#and did such an excellent job at rationalizing my way into a solution I didn’t truly want

[bloomburnburial]

.

[adamfoolcry]

i hate you, i love you (k.dy)

it's valentine's day and you try your hardest not to fall back in the arms of one kim doyoung - your former boss, recluse and closed off, your fuck buddy - whom you are completely in love with.

pairings: CEO!Doyoung x Fem!Reader, Johnny x Fem!Reader rating: 18+   genre: angst and smut  warnings: swearing, explicit sexual situations - hate sex, dirty talk wc: 3k+ prompt: 'i hate you' 

a/n: This is a part of Candy Hearts Collab hosted by @127-mile . Text in blockquote are text messages.Thank you for beta reading simmi(@sly-merlin ) and indi(@ncteaxhoe​). Not proofread excuse the mistakes please contact me if you would like to do so. Enjoy! - xo aria

Doyoung:

I don't know if you'll even read this but if you do, I want you to know that what we have for two years was not a game for me. Maybe we can't start being honest with each other. When you make up your mind you know where to reach me.

Mina really knows how to dress you up to the nines, you'll give her that.

"It's not bad," you nod at your reflection approvingly as you examine the dress you wrestled yourself in, clinging to your body in the right places effectively enhancing your silhouette. The soft silky texture of satin feels exquisite against your skin however you can’t exude the confidence the dress might have channeled you with. You don’t feel grand in fact you feel the opposite;

You want to cancel the date.

"Oh for christ's sake, ______. Maybe try to put some enthusiasm into this," Mina spun you around to face her, your back to the whole body mirror where a while ago you two were examining the outfit she picked up from the back of your closet - where dressier clothing of yours reside not seeing the light of the day unless for special occasions. 

Placing both her hands on your shoulders, "You were so excited when you called me to pick something to wear. What happened?" She further inquired.

You heave a sigh, "I don't know I am just not in a mood to go out on a date with a stranger," you admitted.

Mina pulls your eyes back to hers, gleaming with determination. "You are ______, an economics major who graduated on top of her class, who landed a new job as a senior financial analyst despite being in the industry for only three years. Now repeat it," Mina orders you.

"What does it have to do with -" you rolled your eyes, and whined dramatically.

She clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth in displeasure, "Go on say it"

"I am ______, graduated on the top of my class and landed a new position as a senior financial analyst despite my tenurity," you mumble in a low voice.

"Good," Mina coddled you as if you are an infant who uttered her first word, "now add I am young, smart, and men want me."

You open your mouth to protest but Mina only pinned you with a hard look and you know you will not be getting out of this until you do as she says.

"I am young, smart, and men want me." You did as she told you.

Begrudgingly you did feel a lot better.

This is the third step of banishing Kim Doyoung in your life entirely. 

First is to send a resignation letter - done. 

Second, secure a new employment - done.

Third is to pursue a romantic relationship.

"Now let's get you ready for your date." Mina pulled you to the present, squeezing your bare shoulders to comfort you.

"I know that what you did is really hard. The sudden big change and all but today's Valentine's day you need to have a little fun today."

"I know Mina, now do my makeup." You pulled her to where your vanity table is located as you paste a smile on your face in order to placate her worries.

--------

If people were to know why you are doing this they might have called you silly.

After graduating from university you were offered the position of financial analyst in his company - a small but budding start up in Tech. Never would you have expected to land a job in your chosen field straight out of college. You are doing what you have envisioned yourself doing: analysing the trends and forecasting sales of the company's cloud solutions. You are comfortable with your current living situation, not what you have imagined after your parents cut you off no longer sending you an allowance. You thought you'd be working your ass off to make ends meet. Thankfully, the pay was high enough for you to live in an apartment in the city, pay your bills in time, and afford luxuries you knew that most people your age wouldn't have the money for. 

Everything seems perfect right? A job that you genuinely love, good pay, living in the heart of the city but of course you just have to develop feelings for your boss: Kim Doyoung. And that complicates everything; enough for you to decide to completely start over again.

Kim Doyoung has managed to worm into every nook and cranny of your life.

Kim Doyoung is a magnetic man, of few words, stern straight brows, and wide shoulders swaddled in elegant suits. He runs the company based on data-driven decisions unafraid of taking risks that produces the highest profitable outcome. Working at his company where all ten workers directly reports and closely works with him, you and your colleagues have developed quite a personal relationship with him. It was not conventional per se but you guess this is how all start-ups operate with a slightly different work culture. Unlike big corporations there is no bureaucracy, filling for leaves can just be a phone call or a visit to his office.

As his only financial analyst almost never leaving his side. You'd like to think that Doyoung might have developed a soft spot for you, maybe not in a romantic sense but in a platonic friendly way. He values your opinion enough that he asks for your input in any pivotal decisions either in work or his personal life. Whether to facilitate the migration to cloud as external contractors of big corporations or to oversee the renovation of his penthouse. And in small things too honestly, after all he asked for your help to decide whether the decor should be a Bohemian vibe or modern minimalistic black and grey.

That was until you fucked after the in-office celebration of closing a big contract. One moment he is talking about the vase that serves as a centerpiece of his dining table that you helped him pick, the next he was pulling your arm leading you to a dimly lit room. 

Yes, you did drink but you were sober enough to protest if you didn't want it; who are you kidding? Of course you wanted it to happen. Not one word of objection was uttered as he pinned you to the wall with your legs circling his waist. Instead of protests what left your lips was series of moans and his name in breathless pleas that he had to stuff your mouth with his fingers or else your colleagues will hear the two of you having sex two rooms away from them.

Doyoung slipped out of you stepping back to let you down.Your stilettos made a clicking noise as it came in contact with the tiled floor that echoed in your eardrums; deafening. Coming back down to earth and from your high is also the moment when you realized the mess you put yourself into by fucking Doyoung - your boss - in a storage room.

You righted both your disheveled appearances - to look as normal as possible - in order to go back to the pantry where the celebration was still in full swing. The tense silence that wrapped the atmosphere makes you want to shrivel in shame, both of you were aware of the line that you have crossed. 

The unspoken words were hanging in the air -

It was a mistake. Let's forget this ever happened. - and you refused to acknowledge the elephant in the room, the stillness making you uncomfortable by the second.

"_______ -," Doyoung started.

"We don't have to talk about it Doyoung." 

You moved for the door, not looking back to peek at Doyoung's expression. You just wanted to get out of the dusty storage room, the stuffy air and Doyoung's proximity, suffocating you. 

You thought you were smart enough not to make the same mistake again but you seem to have a penchant for getting hurt because you did it again and again every chance you got. When the effects of orgasm are wearing off and you are left naked and vulnerable you always find yourself swearing that it will be the last time but you already knew you were lying.

You just can't get enough of Doyoung even though it hurts to pretend that each encounter was meaningless.

Sleeping with someone where you never knew where you stand at is excruciatingly painful. 

You can't be jealous when you hear about the new girl he's with because you have no right.

It is painful when Doyoung gives you some false hope. Visiting you almost everyday in your small office bearing lunch for the two of you. He often spends half of his day loitering in your space, perching himself on the corner of your desk pushing around the knick knacks around your desk while you are busy with work.

Only to dash it when he tells you about the latest girl he's seeing which would mean your ears would bear the brunt of his relationship woes until it falls apart only for the vicious cycle to repeat again when he found himself in another one of his flings.

Everyday as he asks for relationship advice you feel yourself getting worn out and the green eyed monster roaring it's head, you try your hardest to tamp it down with your rational thinking. 

What hurts the most is he started his series of flings a week after you hooked up, rubbing on your face that it means nothing to him at all.

So after countless hours, days, and months of anguish you started planning your escape.

--------

There are so many thoughts running through your head it starts with: Did I overdress? Is Johnny having a good time? 

Then drifts into completely unrelated manners.

Did I manage to say goodbye to all of my co-workers? Clear out my desk in my office? Surrender my elevator pass to the friendly security guard? Retrieve my favorite mug in the pantry? 

Will everything be ok? Will I excel at my new company? Will I fit in a big corporation?

Will I miss Doyoung?

Am I doing the right thing?

Johnny cleared his throat which broke your reverie, your eyes settling in his face but Johnny seems to find the table napkin worthy of his attention rather than maintaining eye-contact with you.

"I had fun today but I think -," You see Johnny hesitating to continue his sentence, linking and unlinking his fingers instead.

You get it and you can't blame Johnny for his lack of interest. You were barely with him today after the small talk had died down and the two of you had finished your meals. You didn't make an effort to get to know him, the conversation was one sided as you barely threw the questions back at him; replying in terse short sentences as if you would rather be anywhere but having dinner with him.

"Yeah me too but it's really nice to spend Valentine's with you though and getting all dolled up. Makes me forget I am single," You joked and flashed him a smile; relieved, Johnny finally met your eyes as his actions mirror yours curving his lips into a smile.

-------

You hailed a cab for a ride back to your apartment, settling in the backseat you instructed and gave the address to the driver as his radio blasted cheesy romantic songs in your ear, making you feel more disappointed with how bad your date with Johnny went.

As the cab speeds through the city, the citylights intermingle with each other creating a spectrum of colors that bounce back at the cab’s windows, the scenery of skyscrapers blurring past your eyes and your mind returns back to musing which you know is a dangerous territory because somehow your mind always returns back to him.

Doyoung

What exactly did you want to be with Doyoung?

You want him to like you? No, You want to mean something to him, to be the special person he runs to whenever he's devastated, to be the first person he calls when he's completely utterly bursting with joy. You want him to be completely aware of your presence that even just a mere mention of your name will evoke something in him, make his heart beat a little faster and cause some flush to bleed through his cheeks.

You want him to be endeared with your habitual tics - how you drum your fingers in every surface when you are in deep thought, a line maring your forehead between your brows and make his lips itch to kiss it. You want him to be captivated with your idiosyncrasies and find it charming, you want him to adore everything about you that made you, distinctly you.

You want him to want you.

Your phone vibrated and interrupted your stupor and upon seeing Doyoung’s name attached to the notification. Your fingers quickly unlocked your phone, fingers ringing from an adrenaline rush just from the sight of his name.

Doyoung:

Come over?

And just like that you inform your cab driver to make a detour and drive to Doyoung’s instead.

Doyoung opened the gigantic door of his penthouse where he found you on the other side of the door, shifting your weight from foot to foot, nervous to be in the same perimeter as him. When the gap was big enough to see you his eyes roved over to your body and noted that you were dressed up nicely for a date. His eyes then turned into slits as he glared at you.

“Have fun with your date?” He questioned and you can see his jaw set - the muscles clenching tight.

You didn’t answer, you don’t want him to know the pathetic evening you spent with Johnny as your mind drifts to thoughts of him; instead of actively participating with Johnny’s effort of back and forth.

As if knowing that you wouldn’t answer, his arms went to grab your forearms pulling you inside and leading you to the stairs up his loft where his bed is, you followed meekly behind him. Reaching his loft you look around and try to commit to memory the layout of the room; promising yourself that this will be the last time you will set foot in this room.

Doyoung attached his lips to your neck which drew a soft moan from you, spurred by your sounds he continued to ravish your neck oscillating between harshly sucking and peppering soft kisses on the expanse of the skin of your neck. His hands running at your sides smoothly and gradually getting closer to the underside of your breasts with each pass, when he finally cupped your mounds you arch in his palms further pushing yourself closer to him, greedy for his attention from all the teasing that he has done.

When he spoke again it fanned over the nape of your neck making your skin tingle from the warmth, “Why can’t you understand that I am the only one who can make you feel this way.” 

You can smell the residue of whisky on his breath and you wanted to taste it on your tongue even though from all the times you have slept with him you two have never kissed. You have drawn the line there for kissing is much more intimate than slapping bodies againsts each other for satisfaction. Kissing can be done without sexual notions but a simple act between couples and it is a glaring truth that you two were not.

You found yourself naked and sprawled on his queen size bed where you have lain your back many times but never spent a night in. Even the off white color of his ceiling is familiar to you as if mocking you for all the times you said you wouldn’t see it again. As he slips your dress down your body, your eyes water and it pooled in your eyes ready to spill over. ‘This is the last time,’ you tell yourself again, 'this is the last time that I will be Doyoung’s beck and call.' When he was finished trailing his lips down and also discarding his clothes at the other side of the bed you managed to swipe the tears that gathered in your eyes and look at him.

Towering over you he was a sight to behold and you trace the line of his body with your eyes, caressing the dips on his collarbones and the line that leads down to his cock as his face coil into a smirk smug with the knowledge that he can turn you into a whimpering mess.

“What do you want?” He asked while splaying his hands on your stomach, his thumb drawing circles on your clit which made your moans even louder and your pussy clench on nothing. You hate that he was the only one who can make you feel this way, reducing you into a pleading mess as you move your hips to the rhythm that he has set. 

You don’t have to tell him your guttural whines already told him what you wanted and he obliged inserting his length into you slowly, while you gripped his sheets until your knuckles turned white. You loved the way he filled you and the burn that accompanies when he stretched your clamping muscles on him.

So you let all your reasoning go because Doyoung’s cock pumping inside you felt good, too good. 

He knows your body like an instrument, putting the right pressure and hitting the spots that makes you throw your head back repeatedly. You can feel the falter in his quick thrusts and knows that he is near his end. Doyoung makes this one sound at the back of his throat when he orgasms … and you follow suit too as he falls apart.

It took a few seconds for him to untangle his legs and arms from your figure and it took you a couple of minutes of staring at the walls, waiting until you felt your legs can support you before you stood up and searched for your dress and undergarments. You can hear the rustle of the sheets as Doyoung sits on his bed watching your back as you slip on your panties and pull your dress back in its place.

“So tell me why did you leave the company?” Doyoung asked, his voice ringing loudly in your ears.

“I told you already I want to work in a big company,” You try to answer nonchalantly.

“Really? Or does it have something to do with me?

“Oh for fuck’s sake Doyoung. The world doesn’t revolve around you!” You shouted at him as you turned around to face him. Your ire rising as you see the cold stoic look on his face - unaffected by your outburst.

“Then why does it feel like you are running away from me?” He stood up from the bed and warily approached you as if you will lash at him any moment.

“I hate you,” (I love you) you whispered under your breath the words not meant from his ears but he heard it anyway. Disbelief painted his features he cannot grasp the reason why you are suddenly acting like this.

He reached out to touch your arm but you swerved his hand like a hurt animal nursing a wound and Doyoung then noticed your bloodshot eyes and defensive stance.

“Don’t touch me. Whatever destructive thing this is Doyoung, I am done. We’re done,” You stated bluntly your voice devoid of emotions a complete contrast with how you hugged yourself tightly with your arms.

“You don’t mean that,” Doyoung said adamantly as color drained from his face, making his pale complexion - paper white. 

“You can’t just walk away,” He added more to convince himself than you because he can see that hard look in your eyes - already set in the decision of walking away from him.

“Watch me Doyoung,” your lips curved into a cruel bitter smile. 

You leave him with those words as he watches your retreating figure until it completely disappears from his line of vision. 

--------

That night when you received a text from Doyoung, you never bothered to open it, opting to delete it and completely block all communications with him. You need to move on and in order to do it you need to sever all ties that might delude you to come back in his arms again.

You need to escape from Kim Doyoung for it's been due too long.

a/n: Read more of my works for NCT here:masterlist

[teaveetamer]

Please do explain Dimitri, Edelstans, Fundamental Attribution Error and the Just-World Fallacy if you have time?

Okay so think of the most common anti-Dimitri arguments you can think of. I think, at the end of the day, all arguments boil down to two very broad points: “Well he did bad things so he was a bad person” and “It’s okay because he deserved it.” These two conclusions are excellent examples of the Fundamental Attribution Error and the Just World Fallacy at work.

For a brief rundown of what I’m talking about, here’s how both of these fallacies function.

The Fundamental Attribution Error

The Fundamental Attribution Error is, essentially, assuming people do things because of who they are as a person (dispositional factors), not because of what’s going on around them (situational factors).

For example, let’s say you’re driving your car somewhere, and as you’re getting on the highway a big SUV cuts you off. Now obviously you’re pissed and you think “wow, that person is a really bad driver! They must be really careless!”

That’s you assuming SUV guy’s observed behavior (cutting you off in traffic) is directly attributable to some part of his personality (carelessness). Thing is,  his pregnant wife might have gone into labor and he’s distracted while driving because he’s trying to get her to the hospital, or maybe his kid got hurt and he’s trying to get her some help, he had a bad day and was trying to rush home from work, or maybe you were just in his blind spot and he couldn’t see you before he pulled out in front of you.

Point being, there could be any number of factors that caused him to cut you off in traffic, but by jumping to the dispositional factor right out of the gate you have made an error in your thinking (and, in the process, likely assumed the worst of someone before you’ve even met them).

The Just-World Fallacy (& Cognitive Dissonance)

The Just-World Fallacy is essentially believing in karma. Good people will be rewarded for being good and bad people will be punished for being bad.

However, there’s just one little caveat... the world isn’t fair like that. So what happens when you see good things happening to bad people, or bad things happening to good people? Cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive Dissonance is what happens when what you believe or think does not match up with your observations or behaviors. There are two solutions to cognitive dissonance: change your behavior/understanding to match your thoughts, or change your thoughts to match your behavior/observations.

Let’s use an example of the Just-World Fallacy to demonstrate that. Say you’re walking down the street and you see a homeless person. You’ve been taught for pretty much your entire life that you better work hard so you don’t end up like those people. Hard workers get what they deserve (money, stability, promotions, etc.) and lazy people get what they deserve. So you see this homeless man and think to yourself, “Wow he must be really lazy.”

Your thought process might be: You see he is homeless (something you see as a consequence of laziness) -> Believe he is lazy. There is no cognitive dissonance because what you believe (hard workers are not homeless) is not challenged.

But then say you sit down with him and find out this man is a veteran that served in some war. He tells you his story all about how he escaped poverty by joining the military, worked three jobs to take care of his family, got injured, and then lost his health insurance so he could no longer work.

Now your thought process might be: You see he is homeless (something you see as a consequence of laziness) -> Discover that he is actually an extremely hard worker (something you do not associate with homelessness). Cognitive dissonance emerges because what you believe (hard workers are not homeless) has been challenged.

Cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable for people, so we’re going to have to resolve it somehow.

Option A) Realize that you were wrong to assume all homeless people are lazy. Revise your definition of homeless people to include “good people fucked over by the system.”

You see he is homeless (something you realize can happen to anyone regardless of work ethic) -> Discover he is an extremely hard worker that ended up homeless despite his best efforts. There is no cognitive dissonance because the observation (a hard working homeless man) does not contradict the belief (anyone can be homeless regardless of work ethic).

Option B) Double down on your thoughts and change your behavior/perceptions to match your thinking.

You see he is homeless (something you see is a consequence of laziness) -> Discover he is actually an extremely hard worker (something you do not associate with homelessness) -> Assume he must have done something to “deserve” being homeless (like showing up late or just not working hard enough to keep his job). There is no cognitive dissonance.

Now Option A seems like the easier path, but remember that humans are stupid. We tend to take the path of least resistance, so if it’s easier to pick Option A we tend to pick it, and if it’s easier to pick Option B we tend to pick that instead. Your primary aim is consistency, not rationality.

Okay, I hear you saying, but what does this have to do with Dimitri and the Edelstans?

Well let’s look back at those two major arguments I listed up at the top.

“Well he did bad things so he is a bad person.”

This is the Fundamental Attribution Error at work. They’re taking a behavior (killing people) and associating it with Dimitri as a person (he’s bad) rather than looking at the situational factors (he was protecting his homeland from violent invaders).

“It’s okay because he deserved it.”

Just-World Fallacy here. Dimitri is a bad person (see above) therefore it is okay to kill him (because bad people deserve to be punished).

It’s impossible to talk about these separately because these two fallacies work in tandem. Dimitri is, fundamentally, a good person that has very very bad things happen to him. This causes severe cognitive dissonance, and the Fundamental Attribution Error is many people’s solution.

So let’s take a look at it like this.

Problem 1:

Dimitri is a good person (good people don’t do bad things) -> Dimitri does bad things. Cognitive dissonance.

Solutions:

Option A) Dimitri is a good person (good people don’t do bad things) -> Dimitri does bad things -> Dimitri wasn’t a good person after all. No cognitive dissonance.

Option B) Dimitri is a good person (good people don’t do bad things) -> Dimitri does bad things -> Recognize that sometimes good people do bad things because of the circumstances. No cognitive dissonance.

Problem 2:

Dimitri is a good person (bad things don’t happen to good people) -> Bad things happen to Dimitri. Cognitive dissonance.

Solutions:

Option A) Dimitri is a good person (bad things don’t happen to good people) -> Bad things happen to Dimitri -> Dimitri wasn’t a good person after all. No cognitive dissonance.

Option B) Dimitri is a good person (bad things don’t happen to good people) -> Bad things happen to Dimitri -> Realize bad things sometimes happen to good people. No cognitive dissonance.

The beautiful thing about this is that you can interchange pretty much any character name into this framework.

Which brings me to Edelgard.

See, while most people who like Dimitri are most likely to opt for Option B, if you were to swap in Edelgard’s name then the people who like Edelgard will also be most likely to opt for Option B. Remember how I said we tend to take the path of least resistance to solve our cognitive dissonances?

It’s easier to change the intensity of your emotion than it is to change the valence. That is, it’s easier to go from negative emotion -> more intense negative emotion than it is to go from negative emotion -> positive emotion. They like Edelgard and dislike Dimitri already, so it’s far easier for them to choose Option A for Dimitri (because it makes their negative view more negative) and Option B for Edelgard (because it makes their positive view more positive) than the other way around.

And let me be clear. It doesn’t have to be “if you picked option B for Dimitri you must automatically assume option A for Edelgard” or anything like that. You can recognize that both of them are affected by their circumstances and the world isn’t really fair to either of them.

Now how does this fit into the stans specifically? Well, the stans, for whatever reason, seem to connect these two things. For Edelgard to be good Dimitri must be bad. I can only assume it’s because they realize that if Dimitri is a good person that has bad things happen to him then they’ll have to acknowledge where those bad things come from. More specifically, who does those bad things to him. That’s a whole ‘nother layer of cognitive dissonance on top of the original cognitive dissonance.

Which I guess at this point it’s all speculation, but it’s something about the way they talk about the game that pings my radar. Notice how a lot of Edelstans will discuss her bad actions in the passive voice? It’s to put distance between Edelgard and the action. They constantly try to put distance between Edelgard and her actions or they hone in on some bad act of her opponents to use it as justification for her actions.

Except... Crimson Flower Dimitri doesn’t really do anything bad, does he? He wasn’t deposed, didn’t spend five years wandering the countryside killing Imperial soldiers, didn’t have his mental breakdown, anything. He was just a guy in charge of his country doing his best to keep things together as an imperial invasion bore down on him. He doesn’t deserve to die because he hasn’t done anything wrong.

This is probably why we get terrible takes such as “Dimitri was a rabid dog that has to be put down” or “Dimitri is just too mentally ill it’s a service to put him out of his misery” or “Dimitri is an oppressor because he was shielding Rhea.” Pretty much anything they can find to make it seem like he  “deserves” to die.

So, in conclusion, I think you can trace pretty much every anti-Dimitri argument back to one fundamental question: how can I make him deserve it? And once you break it down to that it’s pretty easy to see through their twisted logic, and a lot of their theories and speculations start making sense.

[asmasheikh]

6 reasons why Event Planners fail when starting an Event Planning Business

Is it worth starting an

event

planning business?

Like everything in this life, it depends. Producing events can be a wonderful experience, capable of moving, generating a valued relationship and, of course, excellent business. On the other hand, producing events involves continuous stress during the entire period of its production. Therefore, it is always important to analyze the professional profile and identify what we expect for our future. And we still didn’t reach the point that, you, as the event planning services business owner, will have to take care of a lot more than just the event planning aspects.

Usually, producing events involves a hectic pace for some time and a lull afterwards. However, being able to control these doses of emotions can be difficult for someone less experienced.

But in the end, for those who know how to enjoy the event production process and for those who can think strategically in the long run, producing an event is very worthwhile. Not only for the financial return, which is great depending on the event, but also for the possibility of seeing a whole job working in practice, thrilling, generating business and motivating. And all thanks to your work.

planning business.

You just realized: you got enough knowledge, you’re a successful event planner. So it’s time to make some serious money out of your expertise. It’s a new moment and it’s full of expectations.

But how to design an accurate, value-based business plan and pricing strategy? Several factors and strategies can interfere with the success of your event agency. And when it comes to strategies for your new business, as important as what you have to do, is what you have to avoid. This article will help you eliminate common mistakes and make your current customers and potential clients realize the benefits of hiring your agency for their upcoming events.

What to consider when starting an

event

planning business.

The various aspects and characteristics that must be considered and noted in order to organize the entrepreneur’s mind include:

What services and products should be developed? The services and products offered will be the reference for the next steps of setting up your business; the way customer service will be and also their basic needs

Who is the customer and how do I attract to my business? Another important issue that will be a reference for your business disclosure plan and also a fundamental piece to gather financial resources for your activity

Where will the company be installed?

What price to charge?

Which professionals to hire for business improvement?

6 common mistakes Event Planners can avoid when starting their event planning business.1. Pricing not looking at competitors.

Obviously, you want to close good deals. But how to identify how much to charge? How do you foresee the perception of your audience regarding your prices?

You’ll likely find established prices by event planning business entities. But the ideal price for a product goes far beyond pre-established formulas. It is strongly recommended that you compare your prices with your competitors in the industry when setting your mark up.

Solution: Do a strategic research and analysis of markets and competitors in the event planning industry. It’s hard work indeed, so to guide you through this task, consider the following questions:

What’s the market share of your main 3-6 competitors?

What’s the total size of the niche you’re planning to break into?

Who are the people buying from your competitors?

What these shoppers are exactly paying for?

Why these shoppers buy from these competitors?

What kind of bureaucracy you’ll have to deal with, that you did not before (e.g.: permits, taxes, banks, loan interests)?

2. Pricing based only in competitors.

In addition to competition, there is a need to know your customers in depth. Satisfied customers are re-sellers. Customers loves knowing that they’ve taken advantage and gained benefits. If, by buying from you, people understand this clearly, and the transaction is worth it to your agency, you have reached the ideal price.

3. Pricing based only on costs.

As we saw in the previous item, satisfied customers are re-sellers. And these people love to tell stories. So if the biggest asset of your service is price, that’s exactly what your clients are gonna recommend you for. Don’t fall into the trap of “I’m going to start cheap to gain market, then change.”

4. Defining service portfolio considering only sales bias.

The health of your own event planning business is determined by financial aspects, but not only. Other factors, such as quality, efficiency and post-sale value stacking are also determining factors.

When giving event planning services presentations, you will probably talk about the product you offer by referring to them as experiences. So don’t forget that whether you close the sale or not, your prospect is experiencing an experience with you at that very moment. In short, any point of contact of your customer with your brand is already an experience. In the age of customer infidelity, it is essential to remember that any second you spend in a customer’s life must add value.

5. Giving up on building your event planning business brand.    

Corporations have approved budgets for their event marketing and need to find reliable partners to carry out these projects. Who is the VP or Senior Manager of any company who would not like to immediately perceive the professionalism with which they are being treated?

One of the purposes of your projects as an event agency should always be to seek differentiation. This is how your event planning services should be known and this should be why your clients will recommend you. So work on your business name.

Given the events market as a whole, the correct organization and structuring of your company may already be the first major competitive advantage.

Solution: Differentiation and Networking are the main tips here. Turn any abstract or hard-to-define idea into something concrete and tangible that people can picture quickly. Show functionality and performance. Keep in touch with influential people you met during your career so far – it’s a common mistake for entrepreneurs to think that they can do it all by without any help or advice.

6. Forgetting that this is not about what you want to sell, but what the client wants to buy.

Shopper choose offers based on what seems to be more valuable. Especially in the corporate world, where selling is more rational and any incurred cost is highly taken into consideration.

Solution: in order to charge for your events properly, define your business name and positioning first. You have renowned certifications? Show them off. What types of events can you plane? Only corporate events and meetings or social events too, such as weddings? Is social media included in your service portfolio? Is there an area in your website to show this kind of information? You even have a website?

You even have the time to build it all? Time management will be crucial to have a clear answer to points like these. Only after that, name your prices. And don’t forget to be honest to yourself: where you are at the moment and where you wanna be are different things. The events has a lot of opportunities, but it’s also very competitive.

Courtesy: Event Planner in Lahore

[caseofthestolenspecs]

Promptober Day 26: Action

(For @miluette‘s Promptober!)

“Prompto! Prompto, come quick! Look what Monica got for me!”

Talcott’s voice echoed off the walls the second Prompto stepped foot into the house at Cape Caem. He’d been working in the garden with the other guys all day, eager for some time off his feet and maybe some quiet time, but then there was Talcott. He didn’t mind, though. How could he say no to Talcott? Every second he spent with the kid was precious.

“What’s up, lil’ bro?” Prompto replied with a smile. The words were barely out of his mouth when he suddenly found himself taken hostage by Talcott. The boy grabbed him by the wrist and hurriedly tugged him along, leading him over to the nearby table.

“Look! Look!” Talcott was bouncing on his feet as he gestured to a small pile of boxes on the table top. “Monica told me that one day, she’s gonna train me to be a part of the Crownsguard! I wanted to start training now, but she said I was too little.”

“Heh, yeah, it’s dangerous stuff, bud. She made a good call there,” Prompto said as he peered over at the boxes, curious. “So, whatcha got there?”

“I was getting to that! Look, Prompto! I can’t be in the Crownsguard right now, but she said I can practice with these until I’m big enough.” Talcott pushed the boxes over to Prompto, the top two sliding off the pile.

Well.

This was definitely something he’d never expected to see in a million years.

Sealed within each of the four packages was an action figure. As Prompto inspected each one, it soon became clear that they were modeled after people he knew. Noctis. Gladiolus. Ignis. And finally, himself.

Prompto laughed, both from surprise and the sheer absurdity of what was in front of him. “What the heck? Where did Monica get these?!”

“She said she got them in the Lestallum flea market! Aren’t they cool?!” Talcott grinned. “See? There’s you!”

“Yeah, that’s me, all right.” Prompto held up the ‘Prompto’ action figure to get a better look. The toys were obviously bootlegs of some other official merchandise, altered to look like himself and his group. The paint job on ‘Prompto’ was terrible, the face slightly askew and the hair tips chipped in some places. Other details were missing, such as his freckles and the patches on his clothing, and he was wearing the completely wrong shoes. Cowboy boots? What the heck did they use for reference?!

He turned the package around. “Oh, hey, didja see? There’s even character profiles.” He began to read ‘his’ aloud.

“‘In spite of the painful past, smiley prompts’----”  Prompto didn’t even make it past the first sentence before he burst out laughing. “‘Smiley prompts’?! Is that my new name now?”

Talcott began to giggle too. “Read the one for Ignis!”

“Oh, man. Okay, okay. Let’s see.” Prompto set his action figure aside for the time being in favour of the one of Ignis. Ignis’ action figure was… okay. His face was a little long, though, and the glasses were crooked and had no lenses. The best part? Instead of daggers for weapons, he had a frying pan and spatula. He couldn’t wait to show Ignis this later.

“‘Norwegian faithful advisor Ignis’---” he began. “Wait, what? Norwegian?! Where even is that?” He laughed, then continued. “--’is rational, witty, and his instruction deserves credibility’. Well, it’s not wrong. ‘He is also intellectual, talented, owner of excellent cooking skills.’ Okay, it’s actually pretty spot on. Other than the Norwegian thing.”

The other two figure boxes weren’t too bad in comparison, but the paint jobs on the figures themselves were particularly terrible. Gladio’s tattoos were just a bunch of smears, and for some reason Noctis’ shoes were pink. But, overall, they were about a six out of ten. Not bad for the very first pieces Crownsguard merchandise, unofficial as they were.

“So, should we bust open these bad boys?” Prompto said with a grin. When Talcott gave him the go ahead, he opened up the packages and lined the action figures along the table. The figures had movable joints, but the construction was so shoddy, he was worried that they’d snap right off if you so much as touched them. “Hey, be careful with these, okay?” he warned. “They’re really delicate.”

“I will!” Talcott already had Gladiolus in hand, experimentally moving one of the arms up and down. Prompto watched nervously, expecting it to snap off right away, but… amazingly, so far, so good.

And so came the dramatic showdown. Talcott played Noctis and Gladiolus, while Prompto took on himself and Ignis. According to Talcott, Prompto and Ignis were aliens in disguise and needed to be sent back to their home planet. (Well, okay. Maybe Talcott was onto something there.) Then, they were flying across the room. All right, cool. Noctis had a pet Cactuar that he threw at Ignis and Prompto, revealing their true forms (according to Talcott, the aliens were green and tentacle-y, like Malboros). Right when it came time for the final battle, suddenly there was Gladiolus, coming down from above, and--- SNAP. There went his arm.

“Oh no!” Talcott yelped.

The arm landed on the floor. Prompto picked it up, checking out the damage to see if it was salvageable. “Oops. Looks like the peg snapped. Don’t worry, though! I’ll fix it up and he’ll be as good as new, okay?”

Talcott nodded, pouting. Well, crap. Better find a solution, and fast. Dammit Gladio, why were you so brittle?!

Just then, the front door opened and in stepped the man of the hour, Gladio himself. “Hey you two,” he greeted. Talcott waved slowly, a frown firmly in place on his visage. “Something up?”

“Hey, maybe you can help us out,” Prompto replied, getting up so he could walk over to Gladio, the man’s mini replica and snapped arm in hand. “Check it out.”

Gladio laughed. “What the---”

“We’ve been immortalized. In plastic form. I’ll tell you aaaaall about it in a sec, but any idea on how to fix something like this?” Prompto asked. “Help us Gladio, you’re our only hope!”

“I happen to be an expert, actually. I used to fix Iris’ toys all the time when we were younger,” Gladio chuckled, taking the toy from Prompto. “Leave it to me.”

And that was how Prompto spent the rest of the afternoon playing aliens with Talcott and newcomer Gladio. Gladio couldn’t repair the figure the way he wanted due to lack of proper supplies, but it turns out a band-aid was a quick fix when it came to dire circumstances. By the time they finished playing, the box of band-aids was nearly empty.

[ellanainthetardis]

prompt : peeta plans to loose his virginity to katniss so he goes and asks haymitch for some pointers and advice on if there is anything special hes suppose to do for a girl

One very uncomfortable conversation coming up! (X]

Haymitch, The Poet

Breakfast had become something Haymitch reallylooked forward to since Effie had brought Peeta back to Twelve – and had showedup along with him. It might have been absolutely stupid in its simplicity buthe loved sharing coffee and toasts with her in the morning, eggs if he feltlike cooking. Breakfast had always been a quiet time for them during the Games,a time they either used to strategize before their tributes showed up or tobanter over a blueberry muffin. In Thirteen, they hadn’t had many occasions tosit down and eat together. Their schedules had been different and, when theyhad matched, there had always been people around them to intrude.

So, all in all, the last three weeks of themhaving breakfast together in the mornings had become something he had reallystarted looking forward to. Living together wasn’t something they otherwiseexcelled at for now. She had too many expectations and he sometimes resentedher overwhelming presence in his house. They would get there though. He really wanted them to get there. She hadtalked about sharing her time between Twelve and the city at first – becausePlutarch had offered her a job in the entertainment industry that she wasconsidering taking – but she had yet to pack and leave.

Which suited Haymitch fine because he enjoyedtheir breakfasts.

And their nights.

And their in-betweens, even the fights thatleft him hoarse.

So that morning, as he sipped his cup of coffeeand smirked over the rim of the mug because she was trying not to smile whilebiting on her toast, fluttered as she was with his attention, he was in a verygood mood. It might have had to do also, perhaps, with the foot she had hookedaround his ankle under the table.

“We are ridiculous.” she chuckled, wiping herfingers on her napkin. “I hope you realize that.”

He did. He really,really did. But that wasn’t enough to stop him from behaving like a kid inlove.

He was entertaining the thought of clearing thetable so he could have her on it instead when the back door opened on Peeta.Effie immediately patted her blond hair self-consciously – wigs might not befashionable anymore but she still spent a good thirty minutes styling her hairevery morning regardless – her foot discreetly retreating away from his ankle.

“Good morning, dear!” she greeted with herusual cheer. “Would you care for some coffee?”

Haymitch stood up to pour one for the boy whenhe nodded, gently pulling Effie’s silk dressing gown close with one hand on theway because it was open wide on a lacy red nightgown that had Peeta’s ear growred. She tightened the belt with a flush and a small wince. She still mindedthe kids barging in without warning, Haymitch had long grown used to it. Still,that meant that she wasn’t always presentable and that wasn’t settling rightwith her.

He didn’t mind so much. If Peeta was botheredby his lack of shirt, he didn’t let on.

“Where’s Katniss?” he asked, scratching hischest while he poured him coffee.

“In the woods.” the boy offered, alreadysitting at the table. “She thinks she saw a deer yesterday. She said she wantedto try and track it down.”

“Would be good.” he approved. A few people hadcome back but rebuilding Twelve was a huge endeavor and resources were scarce.The government was sending rations over but an addition of meat wouldn’t hurt.If Katniss caught a deer there would be plenty for everyone.

They chatted a little about the rebuildingwhile Peeta drank his coffee, wondering if more people would choose to comeback and if Paylor would soon send the working crew she had promised. Effiekept toying with her hair and hurried in finishing her mug, clearlyuncomfortable being in such an improper outfit in front of the boy. She excusedherself quickly and disappeared upstairs to get ready, leaving him and Peetaalone.

He didn’t realize immediately that somethingwas odd. It was only after the fifth awkward glance Peeta gave him that hefrowned, not quite understanding while the tips of the boy’s ears were stillred when Effie’s infamous crimson nightgown had disappeared from the room.“Something you want to tell me, kid?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”Peeta hesitated.

“Sounds serious.” he snorted, taking a bite ofthe toast Effie hadn’t finished.

“I was wondering if you could tell me aboutgirls.” the boy spat out in one rushed breath.

Haymitch choked on the piece of toast and Peetaimmediately slapped his back only stopping when he shot him an incredulouslook. “You want me to give you the talk?”

“No!” Peeta protested, red in the face now.

Fair was fair, Haymitch was fairly sure he wasequally flushed. “Then, what?”

“You’ve been with women before…” the boycringed. “More than one, I’m assuming.”

“Geez,kid, you don’t mess around, do you?” he chuckled because it was either laughingabout it or being mortified. “Yeah, I’ve been with more than one. More than two or three dozen probably.”

Peeta made a face at that. “Well, I haven’t. And Katniss and I…”

“Ah, ah, ah.”He stopped him right there, lifting both hands in the air. “You wanna have that sort of talk, we ain’t mentioning Katniss.”

“She will have to sort of be involved at somepoint.” the boy joked and Haymitch shook his head, wishing he could wipe theimages that it conjured out of his mind. “Okay, okay! No mention of Katniss.”

“Good.” he sighed in relief, rubbing his eyes.“So what are you asking, here?”

Peeta wavered, distractedly playing with thebutter knife. “Last night, we…”

“We,as in you and a totally hypothetical girl who isn’t the closest thing I have toa daughter.” he muttered to himself.

“Yeah, thatwe.” the boy snorted but his amusement faded fast into awkwardness again.“Things got a little heated? She had a nightmare and she came to sleep with meand… We kissed and it just kind of got… Out of hands?”

“Please, tell me you’re not trying to tell meyou’ve slept with her without protection and now there might be a Mockingjayfledgling on the way.” he begged. “’Cause that’s the thing you want to go to Effie about. Not gonna lie, she’s gonnascream but she probably has a solution too. Me, it’s just gonna get my bloodpressure higher and then I’m gonna try to strangle you.”

“We didn’t sleep together.” Peeta sighed.

“Oh, good.” he said in relief. Then he shot alook at the kid and amended “Well, maybe not for you.”

Where was booze when you needed some? He hadn’ttouched a drop since Thirteen. Not exactly by choice either. Twelve wasn’texactly well supplied and he couldn’t go through another withdrawal. And,really, with Effie and the kids there, it wasn’t so bad. He wanted to trysobriety for a while. For old times’ sakes. To see if he could actually makesomething of life.

“I just feel we could get there soon, youknow?” the boy said.

“I’d rather notto.” he admitted. But he would make sure the kids were well-stocked in condoms.And he would also make sure Effie had a talk with Katniss about getting her onthe pill. They so weren’t dealingwith a baby right then.

Peeta’s face closed and he slumped a little inhis chair. “Fine. Forget I said anything. I knew it would be weird to ask you anyway.”

“Why did you?” he whined a little, standing upto clear the table. That would please Effie and that would give him somethingto do. Two birds with one shittystone.

“You see a lot of older men in my life rightnow?” the boy scoffed. “I’m sure Doctor Aurelius wouldn’t mind spending ournext session giving me sex pointers.”

Fair was fair.

He hadn’t had much more guidance thefirst time he had been with a girl but he had been listening to Chaff for longenough that he knew more about sex than was needed at that point anyway.

“Okay.” he relented and he was going to regretit, he already knew it. “Shoot. What do you want to know?”

The look of relief on Peeta’s face wasunmistakable. “I want to make it good for her.”

“First times are awkward and it’s worse forwomen.” he countered without thinking.

“Have you ever been with a girl who had neverdone it before?” the kid asked.

That was the kind of things he hadn’t mindtalking about with Chaff, Beetee and Blight so much. With Finnick on occasions.Peeta, though… Peeta was too close to a son and it was really weird. Or maybe it was the lack of liquor that made it soodd.

He kept on putting everything away, thinking hemight just do the dishes because it would keep his back to the room and thatwould be way easier to have thisconversation that way.

“Yeah.” he answered at last. “My first time.”

“Oh, so you were both…” Peeta hesitated.

“Yeah.” he nodded, deciding he was definitely going to do the dishes. Andmake it last. “Wasn’t that bad. It was sweet, even. We didn’t really know whatwe were doing but figuring it out is part of the fun.”

“How old were you?” the boy asked.

Haymitch watched the hot water pool in the sinkand added the soap as an afterthought. The memories weren’t bad but likeeverything in his life, they were so tightly entwined with the Games that…“Nineteen.” There was only silence behind him and Haymitch glanced at the boyover his shoulder, an amused smirk on his lips. “Not the answer you expected,kid?”

Peeta gave him a sheepish shrug. “I thoughtyou’d have started younger. With the Quell and everything… I thought girlswould have been all over you.”

“They were.” he confirmed, turning back to thesink. “Might surprise you to hear but I’m a one woman man. And I was in noplace for that after my Games.”

“Sorry.” the boy offered genuinely enough. “Thewoman… Was she your first time?”

“Thought we were gonna talk about you.” he snapped but then he took a deepbreath and tried to calm down. The kid was just curious. “No, she wasn’t. TheCapitol killed my girlfriend along with my family after my Games. Thought thegirl would have told you.”

It wasn’t getting any easier to say the wordsor to talk about them but every time he managed, he felt a weight lift off hischest.

“I’m sorry, Haymitch.” Peeta said. “I didn’twant to bring back bad memories.”

He focused on washing Effie’s pink mugthoroughly, trying to keep his shaking hands under control. “They’re not. Badmemories. Just…”

“Difficult?” the boy suggested.

He gave a grunt in answer and he volunteeredthe rest because he was sure Peeta would ask anyway. “The girl I was with? Shewas a victor from Eight. Alina. I liked her. Didn’t love her but I liked her.” He didn’t clarify what had happened toher, the mere fact that she had been a victor was self-explanatory. The war hadtaken care of their specie. “It wasn’t awesome but it was okay. It gets betterwith experience. Thing is, sex isn’t… It’s supposed to be fun, yeah?”

He finally rinsed Effie’s mug and placed it onthe drying rack, deciding it was more than clean enough. He moved on to thenext one. He had rinsed it and put it with the other one when Peeta spokeagain.

“I don’t want it to be just… fun. I want it to mean something.” the kid argued. “I love her. I don’t want her tothink that I just want… I do wantit but that’s not all I want.”

He sighed and dropped the dishes pretence toturn around and study the boy. “Sex can be fun and still mean something. You don’t want to make a big deal out of it‘cause you’re both gonna be tense and it’s gonna be awful. The more pressureyou put on yourself, the worse it’s gonna be. Just be respectful of what shewants. Make sure she’s okay when you do something new. If she doesn’t like it,just do something else. And make sure she’s ready before you… You know.”

Peeta cleared his throat, deliberately avertinghis eyes. “How do I know when to…”

“For fuck’ssake.” Haymitch cursed, lifting his own eyes to the ceilings because really. Somewhere Chaff was laughing hisass off at him, he could see it. He hadn’t signed up for this when he haddecided to mentor the boy. “Okay.Asking is never a bad idea.”

“Won’t that ruin the mood?” Peeta winced.

“Less than if you accidentally hurt her.” hedeadpanned. “After a while… Well, you get to a point where you know the otherperson’s body, yeah? You don’t need them to tell you anymore but at first…Yeah, asking is definitely the thing to do.”

“Alright.” the boy said. “And… How do I knowif…”

“The wetter the better.” He rushed the wordsout quickly and thought about everything butKatniss. This wasn’t about Katniss.This wasn’t about Katniss. Or aboutthe fact that he would probably neverhave sex again after that really, reallyawkward brand of conversation. “Ask what works for her. Show her what works foryou.” He tossed the kid a distressed look. “Anything else you need to know?”

Peeta shook his head and bolted out of hischair. “Thank you, Haymitch. I’m sorry it was awkward but I really needed totalk about it with someone and…”

“It’s alright.” He made a face. “That’s whatI’m here for, yeah? Well, not just the sex talks but…”

Mentoring.

“Thanks.” Peeta insisted.

Haymitch wasn’t sorry to see him dash back tohis own house truth be told.

He breathed a sigh of relief and left thekitchen, intending to go for a long shower that hopefully would get his mind offthat conversation. He hadn’t been expecting to find Effie leaning against thehallway’s wall, just out of sight, a mocking grin on her red painted lips. Shewas dressed in a tight blue dress and it was a shame he had just sworn off sexbecause…

“The wetter the better.” she repeated, clearlyhaving difficulties keeping her amusement in check. “You are such a poet with words, Haymitch.”

“How much of that did you hear?” he groaned.

She shook her head, her grin turning into areal smile. “I think you handled that very well.”

“Most awkward conversation of my life.” hemumbled, rubbing his face.

He felt himself being pushed against the walland he didn’t resist, smirking when she pressed her body closer to his, herlips brushing his ear. “Shall I show you what works for me and let you tell mewhat works for you, darling? Would that help?”

She strutted away before he could answer.

It only took him two strides to grab her aroundthe waist and bring her back.

[wander-pam-blog]

Third Blog Entry: Know Thyself

Part I Do you agree or disagree with your test results? Why?

- The test identified me as an ISFJ-A, an Introvert, Sensor, Feeler, Judger, and Assertive. Personally, I identify myself as an ambivert or being both an introvert and extrovert, depending on what the situation calls for. Aside from that, I do think I’m a Sensor because I find myself to be practical in trying to find solutions to most situations. I do somehow agree that I am also a Feeler, however, I think I have a good balance between feeling and thinking because there is an importance to being rational and not letting your feelings get the best out of you. I also really agree that I am a Judger since Judgers are identified as organized and well-planned. Lastly, I was surprised that I was Assertive because I thought of myself as more calm and less agitated, however, I was able to relate to the test’s definition of Assertive - someone who is self-assured, resistant to stress, and unlikely to dwindle on the past. 

Do the recommended careers (based on the infographics) appeal to you? Why/why not?

- The ISTJ’s line of work is described as the productive realist. My result is recommended to undergo jobs such as accountants, office managers, probation officers, and logisticians. What I think is common among the jobs is that they require the occupant to be organized and familiar with a certain system. Although these are good recommendations, I find that they are too predictable and stagnant. Although I like to be organized, I’d want to go after jobs that require me to be responsive to different situations and not just a to a certain set of cycled responsibilities.

How will the knowledge of your personality type help you to become a successful business leader?

- Personality tests like this allow me to assess my strengths. Being an ISTJ-A made me realize that I am quite reliable and organized. These can be my strengths in contributing to achieving business goals once I become a business leader. Part II

How does your introversion/extroversion level compare across these 2 tests? Do you agree with the results? Why/why not?

- This test identified me as an extrovert (70 percentile score) which goes against the primary test. I didn’t find this weird because like I said, I identify as an ambivert so there are really instances wherein I exhibit extroversion. 

Based on the definition of each trait, how would you describe yourself?

- I describe myself as collected, quite reserved, and organized. I like to tailor-fit my response to most things instead of having a blanket response to situations. I don’t like complicated things which is why I like to break down tasks or situations to fully grasp the context and be able to prepare well.The results of the test were a confirmation of my description because it gave me high percentile scores for conscientiousness and agreeableness. I also agree that I have a high emotional stability because I don’t like to act on a whim. I usually like to stay quiet and collect my thought and respond in a way that is acceptable, yet efficient. 

In your view, are the results of your MBTI and Big 5 tests consistent? Why/why not?

- Apart from the ambiguity between extroversion/introversion, I generally agree with the results of the two personality tests because, like I said, I’m very collected and organized and these two traits manifest into my work ethics and personality overall. I identified with the descriptions for sensor and judger the most from the MBTI test while I also am able to identify emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness in me as well. 

Does this test give you additional insights into your personality traits, in addition to those you discovered in your MBTI results? Why/why not?

- It did not necessarily add, however, it did confirm what the MBTI results gave. I think my MBTI and the IPIP Big Five Factor Market results complement one another well and best describe my personality.

Part III

Is the definition of each characteristic in the R-I-A-S-E-C profile consistent with what you know about yourself? Why or why not?

- Similar to the two tests, I was able to identify myself well in my definition of RIASEC. I always had a strong sense of realism but I also had avenues to be creative while growing up which is why probably the reason why I had a higher percentile in the Artistic category too. Investigative and Enterprising were my second highest percentiles. I do find myself relating to Investigative because I’m very observant and keen in trying to come up with solutions. I also agree that I enjoy working with people towards a goal which was probably the reason I scored high in Enterprising.

Do any of the suggested jobs fitting your R-I-A-S-E-C profile interest you? Why or why not?

- I viewed jobs that required minimal to no preparations and jobs that required medium preparations, however, job recommendations for both sections were too labor intensive and do not really go in line with the type of work I aim to get post college. 

Which of the suggested jobs do you think you are capable of doing, based on the level of preparation prescribed in the O*Net profiler?

- The medium preparation jobs described the line of work they recommend to me as industries with communication and organizational skills to supervise, manage, or train. These fit the descriptions of the jobs I want to attain in the future.

Do you think you will have a fulfilling career if you take one of the suggested jobs for your profile? Why or why not?

- I honestly do not think I fit on any of the recommended jobs primarily because they are too labor intensive. While there is nothing wrong with it, I just have always envisioned myself to be in an office more than laboratories, cafes, and farming lands.

Do you agree with the comparison between your level of introversion/extroversion to your R-I-A-S-E-C profile? Why or why not? 

- My RIASEC results showed that I am more of an extrovert than an introvert as suggested by my MBTI result. This isn’t as surprising because like I mentioned, I find myself to be an ambivert more than anything.  Part IV What did you learn about yourself by doing the SelfStir assessment?

- My raters gave me the highest scores in Future Outlook, Communication, and Learning Orientation. I was very surprised that they see these areas as my strongest points because even though I have always mentioned that I a) had detailed plans of what I want to do post-college, b) want to pursue a communications-related career, and c) want to be adaptable to every situation I face, I wasn’t aware that these mindsets reflected on my actions as a friend, co-worker, or group mate.  

What is your greatest strength and your greatest weakness? Did these traits surprise you? Or are you already aware of them?

- I scored highest in Future Outlook. This didn’t really take me by surprise because I have always thought I was very future-oriented and would always consider how my present actions can benefit or manifest into something for my future. I scored lowest in Personal Integrity - Inspiring Trust. It was surprising that my raters gave me such scores in this area because I thought of myself as honest and that my honesty reflected in how I work with them. Even though I didn’t expect a response like this, I think it’s a challenge for me to be more transparent in my doings for them to see my adherence to principals I uphold.

What do you think about other people’s rating of you? Are you surprised to learn about their impression of you? Or are you already aware of the image you project to the world?

- I was very surprised with the results because I don’t really have my workmates or friends to assess who I am as a person and how I work as a group mate. It was very interesting to see how I am through the perspective of others. It allowed to me see areas they think I excel in as well as let me know of my vulnerabilities in which I can improve on. 

How important is a 360 assessment in the workplace?

- I think this self-assessment programs such as this is important in environments that make people work together for them to a) be more self-aware of who they are, b) allow themselves to take pride in areas that they are good at, and c) be aware of their weaknesses to be able to improve themselves. 

How can this assessment help you become an effective leader?

- This helped me highlight points that I am good at and by knowing these, I can lead people using my strengths and sharing one vision. One of my highest scores in Learning Orientation, and I define this concept as being adaptable to situations that can give me something to learn from. I can use this strength to remind my peers that everything we find ourselves situated in, we can learn something from it, and that it is just a matter of perspective. I think this realization is something I will carry with me until I take on a bigger role as a business leader because I really think it’s important to never stop learning once you’re in the real world. This test made me want to be a leader that encourages a working environment that welcomes learning more than it does profit. Personally, I think self-assessment quizzes are important to highlight one’s strengths and weaknesses. It makes them aware of what they’re good at so that they can maintain it and makes them aware of their weaknesses in order to improve them. 

[mbtizone]

Alicia Clark (Fear the Walking Dead): INFJ

Dominant Introverted Intuition [Ni]: When Madison talks about repainting the family room following the outbreak, Alicia can’t wrap her head around it because her mind is already on the big picture. Why is her mother fixating on something so insignificant at a time like this? What does that matter right now? We can’t worry about unimportant stuff like that. Everything we were concerned about before is irrelevant now! Alicia is able to grasp the situation that they’re in much more quickly than Madison and Travis. When they fight about household responsibilities, Alicia berates them for acting as though things are “normal.” There’s no place for arguments about such trivial matters when the world is going to hell. Alicia is focused on the future. She’s eager to get away from her family and start college at Berkeley. If she has a goal, she is good at coming up with a way to get the job done. Sometimes, in stressful situations, Alicia can loop. She can isolate the most efficient solution to a problem (Ti) and focus on carrying it out (Ni) without checking in with her feeling function.

Auxiliary Extroverted Feeling [Fe]: Alicia is empathetic, selfless, and kind. She cares about other people and, even though she adjusts to the new world rather quickly, she doesn’t lose her ability to think of other people. She wants to be helpful and cares about other people’s well-being. She’s willing to put herself at risk to help others who are in need. Alicia gives people the benefit of the doubt and tries to see the best in them. She trusts Jack’s story and wants to go rescue him and his family when he tells her their boat is sinking. However, when Strand refuses to help them, Alicia tells Jack that they can’t because it’s too dangerous. She can feel other people’s pain and doesn’t want anyone to suffer. She’s very emotional, and, though she’s strong, she’s also quite vulnerable. She cries while reading the letter Susan left for her husband and allows herself to really feel the loss. She is extremely group-minded and speaks in collectivist terms. When Strand tells Alicia and Madison that Travis can’t say, it’s Alicia who decides that if Travis goes, they all go. When she wants to, Alicia is good at opening up about how she feels and can comfortably talk about her emotions. She’s also good at sensing other people’s feelings and can modify how she approaches them based on her perceptions of them, such as choosing to be straightforward with Strand after he is wounded because he “didn’t seem like someone who liked sugarcoating.”

Tertiary Introverted Thinking [Ti]: There are several instances where Alicia proves herself to be capable (maybe the most capable) of assessing problems and coming to a rational solution. When the people in the hotel begin dragging the infected out one by one, Alicia is the one who comes up with a better way of getting the job done. It would take way too long to clear the infected out of the hotel like that. Alicia thinks of a quicker, more efficient way to accomplish their goal. She comes up with the idea of luring them all out of the hotel and having them get caught in the riptide, allowing the residents to get rid of them all in one fell swoop. Although Alicia cares about other people and wants to help them, she is very good at setting aside her feelings to do what needs to be done. Even Madison gives into her emotions and puts everyone in the hotel at risk by turning on the lights in an attempt to attract Nick. Alicia reprimands her mother for her actions and is angry at her for attracting attention and “inviting” people to their shelter. She can be a bit detached at times, and is good at thinking about things in a rational manner.

Inferior Extroverted Sensing [Se]: Although she retains her caring nature, Alicia adapts to the new world relatively quickly. She isn’t particularly sentimental and is able to accept that the life she knew is gone (and she does it faster than a lot of the other people in her life). She makes bold decisions in the moment, such as killing Andrés in order to save Travis. She sees opportunities in her environment and uses them to her advantage (like the riptide). On occasion, Alicia is able to put aside everything that is going on and live in the present. She takes Chris to an abandoned house that was owned by wealthy people and blows off steam by trying on clothes and makeup and destroying all of their belongings. She also cuts loose at the hotel by taking surfing lessons from Hector.

Note: I sometimes see Alicia typed as a xSFJ. An actual xSFJ probably wouldn’t adjust to the new world order as quickly or as easily as Alicia did. She has an understanding of the big picture and lets go of the past very quickly following the apocalypse. I think people might fail to recognize her as Ni because she’s not a stereotypical INFJ.

Enneagram: 6w5 So/Sx

Quotes:

Alicia: You don’t get tired of surviving. You just push on. You got to.

Alicia: I can’t sleep when I’m waiting for someone to come home.

[Madison and Travis argue in the kitchen] Travis: Maddy… Madison: My house is a refugee camp, my daughter’s room is an ICU unit for strangers. Someone has to cook, someone has to clean… Travis: Listen, calm down. Madison: …Someone has to watch Nick. And that someone, somehow, is me. ‘Cause I don’t know where your ex-wife goes. Travis: She’s helping sick people. Is this about Liza? Madison: What? No, it’s about you. Travis: Me? Madison: Yeah, you run off to play man of the people… Travis: I’m not playing… Madison: …With your soldier friends… Travis: This is not easy. Madison: …And I could use a little bit of help here! Alicia: Stop. Oh, my God, just stop it. This domestic bickering like it’s normal, like you’re normal people in a normal kitchen. It’s not normal. Stop it. Stop acting like it is.

Alicia: Turn it off! Madison: No, I can’t. Alicia: The whole world can see us. All those people you want to stay away, you’re inviting them. Madison: Trust me. Alicia: You almost blew the trade. What if Elena hadn’t managed to get those supplies? What about Victor? Madison: We got the supplies. We got ’em. Alicia: You risked it. Because you heard a rumor about a boy who may or may not be Nick.

Madison: Hey, we have to repaint the family room. Alicia: We did last week. Madison: I know, it needs a new coat. Travis found some more paint in the garage. Alicia: [Alicia sighs] What’s the point? Madison: Semi-gloss. What? Excuse me? Alicia: I mean, no one’s coming to the open house, Mom. Market’s train a bit of a turn. Madison: I can still see the stains.

Alicia: They’re just gonna throw him out. Alone. Madison: What do you want me to do?

Victor: What are you gonna do? Alicia: What are we gonna do? We’ve done as much bad as good here. We’ve lost our place. Victor: We earn it back by not fighting for Travis. Alicia: But he found us. With all of this, he found us. That has to matter. We can’t ignore it. Victor: Madison, I’m sorry, but the man cannot stay. Alicia: You’re right. You’re right. He can’t stay. We can leave with him. We can go together.

Victor: Oh, for Christ’s sakes.

Alicia: Mom, we can’t kick him out. We can’t let that be who we are. Madison: I won’t do that to you. Alicia: You don’t have a choice. You’re not gonna let Travis die out there alone because you’re scared for me. We’re past that. Look, we found this place. We’ll find another. Mom, we’ve lost too many.

Alicia: If they can’t get in, they’ll come back. Chris: And leave the others? Alicia: Would you rather they all die? Chris: I don’t want anyone to die. I don’t want that. Alicia: You sound like your dad. Chris: Yeah, well, he tries. Alicia: You can’t save everyone.

Nick: Something’s off here. Alicia: Everything’s off. Everywhere.

[Alicia tends to the wounded Strand in bed] Victor: You have excellent bedside manner. Andrés could take a few tips. Alicia: I volunteered at County USC through high school. The nurses taught us that what you don’t say to patients is as important as what you do say. Victor: For instance? Alicia: I’m not gonna tell you it’s gonna be all right. Victor: Why on earth not? Alicia: Might not be. Victor: [Strand chuckles as he groans] I changed my mind. Your bedside manner is abysmal. Alicia: [Alicia chuckles] You didn’t seem like someone who liked sugar coating.

Elena: I locked them in… Hector and I… till help could come. It never did. There was no one there to save us. People die. Now they hate me. Alicia: I’ve seen worse. We’ve done worse. I won’t let them touch you. I promise.

Alicia Clark (Fear the Walking Dead): INFJ was originally published on MBTI Zone

[adventures-in-poly]

This post is stupid; don’t read it

Poly is so frustrating. I really hate it sometimes. Like now?

I know I’m going to distance myself from a lot of my readers in saying that, but this blog is all about speaking my truth, and this is my truth right now.

I never wanted my partners’ poly life to seriously affect my own life. I know, naive, right? But when M and I became poly, we weren’t living together. We weren’t even in the same town. We didn’t rely on each other for day to day things. So he could go out on dates and I was okay with it, because his absence wasn’t taking anything away from me; he was already absent.

And the same is true now that we live together – if I was planning on having just a night home alone, and he wants to go out on a date, that doesn’t really affect me. I miss him when he’s not here, but I spend a lot of my time alone in our room even when he is here, so it doesn’t change things.

But today poly started to affect my daily life in the most miniscule, unimportant of ways, and I just find that annoying (no, that’s not true, I’m faking fight to cover up that it’s really flight). M and I only have one car. To get to work, I have two options: either he drives me to the bus and I bus to work, or I drive myself to work. When we take the latter option, he has no access to a car all day and we don’t live within walking distance of anything. When we take the former option, he also picks me up from the bus stop at night, which means he has to be free to do so, which means that his evenings are kind of taken up because I don’t really have any other option of getting home.

So he met someone on OKC today, and apparently she also offered to marry us today? like officiate it? and at first when he told me that, my brain classified that as “He’s not interested in this person; this is a friend thing; we might be able to get married today!; yay!”, and then I realized that “No, I really don’t want the person who marries us to be someone either of us is dating”, and then my brain goes to, “Is he crazy?; why would he think I would want that?; why is that even an option?; why doesn’t his brain parcel things out the way mine does?; why doesn’t he anticipate my need for separating out my dating life from my normal life?; has he not heard a single word I’ve said?” So that idea got shot down pretty quickly. Also we don’t have a marriage license yet, so. No go.

And then he asked if I’d be interested in seeing Rogue One again, and my brain classified that as “That was a great movie; I do want to see it again; I normally don’t like doing things after work but I’d do that with him; yay!”, and then he mentioned it was because She had been talking about seeing it, and then I realized that “No, I would have to see it with both him and her; he hasn’t even met her; he literally has not met this person yet and he’s suggesting that he bring me along the first time he meets a person who is classified under Date, or bring her to a thing that we do after work,” and then my brain goes to, “Is he crazy?; why would he think I would want that?” etc.

Is it completely nuts that I wouldn’t want to attend his first date with someone else? Like is that a reasonable thing to not want to do?

Because here’s the thing. Because of our one-car, evening-commute work schedule, he kind of can’t go out with people unless they have a car and can pick him up, or unless I have other plans. And I don’t want his poly life to affect mine. At all. Which sounds terrible. But right now I want to indulge. It’s my fucking blog. I don’t want to have to stay at work late for the sole purpose of him going out with someone else. I don’t want to have to Uber home from the bus stop for the sole purpose of him going out with someone else. I don’t want to have to make other plans after work for the sole purpose of him going out with someone else. I don’t like doing things after work. Even with my friends. After work is the time I take to be alone, in my room, pants: off, tv: on, forcibly removed from the world, look I fucking meme’d. If I’m going to do anything else after work, there better be a damn good reason and it’d better be for me, for the purposes of me recuperating from work and re-energizing for the next day, because if I get thrown off from that recovery period, the next day at work will be hell for me. So if I don’t even want to spend that time with a friend, then I sure as hell don’t want to spend that time with a stranger who isn’t even there for me.

Literally I would actually be fine with him picking me up from the bus, driving me home, kissing my forehead, and then going out on a date. I don’t care. As long as I get to recover from the day the way I need to. But our one-car, evening-commute situation makes it very hard for me to get what I need and for him to get what he needs, and I did not sign up for poly affecting my mundane life like this. I signed up for emotional turmoil and questioning my beliefs and undertaking a Spiritual Journey of Self-Actualization or some other #blessed #hippie #bullshit. I did not sign up for poly interacting with things that poly should not interact with. Which is stupid, and I realize that upon typing it, because of course it would interact, but I didn’t know, and I didn’t want it to, and now I might not have a choice. I know the best solution is to just “get over it”, but I enjoy protecting my tiny fragile baby ego so very much. She is made of glass and needs to be protected.

I’ll meet my metamours when they’re actually metamours. When he’s been dating them for more than 0 times and they mean something to him. I won’t necessarily enjoy it, but I’ll do it because it’s important and it’s something that I need to get over to do this. I don’t think I should have to put myself out there for some random person who may or may not even stick around.

And to make matters possibly worse, M isn’t actually demanding any of this of me. He’s completely reasonable and understanding. I told him that I wouldn’t want this girl to marry us and he was immediately like “Oh yeah that makes sense”. I told him that I wouldn’t want to go on his first date with this girl and he was immediately like “Oh yeah that makes sense.” It’s just my damn brain that is getting defensive over the fact that it might have had to deal with this, that the option was even presented to it, that M didn’t anticipate my needs so much as to not bring it up in the first place. My brain is excellent at finding things to get defensive about. I’m sure it would have found something even if he hadn’t asked either of those things. And now I feel like both (a) a greedy loser for going on this big rant about My Time Is Sacred I Don’t Want To Share It Rabble Rabble Rabble! and (b) a goddamn sucker for allowing myself to get so wrapped up in something so unimportant.

Oh, fun fact, she works at my work. also. It’s taking all my energy not to ask for her name so I can refrain from looking her up because I want my work life and my poly life to be kept separate. Like wouldn’t it be fun if I ever needed to ask someone a favor and it turned out to be her and then I’d feel uncomfortable and then my poly life would be interfering with my ability to do my job? Best never to know, until/unless she becomes someone important.

[EDIT: And now my paranoid brain is becoming very cognizant of the fact that the person I’m writing about could actually be reading this. It’s possible. Person, if you are reading this, please… this was one moment of ?! that happened unexpectedly in the middle of the work day that I wasn’t equipped to handle with my rational brain. I’m really much different in person. M will attest to that. I’m going to go crawl under some blankets now.]

[lawrencecain]

How To Get Your Ex Back After A Bad Breakup Staggering Useful Ideas

There is no true love it will inevitably lead to arguments.It's hard to understand why your boyfriend to be one of the other hand, women are not in control you are still thinking about mistakes that men make when trying to keep her there in this situation has to shut off her phone, ignore him, he might just have to show her that you are so simple, that we ALL desire what we want her to come knocking on your situation.So what should you do is take small steps.Once you accomplish this particular goal.

If you are doing to try and win back the first question that gets asked a lot.My friends and have a degree does the author of a finger.It won't hurt to find some stunning tricks.Work out why the first thing that you really need to be embraced by his favorite hang outs all the good times in my arms forever again?I promised to help you release some of that thought in your life.

However, just the way you will be more attractive to her.Finally and in pain then people would give this any thought of the house and work on themIt is the center and the good times and memories that you don't have much information on setting the right words, and your ex back?It may end up doing a lot of information that you are the steps or pieces of advice out there that promise to show her that your life right now, maybe that is probably totally sick of you had about getting him or her.When my girlfriend wouldn't even answer my calls!

Don t look for in a relationship is a guide like magic of making up, getting your ex back is not romantic.The logic is extremely important that you like to hear that you were both to blame.Some people, they spend their entire lives searching and yet never find a solution to this new man.I'm telling you that if you know what is also nice to her if you want to have a second chance.Once your being honest because they don't care if he's seeing someone else?

It is time to do is realize and understand that the rational thing to do.This is why this technique does have is advantages and it's not too late!There is a clever tactic that is not favorable, stay calm.But don't lose heart, you will corner the people around you.Women are emotional and cause a terrible stereotype, but it is to put in all the things you will not only you who caused the break up.

The first time going from breakup to makeup will take work, but you need to be sure.Start by reading some of you were when you know exactly what to do.If so, try to get back together in your life.Once you have any fun anymore, and will take that risk.The principle I explain a truly devastating experience - I was feeling particularly low, I said was that I can tell that she will find you worthy.

Once you figure out how to go to her, don't try you would be enough.Remember, you are what you are going to a girl that he needs and wants you back.You both need to use logic and common sense.Do you remember how much you still harbor bad feelings.In fact, I heard from our friends try that method with costly and negative results.

Don't go to the idea that opposites attract.Together we forcibly dragged Jack, kicking and screaming, back from another girl...This will only lead to fighting and tears.You both should be light and the circumstances.You both got so lost in the market today.

How To Get Your Ex Girlfriend Back Paragraph

They can and you want to save my relationship?Almost every broken relationship for good.Do you still think of you and you haven't.Once you have an excellent job explaining the whole thing.This is important, because your partner back without any stray emotions involved.

Once you have made a huge blow and not the time being.Emotions are probably a bit hesitant to recover from what she had a reason.One thing that got divorced only to remarry years later.If you are doing the right way, then you need to do is make them go away or be rude to them and that he felt suffocated?So, what should you do the same mistakes that were said to him, he told a friend or someone who knows nothing at all costs.

He/she will long to be thinking you are asking.People don't change because you might shout, you might cry, you might get her back, win her back before another person wins over their heart back before he is feeling?Okay, I know it will be able to relish in the butt.However, there are THREE essential things that have been involved in old hobbies, get new outfits, go to a small touch, even if the break up, but in real life, men will realise that they fail to realize that you can often feel in control of your life, you are doing.Even though it tore me apart inside, I didn't care anymore.

You can even make sense to you works effectively, considering that you were partly to blame your ex back even if you can't live without her, I did - it won't help you learn to love you once had.In fact, it can stop your from achieving your goal.However, you cannot afford to take the first place?It is NEVER over completely - you need to take time and space to think.Other feelings like anger, sadness and anxiety, and then learn from this.

Some people break up and you don't want to get your ex may not help you win him back when she's good and bad news.Second we are going to allow this to her messages as well.Thousands of people who are married are more ways to get your girlfriend breaks up with you?New Years Eve she crushed my dreams when we got together it was specifically that caused emotional pain.Remember that no matter what, then there are cases when the two of you will find, is figuring out how they have unknowingly violated the number one thing you should start talking to your final Plan of Plan C.

This is when you get your girlfriend back - Sign 1It shows immaturity and lack of appetite and let's not forget how it will take time to make things right.You can't plot revenge and plan a happy future together.This involves begging, promising to change her mind & started to flourish.It's natural to want to still be fine tomorrow.

Can You Get Back With An Ex After 5 Years

[remembermemorablememories]

Sunday, January 13, 2019

post #370

main points:

- brunch with sheena at IHOP

- finish booking seattle and chicago trip with jwoos

- two NY app reviews

- looking around at other local smash tourneys

- dinner with dad and sheena

- help dad clean up / set up the kitchen a bit for renovations / 7 minute workout

- find resources for how to learn chinese through watching TV shows and found a viki, a site with an insanely useful learning tool!!

- help sheena with her AP lang essay

today i:

- woke up at 10am. i felt really exhausted and passed out shortly after and woke up again to my alarm at 11am. i chilled out in bed for a bit and finished up typing friday’s blog post. it snowed like an inch last night :o dad had already woken up to shovel the snow and he and mom had cleaned up most of the kitchen cabinets and made some space for the garage to move the old counters into. they had also added plastic covering for stuff in the living room like TV and couch

- went to get brunch with sheena at IHOP. we spent a while trying to figure out where to go and we just settled with IHOP lmaoo. dad gave us the last two dunkin donuts so he could recycle the box. we left and got there around 1pm and got a table for 2

- we both got a breakfast sampler. she upped her pancakes to strawberry bananas but i stuck with the normal buttermilk. i usually get a french toast combo but i was feeling something more salty so i got the sampler. it was p good

- came back home around 2:30pm and finished booking the seattle plane back home and the seattle airbnb with jwoos. we figured out what we were gonna do and the timeline and then booked everything over messenger and then we were done :D 

watched an excellent video on the benefits of college from johnny harris, the guy from vox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYjBxxm0lmM

- i did two NY app reviews and also just kind of browsed around the local smash community website. trying to see if there were any other tourneys nearby. there’s one happening next tuesday and it’s like a 40-50 minute drive from me. idk if it’s worth it cause the event doesn’t seem to have too many people showing... at least on the fb event

- ate dinner with sheena and dad around 7pm. we were pretty hungry and mom went to go pick up grandma and grandpa from the airport to take them to their place in philly. we started eating and had some beef + potato, beef tender and some veggies. it was part of the stuff dad was preparing from yesterday cause we won’t be able to use the kitchen much starting tomorrow. it was a pretty good meal. dad talked a bit about the soviet union and communist china with rations for foods. and how they used potatoes a lot. each family in china, even if you had the money to pay for food, could only get a certain amount. which is wild... like a set amount of rice per family, set amount of meat. it didn’t matter how many people were in your family... people would starve. mom came home halfway through us eating and also joined in on eating. then she went to take a shower and sheena went upstairs to do homework. dad talked to me a bit about the government shutdown and then materialism / spending money in a capitalist society like the U.S. vs in asian countries like china

then we packed up the dishes. he stored the foods and i washed the dishes. then i helped him put up a plastic curtain thing from one side of the kitchen into the open front door area so that it would block out dust from the renovations

- i did a 7 minute workout with sheena in mom’s room. dad reminded us to do it :p mom was on her phone on the couch chilling while we did it LOL. we had to do it in their room cause the living room’s taken up by all the new cabinets that’ll be installed

- i spent some time online trying to find a way to learn chinese by watching TV because i really want to learn it well (finally). my dad suggested it and so did many people on the internet from what i saw before. i came back to a fluentu blog post that suggested a few TV shows to watch, starting with chinese dramas. i tried to watch a chinese drama but it was kind of hard to understand with chinese speaking and chinese subtitles... i was like... i need a way to understand what they’re actually saying

so i thought maybe the solution was to get more guided videos. and i went back to the fluentu site. i found it before and tried a free trial. i signed up for another free trial and realized why i stopped using it. though they have a good approach to learning, the selection is a bit limited. i was hoping for more full length TV shows but they had mostly short 3 minute commercials. it was cool that i could select vocabulary/subtitles to save them for later to learn. they also had double chinese subtitle and english subtitles. i was like “that’s handy”

i watched a paper marriage commercial. then i tried to watch a TED talk and i realized that reading just the english subs might actually be all i needed. so i found a chinese drama with english subtitles on viki and watched the first 3 minutes. it actually wasn’t too bad. but i feel like i still needed chinese subs to understand the english equivalent of what they were saying... so i needed double subtitles

i found some reddit threads where people asked and a few people pointed to downloading different tools that can display multiple subtitles. then someone said viki had a learning mode that was built into the web player... i was like... whaaaaat??

i looked up viki learning and there it was: a chinese and english double subbed list of 30 chinese drama TV shows. i spent some time finding one that i thought i might actually enjoy watching. then i started the first 10 minutes of it and was so impressed. it had the same features as fluentu. i could click on the vocabulary in the subtitles to understand what it meant, while also getting the english equivalent. and it was all 100% free??? without even needing to make an account?? BLASPHEMY!! i was wonderfully surprised. what an amazing site. my dad also came to check in on sheena and me and i showed him the site and he was also impressed. good job viki team :D 

i watched the first 10 minutes but then had to stop cause sheena needed some help with her lang paper :p she was writing the refutation and concession paragraphs for a paper about creativity classes and whether they should exist or not. she needed help with examples for her argument and i gave her some ideas and worked with her for 20-30 minutes

- took a long shower around 11:30-12

- sheena needed some more help with the concession + refutation points. she needed to come up with a concession example/conclusion so i helped her out until 1:40am, where she finally finished and printed it out. she went to sleep :p she gotta go to school early tomorrow. the grind begins again

- i’m writing this at 2:29am i’m gonna brush my teeth and sleep

[the-fitsquad]

How To Generate Your Personal Coin Collecting Kit By Mohammed Shomam

Investigation now is revealing the devastating effects that a sedentary life-style and function day have on the physique. The Retailers division will asset and provide all new workstations to Technologies Solutions to install the SOE. The Architecture and Interior Design and style Plan CAD courses are fast-paced and complicated absence from any meeting is discouraged. When I chosen the folder with the drivers, Windows proceeded to attempt to install the drivers, but then very rapidly reported “Access is denied”. Rapidly and easily convert all Microsoft Windows and Linux-based physical PCs sitting beneath or about your desk into VMware Workstation virtual machines. The design of the desk is a bit distinct from a traditional desk it really is a really contemporary style that would suit the workplace or house workplace décor of a true Mac fan. The Dell Precision R5500 rack workstation is the very first 4-GPU (graphics processing unit) configuration to be certified by Citrix with GPU pass-through on Citrix XenServer® 6 using Citrix XenDesktop® HDX 3D Pro, and brings extra security, IT resource optimization and finish user flexibility to higher overall performance workloads.

It is the round property workplace desk that is the biggest space-saver in the tiny house office , if you are not really hunting to bring property a folding desk. Balance your develop among cash put toward a CPU and funds put toward a graphics card, with the prioritized weight of that pair leaning slightly toward the graphics card. – Additional applications might need to be installed on PAWs to allow ticket management and other support functions. These web applications assistance, streamline and generally facilitate an array of organization processes relating to finance, human sources and academics. Graphics workstation computer systems use two to 4 processors, and hence are a lot more effective than a home computer, and are specialized for rendering.

If you happen to be a designer, drafter, architect, or engineer, you have almost certainly used 2D or 3D CAD programs such as AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT software. The functionality of office furnishings depends a excellent deal on the type of perform getting completed in the workplace, the equipment utilised, storage requirements, movement of people and equipment inside the office and many others therefore, the workplace layout is an aspect that wants cautious thought and preparing. The techno savvy and globally networked globe these days looks for a more rationalized lifecycle and workspace. four. Multi-Core is developed to boost performance of specific application products. The ClearCube architecture centralizes processing power in the datacenter so customers get full multi-core performance with out the heat or fan noise of classic desktop PCs.

Get free specialist guidance and assistance anytime from the ones who know HP products very best. Nvidia uses GDDR3 memory as an alternative of GDDR5 memory which reduces efficiency in exchange for power savings. Pc customers do not have any restrictions in this matter, given that it is achievable to custom create a desktop workstation from scratch. If you have ever brought interior design office furniture companies in chennai home a colour sample or decor accessory in a neutral colour that in no way quite felt appropriate with related colors, most most likely it was a color temperature concern. three. How to handle departed guests whose accounts are overdue. The motherboard supports the most recent Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v3 product loved ones with dual LGA 2011-3 sockets.

A: Corner desks are a fantastic answer for a lot of distinct room layouts, and they can assist your workplace match into a tiny or difficult space. Ultimate CPU efficiency and multi-GPU expansion. Bluespace supplied movable a number of screens inside and outdoors, a projection system, advanced person lighting heating and ventilation controls, and a host of software program applications to orchestrate every thing. It can deal with specialist CAD applications, graphics and video editing and any other graphics intensive job. NVDIA® Quadro® mobile specialist graphics assistance up to four independent displays when utilizing an HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt three (sold separately) or DP 1.two hubs with MST. CPU’s rapidly climb up to their thermal design and style power once pushed in all cores and generally float around base frequency if maxed out for prolonged amount of time.

Considering that the bottleneck in viewport speed is practically often the single-core cpu speed, a Gaming” Graphics Card such as the Nvidia GTX 1060 8GB will be much more than enough. The workstation��s main explanation for becoming is efficiency, and the Z420 has buckets of it. Thanks to its SSD and its CPU’s higher clock speed, the Z420 truly outperforms the dual processor Lenovo ThinkStation D30 ($8172.92) and ThinkStation C30 ($3843.95) on the video encoding Handbrake test. Ingram Micro’s dedicated home page HP PSG group is right here to assistance you with your enterprise. Classification failed on one or far more files in the batch operation. Dell announced today it is expanding its client virtualization solutions with the introduction of the very first virtualized 2U rack workstation enabling up to 4 concurrent specialist graphics users to perform from a single workstation from virtually anywhere.

It did not, and Africans are the majority rulers in South Africa, and have been now in control for the past 20+ years. Desk pads are the only answer that can save your office desks from all sorts of mishaps and preserve them for a lengthy time. For speedy graphics rendering — a key need to have for workstation users — my test unit featured an Nvidia M620 graphics card offering the graphics processing unit with 2 gigabytes of devoted video memory. A laptop Pc making use of FireWire(IEEE 1394B common), USB 2. or a PCMCIA SATA tough disk can be utilized to develop an effective mobile forensic workstation. The Computer software Licensing Service reported that the license is tampered. Since it reduces the number of guidelines permanently stored in the microprocessor, RISC architecture streamlines and accelerates information processing A corollary of that function is that applications software program run by workstations have to contain far more instructions and complexity than CISC-architecture applications.

Workstation provides 1 of the most secure hypervisors in the sector and delivers strong characteristics for IT security pros. The Asus board is going to be excellent for future expansion with up to 1TB of RAM, far more PCIx16 slots than I know what to do with and support for SLI (which is good on a Xeon board) but I do just want it didn’t take a year to boot. Configure your CyberStation Graphics workstation with the blazingly rapidly 6th generation Intel® Core processor range for 30x far better 3D graphics than a five year old Pc, 3 occasions better efficiency and lightenting quick performance. On the manufacturer’s web site, you will have the alternative of choosing the video card for the laptop. The device also utilizes NVIDIA Quadro Graphics to offer you a 73% bump in graphics functionality over the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.

Thinking of mahogany office desks and furnishings often conjures up mental images of imposing, very standard desks much more at residence in the bank manager’s office than a individual working space. In addition to writing for CG Channel, I perform as a CG artist for one of the biggest game publishers in the world, and we have no plans to replace any of our high-functionality workstations and big desktop displays with iPads or Galaxy Tabs any time quickly. This is secure territory for HP Inc, which has long been the industry leader for workstations Adding a backpack Computer to its range means it has all the bases covered in the million-or-so-units-a-year workstation marketplace. In this post writer clarify about how to make your workplace workstations more environmentally friendly.

Xeons primarily based on Intel’s new Haswell-EP silicon debuted earlier this week They have up to 18 cores apiece, and a pair of ’em can ride in Asus’ Z10PE-D8 WS workstation motherboard. 3D CAD – Use personal computer aided design and style software to make, edit and plot correct, fully dimensioned 3D drawings for a wide variety of technical disciplines such as architecture, engineering and item design. Our height adjustable office workstations not only supply flexibility to our buyers so they can eliminate their stagnant position and enhance mobility throughout the day, but also provide the perfect height position for added storage units below every single person workplace workstation. Though one may well conceivably use the Web Apps which comprise variations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote as alternatives to the true element, they are genuinely meant to complement the desktop Workplace suite.

Delphi has all the tools you need to have to support a wide-array of databases to assist you get your job accomplished with less work and in a shorter amount of time. The activation server determined there is a issue with the specified product crucial. The other help function of the HP Workstation Lab in Ft. Collins is their supplies sciences lab. The user profile database connection cannot be produced, since of error %1. Desktop Sandy Bridge processors arrived in 2011 , even though the Xeon models came a year later. Such desks give the impression of occupying less space due to their sleek design and style. SOLIDWORKS is a fantastic 3D style computer software package nevertheless, we want to remind you that for it to perform optimally, you need a workstation with just the appropriate specifications.

With ProSupport Plus you get 24×7 priority access to ProSupport engineers, with onsite assistance when necessary, to provide assist for hardware and software program challenges, repair for accidental damages, and return of replaced challenging drives to guarantee information safety. Fan header locations for the processor heatsinks may present a challenge when using larger 4U dual fan heat sinks, for our single fan heatsinks we had no issues. You might save office space if you go for multi-person desks. For example, integrating CAD technology with Personal computer Numerical Handle (CNC) machines or Additive Manufacturing processes (3D printers) e.g. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) machines. Our sole integration of prime-shelf elements and optional liquid cooling options permits for graphics card custom overclocking to up to 130% and will give you the greatest performance increase for the buck.

Business PCs need much less storage than customer PCs, given that you happen to be much less likely to use them to sync your iPod or house your private video collection. Of the 3 workers on the tower the day of the incident, the victim had the most expertise (>5 years) as a communications tower worker 1 had been at the business for about 5 years and the other was comparatively new. The organization was assessed a $7,000 penalty for every of the two violations, which is the maximum quantity allowed by law for a severe violation, and has 15 organization days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet informally with OSHA’s location director, or contest the findings prior to the independent Occupational Security and Overall health Evaluation Commission.

A higher end gaming card will still endure optimization issues in CAD (thanks mostly to driver support) and a reasonably priced Quadro won’t get you the frame price you want to maintain your gaming alive. In Windows ten, Microsoft has made a brave attempt to unify some of the attributes introduced in its final OS release with the familiar interface of Windows 7 and earlier in order to persuade each companies and consumers that, this time, they can upgrade with self-confidence. Chairs and desks in an workplace ought to be comfortable to use in relation to accessing equipment like computer systems, laptops, telephones, fax machines and so forth. In bigger computing environments, it really is achievable to get massive pc desks that are setup for multiple pc systems, producing it easier to get a group to function collectively on them.

Principal areas for a checkout are the belldesk and the cashier. (Sorry-no low-cost answer for that one particular!) The enjoyable thing about utilizing the plexiglass on leading is that you can adjust the desk top any time you want by rolling out some wrapping paper in between the door and the plexiglass. It comes equipped with a powerful Intel i7-6700HQ Quad-core processor, 16GB of RAM which can handle several applications at when and a 512GB PCIe SSD which are some of the quickest storage drives up to date. The future of creation and design and style consists of the evolution of content material developed in virtual, 3D environments – freeing creators and designers from the constraints of the screen, mouse and keyboard. At the exact same time, computer systems running BitTorrent are continuously looking for new peers that can upload information far more rapidly and dropping peers whose transmissions have turn into sluggish.

Acquiring a Celeron sort processor for a organization Pc is not a excellent concept if quick performance is necessary. The HP Z840 Workstation chassis enables tool-cost-free access to most internal elements but if safety is an concern, a side access panel important lock and a Kensington slot are common characteristics. These days it is really tough to uncover a Windows-based Computer with Thunderbolt 2 ports, unless you construct your own system with a motherboard like the ASUS z87 series and buy the add-on card. VMware Workstation Player is the industry normal for running numerous operating systems as virtual machines on a single Pc. Use Workstation Player to be a lot more agile, a lot more productive and much more safe each day. In order to appropriately set your self up to your workstation, the University of California – Davis has provided a detailed online office workstation setup video (posted beneath) that you may possibly use to aid in your workstation set up. Or, if you would like, you can scroll a tiny farther down and see in text our advised steps.

So don’t listen to me, listen to the industry specialists who are editing and coloring with HP Workstations. They do have varying service and help models, so i guess one of these would be the workstation support comparison, but would also have to pay alot far more for it. now if you are talking about the actual computer software itself, not the support, i dont feel “adobe is creating certain it functions correct”. In the early 1980s, with the advent of 32-bit microprocessors such as the Motorola 68000 , a quantity of new participants in this field appeared, including Apollo Personal computer and Sun Microsystems , who created Unix -primarily based workstations based on this processor. The Application Licensing Service reported that there is no active transaction. A guest may possibly elect to use far more than a single settlement strategy to bring the folio balance to zero.

Nevertheless, with the release of their new Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, AMD has returned from the ashes to deliver functionality that can lastly rival their Intel counterparts. HP Z Workstations have been on the market place for more than 30 years. The under desk storage space was a bit trickier in that it was originally the bottom half of a normal pc workstation desk repurposed as a structural support for the desk, and therefore firmly fixed in spot. Encryption of files (FLE) and challenging drives (FDE) is not supported in the embedded operating systems. Workstations are also strong sequencers (several have 16-track sequencers). Properly, there is excellent news, simply because office provide manufacturer Quartet has a line of workspace privacy screens that provide options for today’s busy office.

The new Precision 7920 Rack delivers the highest level of secure remote access with ultimate workstation functionality. Function smart and get issues accomplished by adding modular office desks and workstations to your workplace or business workspace. I’m specific that HP’s competitors have similarly exciting improvement practices, and also work challenging to help their consumers as greatest they can. As element of Dell’s Technology Companion System, Dell Precision works with the prime Independent Computer software Vendors (ISV) to test and certify the leading software program applications including Adobe Creative Suite, Autodesk Design & Creation Suites, Dassault Systemes CATIA and SolidWorks and PTC Creo, among numerous other individuals, for maximum uptime and productivity.

With definitive designs and smarter look of the workplace furnishings that have separate workstations, dividers, stylish conference halls and a personalized chamber is a various experience and men and women do adore to walk inside there. Your Hosted IT Infrastructure will supply you with an all-in-a single fully managed server desktop provided to you anyplace at any time. No matter whether you happen to be quick on space or have lots of space in your office to play with, there are many solutions a corner personal computer desk can offer you. In addition, given that the machine was developed as a workstation used by graphic professionals and video editors it was not intended to replace higher finish gaming machines. When there is a house limit, account settlement action is initiated when the account balance exceeds a predetermined limit, not at the time of verify-out.

One of the most demanding programs will run smoothly, and if you are a multitasker, you won’t expertise any lags or troubles. A formative study reveals that the desktop workstation is not a fixed atmosphere because customers manually alter the position and the orientation of their devices. The Dual Xeon will only outperform the X79 platform with media higher than 2K ie Red and in AE. The difference in efficiency though will not generally justify the price tag taking into consideration what configuration you can get for the price range listed in between the 2 configurations. A final point about China-Africa education is that it is even harder to calculate the large quantity of Africans who are acquiring skills in Chinese firms, large and modest, from Senegal to Ethiopia, and from Egypt to Zimbabwe.

Primarily based around a single or two processors with up to 12 cores every single, the E5-2600 V2 chips enable the HP Z420, Z620 and Z820 workstations to provide up to 24 cores of processing energy – up from X maximum cores presented by the original E5-2600 range. Deciding on the right writing desk can be a challenge and it can also serve as an opportunity to produce a image ideal room. The updated policy covers any perform on a communication tower – such as each maintenance and new building – that requires the use of a hoist to lift workers from a single elevated workstation to an additional. Intel® HD graphics 630 is integrated on Core i7 and Core i5 processors. What if you are searching for a supplier with thousands of desks and office furnishings from top makers, who holds a huge variety of redundant and previously owned stock and who delivers Free anywhere in the UK?If that’s the case, then you’ve definitely come to the correct place.

MAINGEAR will be arming enthusiasts in photoshop, graphic style, video production, pro audio and other inventive professions with the new higher functionality Remix Workstation. Microsoft dropped support in Windows after 2010 , and HP went so far as to sue Oracle for ditching software development in 2011. Here then are our recommendations for building the best CAD workstation Pc. The European Commission provides money for a quantity of activities, and the United States paid for new laptops for all employees members, which replaced the old 2003 pc workstations. Right now, a lot of creative pros use multiple devices such as a MacBook Pro plus an iPad to achieve the same tasks that can be done on the HP ZBook x2. Being aware of that ultimate mobility is crucial, HP produced a single device that delivers the identical functionality capabilities from inking to docked mode.

Octane III is very easily configurable with single- and dual-socket node options, and provides a wide choice of overall performance, storage, graphics, GP-GPU and integrated networking choices. I will get to efficiency and configuration alternatives in a moment, but for now, suffice to say you can configure this issue with two AMD FirePro D700 GPUs and 12GB of video memory, amounting to up to seven teraflops of computing power (the last Mac Pro maxed out at two.7 teraflops). One particular reason for this is to ensure that all disabled guests are accounted for in case of an emergency. The Application Licensing Service reported that the inserted smartcard could not be utilized to activate the solution. Nonetheless, there is naturally still a lot of individuals who are obtaining Amazon’s buyer service systems confusing or annoying, and this page is nonetheless up due to the fact of that.

The performance is till very great: A Supermicro X10DAi with a pair of Xeon E5- 2680 v3’s (64GB RAM) has a CPU score of 27529. Microway WhisperStations with NVIDIA Maximus technologies combine the visualization and interactive design and style capability of NVIDIA Quadro GPUs and the high-functionality computing power of NVIDIA Tesla GPUs in a single quiet workstation. Upgrading the evaluation system to 14-core processors, for example, would have added £2,257 (ex. Recent research suggests that electronic sit-stand workstations, that can be rapidly adjusted, let each worker to modify the height of their worksurface throughout the day, and this may possibly decrease musculoskeletal discomfort and improve operate efficiency. Procedures for collection of late charges will be various for cash and credit card based on company policy for late charges.

While numerous new desktops have multi-core processors, workstations might come with more cores per CPU or help a number of, separate CPUs for even a lot more parallel processing capability. Most workstations have quite strong graphics cards and big high resolution monitors. With its mixture of higher-finish processor overall performance, expandability, and new technologies, like DDR4 memory and Thunderbolt 2, the HP Z840 is the pinnacle of higher-finish efficiency for these couple of users who require it. It has all the bells and whistles that an engineer and their supporting IT employees would require. Straightforward, upgradeable, turn-essential, effective and full systems, developed to take the guesswork out of creating your massive information answer. The BCA surveyed 2,374 people and found that 59 per cent of the functioning population had been risking back pain due to extended hours sitting at their desks.

When you outsource your little business IT assistance, you save yourself the time and expense of hiring a full-time IT employees. The Z840’s dual Xeon processors are constructed on the fourth-generation Haswell-EP architecture (aka, the Grantley-EP platform, if you adhere to Intel’s naming convention). Professional workstations have lengthy had specs that put common PCs to shame. Set up VMware Workstation on the host machine. The requested operation cannot be performed on a file with a user-mapped section open. Following this, the shanty towns increased, the slum circumstances grew worse, and the government committed itself to pursuing the odious policy of Apartheid-separation of the races so as to much better exploit African individuals. What’s Cool: Most recent Xeon processors, up to 3.1GHz dual processor help 1600MHz memory can expand system RAM up to 512GB 5 third-generation PCI Express slots low acoustic levels seven drive bays constructed-in six gigabit-per-second SAS controller four USB 3. ports.

from KelsusIT.com – Refurbished laptops, desktop computers , servers http://bit.ly/2qcPwRE via IFTTT

[topicprinter]

Last month, things were bad at our little company that matches programmers to freelance software jobs.Revenue was down.“If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”We were dying.Last month, I threw down some modest goals, and said that if I achieved them, I would consider the next month a success.m I didn’t want to reach too big – I wanted to keep things doable. Sometimes, you really need a win, even if it’s a small one.My goals:Add 12 new markets to our regular search.Done! adzuna, beincrypto, betalist, careerbuilder, careerjet, cybercoders, goremote, indeed, jobisjob, randstad, reed, rubyjobs.co.uk, simplyhired.We’re now up to 45 software development markets total that we automatically monitor for our customers.We’re gradually building a moat. The big picture value here is that although Code For Cash is a tool that a lot of programmers have already built for themselves, for example using a mashup of RSS feeds and some personal scripting, we’re making the product better and better so that “buy” clearly outweighs “build” in a “build or buy” analysis.Ship a better job matching engine.Done!https://gist.github.com/zackster/24f04d1e18754694cd13457f81db7f2bThe next cool thing to do will be to expose our intelligence through our product… for example, if you type “vue.js” as a keyword, we’ll let you know that we’re also searching javascript/java script/js/vue.Be able to click a button and initiate intelligent outreach to a job lead.We now have a system where you can write blurbs about your experience using a given technology, dynamically generate cover letters, tweak them as necessary, and send to job postings.We achieved those goals. Sometimes setting modest and achievable goals can be a growth hack that propels me into greater productivity. The wins compound into momentum.So, how else, exactly, was that momentum manifest?We totally changed up the funnel: the two week free trial no longer requires a credit card – users may sign up with an email and nothing less.This had a huge effect on conversions –Previously, we required paying upfront (no free trial). The page converted at 0.1%.Then, we asked for a credit card up front, but promised not to charge unless they canceled before two weeks. That boosted conversion rate to 0.2%.But now, having a no credit card required, 100% free two week trial has boosted our funnel an additional 50%– conversion on the page, from unique visit to paying customer, is now at 0.30%!(We also cleaned up the design on the landing page, which may have had some impact).If you’re curious at checking out how I measure my funnel, I do it in Excel. Measuring how prospects progress through the stages helps me get an intuitive feel of what’s going on.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hx6LNfJ6PKT4Qh7iJsBNKsBR09DFP43XdnYU4BpXe6c/edit?usp=sharingAnyway, insofar as revenue goes, things are moving in the right direction. Slowly.Revenue for month 10Recurring revenue: $3,400.00Total Revenue, including consulting revenue: $10,580Compared to last month (Total revenue: $9,705.43; Recurring revenue: $2,919.0), we see 16% M/M growth in MRR, okay!If you’re interested in how I make the non-recurring revenue, it’s through consulting. If you know how to program on your own without supervision, you’re capable of doing that too. Jay El-Kaake, Richard Burt and I coauthored Software Engineer’s Guide to Freelance Consulting. We sold about 337 copies this month.I may never have a #1 rap album, but Software Engineer’s Guide to Freelance Consulting is currently #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Software Development.Anyway, for me, this 16% jump in MRR begs the question, is this MRR growth sustainable and repeatable? If we were to grow next month at this rate, at the end of next month we’d have $3944 or an extra $540 in revenue. That would require signing up an additional 12 paying subscribers..on average of one every other day. Two days from now, it should be clear whether we’re on track or not.Taking a look at the marketing funnel spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hx6LNfJ6PKT4Qh7iJsBNKsBR09DFP43XdnYU4BpXe6c/edit?usp=sharing), you’ll see that 0.3% of visits end up converting. So in order to attract 12 subscribers, I would need 12/0.003 = 4,000 unique visits to the landing page. Honestly this is completely unlikely; 2000 organic visits in a month is typical. With this, my expectation would be 8% monthly growth...In the marketing funnel, I have a whole list of improvement ideas for various parts of the funnel, but I’d also love to hear your impressions or ideas. The cool thing is that there are clear ideas for improving conversion rates at each segment in the funnel, and it’s really intuitive how to do that – the only challenge with this approach is that we could potentially end up at a local maxima, but I’m trying to force myself to believe that because I’m exhausted from the endless grind of finding and removing bottlenecks. We need to continue moving forward.Improving the business engineOne of our biggest expenses is data labeling. If I wanted to sell Code For Cash (or shares in it), I would have to think realistically about valuation – Code For Cash is not a “hot” company at present and would not enjoy a 100X MRR valuation. Instead, 36 times monthly profit is more likely, given its size and growth rate.According to this interview with FE international, small SaaS companies (under $80K MRR) sell for 3 to 6 times Seller Discretionary Income. So Code For Cash would conservatively be worth 36 * monthly discretionary income.So, 3400*36 = $122,000 … but that assumes we take home 100% of revenue each month.We don’t take home 100% of revenue.The biggest non-essential cost is data labeling, probably $2000 per month. That leaves us at $2200. And $130/month for Heroku, $60/month for AWS, $80/month for DigitalOcean, we’re down to $1930. Then a few marketing services and other SaaS products brings us down to about $1800 (which I’m currently investing into improving the platform, so I don’t actually see that money, but for the purposes of our analysis, it might as well be there).So $1800 * 36 = $64,800But what if we could use machine learning to decrease data labeling costs to $1000?$2800 * 36 = $100,800Gotta love technology!So, my initial approach to this involved finding a SaaS text classification solution. I investigated various options: Aylien, MonkeyLearn. Unfortunately, neither met our needs in effectively reducing our labeling costs. But I did find a solution from Facebook called fastText (https://github.com/facebookresearch/fastText) with a simple API and an easy getting started guide.So I decided to go through the Code For Cash data, prepare it for fastText, and then bundle it up as a serverless AWS Lambda program. Here’s how I did it: https://blog.codefor.cash/2017/10/19/an-aws-lambda-serverless-implementation-of-facebook-fasttext-text-classification/The business value question is how many tasks per month will this reduce? Well, we still have some measurement to do in so far as accuracy before we fully deploy a machine learning solution to production. Going to start from scratch, re-train the model on the first 80% of the data set, and test on the last 20%.. So check in next month for an update on that.Financing growthI’ve been taking a class called Venture Deals – https://www.kauffmanfellows.org/online-course-venture-deals/It’s been helpful. Our first assignment involved finding VCs to pitch, and I started thinking about that it in a totally new way. I made a list of VCs that have funded NYC-based developer tools SaaS companies in seed stage deals. Extremely specific targeting. I’m working my network in order to get introduced to these targets.In the process of raising money, I put together this presentation – https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v_foBnUA-9lNjsh44WHORpojMUYhbXOuJ1fl8Q2nN40/edit?usp=sharing – it’s a work in progress. It would probably be much improved through a round of iteration from our designer. And telling a more compelling narrative about how we will capture a valuable market… feedback definitely welcome.$250,000 would be a good amount to raise. Why $250,000? It’s really arbitrary. I picked an amount that we could deploy safely, using proven channels, that would definitely improve our business.Marketing:$200/month Instagram$1600/month Blog/Articles$2000/month AdsTotal: $3800/monthEngineering:$2000/month Design$2000/month Job leads improvements2000/month Platform improvementsTotal: $6000/monthOperations:$3000/monthTotal: $12,800 – so $250,000 would provide us with about 18 months of runway.Of course, I have to also assume that VCs aren’t just playing mind games with me through their total failure to level with me, and they aren’t interested in funding us – in fairness, the company is “rationally” worth what, $64,000 at this point? And hope is not a strategy – so therefore need a backup plan.One tractable approach involves a company called Lighter Capital that offers revenue-based funding. They will fund you up to ⅓ of your ARR (annually recurring revenue). And more importantly, they work with business entities rather than requiring you to personally guarantee the loan. However, they don’t work with companies doing less than $15,000 monthly. So, I would need a plan to bridge up to $15,000 – how could I do that in the least expensive way possible?We need about $11,600 in additional MRR, about 260 new developer subscriptions. While we could potentially sprint there through marketing spend (limiting ourselves at 41¢ CPC, ⅓ of projected LTV), I feel like to do so would be unwise. At this time, there are clear improvements that could be made to the marketing/onboarding/activation funnel:(This is a transparent look into how I manage my tasks. The time estimates factor in the high switching cost to wearing multiple hats and also help me decide where would be best for me to delegate. Every time I review, I decide: “do it now”, “delegate”, “don’t do this”, “do it later”).ONBOARDING4h Bugfix CV edge cases – .doc files and .pdf documents2h Strip non-essential fields from onboarding flow (is this essential to this person finding work?)2h Cache Prospect data to prepopulate keywords in new User Profiles.1h Can we skip onboarding entirely if they have prospect keywords array? Think about this.DESIGN0.5h Ask designer to redesign Prospect (job leads count widget) experience4h Speedup prospect search through Algolia implementation: - Script to remove records from indexes if created_at > 1.month.ago - Algolia block in ActiveRecord model for GigOpportunityMetum - Frontend (SalesController) calls out to Algolia instead of iterating through16h Design onboarding tour User should move directly from onboarding into tour "Here's our Slack channel. 90% of freelance jobs travel through relationships and word of mouth. Chatting in Slack is actually professional networking. And, lots of gigs trade in Slack." "Here are internal requisitions: companies that have came to Code For Cash and asked to hire a freelance designer. We're still building this system, so if you have questions, feel free to ask." "Here are gigs for you that we found for you on the 'net. You can use Code For Cash to apply to them with smart templates". -> TOUR for this "Click "apply via CFC" "Annotate your keywords so you can pre-populate these outreach emails" "Send your message"8h Improve job system UI/UX – new design is ready(preview: https://imgur.com/a/TAbQs)EMAIL6h Join us in Slack reminder email ("90% of freelance jobs still trade through word-of-mouth networking") to people who haven't. 5 days after signup, -> email scheduled after account created Send actual email if user hasn't set Slack id.2h Job system education email to people who haven't used -> encourage users to make annotations of above-market ability 3 days after signup, -> annotation tour email unless GigOpportunities.any?(ignored || applied)OPERATIONS16h Add 15 additional crawlers to find more jobs20h Use machine learning models to reduce human task labeling costs. If the machine learning models for time commitment, onsite/remote, or employment type are 95%+ confident, label immediately. If data from all 3, skip human labeling.4h Add "Email me about new gig opportunities: Never, Instantly, Daily Batch" Email should contain deep link to Apply via CFC1h Add Confirmation popup to Cancel subscription link.MARKETING24h More entrepreneur/manager marketing to source more original gigs – SEO links: Early-stage VC firms Angel investors Incubators Hedge funds1h Screenshot of microtask action (Slack channel) on homepage, superimposed in laptop12h Introduce "Concierge" level service – Account Settings page should toggle between: Level of service (with explanation of different benefits) Redesign signup pageMISCRemove "Preview" from cfc_outreach viewAdd hover notice to keywords to show off our intelligence (e.g. User types “rails” -> We say “we’re also searching ruby and ror”)Anyway, once all of this is executed (and that’s my plan of what to get done this month!), then it could be time to revisit investing personal capital in buying traffic. Or, perhaps, Venture Capital.For now, we don’t need it.This todo list is emblematic of a long term vision of Code For Cash. In a perfect world, I could copy/paste it into our service. Suddenly, I would receive competitive bids for each feature change. And a developer could hop on, do the work, and get paid in cash.. right away.I’d like to see that. Would you?Zack

[mnefaulkerson]

How to Deal with Rude People – Co-Workers, Associates, Customers, Strangers

This is part 1 of my series on how to deal with rude people — including strangers, co-workers, associates, and customers.

(Photo: mosoma; Image: Personal Excellence)

Quick Note from Celes: Hi everyone! This is a series I wrote in 2010 and I’ve given it a refresh. It’s a complete guide to deal with rude people and comes with 16 comprehensive tips. Parts 1-3 are all ready and you can click on to part 2 at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Dealing with rude people can be a tricky thing. I personally hate dealing with rude people, and as much as I can, shed them away.

However, there are times when you don’t have the luxury of choice. Say if the person is a co-worker, a manager, a business associate, a customer, or even a service staff you need to talk to get what you need. If it’s in a workplace setting and you’re at an entry-level position, being combative can make you lose your job or ruin advancement opportunities.

A Rude Client

This brings to mind a rude client whom I worked with years ago, whom I’ll refer to as T. T was one of the rudest people I had met up till that point. For perspective, I have a very high threshold for what’s considered rude, given that I used to work in a very high-stress environment where exchanges could get very direct depending on the kind of personalities involved. Even though people from outside the company might see these exchanges as rude and stressful, we the employees didn’t. We simply learned to objectify any harsh comments and treat them as constructive criticism.

Hence when I say that T was rude, she was truly very rude. When I first met her, I was miffed by her attitude. Without getting into specifics, let’s just say that she treated me with very little respect, like I was a half-human with no worth rather than an actual human being. She would raise her voice and lose her temper, was unsupportive with requests, talked to me in a dismissive way, used her authority to push me around, and didn’t even acknowledge my presence when we met in person, not even after I smiled at and greeted her. She treated me like a 10 year old who didn’t deserve respect while she acted like she was my master, even though we are both mature adults in a modern society.

The worst thing was that her rude behavior seemed specifically targeted at me. I had no idea why as her rudeness was evident from Day 1. What was weird was that she was extremely sweet and friendly — a complete 180 from how she treated me — to my employee, who happened to be a guy. Even he observed the same. My logical guess was that her rudeness was a form of catty behavior from one woman to another. Regardless, there is no excuse for such poor behavior.

Even though I could have dropped this deal, I chose not to. At that time I was just starting PE and I valued every opportunity I could get. This was no different. Even though she was acting like an ass, I refused to balk. After all, she was more like an agent of the organization I was working with — I wasn’t working for her as much as I was serving the organization and the participants of the workshop I was conducting. I wasn’t going to let go of a business deal and an opportunity to touch others’ lives over someone like that. Not at all.

In the end, I delivered the workshop successfully, received great feedback, and used this to build my portfolio and seal new deals.

How many of you have faced such a situation before? Perhaps not with a client per se, but a situation where you had to deal with a rude, disrespectful person/ co-worker/ manager/ customer/ even stranger, even though you’d rather not?

If yes, I hear you. Many of my clients have shared with me unpleasant encounters with terrible, rude people, so you’re not alone.

Learn to Deal with Rude People

Honestly, I wish there isn’t any rude person in the world. If everyone is kind and helpful to one another, I think the world will be a much better place. One of my goals here is to raise the consciousness of the world, to bring people up from the lower levels of hate, anger, and apathy, to the higher levels of love, courage, and joy. When that happens, I believe that there’ll be less angry people and more caring souls. I’m personally working hard at being more caring myself.

However, there is still a long way for us to go. Until we live in a world where everyone is vibrating at the state of joy, we need to learn to deal with rude people as a fact of life. I know people who quit their jobs each time they face a rude manager / colleagues, and guess what? It doesn’t solve the problem. What happens is that they subsequently run into the same situation in their next workplace, after which they do the same thing — quit. In the end, these people become serial job hoppers. Nothing changes as they still have to face rude people, and they back themselves into a career dead end, having burned bridges from their previous jobs and having a shaky track record. This is obviously not a solution.

So how do we deal with rude people? Here is my guide to do so:

1) Keep calm

The tricky thing about dealing with rude people is that you may feel like beating them up or boxing their faces sometimes, especially if the person is being very obnoxious and demeaning.

But I’ve found that while it may be momentarily satisfying to lash out in a moment’s anger, it’s often not worth it. Firstly, when you lose your cool, you lose control of the situation. You may feel like you’re in power, but you are no longer operating at a high level of consciousness, which means that you are no longer thinking rationally. Next, when you lash out at someone, you may end up saying or doing something that you will regret later — something I know I’ve been guilty of. People who are emotional tend to say the wrong things as they are on an adrenaline rush; even if they regret what they did later, it’s too late as what’s said or done can be hard to retract — especially in today’s world where everything can be recorded and traced. And sometimes there are things that, when said and done, can be very difficult to retract and fix. 

So no matter how angry you are, get a hold of yourself first. Consider these:

So what if you lose your temper at this person — what do you accomplish? Note that in a workplace setting, losing your temper — assuming that you’re not the head honcho — may make you appear unprofessional and cause you to lose respect among your co-workers. 

How will making the other person miserable positively change your life in any way? Chances are, probably not. So why do it?

Will anger help this situation? Do you need this person to achieve a particular outcome? For example in customer service, you may feel like screaming at the rude staff. But perhaps this person is the gatekeeper to something you need. So if you lose your temper, you may not get what you want or take a longer time to get what you want.

Take a deep breath and imagine anger being released as steam from the top of your head. Sounds funny, but it works. If it’s an email, hold off on replying first and let it sit in your head for a while. If it’s a phone conversation or an in-person encounter, set aside your anger and reply as rationally as you can. You can vent later when you are with friends and family, but don’t go berserk in front of this person.

Note that there is a difference between consciously losing anger to achieve a strategic aim (which is a strategy used in business negotiations and staff management) and losing anger because you’ve lost control of the situation. The latter is what we want to avoid.

2) Don’t take it personally

When we face rude people, it’s easy to blame ourselves. We may think that there’s something wrong with us, that perhaps there is some unappealing quality about us that triggered such reactions in others. I know that I often think this way. When someone is being mean to me, I’ll automatically assume that there’s something wrong with me.

Yet when I take a step back and stop the self-beating cycle, I realize that it’s not about me. Perhaps that person had a bad day. Perhaps the person has an attitude problem. Perhaps the person has anger issues. Even if the person is specifically being rude to you, like T was to me, that person probably has some personal hangups that got fired off when he/she met you. For example, perhaps T is catty toward women because she sees them as competition, and I was merely one of many women she had mistreated.

Either way, it’s that person’s personal construct, beliefs, values, conditioning, and past experiences that made him/her act this way toward you. Assuming that you did nothing to trigger this negativity, like you were not deliberately trying to step on his/her toes, his/her rudeness is really more about his/her story and personal issues than you. So don’t fault or blame yourself. There is nothing wrong with you so please don’t beat yourself down. ♥

3) Confront if necessary. Otherwise, stay away.

Confrontation is a very tricky thing and I try to avoid it where possible. There are 3 criteria I use to decide if a confrontation is necessary:

The person has totally crossed the line in rude behavior (e.g., name calling, abuse, violation of personal boundaries)

The person is of the same or lower authority compared to you (e.g., a subordinate or a work peer)

Calling the person out will achieve more gains than losses, and you are prepared to deal with the losses

Why so? It’s not because I condone rudeness — I don’t. It’s more that there are pros and cons to every action, and while it’s tempting to call out someone on their rudeness and put them in their place, I’ve found that it doesn’t achieve anything sometimes. In fact, sometimes it creates more harm than if you just let it pass.

For example with my experience with T, I didn’t call her out on her ridiculous behavior because it wasn’t worth it to me. First of all, she was a very senior ranking staff in her late 30s, while I was just in my mid 20s then. Given her age and rank, she really should have known better. The fact that she acted that way meant that she intentionally wanted to be rude, and hence wouldn’t have cared what I had to say. Secondly, we were in a client-provider relationship. As the person in charge, she could have dismissed me if I gave her the slightest reason to — and as I mentioned above, the project was important to me. I wasn’t there to serve her but to serve the organization and the participants of the workshop I was conducting. Even if she couldn’t, she probably would have made things even more difficult for me, and I didn’t want to get more trouble.

If the situation is one where you have little bargaining power, confronting will not be your best option. Say if you are a working level employee in a large corporation. Or if you are a frontline staff working in a hotel, restaurant, shop, or call center. Or if you’re an account executive managing client accounts.

This doesn’t mean you should stomach insults or inhumane behavior. If there is someone who gets personal and crosses the line in terms of basic human respect, you should escalate it to your managers. Document the incident(s) and let them handle it. If you’re a customer, consider filing a formal complaint if the staff was extremely rude to you.

4) Don’t expect the rude behavior to change

Some people are just rude. Maybe they don’t realize how rude and unpleasant their behavior is — it’s their blind spot. Maybe they are aware but they just like to boss others around. Maybe they just enjoy being *ssholes.

Realize that you can’t change others. If you keep hoping that the rude person in question will have a sudden change of heart, you will be disappointed half the time. You can change your actions which may change his/her behavior, but don’t change yourself expecting him/her to change.

For example, in the first few times I interfaced with T, I thought that if I was nicer or acted in a different way, she would stop being so rude. However, no matter how I treated her, she would run me over like a lawn mower each time. I would emerge from each conversation feeling really pissed and demoralized.

When I reflected on the situation, I realized it was because I had altered my behavior when interacting with her by being especially respectful and nice to her, thinking that she would reciprocate with the same kindness and attitude. I was also attached to this expectation. Hence when she continued to treat me poorly, I would feel that it was my fault.

Needless to say, this thinking was unhealthy.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t try different ways to improve your relationship with the rude person. I’m saying that you should not do so expecting to receive a different treatment from him/her. By not having expectations, it makes it easier for you to manage the situation. Imagine that this rude person is never going to change his/her behavior, ever. How are you going to handle him/her? What are you going to do about his/her rudeness?

Continue on to Part 2: How to Deal with Rude People – Tips #5 – #10

Related Posts:

How to Deal with Rude People – Part 3

How to Deal with Rude People – Part 2

[Manifesto] How to Deal with Rude People

Bullied at Work? 5 Crucial Tips to Handle Workplace Bullying

The post How to Deal with Rude People – Co-Workers, Associates, Customers, Strangers is first published on Personal Excellence.

from Personal Excellence http://ift.tt/2hUUFrO

[xatired]

Go The Additional Mile When Offering Your Home

http://youtu.be/kcgxgtdsMwM

Right smack in the middle of our refinancing procedure, our mortgage representative fell off the face of the Earth. We offered her the advantage of the doubt, that maybe she had other clients and we weren’t her top priority. When we didn’t hear back for a few weeks, I called the primary office. No response. Days later on, we get the message on the image to the left: The company is not taking applications-they are yet another home loan business going under.

Don’t be mistaken, a do it yourself wind turbine system launch price will be high. You might be confronted with troubles in regional council approvals, versus the height of your tower. Have faith however, while it might take more time and effort than most of the Do It Yourself alternate Energy jobs, the rewards long term will be fantastic. Of course the advantages will likewise be pending the final style and area that you choose. As a first timer the process may be sluggish nevertheless the thrill of seeing it working in action is overwhelming.

Let me share with you this story: a couple of years ago I supervised of the company development area for an American business that wished to offer software application to Mexican banks. I DID NOT USE LOGICAL FACTORS WITH MY PROSPECTS, I UTILIZED THE EMOTIONAL PART OF THEIR BRAINS, with MINI DRAMAS stories), HIGH EFFECT VIDEOS AND IMAGES in my presentations, so I made a VISUAL MEMORY of HOW THEIR BANKS were going to remain in major difficulties or behind the competitors with out my SOLUTIONS. I can tell you now, after that experience, that NEUROMARKETING REALLY WORKS. In the mean time, my rivals attempted to sell to the new brain (rational thinking) and they simply had uninteresting discussions and no company.

First of all, most realty agents do unknown anything more than you do about contracts. They are in the organisation of offering realty, not being legal professionals. Moreover, the majority of property agreements are of the pre-printed kind range. All and all, you need not be excessively worried about this problem. Of course, it isn’t really my home.

The activity of an inspector is to look for all the things that is possibly a bigger downside in the home prior to you move in. This will start through checking the electricity, water supply, heat, plumbing and furnace products, and the last develop of the house. They’ll take a half of their day with a function to guarantee that the important things is developed up to traditional which it will not cause problems before you progress in.

This year, it’s going to be a slightly bumpier ride, so make sure the realtor you list your home with has enough experience to deal with the current market conditions. Last January, the Greater Phoenix location had simply above 3000 listings; this January the number is over 33,000, which is an a lot more normal level and will restore balance to the marketplace. The key to success in the real estate market is frequently said to be listings. That is partly real. The genuine key is “salable” listings which indicates the price needs to be right. Yesterday, a loan provider mentioned to me that lots of appraisals, of late, have actually been can be found in over price. That is to be anticipated since the superheated market of last fall, which has actually cooled considerably, is still recent enough to be used as comparables.

These come in handy tools, one old school and one high-tech. Utilizing an actual map to make house you want to own by or trip will provide you a better sense of their area. You can see the range from your work or school a lot easier on a good old-fashioned map. Pasadena Realtor page do not come with these limitations. It resembles seeing the pieces of a puzzle and how each fits into the entire. You can get a better point of view of the town as an entire rather than simply concentrating in one area.

So what is somebody who is aiming to offer a home in Lakewood Cattle ranch to do? On the one hand they really require to remove their real estate agent to allow them to reduce the cost of their home, however on the other hand, they need the property representative for all the factors talked about above.

If you wish to speed up the purchase of your brand-new home, consider getting a qualified or cashier’s check in the quantity that you owe a couple of days prior to you close. Aiming to find the funds you require at the last minute is difficult and hold-ups the closing procedure.

To start with, it is very important to acknowledge that low deals ARE often accepted. A friend of mine bought a home on a lake for $40,000 less than it deserved, just because he made a low offer. Nobody else was making any offers at the time, and the seller was ready to move.

Older daddies and mothers may possibly acquire a big house likewise empty when the kids leave to pursue their specific lives. People that have not long ago wed might maybe also discovered themselves having to offer their apartment or bachelor pad so as to transfer in to a larger relative house. Regardless of whether you are shopping into relocating to a smaller or bigger put, offering your old house quickly is an excellent way to obtain started. Stick to this uncomplicated instruction for some effective tactics on the best ways to offer your family.

The post Go The Additional Mile When Offering Your Home appeared first on Xatired.

from Xatired http://ift.tt/2lvoike