#anyway we have a date scheduled on the weekend but we didnt say what were doing or what day specifically

[faaun]

anyway i think this isn't going to end up being anything

[kings-highway]

some safe-for-work headcanons regarding how they might of gone about having sex for the first time for some of my favouritr haikyuu ships:

daisuga: look you know these bitches had it scheduled. not like a meticulous planned thing, but it was definitely something they knew was going to happen in advance. Like they talked about it, agreed they both wanted it, and then 3 weeks later Suga's parents go away for the weekend and they know like a solid week in advance that their "hang out" on Saturday evening is basically exclusively so they can have sex. They're very prepared. This also probably makes that week of training super annoying for the team bc they cant figure out why their captains are being SO overly giggly like you are seventeen/eighteen year old men wtf is going on.

iwaoi: i've always thought they were probably way more nervous than any of their friends assumed and definitely did not have sex as early as people thought. like mattsun and makki both constantly tease them in a way that insinuates they're actively having sex but they probably didnt actually do it until like... the last few months of high school. They were both just nervous! Iwa was very afraid of rushing things and doing it "wrong," and Oikawa wasnt even sure what doing it "right" would be so they had like 6 false-starts before they actually managed it.

ushiten: dorm living is not condusive to intimacy so when for the first time in like 8 months since they started dating that they have a confirmed evening with a locked dorm alone they end up making out for just a crazy amount of time. Tendou is too nervous to actually move anything forward because he's too anxious over the possibility of rejection but he keeps making these weird half-insinuations like "haha I cant believe nobody's going to be back for another four hours... we could do anything and get away with it... isnt that so funny... like nobody would know if we were making out or having sex or just reading a book... haha... isnt that crazy... me and you..." and he's all weird and twitchy about it until Ushijima tells him he doesn't think the idea of them having sex is crazy at all and then it is on immediately.

kuroken: highkey, kuroo probably lays out like a whole romantic, corny ass evening with candles and rose petals and is prepared to have a whole long conversation about being "ready" and Kenma just sort of rolls his eyes and is like "have you finished talking? this is Too Much. I need you to understand this is Too Much. Oh my god I love you but WOW." (it works anyway and Kenma is sufficient wooed).

tsukkiyama: this one might be a little out there but I genuinely think they're the most likely to have it happen by accident, or in a spontaneous moment of opportunity. Like they both intend to just take advantage of the empty house with only a bit of making out and then suddenly they're losing their clothes and it's like "we'll have a conversation about it tomorrow, im sure."

kagehina: okay this one is more stupid but I imagine after they've been dating a while Hinata is like "you know what, im ready to take the next step" but Kageyama cannot read ppl so Hinata's somewhat obvious attempts at seduction go entirely over his head, and Hinata is getting increasingly frustrated and dramatic and trying really really hard to get Kageyama to realize what he wants and it ends up causing a fight between them because Kageyama thinks Hinata is being weird and Hinata thinks Kageyama is being intentionally distant and eventually Kageyama blows up and is like "Oh my god if you want to break up or something just say so!!!" and Hinata is like "Oh my GOD I dont want to break up with you I want to have sex with you!!!" and of course that shuts everyone up and unfortunately Yachi is probably also there and wants to die.

[thelastevilregal]

oh my god you want hear about problems? i have SO many problems and my Work Therapist just moved to miami so i have a backlog

so .. back in october i accidentally. slept with my housemate uhh not realizing she had had feelings for me for like a year and a half and we ended up dating for like 2 months. i realized i wanted to break it off around thanksgiving but didnt work up the nerve until the new year partly bc i got hit by a car early december and had to get her to pick me up from the er and then she did a lot to take care of me after and. AHH.

im ok now also but. i broke up w her right after we both got back from visiting our families for xmas and i was like i HAVE to do it tonight bc we had scheduled a 'roommate mtg' w all 4 of us to confront our other bitch roommate over how shitty she was acting and i was like. if i dont do this now then our relationship is going to come up in this talk. and i cant sit and defend us while actively wanting to break up ykkkkk?? ughh i felt so bad for it but the straw that had broke the camels back with bitch roommate was that when i told her that me and ex were dating, the cunt had the nerve to pull a face and say "yikes" before slamming the bathroom door in my face. then 15 seconds later yank it open again and snark "you couldnt have said something before we moved to a new place?" i was like "bitch its been a week wtf are you talking about" and she slammed the door again. as though id been dating my ex in 'secret' for like 6 months since our last apt???? IM not the one whos weird and cagey about my sex life. bitch roommate is the one who lied to me about being a virgin for some reason and then actively hid her sex life from me for the next 4 years in order to maintain that lie, as though i give a single solitary shit who or if she fucks????

but so bitch roommate and i did not speak again until the roommate meeting. at the end of which i was like 'k ig lemme clear the air about dnd' (i had my dm kick her out of my dnd group—they are MY friends to begin with and we were starting a new campaign with a much paired down party specifically bc we didnt want roommate bs at the table. the morning after he did she TEXTED me at 6:22am like 'i know youre afraid of conflict but this is fucking weird if you have a problem say it to me' as though cheap jabs will get me to talk to you. obviously i ignored her). cunt had the nerve to go 'yeah what was that about?' as though she really had no idea what she couldve done. im like bitch wtfym what was that about?? have you not noticed we havent spoken in 2 months?? she gave a half hearted 'i guess im sorry' when i told her she had been so far out of pocket it was ridiculous.

but again. id also broken up w my ex the night before all of that. so she had been planning to micromanage the shit out of this conversation and then ended up being an emotional wreck. i felt so bad but i was like i HAD to yknow???? she said we could go back to being friends......

so that was 2 months ago now. i 'gave her space' for the first few weeks (p much avoiding being at the house like i had when i was actively avoiding bitch roommate) and its been several weeks since ive like. checked in with her emotionally. shes finally started acting more normal around me again, mostly at my queue. she watched alien with me last weekend. opposite end of the couch, where she used to lean her head on my shoulder before we dated. although actually maybe that was a romantic feelings thing?? fuck. i dont know how to know if im being like, callous by just acting like things are the same as before, or if i should be doing something different, and its hard bc we have opposite work schedules so i dont see her most days anyway and idk how to talk to her about it. we havent gone into each others bedrooms beyond talking in the doorways since breaking up, but like it feels like a conversation we need to have in private, no?? ughhhhhhh i hate this. idk how to prompt this, nor what i actually need to ask her to begin with..... just like, are we actually okay, yknow?

my old work therapist thought my problems were hilarious. like an american telanovela. i was like well at least someone is enjoying this situation :/

You know I don't think I can even give you any terrible advice for this situation. Sounds like you got that part handled. Just keep doing what you're doing 💯

[happys-crazy-queen22]

Title: Killer In Disguise

Gif credit @jasonstodds.

Requested on wattpad.

Hope you all enjoy.

Happy Reading Dollies.

"Scott, idiot this is my sister Y/N". Derek introduced you to Stiles and Scott.

"Nice to meet you guys. Heard alot about you". You eyed Stiles who was awkwardly trying not to stare at you.

"So you're going to be going to our school"?

"Right".

"Um, do you know what classes you'll be taking"? Scott nervously rubbed the back on his neck.

"I dont know for sure yet. Derek hasnt went and got my schedule yet". You nudged your big brothers arm playfully.

"I'll get them. It's the weekend, I have other matters to attend". Derek sighed rolling his eyes. He maybe your big brother but you sometimes acted like your mom. Staying on him about things. He needed someone watching his back.

"You're right, I have to get ready for school anyways. Make sure I have everything so I'm going to go". You waved bye and left.

Derek crossed his arms growling at Scott and Stiles. "Dont even think about it".

"What'd we do"? Stiles asked innocently.

"I will rip you to shreads and bury pieces of you around town. Don't even think about". Derek warned them. Derek walked away and Scott shrugged his shoulders.

"Over protective". Stiles wrapped his arm around Scott and headed home.

Monday came, you were excited but also really nervous. Before living with Derek you were homeschooled so being in highschool was scary. Were you going to fit in or make a fool of yourself the first day? It was swimming in your head not to screw up or say something stupid.

As you walked in you saw Scott and Stokes at their locker, you went over to say hello.

"Y/N, hey". Stiles spotted you before you could say anything.

"Hey".

"So how's your first day going"? Scott asked as he slipped on his back pack.

"Good I guess. I aciddently bumped into a girl with red hair and she yelled at me but other than that its okay".

"You..you bumped into Lydia Martin? Did she smell nice? I bet she smelled nice". Stiles leaned against the locker with heart eyes coming out.

"He has a major crush on her. But she won't give him the time of day and plus shes dating Jackson".

"I didn't smell her. Sorry". You chuckled as Stiles started falling from the lockers. 

"What class you got next"?

"Math".

"Hey, me too". Scott grinned.

"Great, you can show me where its at".

"See ya Stiles". You and Scott both said as Stiles jumped up acting like nothing happened and walked off.

During math class you were actually paying attention and surprisingly knowing what the teacher was talking about until you looked out of the corner of your eye and saw Lydias head tilted your way and her filing her nails as she watched you.

Yeah, she hated you. First day and already made a enemy. Great.

You tried to ignore her but she threw something at you. You didnt turn around but you could hear giggling and chuckling.

She kept doing it when the teachers back was turned. You were starting to get angry. Your knuckles started growing white as you gripped the desk. The wood started to split. Pulling your hand back you saw your nails had grown at least two inches, your hands started growing hair. Oh god, this was not happening in the middle of class.

Scott looked up from his book and saw you were freaking out trying to hide your hands in your jacket. But he noticed your teeth and your eyes. They were a amber color.

"Sppt. Y/N". Scott tried to get your attention.

You couldn't control it. You had to get out before you exploded.

Not even bothering to get the teachers permission you bolted out the door. The teacher protested. "Where is she going"?

"I think she had to take her medicine". Scott tried to cover.

"Was she okay"?

"I'll go check". Scott rushed out the door, looking down the hall he saw you stagger into a bathroom.

He carefully walked into the bathroom. "Y/N? You okay"?

Scott heard growling coming from the last stall. "I know what you're going through. Come out and we can sort this out".

Gulping you opened the door. There you stood, all wolf like. You couldnt believe it. Derek and you thought the werewolf gene skipped you. You showed no signs of werewolf.

"What the hell is happening"?

"You've unleashed the werewolf". Scott chuckled.

"Not funny. How do I make it go away"?

"What made you mad"?

"Lydia. She was throwing paper balls at me. I just want to rip her head off". You growled loudly.

"Okay. Calm down. You cant be this in school".

"I can't. I dont know how". You started to panic.

Scott thought of what Stiles did when he went all wolfie. He sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. But he didn't want to do that to you.

"I'm going to try something just dont kill me". Scott stepped closer to you until you were between him and the wall. He leaned in and kissed your lips. At first it wasnt working then something in you relaxed. Soon your arms were around his neck and not hairy anymore.

You pulled back. "It works. Holy crap it worked". You squealed kissing him again.  Scott stood there happy with himself.

"Thanks Scott. You saved Lydia".

Scott laughed.

"Okay, you saved me too".

"No problem. If this happens again I'm here".

"I'll keep that in mind". You giggle. "What did you tell the teacher"?

"That you had to get your medicine".

"What? Now everyone's going to think I'm crazy". You huffed with a shake of your head.

"Well. I think Lyida has already told everyone that".

"I'm going to kill her". You growled. Scott stepped in front of you.

"Kidding. Gee, I cant joke around"?

"Not when you're a freshly new werewolf that can't control your anger you can't".

"Okay. We better get back to class". You walked out before Scott and made sure it clear for him to come out.

After school and your little episode all you wanted to do was go home and forget the day. But apparently your wolf self had other ideas. The woods were right in your sight and you had to go in. You strapped on your back pack and sprinted off inside. Leaving the human world and going into something that you had no control over.

"Scott, theres a body". Stiles poked his head threw Scotts window.

"Yeah, I know. It was a werewolf".

"Wait, how do you know that"?

"Y/N. She turned today in class. She was going to attack Lydia".

Stiles fell on the bed. "What? Y/Ns a werewolf? I thought the gene skipped her? She was the normal one".

"Sorry Stiles but you're back in that role". Scott chuckled when Stiles started pouting.

"What are we going to do? She cant go around killing people. Especially not Lydia".

"We need to find her". Scott hopped out his window. Stiles went to the window panting.

"I'll take the stairs".

While Scott and Stiles creeped through the woods, Scott got a wiff of a scent near. He put up his guard and pushed Stiles behind him.

"She's here".

"Where? It's literally pitch black. Oh right wolf senses".

"Scott"? You came into the little moon light that was peaking through the trees.

"What are you doing"?

"I don't know. I remember going home from school and the woods but after that there's nothing".

"You killed someone".

"I did? No I didnt". You shook your head with disbelief.

"Why are you covered in blood"?

You looked down at your clothes, blood and hair covered them. Your mouth had blood and your hands. 

"Who was it"?

"A local criminal". Stiles spoke up from behind Scott.

"So it wasn't Lydia"?

"No why"?

"I dreamt that I killed her".

"You were blinded by the wolf rage. I'll call Derek to come get you". Scott pulled out his phone and called Derek. Stiles walked over to you, picking off hairs.

"Scott"?

"What"? He asked looking from his phone.

"Um deer hairs. Not human".

"What"? Scott walked over and examed you.

"You're not the scent that was on the body. How"?

"So I didn't kill anyone"?

"It seems to be your lucky day". Stiles patted your back making you growl. He quickly took his hands off you.

"You really need to work on the anger". Derek said coming out of the dark.

"Yeah, I know. Only Scott can calm me down".

"Really now? What do you do to calm my little sister there Scott"? Derek crossed his leather covered arms.

"Um..um..nothing". Scott stuttered.

"He kissed her". Stiles squealed on his friend.

"Stiles". Scott scoffed.

"What did I tell you"?

"Now is not the time for that. I'm either a killer or not". You talked over them.

"You're not". Scott and Derek both said.

"She could be". Stiles pulled off a chunk of hair and looked like skin.

"Alright. This is whats happening. No one talks about this again. My sister is not a killer". Derek grabbed your wrist and started walking off.

"Then she needs to control her anger. We cant have her killing people". Scott walked forward.

"I can control her". Derek growled.

"Not your way. I can do it with out hurting her".

"Kissing is not going to keep working".

"It may".

Derek looked at you then at Scott.  "Alright we'll try it your way. If she kills anyone you're taking the fall for it".

"Okay. I'll take care of her".

"Fine. We'll see you tomorrow". Derek pulled you along with him disappearing in the night.

"You just said you'll babysit a werewolf that cant control her anger? Are you crazy"?

"Maybe. But I have you and you've been there for me. So I need to be there for her". Stiles smiled as he hugged Scott.

"I love you man".

"Get off".

Scott and Stiles went home planning out on how they'll keep you calm. Well Scott has his plan, that he'll enjoy alot. Stiles was still worried. You were more angrier than Scott was.

[untitlednottitled]

number10

Pre-Event plannings

I had a grand plan, to be lawfully wedded to my bby on our 10th anniversary, 1 year after proposing to her on our 9th, in Jeju, in front of a field of flowers with a fantastical view of the sparkling sea. I even rushed and got the engagement ring ready before our planned trip to Korea in April! But alas, covid-19 had to happen and all was foiled. After the initial plan was foiled in Apr’20, we held out hope that we would still be able to travel by the year end.. but yeah covid gave us a great big middle finger, as yet again, cases skyrocketed and we were all but grounded in sunny Singapore. 

Finally, in Dec’20, I decided to propose before July’21! Since the ring and the JannPaul box has been hiding at the back of the closet for the past year, and i didnt want to put it off any longer.

i began to scout for and collate decor items bit by bit on carousell, shopee and other shopping sites. It was a painful process because my initial plan was to recreate “Venezia”, which was an ice cream cafe we went to at Sixth Avenue, back in our JC days before it bowed out of Singapore a few years ago. There was next to no mention of Venezia on google and I was also unable to find any useful logos of the establishment either! So that idea was scrapped. Next, there was the plan to create big cut-outs of either Monsta X or VIXX members who would seem ‘genuinely happy for the proposal’.. but once again, let down by google, as the images I managed to find were either too pixelated or not relevant enough. Sadly, that idea flopped too. In the end, I decided to go for a more normal but personal decor to surprise bby :)

Truthfully, there were many chances to surprise-propose bby, especially our most recent staycation at Park Royal Marina Bay, but I didn’t feel that I was ready to do it.. so I delayed it till our big dinner on July 10th. Why July 10th? SAF had the brilliant idea to schedule my ICT during our actual 10th anniversary date, so we decided that we would have our anniversary dinner earlier. Furthermore, after Gyu Bar, we decided that we could and wanted to try more fine dining. After much research and deliberation (between Whitegrass and Buona Terra), we finally went for Whitegrass, which had decidedly nicer deco and ambiance. 

The weekend before the 10th, bby suddenly suggested that after our big dinner, maybe we should go for a drive. This gave me a great idea - if i drove, this meant that she would have to come stay over, and then I would definitely be able to surprise-propose to her! I very easily agreed with her suggestion and went for a slightly higher-end car, an Audi. Thankfully, this rental was not far from my place and the rental wasn’t that much higher than the Honda Fit before. So far, all was going to plan. Then, we also decided that since we would be getting a car, we could travel slightly further out, eg. the East. We decided to go to Playground Ragdolls, which would be our first interactions with our dream pet for our new house! 

I ordered a huge preserved flower bouquet beforehand as well as a tiny flower-box, to be delivered on the July 9th, which was also my mum’s birthday. She requested to have chilli crabs for dinner, which my bro bought from Jumbo seafood. We had a scrumptious dinner that night, but extremely regrefully, I couldn’t invite bby to come over, because it would mean that she would see all the flowers and thus ruin the entire event. 

On the day itself

On the 10th, coincidentally, I had to take up a mover role, to help my bro move some of his guo-da-li stuff to his fiancee’s place in Pasir Ris in the morning. It was a very simple job that took up the bulk of my Saturday morning. After lunch, he sent me back and I quickly completed the deco and freshened up before leaving at 4pm to collect the car. 

Leaving at 4pm was an overestimation of the travelling time, but also to prevent any lateness. I reached the rental car location at about 445pm but could not find the car at all. Confused, i called the host and she was quite pekcek to inform me that I was 15 mins early.. i went ‘oops’ and apologised for my kiasu-ness. At least she wasn’t overly judgey about it. I took over the car and quickly got on my way to Lakeside. Along the way, the aircon vent handphone holder kept dropping everytime I made my way over a particularly high bump as the Audi aircon vent was different from the normal aircon vents i was used to, with horizontal panes. Other than the handphone holder dropping from time to time, the drive to Jurong was pretty smooth. 

I picked bby up at about 5pm and she surprised me with another street branded shirt, endorsed by Hyungwon of Monsta X. She even gifted me with a picture of him wearing the exact same shirt! I gifted her with the small flower-box and inwardly laughed as she whined about receiving another flower.. inside i was like ‘lol, wait till you get the one at night’. We drove off from Jurong to City Hall, which was supposed to get us to Chijmes in 25 mins? 

Oops, we will be so early! But in the end we spent more than 35 mins on the road, because google maps was being a bitch and not giving the correct directions and we had to circle round Chijmes twice because we couldn’t enter the place! Finally, we decided to follow the signs strictly and we managed to enter the Chijmes carpark at last. We wandered around Chijmes for awhile and took some pictures. I helped her take some pictures that she was actually satisfied with!!!! SDNJIADBNAIKFAUFAKLFDNA!!! 

After inwardly celebrating alone, we entered Whitegrass. Overall, the food was nothing to brag about, though the service was very good. Like what bby has said, the best things about the meal were the breads and the specially made financier by the Japanese Chef. The Chef came out to greet us and even wished us a happy anniversary followed by a picture of us hehe. 

Full af, we decided to drive to Sentosa cove to sneak a peek at the rich people but nope, not allowed to ba long long go in, so we rerouted to Palawan beach instead. well well well, no entry into the beach. hur. oh well, time to head home. Inside my mind was running in all directions, almost 1.5y in the making, it’s finally gona be time!!

We reached and parked in less than 30 mins and quickly made our way back home.. only upon reaching my doorstep that i realised i left my keys in the flower-box inside the car.. luckily my dad was still awake to open the door for us.

Once in, we discovered my room door was closed and i let her enter first. Once she sweeped her eyes around the room, i panicked a little and just grabbed the ring and knelt down. I was entirely FLUSTERED and my mind was blanked out. haha, i lost all sequence of events. i knelt at an awkward angle and i wanted to switch knees, at which point, bby looked down and saw me kneeling on both knees (facepalm ttm). but okay, eventually it got sorted out and we took some pictures, with creative advice from my fiancee (^^). i also told her the entire journey from the ring all the way to present time, honestly, without hiding anything. Tbh, i wanted to make it hella grand but I missed out on some deco and by the time i discovered, it was too late to order again. UGHHH. When we went off to bathe, it was already about 1am and we had an early morning ahead. We both went to sleep happy hehe. (i got myself a ring catto)

Ragdolls all day, err’ day

I woke up next to bby catto who suddenly wrapped me up in the blankets and took a picture of me -.-

anyways, after a quick breakfast, i wore bby’s present and went out. We went some place first, before heading to La Fez in the East. It was a Morrocan restaurant which had a very pink and cutesy exterior. The food was not bad as well, the bby ordered Shakshuka while I ordered the Lamb Shwarma. Not entirely filling but good enough for me!

 Next we set off for Playground Ragdolls.. but i think i missed a turn somewhere so we just parked at a nearby carpark instead. We wanted to walk to Tigerlily Pattiserie but changed our minds to head to Birds of Paradise nearby instead, since bby has been wanting to eat it. and hohoho, dark skies ahead started to thunder and shortly after rain poured down. We didn’t bring umbrella and neither were there any umbrella in the rental car.. so we decided to brave the rain. The initial rain was pretty manageable, a slightly heavy drizzle but manageable. The moment we were halfway to the next shelter however, it poured. and poured. and poured. Needless to say, we were both drenched.. and bby was wearing her Tory Burch too... nevertheless, we persevered and reached Birds of Paradise and got our ice cream too! (along the way we passed a mama shop and bought a $6 umbrella) We got roasted sesame and sea salt hojicha. Tbh, both were good but as we were practically wolfing the ice cream down and the quantity was really alot, the ice cream became pretty jelat after awhile. For the first time in a long long while, we threw away ice cream. Yes, bby was pretty horrible for throwing away ice cream, especially when she was the one who proclaimed she loved it. 

With our new umbrella, we eventually made our way back the way we came, dry this time, towards Playground Ragdolls! Since we were pretty early, we waited outside for a short while, before the host let us in. and wow, once in, we were greeted by 2 curious little Singapuras. At first glance, they looked like regular strays but on a closer look, they had a kind of refined quality that really separated them from typical strays. And then as the host continued her briefing, our eyes strayed to the ragdolls. OMGGGG all so floof and cute!! Bby and I settled down near the couch and started playing with an 8 month old female kitto. and omg she was so playful!! Immediate want! While playing, we didn’t forget to enquire more about the purchase process and also listened in on the other customers’ queries as well. 1 hour passed all too quickly, and it came time to bid farewell to the cattoes. 

On the way back to the car, bby remarked that she was a little peckish, so we decided to head to a drive-thru at marine parade.. but once there, no drive-thru to be seen!!! We stopped at the passenger waiting area for awhile to research but to no avail. Eventually we gave up and I drove her back to her house.

At her block, I helped to carry all the barang barang back up and I remarked to her that I was going to call her parents ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ to hint them that I proposed. And I did, but apparently, only her mum caught it. Her dad didn’t, sadly. Unfortunately, I needed to rush back to return the car, so i couldn’t stay to explain further (Sorry Father, i will explain the next time i’m there!)

Anyways, I drove back to return the car and swiftly parked. The owner ‘received’ back the car without much incident also. Aaaaand that concludes mine and bby’s eventful weekend, in which we both had our relationship statuses changed from boyfriend-girlfriend to fiance-fiancee ^^. 

Honestly, I do regret not getting actual flowers for you back in 2011.. but lol, the virtual flowers confession did make our relationship more interesting though haha. Yet another interesting tale that we can tell our kids next time also. I feel so happy as I recount the entire experience and am so glad that it succeeded. This sat, we will be going to re-size the engagement ring so that bby will wear the ring for events soon!! can’t wait!!

[mattygraygubler]

our campus: chapter 2 (tom holland fanfic)

summary: frat!tom and reader go to the same college and y/n is tasked with being his tutor, they don’t really get along at first (because i love reader and tom hating each other trope)

warnings: none???

word count: 2.3k

a/n: bold is texts, any ***s refer to the footnote at the end of the chapter, this one is a shit ton of dialogue and texts, sorry bout it

for a list of characters click here

to be added to the tag list send me an ask !

masterlist

✰✰✰✰✰

“Drink some green juice, Y/N,” Isabelle said, handing you a to go cup from Jamba Juice. Isabelle never drank enough to have a bad hangover, so when you all slept in on Sunday, she went out to get hangover cures. After two nights of parties, it was insane that she was still completely fine. 

You had a queen size inflatable mattress on your floor, so the four of you were able to sleep as comfortably as possible in a not-so-large dorm room. You complained for a while at first, saying you should have just gotten an apartment, but it was too late. Next year. 

“Y’all wanna go to starbs and study?” Emily asked. Ally groaned, putting her head under her pillow. 

“No. I gotta shower and then eventually go to a theater thing.” She responded, slightly muffled. 

“I am also going to shower, and then try to do some of my justice and law readings and then I have to go tutor that Thomas kid.” “Ooooo please text updates!” “Emily, it is literally like tutoring anyone else, I really doubt he’s cute.” You responded. “Whatever,” she said with a smile. Your friends filed out and you took your time with a long shower.

When you got out, you realized it was already 2:30, and most of the day was gone. You put on some ripped black jeans and a shirt from urban outfitters, quickly did some makeup, threw on your sneakers and were out the door, headed to the library. 

“Y/N!” You heard the second you walked into the library. 

“Hi Kyle,” You said and smiled as he fell into step with you. 

“We missed you this weekend,” he said, referring to his fraternity, delta chi’s party. 

“Sorry, I was outvoted.” You said with a small smile. Kyle was a hottie, but incredibly bright. You befriended each other in a math class freshman year, he invited you to dchi parties, and you were now on the short list to be their sweetheart.*

“Well don’t get out voted next time! C’mon, if Jamie is sweetheart I’ll die, and if you don’t come to parties, we can’t elect you sweetheart.” Jamie had broken Kyle’s heart at the end of freshman year, and her, along with one other girl were also contending to be sweetheart. 

“Ugh you drive me insane.” You responded, rubbing your temples. 

“In the best way,” he said and kissed your forehead before walking to the back of the lib. 

You had reached the glass doors to the honor’s lab, basically a wing of the library where honors students studied and hung out in between classes, during meals, whenever. It had “Honors College” written across the doors in black painted letters. 

You pushed open the doors, saying hi to people as you walked towards an empty table. You took a seat facing the doors, so you could see anyone who didn’t belong. 

It was an honor system, no one would be penalized if they tried to sit in the honors lab without being apart of the honors college, but you would get a lot of incredibly nasty looks from some very smart kids. It only happened during fraternity pledge season, when frat boys were hazed and dared to do stupid shit, like have a sit-in in the honors lab.

There weren’t a ton of kids in the honors college, so you all formed sort of a little family. Everyone got along (for the most part), and helped out with difficult assignments. 

Pretty soon, you were encompassed in your law readings, not fully catching on why Fear v. Minnesota was so important. 

“So what’s a gorgeous girl like you doing in a dump like this?” You heard a british voice ask. You looked up to see a boy with brown eyes and slightly curly hair leaning on the table. Clearly attempting to put the moves on you. 

“Dump?” You asked. 

“You heard me, baby,” he said. 

“Well it is very clear that you are not a member of the honors college-”

“And you are?” He asked, a cocky smirk on his face. 

“I am, yes.” He became red. 

“I’m Y/N, I don’t care what your name is, but unless you have a reason to be here, I’d leave before Paul pummels the shit out of you.” You said. You nodded your head to the left, where Paul and two sophomores were standing, arms crossed, clearly incredibly upset that this outsider was here. 

“Wait, did you say your name was Y/N?” He said, looking back at you. 

“Yes…” 

“I’m Tom.” You looked confused. “Holland? You’re supposed to tutor me?” Your eyes widened with the realization. 

“Thomas,” you muttered. He laughed. 

“Darling, the only times I hear that are when a professor is calling on me, or a girl is yelling my name in bed.”

Ok, who the fuck was this kid? 

“I’m gonna move on from that sentence.” You said and gestured to the seat across from you. A text popped up on your phone, in the honors college junior’s group chat. 

hc* jnrs ⋛

Paul

Ok who the fuck let tom holland in here

Jessie

he’d need at least triple the amount of brain cells he has to just find the doors

You actively laughed out loud at that text and looked at jessie, who was now standing with Paul. Paul laughed as he waved to you, and Jessie just winked. 

“Something funny?” He asked as he pulled his laptop out. 

“Just a funny text. You can put that away and grab your notebooks, by the way.” You said as you texted back. 

You

gronk asked me to tutor him

what’s the big deal? you guys know him?

Lindsay

i’m sorry im home rn, did someone say tom holland? 

Paul

Y/N’s tutoring him so he came into hlab, didnt realize she was his tutor, and hit on her

Leila

LMAOOOOO

Jake

THOLLAND IN THE HLAB IM SHITTING MYSELF

Lindsay

he hit on Y/N? poor bastard doesnt know what hes in for

You

do you guys know something about this kid i dont? 

You finally looked up from your phone to see Tom sitting there, empty handed, staring at you. 

“Where’s your notebooks?” You ask. 

“Uhm, I don’t have any. I just use my laptop.” 

“Ok your homework tonight is going out and getting notebooks for all your classes.” 

“Really? You’re giving me homework?” You raised your eyebrows. 

“When I tutor kids,” he winced when you said kids, “I have some ground rules. You break a rule, I stop tutoring you. No second chances, no redos. Got it?” “Got it.” He said, holding back a smile. 

“Something funny?” “No, no, please, tell me about these rules. I must warn you, I have always been a rule breaker.” He winked and you simply rolled your eyes. 

“This isn’t a game, Holland.” You said. The smile left his face. “Rule one is you follow all the rules. Rule two, if you break a rule, we’re done, no exceptions. Rule three, if I give you homework, you do it. Rule four don’t be late. And finally, I am adding a rule five just for you.” You said, writing each rule down on a piece of paper which you handed to him. He laughed. 

“Problem?” You asked. 

“I’ve never had a woman…” 

“What? Reject you before?” He was obviously referring to rule five, which was do not hit on me ever again. 

“Listen, darling, I was just surprised is all. I didn’t expect someone so beautiful to be part of the nerd brigade.” 

“Do I need to add another rule about you not making fun of my friends?” 

“No, no, I apologize.” He said with that cocky grin still on his face. 

“Pull out your planner.” You said. 

“My what?”

“Right, you’re a brit. Pull out your diary.”

“Oh I don’t use one, sweetheart. Got this great thing up here,” he said, tapping his head. “Keeps everything sorted out.” 

“Well clearly that’s not true or you wouldn’t be missing assignments.” He shrugged. 

“I didn’t forget about them, just chose not to do them.” “So your story is that you’re choosing to fail your classes and risk expulsion?” He just shrugged again. 

You pulled out a notepad and started a list. 

Buy notebooks for every class

Download a planner (diary) app on your computer

Make a list of all assignments (including readings) due within the next week

“I’m going to need a copy of your schedule.” 

“You know, babe, usually we schedule the date after I ask you out.” 

“Look at you, five minutes in and you’ve already broken rule five.”

“You can’t honestly expect me to follow rule five when you’re this attractive.” You gave him a cold stare, and started packing up your stuff. 

“Wait, wait, Y/N, I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again.” You paused and raised your eyebrows dangerously at him. “Correction, I won’t do it again.”

“Good. Now I want a copy of your schedule and syllabi. What’s your schedule like tomorrow?”

“I have rehearsal until nine. After that I’m all yours.”

“I have a sorority event until nine, you can meet me here at nine fifteen.” 

“You’re in a sorority?”

“You’re surprised?” You asked. 

“Which one?”

“Delta Nu*.” 

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. Why are you so surprised?” 

“That’s, like, the highest tier on campus.”

“Sororities aren’t a hierarchy, anyone who tells you different is fucking with you.” You said as you gathered your stuff. You didn’t have time for his anti-panhellenic bullshit.

“Hlab. Tomorrow. Nine. Don’t be late, and do your homework.” You said. “Oh, one more thing.” You handed him your phone, opening up a new contact. He raised his eyebrows, and you raised yours back, daring him to make a comment. He didn’t simply handed you his phone so you could enter your information. 

You walked straight out of the lib, leaving Tom in your wake. Kyle saw you leaving, gathered up his stuff and shouted “Y/N! Hey, wait up!” You paused, waiting for him to catch up. 

“Can I walk you home?” 

“You don’t have to do that, Ky.” 

“I want to. I was just about to leave anyway.” You smiled as you and Kyle left the library, headed across the quad towards the junior dorms.

It was a short walk before you reached your dorm, Kyle heading to Heart Hall directly next to your building. 

“See you tomorrow?” he asked. You smiled and waved. 

Once you were back in your room, you paused realizing you had nearly twenty missed texts. 

♡girly girls♡

Al

Y/N we need to know his last name so i can get the dirt on the right person 

Em

and Y/N i need to know RIGHT THIS SECOND if he was cute

Iz

guys shes still tutoring her, let her phone be and she’ll facetime us later and answer all your dumb questions

You replied, saying you were tired and you would meet them for lunch in the cafeteria in your building like usual. 

hc jnrs ⋛

Jake

How has Y/N not heard of him shes in a diff frat every weekend

Cassy

Jake please tell me i didnt just detect judgement in your jargon

Jake

Cassy please tell me you didnt just use jargon in a text message

Jessie

jake does make a good point im shocked Y/N doesnt know about him 

Leila

WHATEVS I NEED AN UPDATE

Is she still with him/???

Jessie

Yup but she looks like shes about to punch him

Paul 

If she doesnt, i will

Jessie

shush paul girl can take care of herself

ok looks like shes packing up 

Leila

Y/N!! i NEED an update

You 

i have not heard of him, no

whats his deal? besides being incredibly flirty and not reading my vibes, like, at all

Jessie

rumor has it he gave all the phi alpha’s chlamydia

Julia

as a proud phi alpha i just wanna drop in and say that he did fuck quite a few of us, but he gave none of us (and none of us have) chlamydia

Jessie

he def gave someone chlamydia tho

Paul

id believe it. hes a massive scumbag

Cassy

a HOT massive scumbag

Jake

-_-

Cassy

everyone in delt is hot

You

wait a sec, did you say hes in delt?!?!

max please confirm

Max

yeah hes in delt with me, so is that other brit that he came over here with us

Cassy

Harry!!!!!!!

Max

harrison** 

Y/N

wait harrison? i think he knows my friend emily

Max

well its not a huge campus, and emily does know everyone

Jessie

wait Y/N what was he like

You 

an asshole. im debating telling gronk i dont have time to tutor him

Julia

that wouldnt be very hc of you….

You

whatevs. Im finishing this near v minnesota reading then passing out. see you guys tomorrow

Jessie

KISSES!!!

Paul

you know jessie theres these awesome things call emojis

Cassy

paul do u ever stfu 

It wasn’t until you caught up with both group chats that you realized you still had unread messages. 

Tom Holland

is that your bf???

hes cute

didnt peg you for the monogomous type

hes in a frat right??

why arent u answering? too busy with ya boy 👀👀👀

You

do you bother all girls with annoying questions? not a cute look

Tom Holland

no such thing as a “not cute look” on me darling

you didn’t answer my question

It was at that point that you turned your alarms on, turned your phone on do not disturb, and plugged it in. Before long you were in bed, hoping for more sleep than you’ve gotten the past couple nights. 

*A sweetheart is a girl who is friends with all the boys in the fraternity, always goes to their parties, and acts kind of like a “mom”ish figure in a lot of their lives. Normally they’re a junior or senior and serve for one year. They’re essentially the female face of the frat. For a better definition click here.

*delta nu is not an actual sorority, i didnt want to alienate any orgs (i am a proud member of greek life if you couldnt tell) so i just used the fake one from legally blonde

*hc stands for honors college

[jenegetoutdaway]

A Moment.....

I was listening to a brandy song...I’m yours, it was on her very first album, which I owned, along with several others because for 1 cent you could get 10 tapes. I had just learned too braid my own hair, I was practicing back then...alot lol... I was struggling to figure things out... ugh...tween years are really tough... that”s why I don’t give my kids a lot of crap lol... anyway here comes Brandy and she wears braids lol... I was lit, for whatever that was in the 90′s...95.7 Jams had a radio show... and, the Birmingham Heritage Festival was going to be in event for that or the next weekend.... I spent all the time I had, on the phone, trying desperately to win tickets.... I mean... I was relentless..... I won!!! I won 2 tickets, To the Birmingham Heritage Festival.... I was High!!!! I mean I was very High!!!! My mom and dad argued... who’s gonna take me, and always, anytime something like that happened, He took me... He couldn’t take just me though... the way the devil works is... 2 free tickets, dad agreed to take me... ok...we are going... now... He has to take my little brother and sister.... he has to buy them tickets... ugh I cant remember how old they were... elementary school age... young too... and they have to go...my sister cried most of the day... my little brother kept running off constantly we dragging  crying sister looking for a busy brother... lol.... we had lunch... I think my dad bought 2, we all had to share... he didn’t eat much of his, he fed the most to my sister, I think by that time, he was over it,it had been all day...then it started to rain...That was it we had to go, Brandy be damned... I laugh about it now, cause I got kids of my own... but that shit was absolutely not at the time... I was pissed, I didn’t say shit the whole way home...my dad came to my room after a couple days, I was Not talking to my dad.... that would get him... that would get him good... he hated when I wouldn’t talk to him... most times it was because he always took up with girlfriends or wives, like why when you got a whole daughter with kids, and here I am struggling to keep it together, I wonder if he once thought... let me just go stay with my daughter cause she got kids.... and do this as a unit cause she needs me, and I need the woman I raised in her, this is ridiculous....like I laid next to so many of the wrong partners at night and thought...I was not talking to my father!!!! I was maaaaad at him.....He got married again!!! and he left me again!!! and I was pissed I was not talking to my father!!!! I went through a marriage with my dad, I did what he said, I prayed, and I left, and My father had just gotten married... I couldn’t trouble him...I couldn’t trouble him... I don”t date men with daughters... I was a daughter of a man, and I know the bible... My fathers money, belonged to his daughters until they were married, off and I made it my business when I had daughters of my own to make sure that I gave them everything it was they needed, so they wouldn’t have to ask no nigga that wasn’t they dad, for nothin... My father felt like I only called him when I needed something, and if he was around... but I know that he knew... news about me doesn’t take long to get around, it never has...He was my last resort....cause if you were raised properly, you would know that you can’t daughter or not, call upon a man with a wife....and ask for anything, and I would rather struggle than call and ask them people for anything...the same way I would struggle before I asked my mom for anything... I respected the women my father was “WITH” and before I’m anything Im a woman so there you have it... I was pissed.... the last few years of my fathers life... he lived with my ex-wife and I...people stayed in my business... about my dad not paying rent... he doin this...he doin that... I didnt care I was just happy to have my dad....My father saw, first hand, what I went through, who I was, and he would argue with me... My dad was the only person in the world who was not afraid of me... the only person who could make me shut my mouth, just by things he would do... As soon as I told him I had separated....He was angry and said...”I knew that shit was gonna happen”. Im mad. Im mad because I need my daddy and he not here, Im mad because I need his honest opinion, cause all I got around me are people who lie.... When I heard that song I thought of him, and I laughed... like I told my dad, “if you ever leave me again for a woman, I will not ever speak to you again”... my father left me... the last time I talked to my dad... he did what no one asked me to do, he asked me not to leave” I didn’t believe him when he said he wanted to work it out... bar-b-ques, and Sunday dinner... he begged me to stay...and I ignored him, because I was mad at him....I never talked to my dad again...He brought home my grandson, to my moms where I was staying at the time, 2 days before he died... and I didn’t go down and see him, I couldn’t... I didn’t want him to see me in the state I was, I would have broken down.... then he died, and I thought I had accepted that, and today I think is the day, because “where the fuck is my dad?” has been building up in me.... and all I can think about is how one day he said I was gonna have to use the skills he taught me because he wasn’t gonna be here.... I was talking to my aunt... she said that it was funny cause her and my mom was, just talking... and the question was “what was I gonna do now that I can’t run to my dad”.... Tuh 🤣 bitch run wit my dogs.... cause that’s what my dad taught me to do. Anyway, My father came to my room that day, and was laughing but said he was mad, we left to come home at like 1 when it started raining after lunch, it didn’t rain for that long, and “THE GIRL” (Brandy) came on at 2 as scheduled... and if we would have been able to wait...then we gave each other the look... and we knew what it was hittin for...

[myunknownsource]

Parental Alienation

Hello,

 I am sure you're curious what this would bring you to. And I would love to get right to the point. TLDR at the bottom.

Ronee (candle-jacked) told you all a bunch of lies. The first one being that her ex had abandoned them in October. We had their son for Christmas 2 months after he supposedly abandoned them. We didn't even start dating until December.. And then she told you that he called her on new years eve to tell her they needed to break up even though they had been broken up for many many months at this point. Trust me he was extremely occupied new years eve. The only reason I can think she thought they were together was because at some point before we started dating his roomates girlfriend at the time was thinking about leaving and getting her own place and he wanted to see if Ronee would be open to the idea of him, her, their son, and his other roommate in getting a place. He only wanted to do that so it was easier for him to see his son. He ultimately changed his mind when he was skeptical of her getting a job and pulling her weight evenly, which had never really happened well in the past, the only time it did money was held over his head while he watched and took care of their son. Justin and I started dating at the beginning of December after dating for 2-3 weeks in November. We hit it off extremely well and seeing that we have been together for 4 years says a lot. I’m sure you all know and support someone who started their relationship extremely quickly and if you're ok with that it would be very hypocritical of you not to be ok with this. Which is exactly why I didn't quite understand why Ronee herself freaked out when her entire relationship with justin not only started while she still had a boyfriend but it became a sexual relationship before they were ever bf and gf. Not that I would ever care or judge something like that. I think the next lie we can talk about would be the “paramour”a lover, especially the illicit partner of a married person” shit. Justin and Ronee weren't married, they were not engaged, they weren't even dating.  Its just yet another spiteful name she felt the need to call me, alongside bashing my sexual history (which seems pretty anti feminist to me) as well as telling people I sold my body for money (i wouldn't have even been 18 so lets thank god thats not true) and that i frequently fist fought my mother and my brother, also not true you can literally ask them lol. I have an amazing relationship with my mother who i was actually just visiting in AL where they moved and my brother who just got back from fighting for your freedom just left my house like 2 hours ago. SO yeah. 

Another lie she told me herself when she was trying to get me to turn on Justin was that they were engaged when we started dating. Did she tell you guys about that or just me? Apparently because she didn't like traditional rings she didn't have one to prove it to me because he was designing one specifically for her.. Im sorry guys and no offence to justin but he doesn't care about stuff like that, its weird for him and I have come to accept that. Now on the other hand if she had told me that he asked her to design it I would have maybe believe her because thats more his style. She also told you guys his own family disowned him, that isnt even close to true. She even tried to say it was because I assaulted his sister? Whos was a minor at the time and still is now. SOO lets poke some holes in this story shall we? Justins mother and I are arguing about who knows what, I really cant remember and her daughter is behind her on the stairs (im in the basement with justin) the argument is getting heated and Donna (justins mother) decides to come about 15ft forward until there's about 3ft between us. (his sister is still on the stairs) but apparently mid argument I freak out and punch his sister? Whos 20ft away from me, past his mother? Maybe Ronee can clear that up for us. On top of that if I assaulted a minor that would have been an easy instant phone call to the police and I would have a very easy to find record in Missouri. Yet I dont. Because that didn't happen. Also why did we move back in with Donna when we had to abruptly move to missouri per instructions from our GAL (mareks lawyer from the courts) because otherwise Ronee would get the visitation she wanted which was supervised (though she had no evidence to be granted that) for 4 hours a few times a month. Despite the fact that we lived 4 hours away. Anyways, where were we? Ahh yes. Donna welcomed us into her home because at the time we were her chance at seeing their son (her grandson). I got a semi sincere apology from her for punching me in the face that night and we moved on from it, becasue im a good person. Ronee still says his family hates him but lets do a headcount. Justin, his brother, his mother and his sister, also 2 cousins. WHo doesnt like Donna? Justin, his brother, and his 2 cousins because they all also know what their parents told them about their shitty aunt. Even Ronee herself said she was a shitty mother and that Diane was there for justin more than his mom. 

Now its time for court. Ronees lawyer approached us. We found out that had we not shown up the judge would have granted what Ronee wanted (the 4 hours supervised a few times a month) which is funny because when justin called Diane (Ronees mother) she boasted how she wouldn't let Ronee take Marek away if justin couldn't make it and wouldn't let Ronee do the supervised visits because she knew he was a good dad. BULLSHIT lol. He also specifically asked us to not talk to her about what we wanted in the visitation plan because when we did she would call him crying about how she didnt want Justin apart of anything…. HE TOLD US HE DIDNT WANT TO DEAL WITH HER BS TOO! Eventually we hired a cheap lawyer who we were told wasn't the best but at this point her lawyer won't communicate with Justin even though he was representing himself and we needed someone who could file these documents when we couldn't. We had to explain to the GAL that justin hadn't seen his son in over a year and we had to show him the texts we had from a prepaid phone to Ronee where she REFUSED to let Justin talk to his son for unknown reason (jk we all know why) and he ordered that we get him that day and would start an every other weekend schedule until things got worked out with the courts. She sent her mother to bring hsia son that day and this woman has the audacity to tell Justin that this all could have been avoided. 

But I think one of the most important pieces of information I can give you is that Justin has tried to pay her support for the last 9mo-12mo after he had to quite the job where his money was being garnished. We have the venmo receipts after it took her 5 months to finally agree to accept payment from, then he was laid off for 3 months per his work contract which we also have on file and he sent her about ⅓ of what he was ordered to pay (he had no job and he sent her most of the spending money he got that I budgeted for each of us from my paychecks) about half way through his lay off he asked her something about how he thought it would be a good idea if she reported the CS payments every 6 months to the CS office. It would have been free but she was the only one who could do it. It wasn't even a demand but a suggestion that could have been talked about, we legitimately thought we had finally rounded a curve and we all could start co parenting together, but apparently he wasn't aloud to give her suggestions because she blocked him on venmo, went off on him on talking parents (the app she forced him into using despite the fact that shes in contempt of court for doing that) and specifically told him she would never report the money. We also have snips of that convo if you guys want it. Justin hasnt talked to his son in about 6 months. The few times he “has” it doesnt sound like a 9 yo and its demeaning things that Ronee herself has said in the past. About a month ago he got a call from Marek and was actually getting somewhere after he started to explain things to him. He even told his son about how in June he was parked in front of his house to get him for his 2 week summer vacation and Ronee hadnt let him get him and his son told him in a very said voice that he never knew that. Then the line went dead. Ronee texted from his sons phone saying this isn't the time to talk about that and hes been blocked ever since. 

TLDR; Ronee Halsey (candle-jacked) is abusing her power as a co parent with my fiance and abusing their child through parental abuse. 

P.S. I know I will receive backlash from her closest friends who think they know the story and thats ok because I cant sit here for one more minute while she gets away with this(I will block you though). I would be more than happy to supply everyone with any and all evidence I have. 

P.P.S OMG I almost forgot the worst part. Ronee decided one day she was going to accuse Justin of abusing their son. I knew it was going to end up happening (i grew up with a dad who had a high conflict ex wife) so every single time we picked up and dropped off their son i would discretely ask him to pose for pictures either by himself or with me or his dad. Not even Justin knew I was doing this but thank the lord I did. Because Ronee Halsey crossed that line you should never cross and accused someone of actual physical child abuse. But because shes a mother in the state of MO nothing came of it. Despite the pictures I sent to her lawyer and the GAL he supposedly met with their son and he came to the conclusion that he did infact have a black eye and busted lip but he got it while wrestling his dad. DESPITE THE FACT THAT MY PICTURES OF HIM WITHIN MINUTES OF GETTING IN AND OUT OF M Y CAR FOR THAT WEEKEND SHOWED HE DIDNT HAVE A SINGLE MARK ON HIM. The saddest part is that when I recorded the conversation Justin had with Marek the next weekend he told Justin that he never saw or felt pain from them, he said his mother told him they weren't the kind he could see. I will gladly send snips from those emails to you guys. 

@chewybitart @notlemha @karygurl @sushichan24 @eagleoverlord @thementalwayfarer @angelsdoexist @saltwaterhermit @candle-jacked

[imaginegfriend]

gfriend as your girlfriends: [ 🦊 sowon 🦊 ]

g e n r e: f — for fluff

HOW YOU GUYS BEGAN DATING:

you were hanging out with her and the girls at the dorm one night

they had all gotten back from a schedule and you and umji were cooking a meal for everybody bc they were all tired but umji is the only one who would help lol

and sowon runs over to you showing you a picture that she had taken of you from across a table previously on her phone saying “i’m such a good photographer look you look so cute!”

you grabbed her phone and smiled, agreeing with her and sending the photo to yourself. “oh is this from that cafe we went to last weekend? i didn’t know you were taking pictures, creep.” she laughed and slapped you on the arm, “yeah i take almost everybody i know there, it’s the best one around here to go to.”

umji interjected (since she was right there anyways), setting down her cooking utensil with an accusing look on her face, “you never took me there!”

following that, a round of “me either!”s came from the living room and a special comment from sinb: “why do you always take ______ to the good places? is she your favorite or something?”

sowon snatched her phone back with a nervous laugh and a rose color stained on her cheeks, turning around to face everyone else, “shut up! you guys don’t know how to behave and that’s why i never take you to the good places.”

later on, as the mood started to settle and everybody was getting tired from their stomachs being filled to the brim and playing around with each other all night, you were preparing to sleep on the couch as sowon walked in while tying her hair on a bun

“you know you don’t have to sleep on the couch every time, right?” sowon suggested, taking the spare blanket you laid on the couch and beginning to walk back toward her room. “i know the bed isn’t that big but you could at least sleep with me.”

you shrugged and followed her quietly and climbed into her bed directly after she did. both of you were facing one another and she chewed her bottom lip, something obviously on her mind.

“you know how i always buy you those things?” she broke the silence with a whisper as you nodded, suddenly feeling guilty; you never wanted her to, but she always insisteid on you taking her gifts. “like the purses and jewelry and stuff that i always hear you talking about?

“yeah, what about them?” you asked, nervous to hear where she was going with this. she reached for your hand under the covers and your body instantly warmed up.

a shaky sigh left sowon’s lips as she began speaking again, “i’ve just been thinking... and you might not get what i’m trying to say but, maybe you are my favorite. and i know you’re close with all of us, but i was hoping that i was your favorite too?”

she was right; you didn’t get what she was trying to say. of course she was your favorite, you spent most of your time with her; she didn’t see that? “i’m asking you if.. you would want to be with me?” she whispered lower this time, but you still heard her.

 you smiled softly and brought your interlocked hands up to your lips, kissing her knuckles, “well, duh. i was wondering when you were gonna stop fawning over me long enough to ask.”

she tried her hardest to hold her laugh in so she didn’t wake anybody else up as she slapped your arm, just like earlier before pulling you in for a soft, sleepy kiss.

YOUR RELATIONSHIP TOGETHER:

if you’re taller than her, she’s really excited about that because she’s used to being one of the tallest people wherever she goes

when she tries to flirt with you she says “i’m gonna climb you like a tree”

if you’re shorter than her she calls you her little oompa loompa even though you hate it but she thinks its endearing

she even told you to dye your hair green once

and you call her rice krispie because her bones are always snapping, crackling, and popping

she still spoils you like there’s no tomorrow, esp. during a comeback or during awards season because she feels bad that her already minuscule time with you becomes even smaller

she tries to take you on cute, secret dates to low-profile restaurants that have amazing food

but it ends up being less romantic than it is hilarious because she sends her food back 5 times before fully eating it then leaves a rating for it on a napkin

and obviously since she has $$$ but she’s still a scammer she negotiates getting the food for a cheaper price since she had to send it back so many times

since she’s mostly busy during the day, she calls you up late at night to do weird shit like go tandem-bike riding in a park or do an ikea scavenger hunt for your future apartment

“aren’t your old, brittle bones too fragile to be riding bikes sojung?” “okay you’re being really ageist right now so i’ll call you back when you can respect your elders.”

drops hints about wanting to live with you and having a future with you all. the. time.

like she’s always sending you links to sleek apartments for sale with a “👀” attached

she’s used to taking care of everybody else but she loves when you guys are all alone and she’s tired from practice or a schedule and you take care of her for once, cuddling her and running your fingers through her hair

even so, she still catches herself having those moments where she acts like an overbearing mother: “don’t forget to wear a jacket today because if you catch a cold all you’re going to get from me is a hot bowl of ‘i told you so’ noodle soup”

and she would be petty enough to buy alphabet soup and make sure to spell out ‘i told you so’ with the letters

she hates when you hang out with sinb, yuju, and umji for a full day because you always come back to her acting like this

but honestly you could say the same thing about her

she knows she’s sexy but gets super flustered if you tell her that she looks good in something; if she tells you though, and you get flustered, she keeps saying it until you vocally acknowledge how good you look

wont allow you to say you’re cuter than her but she’s allowed to do it whenever she wants

“ugh i look so good today, you could never” “i already did... and twice yesterday”

she always talks about romcoms that you guys watch together on vlive and her face goes like 😧 when people comment stuff like “why are you watching so many romcoms lately are you in love lmao”

then she changes the subject

and one day while they’re at a hotel, yerin walks in their room saying “y/n’s on the phone for yooouuuu” in a teasing voice bc she didn’t know sowon was on vlive

and thats how you guys ended up going public lol but sowon wasn’t upset because even though the members and the company knew, she got tired of lying to everyone else

after this she tries to go everywhere with you to show you off because why wouldn’t she?

the other members refer to you guys as the senior citizen couple because you never want to do anything fun and are homebodies

and you feel bad because you’re the homebody and sowon is the extrovert but you always convince her to stay with you lmao

if you guys are able to spend your anniversaries together, she takes you somewhere in europe for a weekend because she thinks its romantic and obviously she loves the food

and she wants to spend the whole day sightseeing together but STILL wants to be up all night talking to you. halfway through she ends up talking to herself though because you fell asleep lmao

the last day she tries to be extremely romantic to make up for dragging you around the whole time (even though you didnt mind) with breakfast for 2 in bed and a warm bath together with rose petals and stuff in it

if you guys are apart because she’s in a different country or she just can’t see you that day, you guys try to text all day but her heart breaks when she hears how sad your voice is over video chat

when you call some other famous person that you’ll literally never meet in a million years cute she gets jealous. like really jealous

“yeah they’re cute but cute is always going to get demolished next to gorgeous. like they’re cute but they’re not me or anything”

when you meet her family they love you because they say they thought she would never find anybody as crazy as her and she’s like “what do you mean crazy?”

when you guys finally move into an apartment together, she insists on you guys and the members moving the boxes because she wants to prove to you that her bones aren’t weak and fragile

halfway through she’s sitting in the bedroom on the lone mattress ordering a moving team and a some food because she can’t take it anymore

oh yeah you guys finally got to go on that ikea scavenger hunt lol and it’s a relatively cheap store but she managed to pick out the most expensive things in there

almost everyday she wakes up to you about to burn the entire apartment down because “i just wanted to make you breakfast because you’ve been so tired lately”

and she tells you that she’s going to put padlocks on the drawers in the kitchen and the fridge if you can’t manage boiling water without evaporating it on the stove

“i think meonji likes me better than you” “i like you better than me too”

sometimes you guys just stand in the middle of the living room, holding each other and looking into each others eyes and kissing a little

she still gets upset if she sees rice krispies and/or rice krispie treats in the cabinets and she’ll hide them from you

ever since her first fashion show she tries to put together your outfits because she thinks she’s a high fashion mogul now

“we’re just going grocery shopping why do i need to get this dressed up?” “do you want to embarrass me in front of the fashion world? they’re always watching.”

you catch her introducing the products she’s using in the mirror all the time like she’s a beauty guru on youtube

and god forbid she gets a little alcohol in her she’s like sojung 10.0

her hands are everywhere on you and she’s saying stuff to you thats making you go 😧

and those are the times you’re thankful that you have your own place together lmao

“but sojung don’t you think the other girls would want me to watch their fancams too?” “oh i wasn’t aware we were in a polyamorous relationship”

if you guys get into a big argument she’ll impulsively grab a pillow and a blanket from your room and try to sleep on the couch but halfway through the night she climbs in bed with you anyways

“don’t think i’m not still mad at you but this is half my bed too” and then you both apologize in the morning because going to bed mad is the worst thing ever

she almost jokingly doesn’t accept your apology because you tried to make her breakfast again

she’s corny and cute so she got you guys promise rings

“i know i can’t marry you right now but i definitely want to spend the rest of my life with you. if you want to do the same with me.. promise me?”

of course you said yes.

and now she can’t stop taking those pictures where her hand is always in the frame so everybody can see the ring

a/n: okay so i know the first part is kinda like a fic instead of just short or medium length bullet points but i didnt realize that until after i finished so i think i’ll just do the “how you guys began dating” section like that for all the girls

[kim-isnt-seaweed]

April 7-19

The last two weeks were eventful to say the least.

On Sunday 7th T and i went to Jamsil to view the cherry blossoms. It was crowded as it is every year and as is anything remotely popular here in Korea, but this time instead of complaning about it as i usually do when im in a crowd i had a thought.

-i had already shared it on instagram but i want to do it here too-

The crowds at the cherry blossom festivals are no joke, they're always flowing with people something that would usually make me not want to go but this time around I noticed something that made me change the way I saw the crowds. If you think about it, aside from being pretty cherry blossoms aren't that special, they're also fairly common at least on this side of the world, it's a bit mundane, to be honest. But that's the thing, these crowds of people are gathering around a tree because it's pretty, I don't know about you but that's very heartwarming to me. Not to be that person, but in the time we live in we have thousands of distractions, and technology made to take us out of our own reality, so the fact that we actually take time out of our busy lives to not only look at but to take our families, friends or even a date to look at them together is such a wholesome act. We go see them without expecting anything from them, not expecting them to give us something (aside from air) we simply go because they are, because they're there and pretty and their doing what they naturally do, better yet, nothing is expected from us to go see them, we don't need to do anything special, we don't need to give anything to see them, we can enjoy them just because we're alive, we happen to be near them and we're humans that like pretty things. When you think about this, the crowds don't seem so bad anymore.

Romantazing the small things is something Studio Ghibli is great at doing and i wish i did more.

__

Monday i went to get my visa renewed and it was upsetting. Because of a mistake of the official (he called my number before he even finised with the previous people) i had to wait for an hour until he finished because somehow other officals couldnt see me if my number had been called by someone else. Thus i was late to all my classes and it stressed me out so much,i had scheduled my visa appointment weeks in advanced on a day i didnt have classes, but my boss scheduled classes on that day the week before and thete was nothing i could do anymore. 😔

Saturday 13th i met three girls that are in similar situations as i am, forgeiners married to Korean men and that are relatively lonely. I am the oldest and the one that has been here the longest, two of them have been here for a year maximum and one has been here only since January, it was her first time in Hongdae. It was strange how they were so suprised at how much Korean i can speak, because i honestly dont think i can speak much at all. Anyway, it was so nice to be around friends, my friends, it was nice to talk and laugh comfortably without worrying about forgeting to speak formally, or forgetting how to say something or if im being understood. It was also nice to talk about our lives as a expats and the cultural diffrences in being married 1. So young 2. With men that are a bit older than us 3. From an entirely different culture. I loved hanging out with them and i hope we can become close.

Oh i want to mention that one of the girls went to my school for a year back in elementary Like that was ages ago and she only went for a year, and we weren't even in the same classroom. Yet somehow she met her now husband while studying abroad in australia and she still remembered me (i didnt ) Although we do have several people we know in common haha

Last week i had a mental breakdown which i havent had in a while and boy did i not miss them. My headaches returned and the creepy guy incident happened.

On friday it was our second wedding anniversary, we didnt do much since we had no time and because we honestly didnt know what to do even if we had time haha we arent romantic. So T bought a cake and we ate it while watching T and i did my nails for his cousins wedding haha.

And this(last) weekend we went to my FIL's hometown of Geoje island for said wedding but that deserves a post of its own haha

[shadows-taller]

bucky, 41, getting together story💘

this took way too long and I have no excuse. also it’s super long and I got carried away. whoops. usually I don’t like using the whole y/n thing but I feel it was unavoidable here. anyway. I hope you enjoy!

“I know it’s 2am but can we meet up”

The absolute best thing about getting a text from a wrong number is the sheer fun you can have fucking with the person who texted you. For example, Wanda got a wrong number one time detailing how her child was a disruption to this woman’s daughter and how she was no longer invited to this family’s barbecue. For a solid four days she pretended to be this kid’s mother, and it only ended when the soccer mom threatened to call the cops. To date, that’s your best wrong number story, and to be fair, it isn’t even yours. 

You haven’t had much luck as far as messing with strangers, your first and only attempt being the incident at the Apple Store in Times Square when you were drunk. Needless to say, you haven’t gone back to the area in a long time.

Ever since moving to New York, you’ve learned that the people are friendly when you get to know them and treat them like people rather than tourist attractions. You might even call yourself one, on occasion - god knows your whole family back home thinks you’re some sort of socialite now that you’re in the big city.

Most of the time, you’re just lucky if you go out to lunch with Wanda or Val once a week. That and the debate club you frequent once a month, held at a bookstore a few blocks down from your street. The only interaction you have with men is in class and the guy who works at the bookstore on weekends. He’s seen you at your worst, from the morning to get a book for class and in the evening when you just finished a part of a series and need to find out what happens next. And dressed in pajamas in both situations. No way will you strike up conversation with him anytime soon, that’s way too embarrassing.

All this to say, school doesn’t make for much wiggle room in your schedule. And your social skills have become a bit lacking thanks to this fact

Luckily, today, a Saturday, has left you enough time not only to get ahead on your studies, but also to get lunch with Wanda, go to the library and the small museum in your neighborhood (because you’ve always wanted to but, again, time is a cruel mistress), and be back home with enough daylight left to make a decent meal for yourself.

Of course, some fucker has to text you in the middle of the night with some bullshit like;

Unknown: i know its 2am but can we meet up

You hear the buzz on your nightstand, wake up enough to reach over and turn your phone on, and type out a response as well as your still mostly-asleep brain can.

You: who’s this?

Prepared to fall back asleep, your head has barely hit the pillow when your phone buzzes again. And then a second time, to add insult to injury.

Unknown: james, from ur anthro class?

Unknown: ur my partner for the project

Groaning, you sit up and prop a pillow behind you. Reaching for your glasses, you prepare to let the guy down, too tired to mess with him. But just as you’re typing out a sorry, wrong #, he messages you for a third time in a row.

Unknown: u know, with Banner? The man who cant answer questions for shit

Now that makes you wake up a bit. Not only because Dr. Bruce Banner is, in your opinion, one of the best anthropology professors at your college, but because he’s helped you pursue your degree in that exact subject area. Dr. Banner’s been a huge impact on your academic success, and this guy is just flat-out wrong about him.

You: first of all, why the fuck are you messaging me (or anyone) at 2am

You: second, wrong number. but banner’s a genius and you’re wrong.

Now you’re fully awake and ready for a debate. It’s why you joined a debate club - sometimes, the need to argue should be directed in more fulfilling avenues. But it’s 2 AM, for chrissakes.

Unknown: i didnt say he wasnt a genius. he just cant answer questions.

You sigh.

You: what sort of questions could you possibly have that he couldn’t answer

Unknown: why do you care anyway

You: it’s kind of my major, smartass

Unknown: shit alright its about this project on like African masks

You: there’s lots of those can you narrow it down

Unknown: i dont know how to! thats my problem

You: did he give you parameters for the assignment?

At this point, you decide to add this guy as a contact, even if out of pity for his apparent lack of skill in the field of anthropology. Maybe this could become a thing, you help him in anthro, he helps you in… whatever he studies? That’s a good question, actually.

Wrong # James: yeah he told us to write on african masks

Wrong # James: like write abt them not like ON on them

You: ok. Well what did you talk about in class?

Wrong # James: masks? from different regions

You: so like what masks from different regions looked like?

Wrong # James: ya

You: did you have a favorite?

Wrong # James: not really?

You: well maybe you should do some research on that and find a region that has masks/symbols that interest you

You: and also get your partner’s number lmao

Wrong # James: ur more helpful than he was tho

You: tough shit u still need to talk to him

You: what major are you anyway

Wrong # James: biomechanical engineering

Wrong # James: so like the opposite of anthro

You: true

Wrong # James: sorry abt waking you up btw

You: it’s no big deal lol

Except that it kind of was. You look at the clock, and it reads nearly 2:30.

Wrong # James: still its kinda late

Wrong # James: I feel bad now

Wrong # James: (…)

Wrong # James: do u wanna meet up sometime? when its not 2am? I need so much anthro help

The smile on your face is wide, because you were just about to suggest the same thing. You take a second to think about your response, but another message comes through before you can send something.

Wrong # James: nvm thats weird pretend i didnt suggest it

You: no! I was actually going to ask you the same thing. god knows I could use some calc help

Wrong # James: calc is so much easier than anthro shut up

You: math is the work of the devil

You: so you free tomorrow?

Wrong # James: ya is 4 good?

You: sure! Campus library?

Wrong # James: yea

You: wait I don’t know what you look like

Wrong # James: tall, brown hair?

You: that’s half the school population

Wrong # James: I’ll be in a stark industries shirt with a leather jacket and a dark green backpack, in the little area behind the sci-fi stuff

You: good that actually does narrow it down

Wrong # James: Wait I don’t know ur name wtf

You: it’s y/n

Wrong # James: see u tomorrow then, y/n

–

It’s 3:00 and you have an hour ‘til you meet up with James, so you’ve decided to stop by the little grocery store near your place to get some snacks. You don’t know what he’ll like, so you get some water and a few different types of candy, as well as some fresh fruit. On your way to the library, you stop by the bookstore to get another copy of one of your favorite books for anthropology - Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. You figure James might appreciate a more compelling, interesting read in the midst of textbooks and scholarly articles.

You come to the register and put the book on the counter, eyes cast down like usual. The guy at the counter, somehow always working when you’re there, takes it and rings you up. As you hand him your member card, you glance up to see oddly familiar white lettering. And a leather jacket. And a secondary glance tells you that his name-tag reads James (Bucky). You feel yourself pale as you look up at his face.

“Holy shit.”

He just looks at you, confused.

“Is there something wrong?”

For the first time since your first visit to the store, you look him straight in his pretty blue eyes. You get a sudden burst of confidence, and your shocked expression melts into a nonchalant shrug, smirk dancing at the edge of your lips.

“No, just this random asshole texted me at 2am asking to meet up.”

//send me a prompt

[welllbeing]

so my boyfriend was arrested for assult while he was in florida. him and his friends were all in jail on christmas and I feel so bad for him. I dont know the full story, he says he wants to tell me when he sees me (its really upsetting him and he prefers to vent about things face to face or on the phone instead of texting but due to the distance and our schedules we dont really have time to talk on the phone so we basically just text during the week and talk in person on the weekends) but I know that his ‘friends’ started some stupid shit at the bar and he got mixed up in it. I dont have a doubt that he started fighting eventually but I know that he didnt start it.

idk I dont like that he’s so ready to fight people like he only does it if they come at him first but still his first reaction to deal with stupid people is to just deck them and I dont like that. but he knows I dont like that so he doesnt do it around me. like he has had several opportunities to while with me and all I have to do is look at him and he calms down and then he’ll kiss me on the forehead or hold my hand and apologize.

when I took him out with my friends, I got a little bit tipsy and this guy sat down beside me and asked me my name. I told him and then he asked if I was single and I said no (bear was sitting right beside me and I had been leaning on him all night) and then he said ‘oh I was just wanting to know because youre sexy as hell’ and bear heard him and had already stood up and I looked up at him and he just told the guy that he didnt blame him for asking, the guy left, and then he sat down.

then another time we were in the car and someone rear ended us really hard and then drove off. he was immediately worried about me and asked if I was okay but then he noticed that they left and thats what pissed him off. I needed gas so I headed to the nearest gas station while he was like ‘who the fuck just drives off’ in the passengers seat and it ended up that the person stopped there too and before I could turn the car off bear had gotten out and started to walk over so I stood in front of him and told him to stop and to forget about it because the car was totally fine and that we were almost home and that its their fault that they left because their car was fuuuucked up and he nodded and kissed me a few times and then got gas for me.

idk when that happens im never afraid of him or anything, I’m scared that he’ll get hurt or into serious trouble. like I know that he can fight but some people carry guns and some people carry knives and then he could just get arrested and yeah all of that scares me and I dont like it so I stop it before it happens. and its always easy to stop it like sometimes when hes really worked up I just have to give him a warning ‘baby’ and then sometimes I dont have to say anything, he just sees me and then he stops and I can see it in his face too like when hes upset he has that harsh frown and his voice is louder and he talks faster but then he’ll look at me and it immediately changes to this apologetic face and he’ll kiss me and change the subject.

I just think he needs to work on that still because now im gonna be afraid that he’s gonna get locked up or something every time he goes out and im not with him. granted, he did warn me about this before we even started dating, he said that he doesnt go out because he usually ends up fighting but I didnt think he was being serious. but idk its okay, even though id like for hime to I wont force him to go out with me because i know that its not really his scene anyway and I kinda like coming home drunk while hes there because he takes care of me lmao. he babies me sometimes and he does it a lot more when im drunk because i get whiny and needy and I love it a lot. plus he gets super clingy when i come home because ive been gone wether its from a night out or just from work so all in all i just get extra attention from him and its great.

[thecruciblegavemeyou]

for @carryon-valentines day 1 :D so excited thank you guys for planning this fuck i love this fandom

summary: baz needs help. penny punches baz in the face. just some good ol penny and baz bonding time. you know the works

fyi ive given up on the basic rules or english so fair warning

words: 850 ish

(penny pov) 

i wasnt as bad as agatha, i didnt think. shed always stayed on a rigid sleeping schedule, proclaiming the importance of sleep. the one time simon and i tried to sneak in and get her to come out with us one night at Watford, she threw pillows at us until we left and spelled the door locked. sometimes, she’d even miss her first class in favor of another hour of sleep. 

but just because i wasn’t as bad as agatha when it came to sleep, did not mean it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to baz hissing in my ear at four in the morning. 

my heart definitely skipped a beat (or two). which means it was entirely his fault that i punched him in the face at four in the morning.

“aleistor crowley, bunce!” he hissed, tumbling to his knees and clutching his face. drama queen. 

“what the hell are you doing in my room at four in morning? i didnt even know you were in the goddamn apartment,” i growl at the vampire moaning on my floor. what a softie he turned out to be.

it all made so much sense the second i saw them together on the floor of the chapel. it took months to get even a few bits and pieces out of them to find out what happened between them. simon got really quiet after the mage died. 

but it had been a year now. simon and baz celebrated their first anniversary (on christmas eve, the bloody romantic fools). i hadnt realized that was when they got together. i didnt realize they were already together that morning agatha and i dropped by the pitch mansion. 

despite being a couple, simon shared a flat with me in london while baz (technically) lived with fiona. baz did spend most nights at our flat anyways, honestly. simon and i had been watching sherlock late last night and when i asked him whether baz was coming or not, and he just shrugged. i took it as a no. 

apparently i was wrong. 

“i need your help.” baz mumbled. he winced at his own words. 

“can i get that on record?” i teased and tugged on a jumper. he rolled his eyes at me. 

“valentines day is in two days, and i have no idea what to do for simon. this is going to be our first real valentines day. i dont really think last year counted.” baz whined. 

i agreed with him, the few months in the aftermath of the mages death were hectic and everything else kind of fell away. 

“just take him to dinner, or something.” 

“you are the least romantic person ever, penelope bunce.”

i rolled my eyes at him.

i turned the kitchen light on, after checking to make sure simons door was closed. he was a light sleeper (i wonder how baz even managed to sneak out of bed). 

i made tea, and baz started hounding me with questions. he held a bag of frozen vegetables, and yelled at me when i tried to spell him better. 

“no! i need this as proof for simon that you actually punched me in the face.” 

“what about dinner?” i suggested, matching the sunrise behind baz, an hour later. 

“dinner is too simple. what about a play?” he suggested, taking a final sip of his tea. 

“simon? simon snow, sit two plus hours in a theatre? basil.” i cackled, refilling baz’s mug. he snorted. 

needless to say, i didnt get any more sleep that morning. especially not after simon woke up and stumbled into the kitchen like a goddamned zombie, cussing baz out for leaving him in bed. 

“baz. what the hell happened to your face!” simon shrieked (theres really no other word for it). 

“bunce punched me in the face.” 

the room was silent for a solid minute as simon looked back and forth between us. then he turned to baz, “what did you do?” he frowned, and i scoffed as i fell to the floor cackling. 

baz finally let me magic his face back to normal, and simon made puppy eyes at baz until he agreed to run down the street for some coffee and scones. that boy was whipped. 

“why were you guys up so early?” simon raised an eyebrow at me. 

“baz is trying to plan a romantic date for valentines.” i laughed. 

“oh my god, penny, you have to stop him. please tell me you didnt tell him about my plans?” he was getting all red and flustered (again. i dont know how baz managed this all the time). 

“of course not, you idiot. he’s got no fucking clue.” simon grinned wildly.

when baz arrived to try and take simon out (i convinced him simon really did just want to go to dinner, thankfully) simon practically scared the living shit out of baz. leading with “i think we should talk” probably wasnt the best way to surprise baz with a romantic weekend. 

jokes on them. convincing simon to take baz out of town for a weekend was the best self-gift ever. i got the flat to myself. 

~

also baz and penny are best friends, fight me

[alwaysyouthree]

Just to let you know

I need to write you a few things that you may need to know about me after 14 months we haven't talked/ seen each other:

I still tell some of our stories when something reminds me of them

My mum still asks me about you, as she still hopes that something has changed. Anyways she still care about you, and she still loves you.

My dad saw you some weeks ago, he told me you didn't see him. He is so disappointed by what happened to our friendship, but " that's how life goes", he says

I live at my mum's house, and I stay by my dad's in the weekend. This new schedule was decided by me and my sister this summer.

My sister got her high school diplome this year and she started university. She still dates the same boy, the one we use to hung out with. She's happier than ever

My elder sister is dating a new boy, he is amazing

I am getting my driving licence.

I am planning my future

School sucks, as it always did

I still have picture of us in my room, some of the most important, such as our first picture at your birthday

When I am close to your house, I always look at your window, and wonder how are you doing

I was once walking down to your road, because I had to go to do stuff there. I was overthinking and then I realised I was in front of the door of you building. I was stunned and ran away. My feet led me there without thinking twice and it left me so shocked

I still think about all the things that went wrong and the more I think about them the more I notice where things started to crawl down and it destroys me

When people ask I say I am fine about it. That I went over it, but deep down I didn't at all

I still wonder how you and your family are doing. I hope you all are fine

I am sorry for all the time I failed you. I am truly sorry. You meant the world to me and I let you go. I fought, I did it, but probably not enough.

I miss you every and each day and there is not a moment when I don't think about it.

I hope you didn't fotget about us. I hope you have some good memories. I hope you don't hate me. I hope you don't regret it all. I hope that sometimes you still talk about us to someone. It doesn't matter if you don't. Probably I will never know, so whatever.

I still remember when we were kids and when we thought that we would never fall apart. That our destiny was to be forever friends. Incredible how things change so fast

We once saw each other on the street about a year ago. And we didn't even say hi. Believe me when I say that I lost my head that night. I drank a beer and didn't say much to my friends. It was the first time i saw you after months we didnt met.

Believe me when i say i still cry for our friendship. Probably I am weak. Yes, I am for sure.

Thanks. You will forever be one of the best person i have ever met, depsite all the things I said, depsite your life decisions that pushed me in the back. Depsite My own decisions that pushed you in the back. I never blamed exclusively you. I always recognize my fault in the story.

When we were 11 I told you that best friends weren't real. Then you became my best friend and i changed point of view

Since you I never considered anyone else my bestfriend. I use different terms but best friend will be forever your label.

So once again

I miss you

I am sorry

I forgive you

Thank you

[samanthapickler-blog]

The first time we met

When I first met Justin I was 14 and he was 16, so we have known each other for about 7 years now, heading into 8. We met online through a mutual friend that we had gamed together with, and yes Justin and I big gaming nerds and enjoy gaming with each other in our free time. 

So, we met online through a game and became really good friends, playing late into the night, doing stupid shit online and being as we would call ourselves “little shits”. All of this would lead to late night skype calls that would end up with both of us falling asleep in the call and continuing with our shenanigans the next day. 

After a while of this I started to really like this kid, I was myself around him and he wouldnt judge me one bit, but there was one issue; I had already had a boyfriend before I met Justin, but here is the kicker, that boyfriend and I werent together when I met Justin so I was on the market but once that boyfriend found out about Justin he asked to be with my again, this went on for the majority of Justin and I’s friendship and I was off and on with that guy for 6 years. It caused a lot of tears in Justin and I’s friendship because Justin would try to make a move and I was always stupidly with the other guy.

Finally, Justin had enough of it and it led to a big argument which led to us not speaking to each other for two years. I’ve never told him how much those two years sucked without him, the one person I knew I could talk to and be myself around was gone and those two years were really really really rough. I cried a lot in those two years, I missed him so much but I was too prideful to admit it back then, and I hated that he didnt reach out to me like I thought he was because I knew that I meant a lot to him but he didnt reach out and neither did I.

In those two years, the guy that made us tear apart came back into my life again ( at this point I had so much resentment for this dude that I really didnt want to be with him but I also didnt want to be alone ) When he had come back into my life he dropped a bomb on me that I didnt think he would, he was joining the Army, it shocked me mainly because I didnt think he would ever do it but he did. He went off to basic and AIT and then got stationed in Ft. Bliss TX. He and I started to date again and eventually he talked about us getting married, when he started to talk about getting married this is around the time when he learned that he was going to JRTC and eventually would deploy after that. He went off and whatnot, he came back and started to pack for the deployment, he again started to talk about getting married and whatnot and I stupidly thought it was a good idea, I said yes to him and started to plan my move to El Passo but thankfully that got put on hold because of the deployment. 

Now, you guys know I am not married to someone who is stationed in Ft. Bliss, so obviously I didnt marry that guy.I had found out he had been cheating on me and I called it quits, that story is so long and stupid that I will give the run down. He had been cheating on me for some time and I had zero clue, of course it was with someone he worked with and that sucked even more. Anyways, I had to find out while he was deployed from one of our FRIENDS!! Yeah that was a good time, I had to end our relationship for good and I knew it. 

But back to Justin, the amazing man who I am so luck to be married to. After two years of no contact I caved, I added him back on everything and once he accepted I sent a message faster than Ive ever sent any message in my whole life. I sent something stupid because I knew he would answer that lol. 

After a few messages back and forth I had asked him how he had been doing and what he had been up to, ironically he had also join the Army and was stationed here in Kentucky. Instantly I was like “FUCK”  why did you have to join the Army lol, we talked for a while, caught up and talked about what had happened in the two years we didnt speak. He had asked me about the other guy and I had told him that he and I werent together and I had asked him about his love life, he was trying to get with this girl that he had been after for a few months, but never got with her. 

The few months that we talked I saw him spiral with that girl, he was so down on himself and eventually just said “fuck it” and didnt try to go after her again and just deleted her off of everything, kinda like he did me lol. I didnt rush into trying to be with him, but once I found that out boy I was quick to start flirting. Now there is something you need to know about this man, he was OBLIVIOUS to me flirting with him, eventually I just had to come out and say it lol.

Some time went on before we decided to do anything dating wise, one night we had the bright idea to play games together and drink... A few hours in, Im completely gone, and he is right behind me, hes able to hold his alcohol better than I can lol. Eventually it led to him asking me to be his girlfriend and lots and lots and lots of confessions of love and whatnot. 

Now, we have been together a year and it has been the best year of my freaking life. This man treated me in ways I didst think I would ever be treated. He respects me, he loves me and he cares for me. He makes me fee on top of the world ever freaking day and I cannot thank him enough for being the man that he is and the loving husband that he is.

Meeting for the first time

We had been dating for about 6ish months Im not sure, when we had decided that it was finally time to meet each other. There were so many complications with the first date that two months went by before I finally go to meet him.

It was July when we finally got everything squared away. I finally got time off from work and finally knew that I could book my flight and have no issues now!! That night he had facetimed me and we looked at flights, I found the perfect one. What sucked was that I still had to go to work that morning, so I would be going to work, getting off and packing the rest of my things and heading to Austin to make my FIRST FLIGHT EVER. 

Now, I have never flown before up until this and I was SCARED SHITLESS. Justin on the other hand has traveled and is seasoned with flying and told me over and over it wasnt that bad, and it wasnt! I actually really miss flying, and wish I had a reason to do it more often. But my first flight was that day, I left work really early because my nerves were kicking my ass, I was nervous as hell, I didnt know how I would do going through TSA, and getting to my gate, but lucky for me it was easy and when I had gotten through TSA all of my gates were right there. 

It was late as heck when I got on my flight, like 9PM or something like that. I had gotten done with my frist flight and my last flight was out of Houston and from there I would finally be in Nashville and finally with my man. I got into Nashville at 11:30PM and instantly called Justin and told him I was there. He was outside waiting for me!!!!!!! I rushed past everyone and made my way outside to see my boyfriend stading there with the biggest smile on his face. He greeted me with a hug and a kiss on the forehead and then we got in the car and drove back to Ft. Campbell. That night I was quietly let into his barracks room LOL.

We just stood there for a while, hugging and looking at each other and saying “im here!!” over and over and over again. That night we squeezed ourselves onto his bed and tried to fall asleep, but there was too much excitement. He still had to go to PT in the morning and had work as well, I tried to sleep and so did he but we just couldnt. Once we did start falling asleep his alarm went off and it was time for him to get dressed and head out for PT.

He came back later that morning with some breakfast for me and then it was time for him to get dressed and leave for the day :( Let me tell you the barracks are depressing as hell. But I LITERALLY slept all the day while he was at work. He would text me every time he could to check on me and make sure I was okay and whatnot. Later that night he got him and we crashed again, we really messed up our sleeping schedules lol. 

From there it was the weekend so we went to visit my aunt, and then we went up to Ohio to meet a friend, those few days that we had together were so good and will forever have a special place in my heart. 

And that is the first time we met <3 

[makironata-blog]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 219

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 219 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

Adam: Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts, the Semantic Mastery public Q&A. This is episode 219. 219 episodes. Today is the 16th of January, 2019. I am gong to go down really quick say hi to everybody before we get started with all of the good stuff. On my left hand side I’ve got Chris. Chris, how are you doing, man?

Chris: Been good. Happy to be here. Exciting times as always good to be on a Wednesday. How are you doing?

Adam: Not bad. You know, something you talked about at POFU Live, and something I just scheduled had to do with planning. I’m going to ask you a little honest spot question, but do you do yearly planning, number one and number two, when do you do the yearly planning?

Chris: Well, I rarely do yearly planning. Pretty much as we all do in a [inaudible 00:00:56] day plans. So I pretty much do those things when the [inaudible 00:01:02] iteration or if you want to call it that way that might not be on the first January. It is whenever it is for me.

Adam: Sounds good. Alright.

Chris: I have yearly plan still, and five year plans as well. It’s just like a break down to pretty much what’s important in the moment, what needs to be down right now and course correcting on a weekly basis.

Adam: Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Alright. I was curious and I figured other people might want to know how it’s done on the inside. Just figuring that. Hernan, how are you doing, man?

Hernan: I’m doing good, actually. I don’t plan shit. I’m just kidding. We do. Yeah, we do a lot of planing, actually. I do the same with Chris. I do three months sprints, and a yearly plan a yearly idea of rough objectives and then three months. Nobody asked me, but I’m telling you guys three months.

Adam: We’re going to edit this out.

Bradley: We all have to acknowledge his hair cut.

Adam: Yeah. Look at that. He’s looking … You’re looking pretty smooth.

Hernan: Yeah, I look like a person now, like a business …

Bradley: Believe it or not that you look younger, man.

Chris: You’ve got a second one, respect.

Bradley: Hernan is the youngest of us, and he looks even younger now so he’s making me feel old.

Hernan: Sorry man, let me click …

Adam: That’s alright Bradley, we’re showing white in our beards so I think [crosstalk 00:02:26]. Marco, how are you doing man?

Marco: Man, what’s up. A warm hello from 82 degree and sunny Costa Rica. Fuck all of you.

Bradley: Yeah, this is what I got for you buddy. That’s for you.

Marco: It’s so beautiful, come join me. It’s so good.

Adam: Man, Bradly. Last but not least, are you guys getting slammed? I thought I heard something about the north east getting pummeled.

Bradley: We got hammered a few days ago, we still got snow on the ground. We got, here in Culpepper, probably about six inches maybe. Which was pretty good. Believe it or not my daughter’s 13 and I have never had a chance to play in the snow with her. This was the first time, I had her this past weekend, and we got the snow on Saturday so Sunday it was great because it was the first time in 13 years, or ever, that I’ve been able to play in the snow with my daughter.

It just so happened that every time we had ever had snow before wasn’t a weekend that I had her so this was, it was a lot of fun. We got to run around and do snowball fights and make snow angels and sledding and all that stuff. It was a lot of fun.

Hernan: That’s awesome.

Adam: That’s really cool, man. Well, before we get into it. We’ve got a few things we want to share with everybody. First of all if you’re new to Semantic Mastery, thanks again for watching. Whether you’re watching us live, whether you’re checking it out on YouTube and watching the replay. In case you don’t know you can always go to semanticmastery.com/hdquestions and ask ahead of time and watch the replay.

We know whether it’s time zones or you’ve got client meetings or you’re working, whatever it is, you might not be able to be here live but that shouldn’t stop you from asking questions and getting answers. A follow on to that, a lot of people ask, “Well, okay, I’ve been watching your videos. Where should I start with Semantic Mastery, what should I do?” The place to always start is the battle plan.

Okay, just go to battleplan.semanticmastery.com, repeatable processes. It’s SEO, it’s digital marketing and it’s the way to get started and have that firm foundation so that everything you build up is on that solid foundation. If you’re already passed that point and you’re looking for the peer community, you’re looking for advanced strategies, you’re looking for networking then that’s why you would come join the Mastermind.

That you can find at mastermind.semanticmastery.com. Also, again if you’re watching on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. Obviously, you’ll see these videos and stay up to date with anything else new we put out there. Real quick, speaking of the Mastermind I believe we had some training coming up, right Bradley? I forget what it was exactly you’re going to be covering coming up in the next week or two.

Bradley: Yeah, next week on Thursday for our Mastermind webinar I’m going to be doing some training on using Google Ads. Specifically, or primarily, we’re going to be … I’m going to be walking through a set up of how, I’ve been talking about this on Hump Day Hangouts for a year and a half now at least. But how I use Google Ads for YouTube to rank videos, local videos in search, in Google search.

But it’s more than just that. Recently, I mean I still do that all the time anyways for helping videos to rank, but I’ve also found that Google Ads platform, including the display network and YouTube ads have gotten a lot better. They’re targeting options have gotten so much better in the last year, it’s incredible and because of that I found that when I was … Before what I was just doing was setting up ad campaigns specifically to generate local IP, or local views to a video within a specific geographic targeting area as well as, if possible, finding a good, what’s called an in market audience or life event audience.

Which are audiences that Google has determined that the users within those audiences are in the market for a particular product or service. If you can find a category that would fit then that traffic ends up not being just good for helping the video to rank, but it ends up being like relevant traffic that ends up at, sometimes it’s not a lot, but at least with the campaigns I set up. But some of those end up … Forgive me for a minute, I’ve got a call coming in. Stand by guys.

That traffic ends up coming in … Ends up being possibly good traffic for leads. In other words, you can use these campaigns for lead generation. You can also use these campaigns for branding. If you’re doing any remarketing, which is really powerful and I’m going to touch on that as well next week. Then you can build a remarketing list that way and also remarket to people that have interacted with either your video or if they click through to your website or a landing page, or whatever. You could remarket to those people, so those are people that took action and actually clicked through.

I’m going to be walking through all that and then I’m also going to be talking about how to set up remarketing campaigns in the Google display network because I’ve been doing a lot of remarketing stuff and display ads recently for a client of mine that does a lot of ad spend in Google and I found that just recently the Google display network is so much better than it used to be. It used to be a real pain in the ass to set up display ads because you had to get a graphic designer to design the banner, whatever banner it was, and then have that banner created in multiple sizes.

Leaderboard and 350 by 250 rectangle. All those, the standard sizes and if you wanted to split test ads you had to get the graphic designer to create different ad sets for you. It was a real pain in the ass and that’s why I stopped doing display network ads for a long time. But within the last year or so, and I don’t know when exactly, but Google has changed to where now you create what’s called responsive display ads and all you do is upload images, there’s a square version and a rectangular version and specific dimensions that you need to upload or within a range of specific dimensions.

Anyways, you just upload a square image and a rectangular image, it’s pretty much the same image, and then logos. Rectangular and square versions of logos and then you add up to five headlines, a long headline, one long headlines, and then up to five descriptions. What Google does is it will just grab one of the images, a version of the logo, and one of the headlines and descriptions and create an ad out of that. What it does, is overtime, it will automatically optimize the ads based upon the images, the headlines, and the descriptions and which combination produces the most click-throughs and that’s what it will start to show more.

Again, it just became super easy to set up ads in the display network. What used to be a pain in the ass and because of that I want to do some specific training on that for remarketing as well as for cold traffic. Basically in two weeks from tomorrow, or excuse me a week from tomorrow, I’m going to be doing a full two … We usually go two and a half or three hours on Mastermind, training on specifically how to use Google Ads. Just YouTube ads and the display network ads.

Adam: Nice. Nice, and speaking of webinars, Marco you just had a webinar didn’t you?

Marco: Yeah, I’m glad that Bradley’s doing this training because we talked about entities on Monday, right? I mean, almost everyone stayed until the end but we talked about how you create them, how to verify them, validate, solidify and then we talked about the art of ART. Which I’m always talking about. Activity, Relevance, Trust and authority. Relevance is just you make sure that your content stays relevant and that you do, you write your silos.

They have to be Semantically related. The Semantic relevance has to be kept within the silo, you don’t want to break that and so we talked. I’m glad that Bradley’s doing this training because what better way is there to validate your entity then to go and pay Google for some ads and run them to your stuff because it’s traffic and what’s the first part of ART, Activity. Without activity you’re ship is dead in the water no matter what you do.

I mean, you have to do so much work in order to get it to start getting traffic and what Bradley does, what Bradley’s going to show is how to kick start that traffic, how do get that traffic flowing anywhere you want, basically, so that you can validate. You can get all of the … If you have all of these things in place prior, right? The creation, verification, and then you’re ready to validate and solidify and work into the endgame which is ART. The art of ART, then there’s absolutely no better way because you’re paying the great validator, the great solidifier which is Google.

Fuck Google, by the way, but that’s what you’re doing and there’s nothing better. For anyone who wants to watch those, guys I have the rotary club the [inaudible 00:11:18] valley, it’s in Washington state right? The rotary club of [inaudible 00:11:29] valley is matching any donation, 50 dollars or more, which is incredible. They’re willing to match anyone donating 50 or more will get a match, and then anyone donating 500 now because it used to be 1,000, but 500 gets two hours of my time.

Of course, anyone who’s willing to donate that 5K you get business in the box from me. What I talked about on Monday, we will do all of that so you can just pop that right in, in whatever niche you want. Now, local niche or whatever, affiliate, whatever it is that you want to do and we’ll get that puppy going and it’s … I think you can’t get a better offer than that, so there you go. Thanks everyone who donated. Guys we’re killing it. We have enough to send about 40 kids, well 50 now. 50 kids to school this year, which is fantastic.

Adam: Awesome, awesome. Yeah, thanks to everybody who donated throughout the webinars and then this is a pretty awesome offer so thank you Marco. Alright, I think that’s going to do it as far as what we’ve got to cover. Real quick just want to remind people we do have, ooh, no it is going. I just about stuck my foot in my mouth, but the flash sale I believe is still going on at MGYB.CO for [dunfee 00:12:51] services, we’ve got a deal on press releases as well as syndication networks. I’ll put that on the page. If you’re watching the replay, I’m sorry, but you’re probably not going to get it unless you get to it real quick after Hump Day Hangouts. But with that said, let’s get into it.

Do You Use Vumber Or CallFire And Reroute Those Calls To AnswerConnect Service For Your Lead Gen Properties?

Bradley: Okay, I guess I’ll have to stop looking at other stuff [inaudible 00:13:11] screen. Alright, here we go. Not a whole lot yet. Guys, I hope you start engaging here soon or we could just long wind all these answers. Will’s up first, he says, “Bradley do you use Vumber or Call Fires virtual numbers and then reroute those calls to your answer connect service to provide support to your lead gen properties?”

Yes, Will, that’s what I do and just to be clear I’m using Call Rail right now. I mean, I’ve got dozens and dozens of phone numbers with Call Fire but call rail is a much, much better platform guys. I talked about Vumber too, if you were just doing a handful of numbers or a couple of assets or something like that then Vumber is a pretty cool, it’s a great service actually. But if you’re going to be doing at scale, which is what we’ve been preaching for the last few months ala the local lease pro method, then I would highly recommend that you go with Call Rail as your virtual phone number provider.

There’s a ton of really, really good features in there. Not that you need them all, but I’m just saying there’s a lot of really cool stuff that you can do. They call, call workflows or something like that, is what they’re called where you can set up automations and all kinds of really cool stuff. It’s just like a drag and drop workflow or automation builder. There’s just a ton of really cool things that you can do there. It’s inexpensive. I just really, really like the platform.

But, yes, I’m rerouting, and by the way, I know I mentioned this at some point. But I thought Call Rail had a live answering service too, like AnswerConnect, but they don’t. I researched that because just last week, or it might’ve been two weeks ago now, I had to set up a new account because one of my location clusters has started to generate calls consistently and I had the phone, the virtual phone numbers just forwarded to the contractor directly.

He contacted me, he’s like, “I’m getting hammered with spam calls.” He was getting some valid leads too, but he was also getting hammered by Home Advisor, a ton of marketing companies and all that shit because there was a whole bunch of new GMB assets. They were all funneling, were all redirecting the phone to him. Guys I’ve talked about this many times on Hump Day Hangouts, but I’m telling you if you’re doing lead generation guys, one of the things that’s going to separate you from potential competitors is if you set up … Well, it depends on the industries you’re dealing with.

But I’m talking about for contractors, or really for any industry for that matter, unless if you’re redirecting the phone calls directly to your client or your service provider. Unless they have a receptionist, somebody that’s going to answer the phone, like that’s their job to answer the phone, then I would recommend you don’t send calls directly to them and instead set up a call service, a call center, an answering service. Does that make sense?

The reason why I’m saying that is because, guys, over the years every time I’ve created lead gen assets and then forwarded the calls directly to the provider, in my case contractors, I ended up losing … Well, first it would piss the contractor off because they would have to field all those spam calls which were solicitations from marketing services mainly. That would piss them off, number one, because it would be a shit ton of wasted effort on answering calls.

Number two, a lot of those contractors will, you know my service providers which are contractors, are working contractors. In other words, they may be the business owners but they also work out in the field with their tools where they manage projects or whatever, and so a lot of the times they wouldn’t be available to answer the phone. If they wouldn’t answer the phone, that’s a lots lead, especially if I was charging on a pay per lead basis, or on a revenue share model because calls that don’t get answered are leads that are wasted.

They go out into oblivion and that’s money that I lost. Then, lastly, even if they did answer the phone, like even the contractor answered the phone most of the time, what happens is because of the solicitation calls and the barrage of calls that come in, they would eventually stop answering the call and screen them because of that. What I ended up doing with tree service companies way back in 2012 was I got hooked up with Answer Connect. Answerconnect.com, I get no credit for that guys, it’s just a really good service for me to mention it.

I got hooked up with them and set up a call center and the call center answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s always available, so every time somebody calls one of my lead gen sites for tree services, it gets answered no matter what time of day or night it is. It’s a live person answering the phone that asks a very shot call script asking what the callers calling about and then some basic contact information, the property address, that kind of stuff. Then they forward that, as soon as the call is done … Well, it depends on the arrangement I have with the particular contractor.

But the vast majority of them, as soon as the call is done, the call gets … The data, the lead data gets forwarded or sent to the contractor via email as well as text message. It goes directly to their phone and I get an email copy of it, so I get an email of the lead and then I set up a Zapier for each client so that it will, because it goes to my email. Zapier will grab, I set up a filter that says, “If an email comes in from this address or with this subject like,” or whatever it is that I use to identify which email it is, “Then send it to a spreadsheet.”

A Google sheet. What I do, is I end up having, like this is all automated, and then once a month, or once every two weeks, or once a week depending on what the frequency is that I go over leads with potential service providers, I’ve got a spread sheet there that shows all of the leads and it’s real simple for me to just open up and look at it. Anyways, like I said, I thought answering … I thought, excuse me, Call Rail had an answering service but it does not. Answer Connect is still my go-to source and I just set up another account, like I said, last week or maybe two weeks ago now for one of our location clusters that’s generating now.

What I’m saying, guys, is that’s going to differentiate you from other lead gen provides. Is, first of all, exclusivity of leads, right, that’s something I’ll always pitch to a potential service provider or a prospect. I say, “Look, any lead that I generate is going to go 100% exclusively to you. That means I’m not selling it to three to five other contractors.” That’s what Home Advisor does guys. Home Advisor sells leads to multiple contractors so it’s a race to the lowest price point.

In other words, all the contractors will show up at a damn residence, sometimes at the same time. I know because I’ve gotten a lot of tree service clients that way, guys. They would literally … A tree company would be pulling into a driveway and another tree company would be pulling out, you know what I mean, because Home Advisor sold that same lead to as many as five different contractors that I’ve been able to verify. All those contractors end up bidding for that job and they lowered their price so it’s a race to see who can bid the lowest to get the job.

That sucks, nobody wants that. Contractors don’t want to have to get in a bidding war with other contractors to get a job. Exclusivity of leads, that’s huge, number one. Number two, if you offer a call center then that means the only time that your service provider is going to get notification is when it’s a valid qualified lead. How do you know it’s qualified? Because it went through the screening process that the answering service provides.

Don’t get me wrong, some of my contractors still get … Like for example, Yelp, absolutely relentless. Yelp will call over, and over, and over again. Three times a week. Different Yelp representatives to the same lead gen asset saying, “We’re the new Yelp rep and we’re just calling to …” It’s always to sell advertising services and so they’ll still leave a message and that message will get transmitted to the service provider and I’ll get a copy of it too.

But I understand that, that’s going to happen from time to time. What I’m saying is, though, the notifications only get sent when the caller has completed the call with the answering service and filled out, answered the required amount of questions, okay. Obviously, like a Yelp call wouldn’t be a billable call, but valid lead data would. That’s huge because that prevents the contractor from having to answer the phone. It prevents spam calls from ever reaching them and it also, it ends up being to where they just get the lead information when it’s convenient for them, they can call back.

Obviously, I recommend they do it as soon as they get the information but that way they can still manage their projects or have their tools on and they’re still getting the lead. Whereas before, the lead would just go off into the ether, into oblivion, and we’d lose the lead. When I implemented that Will, with my tree service stuff, and this was way back when I was still kind of, you know had a fledgling business at the time. I was hesitant at the time to pay for the answer connect service because, I think, when I started out I started with like a 300 dollar a month plan.

Which allows a certain amount of minutes and blah, blah, blah. At the time, when I was new to this, 300 dollars a month was painful for me to give up. I didn’t want to commit to 300. There’s not a contract, it’s just month to month, but I didn’t want to commit to 300 dollars a month when I was barely making money at that time. You know what I’m saying? I mean, I was making money, but still 300 dollars a month was a big commitment for me at the time. But what was interesting is as soon as I implemented that, my revenue went up 30%.

My net revenue went up 30%. That means even after subtracting the expense of the call center, and it was because now a lot of calls that were getting missed before were not being answered and the leads would end up, they got followed up on by my contractors which ended up, a percentage of them closed in the jobs. My revenue went, minus the … And I don’t remember if it was really 300 dollars a month or whatever guys, but whatever the expense was at that time I ended up having a 30% net increase in revenue on a monthly basis because of that.

Ever since then, that has been how I developed my lead gen business. Is I always provide just, or I always set up call centers. When I have assets that start producing consistently. Like, initially I might have the calls directed to directly to a service provider or even to just a voice mail while I’m optimizing or getting the asset to produce. Once it starts producing fairly consistently, then I’ll set up a call center for that so that we have somebody actually answering the phone and then that’s when I’ll pitch that service to monetize it to potential service providers. Okay.

That was a great question and I appreciate you asking that because I get that question a lot, even from more experienced members and our Mastermind. I’m telling you guys, I know a lot of people do lead gen and just forward them directly to the contractor, but trust me, especially if you have multiple locations that you’re all forwarding to the same number, every one of those locations is another spam point. Another solicitation target or magnet, I should say. Another solicitation magnet.

If you’ve got 6, or 8, or 10 locations in a metro area that you’re forwarding all to one company, they’re going to get barraged. Like, literally hammered with solicitation calls guys and you’re going to piss them off. They’re not going to want your services anymore, so again, I would recommend that you do that. Set up, guys, it will make … You can charge a premium for those leads because they’re exclusive, and because they’re all pre-screened leads. The call center being the pre-screener. It was a great question though, Will. I appreciate that question.

How Verify A GMB If It’s An Online Business in a Service Area Market?

Elena, “I’m working on a niche that is considered a service area business. However, we are collecting leads of consumers that are seeking this type of service via a website that captures their personal info, sort of like a lead gen site.” Okay. “When trying to verify the GMB I’m getting pushback from Google saying that this type of business doesn’t meet the guidelines for verification being that this is an online business that doesn’t meet customers at their locations or we visit customers at their place of business. Do you have any recommendations on how to get a GMB verified when the business happens to be an online business and a service area market?”

“According to the LLP or Local Lease Pro training, we only need an NAP and the requirement that this be for a surface area business to get the GMB verified. In other words, wait until the GMB is verified and then pile it up with all the custom optimization we talked about in training.” Okay, I’m not real sure what the … The first question, the primary question is: can you get GMB assets set up for that type of business? I don’t know because I’ve never done that. However, like I’m not sure what … Exactly what type of business you’re talking about so I don’t know.

I’ve never experienced that sort of a warning or restriction, or whatever, from Google because I’ve never tried to set something like that up. However, I may not be correct about this so Marco please feel free to interject, but our GMB verification service could likely get that for you. Am I right Marco?

Marco: Yeah. Well, what do you call it, if it’s available. If it’s in one of the categories, or any of the categories in Google My Business approximates whatever it is that you’re doing, we can get it. We can get it. Except if it’s one of those, here, we just can’t do a 24 hour locksmith. We can’t verify that, period. Some of them are more difficult so you will be charged more for that service simply because it might be just a small area or it’s one of those that Google police’s really closely so it takes a lot more work to get it verified.

But if it’s in there and it’s not one of the categories that’s just absolutely no way that it can be verified, yeah we can verify it.

Bradley: Yeah, so I mean, there you go Elena. Like, honestly, I don’t try to verify my own listings anymore because we have a service that does it. I don’t even know how it’s being done. I honestly don’t care. I just want the result so that’s why I’m suggesting that potentially is because … Now here’s something else you may want to try if you’re trying to do this on your own. I don’t know that this will work either, but perhaps try to create the GMB listing under a different category and then once you have it confirmed, or verified, then update the category to whatever your real category is.

That might be something that you could do. It could just be because of whatever category you’re trying to set it up to create the listing under is a category that Google doesn’t like based upon whatever it is that you’re trying to do. Again, I don’t know that, that’s going to correct it, but what I’m saying is try it. If you’re adamant about doing this on your own then try it and see if you could verify it under a different category type and then once it’s confirmed or verified then go in and change it.

It may, I don’t know that it would. My experience with after verifying a profile is that you can do a lot of changes to it now without it triggering a reverification. Now I’m not, again, don’t quote me on that. I’m not saying that it won’t trigger a reverification, I’m just saying that I have been able to make some pretty drastic changes to GMB assets recently and they didn’t trigger a reverification. That might be something you want to try as well. As a last resort, like I said, contact us. See if we can do it.

How Do You Track And Delegate Tasks For Your Virtual Assistants?

We might be able to get it done for you too. I guess it just depends on what the category is, that your category. Then, once again, we may very well be able to get it under a different category and then just change the category once verified. Okay. Alright, moving on. Frankie. What’s up Frankie? He says, “What’s up guys? Much love from you guys from Miami Beach.” He’s down there where it’s warm. “My question is: when hiring VA’s how do you keep track of their hours? I’m in the midst of hiring VA 40 hour a week and curious of how you guys do the billing and tracking in the event that you don’t keep track of their hours, Time Doctor, et cetera, then how do you make sure they are working full time and not BS-ing half the time?”

Okay, so that’s a really good question Frankie. There are some really good time tracking apps like what you’re talking about. Time Doctor’s one, another one Chris P. one of my partners mentioned. I haven’t used it though, it’s called Hub Staff I think. Hubstaff.com, maybe. You can look it up. But, yeah, something like that is a great way to do it. Especially to start with, guys. Now, I typically don’t monitor my VA’s like that because I work very closely with the VA’s that I train initially because, especially now, because I’m teaching my VA’s more complex procedures so they’re working a lot more in direct contact with me on a daily basis.

At least initially while they’re getting trained. Then, because I’m familiar with the … Because usually, I create all the process docs that I train my … Process docs and training videos that I train my VA’s with. It’s usually directly from me and so I understand about what, how long it takes to complete the task that I’m giving to them because I’ve done it myself in order to create the training. Obviously I give them leeway up front while they’re going through the training and learning the procedure.

I give them leeway, in other words I allow them a lot more time than what it takes me. But then after training, which for us Semantic mastery, whenever we hire a VA full time they go on salary. But we pay them 75% of their salary for the 30 days because they’re in training. Then, provided that they’ve … And that’s also a probationary period. At the end of that 30 days, if they performed well and I was satisfied with their work and that kind of stuff, then they go up to their full salary.

Then typically by then I just assign them tasks and if the tasks, if the tasks aren’t being completed in a timely manner then I’ll question what they’re doing and if they can’t give me a good reason or a believable reason as to what’s taking them so long, like present me with some problems they’re running into. Process issues or software, or application issues, or whatever the case may be. If they can’t present me with something that’s believable and a valid excuse, then that’s when they go on probation again, or they’ll potentially at that point I would add them to a time tracking app.

Or they’d just flat out get fired if I catch them in a lie, or whatever. Yeah, that happens from time to time, but personally, for the teams that I manage, I typically do not track using time tracking software. I did when I first got started guys but I’ve gotten really proficient at managing VA’s so I don’t really see that, for me personally, necessary. But, again, I do recommend especially if you’re just starting to outsource guys that you use something like a time tracking app. Time Doctor’s a good one.

Marco: I can tell you how it’s being done in MGYB.CO because we’ve got a bunch of them. It’s not mandatory for them to be on from 10:00 p.m. to midnight their time, which makes it convene in eastern time, in my time, so that we can communicate. We need to know the tasks, what they’re up to, what they’re doing, what they’ve done. Any problems, anything because they’re constantly going to MGYB fulfilling. There’s a lot of client involvement, Rosale needs to know, Justin needs to know, Chris needs.

There’s a whole lot of communication that takes place that Rob and I, or Rob or I need to see. Then we also have a project manager, she’s the one that’s just hands-on, just moving all of the pieces around so that now Rob and I only get the higher level stuff that can’t be solved by our project manager. When they come on, they go on 90 days probation and they have to know that they’re going to get, as Bradley says, 75% while they’re training.

After the first 30 days they go into their full salary, but they’re still on probation.

Bradley: Yes, correct.

Marco: They’re being tracked. We have Work Snaps, it’s called, worksnaps.net which works really well because they have to be there to click and take that screen grab. They have to be there, they have to be present at the computer, and then we’ll know what it is that they’re doing. Now, after the probationary period what happens is then they go on a split shift. Which means six hours they have to work whenever they want, as long as they clear it with the project manager.

But they have to work the six hours. Once we know that we can trust them and we can give them enough work and you’re right about that. You have to give them enough work that you know it’s going to fill up their time, and so we know we’re doing that. We have the project manager that’s on top of everything during the day in the Philippines especially. She’s giving them assignments and if there’s anything going on then we have the reports. I mean, we just have a whole system in place so that we track whether our VA’s now are being as productive as possible.

Now here’s another thing. If you have a rockstar that’s producing whatever it is that you need produced and you’re making a whole bunch of money with that VA’s help, then is it work tracking that VA? I would say, “Hell no.” I mean, by all means, do whatever the fuck you want to do and keep making me money. Where you run into issues is if you’re not getting the work you expect completed. If you are and it’s just superstar work and that’s your rockstar, that’s your future team manager, team lead, project lead.

Whatever the hell you want to make that VA, that’s where that comes from because then they know your business, they know what you’re doing, and they can train other people for you. That’s how we do it at MGYB. We always promote from within whenever possible and pay them well Frankie. Give them raises. Praise them, praise them. Say, “You guys rock. You guys are the best. You’re doing great work,” because I mean, who … Think about how badly many of these people are treated.

Just a kind word is going to get them to just totally loyal and just totally working for you the way that they’re supposed to.

Bradley: Yeah, I just want to … I’m pulling something up just quickly because I’m not going to share … I mean, I’m not going to read this and stuff to you guys but, damnit, come on. This is one of my VA’s Hazel here. She’s on my GMB team and here you see this long post she just sent, guys. That was just a couple of weeks ago now and anyways, just the Readers Digest version of that post that she sent me in Slack was, she was just saying how appreciative she is of the fact that she gets to work from home.

She’s in the Philippines and she lives in a rural town, and in that post she was talking about how appreciative she is of the fact that she’s able to work from home and provide for her family. She’s been working with me for three years now. Again, I’ve only got two people on my GMB asset building team right now. Joe and Hazel, and they’re both rockstars. Anyway Hazel posted that to tell me how appreciative she is of the fact that she gets to work from home because most of the jobs, economic opportunities in the Philippines are centered around the cities.

That makes sense, there’s a lot of that in the United States too. Most of the jobs and everything are available in the cities and in the rural areas there’s very little work and so there’s a lot of poverty. There’s not very much opportunities. She said she was basically asking, she’s a very ambitious girl, which is great. I love it when a VA has ambitions to climb the ladder because think about it. We’ve got a lot of VA’s that all they want to do is show up to work every day, be told what to do, and go home and collect their checks.

That’s perfectly fine, those are very valuable assets as well. But every now and then you’ll get a VA that wants to grow their business, and wants to expand, increase their knowledge and take on more responsibility. What she did is she posted and said, “Hey, look, I want to create my own company in the Philippines and offer a virtual staffing service.” She wants to create a company and provide job opportunities to people that live in her rural town because they can work remotely, and because of Semantic Mastery and all the stuff we’re building with MGYB and everything that we do for our own businesses guys we’re turning into processes.

Outsourcing it, so first of all, we don’t have to do it anymore, but then second of all so that we can also provide you guys with the same services that we use for our own businesses. She basically reached out and said, “Look, I’d like to create my own company and hire virtual assistants right here in my local town to where they show up to an office space.” She’s going to start it in her own. She’s got an extra room in her home. She’s going to start it there and then as it grows she wants to move into an office space.

She was saying because we can provide … Because of her job with us, Semantic mastery, she knows that there’s opportunities for other people in her town that don’t have much opportunity to also work. She says she’s had a lot of family and friends ask her like, “Hey, is there any opportunity to work the company that yo work for?” That’s why she reached out to say, “Is there any opportunity for expansion, if so, I can provide the workers for you.” I was so proud of her and I sent her a message and we ended up having a Skype … Excuse me, a Slack chat appointment or meeting earlier this week on Monday to discuss.

It worked out. I’m so proud of her because she’s not only been really good VA anyways, but because she wants to grow and she wants to provide opportunity to people in her area. For us as a company, it’s a great … It’s very promising because I found that me personally managing VA’s other than when I’m working with them really closely like I am right now. When it comes to managing a team, that’s more difficult to do remotely in my opinion.

At least for me it is. I’m not the best manager in the world, okay, but having a team that she can manage in person. Be in the same room with them to help with any issues, to help with training, all that stuff to also just monitor their activity, that’s a much better way to manage a team. Especially, at least, initially in my opinion. She’ll be able to handle the management aspects that I would typically be doing as remotely. She’ll be able to do that in person.

Anyways, we’re pursuing it with her and I think it’s just really, really great. That’s what, guys when you have VA’s that are good VA’s and you’re going to have some that are good, and you’re going to have some that are bad. The ones that are good, make sure, do exactly what Marco just mentioned and that’s treat them well. Give them raises, praise them often. Encourage them because that will help them to become better workers for you and it will improve the quality of their life too.

Absolutely do that, guys. We’ve gotten, I mean, we’ve got VA’s that have been working for us for years. I mean, I’ve got stories I told at the POFU Live event about VA’s and some of the messages or letters that I’ve received from VA’s that are talking about how much it’s improved their quality of life and blah, blah, blah. The opportunities it’s provided for their family and that kind of stuff, guys. We really are doing a service. All of us. We’re all entrepreneurs, so we’re providing a service and enriching other people’s lives when we do that, when we offer jobs.

Marco: Talking about a VA getting to POFU, [Dedia 00:41:41] attended POFU Live.

Bradley: Yup. Dedia’s our link building manager and has been for … Well, he doesn’t work for us anymore. He’s not on salary, he’s a contractor. He owns his own company now, which is amazing. He’s one of my favorite stories of all time. He came to work for me. He had a full time job and he was working as a freelancer on UpWork as part time, like moonlighting, doing link building. We’re talking five or six years ago now. I hired him part time, and then over time my workload increased.

I kept giving him more and more work and eventually he approached me and asked me, “Hey, would you hire me full time so I can quit my job and work from home?” At the time, I wasn’t ready to pay a link builder full time but I did it anyways because I had a really good feeling about Dedia. He was just great to work with and blah, blah, blah. I did. I said, “Okay, yeah.” Even though, like I said, it was painful for me at the time, I gave him a full time job and within just a couple of years when we opened up Semantic Mastery and then we started selling links on our own first.

Then we went to search space and so on and so forth, he ended up growing his own company and bought a house, and not even on salary with us anymore because he’s a contractor and his business is thriving. He came to the POFU Live event all the way from India. I mean, that’s crazy guys. Like, it’s just amazing, and some of the stories that he’s told about over the years is just great. You guys, it really is important. As business owners we offer opportunities. We hire people first to help us, right, but at the same time it’s to help them and to help their families and everybody around them as well.

It’s a great question Frankie, thank you for that. Quint [inaudible 00:43:23] says, “Good day gents, I noticed GMB they’re encouraging … Excuse me. They’re encouraging you to run ads. When you run ads can you make the GMB the landing page?” Yes you can, however I would recommend that do not use the ads service that they prompt you with inside of GMB because that’s the Google My Business, or the Google Ad express service which gives you like, literally, no control over the ads.

Google does everything for you and I don’t recommend that. Now, I haven’t tested that. Again, the Google Ads platform has improved leaps and bounds over the last year, year and a half. The Google express ads may very well be a lot better, but several years ago when I tested the Google express ads they sucked, they were terrible. I could manage an ads campaign manually way better and get much, much better results than I could from the Google Ads express platform.

I just, again, I haven’t tested any of that in at least two years now, guys. It may be very much better but I highly recommend that you would manually manage your campaign instead of letting Google do everything for you. Google will spend your money rather quickly if you let them. Okay. But, yeah, you can use the GMB website as your landing page. Guys, you can use a damn Google doc as the desk …

Marco: No, no, no, no, no, no.

Bradley: What do you mean, “No, no, no?”

Marco: Don’t give that away.

Bradley: Why not?

Marco: Because that’s in [inaudible 00:44:52] academy reloading.

Bradley: So what? You can use a YouTube link, you can use any link for an ad basically, as long as it meets the compliance regulations. Which is actually funny because in that case there wouldn’t even be a privacy policy. What I’m saying is, Google doesn’t really care what you’re directing traffic to as long as it has the recommended or whatever, the required stuff. When it’s the landing page, like a self-hosted landing page, they want contact information, privacy policy, terms of service. That kind of stuff.

At least links that lead to that and a way to contact. But you can go to a YouTube video, for example. You can go to a Google doc. A GMB website, a maps listing. You can even add your just GMB map share URL in there. Okay. Keep in mind though, if you’re doing that, the only reason why I wouldn’t want to do that guys is because, and I’ve thought about this, too, recently is you can’t add remarketing to a GMB website, for example.

You can’t add a remarketing pixel or even the Google Maps page itself. The profile itself, you can’t add so it’s very difficult, and how do you track conversions on that too? Think about that. I mean, obviously if you have a tracking phone number, if somebody calls you could always look at your call reports and that would be considered a conversion but it’s not going to track as a conversion. Well, I guess if you added the number at like through call only ads and stuff you can probably do that.

What I’m saying is, think about, there’s reasons why I don’t recommend running adds directly to a GMB website. Not like search ads, I mean, because it’s awfully expensive. YouTube ads, yes. Display ads, yes, because you can get those a lot cheaper. Remarketing ads even, but for like straight cold traffic search ads, I would not recommend pointing them directly to a GMB asset because that’s, there’s no way to really track that and you could end up spending a lot of money on it. It’s just too expensive to do it in my opinion.

From search ads, I mean. Okay. But yes, you can absolutely link to that. Alright Jim’s up, he says, “Hello gents, I just realized today’s the 16th.” Marco did you answer this one for him?

Marco: Sorry, I was muted.

Adam: Yeah, I think the beginning of the webinar answered that so if you missed it just check out the very beginning and check out Marco’s link right below your comments here. Actually right above it.

Bradley: There you go. Okay, “Where should I subscribe to the emails again?” Okay, there you go. You answered that. Wow, we’re almost out of time. Well, we can wrap it up early guys. Elena says, “Do you have a valid discount coupon that I could use for GMB verification then? Thank you.” I’m not sure what you’re asking for Elena. If we don’t have a sale going on right now, then no.

Marco: No, we don’t have a coupon right now.

Are You Offering VA Connections?

Bradley: Well, then no. Sorry, Elena. We may run a sale again soon and when we do you can wait until then if you’d like. Okay, John’s up. He says, “Are you guys offering VA connections?” Ooh. John, in the Mastermind possibly. Adam, you want to chat about that?

Adam: Yeah, definitely. We brought that up and we were definitely looking. We hooked up a couple people who were interested and I guess now’s a good time to see if anybody listening, you’ve heard us talk about VA’s. Most of the people who subscribe and listen to Semantic Mastery understand that, that’s a great way to offload a lot of your work so you can grow in scale. We can answer questions about how to use VA’s effectively how to manage them and make sure you get the good ones. We also, of course, offer training on how to do that at more of an advanced level.

We realize that some people going through that process of finding those good VA’s and connecting with them is a problem. It can take a lot of time and since we do it at scale we talked to some Mastermind members about that. They took us up on the offer and so I’m just curious if anyone is watching or you’re checking this out on the replay, let us know, because if there’s enough people out there who think this is a valuable service will be willing to set this up where we’ll even crank up our volume a little bit, do the hard work for you on the back end, and then do something like connect you with two VA’s you can interview and either take both or take the best one for some set fee.

Now probably, I’ve got this written down somewhere just for my own time, but that would save you at least several hours of work and depending on what tools you use potentially a couple hundred bucks.

Bradley: Yeah. Yeah, and I’ve been doing Mastermind calls for the last two weeks now. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I do two half an hour calls per day with just Mastermind members that have scheduled with me. One of, almost unanimously. I’m not going to call anybody out by name. But almost unanimously, everybody I’ve spoken to said that one of the things they know they need to do more of is outsource. Many people have been, have avoided it because they have either been burned by hiring shitty outsources in the past, or they just don’t want to put all the time and effort into setting up hiring funnels and going through that whole process of screening applicants and everything else.

Which is what we teach in Outsource Kingpin, it’s the exact same method that we use, guys. We’ve put the time in to do all that though and I understand why people don’t want to do it. My only poin to that is if you do stuff in your business over, and over, and over again all the time, that takes time like client reports. Whatever, repetitive tasks in your business that you do over, and over, and over again but you don’t want to put the work in to hiring the outsourcer, it doesn’t make sense to me because you have to repeat that process again. Over and over again every single time.

Again, I’m just going to use client reports as an example and, guys, I outsource stuff for years and I still did my own client reports until January of 2018, so a year ago is when I finally outsourced my client reports. What I’m saying is the reason why is because in order to generate the client reports the way that I had always done it, I knew it was going to take me two or three days of, literally, two to three days of recording the process for how to do it because I’ve got different types of reports go to different clients.

That may be my own fault, I probably should’ve made everything universal or templatized, or whatever. But, it is what it is, and so I had to spend a couple days and I never wanted to do it. It took me a day to do client reports every month. It would take me a full day to do client reports every single month, and sometimes depending on if I was distracted throughout that process, it would take me a day and a half because other things would come up or whatever. A day to a day and a half every single month and I just, I hated it.

But I never wanted to take two to three days to complete all the process training to train somebody else to do it. Well finally I got smart and I finally did that, and last year in January I outsourced that and, yeah, it was painful because it took me almost three days to complete all the processes but now I get, every single month, I get an entire day back. Well, let me rephrase that. Now I have a VA that generates all the reports, consolidates them into one sheet text file, and then she sends it to me. Then I have all the reports and everything available to me right there in the notepad file and I can just copy and paste into an email to my clients.

Then I always inject my commentary. Sometimes it’s via video email where I’m going over the reports and I talk about where progress was made, where I found new opportunities. Perhaps where some things went wrong, that kind of stuff. I often send an email, a video email along with the reports or I’ll just send some text. Like, “Here’s your local rank report. Here’s key takeaways. Here’s your citation report, key takeaways. Analytics report, search console report.” Those kind of things. Again, something like that guys, it takes forever to create a process to do it and I understand why people avoid it.

I’ve done that stuff. Like, “I don’t feel like doing a process. Well, it’d just be quicker for me to do it. Just be quicker if I did it.” But the problem is that time comes around again a month later or a week later, two weeks. Whatever it is. It comes around again and then you’re back in the same boat again. You have to do it again and, “I could develop a process or I could just get it done now and it’d be much faster if I just do it myself.” You guys get what I’m saying.

That’s why, again, the Mastermind calls almost unanimously everybody that I’ve talked to have said, “I know I need to do more outsourcing but I just don’t have the time,” or, “I don’t want to put in the work,” and blah, blah, blah. We realized that there was an opportunity there for VA matching service. In other words, we do all the application screening and all that stuff, put them through a series of tests to make sure that they can follow instructions and all that stuff.

Finally, the ones that end all the way through our funnel system, those are good candidates that are ready to be interviewed. That’s something that, again, speaking with the Mastermind members that I’ve been speaking with on the phone over the last week and a half now, or almost two weeks, is like I’ve said. I’ve told them about that and I think there’s a real opportunity for VA matching service just within our own Mastermind but potentially externally, too, for our other audience members. Very cool. It’s a great offer … Adam, I’m pretty sure that’s something we’ll end up proceeding with.

Alright, “Did I miss Adam talking about having VA’s trained that are ready to be hired, please say yes.” Well not necessarily trained yet, although we are talking about doing that. Right now we were just talking about the VA matching service. Like prescreening and all that kind of stuff to where that we know they’re qualified and then it would be up to you to interview and then train them and all that stuff. However, there’s potentially, we are discussing maybe in the future also providing fully done for you trained VA’s.

In other words, we hire them, we put them through our training processes and then make them available to you once they’re fully trained. Literally turn key, they’re ready to go to work. If that makes sense. That’s something that we’re talking about but that’s not anything that’s going to happen right away, guys, I can tell you that.

How Do You An LED Controllable Lights As A Drummer-Influencer In Charleston, South Carolina?

Alright, Quinten says, “Hey, love guys. I’m a drummer/singer living in Charleston, South Carolina. I just got sponsored by a drum light company. Basically, put they specialize in LED controllable lights. The company is called Galaxy Lights. They hired me as an influencer for their brand.”

That’s awesome man. That’s really cool. “I’m going to do drum videos promoting their lights. What’s my best angle to get their product seen? Should I run ads for drummers specifically? Is there a better way?” That’s a really good question.

Hernan: Love that.

Bradley: Hernan you’re the paid traffic expert, what do you say?

Hernan: Yeah, I’m rereading the question. LED controllable lights, as an influencer. Yeah, like what you could do. The fact that you are doing this, it makes a lot of sense because there’s a niche that it’s like really, really sexy. You know what I’m saying? You can actually put out a lot of valuable content. You can put out a lot of valuable content like how to use those LED lights and whatnot, and maybe just film yourself drumming and whatnot, playing the drums and doing that type of stuff. Then you can retarget those people with an offer.

That’s easily done by, with Facebook for instance.

Bradley: You can do it on YouTube too.

Hernan: Yeah, you can do this on YouTube, too. 100%, you can do video SEO like try to rank your YouTube videos but I’ve been doing it on Facebook a lot and it works really well. In terms of getting their product out, if you want to put some money behind your videos that would be faster. If not, you can just try to rank them on YouTube. But, yeah, in terms of the actual targeting that you could do, for instance, on Facebook. You can target specific, like you can target specific brands that are for drummers only.

For instance you can target Yamaha, for instance as a drums brand. But the problem with that, is that a lot of people will like Yamaha. You know what I’m saying? You can go out there and try to find these boutique brands like Tama or CPN or Paste. Those type of brands that would be related to drummers only and people will like … People that like those brands will be drummers. You know what I’m saying?

Cymbals type of brands and whatnot, then Bradley’s doing something that is great, which is drumming, drummers magazines and forums, and all that stuff. That will give you some idea of what to target, who to target on your videos and what kind of chatting is around that. That’s what I would do.

Bradley: Yeah, and that’s why I pulled this up because like this is a website here and just go to Google and search drummer blogs. That’s what I just did, and here’s one from Feed Spot which is the top 50 drum and percussionist websites out there. Right there’s a placement list. In other words, if you understand Google Ads … Well, I’m saying Google Ads.

Hernan’s the Facebook guy. I don’t even run Facebook ads, I don’t know how. But I do Google Ads and that would be, right there is a placement list. In other words, just scrape all those domains and this just 50 here but I’m sure you can do some research and build a really good placement list of drumming publications, and websites, and blogs and things like that, that you can specifically place your ads on those.

That’s called a placement list. You could also do audience targeting if you can find, there probably is. I haven’t done anything in the music niche, but there probably is a sub category within the musician targeting categories that for drummers and percussionist. You could use Google’s audience targeting that way. You could also do topic targeting by adding, well selecting a topic and then adding keywords as an additional layer.

That’s something else that you could do, and then YouTube marketing. I know for sure that YouTube has got a lot of music type videos and stuff like that on that so you could actually target via placements just like you would here. Create a placement list for YouTube videos that are known videos with a lot of traffic around drumming and percussionism and stuff like that.

Also, you could do topic targeting and audience targeting there as well as remarketing and all that stuff. Yeah, there’s a lot of options there for paid traffic guys. A lot of options.

Hernan: Yup.

Bradley: Alright guys we need to wrap it up. Okay, cool no more questions. Beautiful. Right on time too. 5:00 on the money. That happens rarely, so everybody we appreciate you all being here. Mastermind webinar next week, not this week. Anything else we got to do this week guys? We’re good.

Adam: Sorry, if you’re not a part of the Facebook group. Go join, we’re going to have a great webinar coming up on Monday with Catherine Jones of CF design school and she’s gong to be talking about building seven figure funnels.

Bradley: Awesome, sweet. Cool. Alright everybody, we’ll see you all next week. Thanks everyone.

Marco: Bye everyone.

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