#Cycle of Cash Conversion

[ibntechnologies]

6 Important Financial KPIs Every Startup Should Track 

Establishing a business is thrilling, but it also presents several difficulties, particularly about money management. As a startup, you're attempting to establish yourself in the market while maintaining financial stability while navigating unknown waters. You must keep a close watch on key financial parameters during your journey as they are your compass to success. Let's examine these indicators in more detail and see why they are so important to the expansion and long-term viability of your firm. 

1.Cash Flow Management 

Effective cash flow management is critical to any organization, as it is arguably its lifeblood. The timing of these inflows and outflows is just as important as the amount of money coming in and going out. You can meet your financial responsibilities, take advantage of growth possibilities, and overcome unforeseen problems with effective cash flow management. Startups can prevent cash shortages by anticipating them and taking proactive steps to minimize them, such acquiring a line of credit or negotiating extended payment terms with vendors, by regularly monitoring cash flow. 

2. Profit and Loss Statement (P&L) 

The profit and loss statement (P&L) gives you a quick overview of your business's earnings for a given time frame. By examining this indicator, you can evaluate the profitability of your company and pinpoint areas where expenses can be reduced or sources of income can be increased. You may make well-informed judgments about pricing tactics, resource allocation, and investment objectives by routinely analyzing your P&L statement. 

3. Accounts Receivable Aging 

Keeping an eye on the aging of accounts receivable is crucial for startups that provide products or services on credit. This measure monitors how long it takes for clients to settle their bills. Extended aging of accounts receivable suggests possible bad debts and liquidity problems. Cash inflows and bad debt write-offs can be reduced by implementing effective invoicing and collection procedures, providing incentives for early payments, and setting explicit credit standards. 

4. Accounts Payable Turnover 

Conversely, accounts payable turnover gauges how rapidly a business reimburses its vendors and suppliers. Not only may late payments affect your relationship with creditors, but they can also result in late penalties or harm your credit score. Startups can negotiate advantageous payment terms, expedite procurement procedures, and free up funds for important objectives by maximizing accounts payable turnover. 

5. Cycle of Cash Conversion (CCC) 

The time it takes a business to turn its investments in resources like inventory and other capital into cash flow from sales is measured by the cash conversion cycle. For startups, keeping cash on hand and continuing business requires minimizing the CCC. Startups can reduce their cash cycle duration (CCC) and release cash that has been held in reserve by expediting receivables collection, improving payment terms with suppliers, and automating inventory management. 

6. Gross Profit Margin 

Following the deduction of the cost of goods sold (COGS), the gross margin indicates the profitability of each unit sold. It's a crucial sign of your company's cost-effectiveness, pricing strategy, and competitive standing. Startups can evaluate the profitability of their products, pinpoint cost centers, and modify pricing or sourcing tactics by keeping an eye on their gross margin. Startups can increase profitability and redirect funds toward expansion projects by optimizing their gross margin. 

You must understand the value of sound financial management procedures as you set out on your entrepreneurial path. Keeping an eye on key financial data helps you steer your firm toward sustainable growth, reduce risks, and make well-informed decisions. However handling money may be difficult and time-consuming, particularly for tiny companies with little funding. 

This is where outsourced bookkeeping and accounting may make a significant difference. By collaborating with IBN Technologies, a recognized outsourcing company, you can benefit from the experience of seasoned professionals to optimize your financial operations, acquire useful insights, and free up time to focus on key business activities.  

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Social Quitting

In “Social Quitting,” my latest Locus Magazine column, I advance a theory to explain the precipitous vibe shift in how many of us view the once-dominant social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter, and how it is that we have so quickly gone asking what we can do to get these services out of our lives to where we should go now that we’re all ready to leave them:

https://locusmag.com/2023/01/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/

The core of the argument revolves around surpluses — that is, the value that exists in the service. For a user, surpluses are things like “being able to converse with your friends” and “being able to plan activities with your friends.” For advertisers, surpluses are things like “being able to target ads based on the extraction and processing of private user data” and “being able to force users to look at ads before they can talk to one another.”

For the platforms, surpluses are things like, “Being able to force advertisers and business customers to monetize their offerings through the platform, blocking rivals like Onlyfans, Patreon, Netflix, Amazon, etc” and things like “Being able to charge more for ads” and “being able to clone your business customers’ products and then switch your users to the in-house version.”

Platforms control most of the surplus-allocating options. They can tune your feed so that it mostly consists of media and text from people you explicitly chose to follow, or so that it consists of ads, sponsored posts, or posts they think will “boost engagement” by sinking you into a dismal clickhole. They can made ads skippable or unskippable. They can block posts with links to rival sites to force their business customers to transact within their platform, so they can skim fat commissions every time money changes hands and so that they can glean market intelligence about which of their business customers’ products they should clone and displace.

But platforms can’t just allocate surpluses will-ye or nill-ye. No one would join a brand-new platform whose sales-pitch was, “No matter who you follow, we’ll show you other stuff; there will be lots of ads that you can’t skip; we will spy on you a lot.” Likewise, no one would sign up to advertise or sell services on a platform whose pitch was “Our ads are really expensive. Any business you transact has to go through us, and we’ll take all your profits in junk fees. This also lets us clone you and put you out of business.”

Instead, platforms have to carefully shift their surpluses around: first they have to lure in users, who will attract business customers, who will generate the fat cash surpluses that can be creamed off for the platforms’ investors. All of this has to be orchestrated to lock in each group, so that they won’t go elsewhere when the service is enshittified as it processes through its life-cycle.

This is where network effects and switching costs come into play. A service has “network effects” if it gets more valuable as users join it. You joined Twitter to talk to the people who were already using it, and then other people joined so they could talk to you.

“Switching costs” are what you have to give up when you leave a service: if a service is siloed — if it blocks interoperability with rivals — then quitting that service means giving up access to the people whom you left behind. This is the single most important difference between ActivityPub-based Fediverse services like Mastodon and the silos like Twitter and Facebook — you can quit a Fediverse server and set up somewhere else, and still maintain your follows and followers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/23/semipermeable-membranes/#free-as-in-puppies

In the absence of interoperability, network effects impose their own switching cost: the “collective action problem” of deciding when to leave and where to go. If you depend on the people you follow and who follow you — for emotional support, for your livelihood, for community — then the extreme difficulty of convincing everyone to leave at the same time and go somewhere else means that you can be enticed into staying on a service that you no longer enjoy. The platforms can shift the surpluses away from you, provided that doing so makes you less miserable than abandoning your friends or fans or customers would. This is the Fiddler On the Roof problem: everyone stays put in the shtetl even though the cossacks ride through on the reg and beat the shit out of them, because they can’t all agree on where to go if they leave:

https://doctorow.medium.com/how-to-leave-dying-social-media-platforms-9fc550fe5abf

So the first stage of the platform lifecycle is luring in users by allocating lots of surplus to them — making the service fun and great and satisfying to use. Few or no ads, little or no overt data-collection, feeds that emphasize the people you want to hear from, not the people willing to pay to reach you.

This continues until the service attains a critical mass: once it becomes impossible to, say, enroll your kid in a little-league baseball team without having a Facebook account, then Facebook can start shifting its surpluses to advertisers and other business-users of the platform, who will pay Facebook to interpose themselves in your use of the platform. You’ll hate it, but you won’t leave. Junior loves little-league.

Facebook can enshittify its user experience because the users are now locked in, holding each other hostage. If Facebook can use the courts and technological countermeasures to block interoperable services, it can increase its users’ switching costs, producing more opportunities for lucrative enshittification without the risk of losing the users that make Facebook valuable to advertisers. That’s why Facebook pioneered so many legal tactics for criminalizing interoperability:

https://www.eff.org/cases/facebook-v-power-ventures

This is the second phase of the toxic platform life-cycle: luring in business customers by shifting surpluses from users to advertisers, sellers, etc. This is the moment when the platforms offer cheap and easy monetization, low transaction fees, few barriers to off-platform monetization, etc. This is when, for example, a news organization can tease an article on its website with an off-platform link, luring users to click through and see the ads it controls.

Because Facebook has locked in its users through mutual hostage-taking, it can pollute their feeds with lots of these posts to news organizations’ sites, bumping down the messages from its users’ friends, and that means that Facebook can selectively tune how much traffic it gives to different kinds of business customers. If Facebook wants to lure in sports sites, it can cram those sites’ posts into millions of users’ feeds and send floods of traffic to sports outlets.

Outlets that don’t participate in Facebook lose out, and so they join Facebook, start shoveling their content into it, hiring SEO Kremlinologists to help them figure out how to please The Algorithm, in hopes of gaining a permanent, durable source of readers (and thus revenue) for their site.

But ironically, once a critical mass of sports sites are on Facebook, Facebook no longer needs to prioritize sports sites in its users’ feeds. Now that the sports sites all believe that a Facebook presence is a competitive necessity, they will hold each other hostage there, egging each other on to put more things on Facebook, even as the traffic dwindles.

Once sports sites have taken each other hostage, Facebook can claw back the surplus it allocated to them and use it to rope in another sector — health sites, casual games, employment seekers, financial advisors, etc etc. Each group is ensnared by a similar dynamic to the one that locks in the users.

But there is a difference between users’ surpluses and business’s surpluses. A user’s surplus is attention, and there is no such thing as an “attention economy.” You can’t use attention to pay for data-centers, or executive bonuses, or to lobby Congress. Attention is not a currency in the same way that cryptos are not currency — it is not a store of value, nor a unit of exchange, nor or a unit of account.

Turning attention into money requires the same tactics as turning crypto into money — you have to lure in people who have real, actual money and convince them to swap it for attention. With crypto, this involved paying Larry David, Matt Damon, Spike Lee and LeBron James to lie about crypto’s future in order to rope in suckers who would swap their perfectly cromulent “fiat” money for unspendable crypto tokens.

With platforms, you need to bring in business customers who get paid in actual cash and convince them to give you that cash in exchange for ethereal, fast-evaporating, inconstant, unmeasurable “attention.” This works like any Ponzi scheme (that is, it works like cryptos): you can use your shareholders’ cash to pay short-term returns to business customers, losing a little money as a convincer that brings in more trade.

That’s what Facebook did when it sent enormous amounts of traffic to a select few news-sites that fell for the pivot to video fraud, in order to convince their competitors to borrow billions of dollars to finance Facebook’s bid to compete with Youtube:

https://doctorow.medium.com/metaverse-means-pivot-to-video-adbe09319038

This convincer strategy is found in every con. If you go to the county fair, you’ll see some poor bastard walking around all day with a giant teddy bear that he “won” by throwing three balls into a peach-basket. The carny who operated that midway game let him win the teddy precisely so that he would walk around all day, advertising the game, which is rigged so that no one else wins the giant teddy-bear:

https://boingboing.net/2006/08/27/rigged-carny-game.html

Social media platforms can allocate giant teddy-bears to business-customers, and it can also withdraw them at will. Careful allocations mean that the platform can rope in a critical mass of business customers and then begin the final phase of its life-cycle: allocating surpluses to its shareholders.

We know what this looks like.

Rigged ad-markets:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

Understaffed content moderation departments:

https://www.dw.com/en/twitters-sacking-of-content-moderators-will-backfire-experts-warn/a-63778330

Knock-off products:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/08/twitter-is-the-latest-platform-to-test-a-tiktok-copycat-feature/

Nuking “trust and safety”:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/twitter-dissolves-trust-safety-council-2022-12-13/

Hiding posts that have links to rival services:

https://www.makeuseof.com/content-types-facebook-hides-why/

Or blocking posts that link to rival services:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/19/better-failure/#let-my-tweeters-go

Or worse, terminating accounts for linking to rival services:

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2022/12/twitter-suspends-mastodon-account-prevents-sharing-links/

That is, once a platform has its users locked in, and has its business customers locked in, it can enshittify its service to the point of near uselessness without losing either, allocating all the useful surplus in the business to its shareholders.

But this strategy has a problem: users and business customers don’t like to be locked in! They will constantly try to find ways to de-enshittify your service and/or leave for greener pastures. And being at war with your users and business customers means that your reputation continuously declines, because every time a user or business customer figures out a way to claw back some surplus, you have to visibly, obviously enshittify your service wrestle it back.

Every time a service makes headlines for blocking an ad-blocker, or increasing its transaction fees, or screwing over its users or business customers in some other way, it makes the case that the price you pay for using the service is not worth the value it delivers.

In other words, the platforms try to establish an equilibrium where they only leave business customers and users with the absolute bare minimum needed to keep them on the service, and extract the rest for their shareholders. But this is a very brittle equilibrium, because the prices that platforms impose on their users and business customers can change very quickly, even if the platforms don’t do anything differently.

Users and business customers can revalue the privacy costs, or the risks of staying on the platform based on exogenous factors. Privacy scandals and other ruptures can make the cost you’ve been paying for years seem higher than you realized and no longer worth it.

This problem isn’t unique to social media platforms, either. It’s endemic to end-stage capitalism, where companies can go on for years paying their workers just barely enough to survive (or even less, expecting them to get public assistance and/or a side-hustle), and those workers can tolerate it, and tolerate it, and tolerate it — until one day, they stop.

The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting, the mass desertions from the gig economy — they all prove the Stein’s Law: “Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop.”

Same for long, brittle supply-chains, where all the surplus has been squeezed out: concentrating all the microchip production in China and Taiwan, all the medical saline in Puerto Rico, all the shipping into three cartels… This strategy works well, and can be perfectly tuned with mathematical models that cut right to the joint, and they work and they work.

Until they stop. Until covid. Or war. Or wildfires. Or floods. Or interest rate hikes. Or revolution. All this stuff works great until you wake up and discover that the delicate balance between paying for guard labor and paying for a fair society has tilted, and now there’s a mob building a guillotine outside the gates of your luxury compound.

This is the force underpinning collapse: “slow at first, then all at once.” A steady erosion of the failsafes, flensing all the slack out of the system, extracting all the surpluses until there’s nothing left in the reservoir, no reason to stay.

It’s what caused the near-collapse of Barnes and Noble, and while there are plenty of ways to describe James Daunt’s successful turnaround, the most general characterization is, “He has reallocated the company’s surpluses to workers, readers, writers and publishers”:

https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/what-can-we-learn-from-barnes-and

A system can never truly stabilize. This is why utopias are nonsense: even if you design the most perfect society in which everything works brilliantly, it will still have to cope with war and meteors and pandemics and other factors beyond your control. A system can’t just work well, it has to fail well.

This is why I object so strenuously to people who characterize my 2017 novel Walkaway as a “dystopian novel.” Yes, the protagonists are eking out survival amidst a climate emergency and a failing state, but they aren’t giving up, they’re building something new:

https://locusmag.com/2017/06/bruce-sterling-reviews-cory-doctorow/

“Dystopia” isn’t when things go wrong. Assuming nothing will go wrong doesn’t make you an optimist, it makes you an asshole. A dangerous asshole. Assuming nothing will go wrong is why they didn’t put enough lifeboats on the Titanic. Dystopia isn’t where things go wrong. Dystopia is when things go wrong, and nothing can be done about it.

Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop. The social media barons who reeled users and business customers into a mutual hostage-taking were confident that their self-licking ice-cream cone — in which we all continued to energetically produce surpluses for them to harvest, because we couldn’t afford to leave — would last forever.

They were wrong. The important thing about the Fediverse isn’t that it’s noncommercial or decentralized — it’s that its design impedes surplus harvesting. The Fediverse is designed to keep switching costs as low as possible, by enshrining the Right Of Exit into the technical architecture of the system. The ability to leave a service without paying a price is the best defense we have against the scourge of enshittification.

(Thanks to Tim Harford for inspiring this column via an offhand remark in his kitchen a couple months ago!)

[Image ID: The Phillip Medhurst Picture Torah 397. The Israelites collect manna. Exodus cap 16 v 14. Luyken and son.]

[frownyalfred]

But how would Bruce sweep in to help the Kents without raising suspicion on himself? Even if he did it anonymously, theres few people in Gotham that could have the power to so quickly get them out of the public eye. And if he does it publicly, I'm assuming he claims he was doing it to protect the JL as Bruce publicly funds them? Or would he essentially release a statement saying that as a close friend of Clark Kent, he wishes to protect him from the media as he of all people knows how vicious they can be? Idk, I completely agree that Bruce would be the one to get them out, the question is just how?

My heart also breaks for Clark because this is obviously one of the last things he ever wanted to occur. Superman's love for humanity is obvious to everyone and the loss of his civilian identity destroys any chance of him being able to interact with them outside of his superhero identity. Its one thing having to wait for something in the media to 'blow over' but this isn't your everyday politic scandal or other media story, this is the reveal of the man behind one of the Trinity itself, the reveal of Superman. It could easily take months before it stops being the front page cover of every newspaper and after that, what then? How do they move forward?

And all of this doesn't even begin to consider the guilt Clark would feel for ruining Lois and the kids' lives. Everyone would reassure him it wasn't his fault but Clark would obviously take responsibility for this, telling himself he should have been more careful, more secretive, more vigilant. That as a result of his lack of caution, he'd ruined any chance his kids and Lois had at a (somewhat) normal life. I feel like I could even see him being embarrassed to accept Bruce's help, chastising himself for not planning for contingencies like Bruce had.

Sorry to dump all this on you, I'm just so intrigued by the aftermath of the reveal itself.

No it’s a very valid question! In that media/public world, getting them out of the public eye as quickly as possible is the number one priority. That doesn’t need to be attributed to Bruce right away, or even at all — the Kents (all of them) disappear as quickly as possible. They fly to an agreed-upon rendezvous or they are taken there by private security hired by Bruce.

Once there, that’s when the PR shitstorm hits. Superman and his family are found out, maybe there were a few brief videos of them leaving or being escorted out of their workplace (Lois) or flying away from their school (Jon) but nothing long, nothing conclusive.

The media cycle begins. Interviews with the Kent’s’ friends, colleagues, neighbors, etc proliferate the news. Everyone is cashing in on what they can. Bruce, if he’s smart, has Clark and his family locked down somewhere they can’t watch television and is handling the response on his own.

But the reality is, there is not much Bruce CAN do, for the reasons you mentioned. Publicly tying himself to Superman and his family puts WE under greater scrutiny. Coming out in defense of Clark’s lies suggests he 1) knew about them and 2) approves of Superman’s decision to hide from the public.

I’m not sure that conversation between friends will go well. Bruce telling Clark there’s no way to return to their previous lives, not without significant security risks (not to mention the social strain) and Clark spiraling as he realizes he’s inadvertently taken away his Ma’s knitting circle, Lois’ job, Jon’s school.

It’s all different now. If he’s lucky, Bruce has plans to funnel them into a sort of witness protection, maybe in a few years when things settle down. But that would mean splitting them up — and that’s non negotiable. Even keeping Ma and Pa together is a stretch. They’re too easily recognizable.

I imagine maybe Bruce can give them a sort of asylum in the Watchtower, operating outside of any Earth’s jurisdiction. But that puts scrutiny on the Justice League instead. And Bruce is the kind of person to keep the JL autonomous and take the heat on WE if needed — even if he never mentions it.

There are things that Bruce would need to step in on: connections starting to be made between himself and Clark, accusations of Clark not being a US citizen (and Jon too, but because he’s an alien) and Lois for lying to the US government. Accusations that the Justice League was culpable in any way for Superman’s civilian actions. Scrutiny on WE and how much Bruce Wayne knows or should know, or how his funding is connected to a JL that is now under investigation etc.

But yes: I think Bruce could get them out and hidden without tipping his hand. But everything else, yeah, he would need to step into the spotlight at least a little. And he would do that for Clark, because that’s his friend. He’s had this complex series of contingencies ready since…maybe Clark and Lois’ engagement?

Having been in some PR crises, you need a Bruce. Someone not affected directly and cool/calm enough to speak to media, move people around, and make judgement calls. Clark is lucky he has such a friend, even if he’s beating himself up over his own actions and missteps.

I have more (probably more coherent) thoughts about this, but that’s my initial reaction — Bruce gets them out fine, but next steps are very, very complicated. And things won’t ever be normal again.

[alyrasturnz]

fuck the happy ending shit!!!! i need a super angsty fic with no happy ending/fluff whatsoever

its time to go {{ chris sturniolo }}

summary — chris and y/n have been grappling with the tumultuous waves of their relationship, their desperate efforts marked by a white-knuckled grip that seems to tighten with each passing day. despite their relentless struggle to hold onto what they once had, y/n comes to the heart-wrenching realization that, no matter how much it tears at her soul, she must find the strength to let him go.

— angst (no happy ending)

warnings :: cheating 😡

the restaurant was enveloped in a soft, muted glow, casting a veil of mystery over its patrons. it was the kind of place that whispered promises of intimacy, with its flickering candlelight and secluded corners, yet it offered only the elusive dance of shadows and the hushed murmur of secrets.

each table seemed to harbor its own private world, where words were spoken in guarded tones and glances were exchanged with caution, creating an atmosphere thick with unspoken emotions and hidden desires.

you and chris sat across from each other, the dinner growing cold and the chatter even colder, each word a hollow echo of what once was. the air between you was thick with the weight of unspoken thoughts, a testament to a relationship that had once thrived but now struggled under the burden of time and unaddressed wounds.

the clinking of cutlery and the distant hum of the restaurant only served to underscore the growing chasm, a silent reminder of the intimacy that had slowly slipped through your fingers.

of late, it has become unmistakably evident that you and chris have arrived at the inevitable conclusion of your shared journey. each exchange of words seems to transform into a tempestuous whirlwind of conflict, where even the most trivial of disagreements escalate into vehement confrontations.

it is as though both of you are ensnared in an endless cycle of trying to assert your perspectives, yet these attempts are met with mutual disregard. the once gentle flow of communication has turned into a battleground, with every conversation leaving behind a residue of unresolved tension and deepening wounds.

the emotional landscape between you has become a field of strife, where the echoes of past arguments linger, and the prospect of reconciliation seems like a distant mirage.

you and chris sat in a heavy silence, the weight of unspoken words hanging in the air. he absently toyed with the food on his plate, his fork pushing remnants around in an aimless dance.

you let out a weary sigh, the sound of resignation filling the space between you. with a sense of finality, you dropped your fork onto your plate, the loud clink echoing through the room as you signaled for the tab.

chris lifts his gaze to meet yours, his head still bowed slightly, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. after a moment, he averts his gaze, turning his head to the side, as if seeking refuge from the intensity of the moment.

“y/n, she’s just a friend. i swear,” chris mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper. you scoffed in response, rolling your eyes with a mix of exasperation and disbelief, leaning back into your chair as if trying to distance yourself from the weight of his words.

“friends don’t look at each other like that,” you shoot back, your voice laced with a sharp edge. your words compel chris to meet your gaze, the intensity of your accusation lingering between you like a palpable force.

“yes, they do,” he insisted, his voice unwavering, each word carrying a quiet defiance.

a heavy silence enveloped the room as the tab was discreetly placed before you. with a measured yet swift motion, you slipped some cash onto the table, the rustle of bills breaking the quiet. standing up abruptly, you grabbed your purse with a sense of urgency, storming out, leaving the tension-laden air behind.

chris lets out a weary sigh, the sound heavy with resignation, as he hastens to follow after you, each step echoing with the weight of unspoken words and unresolved tension.

he leaned forward, his eyes brimming with a desperate intensity that seemed to beseech your very soul for understanding, "she’s just a friend, nothing more. you have to believe me."

you looked away, your heart laden with doubt, the weight of his words pressing down on your chest like an unrelenting burden. "just a friend? friends don’t look at each other like that."

he sighed deeply, attempting to mask his growing frustration, his breath escaping in a slow, controlled exhale. "i’ve known her for years. we’ve weathered countless storms together, but it’s never been anything more than friendship. you’re the one i love."

you met his gaze, your voice trembling with the fragility of your emotions. "then why does it feel like i’m competing for your attention? why do i feel like i’m losing you to her?"

he reached for your hand, his grip firm yet gentle, as if trying to anchor you in his reality. "you’re not losing me. i promise you, she’s just a friend. i need you to trust me."

but you could see the flicker of guilt in his eyes, the hesitation in his voice, the slight quiver that betrayed his calm demeanor. tears welled up in your eyes as you pulled your hand away, the warmth of his touch lingering on your skin. "trust? how can i trust when i see the way you look at her?"

his voice softened, but the sincerity was gone, replaced by a hollow echo of his earlier conviction. "because i look at you with love. with her, it’s just friendship. please, believe me."

your heart ached with an almost unbearable intensity, knowing deep down that his words were merely a delicate veil for the truth he couldn’t bring himself to admit. it was a fragile facade, one that was beginning to crack and crumble under the oppressive weight of your shared silence, each unspoken word adding to the tension that threatened to shatter the thin veneer of reassurance he tried to offer.

your heart ached with an intensity that seemed to reverberate through your very being, knowing deep down that his words were nothing more than a delicate veil, a fragile facade designed to obscure the truth he couldn’t bring himself to admit. this fragile construct was beginning to crumble, piece by piece, under the immense weight of your shared silence, each unspoken word adding to the pressure, threatening to shatter the thin veneer of reassurance he so desperately tried to maintain.

you took a deep breath, trying to steady your voice. "i can’t do this anymore. i can’t keep pretending that everything is fine when it’s not."

his eyes widened, panic flashing across his face. "what are you saying? don’t do this. we can work through this."

you shook your head, tears spilling over your cheeks. "no, we can’t. i’ve tried to believe you, to trust you, but it’s tearing me apart. every time i see you with her, it feels like a knife in my heart."

he reached for you again, desperation in his touch. "please, don’t leave me. i love you. she’s just a friend, nothing more."

you stepped back, putting distance between you, your voice breaking. "just a friend? i didn't want to do this but if she’s just a friend then what is this?” you said, shoving your phone in his face, a screenshot displayed on it

his face paled, and for a moment, he was speechless. "i... i can explain." he stood there, silent, the weight of your words sinking in. "i never meant to hurt you."

"explain?" you echoed, your voice rising. "how do you explain this? 'last night was amazing. can't wait to see you again.'"

he ran a hand through his hair, frustration and guilt battling in his eyes. "it was a mistake. it didn't mean anything."

"a mistake?" you felt a bitter laugh escape your lips. "you don't just accidentally cheat on someone. how long has this been going on?"

"it was just the one time," he insisted, but his voice lacked conviction. "i swear."

you shook your head, tears blurring your vision. "how could you do this to me? to us? i thought we were happy."

"we are," he implored desperately, closing the distance between you, each step laden with a silent plea for forgiveness. "please, just let me explain."

"explain what?" you snapped, stepping back. "that you threw away everything we had for a night with someone else? that you lied to me, betrayed me?"

"i know i messed up," he uttered, his voice fracturing under the weight of his own remorse. "i'm so sorry. i love you."

"love?" the word resonated with a cruel irony, each syllable twisting the knife of betrayal deeper. "if you loved me, you wouldn't have done this. you wouldn't have hurt me like this."

he reached out, but you recoiled, the pain too fresh, too raw. "please, give me a chance to make it right."

you took a deep breath, trying to steady your racing heart. "i need time," you said finally. "i need to think."

he nodded, tears in his own eyes. "i understand. i'll give you all the time you need."

with that, you turned and walked away, each step feeling like a release from the invisible chains that had bound your heart for so long.

as you moved forward, the weight of unspoken words and unresolved emotions began to lift, leaving him standing there, a solitary figure etched against the backdrop of your fading memories.

the light around him dimmed, symbolizing the end of an era, a poignant reminder of the love and pain that had once intertwined your lives so deeply.

you knew deep down that this was the last thing you wanted to do, yet the tears that streamed down your face betrayed your resolve, refusing to let you proceed.

your heart swelled with an overwhelming sense of yearning and longing, each beat echoing the depth of emotions that words could never fully capture.

it was as if every fiber of your being was pulling you back, pleading for a different outcome, one where love and desire could find their rightful place.

your entire being seemed to rebel against your decision, every fiber of your body rejecting the path you had chosen. the tears that welled up in your eyes mirrored the turmoil within, each drop a testament to the inner battle you fought.

despite the overwhelming urge to turn back, to undo what had been set in motion, you clung to the conviction that this was for the better.

it was a necessary sacrifice, a step towards a future that held the promise of healing and growth, even if the present moment was steeped in pain and uncertainty.

the inner conflict raged on, a tempest of emotions threatening to consume you, but you held firm, believing that sometimes, the hardest choices pave the way for the most profound transformations.

[celestialtarot11]

More astro notes 🤗🤍

Hey ya’ll! Grab a drink or a snack because this post is juicy 💭☕️ hope ya’ll enjoy!

I’ve noticed Sagittarius and Jupiter placements don’t often follow higher education, and in fact natives with this placement drop out. It’s as if they are meant to expand outward, and not stay shackled to a capitalist society 👏 as they should honestly. These natives work hard from a young age especially, they’re all about getting that bag. As they get older they get efficient with making money. These natives are always seeking to be efficient.

Venus in the first probably grew up around a modest family, a family that praised modesty. Depending on the aspects, the native embraces this or rejects it entirely. Venus in the 1st is here to find themselves ultimately. They are their own soulmate, and realizing this truth will help them to give to their partner/friendships 🤗 such a sweet native. But this native has the tendency to conform and fall into codependent tendencies.

Mars in the 1st…have ya’ll had leg injuries in your life? Someone I knew with this placement has a massive leg injury from work. Be careful! Mars in your chart indicates surgery/injuries. Where it falls in your chart will tell you where you’ll have injuries or surgery, and when it’ll happen.

Leo, pisces & gemini in someones big three makes for a very interesting person. Elusive, yet known. Out there yet hidden. Talking to them one on one creates pressure on this individual, because there is that feeling of wanting to run, but stay open. This native constantly battles hiding and opening up. If ya’ll don’t put down that wine glass and take off that trench coat-😤 this ain’t mission impossible. Anyway, good luck trying to get anything out of this individual 🤗 if they share to you anything, they trust you.

Libra men…please stop comparing yourself to your partners. If you’ve had a history with people looking down at you, it’s understandable why you’d continue this cycle. But if ya’ll want that commitment, that relationship, see your partner in a different light and yourself included. You can’t look at yourself the same way those people never saw you. Your partner does not want to repeat that hurt (that’s if you’re in a mutually healing relationship, not an unhealthy one) Your fears can easily distance you from your partner.

Wherever pluto aspects in the natives chart is where personal information is out in the open. For example someone I know with pluto in the 10th aspecting venus in the 4th, family often tried to separate her relationship, and was the cause of significant problems. Many people knew of the relationship and spread gossip like fire, even after the breakup people still bring him up. And it happens when it’s not even related to her, they’ll find any excuse to bring her ex up in any conversation/argument. Pluto in the 10th can signify having a relationship with the boss or coworker which eventually turns public. These natives need to be careful with where pluto aspects their planets! ✨🌀

Alternatively, Pluto in the 10th is often read as the native having an infamous career, or personal information affecting their career. While that may be true for some, look closely to the aspects and which planet its touching, and which house. Again, Pluto in the 10th touching venus in the 4th, the 4th house ruling family, that’s where a lot of the natives issues were gossiped about. Career place went by fine, only issue was putting herself out there as she liked to keep herself hidden.

Another example of Pluto bringing personal information out to the public: Pluto aspecting the natives sun. Issues with the father were widely known, because the pluto person had the father moving in and our constantly of their apartment. The father had no financial support for himself. Sun in the 3rd house trine Pluto in the 2nd, this persons travel plans were an indicator to others that they were sitting on a pile of cash. I mean, flying to these places? Damn, you must be rich. And the natives job included flying out to different locations. This caught peoples eye, and it turned into jealousy. Eventually, the native with this placement had a massive injury at work (mars 1st house) and it lead to a huge financial scare because of the debt (pluto 2nd house) . Because of the sun trine pluto aspect, everyone did not laugh at him, rather they couldn’t understand how he was still there and doing well despite the injury. Somehow to others, he was still carrying on. People put him on a pedestal shortly after the injury, and he couldn’t return to work because he knew his coworkers would constantly talk to him about the injury, and want to know every detail. In a way, people idolized his bravery and strength. So again, look to your pluto placement, aspects, other planets, houses everything! 😤

Thank ya’ll so much for reading 💗☺️ hope this was informative and cool! Please feel free to reblog, comment and like!

Book a reading with me here 🤍

[ancha-aus]

Ghosts & Medium AU Drabble - Sleepover

I am back with this little AU of mine :3 Becuase I had an idea and I of course have no self control.

What is the focus? Killer and Cross getting to see Dust's and Ash's apartment.

*-----------------*

Dust continues to stare through the front window. He is tired. And Not just physically.

"Come on Dusty! I want to explore my new body and I could use an extra set of hands~"

"It ISN'T your body!! Don't you fucking dare!"

Dust is way beyond his social quota. He has been for the last three weeks. With the last week being especially tiring.

Having Killer tag along as a ghost had been bad.

Killer now having a body?

Dust is used to waking up with a ghost hovering near. Ash does that all the time to wake him up. Seeing Killer instead had been a shock to his system and Dust had tried to hit the ghost. Not very effective because well, ghost. Even if a poltergeist is more physical than most ghosts he was still a ghost.

Well! Having an actual person near and hovering over him?! Yeah. Much more nerve wrecking and is ruining his already fragile and destroyed sleeping cycle.

It doesn't help that Cross is around. Pouting and grumbling all the time. Reminding Killer of what to do with his bdoy and what not to. Pestering Dust to solve it.

Dust doesn't even know what ritual Cross used! Dust had gone to Cross because he hadn't been able to get Killer to leave him. Yet now his problem is doubled.

Ash had offered that maybe they can go home. Get some rest and read some of his books for answers. Dust had figured it was fine. He still had some money from the last job. He would ahve to make every penny count and maybe just eat cheap rice for a while but he can make the money stretch a little longer.

So they got into his van and started going to his apartment.

Dust had considered leaving Killer in Cross's body behind somewhere. He got so close to just doing that. With Killer being stuck in Cross's body it would mean he would be free of him.

But well. Cross and him are still kinda friends. Cross is pretty much Dust's only kinda friend... even if Cross just treats him as any other customer.

Also it feels like a waiting disaster to leave a mobile Killer unsupervised.

So there are going back to his place. Even if Dust much prefers no one knowing where he lives but what can you do.

Ash floats by his shoulder "You sure you don't want to stop for coffee? You have been driving for seven hours now." Ash shoots him a disapproving look.

Dust shrugs "too expensive." he can get soo much rich for the price of one overpriced coffee.

God he misses coffee. Sadly it was one of the first things he stops buying once he gets into the lower amounts of money, same for cigarrettes. Which, with business being slow. He had been low on cash for the last seven months.

There is a reason he tried so hard with Killer's whole haunting thing. It had been the first job after anohter four months of no work or jobs. He needed the cash.

Not that it matters now. He got so many more problems now. At least Cross still has his own savings to keep his body alive while Killer inhibits it.

Dust remembers he should answer Ash "I am almost there." just two more hours. Maybe one and a half if he speeds a bit. That is one of the nice parts about having a ghost with you the whole time. Ash being near causes some electrics to shortcut.

Speedcameras count within those for some reason.

Works great for him.

Killer whines loudly "Dusty! Pay attention to me!"

"Don't distract him from driving Killer! YOu are going to get us killed!"

Killer gasps "OMG!"

Ash looks unimpressed "Did you just seriously say omg out loud? as just letters? as an actual reaction? In an actual conversation? seriously?"

Killer wiggles excited from side to side "We could be ghosts together! Haunt stuff together and-"

Ash rushes Killer and Killer yelps as Ash no doubt uses his own limited ghost ability power stuff to harm him now he is physical "If you ever even entertain the idea of my brother dying ever again I am killing you in this new host body myself. Am. I. understood?"

Cross looks panicked "Wait no! that is my body!"

Ash huffs "I am aware. But I am not risking Dust. Not for anything or anyone."

Killer pouts "Geez calm down. it was just an idea." he mutters unhappily "we wouldn't even be sure if it would work."

Dust just ignores the ghosts arguing. It is still a long drive.

Fuck he would kill for either a coffee or a cigarrette right about now. He would commit a war crime if he could get both.

--

It is late. Very late. But they are finally here!

Dust parks the van in an empty spot and grabs his bag as he walks towards the front door. He opens it with his key and has to hit it a few times before the door into the building opens.

Dust just nods to the door as he looks at Killer "Inside."

Killer has a hand on his, well cross's chest as he looks down at him. Damn Cross for being tall. "Oh? inviting me back home already? After just one date? I am scandalised and very interested." and he walks inside.

Ash makes a gaging sound and Dust rolls his eye lights before following after Killer. Once inside he pulls the door until it gets back stuck again and he locks it again. The doorhandle it broken so you need to force it in and out of place before keeping it shut with the lock itself.

Dust walks past the elevator that Killer is waiting by "don't use the elevator. it gets stuck and has the habit of dropping a few floors." and he walks towards the stairs. Fuck he hates the stairs.

Still he climbs the floors and eventually finally gets to floor eight and walks down the hallway. Door after door after door. There is his spot. 808.

He pulls out his key and tries it. Ugh. It is stuck again. He bonks his skull against the door "Ash?"

Ash floats through the door "on it."

a moment later he feels the key turn and he steps back as Ash forces the door open. He removes the key "Thanks." and he leads the other two inside as Ash closes the door and locks it again.

Dust stands in his room and ignores the very damning silence "Home sweet home." he throws the bag on the couch as he walks over to the window and opens it. Having to put the small wood board between some parts to keep it open.

Killer looks around the place as Cross looks a lot more alarmed "You live here?!"

Dust shrugs as he walks to his couch where he leavs a blanket and pillow "Euh. I live in my van. I only come here once in a while." Thinking that. He will probably need to get food. He never leaves food behind in his place. Makes the rats visit.

Cross looks so worried as he floats nearby "You enver said this was your place!"

Dust shrugs "It is fine."

Sure the enterance and living room and kitchen is one room... with the door hitting the couch... and the kitchen being one small fridge a counter and a electric little stove thing. and the place he eats is just one table with one chair. But it is a place! It has electricity kinda reliable and the water is mostly clean.

Dust blinks and shrugs "Rent is cheap." also the landlord does not pay attention to who pays and who doens't. Which is the only reason Dust still has this place and why he doesn't complain about everything being broken.

Dust looks at Killer and points at the couch "You can sleep here. That was Cross's body gets some rest. I will be in my room." and he turns and goes towards his own bedroom, after picking up his bag of course.

His room may have been an exaggeration. It is just his mattress on the floor with two different blankets and an old pillow. the room just barely fits the mattress and the small set of drawers for his clothes. He searches through it and finds a shirt some sweats and a beanie. This will have to do to sleep in.

He undressed and redresses. He will do all the stuff to clean up and stuff tomorrow. First sleep. It is like 4 am and he had been driving since they left Cross's chapel. at like 6ish... Dust thinks... maybe earlier?

It doesn't matter. Dust lets himself fall on his mattress and rolls up. Muttering a good night to Ash and getting one in return.

--

Someone is muttering stuff near him. Ugh. Can't he just sleep for a bit longer? He is tired.

He grumbles as he tries to curl more into his blanket but he is stuck. weird. did he get tangled with his blanket again? Would explain why it is so warm and... why... something... is moving...

Dust manages to open his sockets and freezes.

Cross, well Killer, is in bed with him. Killer pouts "You woke him-"

Dust just punched him in the face nad Killer rolls off the bed. Releasing him in the process. Dust glares at him "Why the fuck are you in my room." he rubs his sockets. no longer sleepy at all. what the actual fuck?!

Killer rubs his, well Cross's face "I wanted to get up close and comfortable. but then i realised that sleeping with you as very comfy. so i slept in your bed wiht you instead of the couch."

Dust looks around and spots Ash looking pissed. and Cross hiding his face nad looking beyond embarrassed "I am so sorry! I didn't know what to do and i thought he was asleep so i went to explore the building and when i came back he was well here and I couldn't convince him to leave as he was aslready asleep himself and well..."

Dust looks at Ash and Cross "wake me?!"

Ash grumbles unhappily "You need your sleep."

Cross sighs "also nothing we did could wake killer and it isn't like he listens."

...

What even is his life?

Okay. Fine.

Dust gets up and kicks Killer and he yelps. Dust just kicks him again "Out. I need to get dressed."

Killer grins and winks "I can assist-" Dust kicks him again. Killer pouts "okay fine fine fine!" and he leaves.

Dust gets dressed quickly and goes towards the living room. Time to look into some new options to get this situation wiht Killer and Cross sorted out.

First he needs to switch their places to get Cross his body back. And then a ritual to get Killer to leave him alone.

That is easy. That is just two rituals.

Dust grabs the first book and starts looking through the rituals.

There has to be something that can work... He could also try and summon something that can make the changes if he really needs to.

[elodieunderglass]

Good day! 🙏 I know that this might come inappropriate to ask for a favor like this but I just wanted to ask if you could possibly share or boost the post I pinned for my cat. We're in desperate need of help right now. I hope youd consider, if not I understand dont worry. Be safe always! Btw, happy late valentines to you! Pls consider sending me a msg instead of replying the ask publicly, if its fine or maybe answer it privately 🙏

Scammer, sweetheart, I am fascinated by you. Are you one person making about $1000 a month preying on kind people who have very little money themselves? Is $1000 a lowball or do you actually make a wage? Is this your living? Are you a parasite for a living, or is it just a hobby? I mean, you raise enough to invest in checkmarks on your account, which is cute.

Or are you an exploited person who is being forced through circumstances to farm for gold, the profit of which is taken by the crime syndicate that is keeping you captive. Stealing cat photos and sob stories, making fake victim stories and researching which little fandoms will make you seem most real, when you are yourself the one who needs help (not the latest fake cat.) are there a group of you, with a target to meet, swapping tips to meet the quota? Is that why it’s always a cat, did you work out that people pay the most for cats or something?

I hope it’s the first situation: it means I can make fun of you as much as I like. But if it’s the second, that feels awful. And I do worry that it’s the second, because if it was the first, you’d have enough memory in your little noggin not to bother me. Because you blocked me, babes, when I pointed out there was no cat, and we all killed you. So I worry it’s the second scenario.

I suppose you could be a group of giggling unpleasant teens in a bedroom? Maybe Mean Girls who started off making tumblr accounts for a coordinated bullying attack, but ended up accidentally running a bot farm. Maybe young forum-dwellers who think it’s a particularly delicious twist to squeeze the silly tumblr queers too dumb to know better and use the cash to finance right-wing YouTubers. Maybe this is what the trained kids who are paid to run psy-ops during election years do in the off-cycle. But I do worry about a bleary room over-full of tired people, badly fed, badly housed, grimly slapping 🙏 emojis by hand on a thousand messages. I always feel bad hanging up on spam callers when you hear the great dreary hangar of phones and callers all around them. Nobody wants to be involved in the conversation but the scam callers have a quota to meet, a set amount of cash to extract from the faceless marks, and so they power bleakly through the latest script with a hundred other trapped people doing the same. What are your bosses like?

Are you doing this against your will, @the-nonbinary-witch? Next time, come to me right away put some emojis in indicating that you need help. A few skulls will tip me off.

[praise-the-lord-im-dead]

Re: the shelter post, something interesting I've noticed in conversations about very poor or unhoused people is this sort of...weird reactivity that people don't seem to realize they're operating on?

Like there's a cycle of:

see person who needs help > feel intense shame and pity > try to stop feeling the unpleasant things by reasoning that the person will surely receive help elsewhere/they are secretly rich and begging for extra cash/they somehow deserve their situation, etc. So you get people reasoning that there's a ton of shelters with empty rooms for no reason other than people on the street actually like being on the street. Or people critiquing the high grade of cardboard someone's 'please help' sign is written on, or saying that they have a suspiciously expensive backpack, or reasoning that, well, they weren't actually asking for gas money, surely it was for drugs or alcohol.

Essentially, this takes the feelings of shame and pity and makes them unnecessary, but also someone else's fault.

I feel like it's a lot healthier to deal with the inevitable emotional reaction to seeing people in desperate straights as what it is: an emotional reaction that's good, and natural, but ultimately no one's fault and also not going to be of much help in actually fixing anything.

Then you can move on to dealing with reality, where people are complicated and weird and usually need more help than we can hope to provide--but when and where we can be of some help, we can do it without acting entirely out of suspicion, paranoia, and blame.

[joenicassio]

When it comes to making money, many business people make a critical mistake: they focus solely on high-ticket sales with long sales cycles.

This is a mistake because there's NOW MONEY in low-ticket selling.

The Consequence: You often lose out on opportunities to get paid today!

Instead, when you learn to turn Conversations into CASH with low-ticket selling, the result will be cash today for you, and a quick victory for a new prospect to try you out.

Additional Benefits:

Discover the hidden secrets to having unlimited prospects excited to talk with you.

Master a simple, easy, and predictable sales process that can lead to consistent cash flow.

Access exclusive training to help you build rapport and trust quickly with potential clients.

Receive step-by-step guidance on converting conversations into sales effortlessly.

Gain confidence and skill in handling objections and closing deals on the spot.

So next time you meet someone, don’t be afraid to start them with a tiny sale, which can turn into longer-term revenues!

I have a complete program for this. I normally charge $199 for it…

But for a limited time…

If you want to get the whole system...

Post your favorite emoji, and I’ll get you a link… For FREE!

[cosmicchats]

July 22nd: Venus Rx in Leo

Posted on 07/11/23 @ 12:

Venus Rx will begin on July 22nd @ 28° (Cancer degree), emphasizing the contemplative period we are beginning. You may feel a little defensive right now, and trying to protect yourself. Do not hide from conflict, face it head on and fight. During this transit it is essential for you to practice discernment between what is happening in the material world and your feelings. Although relationships will change, it’s important to know which ones are worth keeping, and which ones have run their course. What lessons have you learned? Think about who you were and what you were doing during the last Venus Rx in Capricorn during December 19, 2021- January 29, 2022.

If you are a Leo rising, this Venus Rx is happening in your 1H (I am), dealing with your identity, the image you project, and outlook. Is the way you project yourself aligned with your values? You as a person are about to change.

Wherever Leo sits in your chart will be highlighted during this Venus Rx. Look below to see which house Leo sits in your chart based on your rising sign and what themes may come up during this transit.

Leo in your chart

Aries Rising: 5th House; I serve (personal creativity) 

-For Aries rising, I see this Venus Rx shaking up how you express yourself. With Venus being in Leo, I think many of you will be taking the initiatives that put you center stage in your life. This will be a time where you reflect over your values in and how you express yourself. Romance may be in the air for meaning of you as well. Since 5H deals with fertility, children= Leo=vitality, if you do not want to get pregnant make sure you are taking all precautions.

Taurus Rising: 4th House; I nurture

-Changes to your home life are arriving. Home in the literal sense like where you live and also home as in your roots. You maybe moving or re-decorating your home. You may reconnect with family (your foundation), and reflect over how you want to take action in how you nurture yourself specifically.

Gemini Rising: 3rd House; I think

-Your mind and thinking process will be changing during this transit. The Rx will cause you to reflect over how you communicate with others and whether or not you find it useful and productive. Test (conflict) may arise calling on you to address confrontation in your social settings and activities. Remember, you don’t have to engage. If you do engage, think before you speak. Mercury will have entered Leo on July 11th, increasing heated conversations. How can you communicate your values to people? What boundaries will you enforce?

Cancer Rising: 2nd House; I have

-Material possessions (cash/commodities/work) will be a focal for you this transit. Where do your values align and are you living that value? What new steps do you need to make? This is the time to be patient, reflect, and be open to reassessing what you are seeking to have. You may change jobs or have change in your income. Changes to your daily habits are expected to take place as well. Adjustments to your daily habit that center you and your priorities.

Virgo Rising: 12 House; I dream

- Ex’s may appear in your dreams during this transit or be on your mind (subconscious). Do not think that an ex appearing in your dream means you miss them. You may be processing how things ended. They may also be thinking about you. You could be officially ending cycles and relationships. Childhood triggers of not having control may arise. Pay attention to your dreams during this transit because you will learn more about yourself. Write down your dreams to help you look at possible patterns or themes occurring.

Libra Rising: 11th House; I aspire

- Are you starting a new venture? Or trying to stabilize a current project? Who are the people you have in your corner supporting you? Tap in to the people who you trust, and support you during this transit. You may be thinking about the future during this transit. Also pay attention to any possible technology issues that may arise. 

Scorpio Rising: 10th House; I achieve

- You are thinking about your future and legacy you want to have. What steps do you need to take? Thoughts about your reputation are likely to come to the forefront. New career or job offers. If it’s not an immediate, YES, then its a no, and that is okay. 

Sagittarius Rising: 9th House; I explore

-You may be exploring feelings related to your inner child. Many of you may meet a new person while traveling abroad, or in higher education. Pay attention to any flags, now is not the time to ignore them. This Venus Rx will transform your philosophy. Leave you with different values and wisdom. Some of you may be exploring religion or reflecting the way religion has impacted you. 

Capricorn Rising: 8th House; I circulate

-As a Saturn ruled placement, you often face many restrictions. You may feel like you are held to a higher standard than others. During this transits, people who have wronged you may come back. You could inherit energy from other people so make sure you step up your spiritual protection. Debts are being paid.

Aquarius Rising: 7th House; I partner

-Big changes to your relationships. If you are in a relationship, check in with your partner. Are your values aligned? The word relationship is not limited to romantic ones either. How are you caring for yourself during this time. This Venus Rx in Leo wants you to think about how your relationships make you feel and benefit you. Do you feel supported by your partner or other interpersonal relationships. Are your relationships helping you grow as a person? 

Pisces Rising: 6th House; I serve (daily life/others)

-Check in with your health. Your vitality is being highlighted during this transit. What care are you in need of? Changes to appearance based on your overall health could take place. You are more analytical about subjects of the heart, and work ethic (habits). What habits do you need to keep or let go? On the body, Leo represents the heart so make sure you monitor your heart health during this time.  

[alligatorhearts]

Pick a Pile - Hard Truths Readings

I don't do collective readings often, but I'm feeling the call to share a message, and since there are no orders sitting in my store, that can only mean that this is for you, babe.

Pick the emoji that calls you: 👽💦🫀🦄

Did you find the one that hit the spot? Good. The deck I used is called Respectfully the Truth by Messages by Julissa and it has been one of my favorite supplemental decks to use during readings, but I went ahead and dove right in with it for this collective and the cards did! not! disappoint!

Without further ado...

👽 You Might Be the Bad Guy, Billie Eillish I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it looks like you already heard it through the grapevine. You and someone close to you, whether that be a romantic partner or a friend, have recently had a deep conversation. You had to apologize to them for some poor behavior that hurt them, and they said they were over it, so why won't they get over it already?! Slow your horses, speed racer. Your person did in fact mean what they said, but they also need some time to get themselves back together. Their level of upset is STILL huge. In the meantime, you've been leaving someone else hanging. Maybe you thought that they weren't interested in spending time with you, but like with the person you hurt (or maybe they're the same person, different instances!) you haven't given them enough time and space to catch their breath! You have them stuck, and they don't know how to act. Slow your roll!

💦 That Man is not your Soulmate! Hit him with your Car!

You have been stuck in reverse, and for what?! Baby, you are powerful. Your energy is RADIANT and this person--maybe even these people--around you can. not. deal. They are stuck in the past and not willing to move forward because you intimidate them. They're intimidated by you! Your vibrations are vibrationing so far out of this atmosphere that they KNOW they can't keep up. It's okay to take a beat right now and take stock of who you have around you. Not everyone is going to catch up to you, and that's okay! Cut ties where it feels right, and leave distance where it doesn't. You do NOT need to minimize yourself for others.

🫀 Professional Gaslighter Magnet

That's you. And listen, babe, sometimes that's me, too. Your partner, ex-partner, or toxic bestie has been whispering sweet nothings in your ear about how much you mean to them. They aren't lying, per se--you're the goat. Or whatever the kids are saying now. What they're hiding is that their affection for you is not so simple. You're providing something to them that they can not live without--cash, housing, transportation, emotional support, street cred. Whatever it is, they aren't willing to give it up, even if it comes at a cost to you. This person is afraid that one day every terrible, sightless thing that they've done to you is going to catch up with them, and that sucks because they can't stand the idea of you doing for others what you do for them. They want you all for yourself like a little trophy they can hang on their wall. When you're ready, end the cycle of forgiveness, because your intuition about their intentions is 100% accurate.

🦄We All want to be You Right Now???

This was supposed to be about HARD truth, what are you doing here? I immediately felt a softer energy when I picked up this last stack of cards, and I can tell you I was NOT wrong. It feels like you've started something new with someone, and there are some feelings of shyness. Maybe even a bit of fear to jump in the water. There was a misunderstanding or a disagreement between you and a person you've recently started dating or become friends with, and you've been giving them the cold shoulder ever since. This person is ready to talk! They don't intend to go anywhere--no matter how long you make them wait--and in the meantime, they've been letting everyone know what their intentions are. This person is ALL about YOU! As soon as you think you can do it, go on ahead and give them the chance to speak their truth. They're about what they say.

[mauvemars]

routine: prologue | akaashi keiji

routine: a defined cycle containing repeated actions.

part of the routine is working at a bakery during the night. it has its perks, less customers, peaceful environment. you get to listen to your own music throughout the stereos that envelopes the entire store. you have one other co-worker, maybe two. it’s essentially the perfect shift; however, it does get lonely when you’re the only one left.

finishing up the last of the daily cleaning, you can’t help but scroll on your phone. there are hardly any new notifications, most being from the hour before twelve. being on social media doesn’t do you any good, seeing everyone else have fun during the night whilst you’re on the clock. a wave of loneliness washes over you, but you shrug it off. you’ve always felt this way, it’s normal. you look at the time, it’s 2AM. just one more hour until the store is closed for the night. there are hardly any customers that come in after 2AM, though there are a few odd individuals who do come in. most of them come under the influence, which you don’t mind as it provides some sort of entertainment for you; however, this particular night seemed slower than the previous.

you think about closing up early, but you hear the tune the door plays when it’s opened. you put your phone aside, and fixed yourself to greet the customer.

“welcome!” you cringe slightly at your declaration, maybe you were too excited. you were just glad that someone had come in. helping customers helps time move faster.

you scan the customer in front of you. he had messy, jet black hair and blue greenish eyes that were perfectly framed by glasses. he seemed to be a bit disheveled, he was carrying some paperwork in his arms that almost slipped onto the counter when he leaned in a bit to see the menu.

“you seem to be tired, what’s got you up so late?” you question, hoping that it wasn’t too much of an awkward conversation starter.

“just finishing up some work at the library, i was hoping to buy a drink to keep me awake.”

“ah, well unfortunately i do only sell energy drinks, is that alright with you?”

he nods, and hands you cash as you input his order into the register. you hand him his change and the requested drink. before he gets the chance to say his thanks, you stop him.

“before you leave, take this with you. it would be bad if you didn’t have anything to eat with your drink,” you hand him a pastry that was neatly wrapped in a wax bag. “don’t worry, it’s on me. trust me, i’ve spent countless nights at the library wishing i had something to munch on.”

“thanks,” he takes the pastry from you, shoving it into his book bag. “do you normally work this late in the night?”

“yep. i’m pretty much a night owl at this point,” you state. “well, thank you for your business, hope to see you again sometime.”

he shares his gratitude for the drink and pastry as he makes his way out of the store. you sigh to yourself, looking at the time and it was nearly 3AM. you doubt that anymore customers are going to show, so you decide to close up just a few minutes early. as you finish up locking the doors, you start your walk back to your apartment. the city you live in isn’t dangerous at all, so it was normal for you to walk alone. it was part of your daily routine to listen to a podcast on your walk; however, you couldn’t tonight.

you noticed the customer you helped earlier approach you. getting another look at him again, you notice that he was a bit more energized this time. maybe it was the moonlight that shone above, but he seemed a lot more attractive this time around. you shake your thoughts away, thinking it was weird to think about customer that way.

“hey, i just wanted to thank you again for the free pastry. it was delicious,” he tells you. you shake your head, telling him it wasn’t a problem at all. you thought that was the end of this interaction, but to your surprise, he offers to walk you home.

“oh, it’s okay. i really don’t mind walking home by myself, i do it every night,” you claim, alarmed that this stranger just asked to walk you home. he apologizes, and you say your farewells as you walk in the opposite direction. you’re sure he meant no harm, and it was kind of cute the way he profusely apologized after he realized how weird his offer was.

you wonder if you’ll see him again anytime soon, not minding the disruption he caused in your routine.

divider by @bunnysrph

notes: this was a lil boring, and i tried making akaashi be as normal as possible cuz i wasn't sure if him being weird is a headcanon or actually canon lol. anyways i promise it will be more interesting in future chapters. anyways, thank you for giving it a read! (this was not proofread btw)

[egittae]

[drabble] the means to live.

post-arena developments.

The odd missions at the island had truly been a much blessed and necessary blindfold. The change of terrain and weather, being forced to perform all sorts of tasks for the sake of some rich man whose dreams seemed to be bigger than Fódlan itself all so the Church could act in the name of goodwill as cash was passed under the table in between glances and whispers.

Lambert wouldn’t complain. Couldn’t, not when it did him so much good as a means of distraction- but as the Sun cycled through the skies, a shadow was always set to return when the right angle was met.

It was a hot midday.

Nursing an angry, red sunburnt skin- a welcome change from the biting cold of the mountains but uncomfortable all the same, as he sat under a cheap tent’s shade. His body glistened with a mixture of sweat and some sea water from a previous swim, bits of sand stubbornly sticking to his legs and feet as a slow warm breeze licked against his form. It was calming, relaxing. A concealed dagger in its finest form, as at the moment Lambert had already begun to understand that silence and stillness was but a gamble. An inert mind could relax, and an inert mind was an open invitation to the world of opportunistic memories and ideas.

Lambert hadn’t stopped to think much about what happened during the training exercise at the Arena. He also hadn’t thought much about his conversation with Morion a moon or so ago, regarding the nature of the mark on his neck. Lambert had become well aware of the fact that he had slowly allowed himself to become a coward towards himself and his own objective, knowing what the next steps were and yet refusing to look up and face it head on. Pretending it’ll come to him in a harmless revelation one day, and he’ll just come to terms with it.

Or perhaps it’ll all turn out to be a big misunderstanding, a lie. Some fabrication or an accident. But then he’d be pushing against the limits of ridiculousness, far beyond the conclusion he ended up reaching at that annoyingly hot, sunny midday at the beach.

He died once.

Something struck his neck, possibly severed it completely, and he died as a result.

Under the cold veil of dry logic, it made sense. Otherwise, what could’ve been the reason behind his embarrassingly strong reaction to that Death tome in front of his entire team during that first battle at the exercise? Why did he experience a sense of deja vu when he was struck in the face and defeated in combat? That dream he had where he lay paralyzed in a burning field and someone plunged a blade into his throat, what else could it be? The stinging pain that often rolled down his spine, dull poundings on his muscles that reached the base of his head.

The discomfort and near horror he experienced each time he felt something or someone touch his neck or head, sending his heart racing not out of being flustered but out of raw panic?

He was attacked, and killed. But death failed to keep its grasp on him- that, or someone tore him from her claws. Why, however? Wasn’t it a sin to defy the Goddess’ will- the very fate she had sewn for him?

It must be why his condition is the way it is. Lambert felt like a ghost- because he was one, wasn’t he? He was never supposed to be there, walking among all those people. This odd detachment he had been feeling all this time- it was amusingly fitting, if not sadly the very reason behind it. It was wrong. This was against nature, this was against the Goddess’ way- and perhaps his robbed memories were a sign of her disapproval towards his defiance, the fact that he’s allowed to exist but at the price of not being allowed a glimpse of what he once knew as himself.

At the time, Lambert had scoffed, staring at a crab scuttling by. Then he laughed, starting warm and joyful, before dragging into a hollow, muffled near groan as hands ran through his face, disrupting the calm surface of a lake.

What a joke, being forced to live when he shouldn’t.

Adding pages to an already complete book, each word another insult to its author as it stretched well beyond its planned epilogue into something distorted and far from the origin. Maybe the Goddess was right to take his memories and force him into this fate. Kind enough to allow him a second chance, but with a clear warning as to not challenge her word.

But also wishing to stubbornly hold on to that anomaly of his, even though it was stolen from Her hands- even though it meant to sit alone in the audience long after the show had already ended.

The fingers pressing against his closed eyelids made him see stars for a moment, and he nearly felt an odd peace. He died.

He was on a lovely island, surrounded by his students and some friends with much to do and even more to see, the paragon of an ideal summer vacation. The perfect chance for him to finally rest and allow himself to have fun.

And to think even Death left him in the past.

[thesinglesjukebox]

POST MALONE FT. MORGAN WALLEN - "I HAD SOME HELP"

You've heard of post-punk and post-hardcore; here's post-wallen...

[4.00]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Chipper and catchy, the ideal PSA for male friendships based in toxic masculinity. Can't wait for "Teamwork makes the dreamwork/Hell, I had some help" to play at the cookout before the next insurrection while the bros believe in their hearts that they're the good guys!  [3]

Aaron Bergstrom: The "Blurred Lines" copyright lawsuit was a net negative for music as a whole. It was a cynical cash-grab, it was incorrectly decided, and it set a dangerous precedent for artistic freedom. On the other hand, it's not like people were lining up to defend that song, and there was a pleasant hit of schadenfreude in seeing a lowest-common-denominator vehicle for smug misogyny get its comeuppance, even if it was for the wrong reasons. So, all of that said, on the matter of "I Had Some Help": I'm not saying Tom Petty's estate should get involved here, but I'm not not saying that, either. [2]

Alfred Soto: I can't argue with the confidence of the verses -- that's how you drawl, kids -- and I admire the hint of ambiguity. Morgan Wallen's recorded enough songs in which he can't remember what he said and did before he passed out, what he's going to drink to help him recover from passing out, and the consequences of passing out too many nights a week; I can hear "I Had Some Help" directed at a buddy who let him down as much as at a woman, especially since in the male-male duet tradition he and Post Malone look like they wanna cootchie-cootchie-cool each other in the video. I don't need to hear it again, though it's not like Top 40 radio's helping. Sure hope Martha-Ann and Sam Alito spot the upside American flag in the video. [6]

Katherine St. Asaph: A breakup postmortem presented as an Am I The Asshole post that -- like many Am I The Asshole posts --  is noticeably vague about the specifics of the breakup, about what exactly "all the shit she did" was and how it supposedly counterbalances whatever shit he did. This isn't meant as moral indignation -- the song might well be better if it were more clearly an asshole's POV (and certainly more believable from Morgan Wallen). It's just hard to have an emotional response given nothing solid to respond to; the music certainly isn't contributing much there. [4]

Scott Mildenhall: How would America have felt if, on embracing DHT's "Listen to Your Heart", it had been rewarded with the lesser half of Clubland 4: The Night of Your Life? Delighted, if it had any sense -- wait til you meet Jurgen Vries! -- but you have to take things step by step. Hitting the rest of the world straight with this bottom-of-the-barrel bottom-of-a-bottle country is likewise something of a liberty. If it wasn't for the familiar throat frog of Malone, it would be the kind of wallpaper you can only buy at Home Depot. [4]

Jonathan Bradley: There are engaging stories to tell about two people who take one another to worse places than they could reach alone — John Darnielle has produced an entire song cycle demonstrating as much — but Morgs and Posty speak in such non-specific and evasive terms (count the clichés: throwing stones at glass houses, fucking “teamwork makes the dreamwork”) that I can’t trust them about the source of the toxicity in this relationship. That could well be the basis for a compelling dramatic irony, but it would also require a much nastier song than this breezy Tom Petty facsimile of an arrangement could tolerate. [4]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Real poptimism has never been tried; if it had, there'd be reams of essays about this track, a true mega-hit floating above all the various pop conversation objects of the late spring. Instead, nothing. No reflections on the grand symbolism of this link-up, no canny narrativization of the continued Post Malone country-turn, no long-form exegesis on Morgan Wallen's fraught relationship with rap music and his own proclivity for racial slurs, no pondering of the state of the charts. We've got a paragraph in the New York Times, a third of a Chris Molanphy article, a anti-Post jeremiad in Saving Country Music, and not much else. This ought to be the "WAP" of dryness, a discourse schelling point, but the commentariat has fallen silent. The obvious conclusion here is that there's nothing to say about "I Had Some Help" — that I've written 120 words of this review without talking about the song perhaps serves as useful corroboration. But that's not quite right; "I Had Some Help," like every one of the great blank chart-topping colossi that these two men have been responsible for, is full of interesting little details if you listen to it enough times— that little "Help!" yelped after the chorus, the surprisingly delicate mandolin and fiddle interplay on the bridge, the way that the two vocalists reach towards harmonies they can't quite nail by the last chorus. Do these details add together to anything of worth? God, no. Perhaps the most intriguing thing is comparing their two approaches as singers — Wallen continues his honking reign of terror, bulldozing those melodies and sounding less like the charming rascal the song wants him to be and more like your best friend's worst boyfriend, but Malone sounds more pitiful and beautiful, leaning on the fucked-up choir-boy warble that has always lent his music a certain pathos. I'd like this more if he didn't have the help. [3]

Ian Mathers: Two great tastes that taste great together! [0]

Taylor Alatorre: Rest easy, reader: our beloved Posty has not gone full Rock n Roll Jesus just yet. What he and Wallen have done is inadvertently craft an anthem that better taps into the mindset of post-Cold War conservatism than any tryhard harangue by the likes of Kid Rock or Jason Aldean. The duo breeze through the nominal relationship angst with such airy detachment that the song's pretext easily outstrips the text: this is little more than an excuse to bring together two imperial-era megastars and have them act out their dented masculine stoicism at the altar of Tom Petty. And wouldn't you know it, each of them happens to be repping a different red state milieu: Post from the affluent North Texas suburb that trended blue so much it had to be redistricted, and Wallen from the rural Tennessee outpost that was side-eying Democrats even before the Civil Rights Act. The result is less musical fusion and more Buckleyite fusionism, with each artist giving up a bit of their distinctiveness so the partnership can coalesce as smoothly and inevitably as possible. This might be a complaint if it didn't end up sounding exactly as seamless as intended, barring some tin-eared Wallenisms like "us a-crumblin'." Everything else is built along a frictionless straight-line path that offers little opportunity for resistance, which is fitting for a song that's essentially about passing one's agency into the hands of another. Post and Wallen want to take us along for a ride in which they too are being taken along by someone, or more specifically dragged under. "Help!" they numbingly shout at us from some unseen subterranean place, sounding at first like punctuation and only over time registering as desperation. There's a hard-to-explain thrill in watching these avatars of white America willingly make themselves into the subaltern for a few minutes, bemoaning their limited range of choices under the accumulated weight of history. Personal responsibility is an overrated concept, they imply -- finally, some bipartisanship! On the one hand, "I Had Some Help" is the cri de coeur of the anti-anti-Trump voter, the kind who has little use for the man except as a corrective lesson, a Mandate of Heaven against the haughty overreaches of the liberal elite. In Swiftie terms, it's "Look What You Made Me Do" for people who either write for National Review or drive lifted trucks. On the other hand, whataboutism is all-American fun; that's why Both Sides Do It™. "You blame me, and baby, I blame you" -- himbo insight, maybe, but ain't that really the truth, in a century where politics on all sides is less and less about improving material outcomes, and more and more about the proper rationing of sympathy and apportionment of blame?  A nation of stadium crowds, 30,000 apiece, all screaming along to a jaunty country rocker about the joys of denying one's own free will -- America, what a country!  [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: I cannot deny how propulsive the verses sound here and how much the song suffers when nobody is singing. And just as I’m about to give up on it, the two deliver a bridge that brings it all together. This would go so hard at a wedding — I hope I get to dance to this at one soon. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[dukeswonderousmenagerie]

Thinking about Zeni visiting Jigen's sisters apartment to talk to Jigen

Made me curious as to what Zeni’s initial reaction would be too seeing all the bandages and stitching and bruising and shit on lupin.

Zenigata showing up to mad’s apartment when he knows he shouldn’t because he needs to talk to Jigen and he knows Jigens been held up in the apartment since Lupin got the go ahead to go home,

Him being all sheepish cause he’s embarrassed he even has to come here but he needs to talk to Jigen about a promise Jigen made him that he needs cashed out as soon as possible

Maddie let’s him in cause Zeni’s just a sweet guy and she finds she enjoys his company, even though he's clumsy and nearly jump out of his skin when her cat scared him

the pair sit down and chat. . .

Zeni hears a commotion coming from the small hallway that leads to the bedrooms and it’s Jigen and Lupin. Lupins posture is all off and he’s gripping to the wall clad only in his striped boxers and nothing else so all Zeni see’s is bandages and stitching and spectacular bruising from the surgeries they put Lupin through.

Jigen is suddenly coming from the end of the hallways and it’s like he’s trying to redirect him back to the room behind them and Jigen’s not paying attention and Lupin barely even looks coherent until Lupin lets out a drunkly sounding

Poooops :D

And that’s when Jigen nearly breaks his neck turning around to see him and kinda freezes. And he’s silent. And Lupins kinda hanging on him

Jigen not being able to wrangle him back to the bedroom Lupin instead stumbles past him and fumbles right into the couch in front of Zenigata, and it feels so unnatural to see him more so uncoordinated like that.

Lupin sits down his one arm extended against the back of the couch and he’s just staring at Zeni, and Zeni can’t help but notice that Lupin looks down right sickly all pale with dark circles under his eyes and such

Lupin trying to sit there with his usual panache, arm over the back of the couch and an ankle propped on his knee, but it's just off

he's pained and it's obvious, which is another thing zeni isnt used to, he's usually good at hiding when something's wrong. But the fact that zeni's picking up on it so easily this time is just salt in the wound

The pills start to hit and Zeni just sits there watching as lupins head rolls and pivots on a his shoulder, like he’s looking away at something

But then he looks back and Zeni can’t help but feel unnerved by the look Lupin gives him, his head tilted down, looking at him from under his lashes.

It looking like Lupin wants to say something, but instead he just stays like that a few more seconds before Zeni watches as his eyes close and he ends up falling asleep right then and there.

The whole thing just feeling unnerving to look at

he's stunned watching this play out, so much so that jigen probably has to shake him out of it Jigen doesn’t say anything about the whole situation that just played out, but instead of putting Zeni on the spot he simply asks if he wants to have this conversation in the kitchen instead

And Jigen sounds cool and even headed and everything, but even Zeni notices how he’s staring at the sleeping thief

And still staring as he talks to Zeni saying there’s cold beer if he wants

but zeni might actually turn him down on that

what's going through his head's too sobering

he might even want to say what he needs to say and just leave

Imagine Zeni taking the time to notice how vigilant Jigen is even when they talk in the kitchen

How Jigen would hear the slightest noise slightly freeze and wait to hear if his name would be called.

Ten seconds. Twenty. Nothing.

This cycle repeating 3 times.

given how jigen didn't say anything earlier, zeni might choose to do the same just silently acknowledge it

zeni's used to usually being in the one taking a trip to the hospital- often for dumb stuff, but sometimes its genuinely serious. but after the Zantetsuken injury everything just seems to be spiraling, and he's confronting the possibility that lupin cant bounce back anymore. he doesn't want to believe it. lupin's supposed to be the exception, yknow? the one guy he cant catch, the one guy who seems to never stop. but he just watched him pass out on the couch instead of reciting him some smarmy monologue. he could catch him easily if he really wanted to.

he doesn't, obviously, and he wouldn't want to confront a 100% serious jigen in combat anyways (because that's what it'd inevitably devolve into)

all of it boils down to 'what the hell am i supposed to do now' Zenigata and Jigen have their conversation, it’s brisk, quick professional, then Zenigata goes to leave but before he does he asks Jigen if he needs help with Lupin since Jigen mentions he should get him to bed because the couch makes him stiff.

Jigen says no, that he can manage but he thanks him for the offer.

Zeni goes to leave but then he hears a soft voice behind him

”Come on man, let’s get you up”

It almost feels unnatural to hear him speak that softly, so Zenigata can’t help but turn around and look as Jigen bends down to softly pull Lupin up, and lupins half awake, but when Jigen makes him stand, he makes a soft pain filled squeak noise, stumbles a little against Jigen and ends up instead groaning softly in the obvious pain as Jigen stands there for however long it takes for Lupin to straighten out just a little.

Lupin is shorter then he is, much, but Jigen is bent over a little so all Zenigata can see is Lupin with his head buried in the crook of his neck, pain filled puffing and groaning, soft words in French a curse or two and if Zeni didn’t know any better he would swear on his mothers grave that he can hear Lupin crying.

All the meanwhile Jigen notices that Zeni is still there, still staring.

And all Jigen can do as he stands there is the same.

them locking eyes for a spit second and Zenigata immediately leaving

Zeni closing the door and leaning back against it. just sinking to the floor and sitting there against the door in the hallway with his head in his hands

[bicxoseo]

How KPI dashboards revolutionize financial decision-making

Importance of KPI Dashboards in Financial Decision-Making

With technological advancements, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) dashboards have reshaped how companies handle financial data, fostering a dynamic approach to managing financial health.

Definition and Purpose of KPI Dashboards

KPI dashboards are interactive tools that present key performance indicators visually, offering a snapshot of current performance against financial goals. They simplify complex data, enabling quick assessment and response to financial trends.

Benefits of Using KPI Dashboards for Financial Insights

KPI dashboards provide numerous advantages:

Real-Time Analytics: Enable swift, informed decision-making.

Trend Identification: Spot trends and patterns in financial performance.

Data-Driven Decisions: Ensure decisions are based on accurate data, not intuition.

Data Visualization Through KPI Dashboards

The power of KPI dashboards lies in data visualization, making complex information easily understandable.

Importance of Visual Representation in Financial Data Analysis

Visuals enable rapid comprehension and facilitate communication of complex financial information across teams and stakeholders.

Key Performance Metrics for Financial Decision-Making

Key performance metrics (KPIs) provide an overview of a company’s financial situation and forecast future performance. Key metrics include:

Revenue and Profit Metrics:

Net Profit Margin: Measures net income as a percentage of revenue.

Gross Profit Margin: Highlights revenue exceeding the cost of goods sold.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): Important for subscription-based businesses.

Cash Flow Metrics:

Operating Cash Flow (OCF): Reflects cash from operations.

Free Cash Flow (FCF): Measures cash after capital expenditures.

Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC): Provides insight into sales and inventory efficiency.

ROI and ROE Metrics:

Return on Investment (ROI): Measures gain or loss on investments.

Return on Equity (ROE): Assesses income from equity investments.

Successful Integration of KPI Dashboards

An MNC uses a custom KPI dashboard to track financial metrics, enabling strategic pivots and improved financial forecasting, leading to significant growth.

Best Practices for Using KPI Dashboards in Financial Decision-Making

Setting Clear Objectives and Metrics: Align KPIs with clear goals.

Ensuring Data Accuracy and Integrity: Implement data validation.

Regular Monitoring and Evaluation: Actively track progress and adapt KPIs as needed.

Future Trends in KPI Dashboards for Financial Decision-Making

Predictive analytics, forecasting, and AI integration are transforming KPI dashboards, enabling proactive and strategic financial decision-making.

KPI dashboards revolutionize financial decision-making by providing real-time, accessible, and visually compelling information. They democratize data and align efforts with strategic goals, making them indispensable for modern business leaders.

This was just a snippet if you want to read the detailed blog click here