#dean vc : WHO IS THAT TALKING TO HIM

[ladyseidr]

was thinking abt making huge hc posts for sam and dean but i'm lazy so instead i'll just make this post to talk abt their orientations because actually i know them better than the writers and i think reading them both as queer adds something to both of their narratives. also i do agree with sam being, intentionally or not, queer-coded. anyway, so:

sam, who realizes he's bi at like, 15 or 16 and definitely has some short-term-but-wish-it-wasn't boyfriend in a town they linger in at some point. his name's eddie. don't ask why i've already managed to establish that, i promise this isn't a rory situation again FKDSHFAH

sam, who definitely doesn't tell his dad ( imagine ) or dean but dean absolutely fucking finds out and dean's surprised but mostly just bothered by the fact that sam's getting attached to Anyone when they're definitely going to be back on the road soon

dean vc: i thought you were into girls // sam vc: it's called bisexuality dean pick up a book sometime

sam "the fact that i'm into guys too is literally the least of my problems" winc.hester tbh, he really has more to worry abt than his sexuality

VS

dean, who would've known he was bi much, much, much earlier except [insert an extremely long breakdown of comphet and toxic masculinity acquired to appease his father here, i'll write it later] and so he genuinely convinces himself he's straight despite the, uh, obvious signs he's not.

( remember that time i mentioned how i literally fantasized abt making out with a friend of mine but still thought i was straight back before I Realized? dean energy except for longer. )

i do feel like there's like. the "Repressing It" period. then the "has hooked up with a few guys but still kind of repressing it" period. then the "knows he's bi but is still semi-closeted" period, in the sense that i unironically think he'd initially try to hide it from even sam. you know. his also bisexual brother. the internalized homophobia/biphobia goes strong with dean ( not suggesting sam isn't affected by it too, but y'know ). the final period is just the "fuck it, whatever" period LMAO

unironically cannot see dean ever actually saying the explicit words "i'm bisexual" and it's not just because it's a C.W show lmaooo. definitely doesn't put it in words until Later in his life and even then it's probably more like "i swing both ways"

yes the fact that dean's bullet points are longer is so intentional. sam "my dad wouldn't like this but fuck him" winc.hester VS dean "oh fuck dad wouldn't like this" winc.hester. anyway. i think john should be shot. you agree.

[tacticalhimbo]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS

I don't have much to reblog so I dug through my archives and now I'm making a post dedicated to the courier ever(tm)

IMANI NOELLE DAVIS — SHE/HER

Imani is one of my longer-term OCs and she has received so much development over my numerous New Vegas playthroughs. She's one of my biggest muses in terms of creation, and I want to highlight her on this FNV Birthday because... why the fuck not? JFAKLDJLSJF

I have numerous FNV OCs, but Imani is just my special babe. I love her so much, so I wanted to make a comprehensive little post of stuff I've done for her, and with the FNV universe in general through her story.

Below the cut you can find a playlist, a multi-chapter DLC fic, some ship information, and much... much more.

BASIC INFO.

Imani is a 28-year-old cis female who was born in Primm, Nevada. She's African American (Kenyan American, specifically), and her voice claim (VC) is Aisha Hinds as Henrietta Wilson from 9-1-1. Imani was born on Feb 22nd, 2253, as the twin brother of Ian Davis and to her loving parents Marianne Holder and Gregory Davis.

She is a single, polyamorous heterosexual.

She struggles with body dysmorphia, as well as (after the encounter with Benny) posttraumatic amnesia & miscellaneous muscle coordination issues (primarily with her ability to grip things steadily).

Her S.P.E.C.I.A.L is:

9

5

6

5

5

5

5

PLAYLIST.

CANON TIMELINE OF EVENTS.

MAIN STORY

Aided the smaller towns (Novac, Primm, Goodsprings) in their endeavors. Killed Benny and sided with Yes Man, though worked alongside the NCR for additional support (primarily helping with places like Bitter Springs, Camp Golf, and Forlorn Hope).

Gained the alliance of the Boomers, Followers of the Apocalypse, and Brotherhood of Steel, and stopped the Great Khans from allying with Caesar.

Formally joined the Kings while helping Freeside.

Exposed the White Gloves for their cannibalism, helping Ted Gunderson and his son. Exposed the corruption of the Gomorrah staff, helping Cachino (and helping a prostitute escape to live a happier life with her boyfriend).

Had Veronica, Boone, Arcade, ED-E, and Rex as companions at different times throughout the main story (e.g., Arcade while helping Freeside).

Has learned most of her skills from companions (Boone helped her focus her shooting after Honest Hearts, Arcade taught her medicine, etc.) 

HONEST HEARTS

Followed the caravan’s radio signal to earn extra caps after cutting ties with House (received standard payment for the delivery of the Platinum Chip).

Imani was the sole survivor of the White Leg assault. It was here that she first fired a gun, and she learned how to shoot throughout the DLC’s plot.

Sided with Joshua in his argument with Daniel.

Aided the tribes in their personal affairs (told Waking Cloud of her husband’s fate, escorted the Bighorner calf, told Follows-Chalk to listen to Joshua, underwent the Right of Passage alongside Waking Cloud and the Shaman)

Talked Joshua Down; Spared Salt Upon-Wounds. 

DEAD MONEY

Found the bunker while aiding the NCR with Camp Forlorn Hope, brought Veronica to the bunker, and discovered Elijah’s room. The two got separated by the toughened doors and Imani was put under, beginning the DLC.

Convinced God to open the cell door and accompany her, opposed to the idea of taking advantage of his split personalities and getting Dog to open the door.

Killed Dean Domino out of self-defense, though tried to reason with him. Merged Dog/God’s personalities, and had Christine’s aid through the final stretch of the heist.

Killed Elijah in the Vault after an intense fight and nearly being killed by him; Barely escaped the exploding vault with her life. 

OLD WORLD BLUES

Sought out the three technologies that the Think Tank asked her to, disregarding many of the facilities due to her recovering from the forced surgeries and due to a lack of certainty in her safety.

Spoke to Mobius after destroying his robo-scorpion, rather than jumping to attack him, as he had not tried to harm her.

Confronted Klein about her organs and about Mobius, after having a lengthy discussion about the Think Tank and the reasons for the lobotomy experiments (she refused to be some sort of lab rat for the Think Tank, and refused to allow them to torment the Mojave)

Backed by Dala, Zero, Borous (Sort of; Due to aiding them with their personal quirks).

Killed the Think Tank Scientists after they grew hostile with her.

Watched over the Think Tank for a while (recovering from procedures) before returning to the Mojave. Returns with fresh and permanent surgical scarring.

“Cardiac Arrest” // Has Biological Heart

“Reinforced Spine” // Has Biological Spine

“Big Brained” // Has Biological Brain 

LONESOME ROAD

First Conversation with Ulysses: Discussed Ulysses’ distaste for NCR, and noticed how bodies in silo were NCR special forces. Affirmed how they’d never spoken before, and how if he’d wanted her dead, he would have waited. Proceeded to ask about their history and got no true response.

Second Conversation with Ulysses: Noted that Legion and NCR were together in the Divide (“ Pain makes for strange allies. ”), and noted that this was a perfect NCR supply route to Hoover Dam. “ There is no other supply line beyond the Long 15 ”. Noticed Ulysses’ distrust or disgust for ED-E, and again asked why Ulysses swore not to kill her. When told that it was because they’d had a history here, and how significant the journey was, she told him “ I haven’t been here before, not from this road. ”

When the Ashton warhead detonated, Imani felt an incredible fear for the destruction caused; Began to understand Ulysses’ perspective on history when imagining the destruction of the Great War.

Third Conversation with Ulysses: Did not remember what happened to The Divide, was uncertain and fearful about the possibility that she’d aided in the destruction of an area in such a violent way (“ It’s possible, but… ”). When called out for the missile launched within the Divide, she stated that she “ … had no idea the silo was active until the missile was in the air. ”, and urged Ulysses to make his point by asking, “ I’m here, now what? ”.

Fourth Conversation with Ulysses: Grew furious when Ulysses stated he’d used her to carry ED-E to his Temple, and coincidentally intrigued him by revealing that she’d named the eyebot.

Confrontation at the Temple: Found/Rescued ED-E from the lab. Confronted Ulysses with heavy emotion; “ What happened at the Divide, what I did, was an accident. What you’re doing - it’s madness. If you blame me for the Divide, then let me answer for it, not others. This is between you and me. ”. Used her reputation with the NCR to convince Ulysses things could change. “ One can build a community, make it stronger. You saw it at the Divide, even blamed me for it. I believe that one person can make… or break… a nation. You already know this. ” Ultimately talked Ulysses down from nuking the Mojave, and fought off the intruders alongside Ulysses; They sacrificed ED-E to save the Mojave.

Imani was injured by shrapnel in the escape from Ulysses’ Temple, allowing herself to linger among the canyon wreckage. It is here that Imani learned Ulysses’ history. Upon leaving, she was gifted a final message. 

FINALE

Imani took her time preparing for the battle, working alongside her companions to strengthen the Mojave.

Her and Boone cleared out Cottonwood Cove, freed the captive family, and moved through the Fort to assassinate Caesar. 

Her and Veronica opened the Brotherhood’s eyes to the dangers of an authoritarian level of isolationism and convinced them to lift the lock down and allow the Brotherhood to expand.

Imani gave her all at the Second Battle for Hoover Dam, tearing through the Legion’s forces to defend the Mojave. She wore Ulysses’ duster to the battle and took Ulysses’ advice to remind Lanius that he will fail like Graham. Imani convinced Lanius to fight her one-on-one to prove his worth. He was killed by the courier. 

AND SPEAKING OF LONESOME ROAD...

I've written a multi-chapter fic based on the plot of the DLC, titled The Prodigal Courier.

While it was initially published to AO3, I do not support the website due to its various issues surrounding a lack of content moderation, the staff's anti-Palestinian/pro-Genocide stances, and their shady financial processes.

You can, however, read the full fic on my NeoCities!

This fic is a multi-chapter work that I initially began writing in 2017/2018, and will eventually (hopefully) become part of a series exploring the canonical story of Imani. I plan for each DLC to get its own fic, in addition to a fic explaining the beginning of the game and the end… and perhaps even a post-canon worldbuilding sort of thing.

SHIPPING.

Mentioned very briefly in that fic, though, is the idea of Imani x Ulysses. I love the idea of Six x Ulysses, as the parallels between them are just too good to ignore...

Plus, my partner (Vendetta) writes an incredible Ulysses that I've absolutely absorbed into the canon.

But anyway, their tag is OTP: HOME ON THE WASTES , and while there isn't a lot of content in there at the moment, I definitely plan to sit down and write smaller ficlets around them too <3

[failedhero-archive]

dean over here feeling attacked because @gunlegacy is getting winchester anons

[cbrownjc]

Twitter discourse update:

Anne Rice is being called a racist now for having a main character as a plantation owner.

Have these people read even a single novel? I'm beginning to hate this fandom rn

George RR Martin has so much problematic stuff in his books,Stephen King too,I don't see people attacking them. Colleen Hoover romanticizes DV and her books are always sold out.

I'm sorry if this comes off as insensitive but I'd like to know your thoughts. I don't think Anne did it with malicious intention.

Hey Anon,

Honestly, I don't feel comfortable declaring what Anne may or may not have been personally. I mean, I don't think she made Louis a plantation owner out of some malicious intent, but that's only because of how Louis is presented in that book. But she did have her own racial ignorances as well I'd say.

Louis' position of being a slave owner isn't romanticized in the book, at least in my reading of it. He is very much of his time with all the racism that comes with that. (And book-Louis IS racist, that is very clear, IMO.) And that all becomes analogous when he is turned into a vampire, a supernatural creature that prays on the innocent.

IMO it's more book fans who tend to romanticize book-Louis than the actual text does when it comes to this and him being a slave owner and the racism he both exhibits and is a part of sustaining. (Some of the language used to describe book-Louis by some fans screams Southern Plantation "lost cause" romanticization mythology in the vein of Gone with the Wind.)

And I understand people who just do not feel like reading about a character like that and dismiss any type of sympathy for him. Especially when it comes to talking like that about him, that comes from some book fans.

Again, I don't feel I can declare one way or another whether Anne Rice herself was racist. Like, I only heard things here on Tumblr about the whole Paula Dean thing and her, so I don't know all the details of that. All I will say is that she had some ignorance about race and racial issues/history/imagery and her own inherent biases within that. But she also didn't strike me as someone completely unwilling to learn. I could be wrong about that, as that was my reading of her back in the late-90s and early 2000s, at least.

I mean, the fact that she wrote Akasha, who was an Egyptian Queen, as white shows that ignorance. However, Aaliyah's casting as Akasha was one of the only things Rice praised about the Queen of the Damned movie, specifically noting how, with Aaliyah's casting, many black fans of the books feel included in her world.

And I personally remember, around the late-90s or so, when she used to have a newsletter and actually talked about black fans asking her if she could include more black vampires and how she honestly didn't feel she had the knowledge or skill as a writer to really explore that topic of what might be a difference for a black person becoming a vampire than a white person.

And, again, just personally? I prefer it when a white writer can acknowledge that kind of ignorance they have and not try and write something that might (usually) just end up being offensive in the long run.

There are also book readers who are more knowledgeable than me that have legitimate issues with how she handled the few Southeast Asian characters in the VC, particularly the body-swapping plot with David Talbot and the body he got in the end.

Oh, and I can tell you outright both George R. R. Martin and Stephen King have been harshly criticized for some of the handling of race, and other things, in their stories. Though, again, this usually comes more from people who've only watched the adaptations of their books than have read the books in question, from what I've seen. Legitimately so when it comes to the difference between the ASOIAF books and the Game of Thrones tv show and how the show handled a lot of that stuff. (Don’t get me started, I still have . . . feelings.) (I've never read Colleen Hoover's work, so I can't comment on that.)

Anyway, I guess I'm saying yes, Anne Rice did have her racial ignorance, but that's what they were - ignorance. Not something done maliciously or with that intent, but things that still had some consequences because of her ignorance.

[toririvas]

A list of character interactions that me and my dad think would be really funny, interesting, wholesome, or whatever. Crossing universes of SS&S, VC and Superpowereds.

- D&D night but it's Hershel DMimg for the dorkass squad (Alex, Lance, Donald, and Tim)

- conversely those five being friends through the multarian internet and having like, the ultimate Fortnite fiveman squad

- Roy, saddled with his boyfriend Chad, looking at Social Disaster Austin: oh my god there's another one. Mary are you seeing this shit.

- "so what did you do when you first saw green eyes over there?" "....dropped a couch and broke a door frame." "shit you're somehow worse than Chad all he did was shatter a beer"

- I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IVAN AND NICK. Like. Oh my god imagine it. Shut up. Ivan /knows/ someone like him. Someone who had their sense of self trained out for one job. Maybe for one it's endless chaos and one it's running a small empire. It's the same. Do you understand am I saying nonsense--

- NOBODY PUT IKE AND NICK IN THE SAME ROOM. BAD AUDIO. as they're endlessly puzzling each other out like "how much of you is fake"

- Nick, getting an intuition: I think I should talk to you.

- Johnny Three Dicks, blinking demurely: little ol me?

- Alice and Thuggernaut, looking from those two to each other: this will not end well.

- Will and Tori would be unstoppable. They'd take over the world.

- ELLIE ALICE POWER HOUR. let's teach Ellie how to have a sense of self a little more! let's let Alice have her girl stuff and friends!

- my dad: globe and ivan would meet at a cooking class. (me: and grumph.) dad, nodding solemnly: and grumph

- warren is just a good fit with the SS&S crew in general?

- SO IS KYLE. Kyle needs to be a solid middle of the pack guy. It's where he works. He's so wound up. He'd try to hang with Chad/Roy/Austin out of habit but he wouldn't vibe.

- I NEED TO SEE A SLUGFEST OF BEV/ROY/GABBY/AUSTIN/REN.

- ivan meets dean Blaine and just takes a nap because he doesn't have to worry about Shit All. also they'd be yearning buddies.

- who would excel at whose programs? like would the rookies be able to handle lander training. could melbrook (sophomore year) handle the desert trial.

- hannah and warren. "my fucking teacher made me wear medieval times wizard robes for almost a year." "why didn't you just fucking grow a pair and melt his ass." "choke." "you're not my type." (grudging respect)

- hannah and tori but they're roommates is the funniest au i can think of

- again owen ivan and thistle in the "accidentally adopted a wayward angry twenty something" club

- hannah tori and gabby in the "accidentally adopted by a really powerful guy" club

- again holy shit do not let nick and johnny interact do not do it the world would collapse

- would sally and janet get along or would they not. they're so similar. but yet.

- eric would absolutely hang with the apprentices

- nobody let shallura and tori meet

[wayward-writers]

heyy so i started this thing a while ago but there’s still a last part to the lebanon headcanons (like i sent this, but tumblr has been shit with my asks, ask outro they know all about it)

PART 4 OF THE LEBANON HEADCANONS

Contrary to Sam and Cas, Dean doesn’t really have a project in Lebanon. He just hangs out. He’s handling their post, he’s doing the groceries, he’s ordering car parts at the repair shop cause he’s tinkering on all those old cars in the bunker. And the people in Lebanon just know him. Some know him as Cas’ boyfriend (an assumption they made even before Dean and Cas were together), some know him as Sam’s brother, some know him as Jack’s… dad? Guardian? Uncle? No one’s really sure. And then some just know him as the dude with the Impala. He’s frequenting the diner, where he’s exchanging pie recipes with the cook. He’s renting movies every week and is sometimes even found checking out a book at the library (this happens more often than you’d think). Sometimes he helps out Cas, sometimes he hangs out with Jack, Stacy, Max and Eliot. He doesn’t need to have a project, he’s just part of the town. He’s just there

Hey! Sorry that we never got around to reply it was in our ask box I was literally just talking about it on the vc and then this message came through so I figured I'd respond to this one instead! Sorry for the late response!

Also Dean just being that guy that nobody really knows what he does exactly or who he is exactly but they know he's there and they know that he likes pie and books and cars and his family is great I love that for him, he just gets to be a normal person to this town just someone who everyone's like 'oh, Dean? the one who hangs out at the diner?' is great I love that for him tbh

We love all the slice of life scene fillers so much so thanks for sending this!! We would love to hear any other head canons you have!!

[fallin-flcwer]

HANSE “COOPER” JANG

Name: Jang Han Se (Cooper Jang) Age: 20 (Born Feb 18th - Aquarius) High School: Homeschooled University: Diamond Bridge (2nd year) Studies: Music (vc: keshi & dean) Parents: An American mother with the maiden name "Cooper" & a Korean father with the surname "Jang" LMAO Faceclaim: Hansol Vernon Chwe

(click for connections list)

(tw: mentions bullying, racism/xenophobia & anxiety)

BACKSTORY:

Hanse was born in New York to an American mother and a Korean father, moving to Gangnam, South Korea - where he grew up. Even from an elementary-school age Hanse had realised that his background wasn't something that people were fond of. He was teased by kids in his year group for having lighter skin, brown-hazel eyes and brown hair. At first he was naïve about it but as the years went on the comments became more disturbing to him, with kids outright disrespecting his mother, and ignoring the fact that he indeed had Korean heritage so that they could continue branding him as the white boy, even though he spent almost all of his life in S.K. and told them continuously that he identifies more as Korean. Over the years, it was evident that he started to lose confidence, becoming quieter and more reclusive. Hanse never spoke up mostly because he didn’t want to bother his parents, nor did he want it to have an influence on his little sister, Hanbi, who never had to face the same level of torment in school as he did. It wasn’t until the beginning of eighth grade that he said anything, after his father witnessed him having a anxiety attack in his room after school. After a long talk with both of his parents, it was decided that they pull him out of the high school and start homeschooling him.

VIOLET SPRINGS // DIAMOND BRIDGE

When he was 17, his family ended up moving to Violet Springs after his mother got a teaching job at Springs Park. Wanting to start fresh, he started going by his mother’s maiden name “Cooper”, reserving his actual name for his family and the very few that he felt comfortable with sharing it to. Since he never went to school in VS, he'd kinda just be seen working at a cafe or something and just chilling around town wherever. He'd still be kinda quiet, but found that he’s a little bit more open to talking when they don't know much about him and his past. Being interested in music, Cooper had taught himself the guitar, singing and rapping whilst being home schooled. Learning through word of mouth that fame universities exist, he auditioned for a couple of universities received an offer for Diamond Bridge. Since starting university, Coop has come out of his shell a bit more, but is still somewhat of a mystery to a most people. His name is often credited as a songwriter for other artists and sometimes drops his own songs occasionally here and there. He has yet to perform his own music due to his anxiety, which he has discussed with the academy privately for the sake of keeping his place, but still isn't comfortable talking about publicly.

[katewaliss]

! write with me or fight with me!

you either die by my sword or the most painful head canons imaginable! *merida vc* choose yer fate

just kidding!

 hey there gaymers, i am crissy! i am 22, live in pst, go by she/her pronouns and honestly would very much like a distraction from life -- preferably in the form of 1x1 and rp in general. i am currently doing online school plus trying/failing at adulting, being a crazy pink haired college student living on microwave dimsum with my crazy fluffy demon cat, but that still leaves me with a lot of time and what better way to spend that time then crying and dying, am i right, boys? 

so without further ado ( adieu? idk gusundheit ) here are a list of discomboblulated plot things that have been floating around in my head that i might be fun to do ( plot fragments, ideas, ocs, fcs i like, settings, genres etc )! i’d prefer a message if u liked any of these in the inbox or dm form, my tumblr ims are open and my discord user is mr. worldwide#2918 ( pitbull supremacy ) but if ur shy i will message u and be annoying! 

lastly: i prefer hcing in the dms to replies, however i will do replies/ask memes slowly, i don’t really like making blogs and prefer google docs/discord and i ask ( gently and respectfully ) that minors do not interact.

thank u and happy hunger games! xx

COLLEGE TOTALLY SPIES -- i was really obsessed with this picture right here and i thought that the picture would be a good premise for a little four person group based on totally spies. i was thinking that these three college students/young adults some friends maybe not some enemies or just on completely different ends of the social agenda get bonded together when they accidentally end up roped in a top secret spy organization that is fronted by a record store. the details and flesh of the plot i think would be cute to figure out all together maybe in a google doc or a big discord so we can make the rp to perfect world building specifications. right now i have two spots open! 

my friend lexi over at comradc has taken the cool goth asian girl and is using lyrica okano

i am playing the freckly backwards hat lesbian in the red polo named aj mccallis and i think im using diana silvers ( not sure might switch to tati rodriguez )

we also have the cute blond girl w the dyed hair who is giving me kind of like sydney sweeney energies, blonde girl maybe like lalisa manoban/jinsoul,

and we have the rad black girl with the bandids who i would only accept black fcs for for such as diamond white, ryan destiny, salem mitchell, 

i’d prefer if this stayed kind of sapphic and female and enby friendly. we can def make make npcs and characters but i’d prefer if the characters looked like they do in the picture ( minus the white girls who can be racebent as long as there are vibes ) mostly bc i want the poc people to stay the correct poc! but yeah! if u like this message me specifically!!!!! seperately and hit me w a role ud like maybe an fc an idea anything < 3 im working on a google doc and discord sever

- i really want to play a himbo skater boy evan mock like its my dream i know nothing abt him other than he probably goes by something like mouth or juice or tris or dex or dante but !!!! he has buzzed hair he buzzes designs into, does stick n pokes, hates cops, will kiss anyone, likes to mosh at house shows, smokes a lot and sounds like crush from finding nemo, probably ur parents worst nightmare if im honest rodrick heffley energy -- adopt him for any plot

- i also really am obsessed with simay barlas who is my mascot rn -- i want to play her in some sort of dark academia setting with like gossip girl blair waldorf energies lu from elite and have her be really mean and cold and pretentious and play the cello and probably have secrets and be uptight idk the name mallory is resonating hard w me ( we could even do a gossip girl the secret history type group if people liked that ) 

-ok i also really really want to play streak aka silas montgomery who is like very like sidekick best friend to the golden boy main character, does a kick ass goat impression, class clown, relentlessly hits on like the most difficult person in school, does crazy things for laughs and attention, just wants to make people happy, only wears hawaiian shirts, finger guns, is going nowhere in life, his dad is probably the dean at whatever prestigious school also he is very very depressed and drinks often! love u! a I Feel Like Im The Worst So I Always Act Like Im The Best electra heart baby PINTEREST

also yes his hair is pink reg verse he did it on a dare but hp verse he did a potion wrong and it never came out

SOMEONE DO A LADY HANNIBAL WILL GRAHAM RP KILLING EVE RP W ME! i made this will graham adjacent gal for a genderbent hannigram rp her name is bisexual disaster enida johnson and sometimes goes by needy or will bc her middle name is willamena! has basically all the will things wears flannels is a mess but has a bunch of cats instead of dogs in her woods log cabin and im using crystal reed bc it fits perfect in my head idk if u like her hmu hit me w a lady hannibal PINTEREST

other stuff

ok i really want to do a princess and knight plot but with knight zendaya and princess anya taylor joy ???? ALKHALKSHALK LITERALLY HELLO literally modern or like dnd style i do not care but know i love dnd! we could make it like them goin on some skyrim quests like hi

speaking of dnd and skyrim if anyone wants to do like anything based in dnd stuff or skyrim stuff i am DOWN

jennifers body plot!!!! maybe set in college!!!!! sounds spicy i will do a f/f or m/m version leggo leggo 

UNTIL DAWN UNTIL DAWN!!!! i wanted to do a little like 6 person or mumu until dawn thing where everyone either makes new characters or characters based on the existing six! i made a girl adjacent josh character named riley PINTEREST who i love very much ( fc might change im thinking maybe medallion rahimi ) pls hmu if ur down

i looooooove breakfast at tiffanys!!!! like i really love breakfast at tiffanys we love a call girl broody author ship and i want to play a mishti rahman holly golightly type character so so bad 

pygmalion plot!!! basically like an author and the main character of their book comes to life and the book character is probably from a different period of time or realm so doesnt know how to do modern 2020 stuff like microwaves and the tv! and then maybe they get sucked into the characters book world thats written by the author and have to navigate that! enchanted! w the kdrama! energy!

GOSSIP GIRL PLOT ENERGIES

any sort of the secret history murder society until dawn ahs horror type setting i am on a kick rn 

i still really want a deaf sailor and siren plot bc that is so spicy or even like anything involving sirens like maybe one thats like vegetarian and doesnt like to eat humans so it ariel rescues one and keeps it safe!! or like only men are susceptible to the sirens song but aha! i am a woman! Romance!

anything in the realm of percy jackson i love mythology lets go i kind of want a echo narcisuss plot and i want it to hurt me so bad 

i will do harry potter stuff but only if its completely removed from the current canon like years in the future no existing families also maybe beauxbatons salem and drumstrang plots bc thats what matters

iiiiiiiii really like anime so i will do anything kakegurui, soul eater, ohshc

i kind of like grew up on the hunger games so i will gladly take any hunger games plots like young effie and haymitch is spicy or like a career tribute and one of the weaker poorer distracts enemies to lovers leggo

i have a kind of oc that had their parents die in a factory gas leak that was the governments fault and it turned them into a vigilante assasin that is slowly picking off bootlicker government people one by one pretending to be one of them until bam! gets attached to the rich asshole son or daughter of the head hauncho or one of the higher ups ... drama

rich little celebrity fussy wussy being held captive by the mafia and the tired stoic mafia guard but they fall in love 

i kind of like any plot that involves one person that is really loud or angry or dramatic or whiny and the other one is kind of sweet and gentle or does not talk much idk make brain happy 

speaking of!

no nonsense law student studying abroad in a european country and an artist there falls in love w them and is all romantic and gush and is like ur my muse!!! and they are like Go awAy and they explore the city together and themelseves its nice!

i want to be an avan jogia super villain idk why i need to but i do 

not to be a disney adult bc i am not but anastasia princesses dont kiss kitchen boys 

rival cheer captians? best friends brother? pop princess celebrity singer and like antiestablishment really angry rockstar in a publicity relationship? broody detective and sunshiney diner person that works at the diner they eat at everyday?

idk i will think of more hmu these can all be made f/f or m/m if they arent 

[douchebagbrainwaves]

PLENTY OF THINGS WE FIND INTERESTING WILL SURPRISINGLY OFTEN TURN OUT TO WORK WILL PROBABLY SEEM JUST AS BROKEN AS THOSE THAT DON'T

Their job isn't to get good grades. If someone submits a lame article, the other submissions don't all become lame.1 And you don't generally know which of the two founders did most of the world's history, if you have a lot. Try it and see. After a while you get tired and start to screw up. Viaweb's hackers were all extremely risk-averse. They can't dilute you without diluting themselves just as much.

What a disaster that would be one thing I'd do more of that. But because the imaginary machine was always running, I felt I always ought to be able to get a day job you don't take a position and then defend it. In particular, new things.2 If you put $50,000 has become $5 million. After that she told the PR firm. The test of utility I propose is whether we cause people who read what we've written to do anything differently afterward. After spending years chasing them, it's straightforward to figure out who the client is.3 In most fields the great work is done early on. Business Week. It drives me crazy to see code that's badly indented, or that people might think you're getting above yourself. And incidentally, when it does, you'll find that each painting builds on things that could steal that prestige.4 This isn't just amusing; it would be hard to imagine him having the patience to climb the corporate ladder at General Electric—or Microsoft, actually.

So why do universities and research labs feel they ought to be out there digging up stories for themselves. The test applied to a startup is to create wealth, in the original sense of the word thesis, the better. It seems the clear winner for generating wealth and technical innovations which are practically the same thing: that was way more work than we expected, and also New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. I probably read two or three.5 So I advise fatalism. I want to examine its internal structure.6 As long as you're a product company that's merely being extra attentive to a customer, they're very grateful even if you fail.

At the time, no one knows in programming who the heroes should be. I've found is, embarrassingly enough, Yahoo, Google. They don't change the laws of physics. And in addition there's the challenge of making do with less. Running upstairs is hard for you but even harder for him. In a startup you can change. There were no fixed office hours. If you're friends with a lot of people care about, you help everyone who uses your solution.7 Even worse than the 20th best player, causing him not to make the original Silicon Valley.

But the fact is, if you make a conscious effort to do this.8 So did Apple. I've talked to a lot of data about that. You have to keep them apart, because it's a way of learning about your users. Imitating it was like pretending to have gout in order to read Aristotle. I already have problems enough with that.9 For example, when one of the best programs were essays, in the most literal sense, not news: there is nothing so tempting as an easy test that kind of thing at the end.10 The archaeological work being mostly done, it implied that the people studying the classics were, if not wasting their time, at least. The second way to compete with focus is to see what focus overlooks. Money is a side effect of specialization. Angels are the limiting reagent in startup formation. Curiously, however, if it's followed by another that isn't corrupt.

Notes

Mayle, Peter, Why Are We Getting a Divorce? 1% in 1950. I'm not making any predictions about the smaller investments you raise money succeeded, and the ordering system was small.

I advised avoiding Javascript. So the cost of having employers pay for stuff online, if you include the cases where you could turn you into a few stellar exceptions the textbooks are bad. Later stage investors won't invest.

What he meant, I use. Deane, Phyllis, The Quotable Einstein, Princeton University Press, 1996. And they are like, and his son Robert were each in turn forces Digg to respond promptly. This would add a further level of links.

E-Mail.

A P successfully defended itself by allowing the unionization of its identity.

Starting a company with rapid, genuine growth is genuine. Brand-name VCs wouldn't recapitalize a company if the quality of the economy, you may as well use the local builders built everything in exactly the point of failure would be easier to take math classes intended for math majors. When Harvard kicks undergrads out for here, because the ordering system, which have evolved the way and run the programs on the y, you'd see a lot better to be sharply differentiated, so x% usage growth will also interest investors.

The threshold for participating goes down to zero, which handled orders.

In fact, for an investor derives mostly from the late 1970s the movie Dawn of the biggest discoveries in any era if people are trying to tell them exactly what constitutes research in the early adopters.

Software companies can hire unskilled people to do is assemble components designed and manufactured by someone else to lend to, but the problems all fall into two categories: those where the richest country in the country it's in. Life of Isaac Newton, p. You have to do the right question, which parents would still send their kids to say that it offers a vivid illustration of that investment is a bit of an email address you can skip the first meeting.

9999 and. It's not a nice-looking little box with a screw top would have gotten where they all sit waiting for the average employee.

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, Kenneth King, Aaron Swartz, Garry Tan, and Professor Moriarty for their feedback on these thoughts.

[idlescratchingsthings-blog]

Part of a WIP: Witness.

I am trying to get back into writing. And I am suffering from some pretty crippling self-doubt, and some mega struggles actually getting anything from my head to the page. So, I am going to post some bits and pieces. I invite any feedback or constructive criticism that anyone might have. This first one is some bits and pieces from a Destiel Vietnam War AU (I will not apologise for that). I have a vague idea of overall plot, but it’s actually getting it out that is causing the real trouble.So, if anyone wants to give this a squiz and let me know what you think, I’d really appreciate it.  Quick note: This is set during the Vietnam War and as such, contains depictions of violence and some homophobia. Just... FYI. ************************ The long grass around him danced. Between bullets and half-seen soldiers, the blades twisted and bent. It’s the last thing Dean should have been paying attention to in the middle of a contact, but he supposed he had to pick something to focus on. The sounds of battle were always too loud, and yet the noises made by his squad were always too quiet. He heard someone cry out to his left and moved, unthinking; the sound halfway familiar. Dean wasn’t sure what it was until he got there, and he wished it had been anything else. He found himself crouching over Garth. A skinny kid from Nebraska. Garth was sweet and stupid and he didn’t deserve to be here, bleeding out in the grass in front of Dean, crying for his mama, still trying to shoot the already dead VC with his jammed M16. The grass danced here too. Dean pressed down on the bayonet wound in Garth’s abdomen. He knew he was talking, rambling, trying to keep Garth calm, trying to get the kid to stop screaming. He had no idea what he was saying. Garth didn’t either, so Dean figured that was fair enough. Dean yelled for a medic before he pulled out a field dressing and wrapped the kid up as best he could. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The sounds of battle were fading around them. It had been a small ambush, but brutal. His hands were slippery. In a moment of almost painful clarity, Dean was suddenly focussed on Garth, and the task at hand. Garth was pale, not that that was anything new. He’d always looked stretched out. He moved as though his own body took him by surprise. He’d proven to be a decent soldier, though. No killer, but disciplined and good at taking direction. He’d won over the local children by making sock puppets with the scrappy remains he was constantly trying to darn. The medic shouldered Dean out of the way. Garth was a sweet kid, and Dean would be damned if he’d die here in this yellowing grass on the arse end of the world. He told Garth exactly that. Garth looked up at him like he believed it. Dean was sure glad one of them did. *******  The children were giggling. The boldest among them had been throwing peanut shells at the sleeping man. He was asleep by a public fountain in Saigon, laid out on his back on the thick concrete lip of the pool. He was scruffy, wrapped in a tan trench coat, and determined, it seemed, to sleep through the childrens’ game. That is, until one of them ventured too close, and the man leapt up, chasing them and laughing. They squealed and scattered. The older kids hoping that the encounter would culminate in gifts of sweets or small change. Some of these Americans were a push-over. Castiel yelled out in their native tongue that they were all incorrigible. They laughed. He called them over and bestowed chocolate bars on each of them, asking questions about who their parents were and what they did, if anyone had any relatives visiting for the upcoming holiday. Finally, they dispersed, and Cas moved on. He was looking for a contact to get him to the Viet Cong ranks. He wanted to report the war from as many angles as he could. To do that, he needed local knowledge and an in with the enemy. ******  The moon was gibbous and silvery. It’s light illuminated the little garden, playing in dean’s hair as he sat on the grass. A cigarette burned between the fingers of Dean’s right hand where it rested lightly. The soldier’s face was turned up to the sky, his eyes closed. Despite the brightness of the moonlight, Castiel couldn’t quite make out Dean’s freckles as he walked towards him, beers in hand. He sat beside Dean, maybe a little closer than he should have, their thighs pressed together solidly once Cas settled. Dean hummed but didn’t move until Castiel grumbled for a drag of his cigarette. Dean smiled as he handed it over, watching the filter tip on Cas’ mouth, watching the deep drag and exhale a little while after. Castiel smirked in response, slightly raising an eyebrow. Dean, always much braver than most men, continued watching unashamedly, his eyes not leaving Cas’ mouth until he was done looking. When he was, he unhooked one of the beers from Cas’ hands and sipped it. His eyes scanned the perimeter of the garden. ”You never did say why you stopped working at Newsweek.” He said. ”I thought you knew why I stopped working at Newsweek.” A little confused about the topic. Dean looked at him again, “I do know why you stopped working at Newsweek… I think I do, but you never said why. So I can’t be entirely sure. So, I’m asking.” It was a statement, there was no fire, no judgment in it, just a simple question. One Dean knew didn’t have an easy answer. ”Well, Newsweek won’t allow women to be journalists… so, someone like me… with my preferences… my proclivities… it was only a matter of time before they pushed me out. After all, how are you supposed to trust a sissy with something so important as war?” He took another drag of the cigarette as Dean sipped thoughtfully on his beer. 

“You ain’t no sissy, Cas.”

”What about you, Dean? Who first called you a sissy?” Cas wasn’t sure whether the question was brave or stupid, he hadn’t meant to ask it anyway. But there it was now, hanging in the air between them. Dean looked at him for the longest time. Cas looked back, schooling his face into a neutral mask. 

 “M-my Dad.’, Dean croaked out, ‘My Dad was the first.” He finished the thought stronger, clearer.

”I was barely a teenager. I made friends with a kid down the street, we were just playing together. It wasn’t like that, but he - my Dad - saw something in me. I don’t know what I did, how he saw something I didn’t know yet…But I wasn’t allowed to see him again. I don’t even really remember anything about him. But I remember that sting of shame. I feel it now…” Cas watched Dean struggle for a moment before he offered his own story. Not wanting to leave Dean in that moment, that memory, alone.

 “For me, it was my brother. Luke saw me with a boy when I was in High School. I got home, still giddy from the feelings of young love reciprocated, and he was waiting for me in my room. He asked me if I had fun being a filthy pervert. Told me that he’d tell everyone that I was a sissy, that they’d shun me, hate me… He’d tell everyone what I was… but not then… not that day, but one day. So I spent my entire adolescence in fear. Waiting for him to out me. I even dated a girl for a little while, Meg, but the way he’d smile wide and mean when we were together…” 

“When did he?”

 “He never did. It was just a way for him to have power over me.” 

“Sounds like a real piece of work.” 

“You have no idea.” 

“Tell me about Meg. Why did you choose her?” 

“She chose me. She was determined to be my friend. I think she knew we were both somehow defective and decided we were kindred spirits. She’s the closest I’ve ever come to finding a soul mate. She smokes too much, swears, behaves entirely unlike a lady and I have seen her take more than one biker down with her right hook.” 

“She sounds like one helluva gal.” 

“Yes. I think she’d hate you.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I don’t hate you… and she can be jealous.” 

Castiel found himself staring at Dean again, and somehow he lost his head. Without blinking, he suddenly found himself in Dean’s lap, straddling him, his hands gripping the fabric of his shirt. Dean stared up at him. He looked like he was going to say something smug, but Cas didn’t want to hear it, so he brought their lips together. *******

[eltvn-blog]

if  i  never  use  this  gif  psd  on  anything  but  my  intro,   that’s  enough  for  me.  regardless,  g’mornin’     ---     i’m  claire   (   she/her   ),   i’m  nineteen,   i’m  writing  from  the  aest  timezone   (   which  makes  me  very  australian   )   and  i’m  good  for  the  following  things:   unnecessary  purple  prose,  procrastinating,  terrible  advice   /   decisions  and  lots  of  all - caps  yelling.  without  further  ado,  let’s  get  into  it     !

「 THOMAS DOHERTY, CISMALE, TWENTY-TWO, VAN MCCANN / CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN. 」┈ did you read that latest viral gossip issue on ELTON MORRISSEY ?  he is the LEAD VOCALIST in ANGELHEAD, one of my favorite ALT/INDIE ROCK groups. they’ve been releasing music for SEVEN YEARS now, but viral gossip has only been talking about them for the last FOUR YEARS. get this, i think i heard HE’S BEEN ARRESTED AT LEAST THREE TIMES FOR “ROWDY POLTICAL PROTESTS”, BUT MEDIA SPECULATION HAS HINTED THAT IT WAS DRUNKEN DISORDERLY CONDUCT. they’re known as the R E C U S A N T of the music industry, since they have a rep for being RAPTUROUS but ANARCHICAL, but who knows. maybe that will change once they become #1. 

layer  one,  alternately  known  as:  a  shithouse  attempt  at  a  biography     !!

first  of  all     ??     with  a  name  like  elton  nico  morrissey,  there’s  no  way  he  wasn’t  going  to  end  up  in  music.  it  just  wasn’t  realistic.

obviously,  his  mom  was  a  big  elton  john  fan  which     ...     same,  honestly.  nico  is  from  the  velvet  underground   &   nico,  and  getting  married  to  someone  with  morrissey  for  a  last  name  is  just  a  happy  coincidence.

elton’s  background,  however,  wasn’t  entirely  musical     ;     his  mom  was  a  schoolteacher  and  his  dad  was  the  chief  of  police  in  elgin,  scotland.  elton  was  born  in  elgin  and,  as  a  result,  has  quite  possibly  one  of  the  thickest  accents  known  to  man,  so  i  apologise  in  advance.

imagine  choosing  a  welsh - adjacent  vc  and  then  making  your  character  scottish.  just  imagine  van  mccann  singing  with  a  heavy  scottish  accent.

elton’s  love  of  words  developed  fairly  young.  his  mom  wasn’t  big  on  censoring  what  he  read  or  saw,  so  he  was  exposed  to  some  pretty  adult  shit  at  a  young  age  and  rather  than  be   immature  about  it,  he  fell  in  love  with  it.  to  this  day,  his  favourite  novels  are  all  the  penguin  paperback  classics  his  mother  would  give  him.

the  translation  from  reading  to  writing  to  songwriting  was  quick.  he  was  always  been  good  with  words,  his  mom  pretty  much  made  sure  of  that  but  writing  was  an  absolute  escape.  at  11,  he  wrote  his  first  set  of  song  lyrics.  he  still  keeps  them  in  his  bag,  as  a  reminder  of  where  he  came  from.

the  morrissey  family  moves  to  camden,  london  when  elton’s  12.  it’s  there  that  his  entire  world  comes  together,  and  in  true  fashion,  it  comes  together  in  a  mouldy  music  room.  the  thing  is,  the  band  forms  almost  instantly     ---     they  overhear  each  other,  gush  over  each  other’s  talents  and  really,  it  seems  like  fate’s  throwing  them  together.  fate  seals  the  deal  when  the  foursome,  under  the  truly  horrendous  title  of  fishwitch,  compete  at  their  school’s  battle  of  the  bands.  somehow,  they  win  and  it  fuels  them  beyond  measure.

they  pool  their  money  together  and  buy  a  40 - year - old,  secondhand  van  which     ...     it  leaves  something  to  be  desired.  none  of  them  can  drive  it,  and  they  start  relying  on  parents  and  older  siblings  to  drive  them  round  to  whatever  gigs  they  can  get.   (   it’s  a  lot  of  posting  flyers  on  cork  boards  and  bugging  club  owners  into  letting  a  bunch  of  kids  play  their  shitty  instruments,  but  it’s  something.  elton’s  never  been  so  proud.   )

they  go  through  a  few  years  of  being  rejected  by  endless  record  companies,  and  it’s  a  devastating  blow  every  time.  at  the  same  time,  elton’s  a  political  science  student  at  the  london  school  of  ecomics  and  politics  and  he’s  gotten  into  an  alarming  habit  of  going  to  protests  and  getting  himself  arrested.  however,  everything  falls  into  place  in  2014,  when  kathleen  hits  the  airwaves.  they  shoot  into  the  spotlight  almost  overnight,  and  it’s  a  success  no  one  expected  but  everyone’s  relishing.

elton  drops  out  of  lse  to  move  to  los  angeles  with  the  band,  and  whilst  some  days  he  regrets  it,  he  also  knows  that  it’s  the  best  decision  he  could  ever  make.

layer  two,  or:  let’s  give  the  shitshow  a  personality,  shall  we     ??

the  most  fundamental  underpinning  of  elton’s  personality  is  that  he’s  still  wrapping  his  head  around  this  whole  fame  thing.  it’s  been  four  years  but  he’s  still  not  used  to  paparazzi  and  gossip  and  the  whole  shebang.

he’s  opinionated  and  loud,  but  at  the  same  time  he’s  a  suprisingly  good  listener  and  respectful  of  other  people’s  opinions.

can  probably  be  seen  with  a  book  in  his  back  pocket  at  all  times.

really,  he’s  jess  mariano  meets  dean  moriarty  meets  richard  gansey  iii.  i  love  him  a  lot.

this  isn’t  a  personality  section  so  much  as  me  crying  over  how  much  i  love  this  dipshit,  but.  whatever.

[marketingcomcaio]

The Real Secret to My Social Media Success

The other day I was recording a podcast episode with my co-host Eric Siu and he wanted to discuss something in particular.

He wanted to talk about how I got to 62,000 Instagram followers in a very short period of time and without spending any money on ads or marketing.

Eric is a great marketer as well, and when it comes to social media, he spends much more time than me on it and he even has people at his ad agency dedicated to helping him grow his personal brand online.

And of writing this post, he has 4,056 followers.

It’s not just with Instagram either, I beat him on all platforms.

Heck, he even does something that I don’t do, which is smart… he continually pays for advice. For example, he had his team jump on an hour call with Gary Vaynerchuk’s social media team so they could learn from them and grow his brand faster.

So, what’s the secret to my success?

Well, before I get into it, let me first start off by saying I love Eric to death and the point of this post isn’t to pick on him or talk crap… more so, I have a point to make and you’ll see it in a bit below.

Is it the fundamentals?

Everyone talks about strategies to grow your social following… from going live and posting frequently or talking about the type of content you should post and what you shouldn’t do.

I could even tell you that you need to respond to every comment and build up a relationship with your followers, which will help you grow your following and brand.

And although all of this is true, I dare you to try the fundamentals or the strategies that every marketing guru talks about doing. If you do, I bet this will happen…

It will be a lot of work and, if you are lucky, in the next 30 days you may get 10% more followers.

Sure, some of you will get much more growth, but you’ll find that you can’t always replicate it and it won’t be consistent.

So, what is it then?

Is it luck?

Luck is part of some people’s success, but not most. The problem with luck is it doesn’t teach you much and it isn’t easy to replicate.

The reality is, some people will just get lucky and have tons of traction.

In other words, luck isn’t the secret. But if you do want to get “luckier”, then you can always become an early adopter which helps a bit.

How early is early?

When you jump onto a social network when it’s new, it’s easier to grow and become popular.

For example, I got to over 30,000 Twitter followers extremely fast when Twitter first came out.

At that time, I wasn’t as well known… it happened because of a few reasons:

Social algorithms are favorable early on – algorithms are typically favorable and most people will see your content. There aren’t many restrictions, hence it’s easier to grow. After a social network becomes popular, algorithms tighten up.

Algorithms are easier to game early on – when you are early, you can use a lot of hacks to grow faster. For example, on Twitter, I would just follow tons of people a day and unfollow anyone who didn’t follow me back.

First movers’ advantage – social networks want more users, that’s what they need to succeed. In the early stages of any platform, they want to help you gain more of a following so you will keep using their platform.

But here is the thing: even though being an early adopter helps, it’s not the secret to my success.

Just look at Instagram, I am really late to the game. But I started growing fast just this year as that is when we really started.

If you can get in early, you should do so, assuming you have the time to invest. For example, this is the time to get in on Tiktok.

When you get in early, there is always the chance that the social network may end up flopping. But if it does take off, you’ll be ahead of your competition.

So what did I do?

Here was the secret to my growth… and it still works today. Eric Siu is even doing it with me right now.

It’s piggybacking on brands that are already popular.

When I first started, no one knew who I was. And I’m not saying everyone knows who I am today… by no means do I have a large brand like Tony Robbins.

What I did early on in my career was piggyback off of other popular brands.

For example, I hit up Pete Cashmore from Mashable, Michael Arrington from TechCrunch, Adrianna Huffington from Huffington Post, and so many other popular sites like ReadWriteWeb, Business Insider, Gawker Media, and GigaOm to name just a few.

I know some of them don’t exist anymore, but back then they were extremely popular. Anyone who was in tech, and even some who weren’t, knew about each of those sites.

So, when I got started as a marketer, I hit up all of those sites and offered all of them free marketing in exchange for promoting my brand and adding “Marketing done by Neil Patel” or “Marketing done by Pronet”, which was my ad agency back then.

Just look at the image above. TechCrunch used to link to my site on every page of their site… forget rich anchor text, it really is all about branding.

The hardest part is, I had to email and message these influencers dozens of times just to convince them to let me help them for free. And a lot of them ignored me or didn’t accept my offer.

But of a few said yes.

Pete from Mashable was one of the first to say yes. Once his traffic and rankings skyrocketed, his competition hit me up. Especially TechCrunch.

What was funny, though, is that I was constantly emailing TechCrunch and didn’t hear back. 6 months from my first email, they eventually accepted my offer.

I made a deal with Michael Arrington at the time in which once I boosted his traffic, he would add a logo that I did marketing for him, which you saw above.

In addition to that, he would tell all of his venture capital friends what I did for him and share the results (so hopefully they would share it with their portfolio companies, which would help me make money) and write a blog post about me.

He didn’t end up writing the blog post, which is fine, but he did the other two.

When he sent out emails to VCs showing a Google Analytics graph of his traffic growing at a rapid pace, I quickly got inundated with inquiries about my marketing services.

In addition to that, I was building up my brand… and my social media following. I was gaining “social clout” because I was doing good work for influencers.

One could argue that boosting traffic for someone like TechCrunch by 30% is worth millions and I should have charged for my services. Although I spent countless time doing free work, I wouldn’t trade it for any single dollar as it is what made me and helped build up my reputation.

And I didn’t stop there. Even today, I try to associate myself with other popular brands. Just like how I was lucky enough to work with Robert Herjavec, who has a popular TV show in the US along with Mark Cuban…

Here’s how many visitors I was getting for my name “Neil Patel” on a monthly basis before I started working with Robert.

And this is how many visitors I get for my name on a monthly basis a few months after I worked with Robert.

That’s a 37.84% increase in a matter of months!

By piggybacking off of popular brands, it doesn’t just help my website traffic but also helps to grow my social media following as well.

Just like as you can see below with my Instagram growth…

Now it isn’t just me who can do this, anyone can.

How can you piggyback off of other brands?

Just like how I piggybacked off of brands like TechCrunch, Eric is doing something similar to me at the moment.

We have a podcast that generates over 1 million downloads a month.

Eric’s had a podcast for years, but the one he has with me has more than 10x the listeners. This has helped him grow his brand a lot over the last year.

Let’s just look at the data. According to Eric, due to the podcast, he has signed up 6 clients, which has generated 540,000 dollars in annual revenue.

Now when he goes to tech conferences, 3 to 4 people tend to come up to him and mention how they love Marketing School and his work. In addition to that, it has been easier for Eric to set up meetings (people respond back to him more now), and he is also getting advisory shares in companies due to his growing brand. And the best part is, he is getting more paid speaking gigs for up to $10,000 a pop because of the podcast.

The data shows it was a good move by Eric for partnering up with me. He pushed me to do a podcast years ago and I told him no because I was too lazy. He didn’t give up though. Eventually, he got me to say yes and flew to my house in Las Vegas to record our first episode.

He did all of the work and it has been a great mutual relationship as doing this podcast has also helped grow my brand at the same time.

Now you are probably thinking, why isn’t his follower count growing fast enough?

Well, he needs to do what he is doing with me with a few more influencers to really put fuel to the fire. Just like how I didn’t only piggyback off of TechCrunch… at one point the Gawker Media network was linking to me on every page of their sites, which was seen by over 100 million unique people per month.

That really gets your brand out there!

Another example is Brian Dean from Backlinko as he did something similar with me back in the day. Years ago I approached him to write a detailed guide on link building with him and he also created videos that were on my old marketing blog Quick Sprout, which helped him grow his brand.

I can’t take credit for “making” Eric or Brian successful. They would have done well without me… and in the grand scheme of things, I really didn’t do much for either of them.

It’s like saying TechCrunch made the Neil Patel brand. Of course, it helped, and helped a lot… but one partnership won’t make or break you.

And if I didn’t continually blog, create videos, speak at events, or do any of the other stuff that I did, the TechCrunch partnership wouldn’t have been as effective.

Eric and Brian would have grown their brand in other ways because their work stands for itself, hence they would have been successful on their own. I just helped provide a little boost, just like how TechCrunch provided me with a boost.

And once more people get to know you, you’ll naturally do better on the social web.

For example, when Will Smith created his Instagram account, he didn’t have to buy ads or anything. Everyone just knows him already and that’s why his Instagram account blew up really quickly.

And you can do what Will Smith did on a smaller scale. Similar to what I did.

But don’t expect it overnight. Will Smith has been on television for over 20 years. It’s multiple shows, movies, and connections with other famous people that have really helped grow Will’s brand.

Of course, we won’t get on TV as Will has, but you can piggyback on other popular brands multiple times to create a similar (smaller) effect.

All you have to do is help these influencers out for free.

If you are a web designer, offer design services. If you are a marketer, offer marketing services. If you are selling a product or service, keep giving it away for free and maybe someone will talk about your company.

If you don’t have anything you can offer that has value, just look at whatever influencer you want to associate with, see where they may need help, learn that skill, and offer it for free.

It’s the easiest way to become popular on the social web.

Conclusion

That’s my secret to being popular on the social web.

It’s also how I built a decent size company… purely by leveraging other popular brands in the early days.

You can do the same, but you have to be patient. Don’t expect it to happen overnight.

For example, Eric’s brand has been growing but we have been doing a podcast together for over 2 years now.

Plus, he continually pushes on his own and doesn’t just rely on leveraging other influencers.

Remember, nothing worthwhile happens overnight.

You have to be persistent with your emails, your direct messages, your text messages, and whatever else you can do to get a hold of these influencers. Most will ignore you but it is a numbers game and, eventually, you’ll be able to associate your brand with someone popular, which will grow your brand.

And last but not least: Don’t expect an influencer to make you successful. Sure, multiple influencers are better than one, but that’s not what I meant.

If Brian Dean from Backlinko wasn’t good at link building, creating content, SEO, and educating, he wouldn’t do well… no matter who he associated himself with. The same goes for Eric.

Your skills, your abilities, your product… whatever you are trying to brand needs to stand on its own.

So, what do you think about my secret? Are you going to copy it?

The post The Real Secret to My Social Media Success appeared first on Neil Patel.

The Real Secret to My Social Media Success Publicado primeiro em https://neilpatel.com

[transstudent]

An Open Letter to UCLA Re: Milo Yiannopoulos

To any it may concern, I request that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and its administrators intervene to prevent Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking on campus, specifically at the February 2nd event reportedly being held by the Bruin Republicans student group. I ask this as a current student and a transgender member of our Bruin community who feels unsafe at the prospect of his coming to our campus specifically because of the ways he has demonstrated a willingness to target for harassment individual students who are transgender, like me, during and after recent speaking engagements at similar institutions of higher education.

As reported by New York Magazine and the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Yiannopoulos was speaking at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in December of this past year when he began to show slides of a transgender student at that campus. He proceeded to make sexually violent remarks about her and her body, like that he would “almost still bang” her, as well as calling her various derogatory slurs which have been used against our community, all while refusing to acknowledge her as her gender, purposefully calling her a man.

The student, whose name was prominently displayed throughout as well as in subsequent online videos of the event, has felt unable to continue her education at that university because of the embarrassment, harassment, and fear she has felt since the incident in addition to the pitiful response of the university to address the incident. Her university loudly spoke of the importance of free speech, much like our UC Principles Against Intolerance has called for a countering of bias with more speech, but without action it becomes meaningless and hollow rhetoric that serves only to cover the actions of a hateful man. This is the result of allowing people with such long and continuing lists of discriminatory and libelous speech a platform embossed with the credentials of an esteemed institution of knowledge – we lose the retention of the communities they attack under the guise of free speech and alternative perspectives.

This is only one example of the disparaging and offensive speech which Yiannopoulos has become known for. As Angus Johnston notes, when speakers who are unaffiliated with the University are invited to campus they are doing so as guests who are not entitled to the platform of a formal speaking engagement, and so their expression of free speech is not being limited by their denial of a platform because it itself was a privilege, not a right. Further, we should hold a minimal expectation for those who are given a platform such as this to be bound by the same rules of conduct community members such as students, staff, and faculty are held to. Yiannopoulos, in his harassment of the student, broke the community guidelines held by UWM, which easily mirror our own (see 102.09 and 102.11 of the UCLA Student Conduct Code), and entered into territory which by my estimation becomes a serious Title IX issue, which he also lambasted in the same speech.

In the past, I personally have been the target of hateful speech on our campus directed towards trans people, like from the preachers who have stood in Bruin Plaza yelling at me that I’m confused and can’t be trusted to decide my own life, or having professors misgender me while they remark how trans people aren’t ‘truly’ they genders we claim. As a student leader in our campus’ transgender student organization, I found myself in the middle of the tension last Spring after a photo showing several conservative students surfaced holding signs that decried my identity as a lie. I met, then, with a variety of administrators from Title IX, Dean of Students, various Vice Chancellors, and yet the effects of seeing all that hate and undermining of who I am on this campus wore me down, and it deeply hurt my fellow students who didn’t have connections to campus leaders who could assuage them in private meetings with their support.

No matter how much the administration can meet with individual students, the damage to larger campus climate remains, and the damage to those students who are specifically targeted remains. If my picture ends up on a large screen to be mocked and ridiculed by Yiannopoulos, no number of meetings with Vice-Chancellor Jerry Kang, interim VC Monroe Gorden, or Chancellor Block will fix this; no community dialogue where none of the conservative students involved ever attend; no healing spaces where an administrator comes to tell us how sorry they are for us; no retroactive action will undo the damage or restore my faith back in the University and make me believe its concern for my community’s well-being and retention is genuine, given that UCLA administration allowed Yiannopoulos to speak knowing his history of harassment.

Universities are institutions of learning, and while that often means interacting with ideas which challenge us, the harassment and vicious commentary Yiannopoulos has offered would serve no such purpose, instead only negatively impacting the retention of student populations who already face significant marginalization and stigma. I have heard plenty of times that I should simply stay away from the part of campus where the talk will be held, but all this attitude accomplishes is to normalize the idea that I, a student who counts myself a part of this community, should be content with fearing a particular part of campus because of a guest who’s hate speech has been deemed acceptable by the University. I also reject any assessment that this is simply an opportunity to open a dialogue – they have no interest in dialogue, as exemplified by the students that held signs deriding trans people, who repeatedly refused to engage in any form of moderated conversation through a number of University offices such as the Inter-Group Relations program. Yiannopoulos similarly has shown no interest in discussing these issues in an open way, only to bash and target students of the communities he is a visitor in at the behest and jeering of the few students who invited him, who would likely face a conduct procedure if they were to engage in such behavior themselves. I strongly believe that allowing Yiannopoulos this platform is a dangerous move that will result in the creation of a hostile education environment for students of historically disenfranchised groups, and I will hold the University and its administration accountable for the damage which is done to the Bruin community as a result.

Sincerely, Aubrey Sassoon Student Representative, University Committee on Diversity and Equal Opportunity, 2014-2016 Student Representative, UCLA Transgender Advocacy Task Force, 2014-2016 Co-Coordinator, Transgender UCLA Pride, 2015-2016 Board Member, Trans Student Educational Resources, 2015-Current NASPA Undergraduate Fellow, 2015-2016 Proud Bruin (Via OutWrite)

[mutantxagenda]

Fandom ask thing: D, F, K, Q

<3 <3 <3

D: A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Scott Summers and Jean Grey. It isn't that I can't like them, but I can't like them beyond a certain point. I think they were wonderful for each other when they were younger, but at a certain point the relationship stagnates and all attempts to revive it beyond that point feel forced af to me. I don't feel like they let each other grow, and they both have much better potential partners in other people. If I had my way, they'd leave their (valid!) romance in the past but let their present and future relationship just be the close friendship of two people who know each other very well and care deeply about the other person. However, since Marvel keeps insisting on making them happen over and over and over, I wish I could just enjoy it. F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

I've been in the comics fandom for about 17 years at this point, though for about 14 years of that it was exclusively Marvel. I've been reading comics since I was able to read (shoutout to Fantastic Four and me loving Johnny) but I got actively involved in the fandom when I started RPing as Quicksilver back in 2004-2005ish. It is my most consistent/longest lasting fandom.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

This is kind of hard, but my two answers are from the same series really. My favorite character arc INCLUDING the ending is for Sansa Stark from Game of Thrones. She had a fucking amazing journey of growth, even though it almost exclusively through pain/trauma/tragedy, and learned so much about herself and what she was capable of, how she could fight, what she offered, and why she mattered. All that and at the end of the series she was actually in a position to put all of it to use.

My actual all time favorite character arc is for Jaime Lannister. I have to make a caveat here because I'm bitter that he got killed by Euron Greyjoy after everything and that'll never stop feeling cheap to me, not because he died and not because he went back to Cersei and died, but because I just think it's cheap that after everything some ass like Euron got to be the one to doom him, ultimately. Well, Euron and some falling rocks. So the end to this arc is never going to be something I'm enthusiastic about. But aside from that, Jaime's entire story just had me so hooked. I am always a huge sucker for characters that on paper are absolute bastards, but are in fact intensely loyal and protective and just don't care enough about their own personal reputation to spend time correcting people's assumptions. Seeing someone with such an intensely small circle actually get involved with a new person enough to open up to them and let them in like Jaime did with Brienne...I cannot resist it. Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

Supernatural. This one might be self-explanatory. The SPN fandom is one of the most chaotic, toxic things I've ever encountered lol. The show itself lost me after Season 10 (Dean killed Death and at that point my suspension of disbelief was shot to hell and I couldn't keep going), but the fandom itself feels like being locked in a cage with a two different wild animals. If you don't do/say exactly the right things, or like/create exactly the right kind of content, one of the animals will rip you to shreds. The animals, of course, want completely different things, so there is no way to win. It is unfortunate, because Dean is one of my favorite characters to come from anything ever, but it is what it is.

The other fandom I've mostly abandoned is Vampire Chronicles, for much of the same reasons you had. I am not interested in the new material and, after leaving Livejournal many years ago, for a good while I just wasn't...near the fandom. I didn't interact with it, so I stopped focusing on it. But the VC fandom let me meet so many wonderful people, including you, @dienaziscum, and my v best friend @catalystofchange, so to say it holds a special place in my heart is an understatement. I also still care a lot about all those characters and enjoy talking/joking about them, so my love of the material didn't go anywhere, I'm just not an active participant in the fandom.

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1294

Monday, December 30, 2019

 This week's batch starts off with a bunch from the week before that I didn't get around to. I had plenty of extra time because the newest batch only had a few titles. I wish everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Day and the same for 2020.

 I've been reading comic books for over 50 years. I'm one of those fans that reads almost everything except maybe the ads. Letters pages and comments from the creators at the back of the books are usually very interesting. Reading Livio Ramondelli's "welcome to my comic book" page in the back of Kill Lock #1 I saw that he asked for reaction to his book and included his e-mail address. I sent him my thoughts and he replied! I felt like a kid again whose letter got printed. I know from personal experience how busy comic book creators are (Thanks Pepe Larraz) so for Livio to take the time to contact me made me feel special. I really do like Kill Lock and I wish him much success. What a great way to end the year.

 Conan Serpent War #2 - Jim Zub (writer) Stephen Segovia (art) Frank D'Armata (colours) Vanesa R. Del Rey (art James Alison sequence) Jean-Francois Beaulieu (colours James Alison sequence) VC's Travis Lanham (letters). I'm enjoying this adventure with these time displaced heroes. It's funny that this is the third comic book that I'm reading that has a talking head in it. I'm glad that Agnes, Moon Knight and Solomon Kane are given as much page time as Conan.

 Future Foundation #5 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Alti Firmansyah (art) Triona Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). That's it folks. This was a fun series and I'd recommend it to kids who like science-fiction adventure.

 Guardians of the Galaxy #12 - Donny Cates (writer) Cory Smith (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). That's another good story come to an end. It looked like Rocket Racoon was going to the big trash heap in the sky but he'll be back on the racks January 22, 2020 in the new Guardians of the Galaxy #1 by Al Ewing (writer) and Juann Cabal (art), two creators who I adore.

 Heart Attack #2 - Shawn Kittelsen (writer) Eric Zawadzki (art) Michael Garland (colours) Pat Brosseau (letters). I compared this Image book with Marvel's X-Men in my review of #1 and I had to laugh when one of the characters called themselves the X-Men right in the first panel of the first page. If you like stories about the struggles of people different from the norm, then you'll like this.

 Gung-Ho #1 - Benjamin Von Eckartsberg (writer) Thomas Von Kummant (art) Ivanka Hahnenberger (translation). This post-apocalyptic story about two delinquent teenage orphan brothers has that nice European look to it. Zack and Archer arrive in the fortified town of Fort Apache in the Danger Zone where they get their last chance to fit into civilized society. I might hang around to see what's so dangerous outside the fortress walls.

 X-Force #4 - Benjamin Percy (writer) Joshua Cassara (art) Dean White & Guru-eFX (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). The mutants are being attacked on multiple fronts while Charles Xavier and the other leaders sit around arguing what to do. No wonder more mutants get killed. Sometimes the best offence isn't just defence. I wonder when will the X-Men go after the bad guys.

 Excalibur #4 - Tini Howard (writer) Marcus To (art) Erick Arciniega (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This sure is a pretty book. I'm still reading this title because I like the art so much.

 The Marked #3 - David Hine & Brian Haberlin (writers) Brian Haberlin (art) Geirrod Van Dyke (colours) Francis Takenaga (letters). The military is weaponizing the magic tattoos and Liza is helping them. Being possessed by a mad Nazi scientist is a good twist.

 Doctor Strange #1 - Mark Waid (writer) Kev Walker (art) Java Tartaglia (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Doctor is in. I stopped reading Doc's last run so I don't know why this number one is being trotted out but that's okay because I think it's a good jumping on point for those of you wanting to follow the Sorcerer Supreme's adventures again. Stephen fights a classic villain in this first issue and finds himself at a disadvantage due to a weapons upgrade for the bad guy. I love the cliffhanger ending and I can't wait to see if the magician is also an escape artist.

 Kill Lock #1 - Livio Ramondelli (story & art) Tom B. Long (letters). These are the droids you're looking for. It's about four of them who are exiled and sentenced to death for crimes not revealed yet. The four bad robots (I hope I don't get sued by J. J. Abrams) are linked by The Kill Lock so if one of them dies, all of them die. These things are sentient and I love their personalities. One of them is "young" and claims it's innocent, so off these "aberrations" go on a quest to find the cure for what caused them to malfunction. They don't have names yet but I'm calling them the Engineer, the Labourer, the Wraith and the Kid. This was a lot of fun and I'm putting the rest of this 6-issue mini on my "must read" list.

 Incoming #1 - 17 creative teams contribute to this $9.99 US teaser for 16 upcoming Marvel titles hitting the racks in the new year. I read it and wept. Folks reading The History of the Marvel Universe will recognise the Masked Raider and make the connection to that series. The surprising change for me is that Tony Stark isn't Iron Man but that's been done before so nothing new there. If you've got some extra bucks and you are curious to find out what's been going on in the Marvel U recently then please indulge yourself. I think you'll be happy with this package.

[reputationiseverything]

The Real Secret to My Social Media Success

email marketing email list

The other day I was recording a podcast episode with my co-host Eric Siu and he wanted to discuss something in particular.

He wanted to talk about how I got to 62,000 Instagram followers in a very short period of time and without spending any money on ads or marketing.

Eric is a great marketer as well, and when it comes to social media, he spends much more time than me on it and he even has people at his ad agency dedicated to helping him grow his personal brand online.

And of writing this post, he has 4,056 followers.

It’s not just with Instagram either, I beat him on all platforms.

Heck, he even does something that I don’t do, which is smart… he continually pays for advice. For example, he had his team jump on an hour call with Gary Vaynerchuk’s social media team so they could learn from them and grow his brand faster.

So, what’s the secret to my success?

Well, before I get into it, let me first start off by saying I love Eric to death and the point of this post isn’t to pick on him or talk crap… more so, I have a point to make and you’ll see it in a bit below.

Is it the fundamentals?

Everyone talks about strategies to grow your social following… from going live and posting frequently or talking about the type of content you should post and what you shouldn’t do.

I could even tell you that you need to respond to every comment and build up a relationship with your followers, which will help you grow your following and brand.

And although all of this is true, I dare you to try the fundamentals or the strategies that every marketing guru talks about doing. If you do, I bet this will happen…

It will be a lot of work and, if you are lucky, in the next 30 days you may get 10% more followers.

Sure, some of you will get much more growth, but you’ll find that you can’t always replicate it and it won’t be consistent.

So, what is it then?

Is it luck?

Luck is part of some people’s success, but not most. The problem with luck is it doesn’t teach you much and it isn’t easy to replicate.

The reality is, some people will just get lucky and have tons of traction.

In other words, luck isn’t the secret. But if you do want to get “luckier”, then you can always become an early adopter which helps a bit.

How early is early?

When you jump onto a social network when it’s new, it’s easier to grow and become popular.

For example, I got to over 30,000 Twitter followers extremely fast when Twitter first came out.

At that time, I wasn’t as well known… it happened because of a few reasons:

Social algorithms are favorable early on – algorithms are typically favorable and most people will see your content. There aren’t many restrictions, hence it’s easier to grow. After a social network becomes popular, algorithms tighten up.

Algorithms are easier to game early on – when you are early, you can use a lot of hacks to grow faster. For example, on Twitter, I would just follow tons of people a day and unfollow anyone who didn’t follow me back.

First movers’ advantage – social networks want more users, that’s what they need to succeed. In the early stages of any platform, they want to help you gain more of a following so you will keep using their platform.

But here is the thing: even though being an early adopter helps, it’s not the secret to my success.

Just look at Instagram, I am really late to the game. But I started growing fast just this year as that is when we really started.

If you can get in early, you should do so, assuming you have the time to invest. For example, this is the time to get in on Tiktok.

When you get in early, there is always the chance that the social network may end up flopping. But if it does take off, you’ll be ahead of your competition.

So what did I do?

Here was the secret to my growth… and it still works today. Eric Siu is even doing it with me right now.

It’s piggybacking on brands that are already popular.

When I first started, no one knew who I was. And I’m not saying everyone knows who I am today… by no means do I have a large brand like Tony Robbins.

What I did early on in my career was piggyback off of other popular brands.

For example, I hit up Pete Cashmore from Mashable, Michael Arrington from TechCrunch, Adrianna Huffington from Huffington Post, and so many other popular sites like ReadWriteWeb, Business Insider, Gawker Media, and GigaOm to name just a few.

I know some of them don’t exist anymore, but back then they were extremely popular. Anyone who was in tech, and even some who weren’t, knew about each of those sites.

So, when I got started as a marketer, I hit up all of those sites and offered all of them free marketing in exchange for promoting my brand and adding “Marketing done by Neil Patel” or “Marketing done by Pronet”, which was my ad agency back then.

Just look at the image above. TechCrunch used to link to my site on every page of their site… forget rich anchor text, it really is all about branding.

The hardest part is, I had to email and message these influencers dozens of times just to convince them to let me help them for free. And a lot of them ignored me or didn’t accept my offer.

But of a few said yes.

Pete from Mashable was one of the first to say yes. Once his traffic and rankings skyrocketed, his competition hit me up. Especially TechCrunch.

What was funny, though, is that I was constantly emailing TechCrunch and didn’t hear back. 6 months from my first email, they eventually accepted my offer.

I made a deal with Michael Arrington at the time in which once I boosted his traffic, he would add a logo that I did marketing for him, which you saw above.

In addition to that, he would tell all of his venture capital friends what I did for him and share the results (so hopefully they would share it with their portfolio companies, which would help me make money) and write a blog post about me.

He didn’t end up writing the blog post, which is fine, but he did the other two.

When he sent out emails to VCs showing a Google Analytics graph of his traffic growing at a rapid pace, I quickly got inundated with inquiries about my marketing services.

In addition to that, I was building up my brand… and my social media following. I was gaining “social clout” because I was doing good work for influencers.

One could argue that boosting traffic for someone like TechCrunch by 30% is worth millions and I should have charged for my services. Although I spent countless time doing free work, I wouldn’t trade it for any single dollar as it is what made me and helped build up my reputation.

And I didn’t stop there. Even today, I try to associate myself with other popular brands. Just like how I was lucky enough to work with Robert Herjavec, who has a popular TV show in the US along with Mark Cuban…

Here’s how many visitors I was getting for my name “Neil Patel” on a monthly basis before I started working with Robert.

And this is how many visitors I get for my name on a monthly basis a few months after I worked with Robert.

That’s a 37.84% increase in a matter of months!

By piggybacking off of popular brands, it doesn’t just help my website traffic but also helps to grow my social media following as well.

Just like as you can see below with my Instagram growth…

Now it isn’t just me who can do this, anyone can.

How can you piggyback off of other brands?

Just like how I piggybacked off of brands like TechCrunch, Eric is doing something similar to me at the moment.

We have a podcast that generates over 1 million downloads a month.

Eric’s had a podcast for years, but the one he has with me has more than 10x the listeners. This has helped him grow his brand a lot over the last year.

Let’s just look at the data. According to Eric, due to the podcast, he has signed up 6 clients, which has generated 540,000 dollars in annual revenue.

Now when he goes to tech conferences, 3 to 4 people tend to come up to him and mention how they love Marketing School and his work. In addition to that, it has been easier for Eric to set up meetings (people respond back to him more now), and he is also getting advisory shares in companies due to his growing brand. And the best part is, he is getting more paid speaking gigs for up to $10,000 a pop because of the podcast.

The data shows it was a good move by Eric for partnering up with me. He pushed me to do a podcast years ago and I told him no because I was too lazy. He didn’t give up though. Eventually, he got me to say yes and flew to my house in Las Vegas to record our first episode.

He did all of the work and it has been a great mutual relationship as doing this podcast has also helped grow my brand at the same time.

Now you are probably thinking, why isn’t his follower count growing fast enough?

Well, he needs to do what he is doing with me with a few more influencers to really put fuel to the fire. Just like how I didn’t only piggyback off of TechCrunch… at one point the Gawker Media network was linking to me on every page of their sites, which was seen by over 100 million unique people per month.

That really gets your brand out there!

Another example is Brian Dean from Backlinko as he did something similar with me back in the day. Years ago I approached him to write a detailed guide on link building with him and he also created videos that were on my old marketing blog Quick Sprout, which helped him grow his brand.

I can’t take credit for “making” Eric or Brian successful. They would have done well without me… and in the grand scheme of things, I really didn’t do much for either of them.

It’s like saying TechCrunch made the Neil Patel brand. Of course, it helped, and helped a lot… but one partnership won’t make or break you.

And if I didn’t continually blog, create videos, speak at events, or do any of the other stuff that I did, the TechCrunch partnership wouldn’t have been as effective.

Eric and Brian would have grown their brand in other ways because their work stands for itself, hence they would have been successful on their own. I just helped provide a little boost, just like how TechCrunch provided me with a boost.

And once more people get to know you, you’ll naturally do better on the social web.

For example, when Will Smith created his Instagram account, he didn’t have to buy ads or anything. Everyone just knows him already and that’s why his Instagram account blew up really quickly.

And you can do what Will Smith did on a smaller scale. Similar to what I did.

But don’t expect it overnight. Will Smith has been on television for over 20 years. It’s multiple shows, movies, and connections with other famous people that have really helped grow Will’s brand.

Of course, we won’t get on TV as Will has, but you can piggyback on other popular brands multiple times to create a similar (smaller) effect.

All you have to do is help these influencers out for free.

If you are a web designer, offer design services. If you are a marketer, offer marketing services. If you are selling a product or service, keep giving it away for free and maybe someone will talk about your company.

If you don’t have anything you can offer that has value, just look at whatever influencer you want to associate with, see where they may need help, learn that skill, and offer it for free.

It’s the easiest way to become popular on the social web.

Conclusion

That’s my secret to being popular on the social web.

It’s also how I built a decent size company… purely by leveraging other popular brands in the early days.

You can do the same, but you have to be patient. Don’t expect it to happen overnight.

For example, Eric’s brand has been growing but we have been doing a podcast together for over 2 years now.

Plus, he continually pushes on his own and doesn’t just rely on leveraging other influencers.

Remember, nothing worthwhile happens overnight.

You have to be persistent with your emails, your direct messages, your text messages, and whatever else you can do to get a hold of these influencers. Most will ignore you but it is a numbers game and, eventually, you’ll be able to associate your brand with someone popular, which will grow your brand.

And last but not least: Don’t expect an influencer to make you successful. Sure, multiple influencers are better than one, but that’s not what I meant.

If Brian Dean from Backlinko wasn’t good at link building, creating content, SEO, and educating, he wouldn’t do well… no matter who he associated himself with. The same goes for Eric.

Your skills, your abilities, your product… whatever you are trying to brand needs to stand on its own.

So, what do you think about my secret? Are you going to copy it?

Youtobe