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chao-writes-stuff · 3 years ago

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DELTARUNE SPOILERS

Heyyy! I wrote a thing involving Jevil and the Chapter 2 Superboss! I'm going to put it under the cut, but at the end, there will also be an Ao3 link if you wanna support me there!

Thank you! Remember to Reblog if you wanna

The Lightner Trio walked down the stairs in the Queen's massive manor, their hurried footsteps echoing like a rough pitter-patter in the technological nightmare. The massive lair confused and bamboozled them, but they definitely wanted to figure out the mystery behind what the Fountains were about, what Queen's true intentions were… and what was in the basement?

"Uhh… Kris?" Ralsei asked, his soft voice echoing out. "Why are we even here? Aren't Queen, Noelle, and Berdly upstairs? And not here…?"

Susie quickly interrupted him, punching his arm lightly to get his attention. "Of COURSE they aren't here. But whatever is here is probably important. Right, Kris?"

"I guess!" The currently blue human replied. "I've been asked by some… guy, about doing these weird favors for him. He really wants me to be alone."

"We sure he ain't a p-" Before Susie could finish her thought, Ralsei muffled her mouth with his scarf. "Who is he? And why does he want you to be alone?"

"His name is Spamton, I think. I don't know much about him, but he gave me this Loaded Disk earlier, and--"

Suddenly, a strange, chaotic voice rang out. Everyone recognized it. The tail attached to Ralsei's cloak popped off, diamonds and hearts flying out with it. The tail spun and took form, and the chaotic Jester they quite literally put to rest yesterday was reawakened.

"Spamton? SPAMTON? The same Spamton who wished for me to go, to go, and be free, free?" Jevil laughed chaotically, with Ralsei caught quite off guard. "You know him?"

"That dorito chip was part of the reason why I was set free, he was! He used to rule this world, before the Queen I've been hearing oh so much about took over. Oh, I MUST know more of how you met that ridiculous lunatic! And that's coming from ME, ME! Spamton, oh Spamton, I'd like to have a word with him~!" Jevil looked quite pissed off, his normally jovial expression looking slightly stern.

"I didn't wanna go down there anyway. Just come back, okay? You're kind of carrying us with your defense boost." Kris, with a neutral expression, gave the clown the disk they were gifted by the malignant salesman, and watched as Jevil immediately sprinted off into the basement. They could hear an echoed "Buh bye~! I'll be back in a few hundred words!" As the jester descended into the decrepit basement below...

Jevil entered the musty, rotting cellar. Despite him rarely stepping on the ground, each step he did take left a haunting impact on his feet. It was silent, save for the occasional rustling of his clothes. He didn't have long to do this. His physical form only had a few hours to be out and about before he solidified, just like the young boy and the puzzle freak. Thankfully, that's all he needed. He was getting excited, almost giddy, to interact once more with his old acquaintance. Oh, what a wonderful conversation they'd have!

He didn't walk for too much longer before he found the train station that was buried deep below. Or was it a roller coaster? Whoever had this built clearly had some elaborate roundabout in mind… too bad they were still imprisoned, haha! Jevil walked and floated across the tracks, reaching a room with a decaying robot inside.

He knew this was a bad idea. But when did he ever have good ideas?

Without hesitating, the joker put the disk into the robot. At first, nothing happened, and he was getting impatient VERY quick. He gave the robot a swift kick in the lower area, before stepping back out of the room.

Step…

SLAM! The clown was admittedly caught off guard with how fast the silhouette from above came and pushed him onto his knees. With a small gasp for air, Jevil looked up slowly at the encroaching menace. The jagged movements, the glitchy, unsolidified form… this was him alright.

"KRIS… MY LOYAL [Sponge!] THANK… YOU. THE [Clown Around Town!] I REMEMBER YOUR [Disgusting] FACE. EVERYONE WAS SO [Thrilled] TO SEE YOUR [Calcified] FACE." The massive robotic behemoth loomed over Jevil, rage in his glasses. Spamton NEO.

The clown got up, a smug, shitfaced expression on his mug. He knew damn well that the dorito in front of him was pissed off, so he leaned back in the air to retort. "At least I drink plenty of milk, uee hee hee! As for you, you haven't changed one bit since we last spoke~! Or would it be a byte, a byte? Regardless, I do hope you've given up on the illusion of freedom, freedom~! The only one who can be free is MEEE!"

The robotic menace swung around to the other side of Jevil, making it very clear who was in charge of the conversation. A small concentrated blast of Pipis was fired at the jester, pushing him back with a surprising amount of force. "YOU ACT SMUG, BUT YOU [Crashed our stocks!] AND THEN YOU [Spoiled relations with our Esteemed Partners!] I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU… GOT IN HERE, YOU… [Tuna Fish,] BUT I'M NOT FALLING FOR YOUR [Roundabout!] AGAIN!"

Jevil laughed maniacally at this thought. This guy was mad! Over something that happened how long ago? Why even bother holding a grudge still? Petty, petty! He knew why, and it's why he came back too. "You influenced him. That pretty little kitty. You gave him enough funds to release me into that carousel of bliss and innocence! But I wasn't done, not one bit! And all those years, spent being free… they made me realize something, my dearest Spamton."

The oddly calm tone coming from the jester put Spamton NEO at an incredible amount of unease. "WHAT? WHAT COULD YOUR [Calcified Lump] THINK OF THAT WOULD MEAN ANY GODDAMN THING TO ME?"

"I CAN DO ANYTHING!"

The joker used his latent power to pelt the giant mecha with small white hearts. Spamton was caught off-guard, stumbling back a fair amount. Of course, you have to fight fire with fire, so the robot used his abilities to send out a Big Shot of blue Spamton Head Pipis.

"YOU [Saturated Marketshare!] YOU CAN'T SIMPLY ATTACK ME AND EXPECT IT TO WORK [As seen on TV!] I'M A [BIG SHOT!] [BIG SHOT!!!]"

Jevil hopped up onto the ceiling, clearing the first few Pipis on the lower row heading his way. Unfortunately, the higher row caught him clean in the face as he bounced between the two, making a small Jack-in-the-box melody as he pinged around.

"SPAMTON, MY BELOATHED! I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND, UNDERSTAND, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU'RE TRAPPED IN A CAGE WITH A SHARK, A SHARK! YOU GET BITTEN AND CHEWED UP!"

The fool retaliated by running circles around Spamton, turning into a carousel of horse bullets! The robot, in a surprising feat of puppeteering, dodged the attack almost perfectly… until a stray horsie cut a string, sending the mech's right arm into the horse race. One thing about arms with cannons on them? They fire.

As soon as it happened, Jevil was face to face with a swarm of Pipis all around him. He was stuck. All of them exploded brilliantly, sending the clown flying clean across the rotting tracks and into the wall. Tauntingly, mockingly even, Spamton NEO retorted.

"I'M THE SHARK NOW, JEVIL! I'VE CHEWED UP SO MANY [Failed Buisness Partners] THAT I COULD MAKE A WHOLE [Presentation] OUT OF THEM! STAY OUT OF MY GODDAMN WAY, OR [Sparkle like new!] YOU BRAT."

The buisnessman charged at Jevil, his hands becoming phones. "IT'S FOR YOU." Suddenly, before either of them could react, loud blasts of garbage noise manifest expelled from the phones, attacking the court jester with white blasts of energy. There was nothing he could do to stop this robot's onslaught, it looked like.

"OH SPAMTON, IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK? THAT YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S SO POWERFUL RIGHT NOW, NOW? I'D SUGGEST YOU LOOK UP, UP! YOU'RE NOTHING WITHOUT THOSE STRINGS IMPRISONING YOU, UEE HEE HEE! YOU'RE NOT A BIG SHOT, YOU'RE JUST A LAZY FRAUD WHO CAN'T STOP HANGING ON TO HIM! I GUESS SLEEPING FOR 100 YEARS DOESN'T MAKE LITTLE OLD ME MISS MUCH, RIGHT?"

Without warning, Jevil was myseriously gone from his corner. The spamware looked frantically for his target, before being struck in the arm, the leg, and the chest by scythes. Devilsknives. The last knive cut a few strings clean off the puppet, who briefly hit the ground before rising back up.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! [Hyperlink Blocked.] I'M STILL HIS LOYAL ASSOCIATE! HE MAY NOT HAVE TALKED TO ME IN [Employee of The Month for 144 months!] BUT HE'S STILL THERE…"

Jevil interrupted him cleanly and concisely. "FACE IT. YOU'RE NO BIG SHOT ANYMORE, SPAMTON G. SPAMTON. ALL YOU ARE IS A FAILED INVESTMENT, UEE HEE HEE!"

With those words, a purple blast came from behind the clown, striking the robot right in the noggin. He flew back a bit, giving the joker enough time to turn around to meet his esteemed guests.

"Ah, my imprisoners~! Didn't you guys have a Queen to rock-em sock-em?"

Susie immediately cut him off, as she punched him in the arm (causing his head to spring up, naturally.) "Well, Kris over here couldn't shake the feeling things were off. So they forced us down here, and now they're right. Somehow?"

"I know I'm right.. Jevil, who the hell is Spamton?" Kris replied, their worry about the situation starting to rise.

"It's of no concern to you~! His screws were almost as loose as mine, and I don't think it's my job to tighten them~! Uee hee hee! Thank you for the help, but I can do anything~! Even tell you guys that 3 coasters are about to come down and force you guys along for the ride~!"

Ralsei immediately stuttered something out. "Three… what?"

And just like that, with a loud rumbling, the heroes were swept up into 3 old, rusty carts, barrelling down the track. Jevil laughed to himself, proud of what he got to do. "Ah well, it's a shame I can't finish him personally…"

"But oh well! Are you proud, proud? They took care of him…"

"Doctor."

Ao3 Link!

#Deltarune #Deltarune Spoilers #Deltarune Chapter 2 #Jevil #spamton #kris #ralsei #susie #undertale #okay cool thank you byyyyeeeee

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quotes-of-dreamland · 4 years ago

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Yo, Mod Magolor here. Wanted to say congrats on 100 followers and also say hi! Sorry it took me so long to send something, I just be a forgetful dumbass yknow. Aaaaanyway time for some controversy. Who's the biggest himbo in the series? IMO I think it's DDD

Mod Gooey: Kine is a himbo.

Mod Taranza: Galacta is the ultimate himbo and I will not take objections to this.

Bandana Moddle Dee: Gonna have to agree with Mod Taranza. Galacta is Omega Himbo

Mod Lor: Dedede is a himbo sometimes

Mod Shadow Kirby: Dedede is himbo 80% of the time

Mod Susie: You are 100% correct in that Dedede is the biggest himbo. (also good to see you <3)

Mod Galacta: hmm gonna have to say DDD

Mod Morpho: Ngl I think Galacta and Morpho are big, BIG Himbos. Their heads are empty but their hearts are always full.

Mod CS: Ddd and Whispy Woods are Himbos. I will stand by that

Mod Ribbon: I’d have to politely disagree with my fellow mods here. Although he’s dumb and sexy, being kind and respectful are also important himbo traits. Dedede - and I say this with as much love for the man in my heart as possible - is only those things half the time. He is indeed a himbo, but not the biggest in the series.

This may be controversial but I’m going to have to say Meta Knight for biggest himbo(/thembo).

He’s arguably pretty cute/handsome & gives off an aura of a cool, refined warrior (one he personally cultivates). He’s kind (most of the time), incredibly respectful and abides by a strict code of honour. I can name multiple people I know personally who’ve had childhood crushes on this eight inch tall orb.

He’s also dumb. He’s book smart, yeah, but he’s also vain, impulsive, does extreme/questionable stuff for the sake of his Cool Stoic Mysterious Aesthetic (the mask itself, hiding his love of sweets, etc.), casually gives bladed weapons to small children, canonically eats ice cream for breakfast, fought a giant bird for no reason, crashed his own ship because he could, and gets himself/his sword stuck into the ground from Dramatically Downthrusting too hard multiple times. Dude is not the brightest.

So MK gets my vote; that’s just my take on it though, I’m open to criticism.

#mod susie #mod taranza #bandana moddle dee #mod lor #mod skirby #mod gooey #mod galacta #mod morpho #mod cs #mod ribbon #guest star mod magolor

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mwolf0epsilon · 5 years ago

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Do you have any bendy and the ink machine headcanons?

Boy Anon, do I ever! A lot of them are still under the works, so I'll focus on the characters that I've thought most about.

Joey, Henry, Sammy and Norman.

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[[MORE]]

--Joey Drew--

Came from a heavily Catholic and strict family that wanted him to either pursue a career in medicine or law. He had a rough time getting along with his family since they didn't encourage his creativity, and the religious beliefs they force-fed him from an early age had a bit of an impact on the themes he had an interest in.

Due to his background and bizarre interests Joey was a bit of a loner and misfit as a kid. Henry Stein was his only true friend since childhood, so Joey was a little protective of him. This protectiveness became an unhealthy possessiveness as they grew up.

He and Henry actually started the studios in their early thirties. Both were job hoppers for a while, adrift and unfulfilled. Once Joey figured out how to use their combined skills and creativity to make a profit, the nightmare that was Joey Drew Studios came into being.

Joey rejected Bendy's original design because he saw demons as entities of mischief and misfortune. The more cutesy kind smile simply didn't convey the chaotic energy Joey associated with such beings. Boris was also reworked to go from a naked intelligent wolf to a goofier/dumber one wearing overalls. Henry wasn't particularly happy with either change but went with it to please his friend.

Alice Angel and the Butcher Gang were also designed by Henry, but Joey disliked the idea of adding a female counterpart to the show, and wasn't particularly fond of the much nicer original concepts of Charley, Barley and Edgar. He would alter the concepts later on to better fit the themes he employed in the show.

Initially they worked alone but, when they began working on Boris' debut episode, Joey realized they needed something to add a certain flair to their work: Music and better filmwork. In a matter of weeks a team of two became a team of four with the hiring of Samuel Lawrence and Norman Polk.

Ever since Linda started dating Henry, Joey began feeling like his best pal wasn't giving 100% to the studio (and to Joey himself). As such he began to give Henry more and more work to ensure he devoted his attention to the cartoons. This ultimately lead to Henry quitting.

Joey was angry when Henry married Linda, thinking his friend had chosen "some girl" over their bond. He refused to go to their wedding due to this "betrayal" and has held a grudge since.

During the rise and decline of the studio, Joey went from charming his way out of trouble and into people's hearts, to downright criminally manipulative. The employees that managed to quit, often found themselves blacklisted from the work market, and those who stayed knew Joey could destroy them with the right words. It's why so many stayed in the end...

When the Ink Machine didn't work the way he wanted and he found himself stuck with the responsibility of fixing what he'd done, there had been a fraction of a chance for redemption on Joey's part. Joey considered giving his soul to the Ink Demon so it'd end the nightmare for good. However upon finding the wedding invitation Henry had sent him all those years ago, Joey had a change of heart for the worst. After all what soul could be better to fix the demon, than that of its original creator?

--Henry Stein--

Henry Stein didn't know what he was getting himself into when he met and befriended Joey Drew. He'd always been the soft-spoken friendlier of the two, so their dynamic as friends was pretty well rounded up, until Joey became obcessed with becoming successful, as well as his overprotective nature slowly evolving into a controlling possessiveness.

Henry came from a pretty average family. They weren't exactly well-off but there was never a day or night without food on the table. He grew up aware of the value of money and how to spend it wisely, a skill he never got to employ at the studio because Joey had full control of finances. He had a feeling the studio was doomed to flop and was actually quite surprised to hear it chugging along "just fine" after he'd left. The various scandals didn't surprise him.

Henry was a little hurt when Joey declined his invitation to his and Linda's wedding, but he assumed his childhood friend would get over it. He was terribly wrong.

His original concepts for Bendy and Co. were of a cute little devil trying to do good to ascend to heaven, a fatherly wolf that would help the little devil darling, an angel sent to test the devil's intentions as a moral compass, and a trio of friends that would often be a part of Bendy's various trials. Joey's redesigns and reworks of their roles never really agreed with him, especially when he made the kind Charley, amicable Barley, and playful Edgar into villains.

He was drafted to fight in the war and came back with a slightly paralyzed face. He's ashamed of the slightly permanent lopsided smile on his face, as he always thought of it as an ugly smirk and a reminder of things he'd much rather like to forget. His vision was also slightly damaged so he wears very thick glasses, and he has a slight limp.

Joey's letter gave him hope for rekindling their broken friendship. He really thought Joey had finally come around and given up on his childish grudge. He was horrifically mistaken.

Henry is 67 in-game. Coupled with his injuries from the war and you get an old tired man that can neither run fast or see too well. His stubbornness is the only thing keeping him alive and going, that and his desire to return to his wife and kids.

--Samuel Lawrence--

He was raised in the South by his very strict Catholic father, and his kindly mother. He ended up moving to the big city with his father at age 11, after his mother died of tuberculosis. His mother having been the kinder and more patient parent meant that Sammy didn't have much of a good influence growing up, as his father wasn't particularly abusive but had strongly bigoted views that rubbed off on him. His father remarried when Sammy was 24 and, although he had a strong dislike for his step-mother, he tried to be patient with her as per his father's wishes. This dislike grew into animosity when she'd berate him for the smallest things, like calling him a sissy for pursuing a musical career, or even the way he kept his hair. He was upset when she became pregnant with his younger step-sister, feeling like he'd be dragged into providing for his aging father, witch of a step-mother and a kid he might not even get along with.

Sammy was genuinely upset when his father passed away, as it meant he'd lost who he considered to be his true family. He was forced to spend more time with his step-mother, and often cared for his little sister as a result (growing very fond of her in the end). When his step-mother died in a freak accident, Sammy became his sister's official caregiver. A chore he felt had been forced upon him, but that he took on nontheless because he didn't feel right just dumping a two year old into an orphanage. It was the need to provide for himself and a baby that ultimately lead to him falling into Joey Drew's clutches.

Originally there were three other candidates for his position at the studio. Sammy was picked due to being younger and easier to manipulate.

Although not the easiest person to get along with, Sammy could be respectful when he tried. His upbringing made it very difficult to look past race and sexuality, but later on as his sister grew up she urged him to try being nicer to other people. This ultimately began to fail when the studio began to descend into madness, especially around the time Buddy was hired.

For his sister's seventh birthday Sammy made an odd request to one Shawn Flynn. He wanted to gift her a Bendy doll that didn't have the unnerving grin painted on. Shawn provided him with a doll that was a blend of Bendy and Boris, which Sammy's sister named Seamus the Singing Demon. That little doll's odd composition stuck with him, even if he can no longer remember it...

He had a very strange relationship with Norman Polk as a result of working closely with him. They weren't exactly friends, but one couldn't exactly call them enemies either. Sammy's upbringing made him unjustly ruder towards the older man, and Norman's own odd behaviour made him hard to trust. At the end of the day they had a sort of fragile respect for one another's work. This respect couldn't save Norman from his terrible fate however...

He knew Henry for less than a year but he respected his fellow content creator. Later on Sammy often wondered if the co-founder wouldn't have been the one more worthy of keeping the studio afloat.

His romance with Susie Campbell was genuinely beautiful. At first he found her cheery disposition to be annoying, but her respect and kindness towards him eventually grew on him. His affection towards her was noticeable in comparison to how he treated others, and Joey knew to exploit it later on. When Susie left, the already stressed and overworked Sammy was left further distraught and vulnerable due to his personal life slowly getting messed up as well.

Sammy's transformation can be considered an outlier within the twisted studio. He wasn't put through the Ink Machine like the others, having instead ingested the corrupted ink in a freak accident. The amount he swallowed wasn't enough to transform him, but it was just enough to alter his mindset like a parasite. At the urging on the ink he took to consuming more and more of it, until he transformed into an abomination that was neither man nor toon. If any of the studio's workers could have their changes reversed, Sammy is a good candidate as, perhaps, one could purge the tainted ink from his system.

Sammy has very rare moments of lucidity which he spends trying to recall his fading memories. This often leads to him reverting back more quickly because his inability to focus on them distressed him enough that he falls back into the ink's grasp.

Sammy doesn't eat the soup he stockpiles, even if he craves it. He can't stomach regular food anymore, as it upsets his inky stomach. If he were to try he'd end up getting violently sick. The contrary can be said for ink however, and he sustains himself on the stuff. His memory issues and loss of identity are likely linked the the copious amounts of ink he's still consuming on a daily basis. He's the easiest person for the ink to control.

--Norman Polk--

Norman liked to consider himself a lucky guy. He grew up in a pretty poor neighbourhood and had to scrape by to get his education. He was a clever individual and often considered a bright man. With enough hard work he felt like he made his relatives in Louisiana proud. Turns out Joey Drew didn't like bright individuals...

As one the oldest member of staff (he was 46 when he started working at the studio) he was often the voice of reason in the earlier days, alongside Henry. Most of the newer staff didn't mind him at first, but when Norman's odder behaviours became more noticeable people started finding him either creepy or hard to trust.

He butted heads with Sammy several times, disliking the younger man's racist comments towards him. Being forced to work together so closely and a little outside urging helped them kinda resolve that tension. But their truce was a fragile one that amounted to nothing when Sammy was driven insane by the ink.

He was married and had a daughter. In the current game timeline he has several grandkids. He also has several nieces and nephews, one of which is friends with Sammy's sister (much to the latter's initial dislike).

Out of the first core team, Norman considered Henry a friend, had a weird feeling about Joey, and bickered heavily with Sammy. Later on he grew to enjoy Wally's mischievous personality, Shawn's rambunctious self, Susie's sweet disposition, Jack's skittishness and Buddy's friendliness. He felt like he failed them when the studio went to hell.

As the Projectionist Norman is deaf and visually impaired, needing his light to see movement. He used to be able to talk with the speaker on his chest, but his screams for help eventually short-circuited it. Early on he wasn't aggressive towards other creatures, which proved to be an exploitable weakness. He became uncontrollably aggressive out of fear and being a constant target of other monsters.

Before the Ink Demon kills him in every cycle, Norman recognizes Henry inside the Little Miracle station.

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #Batim #Joey Drew #Henry Stein #Sammy Lawrence #Norman Polk #The Projectionist #Headcanons #Friend Anon

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full-of-cute-guyss · 4 years ago

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Lockdown made you start running. Here’s how to get better

This time last year you hated running. The thought of heading outside and pounding the streets, or circling laps of the local park, wasn’t one that seemed enjoyable. Then the pandemic hit and going outside became a luxury.

Daily exercise allowances have seen a boom in the number of new runners, with many taking up the sport for the first time. But that was a couple of months ago and lockdowns have eased now.

While the world has returned to some sort of normal, the newfound enjoyment of running may not have gone away. Here’s what you can do if you want to step your running up to the next level.

Set goals

Running is very personal and what you want to achieve is totally up to you – not everyone has to want to run marathons or ultramarathons. Running can just be about feeling better physically and mentally.

However, if you’re wanting to improve your running, it’s good to have a goal in mind. This could be stepping up from a 5km to a 10km, getting faster, being able to run for a certain amount of time, or something as straightforward as being able to run to a friend’s house across town.

“Keep the goals achievable and short term,” says Susie Chan, an endurance runner for Japanese running brand Mizuno. Having a goal can increase motivation and is more likely to get you out running on a day when you don’t really feel like it. If you’re stuck for a goal, consider why you started to enjoy running. Working out why you want to do it can help determine what your goals should be.

There aren’t many races happening at the moment (for obvious social-distancing reasons), but plenty of companies are running virtual races. These involve signing up for a particular distance, in some cases over a week, and come with communities of people doing the same activity and motivating each other. Chan says: “You could try doing one a month as a benchmark of progress.”

Plan

Once you have worked out what your goal is, you need to figure out how to achieve it. This is, inevitably, going to involve more running. “Consistency is key,” says Alison Staples, a US-based running coach. “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”

The best way to increase consistency is by following a training plan. These are essentially schedules that running coaches and experienced runners have devised to help people improve. You may have already followed the Couch-to-5km structure to get you started with running, and if you want to improve your distance or speed finding another plan is the way forward.

Following a plan that’s created by a professional is also likely to be safer than devising your own. A 2018 study from the University of Edinburgh asked 1,145 people completing parkrun events about their running injuries. “In the first year of running, runners using a self-devised training programme were more likely to be injured compared with using a structured programme,” the study’s results found.

If you’re looking for a training plan you should consider whether it is achievable. Runners shouldn’t be looking to vastly increase their training over a short period of time – jumping from running once or twice a week to five or six times will increase your chances of injury. “Distance is a good way to measure progress,” says Chan, who has run multiple 100-mile races. “It should always be done gradually. And every few weeks, have a lower mileage week to be kind to your body. One lower week out of every month is about right.”

How to run

While all training plans will be different there are a few common elements that can help runners improve. Broadly this is the amount you run and the type of runs that you do. One 2017 study of recreational runners who were taking part in a marathon concluded there were “profound” training differences in the participants training. The study, which was pretty small and only looked at 82 marathon runners, concluded that the number of runs a person does coupled with their speed are the best “determinants of race speed progression”. It suggested that runners looking to improve should maximise their running speed during some of their training while making sure their running reaches certain durations needed to reach their goals.

Both Staples and Chan say that easy running – at speeds where you can hold a conversation – should make up the bulk of your running. This applies whether you have been running for years or are just starting out. Professional runners spend a lot of their time running at their slower (easy) paces as it helps increase endurance and aids recovery. Runners World has some advice on finding what your easy pace should be.

Aside from easy running, there are a few types of other runs that can allow you to improve your running. These are the ones that will have the biggest benefits to getting faster, as they involve you running faster throughout.

Interval workouts can help to improve your overall speed. These involve running fast for a set period of time or distance, resting and then repeating. An example of an interval workout can be running as fast as you can for 30 seconds and then resting for one minute, then repeating this process seven to 10 times. Hill repeats also follow this same formula: find a nearby hill (either a short and steep one or long and steady) and run multiple repeats of this, either up or down.

Other types of runs that can help you to get faster include progression runs and tempo runs. Both of these are made easier by using a running watch or app such as Strava that can measure your distance and average running pace. Progression runs start slow and get faster. For example, each mile or minute may be faster than the last. In contrast, tempo runs involve running at a consistently hard pace for the entire run.

Practicing running drills can also aid your running. Drills are short exercises that can be added to a warm-up or in the middle of the run and are designed to improve your running form. These types of drills can include high knee movements and bounding.

Staples says that you should focus on your own running. “Do not get caught up in the comparison trap,” she says. “Never look at someone’s mileage and pace on social media and compare yourself to them.”

How ultrarunners are pushing the human body beyond all limits Don’t run

It can be tempting to go out and run all the time – particularly if you’re new to the sport and excited to get outside. However, improving your running isn’t just about what you do while you’re on a run. Resting, nutrition and other types of training can improve how you run and help to prevent injury.

Rest is important. Running adds stress to the body and it needs to be given time to recover from a workout. This is particularly true if you’re new to the sport and your body hasn’t adapted to the added strain running puts on points and muscles. If you’re in pain, it’s best not to try and run through it, and if there’s constant pain you may need to consult with a doctor or physiotherapist.

The University of Edinburgh study we mentioned earlier found that running experience of more than two years could be protective towards the body and more experienced runners have lower rates of injury. “Rest days are very important,” Chan says. “These will help you run stronger next time. A rest will be as good for your body as a run.”

Equally important as resting is recovery. If you’re running more, you should try to sleep more. As people step up their running – particularly in summer and hot weather – it is advisable to drink greater amounts of water and take in more electrolytes, salt and potassium to replace what you lose while sweating.

What you do with your time when you’re not running can help you to become a better runner. The body needs to be kept fit to run and this should mean doing other types of exercise. Many runs – including those who should know better – can only focus on running and not caring for their body in different ways.

“A runner’s potential can only go so far by accumulating miles week-by-week,” Joshua Gooden, a fitness coach from the University of Cambridge says. “If you are a runner and haven’t incorporated strength training yet, it is fair to assume you have a lot of untapped potential.” Writing in a blog post during lockdown, Gooden produced these strength workouts for runners and points to the benefits of completing strength training. It can improve running economy, increase the speed you can run at because you can produce greater power each stride, and help prevent injury through better posture and greater ability to absorb the forces created through running.

You don’t just have to consider strength training: other types of cardiovascular exercise, such as swimming and cycling, can also benefit running. Yoga can also complement your running by loosening joints, stretching muscles and increasing flexibility. Australian yoga teacher and personal trainer Shona Vertue has a free (and not too hard) yoga session for runners here.

Running kit

One of the benefits of running is that it can be relatively cheap – all you need to do is stick on an old t-shirt, pair of shorts and some trainers and head out the door. However, this isn’t always the best idea. While you don’t need pricey equipment or an expensive gym membership, buying some kit can be an investment.

“You must have proper footwear,” Staples. “You don’t necessarily need brand new shoes, but you will need a shoe that supports your foot while running.” Running shops can advise on the best type of running shoe for you and you should, if possible, attempt to try them out first. If you’re looking for some pointers of kit to get you started, here’s our pick of some of our favourites.

Socks: Injinji No Show

Toe socks may have a bad rep, but when it comes to reducing friction it’s hard to beat them. Injinji’s No Show ($13) socks spread out your toes so your toes can’t rub against each other and increased the chances of friction. Once you’ve tried them it’s hard to go back – even if they do look absurd.

Mens: $13 | Check price on InjinjiWomens: $13 | Check price on Injinji

Also consider: Stance's Mix It Up Quarter (£17). Stance proves that running socks don’t have to be boring shades of while, they’re also incredibly comfy.

Unisex: £17 | Check price on Stance

Shoes: HOKA ONE ONE Rincon 2

There’s a few reasons why Hoka’s Rincon 2 (£105) makes it into our guide to the best running shoes: they’re relatively cheap, lightweight despite a lot of cushioning, and feel fast on your feet. There’s no carbon-fibre plate in these shoes, which is currently the trend for the highest performance racing trainers, but they do have HOKA’s MetaRocker design that’s meant to encourage you to land on your toes. The biggest downside is the sole can wear down pretty quickly.

Mens: £105 | Check price on HOKAWomens: £105 | Check price on HOKA

Also consider: If you’re looking for something a bit pricier but has the potential to go faster, Nike’s Pegasus Turbo (from £160) may be the trainer for you. It includes the company’s ZoomX foam, which it claims is its most responsive and fastest and also features in its shoes used to break world records. The price is a big jump though, and you may be best off waiting until they’re in the sale.

Running watch: Garmin Forerunner 45

The Forerunner 45 (£130) is our favourite budget running watch. As well as providing you with GPS tracking there’s also activity tracking for several other sports modes. There’s an emergency assistance mode that can send an alert to three contacts if the button is held down, and the battery life can span up to 13 hours of GPS tracking.

Price: £130 | Check price on Amazon | Wiggle

Also consider: In our opinion, the Polar Vantage V (£308) is the most complete running watch you can buy right now. Yes, it costs a fair bit more than the Forerunner above, but is a lot cheaper than some of the most sophisticated watches out here. It monitors the strain that each workout puts on your body and was the first watch to offer running power, too.

Price: £308 | Check price on Amazon | Wiggle

T-shirt: Inov-8 Base Elite Short Sleeve

Having a moisture-wicking sports top is one easy way to improve your comfort while running. The Base Elite (£45) from Lake District-based running brand Inov-8 is made from recycled technical polyester yarns and incredibly light (80g for men and 62g for women). Inov-8 says each top is made from “roughly” five 500ml PET bottles.

Mens: £45 | Check price on Inov-8Womens: £45 | Check price on Inov-8

Also consider: Adidas' Own The Run t-shirt (£25). This adidas top is very soft and definitely falls into the affordable category when compared with other running clothing. Like the Inov-8 top above, it is also made from 100 per cent recycled polyester.

Mens: £25 | Check price on adidasWomens: £25 | Check price on adidas

Headphones: Jaybird Tarah Pro

The Jaybird Tarah Pro (£139) were built for runners of all types. They’re as adept on steep descents as while you’re running on flat terrain. A neat switching feature allows them to be worn over and under your ears, plus there are 14-hours of music playback that should allow you to get several runs in without needing a charge. There’s no active noise cancellation but a reliable connection and IPX7 water resistance rating are two of the reasons why these are our overall pick for the overall best running headphones.

Price: £139 | Check price on John Lewis | Jaybird | Currys

Also consider: If you’d like a truly wireless option then the Jaybird Vista (£159) are an excellent choice. They have a six-hour battery life (10 additional hours in the charging case), IPX7 water resistance and weigh just 6g.

Price: £159 | Check price on Amazon | Jaybird | John Lewis

Shorts: Lululemon and Nike

Finding a pair of shorts that are comfortable, have enough pockets and are still stylish can be a serious challenge. These women’s Lululemon Track That Short 5" (£48) have zip-up side pockets that can accommodate your phone, keys and other essentials and added Lycra to help with shape retention. An added bonus is the continuous drawcord that’s designed not to vanish inside the short’s lining.

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viralhottopics · 8 years ago

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‘Rugrats’ Characters Ranked By Betchiness

For this weeks TBT, were going to take a look into the lives of the most influential baby friend group of the ’90s. Im talking, of course, about the Rugrats and, most importantly, how betchy or not betchy each Rugrat is. Is it polite to rank toddlers who have not yet learned to speak based on arbitrary social categories? Probs not. Is it fun? Fucking duh.

1. Cynthia

Heres what we know about Cynthia: 1) Shes a really cool dancer, 2) Shes got cool moves (as long as you move her arms and legs), 3) Shes movin out on the floor, 4) Shes ready to break some eggs (make an omelette Cynthia!) How do we know all this? We know it from her workout tape, which I am shocked has not been sampled by Avicii or Kanye or someone yet (dont listen unless you want this song stuck in your head all day).

youtube

Cynthias resting bitch face is on point, and she manages to look great in her belted orange dress despite the fact that she is missing of her hair. Cynthia didnt say or do shit for all 9 seasons of, yet she is still one of the shows most memorable characters, and it is her ability to do no work and remain popular that has earned her the number one slot.

2. Susie Carmichael

Susie Carmichael is cool AF. Did Susie need to appear in every episode? No. Susie had other shit to do. Shell check in every once in awhile to see what the babies are up to, teach them about Kwanzaa and generally let them know whats good, before going back next door to hang with her real friends. Whenever she does come over, the babies flip out because theyre like, obsessed with her (everyone is). Shes also the only person who has absolutely no time for Angelicas bullshit, probably because Susie has better hair, a better outfit, and wears a cool red bangle, which is more than Angelica could ever hope to have. Susie is three, which makes her older and wiser than most of the babies and probably accounts for the sheer lack of fucks she has to give. Did Susie get her ass lost in the woods when Dil was born? Fuck no, she was chilling in Paris getting turnt up with her older sister! Did Susie almost die with the Rugrats in EuroReptarland? No bitch, I just told you shes already been to Paris! Susie Carmichael always comes correct, and thats what earned her the number two spot.

3. Tommy Pickles

Tommy Pickles is the star of the show, which virtually guarantees him betchiness. Tommy also has the whole dressing like a slut thing down and spends all nine seasons of wearing nothing but a crop top and booty shorts. His outfit never stops him from leading his friend group on adventures, and you know once he can talk and operate a phone hed be the person managing the group chat, suggesting what clubs and parties to go to, making sure everyone is getting the free shots they deserve, and seeing you into your Uber at the end of the night. The thing holding Tommy back from the top spot is that hes too fucking nice. Hell let any baby with shit in their diaper come hang with him (cough CHUCKIE cough), and that means his friend group is riddled with duds (HI CHUCKIE). Be a little more discerning about your friend group, Thomas, and maybe well see you up at the top with Cynthia.

4. Angelica Pickles

We cant talk about Cynthia without getting to her BFF and designated Rugrat BSCB, Angelica Pickles. Angelica spent most of torturing the dumb babies (who were really only like a year younger than her) and making them miserable, yet still somehow being invited to all the group hangs, play dates, and brunches. Angelica spends a lot of time telling everyoneincluding the adultshow beautiful she is and is absolutely desperate for attention, probably because her rich AF parents never pay attention to her. Shes your friend who cries and starts shit at the club anytime she feels like shes not the hottest girl there (and she frequently is notthanks Cynthia!) Also girl, lay off the cookies.

5. Charlotte Pickles

Charlotte Pickles is Angelicas mom who is literally always on her phone. Like, always. Even in a time before cellphones could fit in your pocket, Charlotte is always on the phone with her assistant Jonathan (Cheban? We dont know) and ignores basically every member of her family to do so. When phones dont work, Charlotte straight up makes her husbands brother carry a fax machine around so she doesnt miss any important texts. Charlotte alternates between a power suit and workout gear, always accompanied by an Ariana Grande level high ponytail. In , Charlotte displays clear signs of some seriously botched cosmetic surgery, which is what has dropped her down to slot #5. Never try to cut corners on botox, Charlotte! Itll always go wrong. Honestly, Jonathan should have told you that.

6. Grandpa Lou

Grandpa Lou is another character who gives absolutely zero fucks and is down to hang. Much like Corinne, Lou loves naps and often falls asleep halfway through finishing his stories. Despite his old age, Lou is still a fuckboy, and is often seen hitting on women and generally trying to find ways to get laid. If had taken place in 2017, Lou would have definitely had a Tinder and that Tinder definitely would have had a picture of him from 20+ years earlier. Lou is eventually successful in finding a new wife, Lulu, who he moves in with pretty fast after they start hooking up (risky choice, Lou!) Outside of his strangely active love life, Lou also has many frenemies, including his own cousin Miriam; his bowling rival, Billy Strike Maxwell; and some other wrestling guy named Conan McNulty. This proves that when push comes to shove, Lou is just not very popular and kind of an old perv. Sixth place for you, Lou.

7. Phil And Lil Deville

Okay Im sorry, but Phil and Lil are fucking gross. Their diet is a mess, always eating fucking worms and mud and shit. Do you know how many calories are in a ball of worms, kids? Do you? Seriously. There is a episode where Phil and Lil drink straight-up toilet water. What the fuck is that? Is that something babies do? Phil and Lil also have no creativity when it comes to fashion, and instead just dress alike every damn day in greena color that is flattering on exactly 0 people. Their mom is a hardcore feminist, which is cool, but maybe the twins have been empowered to do a little bit too much. Like sure, Lil can do whatever she wants with her life, but maybe eating a giant pile of shit should not be one of those things? Idk. Seventh place.

8. Stu Pickles

Good Lord is Stu Pickles a sad man. Seriously. You have a beautiful house, two healthy babies, a cool Jewish wife who has managed to maintain her pre-baby body, and youre still fucking complaining! Look around, asshole! You have all this shit despite the fact that your dumb ass hasnt invented one successful toy. In fact, you havent even invented one toy that didnt explode and almost kill your entire family. You are literally #blessed but youre too blind to see it! The only thing keeping you from the bottom slot is this meme which, in the current political climate, is legit all of our lives right now:

9. Chuckie Finster

No. Just no. Im sorry, but again, its gonna be a hard pass on Chuckie. Here are all the things Chuckie would have to improve if he ever even wanted to hope to be betchy. 1) His voice, which is terrible. Do you have a cold, Chuckie? Go to the damn doctor. Its the ’90s. Hillary Clinton has passed the State Childrens Health Insurance Plan. You can go to the doctor. Go. 2) Grow. A. Pair. Dude. You know when Chuckie gets older hes gonna be your friend who calls the cops on his own party for getting out of hand. Hes gonna be that guy who side eyes you for doing molly at Coachella, making weird comments under his breath about how you never know whats in that stuff and generally bringing bad vibes despite the fact that Beyonc is literally pregnant and dancing in front of you. 3) The hair is a problem. Comb it. Dye it. Do something. Its a problem. 4) Tie your fucking shoes, dude. 9th place.

10. Chas Finster

There was no character on television from 1991-2004 that was less betchy than Chas Finster. He has all of Chuckies problems, but he is a fucking adult which means he has literally no excuse for being such a narc. Chas seems to be suffering from whatever health problems are affecting his son, and despite being a bureaucrat, apparently has no ability to get his ass to a doctor either. Like many sad old nerds, Chas must travel to a foreign country to find a wife, eventually convincing a way-too-hot-for-him Japanese woman to fly to America and be his Melania. Chas also has a double-Hitler mustache, which is 100% unacceptable, no matter what decade you live in. Sorry, Chas. Last place.

Read more: http://ift.tt/2mavumx

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riichardwilson · 5 years ago

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How Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake Learned to Embrace Her Power

The founder of the $2 billion business shares how she’s grown as a leader, how she pays it forward, and how she handles bad news.

March 4, 2020 8 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Stitch Fix has changed the way consumers shop. The online styling brand launched in 2011, winning over female customers with personalized selections of clothing sent directly to their door. (No more mall visits!) The brand then expanded to men’s and kids’ clothing and, since going public in 2017, has seen annual revenue approach $2 billion. Meanwhile, founder and CEO Katrina Lake has gone through her own evolution. She’s thinking about growth differently — less about speed, more about long-term sustainability — and has learned the importance of keeping her staff updated on all news, even the bad kind. She’s aware that as a young female CEO, all eyes are on her, but she’s learned to pay it forward to other young founders and embrace her role in the shifting landscape of startup culture. Because with every Stitch Fix win, she knows she’s helping create change.

Stitch Fix had a great 2019, increasing revenue 29 percent to $1.6 billion. Since going public in 2017, have you changed the way you approach your goals and efforts to continue improving?

Operating at this scale and being public — and feeling like we’re competing for dollars and shareholders with all these incredible companies, some of which have been around for decades and decades — has given us a longer-term view of the company. Where do we want to be not just next year, but in 10 years? I see the business now more through the lens that a public market investor looks through. And that’s a different mindset — to go from an entrepreneur who’ll build and grow something really fast to somebody who’s running a company that intends to create value year after year for a long period of time.

Related: Stitch Fix Founder Explains Why the Worst Piece of Advice She Ever Got Was to Raise A Lot of Money

Was it difficult to flex that muscle as a founder?

I wouldn’t say it was a muscle I even had. I spend a lot of time now reading books that public market investor friends of mine recommended, and really trying to understand how they think.

How much has your network of friends and peers helped guide you through this change?

Honestly, I lean more on our investors — we used to have two or three, and now as a public company, we have thousands. So it’s much easier to gather thoughts and feedback about what we’re doing, and what we could be doing better.

Can that feel like an overwhelming amount of advice?

It’s both a gift and a challenge to have lots of ideas — think about doing a brainstorming session and then all of a sudden you have 50 ideas to execute instead of three. But I’ve learned to prioritize the ideas that bring the most value, and that’s given me the tools to explain those decisions to investors: “This direct-buy initiative will have a huge ROI, and this idea around X or Y might be interesting someday, but we’re focusing first on higher-value opportunities.”

Related: Ayesha Curry Has Built a Business Empire — and She’s Still Learning

People love to talk about Stitch Fix’s habit of hiring actual rocket scientists to the data team to improve intelligence used to personalize customers’ offerings. At this point, how much room for improvement is there?

There’s never going to be a sense of Oh, we solved it! There’s a constant evolution in people’s personal style — you might love something today but not next year. That’s the challenge. Our predictive models are very strong, but they’re not 100 percent. And I don’t expect that they ever will be. Our success rates have improved dramatically since 2014, and we have the data to show that. The more we get to know people, the more we understand people.

What do you do when a customer isn’t happy?

Eighty-five percent of our customers choose to share feedback: I didn’t like this; I just had a sweater in a similar color; these pants are too long. I’ve never once filled out a survey to let a company know what I did and did not like about an item of clothing, but our clients do that regularly. That helps us add the human element and serve them better. Sometimes things will be great, sometimes they may not be great, but we’re here to listen and help.

Lake in 2017 — with her son in hand — as she takes Stitch Fix public on the Nasdaq.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stitch Fix

You get a lot of attention for being a young female founder in tech. Do those monikers ever get tough to embrace or feel like a burden, or is it something you’re happy to lean into?

No matter how I feel about it at any given moment, it is very important for somebody like me to be in a role like I am, and to be visible and show possibility. I know that from my own upbringing: I never thought entrepreneurship was for me, and nobody ever told me as a kindergartner that someday I’d be a CEO. And yes, for a long time I was reluctant to be categorized as a great female CEO — can’t I just be a great CEO? But I hope there will be many, many more. When I took the company public, I was the youngest female founder ever to do so, and I hope that title doesn’t last long.

Related: Top 3 Obstacles Entrepreneurial Women Must Overcome

What was your experience like in the earliest days, as a woman building a brand that would primarily serve women?

Fundraising was really challenging for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because there just aren’t enough female investors out there. VCs are the ones who decide what gets funded. They decide which people will become leaders. They decide who our children are going to work for. Those are really, really important decisions being made by a relatively homogeneous group of people. But the good news is, success ignites the capitalist part of a VC — and there are 50 VCs out there who passed on Stitch Fix. So they’re now looking at the market and trying to not make that kind of miss again.

Now that you are in a position of power, what are you doing to support founders who might not be getting the attention they’re seeking?

I’m generally only able to take one or two non–Stitch Fix meetings a week — I just can’t do more given the demands of my day job. But I do this thing on Instagram called Mentoring Mondays, where I post a Q&A and throughout the course of my day find time here and there to answer questions from people who write in. If I have a sit-down meeting with Susie, there’s no scale to that, even though we might have talked about something that would be helpful to thousands of people. So doing these sessions on Instagram, it’s very scalable, and the info is captured and available to everyone.

Over the past nine years, how have you changed as a leader? The IPO was, of course, a milestone, but what are some other moments that really affected your leadership style?

Teams are built in hard times, and lucky for us, we’ve had a lot of those. In the early days of the company, there was a time when we were eight weeks away from not making payroll, and I was so stressed-out thinking about the two people on my management team who had mortgages and kids. And I thought, Should I bring them along and tell them what’s going on, or is it too scary for them to know? But ultimately, I told them, and because they were financially responsible adults — which I wasn’t at the time — they were more concerned about the company than how they would personally be impacted. That was a pivotal moment for me.

Related: 8 Women Entrepreneurs on What They Wish They’d Done Differently

How has that lesson stuck with you?

It’s really helped me bring the team together. I’m not sure if this is the right analogy, but it’s like when you only see someone post pretty pictures on Instagram, you kind of know that their life isn’t really like that all the time, right? It’s the same thing as a leader — if you only stand up and talk to your team about the good things happening at the business, it’s just not authentic. And the people in the room know better.

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laurelkrugerr · 5 years ago

Text

How Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake Learned to Embrace Her Power

The founder of the $2 billion business shares how she’s grown as a leader, how she pays it forward, and how she handles bad news.

March 4, 2020 8 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Stitch Fix had a great 2019, increasing revenue 29 percent to $1.6 billion. Since going public in 2017, have you changed the way you approach your goals and efforts to continue improving?

Related: Stitch Fix Founder Explains Why the Worst Piece of Advice She Ever Got Was to Raise A Lot of Money

Was it difficult to flex that muscle as a founder?

I wouldn’t say it was a muscle I even had. I spend a lot of time now reading books that public market investor friends of mine recommended, and really trying to understand how they think.

How much has your network of friends and peers helped guide you through this change?

Can that feel like an overwhelming amount of advice?

Related: Ayesha Curry Has Built a Business Empire — and She’s Still Learning

What do you do when a customer isn’t happy?

Lake in 2017 — with her son in hand — as she takes Stitch Fix public on the Nasdaq.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stitch Fix

You get a lot of attention for being a young female founder in tech. Do those monikers ever get tough to embrace or feel like a burden, or is it something you’re happy to lean into?

Related: Top 3 Obstacles Entrepreneurial Women Must Overcome

What was your experience like in the earliest days, as a woman building a brand that would primarily serve women?

Now that you are in a position of power, what are you doing to support founders who might not be getting the attention they’re seeking?

Over the past nine years, how have you changed as a leader? The IPO was, of course, a milestone, but what are some other moments that really affected your leadership style?

Related: 8 Women Entrepreneurs on What They Wish They’d Done Differently

How has that lesson stuck with you?

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-stitch-fix-ceo-katrina-lake-learned-to-embrace-her-power/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-stitch-fix-ceo-katrina-lake-learned.html

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scpie · 5 years ago

Text

How Stitch Fix CEO Katrina Lake Learned to Embrace Her Power

The founder of the $2 billion business shares how she’s grown as a leader, how she pays it forward, and how she handles bad news.

March 4, 2020 8 min read

This story appears in the March 2020 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Stitch Fix had a great 2019, increasing revenue 29 percent to $1.6 billion. Since going public in 2017, have you changed the way you approach your goals and efforts to continue improving?

Related: Stitch Fix Founder Explains Why the Worst Piece of Advice She Ever Got Was to Raise A Lot of Money

Was it difficult to flex that muscle as a founder?

I wouldn’t say it was a muscle I even had. I spend a lot of time now reading books that public market investor friends of mine recommended, and really trying to understand how they think.

How much has your network of friends and peers helped guide you through this change?

Can that feel like an overwhelming amount of advice?

Related: Ayesha Curry Has Built a Business Empire — and She’s Still Learning

What do you do when a customer isn’t happy?

Lake in 2017 — with her son in hand — as she takes Stitch Fix public on the Nasdaq.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Stitch Fix

You get a lot of attention for being a young female founder in tech. Do those monikers ever get tough to embrace or feel like a burden, or is it something you’re happy to lean into?

Related: Top 3 Obstacles Entrepreneurial Women Must Overcome

What was your experience like in the earliest days, as a woman building a brand that would primarily serve women?

Now that you are in a position of power, what are you doing to support founders who might not be getting the attention they’re seeking?

Over the past nine years, how have you changed as a leader? The IPO was, of course, a milestone, but what are some other moments that really affected your leadership style?

Related: 8 Women Entrepreneurs on What They Wish They’d Done Differently

How has that lesson stuck with you?

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-stitch-fix-ceo-katrina-lake-learned-to-embrace-her-power/

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allthatwehear · 6 years ago

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unsent letters, pt. 1

August 23rd, 2018

Goodmornin’, lil’ cutie! You are currently sitting at the table with your bday sis, Jugie, listening to some new John Meyer (cause its calm, you know both mom and her like Johnny, and eh why not. You don’t really like silence, plus music tends to make Jugie kind of happier and more connected. “Battle Studies”, good album!)

Last night in an effort to help you sleep—because, you have been having trouble. Mind you, it is August. Months from when you last wrote an entry. Here is what’s changed: you met Ethan. Yes, Ethan Carlson, the tall, (6”2) blonde, football/sport enthusiast, charming, basically southern-accented boy. He is Susy Snyder’s boyfriend’s bestfriend, and your first date was at a Rockies game. That date went, well, way better than expected—and afterwards, you kind of both were like, well, shoot. We like each other. And thus you continued dating! All summer! Like a dingus, dumbass, whatever—and now you’re heart is hurt! Because in the heat of the moment, the flurried, fluttering hearts and whatever goes on in boy’s heads maybe when they’re just meeting a girl, he told me a few promising things of “when are your break’s from school?” and “oh, you’re in Mead! I’ll come up to see you when I’m in Fort Collins—” long story short, I need to get over this stupid boy. Need. To. It is driving me CRAZY. And, you have decided to go back to SPU. I don’t really want to expand on this too much—but baby, remember, no college is ever going to feel exactly right. Maybe to some people it does, on the off chance, but I really think that is supposed to be your home. Give it another chance, honey bee.

Okay, couldn’t sleep, let’s continue. What pops into my head but, ah, a podcast! This was a GOOD podcast; I’m excited to listen to more actually! “Reclaim Your Baggage” by Natalie Lue. There is literally a 100 part series to this podcast, I was blown away when I stared at my screen, bleary-eyed from melatonin. Anyway, she had some advice—lots of advice. One of them is a pretty big one, and you might have to take a few days, a few weeks and months, to really dive into this, if I commit.

The practice of writing unsent letters. Yes, maybe it sounds grudging, vengeful—at least, that’s what I thought when I first heard it, staring up at my dark ceiling. I imagine I was probably making a frowning face to really concentrate on what the speaker was saying. Unsent letters—I’ve written a few of those, but mostly to God, or my passed sister. And the emphasis wasn’t on if you were writing them to actually be sent—more of, to discover what baggage you were actually holding onto, on what people. I’ll have to listen again, because I think I’m butchering the much more sensical and poetic way she described this. But, I thought I would absolutely give it a go; it’s going to tell me what burdens I’m holding on that I can’t control. What I’m mad about but can’t help with. Because they aren’t my problems to solve, so what am I holding onto.

Dear Dad,

You have been one of my best friends since ever coming to this earth. I love your big, (hairy) strong arms, that always hoisted me higher than I expected as a kid, tumbled me to my bed, and “beat me up”. You always make me laugh; in fact, out of our family, maybe a close tie with mom—you still win, you make me laugh

the most

. However, though I love your big goofiness, like, you are an incredibly tall, silly, laughy, obnoxious teenage boy sometimes—maybe your mind back then was stuck too much in immaturity, as well. I think of the things you’ve done to mom. Sometimes things in my life are too hard to deal with that I kind of pretend they don’t happen, or I frankly don’t let my mind think about that that might’ve happened and I cut off people when they bring it up. I shut down and tune it out because my hero, the person who I sometimes feel is the most like me and kind of sane—probably, did actually, cheat on my mom when I was a kid. Did smoke pot, did have beer always on his breath as he angrily bitched about Maddie and I’s toy horses littering the floors (where we had thick plots and their placements were actually kind of important,) around his basement tv area. You were unkind to my sisters; a fact that I never witnessed for myself. You have a lot of issues. And they did happen. And you did hurt my mom, and you did lie to her for years, and you did throw away your faith that I’m not even convinced you fully had, since it seemed you only went to church for mom, and us. Even then you were

never

a convincing, happy person to go about that. You are selfish, and you had eyes mostly for sports. Sports, have a negative connotation for us. Your priority? Get home in time to watch football. Our quality time spent with you? Centered around movies, the tv, maybe spongebob. At least that was funny and a cartoon—that was better. I know you had the most difficult life; that is why I can still see you, and I love you. But sometimes I wonder if I am trying to mask, to myself, the really foul things you did back then, and the messed-up person you are. Because maybe a little of me has put you on a pedestal and I wish you would just stay up there and stop shocking me with things—stop acting like pot is your whole life, stop talking about it around me so much and becoming comfortable with talking about it around us or offering to do it with Julia (okay, frankly pestering her?? You’re so excited she’s into it.) while I’m around or just stop. Just, stop. I despise your pot lifestyle. I do not see it as any kind of life at all. You are a phony. There we go, the root of it all. I think you are a phony and a fake and I do not buy into any of your so proclaimed “changes”. You are sad, and you have had so much hurt in your life, and you are hella self-centered and arrogant and care more about your money and yourself.

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adventuresaroundasia · 6 years ago

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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Taking care of curly hair definitely isn’t easy, especially when you travel or live abroad for an extended period of time. After living in China for five years, I definitely learned a lot of tips and tricks when it comes to caring for curly hair abroad. Now I’m doing the digital nomad thing in Vietnam, and I’ve brought those skills with me!

That said, my eyes have recently been opened to the wonders of the Curly Girl Method, which has completely flipped my life (and hair care routine) upside down. The Curly Girl Method (CG Method) has a TON of rules, so I’ll definitely be going through my experience attempting the CG Method for the first time (abroad!!!) in this post as well.

PS- You should all start the Curly Girl Method right now. My hair has never looked (or smelled) better.

Flaunting my curls in Beijing

Finding the Right Products Abroad (Non-CG Method)

If there’s one thing curly girls worry about, it’s products. If you’re only traveling for a week or two, it’s easy to bring your products from home with you. However, if you’re traveling for months on end or moving abroad, you need to come up with a few long-term solutions.

Finding the Right Shampoo Abroad

When it comes to regular old shampoo, I’ve never had issues with this abroad. In China, I stuck with Head and Shoulders Shampoo, which I could find pretty much anywhere. Head and Shoulders is pretty moisturizing when it comes to shampoos, and I never had any issues with it. The bottle also lasts forever, since I only wash my hair 2-3 times per week with a little bit of shampoo.

Pantene ProV did its job for the most part

Finding The Right Conditioner Abroad

Obviously, conditioner and styling products are a completely different story. My recommendation is to look into Pantene ProV. I used Pantene ProV Curl Perfection back home in the US and loved how thick and moisturizing it was.

Unfortunately, you can’t really find conditioner specifically for curly hair in Asia, so I looked for other types. In the past, I used the Chinese Pantene ProV with the pink label, which was a super moisturizing leave-in style conditioner. However, in the last few years, I stopped seeing it around, so I went for the one with the gold label, which is supposed to be extra moisturizing for dry hair.

The reason why I recommend Pantene is because it’s super moisturizing and you can find it in pretty much any country. I saw it in Tanzania and here in Vietnam too! Obviously, if you’re following the CG Method, just ignore these product suggestions. We’ll get to you later!

Attempting to contain my hair in a scarf so it wouldn’t go CRAZY on the Seattle ferry

Bringing Products From Home

I’m a huge lover of gel for curly hair, and I’m happy to say that I feel super vindicated after learning that the CG Method recommends gel too! (Take that, stupid hairdressers!)

While I can easily find gel abroad, I’m always disappointed by the quality. Most of the gel I find comes in small bottles and is aimed at men. Either it has a weird smell, or is super alcoholic. My most recent gel I bought in Bangkok literally smells like vodka and has “alcohol” listed as one of the ingredients.

What kind of alcohol is it??!! Is it vodka???! Probably.

I was always a huge fan of Dep Sport gel and LA Looks Sport gel (this one is CG approved!). What I typically do is stock up on gel when I go home for a quick visit. I bring two big bottles of LA Looks and a small bottle of Dep. Then, if I happen to run out, I just attempt to buy a decent gel abroad (and fail miserably).

When it comes to moving abroad or traveling long-term in Asia, I always recommend bringing gel from home, along with other products that are super expensive in Asia, like face moisturizer. The longer I stayed in China, the more products I found that worked (Innisfree and Nature Republic saved my life on many occasions- Thank you Korea!!!). But I still haven’t found a good replacement for an awesome gel.

My travel toiletry organizer

Traveling With Your Products

While some travelers swear by going carry-on-only, I hate to break it to you curly girls… Give up on those dreams right now.

I don’t know about you, but my super long curly hair needs a ton of conditioner and gel to function, so travel-size bottles just aren’t going to work for me. Besides, my moisturizer is also too big, and I need a ton of that too. (Dry skin, dry hair… I’m cursed!)

I find it needlessly stressful and expensive to try and find conditioner and gel while I’m traveling. There have actually been times where I just CAN’T find conditioner. My friends hated me a little while we were traveling in Vietnam and I made them walk around a random town with me for 20 minutes to try and find a store selling conditioner. We failed.

Just pack your products in plastic ziplock bags in case they leak. I also recommend grabbing a bar of Lush solid shampoo, because shampoo is the most likely thing in your bag to leak (I speak from personal experience).

Just be careful to let the shampoo bar dry out so that it doesn’t melt and turn to putty in your little tin container. (I also have personal experience with this one as well).

If only my life was this organized.

Money Saving Hack: Only Check One Bag

If you’re traveling with a partner or friends, my biggest money-saving hack is to only check ONE bag. Decide which bag is largest/most durable and have everyone put their large bottles and products in just one bag while carrying on the others. Then you can all share the cost of the checked bag!

While this wasn’t super necessary for me in China since I always got a checked bag for free, it helped my friends and my fiance and I save money while flying around Southeast Asia using cheap Air Asia flights!

My hair gets pretty long abroad

Getting Your Hair Cut Abroad

DONT. Just don’t. Especially if you’re in Asia.

Cutting your hair in a place where curly hair doesn’t exist is a recipe for disaster. If you’re in Europe, South America, the Middle East or Africa (depending on your texture) you’re probably fine, just check for good reviews online. But if you’re in Asia… good luck.

While there are certain hairdressers in larger cities that cater to foreign expats, I have a hard enough time finding a good salon in the US that won’t mess up my hair, let alone one in China!!

So, what do you do? Personally, I get a really good haircut once a year. Yep- that’s it!

Why do hairdressers always insist on straightening it?

To think I considered making it permanent!

There was a time I considered making it permanently straight

I just tell my American hairdressers how long I need to go between cuts and let them know that they need to give me a great shape that can last me an entire year. After many years of trial and error, I finally managed to find a few decent hairstylists that can do this without chopping all of my hair off.

When I’m super desperate, I take a pair of kitchen scissors and cut my hair dry (which is apparently how you’re supposed to get it cut anyway). I take each curl individually and snip an inch or two off in a diagonal line. It always turns out fine and I get rid of those pesky dry ends!

If you don’t have a hairdresser that knows how to handle curly hair, I highly suggest looking for a Deva certified stylist who has been trained in the art of the CG Method and cutting curly hair. I’m super excited to book an appointment with a certified stylist in Seattle when I’m home!

[button url=”https://www.devacurl.com/salon-stylist-search.html” label=”Find Your Deva Certified Stylist!” size=”large” target=”_blank”]

Starting the Curly Girl Method Abroad

When my friend introduced me to the Curly Girl Method a few weeks ago, I was absolutely HOOKED. I joined the Curly Girl Support Group on Facebook, watched countless Youtube Videos (Shoutout to Curly Susie!) and immediately started searching for CG Approved products.

Unfortunately, I literally could not find ANY CG Approved conditioners in Hoi An or at the large Costco-esque store Megamart in Danang (about 30 minutes away).

Curly Girl Method: No silicones, sulfates, or parabens! (aka what is in EVERYTHING)

After getting some advice from the support group, I used a company called iHerb to order products from the US to Vietnam. While half the products for curly hair don’t actually follow the rules, I ended up finding a solid 15-20 I could work with.

I did a TON of research and ended up choosing 3: Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner, Beautiful Curls Activating Leave-in Conditioner, and Kinky Curly Styling Custard as a gel.

Thanks Customs…

Wow… Open boxes and everything

Dealing With Customs and Imported Products

My fiance Chris and I went a bit crazy on iHerb and ordered $100-worth of stuff. However, when it all arrived, our box was held up in customs for a solid week. We were informed by DHL that they didn’t believe that our stuff was only worth $100, so we had to send them the receipt and links to all of the products.

When the box finally arrived, we were told we owed customs $50. WTF!!!!???!!! Yeah, thanks Vietnam. Apparently they only really do this to foreigners, and there’s absolutely no way around it except to have a Vietnamese friend order for you.

Also, they had ripped the boxes of our supplements and meal bars open and taped them back up, and the cap to my leave-in was completely off and there was conditioner spilled in my box. Really??

Thankfully the leave-in is super thick, so I only lost a tiny bit of the bottle.

Time to bug mom and dad…

Relying on Friends and Family

Obviously, I won’t be attempting to order products again (unless it’s through a Vietnamese friend). This means I’ll need to have my parents bring me a few things when they visit.

I’m still on the hunt for the best products for my 3 a/b low porosity hair (and this is where I lose everyone…) but I’m hoping to find a few products I can get brought over in big bottles to at least last me until I’m in Australia this November.

When it comes to hair type, 1= straight, 2= wavy, 3= curly, 4=kinky. a= loose curls/waves/kinks, b=medium and c= tight. I’m a 3a/b since my curls range from the size of sidewalk chalk to the size of a sharpie. I have low-porosity hair because my hair has a hard time absorbing moisture but retains moisture (and WATER) very well. You can do a hair test to see what type of porosity you have.

My hair after ONE DAY of using the Curly Girl Method

A Few More Must-Have Curly Girl Lifesavers

In addition to products, I’ll also have my parents bring a few simple hair fixes that I can use anywhere.

Firstly, I’ll be getting a satin pillowcase to keep my hair from getting frizzy while I sleep. While I do put my hair up in a Pineapple bun to save the curls, the underside of my hair still gets frizzy. A satin pillowcase will solve all my problems, and it’s super luxurious!

I also plan on getting a travel hair diffuser. This collapsible travel diffuser fits on pretty much any hair dryer and can compactly fit in your bag, unlike a traditional diffuser or Devafuser. While I normally air dry my hair, it would be nice to diffuse if I’m heading out the door, or if it’s been 3 hours and my hair still isn’t dry and I want to go to sleep (that’s low porosity for you).

Finally, I want to grab a few small styling clips to give my roots volume and help my hair dry. I’ve currently been using large hair styling clips, but these tend to clump my hair in weird ways and make my roots strangely straight if I clip them too tight.

My pre-CG method curls (or should I say waves)

Do I Really Have to Bring All My CG Products From Home?

In Vietnam, I still have yet to see any CG Approved products. Thankfully there are some major brands that have CG Approved products like Suave Naturals, TRESemme Botanique, VO5 Herbal Escapes, Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel, Aussie Instant Freeze, and LA Looks Sport Gel that you MIGHT find abroad.

I’ll keep my eyes out, but at least in Vietnam, this is a huge problem for me. Specialized curly hair products like DevaCurl, Shea Moisture, and Kinky Curly are basically impossible to find in Asia.

I’d like to think that in China might have been able to find some of these products, or at least non-name brand CG approved products by using JD.com or Taobao, but no promises!

I basically recommend packing a few bottles of everything in your suitcase and requesting replacements from everyone who visits you. Worst case, you can pay to import stuff using companies like iHerb.

Ready for bed with my pineapple hair!

My Recommended Packing List for Curly Hair Girls

Now that I’m versed in the Curly Girl Method, there are a few things I wouldn’t travel without! Here’s a quick list of what you should bring

A Low-Poo, non-sulfate gentle shampoo to use 1x week or less

A big bottle of CG Approved silicone free conditioner for conditioning and co-washing

A leave-in conditioner

A Nice big bottle (or two) of gel (LA Looks is fine but I LOVE Kinky-Curly)

An old t-shirt or microfiber turban towel for drying your hair and “plopping”

A travel diffuser (optional)

10 Small hair clips for drying

A silk or satin pillowcase

A wide-toothed comb (optional) – I just use my fingers to brush my hair now!

Invisibobble “telephone wire” hair bands (these things are LIFE) and some bobby pins

Aside from your products, most of these things are super small, so you shouldn’t have a huge issue transporting them. While traveling with a ton of products is never fun, at least your hair will look fantastic??

If you’re living abroad, definitely search for the right products in local stores and online. The less product you have to bring, the better!

If you’re not at all interested in the CG Method, just go for Pantene ProV. It worked pretty well for me over the last five years!

Showing off my curls in Japan!

Any Questions??

Do you have any questions about managing curly hair while traveling? Want to know more about the Curly Girl Method and how I’ve been attempting it abroad? Do you have any advice for me or other curly haired travelers? Let me know in a comment!

I’m always checking back for new comments, so be sure to get in touch and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Want to know more about the Curly Girl Method? Get the Original Curly Girl Handbook on Amazon! This is where the entire CG movement began!

Traveling With Curly Hair – How to Care For Curly Hair Abroad This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info. Taking care of curly hair definitely isn't easy, especially when you travel or live abroad for an extended period of time.

#beauty #curly hair #travel #travel tips

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kidsviral-blog · 7 years ago

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100 Thoughts We've All Had While Shopping At Sephora

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/100-thoughts-weve-all-had-while-shopping-at-sephora/

100 Thoughts We've All Had While Shopping At Sephora

Do I need this $40 eyeshadow palette, or do I NEED it?

1. Oops, I’m all out of this one specific product I use every day! Better pop into Sephora real quick. 2. Good lord, it’s bright in here. 3. And it smells…good? Weird? A lot. 4. No, ma’am, I don’t need any help today. 5. Your bright green eyeshadow sure is daring, though. 6. Actually wait I have no idea where I’m going. 7. I could have sworn that the brand I want was right over there by the entrance. 8. Maybe they’ve rearranged the store? 9. Or maybe I’m going crazy. 10. Maybe I’ve never even been here in my life. 11. Maybe all of time and space is a lie.

View this image ›

shopinternationalplaza.com

12. Oh word, there it is. 13. Alllllll the way at the back of the store. 14. I may as well stop and look at some other stuff while I’m on my way. 15. Ooh, this lipstick is so cute! 16. Like I’m not REALLY a lipstick person but maybe this will convert me. 17. I wish there wasn’t this curly weird hair stuck to the tester. 18. I guess that’s why Mother Nature invented rubbing alcohol. 19. Am I even applying this right? 20. Should I stick to the natural lines of my lips? 21. Ehh that looks a little thin. 22. I’ll just try going a litttttttle wider. 23. Fuck. 24. Clown City, U.S.A., population: me. 25. Thank god there’s makeup remover. 26. That…kind of worked? 27. I can rock this crusty pinkish tinge. 28. Maybe everyone will just think it’s lip stain. 29. No, ma’am, seriously, I actually don’t need your help, the last time I was here one of your cohorts applied eyeshadow up past my forehead. 30. Onto the next row! 31. Sparkly eyeliner! Sparkly blush! 32. Sparkly hairspray? 33. Who could possibly ever need that many sparkles in their life. 34. JK IT’S ME BUYING ALL OF THIS.

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Helen Alfvegren / Flickr / Creative Commons / Flickr: rockspindeln

35. Ugh, but now my hands are full and I didn’t grab a basket because I thought I was only going to buy one thing. 36. I’ll just casually walk back up to the front of the store. 37. SHIT dropped the hairspray. 38. Why are you jerks staring at me like that? 39. Like YOU’VE never dropped anything before, Perfect-Hair Susie. 40. Like YOU’RE so perfect, Winged-Eyeliner Sally. 41. OK reached the baskets, at long last. 42. WAIT NO WHY IS THE ALARM SOUNDING I’M LITERALLY 5 FEET AWAY. 43. I’VE NEVER STOLEN ANYTHING IN MY LIFE, NOT EVEN THOSE JUNIOR MINTS FROM 7-ELEVEN EVEN THOUGH THE EIGHTH-GRADE BULLY TOLD ME I WAS A NERD IF I DIDN’T DO IT. 44. Phew, that’s over. 45. Dumping this crap in the basket. 46. Back to my browsing mission. 47. On a scale from 1 to 10, how on point is my eyebrow game? 48. What I’m asking is should I spend half a day’s pay on something called “eyebrow gel.” 49. If I don’t, chances are my unruly brows will cause me to miss out on professional, social, and romantic success of all varieties. 50. Better be on the safe side, into the basket with you. 51. Ooh, perfume! Glittering like an effervescent wall of promise! 52. MA’AM, DO NOT SPRITZ ME, SERIOUSLY DO NOT. 53. That one has such a charming bottle! 54. Just gonna try a tiny spray. 55. Oh cool, now I smell like floral baby garbage. 56. Maybe this other one will mask the stench? 57. Nope, patchouli barf. 58. I’ll be fine as long as nobody comes within 10 yards of me for the rest of the day. 59. Wait, did that girl just apply a tester mascara directly to her eyelashes? Welcome to Stye Town. 60. I should just cut my losses and head for the checkout. 61. But NOT BEFORE I THROW THIS ADORABLY TEENY HAND LOTION IN MY BASKET.

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Littledebbie11 / Flickr / Creative Commons / Flickr: 30223382@N06

An all-too-common medical condition.

62. Man, this line is long. 63. There seem to be five checkout people and only one is actually interacting with customers. 64. Oh well, I can entertain myself. There are so many sample-sized products to play with right here! 65. And they’re only like 10 bucks each! That’s practically free! 66. I’ll take four. 67. Come on, lady, it’s your turn to go. 68. Like you’re at the front of the line. 69. And there’s an open register. 70. The cashier is literally beckoning to you. 71. Just WALK. 72. OK, if you won’t, I wi– 73. OMG SORRY I DID NOT MEAN TO OFFEND YOU WITH MY PHYSICAL SELF YOU JUST SEEMED LIKE MAYBE YOU WERE DEAD. 74. Breathe. 75. OK, finally my turn. 76. Dammit, forgot my VIB card. 77. Maybe try this email address? 78. No? How about my mom’s home phone number? 79. I have HOW MANY Beauty Insider points?!? 80. I mean on the one hand, cool, more free samples for me. 81. On the other hand, how “free” are these samples if I had to spend THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS to get them? 82. Whatever, totally taking the 500-point set. 83. All those little shampoos and face washes and mascaras will come in handy during my glamorous world travels. 84. (Or I’ll use each of them once and then forget them at the gym.) 85. (Or they’ll get impossibly crusty within minutes.)

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Ewan Jade / Flickr / Creative Commons / Flickr: rockspindeln

86. OK, moment of truth: How much do I owe? 87. Hahahahahhahahahahahah. 88. Oh. 89. Um. 90. OK. 91. I don’t really…I mean….math? 92. Ah. Right. That one thing was secretly $65. 93. Oh yeah and that other thing was even more, not even saying how much even to myself in my own brain. 94. It’s too late to put something back now. 95. And, like, I NEED this stuff. 96. I need to become the person I deserve to be! 97. And look how pretty it all looks in that lovely red tissue paper. 98. I’ll figure out how to pay rent some other way. 99. But wait a sec. 100. I totally forgot what I came here to buy.

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alannaokun/thoughts-weve-all-had-while-shopping-at-sephora?b=1&loreal_feed=1&loreal_username=beauty

#shopping at sephora #spending all your life savings at sephora #what its like to shop at sephora

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williamjharwick · 7 years ago

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31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

This was my first year experiencing what it was like to create and sell online courses. With one public course launched (Smart From Scratch) launched earlier in the year, and another one that just launched last month (Power-Up Podcasting), I’m already experiencing the benefits I always heard other course creators talk about:

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

As an advisor now to Teachable, the online platform I use to host and sell my online courses, I knew there were tons of other course creators out there—many more and different experiences than my own—who could offer tips to those who are just starting out. [Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

2. Stop worrying all the time about how you will sell your course and start worrying about how you will create such a good course that will provoke a real change in your students’ lives. Then, I promise you the money will come. Great content means good reviews, and good reviews mean more money.

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

4. Stop making excuses as to why you aren’t qualified to teach, set a deadline, and commit to that deadline. Do not let yourself get distracted by trying to make everything perfect. It will never be perfect. Strive for professionalism, but don’t derail yourself in the chase of perfection. You can’t fix what you don’t launch. So launch it, learn, tweak, and repeat.

More advice from Sarah on her experience getting started: I lurked around the SPI and Teachable communities for 14 months. I listened to all the course-related podcasts Pat did. And I got stuck in a cycle of trying to gather all this intelligence. I wish I had stopped going into “research” mode and just committed that time to DOING IT. Finally, in January I committed to launching my course by the first week of March. I did it, and got 52 students. I was actually literally sitting in the audience at a conference Pat was speaking at and I was getting student after student and refreshing my app to see how much money had come in!

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

6. Each one of us has a secret passion. Maybe you know more about Star Trek than anyone on this (or any) planet. Maybe you can recite the relative strengths and weaknesses of every car on the market. Maybe you have all your grandmother’s recipes for your family’s special foods. You think you’re the only one who cares about these things. You are not. Use your secret passion as material for an online course and people will respond. Because people respond to passion.

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

7. Test your idea first. Don’t waste any time creating a course unless you have a solid list ready to buy it. Start small with blog posts and expand as the traffic steadily increases. Launch your course when your audience starts asking for it.

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

8. Don’t wait . . . set a date and get out there and pre-sell (better yet, create your webinar date to launch your yet-to-be-created course). Nothing will light a fire fast enough knowing that you have to get it done.

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

10. No course is ever perfect when it launches. If you try to make your course perfect before you launch, you will NEVER launch. It’s okay to start with an initial version of your course that you improve on after receiving feedback from your students.

SPI is the primary reason I was able to launch my course. Without the SPI podcast, I would likely still be tweaking my course trying to get it to be perfect before I launched. Regardless of whether I’m chosen or not to be featured, I just want to say thanks for all the GREAT content your team gives away as it helped me tremendously.

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

11. The number one thing people need to know is to sell something that people actually need. And then know a thing or two about marketing to sell it. Love Pat Flynn. Love Teachable. Love helpful people and making a living doing it!

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

12. Teach MORE THAN your competitors for FREE. Selling is nothing but teaching genuinely. If you just teach without holding anything back, genuinely, and help people, everything becomes very easy. Why I am saying this? Because it’s not something I had planned before my course launch. It’s something I realised last month. My “Aha!” moment. After looking at last 4 months’ stats.

I did $20,000 in sales in the last 4 months without running a single Facebook ad or any kind of promotion. I have just 11 videos on my YouTube channel. But those 11 videos teach more than other paid courses. Somehow people are finding those videos, getting amazing value, and subscribing to my paid course.

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

13. Roadmap actual deliverables and stick to a schedule that’s conducive to producing the outcomes you need to meet your plan. Too many entrepreneurs spend three years “making” a course, and not a single buyer will ever be exposed or even hear about it!

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

15. Business success is not dependent on the size of your email list, nor what you’re passionate about. A large unresponsive list is a massive cost centre and your passions don’t mean a thing if people don’t want to pay for it.

Find a deep unmet need or hidden desire waiting to be addressed. Address that in your course, and then make THAT your passion. If you can do that, even a small list can be very responsive and profitable; and you’ll have a thriving business. You guys are doing such a stellar job towards making it possible for solopreneurs to be successful. Just a BIG thank you!

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

16. It’s all about creating a detailed, powerful outline. Armed with that, you’ll know how much of your course you can give away for free to attract the right audience, which parts of your course to promote or add to your blog/podcast, and how to build a sales page that highlights what you’ll share with people.

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

18. Stop reading about it. Taking action is the best teacher! For years I have been studying marketing strategies, read articles, listened to podcasts (SPI rocks!). The more I studied, the more overwhelmed I became. I finally stopped worrying about it, moved my business to Teachable and simply took action. My business income quintupled (literally!) after doing those things. This is after 10 years of struggling with the business. Pat and Teachable, thank you!

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

19. Start right now even if you don’t have everything figured out. If you believe in yourself and the online course you want to create to help others, you’ll find your way to get there no matter what.

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

20. Just do it! Perfection kills progress. Like Pat, I live in San Diego. I’m a huge fan of the show. I literally shot my class in my living room. I duct-taped together my first sales funnel and I was trying and failing at Facebook ads on Black Friday (my launch day, which now I hear is the WORST day to launch anything, LOL). Now a few short months later it has made about $50,000 and enrollment has been closed much of that time. Testing deadline funnel now. Yes I will be adding more courses ASAP!

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

21. VALIDATE, then create. Before pouring time and money into an online course, make sure that people will buy it by actually ASKING people to buy it! You may be able to get 100 people to sign up to be beta testers for your course, but if no one is willing to pay you for the course, then it’s not worth creating.

When I created my first online course, I sent a few people in my audience a personalized email where I gave them a description of what the course was and what it would include. If they were interested, I asked them if they wanted to pre-purchase the course at a special rate (yes, before it was built!). I made $8,000 off of the pre-sale, which validated that people wanted my course. I spent the next few months creating the course, and launched to my list of only 2,000 at the time. My first launch did $41k in sales. Validate the idea, then create the product.

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

22. The number one tip I would give to course creators is start building your list immediately. Always be growing your audience and remember to nurture it as you grow. If you have a great audience who wants to hear what you have to say, you will be successful in your online course creation and sales!

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

23. Jump and then figure out how to open the parachute. I started my course live before I had all the content developed. Each week I had 15 people who were showing up to my office to learn, so I needed to make sure it was ready for them. Eight weeks later my course was developed, recorded, and uploaded to Teachable. Over $70k in 6 months later and I’m happy I didn’t wait until it was “ready.”

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

24. Don’t pressure yourself to create one module or even one PDF of the course BEFORE you’ve pre-launched and pre-sold the idea. That pressure can be a major mental block, and you’ll never take action to get it out of your brain and into Teachable (#speakingfromexperience).

So instead, craft your pre-sales campaign, do that, and then once the dollars are in and there’s PROOF that your people are willing to put their money into your idea . . . then your mental blocks will magically turn into action.

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

25. Overcome any hesitations, any procrastination, any fear but writing a list about how fabulous you are, how helpful your course will be, what benefits you’ll be bringing to their lives. Jump up and down, get super excited, and GO! You’re now in the right buzzing mindset and vibrational vantage point to pour the right energy into your work. YOU’RE GOING TO NAIL IT!

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

26. Differentiate yourself and your course. Don’t be one of a thousand teaching HTML, or healthy lifestyles. Find something that makes you different. Find a way to be different. It’s the only way you can stand out and build a real business. If you’re the same as everyone else, no one has a reason to enroll in YOUR course. Differentiate yourself and make that differentiator your competitive advantage.

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

29. Find one person and walk them through your exact process of the course you’re considering creating. Each step of the way becomes your working outline for the course and helps identify any steps you might overlook. As an added bonus, this person becomes your true raving fan and an amazing testimonial. Teachable rocks!

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

31. Sell as you create! By sharing what you are working on, your fans feel like they are part of the process and they will be rooting for your success. Plus they will be thinking about getting the class when it comes out. I think it is enticing to know about a product that you can’t have yet and by the time it comes out they have convinced themselves that they need it and they jump at the chance to buy. Offering a special price for early buyers also removes a consideration and makes the purchase a no-brainier. Just make sure you deliver the good so they will come back for the next class

My first class literally launched 5 days ago and I already have 246 sales. I am not sure if that is awesome by other’s standards but I am beyond thrilled! I have created class content as a guest instructor for other companies like Craftsy, Lifebook (Willowing.org), and Wanderlust (Everything Art) to learn the ropes but there is nothing as satisfying as creating your own course from soup to nuts on your own platform. I just wanted to make sure you knew I am a newbie at creating courses on Teachable, so if you want that perspective, call me!

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this post! If you’re thinking of starting an online course of your own, now’s definitely the time. It can be a massive game-changer in your business income generation, but more importantly, it’s the ultimate way to serve those who are looking to you for advice.

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course shared from David Homer’s Blog

0 notes

andrewmrudd79 · 7 years ago

Text

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course originally posted at Homer’s Blog

0 notes

judithghernandez87 · 7 years ago

Text

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course originally posted at Dave’s Blog

0 notes

davidmhomerjr · 7 years ago

Text

31 Tips from 31 Course Creators on How to Build and Launch a Successful Online Course

Increased income, yes. But, more importantly, increased amounts of success stories.

Truly, there’s no better way to package up information you have to solve a problem, and provide a win for your customer while also getting paid at the same time.

So here they are, 31 course creators from various niches with their #1 tip for creating and selling online courses:

1. Do not prepare an online course for selling. Create an online course for what you love to do and then sell it. You will earn a lot if you tell a topic that you love to do.

– Resit, Master of Project Academy

– David Perálvarez, Club SiliCODE Valley

3. Build content that people can’t find anywhere else in the world for the same price or at the same level of quality. If you do both at the same time, sales will roll in like crazy.

– Dakota Wixom, QuantCourse

It was an amazing feeling and I only wish I had done it SOONER :).

– Sarah, User Research Mastery

5. For a fast and profitable launch, plan a launch on Instagram. We flipped $2k in ad spend into $60k worth of sales on our Teachable course. Micro-influencers are the way to go!

– Julie Cabezas, Social Brand School

– Eric Goldman, Profit Leader Academy

– Sarah Crosley, The Creative Boss: Create the Ultimate Opt-In Offer

– Susie Parker, Family Success Academy: Baby Naps Made Easy

9. Don’t try to be perfect.

– Cassie Zeider, Mommy & Me Wellness & Nutrition

– Daniel Milner, Make TV Easy

– Jen Kamel, VBACfacts Academy: The Truth About VBAC™ for Professionals

– Mubaid Syed, T-Shirt Profit Academy

Our current course is doing well over $25k/month in recurring and we’re moving all of the outside stuff into Teachable as we speak!

– Scot Smith, Automated Inbound: Rainmaker University

14. Plan out your marketing and promotion strategy even before you build your course.

– Amir West, Online Entrepreneur Life: Amazon Phenomenon

– Vikram Anand, Get Ahead Fast™

– Regina Anaejionu, Business School for Humans: Monetize and Market Your Mind

17. Whatever topic you have in mind right now, make it 5 times smaller. The biggest mistake is to think you have to cover everything in one step.

– Kerstin, Fluent Language School

– David Wallimann, Guitar Playback

– Arantxa Mateo, 32 Mondays: What to Eat to Lose Weight

P.S. Did I mention I love Pat’s podcast, Smart Passive Income? It is likely one of the stories on there that got me to try a course. My first business is ecommerce.

– Gina Downey, Academy for Dance

– Abbey Ashley, The Virtual Savvy: VA Bootcamp

– Fleur Ottaway, Venture Digital: Get Results from Your Facebook Ads

I teach mindfulness from the Christian perspective as it differs from the Buddhist perspective (in a respectful way).

– Gregory Bottaro, Catholic Psych Academy: Take Control of Your Life Today

– Elise Darma, InstaGrowth Boss

– Heather, The Brain Trainer

– Mark Lassoff, LearnToProgram: Become a Professional Developer

27. Start. Like, now. No, really. Like, do it. You’ll never learn or have success with course building if you never get started! Love the blog! Thanks for all you do

– Sarah, The Writing Room: Living an Inspired Life

28. Grab that camera (or phone as I did) and start recording. It will not be the best course, for sure. The market will decide if it’s good or not.

– Frici, Digital Lifestyle: Online T-Shirt Business in 3 Easy Steps – The Crash Course

– Jeff Rose, The Online Advisor Growth Formula

30. Engage with your audience. Focus on helping people, money will follow.

– Sam (Sanjay) J, TIBCO Learning

– Lindsay Weirich, Essential Tools and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

For an online course platform that works and is easy to setup, check out Teachable!

[Full Disclosure: I’m a compensated advisor and an affiliate for Teachable.]

0 notes