#on another note why does this blog have over 4000 followers

[sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes]

TSS compilations need to stop popping up in my reccomended I don't want to be back in the fandom 3 years after I left in the year of our lord 2024 I think my brain would explode

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

10 things finishing my 10th book taught me

Hey People of Earth!

(I cannot believe I typed the title of this post!)

Today, I’m going to be sharing 10 things finishing my 10th book taught me, which means--as of 2:30 this morning, I have finished writing my tenth novel, aka MOTH WORK. I’ve written posts like this for my 7th, 8th, and 9th novels as well!

Enjoy this note no one asked me to write but that I wrote because I was sad: 

I introduced this project on this blog back in June, but actually started it in the notes app of my iPhone (iconic) sometime in January of 2019. At this time, my mental health was *lackin* as I was stressed and in my final months of high school. I needed something to cheer me up, and so Moth Work became a place where I could dump my “bad writing” and also have fun. For more context, you can read more about Moth Work in my various writing updates HERE. 

I didn’t intend for this project to become a novel, but thought I’d write it as a longer “for fun” story (prospective word count was 5k words). I chipped away at it for a few months, but didn’t really start picking it up as a serious project until around May/June. It was only once summer vacation hit that I, under the advice of my therapist to have a “reach goal” for the summer, decided to say fuck it!! I shall write this as a novel (prospective word count now 50k words). This novel has seen me graduate high school + almost finish my first year of university, and I’m so excited to share all the wonderful things I learned while writing it!

1. It is totally okay to take your “guilty pleasures” seriously. 

I was in a mega dilemma writing this book. I’d wrapped up writing my ninth novel just after starting this project, and felt a need to write something that was more “serious”. Though I’m an advocate for writing what you want, when you want, even I struggled not to feel like I was wasting my time writing a project that didn’t have very much literary/craft merit (in my eyes, this changed eventually). 

I am here to tell you--do NOT let anyone, including yourself, shame you out of writing what you like. Allow yourself to let loose and write “bad” things, and remember you don’t have to feel guilty/ashamed for writing stuff that seems “juvenile” or “bad”.

2. Processes change--embrace this.

I took about 4000 different approaches writing this book, and though I really wanted to stick to one (outlining, pantsing), eventually, I let my process be what it wanted to be. For example, I am a pantser and began this novel pantsing. Very quickly, I realized I needed an outline because I could not keep track of events (this book begins very plot-oriented). But, pre-determining events that would happen eventually stopped working as I began feeling constrained, and so I settled for outlining as I went so I could keep track of plot points. 

I outlined 10 of the 15 chapters like this before I sort of... stopped doing this (though I will go back and fill it in just for future reference)! I went back to full-blown pantsing in the last four or so chapters, as what I’d planned would NOT pan out--and I think it’s so important to let your process be what it wants to be. Sometimes this book needed some planning--sometimes it really didn’t. This flexibility has really allowed me to be in touch with my projects more, and really listen to them/understand what it is they need. 

3. Sometimes plans change. Don’t be afraid to follow your gut.

I did not plan for Moth Work to be a novel. But as the project developed, so did its final form. My gut was telling me what I needed to do (continue writing), and another example of this is when I sporadically made this a dual point of view book! I’ve never written a full-length dual POV manuscript, and haven’t written dual POV since I was 12, but I didn’t let that stop me from doing what I knew in my gut, was what the book needed. 

I want to emphasize here--sometimes the vision you imagine changes. Allow this change to happen if you feel it’s right, even if it’s scary. I feel I’ve grown a lot as a writer by just allowing this of myself! It’s easy to beat yourself up for not following your plan, and I did this a lot. Understanding that sometimes plans turn into other plans turn into other plans etc, is the most freeing thing you can do for your writing!

4. Write what makes you happy!

This project began as a means to increase my serotonin lmaooo and I think sometimes as writers, we forget that yes, art is hard, but writing what you like can make that difficulty just a little more tolerable. This book started toiling toward disaster mode for a few chapters in the middle, and I really was not happy writing it. You can feel the difference in the chapters when I felt comfortable writing, versus when I struggled because I felt I “had to”. And so I took a step back and re-evaluated. Since this was not working/not making me happy, what would? This question solved my problems (not easily, but lead me on the right path). The artist! does not! have to! suffer! 

Sometimes problems occur, and critically thinking through them is vital. I’m not saying just to do whatever every time something doesn't work because this isn’t a shortcut. However, my point is not to be afraid to change things up and write what will make you happier and help you finish the book if you feel that’s what you need. I wanted to write a cheesy romance about two boys who both need to chill, and so though I could’ve written something else, I wrote this because it genuinely made me happier! And I love that about this book!

5. Things can take longer than you expect. You’re not a bad writer because of this.

Y’ALL. I wanted to write 50k words of this book over one summer. One month! One! Month! Lots of folks can do this, but I did not! In fact, I hit 50k this month, which is half a year after I projected. 

I think a lot of us constitute speed to being a good writer, and while speed and being a good writer can coexist, speed is not necessarily a determining factor in whether you can write or not! This book took me just over a year from when I started it (nine months from when I took it on as a full-time project), and while sure, I could’ve written it faster, I let it develop as it needed, and wrote it when I felt I could. I am not a professional writer with deadlines (that’s different)! While you gotta put in the time to improve, I think you also gotta look out for yourself! Use your gut, and take your time if that’s what you need!

6. Craft and play can coexist.

This took me so long to grasp, and I still struggle with this today! Craft and play can coexist. Say it with me y’all: craft and play can coexist!!

My manifesto for Moth Work initially was to have it be my dumping ground for shitty writing. While this took the pressure off initially, I then felt like I was regressing in my craft (which was untrue, I just didn’t realize it at the time). So, I decided to begin taking the craft aspect of this book very seriously, trying to write polished, delicious prose (every! time!) and the fact of the matter is that often, this did not happen. 

I beat myself up over this! I was like: Rachel, 16-year-old you was pumping out better prose than this, what’s up? And I put so much pressure on myself to perfect the writing, even though this was only ever meant to be a “for funsies” project. Eventually, I came to understand that, okay, I really do want this to be a for funsies project, but I also want to enjoy re-reading it and not criticizing every aspect of it. I then began incorporating a few passes of line edits after drafting a chapter, until eventually, I stopped circling back to chapters to line-edit them altogether. You don’t have to be perfect on the first draft!

You also don’t have to sacrifice craft to have fun, just as the opposite is true. This book taught me a lot about finding this balance, something I’ve lacked in my writing process for years!

7. Your writing styles can differ from book-to book!

I couldn’t understand why my prose in this book felt “thin” (aka awful in my eyes), why the only thing I felt capable of describing was literally everything shining in some sort of way (glinting, glimmering, glowing lool) or overzealous descriptions of the moon. It was only about a month ago that I realized, after making a breakthrough with my litfic novel Houses With Teeth, that Moth Work was not sucking the life out of my prose--it was just a different book with a different style of writing.

And this makes sense! I was writing with two different characters, in two different perspectives, in a completely different POV than I’m used to writing in the long-form (third-present). Of course things were going to be different! I felt a bit silly realizing this, lol, because it felt so obvious, but I struggled with this for a long time (you can even see bits of this struggle in my video Problems I’m having with writing + solutions). 

I thought I had regressed to being a bad writer because of this book, when in reality, the fault was on my inability to stop comparing a very different book to my very different past works. Sometimes you don’t even realize you’re working against yourself! Acknowledging this, and then letting it go was the best thing I did for this book and it allowed me to draft it much faster toward the end!

8. Writing is NOT linear.

I spoke about this in my Problems video, and I honestly was nervous to see how this hot take would be received. However, I was surprised to see that some folks thought this hot take was actually not a bad one, so I’m re-iterating it here!

I think, because we writers are often always practicing writing, we assume everything we write will be better than the last. Honestly, I feel like at least for me, this was my goal--to always be working linearly in terms of progress. It wasn’t until this book that I really came to realize that this is just not how writing works. The easiest way for me to compare this, also as a visual artist, is to say that sure, practice does make perfect, but I have sketches from last week that are worse than sketches I drew two years ago. Why is it that we expect writing to always be linearly better from one project to the next? My answer is that this is just not how writing works. I wrote some of my favourite paragraphs years ago, and may be embarrassed of a paragraph I write tomorrow. 

I got caught up in this idealism of “I must be writing better each time I write” because I thought this was the most logical progression of my writing craft, but realizing that actually!! progress jumps around, was so important for me. Some days I’m better at writing description, some days I write dialogue worse than I did when I was fourteen! It’s okay not to always be uphill. 

Y’all, if I step down a wrung on a ladder and then step up four the very next day, that’s how it’s going to be! Practice intrinsically will make you grow as a writer, but it doesn't mean everything you write has to be better than what you wrote before (though this can be the case, which is awesome). I feel like I don’t see this spoken about enough, so I do want to know if this is relevant to any of you or if this point is bologna!!!

9. The story wants what it wants.

This is heavily in line with some previous points, but is something that was driven home for me while writing this novel. If I can give one piece of advice, it would be to let the story be what it wants to be. If my story wants to be a YA fantasy trilogy, but I’m trying to force it to be a standalone pretentious character-driven coming-of-age saga (calling myself out), my writing may suffer! Of course, some writers can take control over their story and execute their initial vision perfectly! I am not! one of those! people!

I’m a firm believer that sometimes the story wants what it wants, and it’s often your best bet to follow this path. Write intuitively--if you know something feels wrong, or contrarily, feels right, follow that path. 

I did not know how to end this book. I’d had an ending planned for a few months, though it eventually fell apart in the last few weeks. I didn’t know what I would do instead, but last night when I was drafting the last two chapters of the book, I felt in my gut that I was heading to the end. I wanted to stop writing for the night--I almost did, but instead, I kept at it because I knew I was on a roll toward the finish line, and I felt compelled to follow my instinct. This is how I landed at the end I wrote in, and it was a completely organic process.

Planning out your story is a great thing to do, and I’m not here to start a debate about whether plotting/pantsing is better because they’re both amazing!! But for me, it’s important to let the story breathe, and let it eventually grow into the shoes it chooses for itself. Taking a step back so I could stop trying to mould this story into a place it didn't want to be is probably the best thing I could’ve done for it because I finished the book. Any process is a good process if it gets you to the end healthily, and for me, allowing the story to be what it wanted to be and allowing it to take the lead helped me get there.

10. It’s okay to love your story.

I’m going to end this post on another hot take because it is probably what I primarily felt early this morning as I typed up the last paragraph of this book. I’m not going to lie--I cried finishing this book lol. I ached finishing this book. It *hurt* to finish this book. I didn’t want to finish this book. What I wanted to do was shut my computer, and pretend the end was not coming, and come back four months from now to finish it, maybe. I wanted to hang onto my story because it’s my story and I love it!

Y’all, this book is cringey. It’s melodramatic, juvenile in some places, comically serious in others. But it’s mine, and I love it. Sometimes I’m ashamed of the writing in this book--sometimes I think I’m getting worse. But it’s my story, and I love! it! 

I think so many of us want to please other people! Or maybe that’s just me lol!! oh boy!! There were so many times I wanted to give up on this project because I thought others would find it cringey in places I too, thought were cringey, but simultaneously loved.

I’ve written for other people a lot in the past, and sometimes those ‘other people’ are just me--many critical versions of me. Don’t forget about how much you love a story (for its quirks maybe, its clichés, its “bad writing”) before you finish it. A first draft only comes once and finishing a first draft is so wonderful, and even more so when you love that story. We got enough hate y’all, lets give our stories some love. 

So that’s it for this post! I still have five chapters to write writing updates for, so the party ain’t over til it’s over!!!

For my obligatory Oscar’s speech! A special thanks to @sarahkelsiwrites​​ for reading about these trash people for five years, and for enthusiastically contributing to their trash decisions (#do it for the tea)! And for reassuring me that the prose in this book is actually not as bad as I believe because I would never have finished this book without that pep talk lol. To @imdisappointed​​ for helping me crack some of the toughest plot problems!! You talk me out of problems and it’s magic! And to my MOM @shaelinwrites​​ (for being my mom) and also for all the kind/insightful things you say! Y’all get me through it!!!

And of course!! I thank all of YOU for following this journey of drafting Moth Work. My community on here never fails to amaze me, and I’m a big stan of you all!! Please tag me in your stuff--I’d love to read about what you’re writing!

Here’s to finishing a book, but more importantly, to hoping I don’t make Moth Work a series lmaoo!!! *pops confetti*

--Rachel

[my-computer-tuition]

How to Do Affiliate Marketing

It could be written “How can I tell folk about this new product or service and earn money doing it”

Remember back in school, when you delivered the morning paper to the neighbourhood, sometimes there would be a flyer from the local takeaway inserted in the paper. Or, as happened to me,  the circus came to town and someone from the show turned up at  my TV shop one morning , He offered me a few free tickets if I would hand out the circus flyers to all my customers and put a circus poster in the window.

How many times have you noticed some new product that your neighbour bought and you asked about where you can get one, or maybe the other way around – “hey, nice sneakers, where did you buy those?”

These are all examples , that are or could be used to gain a commission or “kick back” for increasing sales. All of the above of course are done “Off line” . With the internet came the opportunity to sell to the whole world , getting huge audiences to look at your products.

So Online you first look for an affiliate program. Many big shops like Wallmart, B&Q, Amazon have affiliate programs that are free to join.  Some of them outsource the affiliate program admin to Affiliate Specialists like Affiliate Window or CJ Affiliates. Usually if you Google “affiliate program” + name of the store, you’ll be able to find it easily.

Once you are a member, they will give you your own Affiliate Link . You simply promote, including this link in your articles and Adverts  some product or service belonging to the owner in exchange for a commission, once you successfully make a sale.

To make the process better, promote your article and test versions of  the Ads until you find the best one.

Actually there is another simpler form of Affiliate marketing, called CPA (cost per action) where you only have to provide LEADS, not even make the sale!  Very easy, can be very lucrative. More on this later

Examples of Affiliate Marketing

These are  easy to find  all over the web. Ever seen those boxes at the end of a magazine blog article?

At first glance they look like articles, but of course these are ads, more exactly they are Native Ads. They don’t stand out as Ads, plus the headlines are usually extraordinary, making them highly clickable.  Advertisers are getting really sneaky. They can check your IP address and include some relevant content, lets say you are in Kentucky USA, this can be made to trigger a Headline “ Kentucky Woman First to Win Over $4,000,000 in lottery” or “ How Kentucky Woman makes $4000 a day doing this…”

I wouldn’t advocate such things, but just notice them next time you’re reading online, you will be amazed how often it happens.

Whats the Purpose of an Advert?

The answer  most people give is “ to sell stuff” . No I would argue the purpose is simply to get your attention. The selling is done on the bridge page and Sellers own product page or VSL ( video sales letter) which is a very popular method at the moment.  One of the most successful marketers today Gerry Crammer makes simple images like hand drawn faces or anything out-of-the-ordinary a giant squid on a beach for example and is responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in sales.

What Kind of Ad Works Best?

Just do what is already working.  Pioneers are great, but you only hear about the few that are successful, not the majority, who lost a ton of money trying a new method , then gave up.

What kind of Product is Best to Promote?

Sell what is selling NOW. Here we will have to do some research. Google trends is a good tool to check for product popularity. One fairly easy strategy is to follow the native ads, in the example click through to the end, find out which products are being sold. There is one simple truth here, no one pays for ads, continuously, unless they are making money.

Next, find the products home page. Look up the amount of traffic ( web visitors ) that page is getting, one great , free resource to use is similarweb.com, for which you can sign up for a free account. Type in your product page address and see how much traffic they are getting, where it is being referred from ( eg Facebook ads, Bing Ads….) and what country are these visitors from. You now have all that is required  to start a successful ad campaign going.

How Does Affiliate Marketing Actually Work?

This is one example scenario, our user is on Facebook, sees an ad for some products he is interested in, he clicks the ad and is taken to an Affiliate bridge Page where there are more details, like price, size, color etc finally he clicks to buy and is taken to Amazon on a link which has our Affiliate ID on it, so Amazon recognises our sale and rewards us with a commission.  There are simpler ways and more sophisticated ways to make an affiliate link, but this is the basic model that most marketers use.

Direct Linking

Why bother going to a bridge page I hear you ask. Why not go straight to the Offer-Page from the Ad? Well in most advertising scenarios, the ads are seen on big platforms like Facebook, Google, YouTube etc. They all have their own Terms and Conditions one of which is usually No Affiliate Links. In most cases it would be ok, if you are promoting your own book, for instance. But promoting slimming pills – definitely would not, in fact Facebook has become very intolerant of any such links and is very likely to ban your ad account permanently! Anything to do with weight loss, any images even slightly hinting at too much exposed skin is also likely to be banned. Facebooks ad industry is huge and they are top  dog…. at the moment and they wield a powerful sword over their advertisers.  Advertisers  love FB because they have so  much demographic information available to laser target the potential customers.

I note that This month saw Australia put a limitation on Facebook as regards ads , so this might be an indicator of the way things will go in the future.

So that is basically why we should use a bridge page. The linking to the product then takes place OFF Facebooks page, so your account is safe again. The bridge page should be totally congruent with the subject , so a  slimming product could be linked from within a Bridge Page about “How to Maintain good  health when on a diet” for example. This avoids direct mention of anything medical or Weight loss oriented.

Whats in a link?

The links take our visitor to the next place, so part of the link is an HTML ‘anchor’ which has the web address in it. The rest is usually unique and has our Affiliate ID, this is sometimes disguised, just in case someone tampers with the link to divert the sale commission. Eg.

Here the offer vendor is Clickbank and our ID is hidden along with the product code in the bit before “.hop.” This link has an extra tracking section ( tid ) on the end, used to distinguish this offer from other offers.  We can make use of this when setting up our tracking software.

Affiliate Disclosure

The FTC Federal Trade Commission requires that you disclose the fact that you make a commission with each sale on your site, so make sure it is there. As everyone is obliged to do this, its no longer a disadvantage to see this on a website.

Which  Platform is Best for Promoting my Products

This depends on your own preference in most cases, although videos on YouTube are superb for anything visual or explaining “how to do…..” if it’s a practical matter like component assembly. However, videos can be included in a blog easily, so you get the benefit of the visitor being able to skip through to the part that he or she is interested in , quickly and include a lot of detail in graphs, lists, links to other sites, images, coding, downloads and many other things.

YouTube’s algorithm is simpler than Google’s. YouTube videos will rank more easily if you include the right tags, tags are a big help and the main way YouTube searches work. If  you are going to use YouTube as your platform, install Tube Buddy or Vid  IQ in your browser. Either of these will allow you to find out which tags are in all your competitors videos.

Although YouTube videos rank quicker, at the moment Google is still  putting blogs in the majority of the top 10 for each search  result (serp) . It is well worth the effort of writing many articles, which will  rank for many search terms and you will appear in multiple sets of serps for your search term or keyword.

Relevance is the key. If you want to sell tents, write about all sorts of tents, tents for high temperature, low temperature, windy conditions, waterproof materials used in tents, price points on your selection of tents, durability  of tents , cover the subject thoroughly.

These 3 links give you the easiest way to make an insertable text link, Image link or both. Write your article reviewing the item an insert the Text+Image link at the end

This is the html code, the image is served by Amazon’s own server together with the correct price.

You can see, similar to the previous example, the affiliate ID xyzmarketing and the product code ( asin) = B083V589M5

Even if you don’t use Amazon directly, many affiliates  have stopped since the recent downturn in commissions from Amazon, at the height of the first Covid lockdown, Amazons profits rose tremendously and they decided they did not need so many affiliates. Amazon does provide us with amazing research tools though.  Their products are arranged so you can easily compare similar ones and then promote them direct through the manufacturers own affiliate programs . Amazons Best Selling category, is so useful to pick good  products to promote. Amazons reviews often tell of  particularly good or bad lines.

How to start Affiliate Marketing without investment using Free Traffic

Is that a real thing?  Yes, but for long term products.  All of this article so far has relied on paid Advertising- which works instantly and you get the results instantly.

It takes so long to get a website ranking well enough – in the top 10 on page one, for a search term. That is will only work for long term things. One exception to this is Pinterest traffic. It IS possible to build up a Pinterest account fast, so you’re getting that traffic flowing. But it only works in certain niches , great for USA traffic and feminine type products , although this too is changing slowly. I wrote an article outlining a Pinterest strategy on this blog.

My own first success was with Halogen Ovens. I built up  a website with a page per review plus comparison tables and other pages devoted to maintenance and recipes. It became very popular with several number one positions for various search terms. All the products were from Amazon  making research very easy and quick. I even expanded the site to cover UK and US products.  One  month of solid work on the site, gave me  a good few years of income, it still earns a little even now 6 years  on.

So – don’t expect anything other than evergreen products like kitchen appliances, household cleaners and maybe financial products to last long  enough to make it worthwhile building up a blog.

Free traffic is marvellous. For beginners in IM it is usually the chosen route, as mistakes with anyone inexperienced with Ad accounts can be very costly. Also the results with free traffic from Google will last a long time ; But with a lot of products changing rapidly, ads are really the only way to get your affiliate funnel up and running fast  enough to make a good return.  The reason many big Aff marketers use funnel builders, rather than the basic wordpress editor, is because they need the pages up very quickly to take advantage of new offers.

Does Affiliate Marketing Still Work

Yes, absolutely. Many marketers are very successful once they find their own favourite niches and have some experience. Four, Five and even Six figure per year profits from Aff Mktg is totally possible

[alwaysaprille]

anyway...

I took a screenshot because L/xa’s name wasn’t properly edited. I originally wasn’t going to answer this because it’s obviously meant to incite drama, but it occurred to me that I’ve never actually answered this question on my blog at all and I do want to have this discussion. 

(This will be the first and only time I answer an ask like this as an FYI). This post is long, over 4000 words with this intro, so I’ve put it under the cut. It contains helpful bolding and italics as well as pictorial representation as further canon evidence. Happy reading!!!

1st: Let’s be clear that there was no love lost between L/xa and certain (relatively large) sections of her people. In fact, the show started planting the seeds of this in the episode following her betrayal of the Arkadians:

Lincoln: “How could you do this?”

Indra: “I swore loyalty to this commander.”

Lincoln: “She left our allies to be slaughtered. She dishonors us all.”

Indra: “And your disobedience dishonors you.”

Lincoln: “Why are you here, Indra?”

Indra: “Because you are also Trikru.”

Lincoln: “I can't just let her die.”

Indra: “Under the terms of the truce, the lands surrounding the mountain are forbidden. If you violate this, L/xa will never take you back. Octavia made her choice. Now you make yours.”

Episode 2x16 (Blood Must Have Blood Pt. 2)-This is the scene where Indra frees Lincoln so that he may go back and help the Arkadians in their fight. Lincoln (who most of your fandom seems to agree was a pretty decent guy) very clearly states L/xa dishonors (which here is a verb that means to bring shame or disgrace on) their way of life. He leaves his Clan behind even knowing that he will never again be accepted by his people, to return and help his Arkadian allies. 

His leaving in 2x16 is directly responsible for the kill order ( Bellamy in 3x01: “We all do, but until the Commander (here a proper noun always referring to L/xa-as it has since Season 1) agrees to lift the kill order on you, you're more trouble than you're worth.”) that we find L/xa has placed on him in Season 3. 

Next we head into Episode 3x01 (Wanheda, Pt 1) for a specific conversation between Indra, Monty, Kane and Bellamy:

Bellamy: “We know there’s a kill order. Your people are big on those.”

Indra: “It's not a kill order. It's a bounty. Clarke's a symbol. She's known as Wanheda... the Commander of Death.”

 Bellamy: “The Ice Nation guys we killed asked about Wanheda. They're looking for Clarke. Why?”

Indra: “My people believe that when you kill someone, you get their power. Kill Wanheda, and you command death.”

Kane: “She's just one girl.”

Indra:  “So was the Commander. What Clarke did at Mount Weather weakened her. The Ice Nation is emboldened. Their queen wants Clarke's power. If her people believe she has it, she'll break the coalition and start a war. I can't let that happen.” This conversation (which, again, happens in the first episode of the Season) very clearly establishes that L/xa is the one searching for Clarke (Something that’s even further established when we discover that Roan-the first bounty hunter we meet-was working for L/xa the entire time).It also establishes the reason why L/xa was looking for Clarke-she needed to keep Clarke, or more accurately Wanheda, out of the Ice Nation’s hands. 

And why, exactly did the Ice Nation want Clarke? It isn’t-as I’m sure some of you believe-because of some sort of poetic parallel between Clarke and Costia. Remember, as of right now, no one knows that Clarke and L/xa ever had any romantic inclinations towards one another, because L/xa betrayed her hours after their first kiss (which they shared alone in a tent). Nia only wanted to get her hands on Clarke to kill her in the hopes that she would gain enough power to break the coalition (which-may I point out-could only be accomplished by having L/xa voluntarily abdicate or by killing her.) Now why, if Nia wanted L/xa to step down, would she be searching for the Commander of Death?

So, to simplify: L/xa wanted to get her hands on Clarke first so that the power of Wanheda would be under her control. Make no mistake, if Bellamy or Monty had been identified as Wanheda (as was their right, because Clarke didn’t pull the lever alone and couldn’t have without Monty) L/xa would have sent bounty hunters out for either one of them instead of Clarke. Taking Wanheda was always about insulating her own power as Commander-not keeping Clarke safe.

To further establish the above stated point, L/xa literally says this in 3x02 (Wanheda, Pt. 2):

L/xa: “I'm sorry. It had to be this way. I had to ensure Wanheda didn't fall into the hands of the Ice Queen. War is brewing, Clarke. I need you.”

In 3x03 (Ye Who Enter Here) Clarke and L/xa have a conversation that once again highlights the point I’ve already made three times over:

L.xa: “I'm not just letting you go back to your people. I want something more. I want your people to become my people. I'm offering Skaikru the chance to join my coalition, become the 13th Clan. No one would dare to move against you because that would be moving against me.”

This is not L/xa trying to protect Clarke. This is L/xa trying to protect herself. Historically the only people who have been making moves against L/xa have been L/xa herself (The Commander in Season 1 who ordered every single last attack on the Delinquents was L/xa, let’s not forget) and Mt. Weather-all of whom Clarke killed. In refusing to allow Clarke to return to her people with no strings attached, L/xa reveals her hand. She needs Clarke’s “power” as Wanheda-and Clarke calls her on it two seconds later:

L.xa: “Join me. Bow before me, and your people will be safe.”

Clarke: “Bow before you? You don't give a damn about my people. I know why you're here. I made you look weak at Mount Weather, and now the Ice Nation is exploiting that (Oh, look, almost a word for word quote from Indra in Episode 1-see above). Well, if you want the power of Wanheda, kill me. Take it. Otherwise, go float yourself because I will never bow to you.” The scene immediately following this is L/xa kicking the Azgeda ambassador out of the Polis Tower window (which again-you all romanticize and say L/xa did because he threatened Clarke). However, Clarke was safely secured in Polis, a fact that L/xa was well aware of and what L/xa says after she kicks the ambassador out of the window only serves to show us what her real purpose is:

“Would anyone else care to question my decisions? Good. Then let's begin.”

This was a show of power. L/xa knows her people don’t believe in her. They think she is weak. To show them otherwise, she kicks out the only person in the room who is openly defiant of her.

Now, I’m going to show you one of the best card in my deck:

Look at all the people in this shot. If you count them, you get twelve. When the camera focused in on individual faces, you see the faces of the ambassadors who were in the throne room at the beginning of this episode. Now...refresh my memory, how many ambassadors were there before L/xa made the Arkadians the 13th Clan? Oh, that’s right. I think there were twelve. Which means, that pictured above, you have every single last ambassador in Polis, save one(Clarke), who wanted L/xa out. (Note-although Echo, Nia and Emerson are in this scene, they are not present until after this opening shot is shown.)

Now, just in case you think they just want L/xa removed from her position, but somehow kept alive, let me give you the dialogue from the scene:

Echo: “Ambassadors. Make way. I have a message for the Queen. My Queen.”

Nia: “Well?”

Echo: “You got your war. Thanks to the last Mountain Man.”

Emerson: “What about Clarke?”

Echo: “By the Commander's side, as predicted. Your son is a prisoner.”

Nia: “Not for long. Soon, he'll be free, and L/xa will be dead.”

Now, let’s breakdown what this dialogue tells us: The strike on Mt. Weather was a deliberate attack on L/xa and Clarke, not the Arkadians at large. The Mt. Weather explosion served a tri-fold purpose:

1. It creates tension between Arkadia and the Grounders. 

2. It creates tension between Azgeda and the Commander (in an attempt to force L/xa into the war that she was trying to avoid). 

3. It allows Emerson a small measure of revenge against Clarke. She killed all of his people, he killed hers and prevented her people from living in/taking advantage of his people’s supplies. 

It tells us that Azgeda seeking Clarke was also a deliberate ploy:

1. “....as predicted.” is a clear statement. Echo and Nia knew that in threatening to kill Wanheda (and absorb her power), the Commander would be forced to bring Clarke to her to keep her and her power out of Azgeda hands. 

It tells us that Nia and all eleven of the other original Arkadian ambassadors (after L/xa’s kicking) want L/xa dead. Not removed from her position. D.E.A.D.

This is episode 3x03. Two episodes before episode 3x05 (the episode in which Bellamy and 9 other people massacre the Grounder army-which is what y’all seem to think was the inciting incident for L/xa’s death.) 

We’re going to make a pit stop at 3x04:

Titus: “Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

Nia: “I need no defense. She (L/xa) does. Today is judgment day. I call for a vote of no confidence.”

Titus: “Take this queen to meet her fate.”

Some Ambassador: “Not so fast. Commander no longer.”

Some Other Ambassador: “Commander no longer.”

Some Lady Ambassador: “Commander no longer.”

Titus: “Take them away, too! L/xa, please execute these traitors...”

L/xa: “Let her make her move.” Literally every other ambassador: “Commander no longer.”

L/xa’s people wanted her dead before Bellamy ever stepped foot on the killing fields of Hakeldama. L/xa killing Nia and placing Roan on the throne may have solved one problem (Nia) but it did not fix the fact that the other ambassadors didn’t want her in her position either. They had 4 entire episodes devoted to that fact and y’all choose to ignore all the evidence that points to L/xa being a shitty leader so y’all can blame the MOC for her death. But I’ll keep going.

In 3x05 (Hakeldama-the very episode you all love to site as the reason for L/xa’s death), we have the following conversation between Clarke, L/xa and Indra:

L/xa: “So tell us, Clarke, how does this end? Have you come up with a way to save your people yet again?”

Clarke: “No. Only you can do that. What happened here was an act of war. Your army was here to help us, and my people slaughtered them. You have every right to respond, every right to wipe us out, or you can change the way you do things.”

 Indra: “Why should she change? Blood must have blood.”

Clarke: “Really? Because from where I stand, the only way that ends is with everyone dead. So what kind of leader do you want to be, the kind who kills every chance she gets because that's your way or the kind who shows the world a better way?”

L/xa: “You consider letting a massacre go unavenged a better way?”

 Clarke: “If it ends a cycle of violence, yes. If it brings about peace, yes. Someone has to take the first step. Let it be you. You say you want peace. Everything you've done was to achieve that, yet here we stand on the brink of another war, a war you could stop.”

 Indra: “Commander, you can't seriously be considering this.”

L/xa: “I'm not considering it. I'm doing it.”

Indra: “Heda, please.”

L.xa: “Indra, our people act as if war is easier than peace. If that's so, should we not try and achieve the more difficult goal?”

Indra: “Polis will not support you. Titus... “

L/xa: Titus is my subject. They're all my subjects. Do you say they will defy me? Will you defy me?”

Indra: “No, Heda. I will not.”

L/xa: “Then let it be known. Blood must not have blood.” And here we have the actual reason why L/xa died. I helpfully bolded the literal foreshadowing of her murderer for you. L/xa died because she turned her back on decades of Grounder tradition. And she didn’t do that because of Bellamy. In fact her reaction to the discovery of the massacre was this:

L/xa: “Send riders. I call upon the armies of the 12 Clans. In a day's time, we lay waste to Arkadia and everyone within its walls.”  

It is at Clarke’s urging that she decides to take up the mantle of “Blood Must Not Have Blood.” If she would have done what her people demanded, what Indra told her to do, instead of following Clarke’s idea (an eighteen-year old, actual alien from space who had no vested interest (or respect for) in Grounder culture) and laid waste to Arkadia, she would have been hailed a conquering hero-especially if she returned with Wanheda in her hand. 

But I’ll continue, on to 3x06 (Bitter Harvest):

L/xa: “I saw their deaths... at war, at the hands of an assassin.”

Clarke: “It was just a nightmare.”

L/xa: “No. No. It's a warning. They think I'm betraying their legacy. Jus drein, jus daun has always, always been the way of our people.”

Clarke: “Listen to me. A cease fire is not a betrayal. What you did on that battlefield stopped a war. Your legacy will be peace.” Again, helpfully bolding the foreshadowing. L/xa is clearly stating that she has been shown a vision (although we know how the Flame works thanks to Becca-and what the Flame does is read and decipher probability.) L/xa was shown the deaths of the previous Commanders.The last portion (at the hands of an assassin) a direct compare/contrast to the way she would die just one episode later. The Flame was telling her that her own actions in betraying “Jus Drein, Jus Daun” would be responsible for her death-something L/xa literally says (again-the bolded!).

And once again, it’s Clarke, a girl who knows nothing of Grounder tradition and law and cares for them not at all (unless it is in benefit to her own people), who tells her that she did the right thing. There are no Grounders who agree with her. That is important. Continuing:

Titus: “I believe he deserves death.”

L.xa: “She can speak for herself, Titus.”

Clarke: “Titus is right.”

Titus: “You see? It is human nature to need vengeance. Only once satiated can there be peace. That is our way.”

L/xa: “So blood must not have blood applies only when it is my people who bleed.”

Clarke: “That was about stopping a war. This is about finishing one. I'm sorry, but if you want my advice, I agree with Titus. He deserves to die for what he did.”

L.xa: “I'm not looking for advice. I'm looking for a decision. He was gifted to you. Crime he stands charged with is against your people. So what will it be, then, Clarke... banishment from our lands forever or death by 49 cuts from your hand? You have till sundown to decide.” And more proof that Clarke does not care about Grounder law unless it suits her needs (a fact which L/xa clearly points out in this very scene). As long as Blood Must Not Have Blood was useful to her, Clarke was going to ride the gravy train all the way home. 

“Now April,” you may be saying, “Clarke decided not to kill Emerson and that wasn’t in her favor (or Arkadia’s) so that must mean she values Grounder law and tradition.” And I will again say: “You’re wrong!” (and provide you with more facts:

First this bit of dialogue from Clarke’s conversation with Emerson:

Emerson: “I don't want mercy. I want revenge. I want you to suffer the same way that I've suffered. You can kill me, Clarke. You can never escape what you did. My pain ends today! Yours has just begun!” And when she leaves him, we find Clarke in conversation with Titus (who has surprised her in her room-again more foreshadowing!):

Titus: “I appreciate the predicament you're in, Clarke. I do. After convincing L/xa not to avenge the massacre of our army, it must be hard for you to choose to take your own revenge. Perhaps now you realize how difficult this new policy will be for our people to accept.”

Clarke: “This has nothing to do with what happened to your army. Emerson is guilty. Wiping out my people for the crimes of a few is not justice.”

Titus: “Did you not wipe out his people for what a few of them did to yours? You're a leader, Clarke. L/xa listens to you. Help me to protect her. Blood must not have blood is folly. Our people will not accept it, and I fear... I fear it will get her killed.”

Clarke: “I can't help you do something that leads to war against my people.”

Titus: “Then we're at an impasse.” Again, bolding the helpful sections. Let’s discuss them: Once again Titus spells out the reason L/xa will die (because Blood Must Not Have Blood is a change in tradition that the Grounder as a whole may not be willing to accept.) And what is Clarke’s defense? That the situation with Emerson is “different”. (Even though it’s not: Clarke, Bellamy and Monty killed everyone (almost 400 people) in Mt. Weather because of the actions of Dr. Tsing and Cage.  Pike and his Murder Co. killed 300 Grounders because of the actions of Azgeda). Titus rightfully calls her out on this (something which L/xa did earlier) and then: here’s the rub:

Titus clearly states that he is worried L/xa will die if she does not return to “Blood Must Have Blood” and he asks Clarke to protect her!!!!!

And Clarke says no. Clarke refuses to prioritize L/xa’s safety over that of her own people. I repeat, she knows (according to Titus-who is the Grounder’s holiest man-he is basically their Pope) that the Grounders do not like “Blood Must Not have Blood” and that he is afraid L/xa will die because of it. She knows that Titus does not like her and yet he was still willing to come and talk to her to save L/xa’s life and Clarke tells Titus “I can not do this thing that might save L/xa, but will doom my people.” Clarke chose her people over L/xa, the same choice she has been making since 3x03 when she bowed in front of L/xa.

Now, why is it important that Clarke says she can’t turn her back on “Blood Must Not Have Blood”? Well, I’ll take you right to this scene here:

L/xa: “We come together now, as we have countless times before, to watch a man die. Wanheda... vengeance is yours.”

Clarke: “No.”

And look at the faces in the crowd when she says no.

Clarke: “I don't know if your death would bring me peace. I just know I don't deserve it.”

Titus: “This man must die. If Skaikru will not take his life, then Heda will.”

L/xa: “Heda will speak for herself. Enough, Titus.”

 Emerson: “What the hell is this?”

Clarke:  “I wouldn't be killing you for what you've done. I'd be killing you for what I've done. I give this man his life. Jus Drein, no Jus Daun.”

And again the crowd is pissed:

L/xa: “Silence. The crimes of the Mountain can no be answered by one man.  Wanheda knows this. Her actions show us a promise for a new future, a world in which violence does not always answer violence, a world in which our children can flourish without the shadow of death. This prisoner is banished from my land. He will live, but he will live with the ghosts of those he has lost, haunted until the end of his days by the knowledge that he... is the last of his kind.”

Clarke: “May you live forever.”

Now we look at Emerson’s face:

and look at Clarke’s face right after:

What is life and death for L/xa was nothing more than a game for Clarke and she made a masterful move in this moment. In refusing to kill Emerson she has both saved her people and gotten her revenge against Emerson.

In not going with “Blood Must Have Blood” she prevents Titus, L/xa (and other Grounders) from using her actions as a motive to raze Arkadia and in forcing Emerson to live, she denies him the death (and opportunity to reunite with his family) he so clearly desires. 

And this is the moment that Titus decides to kill Clarke (which leads to L/xa’s death):

Titus decides to kill Clarke, because she allowed Emerson to live, even after he informed her that “Blood Must Not Have Blood” would likely cost L/xa her life. Because Titus loved L/xa and would have done anything to keep her safe. And you can’t even say that this moment is all because of the massacre, because it’s not! It all boils down to bad leadership on L/xa’s part:

1.If L/xa had never abandoned Arkadia at the Mountain, Clarke, Bellamy and Monty would never have had to pull the lever which irradiated the Mountain.

2.  If L/xa had not abandoned the Mountain, her people would not have had cause to label her dishonorable. 

3. If L/xa had not abandoned the Mountain, Clarke would not have been given the title of Wanheda.

4.  If L/xa had not abandoned the Mountain (therefore forcing Clarke, Bellamy and Monty to take out the Mountain, earning her the title of Wanheda and Emerson’s hatred) L/xa’s strength would not be in question. 

5. If L/xa had not abandoned the Mountain, Clarke, Bellamy and Monty wouldn’t have had to pull the lever, killing everyone inside including Emerson’s children, and resulting in Emerson’s need for vengeance against Clarke, which lead to Mt. Weather being blown up. 

6.  If L/xa’s strength were not in question, Nia would never have needed Emerson’s knowledge to blow up Mount Weather and would not have attempted to kidnap Wanheda.

7. If Clarke was not Wanheda, she would never have been in Polis in the first place. 

8.If L/xa’s strength were not in question, Nia would never have been able to sway 11 ambassadors to her side. 

9. If Nia had never been able to sway 11 ambassadors to her side, there never would have been the attempt at a unanimous vote for removal which led to a fight to the death.

10.  If L/xa had killed Roan and Nia (and any number of other Nia supporters-maybe even just declaring war on Azgeda outright), instead of appointing him to the throne, Roan would never have sent Emerson to Polis for Clarke after finding him in Azgeda territory.

11.  If Emerson had never been sent to Polis, Clarke would never have made the decision not to kill him.

12.  If Clarke had not made the aforementioned decision, Titus never would have decided to kill her.

13.  If Titus never decided to kill Clarke, L/xa wouldn’t have walked into the room upon hearing all of the commotion and been accidentally shot (which was sucky writing). 

And all because L/xa abandoned the Mountain in episode 2x15 (Blood Must Have Blood, Pt1)-a really interesting name when you consider that L.xa died because she was standing on “Blood Must not Have Blood”. 

So basically, long story short: L.xa died because she made shortsighted decisions. Also, she allowed a literal alien, with no respect or care for her culture or people outside of what they could do to save her own, influence her decisions, and turned her back on at least 40 yrs of tradition because of it. 

Short story even shorter: This is what happens when indigenous (coded) people let white people in to our societies. 

[9x07fiona]

tagged by @7x10mickey 🥰😘❤️ thank you lizzie

1. why did you choose your url?

because fiona in 9x07 is the love of my life and that episode is the start of one of her best storylines

2. any side blogs?

i have my second main @takkforingentingrt and from there i have @matteohno-schreibner

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

since 2015? 2014? i deleted all my old posts on my first account so i can’t go back and look

4. do you have a queue tag?

yep i’m boring and just use q cause it’s quick to type

5. why did you start your blog?

i started my first blog for many fandoms and then it turned into a sh*meless blog lmao, but all of that is deleted now 😌. i started this one because i’m not strong enough to stay away from this show 😭

6. why did you choose your pfp?

because she’s adorable! 💕

7. why did you choose your header?

because ian’s face when mickey says that he’ll marry him is easily in my top 5 favorite things, his entire face lights up! stop

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

this one because when new episodes came out people actually rbed stuff 😭

9. how many mutuals do you have?

no idea but they’re all amazing and i love them 💗

10. how many followers do you have?

who caresss, but i will say my old side blog before i switched over here has gained about 4000 p*rn bots since i left 😐 i wish i was exaggerating

11. how many people do you follow?

80

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

my whole blog

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

usually way too much except the past few days

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

an anon got mad at me for calling myself “a slut for casual affection” does that count? lmao

15. how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

i just don’t rb 🤷‍♀️

16. do you like tag games?

yeah! unless they require too much work lol

17. do you like ask games?

i like sending asks for ask games 😊

18. which of your mutuals do you think are tumblr famous?

wtf is tumblr famous, that doesn’t exist 😭

i think everyone has been tagged, but if not then please feel free to say i tagged you 🥰

[freedomfaucet-blog]

Entrepreneur, Alpha and BOD news I get feedback from many of our older subscribers that indicate a certain level of limited activity. This email hopefully will address some questions and some concerns for you old timers and Veretekk legacy members. Logging in. Many of you have not logged in...

http://markethive.tv/?p=462

Markethive's Entrepreneur Alpha and BOD news

Entrepreneur, Alpha and BOD news

I get feedback from many of our older subscribers that indicate a certain level of limited activity. This email hopefully will address some questions and some concerns for you old timers and Veretekk legacy members.

Logging in. Many of you have not logged in in years, some many months. Those of you that have depended upon Facebook for logging in, Facebook changed the rules and we had to set up a new API. What that means your current Facebook configuration will not work. You will have to log in with a different social account like LinkedIn, Gmail or Yahoo. If none of this is an option, you will have to depend on the LOST ACCOUNT RETRIEVAL link and follow the instructions.

Or just set up a new account. As we are revitalizing the new Markethive within the blockchain, old accounts not logged into beyond 6 months will be deleted soon.  

The Alpha accounts have been converted to ILP shares. ILP shares are the new asset of Markethive and now being in Phase two a full ILP share is selling at $15,000 per share. Your Alpha account(s) represent 10% of that share. Don’t know what this means? You will need to attend our Sunday meetings and ask us to explain our new crowdfunding strategy as we are still in a pre-launch in that regard. Phase one has sold out already with shares listed at $10,000. There are 4 phases of the crowdfunding. Remember we are a new company with Markethive converting to the blockchain for many reasons.  

The original BOD (Bond of Debt) notes were sold at $4800 via a failed company called Shell Holdings. We have grandfathered them into Markethive ILPs at 50% of a share. Again want to understand the details, come to the meetings. We have been moving forward with this new Markethive blockchain prelaunch since April of this year with 4-10 meetings in this regard per week for over 6 months now. If you are still in the dark, perhaps you should wake up and pay attention. Markethive is your system after all.  

The Entrepreneur program trumps the other older legacy programs. Primarily because the new Markethive is now a blockchain and with it comes asset coins like Bitcoin. And this allows us to offer coins (of value) as an incentive to join Markethive. This was our primary reason to make this move. But there are other solid reasons as well. Security, privacy, autonomy, and economy. I will explain:

The Airdrop: Startup Blockchain companies have utilized a relatively new concept called airdrops. In doing so they have exploded awareness and growth. Case in point is a start-up ICO called Omisego. They gave away 5% of their total coin supply and increased subscribers into the millions and drove the value of the coin up over 500%.

“Airdrops combine the best of paid referral programs with stock options. Potential users get paid for joining or using the network and have the potential upside if the network increases in value.” – Brayton Williams to CoinDesk

Prior to the Airdrop OMG coin was valued at .50 but increased to peak at $24 per coin. It is now trading steadily at about $3.50. How would you like 500 of these coins? How would you like 5000 of these coins?

Then there is Paypal who raised awareness by giving away $20 for new accounts and $20 for referring others. It then dwindled to $10 then $5 then tapered off and went away. But not until increasing memberships into the millions and subsequently turned Paypal into a multibillion-dollar company valued at more than $40 billion dollars

Matching Bonus: Markethive is planning on creating an infinite Airdrop with our first wave of subscribers getting 500 coins for joining and giving you (If you upgrade to Entrepreneur) a matching 500 coins for each referral (called an associate) through your account (the profile page), This being a fundamental new direction of Markethive.

Customer Acquisition: As Markethive raises millions at least half is going to advertising, press releases and sponsored articles, all designed to drive traffic and new registrations into Markethive. As an upgraded Entrepreneur, and active (actively logged into Markethive) you will receive your share from the new referral registrations (associates)

Associates Leads control panel: (available to Entrepreneur upgrade) Everyone always wants leads. Everywhere you hear other systems claim they lead nurture. Basically, the majority of lead systems consider spying email and additional spamming as lead nurturing. Not at Markethive. We nurture your “associates” by paying them to learn via our tutorial system (another blockchain advantage), we nurture them by teaching them the power of adding all their social networks into the Markethive > settings > Social Networks so they can increase their own reaches as well as prosper by subscribing to other pertinent Markethive blogs.

Markethive Profile Associates leads are the best leads in the industry. They are real, email delivery is above 97%, cell numbers are verified, and engagement is virtually 100%. It does not get better than this. We do not like even referring to them as leads. This is why they are called “associates”.

Banner Program: (available now only through the Entrepreneur upgrade) Banners used to be available to everyone, but it costs credits you either earned via certain actions, or transfers or buying them. We ended that program for several reasons. Firstly because we now have crypto coins and that trumps ad credits. Also, members rarely ran banners. So I have to assume that the old banner program did not work. Getting banner credits for clicking on banners guarantees bad traffic. We don’t do it you should not join systems that do. With that said, to run a 30 day banner in one category on the Warriorforum, which by the way is a great place to do so, will cost you about $4000.00 There Alexa ranking is 11,000 and ours is 55,000 doing the math $4000 x 20% = $800 so you can see our inclusive banner program is a valuable addition to the Entrepreneur upgrade.

Traffic Portals: The Entrepreneur program is required to be a seller in our traffic portals. The following traffic portals are in production; Markethive.exchange (Entrepreneurs can exchange coins with no exchange fees); Beelancers.com (Only Entrepreneurs can sell on the platform and there are no transactional fees); Bigcaboodle.com (Only Entrepreneurs can receive business via this portal); Aboutbitco.in (Only Entrepreneurs can sell Press Releases and receive income from the sale); Hiveroom.com (Only Entrepreneurs can receive business via this portal) and there will be ongoing more Traffic Portals ad infinity.

ILP Shares Portal: As Markethive prepares for our official crowdfunding launch each Entrepreneur will have their branded ICO portal to promote the crowdfunding and by doing so, if that Entrepreneur should sell any of the ILPs will get an equal Shadow ILP in the process.  

Matching ILP Shares: When you upgrade to the Entrepreneur program, we match your monthly payments, when you consecutively make your payment every month for 12 months. In other words, after 12 consecutive monthly payments, you will earn a 10% ILP share which is worth right now $1500. We are basically giving you your money back and way more

The urgency and importance of getting on the weekly events, rallies, and webinars as things are beginning to move and faster at that.  You took the time to register; if you’re not interested just tell us and we will terminate and delete your account. If you are frustrated and cant find your original account, use the LOST ACCOUNT RETRIEVAL and if all else fails, join our Telegram support group for assistance.

And if all that fails, email me, call me just join the conferences. Access is easily found in our calendar and that is clearly listed in our root domain at http://markethive.com

I really hope to see you all there. The show is starting and after all we have been through, do you really want to miss it?

God Bless you and God Bless Markethive

  Thomas Prendergast CEO and Founder

  Douglas Yates CTO and Founder

Susan Bennett

[cucarguru-blog]

Am I Getting A Good Deal?

Hello again friends! Thanks for following my blog and hope you are all having a great week. 

The aged old question when purchasing a vehicle...”Am I Getting A Good Deal?” comes to everyone’s mind when they purchase a vehicle. Of course everyone wants a good deal and everyone wants to spend as little money as possible with getting the most vehicle as possible. Today we will discuss some myths, the facts, and some helpful tips to ensure that you are getting a good deal the next time you purchase a vehicle.

Let’s start with some of the myths about pricing on vehicles. 

#MYTHS

1. Dealerships have $4000 markup on new vehicles (HUGE MYTH). One of the biggest misconceptions about new vehicles is that dealerships make huge profit on new vehicles when they sell them. In today’s world with so many different manufacturers and competition at it’s highest, dealerships actually make very little when they sell a new car. For instance, If you are looking at a new truck of any make, the more options it has the more profit margin a dealership has to work with, but it’s closer to $1200-$1500 on a loaded up truck and as small as $800 on a base work truck. That’s right...all those rebates and specials you see constantly with huge savings are there because the competition to sell new vehicles is so high. Dealerships sell vehicles closer to Invoice price than MSRP because of it. One thing you do have to remember and keep this in mind. Dealerships still have to pay the salesman who sells it to you and are in business to make a profit, even if it is a small profit. 

As the dealership to show you invoice and pay $200-$300 over invoice. Salespeople work hard in all different types of weather and usually, in most cases, get paid $100 for selling you your brand new vehicle. They have a life and family to support just like you. 

2. Dealerships make big money on pre-owned vehicles (MYTH). Dealerships do whatever they can to sell a car. Even if it means putting more money in your trade than it is worth to put a deal together. What that means is if a dealer had to put more money in a customers trade then they are going to have to sell it for more to make a profit. 

If you read my last blog, it was about knowing what your trade was worth. Some customers still think there current vehicle is worth retail money when they trade it in and it hurts the next person who goes to buy it. The important thing is finding a reputable dealership and a reputable salesperson you know and trust. 

Dealerships do make more money off of pre-owned vehicles and as a sales person I prefer selling pre-owned vehicles, because I do have a family to feed and bills to pay. The days of making big commission on a pre-owned vehicle are over unfortunately. 

The competition of so many dealerships and car lots has really knocked down the market and made it hard for sales people to make big money like in years past. 

Those who are good and have a good client base will make good money, but those who are starting out in the car business will have it rough for a while. 

Anyway....next time you go to buy your next vehicle make sure you are doing your research first. Dealerships will sell you a car and still make a profit, but it’s not as big as you think.

3. Salespeople are liars and cheats (MYTH). Salespeople in the auto business are generally really good people. They work long hours and chase customers to get a sale. I’ve worked with some amazing, caring people in this business who have worked their tails off just to make enough money to live off of month to month. The good salespeople are respectful, honest and do actually care about you. Most will bend over backwards to make sure you are happy. Why? Because believe or not, after you purchase a vehicle they want you to buy your next one from them, along with your next one as well and so on. 

The salespeople who don’t follow up with you after the sale, who don’t get to know you and who are only worried about how much money they can make are the ones who give the majority of sales people a bad name.

Remember, the next time a sales person greets you on a car lot that he or she is just doing their job. I see it all the time when people drive onto a car lot and refuse to wave back to a salesperson, refuse to roll their window down or speak back when spoken to.

We are good people and if you ever feel uncomfortable with your salesperson, then ask for a different one or just leave. Vehicles are available all over, especially from a certain CU Car Guru, make sure you purchase from one of the good ones like me.

#FACTS

Let’s talk about some facts now.

1. FACT-Dealerships are trying to make a profit every car deal they work. They are a business and that’s what keeps the doors open and salespeople paid. Yes, they are going to make money on you, but so does McDonalds and everywhere else you shop including Wal-Mart.

2. FACT-A salesperson wants to sell each and every person they know a vehicle. That’s how they earn a living and how they keep their job. 

3. FACT-Buying from a reputable dealership (pre-owned) is the best way to go because you know the vehicle has been well maintained and inspected. 

4. FACT-A good deal is one both you, the customer, is happy with and the dealership is happy with.

#TIPS

The following are tips...it’s not written rules or laws, just tips on how to make sure you are getting a good deal the next time you purchase a new vehicle.

1. TIP-Buy your next vehicle from Keith Gibson-The CU Car Guru! (yes that’s a cheap plug)

2. TIP-Make sure and read my first two blogs on knowing your budget and what your trade-in is worth.

3. TIP-Don’t spend more than you can actually afford. If a dealership is pressuring you into spending more money than your heart truly wants to spend then walk away. If you and your salesperson are $20 apart on payment, I’m sure you can split the cost and both be happy.

4. TIP-Know what your vehicle and the vehicle you are wanting to purchase are actually worth. Do your research.

5. TIP-On a serious note, buying from a salesperson who you know and trust is one of the most important things when purchasing a vehicle. Someone you already know and someone you can trust will not have what money they can make off you in their mind, but how much they can help you. 

6. TIP-Before signing anything, ask yourself one question....Do I feel like I’m getting the best deal possible? If not, is it worth the extra money to do the deal at that very moment.

Thank you for reading another blog post. I have very exciting things coming for everyone with a big reveal on JULY 1st that I feel will really change the way you buy your next vehicle.

I wouldn’t be where I am today without the constant love and support of my family and friends. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

KG