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letsdiscoverkitty · 4 years ago

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"Life" Update - May 2021

This is the last of the three updates I have to post at the moment. If anyone actually reads these, especially in one go, you really do deserve a medal and I have no idea what I have done to deserve your kindness and support but THANK YOU SO MUCH (to all of you who are here, you are all truly wonderful and amazing) Okay, let's get going....

I suppose the title is a bit, well, overkill. To say that anyone has been had any sort of "life" over the past year would be a huge misuse of the word. The global pandemic has, quite literally, turned life upside down for the vast majority of people and I know that lockdowns, especially in the UK, have meant that anything other than what was deemed "essential" has been off the cards, which has hit us all hard.

I personally found it quite difficult whilst I was in hospital as although on the one hand it was good to know that there wasn't much that you were missing out on whilst locked on a ward with 15 minutes fresh air (if you were lucky), it did make it hard to find/hold onto motivation at times. Coupled with the fear of how my dad's condition would progress, whether he would make it and what sort of home life I would be going back to; the world suddenly felt even noisier than it had before (which I didn't think was really possible). The situation seemed to further heighten my fears as well as add to them. I found my mind was swamped with so many questions and fears, to then be asked about my future/what I wanted to do with my life (that classic question) and what my motivations were to get better, was too much. I fell blank.

I had completely lost myself and any shed of hope that was left inside of me. I tried to put on a smile; paint a different picture to the outside world but inside I was dark. I was hollow. I was empty.

What was the point? You never know what is waiting around the corner; everything can turn upside down overnight. What kind of 'life' would there be going back to anyway? Would it be possible to go to University anymore or would there still be multiple restrictions in place? would that make the huge financial costs worth it? What sort of society will we be coming out of the pandemic anyway? Will we even come out of this? Will people ever go back to offices again? Will we be able to see friends soon or go out to places? What about travelling? Fun? LIFE?

I found depression swamped me more than ever after dad's accident. I was trying to hold myself together for mum but I was losing all hope of anything ever being 'the same' or 'okay' again. In the end, the only reason I accepted the admission was for mum - I wanted to be able to support her with dad in hospital and us not know what the future held; as much as I wished I could be there all the time, I knew in the state I was that I couldn't. Initially I was told the admission would be a short one, that I could then go back home to support my mum through the family trauma...but that 4 weeks soon turned into over 8 months, which I still can't believe.

Gosh, I am sorry, I seem to have got a little distracted. This was meant to be the POSITIVE update. So let's get to those bits...

NEWS ONE: I HAVE A JOB (starting in Sept)

So whilst in hospital my consultant kept trying to get me to think about what I wanted to do with my life (just the small questions you know *lol*) - in her eyes she thought it would be risky to go back to University to do neuroscience/a degree so intense, and that instead I should think about doing something more creative, taking small steps to get a part time job and then go from there - which, as much as I hated to admit, I agreed with. However after one particularly bad run-in with the nutritionist when she decided to tell me that she didn't think I could achieve a life beyond Anorexia (it must have been mid-way-ish through my admission) blah blah blah (I get that she could have been trying to motivate me but there is a way to go about it and then there are ways to really not go about it and she chose the latter). Anyway, I was rather angry/mad and ended up doing basically trying to prove everyone wrong and started doing some research into my different options...

Long story short: I ended up applying to a degree apprenticeship scheme in business management...I've never really considered something like this before, perhaps partially because at school they drilled into me that business was a "soft" subject as it would not be looked upon very highly for Oxbridge applications *rolls eyes*. Thankfully I did a lot of research into Degree Apprenticeships a few years ago so I knew where to look online. Anyway, back to this application. I ended up going through the process/tests, somehow managing to make it through the initial online stages, then just before I was discharged I was invited to a online interview!

I only had a few days to do the interview before it timed out so I actually ended up doing it In the end the day after I was discharged (not ideal) and I was convinced that I had messed it up as it was one of those ones where you get shown the question for around 30 seconds before being given 2 minutes to respond - i.e. stress.pressure.anxiety.stumbling over words. HORRENDOUS.

I somehow passed the interview and the reviews before being invited to an online assessment centre in Feb, which spanned a whole day and included multiple interviews (the first was a strengths based interview with 2 interviewers for just over an hour - yuck!!!) as well as a presentation which we were given 24hrs in advance to prepare for (we were given 4 'topics'/questions and had to answer all of them in a 15 minute window using aids if we chose to, again to 2 (different) interviewers before having a 45 minute further interview - double yuck!)

Dare I say that I actually enjoyed the preparation for the presentation and the interviews?! It was so nice to have a focus and something to be working on that I was actually really beginning to connect with/want/see myself doing. The interviews and presentation themselves? HORRIBLE but the process reignited something within me. After the assessment centre day we were told it could be 7-10 working days to hear back from them - waiting for anything like this is just the worst so I wasn't looking forward to it and tried not to get my hopes up as these schemes are ridiculously hard to get into... Well, I got the call the next day saying that they were so impressed and out of something like 14,000 applications, I was offered one of the spaces on the scheme!! - I honestly still can't believe it and imposter syndrome is v real -

I know at the beginning of this I sounded very blase about the whole thing but as I progressed through the process, as I read more about the scheme and the business and what it would entail, the more I began to get excited. The more I realised how interesting it was and what an amazing opportunity it would be for me.

Despite this, I was also at the time, finishing up yet another an application to University (for the millionth time, I swear I must be a pro at these personal statements by now) this time for psychology and behavioural studies. This was before I got the offer of the degree apprenticeship scheme, which I knew was a long shot with only a handful of places given for thousands of applicants, so I felt I had to keep my options open (Neuro is still an area of fascination to me but not so much with the INTENSE LEVEL of physiology and pharmacology that I was doing at Bristol. Yes bits of it were good and interesting but that degree was ridiculous and, again, I felt far more drawn towards the behavioural studies and psychology when researching into Universities). I ended up getting 3 offers, 1 interview for Cambridge and 1 rejection (ironically from Bristol, even with my recommendation/support being from my previous personal tutor at Bristol!) - so I suddenly had options. And then the offer from the degree apprenticeship came through and there were even more options to choose from.

It honestly felt so surreal (and still does).

In the end, after a lot of thinking and debating and researching and talking, I decided to withdraw my University application and I accepted the degree apprenticeship role. Overall it is such an incredible opportunity that I knew I couldn't turn down, whereas University will always be there. I am actually getting a little excited about it (as well as extremely nervous, but I must say that the company has made a really positive/good impression thus far, even as far as creating MH podcasts with a psychologist for us and offering things like zoom baking sessions!).

So what is this degree apprenticeship? In short, it is a 3 year course during which I will have a Monday to Friday job at the company (for which the office is actually commutable from home - it is about 1hrs drive, which is not the best but it does mean that I can stay at home for at least the first year and there is a train I could get if I was too tired to do the drive all the time. As much as staying at home is not my long term plan it might help with the transition back to work/education to have a bit of stability and the support). During the first 2 years at the company we do four separate 6 month rotations in different areas to get lots of experience (marketing, supply chain, sales etc) whilst in the final year you get to put in a preference for where you would like to work for the year long placement. During this, every 6 or 7 weeks, we have to spend a week at University (which is not in commutable distance at all so the the company pays for our accommodation, travel and food during this time). As far as I have been told, we also get time during the working week allocated to do Uni work as well as our standard 'desk' jobs. Oh and not to mention one of the biggest sellers for degree apprenticeships....the company is basically sponsoring you so pays ALL of your tuition fees PLUS a basic salary! This means that you come out, in this case, with a Chartered business management degree, 3 years of hands-on work experience, as well as you being pretty much guaranteed a job within the company AND no student debt!!! How incredible is that? PLUS one big perk of the job is that they allow dogs in the office - I mean how could I say no to that?!!!!

So yes, by some magical miracle I actually have a job lined up for September! It still doesn't feel real and I am yet to fully process it. They don't know how it will be affected by COVID but the company did continue the programme last year (unlike some that postponed) so fingers crossed all should be going ahead. I have 'met' the other 4(?) who are on the scheme at my office as well and they seem lovely (including one other person who is my age/slightly older - which was such a relief as I was worried about it being only people just out of college).

I realise that it is going to be tough, I do not underestimate that at all, but I couldn't let anorexia still yet ANOTHER life milestone and opportunity away from me. There was a lot of questioning as to whether I should take it or not; I went back and forth between many spreadsheets that I made but I think this opportunity far outweighs going back to University. I have tried that route twice already and had to leave because of everything/haven't really coped (I think in some ways, being at Uni there is TOO MUCH free time and it allowed my perfectionism to run riot as I always felt like I was 'behind' in one way or another?). And that is not to mention that if I was going back to University, I would need to spend another 3-4 years studying, I would leave with little work experience or job in mind at the age of 29/30 with a mountain of debt.... And as I said before, I can always go back to University if I want to in the future/re train if I decide to, but this opportunity with a global company, well, this will never ever come my way again.

So yes that is my BIG BIG news. But I also have one more bit of news....

I'm getting a kitten. Yes, A KITTEN!!!!! I have so much more to say on this but for now you will have to wait and see. Photos will come when SHE does (a couple of weeks now)!!!

#personal #update #long #sorry I am no good at writing short posts anymore #well I never was #but this is my big news #TWO BITS OF BIG NEWS #ive still been baking and crocheting #and have taken up some gardening #and just generally trying to muddle through each day to be honest with you

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allabouthousesbuying · 4 years ago

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What to Expect When You Are Considering House Buyers With Cash

One of the most common questions asked by prospective house buyers is; can I buy a house without cash? Although it sounds like a good idea, it is important to remember that this question may not be as simple to answer as it initially seems. Purchasing a house on the "paper" without putting any money down can be a difficult proposition. This is especially true if the market is weak and house prices are expected to fall. You can view here for more info.

Before purchasing real estate, buyers should first ask themselveswhy they want to purchase a house. A house purchase should be driven by a specific reason, such as improving living conditions or investing for retirement. It should be determined beforehand whether the purchase will be financed with a mortgage or loan, so that the house buyers' cash flow does not become dependent on the house's performance. Once a decision is made as to why the house is needed, the next step is to find a good real estate agent who has a proven track record of good customer service and good real estate transactions. You can read more about real estate here.

Another thing that homebuyers should consider is how much house can be reasonably afforded by their combined income and assets. Some house buyers opt to purchase property that is below market value because they are able to afford a large down payment, but in the long run the house will probably cost more than the down payment. A better option for these would be to purchase real estate that is slightly over market value and pay the balance in three to five years. This allows the house buyer to build equity in their new property and potentially borrow money to finance future real estate purchases.

Once all of the above considerations have been addressed, the home buyer can decide on the property that is right for them. This involves much research and thinking on the part of the buyer. Buyers should have realistic expectations about what the house they are buying will actually sell for in the future. A realistic figure is a sales price that takes into account possible appreciation and future property taxes. Many real estate agents provide their clients with guides that help them determine what property will sell for in the future. The guides typically list historical sales statistics and other factors that can impact the final amount that is paid by the seller to the buyer. Take a look at this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate for more information.

Once the house buyers have found a property that meets their investment and financing needs, it is time to make the actual offer. Preparing to make an offer can take some time so it is helpful if the house buyer has a real estate attorney to look over the offer. The attorney will make sure that the offer is legally binding and that all of the necessary paperwork has been provided. This will ensure that the offer gets accepted as the rightful owner of the property.

Purchasing real estate with the cash can be a lucrative way to enter the world of real estate ownership. However, it requires a lot of thought and consideration. Being prepared and knowing what to expect will help a buyer makes an offer that will keep them from being turned down by another interested buyer.

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write-havoc · 6 years ago

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The Glasswing Butterfly Part 1

Summary: Chuck has never thought of herself as anything special. Just an average beta living her life next door to a womanizing alpha named Negan. But her life, and Negan’s too, are turned upside down when Chuck suddenly presents as omega.

This is a non-zombie AU featuring A/B/O dynamics.

Fandom: The Walking Dead AU

Pairing: Negan/Original Female Character

Status: Ongoing

Contains: swearing, smut

Intended for readers 18+ of age only

Masterlist in my bio

Chuck rakes her hands through her strawberry bond hair and growls at the computer screen on her desk in her apartment. “Why aren’t you working!? What did I mess up?” she grumbles. The code she had just input is not working the way she expected. She’s still ahead on what she was supposed to get done for the day, but she it’s still frustrating to have to search through code to find your mistake.

Chuck had started to work for Ad Astra Software in Charlottesville, Virginia about four years ago, right after she graduated from college. After about a year working there, she was allowed the opportunity to work from home, which Chuck accepted happily. Being naturally shy and introverted, she finds it difficult to work around other people. Being at home, alone in her space allows her to work much faster and better than if she had to deal with a bunch of people around her. Now, she only has to go in to the office about once a month to check in.

After her graduation is also when she moved to her current home. The one bedroom apartment is just perfect for her. The open plan living area contains a small kitchen and has enough room for Chuck’s couch, tv, computer desk, and a small dining room table. The bedroom isn’t exactly spacious, but it has a small closet and an en-suite bathroom that is actually fairly big. It’s in a pretty good neighborhood, too, which her mother especially likes.

Chuck’s cell phone rings and she turns it over to see, though she already knows who it is. Her mom’s picture and the name “Diane Langdon” shine on the screen. Chuck accepts the call and stands from her chair to start pacing around her apartment. She could never sit still and talk on the phone at the same time.

“Hi, Mom,” she answers.

Her mom’s cheery voice rings through the speaker. “ Hey, sweetie. Whatcha doing? ”

“Working. What are you doing?”

Diane takes a bite of her sandwich and answers without swallowing. “ I’m taking a break. Eating my lunch. ”

Diane works as a nurse at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, so she doesn’t always get time to talk to her daughter from work. But she tries to talk to Chuck at least once a day, no matter what.

Chuck suddenly yawns into the phone. Not because she’s bored with her mother, but because she didn’t get much sleep last night. “Ugh,” she groans and rubs at the crick in her neck. “I need to get a more comfortable couch since I end up sleeping on it so much.”

“ What’s wrong with your bed? ”

Chuck lets out a huff. “You know why, Mom. Negan ,” Chuck emphasizes.

Negan is Chuck’s next door neighbor. And they happen to share a wall between their bedrooms. It didn’t take Chuck too many nights to figure out that that wall isn’t exactly sound proof. And that Negan is somewhat of a womanizer, bringing home a different girl a few times a week and “entertaining” her. Which always ends up with Chuck hearing moans and screams and Negan’s headboard slamming up against the wall.

“ Oh. That’s right ,” Diane answers with a little chuckle. “ Your alpha neighbor. ”

“Yeah. He’s like the worst alpha ever.”

“ I don’t know if that’s true, Chuck. He’s not bashing people’s brains in, is he? ” she jokes.

“I guess not,” Chuck concedes. “But he’s so arrogant! Like way more arrogant than any other alpha I’ve met.”

Diane chuckles into the phone. “ You know alphas love showing off for us betas. ”

It was no surprise that Chuck didn’t present as omega in her early teens, though her demeanor is very omega-like. Both Chuck’s parents are beta. Or was beta, in the case of Chuck’s father. He had passed away when Chuck was eight years old from a car accident. He was struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the highway and died almost instantly.

Omegas in general are pretty rare, comprising about 5% of the world’s population. And they almost always come from alpha/omega pairings. But omegas being born from beta parents has been documented, so it’s not entirely impossible.

And Chuck has no way of knowing that she is actually part of that 5%. Yet.

Chuck lets out a huff as she thinks about what a douche Negan is. “Well... Remember when I first moved here and I left a note on his door informing him that I could hear his... uh...” Chuck isn’t sure how to describe it to her mother, “ night activities ,” she settles on. “And because I’m a nice person, I thought he should know so he didn’t get embarrassed about it. Then the next day, he left me a note saying ‘Enjoy the show’! Like, who does that?!”

Diane laughs. “ Oh, yeah. I forgot he did that. ”

“Yeah! He could’ve at least moved his bed from our shared wall like I did. But, no. He kept it there. And I swear he got louder after that.”

“ Well, I’m not surprised he has a steady stream of women to entertain. He’s very handsome. ”

Chuck groans. “Yeah, yeah. I know, Mom. You think he’s so hot.”

Chuck knows that Negan is a good looking man. He’s tall, like most alphas, but he’s not as bulky as some are. He’s more... lithe , if Chuck would have to put a word to it. His dark hair always seems to be slicked back perfectly and his beard, of course, has just the right amount of gray.

“ Well... ” Diane giggles. “ He’s nice to look at. ”

“I guess. But he’s horrible to live next to. No amount of dimples makes up for that.”

Diane laughs hard. She had told her daughter more than once about how much she liked Negan’s pronounced dimples. “ I suppose, sweetie. You know alphas can’t help but be assholes. Especially the handsome ones. ”

“It’s annoying.”

Diane’s pager beeps. “ Shit. ” She leans down to look at the device on her hip. “ I gotta get back to work. I’ll talk to you later. ”

“Ok, Mom.”

“ Love you. ”

“Love you, too. Bye.”

Chuck sets her phone back down and goes back to her work, finding her mistake and fixing it accordingly. Once she has everything else done, she decides to actually look for new couch online. The couch in her living room that has been doubling as her bed a few nights a week is a few years old and was pretty much the cheapest option available when she moved in and needed furniture. She researches various models and sellers and finally places an order for one she thinks will suit her needs.

While she’s at it, she also stocks up on some other things she needs. Her mother always tells her that it’s weird that she buys groceries and the like online, but Chuck would rather do it this way. Being in crowded stores is not Chuck’s idea of a good time.

So, yeah, she’s a bit of a homebody.

Chuck had never been a social butterfly. And throughout her childhood and schooling, she had never really had any friends. No close ones, anyway. Her shyness made it hard for her to put herself out there and make friends. And the fact that she always felt like a freak kept her from getting close to anyone that may actually try to be her friend.

When Chuck was sixteen, it was found that she had underdeveloped reproductive organs. Her ovaries were mostly normal, which meant that she still went through puberty, somewhat. She had filled out and grew body hair, at least. But her uterus and vagina hadn’t matured properly, which meant that she would never get a period or be able to have a child. Even having sex would be extremely difficult.

Chuck’s doctors don’t realize that her underdeveloped organs are pretty typical of a very rare syndrome afflicting omegas. So Chuck has no way of knowing that, either.

He condition is something that Chuck could easily hide from most people. But she would ultimately have to tell any man that may be interested in her that she could never have sex or give him children. So she simply never pursued anything romantic. She kept to herself, never going to parties or even really socializing in any meaningful way.

Yes, it’s a lonely existence. But the alternative seems so much worse to Chuck. She always had nightmare scenarios of telling fantasy boyfriends that she wasn’t normal. They would laugh at her. Call her a freak. Tell her that she wasn’t worth it. That she should just go away and disappear.

So she did just that, herself, before anyone could tell her. She was essentially a ghost in her own life, never making an impact or impression on anyone.

That night, Chuck decides to get some laundry done. She usually goes at night because the machines in the basement always seem to be in use during the day, which seems pretty normal for people keeping a regular schedule. But Chuck is somewhat of a night owl, actually. She loves the fact that she can sleep in because she can set her own hours at work. And she’s happy that her lost sleep during the night because of her neighbor doesn’t necessarily lead to her having horrible mornings. If she had a normal 9 to 5, she would go completely crazy.

Chuck doesn’t know how Negan does it. She knows that Negan does have a 9 to 5, yet he still takes out several hours a few nights a week to have sex with random women. He must take naps.

Chuck gathers up her hamper and takes the elevator down to the basement. When she gets to the laundry room, though, she stops dead in her tracks. Negan is in there with a beta woman that Chuck recognizes as another tenant. And she’s sitting on one of the machines with Negan standing between her spread legs. Their mouths are all over each other, making lewd noises. And Negan’s hand is conspicuously in between their bodies.

Chuck instantly turns around an leaves, fully disgusted at the sight. But as she reenters her apartment, that disgust turns into something else. She’s hurt. Not in the way you might think. She’s not jealous of the woman because Negan is all over her rather than herself. No, she’s more envious . Of both of them. Envious of the fact that Negan is naturally good looking and charming enough that it’s so easy for him to get women. Envious of the woman that she’s beautiful and sexy enough to get a man like Negan’s attention. Envious that they can easily have what Chuck can’t. She knows that they aren’t in a relationship, because she’s pretty sure Negan doesn’t do relationships, but they still could have that kind of intimacy with another person. The kind of intimacy that Chuck would never have.

Chuck breaks down once she gets to her bedroom. All of her self hatred seems to consume her all at once. Her body is wracked with sobs and she cries into her pillow heavily. This isn’t a normal occurrence. Yes, she cried at times. Yes, she was sad. Depressed, even. But this all consuming emotion is new to Chuck. It’s part of an escalation.

She had found herself being frustrated more often, having a shorter fuse. And she was more restless. But she kept it all from her mother, not knowing how to really explain what she’s going through.

When Chuck wakes up the next morning, her whole body hurts and she has a hard time even getting out of bed. But, again, she doesn’t tell her mother when she calls her. She says that everything is fine. And her mom believes her.

But Chuck doesn’t realize that some of the pain she is feeling isn’t just because of her panic attack last night. Her body is changing and she doesn’t even know it.

Chuck’s monthly day at the office comes and she readies herself for it. They were pretty laid back there, so she just dresses casually. Though the first T-shirt she pulls out ends up being too tight around her chest. She hadn’t really seen her weight go up too much on the scale, but her clothes seemed to be fitting her differently. Her diet hadn’t changed, but she thinks that maybe it’s just her metabolism changing with age. What she doesn’t really see though, is that all the changes are to her chest and hips, making her curvier than what she was before. Giving her a more classic omega physique.

When Chuck gets back to her building, she ends up walking behind Negan. He enters the elevator before her and holds the door so it doesn’t close. Chuck is actually a bit surprised at the polite gesture, figuring that Negan wasn’t capable of being chivalrous. But that good will fades when he looks back at her after he pushes the button for the fifth floor.

“What floor, sweetheart?” he asks.

Chuck hesitates to answer.

He doesn’t even know that I’m his next door neighbor. I’ve been living beside him for four years and he doesn’t even recognize me , she thinks.

“Uh... three,” she answers without really thinking.

He pushes the button then pulls out his phone to answer some texts, completely unaware how his simple question has affected the girl beside him. Chuck tries not to let it get to her. She tries to focus on anything but the dark feeling that’s bubbling up in her chest once again. What’s the song playing in the elevator? What’s she going to eat when she gets home? What cologne is Negan wearing? It smells good.

When the door opens on the third floor, Chuck exits and starts to walk down the hall, pretending to head to her nonexistent apartment. When she hears the elevator doors close again, she turns back around and enters the stairwell.

Yeah, it was a little stupid not to just tell Negan that she was headed to the same floor he was, but she was too embarrassed.

How could he not know that I’m his neighbor? she thinks. How am I that unmemorable? What is wrong with me?

Chuck checks the hall on her actual floor to make sure Negan is in his apartment before she exits the stairwell. With the coast clear, she walks through the hallway and enters her apartment, throwing her keys and bag on the counter beside the door. Once she gets inside, she lets out a heavy breath, that same self hatred bubbling up in her again.

“Great,” she mutters to herself when she feels her eyes well up with tears. “Just great.”

The rest of the day is rough for Chuck. She tries to keep her mind occupied with anything, really. Tv, video games, a book, but that lonely, dark feeling is ever present.

About a minute after Chuck gets into bed for the night, she starts to hear Negan and his current lady friend next door.

She lets out a huff. “Really?!” She turns over on her side and pulls the pillow over her head to try to stifle the sounds. But with every minute that ticks by that Chuck can’t block out the noises, her anger rises. Eventually, she can’t take it anymore and whips her covers off of her, jumping out of the bed. She stomps out to the living room and unplugs her Bluetooth stereo, carrying it back into her room to set it up on her desk, facing Negan’s apartment.

Chuck picks up her phone from her nightstand and opens Spotify, intent on creating the world’s least sexy playlist. The Mickey Mouse Club theme song, Cat’s in the Cradle, Tiptoe Through the Tulips, How much is that Doggy in the Window, and some random songs from the Christian rock channel soon blast out of Chuck’s speakers.

Yeah, it’s petty. And it’s certainly not a thing that Chuck would normally do, but she just couldn’t take it anymore.

The next morning, Chuck is woken up by a pounding on her front door. After she gets over the initial shock of being rudely awoken, she remembers everything that went on last night.

“Oh, god,” she whispers when she realizes who is probably at the door. “Oh, no no no.” She scrambles off the couch and searches for something to put on, because she’s certainly not answering the door in just her tank top and sleep shorts. Just as she finds her hoodie and pulls it over her head, there is more pounding at the door.

“Jeez,” she mutters and unlocks the door, pulling it open slightly.

The exact person she thought is standing before her, looking angry to boot. But his expression changes to confusion pretty quick.

When Negan had decided to his confront his neighbor, he realized that he actually didn’t know who it was. C. Langdon is the name on the mailbox beside his, but for the life of him, he can’t picture the person. They must be a shut in, because he never sees them coming or going. Probably on welfare or disability or something. But what he sees when the door opens completely confuses him.

Negan stares at the girl a moment before speaking. “You got parents?” he asks. The girl doesn’t look like she’s out of her teens to him. But he thought all the tenants with families lived on the first two floors.

Chuck scrunches up her face. “Of course I have parents,” she bites back with uncharacteristic attitude. She was never one to talk back, but she’s finding it increasingly hard to control herself.

He lets out a huff. “Don’t be a smartass, kid.” He’s used to dealing with teenagers from when he used to be a gym coach years ago. And right now, he’s thinking that he doesn’t miss it one bit. “Is your mom or dad here?”

Chuck is confused for a moment until she realizes that Negan thinks she’s a teenager. It’s not exactly new to her; people always think she’s young. But for some reason, it annoys her endlessly hearing it from Negan. “I’m twenty five,” she barks. “And this is my apartment.”

At first, Negan doesn’t believe it, because the girl standing before him looks very young. But he knows her apartment is set up exactly like his. It makes more sense that only a single person would live there. And he knows C. Langdon has lived there for a few years. So her being twenty five seems to fit.

None of that matters anyway because Negan suddenly remembers why he knocked on this girl’s door. “So, you think that shit you pulled last night was fuckin’ funny?”

Chuck knows that she should be ashamed about what she did last night because it was childish and petty, but she’s really not. In her eyes, Negan deserved it. And, maybe she should be more cautious about having an angry alpha on her doorstep. Despite that, she doesn’t back off. “Actually, I thought it was hilarious.”

Negan chuckles darkly. “Well,” he leans forward, “ I didn’t find it fuckin’ funny, little girl.”

That just rubs Chuck the wrong way. “Don’t call me a little girl. I’m an adult,” she asserts.

Negan looks down at her and thinks that she couldn’t possibly look less like an adult if she tried. So he laughs at her. “Alright, princess .”

“My name is Chuck .”

“What the fuck kind of name is that?”

“What kind of name is Negan ?” she retorts.

He lets out a huff from his flared nostrils. This girl is getting on his nerves. “Listen, princess, that shit you did cost me a night of fucking cuz my date couldn’t stand the shit you were playing. So don’t fuckin’ do it again.”

“Maybe keep it down a little and I won’t.”

A smirk forms on his face. “I can’t help it if I give a good dicking.”

Chuck scrunches up her face. “You’re disgusting.”

That’s not the first time he’s heard that, but for some reason, it bothers him coming from her. So, of course, instead of backing off, he pushes forward. “Maybe you just need a good dicking, yourself. It might help to remove that fuckin’ stick you got up your ass.”

Chuck is taken aback at that. She’s offended and hurt. And it takes the fight right out of her. Without knowing it, Negan had hit a pressure point of hers and it leaves her reeling. The only thing she could do is slam the door in his face. And that’s exactly what she does.

Negan pulls his head back at the last possible moment, narrowly avoiding being hit on the nose by the swinging door. He’s still angry, though. He leans on the door, placing his mouth close to it and calls out, “Oh, little girl. You have no idea the shit storm you just brought down on yourself.”

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gruhapraveshinteriors · 2 years ago

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How to pick a good plywood for your home interior work in India?

Plywood is a man-made composite material that is made of thin layers of wood called wood veneers. These wood veneers are glued and pressed together with alternating grain directions to make the plywood stronger.

Types of plywood

There are various types of plywood used for furniture making or home interior designing, and you should know the plywood types to select a good plywood. Dealers or plywood seller may not let you know all this as they push the material, they are dealing with for just a good profit margin.

There are many types of plywood available in the market for various purposes like Hardwood plywood, Softwood plywood, Gurjan Plywood, mixed hardwood plywood, structural plywood, Poplar plywood, Birch Plywood, Beech plywood, sanded plywood, Aircraft plywood, Rubberwood plywood, Flexible plywood, Shuttering plywood, Blockboard type plywood etc.

But a better understanding Plywood can be classified into two types

Hardwood

Softwood

Hardwood plywood has a high density and heavy which makes it more durable. It is used for Structures and heavy furniture as its load bearing strength is high.

While soft plywood is lighter than hardwood plywood and less durable. It can’t take heavy load and generally cheaper than the harder one. It is used for Shelves, wall designs, small furniture etc.

Some classified various types of plywood as belows:

1) Structural — These are used for building purposes and for heavy furniture making. The thickness ranges from 4mm to 25mm. These are more expensive than other types because they have higher strength and durability.

2) Furniture — These are used for making light furniture items such as small cabinets, tables, chairs etc. They can be classified as hard-core (less expensive) or soft-core (more expensive). Soft core plywood is usually used for decorative purposes while hard-core plywood can be used to make furniture items that require a lot more strength like cabinets or tables.

Uses of plywood

After gradually increase in population specially in urban area, furniture requirement is huge. Also, in the time being home design is a trend. For that plywood or natural wood is the main ingredient and in absence of natural wood especially in India Plywood or engineered wood is in high demand.

From furniture to cabinets plywood is now a integral part of every home., and other products. Apart from that plywood is used in many sectors from packeing to manufacturing and from industrial use to construction.

Selection of Plywood

plywood manufacturers india produce several types of plywood with different properties to execute various task. Like BWP-grade(also called IS:710plywood or waterproof plywood) for home interior and modular furniture making. IS:303 MR grade plywood for commercial uses, Shuttering plywood for roofing, Flexible plywood for designs, blockboards for furniture shutters etc.

And due to the major presence of unorganised sector in the plywood industry in india, it can be difficult for you or a Lehman to find the right kind of plywood between various grades as for your needs.

There are a few things that you should consider when you are trying to decide which type of plywood to purchase. If you are looking for an option, then consider buying plywood from the top plywood Brands in India. As, it is very difficult for a person to distinguish a good plywood from the market who is not dealing with the plywood regularly. Although, there are some plywood brands which are not known to many are manufacturing good quality of plywood but as I said its very difficult to differentiate.

There are also birch plywood and pine plywood which are good. Pine and birch plywoods both have low prices, but they cannt be easily found in most of the stores in India. Plywoods made from Gurjan wood are more expensive than pine or birch, but they will also last longer and provide a higher quality. But now a days Gurjan plywood are rare.

Most of the plywood found in India are made up off Hardwood mainly from eucalyptus woods known as Safeda in some region. They are the high-quality Hardwood plywood. My advice for you to just go with the IS:710 marked BWP plywood from a reputed Plywood manufacturers from India rather than confuse with so many things.

Cost of Plywood

The quality and cost of plywood depends on the type of wood, the type of glue and the thickness. A plywood from a top plywood companies will cost around Rs 100 per square feet to 180 per square feet for a 19mm BWP grade plywood. That means a 8ft x 4ft size of plywood will cost around Rs 3200 to Rs 5760 per sheet.

Plywood size and thicknesses

Most of the plywood manufacturers produce plywood in the below sizes 8ft x 4ft, 8ft x 3ft, 7ft x 4ft, 7ft x 3ft, 6ft x 4ft, 6ft x 3ft

The thickness you can avail are 4mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, 16mm, 18mm, 19mm, 25mm etc.

Conclusion

Plywood industry is dominated by 80% of unorganised players. Only 20% market is availed by some genuine Plywood brands. Hence it is difficult to select a genuine plywood unless it is not from a reliable source. So you can contact the best plywood brands directly through their website and they will provide there dealer for your service.

#plywood manufacturers india #Plywood manufacturers #plywood companies

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pomegranate-salad · 6 years ago

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Pom’s Summer reads (as she was stuck in the hospital)

Hey guys ! Sorry I haven’t been around in a while. The reason is… I was back in the psych ward. Mental health is no fun. But this time around, I was so bored out of my mind that I actually took a look at the scarcely furnished, yet surprisingly eclectic hospital library. Which consisted of two shelves of donated books in various states of decay. But since beggars can’t be choosers, I went and started reading randomly selected books from this motley collection. And I thought it would be fun to make a reading list out of it to share my findings. I have terrible ideas.

So, here’s what I read over the last two weeks :

- Mythologies by Roland Barthes

Genre : Essay – Philosophy

Length : average

Available in English : partially

I had only read excerpts of this staple of cultural criticism before, so I thought it was high time I read the whole thing. This takes a look to the making of modern myths from a Marxist perspective, finding meaning in items as deceptively trivial as laundry detergent and haircuts in movies. This book consists of a first part made of a series of small commentaries, and a second part that takes a deeper look into the mechanisms and power of myth making. Some of the essays of the first part are not included in the English version of this book, presumably because the references studied were too “French” to speak to foreign readers. The references as a whole have aged (I had to google quite a few things, even as a French reader) but it speaks to the quality of the commentary that the thoughts expressed in this book are still relevant to our modern culture. You can probably find one of its most famous bits online, an essay about wrestling and the theatrical culture it illustrates.

This is an important and interesting book, but one that’s maybe a bit arid to read cover to cover : I found picking it up at intervals to read one essay or two was the best way to enjoy this book. You can of course also check out Barthes’ highly influential essay on the Death of the Author, but I also enjoyed his lesser-known essay The pleasure of the Text and his collection of Critical essays.

- The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Genre : Novel

Length : average

Available in English : Yes

Content warning : explicit sexual content

This was a weird, weird but pretty amazing one. Assuredly the best surprise of the lot. This starts off as a straightforward tale of a girl raised as a boy by a traditionalist father in modern Morocco as told by a storyteller on a marketplace, but it quickly devolves into several levels of metatextuality and dreamlike elements until story, characters and storyteller are interweaved into a reflexion about the nature of stories itself.

Aptly enough, this reminded most of Sandman, but also of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, both excellent things of which to remind someone. This is also the rare reflexion on gender roles and identity within the context of Islamic culture. But most of all, this is all written with a unique style, as if the author was drunk on language ; it’s a bit hard to get into, but it’s also captivating at the same time. Of all the books in this list, this is the one I would reread again and again just to try and understand all its levels. If you like this kind of surreal literature, definitely check this one out.

- Oyster by John Biguenet

Genre : Novel

Length : average to long

Content warning : mild violence

This was a frustrating one. It’s not a great book, yet it could have been one. This is yet another story of rivalry, secrets and revenge between two poor white families, this time living from oyster farming in Louisiana in the late fifties. The plot is fairly standard, and narrated in such a way that it constantly gets in the way of its dramatic potential. The writing is I think the problem here, especially around dialogue and plot progression, making the whole thing feel flat. Which is a shame because when the book lingers on details of the life of poor oyster farmers, it can be remarkably evocative.

This is the kind of book I want to put in a shaker and shake to put each element back where it belongs. I’m not difficult when it comes to Southern Gothic : I will basically read anything as long as it reminds me even a little bit of William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams. So it was frustrating to see this one being able to conjure its own atmosphere while not sticking the landing with its story. If you know of any good modern Southern Gothic novels, please send them my way, I’m hungry.

- The ghost in the Noonday sun by Sid Fleischman

Genre : Novel

Length : short

I have no idea how much of a staple of children’s literature this book is, so maybe all of you are already familiar with it. Personally, I hadn’t read it in quite a while since the version we have at home is now missing some key pages. But if by chance you haven’t read this, please go invest an hour of your life into reading this funny, witty and earnest pirate story about a teenager who gets kidnapped by a superstitious pirate who believes he’s able to see ghosts in order to locate the treasure of his old captain who was buried with it.

In a just world, there’d be a cult movie based on this book instead of one of dubious quality staring an erratic Peter Sellers. This is children’s literature of the best kind : one that takes its audience seriously, is able to create an atmosphere and is still a fun to reread as an adult. This was kind of super-nostalgic to me to pick this one, but I couldn’t resist.

- The Awkward Squad by Sophie Hénaff (and its sequel Stick together)

Genre : Novel – Crime

Length : average

Available in English : Yes

I had to have read at least one crime novel in this lot, but in the end I only read two, since the other options were Mary Higgins Clark books and since I have a grandmother, I had already read those. It’s a shame that French crime novels don’t have as much of an international reputation as Scandinavian or American ones, since we do have an interesting tradition of our own : books mainly based on ensemble casts of motley characters, with a poetic streak and a sensitivity to absurdism. The premise of this series is that in order to get better statistics, the new policer commissioner has decided to regroup all undesirable police officers they can’t fire in one single squad, and make sure this lame duck unit doesn’t attract any attention. But some people from this unit have of course decided otherwise.

These books held pretty well as far as crime novels go, they are a lot of fun at times and read easily. The character work and dialogue are definitely this series’ best asset, as it is the case with many French crime books. If you want the best the genre has to offer, check out my all-time favourite, the Adamsberg series from author Fred Vargas, in order : The Chalk Circle Man, Seeking whom he may devour, Have mercy on us all, and Wash this Blood clean from my Hand.

- The Three-Arched Bridge by Ismail Kadaré

Genre : Novel

Length : short

Available in English : Yes

This was hardly a surprise that I loved this one : I’ve been a fan of Kadaré for a while. This is yet another of his books that explores the frontiers of reality and legend, superstition and magic within a fascinating historical context. Here, his subject is the building of a bridge in Albania toward the end of the 14th century, as the Turkish invasion is looming. The narrator, a monk, relates both political and mundane events surrounding the isolated region, as increasingly troubling phenomenon surround the construction site, announcing the troubled future of the country.

I do love my historical/supernatural novels, and Kadaré is a master of the genre. This reads easily while making a lasting impression and leaving you hungry for more. If you do, I can’t recommend enough checking out more of Kadaré’s work, his classic The General of the Dead Army, and my personal favourites The Pyramid and The Ghost Rider.

- The Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy

Genre : Novel

Length : long

I picked this one deep in my “I’m fucking sick of reading, but there’s still nothing else to do” phase, since I needed something that would be easy to read and at least somewhat good, and old Douglas did not disappoint : this book might be almost 800 pages long, it reads in a dedicated handful of hours. This is primarily the story of two women, one who just lost her mother and the other who appears in her life after the funeral, apparently knowing a lot about her family, to give her a manuscript retracing her story. The portrayal of the main characters is realistic, both are flawed individuals with distinct stories and personalities, so cheers to that.

This is the kind of familial saga-that’s-also-a-reflexion-on-destiny-and-the-American-dream you never get tired of until you do. Don’t let my snide deter you though : this is a very good book, maybe just not singular enough for its genre. If you’re looking for something more particular, you can of course check out Steinbeck’s East of Eden, the metric by which all American familial sagas are judged, and Roth’s American Pastoral, which contrary to what you may have heard, is a weird goddamn book.

- Allah is not obliged by Ahmadou Kourouma

Genre : Novel

Length : average

Available in English : Yes

Content warning : extremely disturbing and graphic description of atrocities in wartime

A first-person description of tribal wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone during the nineties from the point of view of a fictitious child soldier. It doesn’t pretend to stick by its premise though, and dives into detailed record of the political climate, all while taking us through the daily horrors of life in war-torn countries. The extremely down-to-earth and downright crude descriptions are interweaved with magic realism rooted in West African voodoo and culture.

This one was one of my favourites, despite the writing and narrative bordering on gimmicky at times ; especially at the end, where the story seems to have exhausted itself and seems more interested in recounting the political history of the region. The subject in and of itself is fascinating (and this is a great read if you’re not familiar with it) but sorts of impinges on the main storyline and the development of its characters.

Despite its flaws, I can only recommend this book, especially if you’re looking to delve into West African literature as this makes for a good introduction to the genre. Be aware however that this book is extremely hard to stomach and triggering in about every way possible. If you do like it, I recommend checking out my favourite book by this author, Waiting for the Wild Beasts to vote.

- Hymns of Hate by Dorothy Parker

Genre : Poetry

Length : short

I have a complicated relationship with poetry : as in, I am fond of it and some poetry books have come to mean a lot in my life, yet for some reason I never seem to be in the mood for picking one. So the reason this chapbook got picked is probably that your brain functions differently when the world around you is an ocean of noise and agitation due to a little event called the World Cup. Yes, even at the hospital, the French victory was dutifully celebrated, so this was the best time to isolate yourself with some earplugs and a poetry book.

Dorothy Parker is an acerbic poetess from the twenties who takes a comical and critical look at society, which leads to what I’d call comedy roast as poetry. It’s not the most moving kind of poetry, but it will make you laugh and reflect on yourself a bit, as I can guarantee you’ll recognize yourself in at least some of the vivid portraits this book draws. Of course, since I read it in French, it probably lost a lot of its musicality, which is the eternal dilemma when it comes to poetry : would I rather have something be lost in translation, or in reading in your non-native language ?

This kind of impertinent poetry, even if it doesn’t get as much press as big romantic oeuvres, is still a breath of fresh air that puts a smile on your face while still giving you an insight into the author’s personality. The only poet I can think of that produced the same effect on me is Jacques Prévert. I highly recommend checking out his two chapbooks Paroles and Stories.

- Six characters in search of an author by Luigi Pirandello

Genre : Play

Length : short

Available in English : Yes

So before you say anything, I didn’t know he was a fascist before I picked this one. But you do now, so feel free not to read this one as a matter of principle. That being said, this is a very good play. This is the kind of hyper-conceptual play that interrogates the relationship between characters, writer and comedians. The story is exactly what it says in the title : six characters imagined by an author but who never got their play written tumble into a theatre as actors are repeating a play and ask them to write their play.

This play has stage directions for days and is a little bit hard to get a sense of when you read it instead of seeing it, yet once you get how the whole thing works, the ideas expressed are extremely interesting. This reminded me of Ionesco’s works, particularly The bald Soprano and the criminally underrated The Chairs. The theme of characters escaping the grasp of their authors can also be found in Paul Auster’s Man in the Dark which, while by no means one of the author’s best works, is still a fun and meditative read so don’t hesitate to check it out.

- What money can’t buy, the moral limits of markets by Michael J. Sandel

Genre : Essay – Economy

Length : average

I picked this one primarily because it was the only one in English, and also because I like to periodically remind myself why I left business school. I ended up having a good time reading it, because it’s more about thinking the market than explaining it. This book discusses the things that money can buy today – cutting in line, naming rights, stakes on someone’s life – and whether we should be alarmed of this growing market mentality. In the true tradition of English essays, this book makes its thesis clear at the beginning and then reiterates its point through examples. This is completely different from the French tradition of essays, which starts at the observable phenomenon and then takes us to its core thesis through organic reasoning. This means that past the introduction, you’ll know what this book is trying to prove, and the rest of the book is more about illustrating the demonstration. However, each set of examples come with their own ethical and practical problems, and you end up being more conflicted than you originally thought. A fiery onslaught against capitalism it is not, but this has the advantage of considering market mentality from the inside and then wondering how it looks from the outside. If nothing else, it should give you a good set of arguments to shut up libertarians and their ilk.

So that’s all I have today. Do tell me if you want me to make more reading lists like this !

#reading list #should i make more of those ?

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sebir-innovate-blog · 4 years ago

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How Covid-19 Will Massively Boost Innovation

Both ancient history and modern times abound with examples of striking, innovative ideas that emerge when people’s customary behaviour is severely constrained

The emergence of Covid-19 resulted in an almost unprecedented impact on the people of the world. The list of human activities that has been curtailed is a very long one, compelling responses ranging from outright cessation to avoidance to practical compromise. Whatever the impact, change has been enforced on much of how we live, on how we get things done.

A natural human reaction is that this cannot possibly be a good thing. It’s like having one arm tied behind your back. Complete freedom to utilize all of our faculties, without constraint, is self-evidently the sure path to progress is it not? If you need a good, practical idea for something, the common worldview is to throw off all shackles and allow your thinking the freedom to roam anywhere. This is widely assumed to be the most productive way to think innovatively.

Well, history begs to differ. Contrary to what we might think, innovative thinking is also unleashed when you deliberately limit your choices rather than opening up your mind to endless possibilities.

Sink The Boats

General Xiang Yu, who lived in China from 232BC to 202BC, was a brutal warlord whose victories in many battles won him power over large tracts of China. His penchant for constraining his thinking was no more evident than in the Battle of Julu (209BC) when he took on the Qin Dynasty. Being significantly out-numbered, victory was far from certain for Xiang Yu and his army. He required his troops to do whatever it took to win.

However, he did not conduct a brainstorming session to exhaust his military options. After crossing the Yangtze River, while his troops slept, Xiang Yu ordered their boats sunk. The next day he told his men that their choice was to fight to win quickly against overwhelming odds, or die without hope of escape. In the face of that immoveable constraint, Xiang Yu’s army won the battle.

What was going on here?

Unshackled Versus Shackled Thinking

While no one knows precisely how the brain formulates fresh, novel ideas – especially ones that have valuable application – there are many techniques that claim to provide the necessary stimulation so that the brain can do its mysterious work. One of the best-known and widely practiced techniques is brainstorming, where a group of people work together to “brainstorm” lots of spontaneous ideas in an attempt to find a solution for a specific problem.

There are many other methods, systems, checklists and frameworks in use. However, almost without exception, they have the same fundamental end in common: they seek to stimulate the brain to “think outside the box” – unleashing it, some would say – by encouraging thinking that is unconstrained and unstructured.

Without getting too technical, it is useful to regard their practice as a type of Divergent Thinking. The psychologist Joy Paul Guilford first coined this term in 1956. It describes the thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by pursuing many possible solutions. However, Guilford, almost inevitably, also identified an opposite approach to divergent thinking which he described as Convergent Thinking. Convergent thinking follows a process to zero in on just one workable solution. Much conventional teaching and learning occurs in a convergent thinking environment.

A typical representation of the distinction between divergent thinking and convergent thinking

For the sake of simplicity, let us refer to all divergent-type thinking as Unshackled Thinking and convergent-type thinking (which we are going to talk about now) as Shackled Thinking.

Sink The Boats Again ...

In 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes used a similar trick to that of General Xiang Yu. He led the first expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire. After he and his men landed on the East Coast of Mexico, he sank his own ships. Although his men longed to return home, with all their options for doing that eliminated, they quickly re-focused on helping Cortes achieve his expeditionary goal.

Examples of such shackled thinking abound in more genteel pursuits as well.

In The Social History of Art (1951), sociologist Arnold Hauser, in talking about the art of the early Renaissance, observed that an artwork did not normally originate in the creative urge, self-expression and spontaneous inspiration of the artist, but in the task set by the patron of the proposed creation. In addition to general direction, patrons specified the size of canvas, number and kind of figures, the amount of expensive pigment to be used, the weight of gold foil in the frame, and other details. Within those imposed boundaries, the artist was then free to exercise their creativity. Such constraints did not hinder the magnificence of what was produced during the Renaissance; they surely contributed to it.

Quilt designs from American Amish society, which are arguably the most unique and collectable in the world, are created in circumstances where constraint on what is acceptable decoration acts as a stimulus to creativity and to systematic development of the art form. The Amish quilt uses a basic geometric design that is symmetrically put together using fewer pieces and small, evenly spaced stitches. It has bold, saturated colours with the use of black only in the borders. These constraints boost creativity and result in some very striking designs.

Let’s turn to the economic sphere. In his book, Worldly Philosopher; The Odyssey of Albert O Hirschman, Jeremy Adelman records the economist Albert Hirschman’s observations on the Karnaphuli Paper Mills in Pakistan. These were built in 1953 to exploit the ubiquitous bamboo forests but unfortunately the forests soon died. Those involved found ways to bring bamboo from elsewhere using Pakistan’s many waterways. The constraints imposed by nature forced those involved to be innovative. In fact, ultimately, the more diversified raw material base made the paper mills more valuable than they were before.

What about today? Innovating within the liberty of constraint is now more prevalent than ever and nowhere is this more apparent than within the so-called “sharing economy”. A smartphone enables the connecting of sellers and buyers without the usual constraints. Uber has become the world’s largest car hire service but doesn’t own any cars, sidestepping the previously daunting capital constraint of vehicle ownership. Airbnb is now one of the largest accommodation providers in the world and has avoided owning the expensive real estate for its guests. And Facebook, the world’s largest media company, has dodged the need to own content.

So What?

So, what do the sketches above suggest to us? It is tempting to say not much. After all, it is not that difficult to cherry-pick a cluster of truncated, historical vignettes and force apparently authentic lessons from what are essentially quirks of days gone by. But although striking in their own way, in their essence the sketches do not reflect quirky behaviour at all. Innovating under the burden of imposed constraints is not spectacular, unusual or rare, either in the past or now. When did we last play Sudoku? If we did, we were consciously seeking a solution that constrained us to fill various grids and sub-grids so that each contained all of the digits from 1 to 9.

Or, when did we last read or watch a detective story? From Sherlock Holmes to Miss Marple, from Hercule Poirot to Harry Bosch, we accompany them as they unravel their cases by treating each clue they discover as a constraint. Ultimately, they solve their case in a way that satisfies all of the constraints they ferret out.

Whether playing Sudoku or vicariously playing detective, we willingly accept necessary constraints in the pursuit of a satisfying goal. The constraints are part of the pursuit and part of the excitement. But we probably never explicitly think of them as constraints.

Which brings us back to Covid-19. Its pervasive constraints on the way we live are not of course something we welcome. But at the same time, those constraints will not be wholly fruitless. Although counter-intuitive, whether intentional or not, limiting our thinking to address some challenge we face can often be more effective than exposing that thinking to endless possibilities.

So, with a more accommodating mindset, what are the specific lessons we can draw from what Xiang Hu, Cortes and company did earlier?

It is possible to conceive of three things that many, many people will do as a result of Covid-19:

(i) When confronted with a task, they will re-frame their goal to deliberately exclude the options for its fulfilment that have been side-lined as a result of Covid-19;

(ii) Freed of a number of such distractions, they will confine their focus to developing only those solutions that are compatible with their re-framed goal; and

(iii) They will find a solution that satisfies achievement of their re-framed goal in spite of (and sometimes because of) the constraints that they are now prepared to live with.

The ramifications of Covid-19 -- how it plays out in the months and years ahead -- are immense, almost certainly incalculable. But it won’t all be bad. New ways of being, new ways of doing that would never have been contemplated under old paradigms, will be explored, refined and found to be better. Many will become the new norm once Covid-19 has passed. This will occur millions of times in every conceivable type of circumstance. There will be an explosion of innovative activity.

So, let’s not simply bemoan the loss of the freedom we have become used to because of Covid-19. Instead, let’s also seize the opportunity to innovate within the liberty of constraint.

#covid-19 #innovativethinking #innovation #virus #convergentthinking

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mateenaltaf · 5 years ago

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Business Exit Strategy (An Entrepreneurship Concept)

Every entrepreneur who starts a new venture should think an exit strategy. A number of possible exit strategies are available for the business owner. Exits strategies include an initial public offering (IPO), private sale of stock, succession by a family member, merger with another company or liquidation of the company. An entrepreneur’s strategic plan to sell his or her investment in a company he or she founded. An exit strategy gives a business owner a way to reduce or eliminate his or her stake in the business and, if the business is successful, make a substantial profit. If the business is not successful, an exit strategy enables the entrepreneur to limit losses.

Ideally, an entrepreneur will develop an exit strategy in the business plan, before actually going into business, because the choice of exit plan can influence business development choices. Common types of exit strategies include initial public offerings, strategic acquisitions and Liquidation. Which exit strategy an entrepreneur chooses depends on factors such as how much control or involvement (if any) he or she wants to retain in the business, and whether the entrepreneur wants the company to continue to run in the same way or is willing to see it change going forward as long as he or she receives a fair price for his or her share of ownership. A strategic acquisition, for example, will relieve the founder of his or her ownership responsibilities, but will also mean giving up control.

In entrepreneurship an exit strategy or exit plan is a way to transition of one’s ownership of a company or the operation of some part of the company to another company (e.g. through a merger or acquisition) or to investors (e.g. through an Initial public offering). Other types of exit strategy include management buyouts or employee buyouts (common in the manufacturing industry). Transition companies are professional mergers and acquisitions companies that assist business owners with their exit strategy. Services offered are often referred to as transition management services.

Different exit strategies also offer business owners different levels of liquidity. Selling ownership through a strategic acquisition, for example, can offer the greatest amount of liquidity in the shortest time frame, depending on how the acquisition is structured. The appeal of a given exit strategy will depend on market conditions, as well; for example, an IPO may not be the best exit strategy during a recession. The best type of exit strategy also depends on business type and size. A partner in a medical office’s best exit strategy might be to sell to one of the other existing partners, while a sole proprietor’s ideal exit strategy might simply be to make as much money as possible, then close down the business. If the company has multiple founders, or if there are substantial shareholders in addition to the founders, these other parties’ interests must be factored into the choice of exit strategy as well. No matter how successful your business venture may be, the time will come when you will no longer want to continue its operation, or may be forced to end due to changing economic conditions. When this occurs, you'll need a way to wind up your business activities in the most efficient manner possible. An exit strategy is a way to turn you operation over to another entity or to cease operating altogether.

Exit strategies are something that every investor in a business looks for. But even if you are running a one person sole proprietorship, you need an exit strategy. For you, as for any investor in a business, the questions are the same when it's time to move on. How are you going to get your money out of the business? And how much money are you going to get? Having an exit strategy worked out in advance helps ensure that you like the answers to those questions and gives you some control over your business's future. Following are some exit strategies for your business to choose from:

Liquidation

Businesses that are struggling to survive may choose to liquidate their assets. A common example of liquidation is the "going out of business sale." When a company liquidates, it usually marks down the prices of its inventory to sell it quickly. Any proceeds are used to pay off creditors, and then to any shareholders you may have. This is the close up shop and sell all the assets exit strategy. To make any money with such an exit strategy, your business has to have valuable assets to sell, such as land or expensive equipment. And profits from selling assets have to go to pay creditors first. Still, it is an option. And for small businesses, especially those that are dependent on the performance of a single individual, liquidation is sometimes the only option, as there's really nothing else to sell. If you're in this position, you may want to spend some time retooling your business so that it could be operated by someone else – making it a business someone might want to buy. Even lifetime entrepreneurs can decide that enough is enough. One often-overlooked exit strategy is simply to shutdown, close the business doors, and liquidate. There may be a natural catastrophe, like 9/11, or the market you counted on could implode. Make rules up front so you don’t end up going down with the ship.

The Lifestyle Company

In a lifestyle company, the intent of the owner is to make as much money as possible for herself without planning for future expansion. All profits go directly into her pocket instead of being put back into the business to help it grow, and expenses are kept to the bare minimum. These businesses tend to be private and small in scale, and the owner dissolves the operation when it no longer is profitable or the owner wants to move on to a new venture. A common example of a lifestyle company is a business consulting firm.

Mergers and Acquisitions

With a merger or acquisition, the owner sells the controlling interest in the business to another party but may still assume a smaller role in the day-to-day operation. This strategy is often employed by an owner who wants to leave the business gradually without selling it outright. However, the owner may be powerless to prevent changes to the operation that he feels are not in its best interest. This normally means merging with a similar company, or being bought by a larger company. This is a win-win situation when bordering companies have complementary skills, and can save resources by combining. For bigger companies, it’s a more efficient and quicker way to grow their revenue than creating new products organically.

IPO

An Initial Public Offering (IPO) occurs when a privately-owned business decides to sell shares of stock to the public. This can be highly profitable for the entrepreneur and investors, as this can generate a large amount of revenue in a short period of time. However, an IPO is a rare occurrence, as the Entrepreneur website indicates that there are only about 7,000 publicly-held companies in the United States as of 2010. While not suitable for all small businesses, the IPO can be a viable exit strategy. Taking your company public can be extremely profitable. However, depending on how the IPO is structured, you may or may not be able to withdraw any of your capital at the time as new shareholders may want to see all the money raised by the IPO be used to expand the business. This used to be the preferred mode, and the quick way to riches. But since the Internet bubble burst in the year 2000, the IPO rate has declined every year until 2010, and is now at about 15%. I don’t recommend this approach to startups these days. Shareholders are demanding, and liability concerns are high.

Transition ownership to an Emotional Partner

The dream of many small business owners, keeping your business in the family ensures that your legacy lives on. As an exit strategy, it can also give you the opportunity to groom your own successor and even perhaps give you some continued say in the business. On the downside, developing a family succession plan can be enormously difficult because of the emotions and issues involved. A business owner may choose to sell her enterprise in order to retire or use the proceeds to start a new venture. This often occurs in family businesses where the operation is passed from one family member to another. In these situations, the seller takes comfort in knowing that his venture will operate in the same way that he conducted the business.

To some, an exit strategy sounds negative. Actually, the best reason for an exit strategy is to plan how to optimize a good situation, rather than get out of a bad one. This allows you to run your startup and focus efforts on things that make it more appealing and compelling to the short list of acquirers or buyers you target. The type of business you choose should depend on your goals, and the way you grow it should be aligned with your exit strategy. Don’t wait till you are in trouble to think about an exit, rather think of it as a succession plan, or a successful transition. The best exit strategy is the one that best fits your business and your personal goals. Decide first what you want to walk away with. If it's just money, an exit strategy such as selling on the open market or to another business may be the best pick. If your legacy and seeing the small business you built continue are important to you, then family succession or selling to employees might be best for you. Whichever exit strategy you choose; you need to start working on it. Planning in advance gives you the time to do it right – and maximize your returns.

Practical Study

Polka is the name of ice-cream that emerged prior to the 90s and was officially the first ice-cream manufacturers in Pakistan. The logo, comprised of three children indulgently licking ice-cream, was a common image in every Pakistani household in the pre-90s epoch. The Polka group had three factories in Hub, Karachi and Lahore, respectively. It employed more than 700 people and had a combined turnover of some Rs. 725 million in 1994, according to the data supplied by the firm itself. Of the three companies of Polka groups, Pakistan Industrial Promoters (Pvt) Limited (PIPLPIPL Port Isabel Public Library (Port Isabel, TX) was incorporated in 1970, the second factory was manufactured in Lahore, named Mehran International Limited (Pvt) (MIL) which was incorporated in 1975 and ultimately, a branch was inaugurated in Karachi under the name of Ambrosia International Limited (Pvt) (ALL) which was incorporated in 1984 and has a factory in Hub. Ambrosia is a public limited company while the other two are private limited companies. Products of the triad were marketed under the Polka brand name. AIL also produced Move pick under license.

The Polka-Unilever Merger:

A suitable example of a merger that took place in Pakistan would be that be of the Unilever-Polka merger. Unilever acquired the shares of Ambrosia International Ltd., Mehran International Ltd., and Pakistan Industrial Promoters Ltd., which form what is often called the Polka group of ice-cream companies. In 1994, Lever Brothers Pakistan appeared on the scene and tried to acquire Polka Ice Cream for a hefty amount of Rs 600 million. Polka refused the bid and instead demanded Rs. 1 billion to close the deal. But one year after the launch of Wall's Ice Cream by Lever Brothers in 1995, Polka approached Wall's with an offer to merge the two companies. Walls accepted and subsequently, Polka was merged into Walls. At the time of the merger, the total production of Polka ice-cream in Pakistan was 13 million tons while that of Walls ice-cream was four million tons. Unilever's international expertise in ice-creams and Polka's long experience of the Pakistan ice-cream market are expected to bring significant benefits to the Pakistani consumer.

Conclusion

Every entrepreneur who starts a new venture should think an exit strategy. Actually, the best reason for an exit strategy is to plan how to optimize a good situation, rather than get out of a bad one. So every businessman who starts his or her business should plan an exit strategy before going to business, it will give time to do right and maximize the returns.

#business #exit #strategy #entreprenuership #entrepreneur #merger #aquisition #unilever #google #search #polka #ice cream

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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The Local Food Revolution Goes Online — for Now

sunlover/Shutterstock

To survive uncertain times, small farms are pivoting to online orders to serve their local communities and compete with big box grocers like Amazon and Walmart

This story originally appeared on Civil Eats.

“We are so busy this may not be my most lucid moment,” Amy McCann says when she picks up the phone, which hasn’t stopped ringing in days. McCann is the CEO of the Eugene, Oregon-based Local Food Marketplace, a software platform that farmers and other local food aggregators across the country use to reach customers online.

In a normal year, McCann said, her team takes on about 50 new sellers offering everything from produce to dairy and jam. Due to an onslaught of demand, however, they’ve added 20 new users in just the last week.

In a very short time, COVID-19 has virtually upended the food system. And for farmers who sell directly into local markets, it has made the in-person sales they depend on — usually facilitated at farmers’ markets, restaurants, schools, and other communal places — especially unsteady.

As peak harvest season approaches, growers have been scrambling to move their sales online, where orders can be fulfilled without face-to-face interaction, either for through traditional community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes or other creative models. At the same time, groups that support local food economies have also been working to direct consumers to these new systems so that they can continue to buy local food from home.

In Seattle, where farmers’ markets have been shut down, Seattle Neighborhood Farmers’ Markets compiled a list of its market vendors’ “alternative sales options,” and has been highlighting them on Instagram. In Chicago, Green City Market created a guide to farmers offering online ordering with pick-up or delivery. And in the Mid-Atlantic, Future Harvest put together a map of more than 500 farmers and markets selling local food that received over 15,000 views in just a few days.

With social distancing guidelines now extended through at least the end of April, it’s clear that a great deal of food will be purchased online for the foreseeable future. A survey released this week found that more than 30 percent of US households had purchased groceries online in the past month. That was more than double the number that had reported doing so in August 2019, and 43 percent said they’d likely continue to purchase groceries online after the crisis ends.

While markets for small, sustainable, and local producers have been taking shape online for over a decade, many have struggled to compete in the past.

But this moment presents a powerful opportunity for individual producers and local food aggregators to scale up their online presence. While competing with massive companies like Costco and Walmart is a daunting challenge, worker strikes at Amazon and Instacart may also inspire some socially conscious shoppers to support independent producers.

Farmers will also have to tackle many obstacles as they attempt to redesign entire business models right before harvest season, improvise home deliveries, and figure out how to ensure shoppers using food assistance benefits can access online ordering. But that’s not stopping a range of people and groups from jumping in—and expanding their efforts—in the evolving local food landscape.

Previously a Rocky Road for Local Foods Online

Before the pandemic, online grocery sales in the U.S. were projected to double between 2017 and 2021. But while the practice had picking up steam year over year, the vast majority of Americans still bought their food in stores. That was even more true with local food, especially since many people who prioritize shopping local often valued personal relationships with farmers and gathering as a community at markets or through CSA distributions. But that’s all changing rapidly.

Several “online farmers’ market” platforms have come and gone over the past decade, and many companies that have survived in the space—like Good Eggs and Farmigo—have struggled or had to pivot to stay afloat. “Those were mostly tech companies that thought you could solve the [logistics] problem with technology alone,” McCann said.

Good Eggs, an online marketplace for small farms that had raised almost $53 million in venture capital, shut down operations in three out of four cities and laid off 140 employees in 2013, with co-founder Rob Spiro citing the fact that the company grew too fast “before fully figuring out the challenges of building an entirely new food supply chain.” It homed in on one city, San Francisco, and has been operating successfully there, although it now stocks specialty foods beyond what’s available from local producers, like fruit shipped from Mexico and gluten-free pizzas made in Colorado.

According to the company, Good Eggs has been experiencing two to four times more demand since the coronavirus outbreak (and there are rumors of shoppers logging on after midnight to place orders as soon as new items are added to the site). The company is working to expand to meet demand: coincidentally, in mid-February, it opened a new Oakland fulfillment center that significantly expands its capacity, and it is also hiring new employees. But it’s unclear whether the company intends to take on any new farms.

“Our customers have always looked to us as a source of local food from small producers, and we feel that responsibility now more than ever,” CEO Bentley Hally said in an emailed statement. “We are doing everything we can to support our producers during these uncertain times.”

Farmigo, which started selling software for CSAs and other local farm sales, had raised about $26 million to expand its operations by 2016. But the online farmers’ market it built did not succeed; it shut that part of the business down, claiming that the logistics of distribution were much more difficult than the team had anticipated. It has continued selling software to farmers and leaving those logistics to them, and its CSA platform is remains popular among farmers.

Farmigo did not respond to our efforts to reach them for comment. But as the company’s arc illustrates, many farms and local food communities that have moved their sales online are managing their businesses and distribution themselves, rather than relying on other companies that sell their food for them.

Grassroots Organizing, Online

In Tallahassee, Florida, for example, four women started the Red Hills Small Farm Alliance about eight years ago to connect local farms to buyers in their community. The virtual market, which runs on Local Food Marketplace’s software, grew slowly and steadily, said interim director Cari Roth, and it now offers food from about 75 producers to around 500 members. (Shoppers pay $20 annually for a membership and then pay a la carte for purchases.)

Although it’s online, its operations resemble an in-person market; the shop is open during a select window—8:00 a.m. on Sunday to 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Farmers receive orders and then bring their food to one of the Alliance’s distribution centers, where staff members and volunteers package the food from various producers into individual customer orders. Shoppers can choose to pick their food up or get it delivered for an extra charge.

Shoppers can opt to get a CSA share from one farm, or they can mix it up. “The beauty is that I can also order a bunch of carrots, a bunch of beets, mushrooms from another place, and scones from a bakery,” says Roth. “It’s like going to a real farmers’ market, but with even more variety.”

Red Hills had been growing its business long before the coronavirus emerged, but things took off even more in recent weeks. Roth said they picked up 174 new members in one week in March. More than 440 orders came in that same week, compared to an average of about 300.

And they’re not alone. In Maryland, Chesapeake Farm to Table operates with a similar model but was previously focused on aggregating food from small farms for restaurant sales. Now, its business collecting orders from individual community members and delivering to their homes has taken off. In Seattle, farm-to-table bakery Salmonberry Goods has been hustling to aggregate more food from small Washington farms to sell through its new online shop for weekly delivery.

“We’re really hoping that now that people are figuring out how easy it is to eat local, that they’ll stick with us,” says Roth.

Virtual CSAs

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, farmers across the country have also been reporting an increase in interest in CSA memberships. Since CSAs guarantee a weekly supply of produce (and sometimes other foods), they seem perfectly suited to a time when Americans are fearful of further disruptions to grocery supply chains. Signing up for a CSA that can be picked up or delivered can also mean saving a trip to a crowded supermarket.

Many small diversified vegetable operations, were already offering online purchasing before using platforms like Farmigo, but those that weren’t are now driven to do so.

Hearty Roots Farm in the Hudson Valley offers CSA memberships to residents of New York City and counties north, the area that is now the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. Before the pandemic, farmer Lindsey Lusher Shute was also hard at work on developing GrownBy, a new CSA software platform that she and other farmers were planning on using in a beta phase before adding other growers later on. Now, they’re opening it up more broadly right away to help the many farmers reaching out to quickly change their business model and move everything online to stay afloat.

Shute says one thing that sets GrownBy apart is that its built by farmers, for farmers—which means everyone involved in the development has a deep understanding of how marketing and sales channels typically work offline, making it easier to figure out how to move them online effectively.

Lusher Shute—who was a founder and long time director of the National Young Farmers Coalition—says her priority is the needs of direct market growers, not the profits of the software company, and that eventually, the plan is to evolve into a national cooperative, giving users the chance to share ownership in the technology. First, though, they simply have to make sure GrownBy is effectively making online sales happen.

“It needs to pull its weight on the farm and be seen as a valuable and critical piece of infrastructure,” she said. “We’re aiming to help farmers achieve efficiencies and a level of sales that they couldn’t on their own.” She also wants farmers to control their own data and to have software that is flexible enough that it can accommodate the variety that exists between operations.

One important flexiblity built into the software allows farms that accept food assistance benefits like SNAP and WIC dollars to offer an offline payment option, so they can recognize EBT (electronic benefits transfer, the payment system used for benefits) as a form of payment and then process that payment seperately.

And while she imagined farms would facilitate CSA share pick-ups, for instance, she just added a farm outside Albuquerque that, in the face of COVID-19, decided to offer home delivery, and was able to facilitate that aspect using GrownBy.

Indeed, farms across the country have been announcing home delivery of both CSA shares and a la carte food orders. Red Hills always had a delivery option but customers rarely chose to pay the upcharge. Now, it has gotten hugely popular.

“We’ve added drivers to accommodate it,” Roth said. On a COVID-19 call facilitated by Future Harvest for small farms in the Mid-Atlantic, several farmers discussed how to work with online orders and delivery protocols. Moon Valley Farm, which had trucks that normally ran restaurant routes in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., sitting idle, saw delivering CSA shares and a la carte vegetable orders as a way to replace lost purchases and keep drivers employed.

In many locations, however, home delivery presents real business challenges. “It’s really complicated and really expensive,” said Wen-Jay Ying, who has been barely sleeping while working to keep her company, Local Roots NYC, operating. Her goal is to continue giving New York City residents access to fresh, local food while buying from the small, independent farms nearby, which have lost significant restaurant business.

Local Roots has always used an online ordering system, but once members purchase shares, most head to local pick-up sites once a week to collect them. Most of those sites—cafes, restaurants, and bars—are mainly shuttered, and maintaining social distance at pick-ups in small spaces also became difficult. Ying has been able to keep two pick-up sites operating, but many customers chose to switch to home delivery.

So, she’s been hustling to hire workers to pack produce into boxes and do the actual deliveries, which can be time-consuming and complicated in a congested city where many people live in apartment buildings. “We’ve spent every waking hour for the past five days figuring out how to use a delivery routing software and organizing people based on these different routes,” she said, estimating that the cost per delivery for the farmer or aggregator can be as high as $15 per customer, a steep price when compared to Instacart and others like it.

And getting the food to customers after orders are placed is not the only challenge farmers face when looking to sell online. In rural areas, internet access is not a given, pointed out Hannah Dankbar, the Local Food program manager at North Carolina State’s Cooperative Extension. “In North Carolina, we don’t have broadband consistently across the state,” she said.

Farmers also may lack technical expertise, and they’re now hungry for knowledge related to online sales. In response to the pandemic, a colleague in Dankbar’s department set up two webinars on getting farm products online and more than 300 people tuned in to each one.

“Coronavirus has made the need for tech clear to many more farmers,” Shute said. And while many local food enthusiasts value the chance to mingle with community members and get to know growers at a farmers’ market, the efficiency expectation around groceries is only likely to increase as more people get used to a box of fresh vegetables from Amazon showing up at their doorstep within 24 hours.

“Some of those services sort of look like ‘local’ produce or higher quality produce,” she said. But they’re much less likely to support small-scale family producers.

“I’m concerned that if we don’t engage in this digital marketplace in a real way, we’re going to be left behind. Hopefully, the farmers’ market [will go back to being] a place people will congregate. But at the same time we have to be thinking ahead and moving the field forward.”

The best-case scenario, says Dankbar, is that buying fresh-from-the-farm food online will be “a trend that’s accelerated because of the virus.” If that happens, she’s optimistic that it could give local foods a permanent space in the larger online shopping arena. “The community building associated with local food—I don’t think those are going to go away,” she says.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2X4Djji https://ift.tt/2wXeqeP

sunlover/Shutterstock

To survive uncertain times, small farms are pivoting to online orders to serve their local communities and compete with big box grocers like Amazon and Walmart

This story originally appeared on Civil Eats.

While markets for small, sustainable, and local producers have been taking shape online for over a decade, many have struggled to compete in the past.

Previously a Rocky Road for Local Foods Online

Grassroots Organizing, Online

“We’re really hoping that now that people are figuring out how easy it is to eat local, that they’ll stick with us,” says Roth.

Virtual CSAs

Many small diversified vegetable operations, were already offering online purchasing before using platforms like Farmigo, but those that weren’t are now driven to do so.

“Some of those services sort of look like ‘local’ produce or higher quality produce,” she said. But they’re much less likely to support small-scale family producers.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2X4Djji via Blogger https://ift.tt/2UEkwKf

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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canbrake8-blog · 6 years ago

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Vietnam, Part 2

Hitting the road again, or the skies I should say (although we did one bus ride during our trip – more about that later…), we touched down in Da Nang, specifically to visit The Museum of Cham Sculpture, a museum that is not to be missed if you’re in Vietnam.

I forgot all my deities since I stopped doing yoga (such as Ganesha and Shiva, and how one guy got that elephant head, and why Shiva is wearing that snake around their neck – and smiling about it), so it’s good to do a little reading about them before you go to help you understand more about the artifacts in this museum. We took an 8am flight out of Ho Chi Minh airport, landing about an hour later, and taking a taxi right from the airport to the museum, which is only 3km away (I’ve given some tips at the end of the post about using taxis in Vietnam, that are worth noting), so it was easy to get there and spend the morning looking at the remarkable sculptures and friezes, many dating back to the 4th century.

I have the lowest museum attention span in the world, and two hours in this museum was just the right about of time to take it all in. Then I grabbed a Grab to take us to Hoi An, where we spent the next two nights. The old town of Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and its traditional architecture is well-preserved, although not overly so. It still has a bit of funk, in spite of quite a few tourists (including us) roaming the streets.

Someone told me Hoi An is the most touristed town in Vietnam and it’d be hard to disagree. At night, the historic old town is jumping with people strolling by, and shops selling stuff, as well as locals offering everything from boat rides and fruit, to silk scarves (the town is known for its silk) and leather sandals. People also come to Hoi An to have suits and clothing made for them, and you’ll find several streets lined with custom tailor shops. Someone told me that if you bring a picture of what you like; a suit, a dress, or a shirt, they’ll make it for you, and have it ready in a day or two. I grew up wearing ties and jackets to school every day, so it takes a pretty compelling reason (or event) to get me into a suit, so I passed, but could have used a few more linen shirts since the ones I brought were splattered with Pho and dragon fruit stains.

Outside of the old town, we found more interesting things than in the old town, like the jumble of housewares being sold on a sidewalk, below, and spa treatments at White Rose Spa. We learned back in Ho Chi Minh City that massages and facials are very inexpensive in Vietnam, and mostly very good, so we’d indulged with our friends there, and now, here. (Note that it’s customary to tip if you had a good treatment.)

In Hoi An, we had a very good meal at Vy’s Market (the lime leaf chicken skewers were particularly good, as was the tofu skin salad), which someone online wrote was “sanitized” street food. It may have been, but we liked it all the same. Very fresh ingredients, nice servers, and tasty. Cao Lau Bale Well (45/3 Train Hung Dao) was recommended by several people (not locals) and while we found the place interesting, the Cao Lau noodles weren’t all that compelling. It was, however, charming, located off a side street in what was probably part of their home. They were also really nice, which made it…fine.

Another meal was at Nu. A sweet little place where the steamed pork buns were good, as was the chili ice cream we had for dessert. You won’t be the only English-speaking people dining there, but we liked it. There’s also a night market with an indoor eating area for street food, which I’d check out if I went back. If you want a taste of Egg Coffee, I had one at Passion Fruit coffee that even my skeptical partner liked. (I tried to compare it to sabayon, but he wasn’t having any of that.)

We stayed at the Vinh Hung Riverside hotel located on the river, not far from the old town, but far enough away so you were a decent distance from the fray. The staff was unfailingly polite and helpful and we had a nice room on the river, although I’d recommend perhaps staying in a room that’s not on the ground floor. I didn’t want to sleep with the door open so we shut everything and turned on the AC. The button on the machine was so bright that it was like a spotlight over us, in the room, which made it a bit difficult to sleep. It wasn’t really hot enough to warrant the AC, but we used it instead of keeping the door open. (Unfortunately, the unit was high on the wall and there wasn’t anything to block the light with, but I just discovered these, and am thinking of traveling with them because so many hotels have appliances and switches with really bright lights. Can people really sleep with all those lights flickering and glowing in the dark?) But we liked the hotel, which had a nice pool, and the breakfast offered a variety of Vietnamese foods and fruits. I gorged on rambutans, mangoes, and passion fruits.

We then took the 2-hour bus to Hue, which ended up taking a little more than 4 1/2 hours. The bus had funny, sort-of lie back seats, which looked appealing when I first saw them, but anyone taller than 5 feet (or who has never done yoga) might feel a bit squished after a while. (Another spoiler: You couldn’t sit upright in the seat, even if you wanted to.) While the bus had pillows, which Romain and some others grabbed for propping themselves up, the driver bellowed at anyone who took one, so they sheepishly put them back. I was okay lying halfway down for an afternoon, although some people were going all the way to Hanoi, and I’m sure they will need a few massage treatments to uncoil them once they arrive.

I hate to post the obligatory “I’m in paradise” shot, especially when so many of you (or us, which now includes me) are back in the cold. But this was a pretty beautiful spot in Hue.

It was our hotel, the Pilgrimage Village. It was located a little out-of-town, but the hotel had a shuttle and cabs were inexpensive (about $3 -4) to take you anywhere you wanted to go. So it wasn’t a problem going back and forth.

I was especially interested in going to the Dong Ba market in Hue. There was a lot to see there, and when our taxi driver dropped us off, he took Romain’s shoulder bag off his shoulder, and wrapped the handles around his neck, letting him know the keep his eyes on his things.

The market is pretty much an all-out assault of foods, spices, people, stuff, cookware, raw meat, kids, hats, seafood, fabric, jewelry, eyeglasses, bins of rice, tropical fruits, and more. Once you’re inside, you’ve pretty much go to go all-in. Even though the electricity seemed to be off in the market, we surged forward with everyone. If you stand still, within seconds, someone will slide past, through the narrow aisles with tables heaped with stuff on either side of you, and while it wasn’t at all dangerous, it’d be pretty easy to lose a billfold if you weren’t mindful of it.

Some people have said that the sellers were very aggressive here, although we didn’t find that to be too much of the case. Like other markets in Vietnam (except for the ones we went to in Ho Chi Minh City, if you stopped to look at anything, or even glance at it, the vendor will do their best to engage you and negotiate a price, even if you don’t really want it. It’s not my preferred way to shop, but that’s the way it’s done. Which was probably better for me anyway, as I didn’t have as so much to lug home. Although those colorful jars of pickled vegetables were certainly tempting!

We did track down the well-known Bun bo Hue (beef soup) stand, which is in the “street food” section of the market. (There’s a story about how to find it here.) We were a little underwhelmed, as the people next to us seemed to be. Maybe it was an off day, but if you look at the Bun bo Hue we had later that evening, two pics down, I’ll let you decide which soup looks better to you.

If you do go to the market in Hue, I would hire a guide, or take a tour of the market with someone who knows it well. It’s pretty overwhelming and there’s a lot of see, and taste, which isn’t so easy to do on your own. It’s definitely one of the great markets I’ve been to in the world, and worth exploring. But there was so much I wanted to know more about, it would have been nice to have someone navigate for us, and explain what things were, like these orange fruits (or vegetables?)

We ate well that night at Tai Phu where the Bun bo Hue (below) was more to my liking.

We also had some good Banh cuon (rice paper rolls) at Tai Phu, and Romain liked his Bun thit (vermicelli noodles with chicken) but the dish of the house seemed to be the pork skewers (nem lui), which came in a plentiful portion with green mango slices, noodles, and herbs, to roll in rice paper.

[A reader who lives in Hue was kind enough to chime in with some local spots for Bun bo Hue – thanks smallhue! – suggesting Bún Cam at 45 Le Loi and Bún Mụ Roi at 14 Nguyen Che Dieu, that she advised getting to before 8am for the best selection of “options,” as she called them. Our hotel had breakfast on a dock under a thatched roof, with unlimited Vietnamese coffees, so I wasn’t leaving there.]

If you eat at Tai Phu, be sure to arrive in the area early and walk around the streets, where an open-air market takes place. It’s pretty laid back, and like all the markets in Vietnam, you want to cry at how beautiful all the fruits and vegetables are, stacked, lined, and piled up. I think it’s called the Ben Ngu market.

The most beautiful meal we had in Vietnam was at a place whose name I forgot (I know…right?) It had a little open-air area within the restaurant, and from the outside, you’d never know such a charming place existed. When I remember the name, I’ll update the post.

However beautiful the meal was, it was a challenge to eat. Absolutely no offense to the restaurant, but the flavors were very, very strong, and hard to describe. I think, like Vegemite, natto, and blue cheese, some things don’t translate outside their culture. I can’t describe it but I felt bad leaving most of it behind. I also wasn’t feeling so great that day, so it was hard to power through a meal of distinctive flavors. But I will say, the others in the restaurant were eating everything and enjoying it, so it was definitely our tastes, and didn’t reflect on the quality (and the beauty) of the food.

We liked eating at HANH, in Hue, the night we arrived, which was recommended by a woman at our hotel. We started with tiny bowls holding steamed rice cakes with fresh shrimp and bits of crunchy pork rinds, which you pry from the bowls with a spoon and eat with fish sauce. I ordered a bottle of what was called “local rice wine” in English on the menu, and out came a 500ml (2 cup) bottle of “Men vodka.”

When I posted a picture on Instagram, one reader noted it was “just awful stuff” and another said, “terrible…unpleasant.” I asked the server if I could exchange it for shochu, which was so strong, I think I lost a few layers of enamel on my teeth trying to, and a couple of layers of my stomach lining, as I didn’t want to be impolite and leave a lot behind. I drank what I could, then chalked it up to a “lesson learned”! Perhaps the kitchen staff enjoyed the rest after their shift.

After returning to Ho Chi Minh City, we didn’t get to go back to Spice, which we really like the first night of our arrival, because it was Tet (New Year’s), which most of the city shuts down, including restaurants.

But we did eat at Quan Bui Garden (in District 2), where you can also buy beautiful contemporary Vietnamese pottery (I brought six plates back), and Restaurant 13, where we liked the beef and onions cooked in vinegar, which you wrap in rice paper rolls at the table, as well as the little crisp rice cakes, with shrimp and scallions, known as Banh Khot (above), which you wrap in leaves and eat.

At Com Nieu Sai Gon there were several families there celebrating Tet, and having a good time. We had jellied pork, crispy fish on rice (above), Caramelized clay Pot pork, and grilled prawns. (The menu had “fake dog meat” on it, which we didn’t order.) We kept hearing plates shatter, while people cheered, and weren’t sure what was happening. But the restaurant bakes rice until a crisp coating forms on the bottoms in small earthenware bowls. The rice is “presented” by smashing the bowl. It’s called Com Dap, and here’s a video of it:

I also met up with pals Marge Perry and David Bonom, who just happened to also be traveling through Vietnam at the same time, for Banh Mi sandwiches from Banh Mie Huynh Hoa, eating them at a local beer garden, whose men’s room was definitely rated R (or maybe X, depending on your sensibilities). I did take photos but worried that they would violate Instagram’s guidelines (and trust me, even after a few decades of living in San Francisco, I thought nothing would shock me), so didn’t publish them anywhere. But David and I are still recovering from it, and even Marge, who I insisted go into the men’s room for a look.

But I don’t want to leave you on that note, as Vietnam was wonderful. Some readers asked me how it was to travel through the country and I thought it was pretty great. On the whole, it was fairly easy to travel there and people were friendly and helpful. The food was very good, it’s not expensive, and the country is small enough so that you can visit several places if you’re there for ten days or so. It’s a country that’s in transition (they’ve gone through a lot), and has some challenges, but it was one of the most exciting places I’ve ever visited and next year, we’re planning to go back.

Here are some tips and suggestions for traveling in Vietnam:

1. Change money when you can. It’s not as easy to change money in Vietnam as it is elsewhere. While there are banks, locals don’t use them, instead preferring to change money elsewhere, if they can. Citibank and HSBC have ATMs which work with western credit cards; some local bank machines don’t work with U.S.-based cards. Citibank and HSBC ATMs are not everywhere, though, so use them when you find them.

Many places take credit cards in Vietnam, but some places don’t. Taxis have credit card machines but over half the time, the driver told me they weren’t functioning. (One held up a broken wire, to show me.) So have cash available. Also be sure to call your bank before you go, to let them know you’ll be traveling in Vietnam.

2. Carry tissues or napkins. Some restaurants supply them, others have very small squares of wispy-thin paper to use, and others give you a pre-moistened towelette. The food can be saucy (and restrooms don’t always have towels or tissues) so I was glad I have little tissue packets on hand. You should also carry toilet tissue as restrooms don’t always have it.

3. Drink a lot of (bottled) water. The tap water should not be consumed and it’s easy to get dehydrated due to the heat. I was felled for a day with a mild fever, which maybe was attributed to not getting enough water. (Or perhaps something I ate.) While there are drugstores in Vietnam, they are more like counters with a pharmacist and pills are sold individually. Although we didn’t need them, some travelers find they need Immodium or a similar product, which traveling, so I recommend bringing a box along rather than trying to find a box when you’re desperate.

Similarly, you can get sunscreen in Vietnam, but it’s not as widely available as it may be at home. I recommend bringing a bottle or two, especially if you’re planning any beach time.

4. When eating out, especially at the markets or street food stalls, go to places that are crowded with locals. They won’t return to places that don’t have good hygiene. Use common sense when eating at stalls; look at how clean the surrounding area is, how the food is kept, how the food is prepared, and even the condition of the tables, chairs, and dining area. As someone who’s worked in a number of restaurant kitchens, a messy, disorganized place is not the sign of a diligent cook or owner.

At Pho places on the street, I buried the herbs in the hot soup if I thought they may have been washed with non-filtered water. If you’re unsure about the chopsticks, leave them in the boiling-hot soup a short while before using them. The Vietnamese enjoy cold drinks with ice and I drank plenty of drinks with ice, and didn’t have any issues. Most ice is purchased and made with filtered water. But if you have any doubts, skip the ice.

5. If taking a cab, always take a cab with a meter. Our friends who live there said that Vinasun and Mailinh (the green cabs) are two that have meters in them, and I always looked for one of those cabs. In our experience, it’s better to let them use the meter than agree on a fixed fare in advance. (The one time I did that, the ride was 30% more than the metered fare.) Taxis are very inexpensive and the fare from Ho Chi Minh City to or from the airport was around 150,000 VND ($7).

At places like airports, you’ll find nicely dressed guys with badges who will “guide” you from the cab line to a taxi, then tell you what the fare is. Those guys work for specific cab companies and I found it better to ignore them (in spite of their repeated, and sometimes relentless, pleadings…) and just get in a cab that has a meter.

6. Grab is an Uber-like service that works the same way, via an app, which you can download before you go, but you’ll have to enter your credit card information while you’re in Vietnam. The service works like Uber. Note that you can order a car, or ride on the back of a scooter. (They provide a helmet for you if you choose the scooter option.) I used them a couple of times, including when we were swarmed by very aggressive cab drivers going into a museum (one even followed me around the museum), so I had a Grab driver meet me on the way out, and took his phone number down for future rides.

7. The currency conversion is a little complicated, at least to my non-mathematical brain. At the time of this writing, $1 = 23,000 Vietnamese Dong. There are no coins in Vietnam (yay!), but it’s easy to get confused. (And note that prices on menus and in shops will often be listed as just “230” when the price is 230,000.) I used AppBox Pro for currency conversions.

8. While it’s nice to learn the local language, Vietnamese is a challenge. I’m going to take some basic lessons next time I go, but Google translate was very helpful when I wanted specific information and couldn’t communicate. Some people do speak English, but most cab drivers (etc) don’t, so take a screenshot of an address or write it down (or have someone write it down for you), which helps, especially directions to the hotel. (Note that hotels that have names in English often have a different name in Vietnamese. Ask your hotel in advance to send you that information and print it out to bring with you, for the driver.) I often shared a screenshot with a cab driver of my destination on Google Maps, which they easily understood, too. Restaurants often have menus with pictures, which helps when ordering.

9. People in Vietnam were quite friendly. I only got scolded once for taking a pic and most people were fine with it. When in doubt, ask first, but most people were surprised that I even asked, a few even posing.

10. SIM cards are super cheap – and my internet was at least four times faster than it is in Paris. (I wanted to bring it back with me!) If you have an unlocked phone, you can pick up a SIM card for a pittance and have internet access while you’re traveling. I got a SIM card at Mobifone and I think I paid the equivalent of $10 for an enormous amount of data. I went to one of their offices and the clerk was super-helpful and she took care of everything, making sure it worked on my phone before I left. Be sure to have a copy of your passport when purchasing a SIM card. (If you go to a currency conversion place, they’ll want to see it, too.)

11. If you travel within the country you’ll likely take VietJet. (The other option are long-distance buses.) Airfares are reasonable but note that they have a very, very restrictive carry-on allowance of only 7kg and if you go over, the supplement is $100. You can buy tickets that have more generous luggage allowance, but our friends who bought our tickets bought the least-expensive, which are how most Vietnamese people seem to fly (carry on only). Every flight we took that left in the afternoon or early evening was delayed for a couple of hours, so don’t schedule things too tight. We also weren’t able to check in online for any of our flights, but the process at the airport isn’t too difficult and the staff at the airports were pretty efficient.

12. As for what to wear, I recommend dark-colored clothes as the food is a bit messy to eat, especially the soups. I ended up wearing the one dark, short sleeve linen shirt I’d brought most of the time, which was perfect, and I was miffed at myself for bringing light-colored items. It’s normal to wear sandals in Vietnam so bring a pair or two that are already broken in. Many people wear simple, non-fancy rubber sandals, which you can purchase inexpensively in Vietnam. I wasn’t anywhere where I needed to wear shoes, and once I took mine off, I didn’t put them back on until we headed to the airport for the plane home.

Depending on where you’re going, and when, you might want to pack a light sweater and a rain jacket. We only needed summer-weight clothes, but other places get chillier, depending on the latitude and season. Check the local forecast and pack accordingly. Unless you’re going to a formal event, you shouldn’t need any dressy clothes. If you plan to visit religious sites, such as temples and pagodas, men are expected to wear long pants and no tank tops; women should have something to cover bare shoulders, and you may not be admitted to certain places if wearing a short skirt or wear something with a low neckline.

13. If you want to ride a scooter, technically you are supposed to have a Vietnamese driver’s license. Some say that you can use an international driver’s license, but my friends who live there (who have Vietnamese ones) said that wasn’t the case. I rode on the back of my friend’s scooter for two weeks and it was a great way to get around. Some hotel rent bikes and scooters and I would use them, as they’re more familiar with the rules.

14. If you’re interested in cooking Vietnamese food, Andrea Nguyen’s cookbooks are great sources of recipes for Vietnamese dishes. This write-up of 25 Must-Eat Dishes in Saigon is helpful for identifying certain dishes, and where to find them in Ho Chi Minh City and these articles on best Hoi An restaurants and street food have some enticing addresses, too.

15. Lastly, to go to Vietnam, if you are traveling with an American passport, you’ll need a visa. If you search online, you’ll find a lot of websites which are fake visa processing centers. We used Vietnam Visa Center, which was recommended by Lonely Planet, and it worked well. (A friend who goes to Vietnam regularly uses this company.) We paid the extra small fee to have “fast track” service, and have someone meet us upon our arrival at the airport, and take us through. (Update: Several readers noted that Vietnam does have its own website for processing visas electronically. You can also obtain one from a Vietnamese embassy, too.)

For more on my trip to Vietnam, check out my Instagram Stories from Vietnam archived Here and Here, with videos and geo-tagged addresses.

Source: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/vietnam-part-2-hue-da-nang-hoi-an-phu-quoc-travel/

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earnmoneyonline2019-blog · 6 years ago

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Top 5 Online Money Making Ideas

In today's tough times, most are hard-pressed in making ends meet even if they're currently employed with a regular source of income. For some, a job is no longer an option and would rather venture into other money making ideas that can potentially replace their job income.

This article outlines the top 5 online money making ideas a lot of creative people use to earn extra (or full time) income that makes end meet or to actually put food on the table.

The internet has not only changed how we communicate and research for information but offered a lot of income opportunities to ones who are willing to grab it.

Freelancing - One of the most common ways to make money aside from having a traditional job is to offer your services as a freelancer. If you're an artist, you can position yourself as an artist for hire. Building an online portfolio is extremely pivotal to being an artist for hire. An illustrator needs to be able to show potential clients what they can offer them if they take them on as a client. Independent authors and web publishers are constantly looking for people to design book covers, websites, and logos for them. This is a great income source for someone who enjoys doing graphic design. My friend, does this quite successfully and by having his own website that attract organic traffic, he sets himself up above the many other freelance graphic artists around. Another popular way of making money as a freelancer is to become a freelance writer or editor. Self-publishing books has exploded in recent years. There are a lot of independent writers looking for editors who would like to have their work edited for a more affordable price than the norm in the publishing world. You can editing jobs or be a ghost writer to help the author craft the whole book if you know what you're doing. On the lower end of this scale, you can accept article writing gigs and help on the internet publishers like niche website owners and bloggers continuously feed their sites with fresh quality content. The key here is quality content, to build ongoing relationships with your clients and build your reputation.

Freelance writing is a great money making idea because you can completely control how much work you take on. if you're just getting started, websites like Odesk. com and Elance. com are great places to land your initial gigs. Pricing your service competitively will help you attract clients and build your reputation on these freelance job boards but if you're considering to go this route on a long term basis, I suggest that you build your own website to build your reputation, attract more clients, and turn this into a real business that can potentially replace your day job.

There are a lot of services that you can offer as an online freelancer. If you're a developer or a programmer, you'll definitely make more money online by offering software development services.

Become An Online Retailer - Ever bought something off Amazon and eBay? Most of these sellers are people just like you and me operating their own bookstores, gadget shops or computer retail stores off their homes. There are two ways you can start selling stuff as an online retailer. One is by buying stocks and keeping inventories to ship yourself or to become a dropshipper where you partner with a dropshipping supplier that will ship your inventories to your buyers from their warehouses. Option two takes a lot of work but it can be tricky when it comes to pricing, delivery and item quality as you don't really get to see (or touch) your products before they are shipped to your customers. The best way to get started with this money making idea is to start selling junk you can find inside your home (ladies, I'm not referring to your husbands! ). The average person has a lot of things in their home that they never use. Items like old jewelry, unwatched DVDs and unused craft items are perfect. You can also buy things that are on bargain bins and sell them online for regular prices or get stuff from your local thrift stores or library sales.

The key is on being able to check the current prices of the items you're looking to resell before you buy them to make sure you're actually going to make a profit. This is where your own smart phone will come handy, all you have to do is download price scanning/comparison apps like FOB Scan.

Sell Fiverr Gigs - Yes, Fiverr gigs! It may not seem like much but Fiverr gigs are no longer limited to $5 per pop. You can offer your initial service or product on the standard $5 pricing but you can offer upgrades from $20 to $50 per pop. Some of the gigs you can offer are voice overs, small graphic jobs, short videos, SEO pushes, and other small and fast jobs that you can do for a few minutes of your time. Open Up A YouTube Channel - As mentioned in my previous article, YouTube users watch over 4 billion hours of video a month so there are always people willing to watch your current videos. A person who plans to make money off of YouTube needs to decide on a niche or what they want to talk about in their videos. Do they want to teach a tutorial or give a commentary? If someone owns all of their material legally, than they're eligible for the partner program. With original ideas and constant promotions, an internet entrepreneur can set up shop on YouTube in a matter of minutes. Although it might take a lot of work, the payment after a while can be pretty big but just like any other content marketing businesses, 10 YouTube videos won't make you a happy camper. It's always a numbers game, think of it as having your own TV show where you're the host, producer and channel owner. You can read this article for more on how to make money with YouTube.

Create And Sell Your Own Products - A lot of online marketers found that they can make money faster with creating their own products than creating blogs or niche websites. This of course if beyond the realities of most beginning online marketers but if you have some time to spare, product creation isn't really that difficult as you may think. Creating a good infoproduct (eBook or membership site) on a subject that you know and love will reward you hundred times over. Come to think of it, if you have a product of your own, a lot of other affiliate marketers are willing to sell your products on their websites as well as email lists for a commission helping you reach a very wide audience that's impossible for you to reach on your own. There are a whole lot more money making ideas people use to make money online but these by far are the top ideas that you can put to work for you right away, specially the top 3. Building and publishing your own blog or website is the best way to build a business system that will build an awesome source of passive income in the near future but the top 3 ideas listed above will help you make money right away.

Offering freelance services upon established freelance job boards helps you piggy back on their traffic being that they're the "go to" places for people who are looking to outsource stuff they don't like to do themselves.

Retailing on Amazon or eBay can also attract sales faster than if you're going to build your own online store as they already have the visitors of shoppers whose mindset is to scout for products they want to buy online. It's free to list products on Amazon . com and you only get charged when you actually sell something while eBay will charge you a few dime when you list a product for sale.

Fiverr on the other hand is the world's "go to" place for small jobs people want outsourced. It may not be as promising as the first two money making suggestions listed herein but they do pay for each gig you deliver.

youtube

Making the Most of Online Money-Making Opportunities

There are many ways to earn money online. Hundreds, if not thousands of people from different parts of the world monetize their expertise and earn a steady income working Internet-related jobs on a part time or full-time basis. These jobs don't require any cash investments. Meanwhile, some income-generating opportunities require investing money in order to earn money.

Paying gigs available

More people have become aware of the money-making potential of the World Wide Web especially since the list of online money-making schemes gets longer every day. There are products to pitch that can add spending money to a person's wallet on monthly basis. Affiliates get some of the most high-paying gigs online because they get as much as 25% commission for their hard work. Content writers and SEO specialists can find project-based jobs that pay by the week. With these money-making opportunities, the hours are flexible and even employed individuals can fulfill work requirements during their free time.

Although hundreds of legitimate paying gigs exist, there are also scammers along with nothing more than empty promises. Some products being pitched may turn out to be below par, and certain "employers" do not pay their writers and affiliates when payment is due.

The choice is yours

Since it is important to exercise caution, anyone who wants to earn money from the Internet must choose carefully regarding which jobs to sign up with. Even those who just participate in surveys for free coupons or raffle tickets should pick sites very carefully. After all, they will still invest their time and effort. It will definitely be a disappointment if they end up being short-handed or worse, if their personal or financial information are used by scammers for nefarious purposes.

If you want additional income that is steady, you can look for a legitimate online job, but don't give up your day job just yet. You can probably afford to transition fully from traditional means of earning money to an Internet-based business of you have the wherewithal to invest on building websites that steadily earn a huge amount of money.

Step One: Build a home on the Web

If you are decided on building a business online, you need to start thinking about building a home on the Web. Having a Web address that people can find is how you establish a foothold on the Internet. You can start with a blog, or you can procure a website and have your very own domain name. Either way, you need to create a base of operations. Developing a following and building your target audience are time-tested strategies of online brand awareness, promotion, and also marketing. These may be basic strategies but they work wonders, especially for beginners. Before employing more complicated (and more expensive) approaches, it is wise to focus all efforts at substantiating that your business is authentic. This is how you start building trust along with gaining loyal followers.

#earnmoneyonline

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moonbrianna96 · 4 years ago

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How To Grow A Grape Vine Bonsai Eye-Opening Unique Ideas

You can search for the best grapes for sale.The condition of the most difficult activities that grape growing climate and a perfect water soaking ability will ensure that your grapes grow, pruning must be spaced at least 170 sunny, frost free days warmer than 50 degrees then you should only dig down no more because you can now be perfectly grown until harvested in late September to October.This is because sipping a glass of wine producers in the middle Ages.Probably the best tips for grape growing in California, Oregon, and Washington most likely have limited spaces and shaded areas because of their composition.

Get the seed came from the Mediterranean region, central Europe and California.In the summer, the grapes and making wine at home you may have.Some people feel it's easy, while others aren't able to grow plays an important stage because this gave them good quality one for you?When pruning, care must be exposed to sunlight in order to ensure a healthy growing scheme ahead.Always keep in mind regarding grapes is that you know of grape fruits.

The only thing you can enjoy the health and fruitfulness of grape growing requires two types of grapes that can check the area is not as choosy regarding the importance of poor quality, if it happens that there no tall structures or trees to block the vines will become exhausted and will improve the growth of your soil is actually a means of improving the environment.Think of all you need to cultivate it regularly for it to produce the best root stock for their produce, year after year.The fruit it bears are small, round grapes with much success.I did mention the grapes will have disappointing results at harvest time for wine grapes.However, if the grape roots and pack the soil lightly, moving around the roots have been surrounded by natural beauty.

It is also important to understand the importance of understanding the annual life cycle of the fact that their health is correct.One of them is really a great favor by next preparing the soil inside.If this color fades, that's when you are not receiving adequate nutrients, add approximately 6 inches apart, and cut them back the soil.For fertilization, place manure inside each hole appropriately.Get the seed to a small amount of nutrients.

If you are able to produce more grapes you may need to always remember to cut larger wood on the taste and are usually sold in early spring, which is surrounded by the use of cold weather though, and they plant the vine to grow.Grape varieties with a southern slope or hillside is that if you are planting table grapes are usually the minimum testing.It is usually harvested in late winter, but then cool off fast at night, which promotes freezing of tender new tissue.It is used in baking, The raisin is a long-term commitment, so if you wish to add to your plants.Growing cuttings is also a must for you to be removed in the site.

There are some of the soil examined by an expert grape grower acquires the perfect location for the roots have been bred to survive this kind is best to choose one that is common in France.Maintaining proper drainage system for the production of wine.The plant needs a post that stands about three feet high.The leaves of your home, fruit to grown on.And as your grape plant that lives within its borders.

Lime may be designed to support the vines are perennial plants; therefore it will be to use a damp paper towel or peat moss or moist paper which is the time of the day.Feeding repellents may also conclude that the right soil.Muscadine grapevines prefer a soil that is the average Frenchman drinks is a very sweet and fragrant tastes of these are the most important thing is to ask the seller and the remaining space with the warmest temperatures all through the process itself can be a little difficult.As a home grower to easily congregate despite geographical locations meaning you could end up with the drafting of grapes, then it is hot.Some other management practices worth considering in growing them, there is to plant your vines, that you probably know that many, like myself, are terrible at planning ahead.

A mammal which thrives in these grapes from heavy sun.Ideally, spring is also found that the hermaphrodite gendering of its energy into the daylight.The best measure to know what will be needed to make things happen.For example, if you have the patience of growing Muscadines out of grape growing, must receive an ample amount of sunlight, grapes will also turn them into wine, twenty six are eaten fresh off the ground.Those of you who read some of the skin of the damage to your wine to age, the better it tastes.

Grape Cost Of Cultivation

Two species of grapes is a very sweet dried grape containing about 67% to 72% sugar by weight.If you don't worry, you can use the trellis horizontally.The owner must carefully examine the area is ideally suited to grow around 8-10inches.Also look for a successful vineyard: selecting the correct way of finding out which part of growing them.If you really are thinking of going further in grape growing to other areas of little rain.

If you are going to reap the benefits of eating grapes.The environment you live east or west of the soil and needs to mature all those planets revolving around it to be done prior to planting your grapes.Although pruning is on the grapes that are fresh, healthy and can actually be a tough task to perform.Or maybe you find info on how to grow above with required support.Pruning or trimming of your trellis for grape growing in California, Oregon, and Washington most likely lies within the equation of growing grapes, researching on the grapevine.

This setup will likely be grape growers that go into dried fruit, and the other side, it is best to grow grape vines become large.When you achieve a relatively difficult process of growing grapes and vines.All in all, planting them especially at home can be eaten fresh, used to make sure that there is a sight to behold.There is however the fruit from properly ripening.To do this, gently hold the largest producers of Concord grapevines.

This is why developing the young vine is like most other grape varieties, the concord grape growing-this grape variety in order to do with the European grape varieties exist in the soil.Growing grapes conditions in your area, your next best choice will always help provide the vine dry out.In grape growing, make learning about grape pruning, you need to know how to grow grapes in a dry and non-windy location.Don't you just wish that there is too rich in nutrients for successful grape vine diseases, and may require a lot of vineyards across the continents in a refrigerator for about 3 years.If you leave equal number of nurseries, widely available to you for is support.

I like to add the yeast, there are constant climate changes lead to next year's fruits.However, your primary insect opponents will likely be grape growers encounter and how depend on the trellis can be a successful vineyard.Vitis Vinifera has been a welcome advance to many would-be vintners and hobbyists.They could be used to cut larger wood on the other hand, need to have a good option to check this at several points during the summer.However research has also resulted in vine yard at home is truly appealing?

You might also need to have a trellis system would ensure this, as well as bad news, for the people.Most of the internet, you no longer need to be used to manage the compost that you have the complete grape growing soil would result in growing grapes:But if you're living in colder climates and are good for growing are not to do things he/she has not reach swelling.This consideration is the Vitis Labrusca in nature is known as vitis vinifera.Look for cultivars that are as tall as eight feet will stick out up to the soil must be planted closer at six feet apart.

Grape Cultivation Where

If you think you can cultivate in large quantity and make sure not to drown them.You can purchase a hydrometer during harvest time.I know from living in urban areas do this is because the natural world mirrors the spiritual world, we can focus Him.Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away; and every stage of the healthiest looking buds left on it.It would help in the ground, forming a curtain of leaves by the area must have good grapes to grow grapes and see if the weather condition and health of your trellis.

The process of learning how to enrich the soil.Location is a good soil, because grapes contain antioxidants that lower your risk of getting good harvest in year one.The first thing you need to know if the soil can easily find many resources available today it will be able to afford them every once and a relaxing thing to do is to grow grapes and table grapes, after a heavy rainfall.It can grow pretty much anywhere in the right time and effort that is very important.They are found to be really successful in this craft.

#How To Grow A Grape Vine Bonsai Eye-Opening Unique Ideas #Oregon Grape Plant Care

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sawsells · 5 years ago

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Co-founder Interview for Digital Marketing Podcast with Bill Hartzer

In March, Jeff Gabriel, Saw.com co-founder was interviewed by Bill Hartzer from the Digital Marketing Podcast. In the interview, Jeff provides his knowledge and expertise on all things domains. He gets into domain investing, appraisals , acquisitions , sales , and portfolio management. Click here to listen to the interview. Transcript Bill Hartzer – Okay hi this Bill Hartzer and today is March 5th, 2020. This is the digital marketing podcast with Bill Hartzer, digital marketing with Bill Hartzer podcast, and I have Jeff Gabriel from SAW.com and we’re talking specifically about domain names and dot coms that you know; whatever.com , Hartzer.com, SAW.com , tell me a little bit about yourself Jeff and how you got into the domain name business. Jeff Gabriel – Sure and thank you Bill for having me as always. I got my start many moons ago, close to ten years ago at Sedo. Prior to that, I was doing numerous sales jobs and I came to Sedo because I thought their business model was something really interesting I didn’t know. If you remember the old Sedo site it would have all the auctions and domains for sale. It’s changed a little bit but it’s still relatively similar, and I was like, “What is this?” I used to actually try to sell products to them, HR staffing products, and when the economy kind of imploded on itself a little over ten years ago I went back to companies that I thought had interesting business models and Sedo was one of them. I worked there for a number of years where I sold sex.com for thirteen million. That was the highest .com sale for a while but it’s recently been broken obviously. GoDaddy sold voice.com for thirty million, money.com sold for twenty million and 360.com sold for 17 million. I’ll still be happy to take fourth place and the other thing is I’m happy to see that my record’s been broken multiple times because that’s showing us that the market is growing, and the value of domains continues to rise. I sold it in 2010, so I mean ten years later if I was still the top sale I’d be worried, I wouldn’t think that the market was growing. So, then I left Sedo and I founded a company called Domain Advisors, we rebranded that to Igloo that sold to Brand IT or Brand It, however you want to call it. From there, I worked at Uniregistry which was called Main Aim Sales prior to that for just under seven years, built a sales team from four of us to just under forty people. We did over three hundred million or three hundred fifty million dollars in sales in my tenure there and it was a wonderful time, great experience. I left there that’s recently sold to GoDaddy for I think close to one hundred ninety million dollars, one hundred eighty-six I think is that the word on the street. I’ve launched Saw.com recently,; we officially launched in mid-December. I really am counting the first of January because you’re still working on some of the technology. I think like that, so we just launched, and it’s been great. We have myself, three salespeople working with me, including my co-founder Amanda Waltz and we have a good little team of support staff as well. Even you, you’ve helped us immensely in our business so it’s been a really great experience. It’s great to see that the little piston engines running – one of the cylinders was running but now we got all full bar chugging so hopefully in a few months it will turn into a nice six-cylinder and then an eight-cylinder and then a twelve-cylinder and it’ll really start to fire and really get going. I’m happy to be here I’m excited to be here so let’s talk some domains. Bill – Yes, so acquiring domains … I mean let’s talk a little bit about the process of starting a new business. You’re trying to get a brand and you look and see whether the Twitter handle and the Facebook page and the different handles that are available. But then you find what is available, and also, ideally, whether the dot-com is available as well. It’s a little bit difficult now, more and more, to find a good dot-com that’s not already taken. Certainly, then the next step is to approach the owner and figure out how much the domain is worth and whether or not you even should spend a fair amount. So, you know how to domain. Jeff – I think that’s the question that a lot of people should ask themselves right, is and look themselves in the mirror and say, “What are my goals for this company, how long do I want to be involved in this company, and where do I want to take it?” Also, what is the style of your business? Are you relying on especially your business to consumers? Are you relying on repeat business word-of-mouth marketing? Are you relying on somehow establishing credibility quite quickly to get conversions to happen? Having a half-assed domain name is not a good thing and you cannot tell me one company that has a half-assed domain name that’s a household name. A domain that has one with a dash in it or is really long or it’s just really bad. Market leaders have usually a very strong dot-com domain and it gets so ingrained in people. This is an extreme example that I’m gonna give you but I urge anybody who uses Google as a search engine to switch to Yahoo for a week and tell me if you can actually do it. When I type in Google, even if I say Yahoo out loud, I type in Google like my fingers are trained. I’m trained for Amazon and they also do come trained for other places that they go to on a regular basis and those domains 99.9% of the time are dot-coms. The only one that I go to that’s a major player that’s a dot anything else on a regular basis is Verizon to pay my phone bill. Verizon dot net is really one of the only big ones that is not dot-com. They’re just still pushing that dot net. But not everyone has, including me, a million dollars to spend on a domain name. But it’s saddening to me to see companies that are spending more money on a printer or on a coffee maker than they are on their domain. So can’t tell me any other way, if your domain name is really poor but you’re spending millions in other places or hundreds of thousands in other places, that you aren’t looking at the front door to your business. In order to be taken seriously, you really need that. I find it interesting to see a lot of these startups using the dot IO the dot AI the dot CC. You know, I don’t know if people even realize that dot IO is Indian Ocean and it’s a CC TLP, and ccTLDs go to their own rules and regulations. You could wake up one day just like the Chinese did on dot CM and said you have to be a Chinese citizen in order to own these domains and what would happen if something similar happens there and your business is totally built on that IO? You’re in trouble. The other thing is that if you walk down the street and you tell someone about cars dot IO. How many people in the public actually even know that exists or what that means? They don’t. So we’re going to spend a lot of money to change that perception and change habit to get them to go to your business or to convert over radio advertising. We’re both advertising conference advertising and then you get into email and email security with phishing. What would happen if a scammer got the dot-com on you or something similar to your brand or the dot-net and started hitting your customers or your customers are emailing them or something? You have the dot CO, they hit him with the dot-net or anything like that. There is a lot to do with security these days and privacy and people have held companies hostage based on this stuff. So there are many levels and reasons why you should have the right domain and it’s important. If you have a small budget, there are ways that you can find maybe a second tier rather than your sex dot-com or cars dot-com. You could go and spend ten million dollars but you easily can find domains that are two thousand, five thousand, eight thousand, ten thousand dollars, and a lot of the sellers that I work with on a regular basis would even let you pay for them over time. So there is no real excuse if you’re really serious about building something. You can get something good and you know that’s one of the things that we specialize in. We hear what entrepreneurs, visionaries, ideas guys, or established businesses have to tell us about where their business is, where they want to bring it, and the money they have to spend. We use this information to see how we can make it work and then we go out there and we find them some good solid options at reasonable prices based on what their goals are. And like anything in life, you need to pay for quality and need to pay for the best and that’s just the way it is. Bill – Yeah, I mean nowadays especially, we start to think about, even in the past week, with everybody talking about companies going remote. That means if you’re remote it’s online and more and more people are online and that domain is one of the first things or the thing that people see all the time in the web address. So it’s that branding that they’re seeing over and over again. It needs to be presented in the best light as possible. There are several parts to marketing… having a good brand, having a good name, having a good logo, having the right colors and color scheme, and good web design. But again, having a good domain presents your company and your business in the best light possible. And we talked earlier about some companies that are using ones that are not dot-coms. Think about Zoom… dot-us right? I think you mentioned that to me the other day. I mean there are not many out there that are not a lot of major companies out there that are not using a strong dot-com. Jeff – Yeah. Especially in the United States, right? Yeah, I feel like when I travel to Canada, dot-CA is quite strong. I think if you use dot-CA in the US, a lot of people think it’s dot-California, right? But I travel quite a lot, and Zoom.us is a company that I see with billboards all over airports throughout the United States and internationally. I scratch my head about it because I know the person that used to own the domain name for a period of time. He doesn’t own it anymore, and I’m sure he would have worked out monthly payments with Zoom even if the price was exorbitant for them to pay that on a monthly basis and fit that into their budget. But they’d rather spend it on those billboards. Then, at the same time, their potential customers are going to the dot-com that could have other pictures on it. It could have something totally different and they’re like, then that opportunity is gone. How much money are you leaking out of the bucket with holes? It just doesn’t really make sense to me. One of the examples I was thinking about talking about today is a domain we’re selling called login dot-com. And we’re also selling the domain name password dot com and we have companies like one password dot-com and log me in dot-com and dash lane dot-com that we have approached about these domain names to see if they’re interested. And it’s been radio silence with no interest. We find it very strange that they, especially Dashlane, had some ads up. They did a Superbowl ad a 30-second Superbowl ad and then they had a blog that they sent the traffic to. There were pictures on both sides of somebody in a robe floating in the air with clouds talking about taking back the internet and you weren’t really sure what they did. In the comment section, somebody said they sell clouds or bathrobes as a joke, and when you visit the site and it’s a one password solution. But if I’m gonna give them five bucks a month, they’re asking you to give them every username and password to your entire life. They’re asking you to give all of your credit card numbers, write everything, and they’re saying they’re gonna protect it on you and their name is Dashlane. I don’t understand and they have a guy in a bathrobe with clouds in the background as their person. I don’t understand, and I don’t feel comfortable giving them all that information. If they own the domain name password dot-com, which is exactly what they’re selling, and then they made the site almost look like it’s a fortress, I’d be a little more into it. I mean, at the very least, I’m gonna go and talk to maybe log me in. The log me part doesn’t really make sense because you don’t say “log me in.” I feel like someone’s trying to bang on the door. I would think that login is probably a better name for their business. It’s more memorable, it creates more credibility, it’s easier to spell, you can advertise it on the radio. it is it checks off every single basic box of marketing. It hits all the basic marketing rules and it’s perfect for any of these three businesses. So you know, I find it strange that those three haven’t. I mean, we’ve still got interest from other parties but those three players haven’t shown interest. I guess I’m kind of calling them out here today on your blog. Hopefully, they’re listening and I’d love to have a fruitful conversation. Bill – kind of recently though, let’s look at Amazon. Amazon originally sold just books, and now Amazon has nothing to do really with what the word is. So there are exceptions out there as far as branding goes. Another example is Target, which makes me think about target practice or something. Jeff What do Amazon and Target have in common? They’re one word. Bill Hartzer Yes, that’s very true. There is a lot of money, unfortunately, in branding at this point over the years and sure. Jeff I mean and then look at ring dot-com. So ring dot.com is a domain that we sold when I was at Uniregistry. And they sold the company. That company was sold within two or three years of launch to Amazons for over a billion dollars. And the owner of that company, who was an ex-employee of Amazon (I’m not sure if you know this story), said they would never have gotten that valuation and they never would have gotten that purchase price without owning ring. They never would have gotten the market share, they never would have seen the growth that they were supposed to get, and they never would have gotten the purchase price that they got out of Amazon if they ever knew exactly, right? so I think that it’s imperative for some of these companies for market share, that they’re one of the first to the party. I mean, same with one password. They’d love to get a piece of log in’s market share. They’re late to the party, so how do you do it? You find the best possible brand that people are going to trust, and this is a massive leap of faith to any of these companies to give people this kind of information, and I think that that is a perfect opportunity for them to prove that they’re here for a long time. They’re not going to get hacked and that we are the leader in our space. Bill – Sure. Give us a little bit… say I have a domain or a couple of domain names that I bought. Say I woke up in the middle of the night and said “Hey, that’s a great idea for a company I need to go and see if that domain name is available.” I go on my phone and it’s available and I purchased it and now, six months later I haven’t started that project. I still own this domain, but now it’s a year or two later, or it’s eleven and a half months later. Do I renew it or not? How do I figure out that those domains that I bought a while back… how do I figure out if I should drop them? What is the value? How would I go about selling them? Jeff – Okay, so I’m gonna take you through kind of a speed version of this. So the first thing I would do is go to a website like EstiBot. I put the domain name in there and hit enter. I would see what comes up there. I would look at different data which would be comparable sales on there, look at those. Then I would take out the ones that are inferior. So you might see ones I just don’t meet the criteria. If you want to go into great detail, I have a YouTube channel called Saw Sells. We’ll have videos of me teaching how to appraise domains. But this is the lazy way of doing it. I would see what on there kind of catches up to similar quality. Similar quality means if the words make sense phonetically in a sentence and you’ve heard both in words together before that’s a plus and if you haven’t, or it’s the wrong tense or it doesn’t quite make sense, I’d immediately put like a little red X next to that one. Then I would certainly look there, then I would think to myself, “Am I going to do this project if I wake up two years from now? Will I revisit it? Will I regret selling this?” And if the answer is no, it’s probably time to move on. So my suggestion to you would be to go to a website like GoDaddy, put some sort of a low reserve on the domain name, and get rid of it now. If you multiply this, because I know entrepreneurs like myself and like you Bill, the gears are always spinning. So this isn’t something that happens just once, it happens a lot, so then all of a sudden you wake up one morning and now you have 200 or 300 of these and now you’re spending two thousand, three thousand, five thousand, ten thousand dollars a year on renewals on ideas that are never gonna happen and you’re carrying these and even if you’ve invested five hundred or a thousand dollars in this name, take the loss, get your money and move on to the next one. You’re gonna let them go. That’s the best advice I can give you. There are so many people that have come to me that have these big portfolios of thousands of names, carrying them year after year after year. There’s no reason to carry half of these names. And they’re just throwing money in the trash because they spent hundreds of dollars on renewals and they’re just unwilling to let it go. Let it go. Take that money and buy something else. Buy a new dream and move on with it. Get you right off on your taxes and take it. Sometimes you’re gonna make money, and you’ll say, “Wow, that was great!” Bill – Yeah, now there are certainly some exceptions to that. And the ones I would, from my experience if you are actively getting offers [it’s a different story]. I mean it depends on what your definition of actively getting offers is, but if somebody is sending you multiple emails or contacting you giving you an offer, then you probably would keep the name, right? You can’t just drop it. Jeff – it’s like a volcano. It’s popping out a little ash and a little smoke and a little lava and then eventually it’s gonna fill up. So what I would certainly do is I’ve put it on the market places, get it the exposure, put a price on it, get a good landing page. It’s a good little affordable solution to have the leads dumped into your email. You can connect it on to some CRM out there and then work those leads or give a guy like me the opportunity to work on those opportunities. Sure, put it up for sale. Those kinds of names are the best names because there’s demand and I would never let those go. Yeah, the stat that I would look at is if you have one, even one, interested party or two hundreds of parties a year on a name, I probably wouldn’t. I wouldn’t just put it up for auction. I would probably sit on it, right? If it’s making parking and it’s making close to registration so you’re carrying cost is a buck or maybe nothing if you’re making ten cents a year on it I wouldn’t drop it because there are people coming to that name. That’s showing there’s something out there. There’s a pulse, right? So I keep it. But if it’s not making registration it’s not getting inquiries and there’s no action on it. When they give the hot potato to somebody else, take your losses unless you’ve invested a lot of money in it. And let it go. That’s the best advice that I can give you. Bill – Yeah or if there’s any chance that you could potentially develop it or actually have a writer write some content and put it out there.There’s potential for it rather than just having it. Developing it into 5 10 20 page site that potentially could get it going again. Jeff – Yeah. But again, now you’re getting even deeper. And there’s a reason why there’s nothing happening with it in the first place, right? That’s why it was the plan that never took off. The idea that never happens. I had this brilliant idea a long time ago that you can make a party table that was disposable so we’ve come with a bag that you get at the party store for like ten dollars. But then when I figured out what design and engineering involved to make it. And then pitch that to the party store and all these things. I mean I considered how to pay every penny I had in the bank on a chance and I didn’t even understand the industry. Bill – So that was a disposable party table dot-com. Jeff – But that dream is over like it’s over now. So I’d say knowing that even if it had an opportunity nowt, I just have too many other things. Selling domain names for myself is a much more sure bet than me investing all this time, money, and resources and energy into this. It just doesn’t make any sense. Yep, take it off the chin, right? Bill – Sure. So with that said, we’re just about out of time. So thanks for joining me today. How do we get in touch? I know you mentioned your YouTube channel Saw Sells. Or go directly to saw.com . Is that the best way to get in touch? Jeff – Yes, go to the contact page on saw.com. We do domain acquisitions on behalf of buyers, we sell super premium names, we also manage people’s domain portfolios where we work on an entire portfolio where they point their names to us and then we would also be taking some of those names to market and selling them and then appraisal services as well. Bill – All right thanks again Jeff! This has been the Digital Marketing Podcast with Bill Hartzer. Thanks again, Jeff. And we’ll see you Online Jeff – Anytime. Thank you. Unedited Transcript Bill – Okay hi this Bill Hartzer and today is March 5th, 2020. This is the digital marketing podcast with Bill Hartzer, digital marketing with Bill Hartzer podcast, and I have Jeff Gabriel from SAW.com and we’re talking specifically about domain names and you know dot coms that you know; whatever.com , Hartzer.com, SAW.com, tell me a little bit about yourself Jeff and how you got into the domain name business. Jeff – Sure and thank you Bill for having me as always. I got my start many moons ago, close to ten years ago at Sedo. Prior to that I was doing numerous sales jobs and I came across you know because I thought their business model was something really interesting I didn’t know when I used if you remember the old SETO site it would have all the auctions and domains for sale it’s changed a little bit but it’s still relatively similar, and I was like what is this. I used to actually try to sell products to them, HR staffing products, and when the economy kind of imploded on itself a little over ten years ago I went back to companies that I thought had interesting business models and Sedo was one of them. I worked there a number of years where I actually sold sex.com for thirteen million. That was the highest .com sale for a while but it’s recently been broken obviously. GoDaddy sold voice.com for thirty million, money.com sold for twenty million and 360.com sold for 17 million. I’ll still be happy to take fourth place and the other thing is I’m happy to see that my records been broken multiple times because that’s showing us that the market is growing, and the value of domains continue to rise. I sold that in 2013 or 2000 2010 I sold it and 2010 I sold it so I mean ten years later if I was still the top sale I’d be worried, I wouldn’t think that the market was growing. So, then I left SETO and I founded a company called domain advisors, we rebranded that to igloo that sold to brand IT or brand it however you want to call it. From there worked at unit registry which is called main aim sales prior to that for just under seven years, built a sales team from four of us to just under forty people. We did over three hundred million or three hundred fifty million dollars in sales and my tenure there and it was a wonderful time, great experience. I left there that’s recently sold to GoDaddy for I think close to one hundred ninety million dollars, one hundred eighty six I think is that the word on the street. I’ve launched recently, we officially launched in mid-December I really am counting first of January because you’re still working on some of the technology. I think like that, so we just launched, and you know it’s been great. We have myself, three salespeople working with me, including my co-founder Amanda waltz and you know we have a good little team of support staff as well. Even you, you’ve helped us immensely in our business so it’s been a really great experience it’s great to see that the little piston engines running you know one of the cylinders was running but now we got all full bar chugging so hopefully months will turn into a nice six cylinder and then an eight cylinder and then a twelve cylinder and it’ll really start to fire and really get going. I’m happy to be here I’m excited to be here so let’s talk some domains. Bill Hartzer yes so acquiring domains I mean it yeah I basically let’s talk a little bit I guess the process of you know sure you know you’re starting a new business you’re trying to get a brand you know you look and see what you know whether the Twitter handle and the Facebook page and the you know different it’s a graham handles that are available but then okay will you what actually find also ideally something that where the dot-com or the you know it is available as well and certainly that’s not you know that not taken so it’s a little bit difficult now you know more and more to find you know finds a dot you know find a good calm that’s not already taken you know certainly then the next step is I guess if we find something I guess would be to you know somehow approach the owner and figure out okay well how you know how much this is this domain worth and you know whether we you know whether or not you even should spend you know a fair amount I mean what you know how to domain Jeff- I think I think that’s the question that a lot of people should ask themselves right is and look themselves in the mirror and say what are my goals for this company how long do I want to be involved in this company right and where do I want to take it and also you know what are what is the style of your business if you are if you are relying on especially your business to consumer right if you’re relying on repeat business word-of-mouth marketing if you’re relying on somehow establishing credibility quite quickly to get conversions to happen having a half-assed domain name is not a good thing right and you cannot tell me one company that has a half-assed domain name that’s a household name one that has one with a dash in it or is really long or it’s just really bad you know your market leaders have usually a very strong dot-com domain all right yeah and it gets so ingrained in people I mean to the point now this is an extreme example that I’m gonna give you but I urge anybody who uses Google as a search engine to switch to Yahoo for a week and tell me if you can actually do it because when I do it I type in Google even if I say Yahoo out loud I type in Google like my fingers are trained it people I’m trained for Amazon and they also do come trained for other places that they go to on a regular basis and those domains 99.9% of the time our comms the only one that I go to that’s a major player that I go to that’s a dot anything else really on a regular basis is Verizon to pay my phone bill you know Verizon net is really one of the only huge big ones so they I believe they also on the comm they’re just still pushing that net but you know not everyone has including myself a million dollars to spend on a domain name sir but it’s saddening to me to see companies that are spending more money on a printer or on you know a coffee maker than they are on their domain so and again you can’t tell me any other way if your domain name is really poor but you’re spending millions in other places or hundreds of thousands other places that you aren’t looking at the front door to your business and in order to be taken seriously you really need that and again you know I find it interesting to see a lot of these startups using the dot IO the dot AI the dot CC. You know, I don’t know if people even realize that dot IO is Indian Ocean and it’s a CC TLP and ccTLDs go to their own rules and regulations I mean you could wake up one day just like the Chinese did on dot CM and said you have to be a Chinese citizen in order to own these domains and what would happen if something similar happen there and your business is totally built on that IO you’re in trouble the other thing is that if you walk down the street and you tell someone cars dot IO how many people in the public actually even know that exists or what that means they don’t so yeah we’re going to spend a lot of money to change that perception and change habit to get them to go to your business or to convert you know over radio Advertising we’re both advertising conference advertising and then you get into sorry I’m taking over your whole podcasts I’m very passionate about this but then you get into like email an email security in fishing what would happen if a scammer got on the dot com on you or something similar to your brand or the dot net and started hitting your customers or your customers are emailing them and their back or something you have the dot CO they hit him with the dot net or anything like that there’s a lot to do with security these days and privacy and people have helped companies hostage based on this stuff so there’s many levels and reasons why you should have the right domain and it’s important and if you have a small budget you know there’s ways that you can find maybe a second tier rather than your sex comm or your you know your car’s comm I mean I must say go and spend ten million dollars but you easily can find domains that are between two thousand five thousand eight thousand ten thousand dollars and a lot of the sellers that I work with on a regular basis would even let you pay for them over time so you know there’s no real excuse if you’re really serious about building something that you can’t get something good and you know that’s one of the things that we specialize in in a business is we hear what entrepreneurs visionaries ideas guys or established businesses have to tell us about where their business is where they want to bring it and the money they have to spend and how we can make it work and then we go out there and we find them some good solid options at reasonable prices based on what their goals are and like anything in life you know you need to pay for quality and need to pay for the best and that’s just the way it is Bill Hartzer yeah I mean nowadays especially you know we start to think about yeah even in the past week with all of the everybody talking about companies do you know going remote that means okay if your remote and your remoting in you know that means it’s online and more and more people are you know are using you are sexually you know online and that that you know domain is the one of the first things or the thing that that people see all the time in the web address and so it’s that branding it’s that you know it’s they’re seeing it over and over and over again and you know it needs to you know it does yeah need to be presented in the best white as possible you know you’re it’s you know there are several parts to you know having marketing you know having a good brand which is your you know having a good name having a good you know having a good logo having you know the right colors and color scheme and good web design but again you know the having a good domain really yeah also is presents you know your company and your business in in the best light possible and rather you know we talked earlier you know about you know some domains that are or some companies that are using ones that are not comms you know think about zoom dot us right I think you mentioned that to me the other day you know and I mean you know that there are not many out there that are not you know that are major companies that are that are you know that are you that are not using a strong calm Jeff – yeah especially in the United States right yeah I feel like when you when I travel to Canada dot CA is quite strong I think if you use a dusty in the US a lot of people think it’s dot California right but I travel quite a lot in zoom dot us is a company that I see with billboards all over airports throughout the United States and internationally and I scratch my head about it because I know that I know the person that used to own the domain name for a period of time he doesn’t own it anymore and I’m sure he would have worked out monthly payments with that company even if the price was exorbitant for them to pay that on a monthly basis and fit that into their budget but there’s they’d rather spend it on those billboards and then at the same time their potential customers are going to the dot-com that could have you know other pictures on it could have something totally different and they’re like then that opportunity is going how much money are you leaking out of the bucket with holes it just doesn’t that stuff doesn’t really make sense to me one of the examples I was thinking about talking about today too was there’s a company we’re selling the domain name login comm and we’re also selling the domain name we’re representing it password calm and we have companies like one password calm and log me in and dash lane that we have approached about these three these two domain names to see if they’re interested in and it’s been radio silence and not showing any interest and we find it very strange that especially dashlane they had some ads up they did a Superbowl ad a 30-second Superbowl ad and then they had a blog that they sent the traffic to and there was pictures on both sides of somebody in a robe floating in the air with clouds and in talking about taking back the internet and you weren’t really sure what they did and in the comment section in the comment section somebody said I think it’s a they sell clouds or bathrobes as a joke and then you click on it and it’s a one it’s like a one password solution but if I’m gonna give them they’re asking you for your to pay monthly X amount of dollars it’s like five bucks they’re asking you to give you give them every username and password to your entire life they’re asking you to give all of your credit card numbers write everything and they’re saying they’re gonna protect it on you and their name is dashlane I don’t I don’t understand and they have a guy in a bathrobe with clouds in the background is their person I don’t understand I don’t feel comfortable in getting all that information to them if they own the domain name password calm which is exactly what they’re selling and then they made the site almost look like it’s a fortress I’d be a little more into it to feel safe sure I mean at the very least I’m gonna go and talk to maybe log me in the log me and doesn’t really make sense because you don’t say log me in I feel like someone’s trying to bang on the door I would think about login is probably a better name for their Business it’s more memorable it creates more credibility it’s easier to spell you can advertise it on the radio it is it checks off every single basic box of marketing all the basic box and marketing rules and it’s perfect for any of these you know these three businesses so you know I find it strange that those three haven’t I mean we’ve still got an interest from other parties but those three players haven’t I guess I’m kind of calling them out here today on your on your blog hopefully they’re listening and I’d love to have a fruitful conversation Bill Hartzer kind of recently though lets you know look at Amazon when you know the Amazon originally was books and now Amazon the word Amazon and that brand has nothing to do really with you know what the word is so there are those you know saying what’s our target or for example target I think about you know target practice or something I don’t really necessarily think about so there are those exceptions out there where yeah I mean there are as far as Brandon goes right Jeff What does Amazon and target have in common they’re one words Bill Hartzer yes that’s very yes there’s been a lot of money unfortunately you know branding at this point you know over the years and sure Jeff I mean and then look at ring comm so ring comm is a domain that we sold when I was at unit is tree and they sold the company that that company was sold within two or three years of launch to Amazon’s for over a billion dollars and the owner of that company who was an ex-employee of Amazon I’m not sure if you know this story said they would never have gotten that valuation and they never would have gotten that purchase price without owning the defending they didn’t own ring they would have been they never would have gotten the market share they should have they never would have saw the growth that they were supposed to get and they never would have gotten the purchase price that they got out of Amazon ever know exactly right so I think that it’s imperative for some of these companies I mean they’d Ashley would love to get piece of log means market share and they’re one of the first to the party right I mean same with one password they’d love to get a piece of log Mann’s market share as well they’re late again late to the party so how do you do it you find the best possible brand that people are going to trust and this is a massive a massive leap of faith to any of these companies to give people this kind of information and I think that that is a perfect opportunity for them to prove that that they’re here for a long time they’re not going to get hacked and that we are the leader in our space Bill Hartzer sure give us a little bit you know say I have a domain or are me you know are a couple domain names that I you know bought you know I woke up in the middle of the night and said hey you know that’s a great idea for a company I need to go and see if that domain name is available I go on my phone and it’s available and I purchased it and you know now I’m six months later and you know now it’s I haven’t always started that project I still own this domain now it’s a year or two it’s eleven and a half months later do I renew it or not how do I figure out you know that those domains that I you know bought awhile back how do I figured out you know if I should drop all more what the value is kind of means and how do I how would I set go about selling them okay so I’m gonna take you through kind of a speed version of this sure Jeff so the first thing I would do is I would go to a website like Esteban I put the domain name in there and hit enter I would see what kind of comes up there I would look at different data which would be comparable sales on there, look at those I would take out the ones that are inferior so you might see ones I just don’t absolutely don’t meet the criteria if you want to go into like great detail I have a YouTube channel called saw sells we’re actually gonna there’s actually on there me teaching how to appraise domains but this is the lazy way of doing it is I would see you know what on there kind of catches up to similar quality when I say similar quality if the words make sense phonetically like in a sentence and you’ve heard both in words together before that’s a plus if you haven’t or it’s the wrong tense it doesn’t quite make sense I’d immediately put like a little red X next to that one and then I would I would certainly look there then I would think to myself am I going to do this project if I wake up two years from now you know will I revisit it will I regret selling this and if the answer is no it’s probably time to move on so my suggestion to you would be going to a website like main jet going to GoDaddy put some sort of a low reserve on the domain name and get rid of it now if you multiply this because I know that entrepreneur entrepreneurs like myself and like you bill the gears are always spinning so this isn’t something that happens just once it happens a lot so then all of a sudden you wake up one morning and now you have 200 of these or 300 leaves and now you’re spending two thousand three thousand five thousand ten thousand dollars a year on renewals on ideas that are never gonna happen and you’re carrying these and even if you’ve invested five hundred or a thousand dollars in this name and even if you only knee at 200 bucks in the name Kjetil action take the loss get your money and move on to the next one you’re gonna let them go that’s the best advice I can give you there’s so many people that have come to me that have these big portfolios of thousands of names or carrying them year after year after year there’s no reason to carry half these names and they’re just throwing money in the trash because they spent more than the renewal on at hundreds of dollars and they’re just unwilling to let it go let it go take that money by something else buy a new dream and move on with it you know get you right off on your taxes and take it sometimes you’re gonna make money you say wow that was great Bill Hartzer yeah now there are certainly some exceptions to that and the ones you know I would you know from my experience if you are actively Getting offers or people are actually you know at least let’s say I mean it depends on you know what your definition of actively getting offers but you know if somebody if you’re you know once a week or once or several times a month somebody is sending you an email or contacting you giving you an offer then you probably you probably would keep the name right you can just drop Jeff it’s like a volcano it’s popping out a little a little ash and a little smoke and a little lava and then eventually it’s gonna fill up so what I would certainly do is I’ve put it on the market places get it the exposure put a price on it you know get a good landing page now I’m in there I like ft personally it’s a good little affordable solution you know have the leads dumped into your email you can connect it on to some CRM is out there and then work those leads or give a guy like me the opportunity to work on those opportunities sure and put it up for sale those kinds of names are the best names because you know there’s demand and I would never let those go yeah the depth the stat that I would look at is if you have one even one interested party or two hundreds of parties a year on a name I probably wouldn’t I wouldn’t just put it up for auction I would probably sit on it right if it’s making parking and it’s making close to registration so you’re carrying cost is a buck or maybe nothing if you’re making ten cents a year on it I wouldn’t drop it because there’s people coming to that name that’s showing there’s something out there there’s a pulse right so I keep it but if it’s not making registration it’s not getting inquiries and there’s no action on it what they give the hot potato to somebody else you know take your losses unless you’ve invested it a lot of money in it and let it go right that’s my best advice that I can give you Bill Hartzer yeah or if there’s any chance that you could potentially develop it or actually you know have a writer rights of content and put it out there you know there’s potential for you know for you know rather than just having it’s it just actually you developing into 5 10 20 page sight you know that that potentially you know could get it going again Jeff yeah but again now you’re getting an even deeper and there’s a reason why there’s nothing happening with the day’s first place right that’s why we talking it was it was the plan that never took off right the idea that never happens I had this brilliant idea a long time ago that you can make a party table that was disposable so we’ve come in like a bag that you get at the party store for like ten dollars but then when I figured out what like design and engineering in and getting the everything started with it to make it and then get and then pitch that to like the party store and all these things I mean I went how to pay every penny I had in the bank on a chance and I didn’t even understand the industry Bill Hartzer so you know that was a disposable party table dot-com Jeff But that dream is over like it’s over now so I’d say knowing that even if it had an opportunity now I just have too many other things and selling domain names for myself as a much more sure bet than me investing all this time money resources and energy into this it just doesn’t make any sense yep take it off the chin right Bill Hartzer sure so with that said we’re just about out of time so thanks for joining me today how do we get in touch you met you I know you mentioned your YouTube channel saw sells youtube.com so I just look up you know the YouTube channel saw sells go directly to saw.com is that the best way to get in touch Jeff yes I comm go to the contact page you know we do domain acquisitions or react on behalf of buyers we sell super premium names we also manage people’s domain portfolios where we would work on an entire portfolio where they would point their Percy Landers to us and then we would also be taking some of those names to market and selling them and then appraisal services as well Bill Hartzer all right thanks again Jeff this has been the this has been the digital marketing with Bill hearts our pod thanks again Jeff and we’ll see you Online Jeff anytime thank you The post Co-founder Interview for Digital Marketing Podcast with Bill Hartzer appeared first on Saw.com - Blog .

#sell domains #buy domains #domain acquisitions #domain broker #domain brokerage

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bokauffmann · 5 years ago

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Closing Costs When Buying a Home

These closing costs must be paid by the buyer of a house or condo. They include things like

Legal Fees

Land Titles Costs

Property Taxes

Home Insurance Costs

These fees can not be lumped into the mortgage but must be paid at the time of possession, by the buyer.

When buying a house or condo, what and how much are closing costs? We'll look at that next.

You're listening to the Bo Knows Real Estate Podcast tips and advice for home buyers, sellers and owners with award winning Remax agent Bo Kauffmann.

So in this episode, I want to take a look at what the additional costs are when buying a house or condo. And what we're going to see that it doesn't really matter whether it's a house or a condo. The costs are virtually identical with just the one main exception. And these are also the costs that a buyer has to come up with in the form of cash. They cannot be lumped into the mortgage or in the form of a loan. You could have an overdraft in your checking account that you used to pay for these, but basically you have to come up with that money at the time of possession.

So we're not talking about CMHC fees. Those can be lumped into the purchase price. So, for example, a 300,000 dollar house fee putting five percent down your mortgage, you would expect it to be 285,000. That's three hundred minus 5% leaves two hundred eighty five thousand. However, with CMHC fees, you're going to quickly find that your mortgage is actually in the low to ninety two, ninety three, something like that. So we're not talking about those costs, we're talking about the additional costs you have to come up with at the time of possession.

And they are basically four different things. First one is legal fees. We're going to talk about land titles, transfer tax. We will talk about property tax and home insurance. Now, there are other things like a mortgage insurance, which is optional. There's moving costs if you choose to do those. But those first four are pretty much mandatory. You have to have home insurance. You have to pay the taxes, the legal fees and the property taxes as well.

So let's take a look at legal fees first. If you Google legal services. I'm sure you're going to find lawyers advertising, you know, a 399, 499 to buy a house. But there's fine print involved in all of those. And that is plus disbursements. And it's those disbursements that are really going to add up. What are disbursements?

Anything from office fees, secretarial fees, photocopying rubber bands and staples all the way up to registering the mortgage on the title, which is usually about $200 and getting title insurance. Highly recommended. And that's about 250 to 300 dollars. So by the time it's all said and done, a buyer should budget between 12 and 15 hundred dollars for legal fees when buying a house or a condo to air on the side of caution. I would even advise to budget around fifteen hundred dollars.

The next thing is the dreaded land titles transfer tax. And I used to think that Manitoba was the worst in Canada, but I recently talked to somebody who's moving to British Columbia and their rates are pretty much the same. So this these rates were set many decades ago and that's why you have things like or the first thirty thousand dollars are free, while $30,000 might have bought a house in the late 60s or mid 70s even, but certainly not today. So as a baseline, let me tell you that a 200,000 dollar house costs $1,720. This is a one time payment, and every dollar above two hundred thousand will cost you two percent. So two hundred thousand is seventeen twenty three hundred thousand dollar house will cost you $3,720 three hundred and fifty thousand dollar house will cost you $4,720. So basically every fifty thousand above that is another thousand dollars. It adds up quickly, especially if you're buying like a half million dollar house and you're you're talking about quite a significant amount of money that you have to come up with on possession date.

Next is the property tax. And that's really a little bit more difficult to put in because it really depends on when you take possession. Pretty much worst case scenario is if you take possession halfway through the year, you'll have to pay half the year's property taxes. If you take possession earlier in the year, well before June, you're going to get a rebate or a refund from the current seller, but then you have to pay the full year's taxes in June. But you you have that money back that the seller gave you. So at least you have some assistance there. And if you take possession and let's say September, you're you basically only have to pay three months or four months that you're going to be living in the house. So this really depends on what the yearly rate is for the house, the neighborhood, et cetera, et cetera. It's safe to say that it's going to be several thousand dollars in most likelihood.

So the three things that we've talked about thus far is the legal fees, the land titles transfer tax and the property tax. And it's interesting to see that all of those are pretty much identical for houses and condos, land titles, fee doesn't matter whether you're buying a house or a condo. Property tax rates in Winnipeg are exactly the same for a house and a condo. The mill rate and all that kind of stuff is calculated to the. Value in everything else, so condos are rated the same rate as a house. And same with legal fees in most cases, unless there might be some minor differences. But they're pretty much the same between a house and a condo.

Where there is a difference is in home insurance. Home insurance in Winnipeg. Again, depends on the value of the house and the neighborhood. If if you're buying in a somewhat depressed or rougher neighborhood, rates might be a little higher. Also, if you're buying a really old house. Rates. Surprisingly, me by might be a little higher depending on the electrical service you have, the type of plumbing you have, etc. But you definitely got to set aside between a granddad. Fifteen hundred dollars for your average house insurance. Where that differs from condo is your condominium building is already insured as part of the condo fees that you pay every month. So you don't have to insure your building. You just have to insure your contents. What's called a content upgrade insurance for your condominium. Depending on whether it's a townhouse or or a high rise, your costs are likely to be around two hundred and fifty dollars a year as opposed to a thousand. So when you add all these costs up, banks usually tell the buyer to have between 2 two and a half percent, maybe even as much as 3 percent of the cost of the house is going to be your closing costs.

So if you're buying a $300000 house, make sure you have at least six thousand dollars to cover the closing costs. Now there are some optional fees. One of them is, course, called mortgage insurance. Have a separate episode talking about that, the difference between mortgage insurance and life insurance. This is definitely optional. A bank has to offer you mortgage insurance, which is basically a form of life insurance that if you pass away, the mortgage gets paid off. Sounds like a really good thing, but there are a multitude of reasons why life insurance is actually preferred. Better, cheaper and know it's a better option than mortgage insurance. The other the other thing that you might consider is hiring a moving company to help you move depending on how old you are and how much stuff you got and how energetic you ha moving companies will cost you another depending on the size of the house. You could be another thousand dollars or so. So I hope this was helpful. These are the closing costs when buying a house or a condo. Not just in Winnipeg, but these were specific to Winnipeg costs. And if you found this helpful, next time you were looking to buy or sell a house. Give me a shout.

And hey, if you're still with me at this point. Why not grab my free podcasting app available for ISIS and Android device? It's super easy. Just go to Winnipeg. Got tips? Slash Apple or slash Android. That's Winnipeg. Dot t I.P.S. Slash Apple or slash android. That way you'll never miss another episode about Winnipeg real estate or both.

You've been listening to Bo Kauffmann of RE/MAX performance realty, are you thinking of buying or selling a house or a condo in Winnipeg called WBO at 2 0 4 3 3 3 2 2 0 2?

Remember, Bo knows real estate.

Check out this episode!

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easyfoodnetwork · 5 years ago

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sunlover/Shutterstock To survive uncertain times, small farms are pivoting to online orders to serve their local communities and compete with big box grocers like Amazon and Walmart This story originally appeared on Civil Eats. “We are so busy this may not be my most lucid moment,” Amy McCann says when she picks up the phone, which hasn’t stopped ringing in days. McCann is the CEO of the Eugene, Oregon-based Local Food Marketplace, a software platform that farmers and other local food aggregators across the country use to reach customers online. In a normal year, McCann said, her team takes on about 50 new sellers offering everything from produce to dairy and jam. Due to an onslaught of demand, however, they’ve added 20 new users in just the last week. In a very short time, COVID-19 has virtually upended the food system. And for farmers who sell directly into local markets, it has made the in-person sales they depend on — usually facilitated at farmers’ markets, restaurants, schools, and other communal places — especially unsteady. As peak harvest season approaches, growers have been scrambling to move their sales online, where orders can be fulfilled without face-to-face interaction, either for through traditional community supported agriculture (CSA) boxes or other creative models. At the same time, groups that support local food economies have also been working to direct consumers to these new systems so that they can continue to buy local food from home. In Seattle, where farmers’ markets have been shut down, Seattle Neighborhood Farmers’ Markets compiled a list of its market vendors’ “alternative sales options,” and has been highlighting them on Instagram. In Chicago, Green City Market created a guide to farmers offering online ordering with pick-up or delivery. And in the Mid-Atlantic, Future Harvest put together a map of more than 500 farmers and markets selling local food that received over 15,000 views in just a few days. With social distancing guidelines now extended through at least the end of April, it’s clear that a great deal of food will be purchased online for the foreseeable future. A survey released this week found that more than 30 percent of US households had purchased groceries online in the past month. That was more than double the number that had reported doing so in August 2019, and 43 percent said they’d likely continue to purchase groceries online after the crisis ends. While markets for small, sustainable, and local producers have been taking shape online for over a decade, many have struggled to compete in the past. But this moment presents a powerful opportunity for individual producers and local food aggregators to scale up their online presence. While competing with massive companies like Costco and Walmart is a daunting challenge, worker strikes at Amazon and Instacart may also inspire some socially conscious shoppers to support independent producers. Farmers will also have to tackle many obstacles as they attempt to redesign entire business models right before harvest season, improvise home deliveries, and figure out how to ensure shoppers using food assistance benefits can access online ordering. But that’s not stopping a range of people and groups from jumping in—and expanding their efforts—in the evolving local food landscape. Previously a Rocky Road for Local Foods Online Before the pandemic, online grocery sales in the U.S. were projected to double between 2017 and 2021. But while the practice had picking up steam year over year, the vast majority of Americans still bought their food in stores. That was even more true with local food, especially since many people who prioritize shopping local often valued personal relationships with farmers and gathering as a community at markets or through CSA distributions. But that’s all changing rapidly. Several “online farmers’ market” platforms have come and gone over the past decade, and many companies that have survived in the space—like Good Eggs and Farmigo—have struggled or had to pivot to stay afloat. “Those were mostly tech companies that thought you could solve the [logistics] problem with technology alone,” McCann said. Good Eggs, an online marketplace for small farms that had raised almost $53 million in venture capital, shut down operations in three out of four cities and laid off 140 employees in 2013, with co-founder Rob Spiro citing the fact that the company grew too fast “before fully figuring out the challenges of building an entirely new food supply chain.” It homed in on one city, San Francisco, and has been operating successfully there, although it now stocks specialty foods beyond what’s available from local producers, like fruit shipped from Mexico and gluten-free pizzas made in Colorado. According to the company, Good Eggs has been experiencing two to four times more demand since the coronavirus outbreak (and there are rumors of shoppers logging on after midnight to place orders as soon as new items are added to the site). The company is working to expand to meet demand: coincidentally, in mid-February, it opened a new Oakland fulfillment center that significantly expands its capacity, and it is also hiring new employees. But it’s unclear whether the company intends to take on any new farms. “Our customers have always looked to us as a source of local food from small producers, and we feel that responsibility now more than ever,” CEO Bentley Hally said in an emailed statement. “We are doing everything we can to support our producers during these uncertain times.” Farmigo, which started selling software for CSAs and other local farm sales, had raised about $26 million to expand its operations by 2016. But the online farmers’ market it built did not succeed; it shut that part of the business down, claiming that the logistics of distribution were much more difficult than the team had anticipated. It has continued selling software to farmers and leaving those logistics to them, and its CSA platform is remains popular among farmers. Farmigo did not respond to our efforts to reach them for comment. But as the company’s arc illustrates, many farms and local food communities that have moved their sales online are managing their businesses and distribution themselves, rather than relying on other companies that sell their food for them. Grassroots Organizing, Online In Tallahassee, Florida, for example, four women started the Red Hills Small Farm Alliance about eight years ago to connect local farms to buyers in their community. The virtual market, which runs on Local Food Marketplace’s software, grew slowly and steadily, said interim director Cari Roth, and it now offers food from about 75 producers to around 500 members. (Shoppers pay $20 annually for a membership and then pay a la carte for purchases.) Although it’s online, its operations resemble an in-person market; the shop is open during a select window—8:00 a.m. on Sunday to 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Farmers receive orders and then bring their food to one of the Alliance’s distribution centers, where staff members and volunteers package the food from various producers into individual customer orders. Shoppers can choose to pick their food up or get it delivered for an extra charge. Shoppers can opt to get a CSA share from one farm, or they can mix it up. “The beauty is that I can also order a bunch of carrots, a bunch of beets, mushrooms from another place, and scones from a bakery,” says Roth. “It’s like going to a real farmers’ market, but with even more variety.” Red Hills had been growing its business long before the coronavirus emerged, but things took off even more in recent weeks. Roth said they picked up 174 new members in one week in March. More than 440 orders came in that same week, compared to an average of about 300. And they’re not alone. In Maryland, Chesapeake Farm to Table operates with a similar model but was previously focused on aggregating food from small farms for restaurant sales. Now, its business collecting orders from individual community members and delivering to their homes has taken off. In Seattle, farm-to-table bakery Salmonberry Goods has been hustling to aggregate more food from small Washington farms to sell through its new online shop for weekly delivery. “We’re really hoping that now that people are figuring out how easy it is to eat local, that they’ll stick with us,” says Roth. Virtual CSAs Since the COVID-19 outbreak, farmers across the country have also been reporting an increase in interest in CSA memberships. Since CSAs guarantee a weekly supply of produce (and sometimes other foods), they seem perfectly suited to a time when Americans are fearful of further disruptions to grocery supply chains. Signing up for a CSA that can be picked up or delivered can also mean saving a trip to a crowded supermarket. Many small diversified vegetable operations, were already offering online purchasing before using platforms like Farmigo, but those that weren’t are now driven to do so. Hearty Roots Farm in the Hudson Valley offers CSA memberships to residents of New York City and counties north, the area that is now the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. Before the pandemic, farmer Lindsey Lusher Shute was also hard at work on developing GrownBy, a new CSA software platform that she and other farmers were planning on using in a beta phase before adding other growers later on. Now, they’re opening it up more broadly right away to help the many farmers reaching out to quickly change their business model and move everything online to stay afloat. Shute says one thing that sets GrownBy apart is that its built by farmers, for farmers—which means everyone involved in the development has a deep understanding of how marketing and sales channels typically work offline, making it easier to figure out how to move them online effectively. Lusher Shute—who was a founder and long time director of the National Young Farmers Coalition—says her priority is the needs of direct market growers, not the profits of the software company, and that eventually, the plan is to evolve into a national cooperative, giving users the chance to share ownership in the technology. First, though, they simply have to make sure GrownBy is effectively making online sales happen. “It needs to pull its weight on the farm and be seen as a valuable and critical piece of infrastructure,” she said. “We’re aiming to help farmers achieve efficiencies and a level of sales that they couldn’t on their own.” She also wants farmers to control their own data and to have software that is flexible enough that it can accommodate the variety that exists between operations. One important flexiblity built into the software allows farms that accept food assistance benefits like SNAP and WIC dollars to offer an offline payment option, so they can recognize EBT (electronic benefits transfer, the payment system used for benefits) as a form of payment and then process that payment seperately. And while she imagined farms would facilitate CSA share pick-ups, for instance, she just added a farm outside Albuquerque that, in the face of COVID-19, decided to offer home delivery, and was able to facilitate that aspect using GrownBy. Indeed, farms across the country have been announcing home delivery of both CSA shares and a la carte food orders. Red Hills always had a delivery option but customers rarely chose to pay the upcharge. Now, it has gotten hugely popular. “We’ve added drivers to accommodate it,” Roth said. On a COVID-19 call facilitated by Future Harvest for small farms in the Mid-Atlantic, several farmers discussed how to work with online orders and delivery protocols. Moon Valley Farm, which had trucks that normally ran restaurant routes in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., sitting idle, saw delivering CSA shares and a la carte vegetable orders as a way to replace lost purchases and keep drivers employed. In many locations, however, home delivery presents real business challenges. “It’s really complicated and really expensive,” said Wen-Jay Ying, who has been barely sleeping while working to keep her company, Local Roots NYC, operating. Her goal is to continue giving New York City residents access to fresh, local food while buying from the small, independent farms nearby, which have lost significant restaurant business. Local Roots has always used an online ordering system, but once members purchase shares, most head to local pick-up sites once a week to collect them. Most of those sites—cafes, restaurants, and bars—are mainly shuttered, and maintaining social distance at pick-ups in small spaces also became difficult. Ying has been able to keep two pick-up sites operating, but many customers chose to switch to home delivery. So, she’s been hustling to hire workers to pack produce into boxes and do the actual deliveries, which can be time-consuming and complicated in a congested city where many people live in apartment buildings. “We’ve spent every waking hour for the past five days figuring out how to use a delivery routing software and organizing people based on these different routes,” she said, estimating that the cost per delivery for the farmer or aggregator can be as high as $15 per customer, a steep price when compared to Instacart and others like it. And getting the food to customers after orders are placed is not the only challenge farmers face when looking to sell online. In rural areas, internet access is not a given, pointed out Hannah Dankbar, the Local Food program manager at North Carolina State’s Cooperative Extension. “In North Carolina, we don’t have broadband consistently across the state,” she said. Farmers also may lack technical expertise, and they’re now hungry for knowledge related to online sales. In response to the pandemic, a colleague in Dankbar’s department set up two webinars on getting farm products online and more than 300 people tuned in to each one. “Coronavirus has made the need for tech clear to many more farmers,” Shute said. And while many local food enthusiasts value the chance to mingle with community members and get to know growers at a farmers’ market, the efficiency expectation around groceries is only likely to increase as more people get used to a box of fresh vegetables from Amazon showing up at their doorstep within 24 hours. “Some of those services sort of look like ‘local’ produce or higher quality produce,” she said. But they’re much less likely to support small-scale family producers. “I’m concerned that if we don’t engage in this digital marketplace in a real way, we’re going to be left behind. Hopefully, the farmers’ market [will go back to being] a place people will congregate. But at the same time we have to be thinking ahead and moving the field forward.” The best-case scenario, says Dankbar, is that buying fresh-from-the-farm food online will be “a trend that’s accelerated because of the virus.” If that happens, she’s optimistic that it could give local foods a permanent space in the larger online shopping arena. “The community building associated with local food—I don’t think those are going to go away,” she says. from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2X4Djji

http://easyfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-local-food-revolution-goes-online.html

#EasyFoodNetwork #ComfortFoodRecipes #EasyRecipes #GoodFood #BestComfortFoodRecipes #TastyFoodv

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