If you want more information on these topics, check out our podcast for information! I have talked A LOT about all of these! Episode 26 & 39 are really great places to start! The culture hacks series is all about Instagram!

We also have a couple of Freebies on our educational site that you can grab and quickly step up your social game! Check those out here!

from SLR Lounge http://bit.ly/2CAt2j0 via IFTTT