#dc is a bit higher up because i did watch some stuff growing up

[kawaiichibiart]

ATLA 🤝 DC

Me bullshitting my way through anything I personally post

[dogcopter]

Dogcopter Appearance Masterlist

thank you to resources SU Wiki Dogcopter and Dogcopter/Gallery, and Steven Says wiki transcript searcher

This is just a list of Dogcopter appearances in SU, not analysis. One or two may surprise you!

Dogcopter episode appearances

Lars and the Cool Kids

Lion 2

Some people say ‘You can't teach an old dog new tricks’... Unless you're Dogcopter 3, in 3D! This February, the fur hits the fan!

Steven: Whoah, I can see why this is your favorite film franchise. Connie: That's right! In a world where humanity is pushed to the brink, it turns out that the one who is most human, is a dog! Copter. Steven: and did you see where that missile came out of? Connie: Heh, yeah. I just hope it stays faithful to the book. 

Amethyst: Oh, that's easy! Who needs to go see movies when you’ve got magic?

Steven: I'm sorry! I ruined everything, didn't I? I don't know why you hang out with me. I mess stuff up all the time. Connie: I don't know why you hang out with me! I'm so much more less interesting than you! And obviously you have some sort of magical destiny. Why would you even care about something like Dogcopter? Steven: Why?! Because it's Dogcopter! He's a dog, and a helicopter, and a cop! He shoots missiles out of his butt, and he's gonna save the world! Dogcopter is very cool and important to me. Connie: Well, I'm no Dogcopter.

Keep Beach City Weird 

Dogcopter 3 SUX April 23, 2014

I saw Dogcopter 3 in 3D tonight and all I have to say is WOOF!  

First of all, it’s a huge mistake to turn the last Dogcopter book into THREE movies.  Yes, the last book is over 900 pages, but there’s not enough story!  And the 3D was completely unnecessary.  If I wanted to see butt missiles flying at my face, I’d feed a dog some bottle rockets and put on a pair of safety goggles.

Dogcopter is supposed to be an uncompromising look at the military-industrial-pet complex, not “fun”!  Fun is the worst.

Also, if you live in the Delmarva area - do not see it at the Beach City Cineplex.  The parking lot is a mess!  Probably from a bunch of angry Dogcopter fans rioting.  Ugh, I’m going to see this 3 more times to make sure I hate it.

Tags: dogcopter 3 in 3D keep beach city weird kbcw

-

Lion 3

Dogcopter: I win. Steven: Oh, what? That was a good move! Dogcopter: Thanks. Steven: Dogcopter. How do you do it? Dogcopter: How do I do what? Steven: I mean, what's your secret? How'd you get so talented? Dogcopter: Don't focus so much on talent, Steven. Making art is all about communication. A piece of art is a conversation. Every choice you make, is a statement.

Continued under cut

Dogcopter: Don't worry about labels, or conforming to a standard. Just be true to yourself, and people will appreciate your honesty. Steven: Woah. Thanks for the advice. Dogcopter: And take a deep breath. Steven: What?

suworkbook wrote a brilliant piece of meta around this dream

Steven: Here again? I don't know what this place is but it feels... familiar. Why can't I breathe? Wait a minute... Lion! Lion, my face is not your bed! What's going on with you?

Chille Tid

Steven: Whoa. Dogcopter! Mr. Copter! Sir! I'm one of your biggest fans, can I please have your autograph? Dogcopter: (meows) Steven: Mr. Copter, please! Steven: Hey wait! Where are you going?! Steven: I hope the rumors about Dogcopter in the tabloids aren't true. Steven: Huh? Oh! Hey, Pearl! Steven: Wait! Don't eat me! Steven: Oh, man! Thanks for the upgrade, Pearl! Now I can catch up with Dog— Steven: Woah, Amethyst? Steven: Hmm... This is... getting really weird. Lapis: This is weird. Steven: Hey, that sounds a lot like— Lapis: Steven! Steven: Lapis Lazuli! Lapis: Steven, what are you doing in here?

Keep Beach City Weird

KEEP BEACH CITY SPOILER FREE January 04 2016

Hey weirdos!  For the past few months, I’ve done something unprecedented - I’ve stayed off the internet.

It was hard but I had to do because I’ve been trying to stay SPOILER FREE for the movie event of the new millennium!  This December was the revival of one of the most famous sci-fi franchises in the world.  Yep, you know what I’m talking about: DOGCOPTER.

So for three months, I sequestered myself from all internet communications.  I handed over my laptop and my phone to my little bro, Peedee, and ordered him to bury them in an undisclosed location in the deserts of New Mexico.

I think he just put them in the walk-in freezer at the fry shop.  

I won’t lie, it was hard.  But I calmed my nerves by reacquainting myself with the “Young Adult Conspiracy” section at my local library.  And instead of getting in arguments with internet trolls, I got in real life arguments!  With my dad!

And after months of avoiding and spoilers or teasers or trailers, I was in line for Dogcopter 4, and then some dummy walking out of the theater TOTALLY SPOILED EVERYTHING and was like, “I can’t believe that Dogcopter’s parents are actually cats.”  

Ug!  I hope you’ve seen the movie because that’s pretty much the big ending.  Dogcopter dies defending the planet but then he comes back to life because he’s actually part cat and cats have 9 lives.  Anyway, the movie was pretty much ruined.  So now I’m back.  Spoilers are the worst.

Tags: Keep Beach City Weird Dogcopter

-

Fun fact if you invert this poster and adjust the contrast a bit, some odd diagram in the back appears:

Steven’s Birthday

Amethyst: What are you doing? Steven: Well uh...What are YOU doing? Greg: What are YOU doing to your body? Amethyst: Woah, woah, woah, have you been stretching yourself out all day? Steven: No! I was just... slouching. Greg: Why are you doing this? It... really isn't like you. Steven: Because, Dad, I can't stay a kid forever, when Connie grows up and becomes president what is that gonna make me? First Boy!? Amethyst: Steven, you can't just keep stretching forever. If you hold it too long, you could really hurt yourself. Steven: Yeah well, I'm half human so maybe it works different for me, we'll just have to wait and see, right? Greg: Steven...

Connie: That one's... "Canis helicopterus". Steven: Uh-uh, "Helicopterus"? Connie: Yeah, Dogcopter, get it? Now you make one up! Steven: Okay, um, That one's, uh, snake constellation. Connie: That's... pretty good. Are you okay? It looks like you're gonna throw up. Steven: Oh yeah, everything's fine!  Connie: Okay... that's good. You know, to be honest, I was a little worried before. This might sound silly, but I'm really glad that I'm going to get to grow up with you. Connie: ...Steven? Steven! What's going on? What happened? Connie: We were just talking then all of a sudden- Pearl: He turned back into a baby?! Connie: YES!

Keep Beach City Safe

DOGCOPTER 4: ALL DOGS GO TO WAR Jan 5 2016

Dogcopter 4 has finally been released! All Dogs Go to War!

I’ve been dying to see this movie for age, but I never had the time. I’ve been so busy with my blog and picking the perfect present for Steven. I’ve watched all the other Dogcopter Movies, but I haven’t had time to watch this one. But now I have a little free time to do something. After I watch it I won’t spoil it for the rest of you. I’m gonna be a Smart Spoiler and drop hints in my post for you guess. Only those who have watched it will notice the clues. Yep, watching it 9 times.

#Dogcopter 4 #Steven's Birthday Present #Dogcopter Movies #Smart Spoiler

Same Old World

Lapis: So, what does happen in Empire City? Steven: Well, let's see. If you lived here, you could get a cool apartment, and be a single Gem taking on the big city. You'll have a fun job at a local coffee shop and come home to a wacky roommate... Lapis: I have no idea what you're talking about. Steven: Awww.

Kiki’s Pizza Delivery Service

Steven: I'll take care of this! Kiki: Steven, be careful! Steven: Don't worry about me! Anything is possible when you have... rockets for bones! Kiki: Steven, that was so brave! Steven: Well, it's cheddar than nothing.

Steven: Oh, hey, Dogcopter. Dogcopter: (meows) Steven: See ya, dream Kiki! Kiki: Oh, okay. See you, dream Steven! Steven: Dream Steven!

Little Homeschool

Steven: Sadie's been touring with The Suspects, promoting their new album, and Connie has been getting a head start on college prep. She's two years away from applying, but she says it doesn't hurt to start early. Steven: And speaking of higher education, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and I have been cooking up a dream of our own! Cherry Quartz: I have no idea who you're talking about.

Snow Day

Amethyst: Guess what we've got lined up tonight. "Pupcopter's Sky-High Adventure"! Pearl: Sheet masks with cute animal faces! Garnet: And, most importantly, pizza. Steven: Uh, guys, I've been a vegetarian for, like, a month, and "Pupcopter" is for 6-year-olds, and I have my own skin care routine. Anyways, it's cool. I already ate.  Amethyst: Oh well. We'll just watch the movie with Cat Steven. Garnet: My bad. I was sure we were in the pepperoni timeline.

In Dreams

Dogcopter: (flies away) Stefan: Noooo!

Together Forever

Lion: (roars) Connie: Huh? Steven: Hey, Connie! How you doin'? Connie: Steven? What are you doing here? Steven: You're gonna have a fifteen-minute break in...two minutes, right? Connie: Whoa! Spot on. Steven: Connie, let's go for a walk. I'm sure you could use some fresh air. Connie: I would love to! But um... Steven: No, no, no! Don't worry! We'll go with Lion, and I promise you'll be back in fifteen minutes! Connie: Okay! Let's do this!

Growing Pains

Drew: I know you're eager to chase the mail truck, Dogcopter. But the mail truck is a decoy. Good boys chase the blue car. Be a good boy, Dogcopter. Drew: Nice work, DC! Now get the bomb off the bridge! We're almost out of time! Drew: Dogcopter! No! Drew: Dogcopter, I can't lose you. Drew: Is this... what I think it is?

Announcer: Dogcopter 6: Till Death Do We Bark: I Now Pronounce You Man And Woof! Steven: Everyone's getting married but me! Ugh! I feel like poop.

[keepingupwithlinmanuel]

Lin-Manuel Miranda interview: from Hamilton to His Dark Materials

I know Hamilton remains wildly popular more than four years after it premiered on Broadway because of the intense response to my Instagram post boasting I have tickets to watch it the evening before meeting its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. "It's one of my absolute favourite things in the world ever!" raves one correspondent. "It's WONDERFUL and I defy you not to download the soundtrack afterwards," adds another. "I went last night! Second time. You're gonna love it."

The problem, however, is that I'm not sure I will love it. When theatre is great, it's the best thing on the planet, but when it is bad, as I have learnt from the bitter experience of watching three-hour open-air adaptations of Dickens' novels, it is the worst. Musicals are especially challenging: in my experience, you either like them or you don't, and given one of the few I have enjoyed was Avenue Q, which subverted the form, I'm in the latter camp.

Then, on top of this, there is the pressure of hype (and Hamilton has been more hyped than anything this side of the moon landings), and the challenge of taking hip-hop, which I love, out of an urban setting. It can easily go a bit Wham Rap!, or even worse, if you've seen the video, Michael Gove performing Wham Rap!.

It is, however, pretty good. The last thing the world needs is another long review of Hamilton, and I can't say I downloaded the soundtrack afterwards or that I didn't look at my watch occasionally, but using rap to retell the dry story of the founding fathers is inspired, and I'm so relieved that I blurt out my review to the 39-year-old writer and performer when I meet him in a restaurant in Fitzrovia. "I do find that with both Hamilton and In the Heights, my first show," responds the award-winning composer, lyricist and actor, "I get a lot of people who say to me, 'I don't really like musicals, but I loved this.' I attribute that to a very simple thing: my wife, who doesn't really like musicals. She didn't grow up going to see them, or doing theatre. She's a lawyer; when we met, she was a scientist. I have a higher bar to clear than most composers, because my first audience is my wife, and it can't just be a pretty tune."

You might recognise his wife, Vanessa Nadal, whom he met at high school, from the video of the couple's wedding reception in 2010, which like everything Miranda touches, went viral, and shows him performing the Fiddler on the Roof song To Life to his beloved.

Even my withered heart may have been momentarily lifted by it. She has accompanied her husband with their two young sons, aged one and four, to Britain, where he is filming a part in the BBC's slick new adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, though the reason he is in London today is that he has just been the subject of an episode of Desert Island Discs. The New Yorker takes a takes a swig of his coffee, which he tells me he chose as his luxury on his island ("I'm so basic"), adjusts his yellow baseball cap and asks me a question about the unsolicited review: "Why did you feel the need to say it?" There follows the most painful recording I've ever had to listen back to, as I make a bunch of ludicrous generalisations about musicals, speculating that perhaps they divide men from women, or the working classes from the middle classes, or straight people from gay people, or white people from brown people. It only strikes me a few minutes in that not only is Miranda living proof that the generalisations are nonsense, but I am essentially explaining musicals to a world expert in the form - a man who, before the age of 40, has a Pulitzer prize, three Tony awards, three Grammys, an Emmy, a MacArthur Fellowship, a Kennedy Center Honor, two Olivier awards, one Academy award nomination and two Golden Globe nominations to his name.

"Where do you want to start?" he responds with what is, in retrospect, startling patience. "You brought in all this cultural baggage and you're laying it at my feet and I don't know which bag to open." Another swig of coffee. "I think with musicals, it has to do with the way in which you interact with music in your own life. I grew up in a culture where dancing and singing at weddings was supercommon. So, if that's corny to you growing up, or you're taught to believe that's corny or unbelievable, then of course you're not going to like musicals."

...

He spent much of those years doing a bunch of badly paid, disparate jobs, which, given his nature, he nevertheless enjoyed. They included working as an English teacher at his former high school. ("I loved my curriculum. The class was exhilarating once I realised the less I talked, the more they learnt. I saw a future in which I taught at my old high school for 30 years and was very happy.") He wrote for a local paper as a columnist and restaurant reviewer. ("What kind of restaurant reviewer was I? Not very discriminating. If a new restaurant opened, I would go and eat some stuff and say, 'Hey, we have a Thai restaurant. I get to eat first at it. This is great!' ") And he made guest appearances on a number of TV shows including The Sopranos and House. What kind of roles was he being offered at the time? "I wasn't getting any roles! I was always the Latino friend of the white guy in the lead. And so centring ourselves in the drama, telling our own stories, is a big part of In the Heights, my first musical."

An unexpected thing about meeting Miranda is how instinctively he turns to the topic of his first musical, In the Heights, rather than Hamilton - not least when he talks about how he spent one month each year as a child with his grandparents in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico, and was inspired by the gap between his worlds. "In Puerto Rico we were doctors and lawyers. And we're cabbies in New York; we're for the most part the poorer segment of society, and on TV we were always thieves and we were always the Sharks. In the Heights was a response to that. It was, 'Are we allowed to be on stage without having a knife in our hands?' " But then he has spent part of the summer filming a movie version of that musical, which is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the largely Hispanic-American neighbourhood. It is also the project that changed his life most dramatically. The more recent success of Hamilton rather eclipses the fact that his first show, which he began writing in the late Nineties when he was still a student at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, was also wildly successful. After success off-Broadway, the musical went to Broadway, opening in March 2008 and ending up being nominated for 13 Tony awards, winning four, including best musical and best original score.

...

Miranda, described as "a fantasy of the Obama era", has since been active in politics, lobbying and fundraising for Puerto Rico and performing with Ben Platt at the March for Our Lives anti-gun-violence rally in Washington DC on March 24, 2018. Does he feel demoralised by the drift of politics to the far right? "The thing about us all being connected online is that you can read all of the worst news from all over the world and be overwhelmed. You can't let it all in; just act on what you can act on." Should Trump be ignored or fought every step of the way? "It's hard to even discuss it, right, because Trump will have outraged us on two new things in the next [few hours], as soon as he wakes up, and it won't be relevant by the time we're having this conversation. And the same with Brexit, which is just as uncertain."

What did he make of Trump's revival of the phrase "Get back to where you came from" in relation to Democrat politicians? "It's unacceptable. Just because he said it doesn't mean it's acceptable." He leans back in his seat. "Here's my fear of getting into this with you: every time I've done a UK interview, I've said incredible shit and Trump's always the headline, even if I've only said two lines about it. So I'm happy to talk about it, but I'm really scared it's going to be the headline."

I risk another question. Would Miranda ever run for office? "It's funny - I remember when I was a teenager, my dad got approached by pretty serious people about running for a state Senate seat, and he said no. I asked, 'Why?' He said, 'I don't want to have to watch my mouth.' And for me, it's similar. I also have seen in my life, first-hand, the people who get addicted to running, and it's like their moment passed, but they're still running for something, because they're chasing that thrill of winning, and it's about much more than representing the constituents. I would never want to get stuck in that cycle or that pattern. It's more fun writing songs than doing any of that."

Read the rest here behind the Times paywall.

[imagines-dreams]

Blind Date at Seventeen - Tom Holland Imagine

Rating: PG

Warnings: mentions of anxiety, but only a little

Summary: You are a rising star, known for your novels over the past few years. Seventeen has been doing a series of videos of blind dates with celebrities, and you were honored to do one with them. Little did you know, it wasn’t going to be an ordinary blind date video.

Word Count: 3060

“Robert?” You laughed.

“Finally, our guest of honor.” He pulled you into a hug and patted your shoulders. “So, you ready for your blind date.”

You giggled. “Uh, I mean, I guess.” You shrugged. “I’m just glad I get to talk to a fan one on one.” You raised your eyebrow. “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I had to shoot something for Seventeen a few minutes ago, and I heard you were next with this blind date thing.” He sighed. “You know, in my day, you just meet people then date.”

“And in my day, you swipe right.”

He shook his head. “Hey, I’d swipe right on Susan.”

“Yeah, but would she swipe right on you?”

Robert narrowed his eyes at you. “Don’t test me, (Y/n). You’re on thin ice.”

“Love you, too.”

“(Y/n)!” Your manager called. “Come on, they’re ready for you.”

“Oh, thank you.” You smiled at Robert. “I’ll see you after?”

“Not if you’re so taken by the man you go on a date with.”

You laughed. “It’s nice to dream!”

The set was put up, simple and pretty. A wooden stool on a pink background. Seventeen wanted this video to be very spontaneous, so there were only written questions for the two of you to ask each other when the time came. No other script necessary.

The director instructed you, “So, your date is gonna come in about thirty minutes, so we just need to shoot your intro scene.”

“Anything I need to say specifically?”

“Basics. Name, what you’re famous for, and what we’re gonna do. And make sure to say you’re with Seventeen.”

“Cool.” You sat on the stool, and when the director called for action, you put on a dazzling smile. “Hi, guys. I’m (Y/n) (Y/l/n), and I’m here in this very pretty studio with Seventeen, and I’m going on a blind date with a superfan of my book series.” You leaned forward. “Let’s go meet him.”

“Great!” The director turned around. “Let’s do that again. Uh, hair?!”

Two people swarmed you and fixed little things about your appearance.

“Ok, (Y/n), just do that again. It was good, just uh, look at the camera all the time, and don’t clap your hands like that in the very beginning, yeah?”

You didn’t even notice you did that, but you smiled and nodded. After a few more takes and a few adjustments here and there, you had the take, and your date had arrived.

You got off the set and watched as they transformed it. Two stools with a curtain between the two of them. Someone handed you a stack of cards, the questions, and instructed you to stand somewhere so you couldn’t see your date.

“Alright, talents, sit down, and we can get started,” the director instructed.

You sat down and heard the director call for the cameras to start rolling.

“You nervous?” the guy asked. His voice was American, and you couldn’t help but feel like you’ve heard it before. Somewhere.

You smiled. “Uh, kinda,” you admitted. “Not every day you sit one on one with another superfan.”

“Really? I meet a lot at Comic-Con.”

“I actually haven’t been in a while,” you admitted.

“Really?”

“Uh huh.” You pushed your hair back and fiddled with the cards.

“Well, uh,” his voice quivered, “maybe we can go together one day?”

You nodded. “Maybe.” You cleared your throat. “Shall we get started?”

“Yes! Of course, the questions.” He shuffled his cards. “Uh, who’s your favorite superhero?”

“Oh, you gotta specify,” you chided. “DC or Marvel?”

“Nope, that’s it, it can’t happen.”

“What?” You laughed. “Come on, DC’s not bad.”

“The DCEU’s not that bad?”

You groaned. “Ok, ok, fine. Uh, for Marvel and of all time, it would be Iron Man. Spider-Man’s a close second.”

“Why’s Spider-Man second?” He sounded almost offended, but you just giggled and reasoned, “Well, I grew up with Iron Man, you know? Since 2008 and all, and for the most part, I think he has a great character arc throughout the movies. Plus, gotta love some mental health representation.”

He was silent for a few seconds. “You know, I haven’t heard many people bring up Tony’s anxiety.”

“Oh, that’s one of the reasons I love him,” you admitted. “I struggle with anxiety sometimes, so to see a great big superhero deal with it was really inspiring.”

“Good point. I might just change my answer.”

“From Spider-Man?”

“I said, ‘Almost.’ Spider-Man’s still the best.” He laughed. “Ok, your question.”

“Right.” You picked up your card. “Favorite book of all time?”

“Book? You know, I do like reading, but I can’t do a lot of it due to work and my dyslexia. Still, I really like one author, really, in particular. I like her books.”

“And she is?” you pondered.

“You heard of (Y/n) (Y/l/n)?”

You bit your lip. “Uh, yeah, she’s the up and coming author, right?”

“Yeah!” He seemed so excited. “Yeah, just anything by her.”

“Anything?” You nodded at the camera. “Really? What about her first solo book?” Your first book wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. The plot was very simple, and the main character didn’t have as complex of a character arc as you could’ve given them.

“Ok, it wasn’t her best,” your mystery date said. “But, if you read all of her books, chronologically, then you see how much she’s grown as a writer. I mean, in a few short years, she has several books out, and she’s become an idol for everyone by just sharing her stories and growing as a writer. It takes strength to be that vulnerable at that age, you know?”

You blinked a few times, the blush crawling up your neck and settling in your cheeks. No one has ever said that to you. He was right. It was always a struggle to have to produce content you were fine with showing the public, but you just never thought anyone would acknowledge that. Then again, you didn’t think you’d get this much attention from a few books.

You bit your lip and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

“Yeah, uh, what’s your favorite book?”

“Percy Jackson,” you said. “Obviously. Rick Riordan is a genius.”

“Ok, ok, we got a true bookworm over here.” He laughed.

“Your turn, mystery man.”

“Yes, uh, if you were to have a superpower, what would it be?”

You inhaled through your teeth. “That’s so hard, um, maybe super speed? Or super strength? Flying?” You pursed your lips. “Wait, no, healing. I want healing abilities. Final answer.” You slapped the cards on your thigh to emphasize your point.

“So, you’re kind, then.”

You shrugged. “I am a hufflepuff, after all.”

“A hufflepuff?” he said, shocked.

You gasped. “And, is there something wrong with that, hm?”

“No, I just never met someone who wants to be a hufflepuff.”

You huffed. “Such a gryffindor.”

“Hey, I take that as a compliment,” he argued.

You scoffed. “Only a gryffindor would do that.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Next question!” You whipped out another card. The blind date sputtered, but still, you read over his voice, “No, nuh uh, next question is if you were in a book, what role would you think the other one would play? Example, protagonist, damsel in distress, best friend.” You put the card down and said with no hesitation, “He’s a protagonist, the dumb, oblivious protagonist.”

“Hey!”

“You’re a gryffindor, aren’t you? That’s the definition of a gryffindor. Dumb and brave protagonist.”

“Brave?” You could practically hear him puff out his chest.

You scoffed, thanking whatever higher being that he couldn’t see your blush. “So? Brave and stupid. Gryffindor qualities.”

“Ok, well, I think you’d be the best friend.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because, you’re kind and supportive, like some hufflepuff, and you know how to deal with things, like anxiety and stuff. Or a princess character?”

“Princess, huh?” you teased.

He laughed. “Well, kinda like a Belle character, maybe? ‘Cause you like to read. I bet you’re the type of person to run into someone cause you’ve got your nose in a book.”

“Well, you’re not completely wrong,” you admitted.

“Ok, next question.” He cleared his throat. “Biggest pet peeve?”

You groaned. “Oh god, when you have high anxiety and you tell someone and they tell you to calm down. I hate that. I can’t.” You shrugged. “Not the way to handle anxiety.” You pointed at the camera. “This has been a PSA.”

He laughed. “I hate it when people do that. Obviously, if it were that easy, you would’ve calmed down.”

“Exactly!” You shook your head. This guy wasn’t half bad. You knew how these Seventeen things worked. You paid for a date with a fan, take a few photos, follow them on Instagram, and keep in touch for a few months. But, you didn’t expect your blind date to be this great. “Don’t worry,” you said, “if your anxiety’s high, I always think distraction. Movies, Netflix, blankets, ice cream, a dog.”

“Dogs are always the perfect solution.”

You picked the next card. “Oh. This is actually the perfect segway, so gotta say, dogs or cats?”

“Dogs, obviously. They’re the best.”

“Both are cute.”

“Coward,” he teased.

You laughed. “Fine, dogs. You’re right. They’re the perfect solution.”

“Ok, what about your ideal date?”

You hummed in thought. “Ok, I like relaxed dates, not too active, but not too lazy. Like a stroll or a carnival maybe? That would be really fun.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” he said, his voice a little dreamy. “For me, it depends on the day. I travel a lot for work, so if it’s a day off, then I’d actually like to stay in, but if life hasn’t been busy, a carnival doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Gotta ask, carnival games or rides?”

“No, you can’t do that to me?”

“Why not?” You leaned towards the curtain. “This is kinda like an interview, after all.”

He scoffed. “You can’t make me choose between a romantic ferris wheel and winning you stuffed animals.”

Huh, he did have a point. “Ok, you’re right.” You whipped out another card. “Next question!” You cleared your throat. “How do you mark your page when reading?”

“Dog ear.”

You gasped, and you swear your heart broke a little. “You’re kidding.”

“Yes, I’m kidding.” Mystery man sighed. “Come on, my dad taught me better than that.” He paused for a second. “I don’t use a bookmark, though. I usually use something else that’s around, post-it, receipt, something like that. Ok, I really like this question, who is your celebrity crush?”

You inhaled through your teeth. “Just one?”

“Just one?!”

You laughed.

“Wow, I have no chance here.”

You shrugged. “If you’re anything like Tom Holland, trust me, you’ll have a chance.”

“Oh?” He was completely silent for a second or two, not even moving. “Uh, Tom Holland’s your celebrity crush?”

“One of them,” you said. “But, yeah, love Tom Holland and his Spider-Man.”

“Is he your favorite Spider-Man?”

You wanted to tease the super Spider-Man fan, so you settled on saying, “He’s in my top three.”

“What? Wait a-”

“Next question!”

As you took out the next card, you could hear him mutter, “This isn’t fair. Not fair at all.”

You giggled. “Ok, ok, if you were to write a dedication for your autobiography, what would you say?” You bit your lip. “I actually really like this question.”

“Me, too, but it really makes you think. I can’t…” He sighed, and you could almost see him leaning forward or running his hand through his hair. “Oh god, I don’t know. That’s hard. I’m on the spot.”

“We can move on to another question,” you suggested.

“Nah.” He blew his hair out of his face. “I want to answer to this one. It’s a good one. Uh, there’s just so many people I’d wanna thank, you know. Uh, I’d actually just list all of my teachers and the people who thought I was special enough to get the job I have.”

This guy definitely was creative. From his vague job to his unique answers. You had to admit, this guy was surprising you in a great way. “Admirable,” you told him.

“Thanks.” He gulped. “Uh, this one’s kinda scary.”

“Bring it. I’m ready.” You sat up straighter and prepared yourself.

“Ok, what would you hate to be remembered as?”

“Oh, this is scary. You’re right again.” You laughed as you pondered the many things you’d hate to be known for. Selfish was bad, but also vain, shallow? You hummed. “Ok, I think the worst thing would be if people thought I was close-minded?” Still unsure of your answer, you tilted your head back and forth. “Yeah, I think that would be the worst, cause that goes hand in hand with other things.”

“I like that answer! I would never think of that.”

“Well, what were you thinking of?”

“Ugh, I would hate to be known for being big-headed, you know? I’m working really hard to stay humble.”

You smiled. “Wow, that’s also admirable.” So, your blind date was a gryffindor who loved Spider-Man, dogs, your writing. He was funny and humble, and he knew that he didn’t get to whatever success he currently has on his own. He seems to treasure his days off and worked really hard in his creative field. Mystery Man wasn’t half bad. In fact, he was actually really great.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

You giggled and pursed your lips. Yeah, he was really great.

“Uh, do you have more questions?”

“Oh!” You shuffled through your cards. “Uh, no, I think that’s it.”

The director asked you, “So, would you go on a date with him?”

You beamed. “Yeah, I’d go on a date with him.”

He turned to the guy behind the curtain. “And you?”

“Yeah, she seems awesome.”

“You guys ready?”

The two of you stood up and faced the curtain. You crossed your fingers and hoped that he would react well. It would suck if he wasn’t impressed by this blind date. He did like your books, but it’s possible to like the work and not the author. You gulped and shook out your hands. “Ready.”

“Ready.”

“Alright, pull back the curtain, you two.”

You pulled back your curtain. His was still closed when you pulled your curtain back. For a second, you were terrified. Did he not want to see you? It wouldn’t make a good video. You took a deep breath, and just as you exhaled, he pulled back his curtain.

“H-” You paused. Your jaw dropped. You stared at the man in front of you. Same hair, same eyes, same simple style, same smile, same everything, and oh god. “Tom Holland?”

His eyes went wide at the sight of you. He stepped back with a bright smile on his face. “Wait, you’re- how did you” -he laughed- “This is insane. What? You’re” -he shook his head- “You’re (Y/n) (Y/l/n)!”

You laughed, your cheeks already hurting from seeing your celebrity crush and realizing that the mystery man behind the curtain that you were laughing with and smiling because of was your celebrity crush, was Tom Holland, the Spider-Man.

You pointed at yourself. “I was supposed to meet a fan of my books.”

“I was supposed to meet a Marvel fan!” He laughed and opened his arms. “Come ‘ere!”

You laughed and let yourself fall into his arms before pulling away and smiling up at him. “I am beyond confused. I mean… You had an accent!”

“Yeah, I needed to disguise my voice!”

You giggled. “You did a great job.”

“Thank you.”

You glanced at the director, and you realized something. Robert was there to greet you, and he said he was filming something. You blinked a few times before shouting, “Robert! Where is he?”

Tom withdrew from you and pointed at you. “Did Robert set this up?”

You shouted at the ceiling. “I know you’re there, Robert!”

“Everyone keeps yelling. Giving me a headache.”

A hand came down on your shoulder, and you slapped it away and jabbed a finger at Robert’s chest. “You are sneaky, Robert!”

Robert pulled you into his side along with Tom. “For good reason.” He let go of both of you and pointed at the two of you. “You kids have been gushing about each other’s work for nearly a year. This was just inevitable.”

Tom and you cringed.

“Too soon,” you said.

Tom nodded. “Yeah.”

Robert crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He looked at the camera. “Can you see what I deal with? When I’m not taking care of him, I’m taking care of her.”

You laughed. “Ok, wait a minute, he’s harder to take care of.”

“And why’s that?” Tom asked.

“I didn’t spoil infinity war for an entire theater.”

“Hey! I did that once.”

Robert cleared his throat. “Ok, we’ve been focusing on these two for too long.”

You slapped Robert’s chest and shook your head. “Unbelievable.”

“I know right,” Tom agreed. “He’s so full of himself.”

“Actually,” you tilted your head, “I saw him before I went in, and he changed clothes.”

Tom looked him up and down. “He did change clothes!”

“See, this is better,” Robert said, all smug and happy. “Attention on me, like it should be.”

The three of you laughed, and the director decided it was time to wrap it up. “Guys, let’s film the end card.”

“Right.” You cleared your throat and smoothed out your clothes just for Robert to pull the two of you into his sides. “Hey, guys, I’m Robert Downey Jr.”

He looked to you. “And I’m (Y/n) (Y/l/n).”

“And I’m Tom Holland. And we want to thank you for watching me and (Y/n) go on a blind date-”

“Set up by me!” Robert pointed at the camera. “You’re welcome, internet.”

You laughed. “If you wanna see more videos like this, make sure to subscribe to Seventeen’s youtube channel.” You waved at the camera. “Bye!”

Robert looked to Tom. “Isn’t she so cute?”

He blushed and pushed Robert away. “Stop that!”

Robert feigned being offended and followed Tom off set. “Hey, you can’t walk away from me. I know you think she’s cute! Tom!”

Notes: So… how was it? Do you guys hate it? Love it? I’m really nervous for this one since I don’t do celebrity oneshots, but please tell me what you think!

[vadhnatta]

Justice League Rant

Have you ever been to a movie where you hoped it would be decent, despite assorted warning signs, but then you end up having a CinemaSins track running through your head the entire time as you slowly crush the empty box of concession stand candy and wonder if it actually is possible to murder a man with the force of sheer hatred, disgust, and a growing tension headache? Because that was this movie. I could have been sleeping. I could have been working on my projects due next week. I haven’t really seen many DC movies, or been invested in their world at all, but I saw Wonder Woman and loved it and Diana was featured prominently in the trailer, which looked pretty good, so I figured, hey, maybe they actually figured out how to make a good character and can keep this momentum going for a bit. It won’t be as good as Wonder Woman, but I could at least probably see Diana be a badass for a bit, and Aquaman looks like a decently amusing character. I saw a few episodes of the Flash TV series and that wasn’t awful. Maybe this will be okay.

No.

No it’s not.

I’m mostly waiting for the Excedrin to kick in so I can take a nap before diving back into a project with a program that has most of its documentation in Polish (which I do not speak), so this isn’t going to be a detailed or coherent meta analysis of all the points wrong with this film, or how I’m not sure there wasn’t a woman under the age of 60/over the age of 10 that wasn’t immediately sexualized, or how Joss Whedon should never be allowed within 30 feet of a woman apparently. But here’s a list of thoughts that went through my head while I watched this, for amusement and catharsis, because Wonder Woman was a fluke, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot both deserved better, and DC Comics is incapable of having nice things.

((Spoilers, obviously))

--I heard beforehand that there were four ass-shots of Diana, all added in by Joss Whedon, and I was hoping that was an exaggeration or not horribly noticeable, but yeah. I actually think there were more than four, but I didn’t count. 

--On the ass-shot note, at first I didn’t think Diana was wearing underwear under her skirt because we saw her ass cheek. Yeah. But she was. It’s dark blue. I know that because we saw up her skirt again, multiple times. 

--People tried to say the bikini armor was only in a flashback. No it wasn’t. They lied to us. We get to see Amazon warriors crushed to death under large stone gate things, straining to hold it up for their queen to run underneath it like that one bit from Prince Caspian, except with women in metal bikinis. 

--You know how the Amazons all had really cool armor that wasn’t super sexualizing based on actual ancient armor forms and construction techniques? Nope. Now they have similar highly-stylized banded chestplates like Diana’s, form-fitted around their boobs, and about half of those come in bikini form! Because variety!

--The Amazons can’t leave their island??? Um. But the entire reason they didn’t leave in Wonder Woman was because Hippolyta didn’t want to sacrifice her warriors for a war that wasn’t theirs, not because they physically couldn’t leave the island? So there’s an attack on their home, many warriors slain, and the only thing they can do at all is light a fucking signal fire??? They are way better than this.

--Did they actually kill Hippolyta’s wife/partner? Because that’s how that scene read to me. Fuck you movie.

--At least they didn’t actually destroy all of Themyscira. I’ll take my small victories there because I was convinced they were going to take my favorite part of Wonder Woman and burn it the first chance they got.

--How did they light this fire? Where was this temple? It’s obviously visible to the rest of the world, so it’s not on Themyscira. Was that a magic bow that could fire across dimensions? How could you aim it? I’m so confused by this scene. It’s one temple on fire, how did you know it would make the news and Diana would also happen to be watching the news when they ran that story, that’s hardly the biggest news story out there.

--So Diana had lightning powers. Or did the final battle of Wonder Woman not actually happen now. You know, the bit where she shot a giant lightning bolt thing out of her bracers. Vaporized a god. That. So, why the fuck is the only thing her bracer boosh move is good for now is creating a small shockwave to knock people back. It does nothing.

--Also, “we need an electric charge to shock the cube so we can activate the resurrection bullshit.” “Okay, so we need the Flash to run really fast down a hallway to build up electricity and poke the cube at exactly the right moment. That’s the best and simplest way to do this. I mean, it’s not like we have a literal daughter of the god of lightning bolts that has enough lightning powers to vaporize a god standing right next to us, where she could make lightning.”

--I thought the whole point of this movie was an Avengers-style team up where they actually worked together to take down the evil guy. But they just teamed up to bring back Superman, distract the bad guy long enough for Superman to show up, then Superman handles it. So. You just proved the point that you’re all worthless without Superman. 

--Rich isn’t a superpower, how are you not dead yet Batman.

--Batman is bitter/jealous/??? because Clark is more human than him for... getting a job and living a middle-class lifestyle when he didn’t have to? Bruce. You could do that. You too can put on glasses and go get a day job. You could give away all your money and go live on a farm and be a reporter or whatever. Like. That’s an option for you. Being rich isn’t a handicap.

--Aquaman I don’t care what you are or that you’re Legolas-surfing on a bug-orc, if you fall from hundreds of feet in the air, you die. At the very least your legs should be shattered. 

--Also, I have to agree with Batman on that one, you literally just brought a trident. You. You’re powers are water-related. Yeah, you have combat abilities apparently on par with Amazons, but. You couldn’t have steered this fight towards a lake? Brought some water with you? I feel like you could have been more effective in this fight somehow.

--I actually liked Aquaman for a good bit during this film. He came across kind of like Thor did to me early on, but with more whiskey and less ties to his home. I can totally get behind the vigilante merman defender of this town that rescues fishermen and hangs out at bars and randomly wanders into the ocean. He felt nicely reminiscent of old mythology stories for a bit there.

--But then the plane scene. Yeah, good points about how Batman doesn’t have a superpower, Flash is just tripping over his feet and slamming into walls all the time, and Cyborg may or may not be controlled by the cube things, or at least not have full control of his powers, agreed. But your point on Diana was “you’re gorgeous”, then increased rambling, leading into more rambling motivated by the lasso. You were actually doing okay, you didn’t need the sexist bullshit. It seemed like Atlanteans and Amazons fought, but still respected each other as powerful warrior cultures (at the very least, they seemed really similar), and she’s the one that’s actually shown the most effectiveness and power in fighting so far. So what the fuck.

--Did we really need the disparity between the male and female Atlantean armor. Did we really need the boobplate.

--Can Atlanteans not talk underwater? They live underwater. Do they need to create air bubbles every time they want to say anything? 

--What are Cyborg’s powers exactly? Anything electronic/machine related? Regenerating machine(??) body parts? Can he change his limbs into anything? Does he need fuel? What is his deal, idk. 

--”The plane won’t fly that fast (to get across the world in under a few hours).” Cyborg: “It will for me.” ...I don’t. That’s. That’s not how planes work. Or can you expand your entire body/infinitely-shapeshifting limbs to cover the entire plane so it won’t fall apart from higher speeds than it was meant to fly at. Can you just restructure the engines, or reshape the plane to make it more aerodynamic. Are you just going to merge with the plane and turn it into an SR-71 Blackbird. Is that the plan here. BECAUSE THAT’S NOT HOW PLANES WORK. YOU CAN’T JUST TELL IT TO GO FASTER BECAUSE YOU HACKED IT WITH MAGIC SHIT.

--Why is there an egg thing around the town for a few minutes. I don’t. Is that a bug thing? That’s not what the cube did in the flashback. 

--What’s with the purple tendril rock things? It looks sort of like the Crystal Dragon landscaping stuff from GW2. Idk. How that fits.

--So. I’m sure Superman can pick up a building and he’s strong enough for that. But. I don’t think that’s how buildings work? Like if you put the entire weight of the building supported by two hands in the middle, especially an apartment structure that large/wide, it’s probably going to collapse at the ends. Unless Superman also has magic forcefield building-holding powers, idk, maybe he does, what do I know.

--I’m really not sure what was going on with this bad guy, but he looked like a frost giant from Thor, mixed with the plot-line of Pitch Black from Rise of the Guardians. Literally both movies ended the same way. Also not sure how nothing seemed to hurt him, how does something get more powerful than all the armies, when did this become Lord of the Rings? Was he supposed to be Sauron? 

--How did they all just. Forget the cube. When Superman woke up. You just. Left the apocalypse-causing mcguffin in the empty plane. Unguarded. What. Did the DM just rush the party out of the room without letting any of the players say anything about taking the thing with them because he wanted to progress the story in a certain way? Because I’ve had that happen, that’s plausible, but. 

--Why was calling Lois to handle newly-resurrected Superman not the first plan? I mean, protect her, obviously, in case he has no memories at all, but. That seems like the obvious first plan. Wake him up, have Flash waiting to get her out of there quickly if something goes wrong and Diana standing with her (not with armor and sword and everything out looking ready for battle), and talk to him? Don’t immediately trigger a threat response because he’s disoriented and confused and why are battle-ready people staring at him?

--Why did Diana always need her sword to fight? She even jumped down the reactor thing to get her sword back. What’s so special about this sword? It’s not the Godkiller sword, that was destroyed in the last movie by Ares. So. It’s a regular sword, presumably. She has lots of them. Bring an extra.

--Also Diana can use other weapons. She trained with Amazons, she can wield all the weapons.

--I almost left to go to the bathroom during the final climactic fight. Because I had no investment in this film, and the only thing that kept me there was the last shred of a chance that Diana could at least do something cool during this fight. She didn’t. She swung her sword at the bad guy, which didn’t do anything, made a shockwave a couple times. She broke his axe after Superman froze it. Wow. 

--Is that really it? Was his power all in his axe? This really is Sauron.

--So did the cubes just vaporize when they separated? Didn’t happen last time. But we don’t see them anymore. So. Are they not a threat? Also “big power surge” on separation really seemed like it should be more than that. It knocked Superman and Cyborg back by a foot or so and onto their backs (also how did they both handle that the same way, I don’t care if you have magically regenerating metal, I’m pretty sure you’re not as explosion-resistant as Superman). And the rest of the team didn’t seem to feel it at all, and they were in the same complex. I thought power surge on separating this planet-destroying nuclear bomb of a power core would at least take out that town.

--Why. Did it make flowers? I’m. Really confused by the terraforming at the end. I think they tried to frame it earlier as a life-regenerating thing that just worked so fast it destroyed everything, but. That’s not really an explanation. Also don’t stick your face in that small child, the bright colors probably mean it will kill you. Also alien plants. Probably going to completely fuck up the ecosystem for a good while. But sure, it’s pretty so it’s fine.

--Oh, and the boob-faceplant did happen. She was facing away from the camera, so I easily believe the body-double story because they were so fucking desperate to have this happen.

--Was the Flash always an idiot? I feel like his entire character was just played for laughs as the dumb one because he was younger/less experienced, which is disappointing. Seriously, who meets Batman and the first thing you talk about is that you don’t understand people because they’re on a different frequency/slow, and what is brunch?? 

I’m sure there’s a lot more, but those are the things that immediately came to mind, so. Save yourself the headache. Don’t see this movie. Just go watch Wonder Woman again. Or Thor: Ragnarok, that one was good.

EDIT: WAIT I HAVE MORE.

--Fuck you Bruce you little shit, you have no right to call out Diana for not superheroing all the time. First of all, we’ve already seen her on multiple occasions out helping people, like the opening of the film where she saves a bunch of people from that terrorist group, and whatever happened in BvS. Second, she didn’t leave her home and everyone she loved to help clean up your shit or put up with you, she specifically left to stop WW1 and kill Ares. Guess what. She did it. She did her explicit mission, and then stayed to help when she wanted to because she’s a good person. Yeah, I think she gets to “shut down” for however long she fucking wants to after the person she cared most about outside of Themiscyra died and she had to deal with the entire “no, men actually suck and will go to war and commit atrocities because it’s their nature” thing she had to come to terms with, WHILE STILL STAYING AND FIGHTING FOR THEM ANYWAY. She has no obligations to you, you do not own her attention or her help, yes Barry, we would all cover for her if she murdered your ass for antagonizing her and insinuating that she has done anything wrong in her life.

--Also, what have you done huh? You dress up like a bat in your costume and run around the city because you like an adrenaline rush and want to feel cool taking down criminals. Sure, you donate to charity, whoopdee-fucking-do. You could probably buy a country. You have so much money. What were the stats on how much money it would take to end world hunger? 5% of what the US spends on their military budget or something? Less? You probably have more money than that. You want to do something more than cosplay with it??

[reminiscent-bells]

best-ofs, 2017

putting in a break here, this is real long

best book I read: The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

It seems trite to pick this in a year where every Tom, Dick, and Harry was comparing the Trump administration to Atwood’s novel and when Amazon was putting on a big-budget adaptation (which, for the record, I have not seen). The effect that this had on me, though, cannot be understated. Sad, wry, and all-too-familiar in places, this is a masterpiece that deserves to be up there with 1984 and the rest of the great nightmares.

honorable mention: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

I’m not much of a historical fiction person, but this masterfully wrought story of a Dutch clerk and a Japanese midwife in early-1800s Japan is well worth your time.

best comic: Batman, Volume 1: I Am Gotham, Tom King, Mikel Janin, et al.

King and his collaborators’ work on Batman since DC’s most recent relaunch seems to be on a trajectory to match or even surpass the Grant Morrison era in the pre-New 52 era, a reshuffling of the core cast that will pay huge dividends down the line (if DC actually makes a wise long-term decision for once, which, who knows). Despite his tendency to learn a little too hard on certain stylistic tics, I think King might be the best writer working in superhero comics today.

honorable mention: Detective Comics, Volume 1: Rise of the Batmen, James Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows, et al.

Yes, two Batman titles in one year is a bit of a cheat, but this is so fun that it’s hard to pick something else. Tynion turned up on a panel discussion on the great comics podcast Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men where he was introduced as the writer of “DC’s new X-Men title, Detective Comics”, which is exactly what this is - a team of misfits and outcasts cobbled together by a reticent, demanding mentor...who in this case is Batman. This is easy to miss out on with all the fireworks over King’s work, but give it a shot.

best comic (non-2017): MIND MGMT, Volume 2: The Futurist, Matt Kindt

Kindt’s work on the beginning of his psychic-X-Files saga MIND MGMT was good, but the second collection reveals it as a ship-in-a-bottle in the middle of a much weirder, wilder museum - there are few volume 2s that build on the success of the first as much as this one does.

honorable mention: BPRD, Volume 3: Plague of Frogs, Mike Mignola, Guy Davis, et al.

The first few collections of this series, following Hellboy’s teammates after he quits the secret BPRD organization, kind of flounder, but Davis and Mignola really hit their stride here with this sequel to an earlier Hellboy story that grows into a hybridization of Mignola’s earlier work and a Stephen King novel.

best movie: Blade Runner 2049

This also feels like kind of a cheat given my love for the original, but there was simply no other movie that had my gears turning after I walked out of the theater like this one did. The plot elements of this, of course, have been speculated on endlessly since Ridley Scott released the Final Cut of the original film, but My Guy Dennis Villeneuve manages to introduce enough new elements and uncertainty in the mix to keep you guessing - I found myself continually questioning what I really knew about anything that had happened or was happening. It was always going to be impossible to make a movie as good as Blade Runner, but Villeneuve came closer than anyone could dare.

honorable mention: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I have my misgivings about the Finn and Poe portions of this, which feel like they mishandled the two more than a little, but the Rey/Luke Skywalker storyline is, as a whole, a barn-burner, building on both Rey and Luke’s characters in extremely satisfying ways. It was easy to imagine where they might go from Rey and Luke on the island at the end of The Force Awakens, but I don’t know if I imagined they’d go here, which is what makes this so great.

best album: I See You, The xx

I gave this a pretty casual listen on Spotify when it came out as I was kind of a marginal xx fan - I enjoyed their first album but didn’t really care for Coexist. I was totally blown away and listened to it all the way through several times (this is something I rarely, if ever, do with big pop/pop-ish releases). Virtually every track on here except for the extremely forgettable closer is perfectly performed and produced, from the playful, somewhat taunting “Dangerous” to the self-doubt-as-anthem “On Hold”. Should go down as their best album to date.

honorable mentions: Piety of Ashes, The Flashbulb / Sleep Well, Beast, The National

I couldn’t decide between these two, so here’s a twofer for you. Benn Jordan’s style as The Flashbulb has shifted along a spectrum of sweet spots between acoustic music and electronic music, and he seems to have somehow found the sweetest one yet in Piety of Ashes, which alternates between intimate material you might have expected on Arboreal or Love as a Dark Hallway (”Starlight”, “Goodbye Bastion”) and big, broad electronic pieces that feel like Jordan uncovered something he could always do that was just off-camera (”Hypothesis”, “As Water”).

When I first heard Sleep Well, Beast my comment to a coworker was “I only like some of it now, but I think I’ll like it more as time goes on”. This was a rare example of me actually showing some predictive ability, because this has really grown on me with time (maybe its intent as commentary on life in the Trump world as something to do with this). Highlights are the sad, sweet “Nobody Else Will Be There”, also-sad-and-sweet, but in a different way “Carin at the Liquor Store”, and the driving dark heart of the entire thing, “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness”, which has been a constant play for me this fall/winter.

best TV show: Twin Peaks/Twin Peaks: The Return

A triumph for David Lynch and Mark Frost in every sense of the word. The era of “prestige TV” feels like a cheap trick by HBO, AMC, et al. to get us to watch the same old stuff with a slightly higher budget after 18 hours(!!!!!) in, around, and beyond (and I mean beyond) Lynch’s little town in the Pacific Northwest. Kyle MacLachlan deserves about 400 awards for his triple (quadruple?) role here.

honorable mention: Mr. Robot

I think Sam Esmail failed to stick the landing again (I wasn’t a fan of season 2), but the earlier parts of this season are maybe the highest highs the show has ever hit - Elliott and Mr. Robot fighting over his body in the bowels of the ECorp fortress from the end of season 2, Darlene struggling to extricate herself from the FBI, and the terrifying-yet-awe-inspiring scene of Angela laying out her plans to Mr. Robot as New York comes back to life at the end of the first episode. This isn’t always the best show, but boy, can it ever be good.

best video game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This is to video games as Lynch’s third season of Twin Peaks was to television: a throwing of the gauntlet to every competitor to dare and match this. Where other games would put physics puzzles in their own little sandboxes, BOTW applies its physics to just about everything and lets you see how far your tools can take you. Where other games would put everything on the map in perfectly zoomable, filterable control for you, BOTW challenges you to build the map yourself and actually get out there and explore. I’ve gone back to this in the harder Master Mode with the release of the last DLC, and there’s still nothing that can touch this. This is destined to be a touchstone for decades to come.

honorable mentions: The Talos Principle/Batman: The Telltale Series

The Talos Principle is everything I wanted The Witness to be that The Witness wasn’t: thoughtful without being heavy, clever without being impossible (well, mostly not impossible, there are a few of those puzzles I don’t think I could have cracked on my own). The writing is sharp as a tack, featuring a variety of philosophical discussions between your character and a whip-smart AI. A really excellent puzzler.

Batman: The Telltale Series marks yet another appearance of the Batman on this list, but what an appearance! Telltale throws out several sacred cows of the Batman behemoth, but instead of making something malformed and uninteresting, it feels like the freshest Batman has been in ages. I eagerly await every new episode of this, because I never know where they will go next.

best podcast: Important If True

This is yet another “feels like I cheated” entry, but the Idle Thumbs guys’ work on Important If True deserves to be recognized. They could have simply recycled the Robot News segments from Idle Thumbs for this, but instead they went for something much wilder, taking people’s advice on what wishes to ask for from a genie, going through breakdown procedures for old Chuck E. Cheese competitor restaurants, and speculating on a Jessica Fletcher vs. Jaws matchup (as in the shark). The most wildly funny podcast going now. Recommended episodes: “Fight Garbage With Garbage”, “Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins”, “A Wish Upon a Star”

honorable mention: Waypoint Radio

With the Idle Thumbs guys winding down to a monthly schedule (sorta), Vice’s Waypoint staff’s podcast has readily stepped into the hole left behind by the Thumbs for regular doses of industry coverage. It’s great to see Danielle Riendeau and Rob Zacny getting more exposure outside of the Thumbs ecosystem, and Austin Walker, Patrick Klepek, and Danika Harrod are this sort of perfect perpetual motion machine at the heart of everything. Recommended episodes: “The Orange Casket”, “R.I.P. A.I.M.”, “Someone Explain To Me The Alien Alloys Before I F'ing Explode”

[problematic-camren]

Thoughts on Down

This is a long-ass shit, and I’m not forcing you to read. Also, please be reminded that this is just MY opinion. We all have different opinions, and I’m here to simply share my thoughts, and not to convince you to change yours. So please don’t go to my ask pushing your opinion. I already heard yours. I woke up to a bunch of “asks” and I already know that some don’t like it, while some do.

My initial reaction:

• why is this so auto-tuned? Okay, Dinah’s voice sounds like smooth warm caramel on top of a sundae. Why is this so basic? Lauren’s adlibs tho! Why are the lyrics so generic? Oooh WFH melody… It’s gonna be a bop! Wait why is the chorus so blandly repetitive? But it’s not that bad. Why do they sound so alike?

• and picture me with my earphones on listening to the first verse, pre-hook, chorus and shit with a pensive look on my face, and disappointment running through my head like damn I wanted more…

But then Gucci Mane came in, (and I know I’m the minority in this one), but for me, the first authentic reaction the song elicited from me was his part.

Why? Because his part was so off and out of nowhere that it took me out of the rut I was in. Like imagine a flat line where the song was just monotonous, like a car cruising on a smooth freeway (not bad, but also kind of boring) but then you run into a pothole and you get jerked off your stupor…

That’s what gucci’s part was for me. A tiny spike on that flat line. A deviation that held my attention. I’m not saying it’s amazing. I’m saying that the grating sound of the bass and the randomness of it was what made me smile while listening to it. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I was smiling the whole time I was listening to that weird bass with a tiny bit of goosebumps on my skin because I knew then that I COULD like Down without lying to myself. It was the only thing that caught my attention, aside from Lauren’s adlibs (which, girl, I wish she did more. I live for Lauren going offffff)

Don’t get me wrong though, I’m so done with these collabs with rappers, like I wanted to hear them alone, like they did with Boss (idc if you say that one is trash lmao, Boss is a bop for me. I fucking love that shit 😂), but if they really have to collab with rappers, I wish it wasn’t Gucci. Maybe Chance, or Migos damn…

But if it were up to me, I wish they would have collabed with female rappers. I still am salty that NTKG wasn’t utilized much. A missed opportunity with Missy Elliott like bitch you had to release TMG over NTKG? NTKG was at least more authentic with the sound it’s trying to project. It was old school and it owned it. Like Voicemail was reminiscent of 90’s bops and not lacing it with today’s trendy dancehall or tropical vibe. It has its own sound, and not a mix of everything generic we hear today where we hear a song and we automatically hear the edm producers more than the artist.

But OMG I digress, sorry.

So yeah, DOWN…

So after my initial reaction, I gave it a couple more listen, and then I watched the live performance, then I slept, then I woke up the next day and I listened to the audio a couple more times, watched the live several more, and here’s my conclusion:

• Down is that kind of a summer bop which grows on you. It’s not a bad song. It’s simplistic but also season-friendly. It’s probably what the label insisted on as their first release.

The reason why it probably feels lacking for me, aside from its repetitiveness, is that maybe it lacks another verse. It’s shorter than WI and WFH so it feels incomplete. There must be a reason for it. It could really be just a teaser.

• at this point in my 5h-stanning life, I’m not even expecting anything mind-blowing. All I want is for 5H to slay the charts, because this should be their era. They seem genuinely happy now and my god after everything they’ve been through (label shit and all), ALL FIVE OF THEM deserve our unwavering support.

• Sure, Down isn’t what I expected. Yes, I wanted more. I wanted more lyrics. I wanted a kickass sound. But, idk man, after several repeats, I think it’s a good enough bop.

• with regards to the vocals, I still hate the auto-tuned shit. I get that maybe they’re finally utilizing Lauren’s range, but I prefer that they don’t auto tune much because I could barely hear her rasp (which was still obvious in her live performance, despite the higher tone she’s using).

Maybe they’re doing it on purpose, making them sound the same as a symbol of their new sound’s “cohesiveness”, but I prefer old 5h where their voices are uniquely different.

• and I’m not even complaining that it sounds like WFH. I don’t have a problem with an artist using a tried and tested formula for ONE of their album’s single. It’s meant to hook the audience. It gives them that familiar sound which could make a NON-FAN recognize their older hits and draw them to the new one. Just because they said “NEW ERA” doesn’t mean that they should change their ENTIRE sound. There’s always that one or two singles that are meant to hook the general public. It’s a constant compromise a mainstream artist makes with their label.

(I mean, The Chainsmokers basically generate the same sound over and over and they’re charting as if they created music. And no, I’m not a big fan of the chainsmokers.

Point is, re-using WFH is not something unheard of. It’s a business move.)

You really can’t please everybody. Because when Lady Gaga released an album that felt authentic for her, some people criticized it and kept saying they wanted the old “Bad Romance” Gaga. When Lorde released her new single, Green Light, her hipster fanbase called her a sell-out and didn’t like that she’s deviated from her “sound” to be more mainstream and I was like bitch can’t an artist explore a different side of her artistry?

And on the flip side, can’t an artist use their old sound? My point is, Down was produced by the same people who made WFH for a reason. They are playing safe. They wanted a single that would generate enough attention like their previous ones did. Then maybe, just maybe, their next singles which probably showcase their authentic sound and lyrics will have as much impact since now people are paying attention. Because no matter how much we want them to be authentic, they’re still a girl group under a greedy ass label who needs them to maintain what their idea of a girl group music and image should be..

And while Down is not something I’m particularly excited about, it’s starting to get stuck in my head, and I don’t hate it. It’s a light summery chill song that’s good to play with your friends while sipping on your drinks by the pool. It is what it was supposed to be.

I get it, I was disappointed too. Down is a downer. But I’m not gonna judge the whole album with one single yet. I’m gonna wait.

This is why I wrote this one before Down was released:

https://problematic-camren.tumblr.com/post/161338803713/5h3

Because I knew that I wasn’t expecting much from their music. I sure hope for more, definitely, BUT stanning 5H isn’t always about their music.

And just because I don’t like a few of their songs, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve my support.

I’m supporting 5h because they represent girls who are not a standard definition of what society thinks a girl should look like or how they should act like. They symbolize us. They showed us that one can achieve their dreams through hard work, and while they have been mistreated before (by their label and by fans alike) they still kept their heads up high, with grace and maturity, and kept on spreading love and inspiration, and they kept on smiling even if their hearts were breaking. They kept striving to be the best they could be, and it’s inspiring. And to see genuine warmth from these pop stars, their love and appreciation for their fans, is something that makes me wanna stan them forever. That’s why even if i really don’t like their music, I’d still keep on stanning them, because what they shared to us, the representation they gave us, the beauty and poise they all showed us, man, even if they fucking screeched for an entire album, I’ll be fuucking putting that on loop and still support their asses.

And I know it’s blind support, but I knew what I was getting into when I started supporting 5h. I wasn’t a pop person before this, I knew I won’t love their music so much. I stan them because I like them, plain and simple.

And I know it’s different for everybody. It’s all just a matter of preferences. Some could unstan just coz they don’t like the song, and that’s totally okay. We’re free to stan or unstan whoever we want. But like I said, it’s just one song. Let’s wait for the other singles and the album.

Ideally, I would love for them to show us everything they have as artists. This is their chance to go big. They have so much potential and I would have liked to see it shine while they’re still in the group. I want the brand Fifth Harmony to leave a lasting mark in this industry. I want them to be on the same spot as TLC or SG or DC. I want them to legit deserve their title.

And Down is not it. But guess what? Down is just one single. I’m gonna wait patiently for the rest of their stuff. I ONLY NEED THAT ONE CLASSIC HIT I’VE BEEN CRAVING FOR SINCE I STARTED LISTENING TO THEM. ONE CLASSIC SONG THAT WOULD STILL BE PLAYED GENERATIONS LATER BECAUSE IT’S JUST SO DAMN RELATABLE AND HEARTFELT.

That’s all I want. And I hope I’ll find that in 5H3.

Yes, Down is empty.

But I won’t unstan just because of one song. We can be disappointed (as I sure was), but I think that 5H is worth more than a few musical disappointments.

💁🏻

[utopia-game]

INTERVIEW: Sadira sits down with FFW

Hello Utopians, I am sitting on my stoop watching the rain outside when FFW, leader of Merciless, came to sit beside me and have a talk. (S) Morning, FFW. Been keeping busy during this Covid19 crap? (F) Been a little slow to be honest. Some of us being front liners mean we have less time dedicated to the game. (S) I personally thank all of you essential workers for putting up with us slackers. Let’s start with some basic stuff. How long have you been playing Utopia? (F) I’ve played on and off from age 7. So many many years I guess. This is probably the longest I’ve played utopia consecutively since age 72. It’s great to see how the game changed over the years and how much simpler the mechanics are today (S) Do you feel it is too simple? (F) Personally, I don’t feel it’s too simple. Some mechanic changes actually force the strategies which were once stale to evolve again so there is still complication in today’s simplicity. (S) How did you get into Utopia? (F) From a neopets ad. I was a kid back then and I saw ok maybe I press this and see where it goes. (S) Are you serious?? (F) Absolutely (S) That is too precious. Do you play other games? What games? (F) I play DotA2, elsword, maplestory from time to time, Warcraft 3, Starcraft 2 and Hearthstone (S) Does your significant other hate that you play utopia? Have you tried to get them into playing? (F) Well at the moment I’m a proud bachelor so I can’t answer that question (S) Can always find love thru Utopia. Would you like to give a shout out to any past kds you have played for? (F) Probably Bodega of Lotus since it was the only kd that I would remember for life (S) I remember that kd. Who do you feel you learned the most about this game from? (F) It’s probably the fact that there’s no eternal friends or enemies only mutual benefits (S) That is an interesting statement, would you like to elaborate? (F) There are players I’ve sworn never to trust in my life but definitely some have come to my aid when interests are aligned. Can’t really go into too much details or I’d be openly flaming them haha (S) Would you say you play this game strictly for the competition and challenges? (F) I wouldn’t. I just play it with people I get along with since it’s something I do with my spare time (S) How long have you played in Merciless? (F) I was part of the founding crew in age 75 which didn’t go too well so we reformed in 79. I guess all the ages we’re around for. (S) Has the kd always been called Merciless? (F) Yes absolutely (S) Any back story to how it got its name? (F) In age 75 we didn’t know what to call ourselves since we never decided on it. So we put it to a kd vote at the time. I decided we should be no mercy based on the song from the living tombstone. Zhogun another part of founding council said why not merciless. So we put it to a kd vote and merciless won. The name was really liked by the crew at the time since everyone just wanted to fsu (S) It is a catchy name. How would you describe your kd and your kdmates? (F) Well if you watch DC’s legends of tomorrow, I think that’s an apt description. A band of misfits that did really well. (S) Your kd is pretty successful age to age, to what do you attribute its success to? (F) Mainly everyone’s commitment to continue trying new things and find ways to improve. I mean we played human warrior when everyone was hyping dwarf tact. That took a lot of faith and belief to try. (S) Do you like to test combo's that the majority of kds don't try? (F) Absolutely I think there’s really no bad combinations. Just how you execute your strengths is what differentiates a winner from a loser (S) Does your kd have a particular goal in mind each age? (F) Yes we do. We normally set it from the start of the age and keep to it. We don’t always achieve it but it helps post age reflection (S) Do you have any suggestions to potentially new players or existing players that might find themselves lost? (F) If you find yourselves lost. Ask yourself what do you want to do in this game. I know it’s hard to part with kdmates that have been with you for ages but if your goals are not aligned it’s time for some changes. Don’t fear the unknown, try it and embrace it. If you’re a new player don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions. That’s the only way you can grow. For veterans don’t downplay stupid questions either maybe it’s something you never thought of otherwise and keep an open mind (S) If you could go back in time and give the "newb" you one piece of advice, what would it be? (F) Stop wasting time trying to convince people who never will listen. Making your own kd is far easier (S) Describe any funny or peculiar incidents that made you either laugh until your sides hurt or had you wanting to throw your computer/phone out the window. (F) We have a nasty habit of people being quick shot with dragons. Many will accidentally send dragon for various reasons and it drives me insane. We also had a dragon situation once with Void where we were bored so we robbed Tetre of a full dragon gc and sent it to Void for kicks and laughs. Unfortunately, our stew at the time Taco was on a side chat to negotiate war with Void so he flipped out and rage quit haha (S) If you could sit down and have a drink with DavidC, what would you be drinking and what suggestions would you like to mention? (F) Pepsi since that's the only **** I drink at a bar. I would encourage him to look at bottom feeding protection a bit more since it's currently the most broken thing in Utopia. People are abusing bottom feeding protections to annoy people at the top with robs and trads on smaller provs in larger kds. For instance, SWEA robbed us all age last age and we couldn't do anything to them because of bottom feeding mechanics until they came into range and we sent a full wave of learns to spite them which we all agreed alright CF we're even (S) Didn't a long time ago, kd size didn’t matter, only province. (F) that was equally broken since it was disproportionate and encouraged bullying too much (S) So what do you think is the solution? (F) mmm i have my ideas but might be a little challenging to code. Perhaps introduce a zero protection when meter points are higher for aggressors so a smaller kd cannot intentionally annoy a bigger kd without consequences, else it kind of defeats the accomplishments of kds who strive to be the strongest since strength comes from size due to war win mechanics (S) Hmm..maybe its also a bit of ethics and respect. Only a handful of kds tend to use that to their advantage. (F) for ages if you land top5, its a massive target on your back saying please hit my lower rung provs for free or rob me to your content (S) I could argue that kds that land in the top 5 got there pushing their way thru smaller kds. (F) absolutely true as well since war wins are built on beating a weaker opponent for every top 5 kd there's 20 kds buried to build it (S) So you don't feel like a kd that 'taxes' smaller kds should be touched for their resources? (F) I have no sympathy for kingdoms who chose of their own volition to stay tiny to beat on other less skilled kingdoms.I am not talking about tiny kds. Im talking maybe T15. (S) T1 goes down the line, taking acres one kd at a time to get that crown. You don't think a kd that has had its land taken by that kd should not be allowed to rob resources off them? (F) Those kingdoms aren't entirely helpless either. They could fight back with ops or hit back (S) I am just playing the Devil's Advocate here for the moment, you say smaller kds annoy bigger kds. I say bigger kds annoy smaller kds with waves that they know the other kd isnt going to retaliate. But we digress, let’s get back to these all important questions. Maybe you can get this bonus question right: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? (F) Honestly, i have no idea? 300 miles an hour? (S) -=tosses him off the bridge=- Wrong! (F) eh worth a shot (S) Anything you would like to add or any shout outs to any players? (F) Shout-outs for sure. Topsy, Dowla, ahtoad, Mansoor, Evil Queen, MasterOfOrion, you guys make utopia fun and interesting, since some of you are on break hope to see you soon! (S) Thanks for sitting with me and chatting. Let’s go get some Pepsi and watch some submarine races now. (F) Thank you and drink time! since its morning I shall drink green tea

[riichardwilson]

Transcript of Creating Policy Changes to Benefit Small Businesses

Back to Podcast

John Jantsch: Hey, marketing agency today has gotten harder. There’s so many new platforms. How do you reach the right audience? Fortunately, there’s a simple way. LinkedIn can help you speak with the right professionals at the right time.

John Jantsch: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape marketing agency Podcast. This is John Jantsch and my guest today is Karen Kerrigan. She is the president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. She also chairs the newly formed Small Business Round Table, a coalition of leading small business and entrepreneurship organizations. So Karen, thanks for joining me.

Karen Kerrigan: Oh, it’s great to be here. John, thank you for having me.

John Jantsch: And I assume you’re in chilly Washington DC today.

Karen Kerrigan: That’s right. Today it’s chilly. We’ve had no consistent temperature, sort of like the policy environment and economy in general. But we’re having a pretty good day today, pouring rain. But anyway, it’s busy though for sure.

John Jantsch: Are the cherry blossoms starting to peak out yet?

Karen Kerrigan: They’re starting to come out a little early, John, we’ve got… Actually at my home right outside of Washington in Northern Virginia, my front tree cherry blossom, they’re actually starting to bloom a little bit. So I think we could have an early year. We’ve had those before where actually the cherry blossoms came out and then we had a little snow on top of them. But they’re getting there. You can see the buds. And so the national park service, I’m sure it’s hard at work coming up with the exact date of those peak blooms so the tourists can all start coming in.

John Jantsch: So let’s start with describing kind of the primary charge of the SBE Council.

Karen Kerrigan: Sure. You bet John. So we, SBE Council, we are an advocacy, training, and research organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and protecting small business. We’ve been doing this for 25 years now and we have more than a hundred thousand members and small business supporters across the country and really do work on the policy and economic environment that’s going to help strengthen startup activity and small business growth.

Karen Kerrigan: So a lot is focused on policy both at the federal as well as at the state level. And we do a lot of international stuff as well. And then we work with partners, whether they are other associations or corporate partners or government on a variety of educational initiatives as well. But we’re here to support small businesses, to give them an environment in a climate where they can compete and grow and also encourage individuals to pursue the path of entrepreneurship. And obviously having a good economy most of the time, I mean obviously there’s been great businesses that started during depressions, but just having the good policy pieces in place and the ecosystem in place really does encourage people to take that risk of starting a business and there’s a lot of policy things that we’re working on that involve that.

John Jantsch: Well, so that is, I’m thinking through as a listener here, that sounds great at the global level and I know that I benefit from all of that as a business owner, but what do you tell that local business owner, entrepreneur that says, okay, well what’s in that for me? Like how does that directly benefit me?

Karen Kerrigan: Well, I guess you could drill it down to specific policies, right? So if you look at, for example, the latest Square/Gallup Survey that came out a couple of weeks ago and it asks small business owners what their biggest concerns are. It was what we hear a lot taxes, regulation, healthcare, tariffs, things like that. So on a very personal level with small business owners looking at their pain points, like, a complex tax system or higher taxes or affordable health coverage or a regulatory environment that might be too burdensome. We just work on the many pieces of that to push through reforms, to push through legislation, to push through regulatory changes that are going to lessen the burdens directly on small businesses. Whether that’d be the tax or the regulatory burden and do things that are going to create generally a better environment, business environment, so that consumers are spending, businesses are investing.

Karen Kerrigan: So it involves a lot of things because there’s a lot of different government agencies in Washington, whether it’s the Department of Labor or the EPA, the IRS. Look at… We do so much with the Federal Communications Commission because access to broadband is still a big concern and quality broadband for many business owners and entrepreneurs. And we think that’s really critical that everyone have good access to broadband. So they have the opportunity to start businesses or even quality broadband so they can take advantage of all the new tools in the platform based economy to help them better grow their businesses and compete their businesses. So it involves just, if someone thinks about their business and what their pain points are and maybe how government gets in the way, or maybe makes those things a little bit more burdensome and painful. We’re working on all those pieces to improve or to lift those burdens. So does that answer your question a little bit more? I know we could dig down into deeper issues like healthcare or anything else.

John Jantsch: I want to go there for one moment. Because that’s certainly the topic that… I mean you watched all of the political conversation, it seems like forever, it’s not just now. Healthcare gets batted around by every side as the big issue. And I think it’s probably one of the biggest questions for certainly employers in the small business space. Where do you see the future of that? Because it feels, when you listen to people talk about healthcare and in this country it feels a little bit unstable.

Karen Kerrigan: It does, because it’s almost like you have, well the government’s going to run it or it’s not, you know? It’s Medicare for all or… Well it is a little bit unstable but as we’ve worked on this issue for the past three or four years, even with the Obama administration as we have on a number of issues, making some good headway on a range of things. We do see light at the end of the tunnel. Some of the initiatives that we’ve worked on which has come to fruition include things like allowing for association health plans or for businesses to pool as part of an association or altogether where they can leverage their numbers to negotiate for more choices and more affordable prices in healthcare. And so we’re beginning to see more and more association health plans come to life.

Karen Kerrigan: I saw for example, the National Association of Manufacturers just started a big association health plan. You’ve got the restaurateurs who are starting them, you have many state based associations who are beginning to start these association health plan. So we help push that regulatory change forward over the last couple of years. But then once it gets enacted, John, these things, there’s lag time, right? And until like the regulation becomes final and then sort of the market responds to that. So that’s one area where we do see some improvement where there was some extra taxes as part of the affordable healthcare act. Some people call it Obamacare. We had a really good success last year where we’re able to, as part of the year end package that passed both Houses of Congress and signed by the president. We’re able to repeal the health insurance tax, which was a tax on insurance companies, but really it directly hits small businesses.

Karen Kerrigan: It was targeted towards small group market and so that’s been lifted and we should see some relief for small business owners over the next year or so. A lot of little things like that that are taking place. Short term plans, which are not for everyone, but we believe that transitional plans in the marketplace. If you’re currently work for a business, either a big business or another business and want to start your own business and you want to have some type of health coverage, making these short term limited duration plans, these transition plans a little bit more practical really helps that person to take a risk and say, look, I’ve got something, I’m ready to jump out in the marketplace. Because actually not having healthcare is a big reason why a lot of people don’t start businesses. But it could, as you know John, you’re right.

Karen Kerrigan: I mean, like you said, it looks like we’re a little bit of turmoil. It depends on the election and what happens in 2020 because most of the candidates, the democratic candidates, have some form of Medicare for all or something like that, or Medicare for some, as I call it. And that will mean more government control of the health care. And from our perspective that is served in many instances to drive costs higher. But there have been some gains made, there’s more to come. There’s definitely more that needs to be done. But there’s a host of things that have been done that were just, the market really has to start embracing these and there’ll be more access to this type of plans by small businesses once we see the associated health plans go full board.

Karen Kerrigan: But the other piece of that, John, I don’t need to belabor this, but is that some of the States are actually suing the government on association health plans for example, and saying, well, the Trump administration exceeded its statutory boundaries. It doesn’t have the right to do this. So when there is a lawsuit involved, that sort of stops some of these things from actually reaching the market. But your observation is absolutely correct in terms of there is turmoil. And I think we’ll continue to see that if we do have some big election changes in 2020.

John Jantsch: Did you know there are over 62 million decision makers on LinkedIn? Yeah. And even small and medium sized businesses are making the most out of LinkedIn ads. They’re using LinkedIn to get their voices heard and their messages to resonate with the audience. And it’s not just about awareness either. LinkedIn ads are driving traffic and engagement. If you want to check it out, try for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit linkedin.com/ducttape. D-U-C-T-T-A-P-E that’s linkedin.com/ducttape. So there’s some terms and conditions that may apply, but I urge you to go check it out for yourself.

John Jantsch: So move on. Let’s move on to another topic.

Karen Kerrigan: Yeah.

John Jantsch: We as a society, country, move more and more to knowledge and digital workers, one of the real challenges I’m seeing with a lot of businesses that still need skilled labor, they’re really having trouble finding it. The remodeling contractor is having trouble finding carpenters because people aren’t going to school to be carpenters anymore. How would you suggest, I mean, I assume we’re still going to need remodeling contractors for a while. What are you hearing or what initiatives are you working on really to try to kind of keep those types of industries and those types of training programs afloat?

Karen Kerrigan: You’re right. John, we hear this from every single one of our members and when I travel the country, their biggest challenge or their pain point is, I talked about taxes, regulation, healthcare, but that was more involved with like sort of on the government side. But in terms of the operation of their business it’s their number one issue. It’s finding and keeping the employees that they need to operate their businesses. And many of them are missing out on growth opportunities because they just can’t find the people, the skilled employees or even the employees to work in their businesses. And that’s across all industries. It’s one of these issues, I think, that really is… there are no short term solutions to it. But I think a lot of what the Congress on a bipartisan basis has done to work together along with the administration. I think are really making a difference or will make a difference and have in terms of expanding and modernizing a lot of the apprenticeship programs to include more high tech to include more of the workers that are going to be needed to build out 5G, the 5G infrastructure in this country.

Karen Kerrigan: We anticipate 120,000 more workers are going to be needed, skilled workers, to build out 5G which is incredibly important to small business and to our competitiveness to have that next generation of mobile networks. The other pieces is modernizing some of the laws. For example involving grants, Pell grants and student loans is student loans have primarily been given to students who are going to four year universities. Well why can’t we change that where students can use those type of resources or those funds to do some type of training program, apprentices training program to pursue the training that they need to go into a skills trade. I think the big piece also is it’s culturally it’s just the value of all work. And that starts a lot as I meet with small business owners throughout the country and we’re in some of these small towns a lot is, well gee, the parents are saying, well you have to go to college or you don’t need… you shouldn’t be working in this manufacturing plant, it’s harbor.

Karen Kerrigan: It’s like they’re, in terms of this type of work, I mean it’s good paying work. It’s sort of like what the child’s passion is or what they want to do. The parents, what they want the kids to do shouldn’t replace that. So I think it’s really this whole value of all type of work in this country and look at the wages are getting there. I mean they’re becoming very competitive for all this type of work. And then of course immigration. We’re big supporters, we’re a pro-immigration organization. We do believe that there does need to be immigration reform as some of the programs, the H1B visas and all of that. But we also support increased immigration into the country because if you’re going to have a growing economy and if we’re going to have increased jobs, we need more people to come into the country who can fill those jobs. So we’re fully supportive of that and we continue to push more immigration as a solution to our workforce shortages.

John Jantsch: Are there any policies or regulations that you’re working on right now that are kind of hot for you because you feel like they’re really holding small businesses back?

Karen Kerrigan: Well, yeah, there’s a number of them I think on the… Well, one big piece that we work on in terms of encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting small businesses to scale is access to capital. And it’s one of our core issues that we’ve been working on. We, unfortunately there was a huge bill jobs act 3.0 that passed the house in the last Congress. Only four people voted against it. And it was a package of about 30 bills that would improve a lot of the securities laws to make them more modern and it would improve capital markets, capital formation and that didn’t go anywhere in the Senate unfortunately. So we’re working from scratch and we are building support both at the FCC and also in both houses on making some more improvement to debt inequity based crowd funding because we led the charge on making debt inequity based crowdfunding legal.

Karen Kerrigan: It took four years John, to get those regulations implemented. It was crazy, but now we’re starting to see some legs and some momentum around crowd funding, about 2000 startups or small businesses have used title three crowd funding, which is allowing ordinary investors to invest in the businesses that they believe in on regulated platforms. And this is a good thing, but it’s still a little bit too regulatory, still looks too costly. We want to increase the amount of money that can be raised from one million to 10 million because the average seed round for a startup is about 2.5 million. So that is something we’re working on in terms of taking this proven model, there’s been no fraud and saying, gee, we’ve got to make this better and we need to make it better for more businesses and more practical for more businesses to use.

Karen Kerrigan: So that’s both a regulatory and a legislative thing. We also are working on with the National Labor Relations Board on what’s called the Joint Employer Rule, which sort of makes a very restrictive around the definition of an employee and whether they’re an independent contractor and the relationship between the franchise and the franchisee and it’s really hurting entrepreneurship and new franchise development and basically lot of compliance burden involved with that. So the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board should be coming out with a new rule on that. And we’re working on that. And then there’s a lot of regulatory things the Trump administration is doing and that’s where the action is going to be, John, because we do see this stalemate between the House and the Senate this year and there are some regulatory improvements that the administration is working on in terms of the National Environmental Policy Act that would modernize that and make it easier for projects to be improved.

Karen Kerrigan: This is really important to building out our nation’s infrastructure and getting some of these stalled infrastructure projects going. That’s a big initiative of ours. And we’re also working on, well there’s a whole host of things that I would encourage people to visit sbecouncil.org to sort of take a look at our agenda. But we’re also very much involved with getting… we’re moving barriers to 5G deployment so that we can get this next generation of mobile networks up and going. So we have faster speeds, more wireless service choices, more affordable speeds. It’s going to be really transformative for small businesses and entrepreneurs to have 5G to allow them to use augmented reality and virtual reality. To have customers to be able to actually try on clothes in the comfort of their own home or actually engaged with their products and services so that they can make that sale right away.

Karen Kerrigan: So that is another thing that we think, gee, we can work on without sort of having this partisan divide between the House and the Senate where there’s actually bipartisan support to move forward. And then trade is another thing. There’s going to be agreements with the UK and India and the EU and John, it’s mostly small businesses that are engaged in global markets and more access they have to global markets and the barriers get taken down. Then they could grow more, invest more and instead of to do what they do best for our economy. So that’s just a little snapshot I’m going on and on like a Washington person would do on the floor of the House or the Senate. My apologies.

John Jantsch: Well that’s all right. We covered a lot of ground there. So Karen, we have run out of time. Tell people where they can find out more about the SBE Council.

Karen Kerrigan: Yes. You bet, John. So, SBEcouncil.org and you can follow us on Twitter @SBEcouncil, LinkedIn SBEcouncil, the same thing for Facebook as well, SBE Council. Please follow us on our website SBE Council. You could sign up our E news for free to keep you updated on all the things that we’re working on that impact your business, small business and entrepreneurship in general.

John Jantsch: Awesome. Well thanks Karen for stopping by and hopefully we’ll see ya next time I’m in Washington.

Karen Kerrigan: You bet, John. Hope to see you as well.

Order your copy of The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

by John Jantsch

“A book that deserves a spot in every entrepreneur’s morning routine.” —Ryan Holiday, #1 Bestselling Author of The Daily Stoic and The Obstacle is the Way

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Transcript of Creating Policy Changes to Benefit Small Businesses

Back to Podcast

John Jantsch: Hey, marketing agency today has gotten harder. There’s so many new platforms. How do you reach the right audience? Fortunately, there’s a simple way. LinkedIn can help you speak with the right professionals at the right time.

John Jantsch: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape marketing agency Podcast. This is John Jantsch and my guest today is Karen Kerrigan. She is the president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. She also chairs the newly formed Small Business Round Table, a coalition of leading small business and entrepreneurship organizations. So Karen, thanks for joining me.

Karen Kerrigan: Oh, it’s great to be here. John, thank you for having me.

John Jantsch: And I assume you’re in chilly Washington DC today.

Karen Kerrigan: That’s right. Today it’s chilly. We’ve had no consistent temperature, sort of like the policy environment and economy in general. But we’re having a pretty good day today, pouring rain. But anyway, it’s busy though for sure.

John Jantsch: Are the cherry blossoms starting to peak out yet?

Karen Kerrigan: They’re starting to come out a little early, John, we’ve got… Actually at my home right outside of Washington in Northern Virginia, my front tree cherry blossom, they’re actually starting to bloom a little bit. So I think we could have an early year. We’ve had those before where actually the cherry blossoms came out and then we had a little snow on top of them. But they’re getting there. You can see the buds. And so the national park service, I’m sure it’s hard at work coming up with the exact date of those peak blooms so the tourists can all start coming in.

John Jantsch: So let’s start with describing kind of the primary charge of the SBE Council.

Karen Kerrigan: Sure. You bet John. So we, SBE Council, we are an advocacy, training, and research organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and protecting small business. We’ve been doing this for 25 years now and we have more than a hundred thousand members and small business supporters across the country and really do work on the policy and economic environment that’s going to help strengthen startup activity and small business growth.

Karen Kerrigan: So a lot is focused on policy both at the federal as well as at the state level. And we do a lot of international stuff as well. And then we work with partners, whether they are other associations or corporate partners or government on a variety of educational initiatives as well. But we’re here to support small businesses, to give them an environment in a climate where they can compete and grow and also encourage individuals to pursue the path of entrepreneurship. And obviously having a good economy most of the time, I mean obviously there’s been great businesses that started during depressions, but just having the good policy pieces in place and the ecosystem in place really does encourage people to take that risk of starting a business and there’s a lot of policy things that we’re working on that involve that.

John Jantsch: Well, so that is, I’m thinking through as a listener here, that sounds great at the global level and I know that I benefit from all of that as a business owner, but what do you tell that local business owner, entrepreneur that says, okay, well what’s in that for me? Like how does that directly benefit me?

Karen Kerrigan: Well, I guess you could drill it down to specific policies, right? So if you look at, for example, the latest Square/Gallup Survey that came out a couple of weeks ago and it asks small business owners what their biggest concerns are. It was what we hear a lot taxes, regulation, healthcare, tariffs, things like that. So on a very personal level with small business owners looking at their pain points, like, a complex tax system or higher taxes or affordable health coverage or a regulatory environment that might be too burdensome. We just work on the many pieces of that to push through reforms, to push through legislation, to push through regulatory changes that are going to lessen the burdens directly on small businesses. Whether that’d be the tax or the regulatory burden and do things that are going to create generally a better environment, business environment, so that consumers are spending, businesses are investing.

Karen Kerrigan: So it involves a lot of things because there’s a lot of different government agencies in Washington, whether it’s the Department of Labor or the EPA, the IRS. Look at… We do so much with the Federal Communications Commission because access to broadband is still a big concern and quality broadband for many business owners and entrepreneurs. And we think that’s really critical that everyone have good access to broadband. So they have the opportunity to start businesses or even quality broadband so they can take advantage of all the new tools in the platform based economy to help them better grow their businesses and compete their businesses. So it involves just, if someone thinks about their business and what their pain points are and maybe how government gets in the way, or maybe makes those things a little bit more burdensome and painful. We’re working on all those pieces to improve or to lift those burdens. So does that answer your question a little bit more? I know we could dig down into deeper issues like healthcare or anything else.

John Jantsch: I want to go there for one moment. Because that’s certainly the topic that… I mean you watched all of the political conversation, it seems like forever, it’s not just now. Healthcare gets batted around by every side as the big issue. And I think it’s probably one of the biggest questions for certainly employers in the small business space. Where do you see the future of that? Because it feels, when you listen to people talk about healthcare and in this country it feels a little bit unstable.

Karen Kerrigan: It does, because it’s almost like you have, well the government’s going to run it or it’s not, you know? It’s Medicare for all or… Well it is a little bit unstable but as we’ve worked on this issue for the past three or four years, even with the Obama administration as we have on a number of issues, making some good headway on a range of things. We do see light at the end of the tunnel. Some of the initiatives that we’ve worked on which has come to fruition include things like allowing for association health plans or for businesses to pool as part of an association or altogether where they can leverage their numbers to negotiate for more choices and more affordable prices in healthcare. And so we’re beginning to see more and more association health plans come to life.

Karen Kerrigan: I saw for example, the National Association of Manufacturers just started a big association health plan. You’ve got the restaurateurs who are starting them, you have many state based associations who are beginning to start these association health plan. So we help push that regulatory change forward over the last couple of years. But then once it gets enacted, John, these things, there’s lag time, right? And until like the regulation becomes final and then sort of the market responds to that. So that’s one area where we do see some improvement where there was some extra taxes as part of the affordable healthcare act. Some people call it Obamacare. We had a really good success last year where we’re able to, as part of the year end package that passed both Houses of Congress and signed by the president. We’re able to repeal the health insurance tax, which was a tax on insurance companies, but really it directly hits small businesses.

Karen Kerrigan: It was targeted towards small group market and so that’s been lifted and we should see some relief for small business owners over the next year or so. A lot of little things like that that are taking place. Short term plans, which are not for everyone, but we believe that transitional plans in the marketplace. If you’re currently work for a business, either a big business or another business and want to start your own business and you want to have some type of health coverage, making these short term limited duration plans, these transition plans a little bit more practical really helps that person to take a risk and say, look, I’ve got something, I’m ready to jump out in the marketplace. Because actually not having healthcare is a big reason why a lot of people don’t start businesses. But it could, as you know John, you’re right.

Karen Kerrigan: I mean, like you said, it looks like we’re a little bit of turmoil. It depends on the election and what happens in 2020 because most of the candidates, the democratic candidates, have some form of Medicare for all or something like that, or Medicare for some, as I call it. And that will mean more government control of the health care. And from our perspective that is served in many instances to drive costs higher. But there have been some gains made, there’s more to come. There’s definitely more that needs to be done. But there’s a host of things that have been done that were just, the market really has to start embracing these and there’ll be more access to this type of plans by small businesses once we see the associated health plans go full board.

Karen Kerrigan: But the other piece of that, John, I don’t need to belabor this, but is that some of the States are actually suing the government on association health plans for example, and saying, well, the Trump administration exceeded its statutory boundaries. It doesn’t have the right to do this. So when there is a lawsuit involved, that sort of stops some of these things from actually reaching the market. But your observation is absolutely correct in terms of there is turmoil. And I think we’ll continue to see that if we do have some big election changes in 2020.

John Jantsch: Did you know there are over 62 million decision makers on LinkedIn? Yeah. And even small and medium sized businesses are making the most out of LinkedIn ads. They’re using LinkedIn to get their voices heard and their messages to resonate with the audience. And it’s not just about awareness either. LinkedIn ads are driving traffic and engagement. If you want to check it out, try for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit linkedin.com/ducttape. D-U-C-T-T-A-P-E that’s linkedin.com/ducttape. So there’s some terms and conditions that may apply, but I urge you to go check it out for yourself.

John Jantsch: So move on. Let’s move on to another topic.

Karen Kerrigan: Yeah.

John Jantsch: We as a society, country, move more and more to knowledge and digital workers, one of the real challenges I’m seeing with a lot of businesses that still need skilled labor, they’re really having trouble finding it. The remodeling contractor is having trouble finding carpenters because people aren’t going to school to be carpenters anymore. How would you suggest, I mean, I assume we’re still going to need remodeling contractors for a while. What are you hearing or what initiatives are you working on really to try to kind of keep those types of industries and those types of training programs afloat?

Karen Kerrigan: You’re right. John, we hear this from every single one of our members and when I travel the country, their biggest challenge or their pain point is, I talked about taxes, regulation, healthcare, but that was more involved with like sort of on the government side. But in terms of the operation of their business it’s their number one issue. It’s finding and keeping the employees that they need to operate their businesses. And many of them are missing out on growth opportunities because they just can’t find the people, the skilled employees or even the employees to work in their businesses. And that’s across all industries. It’s one of these issues, I think, that really is… there are no short term solutions to it. But I think a lot of what the Congress on a bipartisan basis has done to work together along with the administration. I think are really making a difference or will make a difference and have in terms of expanding and modernizing a lot of the apprenticeship programs to include more high tech to include more of the workers that are going to be needed to build out 5G, the 5G infrastructure in this country.

Karen Kerrigan: We anticipate 120,000 more workers are going to be needed, skilled workers, to build out 5G which is incredibly important to small business and to our competitiveness to have that next generation of mobile networks. The other pieces is modernizing some of the laws. For example involving grants, Pell grants and student loans is student loans have primarily been given to students who are going to four year universities. Well why can’t we change that where students can use those type of resources or those funds to do some type of training program, apprentices training program to pursue the training that they need to go into a skills trade. I think the big piece also is it’s culturally it’s just the value of all work. And that starts a lot as I meet with small business owners throughout the country and we’re in some of these small towns a lot is, well gee, the parents are saying, well you have to go to college or you don’t need… you shouldn’t be working in this manufacturing plant, it’s harbor.

Karen Kerrigan: It’s like they’re, in terms of this type of work, I mean it’s good paying work. It’s sort of like what the child’s passion is or what they want to do. The parents, what they want the kids to do shouldn’t replace that. So I think it’s really this whole value of all type of work in this country and look at the wages are getting there. I mean they’re becoming very competitive for all this type of work. And then of course immigration. We’re big supporters, we’re a pro-immigration organization. We do believe that there does need to be immigration reform as some of the programs, the H1B visas and all of that. But we also support increased immigration into the country because if you’re going to have a growing economy and if we’re going to have increased jobs, we need more people to come into the country who can fill those jobs. So we’re fully supportive of that and we continue to push more immigration as a solution to our workforce shortages.

John Jantsch: Are there any policies or regulations that you’re working on right now that are kind of hot for you because you feel like they’re really holding small businesses back?

Karen Kerrigan: Well, yeah, there’s a number of them I think on the… Well, one big piece that we work on in terms of encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting small businesses to scale is access to capital. And it’s one of our core issues that we’ve been working on. We, unfortunately there was a huge bill jobs act 3.0 that passed the house in the last Congress. Only four people voted against it. And it was a package of about 30 bills that would improve a lot of the securities laws to make them more modern and it would improve capital markets, capital formation and that didn’t go anywhere in the Senate unfortunately. So we’re working from scratch and we are building support both at the FCC and also in both houses on making some more improvement to debt inequity based crowd funding because we led the charge on making debt inequity based crowdfunding legal.

Karen Kerrigan: It took four years John, to get those regulations implemented. It was crazy, but now we’re starting to see some legs and some momentum around crowd funding, about 2000 startups or small businesses have used title three crowd funding, which is allowing ordinary investors to invest in the businesses that they believe in on regulated platforms. And this is a good thing, but it’s still a little bit too regulatory, still looks too costly. We want to increase the amount of money that can be raised from one million to 10 million because the average seed round for a startup is about 2.5 million. So that is something we’re working on in terms of taking this proven model, there’s been no fraud and saying, gee, we’ve got to make this better and we need to make it better for more businesses and more practical for more businesses to use.

Karen Kerrigan: So that’s both a regulatory and a legislative thing. We also are working on with the National Labor Relations Board on what’s called the Joint Employer Rule, which sort of makes a very restrictive around the definition of an employee and whether they’re an independent contractor and the relationship between the franchise and the franchisee and it’s really hurting entrepreneurship and new franchise development and basically lot of compliance burden involved with that. So the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board should be coming out with a new rule on that. And we’re working on that. And then there’s a lot of regulatory things the Trump administration is doing and that’s where the action is going to be, John, because we do see this stalemate between the House and the Senate this year and there are some regulatory improvements that the administration is working on in terms of the National Environmental Policy Act that would modernize that and make it easier for projects to be improved.

Karen Kerrigan: This is really important to building out our nation’s infrastructure and getting some of these stalled infrastructure projects going. That’s a big initiative of ours. And we’re also working on, well there’s a whole host of things that I would encourage people to visit sbecouncil.org to sort of take a look at our agenda. But we’re also very much involved with getting… we’re moving barriers to 5G deployment so that we can get this next generation of mobile networks up and going. So we have faster speeds, more wireless service choices, more affordable speeds. It’s going to be really transformative for small businesses and entrepreneurs to have 5G to allow them to use augmented reality and virtual reality. To have customers to be able to actually try on clothes in the comfort of their own home or actually engaged with their products and services so that they can make that sale right away.

Karen Kerrigan: So that is another thing that we think, gee, we can work on without sort of having this partisan divide between the House and the Senate where there’s actually bipartisan support to move forward. And then trade is another thing. There’s going to be agreements with the UK and India and the EU and John, it’s mostly small businesses that are engaged in global markets and more access they have to global markets and the barriers get taken down. Then they could grow more, invest more and instead of to do what they do best for our economy. So that’s just a little snapshot I’m going on and on like a Washington person would do on the floor of the House or the Senate. My apologies.

John Jantsch: Well that’s all right. We covered a lot of ground there. So Karen, we have run out of time. Tell people where they can find out more about the SBE Council.

Karen Kerrigan: Yes. You bet, John. So, SBEcouncil.org and you can follow us on Twitter @SBEcouncil, LinkedIn SBEcouncil, the same thing for Facebook as well, SBE Council. Please follow us on our website SBE Council. You could sign up our E news for free to keep you updated on all the things that we’re working on that impact your business, small business and entrepreneurship in general.

John Jantsch: Awesome. Well thanks Karen for stopping by and hopefully we’ll see ya next time I’m in Washington.

Karen Kerrigan: You bet, John. Hope to see you as well.

Order your copy of The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

by John Jantsch

“A book that deserves a spot in every entrepreneur’s morning routine.” —Ryan Holiday, #1 Bestselling Author of The Daily Stoic and The Obstacle is the Way

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/transcript-of-creating-policy-changes-to-benefit-small-businesses/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/03/transcript-of-creating-policy-changes.html

[scpie]

Transcript of Creating Policy Changes to Benefit Small Businesses

Back to Podcast

John Jantsch: Hey, marketing agency today has gotten harder. There’s so many new platforms. How do you reach the right audience? Fortunately, there’s a simple way. LinkedIn can help you speak with the right professionals at the right time.

John Jantsch: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape marketing agency Podcast. This is John Jantsch and my guest today is Karen Kerrigan. She is the president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. She also chairs the newly formed Small Business Round Table, a coalition of leading small business and entrepreneurship organizations. So Karen, thanks for joining me.

Karen Kerrigan: Oh, it’s great to be here. John, thank you for having me.

John Jantsch: And I assume you’re in chilly Washington DC today.

Karen Kerrigan: That’s right. Today it’s chilly. We’ve had no consistent temperature, sort of like the policy environment and economy in general. But we’re having a pretty good day today, pouring rain. But anyway, it’s busy though for sure.

John Jantsch: Are the cherry blossoms starting to peak out yet?

Karen Kerrigan: They’re starting to come out a little early, John, we’ve got… Actually at my home right outside of Washington in Northern Virginia, my front tree cherry blossom, they’re actually starting to bloom a little bit. So I think we could have an early year. We’ve had those before where actually the cherry blossoms came out and then we had a little snow on top of them. But they’re getting there. You can see the buds. And so the national park service, I’m sure it’s hard at work coming up with the exact date of those peak blooms so the tourists can all start coming in.

John Jantsch: So let’s start with describing kind of the primary charge of the SBE Council.

Karen Kerrigan: Sure. You bet John. So we, SBE Council, we are an advocacy, training, and research organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and protecting small business. We’ve been doing this for 25 years now and we have more than a hundred thousand members and small business supporters across the country and really do work on the policy and economic environment that’s going to help strengthen startup activity and small business growth.

Karen Kerrigan: So a lot is focused on policy both at the federal as well as at the state level. And we do a lot of international stuff as well. And then we work with partners, whether they are other associations or corporate partners or government on a variety of educational initiatives as well. But we’re here to support small businesses, to give them an environment in a climate where they can compete and grow and also encourage individuals to pursue the path of entrepreneurship. And obviously having a good economy most of the time, I mean obviously there’s been great businesses that started during depressions, but just having the good policy pieces in place and the ecosystem in place really does encourage people to take that risk of starting a business and there’s a lot of policy things that we’re working on that involve that.

John Jantsch: Well, so that is, I’m thinking through as a listener here, that sounds great at the global level and I know that I benefit from all of that as a business owner, but what do you tell that local business owner, entrepreneur that says, okay, well what’s in that for me? Like how does that directly benefit me?

Karen Kerrigan: Well, I guess you could drill it down to specific policies, right? So if you look at, for example, the latest Square/Gallup Survey that came out a couple of weeks ago and it asks small business owners what their biggest concerns are. It was what we hear a lot taxes, regulation, healthcare, tariffs, things like that. So on a very personal level with small business owners looking at their pain points, like, a complex tax system or higher taxes or affordable health coverage or a regulatory environment that might be too burdensome. We just work on the many pieces of that to push through reforms, to push through legislation, to push through regulatory changes that are going to lessen the burdens directly on small businesses. Whether that’d be the tax or the regulatory burden and do things that are going to create generally a better environment, business environment, so that consumers are spending, businesses are investing.

Karen Kerrigan: So it involves a lot of things because there’s a lot of different government agencies in Washington, whether it’s the Department of Labor or the EPA, the IRS. Look at… We do so much with the Federal Communications Commission because access to broadband is still a big concern and quality broadband for many business owners and entrepreneurs. And we think that’s really critical that everyone have good access to broadband. So they have the opportunity to start businesses or even quality broadband so they can take advantage of all the new tools in the platform based economy to help them better grow their businesses and compete their businesses. So it involves just, if someone thinks about their business and what their pain points are and maybe how government gets in the way, or maybe makes those things a little bit more burdensome and painful. We’re working on all those pieces to improve or to lift those burdens. So does that answer your question a little bit more? I know we could dig down into deeper issues like healthcare or anything else.

John Jantsch: I want to go there for one moment. Because that’s certainly the topic that… I mean you watched all of the political conversation, it seems like forever, it’s not just now. Healthcare gets batted around by every side as the big issue. And I think it’s probably one of the biggest questions for certainly employers in the small business space. Where do you see the future of that? Because it feels, when you listen to people talk about healthcare and in this country it feels a little bit unstable.

Karen Kerrigan: It does, because it’s almost like you have, well the government’s going to run it or it’s not, you know? It’s Medicare for all or… Well it is a little bit unstable but as we’ve worked on this issue for the past three or four years, even with the Obama administration as we have on a number of issues, making some good headway on a range of things. We do see light at the end of the tunnel. Some of the initiatives that we’ve worked on which has come to fruition include things like allowing for association health plans or for businesses to pool as part of an association or altogether where they can leverage their numbers to negotiate for more choices and more affordable prices in healthcare. And so we’re beginning to see more and more association health plans come to life.

Karen Kerrigan: I saw for example, the National Association of Manufacturers just started a big association health plan. You’ve got the restaurateurs who are starting them, you have many state based associations who are beginning to start these association health plan. So we help push that regulatory change forward over the last couple of years. But then once it gets enacted, John, these things, there’s lag time, right? And until like the regulation becomes final and then sort of the market responds to that. So that’s one area where we do see some improvement where there was some extra taxes as part of the affordable healthcare act. Some people call it Obamacare. We had a really good success last year where we’re able to, as part of the year end package that passed both Houses of Congress and signed by the president. We’re able to repeal the health insurance tax, which was a tax on insurance companies, but really it directly hits small businesses.

Karen Kerrigan: It was targeted towards small group market and so that’s been lifted and we should see some relief for small business owners over the next year or so. A lot of little things like that that are taking place. Short term plans, which are not for everyone, but we believe that transitional plans in the marketplace. If you’re currently work for a business, either a big business or another business and want to start your own business and you want to have some type of health coverage, making these short term limited duration plans, these transition plans a little bit more practical really helps that person to take a risk and say, look, I’ve got something, I’m ready to jump out in the marketplace. Because actually not having healthcare is a big reason why a lot of people don’t start businesses. But it could, as you know John, you’re right.

Karen Kerrigan: I mean, like you said, it looks like we’re a little bit of turmoil. It depends on the election and what happens in 2020 because most of the candidates, the democratic candidates, have some form of Medicare for all or something like that, or Medicare for some, as I call it. And that will mean more government control of the health care. And from our perspective that is served in many instances to drive costs higher. But there have been some gains made, there’s more to come. There’s definitely more that needs to be done. But there’s a host of things that have been done that were just, the market really has to start embracing these and there’ll be more access to this type of plans by small businesses once we see the associated health plans go full board.

Karen Kerrigan: But the other piece of that, John, I don’t need to belabor this, but is that some of the States are actually suing the government on association health plans for example, and saying, well, the Trump administration exceeded its statutory boundaries. It doesn’t have the right to do this. So when there is a lawsuit involved, that sort of stops some of these things from actually reaching the market. But your observation is absolutely correct in terms of there is turmoil. And I think we’ll continue to see that if we do have some big election changes in 2020.

John Jantsch: Did you know there are over 62 million decision makers on LinkedIn? Yeah. And even small and medium sized businesses are making the most out of LinkedIn ads. They’re using LinkedIn to get their voices heard and their messages to resonate with the audience. And it’s not just about awareness either. LinkedIn ads are driving traffic and engagement. If you want to check it out, try for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit linkedin.com/ducttape. D-U-C-T-T-A-P-E that’s linkedin.com/ducttape. So there’s some terms and conditions that may apply, but I urge you to go check it out for yourself.

John Jantsch: So move on. Let’s move on to another topic.

Karen Kerrigan: Yeah.

John Jantsch: We as a society, country, move more and more to knowledge and digital workers, one of the real challenges I’m seeing with a lot of businesses that still need skilled labor, they’re really having trouble finding it. The remodeling contractor is having trouble finding carpenters because people aren’t going to school to be carpenters anymore. How would you suggest, I mean, I assume we’re still going to need remodeling contractors for a while. What are you hearing or what initiatives are you working on really to try to kind of keep those types of industries and those types of training programs afloat?

Karen Kerrigan: You’re right. John, we hear this from every single one of our members and when I travel the country, their biggest challenge or their pain point is, I talked about taxes, regulation, healthcare, but that was more involved with like sort of on the government side. But in terms of the operation of their business it’s their number one issue. It’s finding and keeping the employees that they need to operate their businesses. And many of them are missing out on growth opportunities because they just can’t find the people, the skilled employees or even the employees to work in their businesses. And that’s across all industries. It’s one of these issues, I think, that really is… there are no short term solutions to it. But I think a lot of what the Congress on a bipartisan basis has done to work together along with the administration. I think are really making a difference or will make a difference and have in terms of expanding and modernizing a lot of the apprenticeship programs to include more high tech to include more of the workers that are going to be needed to build out 5G, the 5G infrastructure in this country.

Karen Kerrigan: We anticipate 120,000 more workers are going to be needed, skilled workers, to build out 5G which is incredibly important to small business and to our competitiveness to have that next generation of mobile networks. The other pieces is modernizing some of the laws. For example involving grants, Pell grants and student loans is student loans have primarily been given to students who are going to four year universities. Well why can’t we change that where students can use those type of resources or those funds to do some type of training program, apprentices training program to pursue the training that they need to go into a skills trade. I think the big piece also is it’s culturally it’s just the value of all work. And that starts a lot as I meet with small business owners throughout the country and we’re in some of these small towns a lot is, well gee, the parents are saying, well you have to go to college or you don’t need… you shouldn’t be working in this manufacturing plant, it’s harbor.

Karen Kerrigan: It’s like they’re, in terms of this type of work, I mean it’s good paying work. It’s sort of like what the child’s passion is or what they want to do. The parents, what they want the kids to do shouldn’t replace that. So I think it’s really this whole value of all type of work in this country and look at the wages are getting there. I mean they’re becoming very competitive for all this type of work. And then of course immigration. We’re big supporters, we’re a pro-immigration organization. We do believe that there does need to be immigration reform as some of the programs, the H1B visas and all of that. But we also support increased immigration into the country because if you’re going to have a growing economy and if we’re going to have increased jobs, we need more people to come into the country who can fill those jobs. So we’re fully supportive of that and we continue to push more immigration as a solution to our workforce shortages.

John Jantsch: Are there any policies or regulations that you’re working on right now that are kind of hot for you because you feel like they’re really holding small businesses back?

Karen Kerrigan: Well, yeah, there’s a number of them I think on the… Well, one big piece that we work on in terms of encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting small businesses to scale is access to capital. And it’s one of our core issues that we’ve been working on. We, unfortunately there was a huge bill jobs act 3.0 that passed the house in the last Congress. Only four people voted against it. And it was a package of about 30 bills that would improve a lot of the securities laws to make them more modern and it would improve capital markets, capital formation and that didn’t go anywhere in the Senate unfortunately. So we’re working from scratch and we are building support both at the FCC and also in both houses on making some more improvement to debt inequity based crowd funding because we led the charge on making debt inequity based crowdfunding legal.

Karen Kerrigan: It took four years John, to get those regulations implemented. It was crazy, but now we’re starting to see some legs and some momentum around crowd funding, about 2000 startups or small businesses have used title three crowd funding, which is allowing ordinary investors to invest in the businesses that they believe in on regulated platforms. And this is a good thing, but it’s still a little bit too regulatory, still looks too costly. We want to increase the amount of money that can be raised from one million to 10 million because the average seed round for a startup is about 2.5 million. So that is something we’re working on in terms of taking this proven model, there’s been no fraud and saying, gee, we’ve got to make this better and we need to make it better for more businesses and more practical for more businesses to use.

Karen Kerrigan: So that’s both a regulatory and a legislative thing. We also are working on with the National Labor Relations Board on what’s called the Joint Employer Rule, which sort of makes a very restrictive around the definition of an employee and whether they’re an independent contractor and the relationship between the franchise and the franchisee and it’s really hurting entrepreneurship and new franchise development and basically lot of compliance burden involved with that. So the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board should be coming out with a new rule on that. And we’re working on that. And then there’s a lot of regulatory things the Trump administration is doing and that’s where the action is going to be, John, because we do see this stalemate between the House and the Senate this year and there are some regulatory improvements that the administration is working on in terms of the National Environmental Policy Act that would modernize that and make it easier for projects to be improved.

Karen Kerrigan: This is really important to building out our nation’s infrastructure and getting some of these stalled infrastructure projects going. That’s a big initiative of ours. And we’re also working on, well there’s a whole host of things that I would encourage people to visit sbecouncil.org to sort of take a look at our agenda. But we’re also very much involved with getting… we’re moving barriers to 5G deployment so that we can get this next generation of mobile networks up and going. So we have faster speeds, more wireless service choices, more affordable speeds. It’s going to be really transformative for small businesses and entrepreneurs to have 5G to allow them to use augmented reality and virtual reality. To have customers to be able to actually try on clothes in the comfort of their own home or actually engaged with their products and services so that they can make that sale right away.

Karen Kerrigan: So that is another thing that we think, gee, we can work on without sort of having this partisan divide between the House and the Senate where there’s actually bipartisan support to move forward. And then trade is another thing. There’s going to be agreements with the UK and India and the EU and John, it’s mostly small businesses that are engaged in global markets and more access they have to global markets and the barriers get taken down. Then they could grow more, invest more and instead of to do what they do best for our economy. So that’s just a little snapshot I’m going on and on like a Washington person would do on the floor of the House or the Senate. My apologies.

John Jantsch: Well that’s all right. We covered a lot of ground there. So Karen, we have run out of time. Tell people where they can find out more about the SBE Council.

Karen Kerrigan: Yes. You bet, John. So, SBEcouncil.org and you can follow us on Twitter @SBEcouncil, LinkedIn SBEcouncil, the same thing for Facebook as well, SBE Council. Please follow us on our website SBE Council. You could sign up our E news for free to keep you updated on all the things that we’re working on that impact your business, small business and entrepreneurship in general.

John Jantsch: Awesome. Well thanks Karen for stopping by and hopefully we’ll see ya next time I’m in Washington.

Karen Kerrigan: You bet, John. Hope to see you as well.

Order your copy of The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

by John Jantsch

“A book that deserves a spot in every entrepreneur’s morning routine.” —Ryan Holiday, #1 Bestselling Author of The Daily Stoic and The Obstacle is the Way

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source http://www.scpie.org/transcript-of-creating-policy-changes-to-benefit-small-businesses/

[captainignatiuspigheart]

Midweek Confusion

OK, so this next week thing has slightly got away from me. As ever, by this point in a new week my recollection of the seven days past is blurring… Since my Google calendar stopped syncing with Facebook, even that once reliable tracker of things I expressed zero interest in has faded in its utility. Alas, I’ll have to go by memory; apologies in advance. 

  Alright, I’m genuinely stumped for the first couple of days, as far as the evenings go. I went back to the doctor’s – as I’ve been doing with frightful regularity since last July when we accidentally discovered that I have horrifically high blood pressure. My general understanding based on video games is that a high score is good, but apparently this does not follow in medicine. In order to prevent me from spontaneously stroking out (apparently a genuine risk even at my sprightly forty-one years) I’m being loaded up with various ACE and calcium channel blockers, but to counterbalance their potential for good, the ACE blockers offered a chance of trashing my kidneys, prompting fortnightly blood tests to make sure they hadn’t dissolved and begun circulating. They aren’t! Huzzah. But the ramipril didn’t do much on its own, other than not kill my organs, so now I’ve also got amlodipine (I may or may not verify these spellings… ) to work its mysterious way through the calcium channels. It’s all really quite interesting, to me at least since this is my frail puff-paste meat sack I live in. No more blood tests, and at a much higher dose is bringing my blood pressure down into merely prehypertension range, instead of the top end of stage 2 hypertension (down from my max of 180/109 to 140/90). Win. Plus, I’m now taking a proper Smarties assortment of pills, so that’s nice. Looks like it has a genetic cause, since I’m really quite healthy with my daily cycling and swimming routine, and my cholesterol is fine. In your face three kilos of Quality Streets and another three of cheese in December. Drugs for life – which is cool since I’ve been on asthma meds since an unknowably young age.

  For those uninterested in such health wranglings, tough: your body will begin to fail shortly, as I push these pins into this charming mannequin with a crude rendering of your features. But that can’t be all I did last week, right? Indeed, no. 

  Building: Lego

I have advanced a little with my pretty golden gates. I’ve expanded upwards, in adding mostly extra gold pieces. That’s a minor challenge because, as an inveterate hoarder, I feel like I should use them very sparingly and not deplete my stores. This is idiotic. The whole reason I’ve got the damn things is to use them! And that they look very pretty and they live in a box, and that makes me happy… As you can see I also greebled the fuck out of the walls, and gone way too far. I’ll find pics next week, but I’ve dismantled them in an attempt to make plainer walls which won’t detract so much from the magnificent pearlescent gold. 

    Watching: October Faction

We finished up watching the second-latest comic book adaptation to slide onto Netflix’s new releases bar (before Locke & Key, which unfortunately looks exactly the same but in Miss Peregrine’s Miserable House of Whatever instead – I’m sure it’s somehow different, and we’re bound to watch it eventually). Best described as Grimm crossed with Mean Girls, October Faction follows a family of monster hunters as they, um, hunt monsters and learn DARK secrets. Pretty chipper performances and casting made this a lot of fun, despite the incredibly predictable plot (not all monsters are monsters, your monster-killing organisation is surprisingly not all that chill). The high school stuff with a pair of twins trying to fit into the new town their parents have dragged them to works well, at least until they discover their own powers and the rest of the story unfurls. Very sexuality positive stuff too, which is always satisfying. Look, it’s not amazing, and the ending is a bit unsatisfying, but it’s a fun watch while you’re eating tea. I guess that’s a recommendation… 

    Watching: Birds of Prey, or the Film with a Whimsical Title about a Murderer (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

I know, I know. It’s a DC movie, why do we even try to enjoy them any more. This is about Harley Quinn, Joker’s recent ex (I mean, literally at the start of this film} and how everyone hates her and wants to kill her, because she is, as I think they say, “just awful”. In the process of people trying to kill her she makes some friends, including a fairly amusing child pickpocket and somewhere in here there’s a story about a massive diamond with encrypted passwords carved in it. There’s several different people’s back stories in here, and they all weave together quite ineptly, constantly tripping the film up. We meet Huntress, who has no character other than being a crossbow wielding lady sad that she saw her parents get murdered (it’s OK, they were mobsters – there’s no reason why you should care at all) by another gang of mobsters, under the instruction of Ewan McGregor, who plays some twat who wears a mask for the final action scenes. I should mention that this might be a career worst performance for McGregor, even counting the Star Wars prequels. Fuck knows what his character is supposed to be. And that’s the tone really, none of the characters have any consistency or make sense (except possibly the pickpocket girl). We veer from snarky comic stuff with Harley, to McGregor’s minion slicing off people’s faces. Everything happens fast, or in pointless time-skipping. Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary is pretty cool, except that her having superpowers seems totally irrelevant until she knocks some folks down in the finale. Rosie Perez’ Renee Montoya is described as speaking in cop cliches, and that’s what they give her in lieu of a character. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn gets to do some genuinely splendid action scenes, and it’s the fighting throughout that makes this mess of a film endurable. Lots of people seem excited by the glitter and beanbag gun scene on entering the police station, but it’s the fight as they leave which is truly splendid. Oh, Arkham looks good – suitably grim and filled with ridiculous architecture and funfairs. I’d rank this as the third best DC movie (of the recent crop, barring Wonderwoman none of their films are even as enjoyable as Batman Forever), after Wonderwoman and Shazam (smoky grey CGI baddies are so Green Lantern) but some steps ahead of fucking Aquaman with it’s ghastly rubbery Sea World. I’m perplexed by this film all round. It grows clearer and clearer that I have no grasp of DC properties at all. In fairness, it’s about as good a grasp as Warner Bros’… 

  Doing: Creative Mentoring

Every month, for the last seven years (I think), I’ve spent a few hours with my delightful creativity client. We write stories, play improv and inspiration games, all with the aim of simply being mentally and creatively stimulating. And because it’s fun. Not too much to report on this occasion, other than to note (and remind myself) that’s always a genuine highlight of my week. I deeply enjoy the time I spend with Rebecca, and find it inspires me creatively too. What lovely reciprocity!

  Doing: the Glowstick Trials at National Justice Museum

After a number of rehearsals we finally got to play for real! Seven improvised courtoom dramas, back to back last Friday evening. The chaps directing it this time around (Richard and Ben) rejigged it very smartly from our previous version, putting it much more opportunity to freely extemporise in our various roles of Judge, Defendant, Prosecution, Defence and Witness 1 & 2. A small tight cast, with lots of quasi-legal nonsense. I was lucky enough to end up playing most roles, not least because of the hideous traffic jams that marred the whole of Nottingham for hours, delaying a third of our team. It might have had some effect on audiences too, as we saw far fewer folks in the streets that in previous years. Ho hum. I had an absolutely marvellous time. Hearing Judge Duncan screaming away behind closed doors, myself mounting a vigorous defence (against Marilyn’s thorny prosecution) for poor Alistair accused of thinking about stealing birdseed (he couldn’t possibly have done – he never thinks!), waxing lyrical as a defendant in my maudlin teenage diary, and countless things I’ve forgotten. It was a blast, and I really want to do it again, somewhere, soon… Any offers? 

  I am the LAW

I am a felt-tip pen

Last Week, Sunday 9 February 2020. I've been doing things, honest, I just can't always remember what they were... #lightnight #Lego #birdsofprey #octoberfaction #diary Midweek Confusion OK, so this next week thing has slightly got away from me. As ever, by this point in a new week my recollection of the seven days past is blurring...

[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Brock McGoff of The Modest Man, a men's online publication.Some stats:Product: Men's publication.Revenue/mo: $12,000Started: May 2012Location: DC / Tucson / NYCFounders: 1Employees: 2Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?My name is Brock McGoff, and I run The Modest Man (TMM), a digital media brand dedicated to helping guys dress better and feel more confident, with an emphasis on the man of modest height.TMM content is created for and published on YouTube, themodestman.com, Instagram and other social media channels.At the time of writing, TMM reaches almost a million people each month across platforms. YouTube is the “biggest” platform with over 166k subscribers.In a given month, TMM generates $10-15k revenue from advertising brand partnerships, digital products (an e-book) and affiliate programs. Since there isn’t any inventory or “cost of goods” profit margins are very high.What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after college. My dad was an entrepreneur, and I had the spirit, but with no direction. I got a job in marketing/communications and ran a music production side hustle for a while.I tried my hand at music full time and basically broke even after a year. I read The 4-Hour Work Week and started learning about online business, passive income, WordPress and SEO.I took a 4HWW style sabbatical in Ecuador and, after building countless niche affiliate sites, finally settled on an idea I could sink my teeth into (and feel good about working on), The Modest Man.The other sites were mostly based on opportunity. I used keyword and product research to figure out lucrative (but not too competitive) niches for products sold on Amazon, then built “review” type sites around these products.It was a great way to learn about SEO, WordPress and affiliate marketing, but I wasn’t passionate about any of the sites I was building. This model was an example of doing something just for money, which (in my opinion) isn’t sustainable.Granted, I got my library of sites earning about $500/month, which was awesome, but after a Google algorithm update tanked some of my rankings, I had no desire to try to build these sites back up. I wanted to sink my teeth into something I cared about.I was getting more and more into menswear and trying to teach myself how to dress better. There were plenty of great style blogs, but nothing was focusing on me - a smaller guy who has trouble finding clothes that fit.So I started writing the stuff I would want to read. Luckily, there were lots of other guys who also needed this info. Since no one else is focusing on them, I’m able to develop a special bond that generic style blogs might not have.For example, after realizing that I couldn’t find anything that fit my 5’5” frame properly off the rack, I started going to the tailor a lot. I had no idea how to get things tailored or how much it would cost, so I learned the hard way - by doing it.I decided to make these little infographics about getting your clothes tailored, and they got shared tens of thousands of times on Pinterest, Reddit, etc. These graphics and articles about clothing alterations are still some of my best performing pieces. That’s the amazing thing about creating content: it can end up generating revenue for years.I worked in various tech and digital marketing jobs while building TMM for three years. These jobs paid well, and I learned a lot during this time.But I always viewed my “day job” as a fundraising activity to fund my entrepreneurial endeavors - never something permanent.Finally, I left my last 9-to-5 at the end of 2016 and haven’t looked back since!Take us through the process of creating the website.I had learned how to build content-based niche sites, and how to monetize these sites through Amazon Associates and Google AdSense, before I started TMM. So by the time I started it, I had a pretty good handle on WordPress, affiliate programs, etc. But I had never made more than $500/month.I also spent a lot of time learning about SEO, from black hat to white hat. I just wanted to know how it worked. When I started TMM, I found that high-quality content that’s on-page optimized for search will pretty much always get traffic, eventually.Example of high quality content that worked.For example, there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of articles about watches. Even subtopics like “watches for small wrists” have been covered extensively, but not very thoroughly.I try to make content that’s very thorough. Think “ultimate guide” type articles. So when I wrote about watches for small wrists, I included 25 watches instead of 5 or 10. I included a sortable table with links, along with an infographic and explanation about sizing. In my opinion, it’s the best article about small watches on the Internet (at least when I wrote it). And Google will always reward you for creating this kind of content.Coming up with ideas for content isn’t hard. I would just field questions or look at what other more popular sites were doing and add my own spin to it.For example, if Esquire was ranking for “best jeans” I would write an article about “best jeans for short men” and make it even better than theirs. Add media like original photos and videos. Add infographics. Make an audio version for people who don’t like to read. Make it longer, more entertaining, more concise, easier to scan. Make it better.It’s a rinse and repeat process that takes a bit of patience, but it pays off in the long run.Describe the process of launching the business.My “launch” was just clicking the publish button in WordPress for this article. Not very exciting! I posted about once a week, usually shorter articles. I wasn’t taking pictures or making videos yet, so the articles were pretty boring by today’s standards.In the first year, I made about $1,200 from Amazon Associates and Google AdSense.All of the early traffic came from Google. I didn’t really share anything on Facebook because I didn’t tell anyone about the blog. Instagram wasn’t a thing yet, so I wasn’t on there either.Building an audience from scratch doesn’t have to be a super slow process, but it was for me (mostly because it was a side hustle, and I was somewhat new to the topic of men’s fashion).Since launch, what has worked to grow the brand?For the website, it’s simple: creating helpful, in-depth content with solid on-page SEO (here’s my exact process for that part).On YouTube, it’s a little different. The content should still be helpful, but it helps if it’s also entertaining. Attention spans are much shorter on YouTube. At the very least, a video should be pleasing to watch/listen to (i.e., nice production quality).My best performing video is this one.I think it’s just a popular topic that pretty much everyone wants to know about. It’s a solid video, but not my best work. I’ve come a long way, in terms of production!Here are some of the videos I’m most proud of:Subscription Boxes for Men (my opinion)The Best Clothing Colors for Men | Why You Should Wear Neutral Colors8 Fall Outfit Ideas for Men | Casual Fall LookbookThese videos are honest, and the production is pretty polished (#notsohumblebrag). I think it’s important to make things you love and can be proud of, regardless of how many views they get.In terms of growth tactics, I’ve used a lot of the best practices from the online business world:Using a free lead magnet to build a 20k+ email listWhatever you give away, make sure it’s so good that people would have paid for it. There are so many free ebooks out there, and people are more hesitant than ever to hand over their contact info.Make sure to give massive value, even if it’s free.Selling a premium quality e-book via automated email funnelThis is a very small part of my business at this point. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s hard to sell style advice, mostly because there’s so much great free advice out there already.But the guide has sold hundreds of copies, and it’s one of the most passive parts of the business.Monetizing content through affiliate programs and high RPM ad networksFor me, the best programs have been Amazon Associates (although it’s gotten less lucrative has they’ve slashed rates), RewardStyle, Skimlinks and AdThrive. Once you have a site that gets over 50k visits per month, make sure to partner with an ad network like Ezoic or AdThrive ro raise your RPMs.Partnering with brands to monetize sponsored content (for much higher RPMs)Sponsored content is one of the best ways to make money online, assuming you have an audience. I think it’s best done tastefully and sparingly, especially on YouTube and your website. After all, audience trust is and always will be my number one most important asset, and people don’t want to feel like they’re always being sold to, and that all of your content is paid for.I’ve also done something that’s not very common in the “fashion blogging” world: I’ve been transparent about my business by explaining how the blog makes money and by publishing quarterly income reports.This type of content offers more monetization options, such as the super-profitable web hosting affiliate commissions. I haven’t done much in this arena (yet), but I have started tagging anyone one my email list who’s interested in this sort of business content.It’s something I’d like to focus on more in the future.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?My goal with TMM is to create more and better content, while removing myself as the production bottleneck. This means hiring solid writers and video editors, as well as bringing different men on board for modeling, etc.TMM is a nice little lifestyle business. It provides a healthy income, location independence, plenty of flexibility and passive cash (the best kind!).It’s currently generating between $10-15k per month, depending on whether or not I do any brand deals. About 60% of this revenue is from advertising, and the rest is from affiliate programs and digital product sales.But it could be much bigger. I see no reason not to shoot for $500k/year revenue within 2-3 years.Recently, I was able to leverage my experience building TMM to enter into a partnership with Peter Manning NYC, a niche clothing brand based in NYC.This is a very synergistic relationship, and I’m excited to work with a company selling physical products (clothes), which is new for me. You never know what opportunities your efforts will create!Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?Assuming your basic needs are met, time is more valuable than money. Don’t spend any time doing things you don’t enjoy. If you dread going to work on Monday morning, it’s time to find something new (or start something).Passive income is more valuable than non-passive income. My main metric each month is passive income (rather than total income).For this reason, I focus on increasing revenue from affiliate programs and advertising, rather than working with brands.Know yourself and your “seasons” in life. I know I get bored working on the same thing for a long time, so I structure my day accordingly. I also think about the next few years and try to plan for the next chapter now, before I get there.Like most entrepreneurs, I have lots of ideas for other businesses…If you’re starting a content business (like a blog), I recommend niching down. Try to cover a specific topic (style for short men), rather than a broad one (men’s style).What platform/tools do you use for your business?So many, but some favorites are WordPress, StudioPress, WPEngine, Canva, Wave Accounting, Google Analytics, Upwork and ConvertKit.Full list of resources here.What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?The book that changed my life was The 4-Hour Work Week. It opened my eyes to the world of location independent work, passive income and mini retirements.Another great book is How to Win Friends and Influence People. It taught me how to talk about myself less and ask more questions.I try not to spend too much time listening to business podcasts and reading non-fiction, as you can burn a lot of time on “infotainment” these days.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Everyone is different, so I won’t try to say “do this” or “don’t do that” to anyone. But for me, it has to be about more than just money.Some people can look at business as opportunity. Look at all of these online mattress companies, for example. You think those founders are passionate about mattresses? Probably not. They probably used their business school analyst chops to find a hole in the market, then they seized the opportunity.There’s nothing wrong with this. Many of the best growth companies take this approach.For me, I see business as a creative outlet. If I’m only doing something to make money, I’ll probably give up on it before the money starts flowing in.Especially for young people, I recommend asking yourself: what do I love doing?Don’t even think about money. If you love doing something and get really good at it, money will find you. Instead, think about who you want to be and how you want to spend your time.If you want to be an influencer or content creator, my best piece of advice is to just start. Now.Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?Yes, I’m looking for a part-time video editor and freelance writers (especially with experience in men’s lifestyle and fashion).Where can we go to learn more?My “home” is themodestman.com, but you can also find me around the web:InstagramYouTubeTwitterFacebookIf you want to ask me a question, hit me up on Twitter!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos.

[maudlinbear]

In My Feelings . . . Don’t @ Me!

For real though, what am I thinking?  Even before I start writing, I am already feeling the pressure with just the thought of even mentioning this song.  But I suppose I want to be driven forward by creativity and inspiration, and not driven away by fear.  For whomever is reading, just know that I am always coming from a place of humility and love.  And so we begin!  I Will Always Love You, performed by Whitney Houston, this, one of the greatest songs of all time, performed by one of the greatest voices of all time, will be "often imitated, never duplicated".  There is everything and nothing to write about this piece.  We could set up a whole weekend seminar to break everything down: the voice, the emotion, the lyrics, the power, the RUNS, that saxophone solo, the moment in the music video at the pause followed by the most dramatic eye opening and full throat climax in our lifetime, the falsetto, the BELT, the vibrato, and let's not forget the cultural impact, I mean seriously a masterclass in vocal performance.  At the same time though, I feel like everyone already knows how amazing this song is, so what more could I say?  Much smarter and more cultured scholars could provide more detailed analyses or nuanced arguments.  But alas, I wanted to use this blog to express how I feel, not offer a thesis, so that's what I'm going to do.  

The Bodyguard came out when I was six years old.  I grew up hearing this song on the radio, and learned all the words before I knew what the words meant.  To me, the song had always just existed.  Later in life, after watching the movie, I started to understand how the words fit into the plot of the story, but still they were just pretty lyrics sung by an incomparable artist.  Since I've never been in love or experienced that heartbreak, I didn't really understand the emotions in the song.  I think I've always appreciated Whitney's voice and technique, but back then I only pretended to know about those feelings because everyone else's reactions to the song were so powerful.  Only recently did I go through an experience where the lyrics of the song took on a whole new meaning.  I discovered a nuance and maturity that was more about growing up than being heartbroken.  I fell in love with the song even more because I'm learning a non-romantic love-related life lesson right now.  To find a song that I relate to is always a big deal, but when it is coupled with the vocals of the legendary Whitney Houston, it changes my whole perspective.  You know those songs where you've listened to them so many times that you've memorized every note and every run and every instrumental beat that it just becomes rote?  But then all of a sudden, something new reveals itself and blows your mind?  That's what I'm excited about today.  

So here's my story.  I recently went to two Sam Smith The Thrill Of It All tour stops.  I'm a long time Little Sailor, and I love seeing Sam perform live.  I will never stop, ever.  I was at his first show in DC in 2014 at the 500 person capacity U Street Music Hall.  I waited in lines for hours and flew on planes to get to four other shows during the In The Lonely Hour era.  It was a glorious time of excitement, inspiration, and self-discovery.  Unfortunately, this recent experience paled in comparison for a couple reasons.  First, the subject matter of The Thrill Of It All record is less relatable for me than In The Lonely Hour.  I still enjoy the songs and the sounds, and I love that four of the tracks still hit me really hard.  However, Sam and I are obviously experiencing much different things this time around with different priorities and perspectives.  If I'm honest, I might still be in that lonely hour.  So not surprisingly, I found myself slightly less invested in experiencing the new show compared to my unhinged level of excitement at previous shows.  And that frankly made me feel a little guilty that I didn't love the music more.  Second, Sam Smith, the star, has grown in popularity with higher demand and expectations surrounding him.  His shows are bigger, and he isn't able to come out to meet fans like he once did.  At previous shows, I had been able to give him some flowers or give him a hug and thank him in person.  Unfortunately, he wasn't able to do that at the recent shows that I attended, and that, coupled with the bigger audiences, made me miss that sense of connection.  Now this is no shade to Sam at all.  I'm sure I can't comprehend the breadth of the immense pressures on him from everywhere, the awkwardness of meeting complete strangers, and the logistical challenge for his security team.  I also do not expect him to meet fans outside every show.  I just had hope that the stars would have aligned, and he could come out at the shows I attended.  Yes, I recognize the ludicrousness in that statement.  In any case, I am genuinely happy that his tour is massive and that so many people get a chance to experience his gorgeous voice.  But a part of me also misses those old times when it was less of a production, and I felt a stronger bond with a simple guy singing songs that were about my life.

Don't get me wrong, I had a great time at the shows.  There were beautiful silhouettes, dramatic moments, and incredible vocals.  I even splurged on a front row ticket at one show and had a nice VIP lounge experience.  The other time I purchased a floor seat in front of the stage which really allowed me to experience the breathtaking production and drama of the show.  However, when I got home, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Sam had felt so far away even with my front row ticket.  He also couldn't come out before or after the show to meet us fans.  When that didn't happen, I had to accept that things were different now.  And that's when I Will Always Love You popped into my head.  Each of the three verses was teaching me a lesson in letting go because the disappointment was really putting me in a negative space.  I didn't want to be resentful of Sam and tarnish the beauty he had created.  I also didn't want to be so melancholy after such a wonderful concert experience.  And this song helped me process my feelings.  The first line, "If I should stay, I would only be in [my] way" is my inner monologue.  I realized that my expectations were too high, and that I was just setting myself up for a letdown.  Yes, I paid for a fantastic concert and that's what I received, but I also was unfairly craving that interaction where I could make sure Sam understood my appreciation for his work.  In the second verse, "bittersweet memories" is the perfect description for the thoughts swirling around my mind.  That term helped validate my sad thoughts and make me more accepting of them without scolding myself for being sad.  The line, "So goodbye, please don't cry," taught me that sometimes, it's okay to move on when something isn't right anymore.  I learned that holding on to the hope that the new music and the new shows would give me the same euphoria as the the first run was useless, and that it was okay that things are not what they used to be.  The third verse is the final resolution.  It teaches me that I don't need to be disappointed or mad that things didn't work out.  Life is never perfect, and dwelling on negativity is not healthy.  I can cherish the good times, and just pass along my good energy for the future.  There are so many good things in those lyrics: kindness, dreams, joy, happiness, and of course love!  I wish everything in that verse for Sam.  The sentiment in the chorus rings true.  I will always love Sam Smith.  I believed that we had familiar mindsets and energies during the first album and tour, and that's why it was such a transformative time for me.  Now we've both grown in different directions, and it's okay that synergy is no longer there.  Sam will always hold a special place in my heart.  I am choosing to appreciate the past and the present for what they are, and just keep it moving.  I can be sad, but I won't let that hold me back from doing what I need to do to fulfill my own dreams. 

Now I know this whole blog may seem a bit ridiculous.  I am all up in my feelings right now.  Sam Smith came along at a pivotal time in my life and helped me get through a lot of stuff just by being kind to me in those precious moments when I met him.  He once saw me and that helped me see myself, which changed my life forever.  He is very important to me.  I had hoped I could recreate those moments on this tour, but alas, it was not meant to be.  And that's okay.  I have my memories, and how fitting is it that today is Whitney's birthday and she is one of Sam's favorite singers.  This song will forever remind me of the life lessons from two of my favorite artists.  Happy Birthday, Whitney!  Rest in peace.