#my inboxes are full of unread messages and the like 2 people I do talk to I don’t have anything to hide 🤷🏻‍♀️

[whorrorbvby]

59: Have you ever cheated on someone? (Why?)

abso-fucking-lutely not. even if im interested in someone im not talking to, associating, interacting with anyone aside from friends they’re already comfortable with me talking to. i want my partner to never question my loyalty or love or respect for them so i will do literally whatever it takes to make sure that doesn’t happen.

it takes a lot for me to be in a relationship because i don’t get on with most people so when i am in a relationship or even if im just interested that person has to be seriously special and i’ll be damned if im going to even remotely fuck that up.

[skrltwtch]

Muse

Prompt 1: Just like some people sleep-walk, you tend to paint or draw while in your transformed state because it calms you down. And apparently, people really like your art.

Prompt 2: A is a popular artist, and B messages them without thinking one day. They didn’t expect to become friends, and they definitely didn’t expect to become more. Person B just felt that connection between the two of them.

Prompt 3: A/Werewolf has a tendency to curl like a dog in front of the fireplace a lot (usually in their werewolf form, but it’s not uncommon for them to do it as a human). (Sources in master list)

Word count: 3,721 words

Genre: Fluff, romance, supernatural

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

I put up with the long commute to and fro between home and work for two reasons, and two reasons alone: the decent rent for a place with a picturesque view and that catered to my monthly needs, and the glut of time to catch up on my reading. And by ‘reading’, I meant ‘scrolling through the handful of social media feeds that survived my latest cull of shit that was taking up my time and storage space unnecessarily, and occasionally attempting (and failing) to pay attention to my Kindle’. Hey, at least I was aware I had a problem …?

Instagram was my first hit of the day. I flicked past images of makeup, friends in situations I wouldn’t be finding myself in anytime soon, and cute animals. The occasional meme and comic draw out an exhalation of air from my nostrils. I marvelled at artwork and photography, half wishing I were half as good as the people I followed and admired, half chiding myself for not practising either enough and losing interest quicker than I’d dropped money on new equipment in the name of my new endeavours. You could say one of my hobbies, the ones I’d been consistent about, was amassing gadgets obtained to indulge my whims and fancies.

My heart skipped a beat — or was it the pothole the bus went over? — when I came across a new post by George. I didn’t know him personally to refer to him by his first name like that, but hadn’t social media broken down boundaries between people, making them seem closer to each other than they really were? He was an illustrator whose work I chanced upon on Reddit a while back. His portfolio was a patchwork of subjects, often portraits, rendered mostly in traditional media like watercolour and oil paint. He sometimes shook things up with abstract, contemplative pieces. He had something for almost everyone. For me, it was his attractive, angular yet distinctive faces and statuesque figures, use of watercolour, and versatility: one piece could be superhero fanart, followed by a collection of moody, atmospheric paintings of the English landscape with some fantastical additions.

It also helped that he seemed to be a nice, chill person, and a handsome one at that, too, based on the smattering of pictures he had of himself on his feed. Please, let me imagine a world in which someone as ideal as him — or what I knew about him — wasn’t beholden to anyone for a moment.

His latest post was a drippy bust of a snarling wolf with full moons for eyes. The caption simply read: ‘Mood.’ I smirked as I hit the like button. Did I mention that he drew wolves a lot as well? Sometimes his wolves were feral; sometimes they were humanoid, but still wild. The latter featured heavily in his conceptual works, albeit as hazy, indistinct forms, like blurry photographs. In any case, I liked that he had a fondness for wolves and werewolves, as the constant presence of the full moon in art of the latter would suggest. Anyone who liked wolves was a-okay in my book. Anyone who liked werewolves was even more so. Because.

An interrupted connection between my brain and my reflexes led me to visit his profile. Instead of returning to my feed, my thumb gravitated toward the message button at the top of the screen. Not a single cell in my body resisted this turn of events despite the restored connection. Oh, what the hell. Why not? Like, what were the chances he’d read my message? He had tens of thousands of followers, a likely considerable chunk of them being bots aside. He must receive DMs every other minute. I’d be another sycophant in his sea of fans. Or he’d see my homely mug and locked profile, and he’d think I was driven to add to his never-ending count of unread messages simply out of misguided thirst.

The beauty of the Internet was that it made ‘out of sight, out of mind’ fairly easy to put into practice.

I got the following out of my system and into his inbox: ’Hi! Hope you’re doing well. I’ve been following your Instagram for a while, and your latest post just made me want to say your art is amazing. (I can totally identify with the sentiment behind it.) I especially love your more abstract pieces. There’s something so … raw about them. And I like that you seem to like wolves a lot, too. They’re beautiful animals, and your art really captures that about them. Anyway, keep up the great work! Take care.’

I exited Instagram, not caring about the rest of my feed anymore and not wanting to feel like I was stalking my notifications for something that’d never come. My phone buzzed with several notifications as I went down my Reddit homepage. I swiped away the banners with green icons that pelted the top of my screen. Those could wait. What couldn’t were the banners stating that I had a new message and a new follower request from —

‘Oh, my God!’ I said, loudly enough for me to hear my own voice above my music (the chorus of Walk the Moon’s ‘Shut Up and Dance’ at half of maximum volume, so … loud). Not one soul on this lightly populated bus acknowledged my exclamation — not even the woman sitting next to me. (Come on, lady, the front was mostly empty.) Thank God for technology making hermits of us all. Or my sudden outburst paled in comparison to the shit that could happen and had happened on public transport. When you took long journeys as I did every day, you’d see some real shit in due time, too.

I launched Instagram for the second time this morning (stop judging, Screen Time) and the first time ever with trembling hands. The notifications were real. I approved his request first. My mind raced to recollect anything on my profile that might make him regret his decision to let my piddling photos of food, myself, my cat, and random junk take up precious space on his feed. Nope, couldn’t think about that now, because I was now staring at an actual, honest-to-God message from George:

’Hey! Thanks for reaching out, and thank you for your kind comments. They mean a lot to me, especially what you said about my experimental stuff and wolves. They are stunning creatures, aren’t they? And yeah, I drew that last picture after a particularly rough night. You could call it a self-portrait of sorts, I suppose.’

I snorted. Change the fur colour and make the eyes normal, and it was a portrait of myself every full moon. Okay, not something I could tell someone I just met, let alone a popular artist on the Internet …

Before I could recover from the shock that my inbox held an actual, honest-to-God message from George Holden (that was his last name — the oxygen made it to my brain for me to remember that he had his last name on his profile), he sent another one: ’Anyway, how are you? I took a look at your profile, and it looks like we have quite a number of things in common.’

What, really? No way. Was it the lashings of sweet treats I subjected my stomach to every weekend? The horror and science fiction titles, celebrity memoirs, and comics, sometimes paired with an iced coffee at either a café I put down roots for the afternoon or the one-bedroom house in Waltham Forest I called home, I showcased to put forth some form of air of intellectualism? The cross-stitch projects featuring memes and popular culture icons? His profile was quite barren of anything that could provide insight into what else he enjoyed doing besides his art. Which, hey, was perfectly fine: no one was obligated to share their personal life online.

I replied, ’I’m fine, thank you. I’m on my way to work. Favourite part of my day, really. And really? Like what?’

Most of my notifications that day were from him.

✦✧✦✧

I was a bustling hub of activity in my seat: A sip of my drink. A shake of my knee. A lift of my phone. A turn of my neck. A shift of my weight from one butt cheek to the other. I was certain I was generating enough electricity to power a lightbulb in five-second intervals. I couldn’t help it. I was so, so excited — and so, so nervous. This was my and George’s first time meeting each other in person. There’d be no screen between us. Actually, what difference would that make? We’d been talking to each other for months, either through text or video calls, the latter more common in the weeks leading up to today. We’d seen each other even on our ‘I’ll put on a clean shirt, brush my hair, and hope for the best’ days. What could either one of us do in person that would irrevocably alter our friendship for the worse? Well …

The sound of someone entering the café stopped me from starting on a list of things that I could do to fuck things up. I looked up, probably the seventh time I did so in the last ten minutes. This was on me. I grossly overestimated the amount of time it’d take me to get somewhere as usual; a natural by-product of living far from the city. Seventh — probably — time was the charm: it was George — and right on the dot, too. His punctuality added to his attractiveness, which had already gone through the roof and was heading straight into the stratosphere. I bit my lip to suppress any unfortunate exclamations. He was a friend, Evelyn … just a friend, and I had no illusions otherwise.

I called out to him. He waved at me and joined me at the table I picked out for us. And the second our eyes met, devoid of any barrier between us, everything about him — and everything about us — clicked.

He was just like me.

And I was just like him.

And he was as astonished about it as I was, going by the long silence that passed between us, a first since we got to know each other.

‘Hi! Oh, my God, it’s so good to finally meet you!’ I said with a grin to break the tension. He broke out into a smile, his posture relaxing. Success. Should I go in for a handshake? No, that’d be too stuffy for a months-old friendship. A hug? No, that’d be too intimate for a months-old friendship, and an online one, too, no less. Was it obvious this was my first time meeting someone I met online?

‘It’s good to meet you, too,’ he said, his expression of cheer unabating. ‘I’m going to get myself a drink first, and then we can shoot the shit.’ His smile turned into a grin. ‘Do you want anything? My treat,’ he added as he spotted me reaching for my wallet.

‘I was thinking a red velvet muffin, please.’ I didn’t know why I didn’t get one earlier. ‘Thank you.’

‘No problem. I’ll be right back.’

As he left, my nerves turned into happiness that I met another werewolf. It was rare to meet other werewolves just about anywhere. What were the odds that two werewolves, one of whom was Internet-famous, would become friends because the other one had a brain fart one morning to send a message to the Internet-famous one? You couldn’t make this shit up. In all the years I’d been a werewolf, George was the first one I knew. I didn’t even know the one that turned me. I got bitten one night, and that was my life changed forever. I figured everything out on my own — I had to. And my puny social network of werewolves made sense: this wasn’t exactly the kind of thing anyone would advertise about themselves.

Once George settled down and courtesies were out of the way, the first thing out of his mouth was ‘I never thought I’d meet another one like me’.

I moved my chair closer to him so that we could speak at length about what we were without the fear of being overheard. ‘Me neither.’ Then it hit me, and I quickly said, ‘It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, though.’ Personally, I was okay with what I was. No existential dread here, contrary to what one might expect of a werewolf. It happened. I learnt to manage it in a way that made it not have any kind of significant impact on my life. I refused to let it define me. And honestly, I lived for particularly bad days that coincided with full moons.

‘Are you kidding me?’ His face lit up with boyish glee. ‘I’ve been waiting for this day for so long! As in, us meeting up in person for the first time and me getting to know another werewolf. Two birds, one stone: the only kind of killing I endorse. And I’m so fucking chuffed it’s you. I always felt like I could talk to you about anything, and now that really, really means anything.’ It was his turn to be able to power a light bulb, but in twenty-second intervals this time.

‘Same. How were you turned?’

‘I was bitten during a camping trip with friends a couple of years back. You?’

‘Secondary school. I was walking home from the library.’

‘Shit, that was some time ago, huh?’

‘Almost half my life a werewolf.’

‘Do you know the werewolf that did it?’

‘Nope. How about you?’

He shook his head. ‘Nah. Kind of sucks, doesn’t it, that you’ll never get to know the person who’s changed your life so … deeply? They won’t remember either that they turned someone. If only having kids was like that, yeah? Absolutely no sense of responsibility whatsoever.’ He gave his teaspoon a lazy twirl, causing a faint plume of milk to rise and sink into the dark, bittersweet depths from whence it came. ‘I struggled with what I’d become the first couple of months. The transformations were one thing.’ Oh, yeah. ‘I felt … grotesque. God, the amount of self-pity, like, why was I the only one who had to go through this every month when there were four other guys ripe for the picking? So, I decided to start incorporating wolves in my art to get to know and reclaim that part of me. I didn’t want to see it as something ugly. I mean, you get to experience a kind of rebirth every month. That’s extraordinary if you think about it. And I told myself that like myself, the wolf didn’t ask to be born. Ha, ha. Millennial humour. Anyway. Then the most miraculous thing happened one full moon: I woke up next to a coherent painting that wasn’t there the night before.’

‘Oh, my God.’

‘Right? My more artsy stuff? The ones I hate coming up with captions for? Almost all done while I was transformed. I’d started some of my art — bet you can’t guess which one — on full moons, too, and I finished them after I changed back. It’s as if the wolf knew we were now cool with each other.’ He took a big chunk out of his apple crumble and jammed it into his mouth. ‘Sorry if that sounded like spiritual woo-woo. I’ve been wanting to tell someone about this forever.’ Crumbs fell out of his mouth as he spoke. ‘Shit, I’m such an’ — he shot me an impish look as he swallowed — ‘animal, aren’t I? Fuck, I can make stupid references like that now, and someone would get it!’

I laughed. He was such a dork. ‘It’s not “spiritual woo-woo”. It’s amazing. How is that even possible?’

‘I have no idea.’ He held out his hands in front of him. ‘So thankful we get to keep our hands and not have them turn into paws.’ He waggled his thumbs. ‘Fuck, yeah, opposable thumbs. And I want to say it’s like when artists get high and make stuff. I do know artists who do that, and hey, no judgment. To them, I do the same thing, too.’

‘And here I am, feeling accomplished whenever I make it through another full moon without waking up in a trashed place. Seriously, that’s amazing.’

‘I think that’s what’s keeping me from losing it while transformed. I was surprised people liked those pieces when I started posting them, considering they’re such far departures from what I usually post.’

‘That explains why they’re so … visceral.’

‘Yeah? I figure you’d appreciate them even more now.’ He smirked. ‘And you know, no one really talks about my wolf art, and especially my werewolf pieces. Maybe if I didn’t make them blurry and made them more explicit …’ Oh, he’d get a different breed of followers altogether. ‘But that’s fine. I don’t want my lycanthropy to define me and my work. It’s just a part of who I am.’

‘My turn to say something possibly corny: I like your wolf art because … they make me feel seen, because they’re drawn by you.’

He put a hand on his chest. ‘That’s not corny. I’m happy my art makes you feel that way. You know I don’t care about the likes or comments. It just so happens I like drawing things that make me get likes and comments.’ He pushed his plate toward me and motioned at me with his fork to try some of his apple crumble. I obliged him. ‘Did you ever suspect anything? Not that, you know, I purposely drew wolves and werewolves as a kind of signal for other werewolves to pick up on. That’d be giving me way too much credit.’

‘No, I just thought you like wolves a lot.’

‘Same here. What you said about wolves being beautiful creatures when you messaged me the first time … that made me feel something, too.’

‘Then I’m very glad we got to be friends,’ I said. Born from the same blip in brain activity that set us on this path, my hand found itself on top of his. His touch had a pleasant, almost familiar heat to it.

‘Me too.’ He turned his hand over and clasped mine.

‘I have an idea,’ I said, mostly to distract myself from how right this felt. ‘Do you want to meet on the next full moon?’

‘Sure. I can’t wait to see what kind of inspiration will strike with another werewolf around.’

‘Your place, then?’

He nodded. ‘Unless you’re cool with me possibly trashing your place with paint and stuff. That hasn’t happened before, but who knows? What if wolf-me doesn’t like change?’

I stared at him in disbelief.

‘I can’t help it. You have no idea what kind of beast this has unleashed. Oops.’

We sat and talked in the café the entire afternoon; we took turns treating each other to food and drinks to justify our occupancy. Our conversation moved on to other topics besides the one special, biggest thing we had in common. Just like we didn’t want it to define who we were as people, we made a promise to each other, and we did so over a strawberry custard tart, that we wouldn’t let it become the foundation of our friendship from this point on. It’d be unfair to the moments we shared before this. We were friends because we cared about each other, we brought out the best in each other, we could truly be ourselves around each other, and, honestly, I didn’t think anyone else would have the patience for his goofy in-jokes.

✦✧✦✧

I lay in front of the fireplace, rejoicing in the warmth it offered on this cool night, while George was working on his newest painting. Since getting to know each other in these forms, we’d been able to exercise better control. For me, that meant greater peace of mind; for him, that meant a more refined grasp of his artistic sensibilities. As with much about our condition, we didn’t question this. What could possibly be a drawback of us spending more time in each other’s company? I now understood why animals curled up by a fire was a common sight in media and real life, too. Wait, what if this, and not George’s presence, was what I’d been missing all my life?

My tail wagging like a fiend when I felt his breath on my skin begged to differ. I licked his face. He gently parted my lips and slid his tongue onto mine. Our tongues engaged each other in a playful scuffle; the fire crackling in the background could only dream of coming close to causing the rise in temperature in the pit of my stomach. The tussle between our tongues didn’t get to turn into something more: he’d had a long night. I nuzzled him to convey reassurance. He lay down beside me and wrapped his arms around me, his hold firm yet tender. We fell asleep like this, keeping each other warm long even after the fire had died out.

We wished each other a good morning with a kiss — no, two kisses, and we got ourselves ready for the day. As we were having breakfast, George piped up, ‘Do you want to see what I painted last night, love? I’m really proud of it, and I think you’d love it, too.’

I nodded excitedly, my mouth too full of scrambled egg to speak.

He returned as quickly as he’d left the table. His hands held on to a painting … of me curled up by the fire last night. The figure was the clearest, most detailed he’d ever done; the lighting was phenomenal. ‘It’s beautiful,’ I said, tearing up a little, frankly. ‘I love it. It’s going to look so good in our new place’, along with the recent paintings he’d made of a similar nature. He’d come so far from the gauzy forms that once populated his attempts at capturing his — our — condition on canvas.

‘Of course, when I have the most stunning model.’ He gave me a peck on the cheek. ‘I love you, my muse, my mate.’

[tjkiahgb]

On August 13th, 2018, at 8:20 PM, TJ Kippen performed a basketball-themed apology rap for Buffy Driscoll and completed his redemption arc. In doing so, he became a full and complete hashtag good boi and fulfilled this blog’s ridiculous destiny.

This post is scheduled to go up on August 13th, 2019, at 8:20 PM. It only feels right that I retire this blog on the one year anniversary of that moment.

Okay. It’s not that dramatic. I’m not deleting my account or logging out forever or anything. I’ll be around. I’ll check in and like some posts and hang out like the kid who graduated high school but won’t leave. He keeps coming back and acting chummy with the teachers and it’s like, doesn’t he have better stuff to do?

The point is, my queue is depleted, my drafts are empty. I don’t have a shift in fandoms planned. I don’t have anything planned. It’s time for me to turn my attention to other things and stop thinking about this show and writing about it and working on this blog.

So that’s basically the tl;dr of this whole deal. I’m going to write some rambling personal stuff so if you don’t care, which most people probably won’t, then thanks for reading and thanks for all the memories. It’s been fun.

Okay, lemme ramble. And if you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ve probably heard some of this already, but whatever, this is my goodbye post.

Way back in October of 2017, I came across a post on a website for TV news that said “Disney Channel to Feature Its First Gay Main Character in Andi Mack Season 2″. I didn’t know what Andi Mack was, and I hadn’t watched Disney Channel in well over a decade. I remembered reading about the two moms on Good Luck Charlie when it happened, but I also remembered that it was, you know, mostly nothing. A lot of controversy for what was just a quick little thing. But this headline noted that it was a Main Character. And I’m reading the article and it’s talking about how he’s going to have this journey in season two and the producers had talked to GLAAD and other groups to get it right, and I’m like, wow, this is pretty cool, this really seems like they’re putting some respect into this. (I’m also thinking about how much young, closeted me would’ve killed for something like this.)

So I set my DVR to record it not knowing what to expect. Mostly thinking it was just going to be your standard Disney Channel show: cheesy and corny and bad jokes, but I’ll catch the coming out scene and it’ll be cool to see how they handle it and that’ll probably be that.

And then I’m watching the episode and I’m like, this is... not bad? In fact, more than not bad, this is way better than it has any right to be. And then I got to the coming out scene, which was so well done, and I’m just... shocked. This is like Pixar. Like, it’s for kids, but I can watch it as an adult and pick up on themes and subtleties. This is not like the shows from my childhood. Where was this show when I was growing up?

Next thing I know I’m watching the next episode. And the next one. And I’m starting to care for these characters. I can forgive a lot of issues with plot if I care about the characters and what this show did, maybe as well as any show on television, is made you care for the characters, from top to bottom.

So now I’m watching the show regularly. At some point, I went back and binged through season one on DisneyNow. I’m in, as a casual viewer at this point at least.

And then I get to 2.11, and the swing scene happens, and I watch it wordlessly, and it ends, and I feel like I’m losing my mind. I could not believe what I just saw. I thought for sure this show was just going to have a couple of coming out scenes and that would be the end of it. Had I really just watched a scene that was hinting at a gay romance?

I wanted so badly to talk about it with someone else to see if they were seeing what I was seeing, but, as you may not be surprised to learn, none of my adult friends were watching Andi Mack. So I started looking around online. And I eventually found my way here, to this site, to the tag. And people were seeing what I was seeing. And people were excited about it, and I was like, okay, cool, I might’ve found my community.

So I started lurking around here. And I would check in after 2.12 and 2.13, and I was really starting to enjoy it. Most of the stuff I watch that I care about I’ll watch with friends or family and talk about it with them, so I never really thought being a part of a fandom would be worthwhile. Plus, I’d hear about shipping wars and other nonsense like that, and I’m like, I’m not going to make an account to argue with people over fictional characters’ relationships.

But what I was finding about this community was that it was more positive than that. There were arguments, sure. You’re going to get them in any group of people. But for the most part, people just seemed happy. They were posting theories and memes and gifs and jokes and fanfics. And they were celebrating the characters and developments. I don’t know if that’s special to the Andi Mack fandom or not, but it seemed special to me.

That’s around when I started thinking about making an account, during that hiatus between 2A and 2B. But I was like, do I want to commit to this? What’s the point of my account? What do I want to say? And at some point in the hiatus, I was checking the tag, and I saw a gifset. It was by an account, since deleted and gone, but who, at the time, was very prominent in the fandom. And the gifset was all about attacking Tyrus. It was trying to take everything nice about what had happened between TJ and Cyrus and stomp on it. Tyrus was like a little baby ship at this point. People were just starting to get into it, the numbers weren’t that big. There wasn’t even really a name for the ship back then. The Tyrus tag was mostly that professional wrestler and the CJ tag was even worse. And this account had decided they were going to use their platform to try and make this small group of people in the fandom feel bad about liking their ship. I just remember thinking, why? Why be like that? It just seemed so unnecessary. And for the briefest of moments, I thought, okay, maybe I’ll make an account to be a troll and argue this stuff. And then I was like, nah, that’s just going to make the tag worse. When you see someone trying to ruin things for other people, you can give them attention and power, or you can just do your own thing.

So what I decided to do instead was to make an account that would add to the positivity I had been seeing. To just be one of the many voices doing fun stuff to drown out the bad. I could put out dumb posts to hopefully make people laugh, or eventually start writing recaps to give people something to do after watching the episode. There wasn’t really any bigger goal than that. Kill some time while celebrating the show and making the tag a more fun place, if only incrementally.

I’d like to think I did that. That I haven’t written or made too many things that have bummed people out and that most of my posts have hopefully made things better for people who wanted to hang out on here and talk about the show.

That’s all. At the end of everything, that was all. Just try to leave a net-positive wherever you go.

So that’s why I joined tumblr. Here’s why I stayed.

I am an unemployed writer. I’m an employed something else, but I would like to be an employed writer and I am currently not. And what that really means is I’m an unread writer. It means I write stuff and I try to convince people to read it and buy it, but most of the time they don’t. Most of the time, my stuff sits around waiting and hoping to be read. And when that’s the case, you can start to feel doubt.

What I didn’t realize when I started this account was that I would also be getting positivity back. I mean, I probably should have. It was the whole reason I started this, because I liked the positivity here. I guess I just didn’t expect it to be returned to me.

But it has. It has tremendously. Just writing this silly stuff that I do and putting it out there and getting feedback on it has meant so much to me. People saying something I’ve written is funny or interesting or just saying that they enjoyed it is such a confidence boost. You feel like, okay, people like my jokes or the way I think or whatever. There’s an audience for me somewhere. People who will get me. I just need to stick with it.

That’s what you all have been for me this last year and a half. More than just making this a fun place to share our love of this show, you’ve made this a place for me to feel seen.

I try not to tie too much of my self-esteem to the amount of interaction my posts get. (Seriously, don’t do that, it can be really unhealthy. I’m like, if a post flops, it flops. No biggie. Move on to the next one.) But every note I do get on something I’ve written lets me know I’ve done something right. The reblogs, the likes, the follows, the nice messages in my inbox, the comments on the posts. Any of it. All of it. It lets me know I’ve been read. It makes me feel like I’ve made a connection. And that means the world to me.

So thank you, to any and all of you who participated in this thing with me. Thank you for reading. Thank you for being a part of my experience on here. Thank you for being so cool that I wanted to join your group in the first place and thank you for being so great afterwards that I’m eternally happy I did.

It’s meant more to me than you could possibly know.

Keep the positivity.

- Jay

[fanficparker]

Ocean Eyes | Haz mini series | Part 5

Pairing: (Strangers to Friends to Lovers!) (Imaginary Love Triangle!) (Accidental Adultery!) Harrison Osterfield x Reader

A/n: It was my first ever fanfic, I earlier posted it on instagram and so thought of posting it here too. It’s trash. Check my masterlist for other fics, one-shots & more parts. IT’S A MINI SERIES, SO THERE ARE A LITTLE MORE THAN USUAL TIME SKIPS. I HOPE IT ISN’T THAT ANNOYING *prays*.

Word count: 2.8K

Warning: Hella Angst, Cheating, Heart-break, Self-harm, Blood & blood & some more blood.

Description: Y/n Y/l/n, a doctor by profession, loner by destiny, having just a little celebrity crush on a British actor Tom Holland. Her whole life changes when she accidentally bumped into a blue-eyed man on a rainy dark night, who was supposed to be Tom’s best friend Harrison Osterfield. What will happen when Harrison starts to fall for her? This celebrity crush on Tom is intended to create some drama ;)

Part 5…

It was already 98 days, since Harrison was far from home, far from you. But those 98 days didn’t matter. The thing that mattered was those 23 days he didn’t contact you at all. Those 23 days, where he would just leave a pre-recorded voice-mail saying, “I’m busy right now, can’t talk. Call you back in the evening.” But you never received that call, making you feel vulnerable all day, unable to even concentrate in your work.

“Earth to Y/n!” Stacy, your fellow doctor shook you, getting you out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, Stacy” you replied, looking at her.

“You seem worried, you can tell me if there’s something?!” she asked gently. You knew from the very beginning that she’s one of those backstabbing people, who pretend that they actually care for you, but in reality, they enjoy seeing you in pain. And what’s better than gossip for such people? But you were alone, you wanted to talk. Throwing a donkey in need. You wondered how true that phrase was. You just wanted to talk to someone, at least it could release some of your frustration. So in this hope, you finally narrated your problem to her. In adversity, everything takes a bad turn. You instantly realized, how true this phrase was too.

“He must be into some other girl by now. No offence Y/n, but celebrities are like that, and as of Harrison, he’s one of those guys girls could wander around the whole day. And getting that big of a role would only make more hungry girls grab his collar.” You listened to her carefully, feeling like a blade was piercing through your heart.

“Guys have this little problem, they give up. They give up to that attention, to their bodies, you know!” she concluded shrugging. You knew she was jealous of you dating, such a gorgeous guy, but her words, they stuck somewhere inside you, maybe in your heart. You tried to defend him, more of defending your own thoughts.

“No, no Haz is not like them,” you said, licking your lips.

“Then why hasn’t he contacted you for 20 days, approximately a month? It’s not a normal thing Y/n!” he stated.

“Ah-Ah, I got some work” you rushed out, excusing yourself realizing that you were devoid of any answer to her question. You decided to go home early, to sleep off your pain, but before you could even walk out, Aaron stopped you. He was a junior doctor, working under you, really sweet to talk with for sure.

“Hey. Y/n there’s a 2 days health camp in Atlanta, US. It would be my pleasure if you could join us. The flight takes off tomorrow night.” he insisted. You would have denied that offer, because of that short notice, but the word ‘Atlanta’ made you do otherwise.

“I will love to join.” you filled in the form, realizing it to be a chance to meet Harrison. You went back home, his home, where you lived with his lovely family, barring him. You packed up your bags, eager to go to Atlanta, meet Harrison after such a long time.

•••

You landed in Atlanta. After completing the two days camp, you planned to meet him. Finally, you decided to call him, you dialled his number, getting eager to listen to his voice with every passing beat in the ringtone. After a few seconds, he finally picked it up. Before he could even say something, you blurted out.

“Don’t say you are busy, I just wanted to tell you that I’m in Atlanta…” Before you could even finish your sentence, a female voice could be heard.

“Haz babe, who are you talking to?”

Babe?! It felt like the girl came really close to him, that he dropped the phone. Stacy was correct. You sat slowly on the corner of the bed, keeping the phone down on the bed with you. Rubbing your forehead, you let out a quiet groan, you head throbbing from the girl’s words. You clenched your fist as your eyes felt like burning, you didn’t care if he responded anything, you tapped the end call button without even looking at the phone as your vision was already blurred from the spilling tears. You left the phone on the bed, walking out of your hotel room to get some fresh air. But you were incognizant of the fact that you accidentally tapped on the call recorder rather than call end button.

Stacy’s words wandering inside your head, making you restless. Maybe you were just over thinking! What if it was a part of the act in the movie?! But what if it isn’t?! Clenching your fist, gaining some hope you walked back to your hotel room, picking up the phone to call Harrison. The phone showed:

['8 missed calls from Haz♡’]

['12 unread messages from Haz♡’]

But the thing that caught your eye was the notification just below the previous notifications: ['Call recording successfully saved.’ Click to listen.] You almost choked reading it. You accidentally recorded Harrison’s call. You decided to listen to it and figure out the real matter.

“Come on Haz, it’s been already a week, we haven’t worked out things. I already feel so incomplete without you.”

“We are nothing Agnes, it was a mistake.”

“You should have thought about that before sleeping with me.”

“I regret it, you took advantage of me when I was drunk.”

“The second time, you weren’t drunk.”

“You seduced me! I-I don’t wanna cheat Y/n!”

“You already did, there is no use of repenting now!”

“I don’t wanna do this anymore!”

“Fuck you! Harrison! Great! Nice, she must have heard all of our conversations, you have already lost her and now me too, and to be honest I only liked your body and nothing else. Goodbye Harrison! Have a great life!”

The thud of slamming the door made you almost jolt.

“Shit. Y/n if you still there then please listen, it’s not what you’re thinking it to be! Y/n… Answer me Y/n! Are you still there? Y/n…” The call recording ended, leaving your heart shattered into pieces.

“He didn’t contact me, cause he didn’t want me anymore! Everything was a lie! He doesn’t love me, he cheated me!” you screamed at the empty room, throwing the phone on the bed. You rubbed your hairs in frustration, tears threatening to fall from your eyes. You picked up the phone, opening the inbox.

~Y/n, can we talk?

You decided to talk to him, to end up everything between you both.

Yeah, meet me in the square park, tomorrow morning at 10 ~

The phone flashed again, but you didn’t care to see his response, you were in no mood of reading any excuses. You just laid down on your bed, the conversation between Harrison and that girl roaming in your mind, at a high amplitude, making you realize that you won’t be able to sleep tonight. Still, you just laid there, coving your body with some covers, staring at the ceiling blankly.

“Guys have this little problem, they give up. They give up to that attention, to their bodies, you know!” Thinking of Harrison, all your beautiful memories with him, along with these horrendous new memories you couldn’t stop your tears from spilling. Tears quickly shed across your skin and you wiped them away quickly before they would fall into your ears. Tomorrow will be the last day you will see Harrison.

•••

You didn’t sleep the whole night, your phone alarm only guided you that you have to meet Harrison today and end up everything in between you both. You wore a hoodie and a pair of jeans, making your way to the adressed park with your extremely dry eyes. As you reached there, you found Harrison already sitting there on the bench with his head down, continuously fidgeting his fingers. Listening to your footsteps he lifted his head, instantly getting up from the bench, rushing towards you.

“Y/n,” he said softly, with his eyes bloodshot red. You looked away, not facing him, making him continue.

“Look, Y/n I’m sorry, I can explain” he pleaded, but you contended in disagreement.

“Of course you can explain, what will you say? I was stressed and she seduced me, I liked it and we did it again?” you said, your voice hoarse.

“It isn’t like that, I was guilty, I’m guilty and I realized it. I didn’t have guts, enough courage to speak to you, to answer you! I know it was a mistake and….” he face was scrunched up, his hands wandering in his blonde locks, his eyes down, when you interrupted him again.

“Mistake!!!” you almost yelled, your voice seemed like it was full of venom, you continued as his eyes again landed on you. Your harsh voice, making his heart walls feel like clenching.

“If I was not enough for you, then you could have told me, the way we met, became friends and then something else, I thought you really loved me?!” you tried your best to hold back your sobs, tears threatening to fall. He came closer to you, just some inches apart.

“I do love you,” he said softly, looking into your eyes. You couldn’t fight back your tears anymore, shutting your eyes shut, tears dripped down your cheeks, they felt so warm on your cold cheeks. Harrison’s hand moved towards your face, his thumb rubbing your cheeks, wiping away the tears. You flinched at his touch, taking a step make making Harrison feel like someone stabbed his heart using the bluntest blade ever available in the universe.

The touch that once had the potential to make you feel safe, the touch that once explicitly calmed you, the touch that was once habile to melt you, was the touch that made you flinch, make you uncomfortable?!

He understood how much he has ruined. He understood how much he fucked up. Even though he cried the previous night, realizing how guilty he was, but still more tears formed in his already dried eyes.

He fucked up. He ruined everything. He still loves you. But he lost you. Lost the love of his life, his light, his everything…

•••

It’s been a month since you left Harrison. It’s been a month since you moved out of the Osterfield family home. It’s been a month since you’re completely ignoring him. It’s been a month, since that blonde regrets that he’s alive. After your broke-up with Harrison, the last 10 days of his shoot were extra tough for him. All the time he cursed himself for cheating on you, for hurting you.

He remembers the new stress of longer working schedule was tough for him to handle, also being away from you was affecting him. That day he was drunk to his high. Agnes, his ex-girlfriend found him in the bar. She thought it to be an opportunity to get him back. Harrison wasn’t in his senses when he slept with her, he thought it was you. Next morning when he woke up, he realized his mistake. He was too afraid to call you, to hear your voice, making him ignore you. Agnes came back to him again, she almost threatened him to inform you about that night. He was afraid to lose you, so he played along. And that was where he fucked up everything, he actually lost you.

He promised you that he won’t ever hurt you, but he broke the promise. He regrets every word he said to you that day. He had already seen his future with you. And now you’re far from him. You hate him.

•••

On a regular day, he was taking out a razor for a shave. But he didn’t end up shaving. He decided to punish himself for hurting you.

How much blood is required to forget you?

He started off slow. Just some minor cuts along the inside of his sleeves. But they weren’t enough to suppress the pain he thought he gave you. They quickly evolved to be deeper. With each passing day, he would see how his blood mixed so well with the running water, swirling perfectly into the sink. He started hurting his other body parts too. He even started writing random words or drawing random patterns over his hands and chests using a blade. His shirts became darker, his sleeves longer with each passing day. More than once he had considered ending his life, just giving up on everything. Just closing his eyes and allowing the demons of his minds to take control. But he failed. He had a family, he can’t hurt his parents and sister too. He gave up the idea of dying. But he developed the idea of suffering more. He significantly started eating less, so less that he could feel starving. Not eating accompanied by the loss of blood he suffered every day worsened his health dangerously. He won’t even able to walk properly. He was always dizzy, his vision blurry. He tripped over things too often. His blood sugar level was going significantly low, rising anaemia making his condition adverse. His family and friends especially Tom was so worried for him, but he didn’t allow anyone to help him.

He only wanted you. He wanted you back so badly.

•••

He decided to visit his best mate Tom’s house, in a hope that maybe that could divert his mind, but the result was totally opposite. The front door was already open. He saw you and Tom sitting together on the couch watching a movie. Your head was resting on Tom’s shoulder, making Harrison’s condition worse. He burst out inside the house, yelling in his dry voice, “Congratulations! You and Tom are finally together.” He was mad and out of his mind. Every little thing was a big deal to him.

You and Tom stood up seeing him.

“I’m not like you!” you shouted, running upstairs, lacking any mood to face Harrison. Tom came walking towards his best mate, he was too a little mad of Harrison’s words.

“What the hell Harrison, I and y/n are just friends and nothing more, we were just watching a movie. She was feeling low and that too because of you, so I was trying to comfort her! That’s it! There is nothing in between us and in the hell, you don’t analyse things before opening your mouth!” he explained. He felt even more weak hearing Tom’s words. He realized you didn’t move on, making him feel even more evil of accusing you of being with his best friend. Tears were choking his throat, he somehow managed to speak in between sobs.

“I’m… sorry. I saw Y/n and… I can’t help… I…,” he couldn’t complete his words as the whole room began spinning in his head, making him lose his balance. Everything went black for him a moment later, making him fall roughly on the floor, hitting his head on the sharp door edge.

(TBC) (😂 I HAVE NO IDEA, IF I’M JUST POSTING IT AND NO ONE’S ACTUALLY READING IT 😂)

[rhymeswithlion]

Writing Exercise #2 - DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON

[WP] It's 3AM. An official phone alert wakes you up. It says, "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON." You have hundreds of notifications. Hundreds of random numbers are sending "It's a beautiful night tonight. Look outside."

--------

The phone alarm blared at full volume, jarring Michael out of a deep sleep. He opens his telephone to a large alert window that reads, "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON." He sees his own puzzled expression reflected on it. The phone buzzed maddeningly as it is flooded by text messages by numbers he's never seen before. He begins to think of how so many people could have gotten his number. He turned on the light and got out of bed.

Michael was, by all means, an introvert. He tended to leave his abode as infrequently as he could afford. Work and basic needs like groceries and hygiene were of the few things to drag him from his habitat. He had friends whom he saw semi-regularly (at least, to him it seemed that way. His friends would have consider their meetings closer to seasonal). Michael could count them on two hands. Could he have shared his phone number online? Was it from all the free trials of subscriptions that he used? Had someone hacked him?

The phone vibrated for minutes. He felt ambushed by continued stream of notifications once it fell the to the ground from his desk. He broke from thought and reached for it, still buzzing. He hadn't even read the messages; He was too concerned with figuring out what this could possibly be.

Michael pressed a button and the device comes to life. He still saw the alert about the moon. He couldn’t dismiss it, either. Odd. The phone continued showing notifications. Michael couldn’t shake the bad feeling that rushed over him. He searched for news online. The internet, his main source of information about the world outside of his bedroom, yielded no helpful results. It was supposedly a normal morning. Another round of notification alerts appeared before the phone settled down for a few minutes, somehow leaving him Michael more unsettled.

"258 New Messages" was next on his home screen. 258 spam messages or advertisements sent to him in the middle of the night was the best case scenario in his mind. He opened his messages and nearly dropped the phone in shock. He lost his breathe. His face paled, to a shade some might consider undiscovered. Unread messages from different unlabeled contacts took up most of his screen. Everyone read the same: "It's a beautiful night tonight. Look outside."

Michael staggered from the shock and sat down to collect himself. He didn't understand. Worriedly, he checked the concealment of his own windows. He returned to his desk, leaving his phone aside, and searched about the moon with his computer. He saw pages of images and new stories about the moon, but nothing about not looking at it. The only helpful information he found was a blog post discussing lunar phases, myth, and legends. The blogger, whose other posts included conspiracy theories that ranged from "believable" to "this reads like bad fanfiction", cited the full moon tonight as their inspiration for the article. Michael, mentally grasping for straws, continued to read in hopes of finding some rational explanation about the moon that night. Of course, seeking reasonable explanations on a website discussing the high likelihood of reptiles running the world may not have been the most reliable source.

One part in particular caught Michael's eyes: "There are unexplainable increases in emergency room visits, accidents, crime rates, and spiritual practices around the time of the full moon. The latin word "Luna" is the root for the word "Lunatic", driven by a belief that abnormal behavior was most common during the full moon. Could this be when the world is most open to supernatural phenomena? Studies have shown no statistic background but there is a lot of data on the topic. Maybe this one will be special." He looked down from his computer screen back to his phone as it buzzed with new life. More unknown numbers. More messages. The panic hit him like he had just learned he was burning. He physically recoiled and jumped from his chair.

Michael began trying to rationalize the situation, "Maybe it's a big prank. There's nothing online about it! I should text my friends about it! No, that's dumb. Who would respond at 3 AM? They're all asleep, I'm sure. I should talk to the neighbors. I'll get dressed and talk to the neighbors."

Michael's apartment building is one of those that seems bigger on the inside. From the outside it looked like a modest, single story, three bedroom home. Surprisingly, there are 12 studio apartments. It was mostly surrounded by taller buildings but he could always see the sky from his window if he stood close. He always felt that some natural light would be better than none.

He was familiar enough with his proximate neighbors, if only because they expectedly saw each other when departing or returning. He didn’t even know their names. Well, he didn’t remember them. He had heard them on several occasions but managed to get by all the same. Michael dressed with clothes he wore that day, since they were the closest to him and he believed nobody would care about that kind of stuff at 3 AM. Just before opening the door, he remembered a window in the hall to the right.

"It doesn't have a shade or curtain, but I don't want to risk looking at the moon by accident. It doesn't hurt to be too careful, right?"

He exited his bedroom with a flattened cardboard box he'd used to move in several months earlier. It was large enough to cover a portion of the wall and the hall window and reached to his right to place it. The difficult part of his plan was placing it while looking away. He backpedaled towards the window with his head turned until he felt the makeshift barrier contact the wall. He leaned it on the wall and went back to retrieve a suitcase large enough to hold it in place. Michael turned back towards his across-the-hall neighbor and knocks on the door. As he knocked, he realized the door had been left open. He knocked again and took a step inside.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"

No response.

"It's me, Michael...I’m sorry to bother you at this hour. Are you getting any of these weird phone alerts?"

The silence worsened his anxiety and paranoia. He stepped forward to look around, careful of his angle towards any open spaces and potential windows. The room was empty. There were no signs of disturbance, yet no one was there. The open window was the only detail to catch his eye. Thankfully, he was safe from direct view of the moon. He left the apartment and returned to the hallway. Michael looked left to see his barricade and felt some reassurance under the pressure. He stepped towards his next door neighbor's door. Once again, he knocked and the door crept open. Michael cautiously moved inside and briefly surveyed the area. Aside from the contents of the room, the details were the same: no signs of disturbance, no tenant, and an open window. He closed the door and decided to check the rest of the apartments. Every room on his floor was empty. Every tenant was missing. Every door was unlocked. Everyone’s windows were open. Michael took great care to avoided any views outside neighbors' windows and made sure to close every door behind him.

He couldn’t suppress himself anymore. Michael yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping to dispel some of the fear consuming him. He checked his phone again. New alerts were all the same: A warnings about the moon and ceaseless texts about the beautiful night. He walked back down the hallway to his bedroom and loudly slammed the door behind him. He tried to lock the door but can't seem to stop his hands from shaking. After struggling for some time, Michael sat back down at his desk. He decided to call everyone he knows. He knew there was something terribly wrong and needed to hear a familiar voice. Michael opened his contacts list and hurriedly called each person.

"This number is not accepting calls at this time. Please try again later", a pre-recorded message repeats several times before he hung up the phone. He tried again with the next name on his list to no avail. Another attempt, another failure. Michael worked through his entire social circle of friends, family, and co-workers before collapsing to the floor, physically and mentally exhausted. He spoke loudly to himself, perhaps in an attempt to give himself some kind of company,

“What the hell is going on? Where is everyone? This must be real. Is this real life? Am I really awake? Am I alive or dead?”

A moment passed before something clicked, or perhaps snapped, in his mind. There were so many unknown variables. What was going on? Could someone else have managed to avoid the night sky, by accident or intentionally? Were there any other people experiencing the same dread? What was the government doing? Was there still a government? Was anyone in contact with anyone? Will anything change when the sun comes out?

Michael resolved himself, in only for the moment. He decided to return to his studio to check television, radio, and the internet to see any notice about this grave and present emergency. He planned to take a sleeping pill and set several alarms to wake him up for daytime, so that he could go outside and find someone else, anyone else.

His phone buzzed while his computer notified him of new emails. He tripped on the pile of unfinished books that had accumulated near his bed. His hand moved swiftly to move the mouse and see what his inbox had to offer. At this point, he felt anything would be a comfort. He had been proven wrong. 100 new emails from new senders that all read, “It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.”

He firmly shut the door behind him and locked it, as though there was any sign of activity in his entire building. He roused his computer from its sleep and refreshed his news feed on Google, Facebook, and other media outlets. Nothing was different. Nothing had changed since he had looked. This was the digital age, he thought. If something this big was going on, someone would have posted something. There was no evidence of any new developments in the world. The only solace he found was on the television and radio, which he felt was a bit ironic but almost certainly wasn't.

A message displayed on his television screen through the local emergency broadcast system and the radio played a text-to-speech of the same notice: “DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON.” He turned off his television, computer, and radio. He found his sleeping pills, dropping some to the floor because of a steady tremble through his hands and body. He took one, drank some water, and closed his eyes. He fell asleep, but he couldn't tellhow long it took. He just knew it felt like a lifetime.

Michael's alarms went off in metered intervals. 9:00 AM, 9:05 AM, 9:10 AM, and so forth. He swung his legs to the side of his bed and stood up too quickly, falling back down as the blood had rushed to his head. Sleep had helped to clear his head. He thought it was probably a dream. Things would go back as they used to be because he was just having a bad dream. Seeking brief comfort, he opened his computer and turned on his TV and radio. The contents were the same as before he had forced himself to bed. It was like the world had stopped. No news - no celebrity gossip, sports analysis, political stirrings, weather, Reddit, Facebook.

Michael briefly felt confident in thinking that maybe nothing at all happened in the world today. He could barely grasp his immediate surrounding circumstances, let alone an world events. He turned to his curtained window before he was overcome with a sense that something was terribly, terribly wrong. He rushed to his light switch and turned off his ceiling lamp to confirm his suspicions. He was right. There was no natural light. Where was the sun? He turned his light back on just so he could feel some kind of radiant warmth on his skin.

The only certainty in Michael's mind was that he was still alive. He must still be alive. He pinched himself to see, because he learned from someone that feeling a pinch meant you were not dreaming. He began searching for food, then decided that tending to basic needs would help him to better process the situation. His eyes shot to the small pantry in his kitchen and he approached. Grief and hunger worsened the realization that he had nothing edible in his whole apartment. Could he borrow some food from neighbors? Would they even care? Would they ever even notice? Would they ever be back? Guilt and determination collided in his mind before he walked into each of his neighbors’ apartments.

After some time scavenging the building, he assembled the haul on his countertop: a collection of three half-eaten bags of tortilla chips, eight ounces of two-day old guacamole, five cans of soup, four packages of instant ramen, two eggs, and a frozen pizza. Conservatively, he felt this would last him just under a week. Michael took a shower to wash the dirt, sweat, and stress from him. He planned to eat two meals a day and continue until the sun came up. Once the sun came up, he would try to find help.

His daily to-do list on the refrigerator nagged him. He always needed structure. It helped organize his thoughts and kept him focused. He designed a daily routine for himself until the situation changed. He used one hand to write and one to shovel guacamole and chips into his mouth. The schedule read, “Wake up. Check for sun. Eat. Check internet, TV, etc. Read. Shower. Eat. Go to bed.” He felt more in control in this moment, proudly shoveling the last bit of guacamole into his mouth. He grabbed the closest book-in-progress to him, of which there were many, and read for as long as he could. He plugged his phone in once he began dozing off, checked his alarms, took a couple of sleeping pills, and fell into the covers of his bed.

Michael woke up the next day with a stronger sense of purpose and control of his situation. He looked to his list. He knew the first step of his day. He approached his window and saw`the same as yesterday. He sighed and walked to retrieve the frozen pizza but a lack of appetite changed his mind. Nothing new on the internet. No new messages. He picked up a different book nearby him and began reading until his sight blurred. He marked the page, dropped the book, and walked to his shower. Michael solemnly walked to his bed and took more pills than usual. He stared at his window before drifting off.

His alarms rang. He woke up. He saw a familiar lack of light outside. He turned on his oven for a moment and inserted the frozen pizza. No changes online. Michael removed the pizza and ate it like an oversized taco. He tried to read but kept losing his place on the same few pages. He left the book on the ground to take a shower. He ate what was left of his pizza and a bowl of instant ramen. He took some pills. He thought to himself, because he felt talking out loud made no difference to him at this point,

“Am I dead? Is this Hell? Is anyone else out there?”

This cycle repeated for five or six more days. Michael couldn't really tell because the food lasted longer than expected, as stressful situations often ruin appetites and his concept of time wavered as he increased his dose of sleeping medication. On what he felt was the sixth day, something new happened.

He woke up and saw the sun was still not yet out. He accepted this a new reality, as though the sun had never existed. He said softly to himself,

“It's always been night time. It's always dark. The moon is always there. I would assume so, but I haven't even looked outside in maybe a week. Is there anything left? I wish I could talk to someone I know. Hell, anyone.”

The phone buzzed to life for the first time in days. It woke again, then slept. And once more. Michael furiously tapped the locked screen to see three messages from names he recognized. He was eager to see if they were alright, or holed up, or if they had any idea what was happening. In the moment he saw his three unread replies, he felt his heart drop into his stomach like a ten ton weight and it knocked him to the ground.

Michael, stunned, saw more messages arrive from his friends, family, and more. Old classmates, ex-girlfriends, coworkers. Within moments, he saw a new message from every contact in his phone. His heart raced. His breath was unsteady. He couldn't think straight. The room spun and felt increasingly small as Michael felt the world he knew had left him behind. He dropped his phone as though his muscles went limp, and promptly fell in a similar fashion. Michael became overwhelmed with questions, the same he'd been asking himself all this time. Was he awake? Was he asleep? Was this real? Is this Hell? Why did he have to be alone? He didn’t want to be alone anymore.

He felt a mental snap similar to the first day of this event and it instantly drew him to three conclusions, among all other possibilities he’d considered. He was either dreaming, stuck in some sort of time loop, or everyone else had looked at the moon and he was the only human left on the planet. Michael believed at this point that nothing he had tried would work and that he needed to take a radically different approach. That was the only way he would know, he thought.

As his decision solidified in his mind, he sat down at his desk and woke up his computer to open a blank text document. He felt, at least, that if he wrote what he could remember from however long this had been happening, that he’d be able to leave something behind if someone found it. He couldn’t stand being alone anymore. He didn’t care about food, water, or hygiene. He just didn’t want to be alone.

He began writing as much as he could from the very beginning up until the last day, or night as it was. He couldn’t tell time anymore, and he knew the sun would not come up, so he didn’t keep track of how long he sat there. Eventually, he got to where he last was. He felt he had done his best. He saved the document, unlocked his computer, and set the display to stay on indefinitely. He felt nothing else left to try. He had to know. He had to see if the night was indeed beautiful.

I’m going to look now.

Signed,

Michael

[rohitsurwase]

How to Overcome Email Marketing Fatigue

Email fatigue is a real thing, especially with the continuing pandemic.

Email marketing is far from dead, but it is getting harder and harder to get your branded emails opened and clicked.

What is Email Fatigue?

As the name suggests, email fatigue is when a person doesn’t want to read emails and feels more willing to delete, unsubscribe or send emails to spam.

Email fatigue is something just about anyone feels from time to time.

Gone are the days when people would diligently click each and every unread email in their inbox to read what is inside.

Gone are the days when people would actually be looking forward to receiving a new email.

These days a full inbox is nothing new or exciting. And it has been getting worse.

Back in 2017, two thirds of Americans felt overwhelmed by the number of email messages they received on a daily basis.

And who can blame them?

Same year, 85% of emails were found useless.

In 2020 email fatigue grew exponentially and for an obvious reason: Most consumers were locked at home and all the brands started relying on email marketing as the prime (and often the only) way to keep in touch with them.

Obviously, we were all overwhelmed in 2020 and it isn’t much easier in 2021.

Yet, email marketing remains one of the most effective marketing tactics.

Customers who buy products after clicking links in an email tend to spend almost 140% more than an average customer. As many as 50% of marketers claim that email marketing is more effective than social media.

Here’s how you can overcome email fatigue and boost your email marketing strategy:

1. Send a Welcome Email

This one may be a no-brainer but lots of brands still fail to do that. Welcome emails still work, mostly thanks to the factor of recency. Your customers have just interacted with your brand, so they will likely engage with and locate your email right away.

Welcome emails are highly effective: studies claim that welcome emails bring 320% more revenue than any other promotional emails.

2. Take Advantage of Marketing Personalization

It is astounding how many promotional emails I still receive that don’t even include my first name.

Yet, even the most basic personalization helps. Greet your customers with their name and you’ll find them much more willing to give your message a try.

Go a step further and personalize your email by including products they viewed or added to a shopping cart, and you will see even better results.

Case studies show that personalized campaigns bring almost twice as many opens and clicks as non-segmented ones.

Of course, this depends on how well personalization is done, so that per cent may even be higher. How well you do personalization obviously depends on your marketing partner or platform.

With Wix’s email marketing services you can personalized your emails in a meaningful way, for example, by using your customer’s name or previously purchased products:

3. Treat Emails as Any Content Campaign

Any email marketing blueprint will recommend you sending great emails so that your subscribers would look forward to your next one.

Obviously, it is easier said than done.

However it may doable if you change your mindset: Treat each campaign as any content marketing asset out there. Talk to your customers’ needs, pains and interests. Research what triggers their interactions and find content ideas that would spur their curiosity.

Asking a good question in an email subject and then answering it in your email is one of the most effective ways to generate more email opens. I often turn to Text Optimizer’s question research section to pick up a good question to discuss in my upcoming email marketing campaign:

Text Optimizer uses semantic research to identify angles that customers expect to read, so it is a good tool for both topic and audience research.

4. Make Use of Video Content (But Don’t Overuse)

Another marketing trick that tends to work in content marketing is using video content. Like any form of visual content, videos combine the best features of two worlds: It makes information easier to process while being entertaining.

Videos work wonders when placed on landing pages, and they do help emails to get noticed.

It is a well-known trick that including in an email subject tends to drive more opens and reads. Obviously, you cannot overuse this tactic but sending a happy birthday video email or sharing an occasional video tutorial may do wonders to your open rate.

5. Set up Meaningful Email Triggers

Quite obviously, email fatigue is triggered by too many emails. So do your best to avoid hitting your subscribers’ limits.

It is a fine line between not letting your customers forget about you and being too aggressive with reminding them of your brand.

Normally, the following routine helps build recognizability without irritating:

A promotional email once a month

A special occasion email (like “Happy birthday” message which was mentioned above)

Automatic email reminding customers of an abandoned cart or a failed payment.

Just about any email automation software will help you set these up pretty easily. Just don’t overdo!

Thank You........!

[katiekylie]

(3) - About this blog

Guess my love life has been not much to talk about.

Just before I fell in love when I was 22, I had been a typical schoolgirl and then a student with some crushes that had never come to any dating/ relationship in the end.

Then I met him. It was the destiny, I guess, that brought us close together at that time, and split us 3.5 years after.

My first love gave me a lot, and also took a lot from me. Maybe those are just nothing to the others who have to suffer the worse experiences, or lost their beloved, but still for me, a young girl, it was just too much. I have learned again, to move on and to be by myself.

Fortunately, I was awarded the opportunity that I had been always wishing for. Almost 3 months after the last goodbye, I headed to Europe, in hope to leave the sorrows behind. In the short time there, I concentrated just on studying, exploring life and doing my own business. I found again my independence, my happiness, and my true color.

I got back home, with nothing to regret about, and started a new life with my dreaming job. Things have been so beautiful that I keep talking to myself that I could not ask for more… Sure that I have some ups and downs, but I just deal with them my way like every happy and independent woman out there.

And maybe just because I have tried so hard, I seem to deserve another good “reward” from the destiny.

It was a normal busy day at work in those 2 intensive weeks of May, when both of my supervisors were at work the same time, maybe for once in my whole life. A message came to my inbox, which was actually full of unread messages. I read it briefly and didn’t think about responding after that. It was long and written in a language that I am not so good at. I told myself to reply him when I had more time to read it carefully and respond in his language, which actually takes time.

Some days after, he sent some messages to me again. Twice a day. It was my last busy day, or the one before the last, so I found some time to reply the messages that seem to be sent from someone who is very enthusiastic to get to know more about me.

At first, I didn’t think about anything more special than a friend. Normally there, people talk and exchange ideas for just 2-3 days. They come easy and go easy. So, maybe this time, another similar easy and quick conversation comes and goes.

But I was wrong. Totally wrong.

He came, but never would love to leave since that day. As long as he stays, things keep growing up between us. Day by day, I recognized the small changes in my life since when started to have him around. I both would love to keep things on the right track to feel secured as I have always and would love to lean in again for the love that I have been always dreaming about. In the middle of thoughts, I started this blog to record and double-think about what have happened. It is because for those that are into writing like me, journal is a good listener that meanwhile talking to him/her, I find the answers myself.

I didn’t mean to share it with anyone, but just keep in my mind that if one day we should be together, it would be something precious for me, for him, and for us to read through my mind, my heart and our memories.

At the moment, I have been totally happy and glad for the things between us. Thank you for coming, Michael.

[violecentstrs]

Our True Love - Chapter 4

A/N: Here comes the fourth chapter! Thank you again for the likes and reblogs of my previous chapters. I do hope you guys continue to enjoy my stories! If any of you would like me to tag you for the next chapters, please inbox me. Enjoy!

Previous Chapter(s): Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: None Word count: 2,771 Summary: Reader and Bucky doesn’t get along well after his marriage to Rosaline. Will her friendship with Bucky last or will they crumble and fade?

★ ★ ★

My heart is full of glee.

Richard is going to be my date to this dinner party at the Avengers Headquarters in celebration of its anniversary. After Sharon’s birthday party, we kept in contact, setting time to meet and go out whenever we can. I enjoyed every moment I spent with him.  

Rosaline would often pelt me with questions on how things are with Richard over text. I told her that we are just friends and hanging out with each other. I do like the fact that we share a lot of things in common, but, I was yet ready to fall for another man at this point.

I give myself a spin in the bathroom mirror. I’m finally wearing the silver top navy blue dress I received as a birthday present from my parents. I had it sitting in the closet for years, but now I finally get to wear it.

I curled my hair and braided it into a waterfall braid. It was a miracle that it even looked decent enough. The cherry coloured lipstick I’m wearing is a little nod to Richard’s nickname for me. I hope he keeps his promise to wear that dark green tie to match my nickname for him too.

I hear my phone ring from outside. I rush out and quickly pick it up.

“Hey, Cherry Princess. I’m at your door.” Richard’s voice from the other line calls out to me. I giggle.

“All right, Crocodile Prince. I’m coming.” I slip on my high heels and grab my small handbag. I give myself one more spin before exiting out the door.

“Whoa! Look at you go, girl! Give Falcon a spin!” Sam calls out while holding my hand. I laugh and give myself a twirl around for him.

“You look fine as hell!” He says again before pulling me into a quick hug.

“You look great yourself, birdbrain.” I say. He gives me a spin himself before two thumbs up.

“A man gotta look good for this kind of event. Gotta attract them ladies.” Sam winks at me. I slap his arm playfully.

Richard had given me a small crown of jasmine flowers before we came here. I must say, it added an elegant touch to my outfit. He even keeps a small bunch of jasmine flower in his suit pocket to match. It looked a little out of place with his dark green tie and silver suit, but he still looks breath-taking nonetheless.

“And you, Mr. Crocodile Hunter. You look good too. Even your tie matches your favourite reptile.” Sam shakes Richard’s hand. Richard only lets out a small laugh.

“This will be the norm from now on, huh? I probably shouldn’t have told any of you guys about my love for crocodiles.” He jokes. I wrap an arm around Richard’s.

“Awh, but it’s adorable to see how passionate you are about them.” I say. Richard gives me a loving smile. His gentle green eyes makes my heart flutter. I blush at the sight before looking away.

“Y’all enjoy yourselves. Now I gotta go and find some ladies to hang around. Maybe Wanda and Natasha.” Sam winks at me again before disappearing out. I search through the crowd to find anyone I’d recognize.

At the back of my mind, I hope to see Bucky somewhere. I always loved seeing him in his suits. He looks really good in them. My eyes light up when I see Steve talking to Tony among the crowd.

“Hey, there’s Tony!” I say to Richard. He is also looking for someone in the crowd. He turns his head to look at me before nodding.

“Tony! Steve!” I call their names. Both of them turn to look at me with smiles on their faces.

“Hello there, Stardust. Fancy seeing you here.” Tony says reaching over for a hug. I return it before giving Steve one as well.

“You look beautiful, Y/N.” I blush at his comment before smiling.

“Thank you. And you guys look excellent too.” I say. Richard taps on my hand before leaning in to whisper into my ear.

“Y/N, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” With that, he disappears out into the crowd. I blink. My eyes follow Richard until I can no longer see him. Tony fixes his tie.

“Yeah, well you saw me like this a lot of the times anyways.” He says.

“And every time you look great, Tony.” I grin. Tony chuckles.

“Where’s Sharon and Pepper?” I ask trying to look next to them.

“They are here, somewhere in the crowd.” Steve says as he turns his head around to find a glimpse of his own wife.

“Gossiping among other women, I bet.” Tony takes a sip on the wine in his hand. Steve chuckles.

“Not every women are like that.” I say. I look through again.

“Have you guys seen Bucky?” I ask.

“Oh yeah. I saw him earlier when I arrived. He’s somewhere around here.” Steve says.

“Right here.” A voice from behind Steve. I turn to look and find Bucky walking towards us. My heart stops when I see him in his black suit and blue tie. He yet again looks very unreal. Like he is from a world within a painting. His metal arm a little too bit for his suit jacket, but seems to fit in snugly anyways.

“Hey, Y/N.” He says to me. I blink my eyes before clearing my throat. I reach in for a hug.

“Bucky! You look amazing.” I say as we hug. The cologne on his suit gives me a sense of familiarity. His wedding. He wore the same one during his wedding ceremony. I smile to myself; how sweet.

“You too, Y/N.” We pull away from the hug. I can smell a bit of his cologne transferred onto my dress.

“Where’s Rosaline?” I ask looking behind him. His blue eyes staying on me.

“She’s with Jane right now. They’re talking.” He says, running his hand through his hair.

“The girls are getting along nicely, aren’t they?” Tony says again. “How are things with Rosy?”

“We’re doing… okay.” Bucky says simply. I glance up at Bucky. There is something wrong with that tone. Even Steve caught that.

“Yo, Mr. Stank!” Rhodey’s voice erupting from the nearby crowd. Tony laughs before shaking his head.

“Excuse me, gentlemen, lady. Have fun tonight, guys.” Tony nods at the three of us before walking over to his friend.

“Is your sleep pattern acting up again, Buck?” Steve asks straight on. Bucky looks at him before letting out a sigh.

“A little. Not a big deal.” He says. He’s not telling the truth.

“You have the nightmares again?” I ask, concerned now. I examine his blue eyes, trying to find the answer in them. Yes, he is. I can see the lines on his face and the exhaustion in his eyes.

“No. I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” He says, looking away. I let out a sigh before looking over at Steve.

“Well you can ask for more lavender from Steve. He grows them for you, you know?” I say. Bucky chuckles while wrapping an arm around Steve’s neck.

“Yeah. You really shouldn’t have done that, Steve. I’ll manage.” He says giving Steve’s shoulder a squeeze. Bucky mumbles something underneath his breath. I didn’t quite catch what he said. Steve raises an eyebrow.

“Friends look out for each other, you know?” Steve says petting Bucky’s back. I smile at them. They have some kind of sparkle when they are together. Their friendship and brotherhood is really beautiful.

I feel a pair of arms wrap around my shoulders. I let out a gasp and turn to look who it was. It was just Richard.

“Sorry, love. I had to see someone real quick.” Richard says pulling me towards him. My heart race and I can feel my face warm up quickly. I place my hands on his arm to pet them gently.

“It’s all right. I was just talking to Bucky and Steve.” I say gesturing towards them. Steve has a smile on his face, but Bucky’s expression was… unreadable.

“Hey Steve. And hey James.” Richard says, shaking their hands but still keeping his left arm wrapped around my shoulders.

“James, have you seen Rosy? I haven’t seen her since last week.”

“She’s over there. You can go and see her by yourself.”

My body tenses. There is some kind of strain in their voices. It makes me really uncomfortable. Richard gives Bucky a smile, but it wasn’t his usual sweet smile. A clouded one.

“I think both of us will go and see her, right, Cherry?” Richard asks looking at me. I blush and nod at him.

“Yeah, I want to see her.” I say genuinely. Bucky lets out a grunt. I raise an eyebrow at his sudden change of attitude.

“Let’s go then. See you later, Steve. And James.” He says. Richard wraps his hand around mine, pulling me away from them into the crowd. I quickly yell out to both of them.

“Steve, Bucky, I’ll see you guys later!”

The last thing I saw was Bucky’s death-like stare at Richard.

We left the event at around midnight. It was very lovely. I haven’t talked to Bucky since we saw each other earlier. I did see him from far though, talking to different people. After we left both of them and found Rosaline, I realize that there is something going on between her and Bucky.

Even though she was beautiful in her little white dress, she isn’t sparkling like before. She lost a bit of her shine and she looks really tired. Richard and Rosaline talked in Russian most of the time, so I didn’t know what is going on. Though, both of them look rather upset at something.

I wait outside by the front entrance. Richard had given me his suit jacket since I was cold. He has gone to get the car to send me home. I check my phone for messages. The crickets are giving me a peaceful feeling.

“It’s a little cold tonight.” Bucky’s voice coming from behind. I turn to look at him.

“Bucky.” I say before nodding. “Yeah. It is.” I pull Richard’s jacket closer to me. Bucky’s eyes drift down to the suit around my body. His expression changes again, but he turns away before I could even read it.

“You’re very beautiful tonight.” Bucky says. My heart race in my chest. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

“Thank you, Bucky.” I say looking at him. He still keeps his head looking away into the small woods in front of the headquarters.

“How are things with… Richard?” He asks, a little strain in his voice. I chuckle.

“They are nice. He’s such a romantic.” I say while putting my phone away. I look up at the sky. It is a cloudy night, not a hint of stars in the sky.

“You are dating him then?” Bucky asks. His voice a little broken. I look at him surprised at the sudden change of tone.

“N—” Honk. Honk. I turn to look at Richard. He exits the car and make his way towards us.

“Let’s go, Cherry Princess.” He says holding his hand out for mine. I look at Bucky one more time before reaching out to accept his hand. But before I could even reach for it, Bucky’s hand grabs mine, pulling me away from Richard.

“I’d like to talk to her for a moment.” Bucky says darkly at Richard. Richard’s brows furrow as he exchanges glances between the both of us. Richard scoffs.

“It is late, James. I need to send her home. You never know what kind of men will come out during the late hours of the night. Men who can’t control themselves from beautiful women regardless of her feelings.” The last sentence came out like a sharp knife. Even Bucky jerked back slightly at the statement. My heart beats against my chest, still feeling Bucky’s grip on my hand.

“Its men like you who she needs to stay away from.” He says as he lets my hand go and pull off Richard’s jacket from me. He tosses it back towards Richard. I look at Bucky surprised.

“Richard, just give us a moment.” I say while looking at him. I grab onto Bucky’s arm before pulling him away a bit far from Richard. I can still see him, but he is not within earshot.

“Bucky, what the hell is going on?” I ask him, feeling a little confused. Bucky lets out an angry sigh.

“Why are you getting involved with the likes of him, Y/N?” He asks. His dark blue eyes staring right into me.

“He’s just a friend, Bucky. We like spending time with each other. But that’s not the issue here. Why are you so cross with Richard?” I ask again.

“Because the thought of him with you is pissing me off.” Bucky answers, his tone of voice getting angrier. I don’t know what he means by that. I shake my head.

“I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself. My question is why do you dislike him? He’s your brother-in-law for goodness sakes. You shouldn’t treat him like that.” I say getting angry myself now.

“At least find another man to hang out with. Not him!” He shouts angrily. I back away, blinking. His burst of temper scared me. Bucky seems to realize it himself. He turns away running his hands through his hair. I sigh out, reaching over to touch his shoulder.

“Bucky, what’s going on between you and Rosaline?” I ask. He jerks his shoulder away from me. For some reason, that gesture made me feel like as though Bucky just shoved me down to the hard cold ground. And he did regret it. His expression turns into a saddened one when he turns to look at me.

“I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” He says while turning back to face me. I remain quiet, holding my hands together against my chest. My chest tightens with worry as I continue to search the features on his face.

“Things haven’t been going well with her, isn’t it?” I ask again. A flash of hurt in his eyes. I was right. Something is going on between them. He shakes his head in denial.

“Bucky you can talk to me about it. I’m here for you.” I say, still afraid to reach over and touch him. Just like that, I feel another sense of anger boiling inside of him.

“Before you haven’t, now you suddenly want to? Why have you suddenly start to care again?!” He shouts at me. I take a deep breath, backing away. Tears clouding my vision. I blink it away.

“Bucky, why are you—”

“Save it. Go and have your own fun with Richard. I don’t care.” He says as he turns away to walk back inside the building. I was left alone there, cold, confused, sad and angry all at the same time. This situation all too familiar.

Richard walks over to me. He wraps the suit jacket around me before pulling me into a hug. My heart feels like its breaking again.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. Bucky is like that around Rosaline too. His temper spiralling out of control at any single comment.” He says, stroking my hair. Tears spill from my eyes as I bury my face into Richard’s chest.

I know now. Richard dislikes Bucky because of the way he is treating Rosaline. That’s why they were tense with each other. Rosaline lost her shine because she must be tired of dealing with Bucky’s nightmares and temper. This reminds me of the time when I first met Bucky. His temper was similar. Bursts of anger follows right after sleepless nights.

Things improved after nights of me and Steve taking care of him when we lived together in the tower. Bucky just needed the comfort of someone there with him to be able to sleep properly.

With Rosaline in his life, I thought things would improve even better for him. That his nightmares would no longer disturb his sleep since she’s there with him. Despite that, his terrible sleep patterned had returned.

Richard leads me into the car and start making our way towards my home. Even with Richard’s cologne on his suit, I can still smell a hint of Bucky’s cologne on my hands. It must’ve been when I pulled him by his arm.

The smell unwraps the scars in my chest little by little.  

★ ★ ★

A/N: I rewrote this chapter completely. I had another situation in my mind, but I’ll save that for the next chapter instead. I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless! Let me know what you think about the story so far and if you like it or not. Thank you very much for reading! 

Next chapter coming soon! 

Tag(s): @ipaintmelodies

[samuelfields]

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts)

Here at IWT, we are big believers in working from home. In fact, our entire company works remotely.

That’s why I wrote an entire free Ultimate Guide to Working From Home to help anyone who wants to work remotely:

Convince their boss to let them telecommute

Find a new work from home job (and get hired for it)

Start freelancing online on the side (or go full-time doing it)

Or start an online business that allows them to work anywhere in the world

This blog post covers a lot of the most important points, but I dive much deeper in my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home, so make sure you grab the free PDF.

Let’s get started.

How to get started working from home

Imagine this scenario 6 months from now:

You stroll into your boss’s office one morning and hand over your two weeks’ notice.

But he says, “Wait, we’ll bump your salary 20% AND give you a corner office.”

“Sorry, I can’t do it,” you tell him.

“25% more?”

Nope.

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” you say.

And of course, you found a new job that offers benefits that you can’t put a price on.

The freedom from commutes and evening runs to the dry cleaner. The choice to live wherever you want. And the flexibility to control your own hours.

You’re going to be working from home.

This isn’t something that “other people” do. Forbes reported that one in five Americans now work from home. And that number is expected to rise in the next few years.

Who are these lucky folks who get to work from home?

They’re people on payroll with a company — everyone from assistants to managers and even executives

They’re freelancers with skills that are in high demand

And they’re business owners who make tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with nothing but a laptop and internet connection

They’re the new class of professionals who define success as doing what you want, from wherever you want, and on your own terms.

But it’s not all about lifestyle. It can be a great move for everyone involved.

According to Stanford Business School, people who work from home are not only happier, they’re more productive, too.

I’ve put together this blog post to explore all the options you have, and what it takes to pull them off.

I’ll even show you the technology, tools, and skills you’ll need so that nobody will even realize you’ve left the building.

Who am I?

I’m Ramit Sethi, the New York Times best-selling author and founder of GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich — a business that I grew from a dorm-room blog into a multimillion-dollar online business with over 30,000 paying customers around the world.

One of my personal philosophies has always been flexibility. I love going to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s not crowded. And I love meeting up with friends for a long lunch whenever they’re in New York.

So when I started to hire employees, I wanted to give them the flexibility to work from home, on their own schedule, from wherever they are in the world.

In fact, one of my employees wanted to move to Paris, and we supported it 100%.

Not setting up a central command center and letting my employees work from home has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Not only is everyone happier and more productive, but we also get to recruit people who are the best at what they do since we’re not limited to geography.

I’m thrilled to share everything with you today.

4 Essential Skills For Working From Home

Anyone who ever tells people they work from home will often hear, “Wow! I could never do that.” And it’s true, it takes discipline to get up, log in to your computer, and work when nobody is standing over your shoulder and directing you. Distractions attempt to grab you from every direction.

The La-Z-Boy recliner you thought would be awesome to type your weekly reports from becomes a sinkhole for your productivity.

And once word gets out that you’re home all the time, friends and family start to ask if you “could do them a favor in the middle of the day.”

Which is why, if you want to successfully work from home and maintain a healthy work-life balance, you need to declare war on distractions.

In this section, I want to talk about the 4 skills you need to consistently produce great work no matter what industry you’re in.

Remote Work Essential Skill #1: Master working in short bursts

Working from home means that nobody is looking over your shoulder anymore. You don’t have to pull up a random Excel spreadsheet whenever someone walks by to make it look like you’re working and not checking Facebook.

As long as you get your work done, you can free up time to tend to other things. Heck, my team can walk their dogs and pick their kids up from school without asking anyone for permission. Because I know they’re on top of their work.

The best way to be productive is to work in short sprints — not long, drawn-out marathon sessions.

My friend Chris Yeh is a Harvard MBA. He works a demanding full-time job, teaches at Stanford, writes for various publications, advises startups, and still manages to make time for his family.

Did you get tired just from reading that? Watch and learn how he pulls it off with the Pomodoro Technique.

Remote Work Essential Skill #2: Stick to project deadlines and due dates

According to my friend and bestselling author Tim Ferriss:

“Most people fail at new year resolutions because there is no consequence. If you don’t go to work, you’ll lose your job. But if you don’t stick to your diet, there’s no consequence — other than staying fat.”

The solution to finish everything you start?

Hold yourself accountable.

Tim’s favorite way of doing this is by using a website called stickK.

Go to stickK.com

Once you sign up, you can make a commitment contract: “I will nail the project deadline.” Then, if you don’t, stickK will take your money and donate it to a charity you despise.

You can also invite friends or coworkers to referee your progress and make things more fun.

This is a great way to stay on track for work projects when the living room recliner is calling your name for nap time.

Remote Work Essential Skill #3: Make small changes for massive results

It’s much harder to shut down for the day when your “office” is where you live. There’s no night-time cleaning crew that comes to empty out the trash to signal that you’ve been burning the midnight oil.

You have to decide when to call it quits for the day. Because sooner or later, trying to jam in another task at the end of the day can rob you of your sanity.

Which is why it’s important to make stepping away from your desk a regular habit. Whether it’s a short walk, a trip to the gym, or taking an afternoon yoga class, exercise can help keep your mind sharp when you work from home. It also helps you strike the perfect work-life balance.

Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, built a healthy eating habit while working for The New York Times. His approach was unconventional in that it started with chocolate.

Yes, you read that correctly. Chocolate triggers reward centers in your brain and makes you want to do things you normally procrastinate on.

And you can use the same exact principle to make exercise a habit. Watch the video below to see how you can put it into action as you work from home.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Remote Work Essential Skill #4: Manage your emails

Email is a great tool. But it can suck up the most productive hours of your day if you’re not careful. And once you start working from home, you’ll get more and more messages since people can’t stop by your desk to ask questions.

Some of them will be urgent and important, most of them won’t be. It’s your job to make the call. Luckily, since I get thousands of emails a day — and yes, I read all of them — I can give you some advice.

HOW TO PUT YOUR EMAIL ON AUTOPILOT

My goal is to not answer emails. Instead, I think of email as a tool.

This is where so many Inbox Zero people go wrong. The goal is not zero emails in your inbox — it’s actually getting the right things done.

I don’t give a damn if I end the day with zero unread emails or 350. I only care about getting the right things done.

One of the ways I do that is to stop waiting on responses, and instead systematize follow-ups so I don’t have to remember to do them.

For example, if I send an email about a project but I can’t proceed until I get a response from somebody else, I need to make sure I stay on top of it.

So I use SaneBox to automatically remind when I need to send a follow-up email.

It looks like this:

An example of using SaneBox to send me a reminder to follow up in 2 days.

I also use it to automatically elevate important emails to the top of my inbox. Others get de-emphasized and I can read them later.

THE EXACT SCRIPT TO SET UP A MEETING AND MINIMIZE BACK AND FORTH EMAILS

Talking on the phone to set up meetings only takes a few seconds. But if you use that same conversation framework on email, you’ll create a long thread of messages, waste time, and be a nuisance for everyone involved.

There’s a better way.

I like to have canned scripts for the most common situations I’ll encounter. That way, I can read an email, mentally categorize it, and reach into my vault of scripts to select the best response.

Here’s one I use to set up meetings that saves me hours of back and forth every year.

How to convince your boss to let you work from home

Your current job might be the best way to embark on your new telecommuting lifestyle. Even if it’s not a common practice at your company.

But you can’t just stand up on your desk one Friday afternoon and declare, “From now on, I will work from home!”

Everyone will think you’re a weirdo, and building security will usher you out of the office.

The key is this: If you’re great at what you do, you have A LOT more leverage than you think.

To put everything into perspective, you’re not just a body they hired. They had to screen hundreds of resumes, conduct 30+ phone interviews, and then invite a handful of people to meet in person.

Many people forget this.

So if your manager gives you a glowing performance review, it’s the perfect time to bring up the idea of a work-from-home job.

Don’t give any ultimatums. That can lead to confrontation, which never works out well.

Instead, offer to do it on a trial basis. You can use what I call the ARMS techniques to make it easy to get your boss’s stamp of approval.

Those four letters stand for:

Here’s how it works in action:

Later that day…

Boss: So I talked over your proposal with a few people, and we agree. It could be a good move for the company. You can start next week. Let me know what days you want to work from home.

Big Win!

The important thing to remember is that you’re proving the concept for now. Once your boss agrees to this small request, and it works out well, they’re more likely to agree to you working from home regularly.

If your company is set in their ways, and you’re set on working from home, don’t worry. There are tons of work-from-home jobs that you can apply for now.

How to land a job working from home and ask for double the average salary

If you look at the average salary for many work from home jobs, you might think they are kind of low. But those are the AVERAGE income.

The truth is, if you’re a top performer, you can find the best jobs with awesome perks, and ask for MUCH more than you think possible.

Many of my students have done it.

What do they know about getting their dream jobs that you’re in the dark about?

They know The Briefcase Technique, my proven strategy for getting a job you love at a great salary.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Case Study: How IWT works completely remotely with dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries

IWT started as a personal finance blog that I launched from my Stanford dorm room. Over the years, as I got more readers, I realized that living a Rich Life is about more than just money. So I expanded into careers, freelancing, social skills, and online business.

This would’ve been impossible without hiring a team to help me. Early on, I made the decision to get the very best people I could find. I didn’t want to be limited to geography. So every position I post is open to anyone in the world.

We always get a flood of applications for any job opening. The competition is fierce. But for the people who make it through the hiring process, the work is challenging. And the perks are worth it.

That’s the benefit of being a top performer. YOU get to call the shots and decide how you want to live as long as you keep producing results for the company.

As of writing this, we have dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries.

We have former professional athletes on the team. People who used to manage Fortune 500 companies. Marketers and copywriters who’ve worked behind the scenes on multimillion-dollar launches.

Even entrepreneurs who never have to work for anyone else again if they wanted have dropped everything they’re doing to join our team.

Had I rented office space in some New York City high rise, I would’ve never been able to attract this caliber of talent.

What IWT team members LOVE about their work from home careers

If you’re great at what you do, we might have a spot for you.

Working from home by starting an online business

So far, we’ve covered working remotely for an employer and freelancing online for clients. For some of you, that might be your Rich Life.

But there is another option:

Starting an online business that allows you to work from home (or anywhere in the world). That’s what I did. And now I work as much (or little) as I want.

I can spend a 6-week vacation every year traveling with my wife while my business runs on autopilot.

If you want true freedom with when, where and how much you work (and to be able to make a ton of money too), I believe there’s no better solution than starting your own business.

That’s why I put together a free PDF with 30 proven online business ideas you can copy. Just enter your email below.

Then, let me know what your biggest takeaway from this post was in the comments below.

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/working-from-home/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[kennethherrerablog]

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts)

Here at IWT, we are big believers in working from home. In fact, our entire company works remotely.

That’s why I wrote an entire free Ultimate Guide to Working From Home to help anyone who wants to work remotely:

Convince their boss to let them telecommute

Find a new work from home job (and get hired for it)

Start freelancing online on the side (or go full-time doing it)

Or start an online business that allows them to work anywhere in the world

This blog post covers a lot of the most important points, but I dive much deeper in my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home, so make sure you grab the free PDF.

Let’s get started.

How to get started working from home

Imagine this scenario 6 months from now:

You stroll into your boss’s office one morning and hand over your two weeks’ notice.

But he says, “Wait, we’ll bump your salary 20% AND give you a corner office.”

“Sorry, I can’t do it,” you tell him.

“25% more?”

Nope.

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” you say.

And of course, you found a new job that offers benefits that you can’t put a price on.

The freedom from commutes and evening runs to the dry cleaner. The choice to live wherever you want. And the flexibility to control your own hours.

You’re going to be working from home.

This isn’t something that “other people” do. Forbes reported that one in five Americans now work from home. And that number is expected to rise in the next few years.

Who are these lucky folks who get to work from home?

They’re people on payroll with a company — everyone from assistants to managers and even executives

They’re freelancers with skills that are in high demand

And they’re business owners who make tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with nothing but a laptop and internet connection

They’re the new class of professionals who define success as doing what you want, from wherever you want, and on your own terms.

But it’s not all about lifestyle. It can be a great move for everyone involved.

According to Stanford Business School, people who work from home are not only happier, they’re more productive, too.

I’ve put together this blog post to explore all the options you have, and what it takes to pull them off.

I’ll even show you the technology, tools, and skills you’ll need so that nobody will even realize you’ve left the building.

Who am I?

I’m Ramit Sethi, the New York Times best-selling author and founder of GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich — a business that I grew from a dorm-room blog into a multimillion-dollar online business with over 30,000 paying customers around the world.

One of my personal philosophies has always been flexibility. I love going to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s not crowded. And I love meeting up with friends for a long lunch whenever they’re in New York.

So when I started to hire employees, I wanted to give them the flexibility to work from home, on their own schedule, from wherever they are in the world.

In fact, one of my employees wanted to move to Paris, and we supported it 100%.

Not setting up a central command center and letting my employees work from home has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Not only is everyone happier and more productive, but we also get to recruit people who are the best at what they do since we’re not limited to geography.

I’m thrilled to share everything with you today.

4 Essential Skills For Working From Home

Anyone who ever tells people they work from home will often hear, “Wow! I could never do that.” And it’s true, it takes discipline to get up, log in to your computer, and work when nobody is standing over your shoulder and directing you. Distractions attempt to grab you from every direction.

The La-Z-Boy recliner you thought would be awesome to type your weekly reports from becomes a sinkhole for your productivity.

And once word gets out that you’re home all the time, friends and family start to ask if you “could do them a favor in the middle of the day.”

Which is why, if you want to successfully work from home and maintain a healthy work-life balance, you need to declare war on distractions.

In this section, I want to talk about the 4 skills you need to consistently produce great work no matter what industry you’re in.

Remote Work Essential Skill #1: Master working in short bursts

Working from home means that nobody is looking over your shoulder anymore. You don’t have to pull up a random Excel spreadsheet whenever someone walks by to make it look like you’re working and not checking Facebook.

As long as you get your work done, you can free up time to tend to other things. Heck, my team can walk their dogs and pick their kids up from school without asking anyone for permission. Because I know they’re on top of their work.

The best way to be productive is to work in short sprints — not long, drawn-out marathon sessions.

My friend Chris Yeh is a Harvard MBA. He works a demanding full-time job, teaches at Stanford, writes for various publications, advises startups, and still manages to make time for his family.

Did you get tired just from reading that? Watch and learn how he pulls it off with the Pomodoro Technique.

Remote Work Essential Skill #2: Stick to project deadlines and due dates

According to my friend and bestselling author Tim Ferriss:

“Most people fail at new year resolutions because there is no consequence. If you don’t go to work, you’ll lose your job. But if you don’t stick to your diet, there’s no consequence — other than staying fat.”

The solution to finish everything you start?

Hold yourself accountable.

Tim’s favorite way of doing this is by using a website called stickK.

Go to stickK.com

Once you sign up, you can make a commitment contract: “I will nail the project deadline.” Then, if you don’t, stickK will take your money and donate it to a charity you despise.

You can also invite friends or coworkers to referee your progress and make things more fun.

This is a great way to stay on track for work projects when the living room recliner is calling your name for nap time.

Remote Work Essential Skill #3: Make small changes for massive results

It’s much harder to shut down for the day when your “office” is where you live. There’s no night-time cleaning crew that comes to empty out the trash to signal that you’ve been burning the midnight oil.

You have to decide when to call it quits for the day. Because sooner or later, trying to jam in another task at the end of the day can rob you of your sanity.

Which is why it’s important to make stepping away from your desk a regular habit. Whether it’s a short walk, a trip to the gym, or taking an afternoon yoga class, exercise can help keep your mind sharp when you work from home. It also helps you strike the perfect work-life balance.

Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, built a healthy eating habit while working for The New York Times. His approach was unconventional in that it started with chocolate.

Yes, you read that correctly. Chocolate triggers reward centers in your brain and makes you want to do things you normally procrastinate on.

And you can use the same exact principle to make exercise a habit. Watch the video below to see how you can put it into action as you work from home.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Remote Work Essential Skill #4: Manage your emails

Email is a great tool. But it can suck up the most productive hours of your day if you’re not careful. And once you start working from home, you’ll get more and more messages since people can’t stop by your desk to ask questions.

Some of them will be urgent and important, most of them won’t be. It’s your job to make the call. Luckily, since I get thousands of emails a day — and yes, I read all of them — I can give you some advice.

HOW TO PUT YOUR EMAIL ON AUTOPILOT

My goal is to not answer emails. Instead, I think of email as a tool.

This is where so many Inbox Zero people go wrong. The goal is not zero emails in your inbox — it’s actually getting the right things done.

I don’t give a damn if I end the day with zero unread emails or 350. I only care about getting the right things done.

One of the ways I do that is to stop waiting on responses, and instead systematize follow-ups so I don’t have to remember to do them.

For example, if I send an email about a project but I can’t proceed until I get a response from somebody else, I need to make sure I stay on top of it.

So I use SaneBox to automatically remind when I need to send a follow-up email.

It looks like this:

An example of using SaneBox to send me a reminder to follow up in 2 days.

I also use it to automatically elevate important emails to the top of my inbox. Others get de-emphasized and I can read them later.

THE EXACT SCRIPT TO SET UP A MEETING AND MINIMIZE BACK AND FORTH EMAILS

Talking on the phone to set up meetings only takes a few seconds. But if you use that same conversation framework on email, you’ll create a long thread of messages, waste time, and be a nuisance for everyone involved.

There’s a better way.

I like to have canned scripts for the most common situations I’ll encounter. That way, I can read an email, mentally categorize it, and reach into my vault of scripts to select the best response.

Here’s one I use to set up meetings that saves me hours of back and forth every year.

How to convince your boss to let you work from home

Your current job might be the best way to embark on your new telecommuting lifestyle. Even if it’s not a common practice at your company.

But you can’t just stand up on your desk one Friday afternoon and declare, “From now on, I will work from home!”

Everyone will think you’re a weirdo, and building security will usher you out of the office.

The key is this: If you’re great at what you do, you have A LOT more leverage than you think.

To put everything into perspective, you’re not just a body they hired. They had to screen hundreds of resumes, conduct 30+ phone interviews, and then invite a handful of people to meet in person.

Many people forget this.

So if your manager gives you a glowing performance review, it’s the perfect time to bring up the idea of a work-from-home job.

Don’t give any ultimatums. That can lead to confrontation, which never works out well.

Instead, offer to do it on a trial basis. You can use what I call the ARMS techniques to make it easy to get your boss’s stamp of approval.

Those four letters stand for:

Here’s how it works in action:

Later that day…

Boss: So I talked over your proposal with a few people, and we agree. It could be a good move for the company. You can start next week. Let me know what days you want to work from home.

Big Win!

The important thing to remember is that you’re proving the concept for now. Once your boss agrees to this small request, and it works out well, they’re more likely to agree to you working from home regularly.

If your company is set in their ways, and you’re set on working from home, don’t worry. There are tons of work-from-home jobs that you can apply for now.

How to land a job working from home and ask for double the average salary

If you look at the average salary for many work from home jobs, you might think they are kind of low. But those are the AVERAGE income.

The truth is, if you’re a top performer, you can find the best jobs with awesome perks, and ask for MUCH more than you think possible.

Many of my students have done it.

What do they know about getting their dream jobs that you’re in the dark about?

They know The Briefcase Technique, my proven strategy for getting a job you love at a great salary.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Case Study: How IWT works completely remotely with dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries

IWT started as a personal finance blog that I launched from my Stanford dorm room. Over the years, as I got more readers, I realized that living a Rich Life is about more than just money. So I expanded into careers, freelancing, social skills, and online business.

This would’ve been impossible without hiring a team to help me. Early on, I made the decision to get the very best people I could find. I didn’t want to be limited to geography. So every position I post is open to anyone in the world.

We always get a flood of applications for any job opening. The competition is fierce. But for the people who make it through the hiring process, the work is challenging. And the perks are worth it.

That’s the benefit of being a top performer. YOU get to call the shots and decide how you want to live as long as you keep producing results for the company.

As of writing this, we have dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries.

We have former professional athletes on the team. People who used to manage Fortune 500 companies. Marketers and copywriters who’ve worked behind the scenes on multimillion-dollar launches.

Even entrepreneurs who never have to work for anyone else again if they wanted have dropped everything they’re doing to join our team.

Had I rented office space in some New York City high rise, I would’ve never been able to attract this caliber of talent.

What IWT team members LOVE about their work from home careers

If you’re great at what you do, we might have a spot for you.

Working from home by starting an online business

So far, we’ve covered working remotely for an employer and freelancing online for clients. For some of you, that might be your Rich Life.

But there is another option:

Starting an online business that allows you to work from home (or anywhere in the world). That’s what I did. And now I work as much (or little) as I want.

I can spend a 6-week vacation every year traveling with my wife while my business runs on autopilot.

If you want true freedom with when, where and how much you work (and to be able to make a ton of money too), I believe there’s no better solution than starting your own business.

That’s why I put together a free PDF with 30 proven online business ideas you can copy. Just enter your email below.

Then, let me know what your biggest takeaway from this post was in the comments below.

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts) published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

[andrewdburton]

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts)

Here at IWT, we are big believers in working from home. In fact, our entire company works remotely.

That’s why I wrote an entire free Ultimate Guide to Working From Home to help anyone who wants to work remotely:

Convince their boss to let them telecommute

Find a new work from home job (and get hired for it)

Start freelancing online on the side (or go full-time doing it)

Or start an online business that allows them to work anywhere in the world

This blog post covers a lot of the most important points, but I dive much deeper in my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home, so make sure you grab the free PDF.

Let’s get started.

How to get started working from home

Imagine this scenario 6 months from now:

You stroll into your boss’s office one morning and hand over your two weeks’ notice.

But he says, “Wait, we’ll bump your salary 20% AND give you a corner office.”

“Sorry, I can’t do it,” you tell him.

“25% more?”

Nope.

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” you say.

And of course, you found a new job that offers benefits that you can’t put a price on.

The freedom from commutes and evening runs to the dry cleaner. The choice to live wherever you want. And the flexibility to control your own hours.

You’re going to be working from home.

This isn’t something that “other people” do. Forbes reported that one in five Americans now work from home. And that number is expected to rise in the next few years.

Who are these lucky folks who get to work from home?

They’re people on payroll with a company — everyone from assistants to managers and even executives

They’re freelancers with skills that are in high demand

And they’re business owners who make tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with nothing but a laptop and internet connection

They’re the new class of professionals who define success as doing what you want, from wherever you want, and on your own terms.

But it’s not all about lifestyle. It can be a great move for everyone involved.

According to Stanford Business School, people who work from home are not only happier, they’re more productive, too.

I’ve put together this blog post to explore all the options you have, and what it takes to pull them off.

I’ll even show you the technology, tools, and skills you’ll need so that nobody will even realize you’ve left the building.

Who am I?

I’m Ramit Sethi, the New York Times best-selling author and founder of GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich — a business that I grew from a dorm-room blog into a multimillion-dollar online business with over 30,000 paying customers around the world.

One of my personal philosophies has always been flexibility. I love going to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s not crowded. And I love meeting up with friends for a long lunch whenever they’re in New York.

So when I started to hire employees, I wanted to give them the flexibility to work from home, on their own schedule, from wherever they are in the world.

In fact, one of my employees wanted to move to Paris, and we supported it 100%.

Not setting up a central command center and letting my employees work from home has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Not only is everyone happier and more productive, but we also get to recruit people who are the best at what they do since we’re not limited to geography.

I’m thrilled to share everything with you today.

4 Essential Skills For Working From Home

Anyone who ever tells people they work from home will often hear, “Wow! I could never do that.” And it’s true, it takes discipline to get up, log in to your computer, and work when nobody is standing over your shoulder and directing you. Distractions attempt to grab you from every direction.

The La-Z-Boy recliner you thought would be awesome to type your weekly reports from becomes a sinkhole for your productivity.

And once word gets out that you’re home all the time, friends and family start to ask if you “could do them a favor in the middle of the day.”

Which is why, if you want to successfully work from home and maintain a healthy work-life balance, you need to declare war on distractions.

In this section, I want to talk about the 4 skills you need to consistently produce great work no matter what industry you’re in.

Remote Work Essential Skill #1: Master working in short bursts

Working from home means that nobody is looking over your shoulder anymore. You don’t have to pull up a random Excel spreadsheet whenever someone walks by to make it look like you’re working and not checking Facebook.

As long as you get your work done, you can free up time to tend to other things. Heck, my team can walk their dogs and pick their kids up from school without asking anyone for permission. Because I know they’re on top of their work.

The best way to be productive is to work in short sprints — not long, drawn-out marathon sessions.

My friend Chris Yeh is a Harvard MBA. He works a demanding full-time job, teaches at Stanford, writes for various publications, advises startups, and still manages to make time for his family.

Did you get tired just from reading that? Watch and learn how he pulls it off with the Pomodoro Technique.

Remote Work Essential Skill #2: Stick to project deadlines and due dates

According to my friend and bestselling author Tim Ferriss:

“Most people fail at new year resolutions because there is no consequence. If you don’t go to work, you’ll lose your job. But if you don’t stick to your diet, there’s no consequence — other than staying fat.”

The solution to finish everything you start?

Hold yourself accountable.

Tim’s favorite way of doing this is by using a website called stickK.

Go to stickK.com

Once you sign up, you can make a commitment contract: “I will nail the project deadline.” Then, if you don’t, stickK will take your money and donate it to a charity you despise.

You can also invite friends or coworkers to referee your progress and make things more fun.

This is a great way to stay on track for work projects when the living room recliner is calling your name for nap time.

Remote Work Essential Skill #3: Make small changes for massive results

It’s much harder to shut down for the day when your “office” is where you live. There’s no night-time cleaning crew that comes to empty out the trash to signal that you’ve been burning the midnight oil.

You have to decide when to call it quits for the day. Because sooner or later, trying to jam in another task at the end of the day can rob you of your sanity.

Which is why it’s important to make stepping away from your desk a regular habit. Whether it’s a short walk, a trip to the gym, or taking an afternoon yoga class, exercise can help keep your mind sharp when you work from home. It also helps you strike the perfect work-life balance.

Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, built a healthy eating habit while working for The New York Times. His approach was unconventional in that it started with chocolate.

Yes, you read that correctly. Chocolate triggers reward centers in your brain and makes you want to do things you normally procrastinate on.

And you can use the same exact principle to make exercise a habit. Watch the video below to see how you can put it into action as you work from home.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Remote Work Essential Skill #4: Manage your emails

Email is a great tool. But it can suck up the most productive hours of your day if you’re not careful. And once you start working from home, you’ll get more and more messages since people can’t stop by your desk to ask questions.

Some of them will be urgent and important, most of them won’t be. It’s your job to make the call. Luckily, since I get thousands of emails a day — and yes, I read all of them — I can give you some advice.

HOW TO PUT YOUR EMAIL ON AUTOPILOT

My goal is to not answer emails. Instead, I think of email as a tool.

This is where so many Inbox Zero people go wrong. The goal is not zero emails in your inbox — it’s actually getting the right things done.

I don’t give a damn if I end the day with zero unread emails or 350. I only care about getting the right things done.

One of the ways I do that is to stop waiting on responses, and instead systematize follow-ups so I don’t have to remember to do them.

For example, if I send an email about a project but I can’t proceed until I get a response from somebody else, I need to make sure I stay on top of it.

So I use SaneBox to automatically remind when I need to send a follow-up email.

It looks like this:

An example of using SaneBox to send me a reminder to follow up in 2 days.

I also use it to automatically elevate important emails to the top of my inbox. Others get de-emphasized and I can read them later.

THE EXACT SCRIPT TO SET UP A MEETING AND MINIMIZE BACK AND FORTH EMAILS

Talking on the phone to set up meetings only takes a few seconds. But if you use that same conversation framework on email, you’ll create a long thread of messages, waste time, and be a nuisance for everyone involved.

There’s a better way.

I like to have canned scripts for the most common situations I’ll encounter. That way, I can read an email, mentally categorize it, and reach into my vault of scripts to select the best response.

Here’s one I use to set up meetings that saves me hours of back and forth every year.

How to convince your boss to let you work from home

Your current job might be the best way to embark on your new telecommuting lifestyle. Even if it’s not a common practice at your company.

But you can’t just stand up on your desk one Friday afternoon and declare, “From now on, I will work from home!”

Everyone will think you’re a weirdo, and building security will usher you out of the office.

The key is this: If you’re great at what you do, you have A LOT more leverage than you think.

To put everything into perspective, you’re not just a body they hired. They had to screen hundreds of resumes, conduct 30+ phone interviews, and then invite a handful of people to meet in person.

Many people forget this.

So if your manager gives you a glowing performance review, it’s the perfect time to bring up the idea of a work-from-home job.

Don’t give any ultimatums. That can lead to confrontation, which never works out well.

Instead, offer to do it on a trial basis. You can use what I call the ARMS techniques to make it easy to get your boss’s stamp of approval.

Those four letters stand for:

Here’s how it works in action:

Later that day…

Boss: So I talked over your proposal with a few people, and we agree. It could be a good move for the company. You can start next week. Let me know what days you want to work from home.

Big Win!

The important thing to remember is that you’re proving the concept for now. Once your boss agrees to this small request, and it works out well, they’re more likely to agree to you working from home regularly.

If your company is set in their ways, and you’re set on working from home, don’t worry. There are tons of work-from-home jobs that you can apply for now.

How to land a job working from home and ask for double the average salary

If you look at the average salary for many work from home jobs, you might think they are kind of low. But those are the AVERAGE income.

The truth is, if you’re a top performer, you can find the best jobs with awesome perks, and ask for MUCH more than you think possible.

Many of my students have done it.

What do they know about getting their dream jobs that you’re in the dark about?

They know The Briefcase Technique, my proven strategy for getting a job you love at a great salary.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Case Study: How IWT works completely remotely with dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries

IWT started as a personal finance blog that I launched from my Stanford dorm room. Over the years, as I got more readers, I realized that living a Rich Life is about more than just money. So I expanded into careers, freelancing, social skills, and online business.

This would’ve been impossible without hiring a team to help me. Early on, I made the decision to get the very best people I could find. I didn’t want to be limited to geography. So every position I post is open to anyone in the world.

We always get a flood of applications for any job opening. The competition is fierce. But for the people who make it through the hiring process, the work is challenging. And the perks are worth it.

That’s the benefit of being a top performer. YOU get to call the shots and decide how you want to live as long as you keep producing results for the company.

As of writing this, we have dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries.

We have former professional athletes on the team. People who used to manage Fortune 500 companies. Marketers and copywriters who’ve worked behind the scenes on multimillion-dollar launches.

Even entrepreneurs who never have to work for anyone else again if they wanted have dropped everything they’re doing to join our team.

Had I rented office space in some New York City high rise, I would’ve never been able to attract this caliber of talent.

What IWT team members LOVE about their work from home careers

If you’re great at what you do, we might have a spot for you.

Working from home by starting an online business

So far, we’ve covered working remotely for an employer and freelancing online for clients. For some of you, that might be your Rich Life.

But there is another option:

Starting an online business that allows you to work from home (or anywhere in the world). That’s what I did. And now I work as much (or little) as I want.

I can spend a 6-week vacation every year traveling with my wife while my business runs on autopilot.

If you want true freedom with when, where and how much you work (and to be able to make a ton of money too), I believe there’s no better solution than starting your own business.

That’s why I put together a free PDF with 30 proven online business ideas you can copy. Just enter your email below.

Then, let me know what your biggest takeaway from this post was in the comments below.

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/working-from-home/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[mcjoelcain]

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts)

Here at IWT, we are big believers in working from home. In fact, our entire company works remotely.

That’s why I wrote an entire free Ultimate Guide to Working From Home to help anyone who wants to work remotely:

Convince their boss to let them telecommute

Find a new work from home job (and get hired for it)

Start freelancing online on the side (or go full-time doing it)

Or start an online business that allows them to work anywhere in the world

This blog post covers a lot of the most important points, but I dive much deeper in my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home, so make sure you grab the free PDF.

Let’s get started.

How to get started working from home

Imagine this scenario 6 months from now:

You stroll into your boss’s office one morning and hand over your two weeks’ notice.

But he says, “Wait, we’ll bump your salary 20% AND give you a corner office.”

“Sorry, I can’t do it,” you tell him.

“25% more?”

Nope.

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” you say.

And of course, you found a new job that offers benefits that you can’t put a price on.

The freedom from commutes and evening runs to the dry cleaner. The choice to live wherever you want. And the flexibility to control your own hours.

You’re going to be working from home.

This isn’t something that “other people” do. Forbes reported that one in five Americans now work from home. And that number is expected to rise in the next few years.

Who are these lucky folks who get to work from home?

They’re people on payroll with a company — everyone from assistants to managers and even executives

They’re freelancers with skills that are in high demand

And they’re business owners who make tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with nothing but a laptop and internet connection

They’re the new class of professionals who define success as doing what you want, from wherever you want, and on your own terms.

But it’s not all about lifestyle. It can be a great move for everyone involved.

According to Stanford Business School, people who work from home are not only happier, they’re more productive, too.

I’ve put together this blog post to explore all the options you have, and what it takes to pull them off.

I’ll even show you the technology, tools, and skills you’ll need so that nobody will even realize you’ve left the building.

Who am I?

I’m Ramit Sethi, the New York Times best-selling author and founder of GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich — a business that I grew from a dorm-room blog into a multimillion-dollar online business with over 30,000 paying customers around the world.

One of my personal philosophies has always been flexibility. I love going to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s not crowded. And I love meeting up with friends for a long lunch whenever they’re in New York.

So when I started to hire employees, I wanted to give them the flexibility to work from home, on their own schedule, from wherever they are in the world.

In fact, one of my employees wanted to move to Paris, and we supported it 100%.

Not setting up a central command center and letting my employees work from home has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Not only is everyone happier and more productive, but we also get to recruit people who are the best at what they do since we’re not limited to geography.

I’m thrilled to share everything with you today.

4 Essential Skills For Working From Home

Anyone who ever tells people they work from home will often hear, “Wow! I could never do that.” And it’s true, it takes discipline to get up, log in to your computer, and work when nobody is standing over your shoulder and directing you. Distractions attempt to grab you from every direction.

The La-Z-Boy recliner you thought would be awesome to type your weekly reports from becomes a sinkhole for your productivity.

And once word gets out that you’re home all the time, friends and family start to ask if you “could do them a favor in the middle of the day.”

Which is why, if you want to successfully work from home and maintain a healthy work-life balance, you need to declare war on distractions.

In this section, I want to talk about the 4 skills you need to consistently produce great work no matter what industry you’re in.

Remote Work Essential Skill #1: Master working in short bursts

Working from home means that nobody is looking over your shoulder anymore. You don’t have to pull up a random Excel spreadsheet whenever someone walks by to make it look like you’re working and not checking Facebook.

As long as you get your work done, you can free up time to tend to other things. Heck, my team can walk their dogs and pick their kids up from school without asking anyone for permission. Because I know they’re on top of their work.

The best way to be productive is to work in short sprints — not long, drawn-out marathon sessions.

My friend Chris Yeh is a Harvard MBA. He works a demanding full-time job, teaches at Stanford, writes for various publications, advises startups, and still manages to make time for his family.

Did you get tired just from reading that? Watch and learn how he pulls it off with the Pomodoro Technique.

Remote Work Essential Skill #2: Stick to project deadlines and due dates

According to my friend and bestselling author Tim Ferriss:

“Most people fail at new year resolutions because there is no consequence. If you don’t go to work, you’ll lose your job. But if you don’t stick to your diet, there’s no consequence — other than staying fat.”

The solution to finish everything you start?

Hold yourself accountable.

Tim’s favorite way of doing this is by using a website called stickK.

Go to stickK.com

Once you sign up, you can make a commitment contract: “I will nail the project deadline.” Then, if you don’t, stickK will take your money and donate it to a charity you despise.

You can also invite friends or coworkers to referee your progress and make things more fun.

This is a great way to stay on track for work projects when the living room recliner is calling your name for nap time.

Remote Work Essential Skill #3: Make small changes for massive results

It’s much harder to shut down for the day when your “office” is where you live. There’s no night-time cleaning crew that comes to empty out the trash to signal that you’ve been burning the midnight oil.

You have to decide when to call it quits for the day. Because sooner or later, trying to jam in another task at the end of the day can rob you of your sanity.

Which is why it’s important to make stepping away from your desk a regular habit. Whether it’s a short walk, a trip to the gym, or taking an afternoon yoga class, exercise can help keep your mind sharp when you work from home. It also helps you strike the perfect work-life balance.

Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, built a healthy eating habit while working for The New York Times. His approach was unconventional in that it started with chocolate.

Yes, you read that correctly. Chocolate triggers reward centers in your brain and makes you want to do things you normally procrastinate on.

And you can use the same exact principle to make exercise a habit. Watch the video below to see how you can put it into action as you work from home.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Remote Work Essential Skill #4: Manage your emails

Email is a great tool. But it can suck up the most productive hours of your day if you’re not careful. And once you start working from home, you’ll get more and more messages since people can’t stop by your desk to ask questions.

Some of them will be urgent and important, most of them won’t be. It’s your job to make the call. Luckily, since I get thousands of emails a day — and yes, I read all of them — I can give you some advice.

HOW TO PUT YOUR EMAIL ON AUTOPILOT

My goal is to not answer emails. Instead, I think of email as a tool.

This is where so many Inbox Zero people go wrong. The goal is not zero emails in your inbox — it’s actually getting the right things done.

I don’t give a damn if I end the day with zero unread emails or 350. I only care about getting the right things done.

One of the ways I do that is to stop waiting on responses, and instead systematize follow-ups so I don’t have to remember to do them.

For example, if I send an email about a project but I can’t proceed until I get a response from somebody else, I need to make sure I stay on top of it.

So I use SaneBox to automatically remind when I need to send a follow-up email.

It looks like this:

An example of using SaneBox to send me a reminder to follow up in 2 days.

I also use it to automatically elevate important emails to the top of my inbox. Others get de-emphasized and I can read them later.

THE EXACT SCRIPT TO SET UP A MEETING AND MINIMIZE BACK AND FORTH EMAILS

Talking on the phone to set up meetings only takes a few seconds. But if you use that same conversation framework on email, you’ll create a long thread of messages, waste time, and be a nuisance for everyone involved.

There’s a better way.

I like to have canned scripts for the most common situations I’ll encounter. That way, I can read an email, mentally categorize it, and reach into my vault of scripts to select the best response.

Here’s one I use to set up meetings that saves me hours of back and forth every year.

How to convince your boss to let you work from home

Your current job might be the best way to embark on your new telecommuting lifestyle. Even if it’s not a common practice at your company.

But you can’t just stand up on your desk one Friday afternoon and declare, “From now on, I will work from home!”

Everyone will think you’re a weirdo, and building security will usher you out of the office.

The key is this: If you’re great at what you do, you have A LOT more leverage than you think.

To put everything into perspective, you’re not just a body they hired. They had to screen hundreds of resumes, conduct 30+ phone interviews, and then invite a handful of people to meet in person.

Many people forget this.

So if your manager gives you a glowing performance review, it’s the perfect time to bring up the idea of a work-from-home job.

Don’t give any ultimatums. That can lead to confrontation, which never works out well.

Instead, offer to do it on a trial basis. You can use what I call the ARMS techniques to make it easy to get your boss’s stamp of approval.

Those four letters stand for:

Here’s how it works in action:

Later that day…

Boss: So I talked over your proposal with a few people, and we agree. It could be a good move for the company. You can start next week. Let me know what days you want to work from home.

Big Win!

The important thing to remember is that you’re proving the concept for now. Once your boss agrees to this small request, and it works out well, they’re more likely to agree to you working from home regularly.

If your company is set in their ways, and you’re set on working from home, don’t worry. There are tons of work-from-home jobs that you can apply for now.

How to land a job working from home and ask for double the average salary

If you look at the average salary for many work from home jobs, you might think they are kind of low. But those are the AVERAGE income.

The truth is, if you’re a top performer, you can find the best jobs with awesome perks, and ask for MUCH more than you think possible.

Many of my students have done it.

What do they know about getting their dream jobs that you’re in the dark about?

They know The Briefcase Technique, my proven strategy for getting a job you love at a great salary.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Case Study: How IWT works completely remotely with dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries

IWT started as a personal finance blog that I launched from my Stanford dorm room. Over the years, as I got more readers, I realized that living a Rich Life is about more than just money. So I expanded into careers, freelancing, social skills, and online business.

This would’ve been impossible without hiring a team to help me. Early on, I made the decision to get the very best people I could find. I didn’t want to be limited to geography. So every position I post is open to anyone in the world.

We always get a flood of applications for any job opening. The competition is fierce. But for the people who make it through the hiring process, the work is challenging. And the perks are worth it.

That’s the benefit of being a top performer. YOU get to call the shots and decide how you want to live as long as you keep producing results for the company.

As of writing this, we have dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries.

We have former professional athletes on the team. People who used to manage Fortune 500 companies. Marketers and copywriters who’ve worked behind the scenes on multimillion-dollar launches.

Even entrepreneurs who never have to work for anyone else again if they wanted have dropped everything they’re doing to join our team.

Had I rented office space in some New York City high rise, I would’ve never been able to attract this caliber of talent.

What IWT team members LOVE about their work from home careers

If you’re great at what you do, we might have a spot for you.

Working from home by starting an online business

So far, we’ve covered working remotely for an employer and freelancing online for clients. For some of you, that might be your Rich Life.

But there is another option:

Starting an online business that allows you to work from home (or anywhere in the world). That’s what I did. And now I work as much (or little) as I want.

I can spend a 6-week vacation every year traveling with my wife while my business runs on autopilot.

If you want true freedom with when, where and how much you work (and to be able to make a ton of money too), I believe there’s no better solution than starting your own business.

That’s why I put together a free PDF with 30 proven online business ideas you can copy. Just enter your email below.

Then, let me know what your biggest takeaway from this post was in the comments below.

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Money https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/working-from-home/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[paulckrueger]

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts)

Here at IWT, we are big believers in working from home. In fact, our entire company works remotely.

That’s why I wrote an entire free Ultimate Guide to Working From Home to help anyone who wants to work remotely:

Convince their boss to let them telecommute

Find a new work from home job (and get hired for it)

Start freelancing online on the side (or go full-time doing it)

Or start an online business that allows them to work anywhere in the world

This blog post covers a lot of the most important points, but I dive much deeper in my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home, so make sure you grab the free PDF.

Let’s get started.

How to get started working from home

Imagine this scenario 6 months from now:

You stroll into your boss’s office one morning and hand over your two weeks’ notice.

But he says, “Wait, we’ll bump your salary 20% AND give you a corner office.”

“Sorry, I can’t do it,” you tell him.

“25% more?”

Nope.

“I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m going to have to pass,” you say.

And of course, you found a new job that offers benefits that you can’t put a price on.

The freedom from commutes and evening runs to the dry cleaner. The choice to live wherever you want. And the flexibility to control your own hours.

You’re going to be working from home.

This isn’t something that “other people” do. Forbes reported that one in five Americans now work from home. And that number is expected to rise in the next few years.

Who are these lucky folks who get to work from home?

They’re people on payroll with a company — everyone from assistants to managers and even executives

They’re freelancers with skills that are in high demand

And they’re business owners who make tens, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with nothing but a laptop and internet connection

They’re the new class of professionals who define success as doing what you want, from wherever you want, and on your own terms.

But it’s not all about lifestyle. It can be a great move for everyone involved.

According to Stanford Business School, people who work from home are not only happier, they’re more productive, too.

I’ve put together this blog post to explore all the options you have, and what it takes to pull them off.

I’ll even show you the technology, tools, and skills you’ll need so that nobody will even realize you’ve left the building.

Who am I?

I’m Ramit Sethi, the New York Times best-selling author and founder of GrowthLab and I Will Teach You To Be Rich — a business that I grew from a dorm-room blog into a multimillion-dollar online business with over 30,000 paying customers around the world.

One of my personal philosophies has always been flexibility. I love going to the gym in the middle of the day when it’s not crowded. And I love meeting up with friends for a long lunch whenever they’re in New York.

So when I started to hire employees, I wanted to give them the flexibility to work from home, on their own schedule, from wherever they are in the world.

In fact, one of my employees wanted to move to Paris, and we supported it 100%.

Not setting up a central command center and letting my employees work from home has been one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Not only is everyone happier and more productive, but we also get to recruit people who are the best at what they do since we’re not limited to geography.

I’m thrilled to share everything with you today.

4 Essential Skills For Working From Home

Anyone who ever tells people they work from home will often hear, “Wow! I could never do that.” And it’s true, it takes discipline to get up, log in to your computer, and work when nobody is standing over your shoulder and directing you. Distractions attempt to grab you from every direction.

The La-Z-Boy recliner you thought would be awesome to type your weekly reports from becomes a sinkhole for your productivity.

And once word gets out that you’re home all the time, friends and family start to ask if you “could do them a favor in the middle of the day.”

Which is why, if you want to successfully work from home and maintain a healthy work-life balance, you need to declare war on distractions.

In this section, I want to talk about the 4 skills you need to consistently produce great work no matter what industry you’re in.

Remote Work Essential Skill #1: Master working in short bursts

Working from home means that nobody is looking over your shoulder anymore. You don’t have to pull up a random Excel spreadsheet whenever someone walks by to make it look like you’re working and not checking Facebook.

As long as you get your work done, you can free up time to tend to other things. Heck, my team can walk their dogs and pick their kids up from school without asking anyone for permission. Because I know they’re on top of their work.

The best way to be productive is to work in short sprints — not long, drawn-out marathon sessions.

My friend Chris Yeh is a Harvard MBA. He works a demanding full-time job, teaches at Stanford, writes for various publications, advises startups, and still manages to make time for his family.

Did you get tired just from reading that? Watch and learn how he pulls it off with the Pomodoro Technique.

Remote Work Essential Skill #2: Stick to project deadlines and due dates

According to my friend and bestselling author Tim Ferriss:

“Most people fail at new year resolutions because there is no consequence. If you don’t go to work, you’ll lose your job. But if you don’t stick to your diet, there’s no consequence — other than staying fat.”

The solution to finish everything you start?

Hold yourself accountable.

Tim’s favorite way of doing this is by using a website called stickK.

Go to stickK.com

Once you sign up, you can make a commitment contract: “I will nail the project deadline.” Then, if you don’t, stickK will take your money and donate it to a charity you despise.

You can also invite friends or coworkers to referee your progress and make things more fun.

This is a great way to stay on track for work projects when the living room recliner is calling your name for nap time.

Remote Work Essential Skill #3: Make small changes for massive results

It’s much harder to shut down for the day when your “office” is where you live. There’s no night-time cleaning crew that comes to empty out the trash to signal that you’ve been burning the midnight oil.

You have to decide when to call it quits for the day. Because sooner or later, trying to jam in another task at the end of the day can rob you of your sanity.

Which is why it’s important to make stepping away from your desk a regular habit. Whether it’s a short walk, a trip to the gym, or taking an afternoon yoga class, exercise can help keep your mind sharp when you work from home. It also helps you strike the perfect work-life balance.

Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit, built a healthy eating habit while working for The New York Times. His approach was unconventional in that it started with chocolate.

Yes, you read that correctly. Chocolate triggers reward centers in your brain and makes you want to do things you normally procrastinate on.

And you can use the same exact principle to make exercise a habit. Watch the video below to see how you can put it into action as you work from home.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Remote Work Essential Skill #4: Manage your emails

Email is a great tool. But it can suck up the most productive hours of your day if you’re not careful. And once you start working from home, you’ll get more and more messages since people can’t stop by your desk to ask questions.

Some of them will be urgent and important, most of them won’t be. It’s your job to make the call. Luckily, since I get thousands of emails a day — and yes, I read all of them — I can give you some advice.

HOW TO PUT YOUR EMAIL ON AUTOPILOT

My goal is to not answer emails. Instead, I think of email as a tool.

This is where so many Inbox Zero people go wrong. The goal is not zero emails in your inbox — it’s actually getting the right things done.

I don’t give a damn if I end the day with zero unread emails or 350. I only care about getting the right things done.

One of the ways I do that is to stop waiting on responses, and instead systematize follow-ups so I don’t have to remember to do them.

For example, if I send an email about a project but I can’t proceed until I get a response from somebody else, I need to make sure I stay on top of it.

So I use SaneBox to automatically remind when I need to send a follow-up email.

It looks like this:

An example of using SaneBox to send me a reminder to follow up in 2 days.

I also use it to automatically elevate important emails to the top of my inbox. Others get de-emphasized and I can read them later.

THE EXACT SCRIPT TO SET UP A MEETING AND MINIMIZE BACK AND FORTH EMAILS

Talking on the phone to set up meetings only takes a few seconds. But if you use that same conversation framework on email, you’ll create a long thread of messages, waste time, and be a nuisance for everyone involved.

There’s a better way.

I like to have canned scripts for the most common situations I’ll encounter. That way, I can read an email, mentally categorize it, and reach into my vault of scripts to select the best response.

Here’s one I use to set up meetings that saves me hours of back and forth every year.

How to convince your boss to let you work from home

Your current job might be the best way to embark on your new telecommuting lifestyle. Even if it’s not a common practice at your company.

But you can’t just stand up on your desk one Friday afternoon and declare, “From now on, I will work from home!”

Everyone will think you’re a weirdo, and building security will usher you out of the office.

The key is this: If you’re great at what you do, you have A LOT more leverage than you think.

To put everything into perspective, you’re not just a body they hired. They had to screen hundreds of resumes, conduct 30+ phone interviews, and then invite a handful of people to meet in person.

Many people forget this.

So if your manager gives you a glowing performance review, it’s the perfect time to bring up the idea of a work-from-home job.

Don’t give any ultimatums. That can lead to confrontation, which never works out well.

Instead, offer to do it on a trial basis. You can use what I call the ARMS techniques to make it easy to get your boss’s stamp of approval.

Those four letters stand for:

Here’s how it works in action:

Later that day…

Boss: So I talked over your proposal with a few people, and we agree. It could be a good move for the company. You can start next week. Let me know what days you want to work from home.

Big Win!

The important thing to remember is that you’re proving the concept for now. Once your boss agrees to this small request, and it works out well, they’re more likely to agree to you working from home regularly.

If your company is set in their ways, and you’re set on working from home, don’t worry. There are tons of work-from-home jobs that you can apply for now.

How to land a job working from home and ask for double the average salary

If you look at the average salary for many work from home jobs, you might think they are kind of low. But those are the AVERAGE income.

The truth is, if you’re a top performer, you can find the best jobs with awesome perks, and ask for MUCH more than you think possible.

Many of my students have done it.

What do they know about getting their dream jobs that you’re in the dark about?

They know The Briefcase Technique, my proven strategy for getting a job you love at a great salary.

Ready for more great advice on working from home? Download your FREE copy of my Ultimate Guide to Working From Home now!

Case Study: How IWT works completely remotely with dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries

IWT started as a personal finance blog that I launched from my Stanford dorm room. Over the years, as I got more readers, I realized that living a Rich Life is about more than just money. So I expanded into careers, freelancing, social skills, and online business.

This would’ve been impossible without hiring a team to help me. Early on, I made the decision to get the very best people I could find. I didn’t want to be limited to geography. So every position I post is open to anyone in the world.

We always get a flood of applications for any job opening. The competition is fierce. But for the people who make it through the hiring process, the work is challenging. And the perks are worth it.

That’s the benefit of being a top performer. YOU get to call the shots and decide how you want to live as long as you keep producing results for the company.

As of writing this, we have dozens of employees in 23 states and 6 countries.

We have former professional athletes on the team. People who used to manage Fortune 500 companies. Marketers and copywriters who’ve worked behind the scenes on multimillion-dollar launches.

Even entrepreneurs who never have to work for anyone else again if they wanted have dropped everything they’re doing to join our team.

Had I rented office space in some New York City high rise, I would’ve never been able to attract this caliber of talent.

What IWT team members LOVE about their work from home careers

If you’re great at what you do, we might have a spot for you.

Working from home by starting an online business

So far, we’ve covered working remotely for an employer and freelancing online for clients. For some of you, that might be your Rich Life.

But there is another option:

Starting an online business that allows you to work from home (or anywhere in the world). That’s what I did. And now I work as much (or little) as I want.

I can spend a 6-week vacation every year traveling with my wife while my business runs on autopilot.

If you want true freedom with when, where and how much you work (and to be able to make a ton of money too), I believe there’s no better solution than starting your own business.

That’s why I put together a free PDF with 30 proven online business ideas you can copy. Just enter your email below.

Then, let me know what your biggest takeaway from this post was in the comments below.

Working From Home: The Essential Beginner’s Guide (with scripts) is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Surety Bond Brokers? Business https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/working-from-home/

[nonjo]

Essential Mac Software 2018

MailMate

I’ve been around the horn on email clients on the Mac over the years, from Entourage to Outlook to Mail to AirMail. Whatever it was that everyone hated about Apple Mail was lost on me, because it was close to perfect. I’ve written about how I figured out how to (mostly) stay on top of email in a previous post, and Mail was really the only client that worked for me. (You can create smart searches in GMail but it doesn’t work the way I, or anyone who wanted to follow my method, need it to). In short, I focus on email sent only to me and in the last 24 to 48 hours. I make every attempt to whack away at all other email (distribution list email, etc) within 24 hours. Yes, stuff slips through. But it relieves the cognitive burden of seeing a full inbox every time you look at email. (Mail for iOS also supports a Today view, and recently AirMail for iOS added one as well.)

MailMate’s demo period is very generous–30 days (that’s 30 days of use, not 30 calendar days, mind you). You have to fiddle with it a bit to get Gmail to work correctly (my school district uses it across the district) if you want to preserve the inbox vs. archived mail scheme that Google employs, but it’s not difficult to do. Furthermore, it supports Smart Searches à la Mail and even offers some powerful suggestions for other Smart Searches.

MailMate Smart Searches

MailMate supports a number of other features that make it worth looking at. It has a plug-in system so that you can send messages right to OmniFocus and DEVONthink, for example, and supports hopping into your favorite text editor to craft longer messages. (This is how I rediscovered MailMate and decided to give it a try–I was looking for a way to recreate the experience of using HogBay Software’s QuickCursor. There are a host of views supported as well, including a unique correspondance view. But really, I wanted a complete absence of visual clutter… think plain text, no email previews: just a stark list of your messages with data in columns, as little or as much as you want.

MailMate’s Austerity

In the realm of email clients, MailMate is kind of expensive, but if your needs are largely solipsistic and you have to handle volume–and you like a sparse layout–it’s very much worth the price. And if you like to hack, it’s probably the only game in town.

MailMate Plugins for OmniFocus and DEVONthink

If there’s a downside here, it’s that I can’t use InfoClick with MailMate. The search features are more robust in MailMate than Mail, so I probably don’t need InfoClick. Behold:

MailMate Search Modifiers

So the string “f tgod A xls” reveals any email from my boss that has an attachment with “xls” in the filename. That’s pretty powerful, and a good example of how I would use InfoClick.

Bartender

I started using Purple Safari shortly after it came out and the long appelation in Mac OS X’s menu bar meant that a number of menu bar items were obscured… and not necessarily the ones that I would have chosen to obscure. Bartender gives you a menu bar item into which you can store menu bar items that you don’t necessarily need to see all the time. I like to keep wifi, time, and battery visible all the time; clicking on the Bartender icon reveals Dropbox, Google Drive, OmniSync Serivces, MailMate’s unread count, 1Password, volume, BetterSnapTool, Airplay, Bumpr, Script Menu, Bluetooth, Time Machine, and Spotlight. For example, I’d never click on the Spotlight icon; I’d invoke it using the keyboard. With Dropbox, I just need to see if it’s online or not. It’s not something I interact with generally, but it’s helpful to see if there’s a network issue.

Bartender: Menu Bar Tidied Up

Bartender: Menu Bar Expanded

Bumpr

Bumpr does one thing: when you click on a URL, you can choose the browser that handles the URL. This works by changing Bumpr to your default web browser. It also handles mailto links.

I’m primarly a Safari user, but there are some applications, and links to documents and spreadsheets at work, that are better accessed using Chrome. Furthermore, I like to be logged into my work account in Chrome, and my personal Gmail account on Safari.

Clicking on URLs in Safari won’t invoke Bumpr, only links from outside of the browser. This is smart because obviously it would get old if you were selecting a browser every time you tried to follow a link.Bumpr optionally allows you to set a default choice as well, and only prompts you to choose if you hold down the shift key.

I first discovered Choosy for the purpose of selecting a browser, and while it’s perfectly serviceable, Bumpr looks a little better.

Bumpr in Action

For most of my purposes, I start in 1Password and click on a link. I hold down the Shift key and choose the browser I want to use for the site… It’s an extra step but there are some services that don’t do Safari; I no longer have to copy/paste links in Chrome.

Scrivener

So much as been written about this app that it isn’t instructive for me to say much about it. I will say, though, that I was always curious about the application, but I always approached it like a word processor. And it is decidedly not a word processor. Yes, you write in Scrivener, but it is the organizational features that make it worth learning if you have long-form writing to do.

I wrote recently about how I took some classes online during the 2017–18 school year. I was in the position of having to download scholarly journal articles, incorporate them into a written work, and use APA format to document the citations.

For the first class, I would create a new Scrivener document and then discrete sections for each 1,000-word project:

Title Page

Abstract

Description and analysis

Body of Paper

References

I had to compile the papers into Word documents (ugh) for submission. Scrivener was in ways overkill for these projects, as the sections weren’t very long. What I did like, though, was the ability to print journal articles to the Scrivener projects. So having a PDF of an article in a Safari window could be sent to the “Research” folder in the active Scrivener project. This made it easy to keep the research together with the project, rather than in a folder or in DEVONthink, where I’d have to look for them later. It wasn’t the only way to get the papers done, but it was a good way for me to work, and I used the first class to understand this curious app I’d heard so much about. It was a learning experience for sure.

Saving Reference Materials into Scrivener

The second class, which focused on school law, required me to write legal briefs… and lots of them. Briefs are exactly that–brief–and I had to follow a standard format for each one:

Facts

Procedure

Issue

Ruling

Analysis

One brief would not require Scrivener’s services. But weeks four and five saw me writing 10 and 11 briefs, respectively, and I ended up writing over 40. My strategy this time was different; I collected all of the briefs by unit (each week was a new unit) in one Scrivener file, and used Scrivener’s powerful Compile feature to create a discrete Word document for each unit. Compile was possibly the most confusing feature initially, but eminently worth understanding due to the power it gave you when shaking a project down into something to share.

So the structure of the “School Law Legal Briefs” file (one file to rule them all) looked like this:

Unit 1:

Brief 1:

Facts

Procedure

Issue

Ruling

Analysis

Brief 2:

Facts

Procedure

Issue

Ruling

Analysis

References

Unit 2:

repeat…

The Anatomy of a Brief

Subsequent units could be compiled into a Word doc that only included the work unique to that unit, and I could obscure or reveal as much of the previous weeks’ work as I needed. At the ending of the course, I had one project, not eight. It was a project that could have simply been done in Word or Nisus Writer Pro or Pages or Mellel or… you get the idea. But as with email, being able to restrict your focus to that which you are working on in the moment is cognitively liberating.

There’s one more thing that I will say about Scrivener: if you are a person who gets a kick of preparing something in one format, and then seeing how it comes out in another format, you would very much like Scrivener. What do I mean? For example, if you enjoy that moment when you render your code from HTML or Markdown to see if it looks how you thought it would, you know what I’m talking about. If you use a text editor and LaTexwrite in LaTex, you also know what I mean. I’m sure some people hate that feeling. But it gasses me. And that’s what Compile is like in Scrivener.

Apps that I wrote about before and continue to use:

gSuite: we use Google services at work. The sharing features and ubiquity of your files is hard to beat. And you can use any email client you want, mostly.

DEVONthink: if it doesn’t go into OmniFocus or Google Drive, it goes into DEVONthink.

TextExpander 5: I sprung for the subscription after TextExpander 5 started randomly crashing on me. I’m not inclined to call it a conspiracy but I don’t know if Smile was paying much attention to version 5 much.* It’s probably not worth the subscription cost for how I use it but it’s the only expansion utility that developers seem to support in iOS. My reliance has waned over the years as I do less overall writing.

OmniFocusOmniFocus: Still the king of GTD for me. I want to buy the new version of Things (I did get the iOS version) so that I can compare, but version OmniFocus 3’s switch to tags from contexts, and allowing for multiple tags per action item, solves the only real gripe I had with OmniFocus.

Bear: I still use this all the time for taking notes and other reference material. I struggle sometimes with deciding if something should go into DEVONthink or Bear, but it is often the first place I go when I need to type. Should Drafts ever offer an Mac OS version, though, there will be trouble.

Pixelmator: My go-to for editing images. I like Acorn too.

BBEdit: Also often the place I go to start writing. I will invoke BBEdit in LaunchBar if it’s not already running and start writing. I don’t code but I like the speed and general unfussiness associated with using BBEdit. What’s more portable than a .txt file?

BetterSnapTool: I don’t know if Apple will ever admit that Aero Snap is cool, but it is.

1Password: I downloaded the version 7 beta and decided to go for the subscription. I like the online version of the app as a backup in the event that all of my devices went up in a puff of dust. I also don’t ever want to change password managers unless something really compels me.

Launchbar: Stalwart. I don’t use many of the features but the clipboard history just saved my bacon the other day, and other features (calculator expecially) just delight me.

I like AgileBits’ offering of both standalone and subscription versions of 1Password, and I think TextExpander could offer something like that. The major feature that accompanied TextExpander’s subscription switchover–team snippits–are not useful to me at all. It’s the same app, only way more expensive.

[benfchristie2]

15 of the Best Email Marketing Campaign Examples You've Ever Seen

On any given day, most of our email inboxes are flooded with a barrage of automated email newsletters that do little else besides giving us another task to do on our commutes to work -- namely, marking them all as unread without reading, or unsubscribing altogether.

But every now and then, we get a newsletter that's so good, not only do we read it, but we click it, share it, and recommend it to our friends.

Exceptional email marketing campaigns need to be cleverly written to attract attention in busy inboxes. Marketing emails also need to be personalized, filled with interesting graphics, and designed for desktop and mobile devices. And above all, emails must contain a meaningful call-to-action. After all, if brands are taking up subscribers' time -- and inbox space -- with another email, every message must have a point to it.

Schedule time with a specialist to learn how to drive high-value leads through email.

You probably receive enough emails as it is, and it's tough to know which newsletters are worth subscribing to, so we've curated a list of some of our favorite examples. Read on to discover some great email campaign examples and what makes them great -- or just skip ahead to the brands you already know and love.

1) charity: water

2) BuzzFeed

3) Uber

4) TheSkimm

5) Mom and Dad Money

6) Poncho

7) Birchbox

8) Postmates

9) Dropbox

10) InVision App

11) Warby Parker

12) Cook Smarts

13) HireVue

14) Paperless Post

15) Stitcher

15 Examples of Effective Email Marketing

1) charity: water

When people talk about email marketing, lots of them forget to mention transactional emails.These are the automated emails you get in your inbox after taking a certain action on a website. This could be anything from filling out a form, to purchasing a product, to updating you on the progress of your order. Often, these are plain text emails that marketers set and forget.

Well, charity: water took an alternate route. Once someone donates to a charity: water project, her money takes a long journey. Most charities don't tell you about that journey at all -- charity: water uses automated emails to show donors how their money is making an impact over time. With the project timeline and accompanying table, you don't even really need to read the email -- you know immediately where you are in the whole process so you can move onto other things in your inbox.

2) BuzzFeed

I already have a soft spot for BuzzFeed content ("21 Puppies so Cute You Will Literally Gasp and Then Probably Cry," anyone?), but that isn't the only reason I fell in love with its emails.

First of all, BuzzFeed has awesome subject lines and preview text. They are always short and punchy -- which fits in perfectly with the rest of BuzzFeed's content. I especially love how the preview text will accompany the subject line. For example, if the subject line is a question, the preview text is the answer. Or if the subject line is a command (like the one below), the preview text seems like the next logical thought right after it:

Once you open up an email from BuzzFeed, the copy is equally awesome. Just take a look at that glorious alt text action happening where the images should be. The email still conveys what it is supposed to convey -- and looks great -- whether you use an image or not. That's definitely something to admire.

Without images:

With images:

3) Uber

The beauty of Uber's emails is in their simplicity. Email subscribers are alerted to deals and promotions with emails like the one you see below. We love how brief the initial description is, paired with a very clear call-to-action -- which is perfect for subscribers who are quickly skimming the email. For the people who want to learn more, these are followed by a more detailed (but still pleasingly simple), step-by-step explanation of how the deal works.

We also love how consistent the design of Uber's emails is with its brand. Like its app, website, social media photos, and other parts of the visual branding, the emails are represented by bright colors and geometric patterns. All of its communications and marketing assets tell the brand's story -- and brand consistency is one tactic Uber's nailed in order to gain brand loyalty.

Check out the clever copywriting and email design at work in this example:

4) TheSkimm

We love TheSkimm's daily newsletter-- especially its clean design and its short, punchy paragraphs. But newsletters aren't TheSkimm's only strength when it comes to email. Check out its subscriber engagement email below, which rewarded fellow marketerGinny Mineo for being subscribed for two years.

Emails triggered by milestones, like anniversaries and birthdays, are fun to get -- who doesn't like to celebrate a special occasion? The beauty of anniversary emails, in particular, is that they don't require subscribers to input any extra data, and they can work for a variety of senders. Plus, the timeframe can be modified based on the business model.

Here, the folks at TheSkimm took it a step further by asking Mineo if she'd like to earn the title of brand ambassador as a loyal subscriber -- which would require her to share the link with ten friends, of course.

5) Mom and Dad Money

Think you know all about the people who are reading your marketing emails? How much of what you "know" about them is based on assumptions? The strongest buyer personas are based on insights you gather from your actual readership, through surveys, interviews, and so on, in addition to the market research. That's exactly what Matt Becker of Mom and Dad Money does -- and he does it very, very well.

Here's an example of an email I once received from this brand. Design-wise, it's nothing special -- but that's the point. It reads just like an email from a friend or colleague asking for a quick favor.

Not only was this initial email great, but his response to my answers was even better: Within a few days of responding to the questionnaire, I received a long and detailed personal email from Matt thanking me for filling out the questionnaire and offering a ton of helpful advice and links to resources specifically catered to my answers. I was very impressed by his businessacumen, communication skills, and obvious dedication to his readers.

6) Poncho

Some of the best emails out there pair super simple design with brief, clever copy. When it comes down to it, my daily emails from Poncho--which sends me customizable weather forecasts each morning -- takes the cake. They're colorful, use delightful images and GIFs, and are very easy to scan. The copy is brief but clever with some great puns, and it aligns perfectly with the brand. Check out the copy near the bottom asking to "hang out outside of email." Hats off to Poncho for using design to better communicate its message.

7) Birchbox

The subject line of this email from beauty product subscription service Birchbox got my colleague Pam Vaughan clicking. It read: "We Forgot Something in Your February Box!" Of course, if you read the email copy below, Birchbox didn't actually forget to put that discount code in her box -- but it was certainly a clever way to get her attention.

As it turned out, the discount code was actually a bonus promo for Rent the Runway, a dress rental company that likely fits the interest profile of most Birchbox customers -- which certainly didn't disappoint. That's a great co-marketing partnership right there.

8) Postmates

I've gotta say, I'm a sucker for GIFs. They're easy to consume, they catch your eye, and they have an emotional impact -- like the fun GIF in one of Postmates' emails that's not only delightful to watch, but also makes you crave some delicious Chipotle.

You too can use animated GIFs in your marketing to show a fun header, to draw people's eyes to a certain part of the email, or to display your products and services in action.

9) Dropbox

You might think it'd be hard to love an email from a company whose product you haven't been using. But Dropbox found a way to make its "come back to us!" email cute and funny, thanks to a pair of whimsical cartoons and an emoticon.

Plus, the email was kept short and sweet, to emphasize the message that Dropox didn't want to intrude -- it just wants to remind the recipient that the brand exists, and why it could be helpful. When sending these types of email, you might include an incentive for recipients to come back to using your service, like a limited-time coupon.

10) InVision App

Every week, the folks at InVision send a roundup of their best blog content, their favorite design links from the week, and a new opportunity to win a free t-shirt. (Seriously. They give away a new design every week.) They also sometimes have fun survey questions where they crowdsource for their blog. This week's, for example, asked subscribers what they would do if the internet didn't exist.

Not only is InVision's newsletter a great mix of content, but I also love the nice balance between images and text, making it really easy to read and mobile-friendly -- which is especially important, because its newsletters are so long. (Below is just an excerpt, but you can read through the full email here.) We like the clever copy on the call-to-action buttons, too.

11) Warby Parker

What goes better with a new prescription than a new pair of glasses? The folks at Warby Parker made that connection very clear in their email to a friend of mine back in 2014. It's an older email, but it's such a good example of personalized email marketing that I had to include it in here.

The subject line was: "Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring." What a clever email trigger. And you've gotta love the reminder that your prescription needs updating.

Speaking of which, check out the clever co-marketing at the bottom of the email: If you don't know where to go to renew your subscription, the information for an optometrist is right in the email. Now there's no excuse not to shop for new glasses!

12) Cook Smarts

I've been a huge fan of Cook Smarts' "Weekly Eats" newsletter for a while. The company sends yummy recipes in the form of a meal plan to my inbox every week. But I didn't just include it because of its delicious recipes -- I'm truly a fan of its emails. I especially love the layout: Each email features three distinct sections (one for the menu, one for kitchen how-to's, and one for the tips). That means you don't have to go hunting to find the most interesting part of its blog posts -- you know exactly where to look after an email or two.

I also love Cook Smarts' "Forward to a Friend" call-to-action in the top-right of the email. Emails are super shareable over -- you guessed it -- email, so you should also think about reminding your subscribers to forward your emails to friends, family, or coworkers.

13) HireVue

"Saying goodbye is never easy to do So, we thought we'd give you a chance to rethink things". That was the subject of this automated unsubscribe email from HireVue. We love the simple, guilt-free messaging here, from the funny header images to the great call-to-action button copy.

Not only are the design and copy here top-notch, but we applaud the folks at HireVue for sending automated unsubscribe emails in the first place. It's smart to purge your subscriber lists of folks who aren't opening your email lists, because low open rates can seriously hurt email deliverability.

14) Paperless Post

When you think of "holiday email marketing," your mind might jump straight to Christmas, but there are other holidays sprinkled throughout the rest of the year that you can create campaigns around. (Download these email marketing planning templates to keep yourself organized throughout the year.)

Take the email below from Paperless Post, for example. I love the header of this email: It provides a clear call-to-action that includes a sense of urgency. Then, the subheader asks a question that forces recipients to think to themselves, "Wait, when is Mother's Day again? Did I buy Mom a card?" Below this copy, the simple grid design is both easy to scan and quite visually appealing. Each card picture is a CTA in and of itself -- click on any one of them, and you'll be taken to a purchase page.

15) Stitcher

As humans, we tend to crave personalized experiences. So when emails appear to be created especially for you, you feel special -- you're not just getting what everyone else is getting. You might even feel like the company sending you the email knows you in some way, and that it cares about your preferences and making you happy.

That's why I love on-demand podcast/radio show app Stitcher's "Recommended For You" emails. I tend to listen to episodes from the same podcast instead of branching out to new ones. But Stitcher wants me to discover (and subscribe to) all the other awesome content it has -- and I probably wouldn't without this encouragement.

I think this email also makes quite a brilliant use of responsive design. The colors are bright, and it's not too hard to scroll and click -- notice the CTAs are large enough for me to hit with my thumbs. Also, the mobile email actually has features that make sense for recipients who are on their mobile device. Check out the CTA at the bottom of the email, for example: The "Open Stitcher Radio" button prompts the app to open on your phone.

These are just some of our favorite emails. Don't just follow best practice when it comes to your marketing emails. Every email you send from your work email address also can be optimized to convert. Try out our free email signature generator now, andcheck out some more of our favorite HubSpot marketing email examples.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

[jasonmkemp4]

15 of the Best Email Marketing Campaign Examples You've Ever Seen

On any given day, most of our email inboxes are flooded with a barrage of automated email newsletters that do little else besides giving us another task to do on our commutes to work -- namely, marking them all as unread without reading, or unsubscribing altogether.

But every now and then, we get a newsletter that's so good, not only do we read it, but we click it, share it, and recommend it to our friends.

Exceptional email marketing campaigns need to be cleverly written to attract attention in busy inboxes. Marketing emails also need to be personalized, filled with interesting graphics, and designed for desktop and mobile devices. And above all, emails must contain a meaningful call-to-action. After all, if brands are taking up subscribers' time -- and inbox space -- with another email, every message must have a point to it.

Schedule time with a specialist to learn how to drive high-value leads through email.

You probably receive enough emails as it is, and it's tough to know which newsletters are worth subscribing to, so we've curated a list of some of our favorite examples. Read on to discover some great email campaign examples and what makes them great -- or just skip ahead to the brands you already know and love.

1) charity: water

2) BuzzFeed

3) Uber

4) TheSkimm

5) Mom and Dad Money

6) Poncho

7) Birchbox

8) Postmates

9) Dropbox

10) InVision App

11) Warby Parker

12) Cook Smarts

13) HireVue

14) Paperless Post

15) Stitcher

15 Examples of Effective Email Marketing

1) charity: water

When people talk about email marketing, lots of them forget to mention transactional emails.These are the automated emails you get in your inbox after taking a certain action on a website. This could be anything from filling out a form, to purchasing a product, to updating you on the progress of your order. Often, these are plain text emails that marketers set and forget.

Well, charity: water took an alternate route. Once someone donates to a charity: water project, her money takes a long journey. Most charities don't tell you about that journey at all -- charity: water uses automated emails to show donors how their money is making an impact over time. With the project timeline and accompanying table, you don't even really need to read the email -- you know immediately where you are in the whole process so you can move onto other things in your inbox.

2) BuzzFeed

I already have a soft spot for BuzzFeed content ("21 Puppies so Cute You Will Literally Gasp and Then Probably Cry," anyone?), but that isn't the only reason I fell in love with its emails.

First of all, BuzzFeed has awesome subject lines and preview text. They are always short and punchy -- which fits in perfectly with the rest of BuzzFeed's content. I especially love how the preview text will accompany the subject line. For example, if the subject line is a question, the preview text is the answer. Or if the subject line is a command (like the one below), the preview text seems like the next logical thought right after it:

Once you open up an email from BuzzFeed, the copy is equally awesome. Just take a look at that glorious alt text action happening where the images should be. The email still conveys what it is supposed to convey -- and looks great -- whether you use an image or not. That's definitely something to admire.

Without images:

With images:

3) Uber

The beauty of Uber's emails is in their simplicity. Email subscribers are alerted to deals and promotions with emails like the one you see below. We love how brief the initial description is, paired with a very clear call-to-action -- which is perfect for subscribers who are quickly skimming the email. For the people who want to learn more, these are followed by a more detailed (but still pleasingly simple), step-by-step explanation of how the deal works.

We also love how consistent the design of Uber's emails is with its brand. Like its app, website, social media photos, and other parts of the visual branding, the emails are represented by bright colors and geometric patterns. All of its communications and marketing assets tell the brand's story -- and brand consistency is one tactic Uber's nailed in order to gain brand loyalty.

Check out the clever copywriting and email design at work in this example:

4) TheSkimm

We love TheSkimm's daily newsletter-- especially its clean design and its short, punchy paragraphs. But newsletters aren't TheSkimm's only strength when it comes to email. Check out its subscriber engagement email below, which rewarded fellow marketerGinny Mineo for being subscribed for two years.

Emails triggered by milestones, like anniversaries and birthdays, are fun to get -- who doesn't like to celebrate a special occasion? The beauty of anniversary emails, in particular, is that they don't require subscribers to input any extra data, and they can work for a variety of senders. Plus, the timeframe can be modified based on the business model.

Here, the folks at TheSkimm took it a step further by asking Mineo if she'd like to earn the title of brand ambassador as a loyal subscriber -- which would require her to share the link with ten friends, of course.

5) Mom and Dad Money

Think you know all about the people who are reading your marketing emails? How much of what you "know" about them is based on assumptions? The strongest buyer personas are based on insights you gather from your actual readership, through surveys, interviews, and so on, in addition to the market research. That's exactly what Matt Becker of Mom and Dad Money does -- and he does it very, very well.

Here's an example of an email I once received from this brand. Design-wise, it's nothing special -- but that's the point. It reads just like an email from a friend or colleague asking for a quick favor.

Not only was this initial email great, but his response to my answers was even better: Within a few days of responding to the questionnaire, I received a long and detailed personal email from Matt thanking me for filling out the questionnaire and offering a ton of helpful advice and links to resources specifically catered to my answers. I was very impressed by his businessacumen, communication skills, and obvious dedication to his readers.

6) Poncho

Some of the best emails out there pair super simple design with brief, clever copy. When it comes down to it, my daily emails from Poncho--which sends me customizable weather forecasts each morning -- takes the cake. They're colorful, use delightful images and GIFs, and are very easy to scan. The copy is brief but clever with some great puns, and it aligns perfectly with the brand. Check out the copy near the bottom asking to "hang out outside of email." Hats off to Poncho for using design to better communicate its message.

7) Birchbox

The subject line of this email from beauty product subscription service Birchbox got my colleague Pam Vaughan clicking. It read: "We Forgot Something in Your February Box!" Of course, if you read the email copy below, Birchbox didn't actually forget to put that discount code in her box -- but it was certainly a clever way to get her attention.

As it turned out, the discount code was actually a bonus promo for Rent the Runway, a dress rental company that likely fits the interest profile of most Birchbox customers -- which certainly didn't disappoint. That's a great co-marketing partnership right there.

8) Postmates

I've gotta say, I'm a sucker for GIFs. They're easy to consume, they catch your eye, and they have an emotional impact -- like the fun GIF in one of Postmates' emails that's not only delightful to watch, but also makes you crave some delicious Chipotle.

You too can use animated GIFs in your marketing to show a fun header, to draw people's eyes to a certain part of the email, or to display your products and services in action.

9) Dropbox

You might think it'd be hard to love an email from a company whose product you haven't been using. But Dropbox found a way to make its "come back to us!" email cute and funny, thanks to a pair of whimsical cartoons and an emoticon.

Plus, the email was kept short and sweet, to emphasize the message that Dropox didn't want to intrude -- it just wants to remind the recipient that the brand exists, and why it could be helpful. When sending these types of email, you might include an incentive for recipients to come back to using your service, like a limited-time coupon.

10) InVision App

Every week, the folks at InVision send a roundup of their best blog content, their favorite design links from the week, and a new opportunity to win a free t-shirt. (Seriously. They give away a new design every week.) They also sometimes have fun survey questions where they crowdsource for their blog. This week's, for example, asked subscribers what they would do if the internet didn't exist.

Not only is InVision's newsletter a great mix of content, but I also love the nice balance between images and text, making it really easy to read and mobile-friendly -- which is especially important, because its newsletters are so long. (Below is just an excerpt, but you can read through the full email here.) We like the clever copy on the call-to-action buttons, too.

11) Warby Parker

What goes better with a new prescription than a new pair of glasses? The folks at Warby Parker made that connection very clear in their email to a friend of mine back in 2014. It's an older email, but it's such a good example of personalized email marketing that I had to include it in here.

The subject line was: "Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring." What a clever email trigger. And you've gotta love the reminder that your prescription needs updating.

Speaking of which, check out the clever co-marketing at the bottom of the email: If you don't know where to go to renew your subscription, the information for an optometrist is right in the email. Now there's no excuse not to shop for new glasses!

12) Cook Smarts

I've been a huge fan of Cook Smarts' "Weekly Eats" newsletter for a while. The company sends yummy recipes in the form of a meal plan to my inbox every week. But I didn't just include it because of its delicious recipes -- I'm truly a fan of its emails. I especially love the layout: Each email features three distinct sections (one for the menu, one for kitchen how-to's, and one for the tips). That means you don't have to go hunting to find the most interesting part of its blog posts -- you know exactly where to look after an email or two.

I also love Cook Smarts' "Forward to a Friend" call-to-action in the top-right of the email. Emails are super shareable over -- you guessed it -- email, so you should also think about reminding your subscribers to forward your emails to friends, family, or coworkers.

13) HireVue

"Saying goodbye is never easy to do So, we thought we'd give you a chance to rethink things". That was the subject of this automated unsubscribe email from HireVue. We love the simple, guilt-free messaging here, from the funny header images to the great call-to-action button copy.

Not only are the design and copy here top-notch, but we applaud the folks at HireVue for sending automated unsubscribe emails in the first place. It's smart to purge your subscriber lists of folks who aren't opening your email lists, because low open rates can seriously hurt email deliverability.

14) Paperless Post

When you think of "holiday email marketing," your mind might jump straight to Christmas, but there are other holidays sprinkled throughout the rest of the year that you can create campaigns around. (Download these email marketing planning templates to keep yourself organized throughout the year.)

Take the email below from Paperless Post, for example. I love the header of this email: It provides a clear call-to-action that includes a sense of urgency. Then, the subheader asks a question that forces recipients to think to themselves, "Wait, when is Mother's Day again? Did I buy Mom a card?" Below this copy, the simple grid design is both easy to scan and quite visually appealing. Each card picture is a CTA in and of itself -- click on any one of them, and you'll be taken to a purchase page.

15) Stitcher

As humans, we tend to crave personalized experiences. So when emails appear to be created especially for you, you feel special -- you're not just getting what everyone else is getting. You might even feel like the company sending you the email knows you in some way, and that it cares about your preferences and making you happy.

That's why I love on-demand podcast/radio show app Stitcher's "Recommended For You" emails. I tend to listen to episodes from the same podcast instead of branching out to new ones. But Stitcher wants me to discover (and subscribe to) all the other awesome content it has -- and I probably wouldn't without this encouragement.

I think this email also makes quite a brilliant use of responsive design. The colors are bright, and it's not too hard to scroll and click -- notice the CTAs are large enough for me to hit with my thumbs. Also, the mobile email actually has features that make sense for recipients who are on their mobile device. Check out the CTA at the bottom of the email, for example: The "Open Stitcher Radio" button prompts the app to open on your phone.

These are just some of our favorite emails. Don't just follow best practice when it comes to your marketing emails. Every email you send from your work email address also can be optimized to convert. Try out our free email signature generator now, andcheck out some more of our favorite HubSpot marketing email examples.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2013 and has since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.