#and it just so happens that this specific skillset would serve to solve a problem the stolisians are having

[isaacathom]

accidentally prompted myself to reconsider the lotmv story, so thats fun

the premise, such that it was, was that Seora was a demigod of light, and had funky light magic. And there was a weird magical darkness that had corrupted the land, and she was one of a whole class of people who keep it at bay. But that 'bay' is pretty politicised, and at some point the whole forced to live with the magical darkness kidnap Seora to make her fix things for them. And then a whole lot of shit happens.

And that's... fine? i guess. but i think it could be better, and part of that is just. telling the big grand politics angle to leave. there was a lot of weird geopolitics happening and we dont need that.

the changes arent unprecedented, since i tried to fix the story earlier too lmao.

what i think id prefer is something a bit more. social?

In a reconsidered lotmv, Seora is still a light demigod, and still has these very specific duties that she's been practically raised for since birth. There's strict duties and hierarchies and so on, things she can and cant do. She has a 'boyfriend', a bodyguard called Roderick, who has absolutely has no interest in but cannot very well reject, because to do so would be stepping out of the social agreement. it would cause problems for them both, but mostly for her. So she's stuck in her job, and in a "relationship".

At some point, she is contacted by Esther, who is a member of a group trying to fix the magic goop problem - a group whose reasonable requests for aid keep being denied. The two start a very careful correspondence, each bound by the norms around them.

An idea comes into focus. Seora would like nothing more than to help them, but the binds of her position stay her hand. She cant do anything. And if she acts out and voices her support, she'll be stripped of whatever "authority" she had while remaining bound.

So, to get Seora into the correct locations, a kidnapping will be staged. The group will kidnap Seora, bring her back to their place, and "force" her to help them. Once she's done what she needs to do, the group will suddenly become amenable to any of the negotiations presented by Seora's people, and they'll return her. She'll not be harmed, her reputation will be preserved, everythings fine.

For the optics, to make it seem that she's unwilling, they'll need to play up some things. She understands this going in. That they'll need to skirt the line for the greater good. She has her part to play.

And what she doesnt reckon with, prior to agreeing to everything, is on falling in love with Esther. And Esther doesn't either.

And that's a problem. Because if Seora starts getting too comfortable, enjoys herself too much, then the whole part of the operation intended to preserve her reputation fails. Because, well, now she looks willing. And that defeats the whole point.

So the two of them are stuck in a complicated dance of the various expectations of them, what they need to do, what roles they have to serve, and what they want.

Because, for Esther, Seora's help is essential. She's the one person that was on board. They need her magical skills. Esther was willing to risk being caught kidnapping her, because the end goal is very important to her. And now she's in love. And that risks the whole fucking thing.

Strictly, this could have all been "present" in the original version of lotmv, but its a slight reframing to be about those expectations and complications. There's still the issue of what exactly Esther's group is, how they fit in/oppose Seora's. In the original, they're different countries. i feel like that still wooorks? two countries who are not on speaking terms, a group within that countries military (?) who feel they have no other choice. there's some little worldbuilding... bits that make things weird, but its workable, i think. maybe? idk

[wordsnstuff]

Guide to Drafting

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Planning v. Discovery

The first thing you must decide when you embark on the journey of drafting a story is how you’re going to get it done. Typically, there are two groups you can fit into, though most writers are somewhere in between. There are writers who plan meticulously before they begin writing to create a very clean first draft, or there are discovery writers (otherwise known as “pantsers”) who find more success in choosing a premise and then using a zero draft to explore the idea before gluing down any details. You are most likely someone who falls between those two methods. Some initial planning to feel familiar with your idea before you do some of the planning through the writing itself. Having some semblance of a method will help you narrow down your own process, which is immensely important if you want to get any substantial project near completion.

Consistency

Drafting is a difficult process because it’s either the revisitation of ideas you’ve already had, or the generations of ideas in quick succession. If you want to have a draft in a reasonable amount of time, you must develop a consistency in your writing. I won’t say that it must be a strict routine because time management can be a luxury, but you must make the consistent effort to write, and keep it in the forefront of your mind. Even if you don’t write every day, it should be something you try to make time for every day.

Know What You’re Trying to Accomplish

To get a draft done, you need to set expectations for yourself and they must be realistic. That doesn’t mean they have to be easy, or an amount of work you’ve been able to accomplish in the past. Considering how much time you dedicate to writing and your skillset, it should be a goal within reality. In addition, you must accept that you cannot create a masterpiece in one draft. For each version of your story that you write, you must have a focused goal, such as maintaining consistent characterization, making the plot concise and engaging, or making the prose more fluid and efficient. If you have a specific and attainable goal that you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time with a fair amount of precision, each draft will be better than the last.  

Designate Work to Phases

As mentioned in the last section, it maximizes your time and effort to have specific and attainable goals for each draft. This doesn’t mean that you rewrite the draft each time (though that is very common amongst writers), but that you designate tasks to draft versions. I find it very helpful in clearing my mind and soothing my perfectionist anxiety to make a “schedule”, outlining what I’ll accomplish in each version following the zero draft. For example, my draft schedules usually end up something like this:

Zero Draft: Main plot line, basic characterization, key world building

First Draft: Finalize Timeline, research for world building, structure

Second Draft: (Rewrite) Plot Development Fine Tuning

Subplot development

Foreshadowing

Build up to climaxes

Tone & Pace

Third Draft: (Intermittent Rewrites) Character Development Fine Tuning

Backstory

Subtextual Development

Making sure motivations are clear

Relationships between characters

Reinforcing character arcs

Checking dialogue

Fourth Draft: (Give to Beta Readers) World Building & Prose

Descriptions & Flow

Finalize settings

Checking grammar & punctuation

Reader Immersion

Fifth Draft: Incorporate Beta Reader Feedback

Write for Yourself First

In what some call the “zero-draft”, there are no rules. This draft is purely for your eyes. It’s you telling yourself the story for the first time. So, you don’t have to write in chronological order, or know the right word you’re looking for, or take a break every time you run into a problem. The purpose of the zero draft is to get a rough idea of as much of the story as you can and avoid getting snagged on minor details. This part is important. A lot of writers like to outline meticulously before they begin drafting and if that works for you, that’s great, but the majority of writers who attempt that get stuck in the planning phase, or burnt out on their story before a word of it exists. The easiest way to avoid those two situations is to do a zero draft, which can be as long or short as you want if it provides a skeleton for you to add meat to later.

Common Struggles

~ How do you estimate the number of words/chapters?... That depends on the genre, mostly. However, that’s usually something you decide in the second draft and beyond, and it can vary because of factors you haven’t got locked down until the plot and character arcs are firm or final. This is also something you’ll probably do a lot of tinkering with, and receive feedback on, especially from beta-readers, who can advise you on where natural breaks could occur from their perspective.

~ Why, after planning everything out, do I always struggle to write the draft?... 99% of the time, it’s because you’ve either burned yourself out, or accumulated too much pressure. When you put that much effort and time into a story, you can either slip into a headspace where you feel little excitement about it because you’ve already done all of the problem solving and had all of the revelations. It’s usually beneficial at this stage to take a step back (even if you’re not burnt out) and give your story some space, so that once you come back to it, you’re enthusiastic enough to fully realize your vision. If instead you’re struggling to write because you feel a lot of pressure to do justice for a story you’ve put so much love into already, take a step back, remember that the first draft is just for you, and work on letting go of the idea that the zero draft is meant to serve any purpose beside simply existing. 

~ How do I come up with the necessary scenes to move the story forward between major plot points?... Most writing problems can be solved by asking yourself the right questions. When you’re trying to figure out what your reader needs to see next in order to effectively set up the next major event, ask yourself “What would happen between event A and event B that would add context or make event B more impactful?”. Treat it like a real situation and try to map out all of the tiny, notable moments that would take place between the major plot points, and then assess those moments on the basis of how impactful they would be to the coming scenes, and whether they can add context, set the tone, or aide in the rising action.

~ How do I balance sticking to the draft and following my own creative instinct in the moment?... This is a judgement call. Sometimes you’ll realize that maybe you should have just stuck to the outline, but remember that you can always go back, rewrite, test things out, etc. Always save every version of every scene, just in case, and go wild. Don’t be afraid to take detours just to explore. The writing process is anything but linear. 

~ How do I maintain momentum in my writing progress when I constantly have distractions or other responsibilities that take priority?... Work at it. There’s no magic trick or piece of advice I could say that gets rid of your personal responsibilities. Write when you can, don’t make excuses on top of the reasons you have no control over, and remember that you create your own deadlines and expectations. Be kind to yourself, do what you can, and don’t spend potential writing time punishing yourself because there isn’t as much as you’d like. 

~ How should I designate space (words/pages) to specific scenes/description/conversations, etc?... Trust your instinct and remember you can always cut/add later. In the earlier drafts, I’d advise you try to create as much material as possible to work with, and in the later drafts, be ruthless when determining what is necessary and adds value, and what doesn’t.

~ How do I finish a draft if I regularly lose motivation or interest in my projects?... Accept the fact that motivation is fickle, and that no writer in history has ever maintained “inspiration” for any project from the beginning to the end. There are going to be days where you’re like “ugh this is not what I want to do right now”, probably more than there are days where you’re stoked to work on your project, but that’s reality. If your goal is to finish a draft, you must recognize that writing is work, and nobody wants to work all the time. Try to supplement the lack of motivation by setting a positive and enjoyable routine so that, even when you’re not particularly motivated, you still know that your writing time will be peaceful and comfortable. 

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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[captainpikeachu]

So there’s a lot of talk following the finale of TFATWS that John getting his new US Agent moniker is him “not suffering consequences” and essentially rewarded for his bad actions. Yet I feel like that view completely ignores the context of the situation that John is in.

First, John did suffer consequences. Yes, I get that on the surface it feels like he got a slap on the wrist because he wasn’t in prison or whatever. But for someone who has dedicated his entire adult life to being a soldier and serving his country, for someone who has bled for his country and earned 3 Medals of Honor for bravery and self sacrifice, to be removed from service IS a consequence. Sure he may not have been dishonorably discharged, but he was in all but name, the government just put a nicer name on it by using “other than honorable discharge” instead. And with his very public discharge and having all of his pay and VA benefits stripped away, John essentially has nothing. He’s hardly going to be hired for work, even basic jobs would be hard because he is a widely recognized figure with a very public downfall. No one is going to look to hire him, not to mention veterans already often struggle to find work or fitting back into civilian life. So unless he’s just gonna spend the rest of his life doing nothing but hide inside the house and living off of his wife Olivia’s paycheck, he’s gonna have to look for work fitting his specific specialized skillset. 

Second, John doesn’t have healthcare. A lot of people have commented on how he should have just gone away and focused on getting therapy instead but how would he be able to get therapy when the government took away his VA benefits? Without access to healthcare or disability benefits that he’s rightly owed to by the way, how would he get therapy? Olivia might have healthcare but does her healthcare even cover for him? Does he have emergency healthcare that would cover for therapy? Do they even have the funds for that? Wouldn’t they have to find a job to something to even get access to things like healthcare and therapy?

Third, Val could have manipulated all of this. Many people seem to think John is getting “rewarded” but how do we know that John’s discharge and stripping away of rank and pay and benefits weren’t orchestrated by Val or people working with Val to purposefully push John onto a certain path knowing that he wouldn’t be able to decline Val’s offer? I mean, think about it, surely nobody believes that she just “happened” upon John and Olivia in their most vulnerable moment. She knew what was happening inside that room, she knew what John would have to think about in regards to plans for the future, and she comes in at just the right time to hand him an opportunity that could essentially solve a lot of his and Olivia’s problems. It’s not a “reward” when John is essentially being used and manipulated by circumstances that Val might have control over. 

And really, even with this new US Agent “job”, it’s hardly just life is perfect and nothing is gonna go wrong and all is well. We don’t know what Val is planning, we don’t know what she intends to use him for, and we have no idea what she would do if John either disobeys her or tries to get out of this job. If anything John is currently caught up in a viper’s grip that he doesn’t even know yet because he’s being manipulated to look elsewhere while the viper is wrapping itself all around him. If anything, he’s actually in far more danger than he ever was before and there could be even worse consequences happening to him down the line.

[dyedmaxiian]

I know I talk a lot about how Jamie really helps to organize and whip the Minutemen into shape after he reaches the position of Colonel but I’m going to go ahead and detail EXACTLY what he does and why it really reshapes how the Minutemen are (under the cut due to length):

ESTABLISHES THE LANCERS: This is done even before Jamie becomes a Colonel. It’s his first real substantial action to aid the Minutemen. For those of you who have played Fallout 3, you could akin the Lancers to the Minutemen equivalent of the ‘Lyon’s Pride’ minus all the Brotherhood propaganda. He usually brings the idea to the General VERY early on into becoming a Lieutenant, claiming that the Minutemen need a smaller more instrumental task force for operations that don’t quite require the entire Minutemen force, but also can’t be solved by the average Minuteman. He also spins the Lancers as being Multifaceted meaning that they will be established in order to be highly functional for a variety of situations.

ESTABLISHES PROPER MINUTEMEN BOOT CAMPS: Almost immediately after becoming a Colonel, Jamie begins organizing proper boot camps in which to train the Minutemen to be more combat effective soldiers. There are a number of different boot camps that help individuals specialize in what SPECIFICALLY they’d like to do in the Minutemen, but all prospective Minutemen are put through the standard boot camp which provides them with some basic but efficient training that teaches them how to properly maintain their weapons, gives them basic search & clear training, as well as other essential skills to be more than just what would be considered an ‘armed citizen’. Some other boot camps include basic and advanced field medical training, caravan / supply line guard training, lieutenant training, and the infamous lancer bootcamp. MOST of these boot camps, once established, are then handed over to Ronnie Shaw. Jamie believes Ronnie Shaw is the perfect candidate to handle the Boot Camps as she has the right attitude and the right skillset to handle new recruits and keep them in line while giving them the training they need.

DRAWS UP & MAINTAINS SUPPLY LINES: This one is more of a group effort with Preston & the residing General, but Jamie is integral in establishing the supply lines, NAMELY because he and the Lancers do a great deal of ‘field testing’ in order to figure out the safest possible routes on which to run these supply lines. In addition, Jamie has a large role in the establishment of “alliances” with the independent settlements / cities of the Commonwealth which also plays a part in the process of drawing these supply lines.

ORGANIZES & NEGOTIATES ALLIANCES WITH INDEPENDENT ESTABLISHMENTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH: This primarily applies to the THREE most notable non-minuteman established Settlements in the Commonwealth. Those being Diamond City, Goodneighbor, and Bunker Hill. Again, this is REALLY more of a group effort, but each of the three leaders in the Minutemen are charged with a single settlement to more evenly divide the work. Jamie is assigned to Diamond City as he the most well equipped to deal with it due to experience in handling the brotherhood in the past ( namely with prejudice against non-human races ). Jamie helps to maintain good relations with Diamond City while simultaneously trying to ensure the Brotherhood doesn’t move in on them ( assuming the faction is still present ).

CREATES GREATER MINUTEMEN DIVISIONS: This is perhaps one of Jamie’s larger undertakings, he organizes actual Minutemen ‘DIVISIONS’ that help to better organize their dealings. He establishes a few major Minutemen Divisions: Medical, Production, Militia, & Research / Relief.    The Medical Division is specialized for creating, administering, and organizing medically trained Minutemen all across the Commonwealth to ensure that the Minutemen settlements are all fitted with their own doctors / medical specialists. They are also charged with producing medical supplies that can be run along supply lines and redistributed to the Commonwealth. Under most circumstances, the Medical division is headed by a specially picked medical professional, however upon its creation Jamie does nominate Curie to head the division. If Curie is unavailable he then elects to nominate Dr. Amari.    The Production Division is specialized for creating and distributing weapons, ammunition, and armor to the Minutemen. They are also granted the autonomy to establish a specialized system for secondary vending of supplies alongside the standard issued gear for Minutemen who finish boot camp. This division is also responsible for the distribution of defensive armaments for settlements to ensure that they are all well protected. This is considered to be the second largest division as the Production Division is also the first division sent to new settlements to handle on-site fortification & construction in tandem with the residents who already live there. The Production Division typically runs without a head as it wears many hats. They tend to take assignments and are dispatched directly from the Castle so it could be argued that Preston, Jamie, and the General all have a hand in guiding and offering them assignments.    The Militia Division is specialized for combat / threat neutralization. It could be considered the Minutemen’s proper ‘military’ as this division is specifically created to be as guards for settlements, patrols to maintain safe passage for supply lines, includes caravan guards, as well as is partially responsible for defending existing settlements in the event of trouble. The Militia division acts as the line of defense for the Commonwealth in the event of a large scale crisis but on the day to day tends to eliminate smaller time threats as they arise. It is important to note that when creating this division, Jamie took a great deal of care & precaution to keep them from being a brazen military force, and as such the General of the Minutemen is also the acting head of the Militia Division.    The Research & Relief Division: This tends to be the most controversial division Jamie creates. If the Sole Survivor destroyed the Institute, Jamie elects to create this division to further research on how to improve the lives of the people of the Commonwealth. Jamie tends to keep them on a rather tight leash to avoid a repeat of the problems arisen in the Institute, and as such their projects are HEAVILY regulated by Jamie, Preston, and the General to ensure they are specifically & strictly dedicated to improving quality of life in the Commonwealth as well as relief efforts. Generally speaking, regardless of which faction the Sole Survivor chooses, Jamie ALWAYS nominates Dr. Madison Li to lead this division due to his personal experience and friendship with her. 

REPAIRS & REFURBISHES THE CASTLE / ESTABLISHES THE CASTLE AS MINUTEMEN HQ: Though this one likely already happens, Jamie as a Colonel actually arranges for Diamond City architects to come in and professionally build up the Castle and create a more heavily defended and well organized Castle in order to make the Minutemen’s epicenter be more well equipped to their new method of organization & presence. Usually this consist of actually EXPANDING how far the HQ boundary reaches. The Castle walls are repaired, a defense system is put into place, and many of the destroyed parts of the Castle are rebuilt in order to help house & protect the Commonwealth. They also have a proper dock established for the Minutemen, and when Kenji Nakano is aided by Nick Valentine, Jamie reaches out and offers to contract him to help build the Minutemen a few functional ships to help them patrol the waters surrounding the Commonwealth. Additionally a cemetery is erected on the strip of land behind the Castle for the Minutemen’s ranks. Many of the Minutemen’s former Generals & key figures are buried in it as well as Jamie’s mother if the Sole Survivor completes Jamie’s personal quest. Additionally the armory gets a large make over to help accommodate the Production Division as well as the Western wing of the Castle receives a large refurbishment to better suit the Medical Division. More turrets and artillery are erected, as well as a small farm and more water purifiers to help the Castle run autonomously. Jamie also has a dedicated ‘war room’ refurbished to allow the leadership of the Minutemen as well as their council sit down and have meetings regarding pressing and crucial matters in regard to Minutemen operations & Commonwealth safety.

ESTABLISHES SANCTUARY AS THE MINUTEMEN’S CULTURAL CAPITAL / REFURBISHES SANCTUARY: This one is a proposed decision to Preston and the General, and typically consists of establishing Sanctuary as the ‘heart’ of the Minutemen. He picks it for a few reasons, the two main ones being that it has deep personal ties to the General, as well as its position very isolated from the rest of the Commonwealth making it arguably one of the safest settlements in the entire Commonwealth area. The rebuilding, depending on the Sole Survivor, can either be handled by the Sole Survivor directly, or by Jamie himself. He encourages that Sanctuary be built out event further than just the existing suburb, and establishes a FULL ‘Sanctuary City’ having the street extend onto the Hillside and wrap around Vault 111. He also encourages that Sanctuary be home to the ‘Minutemen’ people, giving those who serve a place to truly call ‘The Minutemen’s Capital’. If Jamie is allowed to handle this project, he actually links it DIRECTLY to the Red Rocket truck stop. The truck stop is used as a trading hub / market place where Caravans, Traders, Visitors, and residents can do all of their shopping. Additionally Jamie establishes a bar, guard house, town hall, and “jail” within Sanctuary to ensure that the ‘city’ of Sanctuary can run autonomously on its own. Defenses are erected, farms and water purifiers are established, and even a PARK is created around the Vault 111 area, used to ‘breathe life’ back into the area. A few memorials are created to honor pillars of the Minutemen as well as the General’s spouse if they allow it.

AIDS IN THE RETAKING OF QUINCY AND CAMPAIGNS AGAINST GUNNER OCCUPATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH: If this isn’t done by the General already, Jamie establishes a full fledged ‘war-time’ campaign to help retake Quincy from Gunner control and helps to establish a plan of action for the Minutemen to entirely dismantle the Gunner organization as a whole. Typically the battle for Quincy is a larger scale operation as Jamie by then already established the divisions of the Minutemen, making the Militia an asset available to the General when this campaign is first proposed. The Lancers are crucial for reconnaissance and Jamie even creates a plan of action for what to do with Quincy AFTER the Gunners are removed. Once Quincy is taken back, Jamie proposes creating a NEW city out of Quincy under Minutemen occupation at the discretion of the General. If the city proposal is denied, he then proposes creating a memorial for the lives lost there instead and then proceeds to continue the campaign to wipe the Gunners out completely. 

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Every Woman Writer

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things).

General likes:

�� Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink, whether commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms, and the trust associated with it. Sometimes-but-not-always relatedly, idealism. I guess the two combined might be, in general, the idea of nobility of character and what that means.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff.

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

– Eucatastrophe.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex.

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Fandom: Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Characters/Groups: Bathsheba Everdene

One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in other characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. I’d also love to read something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual were more overtly magical.

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Fandom: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett

Characters/Groups: Polly "Ozzer" Perks & Jack Jackrum, Polly Perks & Maladict, Magda "Tonker" Halter & Tilda "Lofty" Tewt, Polly "Ozzer" Perks, Alice "Wazzer" Goom, Jack Jackrum, Mildred Froc

Give me all the loyalty kink for this fandom. Characters rescuing each other from peril, risking their reputation or position or ethics to defend each other, accomplishing the impossible or sacrificing things without even thinking twice because one trusts the other’s orders or judgment. Or A not going off the leash or into danger to defend B because B said not to, to protect A’s conscience or life or reputation. Can be romantic or platonic - I ship Polly/Mal and Tonker/Lofty, but I would also be delighted with Polly&Jackrum, Wazzer&Polly, or other non-romantic twosomes or moresomes in situations of loyalty and trust. Maybe Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission, or Tonker is captured after she and Lofty burn down another place where women and girls are being abused, or Polly protects Jackrum’s secret/s from someone who could reveal them, or Wazzer ends up in the field again with the general’s retinue and Polly and Mal rescue her from danger (or vice versa!!). What strengths or sacrifices do they have at their disposal for each other?

Pratchett-esque voices would be great. He’s really, really good at sucker-punching the reader with sincerity in an overall satiric mode, and I think that style lends itself well to this sort of thing.

I’m not going to lie, Polly is my fave. I like that this could have been a generic coming-of-age or women-in-war story, where the protagonist learns that she’s brave or worthwhile and then the crisis is past, but instead Polly learns that she’s a cunning bastard and a hell of a sergeant, and being a one-off hero in a country that’s at peace and making slow social progress isn’t good enough for her. That said, just because I’m better able to articulate what I like about Polly doesn’t mean I’d be less excited for fic about anyone else! And I know that we might have matched on single characters, rather than groups, and that’s just fine. I think that’s something I’d want to explore for any of the characters who enlist in the course of the story - what are these women good at? What lets them fulfill their potential? What do they want when their hand isn’t being forced? I guess that for most of the regiment this would be post-canon and for Jackrum or Froc it’d be backstory. How’d Jackrum go from enlisting for Reasons to being the career sergeant of canon? What’s Froc’s relationship to the Duchess been like over the years, as someone who met her in person?

If you’re going the Polly/Mal route, I also love ludicrous levels of sexual tension in a military context (I think it’s the unavoidable proximity + the presence of others making it hard to act on it).

Fandom-specific DNW: vampire romance tropes (such as turning and/or immortality) as focus; non-female pronouns/headcanons.

–

Fandom: Original Work

Characters: Commissioned Officer & Non-Commissioned Officer, Female Re-Enactor Playing Male Soldier & Female Re-Enactor Playing Woman, Chaotic good Berserker & Officer she's absolutely loyal to, Crossdressing Fugitive Princess

Um, so, I’ve never requested original work before, but these are...certainly some options that play well with my general likes. Something that I also notice across these requests, other than the fact that most of them are military-related or otherwise have to do with clothing and/or women doing “man” stuff, is that there are a lot of options for exploring how characters with different skillsets and/or values play together. When there’s a problem to solve, especially in a high-risk and high-emotion situation, what happens when they don’t agree on what to do?

As far as setting goes, I think I’d been envisioning the CO & NCO and Berserker & Officer as taking place in a setting that’s removed from us in some way - whether that’s a fictionalized version of a historic military where women can be soldiers, actual historic settings where both are cross-dressing as men, total fantasy settings or future space settings. Likewise I imagine the Fugitive Princess might work better in a fictional or historical setting. The re-enactor pairing could be in our real present day in a way that might not work for the others, but it could equally well be future people or fantasy people!

Romance between any of these pairs, or between the Crossdressing Fugitive Princess and a female character - whether a rival or tyrant she’s a fugitive from, an old ally, someone new she meets while in disguise - is lovely :D (I neglected to officially DNW this so I suppose I could be screwed, but I don’t want het for these. I’m also less interested in, like, orc or goblin characters if you write a fantasy setting, but I didn’t think to DNW that either. :|)

–

Fandom: Simoun (Anime)

Characters: Neviril, Aaeru & Neviril, Paraietta, Rodoreamon, Mamiina

Simoun somehow ended up being a really weirdly meaningful show to me. I loved how all these women got to be flawed and fucked-up, noble and loyal. How, in the mold of all my favorite epic shoujo anime, it starts off beautiful and fine and then Shit Gets Very Real and that’s actually one of the themes of the show - we had a little debate on FFA as to whether or not Simoun was a military canon, and the fact that circumstances have remade a team of priestesses in fancy quarters and magic flying machines who are there to pray to God, put off their choice of sex, use their talents, maintain or claw their way into a social position, into a military force involved in a war - that’s an idea that the characters themselves struggle with in the show. (Neviril’s scene in the hearing is one of my favorites.) How everyone gets character development, in the sense of learning and changing, and even what seem like annoying mandatory straight subplots actually end up serving that thematic or character development, to say nothing of the more focal relationships between the leads (not just Neviril and Aeru, but also Mamiina and Rodoreamon, Neviril and Paraietta…)

I’d really like to read a fic where an individual character’s development or two characters’ relationship is similarly tied in to plot developments; it doesn’t have to be a plotty fic as such, but I was very interested in the way the developments of the war and the pilots/priestesses’ actions in it precipitated changes in their relationships. So how might Neviril and Aeru’s relationship develop in the other world (what are they doing?), or Mamiina and Rodoreamon’s on the Messis when they’re not the narrative focus before Mamiina’s last mission and the braid thing? (Or if this is more your speed, dig into that and see how a character grows or the relationship between characters develops when that’s not being moved along by outside events in the same way, especially if they’re aware of that being an issue. When Neviril and Aeru are outside the normal flow of time, or Paraietta ends up a civilian, for example.) I’m also interested in all the permutations of loyalty we see in the show - like loyalty to a position over loyalty to a side (as with the Plumbish priestesses’ siding with our Sibyllae), loyalty that develops before liking or friendship, the devoted loyalty to Neviril. I like the show’s military themes despite its magical-girl visuals. I think this is also a canon where it would make sense for sexual first times to be part of a fic - what does that mean for the characters you choose?

I should also say that due to all the magic and timespace warping in the show, I am more than okay with post-canon fic that gets characters back together who were separated by canon, if that’s what you want. You can resurrect Mamiina, or have Neviril and Aeru visit the main reality/timeline again. Or play with timespace even more - time loop fic?

[techbloggerposts-blog1]

Things You Need To Know Before Choosing The Best Custom Software Development Company

Choosing a custom software development company is a tough task, as it directly affects the outcome, so you should not treat it lightly. Custom software development companies can offer key strategic advantages over in-house development, but choosing a wrong partner can is the real risk. Nobody wants to select a company to fail. 

To help you choose the best custom software development company services, we had put some valuable information in this blog and tried to answer some FAQ's that every person wants to ask from a potential software partner. 

Why Is It Necessary For You? 

Most  companies have a predefined sales pitch for all. Knowing them will give you an idea, how they see themselves, how they see you as a customer, and  what their organization stands for. All this will provide you with a  sense, whether this company will be a fit with your requirement of  not. 

Before  going into an agreement, it is also necessary to know about their previous  projects and successful track record on similar projects. After all, you would not hire a painter who has never painted a house. 

It is necessary to clear the gap between what you have in mind and what the custom software development company will build. They must validate their understanding with you. Such an exchange of thoughts will ensure that requirements are accurate from both perspectives. 

Integrative Software Services Will Help You Broaden Your Horizon

Custom digital experiences are crucial to today's dynamic businesses to build a better future. We, at Integrative leverage experience of more than 20 years in creating top-rated, and high-performing custom software solutions. We are proficient in designing and developing next-gen solutions across various industry verticals. Integrative systems utilize modern technologies and advanced innovation, along with a user-centric approach in mind to deliver robust, scalable, and cutting-edge software solutions to increase client business productivity, optimize operations, and increase RoI.

At integrative, we have a proven track record of transforming the business of various small, medium, and large companies with the help of innovative technologies and our decades of experience in custom software development. We have experience serving broad range industries like - FMCG, retail, logistic, travel, healthcare, manufacturing, education, and many more.

Our Custom Software Development Services Can Help You In: 

End-to-end Digital Application Development

We help you build a successful digital application right from scratch, i.e., from idea generation to covering all the critical phases of custom software development and provide the perfect solution as per your need. 

Custom Software Development

Either you are planning to create enterprise software from scratch or upgrade the existing one, we are here to redefine your business and solve real-world problems for you. 

Enterprises Application Integration 

Facilitate businesses with services that ensure seamless integration with the existing setup. We offer secured integrated services to keep your business updated and responsive in the modern world.

Cloud-Based Solutions

Enjoy the benefits of scalability and flexibility with us by moving your applications to the cloud. We offer cloud app development and help enterprises to move to the cloud.

Custom ERP Development

We know the efforts needed to build a custom ERP application, and we can make an application on one collaborative platform that will improve your business efficiency, productivity, and sales. 

Application Maintenance 

By sticking to cutting-edge technologies, we focus on improving software performance by optimizing its processes and retaining it to perform high and give efficient results. Our team of experienced and experts is capable of providing hassle-free application maintenance, effortless reengineering, simplified migration, and smooth application redesigning services.

SaaS (Software as a Service) Development

With our technical skillset and years of experience, we can create scalable and reliable SaaS development as per your changing business needs. 

CRM Development

With the experience of 20+ years and commitment to deliver the best solutions, we can increase your customer base with a powerful and custom CRM development. 

·       Mobile Development

Bridge your business gaps by developing mobile apps that are easy to operate, maintain, and scalable. At Integrative, we help businesses generate a high profit and increase business value by developing Android and iOS-based apps. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some questions that our clients often ask us. Just go through them, as it will help you to make a better decision. And, in case you any questions for us, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

1- How do Integrative ensure the confidentiality of data of custom software development projects? 

Before starting a project, we sign NDA (Non-disclosure agreement) without clients, and the agreement straightaway implies that we will ensure the client's data's absolute security. Moreover, the team working on the client project also sign strict NDA. 

2- How much time do you require to build software? 

This thing cannot be answered instantly, as several factors include in project development. Time consumed depends upon project complexity and overall modifications. The customized UI/UX designing takes around 1-4 weeks, and the development phase takes another time-period of 1-6 weeks, as per customer functionality requirement. At integrative, we ensure delivering your project in the minimum time possible by following an agile approach. 

3- Do you allow clients to choose their team? 

Absolutely! This thing makes us different from other custom software development companies. Clients are free to choose the software development team of their own choice according to their requirements and preferences. 

4- After project completion, do you offer any after-sales services? If yes, what are those services? 

Yes, at Integrative systems, we provide extended software protection plans, software maintenance, and support programs, in case of clients encounter any problem. 

5- Why should I choose customized software for my business? 

Custom software generally offers the most efficiency, as it developed by keeping the specific needs of your business. Also, custom software development solutions provide greater efficiency and customer service. 

6- What will happen if I want you to change things in an ongoing project? 

No matter how much thought you put in defining your project upfront, it's highly likely that your requirements will change drastically. However, we use the agile methodology and a more flexible engagement to manage significant project changes. To be discussed and agreed in a matter of hours. Also, nothing to worry about the changing demands of projects, we scale up proficient resources to meet your requirements.

7- Why should I hire you for my software development project?

Integrative has delivered 1000+ projects since inception for clients in various countries. Our long clientele list and satisfied customers speak volumes about our success. Apart from this, we are experts in handling projects for varied industries. So, be assured of getting the best-in-class software solution.

How Technical Proficiency and Our Growth Mindset Will Help You In Getting The Best Custom Software Development Services

Having an experience of more than 20 years, we at Integrative aims to craft a superior digital experience for you, to streamline business process, improve your engagement ratio, and accomplish a set of business objectives.

An Agile Approach And Cohesive Experience

Our habit of keeping the customer first and agile approach in custom software development helps us gain an edge over the competitors. 

Security At Priority

Be it any software development or mobile app development; security is our top priority.  

Delivering Right Solution

We excel in delivering the best-suited custom software development service, be it small start-ups, mid-size businesses, or large enterprises across varied industries.

Business Goals And Insights

We dive deeper into the client project's short-term and long-term idea, and after getting familiar with the client's goals, we prepare a customized software solution.

 Why Choose Integrative For Custom Software Development?

At Integrative, we have a skillful team of developers for custom software development solutions and specifically address clients' needs. Application and imbibe it within the existing business ecosystem. Our custom software application development services strengthen existing businesses by eliminating the use of multiple applications and implementing a single application. We embrace a collaborative approach in all our business processes to ensure that our solutions are agile and familiar to existing business needs for faster business growth and revenue generation.

If you are looking for the best custom software development companies in the USA, our team of business is ready for discussion. Feel free to get in touch with us at contact@integrativesystems.com 

[douglassmiith]

A Brief Guide to Letting Black Entrepreneurs Be Entrepreneurs

July 1, 2020 8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In today’s global economy, racism is not only ignorant, it’s costly. Just ask Facebook, which has lost billions in advertising revenue amid calls to eliminate hateful rhetoric from its platform.

Hopefully, this will ring the alarm bell for others who are snoozing under the blanket of “business as usual.” People are not just going to go away quietly this time. If they’ve been willing to risk their lives during a pandemic to protest for equal rights, the uprising will continue. It’s time for a real shift, and that includes a genuine effort to nurture and elevate Black founders to a position where they can access the capital needed to introduce new and profitable ideas to the marketplace.

The sticking point is that too many companies and investors view supporting Black entrepreneurs as a matter of social impact or charity, rather than good business sense. What needs to happen now is for those who control the purse strings and equitably spreading the wealth cease viewing business in black and white and simply let an entrepreneur be an entrepreneur. 

In the interest of hastening change, I’ve laid out answers to several questions even the most well-intentioned would-be allies might be asking themselves. The moment to let Black entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs begins now.

Related: It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist to Solve the Racism Problem in Business

What do you mean when you say, “Let a Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur”?

The message is: Let the Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur, not somebody you think you’re giving charity to. It’s business. A lot of times, when you’re Black, that precedes everything, but when you think of a great painter, you don’t say it’s a great white painter. You just say it’s a great painter. 

Is donating to organizations for Black causes the same as investing in Black entrepreneurs?

A lot of businesses, when looking to close the diversity gap, say, “Oh, well we’re going to do a charitable donation or give to a nonprofit.” But we’re bringing in opportunity. See the person as an entrepreneur, not a charity case. Give the funds to the black founders so that they can build their companies. An example of this thinking is a well-known VC, Jason Calacanis, who invested in the likes of Uber and Calm and recently posted on Twitter that he is going to hire engineers to build a Facebook clone and donate the proceeds to black founders. This thinking assumes that black founders: A) are not engineers and B) are charity. 

These funds that will take all this money that Google, Pay Pal and SoftBank want to use to solve the issue need to invest directly in the black founders. Otherwise, what they’re saying is, “We don’t want to give the money to you.” The people putting these funds up for VCs to distribute need to understand that what they’re coming back to them with is a bunch of baloney.

How can I better ensure funds meant to nurture Black businesses are being best put to use?

My solution is for the Googles and PayPals and SoftBanks to make sure that when they’re dealing with the VCs who are going to be in charge of the money they decided to set aside for Black businesses, to treat the businesses as an opportunity that’s coming to them.

If SpaceX is an opportunity, you’re going to put massive amounts of money there. If it’s an act of charity, you’re going to put $5,000. If I’m Google, I say to Andreessen Horowitz and all these other companies that I want them to find companies unlocking opportunities within these communities. Then, they cannot come back with excuses to take these funds and put them somewhere else. When you invest in underrepresented founders, automatically, they’re going to open doors for you to places you are not even aware are there.

What’s an example of lucrative black opportunities that narrow-minded business leaders and investors missed out on?

Forever and ever, we’ve been saying that when you go to the makeup aisle, you get a powder that’s too light for your face or too dark for your face, so people have to improvise at home by mixing. You have a whole market, but no one was listening. Rihanna said, “You know what? I see my mom doing that, and I have to do that myself,” so she launched Fenty Beauty, which has completely transformed the industry, and now everyone’s running to catch up.

It’s the same thing with Black Panther. It’s again about serving an underserved market, not going into it as a charity or checking a box. Rihanna happens to be a celebrity, but it’s about the fact that she got the money to open that door, because we don’t get the money to open those doors. There are a ton of us out there who know where a lot more doors are. 

How have VCs continued to raise the ceiling for Black founders and lower the floor for privileged entrepreneurs?

A lot of times, you have one person who has $336 million and another person who is struggling to put everything together. In a field where you’re judged by daily active users, one person might have 10,000 people, and the other person with $336 million might have 10 million people, but you’re being judged by the same metrics.

So investors will say, “Well, we’re gonna go find a Black Jason Goldberg with 10 million users,” and then come back and say, “Well, we didn’t find anyone with 10 million users. We found nice people who are trying really hard with maybe 10,000 users, so we’re now going to take this money that you’ve allocated specifically for them and go put it somewhere else.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find an entrepreneur with 10 million users or generating that much revenue because the seed hasn’t been planted to allow them to get to this high ceiling. You can’t compare oranges and apples in that way, and that’s another system that’s in place to make sure no new entrants get in there and justify continuing the status quo.

What about the argument that there is a pipeline issue when it comes to Black and brown talent and skillset? 

People are graduating. People are coding. People have ideas. Knowledge is not genetically encoded into people, it is acquired. It’s just about the right opportunity. People are going to go where they’re valued. When you look at a company like Facebook, and you don’t see one single Black face on their board or their leadership retreat they’re posting pictures of, you’re not going to want to go there. It’s not a pipeline problem. It’s just a blockage at the entrance keeping minorities from coming in.

Is most of this unconscious bias, or something worse?

It’s baffling to many people why the diversity gap in business is not closing, because you have companies that are saying, “Hey, help us close the gap.” But somehow the bridge is not being built. We have made a lot of progress, but not far enough. There’s still a lot of redlining of black entrepreneurs, even at the growth stage. A lot of black founders will build the company, people are excited about it, and when it’s time to go from seed to growth, you’ll see the headline, “Bubl raises X, then Sean Ramsay out” or, “Kairos secures Y then Brian Brackeen out or “Hopstop raises Z, Chinedu Echeruo out.” It’s a redlining. When you like the food but you don’t like the farmer, you want to come and take the farm and put the farmer out, and it happens over and over again. 

Related: The First-Ever Live, Virtual Reality Comedy Special Could Only Happen Now

What is the very next step I should take if I want to make more money with a wider variety of founders?

There are two ways to look at investing in underrepresented communities: It’s a great opportunity to open up new markets or a way to sustain and take care of your current customers. Imagine if the top Black athletes, influencers and musicians with more than one billion followers combined left the platforms that don’t have any Black people in their leadership or have racist algorithms and went to platforms where they’re valued and appreciated? People are sick and tired of dealing with “isms.” They simply want a fair chance, but if they are kept from accessing heaven here on earth, they’ll raise hell.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

Via http://www.scpie.org/a-brief-guide-to-letting-black-entrepreneurs-be-entrepreneurs/

source https://scpie.weebly.com/blog/a-brief-guide-to-letting-black-entrepreneurs-be-entrepreneurs

[riichardwilson]

A Brief Guide to Letting Black Entrepreneurs Be Entrepreneurs

July 1, 2020 8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In today’s global economy, racism is not only ignorant, it’s costly. Just ask Facebook, which has lost billions in advertising revenue amid calls to eliminate hateful rhetoric from its platform.

Hopefully, this will ring the alarm bell for others who are snoozing under the blanket of “business as usual.” People are not just going to go away quietly this time. If they’ve been willing to risk their lives during a pandemic to protest for equal rights, the uprising will continue. It’s time for a real shift, and that includes a genuine effort to nurture and elevate Black founders to a position where they can access the capital needed to introduce new and profitable ideas to the marketplace.

The sticking point is that too many companies and investors view supporting Black entrepreneurs as a matter of social impact or charity, rather than good business sense. What needs to happen now is for those who control the purse strings and equitably spreading the wealth cease viewing business in black and white and simply let an entrepreneur be an entrepreneur. 

In the interest of hastening change, I’ve laid out answers to several questions even the most well-intentioned would-be allies might be asking themselves. The moment to let Black entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs begins now.

Related: It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist to Solve the Racism Problem in Business

What do you mean when you say, “Let a Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur”?

The message is: Let the Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur, not somebody you think you’re giving charity to. It’s business. A lot of times, when you’re Black, that precedes everything, but when you think of a great painter, you don’t say it’s a great white painter. You just say it’s a great painter. 

Is donating to organizations for Black causes the same as investing in Black entrepreneurs?

A lot of businesses, when looking to close the diversity gap, say, “Oh, well we’re going to do a charitable donation or give to a nonprofit.” But we’re bringing in opportunity. See the person as an entrepreneur, not a charity case. Give the funds to the black founders so that they can build their companies. An example of this thinking is a well-known VC, Jason Calacanis, who invested in the likes of Uber and Calm and recently posted on Twitter that he is going to hire engineers to build a Facebook clone and donate the proceeds to black founders. This thinking assumes that black founders: A) are not engineers and B) are charity. 

These funds that will take all this money that Google, Pay Pal and SoftBank want to use to solve the issue need to invest directly in the black founders. Otherwise, what they’re saying is, “We don’t want to give the money to you.” The people putting these funds up for VCs to distribute need to understand that what they’re coming back to them with is a bunch of baloney.

How can I better ensure funds meant to nurture Black businesses are being best put to use?

My solution is for the Googles and PayPals and SoftBanks to make sure that when they’re dealing with the VCs who are going to be in charge of the money they decided to set aside for Black businesses, to treat the businesses as an opportunity that’s coming to them.

If SpaceX is an opportunity, you’re going to put massive amounts of money there. If it’s an act of charity, you’re going to put $5,000. If I’m Google, I say to Andreessen Horowitz and all these other companies that I want them to find companies unlocking opportunities within these communities. Then, they cannot come back with excuses to take these funds and put them somewhere else. When you invest in underrepresented founders, automatically, they’re going to open doors for you to places you are not even aware are there.

What’s an example of lucrative black opportunities that narrow-minded business leaders and investors missed out on?

Forever and ever, we’ve been saying that when you go to the makeup aisle, you get a powder that’s too light for your face or too dark for your face, so people have to improvise at home by mixing. You have a whole market, but no one was listening. Rihanna said, “You know what? I see my mom doing that, and I have to do that myself,” so she launched Fenty Beauty, which has completely transformed the industry, and now everyone’s running to catch up.

It’s the same thing with Black Panther. It’s again about serving an underserved market, not going into it as a charity or checking a box. Rihanna happens to be a celebrity, but it’s about the fact that she got the money to open that door, because we don’t get the money to open those doors. There are a ton of us out there who know where a lot more doors are. 

How have VCs continued to raise the ceiling for Black founders and lower the floor for privileged entrepreneurs?

A lot of times, you have one person who has $336 million and another person who is struggling to put everything together. In a field where you’re judged by daily active users, one person might have 10,000 people, and the other person with $336 million might have 10 million people, but you’re being judged by the same metrics.

So investors will say, “Well, we’re gonna go find a Black Jason Goldberg with 10 million users,” and then come back and say, “Well, we didn’t find anyone with 10 million users. We found nice people who are trying really hard with maybe 10,000 users, so we’re now going to take this money that you’ve allocated specifically for them and go put it somewhere else.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find an entrepreneur with 10 million users or generating that much revenue because the seed hasn’t been planted to allow them to get to this high ceiling. You can’t compare oranges and apples in that way, and that’s another system that’s in place to make sure no new entrants get in there and justify continuing the status quo.

What about the argument that there is a pipeline issue when it comes to Black and brown talent and skillset? 

People are graduating. People are coding. People have ideas. Knowledge is not genetically encoded into people, it is acquired. It’s just about the right opportunity. People are going to go where they’re valued. When you look at a company like Facebook, and you don’t see one single Black face on their board or their leadership retreat they’re posting pictures of, you’re not going to want to go there. It’s not a pipeline problem. It’s just a blockage at the entrance keeping minorities from coming in.

Is most of this unconscious bias, or something worse?

It’s baffling to many people why the diversity gap in business is not closing, because you have companies that are saying, “Hey, help us close the gap.” But somehow the bridge is not being built. We have made a lot of progress, but not far enough. There’s still a lot of redlining of black entrepreneurs, even at the growth stage. A lot of black founders will build the company, people are excited about it, and when it’s time to go from seed to growth, you’ll see the headline, “Bubl raises X, then Sean Ramsay out” or, “Kairos secures Y then Brian Brackeen out or “Hopstop raises Z, Chinedu Echeruo out.” It’s a redlining. When you like the food but you don’t like the farmer, you want to come and take the farm and put the farmer out, and it happens over and over again. 

Related: The First-Ever Live, Virtual Reality Comedy Special Could Only Happen Now

What is the very next step I should take if I want to make more money with a wider variety of founders?

There are two ways to look at investing in underrepresented communities: It’s a great opportunity to open up new markets or a way to sustain and take care of your current customers. Imagine if the top Black athletes, influencers and musicians with more than one billion followers combined left the platforms that don’t have any Black people in their leadership or have racist algorithms and went to platforms where they’re valued and appreciated? People are sick and tired of dealing with “isms.” They simply want a fair chance, but if they are kept from accessing heaven here on earth, they’ll raise hell.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/a-brief-guide-to-letting-black-entrepreneurs-be-entrepreneurs/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/623041039743205376

[scpie]

A Brief Guide to Letting Black Entrepreneurs Be Entrepreneurs

July 1, 2020 8 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In today’s global economy, racism is not only ignorant, it’s costly. Just ask Facebook, which has lost billions in advertising revenue amid calls to eliminate hateful rhetoric from its platform.

Hopefully, this will ring the alarm bell for others who are snoozing under the blanket of “business as usual.” People are not just going to go away quietly this time. If they’ve been willing to risk their lives during a pandemic to protest for equal rights, the uprising will continue. It’s time for a real shift, and that includes a genuine effort to nurture and elevate Black founders to a position where they can access the capital needed to introduce new and profitable ideas to the marketplace.

The sticking point is that too many companies and investors view supporting Black entrepreneurs as a matter of social impact or charity, rather than good business sense. What needs to happen now is for those who control the purse strings and equitably spreading the wealth cease viewing business in black and white and simply let an entrepreneur be an entrepreneur. 

In the interest of hastening change, I’ve laid out answers to several questions even the most well-intentioned would-be allies might be asking themselves. The moment to let Black entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs begins now.

Related: It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist to Solve the Racism Problem in Business

What do you mean when you say, “Let a Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur”?

The message is: Let the Black entrepreneur be an entrepreneur, not somebody you think you’re giving charity to. It’s business. A lot of times, when you’re Black, that precedes everything, but when you think of a great painter, you don’t say it’s a great white painter. You just say it’s a great painter. 

Is donating to organizations for Black causes the same as investing in Black entrepreneurs?

A lot of businesses, when looking to close the diversity gap, say, “Oh, well we’re going to do a charitable donation or give to a nonprofit.” But we’re bringing in opportunity. See the person as an entrepreneur, not a charity case. Give the funds to the black founders so that they can build their companies. An example of this thinking is a well-known VC, Jason Calacanis, who invested in the likes of Uber and Calm and recently posted on Twitter that he is going to hire engineers to build a Facebook clone and donate the proceeds to black founders. This thinking assumes that black founders: A) are not engineers and B) are charity. 

These funds that will take all this money that Google, Pay Pal and SoftBank want to use to solve the issue need to invest directly in the black founders. Otherwise, what they’re saying is, “We don’t want to give the money to you.” The people putting these funds up for VCs to distribute need to understand that what they’re coming back to them with is a bunch of baloney.

How can I better ensure funds meant to nurture Black businesses are being best put to use?

My solution is for the Googles and PayPals and SoftBanks to make sure that when they’re dealing with the VCs who are going to be in charge of the money they decided to set aside for Black businesses, to treat the businesses as an opportunity that’s coming to them.

If SpaceX is an opportunity, you’re going to put massive amounts of money there. If it’s an act of charity, you’re going to put $5,000. If I’m Google, I say to Andreessen Horowitz and all these other companies that I want them to find companies unlocking opportunities within these communities. Then, they cannot come back with excuses to take these funds and put them somewhere else. When you invest in underrepresented founders, automatically, they’re going to open doors for you to places you are not even aware are there.

What’s an example of lucrative black opportunities that narrow-minded business leaders and investors missed out on?

Forever and ever, we’ve been saying that when you go to the makeup aisle, you get a powder that’s too light for your face or too dark for your face, so people have to improvise at home by mixing. You have a whole market, but no one was listening. Rihanna said, “You know what? I see my mom doing that, and I have to do that myself,” so she launched Fenty Beauty, which has completely transformed the industry, and now everyone’s running to catch up.

It’s the same thing with Black Panther. It’s again about serving an underserved market, not going into it as a charity or checking a box. Rihanna happens to be a celebrity, but it’s about the fact that she got the money to open that door, because we don’t get the money to open those doors. There are a ton of us out there who know where a lot more doors are. 

How have VCs continued to raise the ceiling for Black founders and lower the floor for privileged entrepreneurs?

A lot of times, you have one person who has $336 million and another person who is struggling to put everything together. In a field where you’re judged by daily active users, one person might have 10,000 people, and the other person with $336 million might have 10 million people, but you’re being judged by the same metrics.

So investors will say, “Well, we’re gonna go find a Black Jason Goldberg with 10 million users,” and then come back and say, “Well, we didn’t find anyone with 10 million users. We found nice people who are trying really hard with maybe 10,000 users, so we’re now going to take this money that you’ve allocated specifically for them and go put it somewhere else.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find an entrepreneur with 10 million users or generating that much revenue because the seed hasn’t been planted to allow them to get to this high ceiling. You can’t compare oranges and apples in that way, and that’s another system that’s in place to make sure no new entrants get in there and justify continuing the status quo.

What about the argument that there is a pipeline issue when it comes to Black and brown talent and skillset? 

People are graduating. People are coding. People have ideas. Knowledge is not genetically encoded into people, it is acquired. It’s just about the right opportunity. People are going to go where they’re valued. When you look at a company like Facebook, and you don’t see one single Black face on their board or their leadership retreat they’re posting pictures of, you’re not going to want to go there. It’s not a pipeline problem. It’s just a blockage at the entrance keeping minorities from coming in.

Is most of this unconscious bias, or something worse?

It’s baffling to many people why the diversity gap in business is not closing, because you have companies that are saying, “Hey, help us close the gap.” But somehow the bridge is not being built. We have made a lot of progress, but not far enough. There’s still a lot of redlining of black entrepreneurs, even at the growth stage. A lot of black founders will build the company, people are excited about it, and when it’s time to go from seed to growth, you’ll see the headline, “Bubl raises X, then Sean Ramsay out” or, “Kairos secures Y then Brian Brackeen out or “Hopstop raises Z, Chinedu Echeruo out.” It’s a redlining. When you like the food but you don’t like the farmer, you want to come and take the farm and put the farmer out, and it happens over and over again. 

Related: The First-Ever Live, Virtual Reality Comedy Special Could Only Happen Now

What is the very next step I should take if I want to make more money with a wider variety of founders?

There are two ways to look at investing in underrepresented communities: It’s a great opportunity to open up new markets or a way to sustain and take care of your current customers. Imagine if the top Black athletes, influencers and musicians with more than one billion followers combined left the platforms that don’t have any Black people in their leadership or have racist algorithms and went to platforms where they’re valued and appreciated? People are sick and tired of dealing with “isms.” They simply want a fair chance, but if they are kept from accessing heaven here on earth, they’ll raise hell.

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source http://www.scpie.org/a-brief-guide-to-letting-black-entrepreneurs-be-entrepreneurs/

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Fairness vs Access

Access and Fairness are not the same thing.

From the court system, “All persons will have equal access to the courts and court proceedings and programs. Court procedures will be fair and understandable to court users. Members of the judicial branch community will strive to understand and be responsive to the needs of court users from diverse cultural backgrounds. The makeup of California's judicial branch will reflect the diversity of the state's residents.”  

Even though we are all human, we come with many different abilities, we have focused our education and training on specific skillsets needed for a particular career.  We are expected to advance from being an apprentice to a senior position. Many factors can cause a change in a person’s career path over time.  Such as finding the perfect type of work for yourself, becoming stuck in a dead end job due to circumstances beyond your control, making a horizontal transition to another career path, finding that your career no longer exists due to a disrupted technology advancement.  Depending on the circumstances surrounding your life’s journey, there are many factors that may make access to a job seem unfair.

As I had wrote before, sometimes the only job you can get, is the one you create yourself.  But, setting that aside, let’s continue reviewing the difference between a fair interview process and having access to a job opportunity. 

Access to Job Opportunities

“Do you have access to job opportunities?”  This question is not about the opportunities you want, but he opportunities you could take.  Many employers use this same statement when delegating work and motivating you to do it, “If you don’t like the work I’m giving you, there is always someone else to do the work, and you can go work somewhere else!”  Many politicians at different levels also use this statement as well.  “If you can’t find the work you want here, move. Maybe you can find it somewhere else!”  

These perspectives on access to earning a living, become problematic as more managers and politicians feel empowered to mistreat people, and force problems of joblessness onto another county, state, or country.  In a capitalist society, this becomes known as a seller’s market or a buyer’s market depending on which way the market has more resources.  Or lack of.

But, in specific terms, access to a job comes through the Job Boards, where jobs are posted. Anyone and everyone who feels that they are capable of doing the work are allowed to apply.  However, management has to come up with a way to determine which job applicants are the best qualified to execute the tasks they will be given.

For this we begin looking at fair hiring practices.

Being Fair

Access to a job doesn’t stop after you have applied for the job. It’s in play all the way through your employment history with the company that employed you.

Let me explain from a different perspective.  Let’s say you choose to open your own restaurant.  In the restaurant you are allowed to choose the types of food you serve, and how you serve it, and how the patrons must behave while at the restaurant. It’s called, “Customer experience.”  Your restaurant doesn’t have to provide everything that all the other restaurants do, in fact you are allowed to differentiate your restaurant from all the others.  But your restaurant has a few amenities that every other restaurant must have.

First, your restaurant must have a door for patrons to enter. It must prepare food in conditions that are sanitary.  Depending on it’s size, it must provide seating, and lavatory facilities.  Let’s assume that these are the basic requirements for all restaurants.  Just as a job posting has it’s own requirements for the work that must be done and how.

Now, here is a questions, does your restaurant have the right to restrict who it serves?  The lowest restrictions could be: Shoes and Shirt.  If you are not wearing shoes and a shirt, you can be denied service, due to health reasons.  Then, there is being a nuisance, if you’re being a nuisance, you can be asked to leave.  Another reason why someone might be denied access, is based on the privilege to enter the restaurant - such as needing to be a member of the restaurant's society.  Or, you may have to wear a specific type of dress. Another way to look at this, is the restaurant has a “Code of Conduct!”.

Barring these factors, “Code of Conduct”, where a restaurant may not choose to exclude patrons is based on the protected classes.  A protected class is someone who is:  disabled requires accommodations, gender, age, ethnicity, income, personal and professional affiliations, or profession.

Available Jobs

Keeping with the restaurant theme, let’s look at the different types of work a restaurant has available.

Table Busser Chief Bottle Washer

Greeter

Waiter

Head Chef

Cashier

Restaurant Manager

Restaurant Owner

Again, keeping the list short, for the purposes of this article, let’s look at the different types of tasks that each member is in charge of.  They are ordered based on the amount of interaction they have with the patrons and public.  The more interaction, the greater the chance that the reputation of the restaurant may be tarnished by an inappropriate action.  Thus as you are trusted to treat patrons and public properly, you are allowed to move up the chain of command.

The table busser is charged with clearing tables that have been used by patrons, and insuring that they are returned to a specific state to reset the restaurant’s experience.

The chief bottle washer is charged with washing everything used in the restaurant that is recycled through the restaurant - such as pots and pans, cutlery, dishes, and so forth.

The greeter is charged with insuring that the patron is dressed properly, that there is a place for the patron to sit, based on factors the management has provided (maybe disabled people are seated at specific tables), taking reservations, and ensuring that everyone is seated in an orderly fashion.

The waiter is charged with providing water when a patron is seated, seeing to their order, and ensuring that their order meets their expectations when delivered.

The head chef is charged with preparing the order as described to the waiter in a timely fashion.

Cashier is charged with collecting the funds from the patron based the meal they ordered, and how well it met their expectations.

The restaurant manager is charged with ordering supplies, managing the books, insuring everyone is paid on time, and resolving conflicts between the patron and wait staff, should a meal not meet the expectations of the patron.

The restaurant owner is charged with maintain a positive cash flow for the restaurant, building relationships with various organizations, and promoting the restaurant to the general public to attract business.

What does this have to do with access to opportunities and fairness. Many companies start with requirements such as these.  Simple, job descriptions of what they are looking for, then tack on 2 additional requirements that are not stated.

The requirements usually fall into these 3 categories:

Technical

Cultural

Motivational

As mentioned though, there is a hidden requirement.  Employers in the restaurant industry may be implicitly, explicitly, or intuitively seeing how well you interact with the public. The better this interaction, the better your ability to serve the restaurant.  However, this could also threaten other staff, based on the fact that you may not have put int the time they have.  If you are entering the chain of command, without having worked up the chain, then you are interrupting someone’s aspirations to become a restaurant manager.

Career Paths

When looking at access and fairness, we often look at the career path of the individual entering a prospective job.  Supposedly, if everyone is equal, then you should be able to horizontally transfer from one position to another and keep your career path going.  But if your career path doesn’t mesh with the companies established career path, then the company may not consider you a viable candidate, as you are using them as a stepping stone.

What is motivating you to work for our company?  How will you improve the patron’s experience when they patronize us with their orders? Will you get bored doing this work, after a period of time, since it’s simple and doesn’t require you to solve complex problems?  How soon will you leave the company? How much time will the company invest in you to improve your skills?

There are many different ways to build your career path.  Most involve some schooling. And depending on what career path you choose, you will require quite a bit to schooling.  For example, those that studying various types of restaurants and patron behaviors, would require extensive knowledge in both restaurants and in research techniques.  As well as the requirements needed to publish their results.

But as mentioned, career paths can be interrupted by technology.  What happens to the chief bottle washers job, when a dish washer is installed?  This requires a bit of training to learn to operate properly. Instead of just running hot water and adding soap, and using a scrub brush to wash the dishes, now the restaurant can process more dishes faster, and insure cleaner dishes.  

The chief chef’s job could be interrupted by the advent of prepared foods and microwaves.  The restaurant may choose to limit their offerings to food that is created and prepared through a corporate office.  

Or the corporate office may choose to build relationships with local grocers in order to create a larger brand name for themselves.  Mari Colander, is such an example.  This could both weaken or strengthen the restaurant as more people may want to experience the food as served in the restaurant, or they may choose to eat at home to have a personal experience by mixing the restaurant’s offerings in a private environment.

My point being that a career path falls into the same problem that I expressed earlier,  “If you can’t find the work you want here, move. Maybe you can find it somewhere else!”  

Access vs Fairness

While employers may be looking for specific skills, how are they supposed to determine if you can complete the task? This is why many people choose to become the owners of companies, vs the employees, so that they can control the hiring and firing of people, the experience their patrons have, and more. However, they are left with only their own experiences to determine how to manage the problems that arise in running a business.

Thus, this perpetuates the same old problem, “There is the right way, the wrong way, and my way!”  Unfortunately, “My Way!” happens to be shaped less and less by educated moves, and more and more by legal challenges brought forth by various parties as employees, prospective and former employees, as well as patrons.  And, then every now and then, the politicians get into the game by reshaping the rules of how restaurants should be maintained.

The rules of how a restaurant should be maintained, is what is known as, “The ability to enter a market”  As a prospective restaurant owner, you have to file for the appropriate permits to run a restaurant. And, then you have to maintain those permits.  These are “Barriers to Entry!”

Just as an employer must determine if you are fit to complete the task given to you, so much the general public trust that your restaurant is fit to serve them.  If it is not, then who are the responsible parties that allowed your restaurant to have cockroaches in the refrigerator, that caused food poisoning of many elderly patrons, who are now hospitalized, and not only preparing to file lawsuit but also destroying the reputation of your restaurant and the industry as well.

The Conversation

The point I am trying to make is that while you have access to many different jobs, the methods employed may not be fair to judge whether or not you are fit for the task.  And, it may require advanced degrees to help you see how certain practices are unfair.

This is the point I made in the previous post.  The test you are given, may not fairly test your abilities as a restaurant manager, if you have been intuitively running a successful restaurant.  Vs. someone who has recently graduated with a degree in being a restaurant manager, and knows all the factors involved.  Thus one test may test for knowledge of the factors, while another test may test for your experience in knowing how to monitor and manage those factors, while another test may look at your ability to handle various complex situations that arise while being a restaurant manager.

I’ve only listed 3 different types of test in this example for just a restaurant manager.  Think of how difficult the tests become, when you are the patient trying to figure out which heart surgeon to entrust your life to.  Is it he one with the most successes, or is it the one who know’s the latest techniques in least invasive transfer, that keep infections down, and speed recovery?

This conversation, is not new, but it is worth exploring further to insure that you are being tested fairly for the position you are applying for.  Unless you want to work at a position that is beneath your capabilities, and derails your career path.  Or you could choose to start your own business.

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AI and predictive analytics: What does the future hold?

Advances in AI and predictive analytics will have ramifications beyond business’s technological capabilities. Organizations will face new challenges in terms of skills, implementation and more. How can marketers prepare for change?

In this series we have seen how the evolutionary progress of the analytics industry leads naturally to the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to create accurate predictive models.

In the first article, we explored the potential for AI and predictive analytics as marketing tools, driven by technological improvements that have moved from rule-based automation to something closer to sentience. We see examples of this everywhere, from apps like Google’s Waze, to financial fraud protection and the personalized recommendations on Amazon.

The second article of the series was grounded in concrete use cases for this technology, showcasing a wide variety of businesses that have used machine learning and AI to predict consumer behaviors and create better business outcomes. These opportunities are open to all companies now, but seizing them is a more complex task than merely purchasing some new software.

The third and final article of our series will focus on the future of predictive analytics and the challenges the industry faces.

Implementation challenges

Although it may seem inevitable that such a powerful business tool will be adopted en masse, the reality is more nuanced than that. Executives want smarter, faster decisions, but there is something of a high wire trapeze act in the balancing of data, people, and technology when it comes to transforming a business to an AI-driven predictive analytics model.

Implementing this technology requires an ideological shift for businesses, not just capital investment, and staff training from the ground up in data analytics is imperative.

This comes at a time when executive confidence in their organization’s digital expertise appears to be dropping. The most recent Digital IQ survey from PwC shows a decline in executives’ confidence in their team’s abilities:

The level of expertise is not falling away; the industry simply changes so quickly that staff are not keeping up.

Therefore, if AI-driven predictive analytics is to assume a central position in the CIO/CMO’s toolbox, a few substantial hurdles will need to be overcome.

Within this final part of our series on predictive analytics, we will outline some of the challenges facing this industry in future, before discussing the solutions businesses can start to implement today.

Data quality

In a recent survey of senior executives by Protoviti, data ranked as the greatest inhibitor of widespread adoption of predictive analytics within companies. Quality was one of the foremost modifiers used to add specificity to a term as nebulous as ‘data’.

Even ‘quality’ requires some further definition before we can decide on how to tackle such a gargantuan challenge.

High quality data will be consistent in its format (even at significant scale), reflective of the real world scenario it describes, and will enable reliable, reproducible research.

We can take as our example a data set of train departures from Waterloo from 2010-2014 that contains gaps across timeframes and uses inconsistent naming conventions. Humans struggle with gaps in data sets like this, but we can adapt and perhaps even procure the data from elsewhere. Artificial intelligence simply can’t work with incomplete data like this, as it can only work with what is fed into the system.

The best AI technologies in the world can only make use of the data we provide, so it is crucial that businesses are aware of these potential pitfalls and know how to avoid them. More data typically means better results from AI-driven predictive analytics, but it needs to be the right data to answer the business problem you aim to solve.

Having the right team in place is a great way to start on that path.

Recruiting and training for the right skills

Predictive analytics technology is growing in sophistication, but the level of knowledge within the industry is not necessarily advancing at the same pace.

A Capgemini report found that 77% of companies see the lack of the right skills as the biggest hurdle to successful digital transformation:

A ClickZ report went deeper to identify the skills areas that were most desirable, compared to their current level of sophistication within organizations.

It was no surprise to see analytics ranked as the most important skill, given its potential for use in every marketing function. It was perhaps a little more surprising to see analytics as the area with the biggest skills gap.

Source: ClickZ

Analytics encompasses a variety of techniques and types of data investigation. Most analytical work undertaken today falls under the banner of either descriptive (what happened?) or exploratory (why did it happen?).

Although the skill level needed to operate the technology behind future predictive analytics systems will likely lower over time, businesses still need to ensure their staff have detailed knowledge of data analytics before investing in some new, exciting artificial intelligence systems.

Luckily, there are plentiful resources and qualifications to aid with this training, as long as businesses are willing to invest. Both theory and practice should be considered fundamental components of this training.

In Analytics: How to Win with Intelligence, the authors posit that an analytics Center of Excellence should be formed in larger companies, with the department head reporting to the CTO:

The aim of this approach is to give analytics a clearly defined base from which its experts can can teach others within the organization.

We can look at this from another perspective, however. Not everyone on a marketing team needs to know the internal workings of an analytics platform in order to benefit from it. This becomes increasingly true as these platforms become dependent on machine learning to create predictive models.

Regardless: a broad knowledge base is still essential. Without having the ability to ask the right questions or to know what the technology is capable of (and what it isn’t capable of), the outputs will not be fit for purpose.

There is therefore a growing school of thought that liberal arts backgrounds will be an increasingly important complement to statisticians and engineers. The capacity to pose the right questions as the frame for a hypothesis and then to investigate the findings will be essential, as will the softer skills required to present them to senior stakeholders.

In essence, it takes a village to get analytics right nowadays. But ensuring the quality of your data is fit for purpose and that you have a balance of skillsets in your analytics team is a great start.

Data management

There is no shortage of data in the modern age, and the quantities will only increase as Internet of Things (IoT) devices continue to make their way into homes across the world.

Every company has a potentially lucrative source of proprietary and third-party data at their fingertips. Cloud-based solutions, which can store data remotely in huge quantities, go some way to answering the question of where data should be kept.

However, even if a business uses a data warehouse like Hadoop, the information still needs to be transferred to an analytics platform and transformed into insights via statistical models.

The question of how exactly to ensure that analytics platforms and AI systems keep up remains a puzzle for many businesses.

There are other challenges with data management, too – from data mining to storage and ultimately to transforming the information into useful insight.  

A 2013 paper by scientists from George Washington University and American University, entitled Big Data: Issues and Challenges Moving Forward, summarized these potential issues:

With the upcoming launch of the EU’s GDPR regulation, these questions are more important than ever before. It is a business’s responsibility to ensure that all data is compliant with local laws and to dispose safely of data that does not comply.

If one thing is for certain, we cannot leave it to AI to make these calls. AI predictive models will assess whatever historical data is presented to them and, should a company notice later that erroneous data was fed into their AI analytics platform, any conclusions it reached will have to be ruled invalid.

Retracing the steps of such complex calculations and debugging any unwanted variables would prove an impossible task. As a result, any businesses planning to feed big data into an AI-based predictive model should be cautious with their data sources.

Image: Wikimedia

Accountability

This category serves as an umbrella term for a range of minor – but still important – challenges.

AI and predictive analytics have clearly defined and important roles in industries such as healthcare. 80% of hospital leaders view this field as “important”, and it’s easy to see why. Any tool that can spot historical patterns related to diseases and predict their future behavior will prove invaluable in this field.

The case is not quite so clear-cut when applied to marketing. Undoubtedly, we could all benefit from accurate predictions based on the past. That applies to all of society, in fact.

However, there is an argument that predictive modeling has some limitations in an industry that thrives on new ideas. The temptation with sophisticated AI systems and predictive models is to cede control and stick to what we know will continue to deliver growth.

Additionally, predictive analytics can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We see that a certain message, product, or audience segment is projected to convert at a higher rate, so we shift budget to capitalize on this. If the prediction comes to pass, is that because the prediction was accurate, or because we acted to make it accurate?

Finally, we should consider the role of human creativity in this process. As we discussed in our article on AI-driven content creation, the human capacity to innovate and devise new, creative solutions is one that AI cannot quite master yet. As such, we need to use technology to free up our teams to make the most of their ability to strategize for the long term.

As with any AI technology, one of the most crucial factors for success is the role that people will play to get the most out of the tools at their disposal. Looking specifically at predictive analytics, this means ensuring the right balance between quality data, the best technology, and people with the ability to know the technology’s limitations.

This concludes our three-part series on AI and predictive analytics. If you missed the previous two installments, follow the links below for a recap:

How can AI allow marketers to predict the future?

5 businesses using AI to predict the future and profit

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How To Jumpstart Your Career In The Creative Industry

If you’re stuck in a non-creative job that you completely uninspiring, the idea of becoming a professional designer and working for yourself while creating beautiful projects for interesting clients might seem like a fantasy. But

thanks to the practically infinite number of educational resources online, becoming a professional creative is now more accessible than ever.

  No matter how many resources the internet has to offer, the process can still seem daunting. So we spoke with two of the design mentors at RookieUp to hear how they transitioned into the creative industry and to get their tips and pointers for finding your creative niche and developing your skills. Danielle Eastberg was a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin and is now a Visual UX Designer at Audible. Caryle Cunniff was a professional Irish Dancer before attending a UX Bootcamp and landing a job as a Senior UX Designer at Amazon.

Danielle Eastberg

Find your creative passion and jump in head first

The first thing you should do is explore what areas of the creative world you’re naturally drawn to. Watch YouTube videos and online courses about visual design, UX design, Illustration, and more to find the creative skillset that appeals to you the most. Think about why you’re interested in a creative career and hone in on what field will let you focus on that interest. Are you fascinated by the impact that a logo can have on your perception of a brand, or do you get most excited when the User Experience of a new app is elegant and intuitive?

Danielle “was filling up [her] nights and weekends learning Photoshop and web design, taking weekend workshops and teaching [herself] online.” She knew that design was something she was passionate about so she “set up a plan to save money and within a year, [she] left [her] job and went back to school at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.” Carlye took a slightly different educational path, instead of applying to a bootcamp at General Assembly. “[she] was fortunate enough to take a 3-month intensive UX Design Bootcamp program with General Assembly. This type of learning environment allowed [her] to completely focus on learning the new skills [she] needed, and forced [her] to jump into the new career – even if that leap way scary.”

Danielle Eastberg

Spend as much time as you can surrounded by experienced creatives

No matter how many courses you take online, studies show that the most effective way to learn is through 1-1 education with experienced professionals in your field. Having someone nearby that you can receive feedback from is hugely impactful, especially when you’re just getting started. Danielle emphasizes this point: “Be around other designers! Having teachers and mentors who know what to look for and know what feedback to give you are incredible when you are starting out. You also start learning how to have a “design eye” and everything can become inspiration.”

Create! Create! Create!

Do as many projects as you possibly can in order to build a portfolio. It doesn’t need to be client work, but it should be as varied as possible so you can grow different skills and show potential clients your breadth of experience. According to Danielle, “of course a portfolio is great, but it doesn’t have to be work from a specific company or client. Concept work (any project you make up and explore on your own) is great to show your skills and have discussion points of your interests.”

  Be sure to challenge yourself when coming up with new projects. Pick a problem you see and try to solve it rather than just doing the same type of practice projects over and over. Danielle says that she would “rather see someone with critical design skills than someone with a long client list.”

Immerse yourself in the language of your creative field

Portfolio work is crucial, but being able to confidently speak in the language of your new field could make the difference between winning or losing a new client. Surrounding yourself with people in your field can help with this, but if you don’t live in a city with an active creative community, try to become an active contributor in online design communities like this and this.

  According to Danielle, “the most helpful thing was to build a design vocabulary so that [she] could speak intelligently during interviews. Companies will often give you a work sample and ask you what to improve—you need to practice a lot to be able to see and give those pointers on the spot.” Carlye agrees, suggesting that you “need to have a portfolio, and real-world experience will certainly help, but I think more important is your ability to translate your former job skills into your new field. You can learn Photoshop and interaction design, but those skills are worthless if you are a poor communicator or can’t work with ambiguity.”

Find a mentor

Having an experienced person you can turn to with questions, requests for feedback, and frustration is one of the most important—and difficult—things to think about when you’re learning a new creative skill. If you live in a city with a creative community, check out your local Meetups to meet relevant design professionals. Some cities even have AIGA chapters with official mentorship programs. You can also reach out to people in the industry you respect to ask if they’d be willing to give you feedback or advice. If you’re having trouble finding a mentor in your area, you can find a community of mentors on RookieUp to help guide your creative journey.

Carlye’s creative education was significantly improved by mentors:

“My instructors at General Assembly both served as amazing mentors for me during the process. I literally came to class the first day, surrounded by people who were switching from careers in Product Management or Visual Design – I couldn’t even draw a rectangle in Photoshop, so it seemed like they were all miles ahead of me. My instructors were incredibly encouraging. That constant belief that I was going to be fine did wonders for my motivation.”

Caryle Cunniff

Take risks. Don’t be afraid of failure.

  Finally, it’s important to remember that risk-taking is a part of the process. Entering a new field alongside people with decades of experience can be terrifying, but remember that everyone was in your shoes at some point. The only way to get better is to apply yourself to your new skill and try to learn as much as possible from the people around you. Danielle’s favorite quote is “Jump, and the net will appear.” She emphasized that “changing careers can be scary and it’s not always a linear path to happiness, but things do have a way of working out. The resources are there for you if you want them. Why not answer those “what ifs” and find out what you’re made of?”

Carlye “struggled with the idea that [she] was not ready to be a designer throughout the process of making a career switch. [She] still struggle with that imposter syndrome at times, even in the position [she’s] in now. Design, by definition, is problem-solving, so every time [she’s] given a new problem [she] panics a little bit. But it always gets solved, that’s what is so fun about design. That panic is part of the process, so when you’re learning, try and embrace it.

So if you’re ready to make the move, dive in head first! The worst thing that can happen is that you learn a new skill or hobby, and the best thing that can happen is that you find a new lifelong passion that you can grow into a successful career. If you want to talk with someone who’s been in your shoes before and can help you accomplish all of your creative goals, check out RookieUp. To chat with the mentors featured in this article, book a session with Danielle here and Carlye here.

Read More at How To Jumpstart Your Career In The Creative Industry

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How To Jumpstart Your Career In The Creative Industry

If you’re stuck in a non-creative job that you completely uninspiring, the idea of becoming a professional designer and working for yourself while creating beautiful projects for interesting clients might seem like a fantasy. But thanks to the practically infinite number of educational resources online, becoming a professional creative is now more accessible than ever.   No matter how many resources the internet has to offer, the process can still seem daunting. So we spoke with two of the design mentors at RookieUp to hear how they transitioned into the creative industry and to get their tips and pointers for finding your creative niche and developing your skills. Danielle Eastberg was a systems engineer at Lockheed Martin and is now a Visual UX Designer at Audible. Caryle Cunniff was a professional Irish Dancer before attending a UX Bootcamp and landing a job as a Senior UX Designer at Amazon. Danielle Eastberg Find your creative passion and jump in head first The first thing you should do is explore what areas of the creative world you’re naturally drawn to. Watch YouTube videos and online courses about visual design, UX design, Illustration, and more to find the creative skillset that appeals to you the most. Think about why you’re interested in a creative career and hone in on what field will let you focus on that interest. Are you fascinated by the impact that a logo can have on your perception of a brand, or do you get most excited when the User Experience of a new app is elegant and intuitive? Danielle “was filling up [her] nights and weekends learning Photoshop and web design, taking weekend workshops and teaching [herself] online.” She knew that design was something she was passionate about so she “set up a plan to save money and within a year, [she] left [her] job and went back to school at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.” Carlye took a slightly different educational path, instead of applying to a bootcamp at General Assembly. “[she] was fortunate enough to take a 3-month intensive UX Design Bootcamp program with General Assembly. This type of learning environment allowed [her] to completely focus on learning the new skills [she] needed, and forced [her] to jump into the new career – even if that leap way scary.” Danielle Eastberg Spend as much time as you can surrounded by experienced creatives No matter how many courses you take online, studies show that the most effective way to learn is through 1-1 education with experienced professionals in your field. Having someone nearby that you can receive feedback from is hugely impactful, especially when you’re just getting started. Danielle emphasizes this point: “Be around other designers! Having teachers and mentors who know what to look for and know what feedback to give you are incredible when you are starting out. You also start learning how to have a “design eye” and everything can become inspiration.” Create! Create! Create! Do as many projects as you possibly can in order to build a portfolio. It doesn’t need to be client work, but it should be as varied as possible so you can grow different skills and show potential clients your breadth of experience. According to Danielle, “of course a portfolio is great, but it doesn’t have to be work from a specific company or client. Concept work (any project you make up and explore on your own) is great to show your skills and have discussion points of your interests.”   Be sure to challenge yourself when coming up with new projects. Pick a problem you see and try to solve it rather than just doing the same type of practice projects over and over. Danielle says that she would “rather see someone with critical design skills than someone with a long client list.” Immerse yourself in the language of your creative field Portfolio work is crucial, but being able to confidently speak in the language of your new field could make the difference between winning or losing a new client. Surrounding yourself with people in your field can help with this, but if you don’t live in a city with an active creative community, try to become an active contributor in online design communities like this and this.   According to Danielle, “the most helpful thing was to build a design vocabulary so that [she] could speak intelligently during interviews. Companies will often give you a work sample and ask you what to improve—you need to practice a lot to be able to see and give those pointers on the spot.” Carlye agrees, suggesting that you “need to have a portfolio, and real-world experience will certainly help, but I think more important is your ability to translate your former job skills into your new field. You can learn Photoshop and interaction design, but those skills are worthless if you are a poor communicator or can’t work with ambiguity.” Find a mentor Having an experienced person you can turn to with questions, requests for feedback, and frustration is one of the most important—and difficult—things to think about when you’re learning a new creative skill. If you live in a city with a creative community, check out your local Meetups to meet relevant design professionals. Some cities even have AIGA chapters with official mentorship programs. You can also reach out to people in the industry you respect to ask if they’d be willing to give you feedback or advice. If you’re having trouble finding a mentor in your area, you can find a community of mentors on RookieUp to help guide your creative journey. Carlye’s creative education was significantly improved by mentors: “My instructors at General Assembly both served as amazing mentors for me during the process. I literally came to class the first day, surrounded by people who were switching from careers in Product Management or Visual Design – I couldn’t even draw a rectangle in Photoshop, so it seemed like they were all miles ahead of me. My instructors were incredibly encouraging. That constant belief that I was going to be fine did wonders for my motivation.” Caryle Cunniff Take risks. Don’t be afraid of failure.   Finally, it’s important to remember that risk-taking is a part of the process. Entering a new field alongside people with decades of experience can be terrifying, but remember that everyone was in your shoes at some point. The only way to get better is to apply yourself to your new skill and try to learn as much as possible from the people around you. Danielle’s favorite quote is “Jump, and the net will appear.” She emphasized that “changing careers can be scary and it’s not always a linear path to happiness, but things do have a way of working out. The resources are there for you if you want them. Why not answer those “what ifs” and find out what you’re made of?” Carlye “struggled with the idea that [she] was not ready to be a designer throughout the process of making a career switch. [She] still struggle with that imposter syndrome at times, even in the position [she’s] in now. Design, by definition, is problem-solving, so every time [she’s] given a new problem [she] panics a little bit. But it always gets solved, that’s what is so fun about design. That panic is part of the process, so when you’re learning, try and embrace it. So if you’re ready to make the move, dive in head first! The worst thing that can happen is that you learn a new skill or hobby, and the best thing that can happen is that you find a new lifelong passion that you can grow into a successful career. If you want to talk with someone who’s been in your shoes before and can help you accomplish all of your creative goals, check out RookieUp. To chat with the mentors featured in this article, book a session with Danielle here and Carlye here. Read More at How To Jumpstart Your Career In The Creative Industry http://dlvr.it/NqkBhc www.regulardomainname.com