#…show that jumps the shark just because it’s popular and the network wants to get as many seasons out of it as possible lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

goatsandgangsters · 4 years ago

Note

I want to hear your mental thesis on why GOT ruined television because I agree.

OH THIS IS EMBARRASSING, I GOT YOUR ASK, I IMMEDIATELY WROTE A RESPONSE LAST FRIDAY, AND THEN I.............. left it in a word doc and forgot I never posted it. SORRY

So for onlookers, this is in reference to my tags on this post, on how capitalism has resulted in our current TV landscape where TV shows are constantly getting cancelled (specifically in a Netflix context). But I have a little pet thesis about how Game of Thrones contributed to this trend and really shaped what the current TV landscape looks like

With the caveat that I have nothing concrete to back this up—I haven’t looked extensively at numbers or data, I haven’t read any specific analysis on this, I don’t work in the media or any media-adjacent field—and I am basing my claims totally on observations and vibes

Game of Thrones was unprecedentedly successful in a way that set the bar for TV networks who suddenly realized TV shows could be immensely profitable. Game of Thrones certainly didn’t invent the concept of prestige TV, but it aired in a period of time where there was a lot of good quality television. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, we were seeing a cultural conversation about the “golden age of TV” and how TV could actually be good, after a long period where the film was viewed as “art” and television was viewed as “entertainment.” Suddenly, that was changing. There was more recognition of the artistic and storytelling merits of television. Shows like Breaking Bad and Mad Men were acclaimed. The conversation was shifting. Game of Thrones was born into this golden age and it was at first another show that shifted the perception of television towards a cultural cornerstone that would be taken seriously.

But then Game of Thrones got BIG. I mean, BIG. It was everywhere. It was so popular. Everyone was talking about it! Everyone needed HBO so they could watch it! Don’t spoil me, I missed last night’s episode! Game of Thrones in your meeting on Monday morning. “Hey, have you heard of Game of Thrones?” “I just started watching Game of Thrones, I’m obsessed!” “I binged all three seasons last night, I can’t wait for the next season!” Okay, I did look up some data. Game of Thrones earned BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. Billions! Not millions, BILLIONS! PLURAL! Your friends were all watching Game of Throne! Your professor was watching Game of Thrones! Your dad watches Game of Thrones! Your boss watches Game of Thrones! Everyone watches Game of Thrones! Everyone talks about Game of Thrones! Game of Thrones makes MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

And without getting into any discussion of the quality of Game of Thrones, because quality is secondary here to hype and money-making potential, suddenly TV shows aren’t just capable of being good like movies. They’re capable of MAKING SERIOUS MONEY. Everyone wants a Game of Thrones! Everyone wants a cash cow like that! But an enormous cash cow that brings in 13 million viewers for one episode alone and makes billions of dollars—those don’t come along every day (especially as we have more and more channels and streaming services and options pumping out content and flooding the TV market to the point where you don’t even know what new shows are out there because there’s just so many). But networks still want that cash cow. So they premiere a show. It does well, it makes some profit, a good number of people watch it. They cancel it. They premiere a show. It does well, it makes some profit, a good number of people watch it. No, cancel it! We want Game of Thrones! We want millions of viewers! We want all the money! Instead of putting money into additional seasons of a reliable show that has steady ratings, steady viewership, and makes more money than it cost to produce (i.e. profit), it seems like networks and streaming services are throwing as many shows as possible at the wall to see what sticks—and cancelling anything that doesn’t immediately have promise as The Next Big Thing, The Next Game of Thrones.

Of course, there are exceptions, as there are with everything. Plenty of shows before this time period were cut down in their prime after only a season or two, like Pushing Daisies. But on the other hand… Remember how much people TALKED about Firefly? I mean, they couldn’t believe it! They cancelled Firefly after only ONE season! Justice for Firefly! Can you believe that, only ONE season? It seemed like such a shocker. Nowadays if you recommend a really good show to me and say it was cancelled after only two seasons, I go “ah, another one huh? That’s a shame.”

And of course there are plenty of other factors as well for the constant death of shows, not all of which are about Game of Thrones. First of all, there’s more of them, overall, everywhere, on every network. So naturally, there will be more cancellations. Again, I don’t have the numbers to tell you if it’s proportionate. We also know that Netflix—which doesn’t rely on advertising but on subscriptions—leans on the premiere-and-cancel model, since they claim that new shows bring in new viewership to watch releases, whereas apparently later seasons of shows (apart from the BIG hype-trains like Stranger Things) don’t bring in the kind of cash and numbers they’re after. Plus, the longer a show airs, the more likely you’re going to have to give raises to the writers, actors, and everyone else working behind the scenes. You don’t have to increase their pay if you cancel their show.

It’s part of the overall trend of capitalism—ever-expanding and ever-increasing profits, constantly looking for things to cut and curtail to achieve them. It’s incredible to think back on shows of similar genre (drama and SF/F; I’m not getting into things like comedies which feel like they operate differently) and similar levels of cultural popularity and compare those shows to the television landscape today. Lost had six seasons with anywhere from 14–25 episodes per season. Buffy had seven seasons, plus five seasons of a spin-off, with 22 episodes per season from season 2 onwards. That seems unimaginable today. Of course, longer seasons (and MORE seasons) are not always better. The phrase “jumping the shark” exists for a reason and originated with the show Happy Days—and many other shows have dragged on past their endpoint, past when the story was finished, and continued beating a dead horse.

So shorter seasons can be a good thing! A tight few seasons of a show can be a wonderful opportunity to tell a complete story with a tight narrative and end in a satisfying way! I much prefer this to shows that drag on to the point where they become a chore to watch. That sweet spot is hard to hit—but it seems like the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction where shows don’t jump the shark because they don’t live long enough to have the opportunity.

Except Game of Thrones. Which did jump a shark. And then several more.

#runn0ft #thank you for the opportunity to Share My Opinions #I have a lot of opinions but I'm like a vampire and I need to be specifically invited inside to share them #also again PET THESIS: NO EXPERTISE JUST OBSERVATION AND OCCASIONAL SPRINKLING OF NUMBERS

30 notes · View notes

impalementation · 5 years ago

Note

What is "twop" and why were the recaps bad?

[disclaimer: this post is just my opinion, and is based in part on 10-year-old memories, so take it with that grain of salt.]

twop is televisionwithoutpity, a now-defunct site that was fairly popular in the 00′s. you can read its archives at brilliantbutcancelled.com or with wayback. it’s responsible for inventing–or at least popularizing–the whole idea of the tv recap. its tagline was “spare the snark, spoil the networks,” and its recapping ethos was not really about telling you what happened in an episode, but more about finding clever (especially cleverly mean) things to say about what happened in the episode. this was fun on some levels. the people involved did seem to genuinely like tv, and i loved reading twop when i was a teenager because at the time, it and the avclub were pretty much the only non-fansite games in town for taking tv seriously as art. i mean for really getting into the details of tv and talking about whether it worked or not, even if only to make fun of it. the tone of twop’s recaps was not always the cutely detached “snark” thing, either. it could be genuine, emotional and analytical as well, depending on the writer, and depending on whether they actually liked the show. writers like jacob clifton wrote some things that were so moving and insightful that i still think about them.

but on the whole, the “snark” philosophy tended to cultivate an atmosphere of meanness and dissatisfaction. and maybe that felt fun and appropriate when pointed at things like dawson’s creek or whatever. but when pointed at shows that were clearly trying to do something real and artistic, if not always elegant, the big pit of nothing that is self-satisfied color commentary became obvious, even when the commentary was positive. in the case of buffy, the recappers were obviously die-hard early seasons fans. they didn’t even just dislike seasons six and seven. they disliked season five as well (they gave fool for love, which is pretty inarguably one of the show’s strongest episodes…a D. every episode in season four? D.). but my frustration with the recaps isn’t really about them not liking something that i do. people have different reactions to art; that’s just the way art is. it’s about the fact that they demonstrate basically no interest in even examining if the show was doing something interesting that just happened to not be what they wanted the show to be (the early season recaps rarely have anything insightful to say either. it’s just slightly more enjoyable lack-of-insight because the writers don’t hate what they’re watching.). which would be pretty innocuous if the writers were just random bloggers, but these people were writing thousands upon thousands of words for a respectably large audience about something they didn’t like and weren’t curious about and also were mods of the site’s forums, meaning they affected the discussions of the many people that came there to talk about buffy.

in fairness, why did i read them? i was a teenager and hadn’t yet learned to not read things that made me feel bad. i also hadn’t yet learned to not be swayed by the opinions of people that seem cool because they’re authoritatively mean and funny. i would act like i didn’t like vast portions of the show when talking about it…because of twop. because i was young and dumb and impressionable and i thought cool people would think i was lame for finding the later seasons anything other than horrible, shark-jumping nonsense.

then i re-read some of them after my 2018 rewatch, because i’d forgotten about all of that. i adore the twop recaps of farscape, and had just revisited them because i’d revisited that show as well. and thought, “hey were the buffy recaps any good?” so i checked some of them out, and was hit over the head with the feeling of “oh fuck, this is everything that fucking sucked about that era of media analysis.” it hit harder because i was in that post-rewatch state of feeling so excited and moved. just so damn happy i was watching buffy as an adult and finally had the intellectual tools and life experience to appreciate and interpret the show the way it deserved. reading those things took me directly back to being 16 and feeling all deflated and confused. only i didn’t feel confused anymore–i just felt mad. mad that i’d consumed so much of this stuff and taken it seriously, and that it had clearly been so influential on the tone of internet writing about tv and movies.

because there is something...fundamentally anti-curious about snark. about criticism-as-comedy. (about news-as-comedy too, unfortunately. i don’t think it’s a coincidence that the daily show and the colbert report also became popular in the 00′s. not to mention gawker. various right-wing counterparts as well, though they leaned more towards bombast than comedy.). the thing about combining the intellectual with the comedic is that it packages “the cool social opinion” right along with the presentation of facts, and in lieu of analysis. it drives right over the concepts of earnestness and charitability and having a thesis and trying to prove it and maybe being wrong. this kind of writing doesn’t give you tools to interpret things better. it doesn’t help you enjoy things more deeply. at best it’s harmless entertainment, and at worst it leaves you feeling like something is the “right” thing to think. which is particularly tricky with criticism, because criticism is always going to be an opinion one way or another, and you can’t exactly stop people from agreeing with an opinion on the strength of the writer’s personality, rather than argument. but good criticism, in my opinion, at least tries to mitigate that. and twop, by blurring the line between criticism and entertainment, helped normalize the idea of not trying to mitigate such things at all.

#gen

24 notes · View notes

pendragonemrys · 6 years ago

Text

the thing i genuinely can not get past, even in my calmer and more clear-headed moments of Thinking About Finale, is how utterly, thoroughly, and quickly they willingly chose to fuck themselves over.

like, in fandom years i’m a grandma. i’ve seen media jump the shark, make terrible choices that make no sense, do the opposite of what fans wanted, etc. but generally its always been series that had already started to go downhill, or were never super on point to begin with, or the “dumb choices” were at least divisive in that some significant portion of fans were into it.

(god, we talk about glee’s dumpster fires a lot but like, glee was never *good*, even in its “good” years. glee was stupid and fun and once in a while struck emotional gold, usually because chris colfer and good song choices did the heavy lifting for them. and in terms of ship choices like, yeah all the main ships were terrible and only got worse, but at the end of the day the majority of fandom still wanted those ships so at least sticking with them made sense from a business standpoint.)

but i have never, EVER experienced anything like this. that is, show runners with a show at its literal prime, at the height of its critical and fandom acclaim, with hiccups yes but a season and a half of truly good, consistent, innovative writing, with a devoted fanbase literally all in almost total agreement about what they’d like to see, and they just... nuke it. all of it. it makes NO goddamn sense. not from an artistic perspective, certainly not from a business perspective. EVERYTHING WAS RIGHT. EVERYTHING WAS GOOD. you had the fandom and critical world at your fingertips and a legitimately groundbreaking, ratings-boosting romantic storyline to explore.

THEY WERE SITTING ON A LITERAL GOLDMINE AND THEY BLEW THE ENTIRE FUCKING THING UP!!! it’s not like this was a case of writers being lazy or choosing the easier creative path??? ALL THE DIFFICULT GROUNDWORK WAS ALREADY LAID. continuing to succeed and continuing to gain acclaim, popularity, and ratings would have been the absolute easiest choice in the world. it was smooth fucking sailing and blue fucking skies. it took real, calculated, LEGAL AND FINANCIAL EFFORT to fuck this up and i CANT UNDERSTAND IT.

as humans we like to make sense of things, and it is driving me absolutely bonkers that i can’t make sense of this. we keep talking about homophobia or what they had to do “to please the straights” or “please the network” or whatever but like, even that doesn’t hold up. the people who were a) okay with the death or b) didn’t want queliot or both were absolutely few and far between. this show hits a million viewers on the best of days and we, the devoted cult following, are most of it. critics raved about last season, particularly 3x5, particularly 4x5. ratings were good enough for a syfy show that they *pre-ordered* a season 5.

These hoards of haters we’re pinning the decision on... they really don’t exist. which leaves me just pacing back and fourth muttering to myself over and over again about what they could have possibly been thinking. i’m staring at this hideous yellow wallpaper and there are people whispering and moving behind it and they won’t let me out of the fucking room.

maybe i could start to make some sort of tentative peace with myself if i could just find a single fucking logical thread in this entire shithole disaster of a situation. like, just give me SOMETHING. because all i’ve got right now is that this was all a big The Producers/Springtime for Hitler play and they don’t actually want season 5 anymore. at least that would make a crumb of fucking sense.

#ugh this got long but im truly losing it #the magicians #help

357 notes · View notes

yourfandomfriend · 6 years ago

Text

Veiled Finale | Eerie, Indiana Meta

So, I think by now we’re all acquainted with the trope where a fictional character from a tv show suddenly gets thrown into the real world.

It’s a fun way for a show to go meta and let the audience see how their protagonist would take the news that their life is a story, seeing their friends and family acting like the actors who play them, and learning their suffering is for your amusement. So meta, right? Well, it could be even more meta, if you suspect your show is about to go off the air...

Let's put a pin in that and introduce Eerie, Indiana.

** SPOILERS** FOR EERIE, INDIANA ** SPOILERS **

For a lot of people reading this, depending on their age, all they know about Eerie, Indiana is that it was a major inspiration for Gravity Falls -- one lone kid convinced the sleepy town he moved to is the center of weirdness for the entire world. He investigates the paranormal and tries to get the truth out but it just looks to everyone else like he’s not adjusting. The resemblance is... eerie?!

The show had Joe Dante (Duke of Hollywood Weirdness) as it’s creative consultant, directing a couple episodes, too. It was about a kid named Marshall Teller, played by Omri Katz. The great thing about Marshall is that he's a regular kid. He’s sloppy, scrappy, makes bad choices, takes people for granted, has that tween self-consciousness, and thinks he can get something for nothing. All the relatable flaws, but he was basically a good kid. At heart.

His bestie is Simon Holmes (Justin Shenkarow) a nice but lonely latchkey kid a few grades younger than Marshall. Simon doesn’t really believe as much in the paranormal despite it being all around him but Marshall is his only friend, so he kinda just goes along with whatever it takes to keep hanging out with him.

Two normal kids occasionally called on to save the world.

At least, for the first 12 episodes. After that, the show experienced a retool. In case you don’t know quite what that is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A retool is when a show is altered for various reasons, ranging from bad ratings to wanting to give a breakout character more screen time, all the way to someone at the network trying to turn the show into a vehicle for some pet actor.

EI was a great show but the competition was so stiff, no one watched it in its initial run. It was retooled to add two cool characters to the cast. Sort of.

The first was Radford, owner of the World O' Stuff store, played by a veteran of tv weirdness, John Aston.

The reason why he’s only sort of new is that the show already had a Mr. Radford before the retool. But rather than recasting him with a more established actor and hoping the kids at home wouldn’t notice the difference, they revealed the Radford we’d known up till then was a serial imposter by the name of Fred Suggs, who’d been keeping the real Radford in his basement for six months until he was finally caught. But not for long.

Pretty much.

The second was Dash X, a troublemaking homeless trickster with prematurely grey hair who woke up in Eerie with no memory of who he was and where he came from. A mystery in his own right and possibly the most popular character with the current fandom. This is in no small part due to him being played by Jason Marsden, the teenaged Ted McGinley.

In case you don’t know what a “Ted McGinley” is (this is turning into an answers blog as we speak) it’s when a character actor with a lot of charisma is dumped into an existing show to “spice things up,” usually as a hail mary pass to keep it on the air. As a result, the appearance of a TM in the main cast will usually herald the cancellation of a series or at least a stark decline in quality. The original has come to be seen as a pox on any show.

If one was to check Marsden’s IMDB page in the early-to-mid 90s, once you were done fangirling over him voicing Thackery Binx, Max Goof, and the best version of Peter Pan ever, you’d notice he ended up in quite a few sitcom retools, including The Torkleson’s, Step by Step, and Full House, and it pretty much always guaranteed the last season was on the horizon.

NO! YOU GET AWAY FROM BOY MEETS WORLD YOU ANGEL OF DEATH!

Kidding. It’s actually a compliment to be a TM, since it makes you the Cobra Bubbles of TV Land. The problems are already there if a show starts jumping the shark and guys like Marsden are the ones they call when things go wrong.

So yep, as a die-hard fan of EI, I very much approve of the inclusion of Aston and Marsden to the cast. They made the weirdness hunting more of a team sport and added humor and personality to the show. Okay.

The trouble was, in order to make edgy Dash work, they had to water down Marshall and Simon. Not okay. Marshall went from being a cool yet deeply flawed kid at the center of everything to being a goody-two-shoes who ended up butting heads with Dash and just reacting to the mayhem he created, while Simon went from a kid with a depressed, desperate streak to a cheerful cherub who for some reason really believed Dash was a good guy underneath it all.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, the show was shifting its focus to make Dash the star. Which makes no sense from a creative perspective -- never mind that Marshall was a great protagonist. Even if he wasn’t if you were already gonna change him, why not just make him into whatever you wanted instead of replacing him? Why frame him out of his own show?

“Eventually they wanted to replace [Marshall] with this other character called Dash X. He was actually supposed to take over for Omri Katz. So they decided to do an episode called “Reality Takes a Holiday”, where Omri realizes he’s the star of a TV show.” -- Joe Dante [x]

"Reality Takes a Holiday” was the finale, starring nearly all the cast as warped versions of their real-life selves (designed less to resemble the actors and more to contrast the characters they played) where Joe Dante made a cameo as the director. It was great! Best episode of the show, in my biased opinion. But what Dante failed to mention was the connection between the retool and this episode.

The plot is pretty simple: Marshall’s family wants to take him and Simon out to the movies to have family fun. Simon is thrilled but Marshall is too cool to hang out with his family and uses his calling -- chronicling the paranormal -- as an excuse to bail on everyone. Then he gets that episode’s shooting script in the mail and ends up in the real world, on set, with everyone calling him Omri.

Marshall starts freaking out, as naturally he would, raving about how he and everyone else are their characters but nobody listens to him. They all think he’s lost his chickens over something to do with the show. But what?

Justin: “Stop it, Omri! You’re just mad because Dash is...” Marshall: “What? What are you talking about, Simon?” Justin: “...Nothing, nothing.”

Searching the soundstage for answers, he hears a familiar voice and follows it to the World O’ Stuff set. There he meets one of the only people in this place who knows who they are and who Marshall is, Mr. Radford. For some reason, inside the set is just like it is in Mashall’s world and Radford seems oblivious of the change until he produces a copy of the script. The last few pages are blank and Mashall realizes there must be a writer for all this insanity. José Schaefer. He rushes to find the guy.

But when Mashall finds Schaefer, he’s talking to Dash who also seems to know who Marshall is. And weirdly, no one’s calling him Jason. Apparently, Dash has these great ideas he’s been passing onto the writers for killing off Marshall’s character and not euphemistically. They plan on letting Dash literally gun Mashall down in broad daylight. As long as he stays home from the movies.

So diegetically, Dash is the one who’s responsible for the retool. Up till now, he was an antihero. Amoral in theory but ultimately a sympathetic human being, if not decent. Here he's a full blown psycho villain. So not only does Marshall have to figure out how to change the script, he has to dodge everyone in the studio who wants him to finish his final scenes, including Dash, who has to hunt Marshall down because if “Omri” doesn’t come back, they’re all canceled.

But Marshall somehow manages to shed his opposition long enough to trick Schaefer‘s secretary into printing new pages, ones where he says yes to movie day and leaves with his family.

Dash tries to stop it, but in this world, he's just told to “clear Omri’s eye-line.” Action is called and Mashall gets his second chance to skip the paranormal for a day and concentrate on what really matters. And Dash, his plan to take over the show foiled, tears his freaky script in half and sulks off. The show ends. Bittersweet.

But if Marshall stops investigating Eerie weirdness, what then? That’s the whole premise of the show. Without it, what’s left? Well, it got canceled so... nothing. It’s hard to say if the show was canceled because this episode was written or if this episode was written because the show was canceled but either way, few series get such a fitting (or meta) end.

#eerie indiana #marshall teller #dash x #simon holmes #meta #long post

5 notes · View notes

cajunroe · 8 years ago

Photo

Webgott Chef/Critic AU ↳ Joseph Liebgott has only ever had three major loves in his life: family, friends, and food. It all he’s ever wanted and needed. He runs a successful restaurant and it’s popularity is growing everyday. He hasn’t been worried about a possible setback since he opened. He knows that the plates he puts out are the best because he’s doing what he does best. However, there are critics. Critics who specifically seek out places like his and look for any and every reason to destroy his life. One critic in particular, known as The Shark because of a shark pin the guy wears on his lapel, apparently has his sights set on Joe’s place and he’ll be damned if this Ivy League prick finds anything wrong with his cooking.

Joe discovered his love of cooking when his mom had to work a double or else she’d be fired. So, Joe makes dinner for his little brothers and sisters with what’s in the fridge, and when he’s sees their faces light up when they take their first hesitant bite and then devour the rest, he thinks he might have some talent. He starts to cook more often when his mom has to take more and more shifts at work. Each time is something new or different that he thought of or wanted to try. Then he starts doing the grocery shopping after school. Then his siblings start requesting dishes or newfound favorites. Then, on Joe’s birthday when he finishes making his own three-tiered birthday cake, his whole family calls him into the living room. When they hand him a sealed white envelope he doesn’t know what to expect. He opens it to find an acceptance letter to the culinary arts academy he wanted to apply to.

“We applied for you.” His mother says when he just stares at the paper.

“T-they needed a demonstration, transcripts, and a bunch of other shit, how?”

“Believe it or not, your leftovers are better than a lot of fresh meals, I got you transcripts and you had several glowing recommendations sent in.”

Joe smiles and blinks back his tears.

“Time for cake.”

Three years later and Joe has his own restaurant, backed by his family and large group of friends.

Joe puts his heart and soul into his cooking and loves the joy and happiness that he’s able to bring to strangers through his life’s work.

On an ordinary Tuesday night, Grant burst into the kitchen from the front of the house and whistles for Joe’s attention.

“What is it Chuckie? I’m a little busy here. Tal! Garnish and send it out!”

“I told you to stop calling me that Lieb and I think he’s here.”

Joe’s head shot up. The most renowned critic in all of San Francisco was possibly about to dine in his restaurant. He could make or break any establishment and Joe had worked too long and too hard for some college boy to ruin him.

“He wearin’ the pin?”

Grant nodded his head. No one really knew what the critic looked like, only that he wore a shark pin to the restaurants he reviewed.

“Alright, make sure you serve him. Be nice, but not too much. That pretentious prick hates when servers are too pushy.”

“You got it.” Grant said before he left.

Joe turned to his staff, “Alright boys, one customer ain’t gonna ruin us. Let’s go! Tal get started on those apps! Skip, how are the desserts? Babe, get moving on those steaks! Come on people, this ain’t opening night!” There’s a resounding chorus of, “Yes chef!”, and Lieb smiles.

David Webster didn’t necessarily enjoy being a food critic. Yes, he got paid to eat food, but sometimes he felt less than accomplished, void of purpose, no matter how popular his blog was. So when he’s told several hundred times to try Easy Company, he looks into it. Owned by one Joseph Liebgott, it’s been open for three years and it’s kept steady business but has been gaining traction since a featured spot on a Food Network show. There’s no specific cuisine set and it’s the first thing that grabs his attention.

No pictures, that’s…interesting.

A new menu each night.

Tricky and expensive, but impressive.

Friendly and attentive staff.

Always a plus, given the industry.

Lastly, from the plethora of online reviews, it’s worth the heftier price tag.

He stares at the blank page of his novel and sighs.

Now’s as good a time as any.

Web sighs as he pushes himself away from his desk, places his pin on his lapel, and makes a reservation for late that night.

The true testament of a great restaurant is the experience an hour right before they close.

The restaurant is nice and surprises him when he walks in. He’s seated immediately and given the day’s menu before the waiter leaves him for kitchen. Probably to tell the chef that he’s here so they can wine and dine him literally.

He’s not left waiting for long.

“Have you had enough time to look over the menu?”

“Yes, I’ll have the special of the night and a scotch, neat, please.”

“Right away, sir.”

Web pulls out his phone and starts the live posting of the night, determined to do his best to find any fault or exceptionality.

Joe hates critics. He doesn’t understand the reason they even have a job. How does someone else’s experience of a place determine what your own was going to be like? What kind of indecisive person lets some stranger’s opinion stop them from enjoying something amazing? Also, why was this fuck in his restaurant?

“He wants the special and a scotch, neat.” Grant tells him as his puts in the order.

“Neat? Who is this asshole?” Joe laughs as starts the order.

Babe jumps in as he plates a perfectly cooked steak, “He’s a Harvard grad, got a degree in literature. He hasn’t published anything yet, but is working on book about sharks. Name’s David Webster and he’s actually pretty nice once you get to know him.”

Half the kitchen stops and looks at Babe.

“How the hell you know all that?” Joe asks.

“He’s friends with Gene. I didn’t know that’s who you were talking about until you mentioned the pin.”

Babe goes back to cooking like he didn’t just drop a bomb full of knowledge on them.

There’s a crash at the bar and Grant runs back out to the front of the house.

“How was everything, sir?”

Web was surprised, the food was remarkable and he’s never had such a profound response to any other meal he’s eaten. Now he understood why people fell in love with food, why people chose this career for a living, why a good meal could bring a unique happiness to someone’s life.

“Would it be possible to speak with the chef?”

The waiter’s, Charles as his embroidered shirt states, eyes widen and then give him a polite smile.

“Let me go check for you.”

“Yo Lieb, he, uh, wants to talk to you.”

“What the fuck for?”

“I didn’t ask, you said to be nice.”

Joe sighs and wipes the sweat from his forehead.

“Yeah, thanks for that.”

Joe takes a deep breath before pushing open the kitchen door.

“You asked to see me?”

Web looks up from his final review post he was writing and looks up to see a rather annoyed looking chef looking down at him.

“Yes, I did.”

“What for?”

“I wanted to say that I love your food.”

Lieb folded his arms, attempting to look unimpressed but still appreciating the praise from someone so well-known.

“Really?”

“Yes, I can see why you do what you do. I can see why you love it. I mean, my potatoes were a little over seasoned, but it didn’t ruin my meal.”

“Ov—Over seasoned?!”

Joe looked at the handsome – wait, no, pretentious – face of the critic and was so not entranced by the sharp blue eyes.

Web looked around the restaurant where some other guests were looking at them and then back at the chef.

“Yes? Like I said, it didn’t ruin the meal. I want t—.”

“Look Harvard, I don’t care what you want. You know what I want? I want you to leave. I don’t care what you post on your little website or shit, I don’t care. Just leave and don’t come back.”

Web narrowed his eyes, anger boiling inside him, and moved to get up in front of the chef.

Joe caught the scent of the critic as he stood up in front of him and it reminded him of a day at the beach. It was soothing in a way that immediately annoyed him because of the man it was attached to.

It was only then that Web caught onto the Harvard comment.

“Wait, how do you know I went to Harvard?”

That caught Joe off-guard, he didn’t catch that he let that slip.

“What?”

Playing dumb had worked for him many times before.

“Harvard. You called me Harvard. How did you know?”

“You got that look about you, shark boy.”

Son of a bitch.

Sometimes Joe should learn when to shut his mouth.

Web grabbed Joe’s arm and pulled him outside the restaurant much to Joe’s loud and vulgar protests.

“How do you know who I am?”

“I have my sources.”

Web gave him an exasperated look.

“Please, you do not have sources. How do you know?”

Joe licked his lips and Web’s eye couldn’t help but follow the movement for some reason.

“My friend Babe’s boyfriend, Gene, is a friend of yours.”

“Wait, this is where Edward works?”

“Edward? Jesus, Web, only his ma calls him that.”

David flinched at the nickname.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“What, Web?”

He didn’t flinch this time but narrowed his eyes again.

“Yes, that.”

“You’d rather be called Harvard or shark boy?”

“I’d rather be called David.”

“Well, Web, this has been nice and all but I’ve gotta get back. So not nice seeing ya.”

Web grabbed his arm again before he reached the door.

“You know my name, can I at least know yours?”

“It’s Joe, Joe Liebgott.”

Web’s mouth opens and closes for half a minute.

“You okay there?”

“Y-yeah, I just didn’t know you were the head chef as well as the owner.”

“Yeah, I’m a regular Renaissance Man.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, Lieb.”

Joe smiled as looked back at Web to see a mixed expression of enjoyment, annoyance, and longing? on the taller man’s face and it made him stop and do something stupid.

“Did you have dessert?”

It was worth asking just to see the confused look on Web’s face.

“What?”

“I said did you have dessert? Do they teach you to listen at Harvard?”

“No I didn’t and no, they don’t.”

“Well you can’t write a proper review if you don’t have dessert, right?”

Web smiled, “I guess I can’t. Is that an invitation?”

“It’s a demand.”

“Lead the way then, sir.”

Neither of them missed the hitch in Joe’s breath as they entered the restaurant.

Joe had Web sit at a chair in the kitchen while the rest of the staff finished the closing of the restaurant.

“You all can go home, I’ll finish here. We’re closed tomorrow anyway.”

The handful of staff still there shouted out quick thanks before running out of the door.

“So what do you want Web?”

Joe handed over a menu and finished cleaning the counters while Web decided.

“I haven’t had a strawberry shortcake since I was a kid. I’m a bit nervous though, what makes it ‘adult’?”

“The strawberries are soaked in an almond liqueur and the sauce in made with strawberry vodka.”

“That’s sounds perfect.”

Web’s phone rang and it was the ringtone of his editor.

“Sorry, I have to get this.”

Joe didn’t even answer, already focused on making the dessert.

He stepped through the door of the kitchen and watched Joe through the window.

“Yeah?”

“What’s taking so long for the final review?”

“I haven’t finished yet.”

Web watched the dance that Joe was performing effortlessly while he cooked.

“What do you mean? The restaurant closed twenty minutes ago. You’re on thin ice already Webster.”

The nasally voice from Sobel was grating on Web’s nerves.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“I know, sir. I’ll get in it, right away.”

“You better, or you’re done.”

His boss hung up before he could respond.

He went back into the kitchen and sat down with a long sigh.

“Boss that bad, huh?”

“Something like that.”

Joe watched the pound cake bake then started the sauce.

“So how does a Harvard grad, with a degree in literature, become a food critic?”

Web smiled, “Believe it or not, it’s very difficult to do what you really want.”

“Not for me.” Joe laughs and if Web wasn’t so fascinated by the man, he might’ve been angry.

“Well, I really want to write, but I’d also like to not be homeless, so I do this.”

“Nah, you can’t do that Web. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you haven’t written anything substantial about sharks since you started this job?”

Web looked shocked for a minute before he nodded.

“See, doing something you hate hinders your creativity, so now you can’t focus on what you want to do.”

“So what do you suggest I do?”

“Quit.”

Web laughs loudly, “Just like that? I’m into debt up to my ears and I can barely afford my what I have.”

“What? Parents didn’t pay for college?”

“Not when I told them I was majoring in Literature instead of Law like everyone expected me to.”

“So you paid for it by yourself?”

“I got help from the government and scholarships, but yeah. They still refuse to talk to me.”

Joe made a noise of consideration.

“You’re not what I expected Web.”

Web looked up and met Lieb’s eyes.

“I could say the same thing to you, Joe. Not many chefs or owners would be doing what you are now.”

Lieb winked, “I’m not most chefs.”

He came around the counter and placed the dessert in front of Web.

Something about Joe commanded attention and David couldn’t look away, not even at the impeccable dessert he was bound to rave about.

Lieb leaned in a little too close, but he may have snuck some shots of vodka while Web took his call. He was a little too attracted to Web, a critic for pete’s sake, and it shook him.

“And this is not most desserts.”

In that moment, nothing could have pulled Web away from Joe.

ASSHOLE CALLING. ASSHOLE CALLING. THERE’S AN ASSHOLE AND HE’S CALLING.

Unless, of course, your boss calls you.

Web pulls back, swears, and answers roughly, “What is it now?”

“Webster, that is not the way you address your boss.”

Web pulls the phone away from his ear while Sobel yells.

Joe’s laughing, but looks like he just missed something great, as he pulls a large bite of the dessert onto a spoon and lift it towards David’s mouth.

Web’s mouth opened in surprise and Joe smiled as he gently fed the dessert to the other man.

The noise that ripped out of Web’s throat could, at the very least, be described as pornographic.

Joe’s eyes widened and the spoon clattered onto the counter.

Joe slid off the stool and into Web’s space, just as Web had started the raise the phone back to his ear, his boss still screaming.

Joe’s hands were slowly reaching toward Web.

The phone reached Web’s ear and he came to a conclusion.

“I quit.”

He threw his phone down on the table and met Lieb’s lips with his own. It was a little off since they were both smiling, but it was perfect.

They eventually pulled away and rested their heads against one another.

Joe whispered gently, “How was that?”

David laughed and looked into Joe’s eyes before saying, “It was a little too sweet for my taste. I like something with a little more heat.”

Joe’s eyes darkened, “I can fix that for you, David.,” and tried to capture the critic’s lips once again, but Web pulled back with a laugh.

“No, seriously Joe, put a little chili powder on this or something.”

Lieb pushed Web playfully and went to clean the last of the dishes.

“Fuck you, Web.”

David shrugged as he took another bite, “Okay, but somewhere else. You have to think of the health code violations Joe.”

The dishes crashed in the back of the kitchen and Web laughed harder.

Web took the last bite of the dessert as Joe pulled him out of the seat, “It’s a good thing I live upstairs.”

46 notes · View notes

samuelfields · 5 years ago

Text

How to Cut The Cable Cord

I’ve never had a cable subscription. Once I left my parents house, I jumped straight into streaming.

You could call me a hipster streamer, doing it long before cutting the cable cord was cool. Cutting cable isn’t a fad anymore, it’s turned into a tsunami that’s changing the entire entertainment industry.

If you’re considering making the jump, I’ll walk you through the entire process.

Not only will you save a bunch of money, you get complete control and access to better TV.

What’s the Meaning of Cutting the Cord?

When people refer to “cutting the cord,” they’re referring to ditching cable television subscriptions in favor of internet-based streaming services.

As a result of cord-cutting, a secondary group, cord-nevers, has emerged. It consists of viewers who have grown up watching programming on streaming services and are less likely to ever subscribe to cable television.

While cutting costs is an excellent reason for ditching cable television, opting for streaming services also provides more flexibility. Choosing which streaming services work for your family allows you to pay for what you’ll actually use.

The most common reasons for cutting the cord:

Save money on monthly TV bills

Pay only for the TV that you want

Watch shows on your schedule

Access to shows that you can’t get with normal cable

Essentials for Cutting the Cord

If you’re set on ditching cable for good, there are a few things you’ll want to look at to make your transition to the cable-free entertainment lifestyle a bit easier.

HDTV Antenna (optional): To maximize your savings, consider investing in an HDTV antenna. You can pick up one for as little as $20 or as much as $150, depending on your needs. Once you have the antenna, you’ll be able to access your local television network channels for free. Only do this if you care about local channels. I don’t watch local channels myself so I’ve never gotten one.

A streaming player or device: A lot of devices let you add streaming services to them. Like a Playstation. And many smart televisions can stream services on their own. I prefer to get a dedicated streaming device like a Roku or Apple TV. The interface is better, there’s fewer ads from built-in TV services, and the remote is better.

Decent internet speed: Make sure your internet speed is hardy enough to handle streaming the quality of content you want. For standard streaming, 3Mbps should work fine. If you want 4k content, look for a speed of at least 25Mbps. You’ll want higher speeds if you plan to stream from multiple devices at one time.

Streaming services: There are a lot of streaming services available. In fact, many networks are even releasing their own streaming services. We’ll discuss a few of the streaming services below.

The Best Streaming Devices

Here are our top picks for streaming devices:

Amazon Fire TV Cube

The Amazon Fire TV Cube offers a hands-free streaming option. You can stream your favorite shows from the compact 4K compatible device. The device is about 3-inches tall, so it’s discreet and will fit in most spaces. The Amazon Fire TV Cube includes a remote if you prefer to operate your TV without talking to Alexa. The Amazon Fire Cube retails for $119.99.

Roku Ultra

The Roku Ultra is a wireless streaming device. Roku is one of the most well-known streaming devices, for a reason. The friendly interface makes navigating between your favorite streaming apps easy. The remote is simple to use, and it includes a headphone jack so you watch your favorite movie when you don’t want to disturb anyone else. This updated version of the Roku includes a voice remote and provides access to free TV, news, sports, and music. In addition to the free shows offered on Roku, you can access Hulu, Netflix, and other paid subscriptions. Roku Ultra is available for Insert price here

Google Chromecast

The Google Chromecast connects to your smart TV via USB port. It’s one of the most affordable options at $35. Chromecast lets you connect to services like Hulu, YouTube, and Netflix. You can even use Chromecast to put your computer screen onto the television set. If you’re dead set on HD and 4K, you’ll want to opt for the Chromecast Ultra which is $70.

Apple TV 4K

Apple TV a small box that streams videos to your television. The box connects via HDMI. The system retails for about $150 and includes a one-year subscription to AppleTV+ (the subscription service). There are two versions, the Apple TV HD and the APple TV 4K. We prefer the 4K for the better quality, it’s only an extra $30. You can use the box to access other streaming services as well. You don’t need an iPhone to use Apple TV, but you do need an iTunes account to log into your device.

Your Smart TV

Since a major reason for cutting the cable is to save money, you might not be keen on spending extra cash on a streaming device. If you already have a smart TV (or a gaming device like the Playstation) you can use that to stream content. Keep in mind that some streaming services may be unavailable on certain devices due to contractual agreements. Most will offer access to the most popular apps like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. This is a great way to save some money.

Customizing to Meet Your Needs

One of the biggest perks of cutting the cord is that you can customize your entertainment needs. Most streaming services offer monthly or annual subscriptions. If you need to pause for a few months to save a little extra cash, you can restart whenever you want.

There are dozens of streaming options, which means you can pick and choose which ones work best for your family.

You can also customize your hardware setup. You don’t need a streaming device. You don’t even need a TV. If you have a computer, tablet, or phone, you can save more money by using to watch everything. I didn’t get a TV for over 5 years when living on my own, I just watched everything off my laptop. In hindsight, I could have bought a TV a lot sooner. But I did save a lot of money during that period.

The option to do as little or as much as you want, while controlling your costs, is the biggest perk of cutting the cord. Mix and match your streaming device with your streaming services for a customized entertainment package that works best for you.

The Best Streaming Apps

Gone are the days when your only streaming option was Netflix and YouTube. Now, there are dozens of streaming apps that include everything from original content to network-specific shows. These are our favorites.

For Classic TV Shows: Hulu

If you’re a fan of watching television shows as close to their air-time as possible, Hulu is your best bet. They offer four levels of subscriptions. The basic subscription is $5.99 per month and the Premium streaming service is $11.99. The cheapest option has more advertisements, whereas the premium service has very little to no ads during your shows.

If you love popular TV shows and want to keep them after cutting the cable cord, definitely get Hulu. It has tons of shows like The Bachelor, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, Shark Tank, and Family Guy. There’s also a few Hulu-exclusive series like The Handmaid’s Tale.

For Families: Disney+

In 2019, Disney launched its own streaming service. At $7.99 per month, it’s one of the most affordable options available.

It has an extensive library of Disney movies and television shows including the Star Wars films, most of the Marvel films, and many programs from networks owned by Disney. Disney+ also boasts a few of their own shows, like the Mandalorian. If I had kids, I’d definitely get a subscription.

For Sports Lovers: ESPN+

Sports lovers rejoice. If you’re hesitant to cut the cord because you don’t want to miss the big game, you can get ESPN without a cable subscription. You’ll be able to stream MLB, NHL, UFC, and tons of college games live. Unfortunately, there aren’t any NFL or NBA games yet. I hope this changes in the future.

Even better, it comes as part of a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ at $12.99/month. By getting that bundle, you can almost replace an entire cable subscription. That’s an incredible deal.

For Original Shows: Netflix

Netflix is the original streaming service and still a great option. The volume of original content is absurd. They release more interesting stuff than I can possibly watch. There’s also a decent amount of non-Netflix films and TV shows. Believe it or not, you can also still subscribe to their DVD service too. The most expensive streaming plan is $8.99. The premium plan, which includes 4k streaming is $15.99 per month. DVD plans are priced separately.

Best for Bundled Services: Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime offers a lot of the same movies you’ll find on Netflix, as well as some television shows you won’t find elsewhere. There are a number of great Amazon Prime shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, and Good Omens.

While it doesn’t have as much depth as other services, the TV subscription is part of a much larger Amazon Prime bundle. It includes free 2-day shipping, movie streaming, Prime music, and access to the Amazon Prime Reading catalog. Amazon Prime is $12.99 per month or $119 per year. With the number of shopping trips I can avoid by using the fast, free shipping, Amazon Prime easily pays for itself. And I get some great TV shows with it too.

How to Cut The Cable Cord is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/how-to-cut-the-cable-cord/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

andrewdburton · 5 years ago

Text

How to Cut The Cable Cord

I’ve never had a cable subscription. Once I left my parents house, I jumped straight into streaming.

If you’re considering making the jump, I’ll walk you through the entire process.

Not only will you save a bunch of money, you get complete control and access to better TV.

What’s the Meaning of Cutting the Cord?

When people refer to “cutting the cord,” they’re referring to ditching cable television subscriptions in favor of internet-based streaming services.

The most common reasons for cutting the cord:

Save money on monthly TV bills

Pay only for the TV that you want

Watch shows on your schedule

Access to shows that you can’t get with normal cable

Essentials for Cutting the Cord

If you’re set on ditching cable for good, there are a few things you’ll want to look at to make your transition to the cable-free entertainment lifestyle a bit easier.

Streaming services: There are a lot of streaming services available. In fact, many networks are even releasing their own streaming services. We’ll discuss a few of the streaming services below.

The Best Streaming Devices

Here are our top picks for streaming devices:

Amazon Fire TV Cube

Roku Ultra

Google Chromecast

Apple TV 4K

Your Smart TV

Customizing to Meet Your Needs

There are dozens of streaming options, which means you can pick and choose which ones work best for your family.

The Best Streaming Apps

For Classic TV Shows: Hulu

For Families: Disney+

In 2019, Disney launched its own streaming service. At $7.99 per month, it’s one of the most affordable options available.

For Sports Lovers: ESPN+

Even better, it comes as part of a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ at $12.99/month. By getting that bundle, you can almost replace an entire cable subscription. That’s an incredible deal.

For Original Shows: Netflix

Best for Bundled Services: Amazon Prime

How to Cut The Cable Cord is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Finance https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/how-to-cut-the-cable-cord/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

paulckrueger · 5 years ago

Text

How to Cut The Cable Cord

I’ve never had a cable subscription. Once I left my parents house, I jumped straight into streaming.

If you’re considering making the jump, I’ll walk you through the entire process.

Not only will you save a bunch of money, you get complete control and access to better TV.

What’s the Meaning of Cutting the Cord?

When people refer to “cutting the cord,” they’re referring to ditching cable television subscriptions in favor of internet-based streaming services.

The most common reasons for cutting the cord:

Save money on monthly TV bills

Pay only for the TV that you want

Watch shows on your schedule

Access to shows that you can’t get with normal cable

Essentials for Cutting the Cord

If you’re set on ditching cable for good, there are a few things you’ll want to look at to make your transition to the cable-free entertainment lifestyle a bit easier.

Streaming services: There are a lot of streaming services available. In fact, many networks are even releasing their own streaming services. We’ll discuss a few of the streaming services below.

The Best Streaming Devices

Here are our top picks for streaming devices:

Amazon Fire TV Cube

Roku Ultra

Google Chromecast

Apple TV 4K

Your Smart TV

Customizing to Meet Your Needs

There are dozens of streaming options, which means you can pick and choose which ones work best for your family.

The Best Streaming Apps

For Classic TV Shows: Hulu

For Families: Disney+

In 2019, Disney launched its own streaming service. At $7.99 per month, it’s one of the most affordable options available.

For Sports Lovers: ESPN+

Even better, it comes as part of a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ at $12.99/month. By getting that bundle, you can almost replace an entire cable subscription. That’s an incredible deal.

For Original Shows: Netflix

Best for Bundled Services: Amazon Prime

How to Cut The Cable Cord is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Surety Bond Brokers? Business https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/how-to-cut-the-cable-cord/

0 notes

kennethherrerablog · 5 years ago

Text

How to Cut The Cable Cord

I’ve never had a cable subscription. Once I left my parents house, I jumped straight into streaming.

If you’re considering making the jump, I’ll walk you through the entire process.

Not only will you save a bunch of money, you get complete control and access to better TV.

What’s the Meaning of Cutting the Cord?

When people refer to “cutting the cord,” they’re referring to ditching cable television subscriptions in favor of internet-based streaming services.

The most common reasons for cutting the cord:

Save money on monthly TV bills

Pay only for the TV that you want

Watch shows on your schedule

Access to shows that you can’t get with normal cable

Essentials for Cutting the Cord

If you’re set on ditching cable for good, there are a few things you’ll want to look at to make your transition to the cable-free entertainment lifestyle a bit easier.

Streaming services: There are a lot of streaming services available. In fact, many networks are even releasing their own streaming services. We’ll discuss a few of the streaming services below.

The Best Streaming Devices

Here are our top picks for streaming devices:

Amazon Fire TV Cube

Roku Ultra

Google Chromecast

Apple TV 4K

Your Smart TV

Customizing to Meet Your Needs

There are dozens of streaming options, which means you can pick and choose which ones work best for your family.

The Best Streaming Apps

For Classic TV Shows: Hulu

For Families: Disney+

In 2019, Disney launched its own streaming service. At $7.99 per month, it’s one of the most affordable options available.

For Sports Lovers: ESPN+

Even better, it comes as part of a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ at $12.99/month. By getting that bundle, you can almost replace an entire cable subscription. That’s an incredible deal.

For Original Shows: Netflix

Best for Bundled Services: Amazon Prime

How to Cut The Cable Cord is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

How to Cut The Cable Cord published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

0 notes

mcjoelcain · 5 years ago

Text

How to Cut The Cable Cord

I’ve never had a cable subscription. Once I left my parents house, I jumped straight into streaming.

If you’re considering making the jump, I’ll walk you through the entire process.

Not only will you save a bunch of money, you get complete control and access to better TV.

What’s the Meaning of Cutting the Cord?

When people refer to “cutting the cord,” they’re referring to ditching cable television subscriptions in favor of internet-based streaming services.

The most common reasons for cutting the cord:

Save money on monthly TV bills

Pay only for the TV that you want

Watch shows on your schedule

Access to shows that you can’t get with normal cable

Essentials for Cutting the Cord

If you’re set on ditching cable for good, there are a few things you’ll want to look at to make your transition to the cable-free entertainment lifestyle a bit easier.

Streaming services: There are a lot of streaming services available. In fact, many networks are even releasing their own streaming services. We’ll discuss a few of the streaming services below.

The Best Streaming Devices

Here are our top picks for streaming devices:

Amazon Fire TV Cube

Roku Ultra

Google Chromecast

Apple TV 4K

Your Smart TV

Customizing to Meet Your Needs

There are dozens of streaming options, which means you can pick and choose which ones work best for your family.

The Best Streaming Apps

For Classic TV Shows: Hulu

For Families: Disney+

In 2019, Disney launched its own streaming service. At $7.99 per month, it’s one of the most affordable options available.

For Sports Lovers: ESPN+

Even better, it comes as part of a bundle with Hulu and Disney+ at $12.99/month. By getting that bundle, you can almost replace an entire cable subscription. That’s an incredible deal.

For Original Shows: Netflix

Best for Bundled Services: Amazon Prime

How to Cut The Cable Cord is a post from: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

from Money https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/how-to-cut-the-cable-cord/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

sheminecrafts · 5 years ago

Text

Social chat app Capture launches to take a shot at less viral success

At first glance launching a new social app may seem as sensible a startup idea as plunging headfirst into shark-infested waters. But with even infamous curtain-ripper Facebook now making grand claims about a ‘pivot to privacy’ it’s clear something is shifting in the commercial shipping channels that contain our digital chatter.

Whisper it: Feeds are tiring. Follows are tedious. Attention is expiring. There’s also, of course, the damage that personal digital baggage left out in the open can wreak long after the fact of a blown fuse or fleeting snap.

Public feeds have become vehicles of self-promotion; carefully and heavily curated — which of course brings its own peer pressures to keep up with friends’ lux exploits and the influencer ‘gram aesthetic that pretends life looks like a magazine spread.

Yet for a brief time, in the gritty early years of social media, there was something akin to spontaneous, confessional reality on show online. People do like to share. That’s mostly been swapped for the polish of aspirational faking it on apps like Facebook-owned Instagram. While genuine friend chatter has moved behind the quasi-closed doors of group messaging apps, like Facebook-owned WhatsApp (or rival Telegram).

If you want to chat more freely online without being defined by your existing social graph the options are less mainstream friendly to say the least.

Twitter is genuinely great if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to find interesting strangers. But its user growth problem shows most consumers just aren’t willing (or able) to do that. Telegram groups also require time and effort to track down.

Also relevant in interest-based chat: Veteran forum Reddit, and game chat platform Disqus — both pretty popular, though not in a way that really cuts across the mainstream, tending to cater to more niche and/or focused interests. Neither is designed for mobile first either.

This is why Capture’s founders are convinced there’s a timely opportunity for a new social app to slot in — one which leverages smartphone sensors and AI smarts to make chatting about anything as easy as pointing a camera to take a shot.

They’re not new to the social app game, either. As we reported last year, two of Capture’s founders were part of the team behind the style transfer app Prisma, which racked up tens of millions of downloads over a few viral months of 2016.

And with such a bright feather in their cap, a number of investors — led by General Catalyst — were unsurprisingly eager to chip into Capture’s $1M seed, setting them on the road to today’s launch.

Point and chat

“The main idea behind the app is during the day you’ve got different experiences — working, watching some TV series etc, you’re sitting in an arena watching some sports, or something like that. So we imagine that you should open the app during any type of experience you have during the day,” says Capture co-founder and CEO Alexey Moiseenkov fleshing out the overarching vision for the app.

“It’s not for your friends; it’s the moment when you should share something or just ask something or discuss something with other people. Like news, for example… I want to discuss news with the people who are relevant, who want to discuss it. And so on and on. So I imagine it is about small groups with the same goal, discussing the same experience, or something like that. It’s all about your everyday life.”

“Basically you can imagine our app as like real-time forum,” he adds. “Real-time social things like Reddit. So it’s more about live discussion, not postponing something.”

Chat(room) recommendations are based on contextual inferences that Capture can glean from the mobile hardware. Namely where you are (so the app needs access to your location) and even whether you’re on the move or lounging around (it also accesses the accelerometer so can tell the angle of the phone).

The primary sensory input comes from the camera of course. So like Snap it’s a camera-first app, opening straight into the rear lens’ live view.

By default chats in Capture are public so it also knows what topics users are discussing — which in turn further feeds and hones its recommendations for chats (and indeed matching users).

Co-founder and CMO Aram Hardy (also formerly at Prisma) gives the example of the free-flowing discussion you can see unrolling in YouTube comments when a movie trailer gets its first release — as the sort of energetic, expressive discussion Capture wants to channel inside its app.

“It’s exploding,” he says. “People are throwing those comments, discussing it on YouTube, on web, and that’s a real pain because there is no tool where you can simply discuss it with people, maybe with people around you, who are just interested in this particular trailer live on a mobile device — that’s a real pain.”

“Everything which is happening around the person should be taken into consideration to be suggested in Capture — that’s our simple vision,” he adds.

Everything will mean pop culture, news, local events and interest-based communities.

Though some of the relevant sources of pop/events content aren’t yet live in the app. But the plan is to keep bulking out the suggestive mix to expand what can be discovered via chat suggestions. (There’s also a discovery tab to surface public chats.)

Hardy even envisages Capture being able to point users to an unfolding accident in their area — which could generate a spontaneous need for locals or passers by to share information.

The aim for the app — which is launching on iOS today (Android will come later; maybe by fall) — is to provide an ever ready, almost no-barrier-to-entry chat channel that offers mobile users no-strings-attached socializing free from the pressures (and limits) of existing social graphs/friend networks; as well as being a context-savvy aid for content and event discovery, which means helping people dive into relevant discussion communities based on shared interests and/or proximity.

Of course location-based chatting is hardly a new idea. (And messaging giant Telegram just added a location-based chats feature to its platform.)

But the team’s premise is that mobile users are now looking for smart ways to supplement their social graph — and it’s betting on a savvy interface unlocking and (re)channelling underserved demand.

“People are really tired of something really follower based,” argues Moiseenkov. “All this stuff with a following, liking and so on. I feel there is a huge opportunity for all the companies around the world to make something based on real-time communication. It’s more like you will be heard in this chat so you can’t miss a thing. And I think that’s a powerful shot.

“We want to create a smaller room for every community in the Internet… So you can always join any group and just start talking in a free way. So you never shared your real identity — or it’s under your control. You can share or not, it’s up to you. And I think we need that.

“It’s what we miss during this Facebook age where everybody is ‘real’. Imagine that it’s like a game. In a game you’re really free — you can express yourself what way you want. I think that’s a great idea.”

“The entry threshold [for Twitter] is enormous,” adds Hardy. “You can’t have an account on Twitter and get famous within a week if you’re not an influencer. If you’re a simple person who wants to discuss something it’s impossible. But you can just create a chat or enter any chat within Capture and instantly be heard.

“You can create a chat manually. We have an add button — you can add any chat. It will be automatically recognized and suggested to other users who are interested in these sort of things. So we want every user to be heard within Capture.”

How it works

Capture’s AI-powered chatroom recommendations are designed to work as an onboarding engine for meeting relevant strangers online — using neural networks and machine learning to do the legwork of surfacing relevant people and chats.

Here’s how the mobile app works: Open the app, point the camera at something you view as a conversational jumping off point — and watch as it processes the data using computer vision technology to figure out what you’re looking at and recommend related chats for you to join.

For example, you might point the camera around your front room and be suggested a chatroom for ‘interior design trends and ideas’ , or at a pot plant and get ‘gardeners’ chat, or at your cat and get ‘pet chat’ or ‘funny pets’.

Point the camera at yourself and you might see suggestions like ‘Meet new friends’, ‘Hot or not?’, ‘Dating’, ‘Beautiful people’ — or be nudged to start a ‘Selfie chat’, which is where the app will randomly connect you with another Capture user for a one-to-one private chat.

Chat suggestions are based on an individual user’s inferred interests and local context (pulled via the phone) and also on matching users across the app based on respective usage of the app.

At the same time the user data being gathered is not used to pervasively profile uses, as is the case with ad-supported social networks. Rather Capture’s founders say personal data pulled from the phone — such as location — is only retained for a short time and used to power the next set of recommendations.

Capture users are also not required to provide any personal data (beyond creating a nickname) to start chatting. If they want to use Capture’s web platform they can provide an email to link their app and web accounts — but again that email address does not have to include anything linked to their real identity.

“The key tech we want to develop is a machine learning system that can suggest you the most relevant stuff and topics for you right now — based on data we have from your phone,” continues Moiseenkov. “This is like a magical moment. We do not know who you are — but we can suggest something relevant.

“This is like a smart system because we’ve got some half graph of connection between people. It’s not like the entire graph like your friends and family but it’s a graph on what chat you are in, so where are you discussing something. So we know this connection between people [based on the chats you’re participating in]… so we can use this information.

“Imagine this is somehow sort of a graph. That’s a really key part of our system. We know these intersections, we know the queries, and the intersection of queries from different people. And that’s the key here — the key machine learning system then want to match this between people and interests, between people and topics, and so on.

“On top of that we’ve got recognition stuff for images — like six or seven neural networks that are working to recognize the stuff, what are you seeing, how, what position and so on. We’ve got some quite slick computer vision filters that can do some magic and do not miss.

“Basically we want to perform like Google in terms of query we’ve got — it’s really big system, lots of tabs — to suggest relevant chats.”

Image recognition processing is all done locally on the user’s device so Capture is not accessing any actual image data from the camera view — just mathematical models of what the AI believes it’s seen (and again they claim they don’t hold that data for long).

“Mostly the real-time stuff comes from machine learning, analyzing the data we have from your phone — everybody has location. We do not store this location… we never store your data for a long time. We’re trying to move into more private world where we do not know who you are,” says Moiseenkov.

“When you log into our app you just enter the nickname. It’s not about your phone number, it’s not about your social networks. We sometimes — when you just want to log in from other device — we ask you an email. But that’s all. Email and nickname it’s nothing. We do not know nothing about you. About your person, like where you work, who’s your friends, so on and so on. We do not know anything.

“I think that’s the true way for now. That’s why gaming is so fast in terms of growing. People just really want to share, really want to log in and sign up [in a way] that’s easy. And there is no real barriers for that — I think that’s what we want to explore more.”

Chatroulette

Having tested Capture’s app prior to launch I can report that the first wave chat suggestions are pretty rudimentary and/or random.

Plus its image recognition often misfires (for instance my cat was identified as, among other things, a dog, hamster, mouse and even a polar bear (!) — as well as a cat — so clearly the AI’s eye isn’t flawless, and variable environmental conditions around the user can produce some odd and funny results).

The promise from the founders is that recommendations will get better as the app ingests more data and the AI (and indeed Capture staff performing manual curation of chat suggestions) get a better handle on what people are clicking on and therefore wanting to talk with other users about.

They also say they’re intending to make better linkage leaps in chat suggestions — so rather than being offered a chatroom called ‘Pen’ (as I was), if you point the Capture camera at a pen, the app might instead nudge you towards more interesting-sounding chats — like ‘office talk’ or ‘writing room’ and so on.

Equally, if a bunch of users point their Capture cameras at the same pen the app might in future be smart enough to infer that they all want to join the same chatroom — and suggest creating a private group chat just for them.

On that front you could imagine members of the same club, say, being able to hop into the same discussion channel — summoning it by scanning a mutual object or design they all own or have access to. And you could also imagine people being delighted by a scanner-based interface linked to custom stuff in their vicinity — as a lower friction entry point vs typing in their directions. (Though — to be clear — the app isn’t hitting those levels of savvy right now.)

“Internally we imagine that we’re like Google but without direct query typing,” Moiseenkov tells TechCrunch. “So basically you do the query — like scanning the world around you. Like you are in some location, like some venue, imagine all this data is like a query — so then step by step we know what people are clicking, then improving the results and this step by step, month by month, so after three month or four month we will be better. So we know what people are clicking, we know what people are discussing and that’s it.”

“It’s tricky stuff,” he adds. “It’s really really hard. So we need lots of machine learning, we need lots of like our hands working on this moderating stuff, replacing some stuff, renaming, suggest different things. But I think that’s the way — that’s the way for onboarding people.

“So when people will know that they will open the app in the arena and they will receive the right results the most relevant stuff for this arena — for the concert, for the match, or something like that, it will be the game. That’s what we want to achieve. So every time during the day you open the app you receive relevant community to join. That’s the key.”

Right now the founders say they’re experimenting with various chat forms and features so they can figure out how people want to use the app and ensure they adapt to meet demand.

Hence, for example, the chatroulette-style random ‘selfie chat’ feature. Which does what it says on the tin — connecting you to another random user for a one-to-one chat. (If selfie chats do end up getting struck out of the app I hope they’ll find somewhere else to house the cute slide-puzzle animation that’s displayed as the algorithms crunch data to connect you to a serendipitous interlocutor.)

They’re also not yet decided on whether public chat content in Capture will persist indefinitely — thereby potentially creating ongoing, topics-based resources — or be ephemeral by default, with a rolling delete which kicks in after a set time to wipe the chat slate clean.

“We actually do not know what will be in the next one to three months. We need to figure out — will it be consistent or ephemeral,” admits Moiseenkov. “We need to figure out certain areas, like usage patterns. We should watch how people behave in our app and then decide what will be the feed.”

Capture does support private group chats as well as public channels — so there’s certainly overlap with the messaging platform Telegram, which also supports both. Though one nuance between them is Capture Channels let everyone comment but only admins post vs Telegram channels being a pure one-way broadcast.

But it’s on interface and user experience where Capture’s approach really diverges from the more standard mobile messaging playbook.

If you imagine it as a mash-up of existing social apps Capture could be thought of as something like a Snap-style front end atop a Telegram-esque body yet altogether sleeker, with none of the usual social baggage and clutter. (Some of that may creep in of course, if users demand it, and they do have a reactions style feature linked up to add in so… )

“With our tool you can find people not from your graph,” says Moiseenkov. “That’s the key here. So with WhatsApp it’s really hard to invite people not from your graph — or like friends of friends. And that’s a really tough question — where I can find the relevant people whom I chat about football? So now we add the tool for you in our app to just find these people and invite them to your [chat].”

“It’s really really hard not to like your friend’s post on Instagram because it’s social capital,” he adds. “You are always liking these posts. And we are not in this space. We do not want to move in this direction of followers, likers, and all this stuff — scrolling and endless communication.

“Time is changing, my life is changing, my friends and family somehow is changing because life is changing… We’re mobile like your everyday life… the app is suggesting you something relevant for this life [now]. And you can just find people also doing the same things, studying, discussing the same things.”

Community building

Why include private chats at all in Capture? Given the main premise (and promise) of the app is its ability to combine strangers with similar interests in the same virtual spaces — thereby expanding interest communities and helping mobile users escape the bubbles of closed chat groups.

On that Moiseenkov says they envisage communities will still want to be able to create their own closed groups — to maintain “a persistent, consistent community”.

So Capture has been designed to contain backchannels as well as open multiple windows into worlds anyone can join. “It’s one of opportunities to make this and I think that we should add it because we do not know exact scenarios right from the launch,” he says of including private conduits alongside public chats.

Given the multiple chat channels in the first release Capture does risk being a bit confusing. And during our interview the founders joke about having created a “maximal viable product” rather than the usual MVP.

But they say they’re also armed to be able to respond quickly to usage patterns — with bits and pieces lined up in the background so they can move quickly to add/remove features based on the usage feedback they get. So, basically, watch this space.

All the feature creep and experimentation has delayed their launch a little though. The app had been slated to arrive in Q4 last year. Albeit, a later-than-expected launch is hardly an unusual story for a startup.

Capture also of course suffers from a lack of users for people to chat to at the point of release — aka, the classic network effect problem (which also makes testing it prior to launch pretty tricky; safe to say, it was a very minimalist messaging experience).

Not having many users also means Capture’s chat suggestions aren’t as intelligent and savvy as the founders imply they’ll be.

So again the MVP will need some time to mature before it’s safe to pass judgement on the underlying idea. It does feel a bit laggy right now — and chat suggestions definitely hit and miss but it will be interesting to see how that evolves as/if users pile in.

Part of their plan is to encourage and nurture movie/TV/entertainment discussion communities specifically — with Hardy arguing there’s “no such tool” that easily supports that. So in future they want Capture users to be notified about new series coming up on Netflix, or Disney’s latest release. Then, as users watch that third party content, their idea is they’ll be encouraged to discuss it live on their mobiles via Capture.

But movie content is only partially launched at this stage. So again that’s all just a nice idea at this stage.

Testing pre-launch on various celebrity visages also drew a suggestive blank — and Hardy confirmed they’ve got more pop culture adds planned for the future.

Such gaps will likely translate into a low stickiness rate at first. But when the team’s ambition is to support a Google-esque level of content queries the scale of the routing and pattern matching task ahead of them is really both massive and unending.

To get usage off the ground they’re aiming to break the content recommendation problem down into more bite-size chunks — starting by seeding links to local events and news (sourced from parsing the public Internet); and also by focusing on serving specific communities (say around sports), and also linked to particular locations, such as cities — the latter two areas likely informed by in what and where the app gets traction.

They’ve also hired a content manager to help with content recommendations. This person is also in charge of “banning some bad things and all that stuff”, as they put it. (From the get go they’re running a filter to ban nudity; and don’t yet support video uploads/streams to reduce their moderation risk. Clearly they will need to be very ‘on it’ to avoid problem usage mushrooming into view and discouraging positive interactions and community growth within the app. But again they say they’re drawing on their Prisma experience.)

They also say they want this social app to be more a slow burn on the growth front — having seen the flip side of burn out viral success at Prisma — which, soon after flooding the social web with painterly selfies, had to watch as tech giants ruthlessly cloned the style transfer effect, reducing their novelty factor and pushing users to move on to their next selfie lens fix.

“As data-driven guys we’re mostly looking for some numbers,” says Moiseenkov when asked where they hope to be with Capture in 12 months’ time. “So I think achieving something like 1M or 2M MAU with a good retention and engagement loop by then is our goal.

“We want to keep this growth under control. So we could release the features step by step, more about engagement not more about viral growth. So our focus is doing something that can keep engagement loop, that can increase our spend time in the app, increase the usage and so on, not driving this into the peak and like acquiring all the trends.”

“Conclusions are drawn from Prisma!” adds Hardy with investor-winning levels of chutzpah.

While it’s of course super early to talk business model, the question is a valid one given Capture’s claims of zero user profiling. Free apps backed by VC will need to monetize the hoped for scale and usage at some point. So how does Capture plan to do that?

The founders say they envisage the app acting as a distribution tool. And for that use case their knowing (only) the timing, location and subject of chats is plenty enough data to carry out contextual targeting of whatever stuff they can get paid to distribute to their users.

They are also toying with models in a Patreon style — such as users being able to donate to content authors who are in turn distributing stuff to them via Capture. But again plans aren’t fully formed at this nascent stage.

“Our focus right now is more like going into partnerships with different companies that have lots of content and lots of events going on,” says Hardy. “We also are going to ask for permission to get access to music apps like Spotify or Apple Music to be aware of those artists and songs a person is interested in and is listening to. So this will give us an opportunity to suggest relevant new albums, maybe music events, concerts and so on and so forth.

“For example if a band is coming to your city and we know we have access to Apple Music we know you’re listening to it we’ll suggest a concert — we’ll say ‘hey maybe you can win a free ticket’ if we can partner… with someone, so yeah we’re moving into this in the near future I think.”

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/2leHg4a via IFTTT

#IFTTT #iraidajzsmmwtv

0 notes

technicalsolutions88 · 5 years ago

Link

If you want to chat more freely online without being defined by your existing social graph the options are less mainstream friendly to say the least.

Point and chat

“Basically you can imagine our app as like real-time forum,” he adds. “Real-time social things like Reddit. So it’s more about live discussion, not postponing something.”

The primary sensory input comes from the camera of course. So like Snap it’s a camera-first app, opening straight into the rear lens’ live view.

By default chats in Capture are public so it also knows what topics users are discussing — which in turn further feeds and hones its recommendations for chats (and indeed matching users).

“Everything which is happening around the person should be taken into consideration to be suggested in Capture — that’s our simple vision,” he adds.

Everything will mean pop culture, news, local events and interest-based communities.

Hardy even envisages Capture being able to point users to an unfolding accident in their area — which could generate a spontaneous need for locals or passers by to share information.

Of course location-based chatting is hardly a new idea. (And messaging giant Telegram just added a location-based chats feature to its platform.)

How it works

Chat suggestions are based on an individual user’s inferred interests and local context (pulled via the phone) and also on matching users across the app based on respective usage of the app.

“Basically we want to perform like Google in terms of query we’ve got — it’s really big system, lots of tabs — to suggest relevant chats.”

Chatroulette

Having tested Capture’s app prior to launch I can report that the first wave chat suggestions are pretty rudimentary and/or random.

Right now the founders say they’re experimenting with various chat forms and features so they can figure out how people want to use the app and ensure they adapt to meet demand.

But it’s on interface and user experience where Capture’s approach really diverges from the more standard mobile messaging playbook.

Community building

On that Moiseenkov says they envisage communities will still want to be able to create their own closed groups — to maintain “a persistent, consistent community”.

Not having many users also means Capture’s chat suggestions aren’t as intelligent and savvy as the founders imply they’ll be.

But movie content is only partially launched at this stage. So again that’s all just a nice idea at this stage.

Testing pre-launch on various celebrity visages also drew a suggestive blank — and Hardy confirmed they’ve got more pop culture adds planned for the future.

“Conclusions are drawn from Prisma!” adds Hardy with investor-winning levels of chutzpah.

from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2leHg4a Original Content From: https://techcrunch.com

#Technical Solutions #SEO #Online Earning #Youtube Marketing #Android Developer

0 notes

travelguideworldtour-blog · 5 years ago

Text

10 Tourist Attractions in Argentina

Argentina is a very diverse nation, surrounding everything to jungles. Stretching from the north into amazing Patagonia’s elements from the south west, Argentina features a rich cultural tradition that’s drawn up on lots of influences from all over the globe. Having its lovely”barrios,” including vibrant arts areas like La Boca and stylish districts such as Palermo, Buenos Aires features a European feel and can be your ideal location to start researching (it is also the ideal spot to learn how to tango, which most amorous of Argentinian dances). The other attractions will be the Nation’s natural wonders, like also the Falls as well as the glaciers of this Andes

Iguazú Falls

The Magnificent Iguazú Falls lie Across Argentina’s Boundary with Brazil, Together with Iguazu National Park about the Argentinian side and Iguaçu National Park Across the side. Safe being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, these tremendous shores are definitely among the most spectacular landscapes in south usa . Visitors may become near an area and platforms created to supply the greatest perspectives, including a number in the base of the drops, these thundering falls as a result of your network of paths. Iguazu is infact composed of between 150 to 300 drops several that varies based on the growing season, together its border, varying between each striking along with 60 to 82 meters . Served through an global airport at Argentina (plus something in neighboring Brazil), it’s relatively simple to go to, specially when flying out of Buenos Aires.

Perito Moreno Glacier

The principal hub for tourists visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Website of Patagonia’sLos Glaciares National Park, the smalltown of El Calafate delivers many different lodging alternatives and other conveniences for people. It’s here the a lot of people combine trips to find that the park’s most favorite glaciers, many significantly the magnificent Perito Moreno Glacier, a gigantic 30-kilometer-long ice formation (along with the planet’s third largest freshwater book ) only 78 km from town centre. It’s only a trip from El Calafate into the sizable tourist centre of the glacier, also out of here a brief walk into the glacier and also a pleasure circuit that is walking. Ice trekking tours are available which range to trips that are more. One other crucial quality of Los Glaciares National Park could be that your 3,359-meter-tall Monte Fitz Roy, also a superbly beautiful mountain straddling the edge together using Chile that’s reputably more difficult to climb than Everest.

Buenos Aires: The City of Barrios

Among South America’s most attractive cities (also certainly one of the greatest ), Buenos Aires is most frequently the very first glance of Argentina most traffic will probably have before going to favorite holiday destinations like Patagonia. Nevertheless, the wise ones will go here and simply take from the numerous beautiful museums and galleries housed in the fabulous old colonial buildings spread throughout the town’s districts or”barrios.” Of the mustsee barrios, make sure you see La Boca, Buenos Aires’ most vibrant area and dwelling to the enjoyable Caminito Street Museum, also a mythical pedestrian zone and also open museum famous because of the brightly colored houses, sculptures that are amusing, along with also outdoor cinema lessons. Trendy Recoleta is just another must and can be where you will come across the Recoleta Cemetery having its intricate mausoleums comprising the remains of such famous Argentinians as Eva (Evita) Perón, together side numerous public arenas, museums, and galleries, cafés, and souvenir stores. Other areas to research when time licenses are Palermo along with Belgrano making use of their wide boulevards and palatial mansions, as well as at the downtown center, the beautiful Plaza de Mayo.

Ushuaia: The End of the World

At the southern end of Argentina, Patagonia is famed because of the spectacular landscapes: some stunning mixture of the Andes and long stretches of plains and plateaus. Most experiences here begin in Ushuaia, the world’s town. Launched being a penal colony at early 20th century now a favorite jumping-off point for trips to Antarctica or just around Cape Horn, this town on Beagle Channel is surrounded with a exceptional landscape of hills, sea, glaciers, along with forests to the boundary of this Tierra del Fuego National Park, having its own spectacular scenery and diverse flora and flora. Popular attractions comprise the San Juan de Salvamento light house – also called the End of the World Lighthouse – built in 1884 on the Isla de los Estados; the end-of-the-world Museum having its own exhibits regarding the region’s history, aboriginal lifetime, along with ancient penal colonies; and also the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia, positioned in the city’s infamous former army prison and worth seeing its numerous marine artifacts along with scale models of famous ships like Darwin’s Beagle.

Puerto Madryn and the Valdés Peninsula

Puerto Madryn’s Town Is Located on the Beaches of Golfo Nuevo in a Few of the most places in the Patagonian Shore. Founded by Welsh settlers in 1886, the deepwater interface and nature reservations of the city ensure it is among the very popular holiday destinations in Argentina, while watersports are also attracted by its rocky coast line enthusiasts wind-surfers who love blasting the Patagonian winds that are strong. High lights consist of the Natural Science and Oceanographic Museum, at a gorgeous heritage building over looking the sanctuary, which houses hundreds of displays of Patagonian fauna and flora, for example a whale horns and also a remarkable exhibition about giant squids. For nature lovers, the major draw is that your Valdés Peninsula, an essential character publication recorded as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the wildlife. Guided tours of this book are crucial, and people typically depart having seen that which from sharks (here to mate and calve), together with sea seals, sealions, along with orcas. Additionally, it is an essential breeding ground for migratory shorebirds, in particular penguins.

Tierra del Fuego National Park

The lakes, lakes, peaks, and glaciers within Tierra del Fuego National Park draw a lot of visitors and hikers to Argentina’s earliest coastal national park, also a huge 156,000-acre region which extends all of the way from Beagle Channel into the ancestral Border and northwards to Lago Kami. Employing town of Ushuaia for being a base, adventurers venture out on the park’s hiking paths or across the shore to research its striking scenery, including sets from rocky waterfalls, dense woods, and hills, together side beautiful glacier-fed lakes like Roca along with Fagnano. Probably one of the very popular paths is Senda Costera, also a coastal way to Lake Roca in Ensenada Bay that delivers a opportunity to observe a rich diversity of wild life such as condors. For anyone that would rather observe the sights from relaxation, have a ride onto the brilliant Southern Fuegian Boat , a tasteful classic steam railway throughout the park into Canadon p Toro.

Mar del Plata

The greatest beaches in South America come from the city of Mar del Plata, on the Atlantic shore 400 km from Buenos Aires. The gorgeous shores sprawl for at least eight km, together using all those charming Mar del Plata’s modern cruise boat port function as the Chica along with Grande shores (they truly are also popular with sealions, most of that go outside from the seas across the town’s fishing wharves). A playground for the most mansions and gardens, squares, as well as its parks Welcome with hotels over the magnificent shore of the city. Along with the beaches, wind swept dunes, and magnificent cliffs, Mar del Plata hosts the fantastic Juan Manuel Fangio Museum, a car museum specialized in a few of the planet’s biggest Formula One drivers and comprising at least a hundred cars and 500 decorations (a highlight can be a exhibition focused on the very first automobile, an 1886 Daimler). Another must see is your Mar del Plata Aquarium having its many marine draws, including dolphin and seal shows, penguins, tortoises, and flamingos.

Bariloche and Argentina’s Lake District

Only called Bariloche, San Carlos de Bariloche has got a more reputation. Town is most likely best recognized for local Cerro Catedral, the weakest of its own peaks and also a favorite ski hotel that draws people from everywhere. Certainly one of the biggest ski hotels in South America, Cerro Catedral comprises at least a hundred km of ski terrain and it is very popular for the magnificent views across Nahuel Huapi, certainly one of many lovely lakes which produce up Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina’s Lake District. Bariloche isalso, in actuality, located within the park also functions as the significant tour centre for individuals wanting to learn more about the area’s diverse all-natural beauty, that encompasses everything from volcanoes to waterfalls and glaciers while offering opportunities for biking, biking, biking, biking, and scaling.

Mendoza

Certainly among the most amazing cities of Argentina, Mendoza can be popular with enthusiasts in the winter because it’s summer time. After the snow flies, skiers from round south usa become adventure a number of the Andes’ most useful ski slopes at the favorite hotels of Las Leñasfamous for its steep terrain, also Los Penitentes, only 25 km from the boundary with Chile. The areas are very popular among climbers and walkers, most planning to get the very top of this Aconcagua mountain that is 6,960-meter-tall summer biking. Outside activities include road riding and white water rafting, a few offering experiences. Also renowned for its coconut oil manufacturing, Mendoza has lots of other interesting cultural attractions, including quite a few museums and yearly festivals, in addition to a bustling Central Market (Mercado Central) where sailors purchase meatfish (in addition, it boasts some superb food stores and restaurants).

Historic Córdoba Cathedral

In Argentina Córdoba may be the 2nd largest city of the country and it is usually employed . The majority of the town’s finest older buildings back into early historic time period of the 16th century and may be observed if researching the historical portion of town across Plaza San Martin, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Of them, among the very essential could be that the gorgeous Isle of Córdoba, also a wonderful combination of Baroque and Neoclassical styles that may trace its origins back into the initial Roman Catholic church assembled within 1580. High lights of this arrangement, a lot of which dates from the 18th century, also comprise a superbly ornate interior with lovely 20thcentury frescoes and murals painted by leading Argentinian artists, a exceptional silver altar, along with also an essential selection of golden votive offerings (make sure to also have a look at its own crypts, the ultimate resting place of quite a few crucial Argentinians).

See more articles about South America!

19 Best Places in Peru

10 Tourist Attractions in Argentina

#Best Places Argentina

0 notes

marketerintel · 6 years ago

Text

How To Build Your First App: 7 Secrets From The Founders

Is this a huge mistake? Will it ever work? Will anyone care?

Anyone building an app for the first time is wondering these things. You’re not alone.

“No one knows what they’re doing. You think people who came before you know everything, but there isn’t one right way to do it. If you make a misstep, it’s not a big deal.” – Whitney Linscott, CEO & Founder, Bracket Dating

You can and should build an app. Don’t believe me?

I just launched my first app, 19 Minute Yoga. I’m not a developer. I have a degree in English Lit.

A technical background is not required. Do you know what is required?

Tenacity and grit.

It took twice as long as I expected. But I still did it. And I want to share everything I learned, so you can build an app too.

The App Store has generated more than $70 billion in revenue for App developers. Apps are transforming and disrupting business.

You or your company should be thinking about building an app for one reason. Eventually, someone is going to come along and build an app that disrupts you.

After I launched 19 Minute Yoga, I knew I wanted to share some honest insights and takeaways. I jumped on the phone with 10 other app founders, technical and non-technical, to discuss everything from developing your idea to developing your code.

Thanks to the founders who participated and shared their experience:

Allison Winston: President & Co-Founder, Kickwheel

Estee Goldschmidt: Co-Founder & CEO, ShopDrop

Julie Campistron: Co-Founder and CEO, Stop, Breathe & Think

Whitney Linscott: CEO & Founder, Bracket Dating

Monika Bhasin: Founder, GLYD

Alexis Monson: Founder, Punkpost

Diane Hamilton: Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Binary Formations

Lori Cheek: Co-Founder, Networkd

Amy Hutchins: Founder & Chief Product Officer, Unearth Technologies, Inc.

Suzanne Hayen: CEO & Co-Founder, Let’s Be Chefs

Building an app can be a rollercoaster and it’s important to know your community and know you’re not alone. Download the apps mentioned here and follow the founders online to learn more about these leading entrepreneurs. Welcome to the community!

#1 Put Your Idea On Paper

Some of the best ideas come from a person creating a solution to her own problem. You don’t have to invent something completely new; you can improve upon an existing idea. Research popular categories and bring a fresh spin to an existing audience. 19 Minute Yoga was born when I realized that I couldn’t find a short, audio-first yoga app–anywhere!

Monika Bhasin, Founder of GLYD, an app that connects travelers with locals, said her initial work was getting her idea validated and that went hand in hand with putting it on paper.

“Write the idea out as an essay. It needs to be simple enough to explain to a 10-year-old.” – Monika Bhasin, Founder of GLYD

To get started, consider the questions below. Write multiple drafts, as you refine your idea:

What makes your idea different?

Who is your audience?

What are your business goals?

How are you going to market and promote the app?

What is the simplest version you can build first?

How much will it cost to build the first version of your app, the MVP (minimum viable product), to get your first round of user feedback?

In addition to writing about your idea, it’s important to create a visual. Sketch a rough draft of your app. It will help you understand the story you want to tell. Don’t worry about artistic talent (or lack of!).

Suzzane Hayen is CEO & Co-Founder of Let’s Be Chefs, an app that delivers weekly menus and recipes to helps users save time and eat better. When Hayen was developing her idea, she used index cards to illustrate her user experience.

“Start writing things down on index cards. Draw each screen and show your friends. Here’s one screen, here’s the next screen.” – Suzzane Hayen, CEO & Co-Founder, Let’s Be Chefs

Before you have a formal pitch or brief, simply talking to people will help you develop your idea. Don’t wait until you feel “ready.” My experience is that “ready” rarely happens. Start a dialogue with friends now. Collect initial feedback.

Ask The Pros If you have the capital, you can hire an agency to help you get started faster. Whitney Linscott, CEO & Founder of Bracket Dating, launched her app to solve the “swipe” problem in dating. When she decided to build an app, she attended a workshop with an app development company.

During the 2-day intensive, Linscott was able to flesh out her concept, along with finer details like user stories. The workshop facilitated her first steps, but Linscott noted, “Just to participate in the workshop was $10K.”

Connect With Your Local Tech Community

Many cities have local developer or app focused meetups. Even if you’re not going to hire a development company, start networking and identify local resources. Search online, talk to people who work in technical fields, and connect with local groups. Maybe there’s a tech Meetup event you can attend.

#2 Tell Everyone

We keep our ideas locked up for too long. Fear of rejection and never feeling “ready” can trick you into keeping quiet. And, sometimes there’s concern that a person might steal an idea. We tell ourselves these stories to let us off the hook–to prevent us from executing. Because executing is hard. Get your notes organized and tell everyone.

This is a collaborative process.

Most importantly —> There should be communication with your key demographic before anyone writes a line of code. Start soft sounding your ideas directly with your prospective users. Stay connected throughout this entire process. Start early. Start now.

Early Feedback Forms When I first started building 19 Minute Yoga, I recorded a rough version of my first class, posted it on Soundcloud, and collected early feedback through Google forms. I learned what people liked best, what I could do better, and how someone would describe my class to a friend.

See one of my early 19 Minute Yoga “comment cards” here for reference and feel free to steal some of the standard questions. #GeniusSteals

Share your idea with friends, family, and most importantly, the people you want to help–your target market. A survey is a simple way to gather feedback. When Bhasin surveyed her GLYD users, she learned that she was missing some key features, including messaging and following. She realized this would greatly improve the user experience (UX).

Focus & Find Your Niche #DrillDown Amy Hutchins, Founder & Chief Product Officer at Unearth, a collaboration tool for the construction industry, said “The hardest part was scoping down what we wanted to do.”

Hutchins and her team spent months talking to people in the construction industry. They realized technology could solve many pain points in the construction process, as a vertical it was a huge opportunity.

Know Your Audience Do your research. Get feedback early and often. Share your idea with people who fit your demographic. Make edits and adjustments as necessary.

When Unearth was conducting early research, they learned a key piece of information about the construction industry–iPads are everywhere on construction sites because the industry wholesale adopted them first.

Ask yourself, is your audience using a certain device or platform?

Featured Event

Click here to reserve your seat at Social Fresh 2017

#3 Don’t Skip The Boring Stuff

Get your ideas organized and start writing your project brief (here’s a project brief outline). Get specific.

Start with these questions:

Why are you building this app? What will the app do?

What content (writing/images/audio/video etc.) will be included in the app? What are the key features that MUST be included the app?

Design and UX is very important. How does your app look and feel? How easy is it to navigate? Do you have wireframes or any creative design specifications? It’s OK if you’re not a designer, grab a pen and paper and hand draw your wireframe. (I sketched the first version of 19 Minute Yoga on a piece of paper and then we made a prototype with InvisionApp).

What type of device (phone/tablet) or platform (iOS/Android) will you build for first? Hint: what does your audience use most?

Will your app be used vertically or horizontally?

Will your app need wifi to work?

If you plan to make money with your app, how will you achieve this (freemium model, ads, e-commerce etc.)?

#4 Find The Right Developer

Building an app with someone is like a marriage. It’s an ongoing commitment and not a one-off project. If you’re a non-technical founder, this is the most important step. Give it the attention it deserves.

You have a few options:

Learn to code – Invest in training and develop the app yourself or in-house. It’s not uncommon for founders to team up with a spouse or former colleague. One person is the developer–or willing to learn to code on the job–and the other person manages operations and marketing.

Bring on a technical partner – Find someone who either knows how to code or has the technical skills (and interest) in learning to code. Search your local network, LinkedIn, and past employment for partners.

Hire an independent developer or agency – You can outsource development to contractors or agencies (anywhere from $5K- $500K+), but there’s no easy button. Expect to be highly involved. It’s a very detailed process and requires many decisions from you. As you’re researching partners, don’t make your choice based on price alone and don’t pay 100% upfront. Take the time to review apps they have launched in the past. How is the functionality? Does it seem comparable to what you’d like to build?

Also, as a non-technical founder, you’ll benefit from a technical advisor or consultant. I know I did.

Search Everywhere For A Developer When Lori Cheek launched her first app, Cheekd, she had two business-side co-founders, but no one on the technical side. Following her appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank, she pivot Cheekd from a physical dating card business to a Bluetooth dating app. After hiring one of the most expensive agencies in NYC, she had an app that looked beautiful, “but the tech didn’t work.”

Cheek reconnected with a developer she had worked with in the past. She said, “We found our CTO on Craigslist.”

“In the beginning, it was a drawback not having a technical co-founder. Finding a CTO who was invested was the missing link.” – Lori Cheek, Co-Founder of Networkd

Lori Cheek’s newest app, Networkd, helps users create better connections based on location. “You could be sitting next to someone–someone who could be the co-founder you’re searching for–and not even know it,” said Cheek.

Work With Someone You Know Hayen said that Y Combinator recommends working with someone you already know. Even if it’s someone you haven’t talked to in a long time, search your network for someone who has a technical background (engineers, IT/tech specialists etc.). See if they are interested in partnering and learning to code on the job.

“Search your LinkedIn and start racking your brain for anyone with technical skills,” said Hayen.

Hire Good Communicators Allison Winston is President and Co-Founder at Kickwheel, the mobile college fair. Winston, who connected with her co-founder on LinkedIn, emphasized the importance of communication skills.

“Hire an engineer who can explain technical things to you. Someone who can talk about what they are doing. If you’re not mind melding with someone, it’s not a good fit.” – Allison Winston, President & Co-Founder of Kickwheel Co.

Work With Students Estee Goldschmidt, Co-Founder and CEO at ShopDrop, a guide to the best sample sales in NYC, recommends reaching out to engineering students and finding technical team members at your local university. For example, in you’re in NYC, NYU Tandon School of Engineering is a good place to start.

It Takes A Village Building a strong team is critical. It takes time to find partners with the right skills and culture fit.

In addition to development skills, you’ll want to consider graphic design, copywriting, community building, customer service, marketing, PR, and more (start thinking about that marketing plan before your launch). Keep networking and sharing your idea. You’ll start to identify the best partners and resources.

#5 Build Your MVP

The first version of your mobile app is your MVP (minimum viable product) or “alpha.” This includes only the most important features–the stuff users absolutely must have to use your app. Focus on functionality and UX. You want a simple app that tests your assumptions about what users want and need.

“When you want to throw in the towel is usually when something unlocks. You have to hang in there a little longer than most people. Ride the uncertainty. Embrace the process and never lose sight of the experience equity.” – Julie Campistron, Co-Founder and CEO, Stop, Breathe & Think

This early testing will teach you a lot.

The process of building an MVP taught me some important lessons. I started with a web-based app, but I could have saved time and money if I had built for iOS from the beginning. The web-based MVP was so buggy that I couldn’t even share it externally. We ended up having to build the entire app over.

The first version of your app won’t be perfect, but it should pass internal Quality Assurance (QA) testing. It needs to have a baseline of functionality before you share it with external users.

QA Testing Just because the app works on your phone doesn’t mean it works for someone else. QA testing is super important but often overlooked until there’s a problem. In her role, Annie Purcell MSc, Project Manager and Quality Assurance (QA) expert, identifies a broken feature and submits a recommendation on how fix it.

“I put myself in the shoes of the most destructive user possible–to try and outthink ways to disrupt the product before anyone outside the development team gets their hands on a download.” – Annie Purcell MSc, QA expert

Be sure to test your app across a variety of devices.

Get Feedback Early & Often At Unearth, a regular feedback loop was established during alpha testing.

“We looked at all the features we wanted to build and prioritized. The most important thing we did was get feedback early.” – Amy Hutchins, Founder & Chief Product Officer, Unearth Technologies, Inc.

They partnered with alpha users who were willing to provide feedback in exchange for free use of the product. Hutchins said, “People were happy to use it and we set up the expectation that they would have weekly meetings with us to provide feedback.”

With my yoga app, we conducted one-on-one phone interviews and included an optional class review within the app. After completing a class, users could apply a star rating and/or a written comment. Users always had the option to “X” out. This helped us collect early and ongoing feedback.

Tight Timelines Create Lean MVPs Julie Campistron and Jamie Price are founders of the mindfulness and meditation app Stop, Breathe & Think. Campistron and Price pitched the tech mentors on Apple’s show Planet of the Apps and landed a mentorship with Jessica Alba. After hearing the good news, Campistron and Price were on a tight timeline to launch a version of Stop, Breathe & Think for younger kids. Campistron said, “We wanted to have it live for Planet of the Apps and Jessica Alba. We really limited the functionality. We ended up doing horizontal layout only and we didn’t do account creation. We haven’t had any negative user feedback.”

Stop, Breathe & Think regularly collects user feedback with UserTesting.com. Campistron said, “This service finds candidates based on demographics. They set up the link and the task and the whole process is filmed.”

However you plan to receive feedback, insight into how someone is navigating and experiencing your app is priceless.

Release & Update After building and testing (and building and testing), it’s exciting to officially release your app into the marketplace. I was psyched to see 19 Minute Yoga in the App Store for the first time. It can also be a little anti-climatic. There’s always something to tweak or update!

#6 Connect With Your Community

Invest in PR and community building at least 3-6 months before your launch. Find the social network that fits your goals and connects with your audience. Depending on your industry, you might have a platform specific approach. Goldschmidt’s ShopDrop takes an Instagram-first social strategy, as the photo sharing site has become a powerful tool and “changed the face of fashion” according to Vogue.

Where does your audience spend time? Research and prioritize.

Create Partnerships Diane Hamilton is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Binary Formations, a development company with a suite of apps, including App Store Editor’s Choice, Home Inventory. She said, “The market has changed so much. You have to have a marketing plan now, you can’t just put your app in the store. Build partnerships and find people with the the same target market.” At Home Inventory, Hamilton reaches out to professional organizers, as her app helps users “cut down on clutter.”

Alexis Monson, Founder of Punkpost, an app that sends handwritten cards mailed by artists for you, said they focus on PR more than other types of marketing. Punkpost got featured in the App Store which was “huge.” Monson said, “Some of the smaller blogs have more engaged users and communities. It was surprising at first. They might publish a little less, but their readers are hungry.”

Host Events Meeting users in person builds community and creates the chance for important conversations.

“We have monthly events, every event has a theme, and we also pull people aside to talk to them about the app. I’m building a product for our consumers, so if they tell me something is not a good idea–that’s important feedback.” – Estee Goldschmidt, Co-Founder & CEO of ShopDrop

Be Helpful In Small Group Discussions Hayen said, at Let’s Be Chefs, Facebook has worked the best for them, possibly because she’s “most familiar” with the platform. On Facebook, they do some paid ads and Hayen frequently shares recipes, cooking tips, and answers questions in private groups, especially cooking groups and mom groups. Do a keyword search on Facebook to find groups related to your topic.

Reddit is a great place to engage in subject-specific threads. I have an account for 19 Minute Yoga and I search health and wellness related posts to see how I can help. It’s also fun to participate in Reddit’s signature AMA (ask me anything!). On Reddit, always be helpful, non-promotional, and authentic. Here’s one of my first Reddit comments about the benefits of short yoga.

Invest In Your Marketing Team Notably, Unearth’s third hire was in the marketing department. Hutchins said, “I’ve been blown away by the value that our content strategist, Nick, has brought to the table–the leads and PR we’re getting from his work. We learn what’s resonating with people.”

#7 Listen to Customers, Pivot As Necessary

“Sometimes you need a palate cleanser. Sometimes it’s good to have an idea and try it. Sometimes you decide not to bring it to market. It’s not wasted time. You learn something.” – Diane Hamilton, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Binary Formations

Plan for success by staying connected with your community. Have a system for engaging and collecting feedback. You can start with a “help” contact email. As your community grows, you might invest in customer service software. Hamilton uses FogBugz and Punkpost uses a tool from Zoho.

When it comes to software, there are automated options for growing communities, but both founders emphasized the importance of a personal touch. You want your community to know there is a person listening.

As you collect feedback and analyze user data, you’ll make ongoing improvements and updates. You might decide to pivot. After ShopDrop founders identified the most popular topic in their app–sample sales–they re-launched with a new focus to serve their most engaged audience.

In general, don’t be afraid to pivot or roll out smaller apps to test new features. It’s part of the process.

“If you’re passionate about it and you’re willing to spend years working on it, you can do it. I think a lot people get hung up on the tech part because they didn’t go to school for it. It doesn’t matter. You’ll learn.” – Alexis Monson, Founder of Punkpost

Before Kickwheel, Winston had a 10-year career as a teacher. When she was ready to make a move, she immersed herself in learning about technology and studying the industry. Some of her favorite resources include Chaos Monkeys, a book The New York Times called an “indispensable 360-degree guide to the new technology establishment” and the podcast Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman, a legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor.

Winston, now President & Co-Founder of an app with more than 1.2 million installs said, “I was not going to let being a non-technical person stand in my way.”

—-

Stay tuned for our behind-the-scenes podcast for more info on how to build an app.

Featured Event

Click here to reserve your seat at Social Fresh 2017

Source link

0 notes

topicprinter · 6 years ago

Link

15 signs you’re an entrepreneur:passionate, dedicated, optimistic.These words can apply to entrepreneurs. But insecure and troublemaker are also accurate, according to many who know a success when they see one. You might be an entrepreneur if the following traits describe you.You Take ActionBarbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran group and co-star of TV’s Shark Tank, says people who have a concept but not a detailed strategy are more likely to have that special entrepreneurial ability. Corcoran’s recommendation is to invent as you go rather than spending time writing a plan at your desk.You’re InsecureMany entrepreneurs are really insecure. Underneath, Corcoran says those who are nervous about failing can become hyper-focused on success. If you feel insecure, use that emotion to drive you to achieve your business goals.You’re Crafty“One of my favorite TV shows growing up was MacGyver,” says Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. “Because he never had exactly the resources he needed but would somehow figure out how to make everything work.” Hsieh says he admires MacGyver’s creativity, optimism and street smarts. It’s not about having enough resources, but about being resourceful with what you do have.You’re Obsessed With Cash Flow“All I ever thought about was cash flow and liquidity,” says Joe Gustafson, founder of Brainshark. You need cash to fight the battle one more day. Even if you want to build the best company in the world.You Get Into Hot WaterStephen Bourque, founder and CEO of Incognito Software, says that “true entrepreneurs are more likely to ask for forgiveness than permission.” Entrepreneurs are never satisfied with the status quo, he says. “I wish my employees would get into more trouble because it shows they’re on the lookout for opportunities to improve.”You’re Fearless“Where most avoid risk entrepreneurs see potential,” says chef Robert Irvine, host of Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible. In some ways, he says, “entrepreneurs are the ultimate optimist” because they operate under the belief that their investments of time and money will eventually pay off.You Can’t Sit StillEntrepreneurs have unbridled energy that fuels them long past the time when their employees have gone home. They’re eager, excited and energized about business in a way that makes them stand out.You’re Malleable“If you have only one acceptable outcome in mind your chances of making it are slim,” says Rosemary Camposano, president and CEO of Halo Blow Dry Bars. “Smart entrepreneurs consistently evolved, tweaking their business concepts in response to market feedback.”You Enjoy Navel Gazing“Entrepreneurs need to be comfortable with the process of evaluating their own performance,” says Laura Novak Meyer, owner of Little Nest Portraits. Little Nest surveys every client to ask for opportunities for improvement, and Meyer has worked closely with a business coach to identify personal areas where she needs to improve.You’re Motivated by Challenges“When confronted by problems, entrepreneurs rise to the occasion. Challenges motivate them to work harder,” says Jeff Platt, CEO of the Sky Zone indoor trampoline park franchise. Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, agrees. Despite naysayers who questioned her idea for a bakery in the midst of the early 2000s, she persevered and now has locations in eight states.You Consider Yourself an Outsider“Entrepreneurs aren’t always accepted,” says Vincent Petryk, founder of JP Licks, a chain of ice cream shops. “They are often rejected for being different in some way. And that just makes them work harder.” He says that rather than copying what most ice cream shops were doing, he forged his own path and only one of his early competitors are still in business.You Recover QuicklyIt’s a popular notion that successful entrepreneurs fail fast and fail often. If you fail, resist the urge to mourn or feel sorry for yourself. Don’t wallow. Move on to the next big thing immediately.You Fulfill Needs“Many people recognize marketplace holes, but the true entrepreneur takes them from cocktail napkin into reality,” says Jennifer Dawn, partner in Savor — the successful business network for women. “Entrepreneurs think of a way to fix it, and take steps to fix it. They’re innovators.”You Surround Yourself With AdvisorsActress Jessica Alba, co-founder and president of the Honest Company, says, “It’s important to surround yourself with people smarter than you and to listen to ideas that aren’t yours.” True entrepreneurs don’t hire “yes men” — they talk to those with experience, conduct research and gather as much information as they can in order to make informed decisions.You Work Hard and Play Hard“Entrepreneurs fall down and pick themselves up until they get it right,” says Micha Kaufman, who snowboards and sails in addition to running Fiverr, the online marketplace he co-founded. During Fiverr’s launch, instead of trying to deal with an endless number of potential challenges, Kaufman and his team focused on the single biggest challenge every Marketplace has — building liquidity. He says,“Not building liquidity is like worrying about the skills needed for frontside 360 jumps before learning snowboarding basics.”For more stories: https://medium.com/the-negotium

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

0 notes