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forestwater87 · 4 years ago

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How did you become a university Librarian? Did you do an English degree? Sorry if this is a weird question it just really interests me as I’m not sure what to do when I’m older

Eeee I got really excited about this question!

Okay, the fun thing about librarianship is that all roads can lead to it: as long as you get an ALA-approved (assuming you’re American; if you aren’t I cannot help you) graduate degree you can do just about anything for undergrad. English majors are extremely common, just by the nature of who’s into the job, but literally it doesn’t matter; in fact, weirder and more specialized degrees can actually help in certain jobs, because they give you a ton of background info and qualifications than most of your contemporaries have.

I fell into it because I worked at a library in high school and fell in love with the environment, and when I realized I’d rather die than work in publishing (my previous life’s goal) I gravitated toward library school. I knew from the beginning that I’d need a Master’s -- and a very specific one at that -- so mostly my undergrad was just “grab a foundational degree and have fun with it.” That was really freeing, honestly. I had a ton of fun in undergrad.

Now, if you, Anon, were interested in getting into librarianship I’d have a handful of recommendations. These are all based on my very American experience, and there are probably smarter people than me with better advice but I’m the only one on this blog so heeeeerrreeeee we goooooooooo!

Undergrad

You need a 4-year degree. Full-stop. It doesn’t matter what kind, but you gotta have one to get into grad school.

Like I said, you can do just about anything for an undergraduate degree. Most of the time English is the BA of choice, because librarians love them some books, but some far less common ones that I think would be hugely helpful to a hopeful librarian would be:

Computer Science: Oh my god you need at least a baseline competency in computers/technology please you don’t have to code but you need to be able to turn a computer on and navigate just about any website/office application on just about any device at the very least you need to know how to Google

Business/Marketing: Particularly if you want to work in public libraries, where a bunch of your funding comes from begging politicians and convincing taxpayers to donate/vote to give you money

Law: If you want to be a law librarian

Medical . . . whatever, I don’t know what fields of medicine there are: If you want to work in a hospital or other medical library

History or Art History: If you’re interested in archives or museum librarianship

Education: School librarians in my state require you to be a certified teacher, and no matter what kind of library you end up in, you’ll end up teaching someone something a decent amount of the time

Communications: You’ll be doing a lot of it. Public speaking, too

Spanish/ASL/any not-the-common language: Hey, you never know what your patrons speak

Literally fucking anything I promise it doesn’t matter what you major in you will use it in a library at some point

Just be aware that you will need more than an undergrad degree. You’ll need probably 2 years of postsecondary schooling (more for certain types of librarianship), so get yourself comfortable with the idea of college.

If you’re like me (please don’t be like me), you might toy with the idea of getting a minor or two/double majoring to round out your skill set. Honestly I’d encourage it if you’re comfortable with the workload and have the time or money; like I said, there are no skills or educational background that won’t come in handy at some point. I promise. We see it all.

Along those lines, a wide expanse of hobbies can be hugely helpful too! You never know when your encyclopedic knowledge of Minecraft will be useful to a patron, but it absolutely will be.

Graduate School

All right, you’ve got your lovely little Bachelor’s Degree, maybe in something weird and esoteric for the fun of it . . . now you’re off to do more school!

It’s a bit complicated, because there are a handful of different titles an appropriate degree could have; my school called it “a Master of Science in Information Science” (MSIS), but other schools might just go with “Master’s of Information Science” (MIS), “Master’s of Library Science” (MLS), “Master’s of Library and Information Science” (MLIS) . . . it’s a mess.

What you need to do is make sure the degree is approved by the American Library Association, who decides if a program is good enough to make you a librarian in the States. (Again, if you’re not American, good luck.)

Here’s a list of ALA-accredited programs and the schools that offer them.

The nice thing is accreditation has to be renewed at least every few years, so that means your program is always updated to make sure it’s in line with national standards. I’m not promising you’ll learn everything you need to be a librarian in grad school (oh my god you so won’t not even close hahahaha), but at least in theory you’ll be learning the most up-to-date information and methods.

(I’m curious to see how things have changed; when I was in school from 2015-17, the hot topics in library science were makerspaces (especially 3D printing), turning the library into the community’s “third space,” and learning how to incorporate video games into library cataloging and programming. No idea if those are still the main hot-button issues or if we’ve moved on to something else; I imagine information literacy and fake news are a pretty big one for current library students.)

Anyway! You pick a school, you might have to take a test or two to get in -- I had to take the GRE, which is like the SATs but longer -- almost certainly have to do all that annoying stuff like references and cover letters and all that, but assuming you’re in: now what?

There are a couple options depending on the school and the program, but I’m going to base my discussion around the way my school organized their program at the time, because that’s what I know dammit and I will share my outdated information because I want to.

My school broke the degree down into 5 specializations, which you chose upon application to the program:

Archives & Records Administration: For working in archives! I took some classes here when I was flirting with the idea, and it’s a lot of book preservation, organizing and caring for old documents and non-book media, and digitization. Dovetails nicely into museum work. It’s a very specific skillset, which means there will be jobs that absolutely need what you specifically can do but also means there aren’t as many of them. It makes you whatever the opposite of a “jack of all trades” is. You’re likely to be pretty isolated, so if you want to spend all your time with books this might be a good call; it’s actually one of the few library-related options that doesn’t require a significant amount of public-facing work.

Library & Information Services: For preparation to work in public or academic (college) libraries. Lots of focus on reference services, some cataloging, and general interacting-with-the-public. You have to like people to go into library services in general, heads up.

Information Management & Technology: Essentially meaningless, but you could in theory work as like a business consultant or otherwise do information-related things with corporations or other organizations.

Information Storage & Retrieval: Data analytics, database . . . stuff. I don’t really know. Computers or something. Numbers 3 and 4 really have nothing to do with libraries, but our school was attempting to branch out into more tech-friendly directions. That being said, both this and #3 could definitely be useful in a library! Libraries have a lot of tech, and in some ways business acumen could be helpful. All roads lead to libraries; remember that.

Library & Information Services / School Library Media Specialist: This was the big kahuna. To be a school librarian -- at least in my state -- you need to be both a certified librarian and a certified teacher, which means Master’s degrees in both fields. What our school did was basically smushed them together into a combined degree; you took a slightly expanded, insanely rigorous 2-2.5 years (instead of the traditional 1.5-2) and you came out of it with two degrees and two certifications, ready to throw your butt into an elementary, middle/junior high, or high school library. Lots of focus on education. I started here before realizing I don’t like kids at all, then panicked and left. Back in 2017 this was the best one for job security, because our state had just passed a law requiring all school librarians to be certified with a MSIS/MLS/whatever degree. So lots of people already in school libraries were desperately flinging themselves at this program, and every school was looking for someone that was qualified. No idea if that’s changed in time.

No matter what concentration you went in with, you automatically graduated with a state certification to be a librarian, which was neat. You didn’t automatically get civil service status, though; for some public libraries you need to be put on a civil service list, which means . . . something, I’m not entirely sure. It involves taking exams that are only available at certain times of the year and I gave up on it because it looked hard.

No one did more than 1 concentration, which is dumb because I wanted to do them all, but it takes a lot of time and money to take all the classes associated with all of them so I personally did #2, which was on the upper end of mid-tier popularity. School library and database services were far and away the most popular, and literally no one did the business one because it was basically useless, so library and archives were the middle children of which the library one was prettier.

THAT BEING SAID! Some forms of librarianship require a lot more education. A few of those are:

Law librarians: At least in my state, you gotta be a certified librarian and have a J.D. This is where the “big bucks” are -- though let’s be real, if you want to be a librarian you have zero interest in big bucks; reconcile yourself to being solidly middle-class and living paycheck-to-paycheck for the rest of your life or marrying rich -- which I guess is why it requires the most work.

School librarians: Like I mentioned, depending on the state you might need two degrees, and not all schools smush them into one. You might need to get a separate Master’s in education.

College librarians: Now, this depends on the college and the job; some colleges just need an all-access librarian, like mine. I didn’t need to specialize in anything, I just showed up with my degree and they took me. (Note: these sorts of entry-level positions tend to pay piss. Like, even more piss than most library gigs. Just a heads-up.) However, if you’re looking to get into a library of a higher-end university, you might be asked to have a second Master’s-level or higher degree just to prove you’re academic enough to party at their school. (Let’s be real, Harvard is almost certainly gonna want someone with a Ph.D. at the very least. That’s just how they roll.) Alternatively, the position might be for a specialty librarian, someone in charge of a field-specific library or field-specific reference services; if you’re being asked to head up the Science & Engineering Library at Masshole University, it’s reasonable to expect that you’ll be bringing a degree in engineering or some sort of science to the table. Colleges have so many different needs that predicting what kind of experience/education you should get is a bit of a challenge. Good luck. Some schools will help you out a bit with this; my grad school had dual degree programs where you could share credits between the MSIS and either an English or History Master’s so you could graduate with both in less time. I . . . started this, and then panicked at the thought of more school/writing a thesis and bailed, but it’s great if you’re into that idea!

What’s the point of the Information/Library Science degree?

You have to have the degree. If you don’t have the degree, you don’t get the job and you don’t make-a the money. Resign yourself to getting a Master’s degree or you’re gonna be bummed out and unemployed.

In terms of what you learn? Well, obviously it depends on the program, but I found that a lot of what I learned was only theoretically related to what I do on a daily basis. My instructors were lovely (well, the adjuncts anyway; the full-timers really didn’t want to be there and wanted to be off doing research and shit), but every library is so idiosyncratic and there’s such a massive umbrella of jobs you could get in one -- god, I didn’t even get into things like metadata services, which I learned basically nothing about in grad school but are super important to some positions -- that it’s hard to learn anything practical in a classroom.

However, besides the piece of paper that lets you make-a the money, there are two important things you should get from your grad school education:

Research skills: My god, you’re going to be doing so much research. If you’re a public librarian, you need to know how to Google just about anything. And if you’re a college librarian, being able to navigate a library database and find, evaluate, and cite sources . . . I mean, you’re going to be doing so much of that, showing students how to do that. Like a ridiculous amount of my day is showing students how to find articles in the virtual library. Get good at finding things, because much like Hufflepuffs, librarians need to be great finders.

Internship(s): Just about every library program will require an internship -- usually but not always in replacement of a thesis -- and if the one you’re looking at doesn’t, dump it like James Marsden in a romantic comedy. Internships are hugely important not only because they look good on a resume and give you some of those delicious, delicious references, but they are a snapshot of what your job is going to look like on a day-in, day-out basis; if nothing else, you’ll learn really fast what does and doesn’t appeal to you. As I mentioned, I wanted to be a school librarian for about half a semester. You know what changed my mind? My class required like 40 hours of interning at schools of each level. Being plopped into that environment like a play you’re suddenly acting in? Super helpful in determining whether or not this shit is for you.

What else should I learn, then?

Besides how to research basically anything? Here are some useful skills in just about any library:

Copyright law. Holy shit, do yourself a favor and learn about publishing/distribution laws in your state. Do you wanna show a movie as a fun program? You need to buy a license and follow super specific rules or it’s illegal! Does an instructor want to make copies of their textbook to give to the students? Make sure you know how much they can copy before it’s no longer fair use! Everything in my life would be easier if I’d taken the time to learn anything about copyright. I did not, and now I’m sad. (I lost out on a job opportunity because they wanted the librarian to be particularly knowledgeable in that kinda thing, and I was very not.)

Metadata and cataloging. In theory, you should learn this in grad school, but I was only given the bare basics and it wasn’t enough. Dublin Core, MARC-21, RDF -- there are so many different kinds of metadata schema, and I took a 6-week class in this and still don’t understand any of the words I just used in this sentence. But basically, to add items to a library catalog you often need to know how to input them into your library’s system; to an extent that’ll be idiosyncratic to your library’s software, but some of it will be based on a larger cataloging framework, so familiarity with those is very useful.

Public speaking and education. You’re gonna do a lot of it. Learn how to deal.

General tech savviness. Again, we’re not talking about coding but if you can navigate a WordPress website? If you know how to troubleshoot just about any issue with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc.? If you can unjam printers and install software and use social media you’re going to be a much happier person. At the very least, know how to google tutorials and fake your way through; your IT person can only do so much, and a lot of it is probably going to fall on you.

Social work, diplomacy, general human relations kinda stuff. You’re going to be dealing with all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds, with every political view, personal problem, and life experience under the sun. You need to get very good at being respectful of diversity -- even diversity you don’t like* -- and besides separating your own personal views and biases from your work, you’ll be much better equipped to roll with the punches if you have, for example, conflict resolution training. Shit’s gonna get weird sometimes, I promise. (Once a student came in swinging around butterfly knives and making ninja noises. You know who knew how to deal with that? Not me!)

Standard English writing and mechanics. It’s not fair, but in general librarians are expected to have a competent grasp on the Standard English dialect, and others are less likely to be appreciated by the general populace. Obviously this differs based on your community and environment, and colloquialisms are sometimes useful or even necessary, but as a rule of thumb it’s a good call to be able to write “properly,” even if that concept is imperialist bullshit.

*I don’t mean Nazis. Obviously I don’t mean Nazis. Though there is a robust debate in the library community about whether Nazis or TERFs or whatever should be allowed to like, use library facilities for their own group meetings or whatever. I tend to fall on the “I don’t think so” side of the conversation, but there’s a valid argument to be made about not impeding people’s access to information -- even wrong or harmful information.

Any other advice?

Of course! I love to talk. Let’s see . . .

Get really passionate about freedom of information and access: A library’s main reason for existing is to help people get ahold of information (including fiction) that they couldn’t otherwise access. If you’re a public librarian, you have to care a lot about making sure people can access information you probably hate. (If you’re an academic librarian it’s a little more tricky, because the resources should meet a certain scholarly threshold, and if you’re a school librarian there are issues of appropriateness to deal with, but in general more info to more people is always the direction to push.) Get ready to defend your library purchases to angry patrons or even coworkers; get ready to defend your refusal to purchase something, if that’s necessary. Get ready to hold your nose and cringe while you add American Sniper to your library collection, because damn it, your patrons deserve access to the damn stupid book. Get really excited about finding new perspectives and minority representation, because that’s also something your patrons deserve access to. Get really excited about how technology can make access easier for certain patrons, and figure out how to make it happen in your library. Care about this; it’s essential that you’re passionate about information -- helping your patrons find it, making sure they can access it, evaluating it, citing it . . . all of it. Get ranty about it. Just do it.

Be prepared to move if necessary: One of my professors told us that there was one thing that would always guarantee you a job that paid well -- this was in 2016 but still -- that as long as you had it you could do whatever you wanted. And that was a suitcase. Maybe where you live is an oversaturated market (thanks for having 6 library schools in a 4-hour radius, my state). Maybe something something economic factors I don’t really understand; the point is that going into this field, you should probably make peace with the idea that you’ll probably either end up taking a job that doesn’t make enough money or struggle a lot to even find one . . . or you’re going to have to go where the jobs are. It’s a small field. Just know that might be a compromise you have to make, unless you can get a strictly remote job.

Read: This sounds stupidly obvious but it’s true! Read things that aren’t your genre, aren’t your age range; patrons are going to ask you for reading advice all the goddamn time, especially if you’re a public librarian, so the more you can be knowledgeable about whatever your patrons might ask you about, the easier your life will be. If you’re considering librarianship you probably love to read anyway, so just ride that pony as hard as you possibly can.

Learn to be okay with weeding -- even things you don’t think deserve it: You are going to have to recycle books. You’re going to have to throw away books. You’re going to have to take books out of the collection and make them disappear in some fashion or another. There are a lot of reasons -- damage and lack of readership are big ones -- and there’s no bigger red flag to a librarian than someone saying “I could never destroy a book.” That kind of nonsense is said by people who’ve never had to fit 500 books onto a shelf built for 450. Archivists are different, of course, as are historians, and everyone should have a healthy respect for books both as physical objects and as sources of information, but you’re going to have to get rid of them sometimes, and you’re just going to have to learn how to do that dispassionately.

Have fun! No one gets into this because they want money; if you want to be a librarian, or work in any library-adjacent field, it’s because you really care about the values of librarianship, or the people in your community, or preserving and sharing as great a wealth of information as possible. Your job will often be thankless and it’ll sometimes be exhausting. There will be times where it’s actually scary. And unless you’re rich as balls, it will make you stare at your student loans and sigh with despair. (You may be living in your parents’ basement while you sigh at your loans because you can’t afford to live on your own, for an example that has zero relevance to any authors of this blog, living or dead.) I can’t tell you if it’s worth it -- though you’ll probably find out pretty quickly during your internship, because that’s what internships are for. All I can say is that I love it, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

#ask forest #libraries #librarianship #information science #career advice #education advice #oh my god this is long #i have a lot of feelings okay?#there is no way on earth anyone will read all of this #if you do tell me bc i will not believe it #Anonymous

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contentstorm1 · 3 years ago

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ms-hells-bells · 4 years ago

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just me blabbering about a thought

fun fact: in terms of immigration policies, it’s the opposite in nz from the US; the left wing parties are more anti immigration than the right wing parties. this is because the effects of immigration are massively different economically here.

the right wing loves to bring immigrants in because they provide cheaper labour than kiwis will accept (eg. the fruit picking industry is currently in crisis because no workers are currently allowed in the country and not even unemployed, impoverished kiwis are applying for their inhumane jobs), AND immigrants overwhelmingly vote national, especially asians (well, indians largely vote labour, and chinese largely vote national. but our chinese population is larger than our indian population, so the net results are in national’s favour). we also have a massive issue with housing because foreign investors kept buying our houses and land in order to make the market prices rise, and all these houses literally sit empty because you make more money just sitting on the house as the housing prices go up an insane amount and we have no CAPITAL GAINS TAX. so, homeless kiwis, unaffordable housing, and no actual benefits to nz through tax because of foreign investors and businesses. many immigrants also start small businesses, but then send the money back to their own country, so again our economy sees little benefit (apart from the gst taxes, but that’s coming from kiwis buying stuff, not specifically because of those businesses). immigrants also largely just move to auckland, when also raises housing prices astronomically and creates significant competition in jobs with kiwis.

basically, because our country and economy is so small, something like immigration impacts it massively. we aren’t anti immigration because of social reasons, around a quarter of new zealand citizens were not born in new zealand. we are also ever increasing our refugee quotas. one of labour’s biggest 2017 pledges was to decrease immigration numbers but increase refugee numbers. it’s about finding the right balance between helping our own people first, while also helping those in need.

our immigration system is points based. you need at least...100 points, i think it is? and many things are worth an amount of points. speaking english fluently is a large amount fo points (but you can pass with poor english if you get points in other areas). having a degree is points, masters is more points than bachelor, doctorate is more points than masters. skills in particular high demand jobs (like engineering in particular) garner a ton of points, and you may even bypass the points system if your skills allow you to be hired directly by a company. having a drivers licence is points (although you have to redo the test here). all sorts of stuff like this. you can also get a long term visa through other means, like a student visa for uni studying, a relationship visa if you’ve been in a provable relationship with a kiwi for more than two years, a visa for if you already have relatives over here (so, if say a dad moves here and gets a working visa, it’s a lot easier for his wife and kids to get visas). also, if you’re australian you either don’t need a visa to work or you automatically get a visa, can’t remember which one.

but yeah, i’m so caught up in US politics that i often internalise them and try to apply them in nz (like i used to be angry that labour and greens (the most left party) for being relatively anti immigration without thinking about it), but it doesn’t work like that. there’s a reason why our most right wing parties want more immigrant and our most socialist, leftist party doesn’t want more immigrants. when it gets to a point of harming kiwis more than benefitting either kiwis OR the people moving here (many end up in severe debt from studying and failed businesses anyway, not to mention the damn near human rights abuses of companies that use them for cheap labour) then you gotta switch your mindset.

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mortallysoreview · 4 years ago

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How To Make Money Online

These days, online jobs and education opportunities are quite popular. People love to work from home, and the internet is exploding with money-making opportunities. How can you fit into this new popular niche? Let's explore!

Working online does not impose the same time restrictions as working in an office or brick-and-mortar store. You don’t have to adhere to strict dress codes or company policies. Often, you don’t even have to interact face-to-face with clients, customers or co-workers. This can be especially nice for independent spirits or introverts.

Not having to go to an office affords people a lot of freedom and autonomy. Imagine working in your pajamas! If you need to take off to get your kids for an activity, you can do that without having to call your boss and arrange to leave the office. Your attendance is up to you as you set your own hours. Often, you can leave the computer for a spell to get things done and then return to work when you are ready.

Related: 5 Ways to Stand Out from the Competition on Major Freelancing Sites

You can also be your own boss. Expand your business as you see fit. No one can restrict your decisions or tell you what to do with your work. This does not apply if you work online for a company, but it does apply if you are a freelancer or have your own online business.

The internet is a great way to reach lots of people on an international scale. You can use it to advertise or offer your services to a variety of clients all over the world. Marketing through social media enables you to reach lots of people with minimal effort.

What can you do online?

Anything, really. But having a clear goal and solid service or product is key. You must be able to offer your future employers something. Determine your strong skills and advertise those.

Freelancing

Try freelancing sites like Upwork or Guru. You can charge an hourly rate or charge by the project.

Writing. Being able to write is a great way to make money online. Written communication is important for businesses. You can find jobs writing for blogs, gossip sites, online journals and business websites, just to name a few.

Editing. Documents often contain errors. As an editor, you comb through documents and improve them. You can find editing jobs online in a huge variety of languages.

Web design. Use your skills for creating websites and your aesthetic sense to create websites for people.

Illustration and logo design. Are you an artist? Then you can work online creating art for businesses or other people.

Translating. If you are bilingual, offer your services as a translator. Use your skills to change the native language of documents. Translation services are in demand throughout the world.

Transcribing. After listening to audio or watching videos, you put the words down on paper (or in an electronic document). Transcribing is hard work that requires attention to detail and concentration. But if you are good at a language, you can find transcription jobs online.

Code writing. If you can write code, you have limitless job opportunities online. You can create websites and computer programs for various companies eager to hire new coders.

Related: 10 Business Ideas to Make Easy Money and Change the World

Education

Tutoring. High school and college students are taking to the internet looking for cheap tutoring services. Offer your expertise in any subject and teach over video or through written lessons. Try Chegg and the Knowledge Roundtable for tutoring jobs.

Teaching. There are sites like VIPKid where you can teach languages online over video chat or written lessons. English is probably in the most demand, but you can find opportunities for any language. Offer your language teaching services to any site that teaches the language you are most fluent in.

Academic writing. On sites like Ultius, you can find opportunities to write academic papers. Typically, you need a bachelor’s degree to get these jobs. Writing experience is also helpful.

Lifestyle coaching. Help people become their best selves. Self-improvement is a popular niche. Writing books and offering self-improvement videos for a small monthly fee is a great way to make money. Promise to help people transform their lives or bodies and you'll get customers.

Educational videos. Making educational videos and selling courses on sites like Lynda or Coursera allows you to make money with the knowledge and skills you have. Popular niches on these sites include coding, crafting and entrepreneurial tips and skills.

Blogging

Travel blogging. Travel blogging is a popular niche for those who like to be on the move. If you have traveled a lot, you can share your experiences and advice that you have picked up along the way with massive audiences. You can get all sorts of sponsorship and generate revenue as you capture readers.

Recipe writing. Sharing your expertise in the kitchen can help you make money online. Make videos and write recipes to publish on popular recipe sites. Or find people on freelancing sites seeking recipe and cookbook writers.

Online retail

Dropshipping. You can create your own dropshipping business and sell products online. Use eBay and Amazon for these, as well as wholesale sites and social media like Facebook.

Selling products. If you make any sort of product, you can sell it online. Consider using Shopify or Etsy for handmade or vintage products. Consider Amazon and eBay for other types of products, like books or inventions or wholesale items. You can also create your own e-shop but you must market it. Learn about SEO so that your website shows up high in Google searches.

Related: What Is the Real Future of Work?

Remote jobs

Online companies. Many companies are hiring remote workers. You can do things like medical coding and billing, customer service, coding, software engineering, journalism and many other jobs from home. Some companies are even hiring doctors or psychologists to provide services over the internet instead of in a traditional office setting. As people become more comfortable with working online, the workplace is adjusting. Companies have found that remote workers are actually more productive and they can cut costs by not having a building.

Penny hoarder

Maybe you don’t want to start your own business or teach or freelance online, but you want a little extra spending money on top of your current income. The internet offers a wide variety of ways to make money without really working. You can find great tips on The Penny Hoarder website.

The Penny Hoarder shares opportunities with you such as apps that pay you to download them. They also offer surveys that pay you to fill out the information. There are lists of other things, such as banks that pay you to open an account. Check this site out for lots of tips on how to make a little extra cash online.

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hempoilfrog1 · 5 years ago

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20 Easy Ways to Make an Extra $100 a Day From Home

Whether you are looking to replace your income from your full-time job, create a side-hustle that brings in disposable income, or use passive and sustainable income streams as an investment opportunity, making money online and offline has never been easier. This is primarily because there are vast amounts of information at our fingertips, thanks to the internet, and countless opportunities that come with this knowledge.

Want to start a blog? Read through the thousands of tutorials. Want to sell an e-course online? Grab your microphone, recording software, and a video editor. Happen to be good at graphic design and want to sell your services? Yes, there’s an existing platform for that. With this said though, earning money online & offline requires discipline, motivation, and a realistic perspective, especially if you are looking to make a hundred dollars or more per day through your efforts.

The only thing that you need to keep in mind is that you cannot get the time back that you spend on your efforts, so whichever option you choose to take, make sure you understand the value it can bring you and the skills and time needed to make it work. With this said, here are twenty ways you can make at least a hundred dollars daily.

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Ways to Make an Extra $100 a Day

1) Consider Writing Sponsored Posts for Companies. One way to get your feet wet with writing is to try your hand at sponsored posts. This just simply involves having a company pay you to talk about their services, their products, or their business on your website or blog. You may see these on LinkedIn posts, on authoritative blogs, or even through video reviews of products on Youtube. The trick with sponsored posts is to always select a company that you feel good talking about, otherwise, failure to do so may cost you some readership from your viewers. Keep in mind too that you will also earn money from sponsored posts that bring in large droves of traffic, so make sure to use appropriate backlinking.

2) Are You An Expert in a Particular Field? Coach Others. When we say expert, we don’t necessarily mean that you have to have ten plus years of experience in a particular field, as you can be an expert at pretty much anything. Are you really good at one particular and popular video game? Are you really good at driving? Are you really good at writing speeches, mathematics, or a particular instrument? Think about questions like these and come up with a list of skills or areas that you are proficient in. Use these areas to set up a coaching business for it.

3) Create Online Courses for Udemy or Skillshare. While this does require you to an expert in some domain, market, or area of knowledge, it can pay heavily and be worth the effort. If you take a look at Udemy, CourseRA, Udacity, or Skillshare, you will see that a lot of courses run anywhere between $15-$200. The great thing about creating an online course and selling it is that you only need to put the effort in once to create the course and then you can enjoy passive income on a daily basis. Is it possible to make a $100.00 a day from this? Absolutely, if you create a course that sells extremely well.

4) Is Your Crafty? Sell a Physical Product, Online. No, you don’t necessarily have to be crafty with your hands, as you can sell things like t-shirts and mugs, but selling items like hand-crafted bags, jewelry and artwork tend to sell big on websites like Etsy. The fantastic thing about Etsy is that it is another eCommerce website that allows you to set up a storefront for free (except listings), and either craft your products by hand or use affiliate marketing to drop ship items to customers. For those interested, Etsy has clothing, jewelry, toys, home and living, vintage, craft supplies, and collectibles.

5) Join Focus Groups and Do Market Research Studies. If you are interested in helping brands and companies out with their latest products and actually have an opinion on how to improve their products, try focus groups and market research studies. The only caveat with these types of paid studies is that if you do in-person studies, you will need to travel to a specified location. However, some companies that offer focus groups and market research studies also conduct online surveys through live chats and video. Typically, you can earn anywhere between $15-30 an hour with panels lasting anywhere between thirty minutes and two+ hours.

6) Are You a Native English Speaker? Teach ESL Online. One of the easiest things to do online is to teach English through one of the countless platforms that have sprung up in recent years. While the requirements for each platform may be the difference, typically you will need to be located in the United States or Canada and have at least a year’s worth of teaching experience and an accredited bachelor’s degree. Some of the top companies you can apply to include VIPKid, Teach Away, DaDa, QKids, iTutorGroup, GogoKid, English Hunt, 51Talk, and Magic Ears. All of these pay between $19-$30 per hour. Now because you are able to set your own hours, you can easily earn $100.00 a day.

7) Love Being On the Internet? Test Websites Out. If you are the type of person who always cringes when you come across a poorly designed website or someone who enjoys hunting for bugs, broken links, and bad code, then definitely consider signing up to be a website tester. Websites like UserTesting, Enroll, TestingTime, TryMyUi, UserFeel, Userlytics, UserZoom, and What Users Do, will pay you anywhere between $10-$25.00 (sometimes more) per test, with each test taking anywhere between 5-30 minutes to complete. However, most of these websites will payout via PayPal, so you will need to open a PayPal account if you do not have one.

8) Have a Vehicle? Choose to Drive People Around. This is one of the easiest ways to make a $100 a day as there are several ride-sharing programs that you can join including Lyft and Uber. The only thing you need is to be of legal age, have an at least one year of licensed driving experience, and pass a background check. You will, of course, need a vehicle that is newer than 2007 and has at least four doors. Your vehicle will also need to be covered with insurance and be registered. Some individuals earn a couple hundred to several hundred a week.

9) Deliver Food for Food Delivery Services. While this does require you to have a vehicle or bicycle, it does offer individuals an easy way to earn extra money during your evenings or weekends. You can either go the route of delivering fast food through services like Uber Eats, Just Eat, and Deliveroo or you can go the route of delivering groceries and doing errands through services like DoorDash and InstaCart. Please keep in mind that you will need to hold a clean driving record, be able to pass a background check, and must have car insurance. Depending on which service you choose to sign up with, you can earn $100.00 in four to ten hours,

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10) Good With Catching Wordy Mistakes? Proofread. If you find yourself constantly correcting other people’s grammar mistakes or cringe when someone uses a comma incorrectly, consider becoming a proof-reader. This is something that you can do at home through independent contracts or freelancing and can net you anywhere between a $100 a day and $2,500 a month depending on how hard you work at it. The majority of freelancers are earning above $50,000 a year doing this. Please keep in mind though that it does take some time to get noticed and you will need to be in it for the long-haul as you will need to build up a regular clientele.

11) Rent Out Your Second Bedroom with Airbnb. If you have a spare bedroom in your apartment or home, consider listing it on Airbnb as a way to make some extra cash. The more desirable of an area you are in, the more you can charge. The best way to make a $100.00 a day with this is to make your spare bedroom available during high-demand peaks, be a good host by including amenities and be personable. Private rooms generally go for a couple hundred to a thousand or two for a one to a two-night stay.

12) Become a Bookkeeper From Home. A bookkeeper can earn anywhere between $20 and $50 an hour and can be done from the comfort of your own home. Although you will need to work on bringing in a steady group of clients, you can do this by advertising through social media platforms, joining websites like Fiverr and Upwork, or through advertising on classified websites. This is one of those side hustles that can end up turning into a full-time income because the more experience you obtain, the more you can charge. Some bookkeepers earn well over $200.00 a day due to their experience and expertise. The great thing about this side hustle is that you do not need any certifications to get started.

13) Start Up a Web Design Business. With so many platforms for website design out there, getting familiar with building a website from scratch doesn’t take much other than some dedicated time on your part. The only thing you need is the ability to spot what makes a website look visually appealing and what works well for excellent user experience. The fantastic thing about this is you can learn all this from research online. You could easily charge anywhere from $40-100+ a day.

14) Are You a Passionate Writer? Develop & Sell This Skill. In this day and age, every single business needs fresh content that is ever-green, SEO optimized, and unique. Even if you are not a fantastic writer, to begin with, this is a skill that you can hone over time. Consider signing up on platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer to get started and focus specifically on writing good, engaging, and valuable content. You will need basic English, excellent grammar, and high-quality writing.

15) Review Products by Joining the Amazon Associates Program. If you are someone who absolutely loves a particular type of headphone, kitchen gadget, or electronic, you can actually make quite a bit of money by reviewing the products you love either in a blog or video blog format. One way of doing this is through Amazon’s Associates Program, where you partner with Amazon, refer sales back to their website, and earn a commission every time someone buys through your Amazon link. If you choose to create a blog with this avenue, you can double down and use Google Ads and AdSense to boost your earnings from visitor clicks.

16) Run Digital Ad Campaigns for Businesses. There is no doubt about it, advertising through social media platforms has become the number one way that businesses reach their audiences. You can help with this by offering digital marketing services to businesses that either (a) don’t know how to run paid advertising campaigns or (b) do not have the time to run the campaigns themselves. You can easily charge anywhere between $200-500 a package for creating a digital ad campaign for 2-3 sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

17) Consider Running a Small Pet Sitting Business. While there are a few ways you can go about doing this, the only thing you need is to be of eighteen years of age and be good with animals. Most individuals set up dog sitting businesses since dogs are easy to look after, generally, get along with most people, and you can do it with minimal investment through online applications like Rover. If you choose to sign up with Rover, you need to be able to pass a background check, be of legal age, and have access to the mobile application. You simply create a profile, answer questions about your experience and availability, and choose to offer services like overnight boarding and dog walking. Since you set your own rates, you could easily charge $30-50 per dog and make a $100.00 a day.

18) Start an eCommerce Website Using a Method Called Drop Shipping. When you take a look at how shopping trends have changed over the last decade, you will see that the majority of individuals actually prefer to shop online and have their goods delivered to them. You can take advantage of this by creating an eCommerce website through one of the more popular channels like Shopify. There are hundreds of website builders out there that allow you to create a dropshipping website from scratch with no coding knowledge necessary, so getting a website built shouldn’t be very difficult. Once you have a website built, you simply sell products from retailers like AliExpress, who ship all of the products for you. Will you ever see the products that you sell? No. But you can easily earn a $100.00 a day doing this.

19) Consider Working for Amazon in a Non-Traditional Role. If you are looking for a side hustle that can earn you an additional $100.00 per day, consider working for Amazon either as an Amazon customer service agent or through their Amazon Mechanical Turk program. As a customer service agent, your responsibilities include assisting customers with their complaints, with their orders, and with their questions but can be done remotely from your home. This can earn you about $11 per hour, so would require you to work at least 9-10 hours a day. If you choose to go the Mechanical Turk route, your responsibilities would include performing small data entry tasks, doing translations, making transcriptions, removing duplicate content from listings, and processing photos and videos. This can earn you anywhere between $6-10 per hour.

20) Get Paid to Answer People’s Questions. While some of us are terrible at finding what we want on the internet, others are extremely good at it. If finding information online comes naturally to you, consider signing up for websites like Experts123, JustAnswer, Wonder, and Answeree which allow you to share information about things you know or can easily find online. Now, while this may take a little bit more effort than other methods in this list, it is possible to make a $100.00 a day if you work at it and sign up for multiple sites.

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The post 20 Easy Ways to Make an Extra $100 a Day From Home appeared first on CBD Oil for Sale.

from http://hempoilfrog.com/ways-to-make-an-extra-100-a-day/

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iamliberalartsgt · 6 years ago

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Why ‘worthless’ humanity degrees may set you up for life

Original Article by Amanda Ruggeri

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20190401-why-worthless-humanities-degrees-may-set-you-up-for-life

At university, when I told people I was studying for a history degree, the response was almost always the same: “You want to be a teacher?”. No, a journalist. “Oh. But you’re not majoring in communications?”

In the days when a university education was the purview of a privileged few, perhaps there wasn’t the assumption that a degree had to be a springboard directly into a career. Those days are long gone.

Today, a degree is all but a necessity for the job market, one that more than halves your chances of being unemployed. Still, that alone is no guarantee of a job – and yet we’re paying more and more for one. In the US, room, board and tuition at a private university costs an average of $48,510 a year; in the UK, tuition fees alone are £9,250 ($12,000) per year for home students; in Singapore, four years at a private university can cost up to SGD$69,336 (US$51,000).

Learning for the sake of learning is a beautiful thing. But given those costs, it’s no wonder that most of us need our degrees to pay off in a more concrete way. Broadly, they already do: in the US, for example, a bachelor’s degree holder earns $461 more each week than someone who never attended a university.

But most of us want to maximise that investment – and that can lead to a plug-and-play type of approach to higher education. Want to be a journalist? Study journalism, we’re told. A lawyer? Pursue pre-law. Not totally sure? Go into Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) – that way, you can become an engineer or IT specialist. And no matter what you do, forget the liberal arts – non-vocational degrees that include natural and social sciences, mathematics and the humanities, such as history, philosophy and languages.

This has been echoed by statements and policies around the world. In the US, politicians from Senator Marco Rubio to former President Barack Obama have made the humanities a punch line. (Obama later apologised). In China, the government has unveiled plans to turn 42 universities into “world class” institutions of science and technology. In the UK, government focus on Stem has led to a nearly 20% drop in students taking A-levels in English and a 15% decline in the arts.

But there’s a problem with this approach. And it’s not just that we’re losing out on crucial ways to understand and improve both the world and ourselves – including enhancing personal wellbeing, sparking innovation and helping create tolerance, among other values.

It’s also that our assumptions about the market value of certain degrees – and the “worthlessness” of others – might be off. At best, that could be making some students unnecessarily stressed. At worst? Pushing people onto paths that set them up for less fulfilling lives. It also perpetuates the stereotype of liberal arts graduates, in particular, as an elite caste – something that can discourage underprivileged students, and anyone else who needs an immediate return on their university investment, from pursuing potentially rewarding disciplines. (Though, of course, this is hardly the only diversity problemsuch disciplines have).

Soft skills, critical thinking

George Anders is convinced we have the humanities in particular all wrong. When he was a technology reporter for Forbes from 2012 to 2016, he says Silicon Valley “was consumed with this idea that there was no education but Stem education”.

But when he talked to hiring managers at the biggest tech companies, he found a different reality. “Uber was picking up psychology majors to deal with unhappy riders and drivers. Opentable was hiring English majors to bring data to restauranteurs to get them excited about what data could do for their restaurants,” he says.

“I realised that the ability to communicate and get along with people, and understand what’s on other people’s minds, and do full-strength critical thinking – all of these things were valued and appreciated by everyone as important job skills, except the media.” This realisation led him to write his appropriately-titled book You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a “Useless” Liberal Arts Education.

Take a look at the skills employers say they’re after. LinkedIn’s research on the most sought-after job skills by employers for 2019 found that the three most-wanted “soft skills” were creativity, persuasion and collaboration, while one of the five top “hard skills” was people management. A full 56% of UK employers surveyed said their staff lacked essential teamwork skills and 46% thought it was a problem that their employees struggled with handling feelings, whether theirs or others’. It’s not just UK employers: one 2017 study found that the fastest-growing jobs in the US in the last 30 years have almost all specifically required a high level of social skills.

Or take it directly from two top executives at tech giant Microsoft who wrote recently: "As computers behave more like humans, the social sciences and humanities will become even more important. Languages, art, history, economics, ethics, philosophy, psychology and human development courses can teach critical, philosophical and ethics-based skills that will be instrumental in the development and management of AI solutions.

Of course, it goes without saying that you can be an excellent communicator and critical thinker without a liberal arts degree. And any good university education, not just one in English or psychology, should sharpen these abilities further. “Any degree will give you very important generic skills like being able to write, being able to present an argument, research, problem-solve, teamwork, becoming familiar with technology,” says Dublin-based educational consultant and career coach Anne Mangan.

But few courses of study are quite as heavy on reading, writing, speaking and critical thinking as the liberal arts, in particular the humanities – whether that’s by debating other students in a seminar, writing a thesis paper or analysing poetry.

When asked to drill the most job market-ready skills of a humanities graduate down to three, Anders doesn’t hesitate. “Creativity, curiosity and empathy,” he says. “Empathy is usually the biggest one. That doesn’t just mean feeling sorry for people with problems. It means an ability to understand the needs and wants of a diverse group of people.

“Think of people who oversee clinical drug tests. You need to get doctors, nurses, regulators all on the same page. You have to have the ability to think about what’s going to get this 72-year-old woman to feel comfortable being tracked long term, what do we have to do so this researcher takes this study seriously. That’s an empathy job.”

But in general, say Anders and others, the benefit of a humanities degree is the emphasis it puts on teaching students to think, critique and persuade – often in the grey areas where there isn’t much data available or you need to work out what to believe.

It’s small wonder, therefore, that humanities graduates go on to a variety of fields. The biggest group of US humanities graduates, 15%, go on to management positions. That’s followed by 14% who are in in office and administrative positions, 13% who are in sales and another 12% who are in education, mostly teaching. Another 10% are in business and finance.

And while there’s often an assumption that the careers humanities graduates pursue just aren’t as good as the jobs snapped up by, say, engineers or medics, that isn’t the case. In Australia, for example, three of the 10 fastest-growing occupations are sales assistants, clerks, and advertising, public relations and sales managers – all of which might look familiar as fields that humanities graduates tend to pursue.

Meanwhile, Glassdoor’s 2019 research found that eight of the top 10 best jobs in the UK were managerial positions – people-oriented roles that require communication skills and emotional intelligence. (It defined "best" by combining earning potential, overall job satisfaction rating and number of job openings.) And many of them were outside Stem-based industries. The third best job was marketing manager; fourth, product manager; fifth, sales manager. An engineering role doesn’t appear on the list until the 18th slot – below positions in communications, HR and project management.

One recent study of 1,700 people from 30 countries, meanwhile, found that the majority of those in leadership positions had either a social sciences or humanities degree. That was especially true of leaders under 45 years of age; leaders over 45 were more likely to have studied Stem.

This isn’t to say that a liberal arts degree is the easy road. “A lot of the people I talked to were five or 10 years into their career, and there was a sense that the first year was bumpy, and it took a while to find their footing,” Anders says. “But as things played out, it did tend to work.”

For some graduates, the initial challenge was not knowing what they wanted to do with their lives. For others, it was not having acquired as many technical skills with their degree as, say, their IT trainee peers and having to play catch-up after. ��

But pursuing a more vocational degree can come with its own risks too. Not every teenager knows exactly what they want to do with their lives, and our career aspirations often change over time. One UK report found that more than one-third of Brits have changed careers in their lifetime. LinkedIn found that 40% of professionals are interested in making a “career pivot” – and younger people are interested most of all. Focusing on broadly applicable skills like critical thinking no longer seems like such a moon shot when you consider how many different jobs and industries they can be applied to (though for a young person figuring out their career path, it’s true that flexibility also can feel overwhelming).

Specialized technical skills are important in the job market too. But there are a number of ways to acquire them. “I’m very pro-internships and apprenticeships. We’ve seen that that can directly correlate to you having a more grounded skill base in the workplace,” says career development coach Christina Georgalla.

“I even advocate that post-university, if you’re not sure, take a year out and instead of going travelling, actually trial doing different internships. Even if it’s the same field but in TV, say, broadcasting versus producing versus presenting, so you can see the difference.”

But what about the other perceived pitfalls – like a higher unemployment rate and lower salaries?

Why broader matters

It’s true that the humanities come with a higher risk of unemployment. But it’s worth noting that the risk is slighter than you’d imagine. For young people (aged 25-34) in the US, the unemployment rate of those with a humanities degree is 4%. An engineering or business degree comes with an unemployment rate of a little more than 3%. That single additional percentage point is one extra person per 100, such a small amount it’s often within the margin of error of many surveys.

Salaries aren’t so straightforward either. Yes, in the UK, the top earnings are pulled in by those who study medicine or dentistry, economics or maths; in the US, engineering, physical sciences or business. Some of the most popular humanities, such as history or English, are in the bottom half of the group.

But there’s more to the story – including that for some jobs, it seems that it’s actually better to start with a broader degree, rather than a professional one.

Take law. In the US, an undergraduate student who took the seemingly most direct route to becoming a lawyer, judge or magistrate – majoring in a pre-law or legal studies degree – can expect to earn an average of $94,000 a year. But those who majored in philosophy or religious studies make an average of $110,000. Graduates who studied area, ethnic and civilisations studies earn $124,000, US history majors earn $143,000 and those who studied foreign languages earn $148,000, a stunning $54,000 a year above their pre-law counterparts.

There are similar examples in other industries too. Take managers in the marketing, advertising and PR industries: those who majored in advertising and PR earn about $64,000 a year – but those who studied liberal arts make $84,000.

And even while overall salary disparities do remain, it may not be the degree itself. Humanities graduates in particular are more likely to be female. We all know about the gender pay gap, and notable wage disparities persist in the humanities: US men who major in the humanities have median earnings of $60,000, for example, while women make $48,000. Since more than six in 10 humanities majors are women, the gender pay gap, not the degree, may be to blame.

We also know that as more women move into a field, the field’s overall earnings go down. Given that, is it any wonder that English majors, seven in 10 of whom are women, tend to make less than engineers, eight in 10 of whom are men?

Do what you love

This is a big part of why there is one major takeaway, says Mangan. Whatever a student pursues in university, it must be something that they aren’t just good at, but they really enjoy.

“In most areas that I can see, the employer just wants to know that you’ve been to college and you’ve done well. That’s why I think doing something that really interests you is essential – because that’s when you’re going to do well,” she says.

No matter what, making a degree or career path decision based on average salaries isn’t a good move. “Financial success is not a good reason. It tends to be a very poor reason,” Mangan says. “Be successful at something and money will follow, as opposed to the other way around. Focus on doing the stuff that you love that you’ll be so enthusiastic about, people will want to give you a job. Then go and develop within that job.”

This speaks to a broader point: the whole question of whether a student should choose Stem versus the humanities, or a vocational course versus a liberal arts degree, might be misguided to begin with. It’s not as if most of us have an equal amount of passion and aptitude for, say, accounting and art history. Plenty of people know what they love most. They just don’t know if they should pursue it. And the headlines most of us see don’t help.

This is part of why parents and teachers often need to take a step back, Mangan says. “There is only one expert. I’m the expert on me, you’re the expert on you, they’re the expert on themselves,” she says. “And nobody, I really mean nobody, can tell them how to do what they should be doing.”

Even, it seems, if that means pursuing a “useless” degree – like one in liberal arts.

#liberal arts #Articles #BBC #History #Humanities #Ivan Allen College

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echodrops · 6 years ago

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Hi! I'm a high schooler considering majoring in creative writing, and I was wondering if there are any tips, pros and cons, advice, etc. you could give since you teach it? :3

Ahhh, I’m excited to get asks like this because I love to hear that people want to major in creative writing–nowadays there’s such a heavy emphasis on STEM careers, and poor English is so often ignored… But I hope I can do this response justice. Please keep in mind that I can only share my own experiences and that the path I’ve taken may not work for everyone!

I guess if you’re in the “considering” stage, the number one thing I would suggest is that you ask yourself two things:

1) What is my “absolute” goal? If I could score my dream job at the end of college, what would that look like?

2) What am I willing to consider doing instead if I don’t score my dream job at the end? What other related careers could I enjoy?

If you’re considering creative writing as a career, your likely end goal is to become a professional writer and make a living off your writing, right? (Some people treat that like a pipe dream, but it’s no less likely, and in fact sometimes far more likely, than any other creative career.) But becoming a writer who is well-known enough to live off your advances and royalties will likely take you a significant amount of time–even if you are published, especially in the early years, you may not be earning enough from your books to pay the bills all by yourself. (If you’ve got a supportive significant other that has a high-paying job, by all means, get them to pay the bills while you build up your writing fan base–then you can repay later when you’re rolling in royalties!)

But you will, at least at first, very likely need to ask yourself: What am I willing to do as a day job?

And I think the answer to that question is really what determines whether or not you should pursue a creative writing degree.

A degree in creative writing is one of the most versatile college degrees you can get. (Certainly I’m biased, but there do seem to be certain degrees that are simply more applicable to a wider field of career options–someone who gets a degree in sculpting can sculpt, for example, but I’m not sure about its applicability beyond that.)

English, like math, is a broad enough type of degree that it achieves some “universality.” A huge, huge number of careers require strong writing and communication skills. English degrees can get you into law school, into marketing and content-writing careers, into teaching careers, into office jobs, into HR and PR positions, into management, and essentially into any position in which writing will be a major component. Demonstrated ability to write well and clearly is a golden ticket to many jobs because it is a skill that many people lack. Even people who might otherwise be better qualified for a technical position can still end up rejected in favor of people who are able to express their skills in a more professional manner!

So getting an English degree/having creative writing for your emphasis is a far, far safer career choice than many people will lead you to believe.

But just because the degree can apply to many fields doesn’t always mean it’s the best degree for those fields–the “jack of all trades” saying is applicable here. There are certain careers that English degrees feed into very well, and others where you’ll have to stretch things a little. So, another question:

Are you interested in any of the following?

Teaching

Writing content/reviews for products or websites

Handling correspondence, such as managing emails for a business

Creating and managing social media accounts

Tutoring/Proof-reading for pay

Technical writing (someone has to write all our user manuals after all)

Managing records or handling public relations

If so, you can probably sign up for a creative writing degree with no real worries. Case closed, problem solved. XD

But if none of that stuff looks remotely interesting to you, you might want to take a deep breath and think about your other options (of which the following are just some):

Skip an undergraduate degree in creative writing specifically, but plan on studying writing in graduate school, such as through an MFA program (a bit difficult but not uncommon)

Double major in creative writing and another field where the day jobs interest you more (difficult but very useful)

Skip formal education for creative writing entirely and go it on your own to become a great writer (not ideal, but also not totally impossible)

Having a creative writing Bachelor’s degree can help you on your way to becoming a professional writer. But it isn’t a requirement to become a great author–in fact, many authors never formally studied creative writing before writing their great novels (Kurt Vonnegut was in science; Ernest Hemingway was a journalist before a novelist, etc.). If day jobs in other fields interest you more, pursuing a degree there doesn’t mean you’ll never write and publish your great novel.

Nor will skipping a creative writing Bachelor’s degree block you from ever studying creative writing later on: in my MFA program, only three of the seven of us in the poetry track had undergraduate English degrees. It is possible to earn an undergraduate degree in a totally different field and then still go on to study creative writing later if you decide that writing on your own isn’t working.

Furthermore, you’re not locked into certain classes at most colleges–you could take a creative writing minor or simply take writing classes as part of your electives, and still get the benefits of the education, while earning a different degree where the day jobs interest you more.

As a personal aside, when I was an undergraduate student, I was very nervous about my ability to succeed in the writing field, and so I decided to go the double major route, with English as my “fun” degree and criminal justice as my “pay the bills” degree. Ironically, almost a decade later, here I am, paying my bills with my “fun” degree. I rarely use my criminal justice degree as anything more than a party trick (people really love to talk about murder). But studying two subjects gave both myself and my family relief, and I did learn many, many things that would later appear in my writing, so I have no regrets.

Basically, what I’m getting at here is: When you think about how you’re going to be paying your bills for 5-10 years after college, what careers can you see yourself doing other than writing fiction/poetry? If none of the things you imagine line up with the “easy to get” English degree careers, that’s a sign that maybe you should at least consider studying something else and just take your writing classes on the side instead. (Or double major, if you’re a masochist like me lol.)

Ultimately, I’m not enough of an optimist to tell you that you should blindly follow your passion for writing and assume it will all work out–the basic fact is you’ll almost inevitably need a day job, at least for a while, and that’s what I think the deciding factor in your major should be.

Nevertheless, one of the biggest hang-ups I hear from people thinking about majoring in writing is that they are worried the degree will be worthless, and that simply isn’t true. Almost all my friends from college were English majors (we flock together) and all of my English major friends are gainfully employed–none of us are homeless or starving or still living off our parents. Some of us might have better jobs (I’m not going to brag–lol jk yes I am–with my professor’s salary I own two houses and am two months from completely paying off my gorgeous 2SS RS Camaro), but essentially every English major I know is doing well for him- or herself. (This may not be everyone’s story though–I’m sure some others have struggled; I just don’t know them.)

The longest time I was ever unemployed since earning my creative writing degree was a period of four months after grad school, when I moved back to southern California and realized the job market there was horrific. THAT SAID, even during my four-month job search, I took an internship at a refugee and immigration center and got the opportunity to help people literally escape human trafficking rings and modern-day slavery, so that was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.I haven’t always liked the jobs I’ve had, but I’ve never felt afraid of not having enough money to feed or house myself since leaving college with a creative writing degree.

You can do perfectly well for yourself with a degree in writing. I wouldn’t even call it a risky choice, at this point. So if that’s the sticking point in your decision to major in writing–that part I wouldn’t worry too much about.

As for advice… ah, this post is really long already. If you want some advice about what to look for in schools you apply to, or what to do if you do decide on creative writing as your major, send me another message and I’ll try to whip something up.

Hope this is what you were looking for!

#college advice #life advice #writing advice #???#I have no idea how to tag this lol #why you should get an English degree #or maybe some cases where you shouldn't #creative writing #creative writing major #IRL stuff #echo answers asks

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supershanzykhan · 4 years ago

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Have you thought about becoming an event organizer?

Contents Menu

· What is an event planner?

· Work procedure of an event organizer

· Functions of an event organizer

· Which vendors should appear on an event organizer's agenda?

· Profile of an event organizer

· What do you have to study to be an event organizer?

Consumers are increasingly demanding when it comes to purchasing products or services. Any detail that does not satisfy users can become a real nightmare for a company; for example, sharing on social media that at a wedding banquet where a musical group was hired, only a DJ appeared at the end. For this reason the companies or individuals who are in charge of organizing company parties, weddings, communions, bachelor parties, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. they have the professional services of an event organizer .

In this event organizer guide we are going to explain what this profession consists of, the most popular procedure used by an event organizer , its functions and profile, which are the providers that must be taken into account to be successful in this sector and what do you have to study to be an event organizer .

What is an event planner?

An event organizer is the person who is in charge of preparing a social event such as weddings, bachelor parties, birthdays, company parties, etc. according to the tastes of the client. This person must ensure that any detail related to the event (decoration, music, food, etc.) meets the wishes and expectations of the client.

An event organizer can be on staff working for a company or can work as a freelancer with a wide portfolio of clients for whom he organizes specific events annually. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages, so it is advisable to analyze them well before opting for one of them. Some professionals in this sector usually start working for companies to gain experience and after a while they become self-employed.

It must be remembered that being an event organizer implies working practically throughout the week since during weekdays this professional will have to meet with clients and suppliers to specify details, while during the weekend the ideal would be for them to attend briefly (or any of your employees) to the events to verify that everything is going as contracted.

Work procedure of an event organizer

The work procedure of an event organizer is usually divided into three phases:

1. After an initial contact by phone, email or social media, the event organizer meets physically (preferably and if possible) with the client to learn more details about the event they want to organize. The event organizer should keep a portfolio with photos and relevant information from similar events that she has planned in the past. For example, if it is a wedding, you can take photos of the church and dining room decorations, the menu, the distribution of the guests, the musical group, the transportation, etc. In this phase the client will wait for an approximate budget to be offered according to their requirements.

The objective of this first meeting is to gather as much information as possible so that the event organizer can begin to contact the people or companies that fit the client's wishes.

2. During the weeks / months prior to the event date, the event organizer will share information with the client to specify specific details. The more time you have to research options, the more likely you are to hire dedicated venues or staff and even cut your budget.

3. Depending on the importance of the event and the personal agenda of the event organizer, it would be advisable for the organizer to come briefly to the event to check that everything is going according to plan. If not, it is essential that you are always available by phone to resolve any unforeseen event.

Functions of an event organizer

Develop and deliver projects according to the wishes of each client, keeping the agreed budget.

Find quality options to achieve customer satisfaction.

Maintain a fluid and friendly communication with customers and suppliers, solving any questions they may have. In case of offering alternatives other than the initial proposals due to budget or other reasons, it is essential to know how to explain these circumstances with empathy and a lot of professionalism.

Have a wide portfolio of suppliers in different sectors to cover any need for accommodation, transport, food, entertainment, etc. of customers.

Know in person the place where each event will take place to ensure that it adjusts to the requests of the clients; especially important if the organizer will not be present during the event. The same will happen with any other service offered such as musical entertainment or decoration.

Offer impeccable customer service by being at your disposal according to your working hours by offering different communication channels.

If the event organizer has employees, it is essential to promote teamwork knowing how to relegate responsibilities.

Which vendors should appear on an event organizer's agenda?

Except for very specific cases, it is normal for an event organizer to work with a wide variety of events. Therefore, it is essential to have a portfolio of service providers, including the following (companies or freelancers):

Accommodation and catering. It is a good idea for the event organizer to divide this section by budget (low, medium, high) in order to offer clients specifically what suits their needs. If you usually work regularly with lunch or dinner, in this section it is also possible to have a team of trusted waiters.

Transportation. Some events require the hiring of buses to be able to take the guests to their destination. Remember that the quality of the vehicle is as important as the professionalism of the driver.

Travel. Some events can last a weekend or even a whole week instead of a day. In this case you can use the services of a travel agent.

Entertainment. This sector is very broad and must be adjusted to the requirements of each event since a children's birthday is not the same as a bachelorette party. In this category appear: magicians, comedians, children's games services, musical groups, DJ's, etc.

Decoration. This detail that some people overlook may be the most remembered of an event (for example at theme parties). Ideally, the event organizer could fulfill this role if it is within their capabilities.

Profile of an event organizer

An event planner needs to have good interpersonal skills to be able to communicate effectively with clients, employees, and vendors.

Be an organized and responsible person as most events follow a specific schedule that cannot be altered and any programming error can cause the event to fail.

Being able to properly handle social networks, especially to promote successful events that advertise the quality of your services and increase your clientele.

If you have employees under your care, you need to become a role model to show yourself as a leader.

Mastering English will be essential if international events are to be organized or most of the clients are foreigners (as in the most touristic places in Lahore).

What do you have to study to be an event organizer?

Although personal skills are essential to succeed in this profession, it is necessary to have a good education. Studying to be an event organizer in addition to providing the person with professional knowledge, will also give potential clients more confidence and will lead to a greater number of contracts being achieved.

Due to the rise of this profession in recent years, specialization is increasing and distance or face-to-face training can be achieved at universities, vocational training institutions or by taking event organizer courses. At the university, two careers related to this profession are Public Relations, and Communication and Marketing; although there are also very useful Masters in Protocol, Etiquette and Organization of Events.

If you already have a certificate or degree related to this sector, continuous training is vital to be able to adapt to changing customer trends. Internet is the best resource for event organizers for this purpose since they can find out the latest news not only in Lahore, but in any corner of the world to offer something fresh and different to their clients.

Courtesy: event organizer in lahore

#corporatelife eventdesign managementskills dressupnotdown photographers decorationideas guests fridaymotivation lahorediaries styleinspirati

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theredheadstory · 7 years ago

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MY STORY (I): The Redhead behind The Redhead Story

Hi. Hallo. Ciao. Salut. Julia Bell here, founder and writer of The Redhead Story.

It’s wonderful to have you with me; thank you for tagging along as I am on my way to step it up a notch, pushing The Redhead Story to an actual brand level and launching my new, beautiful corner of the internet in just a few weeks’ time. (It’s anything but boring; no, not like this space here, I promise! It will be completely revamped! Eeek, I cannot wait to show you guys.)

Who’s so excited with me?

It’s such a big step with a lot of scary moments, but I am still here.

Now, I know that some of you have been tagging along for quite some time, having seen this blog space changed, tweaked, filled with my personal stories mostly. And I know that there are new faces following, too. That’s why I want to give you more; create more valuable insights and content for you, my readers. Ultimately, you are the engine of what I do.

This is the first entry of an 8-post website/brand pre-launch series called “MY STORY”.

I thought those few weeks before the actual website will be launched and The Redhead Story be presented in a new light would be the perfect time to reflect back on where I have started - just to see how far I have come. Also, since integrity is one of my main values and I always want to stay true to myself, with my personality shining through in everything I do (for the personal touch and approachability, which is super important to me), it might be just the perfect moment to share a little bit about myself. A good starting point for all of us.

Ready? Grab a cup of coffee (I have mine right next to me, with a splash of whole milk), light a candle if you want (I am smelling pumpkin spice right now, my leftover candle from fall, but never gets old), and sit back.

This is why I am who I am.

A Lesson Learned

A German native, I grew up in a small town north of Hannover, where it’s flat, there are a lot of forests, and also wide open spaces with a lot of horses. Oh, and it’s super close to the North Sea. Going skiing in Austria and vacationing on Föhr (a dreamy North Frisian Island I love) have been my family's favorite annual things to do. And I didn’t complain.

When I was 16, I, for the very first time, felt this desire to go abroad.

It was this time when a handful of people from my high school went abroad for an exchange semester or year.

Combined with my love for languages - especially English -, and my parents’ support, I took the leap and jetted off to America for the very first time in my life, to stay with a host family I had never seen before; to go to a school I had never been to; and to experience a culture I had never immersed myself in. It.was.hard.

But, spoiler alert: I had the time of my life.

My friends and host family (they are still part of my life and just recently flew out to attend my wedding here in San Diego, for which I am so absolutely thankful) were an integral part in my developing American love story.

Funny, how, now that I am married (expect more posts about how all that happened), the term “American love story” gets such a different meaning.

Then, upon my return home to Germany, I experienced an intense, reverse culture shock. I learned that people moved on without me, that I changed, and that some relationships are not meant to last forever. This living abroad experience should leave its mark on me forever. And I will forever be grateful for that opportunity that literally changed my outlook on life and brought me to where I am today.

As sad and intimidating as it was to see that some people were not who I thought they were, there was a greater lesson to be learned for me:

I’d learned how much more there was to this world. It sparked my fire for travel and new experiences, which has continued ever since.

From a Small Town Girl to a German Expat in London

Education furthered my travel bug. I finished high school. While working towards my Bachelor’s Degree in Germany for Political Science and American Studies, I continually hopped back to my previous host family in New York.

Then, London drew me in for my Masters.

I initially didn’t want to pursue my Masters degree but thinking of combining it with another study abroad experience just made so much sense. I saw this as an immense opportunity, both personally and professionally.

And so I started sending out applications. Goldsmiths College, University of London, is where I should be going; Political Communications it should be.

Fast forward, equipped with one suitcase and a carry on, I began a new adventure back in summer of 2013

While in the heart of the UK, I traversed Scotland, England and Ireland. I was over the moon with all these places I could explore so easily, as they were right at my fingertips.

With these red locks, I fit right in. (I always call specifically Scotland my spiritual home.)

It was my UK travels that launched this blog : The Redhead Story.

Fueled by a love of writing and need for a creative outlet, I began travel blogging to share my experiences. (I am a chatty little ginger, as my mom would say; this hasn’t changed throughout the years.)

As I poured in more energy, my skills and tools improved - like upgrading camera types and image styles (still a lot to learn in that realm, but already looking into a new camera now that a new website will be launching and high quality content is important to me). But that’s the beauty of life; both then and now, there’s always still so much room to grow.

This is also when I began writing for other blogs or even smaller travel brands.

By that time I already knew that this is something I want to do full-time at some point in life. But it seemed unreal. (And here I am now, just having wrapped up my full time job to focus on this little business, so near and dear to my heart.)

After graduation from my Masters, the next chapter was a mystery.

How an Opportunity Landed Me as a Travel Blogger in California

I returned to Germany in late summer of 2014, deeply unhappy. I wasn’t sure where my life was going but one thing I knew for sure: I needed to be somewhere abroad. I started a job in a marketing firm but day-dreamed of packing my back and jetting off to the U.S. in hopes I would figure life out, or simply back to London. But we all know: both would have been quite costly in the long run.

A new year, and I joined the team at the German American Chamber of Commerce California. Working in their Cultural Exchange program was the melding of my life thus far : bilingual language skills, international collaborations and, specifically, working with the United States, a place so dear to my heart.

I still found myself in Germany but hey, at least I communicated with people from the U.S.

But life is a beautiful thing and even though I am a planner, not knowing what comes next can be quite thrilling.

Then, THE opportunity came : The chance to continue as a part of the organization in sunny San Diego.

It was an immediate YES.

How San Diego Travel Writing Has Empowered a Balanced, Healthy Lifestyle

It was a matter of about what - 3 weeks? And off I was, California bound. This was all so very unreal.

I arrived in San Diego. I had my a room lined up. I knew the office address. The rest was a blank piece of paper. I needed to write my story. More so: I had the opportunity to write it in a place I have never been but dreamed of going for so long.

Being here has fueled my desire to see more of this diverse country. It has given me so many other new opportunities I am so thankful for. It’s not all roses and butterflies, but since I set foot on California’s southernmost city’s soil, I found a base, a home. Certainly, meeting my adventure pal over here who I will be sharing life with from now on (a separate post about that is to follow) plays a huge role in that.

Ever since, I have relished my work, America’s Finest City and pursuing my travel writing.

Throughout my time in the UK, Germany and the States since, I’ve written for a variety of outlets, collaborating with various publications to create content that helps readers to truly experience a place.

Because traveling isn’t just about seeing a site. Traveling :

Expands your mind.

Is a process of personal growth.

Is my favorite way to achieve a balanced life.

With slow travel that is : Diving into one city or area for longer periods of time. Even if very active, it lets us slow down and gain appreciation for our surroundings.

Whether exploring the Arizona desert, hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, or walking small towns in England, I also believe travel is the best way to internal reflection. Especially the more we can get outdoors. The chance to walk. To hike. To ride through a city by bicycle.

I’m passionate about seeing the world up close. Not from a car window. I love going slow, soaking it all in - reflecting.

As I continue life as a German expat in the U.S., I will continue writing, sharing stories of exploring my backyard, going on day and weekend trips, shorter and longer getaways in the U.S. and across borders.

A Journey of Traveling & Personal Growth

I invite you to join me on my very personal journey and see the world through my eyes. It is about personal growth - because that’s what exploring does to you: It changes your perspective on things, in a good way. It allows you to see a broader picture, interact with people, understand more.

By no means am I a travel expert, but I have one thing: passion. A passion for sharing personal experiences, creating my story and ultimately inspiring yours.

I hope the new The Redhead Story corner will be an inspiration for you and I am excited to hopefully hear more about your stories, about how exploring and “going out there - doesn’t matter where - has impacted your life and perspective on life and furthered personal growth.

Thank you for being part of this (life) adventure.

Because adventure is what you define for yourself.

I hope you got to know me a little better and understand where I am coming from. If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you.

___________________________________________

The next post of my 8-post website & brand pre-launch series will be highlighting my approach to travel and how this has changed. Stay tuned!

Instagram // Twitter

#branding #my story

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erincardenthailandblog · 5 years ago

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Genevieve Forbes

(Genevieve—top row, second from the right—poses with WorldTeach Thailand cohort 2017-2018).

As a result of globalization and great technological progress, English has become the most dominant language in the world. In today’s society more people want to learn English than ever before. As the most common foreign language, English is primarily used as a common way to communicate. Thus, in order to communicate on an international level, English must be spoken and understood. As a result, proficiency in English is often associated with higher incomes, increased employment, and is promoted as a language that can improve the livelihoods of people in developing countries.

Teaching English to non- native speakers is challenging. For one teacher in particular, Genevieve Forbes ’87, (current WorldTeach Thailand Field Director) her experience teaching English in South East Asia is shaped by a belief that the value of teaching ESL is not that English is the most important language—but more significantly—that ESL instructors have the ability to simultaneously promote multicultural awareness and cultural sensitivity.

Genevieve Forbes was born and raised in Milton, an Irish Catholic suburb outside Boston. As a child, conversations revolving South East Asia were held daily. Her aunt and uncle—who met working for Earth Rights—a Human Rights organization—first sparked her interest in Thailand. According to Forbes, both her aunt and uncle were involved with aid work on the Thai Myanmar border. While her aunt protested the Hatgyi Dam,[1] which was displacing the hill tribe population [2] due to flooding, Forbes’ uncle was suing the U.S., company providing the majority of materials and technology for the Hatgyi damming project. “ I grew up watching the videos my aunt and uncle took while working on the Thai Myanmar border, and read the articles they published about their work.” Forbes’ father’s business was also based in South East Asia, and she traveled to Thailand with him frequently. When she was eleven years old Forbes took her first trip to Southeast Asia with her aunt and uncle. “For a very long time my impression of Thailand was that everyone maintained an enduring, ‘you have to keep going’ mentality,” she explained. “When I first got to Thailand I was really overwhelmed. I saw half a dozen temples in twenty-four hours.”

As a result of her family’s business in South East Asia, Forbes too became interested in the region, and decided to focus her undergraduate thesis on the forced slave labor of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. In 2011 a report by the International Organization for Migration revealed widespread trafficking within Thailand’s fishing industry, with Burmes migrant fishermen being forced to work onboard for years without pay.[3] “I was passionate about this issue because while everyone else was focused on the tourists in this area, they all forgot about this huge migrant population,” she explained. After finishing her thesis in 2010, Forbes decided to continue pursuing her interest in South East Asia. She joined WorldTeach and taught ESL in Nakhon Phanom—a province in northeast Thailand—for one year.Nakhon Phanom is located in Thailand’s Isan region, the only part of the country Forbes had never visited. Generally poorer than the rest of Thailand, Isan is where most of the country’s rice and other central crops are grown. “I was thrilled to finally go there,” she recounted. “I had been interested in exploring it for years.”

Some of the biggest cultural adjustments Forbes faced as a WorldTeach volunteer centered around the language barrier and the differing cultural expectations, especially surrounding appearance. Throughout her time as a volunteer Forbes was hosted by a Thai woman who didn’t speak any English. “This woman had very specific ideas about how I should present myself,” she explained. “She frequently offered me unsolicited advice on my appearance. She told me how to do my makeup, which made me feel self-conscious at times.“

Major class cancellations were another challenge Forbes faced as a new teacher. “I didn’t teach at all for the two first months of my first semester,” she explained. Despite her frustration, Forbes took cancelled class as an opportunity to teach English to any interested students after school hours. “I decided to teach phonetics because I knew it wasn’t part of the Thai rote memorization curriculum,” she told me. “ I believed it would be something all Thai students would benefit from.” To her delight, Forbes’ after school program proved to be very popular. “I was astonished by the sheer enthusiasm I received from my students. Fifty to sixty students showed up at my house every day ready to learn. “

After completing one year teaching ESL in Thailand, Forbes attended UH-Manoa in Hawaii and received her graduate degree in Asian Studies. In 2015, shortly after receiving her masters, WorldTeach offered Forbes the position as field director for the same program that she had served in four years previously. She accepted and moved back to Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. Because she had already lived in Thailand in 2010, Forbes easily readjusted to Thai culture. Comments on her physical appearance no longer bothered her. “I developed a hard shell,” she laughed. “I even learned how to make fun of myself.”

As a field director for the Worldteach Thailand program Forbes was able to focus on issues affecting the Thai education system. In particular, Forbes began paying close attention to the fact that Thai school directors switched schools every one to three years, which she claimed, “is not always conducive to fostering the longevity and emotional connection necessary to impact change.” Forbes also came to realize that the Thai culture of “saving face” had a great impact on the Thai school system. “Saving face” can otherwise be understood as avoiding confrontation, and attempting not to embarrass oneself or others. In Thailand, agreement and harmony are two of the most important characteristics everyone must strive to uphold. According to Forbes, the Thai culture of “saving face” has negatively impacted the education system. “Thai students are passed through classes even if they haven’t learned all the skills required for their grade level,” she explained. “These students are passed because Thai schools are focused on trying to ‘save face,’ they are trying to save their reputation and keep up their appearance as a good school. Schools that do this to primary school students put the students at an extreme disadvantage because they are completely lost when they start secondary school.”

Since Forbes’ initial year living in Nakhon Phanom in 2010, the Isan region has changed dramatically. “When I first came to Thailand with WorldTeach there were no airplanes or taxis in and out of Nakhon Phanom,” she claimed. “There were only overnight buses. There was only one coffee shop in all of Nakhon Phanom city whereas now there are 711s on every two or three blocks.“ Forbes attributes this development to the EEC (the Eastern Economic Corridor) development plan, a new railway trade system in Thailand which has given the trade industry a new focus on capitalizing on areas that were previously disregarded. [4]

Over the years, Forbes has come to realize the various ways she internalized Thai culture.“One of the biggest realizations I had about the effects Thai culture has had on me occurred when I was in Singapore for business,“ she told me. According to Forbes, her persuasive powers worked best in Thailand when she was “sweet” and “nice,” if she entered a business meeting “strong, stern, and surely, it would be unproductive because Thai people would not be as willing to work” with her. “But when I arrived in Singapore,” she recalled, “I tried to get rid of the learned behavior I had adopted in Thailand. My sweet and nice behavior used in business meetings in Thailand was not appropriate for professional meetings in Singapore where, as a woman, you’re not taken seriously unless you have a strong presence.”

Since living in Thailand Forbes has distanced herself from the American saying, “good fences make good neighbors,” and has fallen in love with the strong sense of community found in Thai culture. “If I’m too tired to go to the market to buy food, I know I have a standing invitation to join my neighbors and eat whatever they’re eating,” she explained. “One of my neighbors in particular frequently knocks on my door to give me fruit that’s in season.” This sense of community is not only found in Thai neighborhoods, but also extends to the workplace. “If someone in the office has a sweet treat, they will bring a lot into the office to share with everyone.”

Forbes believes teaching English abroad to be an important endeavor because, in her eyes, “ it promotes multicultural awareness and cultural sensitivity.”

“Many Thai students have never traveled outside the Isan region of Thailand, so having foreign volunteers teach them about different parts of the world opens up their minds in an extremely beneficial way. There was a Chinese student who, after studying with a WorldTeach volunteer, decided to study abroad; first in Finland, then in Germany, and finally decided to go to the U.S., for her bachelors degree. The impact this WorldTeach volunteer had on this one student was enough to inspire the student to step outside of the world that she was born into, and see the parts of the world that were previously unknown. This teacher brought cultural awareness and enthusiasm to the classroom, two very important qualities I believe every good teacher should have.”

In addition to the importance of bringing cultural awareness and enthusiasm to the classroom, Forbes also highlights the importance of having a sense of humor as a teacher. “It will take you a long way, no matter where you are in your life,” she chuckled. “If you’re able to see the humorous part of a seemingly stressful or crazy situation—such as a student who wants to take off his wet shorts because he went swimming in the pond during recess—being equally frustrated and amused takes you a long way.”

Forbes advises that individuals considering teaching abroad should, “open themselves up so they can be all in. And not only for the adventure” she claimed, “ but also for the hard stuff. I recognize the challenges of teaching abroad, but I think it’s important to know that the experience won’t be smooth sailing. Personal growth is never considered to be easy. Look for the ‘silver lining.’ It’s a challenge, but it’s rewarding.”

[1]A hydropower project on the Salween River. Hatgyi Dam. EarthRights International, https://earthrights.org/what-we-do/mega-projects/hatgyi-dam/.

[2] Various ethnic groups who inhabit the mountains of western and northern Thailand, including both sides of the border between northern Thailand, Laos,and Myanmar. To read more about hydropower development in this region: “Damned By Burma's Generals: The Karenni Experience with Hydropower Development from Lawpita to Salween.” (2006). Karenni Development Research Group.https://www.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/proposed_salween_dams_revive_development_nightmare_for_karenni_in_burma.pdf

[3] Trafficking of Fishermen in Thailand. (2011). Sathorn District, Bangkok: IOM Thailand. Available at:https://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/activities/countries/docs/thailand/Trafficking-of-Fishermen-Thailand.pdf.

[4] Eeco.or.th. (2019). Public Private Partnerships | EEC. Available at:https://www.eeco.or.th/en/content/public-private-partnerships.

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hermanwatts · 4 years ago

Text

Sensor Sweep: Kyrik, Earl Norem, Stormbringer RPG, Denny O’Neill

T.V. (RMWC Reviews): In 1973, Tsuburaya Productions released several shows as part of the company’s 10th anniversary. The first one to see release was Fireman (or Magma Man in some markets), which began airing on Nippon Television on January 7, 1973, running until July for 30 episodes.

Warfare (Aeoli Pera): The typical special forces trainee who passes selection has a higher rank (officers were far more likely to pass than enlisted), at least a bachelor’s degree, high general personality factor with extremely high conscientiousness, no children, and verbally tilted IQs averaging in the 120s. This study looks at Ranger school but it’s true across all special operations services in the Western world. Please note that, except for measuring the ability to do pullups, these exact predictors could be used to select head girls for graduate departments in the humanities and social sciences.

Fiction (Wasteland & Sky): Interested in superheroes? If you’re reading this post then there’s a good chance you do! But how much? Check out this new bundle of hero books compiled by immortal SF author Kevin J. Anderson. The offer is for a limited time, so don’t miss out! The description for the bundle is as follows: The Up, Up and Away Superheroes Bundle – Curated by Kevin J. Anderson: If reading is your kryptonite, I’ve put together a superpowered StoryBundle—thirteen books with marvelous heroes, supervillains, secret identities, mutant powers, and extraordinary gentlemen (and ladies).

Popular Culture (Legends of Men): Why do these guys virtue signal? They’re saying this type of thing to other readers of S&S and REH and the pulps. The entire readership obviously enjoys these genres with as much or as little diversity as they already have. Past works cannot be changed and what made them popular once is more likely to make them popular again than changing the nature of what they are. So do some readers feel the need to virtue signal to other readers?

Reading (DVS Press): How many times have you seen a movie and though, “Man, the book was so much better,” or had a friend who read the book say the same to you? I can definitely say that the cases where the movie is better than the book are far outweighed by the reverse – probably in the range of 20:1. In fact, the only writer whose work seems to function better on screen than on paper is Stephen King, and even then there are plenty of books in his exceptionally large canon that are much better than their cinema counterpart (anyone remember The Dark Tower? I hope not).

Science Fiction (John C. Wright): Sometimes in this life we see justice done. The Nebula Awards have just honored Gene Wolfe with a Grandmastership. The honor is overdue, and all lovers of literature should rejoice. Gene Wolfe is the Luis Borges of North America. He is the greatest living author writing in the English language today, and I do not confine that remark to genre authors. I mean he is better than any mainstream authors at their best, better in the very aspects of the craft in which they take most pride.

Culture War (Kairos): This is why they hate Japan. This the material manifestation for why they can’t handle the Beautiful and seek to degrade before they destroy; the humiliation is intended as much to assuage the abuser’s amygdala as it is to afflict the victim’s, a “No You, Christcuck!” retort as they rip the beautiful apart before finishing the job. The cruelty is part of the process by design. The shitlords–God bless you all–at /pol/ noticed that this applies to all of the cultural attacks.

Art (DMR Books): When Earl demobilized, he went into magazine illustration, mostly for the “Men’s Adventure” mags. Such magazines have also been called “men’s pulps” and “sweat mags”. Essentially, they were magazines that somewhat carried on from the actual pulps–which died out in the 1950s–but were printed on “slick” paper. A significant percentage of their readers were veterans of World War Two and Korea who were looking for manly stories featuring action and beautiful women.

Comic Books (Diversions of the Groovy Kind): As most of you know, Groove-ophiles, Denny O’Neil, one of the most influential writers of the Groovy Age passed away at the age of 81 on Friday, June 12. Much has been written about O’Neil during the past week, and that’s how it should be. During the 1970s, O’Neil changed the way we would think about Batman in particular and comics in general forever (in tandem, naturally, with artist Neal Adams, mostly, but also with a host of other artistic luminaries from Irv Novick to Mike Kaluta to Jack Kirby to Mike Grell).

Robert E. Howard (Don Herron): Something I didn’t know much about, was a bank robbery that had occurred in the little town of Cisco on December 23, 1927, over 80 years earlier. The so-called Santa Claus Bank Robbery was a story I had heard about, of course, but the Kris Kringle business had conjured up images of a gang comprised of members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and the Bowery Boys. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

RPG (Black Gate): Chaosium’s Stormbringer! was a licensed product based on Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné secondary world fantasy series. The game engine used modified Basic Roleplaying mechanics; in particular, magic worked very differently in Stormbringer than in Runequest. Characters could come from a wide variety of backgrounds; power-gamers preferred certain back-grounds over others because there was no pretense of game balance between them.

Heinlein (Black Gate): It’s almost impossible to discuss Robert A. Heinlein’s The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes without revealing and thus spoiling the plot devices of it and its 1980 prequel/sequel, The Number of the Beast—. Heinlein, first Grand Master of the SFWA, for decades acclaimed as the Dean of sf, no longer pleases everyone. Some readers, especially academic critics, have denounced both books as grossly self-indulgent and even worthless. Others, like the brilliant Marxist professor H. Bruce Franklin (in his important 1980 study Robert A. Heinlein: America as Science Fiction) catch the feel of Beast: “a cotton-candy apocalypse — frothy, sweet, airy, mellow, light, festive, whimsical, insubstantial” (199).

Sword-and-Sorcery (Ken Lizzi): I’ve read a few of Gardner Fox’s Kothar books. So when I saw his name on the cover of Kyrik Fights the Demon World I didn’t hesitate to snatch up the book. No one will claim that Fox was a master stylist. Take this paragraph from page one of Demon World. And so Makonnon quested through spatial emptiness into lands that had known him, long and long ago. He sent his mind across unfathomable distances, seeking, hunting, searching for that which so infuriated him.

RPG (Cyborgs and Sorcerers): Vancian Freeform Magic. I know that sounds like a contradiction in terms. It isn’t. You’ll see. I love the idea of free-form spell systems because they allow for endless creativity, and for me, creative problem-solving is the biggest source of fun in RPGs. In practice though, people often come up with a few favorite spells they cast over and over. This system was designed to prevent that by continually varying the tools in the free-form spellcaster’s toolbox. It’s a noun-verb system like Ars Magicka, except the nouns and verbs are not skills you’re permanently trained in.

Tolkien (Tolkien and Fantasy): The details of Tolkien’s epistolary friendship with the US editor, writer and sculptor Sterling Lanier (1927-2007) are difficult to ascertain, and various accounts differ as to the chronology and extent of their correspondence. In 1973, Lanier wrote that “it began in 1951” and amounted to some “dozen or so letters we exchanged over the years.” In a 1974 fanzine profile of Lanier by Piers Anthony, it notes that Lanier had had “ten years of correspondence” with Tolkien. In 2016, a book dealer had for sale six letters from Tolkien to Lanier, plus one from Tolkien’s wife.

Science Fiction (M. Porcius): I enjoyed my recent look at the 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories with Leigh Brackett’s “The Dancing Girl of Ganymede” and Henry Kuttner’s “The Voice of the Lobster,” so, to take a break from my rereading of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I propose spending some time reading more stories by Brackett and Kuttner from Thrilling Wonder (we might end up checking out some Thrilling Wonder contributions by Brackett’s husband, Edmond Hamilton, as well.)

RPG (Swords and Stitchery): I have used & abused B4 The Lost City adventure & its inhabitants for years now a venerable pulp module created by Tom Moldvay. “”The Lost City” (1982) was the first adventure written entirely for the second edition Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1981). No surprise, then, that it was written by the author of that set, Tom Moldvay. ” Today I’ve been thinking about specifically adapting this module as perhaps a starter to Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition as an introductory module.

History (Outlook India): Tucked into Pakistan’s remote northwestern hills, along the border with Afghanistan, is a cluster of three villages whose residents are still trying to preserve their language and culture in the face of advancing modernity and religious conversion. The tribe, known as Kalash, is said to have descended from soldiers of the army of Alexander the Great who travelled this way in 324 BCE. However, many scholars deny the story even though it has not been established finally yet how these people, their language, dress, and their nature-worshipping culture—in marked contrast to the Islamic culture that surrounds them—evolved and survived through the centuries.

Fiction (Dark Worlds Quarterly): I used to use the words “Pulp-descended fiction” and it was the source of RAGE m a c h i n e Books. I wanted to capture that feeling that good Pulp writing gives you. What that really means is I grew up on authors who wrote during the Pulps and those who followed, they too influenced by those five decades of magazine publishing. The world has since moved on, with television and paperback novels, comic books (now called “graphic novels”). Despite this, Pulp remains with us. Not in the packaging but under the surface.

Sensor Sweep: Kyrik, Earl Norem, Stormbringer RPG, Denny O’Neill published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

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mlmcompanies · 6 years ago

Link

For freedom and flexibility, nothing beats working from home.

And today, it’s easier than ever to find good opportunities.

Why?

Because today, a growing number of businesses are 100% virtual—meaning, they don’t have a brick-and-mortar office. Employees work from home. Meetings are held in online meeting apps like Skype or Zoom. And everyone connects through online chat boards like Slack.

Which means you can have a fulfilling career, doing impressive work, and making great money… in your pajamas.

Today, I’m going to give you 21 work-from-home jobs that can give you a good income without you ever having to fight another rush hour or update your wardrobe.

Best of all, you can choose your own work style.

Most of these jobs can be done as a full-time employee or as a freelancer. So you can work from home and have a “regular” job or not—and build your own home-based business your own way.

If you want a regular job working from home, you’ll look for openings just like you would in a traditional job.

But if you want to launch your own freelance business, your process will be different depending on the type of work you’re looking for—so I’ll give you specific tips with each listing below.

Ready to find your best work-from-home job? Let’s get started…

1. Marketing specialist

If you’re a marketer, working from home isn’t a pipe dream. Most marketing is done online anyway, so it makes perfect sense to build the campaigns remotely.

All types of marketing jobs are available too. You can be an email specialist, conversion rate optimizer, funnel builder, or any other specialty. Every business uses these skills!

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a portfolio of marketing campaigns that show off your expertise and the results you generate.

Step 2: Build a website to promote your services and show off your portfolio.

Step 3: Start getting clients and working your magic for them.

Example:

Lauren Holliday

Dean Ifrach

Best place to learn:

MIT open courseware on entrepreneurship and Sloan School of Management

DigitalMarketer certifications

2. Virtual assistant

Virtual assistants can work from anywhere in the world for anyone in the world. Location is no barrier.

As a VA, you’ll do whatever odd jobs you’re needed to do, so there’s no real job description other than being available and having a good attitude.

Of course, if you’ve got skills that are considered valuable, you’ll have an easier time getting work. Probably most important are being tech-savvy and organized. But if you’ve got writing skills, graphic skills, or experience building websites, by all means, let your potential employers know. They’ll likely build your job description around your unique skills.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Pick your niche. In particular, think about the type of person or industry you want to work in, and the services you’d like to provide.

Step 2: Network, network, network. Getting clients may be more about who you know than what you know.

Step 3: Build a website and promote your services in social media.

Example:

Amy Williams

Regina King

Best place to learn:

The VA Handbook

International Virtual Assistant Association

3. Web developer

Every business needs a website, which is why the 10-year outlook for web developers is 15%.

To work from home as a web developer, you need to be self-motivated, detail oriented, and creative. You also need a solid understanding of HTML, JavaScript, or SQL, and multimedia publishing tools.

In some cases, you may also need a bachelor’s degree in computer programming or information systems management. With or without the degree, you’ll need to stay up to date on the new tools and computer languages.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website that shows off your skills. Be sure to include a lead generation form, so you can connect with people who are interested in your work.

Step 2: Get clients and do outstanding work for them.

Step 3: Talk about what you do in your blog and on social media, so other brands are eager to work with you.

Example:

Adam Coti

Ranjit Pillai

Best place to learn:

Website Setup

Coding Dojo

4. Customer support representative

Successful businesses provide quality customer service. So they need people to answer phones, respond to emails, and manage live chat.

If your people skills are off the charts, this is a great work-from-home job. And if you are bilingual, you’ll be especially valuable. Since you’ll be the go-between, advocating for both the company you work for and their customers, it helps if you can speak to people who don’t speak English.

You don’t need a lot of training, but you do need to be a good communicator. You’ll also need to become an expert in the products you represent—so it helps if you’re a fast learner.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website where you can promote your services and blog about customer support issues.

Step 2: Sign up at freelance job sites, such as PeoplePerHour and Remote.co. Make sure you highlight the skills that make you shine.

Step 3: Wow your clients and get testimonials for your website.

Example:

PeoplePerHour

Freelancer

Best place to learn:

National Customer Service Association (NCSA)

HelpScout blog

5. Tech support specialist

A more specialized type of support is tech support, which tech companies must give their customers.

A good tech support agent is able to translate confusing or hard-to-understand technical information into something that anyone can understand. If you’re good with tech and often find yourself helping other people solve problems with it, you’re probably a good fit.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website that promotes your services.

Step 2: Sign up at freelance job sites, including PeoplePerHour and Remote.co.

Step 3: Wow your clients and get testimonials for your website.

Example:

Flexjobs

ZipRecruiter

Best place to learn:

Microsoft Professional Program for IT Support

InfoWorld

6. Direct sales

Another work-from-home opportunity is direct sales, also known as multilevel marketing.

This is a great option if you’re a natural marketer, enjoy people, and truly believe in the value of your products.

MLMs have been around for decades, but not everyone who gets involved gets rich from it. At best, it provides another stream of income. But to make money, you may be asked to sell all the time to everyone you know. And honestly, that can make good relationships go bad.

If you want a better way, check this out.

If you’re set on multilevel marketing, here’s a list of popular MLMs to consider. And here’s how to get started.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Find a company you like and sign up.

Step 2: Set up your sales channels, including a web page and social media.

Step 3: Start throwing parties and talking up your products. Your goal is to meet your sales and recruiting quotas so you can rise through the ranks quickly.

Example:

Scentsy

Pampered Chef

Best place to learn:

The 50 Best Network Marketing Companies

Network Marketing Works

7. Writer

It’s not easy to earn a ton of money as a writer, but if you love to write, it’s one of the most rewarding work-at-home jobs out there.

And there are lots of ways to get paid for writing. You can be an author, self-publishing fiction or nonfiction books. You can be a content writer or copywriter, writing articles, reports, and sales pages for businesses. You can also be a blogger, writing your own articles and reports, and monetizing your website with ads, affiliate products, and your own products.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide the type of writing you want to do and pick a niche.

Step 2: Build a website: to sell your writing services, you’ll need a promotional website; to sell your own writing, you’ll need a blog and sales pages.

Step 3: Use social media to attract fans who love your work. Use email marketing to update them when you publish something.

Example:

Melissa Foster

Wendell Berry

Best place to learn:

Jane Friedman

Smart Blogger

8. Artist

Making money as an artist is hard, but it can be done. And you don’t always have to be “practical” to do it.

Yes, you can work for businesses as a graphic designer. But you can also be a cartoonist, a painter, or a sculptor. The key is to find a niche and become good at marketing so you can attract fans who love your work.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Create a body of work that’s unique and cohesive.

Step 2: Build a website, where you can showcase your work and let people know how to hire you or buy your work.

Step 3: Network, network, network. Success comes from who you know and being in the right circles.

Example:

Rebecca Tillman-Young

Samantha Tidwell

Best place to learn:

RTY Art Academy

Jessica Serran

9. Editor/Proofreader

In today’s information economy, quality matters. Which is why businesses are eager to hire good editors and proofreaders to “fix” their blog posts, reports, and copy.

This is a great job for you if you’ve got an eye for detail and an in-depth knowledge of grammar, usage, and spelling.

And it’s easy to get started.

Step 1: Build a website that explains what you do and how you work.

Step 2: Get the word out on social media. You may also want to send personal emails to publishers and marketing directors in your chosen niche.

Step 3: Wow your clients so they keep coming back for more.

Example:

Jody Calkins

Right Touch Editing

Best place to learn:

Copyediting

Writers and Editors

10. Child care provider

Plenty of parents need childcare but don’t like child care centers. They want someone who will give their kids the feeling of being with family.

You can offer child care on a one-off basis, but you can also be “the” babysitter, offering regular care for a few families. You can also offer special care for date nights, mother’s day out, and other special events.

Be aware, if you’re really good at getting clients, you could easily start an agency. You get clients, then give the work to qualified babysitters who sign up with you. Everybody’s happy!

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: If you’re just doing babysitting, focus on getting clients. Put the word out that you’re available and have a meet-and-greet with new families to meet their kids.

Step 2: If you want to have a home-based child care center, get inspected and licensed by state and local regulators.

Step 3: Leave the kids happier than when they arrived, and let word-of-mouth bring you all the clients you need.

Example:

Mom’s Best Friend

Angel Sitters

Best place to learn:

How to Start a Quality Child Care Business

Child Care Services Association

11. Baker

Local restaurants residents alike expect great breads and delicious desserts—but most don’t have time or energy to make them.

If you bake, why not offer your services? You can take individual orders or set up standing orders (say, 3 cakes a day for a restaurant). Add in other services, like delivery or catering, and this could be a profitable work-from-home job.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide the type of baking you want to do and local businesses that might be interested in hiring you.

Step 2: Get the word out. Talk to the restaurant owners. Build a website. And promote your baked good online.

Step 3: Wow your clients and watch the orders come in!

Example:

Katie Keul

Wandering Whisk Bakeshop

Best place to learn:

WebstaurantStore

Bluprint

12. Telephone nurse

If you’re a registered nurse, you’ve got the basic skills to become a telephone nurse, offering triage services and case management for crisis hotlines, physician offices, trauma centers, hospitals, and outpatient care facilities.

Not a nurse? You need a nursing degree and a passing grade on the NCLEX-RN test. But the effort is well worth it. Telephone nursing is one of the best-paying work-from-home jobs you can get—offering as much as $70k and up.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Look for telephone nurse jobs on EveryNurse or freelance nursing positions on 83Bar and CareNet.

Step 2: To help you get freelance jobs, build a website and blog about your nursing know-how.

Step 3: Do a great job supporting your telehealth patients, and enjoy a good living while making a difference in people’s lives.

Example:

EveryNurse

com

Best place to learn:

Nurse Buff

American Telemedicine Association

13. Odd jobs

We live in a gig economy. Meaning you can make a living wage as a Jack of all Trades.

The key is to know your strengths and to manage your time. Find odd jobs that you can do at the same time—like Uber driving and house painting.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide what type of jobs you’d like to do.

Step 2: Sign up for freelancing and gig sites like TaskRabbit and Fivver.

Step 3: Do great work on every gig so you get good reviews and repeat clients.

Example:

EasyShift

Fancy Hands

Best place to learn:

org

Best Home-Based Business Ideas

14. Website tester

Businesses want their websites to work as well as they can. But they need help to know how to optimize them.

Enter the website tester, who performs simple tasks on the website—often while being recorded while doing the tasks—so the website owner can evaluate how well their site works.

You won’t get rich doing website testing. But you can bring home an extra $200 a month pretty easily.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Get a microphone and webcam and make sure you’ve got access to high-speed internet. Then sign up to as many testing sites as you can.

Step 2: Each day, review the assignments each site sends you, and sign up for the ones you like.

Step 3: Do the assignments and get paid the next day.

Example:

UserTest

Testing Time

Best place to learn:

Scott Alan Turner

The Work at Home Woman

15. Animator

You don’t need to be a Disney-level animator to create impressive animations. You don’t even need to be good at drawing.

What you do need is a good animation software like Animate CC (entry-level) or Autodesk Maya (professional).

It’s easy to get started.

Step 1: Start creating your own animations and publishing them on YouTube, where they’ll be seen.

Step 2: Create a killer demo reel. (This is the animator’s “resume.” You won’t get hired without it.)

Step 3: Network. Look for work on UpWork. Keep mailing your demo reel to studios.

Example:

Rich Hinchcliffe

Rubber Onion

Best place to learn:

Bloop Animation

Rusty Animator

16. Video editor

A great work-at-home job is video editor. Today, entertainment companies, businesses, and personal brands are creating more videos than ever—and they all need a skilled editor to help their videos shine.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Choose your genre or niche and look for ways you can stand out from other video editors in the space.

Step 2: Create a short demo reel (3 minutes max) that shows off your video editing skills.

Step 3: Network. Look for work on UpWork. Keep reaching out to prospects and production companies, showing them your demo reel.

Example:

Phillip Gow

Paul Shirley

Best place to learn:

Larry Jordan

Indie Film Hustle

17. Insurance agent

Insurance agents can make great money while helping people protect their health and financial assets. And it gives you lots of choices.

You can be captive or independent, working as an employee for an insurance company or for yourself. As an independent agent, you can work with all the best insurance companies, which means you can offer your clients the products that fit their needs best—and you get to decide how much, when, and where you work.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide what kind of insurance you want to sell.

Step 2: Learn the requirements in your state. Pas your state exam and apply to insurance agencies.

Step 3: Build a website with good lead generation, and start giving your clients the insurance they need most.

Example:

Charles Green

Pflugerville Insurance Agency

Best place to learn:

Kaplan Financial Education

Agent Survival Guide

18. Bookkeeper

Bookkeepers maintain business’ financial books, including payroll, accounts receivable and payable, billing, purchasing, and taxes.

The good news is you don’t need an accounting degree. But you do need to be comfortable with accounting software and double-entry bookkeeping.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Sign up to UpWork.

Step 2: Build a website promoting your services. Connect with prospects on LinkedIn. Network at local events.

Step 3: Get a few clients and wow them with your efficiency.

Example:

Virtual Bookkeeping Services

Backyard Bookkeeper

Best place to learn:

The Accounting Coach

American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers

19. Data entry specialist

If you’re looking for an easy work-from-home option that gives you an actual living wage, you need to consider data entry.

You will need a computer and high-speed internet. But beyond that, you simply need to be detail-oriented and accurate.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Look for remote data entry jobs on freelance job sites and job boards.

Step 2: Prepare a killer resume. And if you want to set up a freelance data entry business, build a website.

Step 3: Set up phone calls with prospective clients/employers, and show them what you can do.

Example:

Cass Information Systems

Flexjobs

Best place to learn:

Real Way to Earn Money Online

Dream Home Based Work

20. Consultant

If you’re an expert in something people or businesses struggle with, consulting is a way to leverage that experience to make a living from home.

The key is to be known within your industry and to have credibility as a go-to for solutions. Then you can work with individuals and businesses, guiding them, providing solutions, and helping them implement your ideas.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website. Use blogging and social media to establish your expertise.

Step 2: Get some clients and make sure they achieve their goals. Add their testimonials to your website.

Step 3: Promote your process in a book, on stage, and in webinars, so more clients will seek you out.

Example:

Ed Gandia

Perry Marshall

Best place to learn:

com

Consultant Journal

21. Grant writer

Non-profit, fine-art, and research organizations all operate on funding. And that funding must be applied for through killer proposals written by grant writers.

That’s why grant writers can get paid extremely well—if you’ve got the right skills. Grant proposals are technical writing that needs to be engaging and persuasive. So you need to be able to weave storytelling and compelling research with tight deadlines.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Pick a niche and get to know the funders within that space.

Step 2: Build a website that promotes your services and shows off your track record. Use blogging and social media to talk about what you do.

Step 3: Look for grant writing gigs in job services. Consider volunteering time with a nonprofit to write your first few grant proposals and build a high rate of success.

Example:

Professional Grant Writers

Aaron Rome

Best place to learn:

American Grant Writer’s Association

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

What if you only want to be an employee?

No problem!

Here’s how you’ll find work-from-home jobs as a full-time employee.

Step 1: Google “[your specialty] jobs” for a quick listing of jobs near you. For more openings, check out Monster, Indeed, and Glassdoor.

Step 2: Send in an updated (and personalized) resume.

Step 3: Wow them in an interview.

Now you…

You’ve seen my top-21 list of the best work-from-home jobs. All are great opportunities, and most can give you a good income without you ever having to join rush hour traffic again.

Now I’d like to hear from you…

Which ones do you like best?

Have you found other opportunities that you like?

Let me know in the comments below right now.

#MLM companies #network marketing companies

0 notes

antionetterparker · 6 years ago

Text

Ranking the best work-from-home jobs

For freedom and flexibility, nothing beats working from home.

And today, it’s easier than ever to find good opportunities.

Why?

Which means you can have a fulfilling career, doing impressive work, and making great money… in your pajamas.

Today, I’m going to give you 21 work-from-home jobs that can give you a good income without you ever having to fight another rush hour or update your wardrobe.

Best of all, you can choose your own work style.

Most of these jobs can be done as a full-time employee or as a freelancer. So you can work from home and have a “regular” job or not—and build your own home-based business your own way.

If you want a regular job working from home, you’ll look for openings just like you would in a traditional job.

But if you want to launch your own freelance business, your process will be different depending on the type of work you’re looking for—so I’ll give you specific tips with each listing below.

Ready to find your best work-from-home job? Let’s get started…

1. Marketing specialist

If you’re a marketer, working from home isn’t a pipe dream. Most marketing is done online anyway, so it makes perfect sense to build the campaigns remotely.

All types of marketing jobs are available too. You can be an email specialist, conversion rate optimizer, funnel builder, or any other specialty. Every business uses these skills!

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a portfolio of marketing campaigns that show off your expertise and the results you generate.

Step 2: Build a website to promote your services and show off your portfolio.

Step 3: Start getting clients and working your magic for them.

Example:

Lauren Holliday

Dean Ifrach

Best place to learn:

MIT open courseware on entrepreneurship and Sloan School of Management

DigitalMarketer certifications

2. Virtual assistant

Virtual assistants can work from anywhere in the world for anyone in the world. Location is no barrier.

As a VA, you’ll do whatever odd jobs you’re needed to do, so there’s no real job description other than being available and having a good attitude.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Pick your niche. In particular, think about the type of person or industry you want to work in, and the services you’d like to provide.

Step 2: Network, network, network. Getting clients may be more about who you know than what you know.

Step 3: Build a website and promote your services in social media.

Example:

Amy Williams

Regina King

Best place to learn:

The VA Handbook

International Virtual Assistant Association

3. Web developer

Every business needs a website, which is why the 10-year outlook for web developers is 15%.

To work from home as a web developer, you need to be self-motivated, detail oriented, and creative. You also need a solid understanding of HTML, JavaScript, or SQL, and multimedia publishing tools.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website that shows off your skills. Be sure to include a lead generation form, so you can connect with people who are interested in your work.

Step 2: Get clients and do outstanding work for them.

Step 3: Talk about what you do in your blog and on social media, so other brands are eager to work with you.

Example:

Adam Coti

Ranjit Pillai

Best place to learn:

Website Setup

Coding Dojo

4. Customer support representative

Successful businesses provide quality customer service. So they need people to answer phones, respond to emails, and manage live chat.

You don’t need a lot of training, but you do need to be a good communicator. You’ll also need to become an expert in the products you represent—so it helps if you’re a fast learner.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website where you can promote your services and blog about customer support issues.

Step 2: Sign up at freelance job sites, such as PeoplePerHour and Remote.co. Make sure you highlight the skills that make you shine.

Step 3: Wow your clients and get testimonials for your website.

Example:

PeoplePerHour

Freelancer

Best place to learn:

National Customer Service Association (NCSA)

HelpScout blog

5. Tech support specialist

A more specialized type of support is tech support, which tech companies must give their customers.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website that promotes your services.

Step 2: Sign up at freelance job sites, including PeoplePerHour and Remote.co.

Step 3: Wow your clients and get testimonials for your website.

Example:

Flexjobs

ZipRecruiter

Best place to learn:

Microsoft Professional Program for IT Support

InfoWorld

6. Direct sales

Another work-from-home opportunity is direct sales, also known as multilevel marketing.

This is a great option if you’re a natural marketer, enjoy people, and truly believe in the value of your products.

If you want a better way, check this out.

If you’re set on multilevel marketing, here’s a list of popular MLMs to consider. And here’s how to get started.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Find a company you like and sign up.

Step 2: Set up your sales channels, including a web page and social media.

Step 3: Start throwing parties and talking up your products. Your goal is to meet your sales and recruiting quotas so you can rise through the ranks quickly.

Example:

Scentsy

Pampered Chef

Best place to learn:

The 50 Best Network Marketing Companies

Network Marketing Works

7. Writer

It’s not easy to earn a ton of money as a writer, but if you love to write, it’s one of the most rewarding work-at-home jobs out there.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide the type of writing you want to do and pick a niche.

Step 2: Build a website: to sell your writing services, you’ll need a promotional website; to sell your own writing, you’ll need a blog and sales pages.

Step 3: Use social media to attract fans who love your work. Use email marketing to update them when you publish something.

Example:

Melissa Foster

Wendell Berry

Best place to learn:

Jane Friedman

Smart Blogger

8. Artist

Making money as an artist is hard, but it can be done. And you don’t always have to be “practical” to do it.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Create a body of work that’s unique and cohesive.

Step 2: Build a website, where you can showcase your work and let people know how to hire you or buy your work.

Step 3: Network, network, network. Success comes from who you know and being in the right circles.

Example:

Rebecca Tillman-Young

Samantha Tidwell

Best place to learn:

RTY Art Academy

Jessica Serran

9. Editor/Proofreader

In today’s information economy, quality matters. Which is why businesses are eager to hire good editors and proofreaders to “fix” their blog posts, reports, and copy.

This is a great job for you if you’ve got an eye for detail and an in-depth knowledge of grammar, usage, and spelling.

And it’s easy to get started.

Step 1: Build a website that explains what you do and how you work.

Step 2: Get the word out on social media. You may also want to send personal emails to publishers and marketing directors in your chosen niche.

Step 3: Wow your clients so they keep coming back for more.

Example:

Jody Calkins

Right Touch Editing

Best place to learn:

Copyediting

Writers and Editors

10. Child care provider

Plenty of parents need childcare but don’t like child care centers. They want someone who will give their kids the feeling of being with family.

Be aware, if you’re really good at getting clients, you could easily start an agency. You get clients, then give the work to qualified babysitters who sign up with you. Everybody’s happy!

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: If you’re just doing babysitting, focus on getting clients. Put the word out that you’re available and have a meet-and-greet with new families to meet their kids.

Step 2: If you want to have a home-based child care center, get inspected and licensed by state and local regulators.

Step 3: Leave the kids happier than when they arrived, and let word-of-mouth bring you all the clients you need.

Example:

Mom’s Best Friend

Angel Sitters

Best place to learn:

How to Start a Quality Child Care Business

Child Care Services Association

11. Baker

Local restaurants residents alike expect great breads and delicious desserts—but most don’t have time or energy to make them.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide the type of baking you want to do and local businesses that might be interested in hiring you.

Step 2: Get the word out. Talk to the restaurant owners. Build a website. And promote your baked good online.

Step 3: Wow your clients and watch the orders come in!

Example:

Katie Keul

Wandering Whisk Bakeshop

Best place to learn:

WebstaurantStore

Bluprint

12. Telephone nurse

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Look for telephone nurse jobs on EveryNurse or freelance nursing positions on 83Bar and CareNet.

Step 2: To help you get freelance jobs, build a website and blog about your nursing know-how.

Step 3: Do a great job supporting your telehealth patients, and enjoy a good living while making a difference in people’s lives.

Example:

EveryNurse

com

Best place to learn:

Nurse Buff

American Telemedicine Association

13. Odd jobs

We live in a gig economy. Meaning you can make a living wage as a Jack of all Trades.

The key is to know your strengths and to manage your time. Find odd jobs that you can do at the same time—like Uber driving and house painting.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide what type of jobs you’d like to do.

Step 2: Sign up for freelancing and gig sites like TaskRabbit and Fivver.

Step 3: Do great work on every gig so you get good reviews and repeat clients.

Example:

EasyShift

Fancy Hands

Best place to learn:

org

Best Home-Based Business Ideas

14. Website tester

Businesses want their websites to work as well as they can. But they need help to know how to optimize them.

Enter the website tester, who performs simple tasks on the website—often while being recorded while doing the tasks—so the website owner can evaluate how well their site works.

You won’t get rich doing website testing. But you can bring home an extra $200 a month pretty easily.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Get a microphone and webcam and make sure you’ve got access to high-speed internet. Then sign up to as many testing sites as you can.

Step 2: Each day, review the assignments each site sends you, and sign up for the ones you like.

Step 3: Do the assignments and get paid the next day.

Example:

UserTest

Testing Time

Best place to learn:

Scott Alan Turner

The Work at Home Woman

15. Animator

You don’t need to be a Disney-level animator to create impressive animations. You don’t even need to be good at drawing.

What you do need is a good animation software like Animate CC (entry-level) or Autodesk Maya (professional).

It’s easy to get started.

Step 1: Start creating your own animations and publishing them on YouTube, where they’ll be seen.

Step 2: Create a killer demo reel. (This is the animator’s “resume.” You won’t get hired without it.)

Step 3: Network. Look for work on UpWork. Keep mailing your demo reel to studios.

Example:

Rich Hinchcliffe

Rubber Onion

Best place to learn:

Bloop Animation

Rusty Animator

16. Video editor

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Choose your genre or niche and look for ways you can stand out from other video editors in the space.

Step 2: Create a short demo reel (3 minutes max) that shows off your video editing skills.

Step 3: Network. Look for work on UpWork. Keep reaching out to prospects and production companies, showing them your demo reel.

Example:

Phillip Gow

Paul Shirley

Best place to learn:

Larry Jordan

Indie Film Hustle

17. Insurance agent

Insurance agents can make great money while helping people protect their health and financial assets. And it gives you lots of choices.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Decide what kind of insurance you want to sell.

Step 2: Learn the requirements in your state. Pas your state exam and apply to insurance agencies.

Step 3: Build a website with good lead generation, and start giving your clients the insurance they need most.

Example:

Charles Green

Pflugerville Insurance Agency

Best place to learn:

Kaplan Financial Education

Agent Survival Guide

18. Bookkeeper

Bookkeepers maintain business’ financial books, including payroll, accounts receivable and payable, billing, purchasing, and taxes.

The good news is you don’t need an accounting degree. But you do need to be comfortable with accounting software and double-entry bookkeeping.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Sign up to UpWork.

Step 2: Build a website promoting your services. Connect with prospects on LinkedIn. Network at local events.

Step 3: Get a few clients and wow them with your efficiency.

Example:

Virtual Bookkeeping Services

Backyard Bookkeeper

Best place to learn:

The Accounting Coach

American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers

19. Data entry specialist

If you’re looking for an easy work-from-home option that gives you an actual living wage, you need to consider data entry.

You will need a computer and high-speed internet. But beyond that, you simply need to be detail-oriented and accurate.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Look for remote data entry jobs on freelance job sites and job boards.

Step 2: Prepare a killer resume. And if you want to set up a freelance data entry business, build a website.

Step 3: Set up phone calls with prospective clients/employers, and show them what you can do.

Example:

Cass Information Systems

Flexjobs

Best place to learn:

Real Way to Earn Money Online

Dream Home Based Work

20. Consultant

If you’re an expert in something people or businesses struggle with, consulting is a way to leverage that experience to make a living from home.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Build a website. Use blogging and social media to establish your expertise.

Step 2: Get some clients and make sure they achieve their goals. Add their testimonials to your website.

Step 3: Promote your process in a book, on stage, and in webinars, so more clients will seek you out.

Example:

Ed Gandia

Perry Marshall

Best place to learn:

com

Consultant Journal

21. Grant writer

Non-profit, fine-art, and research organizations all operate on funding. And that funding must be applied for through killer proposals written by grant writers.

Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Pick a niche and get to know the funders within that space.

Step 2: Build a website that promotes your services and shows off your track record. Use blogging and social media to talk about what you do.

Step 3: Look for grant writing gigs in job services. Consider volunteering time with a nonprofit to write your first few grant proposals and build a high rate of success.

Example:

Professional Grant Writers

Aaron Rome

Best place to learn:

American Grant Writer’s Association

The Chronicle of Philanthropy

What if you only want to be an employee?

No problem!

Here’s how you’ll find work-from-home jobs as a full-time employee.

Step 1: Google “[your specialty] jobs” for a quick listing of jobs near you. For more openings, check out Monster, Indeed, and Glassdoor.

Step 2: Send in an updated (and personalized) resume.

Step 3: Wow them in an interview.

Now you…

You’ve seen my top-21 list of the best work-from-home jobs. All are great opportunities, and most can give you a good income without you ever having to join rush hour traffic again.

Now I’d like to hear from you…

Which ones do you like best?

Have you found other opportunities that you like?

Let me know in the comments below right now.

via https://mlmcompanies.org/work-from-home-jobs/

0 notes