#when i first started writing there was next to NO miles content for the demographic i write for | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

babygirldennis · 3 years ago

Text

This shit is fake bby!!!

Here she is.. My masterpost of all the dumb, illogical bits of info contained within these s15 “leaks” that make me fairly confident they are complete bullshit. It also includes my little tinhat theories that have absolutely no evidence.

I will be putting it all under a Readmore in case you don't want to risk it or if you simply Do Not Care

First up, I'd like to point out that these call sheets repeatedly give very detailed backstories to characters that have few lines which conveniently paints a picture of each episode's plot. And I'm not an expert so correct me if I'm wrong, but after looking at other similar casting calls, they only ever include the demographic and necessary skills.

Basically who in their right mind would write up casting calls that give away so many spoilers? Seems like that could cause and issue if they were leaked lol. But anyway that's my 1st point. But onto the actual content

So the conceit of this episode as a whole is that during the pandemic, the gang "gamed the system" and received three (3!) Loans to start businesses that went bankrupt. One of these businesses is implied to be the one started by dee and charlie who end up selling to Qanon shaman. Already this is so impossible baby.

1. We've already seen the gang try to get a loan and it didn't work. They don't have good ideas. Ur telling me, they managed to finagle 3 separate loans for 3 separate business ideas from an actual bank?

2. Maybe I just have bad reading comprehension but how does one have a business that is both fictitious and bankrupt?

3. If the customer is supposed to be Qanon shaman, an actual real life guy, why are the only descriptors white and male? They say he's shirtless so are they going to paint on all of the tattoos he has? And if so, doesn't that kind of ruin the dramatic reveal when charlie "throws in" the viking helmet? Why would he do that anyways? Sus.

Moving on

Alright this episode would fucking blow for obvious reasons but im going to refrain from looking at this through my gay dennis thruther lens because im biased.

Purely from a narrative standpoint, a woman hasn't been shown to be interested in dennis in nearly 5 years during the wade boggs episode. Ever since, every single woman he approaches has been actively creeped out by him. And now I'm supposed to believe that 3 "smart, passionate woman" (In Their Twenties!!!!!!) agreed to go on a date with him? And Anna even slept with him! Just because he what? Agreed with her? I'm not buyin it.

Plus the concept of this scenario lacks any potential for comedy. When iasip gets political, they always discuss a very specific topic using hyperbolic situations and flawed metaphors. If this is supposed to be a political episode, what ultimately lukewarm point would rob be trying to make here? So far we know they're ranting about

The patriarchy

Privilege

Socialism

No more personal responsibility(?)

The... nature of power in society(??)

How on earth would an episode like get approved? This shit sounds like a Ted talk. It sounds like it was written specifically to sound like a political episode so boring and pointless it would generate outrage and mile long essay posts from Tumblr users and reddit users alike. Almost like this one lol.

On a completely unrelated note, do not try and convince me that Frank "casual cock ring wearer" Reynolds is unable to perform.

Jeez this is getting out of hand fast. Let's move on

Ok now we're starting to getting into the Ireland of it all. Let me go on a bit of a tangent here about all this.. Now I thinq there are just 3 possibilities. Either this is all a publicity stunt and there is some truth to the Ireland rumors, the entire thing could be bogus from some weirdo fan (ps, if a fan did write this I want you to know I fucking hate you. You did this to me), or it is a publicity stunt but Ireland is just more bullshit.

I am going to assume it was a publicity stunt, otherwise I just wasted my entire evening and I can't have that kind of mentality rn. Additionally, I'm Going to tinhat here for a second and say that the Ireland rumors are true, but the details are different.

I say this because if they were going to do filming in Ireland, they probably figured that that information would be impossible to hide. In essence, my completely unfounded hypothesis is that this leak was their fucked up little way of controlling the situation while simultaneously messing with us.

Ok tangent is over, returning to the casting calls. From the looks of it, dee starts a "scam" acting class and has some very devoted students (Note that Tony was also the name of the porn shop owner. Seems weird!) Presumably after the gang replaces her with a monkey as the title suggests.

Honestly, there isn't too much here that's a red flag to me... seems like a nice little dee-centric episode that is the link to the Dublin angle. Assuming I am At All right, this could be a genuine plotline for Dee. However, the monkey could be a red herring and there could be a whole different side plot with the guys. who's to say. Next one!

Ah yes this is the dennis we all know and despise.. no red flags for me here really, I'm also running out of steam because idk if it shows, but I am majorly sleep deprived atm. Anyway I'm going to the next one

Okay this is where things start getting weird again ough a migraine just hit, anyway back to my earlier point about how casting calls would never contains major spoilers bc the people who see these wont be under any kind of NDA..

These ones reveal that bonnie dies. Again, that info wouldn't be in a casting call.

But also they suggest charlie has a irish penpal named Shelley who is his biological father. First off charlie is illiterate, although as pointed out by @undeadbreeze shelley could also be communicating in symbols. However, this scenario is still unbelievable to me for a couple reasons:

1. Bonnie's last name is Kelly obviously, and we know it's her maiden name because Jack's last name is also Kelly. But Shelley's last name is... also Kelly? In the context of this big ol hoax, it feels like it was written to show that look! his last name is the same as charlie's! That's how you know that's his dad! But It would be way too big of a coincidence if charlie's dad happened to have the same last name bonnie.

And 2. There's the whole mystery of charlie's long-lost sister from 'charlie got molested' but never any mention of a brother which according to this, shelley has been pretending to be his brother for years. And we all know how much rcg loves their continuity, it seems uncharacteristically lazy to just tack this on without any prior buildup.

And finally let me talk about mac for a second and specifically the line in gus's summary "both are gay men who are attracted to the priesthood for all the wrong reasons"

Iasip has commented on pedophilia in the priesthood many times in the past which leads me to believe that they are implying that mac is a pedophile? Please let me know if I completely misread the implications of that statement, but if not, then that is completely insane and one of the biggest indictators that this is fake. Mac is awful, just like everyone in the gang but he is definitely not a pedophile.

However even if i did completely misread that, it's still proof this is fake.. For all his faults, Rob put a surprising amount of care and effort into mac's coming-out. It hasn't been perfect, but Mfhp in particular firmly established that mac's faith is integral to his identity so Its unlikely that rob would throw all of that away for a cheap shot at priests.

Ok my brain is irradiated sludge at this point, but in conclusion. I hope that 1. I'm right, at least about it being fake (Otherwise damb that'll be so humiliating for me) And 2. This eases ur fears a bit. I don't want to lose all faith in future seasons bc I love iasip and miss the gang. If you read this far youre insane but I literally love you so goddamn much because I spent so so long tapping this out on my silly little phone

Please feel free to add on or message me your thoughts and opinions I need to know I'm not the only one who uhhh went a bit insane. And finally: whoever made these is a cunt. Mwah.

#iasip #s15 spoilers #oy vey.....#they could also be written by a reddit fan who is too much of a pussy to just write fanfic but that seems kinda unlikely?#cause 1. itll be disproven so everyone will know u just... wrote weird fanfic #and 2. there are a lot of little details that are so random that even if this is a fan just messing with people.... why put in so much effo #wahtever im pressing post #actually tho what gge fuck is that priest line supposed to imply #i guess for mac it could be talking about his view that god smites enemies and u must fear him blah blah #i jus don't know what it was supposed to imply about gus!!!#bc they describe gus like he is fat mac with healthy views on the bible which :]#then that last line just gives me whiplash what does that mean!!

70 notes · View notes

bearogenes · 6 years ago

Text

Dear Bearogenes: How do I handle a long distance relationship?

Hi, My partner and I are in a long distance relationship and it can be hard sometimes . Do you have an tips for keeping this going?

It’s a funny old world we live in and some things never change. Our technology has evolved to make things ‘easier’ but that comes with a dual edge and simultaneously complicates things by setting an expectation of it being easy to create opportunity to use it. It’s not always so, but because it’s quick to send a text we assume by default that our ‘ease’ is the same as the one we’re sending it too. This is made worse by things like being told it’s been ‘read’ or ‘someone is typing’ when in reality there’s a character in the box but they aren't typing actively.

I have spent ¾ths of my life in long term relationships (more than 6 months) and of that time, 2 have taken up 22 years in total. I’m no expert on dating, finding new relationships or partners, but I do know a lot about why things work and why they fail from the other side of that. I can tell you that, with certainty, it always comes back to the same key point, the same skill and the same commitment to the process. It’s the benchmark by which you feel good and secure and by which your heart knows that something is wrong. The key to maintaining any relationship is the same:

Communication.

Not everyone is a master at texting, some of us with ‘big hands’ hate texting because there’s nothing worse than fumbling with a tiny button or hitting 3 letters at once when you’re just trying to say you love someone. Even though technology lets us send little notes to each other whenever we feel the need or have the time, it comes with no guarantees of reaching it’s destination with the intended effect. In person you can recover from a mistake faster than over a text so distance becomes a complicating factor in this kind of communication even as it cuts off the ability to ‘recover’ because they are within arms reach.

Long Distance Relationships can test a person’s resolve and commitment. View them as opportunities as much as challenges. I’ve done some research to find ways to show you rather than just tell you what I’m talking about so be warned; past this point is a very serious answer to how to make relationships work and a hard look at why they fail as they illustrate communication through the lens of modern technology.

My partner and I have been together nearly 14 years and at our most fragile point, in our first year as a couple, we were separated by many miles for a period of time. In the scope of that many years together, the time apart has been minimal but in so early a phase of development that distance can become a threat.

We solved the main issue of maintaining communication through ‘regulation’. We had habits that we kept to, mini-promises that we never missed doing, that kept demonstrating our commitment and affection. Now, with the addition of cell phones that would be easier but back then neither of us had them so we had to create other avenues in our time apart. Now, whenever one must be away from the other, we do our best to keep the same regular ‘rituals’ we have in person even though the other isn’t there directly.

In our only real gap (longer than a few days at most) we looked at our schedules and set mutually acceptable times for regular communication. The easiest way was via email whenever ‘mood’ hit, or there was something funny to share. We’d leave notes on instant messengers and chat whenever we could but we always had ‘regular’ channels at regular times and things we never missed. The most critical of those I would say are the good morning and good night messages.

They are dual function messages because they not only let our partners know we were thinking of them first thing in the morning but also remind ourselves that having them be one of the first thoughts is important especially in their absence. At the end of the day, the good night messages (double down on this one, especially if love is how you feel for each other) were the most important ritual. Things could always disrupt the chance to talk in the morning or delay that first message, but the one before bed was the most consistent as everyone sleeps eventually.

These regular intervals, at specific times, create the sense of continuity and affirm to your partner that you care and that’s a vital part of sustaining any relationship, long distance or not. If you cannot be in their presence, you have to remain ‘vivid’ in their heart and memory. This doesn’t mean crazy smothering texting every second of the day. It means keep to a promise. Set aside a minimum of those two moments you promise to talk and do it faithfully.

Now, with the introduction out of the way, on to the ‘BearTalk ™’ on this subject.

When it comes to failure it can be easy to dismiss individual examples based on situation which is why I selected a few from across various demographic differences because in looking at the data, it’s clear that the answer is fairly universal:

Communication regularity is a cornerstone of stability.

(source)

The trend between these three different stories is that when the connection feels strongest, communication levels are most regular. Factors like frequency and content are something I’ll touch on later. You’ll notice that at the left, either when the relationship starts or when the long distance portion begins, communication sees a rise to maintain the relationship in the situation. Throughout these ‘high communication times’ the ‘responsibility’ being shared equally seems to be a trend as well. As dissatisfaction grows, no matter the reason, that number drops.

The short version of interpreting that data is this:

To maintain a relationship you must maintain communication and equally share that burden.

The last part there is a key feature that separates successful communication from regular communication. Regular communication doesn’t have the sense of partnership that successful communication does because neither partner feels the burden of being the responsible one for it because both are. A one sided relationship works under no context. There must be some form of reciprocity, both must get something out of it, or it’s not really a relationship.

Now to contrast:

A detailed examination of the habits of a successful relationship and then a companion word analysis from a different one to look for the patterns in word use as well as frequency/regularity of communication.

(the next one should open in new window for a clear view of the data and there’s a LOT of it)

(source)

Now that all the graphs are out of the way there’s a few key things in these two successful relationships that might not stand out at first.

1: Frequency and length seem to be a strong factor but why? Answer: Time. The expenditure of time represents effort and interest. “Oh, he took the time to write me, how sweet’ hasn't changed in centuries. Texting doesn't get you off the hook but things like emoji and one words (lol in particular) are perfectly fine now to use occasionally.

What matters in this example is a perception of time spent thinking about someone and then taking the effort to write. The actual content isn’t too much of a factor. What matters is that sense of connection and participation in their life across the distance (any distance actually, even arms length).

2: Word use. The last graph in particular plots the most frequently used words in texts from a successful relationship. Note the focus on the recipient. The most frequently used word was YOU, followed by things like smile, love, world, and one. These are ‘intimate’ words that show you’re interested in them and the things going on with them even more than the things you’d like to do together.

To the effectiveness of word choice, the second (and final) one contains a cloud of words that if you look carefully you’ll find another ‘hidden trick’. Notice how the words there are ‘common’ ones and not centered on ‘missing/sad/lonely’ feelings. They talk about the world around each other as if together, the longing can be understood but vocalizing it can amplify it, and they are continuing as if the other was simply in another part of the same living space.

Using these tricks won’t erase those feelings of longing or missing them, but it does allow you to create a sense of continuity that flies in the face of the ‘logic’ of distance. The human heart has never been much for ‘rules’ like time, space, distance or any such so by speaking the language of the heart those things mean less and less over time. The trick is to talk about the mundane things as much as the dreams and feelings and to be ‘together’ as close to how you would be if you were physically together as possible.

To briefly summarize the key take-a-way points for all of the above:

The key to long distance relationships is regular communication, for which both partners are mutually responsible, that focuses on involvement in the lives of both involved. It isn't easy but if you both are committed to doing your mutual best, then the greatest asset you will have is patterns of communication.

For now, this is a good enough start and if taken to heart will at least help ensure that you've given it your best so win or fail there are no regrets that are yours to bear.

Until then, you have my best wishes as always.

- Bearogenes

3 notes · View notes

golbatgender · 7 years ago

Text

@failure-artist replied to your post “You know the “Chinese room” linguistics experiment? I think anti...”

What is the Chinese room?

http://www.iep.utm.edu/chineser/

Against "strong AI," Searle (1980a) asks you to imagine yourself a monolingual English speaker "locked in a room, and given a large batch of Chinese writing" plus "a second batch of Chinese script" and "a set of rules" in English "for correlating the second batch with the first batch." The rules "correlate one set of formal symbols with another set of formal symbols"; "formal" (or "syntactic") meaning you "can identify the symbols entirely by their shapes." A third batch of Chinese symbols and more instructions in English enable you "to correlate elements of this third batch with elements of the first two batches" and instruct you, thereby, "to give back certain sorts of Chinese symbols with certain sorts of shapes in response." Those giving you the symbols "call the first batch 'a script' [a data structure with natural language processing applications], "they call the second batch 'a story', and they call the third batch 'questions'; the symbols you give back "they call ... 'answers to the questions'"; "the set of rules in English...they call 'the program'": you yourself know none of this. Nevertheless, you "get so good at following the instructions" that "from the point of view of someone outside the room" your responses are "absolutely indistinguishable from those of Chinese speakers." Just by looking at your answers, nobody can tell you "don't speak a word of Chinese." Producing answers "by manipulating uninterpreted formal symbols," it seems "[a]s far as the Chinese is concerned," you "simply behave like a computer"; specifically, like a computer running Schank and Abelson's (1977) "Script Applier Mechanism" story understanding program (SAM), which Searle's takes for his example.

But in imagining himself to be the person in the room, Searle thinks it's "quite obvious...I do not understand a word of the Chinese stories. I have inputs and outputs that are indistinguishable from those of the native Chinese speaker, and I can have any formal program you like, but I still understand nothing."

So essentially, REGs follow authorities who dictate what they are supposed to believe and what they are supposed to hate. They are given symbols--discourse buzzwords--and are told to produce outputs such as “good,” “bad,” and “pee your pants” in response to certain sets of buzzwords. However, most REGs don’t actually know what most of the buzzwords mean, only how to recognize them and choose the “correct” output. If you force them beyond the limitations of the input-output script, they lose the artificial coherence of the Chinese Room and start outputting word salad. A good example of an anti doing this is this post. They seem to just look for keywords, disregard the actual content of what the other person is saying, and then spit out a pre-prepared, insulting response based on just those keywords.

I mean, given the homogeneity of that school of “thought,” it’s not really surprise. Do you need to know what “pedophilia” or “ddlg” mean if the only thing you are allowed to express without facing persecution from your “friend” group is some syntactic variant of “Ddlg is pedophilia and fetishizing childhood!” or “If you ship ___ you’re supporting pedophilia!”? Do you need to know what “fetishization” is or whether straight women are actually doing it or writing the majority of m/m slash if you aren’t socially allowed to have any opinion on the subject other than “Fujoshis are homophobic and fetishizing mlm by writing fetishy fic about them for female consumption”? Do you need to know what cishets, asexuals, queer/lgbt resources, taxonomy, or the state of those things in the real world are if the Smart Multiply Oppressed People you look up to are so absolutely certain that “Homophobic cishet asexuals are invading lgbt spaces and stealing resources” or that “Asexuality is white supremacist and colonialist because it taxonomizes sexuality”?

No, you don’t. You repeat the Safe Opinions that these people give you, because if you have an opinion of your own and it accidentally contradicts that (or can be perceived to do so) in any way, or if your glorious leader chances to disagree for unrelated reasons, you are now the target of the same righteous wrath you have been dishing out on others, and you will deserve it. And you’d better pray that you’re not interested in something or part of a group that will be deemed problematic for whatever valid-sounding reason tomorrow, or you’ll suddenly be on the outside all the same no matter how well you have behaved up till this point--though most REGs don’t see that far ahead. They see their leaders as people fighting injustice, not people who just want to fight something, anything, and are looking for any slipshod excuse to have a reason to and get praised for it. They think that as long as they are Good they will be safe, and don’t yet realize that under this system there is no such thing as absolute good or bad, but only what their leader currently likes/tolerates or dislikes, and that that can change at any moment.

It’s a horrifyingly abusive system. Because it relies on a specific type of abuser to work--a well-spoken, demographically oppressed person who frames themself as progressive and fighting bigotry, and who indeed often does start out fighting real oppression (such as misogyny, racism, or homophobia) and having real insights into that oppression, and who almost always believes their own arguments and projected image--and also on a crowd of lackey enforcers of varying degrees of awareness and complicity, even survivors of past abuse are often vulnerable to these systems and become convinced that the head abuser(s) know better and are right. After all, they’re marginalized/survivors themselves, more than you are, always somehow more than you are, and they keep coming up with insights you’d never have figured out on your own.

(And the reason you wouldn’t have is often simply that they’re illogical, untrue, or just make no sense, but it would be bigoted to question them, you’ve been taught. These kinds of abusers have turned the very good strategy of “Believe the experiences of victims and marginalized people; don’t say they’re lying about it” into the now alarmingly prevalent idea that “disagreeing with someone who’s a victim or more marginalized than you about anything, especially anything even tangentially related to what they’ve gone through, or even something completely unrelated to their past or marginalization, is bigoted.” Put simply, “the most oppressed person in the room must be right.” Like being oppressed makes you an expert, instead of simply giving a little more insight. Ironically, REGs turn themselves into the very thing that anti-SJWs stereotype activists as!)

This type of abuser identifies as an inherently good person, and because of that thinks that anything that confuses, scares, or disgusts them is bad. They have no separation of action from identification; just as they think that their being good makes them inherently good, they think that doing anything they deem bad makes someone inherently bad, and therefore a target. Moreover, when they see something that claims a difference between identification and action, and the action applies to them but they don’t like the identification, their response is to say either that the identification doesn’t exist, if the perceived conflict applies to the outgroup, or that the identification is wrong if the conflict applies to self/ingroup identity. (E.G. thinking that asexuals who choose to have sex must not really be asexual, because they’re doing the same thing as non-asexual people, completely ignoring their reasons or what they feel; being told that telling people to kill themselves is bad, and deciding that it must not be bad because they’re doing it so therefore it must be good). Their rhetoric oscillates between loaded emotional appeals and paragraphs of dense theory with provocative, soundbite conclusions; they are very good at justification, and attempts to disagree with them will end in gaslighting. If they can’t convince you that their argument is right, then they will try to convince you that asking to have boundaries respected is ableist, or that trying to disagree with them in the first place is racist or homophobic, or that they’re inherently more oppressed than you are and so therefore their opinion is more valid, even if it doesn’t directly relate to the subject in question at all but yours does...and so on.

And then if you keep disagreeing with them, all their fans who still believe waht they say will rush to harass and denounce you and get approval points, while the primary abuser(s) disavow their involvement with the harassment (and yet make no effort to stop it). Next week, some of them will get the same treatment, or next month, or next year, whether for disagreeing, offering a minor factual correction or asking a question, or for some inherent trait or formerly-considered-harmless behavior that has suddenly become the new source of all evils. I really hope most of the lower-ranking REGs can get out of these Woke Personality Cults before they get hurt too badly, and unlearn the patterns of thought that got them there in the first place. Heck, I hope the higher-ranking ones can stop doing it, too. If they don’t--I want to say I hope they experience what they’ve done to others, but I’m not sure I could willingly inflict that on even the worst person in the world. There are certain levels of cruelty that are just pointless.

There is nothing more dangerous than a person utterly convinced of their own rightness or righteousness who has learned to manipulate people’s fears. Doubt yourself and your motivations often.

Personally, I think the only way to combat a politics of fear is to learn how to act out of love, but this post is already a mile long. But tl;dr, REGs are manipulating people though a combination of fear of ostracism, fear of the villain of the day, and the positive reinforcement of being able to consider one’s self inherently good. Because ostracism can be so swift and arbitrary, and because the logic is so bad, their side of any discourse turns into though-terminating cliches, with an input-output based call-and-response so that the lower ranks do not even have to understand what those thought-terminating cliches mean, just the moral value attached to specific buzzwords. This prevents the dupes from figuring out that the catchphrases are either a) entirely meaningless or b) incredibly and unarguably bigoted if you consider their actual implications in the slightest. And all this resembles the “Chinese Room” scenario where someone can produce coherent or at least semi-coherent responses in a language they don’t understand by means of pattern recognition, within a limited set of possible topics, but not when something happens that isn’t programmed for.

#failure-artist #reply #orig post #text #the discourse #regs #abuse

48 notes · View notes

jefphillipsblog · 3 years ago

Text

What the hell is up, bitches?

Chapter One.

This being my flagship post, I'm not sure that the use of profanity is permitted, so until I'm informed on this subject, you can and should expect more of it. Probably a lot more.

Ok, so...I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Jef. Alright, well, that shit was easy. Later, fuckers!

Nah, I can't go yet. I have some shit to talk to y'all about, so let's get on with it.

While anyone is welcome and encouraged to read this thing I'm writing, it will most likely be more tuned to the male demographic because that's what I know. You see, that is because I am one of those members in the male demographic and since I will not claim to know what the opposite sex really think about when it comes to the subject matter we'll be talking about, because that would be dishonest and unfair to those members of the opposite sex and it would also be unfair to the members of the male demographic that chooses to take some time to live vicariously through my own experiences and thoughts. So I'm just not gonna go there.

DISCLAIMER:

I am not a member of the medical community in any way, shape or form. I do not hold any license, I am not a therapist or counselor. The information that will be presented here is based mostly from my own personal experiences and from articles and or other sources of information that I will gladly site if any specific content is taken from them.

This content is also based on my opinions and observations and is certainly not intended to harm, offend, diagnose, treat or cure any type of condition. You should consult with your own medical professional for that shit.

Ok. I think I've hopefully covered what I need to to cover my ass, so where were we? Oh yes. I've introduced myself, told everyone about which audience I will be speaking to the most and also made it clear that anyone can read this and I hope they do.

A little about my situation that has given me the inspiration to talk to people that are going through a separation, divorce or maybe you think your significant other may not be telling you the whole truth about their new friend from work. I'll explain more about that myth at some point in this thing.

I met the woman I would eventually get married to at a local bar in the basement of an old building in the city where we lived in 1996. We read our own written promises to each other in the summer of 2001.

My dissolution of marriage was finalized in the fall of 2020.

Do the math. It's a long fucking time. Despite what we usually hear a lot of people say, I loved being married. My wife and I got along for the most part, we certainly didn't have the perfect, fairy tale marriage and we brought three of the most amazing humans into this world to hopefully somehow make it and someone's life just a little better and we did have some really beautiful times together.

I loved her dearly. And I think for the most part, she loved me, too.

But as with anything that is not cared for, maintained, given a tune up every 8,000 miles or 2 to 3 years or so, a relationship will begin to show the effects of wear and tear and it will give you PLENTY of hints and signs that something in it needs a little more attention.

It's like the first few drops of oil you notice when changing the oil in your car. You see that it's beginning to leak a little, but really not enough to cause any real problems so you tell yourself that you'll just keep your eye on it and you'll take care of it before it gets really bad. This is where it starts to feel a little less enjoyable because in the back of your mind, you keep thinking about that small leak that has gotten a little bigger since you looked at it the last time. The one you keep telling yourself that you're going to fix the next time you're under the hood.

This is where a lot of people are thinking to themselves,"What signs? I don't or didn't see ANY fucking signs that there were things that need a little special attention. It was great one day and then out of nowhere it's like being in a living hell."

Ok, ok. I'm going to have to say this and if you take any offense to it then it definitely applies to you. So maybe you should write this down and use it as a reference later on.

A marriage that is going great, will not and cannot go from great to fucking miserable out of nowhere. Sorry to burst your fucking bubble but it ain't gonna happen.

It will seem and feel like it has, but that's because you OR your significant other,( we'll call them the "S.O.") we have to be fair here, has failed miserably at being aware of what is going on under the surface of their great marriage.

Now, I will also say that this might not always be your fault, either. If your S.O. has a difficult time telling you what is happening inside their heads and hearts or is vague and isn't very specific, or just don't trust themselves or you that neither of you will pull up stakes and haul ass out of there, then that's when it's on you to look for and read the signs that are always there, most of the time they aren't very hard to miss if you're even remotely paying attention. Other times you can go about your day, oblivious to what is right in front of your face.

And your S.O. is also responsible for doing this if you are the one that has a hard time talking about what you are thinking about or how you are feeling about the relationship. You absolutely must check in every once in a while.

In my situation, it was a lot of all of that. And we were both guilty of not checking in with each other. We just thought that if the other was feeling something different then they would tell us or that we'd be able to see it and we would talk about it then. Right.

Guys if I can give you just one single piece of advice that will have the greatest impact on your relationship, it will be this:

"FUCKING PAY ATTENTION TO EVERYTHING!"

People say that in order to have a long and happy marriage you just have to communicate.

I say bullshit. Yes communicating is important. But if you don't know what you need to be communicating about, because you're not paying attention, then communicating is not going to give you that long and happy marriage. It WILL give you long nights on the couch or in the spare room spent staring up at the ceiling asking yourself over and over again,"what the fuck did I do THIS time?"

It WILL make you walk around like you have done something terrible and you're hoping you don't get busted, but you really haven't but it sure feels like it. It WILL make you second guess everything you do and say or what you think you might have said or might have done that has brought the slightly elevated tension that you can smell and feel from the mailbox by the street in front of your neighbor's house straight into your living room and is sitting on the couch like the proverbial elephant in the room.

I'm going to stop here. I want you to take some time to digest what I've said so far.

I want you to really think about and look at your relationship. Go through your daily routine (that's a really important word right there, hope you picked up on that) and your S.O.'s routine and see if there is something, it could be anything, that isn't quite the same as it was even just a month or three months ago.

Are there any new behaviours that either of you have started doing that you haven't really noticed or thought weren't really major or has caused a wrinkle in the daily goings on.

I really want you to pay very close attention to phone habits. Both yours and theirs. You'll see what I'm talking about when you start looking a little closer.

So, fuckers, hope you took really good notes because there WILL be a short quiz at the end of this chapter.

In chapter two we'll talk about, hell, I don't really know what we'll talk about. But it will be something you need to know.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. Good night.

Jef

1 note · View note

joeljacksonus · 6 years ago

Text

Ranches for Sale Around Billings MT

Compelling Values in Ranches for Sale Around Billings MT

Ranches for sale around Billings MT are most the time considered Eastern Montana. They likely will have fewer trout than ranches to the west. Animals might be smaller in overall numbers but bigger due to less competition for food and most not migrating due to milder weather. At 147,046 square miles (94,109,440 acres) there are countless opportunities to own a piece of land in Montana. If Billings, MT appeals to you the dollar per acre that you pay will likely be less than SW Montana. Billings is a vibrant city that has many opportunities recreationally, financially, and personally.

Where is Billings, Montana

Billings is located in South Central Montana in Yellowstone County. With a population of about 110,000 people, Billings is the only city within Montana with a population over 100,000. That may not seem like very many people, but it is significant for a state with just over one million people. Billings is also home to the tallest building in Montana. The First Interstate Center, home to First Interstate Bank, is a 20 story, 272 foot tall building. The southwest side of the city is flanked by the Yellowstone River. The Yellowstone River provides fertile soil and irrigation to farms up and down stream. Trout will be in the Yellowstone this far east but likely counts will be less than further west. The Yellowstone starts trending towards being a warm water fishery the closer you get to Billings and east of Billings. Warm water species include sauger, ling, small mouth bass and catfish so you can still have good fishing and lots of fun.

Recreation Around Billings, MT

Outside Magazine ranked Billings, Montana The Best Town in 2016. It defeated famous Jackson, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado among many others. Mountain biking, trail running, and hiking can be found in abundance just minutes away from the town center. Yellowstone National Park is just over three hours away from Billings. Ski resorts like Big Sky and Bridger Bowl are within three hours as well. The central location of Billings makes it appealing to people that love all kinds of recreational activities. Purchasing ranches for sale around Billings MT allow owners to participate in these activities. After a long day on the trail or a day in town, you can still retreat back to your ranch and enjoy some peace and tranquility.

Fishing on Ranches for Sale Around Billings MT

Brown trout, rainbow trout, and the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout live in the Yellowstone River and provide for good fly fishing. From Billings to the North Dakota border, you can catch warm water species like burbot, channel catfish, paddlefish, sauger, smallmouth bass, walleye, and on a very rare occasion, a pallid sturgeon. Billings is one of the few places in the state of Montana where you can catch such a wide variety of fish. Serious anglers can consider ranches for sale around Billings MT because of the easy access to the Yellowstone River which is a blue ribbon stream and offers some of the best fly fishing in the world in close proximity. Bighorn to the east, Yellowstone, Boulder, Gallatin, Madison and the Missouri to the West with other good rivers also close.

Billings Demographics

In comparison with the rest of the state of Montana, Billings ranks higher in several categories. These include average household income, air quality, and weather. In 2016, the average household income for Montana was $50,027. The average household income in Billings was $54,222. That being said, the density of ranches for sale around Billings is good because you are in the country quickly once you leave town. Ranches for sale around Billings, MT also have exceptionally high air quality. On the Air Quality Index (AQI) Billings ranks at 15.4, while the average AQI for the United States is 74.7. The lower the AQI score, the better the air quality.

Weather Averages

Another reason you should look into ranches for sale around Billings, MT is the weather. The United States receives an average of 26” of snow a year. Billings receives 50” on average. Now, that may seem like a lot of snow. However, Bozeman receives 71” of snow on average and Red Lodge exceeds 145” of snow each year. That’s a lot of snow! Billings also has more sunny days than most places in Montana. Billings has 205 sunny days per year which is significantly higher than places like Bozeman which has 188 sunny days per year. You will be in snow later in the year and out of snow earlier in the year than ranches to the west side of Montana.

Values of Farms and Ranches for Sale Around Billings MT

When looking at purchasing ranches for sale around Billings MT and the rest of the state, take into consideration the price per acre as well as the value you will receive from each acre.

According to the USDA’s Land Values Summary for 2017, the value of farm real estate in Montana is $920/acre. The only other states with lower values per acre are New Mexico and Wyoming at $530 /acre and $660/acre, respectively. Montana’s value is up 2.2% from the previous year, showing nice appreciation. The value of cropland in Montana is $1,020/acre. This value has increased by 1% from last year. The value of pasture in Montana is $660/acre, is growing at 1.5%, and outranks New Mexico, and Wyoming. In 2015, the value of farmland and buildings in Montana was approximately $53.1 billion. That number rose in 2016 to $53.7 billion, which is a 1.1% increase. These prices rise dramatically depending on location, recreational values and irrigation and water rights.

Final Thoughts

You may be thinking that a higher value is always better. That’s true, but if you can purchase ranches for sale around Billings, MT at a price that is below the value, you will be making a good investment. These numbers are generalized for the entire state of Montana. However, the average price per acre in Eastern Montana is priced below state averages and allows you to own ranches for sale around Billings MT at a reasonable price.

If you are wanting to purchase a piece of property, I recommend looking at ranches for sale around Billings MT. It is a great place to live, has countless recreational activities, some of the nicest weather in Montana, and below average price per acre making for a great investment. Contact us to get started on this journey to find your Montana ranch for sale. If you enjoyed this article consider checking out our Montana ranches for sale report, Montana water rights report, and fly fishing properties for sale in Montana.

About the Authors

Buzz Tatom

Partner at Venture West Ranches

Buzz Tatom, a partner at Venture West Ranches, is a ranch owner and has built, run and sold numerous businesses in his career. This gives him a unique background in helping Montana farmers and ranchers navigate the life decisions that we all have to face. Whether it is passing a ranch on to the next generation or planning for eventual sale, his talents and contacts help save clients money and navigate complicated transactions.

Connor Mayberry

Digital Marketing and Content Manager

As the Digital Marketing and Content Manager, Connor writes and creates content that compliments the Montana farms and ranches for sale on the website. Check out our articles page for more articles about Montana ranches.

The post Ranches for Sale Around Billings MT appeared first on Venture West Ranches.

source https://www.venturewestranches.com/ranches-for-sale-around-billings-mt/ source https://venturewestranches1.tumblr.com/post/175246214040

0 notes

samuelfields · 6 years ago

Text

The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Bad Spending Habits

Once your housing expense is under control, the next thing to tame is your consumption habits. The most common waste of money today is buying an automobile. New cars are simply too expensive for the median household income. But because car manufacturers have created ways for consumers to stretch with financing and leasing deals, consumers succumb to marketing persuasion and buy cars they cannot comfortably afford.

If consumers follow my 1/10th rule for car buying, almost all of one’s financial problems, as it pertains to a car, will go away. If you spend only 10% of your gross income on the current value of a car, you won’t sweat paying insurance, paying tickets, or paying for maintenance or damages. If you want a $30,000 car, you should find a way to make $300,000.

Now that we have a viable solution for automobile buying, the next bad consumption habit to slay is everything else you don’t need i.e. wants. From buying $3,000 Louis Vuitton handbags to spending $9,000 on a Panerai watch, there are a lot of wants that will prevent us from achieving financial freedom sooner, rather than later.

Therefore, to solve this problem of mindless consumption, I’ve come up with The 10X Investment Consumption Rule.

The 10X Investment Consumption Rule

Before I explain to you the rule, let me share a comment from a reader in my post, Here’s When You Know You’re Not Yet Rich Yet. The post talks about wasting 2.5 hours of my life because I was unwilling to spend an extra $100 to fix my cracked iPhone due to sunk cost fallacy. Nate’s comment inspired me to come up with this consumption solution.

Apple continues to be really, really good at social-engineering sheeple to buy their products and services. It has perfected marketing and social engineering. Its users are willing to buy overpriced phones that require overpriced dongles and overpriced support. And even when the users get kicked in the gut, they’ll continue buying Apple over and over again. It’s irrational; it’s also great social engineering that you fell for.

So yes, I am a sheeple for using Apple products. I fell for their marketing and social engineering because I realize their products are so much more expensive than generic PC products. But because their iPhone was so revolutionary when I first got one in 2008 and because Apple built an ecosystem of apps that made their software and hardware easy to use and integrate between a laptop and a mobile phone, I stuck with it.

Unfortunately over this time period, their products seem to be worsening in quality, and their customer support has declined as well. Going to an Apple Store is almost like going to the DMV, a nightmare place.

But after the comment, I realized one of the reasons why I keep buying Apple products is because I’ve owned Apple stock since 2008 and I love supporting companies I invest in.

Owned Apple stock since Aug 22, 2008

The first iPhone came out on June 29, 2007 and I was a skeptic. I had been a heavy Blackberry user since 1999 and couldn’t fathom a buttonless device being good enough for work correspondence. Some of the e-mails I had to write on my Blackberry were extremely lengthy due to the amount of research analysis I had to provide to my clients.

But after a year passed, I decided to give it a shot. And after a couple months of giving it a shot, I bought $10,000 worth of Apple stock. Over the years I’ve ended up buying about $100,000 worth of Apple stock that has since provided a healthy return as the stock is near an all-time high. During this time period, my overall net worth increased as well.

I can basically frame my family’s Apple product consumption of iPhones, Macbooks, and iPads as free since 2009 + a profit thanks to my returns in Apple stock.

The 10X Investment Consumption Rule simply states that before you buy any product or service you don’t need, you must first make an investment return equal to at least 10X the cost of such product or service.

Example #1: Overpriced Mobile Phone

You want to own the absurdly priced iPhone X for $1,000. To do so, you must first make a $10,000 return on Apple stock. You could also make an investment in Apple’s downstream component suppliers as an alternative.

If you follow my rule, you’ll need to review your existing liquidity in order to determine how much you can afford to invest. You’ll have to do a deep dive net worth allocation overview to see where you are currently exposed. You might even run a cash flow analysis to see how long you need to save before you will come up with the investment capital.

If you can’t afford to invest, how can you afford to buy a $1,000 phone? If you’ve only got $10,000 to invest, you realize that you’ll need to return 100% to be able to afford a $1,000 phone. Such a time delay will make you think thrice before buying something you don’t need.

But if you have $100,000 to invest, it might be easier for you to make a 10% return to afford a $1,000 phone. And since you have $100,000 to invest in one stock, that must mean you have much more behind, which means you absolutely can afford to splurge.

The goal is to transform from a consumer mindset to an investor mindset.

Example #2: Basketball Sneakers For Show

You want to own the latest colorways of the Jordan 3, Jordan 4, Jordan 5, and Jordan 6 shoes. The total cost for this box set is $900. Before you waste money on basketball shoes you’ll use to just walk around in, you’ve got to return at least $9,000 in Nike stock.

I swear to goodness, every time I go to a Footlocker or Nike Store when a new Air Jordan retro drops, there are lines out the door filled with teenagers and 20-somethings, the poorest demographic in our country.

By spending hours researching the company that’s taking all their money, Air Jordan consumers will understand more about how a business is run. Sometimes, they’ll discover some products have a 90% gross profit margin, which makes them stop consuming for not wanting to feel stupid. Other times, they might be inspired to start their own business to capture such profit margin.

Standing in line for the latest retro Jordans

Example #3: European Vacation

Instead of driving an hour to the beach for just $10 of gas, you just have to fly to Santorini for $1,000. The trip will be fabulous for your Instagram and Facebook profile.

The 10X Investment Consumption rule means that you’ll have to make $10,000 in an airline stock like United Airlines (UAL). That’s no easy task, especially with oil prices moving higher, but that’s the whole point.

By the time you finish researching and investing in your favorite airline stock, you’ll understand how to measure available seat miles (ASM), revenue per available seat mile (RASM), cost per available seat mile (CASM), break-even load factor, and earnings sensitivity to a dollar in oil price change.

Or maybe you might want to do research on TripAdvisor (TRIP) to figure out when the slow season is to find the best Santorini deals. After all, you’ll also have to spend money on lodging, food, and entertainment.

Adopt The Investor Mindset

Having a savings + investing mindset will always ensure that you make enough money before spending. If you can do this, you will never go broke. Instead, you’ll likely grow rich beyond your wildest dreams.

The Proper Asset Allocation Of Stocks And Bonds By Age

Why Stocks Are More Attractive Than Real Estate For Certain Investors

Ready to take on the 10X Investment Consumption Rule? What are some flaws you see in this rule? Would you feel bad buying an iPhone if you made over $100,000 in Apple stock? What are some consumption rules you follow to keep your spending in check?

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-10X-Investment-Consumption-Rule-To-Keep-Spending-In-Check.m4a

The post The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Bad Spending Habits appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from Finance https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-10x-investment-consumption-rule/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

ronaldmrashid · 6 years ago

Text

The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Bad Spending Habits

Therefore, to solve this problem of mindless consumption, I’ve come up with The 10X Investment Consumption Rule.

The 10X Investment Consumption Rule

But after the comment, I realized one of the reasons why I keep buying Apple products is because I’ve owned Apple stock since 2008 and I love supporting companies I invest in.

Owned Apple stock since Aug 22, 2008

I can basically frame my family’s Apple product consumption of iPhones, Macbooks, and iPads as free since 2009 + a profit thanks to my returns in Apple stock.

Example #1: Overpriced Mobile Phone

The goal is to transform from a consumer mindset to an investor mindset.

Example #2: Basketball Sneakers For Show

Standing in line for the latest retro Jordans

Example #3: European Vacation

Instead of driving an hour to the beach for just $10 of gas, you just have to fly to Santorini for $1,000. The trip will be fabulous for your Instagram and Facebook profile.

Adopt The Investor Mindset

The Proper Asset Allocation Of Stocks And Bonds By Age

Why Stocks Are More Attractive Than Real Estate For Certain Investors

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-10X-Investment-Consumption-Rule-To-Keep-Spending-In-Check.m4a

The post The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Bad Spending Habits appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-10x-investment-consumption-rule/

#Financial Samurai

0 notes

kim26chiu · 7 years ago

Text

Northern Ambition: Young and Foreign in the Twin Cities Circa 1987

[ When I wrote about there being social factors other than the cold keeping people from moving to Minneapolis, Sami Karam, a Lebanese immigrant who now lives in New York City and posts insightful demographic analysis as his site Populyst, mentioned that he’d had similar experiences trying to fit in there when he lived in Minneapolis in the 1980s. I asked him if he’d write up his experience, and he graciously agreed. While this story is about 30 years old, I believe it still holds relevance today. You can also follow Sami on twitter at @sami_karm – Aaron. ]

“For how much longer will you go by Sami instead of Sam or Samuel?… Because after a certain age, a Robby, for example, would revert to a more grown-up name like Bob or Rob or Robert”, I was once asked and informed by a man in Minneapolis. My answer that Sami is a real first name, albeit not necessarily one that I favored over its variants, did not seem to satisfy him.

A decade later, when I started working on Wall Street and heard a similar comment, I found that this reaction to ‘Sami’ was not unique to the midwest or to the less diverse non-coastal US but that it was instead emblematic of cultures that were somewhat insular. Minneapolis did feel insular when I lived there as a young immigrant in 1986-88.

When Aaron Renn recently suggested that I write about my experience there, I was not sure that I could do a fair job of it. Would I use a chronology, as in a fragment of biography? Would I showcase the 1987 Twins triumph at home in game 7 of the World Series? How would I insert my fast weekend escapes to New York or L.A. on discounted fares that I bought in bulk from People Express ($45 to New York)? And my slow other weekends spent alone writing computer code in the office because I had nothing better to do?

When undecided, use data! So in the end, I settled on five main data themes. Minneapolis in 1986 was 1) cold, 2) flat, 3) remote, 4) rich, and 5) very white. The first four are still true today.

But first a few general comments.

Minneapolis was (is) a great place in many ways. The people around me were unfailingly kind. I liked the city’s well-designed infrastructure and amenities and its perennial ambition to turn itself into something bigger and better. “It wants desperately to be New York”, a Minnesotan college friend had volunteered before I moved there.

But after living there for two years, I was dubious. I thought that Minneapolis, though known as the ‘Minneapple’, was very happy just being Minneapolis. Further, if I want to be lucid, these same unfailingly kind people did not seem all that interested in me. I was an oddity in a place that seemed perfectly content without too many oddities.

As to Minneapolis becoming bigger and better, the most visible of the city’s major improvements, for example Cesar Pelli’s stunning Norwest (now Wells Fargo) Center then under construction, seemed destined to remain off bounds for the likes of me. I projected, rightly or wrongly, that were I to stay, it would take me a very long time to penetrate the higher circles of local industry.

Norwest (now Wells Fargo) Center. Image via Wikipedia/Public Domain

On the whole, my time in Minneapolis was comfortable but not easy. Although I had already lived in many places away from home, I felt in this case an unfamiliar isolation that was heightened by the cold winters and by the city’s remote location deep into the northern plains.

Of little assistance to my outlook was the fact that I was reading, in the dead of winter, Roland Huntsford’s The Last Place on Earth, a chronicle of the 1911 two-team race to reach the South Pole. Would I sail through and emerge victorious like Amundsen? Or would I endure an exhausting slog only to then freeze to death like Scott? Neither, of course, though my February psychology was trending to Scott.

COLD

How bad is the weather in Minneapolis? Regarding the temperature, it is as cold as Anchorage in winter, but no worse than Chicago in spring, and similar to New York and Denver in the summer and fall. On the whole, I found it quite bearable, and even enjoyable, except for the most extreme days of winter.

There are other weather factors beside temperature. For one, Minneapolis enjoys an unusually high number of completely cloudless days. “It is too cold for the humidity to hold up in the air”, my recruiter had deadpanned during the first interview.

Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) has more clear days than Chicago and more total sunny hours than New York, and far more than Seattle. Its annual snowfall is similar to Denver’s but Denver is even sunnier. Surprisingly, Denver has more clear days than Miami and as many sunny hours.

So in sum, Minneapolis is abysmally cold and snowy in winter. But overall, it is frequently sunny even in winter. If you prefer sunny cold days to tepid wet grey ones, you could argue that the weather in Minneapolis is in fact better than in Seattle. The temperatures in Seattle are less extreme and there is little snow. But the sky is frequently overcast and releases rain in forty more days every year than in Minneapolis.

FLAT

Minnesota has little variation in its land elevations and is the fifth flattest state in the US. Standing at any high point in the city, say on the tenth floor of a building, the view is unobstructed by natural topography in all directions. Except on hazy or foggy days, the towers of downtown are clearly visible from far away. In winter, the chill wind can do its work unbothered by natural obstacles and its steady sweep undulates drifts of snow from one side of the road to the other (‘snow snakes’, per one of my friends).

Lake Harriet in Winter by Amy Mingo. Licensed under CC BY 2.0

I once took a drive north to Duluth and pressed on along the north shore of Lake Superior. We encountered few hills until we reached the Sawtooth range of low mountains along the lake.

REMOTE

In my view, the most unique geographic feature of Minneapolis is not its weather, but the combination of its weather and its remoteness. It is very far from any other sizable city. Its own metro population has 3.6 million today, up from less than 2.5 million when I lived there. But the closest large city is Chicago, 409 miles away. That is the same distance as Boston to Baltimore, and 30 miles more than San Francisco to Los Angeles. Unlike on those trips however, there is little to break the monotony of a day-long trek through rural Wisconsin, except for a quick bypass of Madison and perhaps a lunch break at Wisconsin Dells.

On my first long drive to MSP, coming from Indiana, I was thrilled at dusk to finally reach Eau Claire because that meant that I only had… 90 miles to go to get to MSP.

Minneapolis is even more isolated to its west. Driving in that direction, the first city of over one million inhabitants is Seattle, 1,656 miles away. I never ventured in that direction. But I did head to Kansas City for New Year’s 1988. That was a mere 436 miles of driving through the frozen grey-brown fields of southern Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. The city of Des Moines, helpfully located half way, was the only pretext to take a break.

The next large cities beyond Kansas City were Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth, both at over 900 miles from Minneapolis. But I never went there by road.

The brave that push northward from MSP into Canada will not encounter a sizable (say greater than 500,000) concentration of humans until Winnipeg in Manitoba, 460 miles away.

I wonder if MSP’s remoteness made it more insular back then. Today, people fly more easily and everything seems closer. But in 1986-88, I met some people in their 50s or 60s who had never left the state. In some cases, they were proud of it and intent on keeping it so until the end. There was no need to venture anywhere, other than for curiosity or a love of travel, especially when the local economy was doing so well.

RICH

Minneapolis-St Paul was quite content with its economy. Back then, it boasted higher median household income (MHI) than the US average. Today too, the MHI in Hennepin, Dakota, Ramsey, Anoka and Washington counties (the metro Minneapolis-St Paul area) is significantly higher than the national average, roughly in line with that of Manhattan.

Minnesota is home to corporate giants Cargill (agriculture, trading), Carlson (travel), United Health (health care), Target and Best Buy (retail) and others.

I saw first hand and was inspired by the Minnesota work ethic that seemed to strike just the right balance between personal ambition and team work. I was employed by an architecture-engineering design firm that had at the time its headquarters in Minneapolis and a small satellite office in Milwaukee. I had no doubt that it would grow smartly. Today it has eight offices coast to coast.

WHITE

When I lived there, Minneapolis’ ethnic makeup was over 80% white. Today, this percentage has dropped to the mid 60s. I am guessing that the new diversity has changed the character of the city and opened up new cultural vistas.

Someone like me would probably find it easier to integrate today than I did in the late 1980s and may more readily decide to settle in Minnesota for the long term. To be sure, it is still brutally cold. It is also still very far, but it may feel closer today thanks to easier travel and social media. The locals are probably more interested in the foreign-born today because there are more of them around. And they bring with them something new and interesting.

My guess overall is that Minneapolis is a much better place for an outsider today than thirty years ago, though still not as socially navigable as the traditionally more universal cities on either coast. Nonetheless, as I alluded above about Wall Street, coastal America seems more inclusive overall but it still comprises smaller sub-cultures that can be just as exclusionary as some midwestern cities. The outer walls are gone but smaller inner citadels remain off limits.

In 1986, as a Mediterranean in the land of the Scandinavian and German-American, I sought warmer personal connections. As luck would have it, baseball rescued me in the end. When the Twins made it to the 1987 World Series, a groundswell of camaraderie and good cheer spread through my entourage, one that was broad and generous enough to see me invited to several homes where I watched the games and liberally high-fived everybody. There was no going back to formality after that.

Forever etched in my memory is a night drive into downtown on the last day of the World Series. Every window of every building was lit up in tribute to the Twins victory and the entire city was glowing like a celebratory thank you to the heavens.

from Aaron M. Renn http://www.urbanophile.com/2018/05/15/northern-ambition-young-and-foreign-in-the-twin-cities-circa-1987/

0 notes

barb31clem · 7 years ago

Text

Northern Ambition: Young and Foreign in the Twin Cities Circa 1987

When undecided, use data! So in the end, I settled on five main data themes. Minneapolis in 1986 was 1) cold, 2) flat, 3) remote, 4) rich, and 5) very white. The first four are still true today.

But first a few general comments.

Norwest (now Wells Fargo) Center. Image via Wikipedia/Public Domain

COLD

FLAT

Lake Harriet in Winter by Amy Mingo. Licensed under CC BY 2.0

I once took a drive north to Duluth and pressed on along the north shore of Lake Superior. We encountered few hills until we reached the Sawtooth range of low mountains along the lake.

REMOTE

On my first long drive to MSP, coming from Indiana, I was thrilled at dusk to finally reach Eau Claire because that meant that I only had… 90 miles to go to get to MSP.

The next large cities beyond Kansas City were Denver and Dallas-Fort Worth, both at over 900 miles from Minneapolis. But I never went there by road.

The brave that push northward from MSP into Canada will not encounter a sizable (say greater than 500,000) concentration of humans until Winnipeg in Manitoba, 460 miles away.

RICH

Minnesota is home to corporate giants Cargill (agriculture, trading), Carlson (travel), United Health (health care), Target and Best Buy (retail) and others.

WHITE

from Aaron M. Renn http://www.urbanophile.com/2018/05/15/northern-ambition-young-and-foreign-in-the-twin-cities-circa-1987/

0 notes

julesliedtke · 7 years ago

Text

How to Master Working with Brands

Disclaimer: I received a free virtual ticket to the Blog Life University 2017 Conference as a member of the NC Blogger Network. This post contains affiliate links.

Hi, there fellow NC Bloggers!

Tanya here from Mom’s Small Victories. I was sooo thrilled when Trish opened up the opportunity to attend the Blog Life University 2017 conference virtually, held on September 21 and 22, 2017 at Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte. The kids were off school on Thursday so being able to soak up all this amazing information for our blogs and still be home with them was amazing!

So, I’ll be sharing my key takeaways on each session from the 2017 Blog Life University conference. I’m an avid note taker and planner and productivity addict, so I write EVERYTHING down or I won’t remember it. And this conference had a lot of information you’ll want to implement on your blog now.

First up, I’m recapping Jenny Melrose’s session on Mastering Working With Brands. In this session, she covered how to master working with brands. She makes a 5-figure income JUST from her work with brands, so this lady knows what she’s talking about!

Working With Brands – Bloggers’ Biggest Mistakes and How to Fix Them

1. Not Having a Concise Elevator Pitch

What do you say when someone asks you “what do you do?” or “what is your blog about”? Jenny says many bloggers don’t have a concise elevator pitch that answers those questions effectively. You should have a couple sentences prepared for your elevator pitch that:

Asks a question about your avatar’s struggle (ex. Are you a busy mom who has trouble managing your time?) and,

How you provide a solution (ex. I provide practical tips so you can get more done in less time)

Make sure you have your elevator pitch ready to go next time you are asked what your blog is about!

2. Lack of Confidence

Jenny suggests not talking yourself out of applying for brand or sponsored opportunities just because you don’t think you have enough pageviews. Jenny says brands don’t care as much about page-views as they do about how much influence you have with your readers and how well you know them.

Simple demographics you can learn about your reader from Google Analytics:

Age

Interests

Your most popular content

What posts are they engaging with

Where are you readers coming from

Knowing your reader is key to securing opportunities with brands, even if you don’t have record-breaking pageviews.

3. Don’t Give Away Everything Away on Your First Pitch

Don’t give away everything up front. This means you don’t need a specific blog post title when you pitch a brand. Because if they don’t like your idea, they can easily say no.

Instead, pitch the brand with a broader topic and something you can work together on for content that could go live in a couple months. For example, right now you’d want to pitch ideas for upcoming months or holidays.

4. Lackluster Proposals

After your pitch is accepted, it is time to send your media kit and your “perfect proposal” for the brand to review. A perfect proposal tells the brand not only specifics you will deliver in terms of blog and social media posts but what your expertise are that makes you different from every other blogger. Really knowing your reader and coming up with fresh, authentic ideas will help you stand out. In particular, live broadcasting and videos are hot right now and automatically make you stand out from bloggers who just share written content.

5. Lack of Authenticity

If you’re going to be working with brands, you MUST tell your story authentically. Don’t just accept the sponsored post for the cash. If you can’t make the product work for your reader’s needs, then don’t do it. Pitch back a different spin on the product so it will work with your readers.

For example, Glad Trash Bags wanted Jenny to write a post about a 4-day Trash Bag Challenge. They wanted her to say the trash lasted in her trash can for 4 days without stinking up the house. Jenny knew that wouldn’t work for her blog audience so she pitched them an approach it from a different angle.

Instead, she wrote a recipe for her Caribbean Fish Tacos with some drool-worthy photos and put an actual real-life story in the post. After she’d made the tacos for dinner, her daughter threw her unfinished fish taco in the trash can right before they left the house for a weekend getaway. When they came back, they realized the fish taco sat in the trash all weekend but didn’t smell. The Glad Trash Bags worked!

It wasn’t what the brand expected, but it completely worked. The recipe brought in so many more readers than she had expected. So much so that Glad offered to double her sponsored post rate so they could have the rights to her photos, as well. Score!

6. Doing Only What Is Asked

Let’s say you agreed to give the brand one social media post and one blog post. Sure, you can do the minimum that was asked of you. But going the extra mile, sharing their post just like you would schedule one of your own blog posts will help boost the engagement on the post.

When you do your 30-day culmination/follow-up document after your post publishes, wouldn’t it be more amazing to show the brand specific stats that exceeded their expectations and screenshots of comments to show how your work benefitted them?

Going the extra mile and wowing the brand will certainly make it irresistible when you tell the brand you’d like to continue to work with them and ask if you can send another proposal for future work (where you’ll pitch 3 more posts to them).

How to Price Your Work When You’re Working with Brands

If you are pitching the brand…

Need help figuring out what to charge for your work? Go to socialbluebook.com to help determine what price you should charge.

If the brand asks that you do work for free product…

Well, it depends on the value of the product and how bad you want it. If it’s a high-priced item you would buy anyway, then you should do it. For example, Jenny did a post in exchange for 3 mattresses.

If the value of the free product is not worth your time, send a renegotiation email that suggests:

You only accept compensated posts

Here’s what you are getting and why you are worth it

A proposal (don’t lock yourself into a fixed rate sheet)

Offer to send a media kit

Jenny’s session was incredibly valuable and down to earth. The most important takeaways are to learn about what your readers and audience want, work with brands that help to satisfy your readers’ wants and needs and to be authentic, going the extra mile so you can show them exactly why you are worth the price.

Grab the Pitch Cheat Sheet

Do you want to master working with brands too? Grab Jenny’s Pitch Cheat Sheet and get started!

Hope that helps! Are you interested in working with brands? Do you currently work with brands? What would you add to this post to help others who want to become brand influencers? What works for you? Share your comments below!

The post How to Master Working with Brands appeared first on NC Blogger Network.

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2xLKyAe

#Uncategorized #How to Master Working with Brands

0 notes

theway-to-myheart · 7 years ago

Text

How to Master Working with Brands

Disclaimer: I received a free virtual ticket to the Blog Life University 2017 Conference as a member of the NC Blogger Network. This post contains affiliate links.

Hi, there fellow NC Bloggers!

Working With Brands – Bloggers’ Biggest Mistakes and How to Fix Them

1. Not Having a Concise Elevator Pitch

Asks a question about your avatar’s struggle (ex. Are you a busy mom who has trouble managing your time?) and,

How you provide a solution (ex. I provide practical tips so you can get more done in less time)

Make sure you have your elevator pitch ready to go next time you are asked what your blog is about!

2. Lack of Confidence

Simple demographics you can learn about your reader from Google Analytics:

Age

Interests

Your most popular content

What posts are they engaging with

Where are you readers coming from

Knowing your reader is key to securing opportunities with brands, even if you don’t have record-breaking pageviews.

3. Don’t Give Away Everything Away on Your First Pitch

Don’t give away everything up front. This means you don’t need a specific blog post title when you pitch a brand. Because if they don’t like your idea, they can easily say no.

4. Lackluster Proposals

5. Lack of Authenticity

6. Doing Only What Is Asked

How to Price Your Work When You’re Working with Brands

If you are pitching the brand…

Need help figuring out what to charge for your work? Go to socialbluebook.com to help determine what price you should charge.

If the brand asks that you do work for free product…

If the value of the free product is not worth your time, send a renegotiation email that suggests:

You only accept compensated posts

Here’s what you are getting and why you are worth it

A proposal (don’t lock yourself into a fixed rate sheet)

Offer to send a media kit

Grab the Pitch Cheat Sheet

Do you want to master working with brands too? Grab Jenny’s Pitch Cheat Sheet and get started!

The post How to Master Working with Brands appeared first on NC Blogger Network.

from Local Biz North Carolina http://ift.tt/2xLKyAe

from WordPress http://ift.tt/2xAyjUJ via NC Top businesses

#How to Master Working with Brands #WordPress

0 notes

cleancutpage · 7 years ago

Text

Working WITH Brokers…Not Against Them…

This post originally appeared on Michael Beckerman's Blog and is republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with theBrokerList.

One of the really cool parts of running a series of sites devoted to news aggregation, connectivity and, events for the CRE startup world, is that I literally get sent dozens of really cool startup updates every week. And sometimes they are so interesting, I like to write about them. And that’s exactly what happened when I got a press release from David Nevin, Co-Founder of VoidStacker.

What really caught my eye in the PR was this particular line…“VoidStacker, Inc. has announced the release of it’s big data web application to help brokers analyze the local retail/office market around a property and help fill vacancies faster.”.

I have been writing on my blog for a while that the most successful CRE startups will be the ones that help brokers generate more deals! Sites that HELP brokers! Anyone who thinks they will REPLACE brokers is nuts (in my humble opinion). Sure, there will be a market for smaller tenants that need short term space and there will be a great industry to emerge (already has) where the LiquidSpace, WeWork, Knotel and others will thrive. But in this blog, the emphasis is on helping brokers do more deals faster and smarter!

So I reached out to David to learn more about what he is up to, where he came from and his future plans for VoidStaker.

Michael: What’s your background?

David: I’ve spent the last 26 years in the software business, I started in Computer Aided Design (CAD), hit telecom/mobile and cloud around the middle, and most recently it’s been Internet of Things (IoT). I’ve been a CRE owner & asset manager for the last 5 years, part-time, primarily retail strip malls/office buildings in TX, CA and NV.

M: When did you get the idea for VoidStacker?

D: A couple years ago we had a new tenant in one of our properties in Surprise AZ, it was a sports bar concept. Using Google Maps, we knew there were several other brew pubs and bars in the area, but the tenant thought they had a unique enough concept to be successful. After a year they changed the concept to a biker bar as there was too much competition from other brew pubs, then struggled for another 2 years before going out of business. All the while the other tenants complained the biker bar was hurting their business. We had to go after the liquor license to recoup the last few months of rent and pay for improvements to make the space usable again. Now using Void Stacker we can see there are 15 bars/brew pubs within 3 miles, the area is fully saturated, it was a costly mistake due to incomplete data. Google Maps only lists retailers if a business decides to publish their location, and we tried some other tools, but they mostly only had top chains with 1M or so retailers, there’s over 5M retail/office businesses in the US alone. We built the app, originally for our own use, so we didn’t make that costly mistake again.

M: How did you go about building the site?

D: It starts with the data, we went out and licensed data from multiple sources, white/yellow page data from phone book companies, USPS delivery addresses, and new connection data from utility companies, among others. We store the data in an Elasticsearch database and host it in Google Cloud. We added Google Maps addresses and drive distances & time so a potential tenant knows how close their competition is. When we saw how much data there was, we added a search tool, similar to Google’s, so you can quickly find a category or retailer. Then we added reporting so we could receive status updates via email on prospective tenants. After using the app for our properties, a couple brokers asked to use it for other clients, so we upgraded the cloud infrastructure, ran scalability testing, improved the UI and added tooltips to make it easier to learn.

M: How does the site work?

D: You can use any browser on a PC, or tablet in the field, to access the Void Stacker service(it works on a phone, but there’s a lot of data, so it’s not optimal on smaller screens) . A broker or owner can enter the address of their property or vacancy, and specify a radius area they want to analyze. The User can see just major Chains, or ALL retail/office businesses broken into 20 categories. Once a User has determined categories that are underrepresented or chosen categories the owner/landlord wants to focus on, a larger trade area is specified to pull from that are “in market”. This includes contact name and phone number to contact retailers, and a Note fields to update status and email to others.

M: Who is your ideal target audience?

D: The service is built primarily for CRE brokers and owners, but anyone who wants to analyze the local retail/office market can use it. As the retail market recovers, brokers are getting busier and busier, the more efficient they can be in analyzing the local market and communicating updates, the more time they have to focus on filling vacancies. We can save a leasing broker 3-5 hours per week in data analysis & communication. The internet is a great disintermediator, more and more it will connect tenants and owners directly, I would like my brokers to be local experts on what types of tenants will be most successful in our properties, and manage the pipeline of potential tenants through to LOI.

M: What’s next for your site?

D: Our goal is to aggregate disparate data and make it easily accessible for people in CRE. We see brokers becoming more trusted advisors to the CRE sale/leasing process, we’d like to put content at their fingertips to provide the best service they can to owners/landlords or tenants. We’d like to be the broker’s go to tool for retail/office analytics whether they are in the office or on tenant tours. We’ve had requests additional demographic data such as trade centers, daytime or tourist population data, or up-to-date traffic counts on all local roads. We’re not looking to replicate what’s available already, but innovate and augment what’s currently available to enable better decision making. Users will drive what’s next, we’d love to hear from people who have feedback on what we are doing by trying the service at http://ift.tt/2hpNAAm and then sharing their feedback with us at [email protected].

Thanks David. If I were a broker or owner, I would absolutely check out what David and his team have built at VoidStacker.com.

David has over 20 years of Software Sales & Business Development experience in numerous disciplines including Energy Management, Machine Learning/Predictive Analytics, Security, Cloud Dev Ops, Mapping, Mobile/Telecom and Computer-aided Design. David has been investing in CRE for over 10 years(prefers retail) and is driven to bring his software experience to help drive innovation and efficiency for brokers/developers/landlords in retail transactions like filling vacancies faster.

RSS Feed provided by theBrokerList Blog - Are you on theBrokerList for commercial real estate (cre)? and Working WITH Brokers…Not Against Them… was written by Michael Beckerman.

Working WITH Brokers…Not Against Them… published first on http://ift.tt/2hkHhkP

0 notes

touristguidebuzz · 7 years ago

Text

Gen Z Won’t Tolerate Boring Meetings That Aren’t Interactive

Young concert goers at the 2016 Outside Lands music festival. If meeting planners want to appeal to younger attendees from Generation Z, they need to focus on delivering authentic messaging and interactive, to-the-point content. Outside Lands

Skift Take: If you want to engage Generation Z, ditch the paper, be authentic, and keep those presentations moving.

— Deanna Ting

Just as meeting planners are learning how to reach and engage Millennials who range in age from 18 to 34, the next generation, known as Gen Z, is shifting the landscape. While there is not yet an exact definition of this generation, demographers generally use the birth years from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s to describe them.

In 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a Gen Z population of 73.61 million, just behind Millennials at 79.41 million, and far ahead of Gen X at 65.72 million. It’s estimated that by 2020 they will account for 40 percent of all consumers. Even more so than their Millennial siblings, Gen Z are digital natives, but their engagement with the digital world, and especially social media and social activism, is even stronger and more influential – and that’s how to engage them.

“If it’s not interactive, they’re not going to stay at the meeting,” said Cindy Lo, president and event strategist at Red Velvet Events in Austin, Texas. “They need to be entertained and they’re looking for those ‘Instagramable’ moments.”

In that sense, Gen Z is no different from Millennials, but it’s not enough for the younger folks to have a great image; they want to know that a brand or company gives back to the community. Lo cited the example of Toms shoes, which donates a pair shoes for every pair sold, or Warby Parker, which does the same with eyeglasses.

“Here’s the funny thing about Gen Z and even Millennials; if it looks like you’re trying too hard it won’t work,” said the 41-year-old Lo. “When we are meeting with clients to talk about conferences, before we even begin we ask them a lot about their company culture and what their values and goals are, so we can align it with the event.”

Lo said that when deciding whether to attend an event, the first thing a Gen Z individual does is go to the company’s social media channels to see what they’re all about. Then they look at the meeting agenda to see if there is something of value to them. It’s not necessarily a person who appeals, but a concept, explained Lo.

“Maybe they’ll tweet about it, or even write a blog post, but unless they are inspired they’re going to let it go because they don’t want people to know they wasted their time. Gen Z can sniff out fake so fast.”

Aubri Nowowiejski, age 28, and an executive producer at Coterie Spark, was even more blunt in her assessment.

“Gen Z can spot B.S. a mile away. They are keen on being authentic, and that’s why they gravitate towards YouTube; they are connecting with real individuals. They don’t believe reality TV because they know it’s fake, but they do believe in the content creators on YouTube.”

Nowowiejski suggests that YouTubers and popular vloggers are where meeting planners who want to engage Gen Z should be looking for speakers or attractions, but cautions that it’s a double-edged sword.

“As YouTubers gain popularity, they get more sponsorships, and their channels and personalities can shift. When change is driven by dollars, their viewers can tell. Again, it all goes back to the integrity piece for this generation,” said Nowowiejski.

She added that meeting planners need to create something that’s genuine. Gen Z doesn’t want to be coerced with messages like “Tweet this!” or “Post that!” They understand PR and personal branding more than any generation, and how social media can influence it.

“They are going to be even more self aware of what they attach their names to, and what they endorse,” said Nowoiejski, echoing Lo’s comments.

In trying to appeal to multiple generations, she said planners need to remember that all attendees want the same thing; the awe factor, value, and authenticity.

“We want to leave better than we came. The biggest differential between generations is attention span.”

No one agrees more with that statement than Deep Patel, a Gen Z consultant who has worked with companies such as IBM, and is the founder of Owlmetrics, an Instagram analytics company. Patel is 18 years old and just recently graduated from high school.

“Gen Z’s unique factor is that they live on social media and they grew up on social media, so the fear of missing out (FOMO) is an even bigger factor for them than Millennials. They are processing thousands of pieces of information every day, and they have stimulation overload. They are quite literally addicted to social media and have ridiculous attention spans because of it,” said Patel, author of the 2016 book, A Paperboy’s Fable: The 11 Principles of Success.

He said that, in an effort to reach Gen Z, meeting planners need to think about optics, not just content. “If you want to get maximum benefits, it has to be Instagram-worthy,” he said, adding that will only engage them so far.

“Really, meetings can do a lot better. If you have printouts, text them beforehand or have a mobile file so attendees can follow along on the screen. Try to keep slides more graphic and cut down on the text. Gen Z is oriented toward images, not text.

“You have to focus on mobile. I can’t tell you how often I go to events and they are passing out copies of things, and realistically I’m never going to go back and read them. They’re probably going to end up in the trash because I don’t work with paper,” said Patel.

Staying digital and having a mobile orientation are both vital, but so is keeping presentations short and to the point. If things start to drag, you’re going to lose attention and they’ll pull out their phones, according to Patel. But what about meetings that cater to a cross-generation audience; will older generations tune out if the pace is too swift?

“There should be a sweet spot where you aren’t beating a dead horse, but you’re not sprinting through content,” he said. “In the worst-case scenario, you can go at a slightly faster speed and build time in for questions.”

He suggested splitting attendees into different sections to overcome the generational disparity. And although Patel doesn’t think this is the only answer, it may be something meeting planners want to consider if they want to engage the next generation.

“Right now, it’s not really working. I can speak from personal experience. Even if I’m not distracted and I’m paying attention, I’m not going to sit in a room with 50 people and read what’s on a screen,” said Patel.

0 notes

bizmediaweb · 7 years ago

Text

7 Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing

One of the keys to effective influencer marketing (aka getting real results) is by doing it authentically.

But just what does that mean?

Being authentic in your influencer marketing efforts means investing the time to learn as much as you can about each influencer you want to reach out to and then communicate with them in a personalized manner that works to establish and then build a real relationship with that person.

Influencers get countless emails, all wanting something from them and most of them coming in the form of a generic, template email that can be spotted a mile away.

Now consider that these influencers are people just like you and me, also with an inbox full of spam and junk mail on top of receiving a hefty amount of these (often impersonalized) influencer requests. Is it any wonder that they rarely respond to them?

The odds are definitely not with you if you are contacting an influencer, regardless of how good the business opportunity is that you are offering. That is of course, unless you can find a way to ensure that your request stands out, gets their attention and makes them way to know more.

I am going to share seven key strategies to help ensure that you stand out in the inbox of your desired influencer and then works to build a solid, mutually beneficial relationship with them.

7 Key Strategies of Effective & Authentic Influencer Marketing

1. Know your goals

It is extremely important when communicating with influencers that you are concise and to the point.

It is hard to get to the point, when you are not sure what the point is. In fact, how can you even be sure you know what influencers you should be reaching out to, if you don’t know what you are trying to accomplish.

Step one is to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish using the help of influencers. Example goals might include:

Drive traffic to your website

Promoting a new product

Brand awareness

Generate sales (such as affiliate marketing or promotions)

Attract new target market

Increase social media followers

Customer retention

Additionally, knowing your goals is vital so you know how you are going to measure the success of your efforts, which will help you determine how to be more effective with your influencer marketing in the future.

2. Choose the right influencers

Now that you know what you want to accomplish, you need to select influencers that both:

Reach your desired target market (demographic) and

Can help you accomplish the goals you have determined.

Start by looking at the demographic they appeal to. Is it similar to the demographic that you serve or is it one you would like to branch out into?

Then look at how they interact with their audience and what kind of content they create. Do they make YouTube videos, or post Instagram Stories, live stream on Facebook or post articles on LinkedIn?

The social media platforms they use and they type of content they create will heavily influence your decision. If they are using a platform that your customers don’t use or create content in a format they don’t prefer, quite simply, it will be an effective alliance.

Ask yourself how that influencer would make best use of your product or service. If you can’t see them finding value from your product or service and being able to share that with their community, they are probably not a good fit for you.

3. Research the influencers

After you have selected the influencers you are interested in reaching out to, be prepared to spend as much time as necessary to thoroughly research each one of them.

Be as detail oriented as you can in your research, as this can help you identify not only what is important or of interest to them, but can also help you to determine the best way to reach out to them.

Influencers are a trusted authority on their topic. They consistently engage their community and provide helpful knowledge and guidance. Be sure to look for these characteristics when choosing your influencers.

Start by looking through their social media profiles. Check out their bios, photos, videos and most recent posts. Check out their website if they have one. Spend time familiarizing yourself with their content.

Also look at their community. What kind of following do they have? How does their community interact with them? Even if they have a smaller community, if they are loved and have a large influence over their community (which is your targeted demographic), it can be well worth the time to approach them.

On the flip side, if they have a huge following but very little interaction with their community, they might not have any real influence within their community and may not be worth your time.

4. Set the stage

As I mentioned previously, Influencers email boxes are often overfilled, so even if you write an attention getting subject line, your email can still get lost in the noise.

You can help increase the chances of success of your first email request by setting the stage. You do this by familiarizing them with your name and the name of your brand.

So how do you get on their radar?

You already know what social media platforms they use and the kinds of content they create from your research. Start by connecting with them on each of their platforms, in a manner appropriate for each platform.

For example, follow them on platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (don’t try to friend them immediately). Subscribe to their YouTube channel or send them a personalized connection request on LinkedIn.

Once you are familiar with their content and community, make meaningful comments on their posts. Ideally you want to work toward creating a discussion. While the occasional “awesome” or “great post” comment is appropriate, these types of comments will NOT get you on their radar.

Your overall goal for these interactions is that your name will be somewhat familiar to them when it pops up in their email box. Combined with a great subject line, this will make them much more likely to take the time to open your email and read it.

5. Send your email request

The subject line of your email request can determine the success of your outreach to influencers. Even if your name seems familiar, if your subject line is ineffective, they will skip over it with the rest of the junk in their inbox and delete it.

Ensure your subject line stands out.

Whether you go for an attention-grabbing subject line or one that perhaps references some of their past work, keep it short and informative so they know what to expect.

The body of your email needs to be equally short and to the point.

Good etiquette never goes out of style. Start your email off with a personal greeting that includes their name. Add a persona touch by complimenting them on their work. For example, you might mention that you regularly read their blog posts and find them extremely insightful and well written. Perhaps mention your favorite post and why you like it.

Next you will want to dive into your purpose. Tell them why you are writing to them. This should be only a sentence or two. You don’t want to go into a lot of detail here. Your goal is not to lay out your whole vision but rather to find out if they are interested and a good match.

Go on to explain in a sentence or two exactly what you want from them. Clarity in this step can help prevent wasted time on both sides.

Then you need to let them know how they will benefit from this partnership. Briefly explain why they should agree to your request.

Finish your email by letting them know they can reach out with any questions and add an appropriate closing salutation. It can often be helpful if you include your social media profile links as part of your email signature, so they can easily research you and your brand.

The entire message shouldn’t be more than five to ten sentences long. Make it easy and quick to read.

If you don’t hear back right away, wait a few weeks before writing again. You may need to try several times before you get a response. Be patient and keep in mind that they receive hundreds of emails every day.

6. Build the relationship

Once they have responded that they would like to work with you, the effort doesn’t end here.

Now the process of actually building a relationship with this person begins. Like all relationships this takes time and effort. Some ways you can do this effectively include being quick to reply to any communication with them and by taking the time necessary to answer any questions or concerns they may have.

Reciprocity can be a valuable tool when building relationships with influencers.

Look for ways to add value to your relationship with them. As an example, is there some kind of free gift or offer that you can give to them to share with their community? Make sure that the gift will truly be valued by their community and doesn’t not come across as gimmicky or salesy.

7. Measure your success

While it may feel like a success just to find and start relationships with the appropriate influencers, it is important to track the success that each one contributes to each of the goals that you first determined for your influencer marketing initiative.

It is only by measuring and analyzing the success of each of your influencers in attaining your goals that you can make timely choices to modify your influencer marketing strategy to get the best results and with the right people.

Wrapping Up

Influencer marketing is one of the most effective and efficient ways to connect and gain credibility with your target market, if you do it correctly. Done incorrectly, influencer marketing can waste large amounts of time and money and potentially hurt your brand image.

The secret to effective influencer marketing is that it is all about connecting with individuals who share the same overall values and ideals as you. In addition, you want to build a mutually beneficial relationship and partner with each other in ways that make you both more successful. The key ingredient is to be authentic and personal, just as you would in any other meaningful relationship.

Have you tried influencer marketing? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments below.

The post 7 Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

7 Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing published first on http://ift.tt/2u73Z29

0 notes

unifiedsocialblog · 7 years ago

Text

7 Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing

One of the keys to effective influencer marketing (aka getting real results) is by doing it authentically.

But just what does that mean?

Influencers get countless emails, all wanting something from them and most of them coming in the form of a generic, template email that can be spotted a mile away.

I am going to share seven key strategies to help ensure that you stand out in the inbox of your desired influencer and then works to build a solid, mutually beneficial relationship with them.

7 Key Strategies of Effective & Authentic Influencer Marketing

1. Know your goals

It is extremely important when communicating with influencers that you are concise and to the point.

Step one is to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish using the help of influencers. Example goals might include:

Drive traffic to your website

Promoting a new product

Brand awareness

Generate sales (such as affiliate marketing or promotions)

Attract new target market

Increase social media followers

Customer retention

2. Choose the right influencers

Now that you know what you want to accomplish, you need to select influencers that both:

Reach your desired target market (demographic) and

Can help you accomplish the goals you have determined.

Start by looking at the demographic they appeal to. Is it similar to the demographic that you serve or is it one you would like to branch out into?

Then look at how they interact with their audience and what kind of content they create. Do they make YouTube videos, or post Instagram Stories, live stream on Facebook or post articles on LinkedIn?

3. Research the influencers

After you have selected the influencers you are interested in reaching out to, be prepared to spend as much time as necessary to thoroughly research each one of them.

On the flip side, if they have a huge following but very little interaction with their community, they might not have any real influence within their community and may not be worth your time.

4. Set the stage

As I mentioned previously, Influencers email boxes are often overfilled, so even if you write an attention getting subject line, your email can still get lost in the noise.

You can help increase the chances of success of your first email request by setting the stage. You do this by familiarizing them with your name and the name of your brand.

So how do you get on their radar?

5. Send your email request

Ensure your subject line stands out.

Whether you go for an attention-grabbing subject line or one that perhaps references some of their past work, keep it short and informative so they know what to expect.

The body of your email needs to be equally short and to the point.

Go on to explain in a sentence or two exactly what you want from them. Clarity in this step can help prevent wasted time on both sides.

Then you need to let them know how they will benefit from this partnership. Briefly explain why they should agree to your request.

The entire message shouldn’t be more than five to ten sentences long. Make it easy and quick to read.

6. Build the relationship

Once they have responded that they would like to work with you, the effort doesn’t end here.

Reciprocity can be a valuable tool when building relationships with influencers.

7. Measure your success

Wrapping Up

Have you tried influencer marketing? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments below.

The post 7 Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing appeared first on Top Dog Social Media.

7 Strategies for Effective Influencer Marketing published first on http://ift.tt/2rEvyAw

0 notes