#also looking into online book clubs or something similar to try and build a community for myself | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

souvercines · 4 years ago

Text

took me ages to wrap this up between a low battery and trying not to ramble TOO much, but part two, here we go glfkdsj

✰ ––– ni ni. cis female. she/her // you don’t know ? that’s RENÉE WU ! they’re a THIRTY-FOUR year old real estate executive from LONDON, ENGLAND. as part of manhattan’s elite, the wayfarer is known to be DILIGENT & AUDACIOUS. most people recognize them by bold power suits, waking up refreshed beneath silk sheets, tipping generously, heels clacking against hardwood, three passport photos. ( kat, 22, nt, she/her )

born wu xiurong to a hong kong born, uk raised father and a chinese national mother, renée was similarly set for success as caro, but with way WAY less cracked antics and without caro’s ( self-perceived ) limitless privilege

( and for the record, renée herself went from being a dual citizen to a uk citizen bc china is funny like that.. though citizenship laws are weird so she might be considered dual since she’s been in america for a good bit ?? god help me DFLGJSK )

papa wu and his siblings are at the helm of a hong kong-based real estate development firm that has since flourished into a sotheby’s/christie’s-like group, but her geographical background is a tad more complex than that.. as if it wasn’t clear enough a second ago but let me explain sijfg

she and her older brother were born and raised in the uk; so while papa wu and his family were busy building up their company with many trips abroad, renée, her brother and her mom hung back in london for the most part — though some of her summers were spent in hong kong, with family in mainland china or along the beaches of the mediterranean when she wasn’t embracing the countryside of her home country during term breaks

however, at age 12, she and the family moved to edinburgh so she could attend a more prestigious private school — and so they could be a bit closer to her brother who was spending time at the renowned st. andrew’s university

speaking of her brother, they have quite the age gap, so while they do love each other and all that, they aren’t necessarily close. he was always primed to be something of an heir and he was more than cool with that, while renée was more keen on taking her time to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.... though the answer was laid out in front of her regardless and she would ultimately join her brother in her later years

she loved seeing the blueprints and little online models of projects the company was included in, the construction of a high-rise apartment building and the potential layout/design of it. it piqued her interest that her father’s start as a real estate agent brought him to this point, and it made her want to work hard as well, especially within the family business

as not to neglect mama wu, she was something of a socialite; having come from a somewhat wealthy family herself, her and her husband couldn’t be more different in terms of self-discipline and aspirations. however, she put her energy into more charitable and community-focused avenues as her children grew older, in which they were sometimes involved in upcoming events and activities

in renée’s eyes, they were a dream team in their own way when they would reunite, and the lessons that came with their individual and mutual grinds sort of paved the way for her

unlike her brother, she wound up attending london school of economics and majored in finance and staying on for her masters in real estate economics

she later began to work her way up the family business, first as an agent in the uk and at present, as an executive with plenty of investment in bigger projects and smaller listings with some of her past clients

her job has taken her to different cities for weeks or months at a time, but at the age of twenty-eight, she dubbed nyc home as the company expanded into east coast america, having lived in the city ever since !

personality and extras

she is.. quite a mess i guess ?? in terms of traits, i mean

she’s definitely independent and driven, the right amount of courteous in professional and kind of elite settings, not afraid to make tough decisions and take risks

like she’s lighthearted with coworkers and such, but she will sometimes reprimand someone a little bit harsher than necessary when stressed about x thing for instance

but aspects of this are a mask that slips off quick and are replaced by something of a jubilant free spirit, someone who enjoys herself with anything from a night in with a good book and some light piano arrangements playing in the background, to going to her fave restaurant with a few pals for a drink every couple of weeks and possibly going to a club or bar if she’s in the mood

passionate beyond her career, is the complete opposite of caro when it comes to her love life; she’s loyal and when she’s committed, she’ll put a great deal of effort into the relationship

she’s definitely sentimental, loves her family and will cherish the hell out of you as a friend once you’ve solidified yourself in her life

a world-class traveller, which kinda went without saying from her label lbr KFLSDJG

she just. loves to explore ! sometimes acts without thinking to make the most of a given journey, was totally the type to cliffdive with pals in greece or parasail in the caribbean

and she still is, but she’s toned it down a bit for the sake of ensuring she doesn’t look wrecked whenever she returns to work JDFKSLGJD

a major city dweller with an affinity for nature and rural destinations ! her apartment is probably riddled with fresh flowers or a diffuser that reminds her of the sea/rainfall, while most of her travels that aren't related to work or seeing family takes her to the countryside, the forest or a waterfront cottage

renée tends to be pretty active as well and those rather secluded, decongested places enable her to make the most of it versus going to a gym or out on the street with a hoard of tourists and citizens at every turn

besides, swimming in a lake or hiking a trail to sightsee is more of her speed than a ton of strength training and being on an elliptical sfgkdljfsdl

has a little tricoloured furbaby cat named lulu who she Adores, has a nice little bed and all for her too

i... drk what else but she’s a solid pal, a focused businesswoman and basically a lot of things that caro is not, which is a relief tbh GDSFLK

some wcs/plot ideas

i’m sure she’s living in some nice, modern apartment building.. at least on the inside, bc something tells me she’d go for a building made of brick with charm lkdsfjgkl, but nonetheless, having a couple of neighbours around would be great ! they could be good pals or just elevator buds/neighbours who communicate solely through the wall or something, idk

anyone from the uk that wants to be her longtime pal ?? or who went to school in the uk ? literally just give her a super close friend who she’d take on those nights out or have a nice little dinner at her/their place !

someone who looks after lulu while she’s abroad, not really a stand-alone connection but it’s uh.. a big deal for her so DSGKLJ

an ex-fiancé(e), likely one of those instances of being TOO similar but not in a couple of key areas, to be quite honest.. or something completely different SDFGJLKS i redacted a whole blurb that 1am!me came up with that was just too much, but they probably would’ve been together for 3 or 4 years before calling it off. i’d imagine she still loves them/cares deeply for them, but she probably wouldn’t rekindle the relationship anytime soon ( .. or at all, idk man dgsflkj )

someone she’s been sleeping with for a bit while she gets her mojo back ?? nothing serious, the girl just doesn’t wanna date right yet, but also doesn’t wanna fuck with a bunch of randoms kgfsdjklgd

give her any kind of pals, i’m blanking rn but someone she’s met on her travels is kind of an easy one i conjured up

she’s bound to not get along with some people, so consider this an opening for some frenemies/people she knows in passing but can’t get beyond small talk and such with each other

#╰ 💎 . ❪ 𝐖𝐄 𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍' 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐒 ↝ kat chats ｡#mhqs:intro #i'm just bullshitting at this point bc i'm running downstairs for some dark chocolate before it gets to be too late. asap #FGSLKJFDGSK

5 notes · View notes

askanaroace · 5 years ago

Note

How do you cope with being lonely when you're aplatonic? I need advice

I feel you, anon. It can get overwhelming sometimes, especially when things are going on in your life and you really need someone to talk to about it.

Here’s some things you can do to connect with others so you can feel less lonely:

- Connect with people you have other types of relationships with. Do you have any family? Qpps? Romantic or sexual partners? Talk with them, hang out with them, etc.

- If you work, next time your coworkers invite people out to dinner or something after work: go. Also, try setting up a dinner yourself and invite folk. If you go to school, see if there’s a study group you can join or put one together.

- Look into your local meetup.com groups. How about any facebook groups? Find a local group and go to some things they do. You can find anything from hiking groups to dinner/coffee shop hangouts to more.

- Join a local gym and take some group classes or look into starting a physical commitment, like a martial arts. (Honestly the most socialization I get is at muay thai. The people and especially the coaches are so friendly, they know my name, they’re comfortable teasing me and me teasing them - I just feel so welcome and at home at the gym, and nobody there really knows anything about my personal life. It’s a great way to be able to connect with people without big pressures of forming long-lasting relationships tbh.)

- What fun local things does your city offer? Paint nites (a lot of the ones in my city have an alcohol focus, but I’ve been to plenty of casual ones)? Cool, cheap nights at museums? What do local art studios offer in the way of classes? Ask around, do some googling - you’re bound to find plenty of options. Commit to trying two new things a month or whatever you have time for. These are often fun group things where you can either casually sit within the company of others or join in more and make conversation with your neighbors.

- What’s something that’s important to you? For example, being queer, being neurodivergent, being disabled, having [x] hobby/passion, etc.? Look up local orgs/clubs for these things and see if they offer seminars/meetings. Go to one and check it out!

- Build an online community. Blogs, social media, forums, discord, steam - there are all sorts of places where you can find and connect with people who have similar interests as you and talk with them. I often find it easier to socialize with people online because I can do it on my own time (and without the effort of going out and meeting up), take breaks as needed, and use whatever medium is least exhausting to me (I tend to prefer forums, for example, because there’s less dm’ing and more time between people’s responses).

Here’s some things you can do to cope with the loneliness:

- Do any of the things suggested in the above list. Sometimes the best way to combat something is to face it head on. You’re lonely? Go be social!

- Journal about your feelings/your day and/or start a blog about it. A lot of the times, we just have the need to say our piece. So say it!

- Look into CBT techniques, (guided) meditation, and grounding techniques. Play around and practice with each of these and find what works for you. These are all staples of mental health and managing emotions. They’re useful tools for anyone, regardless of if you’re tackling a mental illness type of issue or just have something going on in your life that you need some help tackling/getting through.

- Distract yourself? Feeling lonely - okay, do something that occupies your mind and helps you stop thinking about it. Homework, sudoku, learning a new language, practicing coding, writing a story, reading a book, baking. Just do something that isn’t mindless and so won’t let your mind wander. Do something you know will distract you.

- If all else fails, let yourself just wallow for a bit. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be lonely. It’s okay to feel bad. Sometimes we just need to recognize and accept these feelings. Curl up with some chocolate and a sad movie. Take a long bath and read a guilty pleasure book. Let yourself feel your feelings for the day and do some self-care.

Hope this helps, anon! Sorry this took me so long.

#long post #aplatonic #apl #coping #loneliness #relationships #socialization #socializing #connection #ask #op #Anonymous

13 notes · View notes

aroacepagans · 6 years ago

Text

The Aro Guide to Creating In-Person Community

Alright y’all, so only a month and a half after this post and I finally have some information to give you about one of the aro activism topics I suggested.

In-person groups are something that every community needs before it can do more on the ground activism, and creating in-person spaces is something I actually have some experience with so that’s where I’d like to start. This information is intended to be general, so you can apply it to creating a larger communal aro space, or to creating a smaller space for an aro subcommunity. Please also note that this is certainly not the *only* way to create an in-person space, every organization does things differently. This is just supposed to give basic and overarching information about how an in-person can be run, using the knowledge I’ve gained from working with several long-lasting LGBTQIA+ and religious groups.

Creating in-person community doesn’t have to take a lot of resources, but it can be hard to maintain. With this in mind, I would like to split this post into 4 parts: Creating a community, maintaining community, general advice, and the benefits of putting in the work. Let’s get started!

Creating a community:

In order to create in-person community you need five things:

1. Space - You will always need a place to meet but take a deep breath, this isn’t the challenge you think it is. Many people get stuck on this, thinking that they’ll need to spend a lot of money to rent a space, but public parks, coffee shops, and free library meeting rooms (which, just fyi usually need to be reserved ahead of time) are all perfectly fine places to start a group.

2. Leadership- If you start a new group then you and anyone else you may have started it with, will probably become that groups leadership by default. If you’re the one setting up all the meetings then that makes you the person in charge whether you like it or not and this steers a lot of people away from starting new organizations. And I get that, most of us grow up with very intimidating ideas of what a ‘leader’ looks like and as a result, feel that’s leadership is too much responsibility to take on. But if we want in-person aro groups someones gotta do it, so as someone who has been running my church youth group for 3 years now, I’m here to tell you that my job is 90% herding cats and 10% arts and crafts. That’s it. As long as you know how to make lists, use craft scissors, and keep a schedule you’re perfectly qualified to be the person in charge, don’t let the idea of leadership intimidate you out of trying to start an in-person aro group.

3. Time - Especially when you’re first starting out creating a new group can take a lot of time and energy. So make a schedule, take as long as you need to, and if possible, split the work with other people. Putting everything together as quickly and with as little effort as possible is not the way to build an effective community, so go slow if need be, there’s no shame in that.

4. An online presence - Every modern organization needs an online presence. This can mean anything from making a Facebook group to creating a whole new website, but whatever you do, you will need a centralized online space where people can consistently find information about your events. If you’re not someone with a lot of web design skills then I recommend using Facebook, or, if you have the money for it, Meetup (Note: Meetup does tend to bring more people to an event than Facebook does, but I know many people have tight budgets, so like don’t worry too much if you can’t afford it. I know a lot of groups that do all their event organizing on Facebook and still have great attendance).

5. An Activity- Especially when a community is new, activities are often needed to get people talking to each other. Facilitated group discussions are, IMO, the easiest way to do this, but anything that gets people to talk with each other can work.

Once you have all this the final step is to promote your group. And I mean actually promote it, don’t just make one post about it on your favorite social media site. Leave flyers in coffee shops, post about it on relevant Facebook groups, contact local queer groups and see if they’ll promote it, post about it on neighborhood blogs and bulletin boards. Don’t half-ass this part, aro’s are few and far between and you will need to be loud about your group's existence if you want people to find you.

Maintaining Community:

Creating a community is one thing, but maintaining it is another and this is, arguably, the more challenging part of the process. Lots of new organizations never make it past their first few months of existence, but that’s not what we want for the aro community. So here’s are the things that, in my opinion, are most necessary to keep a group going.

1. Persistence - There is a very good chance that the first few meet up’s you arrange will have low or no attendance. New groups are like that, and I know it’s discouraging, but don’t give up. Keep promoting and keep showing up, and then be prepared for no one else to be there. This may sound like an exercise in futility, but I promise it’s not. This summer my church youth group tried to set up a program for teen and young adult Pagans. It took four months for anyone outside of our youth groups to actually show up, but we kept meeting despite that, and now, eight months in, we have relatively high attendance. So bring a book, bring some other work that needs to get done, and if no one shows up do that instead. If you’re doing a good job of promoting your events someone will show up eventually.

2. Have Help- Burn out is real, and trying to run everything yourself is the fastest way to fail, so figure out who can help you run things. Ideally, of course, the people helping you will be other aro’s, but many of us don’t have any irl aro friends so figure out your other options. You’re out to your sister and she’s really good at social media promotion? See if she'll help you get the word out about events. Your friend just really fricking loves graphic design? See if they’ll help you with posters, web design, informational pages, or other similar design needs. As your community grows other aros may be able to take over these tasks, but you will need help from the getgo, so make sure you have at least one or two people to share the work with.

3. Have Community Guidelines- Humans! Are! Messy! And everyone has different ideas about what behaviors are and aren’t acceptable. A good way to prevent these differences from creating issues is to have a set of community guidelines. Put them up on your facebook/website/other social media so people can see them, or better yet, go over them at the beginning of each meeting, this will make sure that everyone knows your group's code of conduct. I suggest involving other community members in the creation of these guidelines so that everyone is happy with them.

4. Consistency- This isn’t necessary, but it is helpful. If you can make sure your group meets at the same time or in the same place every meeting it can help people fit your group into their schedule. That said, this isn’t always something that can be managed, so don’t be hard on yourself if it isn't possible. Consistency is an ideal, not a requirement.

5. Stay out of Drama- Drama can break up even the most stable communities, so while it’s sometimes unavoidable you should try to stay away from it (especially if you’re leadership). Play well with other queer organizations, and if possible, try to have community members that can act as mediators within the group. I’ve seen more communities then I can count break up because a few people couldn’t get along, don’t let the same thing happen to yours.

General Advice:

Make something you would want to go to

When first starting a group, make it something that you would be excited to participate in. What you want is likely to be what others want too, and if you’re doing something that you already love it will be a lot more bearable if other people don’t show up the first few times.

Look at other groups

If you’re still anxious about starting a group, take some time and go to some other small meet up groups first. See what they do, and if you’re comfortable, talk to the organizers about how they run things. It’s easier to get started when you can see that other people have done the same thing.

Money, money, money

Use free spaces, websites, and other materials as much as possible. Once an organization starts needing money just to exist funding will become the top priority no matter what other issues are going on. If you just love finances maybe this will work for you, but I think most of us get stressed out when money becomes an issue. Sometimes these things are unavoidable, but if you can organize your community without spending too much it will let you focus on other things.

The Benefits of Putting in the Work:

Running an organization, especially as a volunteer, can often feel like a thankless job, but try and remember how much good it does. Community building can help you understand others better, it allows people to create necessary social networks, and most importantly, people with in-person communities can organize larger political action. Not everyone has the time or energy to start an aromatic group in their area, and that’s perfectly understandable, as we’ve seen it can be a lot of work. But if you can start a group, and you want to start a group, then your organization can do a lot of good

Here are some more resources on organizing communities, clubs, and meetups, that, while not aro specific, might still give you some ideas. Hopefully some of them will be helpful for y’all!

(x) (x) (x)

#aromantic #aspec #arospec #aro #safeforaro #actually aromantic #this ace blabbers

289 notes · View notes

princepestilence · 5 years ago

Note

Hey Samson, I'm very much a homebody and I wanted to know if you had and tips on where to meet cool queer people?

Hello there! I’m honestly very flattered that you thought to ask me, because that makes me feel like I must look like I’ve got my stuff sorted out and am living that #queer community dream–but that’s not actually entirely true and I sort of want to preface anything else I say with the fact that I am still very much in the process of trying to find more cool people to bring into my life myself, because I’m not where I want to be on that front yet. I’ve been super lucky so far, but I don’t want to give the impression that I’m done meeting cool queer people. There’s a lot of friends I’m still out looking for and a lot of connections I haven’t made yet that I’d really like to, so yeah! Happy to share my thoughts but I am not an expert.

For me, there’s kind of been three major sources of finding My People so far, and those have been: work/university (which count as the same for me, since I was once a student and now I teach students and have cool queer colleagues and they know cool queer people, so it has a run-on effect), the internet, and creative art spaces.

I think being a homebody can be a bit of a disadvantage if you want to meet cool queer people, mostly because I’ve found online queer spaces and offline queer spaces to have… very different vibes and values. Not always! I’ve definitely experienced first-hand some weird vibes that I didn’t want to tangle with in offline queer spaces (thinking specifically of the queer collective at my university). But broadly, I’ve enjoyed offline queer spaces a lot more, and found more connection with other people, and experienced more genuinely restorative and healing and positive vibes in those spaces than here on tumblr or elsewhere online.

So that’s kind of my first piece of advice: see what’s happening in your local area regarding queer and/or artistic events! I don’t use Facebook, but there are a lot of local groups that use Facebook to organise and announce events, so if you have that, that can be a great way to keep in touch with that’s going on and see if anything strikes your fancy. For me, I go to the poetry slam every month I can make it, which is something I adore and always an experience of big queer solidarity, because it’s a bunch of creative (often queer or non-norm) people in a space that has a strongly upheld belief in the respectful spaces policy–i.e., be excellent to each other, no bigotry allowed.

I’ve definitely lucked out with my local slam (maybe I’m biased, but it is the best one around) but a lot of events like that are places where you can walk in, sit down, and not have to really talk to anyone if you don’t want to, and get a sense of the place and the people and I’ve definitely found these spaces to be more welcoming and respectful than more… mainstream (?) events, so that can be a cool place to go. Similar things like pop-up art exhibitions (especially if they have talks or workshops) count, especially if you see anywhere that they’re LGBTQ+ friendly and/or make a clear statement of intent re: supporting grassroots or marginalised creators, etc.

Alternatively, I can recommend queer book clubs! Sometimes these groups are specifically about reading queer lit., and sometimes the reading is just a way of bringing queer people together, and either way, that’s a good place to at least go along and suss out. If there’s none around, a great option is to actually start something like that yourself–as intimidating as that might feel. Submitting a call for interest on a queer Facebook group, for example, can help put you in contact with people who might be in your exact same boat of wanting to build community but not knowing where to start, or not yet finding the right kind of space for them.

I personally feel book clubs (or a similar hobby exercise) are a good way to do this, since it 1. brings everyone together in one place on a regular schedule, which is good for getting to know people, 2. isn’t necessarily a huge time or energy or financial investment, which means it’s more inclusive than many other events (although obviously requires some planning and also consideration re: which books and book costs, travel costs, access to libraries etc.), 3. is overall a relaxed space that can be hosted in the daytime, away from alcohol, in a public venue such as a cafe, which for many people is more approachable, and 4. gives everyone something to talk about when they get there and for the duration, so it’s way less awkward than sitting in a circle being like, “hi, I’m gay, are you my new best friend??” or feeling obliged to generate personal conversation the whole time. If it doesn’t work out or it’s too much effort to continue, you can discontinue it at any time, so it’s a pretty low stakes approach, I feel.

Edit: totally forgot, but sometimes [hobby or passion of yours] + “queer” into search bars can show up good results! For example, sometimes there are particular gatherings or small conventions, regular gaming events, forums or talk-sites, so on. I definitely know of Ace & Aro Teatimes that are held, specifically as a way of catching up, and you might luck out and discover something like that, which is particularly great because it means you will already have an interest or hobby in common with the people you meet there.

Off the top of my head, that’s kind of it for offline spaces. You can probably check out if your local university has a queer collective, because even if you’re not part of the university body, sometimes they will have events open to the general public etc. Like I said before, that’s not my scene, because I’ve personally found the local university queer collective to be… more similar in personality to the online spaces and also just a little more intense than I’m looking for. But! That’s not to say they’re all like that.

As for online spaces, I met a lot of my queer friends by the sheer bizarre wheel of fate that brings people together in the disgusting blue sea of tumblr. I know that’s not helpful at all, but the piece of advice I have to offer there is that I met all these people by doing what I loved, first and foremost. I was doing my own thing, however weird, and they were doing the same, and we saw each other and went “oh cool,” and we were both queer. To a certain extent, I think this is true in all things: have fun, be yourself, and trust in queer pack magic to bring cool queer friends into your life.

I am someone who’s very forward, I guess, and very proactive socially (and in general), so I am usually the first person in a new friendship to walk over and say, “hey! you’re cool, I love your you, tell me about yourself,” [paraphrased] and honestly that’s worked pretty much every single time. I admit my charisma rolls tend to be high (I sacrificed constitution and wisdom for them, so they better be) but I do believe that you miss all the shots you don’t take, so it’s worth reaching out. So if you come across someone that seems cool, remember that you’re also a cool person worth knowing and a good friend and give that person a chance to find that out for themselves by saying hello, because a lot of the time, the other person isn’t going to have that courage and if you wait for them, it might never happen. Easier said than done for many, I know, but it’s that whole thing with lesbian sheep (wool-oo-wools, if you will): you can’t stand there and expect someone else to know that you standing there still is a sign of how much you like them.

I have no idea if any of this is going to be helpful to you, but I wish you so much luck in finding your people! If there’s anything I’ve said that’s not clear or needs more detail or anything, please let me know and I’ll be happy to do what I can to help. I think finding community is one of the most important things in life for queer people to do, in whatever form that takes, so I am absolutely always down to help with that in whatever ways I can.

#not a sonnet #queer up #as far as online resources/forums etc. i really don't have any advice but if anyone else does please add to this post!#if you've got advice i've missed please do say so.

4 notes · View notes

fckyourconversiontherapyrhetoric · 6 years ago

Note

Hi! Just wanna say I really appreciate your blog. Also, I was wondering if I could get some advice. I was raised atheist, but last year I found myself drawn to Christianity. I joined the Christian Union at my uni and got really involved. During this, I “realised” that homosexuality was a ‘sin’, and started referring to myself as an “ex-lesbian”. A few months later I dropped religion and went back to being openly gay. (1)

[Part 2:]Then, for some reason, I did the exact same thing this year at my new uni. I told everyone that I cared about God more than being a lesbian, and that I would happily live a single life. Again I got very involved in the community. Now I’m back to being openly gay and not really associating with Christianity. I don’t want this to happen again, but I feel like I can’t get out of this pattern. I don’t understand why I keep trying to convert myself :( (2)

—–

So I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of hours and let me preface this by saying - take my advice with like, a ROCK of salt, because my journey went the opposite way, from religious to atheist, and I don’t want to accidentally harm you by presenting my opinion as fact even though I’m not super educated on your situation!

How did you feel about your sexuality before you went to college? I’m sure internalized homophobia plays a big, big part here. That’s something all of us have to some extent, and the stronger it is the more tempted you may be to find a way to change that part about yourself. Christianity, with its promise to forgive all sins if you repent, will sound very tempting in that case. So, first and foremost, it’s important to find ways to deal with the hatred you feel towards yourself! It’s going to take years to fully feel comfortable with who you are (I still don’t) but every little step you take toward that goal will make you feel better. For me, therapy was not an option, but if you can find a good therapist, that might be worth a shot! If not - what helped me a ton was surrounding myself with other LGBT people. I realized - I didn’t hate them for what they were, so why did I hate myself? So if there’s some kind of (not completely mogai-ified) LGBT/lesbian club nearby, you could give that a try! Even just talking to LGBT people online would help, I imagine, so maybe a discord or something?

As for why Christianity is what you keep going back to - I can tell you what made me want to remain in my own community and kept me from coming out. There might be some similarities. I grew up in a pretty small town so my community was very tightly knit. Going to church was like having a big family gathering. Everybody knew everyone and I loved a lot of those people. Because that’s part of Christianity, isn’t it? Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I felt like coming out wouldn’t be worth losing that support, wouldn’t be worth losing the people I’d grown up with. Religion itself, surprisingly, played a comparably minor role. Obviously I was scared of going to hell, but the main reason I decided to stay in the closet were the people I’d known my whole life. Maybe it’s similar for you? You say you got very involved in the community, so maybe that’s what drew you in. Were you lonely before you joined the union the first time? And did it help you? Because that might explain why you decided to go back to it, especially if you didn’t know a lot of people at your new uni either. In that case, just avoiding the Christian Union probably won’t work, because cutting that community out of your life will leave a hole you’ll want to fill. So what I would recommend is find a different community. Be it an LGBT club, like I said, or maybe a sports club or a book club or anything you might be into. Get involved, make friends, build a support network, and you probably won’t feel tempted to go back to Christianity.

If genuine religious belief is what draws you in, the situation might be more complicated. I’m not sure what to do in that case - either talk to atheists to let them change your mind, or maybe look up how to be openly gay and Christian at the same time, if you really can’t shed your belief? I know there’s openly gay Christians and even resources that present arguments for why those two don’t have to be mutually exclusive, but I never went down that path and I honestly wouldn’t recommend it. It sounds like a lifelong battle to me. I strongly, strongly recommend avoiding religion by finding a different community you can get involved in.

I really hope this helps, and I hope I didn’t ramble too much. I’m not really used to being asked for advice so I feel like I’m just talking and talking and not really getting my point across 😅Feel free to reach out to me again!

#anonymous #ask

3 notes · View notes

clickstarter · 3 years ago

Text

What happened to Clubhouse?

Real time conversions via audio in an app that brought together the general public with the likes of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and a swag of celebrities who couldn’t wait to get on top of the next big digital thing in the middle of a global pandemic.

So what went wrong?

1. Live audio is a feature, not an app

2. Marketers ruin everything

3. Something else was the next big thing

Live audio wasn’t new, innovative, or even wanted

While 30 million people flocked to Clubhouse, today you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a couple of million people on it now. And they’re not very active anymore. And one main reason is that what Clubhouse did wasn’t anything new.

It was essentially talkback radio through your phone. Not exactly ground-breaking. Not that any of us saw it that way at the time. And to be fair, this app was pitched at a generation that hadn’t exactly been served by traditional talkback radio that tended to be aimed at angry, ageing, middle class white men who felt marginalised by a changing society.

As Clubhouse gained in popularity, other platforms started rolling out their own live audio features. First there were the copycat apps like Fireside and Stereo. Then Twitter added live audio. And Facebook soon announced they would do the same. And then LinkedIn, probably the one network that could really benefit from this, jumped on board.

By this time, Clubhouse fatigue was starting to set in on the early adopters. If you weren’t online when something compelling happened, you missed out. If you weren’t in the California, New York or London time zones, you missed a lot. By the time sun was shining over Australia, all the best stuff was over and done. At least talkback radio records their highlight for podcasts. Clubhouse was 100% here today at 1pm and gone by 2pm.

The features of Clubhouse became obstacles to its mass growth amongst everybody but marketers. And they, I believe became the true downfall of Clubhouse.

Marketers ruined Clubhouse (just like we ruin everything)

Facebook was a lot of fun back in the early days. Connecting with old friends, playing silly farm games with new friends, and watching funny videos. And then it became a business marketing platform and the ads that appeared felt a little too creepy to those of us who didn’t understand remarketing and contextual advertising.

While Clubhouse never quite reached the point of monetisation before it began to implode, it became overrun by Bitcoin bros, Influencers seeking fame and marketers trying to build their lists and sales funnels.

I hopped into Clubhouse hoping to offer fun chats about business growth challenges, idea collaboration and support for those struggling with some of the things I had skills in. I guess I was hoping to be something of an early small business influencer on the platform. But each time I’d open a room, other marketers, influencers and social media managers hoping to hock their wares would flood in and within a few minutes we’d have thirty experts and two question askers. It wasn’t fun for the listeners, the experts or me. After about a month of hopping on and off, looking for an opportunity to turn Clubhouse into something of a channel, I gave up. The land grab for popularity, rooms and clubs had descended into a “Who’s That” of get-rich-quick gurus, crystal-waving energy healers and motivational speakers quoting their own books.

The interesting conversations seemed too hard to find, the big rooms were too full of American accents and every third room seemed to be about how to make money on Clubhouse. It was a cesspool of spammers and scammers.

It turns out that something else was the next big thing

Clubhouse was not the next big thing we thought it might be. While it seemed perfectly pitched at a pandemic audience hungry for human connection, it fell from popularity very quickly. The universe hates a vacuum though, and those same people who flooded on to Clubhouse didn’t just disappear.

If you follow social platforms as closely as I do, you might have noticed that there was suddenly a rush of marketers and wannabe influencers back on to Instagram Reels which was really starting to pick up momentum on the heels of TikTok. And those same people were starting to pick up on the fledgling YouTube Shorts as well. Not that I think they are doing very well yet, but a million marketers who are hungry for something to replace their previous favourite platform must go somewhere and try something. So, it was back to short-form video. And that seems to be where they are staying for now.

Which begs the question… what’s next? There are some brave marketers who are heading for very niche networks in fandom (like gaming, pop culture and fantasy forums and apps) and while there is no obvious monetisation there just yet, they are trying out some cool stuff that is way out of my pay grade to understand just yet. There’s also a lot of moves into the idea of the “metaverse” which translates as something like virtual worlds. For those who remember Second Life, a similar concept called Soul has emerged from China where people are creating avatars and exploring “worlds” full of people with similar interests. It’s something that Facebook is exploring as well.

What does all this mean to the average Aussie small business? Not a whole lot yet. Things like fandom and metaverses are well beyond all but the most cashed up marketing agencies and big brands for now. But there’s still a lot of untapped potential in Instagram Reels, Stories and IGTV, a tonne of space to do creative things on TikTok and heaps of room on YouTube to be doing some very effective small business marketing.

Want to learn more about being the best small business marketer that you can be? Hit up the learn section or book your own guided session at clickstarter.com.au.

Dante St James is the founder of Clickstarter, a Facebook Blueprint Certified Lead Trainer, a Community Trainer with Facebook Australia, a digital advisor with Treeti Business Consulting, an accredited ASBAS Digital Solutions advisor and presenter, and the editor at The Small Marketer. You can watch free 1-hour webinars and grow your digital skills at Dante’s YouTube Channel.

0 notes

erinmoriartyloyola · 4 years ago

Text

Erin Moriarty, Loyola University Chicago’s Associate VP and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Gives 7 Ways to Flourish on Your College Campus

This article was originally published on Thrive Global.

Moving away from home and going to college is a huge life transition. Many young adults struggle to find new friends and build relationships as they move to a brand new place. This article from Erin Moriarty, Loyola’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, will provide seven ways first-year college students can adjust more efficiently and avoid homesickness as they engage in campus life.

1. Join Student Government, the School Newspaper, or a Club Every college campus has plenty of clubs that should pique your interest. You may want to participate in student government or work for the school paper. Even if you only join just one club or group, you’ll quickly meet other people with which you have something in common. This means that becoming friends will happen more naturally.

2. Play Intramural Sports If you played sports in high school or you’ve wanted to learn a new sport, join an intramural team. Frequently, after a match, teammates and opponents alike will continue to hang out and get to know each other. You will not only get some good exercise, but you’ll also enjoy an excellent opportunity to socialize.

3. Participate in Community Service and Volunteering Volunteering allows you to get involved and give back to the community. Plus, you will meet other students, faculty, and staff through these experiences. There are plenty of opportunities to participate in community service and help others in need. If you volunteered with an organization back home, there are likely similar service organizations on campus at your new university.

4. Participate in Greek Life Joining a sorority or fraternity is a great way to find be part of a community that supports you. Many sororities and fraternities are the opposite of what you see in the movies or read about in books. Instead, they are filled with like-minded people that come together to improve society while sharing common interests.

5. Become a Tutor or Teaching Assistant If the university’s academic side is a better fit for you, consider becoming a tutor or teaching assistant in the areas where you excel. Whether it’s a volunteer setup or something you can get paid for, becoming a TA can be a great way to interact with new people and branch out. You might be surprised who you will be able to connect with through an experience like this.

6. Apply for a Job on Campus The majority of new college students need to get a part-time job to help them cover living expenses, so why not find a job on campus? There are often many options to choose from, and you can spend your time working with fellow students to whom you can relate. Most colleges now have online job posts, making it easier you to search for jobs, research, or internship opportunities.

7. Attend Special Lectures, Performances, and Presentations Something is usually happening every night of the week on university campuses. Check event boards, websites, and community posts to see what sort of guest lecturers or presenters are coming to town and add the details into your calendar. Perhaps there is a new performance happening that everyone is talking about – go check it out!

Regardless of what you choose to do, the goal is to get yourself out and about. It might take more time and effort than it did in high school, but participating in campus life isn’t as hard as it seems once you give it a try! You will quickly realize that many students are just like you, looking to make new friends and create lasting memories.

About Erin Moriarty Erin Moriarty, Loyola University Chicago’s Associate Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, is passionate about students. She believes strongly in Loyola’s mission – to help mold young men and women to become leaders in today’s society and to seek God in all things. Outside of work, Erin can be found participating in Pedal the Cause or biking along the shores of Lake Michigan.

#Erin Moriarty Loyola #Erin Moriarty #loyola university #loyolachicago

0 notes

entrepreneurnut · 4 years ago

Text

GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels: The Funnel Builder Showdown

New Post has been published on https://entrepreneurnut.com/groovefunnels-vs-clickfunnels/

GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels: The Funnel Builder Showdown

If you have been thinking about purchasing a funnel builder, you may have come across the popular solution ClickFunnels.

The problem with ClickFunnels though, is that it can get pretty expensive and it also doesn’t have video hosting, which can be quite annoying when building membership sites, or if you need a place to host your video sales letters (VSL).

That’s why today, I’m going to be comparing GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels to help you find the solution that is suited best to your business.

Something that did catch my eye about GrooveFunnels is that they do also offer a free plan, which is quite rare for a funnel builder. We’ll talk more about this later on though.

GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels : Overview

Here is a brief overview of GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels.

GrooveFunnelsClickFunnelsWebsitegroovefunnels.comclickfunnels.comFounded In20202014PricingStarting at freeStarting at $97 per monthTrial?FreemiumYes, 14 days.Money-back Guarantee30 days30 daysOverall Rating8.5/108.5/10

What Is ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels is the most popular funnel building software on the market.

It was founded by Russell Brunson in 2014 and has since then grown a massive community of marketers, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.

ClickFunnels also was one of the first funnel builders to be somewhat of an “all-in-one” platform that also lets you:

Manage your affiliates

Build membership sites

Host webinars

Build checkouts

Send emails

What Is GrooveFunnels?

GrooveFunnels is an all-in-one business and marketing software suite that has been created by by the company GrooveDigital.

The company GrooveDigital was not founded until 2018, but GrooveFunnels itself was only released in April 2020 in beta. GrooveFunnels officially launches on October 6th.

For this reason, it’s still a developing product until its release date, which means some of the features are not available yet.

However, the most important features are already live for you to use, meaning it does more than enough to help you build an online business.

Once the software is fully developed, it will have by far the biggest selection of features.

GrooveFunnels was founded by:

Mike Filsaime

John Cornetta

Matt Serralta

Matt Naus

If you want the full, deep-dive on all of Groove’s features then I recommend you check out my GrooveFunnels review here.

GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels: Similarities

Other than the name, there are also several other similarities between GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels.

Some of these include:

Ease of use

Ready-to-use funnel templates

Membership sites

Affiliate management tool

Email autoresponder feature

Learning curve

Share funnels

Drag & drop builder

Shopping cart feature

Upsell/downsell pages

A/B testing

Affiliate program

Community

Customer service

Ease of Use

Both GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels are quite easy to use.

They have a nice dashboard that lets you access all features with ease.

Both platforms do not require any coding or tech knowledge, and there is also no need to worry if you don’t have any experience with building funnels or websites.

Ready-to-use Funnel Templates

Another similarity between GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels is that they both come with ready-to-use funnel templates.

These templates are ready to use, you only have to plug-in your product and copy, then you’re good to go.

Both platforms have templates for all different kinds of funnels, although it does look like ClickFunnels has a few more. This is to be expected, as ClickFunnels has been in development for a lot longer, meaning they have built more templates.

Still, both ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels have templates that are:

Ready-to-use

High-converting

Easy-to-edit

Membership Sites

GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels can both be used to build membership sites.

Both membership site builders have:

Drip-feed content

Multiple access levels

Templates for landing pages & membership area

Affiliate Management Tool

ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels also come with an affiliate management tool.

This means you will be able to recruit and manage affiliates directly from the dashboard in each platform. You can set up custom commissions, links and have a closed or open affiliate program with both ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels.

Email Autoresponder Feature

Another similarity is that both ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels have an autoresponder feature.

GrooveMail, the autoresponder feature inside of GrooveFunnels is ready to use, but it is not fully developed yet. However, it’s worth noting that Mike Filsaime and John Cornetta are planning to make GrooveMail as advanced as ActiveCampaign and GetResponse once it’s fully developed.

ClickFunnels’ follow-up funnels are fully developed but don’t quite have as many automation triggers (or rules, they are called in ClickFunnels) as for example ActiveCampaign.

That being said, the follow-up funnels are still more than enough to build effective email marketing campaigns.

You can also integrate ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels with any other email marketing software if you needed to.

Learning Curve

Despite both GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels being easy to use, they also have a learning curve.

This is because it will naturally take you some time until you fully understand the platform’s features and how they work. It’s not like a massive learning curve like you may know from other SaaS tools, it’s more just getting used to the platforms.

Share Funnels

Something that is also quite cool about both of these platforms is the ability to create share funnels.

Using a unique link (or code for GrooveFunnels) you can share your entire funnel with another user in minutes.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a membership site, a squeeze page, or your sales page, it can easily be shared with another user of the platform.

Drag & Drop Page Builder

GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels also have an easy-to-use drag and drop page builder.

Both page builders work similarly by letting you drag and drop your sections and elements to build your landing pages and funnels.

Combined with the beautiful templates that we spoke about earlier, GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels make it easy to build high-converting funnels.

Shopping Cart Feature

Another feature that is similar inside of ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels is the shopping cart feature.

Both platforms easily let you build high-converting checkouts that you can use for your sales pages.

ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels also let you add order bumps onto your cart to help you make more sales.

Upsell & Downsell Pages

Upsell and downsell pages are essential if you want to make the most out of every sale.

Both platforms let you build upsell and downsell pages that can even process purchases with just one-click if the payment information is stored (i.e they have made a purchase before).

A/B Testing

Another similarity between the two platforms is the full A/B testing functionality to help you find the best converting version of your pages.

This means there will be no need for split-testing your pages manually and trying to figure out which one converts best.

ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels will track your results and help you determine a winner so that you don’t have to.

Affiliate Program

GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels also have pretty solid affiliate programs.

They are both free to join and give you the ability to promote their platforms to earn commissions.

On both affiliate programs, the commission rates vary from 20-40% depending on which tier and plan you are on.

One way the two affiliate programs vary though is that ClickFunnels also has a wide range of other products that you can promote, for example, Russel Brunson’s books.

Community

GrooveFunnels and ClickFunnels have the two biggest communities in the funnel building niche, as they both have over 100,000 members.

Both platforms have Facebook groups where you can network and get any help if you need some. ClickFunnels does have the upper hand in terms of group members as they have 253,000 vs GrooveFunnels’ 101,000.

That being said, GrooveFunnels has done pretty well when you consider that it’s only just launching.

Customer Service

Last but not least, they are also similar in terms of customer service.

They both provide:

Ticketing support

Chat support

Email support

One thing to note though is that ClickFunnels only provides “priority support” on the $297 per month plan. otherwise, you’ll have to contend with ticketed support.

From my experience, they always get back to you and are very helpful. They sometimes even record an over the shoulder video to show you how to do certain tasks. However, you’ll usually need to wait for several hours for them to get back to you each time.

If you are on the two comma club x plan at $2,497 you also get access to the VIP phone support.

Check Out GrooveFunnels Here >

Check Out ClickFunnels Here >

GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels: Differences

Now that we have taken a look at the similarities between ClickFunnels and GrooveFunnels, let’s take a look at the differences between them.

What ClickFunnels Has That GrooveFunnels Does Not Have

Here are some of the things that ClickFunnels has, but GrooveFunnels doesn’t.

FunnelFlix

The first part of ClickFunnels which isn’t available in GrooveFunnels is FunnelFlix.

FunnelFlix is a giant selection of courses and training created by Russel Brunson and the ClickFunnels team to help members succeed with funnels.

If you are on the ClickFunnels platinum plan, you will also get access to the platinum section of FunnelFlix.

It doesn’t only have educational material on funnels, but also on copywriting, marketing, and traffic.

The platinum section also includes recordings of events that had ticket prices of up to $25,000, so to get them included with your account is pretty sweet.

youtube

FunnelFridays

Something else that is also exclusive to ClickFunnels is the Funnel Fridays series.

Every Friday, ClickFunnels hosts a show where they let you watch over their shoulders while they build a high-converting sales funnel.

Attending these streams can be extremely helpful, especially when you combine this with Funnel Scripts or FunnelFlix.

The cool thing about FunnelFridays is also that every week they create a different type of funnel.

So, no matter whether you’re looking to build a membership funnel, lead funnel or whatever type of funnel you want, one of the series will walk you through it.

Funnel Hackathon

Last but not least, also only available in ClickFunnels is the Funnel Hackathon.

This is a weekly coaching program, where you and other ClickFunnels users can build your funnels from start to finish.

There will be a coach who will guide you through the entire process, and help you with the parts of your funnel that need improving.

The Funnel Hackathon is only available in ClickFunnels’ $297 per month platinum plan.

Check Out GrooveFunnels Here >

Check Out ClickFunnels Here >

What GrooveFunnels Has That ClickFunnels Does Not Have

GrooveFunnels clearly aims to set a new standard in terms of features in the funnel-building category. Below, you can see all the things it has which ClickFunnels doesn’t.

If you need most of them, then that’s definitely a reason to consider GrooveFunnels over ClickFunnels.

A Free-Forever Plan

First of all, it has a free forever plan.

If you join GrooveFunnels now, you can get the core features (GroovePages + GrooveSell) for completely free. You can connect custom domains, build pages, and sell your products.

ClickFunnels on the other hand doesn’t have a free plan, so that is something only available in GrooveFunnels.

GrooveVideo

Another quite big feature only available in GrooveFunnels is video hosting.

Videos that you use in your membership sites or on your sales pages will need to be hosted somewhere other than YouTube.

Normally, you would need a video hosting platform like Wistia or Vimeo for this, but GrooveFunnels has this built-in, while ClickFunnels doesn’t.

This means, if you use ClickFunnels you will need to use an external service that can often cost $99 per month.

GrooveCalendar

GrooveCalendar is a calendar feature as the name suggests.

This feature helps you book appointments and manage your time. If you’re a service-based business or offer consultations, then you might use something like Calendly already.

But, GrooveFunnels has it built it, meaning you would save additional subscription costs.

If you do need a calendar app, then this could be another reason why GrooveFunnels might be a better fit for you.

GrooveDesk

GrooveDesk is a helpdesk feature which is also directly built into GrooveFunnels.

ClickFunnels doesn’t have anything like this, meaning you’ll have to get another external tool for this purpose as well.

GrooveBlog

GrooveBlog is the blogging feature inside of GrooveFunnels.

Although, it’s still in development as of right now, the plans they have for this feature are pretty big.

In 2021, there will be a plugin store/marketplace where 3rd party developers can contribute new plugins making it an open-source platform similar to WordPress.

This is one of the GrooveFunnels features that I am extremely excited for, as I enjoy both blogging and building sales funnels.

And, up until now, there hasn’t been a funnel builder which has managed to combine the two, so I’ve always had to continue using WordPress when creating blogs.

Faster Load Times

The pages you build inside of GrooveFunnels will also load much quicker than anything built in ClickFunnels.

If your pages load faster, they will also convert better and therefore make you more money. Plus, they will also rank better in Google and other search engines.

Quiz Builder

GrooveQuiz is a feature that lets you quiz your audience. This can be a great way to engage your audience and it’s only available inside of GrooveFunnels.

That being said, you can build basic quizzes in ClickFunnels too by interlinking the buttons and pages, however, this is rather limited compared to what Groove has to offer.

Hosted Webinars

Another feature that isn’t available in ClickFunnels is the ability to host webinars.

GrooveWebinar lets you host both your regular webinars and your auto-webinars (or evergreen), while ClickFunnels doesn’t.

If you decide to use ClickFunnels you will also need an external hosting service to host your webinars which is quite annoying, as it’s another additional cost.

GrooveSurvey

GrooveSurvey is the survey builder inside of GrooveFunnels.

You can use this feature to get detailed information about your customers allowing you to make tweaks in your marketing or business in general to increase your sales.

Check Out GrooveFunnels Here >

Check Out ClickFunnels Here >

ClickFunnels Drawbacks

Despite its popularity, ClickFunnels does have some drawbacks compared to GrooveFunnels. You may find that these limitations don’t really impact you, but that depends on your business.

If they are problems that affect your business, then you should consider using something like GrooveFunnels instead.

Limited Basic Plan

The first ClickFunnels drawback is how limited their basic plan is.

In their basic plan, you don’t get access to:

Priority support

Affiliate management

Follow-up funnels

Plus, it also has some annoying limits on the number of pages, funnels, and domains.

Despite these limitations, this plan does cost $97 per month which probably isn’t the best value for the money.

No Video Hosting

ClickFunnels also has no video hosting functionality meaning you will need something external like Vimeo or Wistia which will cost you at least $49 per month.

If you are hosting videos for an entire membership site, this will usually cost you at least $99 per month.

Pages Do Not Rank Well In Google

The pages built inside of ClickFunnels are quite slow and you have limited control over them.

If you’re looking to get traffic from search engines, then using ClickFunnels will not be your best bet. GrooveFunnels on the other hand has fast-loading pages meaning it’s better for SEO.

No blog feature

If you want to have a blog, there is no way of having it inside of ClickFunnels.

As mentioned earlier, this means you will need a separate blog on something like WordPress. And, it can also be quite tricky to get your ClickFunnels pages on the same domain as your WordPress pages.

You can integrate the two, but then ClickFunnels pages often load even slower. Or, you can use a subdomain that isn’t as good for your SEO and can also cause a feeling of disconnect between your blog and funnels.

Affiliate Management Tracking Is Not Great

Another ClickFunnels drawback is the affiliate management tool. While the options you have managing your affiliates are alright, the tracking is limited.

More importantly, the tracking doesn’t seem very accurate.

ClickFunnels uses their own affiliate management software (BackPack) for their affiliate program. As a ClickFunnels affiliate myself, I have noticed that sometimes the tracking is off.

There is also quite a bit of talk in the ClickFunnels affiliate community that people have not been credited for some referrals, or they have noticed that they have been credited for a referral that has someone else’s tracking ID.

Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to happen often, but it does happen.

This is a shame, and I hope that ClickFunnels will fix this soon, because it is honestly a good product, and they have one of the best affiliate programs in the industry.

However, because of this, I would have concerns about using BackPack myself to promote my own products at the moment.

When it comes to using BackPack and tracking your affiliates, the information you get for each affiliate is:

Trials signed up

Earnings (Daily, weekly, monthly)

When they joined

Payment email

GrooveFunnels on the other hand gives you detailed analytics for every single affiliate.

For example, you can see how much traffic each affiliate is referring to you. Now, if one affiliate is sending thousands of visitors and none are converting, you can check the traffic quality.

If the affiliate is sending spammy or non-targeted traffic, you’ll probably want to remove them or at least warn them, as it can mess up your advertising pixels.

With ClickFunnels, you wouldn’t know if this is the case as you can’t see how many visitors are coming from each affiliate.

No free plan

Unlike GrooveFunnels, ClickFunnels doesn’t have a free plan.

This means if you want to use it, you’ll have to go straight onto the $97 per month plan. Of course, there is a free trial, but it’s not quite the same as a free-forever plan.

GrooveFunnels Drawbacks

Although GrooveFunnels has a much smaller quantity of drawbacks, no software is perfect. It also has its disadvantages and the main reason for them is that it’s still in the early stages.

If this is something that you can’t tolerate, then consider using the ClickFunnels trial to see whether that is the best option for you.

Still in Beta

The first and probably biggest drawback is that it’s still in beta. A lot of the features inside of this software are still being developed, meaning you don’t have a finished product.

Additionally, you might not be sure that it even does what it promises to. However, given that it’s already a killer platform and has founders with a successful track record of creating SaaS tools, I think it’s almost certain that it will hold its promise.

The main part of this drawback is only in the short term, which is that it’s not fully developed yet.

Smaller Community (but, it’s still in the early stages)

GrooveFunnels has a smaller community than ClickFunnels. That is to be expected though, as it’s still in early stages.

In case you forgot, here are the sizes of the Facebook groups of both platforms:

ClickFunnels 253,000 members

GrooveFunnels 100,000 members

Given that GrooveFunnels is in such early stages, you can probably expect the size of their community to catch up in the following years.

Setting up custom domains is slightly more tricky

Another small drawback of GrooveFunnels is that setting up custom domains is slightly more tricky.

This isn’t a biggie and after setting them up once, you’ll get used to it. But, it can be annoying the first time setting up, as you have to go into the DNS settings of your domain.

GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels: Pricing

To help you find the best software for you, I’ve also explained the pricing in full below.

GrooveFunnels Pricing

GrooveFunnels has a free plan as I did mention throughout this article. But the paid plans are just as good value for money.

For example, the silver plan gives you almost an identical set of features as ClickFunnels’ $297 per month plan. The difference being you get video hosting instead of webinars.

At $199 per month, GrooveFunnels Gold is a pretty good deal too, as you also get access to GrooveBlog, GrooveDesk, and GrooveCalendar.

The platinum plan at $299 per month, gives you access to everything offering inside of Groove including the E-commerce platform GrooveKart.

Depending on when you are seeing this, there may still be a lifetime deal available for GroovePlatinum.

If the deal is available, you can get lifetime access to everything inside of GrooveFunnels for $1397. Considering this normally costs $299 per month, that is a crazy deal.

To check whether The lifetime deal is still available, just follow these steps:

Step 1: Join GrooveFunnels for free here (No credit card required) <<<<<< Insert aff link

Step 2: In your dashboard, hit “upgrade”

Step 3: Scroll through the page to see any available deals

This deal is meant to stop early October, but you can check whether it’s still available by following the instructions outlined above.

ClickFunnels Pricing

As mentioned earlier, ClickFunnels does not have a free plan and starts at $99 per month.

Below, you can see the pricing table with everything that comes in each plan.

Something to note though is that to get access to all features, training, and coaching, you have to be on the $297 per month plan.

Here is a list of features not available in the $97 per month plan:

Follow up funnels

Affiliate management tool

Hackathon coaching

Priority support

Additional training of FunnelFlix

Before I wrap up my GrooveFunnels vs ClickFunnels comparison, I wanted to show you this video of Groove’s CEO, Mile Filsaime, explaining the differences between Groove and ClickFunnels to a fellow marketing expert, Mike Long.

Of course, Mike is bias when talking about his own product, but I thought this video is helpful as he breaks the comparison down in a very clear way.

youtube

Check Out GrooveFunnels Here >

Check Out ClickFunnels Here >

Final Thoughts – ClickFunnels Vs GrooveFunnels – Which Is Best?

As you have seen throughout this comparison, both pieces of software offer a solid funnel-building platform.

One of the key takeaways is that GrooveFunnels offers a free plan that has ClickFunnels’ core features which are the sales funnel builder, and the cart/sales platform. It also has a much larger quantity of features, so you might argue you get more value for your money with Groove.

However, ClickFunnels’ core offering is their funnel builder, and that’s where most of their development goes.

Because of this, and that GrooveFunnels is still in early stages, I would say that ClickFunnels wins in the funnel-building aspect.

Another aspect in which ClickFunnels wins is the educational material that they provide.

The selection of training inside of FunnelFlix is much larger than the material in GrooveFunnels’ GrooveDigital Academy. However, Mike Filsaime has said that this is also an area that will be under constant improvement, with more training courses added regularly.

Overall, I think it’s hard to pick out a winner, as they are both great for their own purposes.

ClickFunnels could be a good option for you if you’re looking for an easy-to-use funnel builder, you want to get access to their FunnelFlix training course library, and you want to plug into their large community.

GrooveFunnels could be a good option for you if you are looking for an all-in-one suite of online business tools with more features, as it can help you save thousands in annual subscription fees.

Check Out GrooveFunnels Here >

Check Out ClickFunnels Here >

Disclaimer: Please be aware that I may receive commissions when you click some of the links in this article and then decide to make a purchase. If you do follow one of my links and purchase a product, thanks! It means a lot to me, and any commissions I do make from this blog enables me to continue to provide you with all this awesome, free content. However, any commissions I do receive does not affect my reviews and comparisons. If I think a product is sub-standard I will either say so in the article or I will not feature it on my blog. I try my best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice for you.

0 notes

themigratingdesk · 7 years ago

Text

Surviving Uni, Part One

I’ve been packing my stuff up to move into my apartment for my 3rd year at college this past week, and I’ve definitely learned a lot from moving across the country 4 times in the last 2 years.

Disclaimer: these tips are written with a traditional 4-year American college in mind, assuming you’ll be in a dorm room shared with at least one other person. If that doesn’t fit you, it doesn’t mean you can’t still use some of them, but your mileage may vary. Additionally, I’m assuming trips home or visits from relatives are going to be limited (for me, it meant either 12 hours in a car or paying to fly, so other than emergencies and holidays there weren’t any options to swing home and drop stuff off/get something I forgot).

Tips below the cut!

Before/when you first get there:

if you haven’t toured your campus yet, you might want to look into staying an extra day or two when you visit for orientation so you can better check out both on and off-campus areas. (Or if you’ve already had orientation, check out google maps) Things to look for/make note of might be:

stores (you want to avoid the closest Target on move-in day, since it’ll be packed with all the students and their families getting last-minute essentials. You also want to know where you can get snacks/bandaids/other needs, so try to find a CVS or Walgreens. Take note of how you can get there. Is it walking distance? bus distance? find a friend with a car distance? A lot of this will depend on if your campus is urban/rural/suburban and what public transit options look like--mine is like a small town inside a large city, so there’s a combination of all three here)

pharmacies/clinics (your campus will probably have a student health center but if my experiences are anything to go by, getting a timely appointment is going to be tricky unless it’s urgent. When I’ve been sick I’ve either dealt with it by myself or gone to an off-campus clinic via bus. Usually a CVS minute clinic or similar place will be able to handle most everyday needs and minor illnesses, but if you’re chronically ill you’ll definitely want to research the area. also know where the closest ER is, as I needed it my freshman year and a friend had to be admitted last year)

go through the clothes/things you plan on bringing and get rid of about half of it. Don’t be the person with the closet taking over the whole room. One carload of stuff per person should be enough unless you have a lot of people coming to help move you in. That being said, some essentials are:

2 sets of sheets (for when you have to do laundry)

weather-appropriate clothing (walking to class in the snow in Uggs seems fine until you realize you have no traction and slip. Get real snowboots and a coat/hat. Similarly, if you are going somewhere warm or rainy or w/e, remember that, especially if you are from a different climate zone. layers are key!)

2-3 outfits’ worth of business casual/nicer clothing. More if you have events for Greek life or student orgs. My nice clothes got more use than some of my sweatshirts this year, what with extra orientations, conferences I went to, and travel to competitions with a student org that I hadn’t even heard of before 2nd semester.

a small first-aid kit. I called mine the “injury box” and kept a thermometer, cough meds, bandaids/gloves/neosporin, ace bandages, painkillers, and hand sanitizer. I got good use out of this, and at the very least it’ll give your roommates/floormates a reason to talk to you.

2 water bottles, 2 microwave-safe mugs, dishsoap/washing tool (I like concentrated dawn and scrub daddy because they last forever, work, and don’t get gunky like sponges)

power strip (because dorms won’t have enough plugs or they’ll be in weird places)

space bags for smushing bulky items for travel--especially if you have big sweatshirts/sweaters. try to find the ones that don’t need a vacuum.

dryer sheets and a laundry holder you can carry easily. I started off with a mesh hamper and hated it, so over winter break I switched to a set of 2 plastic baskets, one for shoes and one for clothes, that I could fit under my bed and carry easily.

bleach/disinfecting wipes. grime builds up everywhere, and these will help keep your surfaces (like your desk) clean, which helps you feel more productive

some photos. this can be in a physical album, printed and put on your walls, or on a flashdrive

Things to leave at home:

those shoes you love but that kill your feet

most of your t-shirts (I’m saving mine to be made into a quilt after I go to grad school, so i’ll have high school and uni memories but less clutter

a printer (unless you talk your roommate into bringing one, haha). you can print at the library for pretty cheap at most places

kitchen tools (unless you have an apartment style layout in your dorm, you won’t use the communal kitchen as much as you think)

storage items like those plastic drawers or desk organizers. It’s so easy to go overboard with this stuff only to realize that it doesn’t actually fit your space or your study methods. Some stuff like pen cups and bookends should be okay, but don’t get anything for your closet or any drawers until you’ve actually seen your space and figured out how your stuff fits into it

most of your t shirts/sweatshirts (one week my sophomore year I got 3 free t-shirts, 2 water bottles, reusable utensils for eating out, a book, 2 reusable bags, a beanie, and a pair of earrings just for participating in campus events. this is by no means a typical week, but there’s a lot more free stuff than you’re expecting)

any substances you can’t legally have with you. I helped move people in. Some people were very dumb about this. Within 15 minutes of being on campus their RA had to write them up and they had an immediate reputation. (personally, idfc what you do/don’t do, just be safe and don’t be dumb about it)

Talk to your roommate(s), the people next door to you, your RA, etc. You don’t have to make friends right away, but it is good to know who has duct tape, who always makes way more vegan brownies than they can eat, who likes to go to karaoke thursdays, and who you can trust to water your plants/feed your fish when you’re away for the weekend. Bringing a deck of cards can help here.

Set boundaries. There’s lots of roommate contracts available online, and your RA might even make you do one your first year. My roommate always went to bed 2 hours before I did, so we set some guides: if I was going to stay up working on homework, I could do it with just my desk lamp or I could head to the study lounge. If she had her long-distance bf visit, she’d warn me the weekend before, that sort of thing. We also made a chore rotation for the suite, which wasn’t always followed but did mean that at least once a month the toilet, counters, carpet, and mirrors all got cleaned.

Get prepared. The first week goes by really quickly. Take a day or two to get settled into your new space, go to some club meetings, find a cute cafe off-campus, etc., but also start getting yourself into the habit of regular study times and staying on top of things. I know a lot of people who struggled because they couldn’t make their methods from high school work in college and instead of doubling down they just gave up. Beat that by starting out ahead.

GOOD LUCK to all my baby college kids, and keep on trucking to all my returning students. It’s crazy to think that I’m already halfway through!

If you have any questions about my specific experiences/clubs/classes etc, message me.

Part Two

My Printables

Study Tips

All my Posts

#studyblr #emmastudies #college tips #university tips #studyign #mine #mine: tips #tips #study tips #masterpost #mine: masterposts

144 notes · View notes

saimohan786-blog · 5 years ago

Text

Seize Pre Bookings Of Upcoming Events Without Any Delay

One of the stress-free and time-saving methods for the preference of modern people is online shopping. Similar to offline, there are more opportunities for online shopping and there are many options available. Simultaneously, offline shopping has fewer sales and deals compared to online shopping so most customers are the path to it. Many people today choose to pay less and buy more legislation. That's why many retailers are supplying consumers with discounts and deals. We have some sites on internet advertising licensed stores sales and deals. In those Saveplus is one of the main sites and promotions with coupons, coupon codes, discount deals, special offers, banking offers, recycling offers, travel vouchers and much more that we also need to see using our order. Saveplus deals and discounts more than a thousand stores. For our shopping, most of the deals are true. Look for your favorite store and get the best discount and buy those things at a lower cost to save more money. These savings are useful for additional purchases. Offers and deals also make your day full of happiness and happiness.

Handpicked event set including Live Comedy, Music, Food, Exhibitions, Mumbai Festivals, Workshops & Tours. Insider is a website that lets you discover and shop the best in your city's activities, travel, and food. We are trying to curate experiences that are worth your time and money, maybe something you've never done before. Insider is developed by the same team that created Bacardi NH7 Weekender (us) and we know for sure what makes a great experience come together. Our technology, marketing, and customer support can help you build a community of fans as well as ticket buyers. It is home to thrilling live cultural, sporting and learning experiences.

It started as the go-to event ticketing site for live music and comedy in 2014, breaking through with exclusive tickets for flagship events like Bacardi NH7 Weekender, Russell Peters Almost Famous Tour, and David Guetta India Tour. Fast track to 2018 and it delivered more than 15,000 events in cities across India, from stadiums to clubs, offering end-to-end ticketing solutions and event analytics to organisers of large-scale events as well as innovative start-ups and companies.

While its association with music and comedy has only expanded, Insider Coupons offerings to its users now extend to flagship events and new experiences in food, curated travel and, most recently, sports-from the Pro Kabaddi League and ISL to the nation's most loved cricket league, the IPL.

#Insider_Coupons Insider_Offers Insider_Deals

0 notes

theattainer · 5 years ago

Text

Online Marketing Through Trial & Error

https://chuckbartok.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Carmen2-e1574695310247.jpg

http://theattainer.com/online-marketing-through-trial-error/

Online Marketing Through Trial & Error

The following is a guest post from the very talented author, Carmen Baca. Although her focus is on the marketing of books, the principles are relevant to all venues

Online Marketing through Trial & Error

In the three years, I’ve been an author, I’ve figured out a few marketing strategies that work for me, not for all, mind you. While I queried publishers, I wrote to twelve famous authors for advice about marketing due to my being a New Mexico Hispanic and because our culture is underrepresented in literature. The consensus of the five who graciously replied was that exposure is what I needed for acquiring readers and generating sales. So that’s what I did.

Carmen Baca, brilliant author from New Mexico

PRE-PROMOTING PRIOR TO BOOK RELEASE

I created a website, a blog site, got on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram and started experimenting without knowing what I was doing. All those failed to lure readers, by the way, all except FB. This is where my readers were engaging with me and follower numbers rising, so I concentrated on it. And because of my ignorance, I started promoting fifteen months before my book published because I didn’t know my first publisher would take so long. However, that act of ignorance worked (and still works) to my benefit. I told everyone about my book for so long and used so many short excerpts and photos that the week the book released, it sold out on Amazon and in my local bookstore four times. I still promote my works months in advance.

FACEBOOK

A couple of reasons why Facebook works for me has to do with the genre and reader demographics. That’s probably why it doesn’t work for all authors. I don’t write a genre that’s common: I write regionalistic literature. This means I appeal to a certain region and to people who want to know more about the region. The subject matter I include is due to my culture being a large contributor to my novels and short stories.

The reader demographics are women my age or older. The majority of the reader population have only FB, no other social media accounts, so there’s no way else to reach them. However, because so many of them won’t do online shopping, they can’t leave reviews on websites. They do leave reviews on my page though. They also prefer buying the books from me, signed and with custom-made bookmarks. I sell hundreds of books from my page, but it does nothing for Amazon ranking based on sales and reviews. So my books will never reach a high rank (the first one about the Brotherhood got to #32 once; I about fainted). That one has the best sales record and the most reviews. So anyway, that’s why FB works for me but doesn’t work for all authors.

Best day to post on FB—Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Worst day—Sunday

ONLINE VISIBILITY

As for my other platforms, every once in a while I update my website and post on LinkedIn, which I don’t understand how to use at all. I tweeted till I was even more confused about Twitter, and I post once in a while on my Flipboard Magazines and in my Pinterest author collections about my books. This is what I discovered about other means to gain online visibility.

Bookseller sites—that’s the first step in getting online visibility. Once you publish, your books are going to be on a few websites, maybe more, so that is where the exposure begins. Google yourself to see how many you’re on and fill in your author information on such sites like Amazon and Goodreads. See how you can use those to your advantage. Some authors create ads. I haven’t done that.

Short Publications—publish short pieces in online literary magazines. I’ve gotten works published in over twenty different magazines, blogs, and anthologies over the past two years. When new readers appreciate my short works, they sometimes follow the links to buy my books, so online publishing does acquire new readers and generates sales. (Again, maybe it’s my genre—no guarantee this will work for others). So, say twelve bookseller sites plus the twenty-four more, that gives me thirty-six websites I’ve gotten in a little over two years. With my website, blog site, all those social media platforms, that gives me another five at least. Forty-one, more or less, websites—that’s how many I’m on right now.

Media connections—this started for me because of my first book, traditionally published. My publisher arranged for a small book tour, so I was contacted by the influencers first—members of the media, newspaper and magazine editors and reviewers. Through Facebook, supporters of the arts, gallery owners, other authors, and book clubs found me and now promote on my behalf. Again, this is most likely due to my genre. However, because of those online magazines I publish in, I made some wonderful and far-reaching influencer connections on my own, and not only in my state. One editor promotes my books in issues of his magazine based in California, and a few others do similar promoting in other locations.

Author Websites—there are websites where we can list ourselves and our works: Goodreads, Hometown Reads, Penstra, Robin Reads, and many more. When you post to any social media platform, tag them with their handles, and they’ll sometimes retweet or share your works. Two neighboring states’ magazine editors, radio talk show hosts, and even a newspaper follow and share my posts to their readers, just because they found me on social media.

Above all, find social media platforms where you can connect with your fans and communicate with them daily. They love that they can talk to a “real author.”

TWITTER

I’d probably still be avoiding Twitter and stagnating at 190 followers but for a kind author who took me under his wing and tutored me in Twitter and tweeting.

Following the tutorial below, some of which I learned from my friend and some of which I discovered through more experimentation, I followed these steps to go from 190 to over 4,600 in four months. If you keep reading, I’ll explain how important the number of followers is on Twitter.

A visitor to your profile who is interested will take the time to click on your tweet and see what you’ve included in the accompanying imagery. Check out other authors’ and writers’ profiles to get an idea of how yours should look. I replace mine once in a while with NM scenery or with my books. When acquiring followers, be sure to check their profiles for “writer” of some sort. (I got three messages from men seeking friends. I changed my profile bio to married and grandmother to decrease the chances of someone looking for something I didn’t want to give.)

Go to the search bar and type in #writingcommunity. Start there. You’ll find plenty of tweets. Respond to those tweets—as many as you can. Tweet something like this—“new to Twitter and seeking followers. #Amwriting #mystery #novel (or whatever, but use the hashtags which attract more writers/readers).”

Participate in #FF (Follow Fridays) #WriterLifts, and #TwitterTrains when you can, especially as you’re building your following. When you see those hashtags, join in the train of followers by following them, liking, RT (retweeting), and commenting a thank you for the opportunity to get more readers. Engage. Don’t tweet with a comment though (something about algorithms).

Try to keep up with new followers and say thank you for the follow when you can. Use #writingcommunity in your tweets. Use your own hashtags as applicable to you. Use your hashtags in your tweet; for example, “I #amwriting #regionalistim & #magicrealism.

My #shortstory went live today.”

You get the idea.

Remember to keep an important tweet pinned for easy retweets and change it after it gets a few tweets, maybe 7-10. I like to keep my tweets rather than delete them after they no longer apply because I’ve noticed when a follower takes an interest in me, he/she will go back and see my tweets and like them, so I figure the engagement by leaving them there serves a purpose too. Some writers delete the tweets after they served their purpose.

Before you know it, you’ll have hundreds of other authors following you. Doing those three steps, I noticed an immediate increase in followers, and every time I tweet or respond to a tweet, I get more followers every day.

I like to tag specific influencers like magazine editors or radio talk show hosts who promote for me. They retweet my tweets to their followers, and word gets out for sales. I use @KRTN or whatever to get the attention of influencers; find your influencer handles and use those you want to attract. (Natalie Morales of NBC-Today, liked one of my tweets once). Just keep your @handles to a bare minimum and alternate with different tweets. You don’t want to become a pest.

One writer who took me under his wing is now promoting my books to his 79K followers. Think about it—those you follow have hundreds of thousands of followers combined, and those get retweeted and seen by that guy’s followers and so on. The reach is incredible—doesn’t measure up with Facebook at all. On FB I can reach up to 30K in nine countries, but on Twitter, I can reach well over that. Let me share an experience—I participated in Twitter pitch mad on Thursday, September 5, 2019. My pitch to agents was retweeted by 108 followers (can you imagine how many people that reached?). Because of the exposure, my pitch attracted 1 agent and 2 publishers. Don’t discount Twitter; learn to make it work for you.

The following is a guide to creating tweets others will want to engage in and possibly retweet, which is what you want to generate all those thousands of eyes who will read or scroll past.

Use your pronouns—each tweet should be written with the following in mind:

The first few lines are a headline. If it isn’t catchy, people will scroll past it.

Each tweet should be written to be viewed singularly and not collectively.

However, a tweet should be written to be viewed singularly as it will appear in other people’s timelines and in future search results.

All of my tweets clearly indicate “My story…” and while we may view this as egotistical, remember these tweets are viewed singularly. You’re telling them you achieved some goal, you’re not lauding someone else. Like the query or the book pitch, a tweet has to hook a reader’s attention or he’ll keep scrolling. My friend also cautioned me that when posting images (like I do when promoting a book or short story), don’t bother with text on the photo; it doesn’t get seen. (I do this anyway).

Best day to post on Twitter—Monday-Thursday 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.

Worst day—Friday-Sunday

Carmen

My writing skills in both English and Spanish enable me to write with true storytelling talent (I’ve been told). My experiences growing up amongst los Hermanos Penitentes, traditions, and folklore permit me to tell the story of my father’s entrance into the secret society of the Penitente Brotherhood. Living on the land left to us by my father, my husband and I enjoy a peaceful county life in northern New Mexico with our furry friends. Visit me on Facebook and Twitter

What do you think?

#All #Money

0 notes

swinburne · 7 years ago

Text

Graduate dilemma: to get a job you need experience, but how do you get experience without a job?

The importance of developing skills and experiences at uni is drilled into us, but what opportunities are out there besides lectures and tutes?

Written by Jayde Wilkinson, Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communication), Swinburne.

Many of us know how hard it can be to balance working part-time and studying, which leads to many students and graduates lacking the right experience for their chosen career.

To help avoid this, here’s a list of things you can do to gain meaningful experience for your future career.

Opportunities at university

Volunteering and work placements as part of study. Swinburne has many great opportunities for volunteer experience and professional placements. Volunteering opportunities can also be found online on websites such as Volunteering Victoria and SEEK Volunteer.

Study abroad. Step out of your comfort zone and embrace the culture of a new country. This experience will help to build confidence and boost your personal development. Global experiences are a great addition to job applications.

University and capstone projects you have undertaken during your studies can be a great way to prove to an employer that you know how to interact in a team and overcome challenges.

Committee roles at university will give you relevant career experience, on a smaller scale, of how an organisation might work. If you’re looking for a career in management or accounting you might try to become a president or treasurer of a club or society. This type of role gives you the opportunity to see how important cooperation, clear communication and a good working relationship is.

Take a class about career readiness. Swinburne offers an online unit called Future Work Skills that aims to give students essential career planning and management skills.

Opportunities online and content creation

Start a blog on your specific interests or study area. This is a great way to show your written communication skills, interest and research skills to employers. Some free sites that are great for blogging are Tumblr, Wordpress, and Wix.

Practice creating graphics for posters, banners and other publications, digital and physical. Employers will often ask to see previous work from designers. Whether it be graphic, web design, print or animation, keeping a portfolio of work will prove you have the skills they’re looking for.

Create mock campaigns. If you want to work in marketing, you could try drafting a marketing campaign for a local business that you could talk to in a future interview. If you’re studying law, you might do something similar and write an argument you could present to a potential employer for one side of a well-known case. You could also go and watch public court proceedings and keep a journal of your thoughts and opinions.

Seek freelance opportunities

Search for relevant freelance work on apps such as Airtasker. Airtasker gives you the flexibility to choose and bid on which jobs you would like to complete, which you can then add you your experience portfolio. You might also earn a few dollars while you’re at it!

If you are a photographer, suss event photography and filmography opportunities. Preferably if there’s an editing component. These opportunities are often one-time offers, so they don’t require extended amounts of time dedicated to them and can be added to your portfolio.

Come see Swinburne’s Centre for Career Development for more suggestions about how you could be gaining career-related experience and preparing for your future career. Book an appointment with one of our career consultants via SwinEmploy.

Written by Jayde Wilkinson, Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communication), Swinburne. Jayde is also on a 12-month professional placement in Swinburne’s Centre for Career Development team.

#Swinburne #Work #Skills #Experience

3 notes · View notes

goldeagleprice · 4 years ago

Text

How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Collecting?

By Mark Benvenuto

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has changed everyday life in the United States, and indeed the world, in countless ways. How we collect probably qualifies as a pretty small change, but nevertheless, this pandemic will most likely color how we go about assembling collections of great coins, bank notes, and medals for years and possibly decades to come. We thought it might be a good idea to query some of the people most actively involved in our hobby to see what is different for them, to see what has become more of a challenge, and to see if there might actually be any upsides or strange pluses to an event that put most of the world on lock-down in 2020.

I spoke with several people who are deeply involved with the American Numismatic Association and the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association to get their thoughts on our current situation and the current state of collecting. All are modest enough that they would not call themselves experts within our hobby, yet each has devoted a great deal of time to it. Their thoughts are quite revealing.

Shows and Safety

I asked Cliff Mishler, ANA Board Member; Joe Boling, the ANA Chief Judge; and Brett Irick, Royal Canadian Numismatic Association Director and Club Services Chairman how they thought the hobby was changed because of the pandemic. It seems each has been involved in making adjustments since the pandemic began, and thus had already thought about this, with some of their answers being quite similar.

Mr. Mishler was quick to point out that shows had been canceled because of the pandemic and to abide by the law, in the future, the safety of dealers and the public would be of paramount importance as shows came back. Not only will we have to practice social distancing in future shows, spacing tables farther, and asking people to keep a safe distance, but there must be some safety and sanitation measures taken as numerous customers and potential customers handle raw coins, coins in two-by-twos and slabs, or pages of coins in notebooks. It appears to be something that has not yet been fully thought out. Some sort of agreeable standard for safety measures will have to be adopted.

Dealers

All the interviewees agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected dealers differently than the average collector. Some are suffering badly, especially if their major business revenue was from face-to-face sales at shows. Mr. Irick pointed out that this has ironically been a good time for dealers to update and improve their websites, as more collectors are now going to such sites to keep their collecting active and healthy, and to find coins they might otherwise have found face-to-face at shows. He also indicated some dealers are saving a bit of money if their online sales are good since they have curtailed travel and meal expenses they would normally have had. Also, for customers who have established themselves with a dealer, and who have in the past provided want lists – and paid for the coins on such lists when dealers provided them – they have been able to actually get ahead during an otherwise tough time. The idea of working closely with and building trust with one or more dealers is definitely a good one that could culminate in some good buying or selling opportunities.

Getting Organized

The idea of finding the time to organize our collections is undoubtedly one that predates the current pandemic. Indeed, it’s probably difficult to find a collector who is completely satisfied with how he or she has put their collection together. Mr. Boling was honest enough to say that he still feels he has many items in his own collection that he has not managed to catalog to his satisfaction. Likewise, Mr. Mishler described himself as a “classic accumulator” who tends to buy items because he enjoys them in some way, and not because they are part of some greater whole he is trying to assemble. This makes it a bit tough to put his collection in what he considers a complete, organized state.

All three of them agreed though that if a person can find some time, the pandemic may actually provide a chance to get somewhat more organized and to take collections to the next, higher level. Whether this becomes a reality or remains a hopeful mirage on some distant horizon, is something each of us will have to determine for ourselves.

Online Purchases

Mr. Irick and Mr. Boling were quick to indicate that online purchases, whether directly from a dealer, or through auction houses, were on the rise during the time in which we were all at home. Both thought this was a solid way to continue building any collection, and pointed out how many dealers and auction houses had well-developed websites. Mr. Mishler commented that he felt there was still a difference between being able to see and hold a coin during a pre-auction viewing, and bidding for a piece online. But the idea of bidding in online auctions is another that certainly pre-dates the present situation. For new buyers or bidders in this area, it is always wise to look at the terms of sale for any event, to determine if a lot can be returned if what arrives in the mail does not match what appears in a photograph online.

Club Activities

Each expert noted how much the hobby has been disrupted because face-to-face club activities have been shut down for months. Many collectors join one local club, or perhaps more, because of the camaraderie and fellowship it provides and the friendships it builds. But Mr. Boling noted right away that with many clubs being able to move to a Zoom meeting format, they end up being able to have more attendees at their virtual meetings than they would have at some monthly face-to-face get together. He also pointed out that clubs that are not local, such as clubs built around a theme, can now have members attend and be seen, at least virtually, no matter where they live. Some clubs have been thorough enough in moving to an online format that they schedule and call a Zoom meeting, have a speaker or presenter for the evening, a show-and-tell session for those who have something to share, and basically go through a full meeting, just without some physical meeting space. It’s definitely different but it is also definitely better than no meeting at all.

Opportunities?

Any person of good conscience can’t help but feel a bit guilty to find that a situation like this has presented them with some advantages, but again there seem to be some that our experts agree on. One was taking advantage of the people and the talent within local and regional clubs who are able to set up virtual meetings. While a lot of collectors who have joined clubs find that they cannot quite get the just-mentioned camaraderie through virtual meetings, there are still ways to connect, learn, and even do some buying and selling.

Mr. Boling offered the thought that now was an excellent time to either get your personal numismatic library in some order, so you can read the books and journals you have been hoping to but just haven’t found the time for – or to start building some kind of library of your own. After all, knowledge is one of the most important aspects of our hobby.

Our interviewees also mentioned that collectors who have not taken advantage of resources such as the Newman Numismatic Portal or the ANA website might be smart to do so at the present time. The portal, only an internet click away, at nnp.wustl.edu, has a wealth of information for anyone who is interested in learning more about any aspect of our hobby. Even if your interests are more towards what is happening in the here and now, there are several websites where your thirst for knowledge can be slaked. Coins magazine is an easy and inexpensive publication to subscribe to, and is as easy to find as an internet search.

What’s in Store for the Future?

The cancellation of essentially all of the local, regional, and national coin shows is one of the most obvious downsides of the pandemic on our hobby. This has hit some dealers very hard, while others have simply shifted to an online format, and continued to do business. Likewise, some collectors have been stopped in their tracks, while others are buying and selling in other ways.

Mr. Mishler felt though that once the idea of proper sanitation and show safety had been addressed and the stay-at-home orders end, shows will return, and collectors will be coming back to them. Predicting when is probably beyond the scope of any of us, whether we have a crystal ball or not. But the return of shows does seem to be something to look forward to.

Whether you have been affected by the pandemic as deeply as some of our community have, or whether you had a full-time job where you worked from home prior to the stay-at-home orders that were issued by most state governors, and thus had almost no disruption to your life, our hobby has definitely been changed by the COVID virus. But patience and perseverance will get us through this; with luck, our collecting habits and our collections will emerge stronger and more complete.

The post How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Collecting? appeared first on Numismatic News.

#Precious Metals

0 notes