#Vendor Management Strategies

[myndsolution1]

The Ultimate Guide to Vendor Management Strategies

The core of each organisation's procurement process is its vendors. Nonetheless, a lot of businesses sometimes undervalue the significance of building strong bonds with their vendors. Due to this, they sometimes deteriorate the relationship with their vendors and do not receive materials or goods from them. That is why these companies are getting interested in vendor management systems.

[smebusinessguid]

Mastering Vendor Relationships for Business Growth

In the realm of procurement, maintaining a steady and cost-effective supply of quality materials is paramount. To achieve this, businesses must cultivate a robust and dependable network of vendors. Relying on a single supplier, particularly for critical materials or services, is risky. Any disruption at the supplier's end could jeopardize business continuity. Therefore, companies typically engage multiple vendors, dividing orders strategically among them to mitigate risks.

A diverse supplier base not only reduces dependency but also enhances negotiation power, ensuring competitive pricing and favorable terms. However, building and maintaining such a network requires continuous effort. The purchasing department must not only nurture existing vendor relationships but also proactively seek new suppliers. This vigilance helps companies adapt to market changes and technological advancements.

If you are looking for a partner who helps you to manage your business growth then, Sanjay Shah is a well-known management consultant in India 

Exploring industry events, exhibitions, and conferences is essential for staying informed about the latest trends in the supply industry. These events often showcase new machinery, technologies, alternative raw materials, and innovative processes. They provide an excellent opportunity to discover new suppliers who can offer competitive advantages or unique products.

In addition to physical events, the internet has become a valuable tool for sourcing new vendors. Online directories, industry portals, and marketplace websites are convenient resources for identifying potential suppliers. These platforms allow businesses to search for vendors based on specific criteria, such as location, product type, or service quality.

Industry directories, magazines, and publications also serve as useful resources. They often feature advertisements or articles about emerging suppliers or innovative products. Subscribing to these publications helps businesses stay informed about potential new partners in the supply chain.

Once a reliable set of vendors is established, it is crucial to continually evaluate their performance. Regular assessments should consider various factors, including efficiency, product quality, pricing, credit terms, and overall ease of doing business. This evaluation process helps ensure that the company is working with the best possible suppliers and can identify areas for improvement.

Maintaining strong communication with vendors is another key aspect of effective vendor management. Regular interaction fosters healthy relationships, ensuring that both parties are aligned in their goals and expectations. This on-going dialogue can also help resolve issues promptly, preventing minor problems from escalating into major disruptions.

In conclusion, effective vendor management and the development of new supplier relationships are critical to a company's success. By diversifying the supplier base, staying informed about industry trends, and maintaining open communication, businesses can safeguard against supply chain disruptions and secure a competitive edge in the market. The purchase department plays a vital role in this process, continuously striving to balance cost, quality, and reliability in its vendor relationships.

[simplifyworkforce]

Optimizing Supply Chains with VMS Providers and Direct Sourcing 

In today's fast-paced business environment, managing supply chains efficiently is more critical than ever. The right technology can make all the difference, particularly when it comes to contingent workforce management and sourcing strategies. By partnering with a VMS provider and leveraging advanced supply chain management software, businesses can streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency. 

VMS Providers: Enhancing Workforce Management 

A Vendor Management System (VMS) is a crucial tool for businesses that rely on a contingent workforce. VMS providers offer platforms that help organizations manage their external talent, from recruitment to offboarding. These systems provide visibility into workforce activities, ensuring that businesses can track performance, maintain compliance, and optimize their use of contingent labor. 

Working with a VMS provider allows companies to centralize their workforce management, making it easier to oversee all aspects of vendor relationships. This centralized approach not only improves efficiency but also reduces the risk of errors and non-compliance, which can be costly in the long run. By integrating VMS solutions into their operations, businesses can stay agile and responsive in a competitive market. 

Supply Chain Management Software: Driving Operational Excellence 

Supply chain management is a complex process that requires precise coordination and control. Supply chain management software offers businesses the tools they need to monitor, manage, and optimize every aspect of their supply chains. From inventory management to logistics, these software solutions provide real-time insights that help businesses make informed decisions and respond quickly to changes. 

Integrating a VMS with supply chain management software further enhances operational efficiency. By linking workforce management with supply chain activities, businesses can ensure that they have the right people in the right place at the right time. This alignment reduces delays, improves productivity, and ultimately leads to better business outcomes. 

Direct Sourcing: A Strategic Approach to Talent Acquisition 

Direct sourcing is an increasingly popular strategy that allows businesses to source talent directly from their networks, bypassing traditional staffing agencies. This approach not only reduces recruitment costs but also speeds up the hiring process. By building a pool of pre-vetted candidates, companies can quickly fill positions with individuals who are a good fit for their needs and culture. 

When integrated with a VMS and supply chain management software, direct sourcing becomes even more powerful. Businesses can seamlessly manage the entire talent acquisition process, from sourcing candidates to onboarding, while maintaining control over quality and costs. This strategic approach enables companies to build a more agile workforce that can adapt to changing business demands. 

Conclusion 

Incorporating a VMS provider, supply chain management software, and direct sourcing into your business strategy can significantly enhance efficiency and reduce costs. By streamlining workforce and supply chain management processes, businesses can remain competitive and responsive in today's rapidly changing market. The combination of these tools provides a strong foundation for operational excellence and long-term success. 

Book a demo- https://www.simplifyvms.com/demo/

[chefjbonilla]

Embracing the Challenge: Launching a Small Business with Global Aspirations

Today, after much contemplation, I’ve decided to take action on an idea that’s been on my mind for a while. Starting this project feels more daunting than opening a restaurant because there are countless tiny components that must come together to form a cohesive company. From establishing an LLC to opening a business bank account, setting up a website, sourcing vendors, and creating engaging…

[udhyogbazaar]

Simplify Your Supply Chain: The Leading B2B Marketplace for Consumer Goods

Introduction

In the fast-paced world of business, efficiency is key. When it comes to sourcing consumer goods, the supply chain can often be complex and time-consuming. However, with the advent of advanced technology and innovative solutions, simplifying your supply chain is more achievable than ever before. In this blog, we’ll explore how a Vendor Management System and Business Partner Network can revolutionize your supply chain, making it more efficient, streamlined, and ultimately, more profitable.

Streamlining Your Supply Chain with a Vendor Management System

A Vendor Management System (VMS) is a powerful tool that can significantly enhance your supply chain management. By centralizing vendor-related processes, a VMS provides a comprehensive solution for managing vendor relationships, sourcing, procurement, and more. Here’s how it can benefit your business:

1. Efficient Vendor Onboarding:

With a VMS, the process of onboarding vendors becomes streamlined and efficient. All vendor-related information, such as contracts, certifications, and compliance documents, can be stored in one centralized location, making it easy to access and manage.

2. Simplified Procurement Process:

A VMS simplifies the procurement process by providing a user-friendly interface where businesses can search for vendors, compare prices, and place orders. This streamlined approach reduces the time and effort required to source consumer goods, allowing businesses to focus on other critical tasks.

3. Enhanced Vendor Performance:

By providing valuable insights and analytics, a VMS enables businesses to monitor vendor performance effectively. This helps identify areas for improvement and ensures that vendors are meeting their contractual obligations, ultimately leading to improved supply chain efficiency.

4. Cost Savings:

By optimizing the procurement process and improving vendor performance, a VMS can result in significant cost savings for businesses. With better control over spending and increased transparency, businesses can negotiate better deals with vendors and minimize unnecessary expenses.

Building Stronger Relationships with a Business Partner Network

In addition to a Vendor Management System, a Business Partner Network (BPN) is another essential component for simplifying your supply chain. A BPN connects businesses with their suppliers, distributors, and other partners, creating a collaborative ecosystem that fosters growth and innovation. Here’s how a BPN can benefit your business:

1. Improved Collaboration:

A BPN facilitates communication and collaboration between business partners, allowing for better coordination and alignment throughout the supply chain. By sharing information in real-time, businesses can respond quickly to changes and ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal.

2. Increased Visibility:

With a BPN, businesses gain greater visibility into their supply chain, allowing them to track the movement of goods from the supplier to the end consumer. This increased visibility helps identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, allowing businesses to take corrective action and improve overall performance.

3. Scalability:

A BPN is highly scalable, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes. Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, a BPN can adapt to your needs and grow with your business. This scalability ensures that your supply chain remains efficient and effective, even as your business expands.

4. Innovation:

By fostering collaboration and sharing of ideas, a BPN encourages innovation within the supply chain. Businesses can leverage the collective knowledge and expertise of their partners to develop new products, improve processes, and stay ahead of the competition.

Conclusion

In today's competitive business landscape, simplifying your supply chain is essential for success. By leveraging a Vendor Management System and a Business Partner Network, businesses can streamline their operations, improve efficiency, and drive growth. With the right tools and technologies in place, you can simplify your supply chain and position your business for long-term success in the consumer goods marketplace.

[chloedecker0]

Maximizing Retail Profits: Harnessing B2B Price Optimization Software

In the ever-evolving world of retail and e-commerce, businesses are constantly seeking ways to gain a competitive edge. Among the many strategies employed, B2B Price Optimization and Management Software stands out as a game-changer. Price optimisation and management (PO&M) software solutions enable businesses to oversee and optimize the prices of their goods and services. These services also provide a growing range of sales intelligence advice, such as best-next-action suggestions and customer churn warnings. In the industry, vendors either focus on back-office price management and product management roles, or they focus on providing real-time sales intelligence to sales representatives and B2B digital commerce websites, or both. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, a leading global advisory and consulting firm, has recognized the significance of this technology in their report, “B2B Price Optimization and Management Applications, 2023”. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions focuses on helping clients in achieving business transformation goals with Strategic Business, and Growth Advisory Services. 

Download the sample report of Market Share: B2B Price Optimization and Management Software

Understanding the Retail and E-commerce Landscape 

The retail and e-commerce industry is a highly dynamic and competitive space. Companies within this domain face the continuous challenge of pricing their products right to maximize profitability while staying attractive to their customers. In this context, pricing becomes a critical element of their strategy. Let's delve into some of these challenges: 

Rapidly Changing Market Dynamics: Retail and e-commerce markets are highly volatile, with ever-shifting consumer preferences and market trends. Adapting to these changes in real-time is essential to stay competitive. Without the right tools, businesses risk making pricing decisions that are out of sync with market realities. 

Intense Competition: In retail and e-commerce, competition is fierce. With numerous players offering similar products or services, pricing becomes a key differentiator. Setting prices too high can drive customers away, while pricing too low can erode profit margins. 

Complex Supply Chain and Cost Structures: The retail and e-commerce sector often deals with complex supply chain operations and cost structures. Understanding the true costs associated with a product or service is essential for setting optimal prices. Traditional methods of cost calculation can be time-consuming and error-prone. 

Customer Behaviour and Expectations: Today's consumers are more informed and price-sensitive than ever before. Their buying behaviour can change rapidly in response to various factors, including promotions, discounts, and market trends. Retailers must be agile in responding to these changes. 

Competitor Pricing Strategies: Keeping a constant eye on competitor pricing is crucial. Businesses need to respond promptly to pricing moves made by competitors to remain competitive. Manual tracking and analysis of competitor pricing are arduous and inefficient processes. 

Download the sample report of Market Forecast: B2B Price Optimization and Management Software

B2B Price Optimization and Management Software: A Necessity 

B2B Price Optimization and Management Software is the solution to these challenges. This technology leverages advanced algorithms, data analytics, and real-time market insights to help businesses make data-driven pricing decisions. It empowers retail and e-commerce companies to optimize their prices efficiently while taking into account factors like demand fluctuations, competitor pricing, and customer behaviour.

Talk To Analyst: https://quadrant-solutions.com/talk-to-analyst

[ourjobagency]

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, the cloud has emerged as a transformative technology that empowers businesses with flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Migrating to the cloud is no longer an option but a necessity to stay competitive. 

[wordsystech]

Benefits to Expect from Enterprise Resource Planning System

[ihavemanyhusbands]

Bloodhound

Also on AO3

Pairing: Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x Fem!Reader

Summary: Before meeting the ghoul, you worked as a courier. After striking a mutually beneficial deal with him, you become a bounty hunter, but it’s clear that your dynamic is much more complicated than that.

WC: 2.5k words

Warnings: MINORS DNI THIS FIC IS 18+, pet play (implied), porn with little plot, dom/sub dynamics, mentions of violence, both praise and degradation, light dehumanization, the ghoul calls you ‘mutt’, unprotected p in v (DO NOT), radiated creampie (dw they use radaway after the fic is over lmao), oral (m receiving), aaaand thats all i can think of but lmk if i missed anything!

A/N: Shoutout to @finniestoncrane who posted an amazing fic w/ the same kink that made me feel brave enough to post this dirty lil fic i could not get out of my head these past weeks :D

——————

A loud, high pitched whistle made you pause mid-sentence. You recognized it as a sign that time was almost up, and you better get some answers before he lost his patience altogether.

You sighed, closing your eyes for a moment before looking back at the small shop’s vendor. 

“You said you heard he was going north?” You asked.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, heard him mention something about one of those mini-marts. You know the kind. There’s two on the way to Shady Sands that might be worth checking.”

You swallowed hard, but hid your discomfort. “And he was gone yesterday morning? Alone?”

“Yeah, as far as I know he arrived alone, too.”

“You weren’t curious enough to ask?”

“Not the kind to ask raiders more questions than I need to.”

You stared at him for a moment, trying to gauge if he was telling the truth or not. He had no reason to be helping raiders, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have other reasons to lie. 

He cleared his throat and looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. He’d been eyeing the clunky, collar-like tracking device around your neck, unsure of what it meant or who exactly was tracking you. Clearly, he didn’t intend to find out.

“Alright, I’ve told you enough. You better get out of here before anyone else starts asking questions.”

You nodded once, knowing better than to push your luck. You took three caps out of a hidden pouch on your belt and tossed them at him. 

“Thanks,” you said, turning on your heel and making your way back out of the narrow alleyway.

The ghoul was leaning against the wall just out of view, the brim of his hat pulled low. You caught the edge of his grin as you approached, and he pushed off the wall to fall into step next to you.

“Well?” He asked, keeping his voice low and casual.

You relayed the information you’d acquired about the target — a bounty he’d picked up a few days earlier, at another settlement. A raider had wreaked havoc there and killed two in the process, so the families were looking for some justice.

Easy enough to take care of, the ghoul had figured, and all for a decent price. So he’d immediately put you on his trail, as he always did. Much easier for smoothies to be asking questions and actually get some answers — Not everyone tolerated his kind.

You had a few opinions on what to do next, but you kept them to yourself, knowing he wouldn’t want them unless he’d specifically asked. He hummed, the gears in his mind already turning. 

You peered at him sideways, wondering what his strategy would be. He didn’t often let you in on them unless it was necessary, but based on what you’d experienced so far, you at least trusted his cleverness.

“Good girl, that’s real useful,” he said finally, seemingly satisfied with what he was coming up with.

He flicked your chin up with his knuckle in what could almost be called affection, but not quite. You carefully hid the secret pleasure you felt at his praise, averting your gaze. Somehow, even at his meanest, he always managed to make it sound so good — at least in the same way a bruise felt good.

Formerly, in your life as a courier, you’d been severely underestimated many times. Traveling alone, especially, had its disadvantages, but it wasn’t brute strength that had so far kept you alive. You were cunning too, in your own way. 

Always keenly observant of your surroundings, picking up clues that most would miss. You were generally pretty reserved anyway, preferring to stay quiet and listen. It was easy for you to blend in with your surroundings, seemingly harmless, and people often let their guard down around you. Big mistake on their part.

The ghoul had taken notice of you, though. It had been months ago, at some repurposed saloon further up north, where there was a lot of foot traffic. It was really easy to get jobs there, or exchange information, so you often passed through. As it happened, so did he, and he’d kept an eye out after you initially caught his attention.

Once he’d learned just how useful you’d actually be to him, well… he just couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that. He had a certain way with words, exuding charm, knowing very well how to get what he wanted. Despite most people’s apprehension of ghouls, you didn’t really mind them as long as they weren’t feral and trying to bite your face off. 

Clearly, he wasn’t that type. So, you’d made an agreement of sorts with him, splitting the profits sixty-forty for every bounty fulfilled. Easy money, you figured, and some company to boot. More safety in numbers, after all, especially with someone as skilled as him. 

But from the get go, he always made it abundantly clear that he was the one calling the shots. There had been no room for argument on that, though strangely enough, you had felt a certain sense of freedom by submitting to it.

The tracking device he’d clasped around your neck soon after was just a little extra precaution, he had said. You had relatively free rein, but still he didn’t let you stray too far. And if you did, then his lasso would work as a makeshift leash to drag you back. 

Later on, when you’d developed a system of communication without words – especially for greater distances – you realized it’d felt more like training, in a way. Bending you to his will, sometimes with more charm, others with what he called discipline. And soon enough, after nights of growing closeness and a simmering tension, rewards also came into play. 

In the end, it all worked out, and before you knew it, the two of you were running like a well oiled machine. The hunter and his bloodhound. 

You started the trek north, taking advantage of the daylight. You kept your eyes peeled for any distinct tracks or other clues. When you saw an old, rundown shack in the near distance, you glanced back at him and then trotted off as soon as he nodded. 

Once you’d cleared it, you returned to where he was and continued on your way. Three more times, you checked abandoned buildings, but there was nothing of note in any of them. 

The first mini-mart you arrived at turned out to be more useful. The ghoul helped you interrogate a couple of raiders you’d found holing up there. They weren’t very forthcoming at first, but you left the jostling to him, given that it was his specialty. 

Soon enough, he managed to knock a couple of answers out of them, and then you were on your way again. You settled in an abandoned, half-collapsed house for the evening, a fire burning before the sun even finished setting. 

He sat on the other side of it, silently sharpening his machete, lost in thought. You looked off into the middle distance, unbothered by the quiet. It was a welcome reprieve after a long day, when all you wanted to do was unwind.

But that wasn’t to say it was always easy, even if you were on the brink of exhaustion. Sometimes you just needed a little extra help to get you there.

The ghoul noticed the tense set of your shoulders and your restless shifting. He heard the soft sighs you weren’t even aware you were letting out, short and almost impatient. But what could you possibly be waiting for?

His eyes lingered pensively on the tracking device, like a mark of his ownership, before trailing lower, towards your chest. He licked his lips, a few ideas coming to mind. 

“Say… how would you like a little treat for doin’ such a good job today?” He drawled, a roguish grin on his face as one of his hands came to rest heavily on his belt buckle.

Your attention was drawn there, but you quickly looked back up at his face. Instead of giving in to the impulse to nod eagerly, you bit your lip and decided to test the waters just a little bit.

“A treat, hmm?” you said, slightly tilting your head to one side, a sly smile tugging at your lips.

He nodded, adjusting his position lazily, hips bucking. “Oh yes, I’m feelin’ quite generous today, and you’ve earned it.”

This time you couldn’t hide the effect his words had on you, and he chuckled. Truth be told, you’d had this in mind all day, a craving that would not go away until you had him. It was why you’d gone the extra mile, knowing it wouldn’t escape his notice. He’d gotten real good at reading your moods, after all.

“Come sit pretty for me over here, why don’t’cha?” He said and tapped his foot on the ground, spurs jingling softly. 

You made your way over to him and knelt at his feet. He bent forward, looming over you, and grasped your chin with a gloved hand. 

“Well, ain’t you just the most obedient little thing? I’ve got you well trained, don’t I?” he said, his eyes roaming over your face. “Go on now, get your treat.”

He let go of your face and leaned back, adjusting his hips to bring them closer to you. Your fingers shook only slightly as you deftly undid his belt, then bent your head to undo the zipper with your teeth. There was a low sound of approval in his throat as you tugged his pants down, along with his underwear.

Your mouth watered at the sight of his hardening cock, the head of it lazily resting against his lower abdomen. You were about to curl your fingers around the shaft, but he shook his head.

“No hands,” he said, clicking his tongue. “You don’t need to use your hands anymore.”

You nodded, sticking out your tongue as your head dipped once more. You licked a long, languid stripe up the length of it, making it twitch in response. He sighed a rough good girl as his legs widened to adjust his position, a gloved hand resting on your head. 

Your lips wrapped around the tip, teasing it with little flicks of your tongue. He grunted, his hips jutting upwards. Your mouth was warm and wet and inviting as his cock slid inside it with ease. His head tipped back in ecstasy for a moment before he looked back down to watch you take it deeper into your throat. 

“Fuckin’ hell,” he said, his voice thick with lust. “I must’ve been real lucky to find such a good lil cocksucker like you.”

You moaned around him, shifting your knees as you felt yourself growing wetter. Your head bobbed up and down at an almost hypnotic pace, hands straining at your sides to keep yourself from using them.

When you reached the base, his cock fully sheathed in your throat, he kept your head down for a moment. You fought the urge to gag, breathing slowly through your nose. 

Then he let you come up for air, the lower half of your face a slobbery mess as you panted. Your eyes were glazed over with desire as you looked up at him, and his cock twitched. 

“Such a pretty mutt, aren’t’cha? I bet you’re all soaked and ready for me,” he rasped, holding your gaze as your tongue lavished his balls with some attention. 

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, feeling himself start to near the edge. But he didn’t want to get there quite yet, and he didn’t want it to be in your mouth this time.

Still, he allowed himself a moment longer, his hand pushing your head to press your face against his cock, hips rocking slightly. Your tongue was still out, trying to catch whatever skin it could, and he let out a deep groan.

“Alright, don’t get too excited now. Turn around and let me take a look.”

You did as told, hastily pulling your pants and underwear down to your knees and presenting yourself for him. You watched him tug his gloves off over your shoulder, appraising you with hungry eyes, and then he knelt behind you.

“My, oh my…” he said as some of your arousal dripped onto the ground. “Just as I thought… Let’s see if she’s ready for me.”

You felt the head of his cock prodding at your entrance, slowly pushing inside. Eagerly, you pushed your hips back to take more of him, but he stopped you by grabbing your hips.

“Easy, easy,” he chuckled. “You want me to fuck you that bad, huh?”

You nodded, whimpering a little as he thrusted shallowly, stretching you further to accommodate him.  

“Please,” you breathed, your voice broken by desperation, and he pushed your head to the ground.

“It’s cute when you whine like a bitch in heat,” he cooed, fingers digging into the flesh of your hips. “Now stay there and take it like the good girl I know y’are.”

Once he was able to fully slide in and out of you with little pushback, his thrusts gradually got faster. You moaned with each rough snap of his hips, deliriously chanting fuck, fuck, fuck under your breath.

He felt impossibly deep at that angle, practically driving you into the ground. One of his hands cracked down on your ass, making you flinch from surprise, your cunt squeezing him hard.

He growled at that, fucking you harder while tugging your hips backwards to meet his thrusts. He was repeatedly hitting a sensitive spot that had your vision going white, eclipsing everything else.

“God damn, this pussy’s so good to me,” he groaned, smacking your ass once more. “You enjoyin’ your treat? Huh?”

“Yes,” you gasped, legs kicking slightly at the intensity, eyes rolling to the back of your head. “I-I’m gonna… Can I cum? Please?”

He was pleased that you’d still thought to ask, but he was too keen on pleasing you at that moment to deny you. “Go on, I’ve got you. Come all over my cock.”

The orgasm rocked throughout your body, every one of your muscles taut as you unraveled. His name spilling from your lips as a whimper, something to cling onto. The way your cunt greedily, and oh so sweetly, squeezed his cock then had him right behind you. 

A rough, feral sound escaped him as his hips snapped against you one last time, spilling hotly inside of you. Your walls continued to flutter in the aftermath, milking out his own pleasure. 

After, he pulled out to get a look at the mess he’d made of you. Hummed with self satisfaction as he saw his spend trickling out of you, like another mark of his ownership.

Your head swam as if you were drunk, but still you smiled at him over your shoulder beatifically. Mischief danced in your eyes, but he’d already known it had been your plan to end up there all along.

“Always so eager to please.” He returned the grin slyly. “Maybe I ought to give you treats more often, if you keep it up.”

Perhaps it hadn’t been his intention, but you took those words as a challenge all the same. 

--------

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The paradox of choice screens

I'm coming to BURNING MAN! On TUESDAY (Aug 27) at 1PM, I'm giving a talk called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE!" at PALENQUE NORTE (7&E). On WEDNESDAY (Aug 28) at NOON, I'm doing a "Talking Caterpillar" Q&A at LIMINAL LABS (830&C).

It's official: the DOJ has won its case, and Google is a convicted monopolist. Over the next six months, we're gonna move into the "remedy" phase, where we figure out what the court is going to order Google to do to address its illegal monopoly power:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/07/revealed-preferences/#extinguish-v-improve

That's just the beginning, of course. Even if the court orders some big, muscular remedies, we can expect Google to appeal (they've already said they would) and that could drag out the case for years. But that can be a feature, not a bug: a years-long appeal will see Google on its very best behavior, with massive, attendant culture changes inside the company. A Google that's fighting for its life in the appeals court isn't going to be the kind of company that promotes a guy whose strategy for increasing revenue is to make Google Search deliberately worse, so that you will have to do more searches (and see more ads) to get the info you're seeking:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

It's hard to overstate how much good stuff can emerge from a company that's mired itself in antitrust hell with extended appeals. In 1982, IBM wriggled off the antitrust hook after a 12-year fight that completely transformed the company's approach to business. After more than a decade of being micromanaged by lawyers who wanted to be sure that the company didn't screw up its appeal and anger antitrust enforcers, IBM's executives were totally transformed. When the company made its first PC, it decided to use commodity components (meaning anyone could build a similar PC by buying the same parts), and to buy its OS from an outside vendor called Micros-Soft (meaning competing PCs could use the same OS), and it turned a blind eye to the company that cloned the PC ROM, enabling companies like Dell, Compaq and Gateway to enter the market with "PC clones" that cost less and did more than the official IBM PC:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/ibm-pc-compatible-how-adversarial-interoperability-saved-pcs-monopolization

The big question, of course, is whether the court will order Google to break up, say, by selling off Android, its ad-tech stack, and Chrome. That's a question I'll address on another day. For today, I want to think about how to de-monopolize browsers, the key portal to the internet. The world has two extremely dominant browsers, Safari and Chrome, and each of them are owned by an operating system vendor that pre-installs their own browser on their devices and pre-selects them as the default.

Defaults matter. That's a huge part of Judge Mehta's finding in the Google case, where the court saw evidence from Google's own internal research suggesting that people rarely change defaults, meaning that whatever the gadget does out of the box it will likely do forever. This puts a lie to Google's longstanding defense of its monopoly power: "choice is just a click away." Sure, it's just a click away – a click, you're pretty sure no one is ever going to make.

This means that any remedy to Google's browser dominance is going to involve a lot of wrangling about defaults. That's not a new wrangle, either. For many years, regulators and tech companies have tinkered with "choice screens" that were nominally designed to encourage users to try out different browsers and brake the inertia of the big two browsers that came bundled with OSes.

These choice screens have a mixed record. Google's 2019 Android setup choice screen for the European Mobile Application Distribution Agreement somehow managed to result in the vast majority of users sticking with Chrome. Microsoft had a similar experience in 2010 with BrowserChoice.eu, its response to the EU's 2000s-era antitrust action:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrowserChoice.eu

Does this mean that choice screens don't work? Maybe. The idea of choice screens comes to us from the "choice architecture" world of "nudging," a technocratic pseudoscience that grew to prominence by offering the promise that regulators could make big changes without having to do any real regulating:

https://verfassungsblog.de/nudging-after-the-replication-crisis/

Nudge research is mired in the "replication crisis" (where foundational research findings turn out to be nonreplicable, due to bad research methodology, sloppy analysis, etc) and nudge researchers keep getting caught committing academic fraud:

https://www.ft.com/content/846cc7a5-12ee-4a44-830e-11ad00f224f9

When the first nudgers were caught committing fraud, more than a decade ago, they were assumed to be outliers in an otherwise honest and exciting field:

https://www.npr.org/2016/10/01/496093672/power-poses-co-author-i-do-not-believe-the-effects-are-real

Today, it's hard to find much to salvage from the field. To the extent the field is taken seriously today, it's often due to its critics repeating the claims of its boosters, a process Lee Vinsel calls "criti-hype":

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

For example, the term "dark patterns" lumps together really sneaky tactics with blunt acts of fraud. When you click an "opt out of cookies" button and get a screen that says "Success!" but which has a tiny little "confirm" button on it that you have to click to actually opt out, that's not a "dark pattern," it's just a scam:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/27/beware-of-the-leopard/#relentless

By ascribing widespread negative effects to subtle psychological manipulation ("dark patterns") rather than obvious and blatant fraud, we inadvertently elevate "nudging" to a real science, rather than a cult led by scammy fake scientists.

All this raises some empirical questions about choice screens: do they work (in the sense of getting people to break away from defaults), and if so, what's the best way to make them work?

This is an area with a pretty good literature, as it turns out, thanks in part due to some natural experiments, like when Russia forced Google to offer choice screens for Android in 2017, but didn't let Google design that screen. The Russian policy produced a significant switch away from Google's own apps to Russian versions, primarily made by Yandex:

https://cepr.org/publications/dp17779

In 2023, Mozilla Research published a detailed study in which 12,000 people from Germany, Spain and Poland set up simulated mobile and desktop devices with different kinds of choice screens, a project spurred on by the EU's Digital Markets Act, which is going to mandate choice screens starting this year:

https://research.mozilla.org/browser-competition/choicescreen/

I'm spending this week reviewing choice screen literature, and I've just read the Mozilla paper, which I found very interesting, albeit limited. The biggest limitation is that the researchers are getting users to simulate setting up a new device and then asking them how satisfied they are with the experience. That's certainly a question worth researching, but a far more important question is "How do users feel about the setup choices they made later, after living with them on the devices they use every day?" Unfortunately, that's a much more expensive and difficult question to answer, and beyond the scope of this paper.

With that limitation in mind, I'm going to break down the paper's findings here and draw some conclusions about what we should be looking for in any kind of choice screen remedy that comes out of the DOJ antitrust victory over Google.

The first thing note is that people report liking choice screens. When users get to choose their browsers, they expect to be happy with that choice; by contrast, users are skeptical that they'll like the default browser the vendor chose for them. Users don't consider choice screens to be burdensome, and adding a choice screen doesn't appreciably increase setup time.

There are some nuances to this. Users like choice screens during device setup but they don't like choice screens that pop up the first time they use a browser. That makes total sense: "choosing a browser" is colorably part of the "setting up your gadget" task. By contrast, the first time you open a browser on a new device, it's probably to get something else done (e.g. look up how to install a piece of software you used on your old device) and being interrupted with a choice screen at that moment is an unwelcome interruption. This is the psychology behind those obnoxious cookie-consent pop-ups that website bombard you with when you first visit them: you've clicked to that website because you need something it has, and being stuck with a privacy opt-out screen at that moment is predictably frustrating (which is why companies do it, and also why the DMA is going to punish companies that do).

The researchers experimented with different kinds of choice screens, varying the number of browsers on offer and the amount of information given on each. Again, users report that they prefer more choices and more information, and indeed, more choice and more info is correlated with choosing indie, non-default browsers, but this effect size is small (<10%), and no matter what kind of choice screen users get, most of them come away from the experience without absorbing any knowledge about indie browsers.

The order in which browsers are presented has a much larger effect than how many browsers or how much detail is present. People say they want lots of choices, but they usually choose one of the first four options. That said, users who get choice screens say it changes which browser they'd choose as a default.

Some of these contradictions appear to stem from users' fuzziness on what "default browser" means. For an OS vendor, "default browser" is the browser that pops up when you click a link in an email or social media. For most users, "default browser" means "the browser pinned to my home screen."

Where does all this leave us? I think it cashes out to this: choice screens will probably make a appreciable, but not massive, difference in browser dominance. They're cheap to implement, have no major downsides, and are easy to monitor. Choice screens might be needed to address Chrome's dominance even if the court orders Google to break off Chrome and stand it up as a separate business (we don't want any browser monopolies, even if they're not owned by a search monopolist!). So yeah, we should probably make a lot of noise to the effect that the court should order a choice screen, as part of a remedy.

That choice screen should be presented during device setup, with the choices presented in random order – with this caveat: Chrome should never appear in the top four choices.

All of that would help address the browser duopoly, even if it doesn't solve it. I would love to see more market-share for Firefox, which is the browser I've used every day for more than a decade, on my laptop and my phone. Of course, Mozilla has a role to play here. The company says it's going to refocus on browser quality, at the expense of the various side-hustles it's tried, which have ranged from uninteresting to catastrophically flawed:

https://www.fastcompany.com/91167564/mozilla-wants-you-to-love-firefox-again

For example, there was the tool to automatically remove your information from scummy data brokers, that they outsourced to a scummy data-broker:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/22/24109116/mozilla-ends-onerep-data-removal-partnership

And there's the "Privacy Preserving Attribution" tracking system that helps advertisers target you with surveillance advertising (in a way that's less invasive than existing techniques). Mozilla rolled this into Firefox on an opt out basis, and made opting out absurdly complicated, suggesting that it knew that it was imposing something on its users that they wouldn't freely choose:

https://blog.privacyguides.org/2024/07/14/mozilla-disappoints-us-yet-again-2/

They've been committing these kinds of unforced errors for more than a decade, seeking some kind of balance between monopolistic web companies and its users' desire to have a browser that protects them from invasive and unfair practices:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/14/firefox-closed-source-drm-video-browser-cory-doctorow

These compromises represent the fallacy that Mozilla's future depends on keeping bullying entertainment companies and Big Tech happy, so it can go on serving its users. At the same time, these compromises have alienated Mozilla's core users, the technical people who were its fiercest evangelists. Those core users are the authority on technical questions for the normies in their life, and they know exactly how cursed it is for Moz to be making these awful compromises.

Moz has hemorrhaged users over the past decade, meaning they have even less leverage over the corporations demanding that they make more compromises. This sets up a doom loop: make a bad compromise, lose users, become more vulnerable to demands for even worse compromises. "This capitulation puts us in a great position to make a stand in some hypothetical future where we don't instantly capitulate again" is a pretty unconvincing proposition.

After the past decade's heartbreaks, seeing Moz under new leadership makes me cautiously hopeful. Like I say, I am dependent on Firefox and want an independent, principled browser vendor that sees their role as producing a "user agent" that is faithful to its users' interests above all else:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet

Of course, Moz depends on Google's payment for default search placement for 90% of its revenue. If Google can't pay for this in the future, the org is going to have to find another source of revenue. Perhaps that will be the EU, or foundations, or users. In any of these cases, the org will find it much easier to raise funds if it is standing up for its users – not compromising on their interests.

Community voting for SXSW is live! If you wanna hear RIDA QADRI and me talk about how GIG WORKERS can DISENSHITTIFY their jobs with INTEROPERABILITY, VOTE FOR THIS ONE!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/12/defaults-matter/#make-up-your-mind-already

Image: ICMA Photos (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/icma/3635981474/

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[gabessquishytum]

https://www.tumblr.com/athymelyreply/741449177837584384/reggyjester-skeletalroses-so-this-is-a?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/phoebo-fugiente/741458451982630912?source=share

--------

So between these two posts taking me out at the knees for different reasons, I now have Corset Thoughts:

Dream is corsetiere and he vends at his local Renaissance Faire. His corsets are all handmade, high quality and absolutely beautiful. He's very popular and his stall is always full of customers, especially because he accommodates so many different body types.

Hob is at the Renaissance Faire with his girlfriend, and it is her goal to get one of Dream's corsets. She's saved up her money, brought her measurements, etc. Hob decides to indulge her and try on one of the men's corsets Dream has available, and he has a million realizations at once about his body and how good it can look in a well fitting corset.

Ultimately, Hob doesn't buy his own corset even though his girlfriend agrees he looks amazing and absolutely deserves to have a nice quality corset of his own. But Hob is saving up money to propose, and he just doesn't have the extra cash to spend it on an impulse. His girlfriend leaves happily with her purchase though and swears they'll be back next year to get her a second one AND Hob's first corset.

One year later, Hob is back but he's alone this time. Turns out they wanted different things in life so they broke up and it's fine. They're still friendly. But Hob hasn't stopped thinking about that corset. Or the gorgeous coset maker at the Faire. And now that he no longer has a girlfriend to buy an engagement ring for, he now has a lot of extra cash to buy himself a corset... or three.

Hi this is so good!!!! I’m super obsessed with corsets in general and I am constantly in awe of corsetieres, their craftsmanship, and their dedication to making things that are size inclusive. The fact that we’re all acknowledging now that men in corsets are fucking incredible is a very good thing indeed.

I’m just imagining Dream’s face lighting up because he remembers Hob from the previous year and was hoping he’d come back. If he’s honest with himself he’s VERY attracted to Hob but he disguises his interest by asking if he can take a few pictures while Hob tries on the various available styles. He’s trying to get as many pictures as possible for his website so he can show that corsets are perfect for everyone! And Hob looks so good, he clearly belongs front and centre in Dream’s new marketing strategy…

So Hob hands over his measurements, and Dream brings out a selection of different designs for him to try. Most are the traditional laced up variety, but he’s also been experimenting with Velcro as some people can’t manage the laces so easy. Hob gushes on about how talented and thoughtful Dream is, and he seems to be completely in his element as he tries each one on and poses for photos. Dream blushes and stammers and asks if Hob’s girlfriend liked her corset? Which leads to Hob explaining about the breakup.

Dream feels a huge sense of relief, and doesn’t feel quite so terrible about the fact that he can’t keep his eyes off Hob’s fantastic tits. The way the corset compresses the fabric of his shirt and makes absolutely sure that his chest hair is visible is driving Dream wild. His hands are shaking so much, he’s not even sure if the pictures he’s taking will be in focus.

Hob finally decides which corsets he’ll be taking home, and he can’t resist kissing the back of Dream’s hand in thanks. And when he cautiously asks if Dream would care to meet him at the mead tent when he’s due for a break, Dream nearly abandons his stall altogether just at the mere offer. Luckily, one of the other vendors offers to watch his stall for a bit, so Hob is able to spirit Dream away just for a little while. Yes, they do spend the whole time making out in a quiet corner, and yes, Dream does finally cop a feel of the Hoboobies.

Hob is about to have sooooo many pretty outfits designed just for him, the lucky bastard. In all fairness, he was absolutely made to wear corsets. Dream definitely isn’t letting him go!

[sylaurin]

Iskra eir Baelsar: lore dump

Alright, since people are getting interested in her, lets start with some back story. (apologies as this gets a bit long)

@primamchorus @zylphiacrowley @dragonsongmakhali @kanehon since you all expressed interest.

Iskra was a simple farm girl from a remote area between Dalmasca and the Skatay range. Living a fairly pleasant life learning to live off the land and was a natural hunter, learning some things from the Viera who would travel down from the mountains.

When the Garlean Empire started their second attempt to get to Nagxia and pushing into Dalmasca, a small unit of Garleans that had gotten lost came across the farm Iskra's family lived on. They had no idea who these soldiers were as news of the conflict starting with Dalmasca hadn't reached very far yet, so they provided food and shelter for these lost people until their main host could recover them.

Dalmascan scouts witness the farmers giving shelter to their enemy and marked them as collaborators. While Iskra was out on a hunt, the scouting party attacked and razed the farmstead. Seeing the smoke from the burning fields, Iskra rushed home just in time to see her parents cut down trying to defend their home. Something insider her broke. Rather than be consumed by her emotions they were instead shut off. With cold efficiency, she hunted and slaughtered every Dalmsacan that attacked her home. Only then did she allow herself to grieve.

Drawn by the fires, a Garlean patrol craft lands and investigates finding the young woman sitting on what remained of the stoop of her house with a pile of Dalmascan corpses piled up nearby. While telling them of the events that transpired she learns of the building war with Dalmasca. Iskra asks to join them to enact vengeance on the nation that killed her family.

While serving as a conscript, Iskra quickly found her calling when placed on an intelligence mission. The results of which caught the eye of a visiting legatus, Gaius van Baelsar, who has Iskra transferred to the XIV legion. With even more successful missions under he belt, Gaius devises a strategy not only get Iskra a shot at the Frumentarium Academy but a push to the head of the line. Gaius formally adopts Iskra as his daughter. With fully citizenship and the personal recommendation of a renown legatus, Iskra is accepted and heads to the academy in Garlemald.

Academy life is difficult as she finds her self often held to different standards than her pure-blood Garlean counterparts as well as political meddling from those that think she doesn't belong. Despite this she still managed to graduate at the head of her class, however she gets assigned as a data analyst operating from the consulate in Kugane. Politics.

While in Kugane, the consulate found itself with a leek. Iskra managed to track the leak to a food stall vendor in the nearby markets. This vendor was actually a Doman Shinobi attempting to get the Garleans removed from Hingashi. She befriended the man, never letting slip she was on to him and once he let his guard down she slit his throat. The brass, being thoroughly impressed, finally make her a field operative (which I've talked a little about before in [this] post). Finding herself back in Dalmasca as part of a new counter insurgency unit weeding out the more dug in resistance fighters. It's here that she first meets a Turali man named Thiago who is attached to another unit. They only cross paths a couple times but she finds him obnoxious.

Before her tour is complete, she gets pulled from the field by Gaius and is placed on a new long term deep cover assignment to infiltrate Ala Mhigo and prepare it for invasion...

If you managed to get through all this, thank you for reading my cobbled together backstory of Kabniel's mother.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

Microplastics shed from plastic products like clothing and packaging are ending up in the fish we eat, according to researchers from Portland State University (PSU).

The findings of the study highlight a need for strategies and technologies to reduce the microfiber pollution that makes its way into the environment, a press release from PSU said.

“Microplastics (MPs) and other anthropogenic particles (APs) are pervasive environmental contaminants found throughout marine and aquatic environments. We quantified APs in the edible tissue of black rockfish, lingcod, Chinook salmon, Pacific herring, Pacific lamprey, and pink shrimp, comparing AP burdens across trophic levels and between vessel-retrieved and retail-purchased individuals,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Anthropogenic particles were found in 180 of 182 individuals… These findings suggest a need for further research into technologies and strategies to reduce microfiber pollution entering the environment.”

Scientists from the Applied Coastal Ecology Lab at PSU built on earlier research that explored the pervasiveness of microplastics in bivalves such as Pacific razor clams and oysters, the press release said. Led by Elise Granek, an environmental science and management professor, the team focused on commonly eaten crustaceans and finfish.

Their goal was to fill in the gaps regarding microplastic contamination in shellfish and finfish in Oregon, while gaining a better understanding of differences across trophic levels — which arrange the position of fish in the food chain — as well as in pathways to consumers.

The researchers quantified particles from materials modified or produced by humans that they discovered in the edible tissues of half a dozen species that are culturally or economically important in Oregon: Chinook salmon, lingcod, black rockfish, Pacific lamprey, Pacific herring and pink shrimp.

The team then compared concentrations of particles across trophic levels, as well as whether where the microplastics were positioned in the food web had an effect on how much and what was contaminating the edible tissue of the fish. They also looked at whether samples obtained directly from research vessels differed from those of seafood vendors and supermarkets.

The researchers found 1,806 suspected plastic particles in 180 out of 182 individual samples. Fibers were most abundant, followed by films and fragments.

[thedailyjcs]

Thrifted Treasures: LJ's Journey in Sustainable Fashion Entrepreneurship

by Jerraine Sy and Jose Carlos Morata

Leila Jazel Madelar, who goes by the name LJ, is a student at National University Fairview pursuing BS Tourism. LJ is the proud owner of Madie's Wardrobe, where she sells curated thrifted clothes through her Facebook page and ships them out via Shopee Checkout. LJ's commitment to sustainability and supporting local businesses is an appropriate match for our theme, which emphasizes the advantages that thrifted clothing has for the economy and the environment. 

In the vibrant world of ukay-ukay, LJ encountered unpredictable situations as an entrepreneur. This is not new to the business world, especially in the ukay-ukay culture. Although she handpicked these items rather than buying in bulk, sometimes they do not appeal to people's tastes or align with current trends. The importance of adaptability in overcoming obstacles is truly essential, as mismanaging this aspect could result in profit loss. 

She discusses the diverse attitudes of customers and the challenges in ensuring they follow instructions. Despite that, she employs patience and takes the time to educate customers on the checkout process, maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. True success lies in maximizing profitability. When she receives the profit, it marks the culmination of her efforts as a dedicated businesswoman. 

LJ sets herself apart by focusing on offering affordable sets, steering away from the trend of overpricing items observed in similar shops. This strategy has contributed to the success of Madie's Wardrobe. She handpicks each item from various thrift stores, personally fitting them and curating a collection through meticulous examination. This attention to detail ensures a curated and quality inventory. She observes the thrift clothes market trends and notes the enduring popularity of items like crop tops and pants. She also stays attuned to customer preferences, adapting her inventory to meet the ongoing demands of the market. 

The virtue of patience is the most significant lesson that she teaches. Managing several projects at once is part of being a lone owner, and even with diligent attention to detail, problems can still occur. Maintaining a high standard of customer satisfaction requires flexibility and responsiveness to any issues that might arise. LJ advises aspiring thrift clothes sellers to embrace hard work and be prepared to take risks. She emphasizes the importance of having a backup plan to avoid losses and ensure success. Aspiring thrift store vendors should accept hard labor and be willing to take calculated chances, according to Leila. She strongly expresses that to prevent losses and guarantee success, a backup plan is essential. The importance of preparedness for potential challenges cannot be overstated; it forms the backbone of a resilient business strategy. It's important to have a backup plan within a backup plan, as this provides greater control in uncertain situations. 

To sum up, LJ's experience selling used clothing is proof of her tenacity, enthusiasm, and steadfast dedication to her clients' needs. Madie's Wardrobe is a source of inspiration for aspiring businesses that want to enter the realm of online thrifted clothes sales in addition to providing reasonably priced apparel. 

[wenevergotusedtoegypt]

Life update

Long story short(er)...a bit over a year ago my then-boss decided to bring a process that had been previously delegated to an external vendor internal, and I would be in charge of it. We knew that it would be a big challenge, but felt that it was possible. I didn't get a title change, but in effect this was a MASSIVE promotion, which I later convinced my subsequent boss to give me a significant raise for.

Then, my boss left the organization just as this new process was ramping up, and was replaced by someone who was honestly out of his depth in the position, for lack of any better option at the time. I repeatedly asked for assistance with decision-making, resources, and professional development regarding this process, but received very little assistance. Nevertheless, my newly-hired supervisee and I limped along the best we could with the knowledge and resources that we had. We were getting projects out the door, but we didn't have what we needed to assess how well we were doing and how to do it better.

A few months ago, my boss was working with some consultants on some tangentially-related things, and they were shocked to find out the extent of what I, as just one person, was in charge of. They suggested bringing someone else on board, and in fact, they knew just the person, who was currently looking for a new job. She became my boss about 2 months ago. She has extensive experience in this area and it's become clear just how in over our heads we were when we decided to bring the process in house with exactly 0 people with prior experience working on it. I kept asking both my previous boss and her what exactly my responsibilities vs. hers were, and never got a satisfactory answer. My previous boss kept telling me that I "could learn a lot from her" (completely true, but nevertheless I still needed to know what my job was so that I could learn from her while doing it) and then later that I should "be proactive" and not just wait around for someone to tell me what my job was (which, I'm pretty sure that repeatedly trying to have a conversation about it is, in fact, proactive? but ok). My current boss kept saying that she didn't know either, but it would get sorted out.

Well, it did. Sort of. Last week, she began to hint, and this week she said clearly (when I brought it up), that she does not believe my role as it currently exists is what she needs at this time. She is of the opinion that 90% of writing can be done with AI nowadays, with just a little human cleanup (I wish her luck getting AI to hone in on the very specific voices of certain picky higher-ups in the organization, which I have mastered, but ok), and what she really needs is someone with 6-7 years of experience with this work to run with strategy, project management, etc.

I, uh, clearly do not have that experience, through no fault of my own. So I have been given the following options:

a) Fully commit to the new position and go through 3-6 months of extremely intensive training to try to get me up to speed. I feel like this would be setting myself up for failure, as no matter how hard I work I cannot make up for years with mere months. It would also take a level of commitment to the position that I simply don't find myself having at this point. For various reasons, I'm just not interested in working for her at this point, and I can't see myself being motivated enough to follow through the way I would need to in order to have any chance at succeeding.

b) Try to find another position internally. This would be my preferred option, as I like where I work and what we do, but it requires someone having an opening that is in some way a good fit for me. A colleague has been putting out feelers for me, but I spoke to someone in HR yesterday and he didn't really have anything for me. This is IMMENSELY frustrating given that I was literally given an award for how valuable I am to the organization just months ago, I have always gotten positive performance reviews, and yet somehow it seems there is no way to use the very talents I was told were absolutely essential extremely recently. I feel like there should be someone I can go to and be like, "Hey, remember that big award you gave me for contributing so much? I would like to continue contributing so much. It is in the organization's best interest to not just let me slip away. Let's figure out where I can contribute." But I don't know who to talk to.

c) Leave and find a job externally. I have people who are happily willing to assist with networking and reference-giving on this, but the problem is that everyone's first question is, "What are you looking for?" and I don't have a good answer. I would probably like to stay in the nonprofit world, ideally the Jewish nonprofit world, but could see myself in a for-profit position if I felt like the work was making a positive difference in the world. It would be nice (and to my employer's benefit) if the position involved writing, given it's both my passion and my strength, but it's not a must. My main thing is that I want to feel like my employer is making a positive impact in the world and I want to feel like I myself am making a clear contribution to that positive impact. I didn't do well as an office manager because I felt too disconnected from the mission, but I did fine as an administrative assistant who was working with programmatic staff at the same organization (though such a position is now too low-level). I also don't want to take a salary cut (or at least not a major one), but many positions I'm seeing at my current salary or above are things I'm not qualified for.

So anyway, that's what's been going on and why things have been a bit quiet on this blog. I am oddly calm about it all, there's just been a lot to figure out. That can partially be explained by the fact that my husband starts working part time in less than 2 weeks, and then full time IY"H after he passes the boards in late July, so seemingly the worst case scenario here is we have a brief period of living off unemployment, his part time work, and savings before we get back to where we've been for a while now (his starting salary is a bit more than my current salary, so while we had been expecting our income would double soon, we at least wouldn't be worse off than we've been). But even so, I'm surprised that I'm not more upset.

[kaurkomal]

Strength and weakness

Strength

I am detail-focused and inventive, enthusiastic about crafting unique events that bring happiness to others. I  can control my schedule and expand your business according to my speed. Furthermore, my skill in delivering personalised services by customising themes, décor, and activities according to client preferences sets your offerings apart. By implementing a well-defined marketing strategy that involves utilising social media, partnering with local vendors, and engaging in community activities, you show an active commitment to promoting your business. Your ability to solve problems allows you to think quickly and tackle challenges efficiently while planning events. 

weakness

Even with my strengths, the event planning sector is extremely competitive, which makes it challenging to differentiate myself from numerous established companies and freelancers. My company might also encounter time-consuming requirements because overseeing each aspect of an event can restrict the number of clients I can manage simultaneously. Moreover, establishing a robust social media presence and customer base demands ongoing effort and time, potentially hindering initial growth.