How Do I Draw Sign Presentation

I added the first item in my list in a comment above, but I will put it here as well, and add some other things. Buy well-made items the first time around (and do your homework to find the right thing the first time). This goes for appliances, clothing, electronics, etc. These things will cost you more at the outset, but will end up costing you less in the long run, both in terms of money and time. They will also contribute less to the overwhelming amount of stuff in landfills (which are especially clogged these days from castoffs of "fast fashion" clothing). Decide what you really do need to buy. Try not to buy, for example, kitchen appliances and gear that only do one thing, and decide if you really do need yet another thing that plugs in. Heat up leftovers on the stove instead of buying and using a microwave. Chop things by hand instead of buying and using a food processor. Buy clothes that truly fit well, and that are in a classic style (i.e. not things that will look dated in a season). Buy only what you really need for all the occasions for which you need to dress, and only what you need to have in between washing cycles. Get rid of physical media. Keep some of your favorite books (especially ones that really need to be touched and paged through, like art books and children's picture books), but get rid of most of them. Use the library and use ebooks. Get rid of CDs. With all the streaming music sources out there, you can even get rid of your mp3 collection and just stream anything you want to hear. Don't have a TV or a cable box. You don't have to live like a luddite, though, to live simply - have a nice, large monitor and a decent computer with a good, fast internet connection. Stream TV shows and movies you want to watch. If you must own a car, own one used one. Keep it in good running shape. Take care of it physically. But if you have an older "cockroach" car (e.g. most Toyotas and Hondas), you can keep that sucker running forever without thinking about it much and without worrying about every scratch and ding. If you can get away without a car, do so. Get yourself a nice commuter bike that fits you well (by "nice" I mean one that is built well with decent parts so it works well and you enjoy using it, without having to worry about it getting banged up or stolen). Rent an apartment, don't buy a house. Don't have a yard or building maintenance to deal with. Plumbing issue? It's not your problem to solve. The building needs painting? Who cares? Lawn needs mowing? Not by you. Your neighbors get too annoying or your neighborhood starts to go downhill? Move when your lease is up. Purge, relentlessly purge things you just don't need and aren't sure you want anymore. An easy way to do this is to have a "holding area" for things you think you might want to get rid of but aren't sure you can commit to chucking. The holding area can be part of a closet, an unused stairway landing, etc. Make sure it's neat and self-contained. Put things there that you think you probably don't want anymore. If you're fine with them out of your life after a week or so, donate them. Have fewer things sitting out on surfaces in your place of dwelling. And pick up after yourself and put things away when you're done with them. Reducing clutter really helps one feel calmer. And it's a great incentive to get rid of things you're just tired of cleaning or putting away all the time (especially if they just don't give you enough pleasure for the annoyance they cause). Have one credit card. Let's be honest - in this day and age, you do need a credit card. But you don't need five. Pay off and close out the others as soon as possible. This will really help you know exactly what you've spent on what, and where your debt lies. Make sure that you have that one credit card set up with electronic statements only (and have email reminders sent if you need them). That reduces random crap that comes in the mail, and also helps you really to figure out the status of your spending (I find that paper statements are oftentimes difficult to read, and you can't just click around on them to get more information). The same goes for bank accounts and debit cards. Have a savings and a checking/debit account at one bank. Keep track of these accounts electronically.Collect all your mail, put it in a bin, and sort it once a week. There's no need to go through snail mail every day (if something is urgent, it's not going to be sent by snail mail). For a long-term project, go through your junk mail and call/email each place to unsubscribe from their mailing lists so you eventually have to deal with less paper crap in your life. Keep your email inbox empty. Answer emails immediately, if possible. When that's not possible, immediately "quarantine" these emails into an "action" folder to be dealt with later. Label and archive everything else that you want to be able to find later. Make filters so certain "bacon" items (i.e. spam that you've signed up for, like mailing lists - things that you might want to look at, but are not top priority) go straight to folders to be gone through once or twice a week. Obviously, use gmail. Don't get stuck staring at a screen more than you have to (she says, while typing up a long answer on Quora). Use social media if it makes you happy. But don't become a slave to it. No electronics after 10PM. **Edit for a couple more things I thought of:One electronic thing that I've found that IS worth owning is a small document scanner. The Fujitsu ScanSnap is amazing. It's tiny and it works fantastically well. We use it to scan all the files that one needs to keep track of and that would otherwise have to exist in paper form in a filing cabinet. The first time around, scanning everything took a long time; then again, we DID get rid of an entire large filing cabinet's worth of papers and stuff (as well as the filing cabinet itself). And now we put important papers and such in a folder to be scanned about once every month or two, and we keep this digital filing cabinet in the cloud (Dropbox works well). Not only does that help you get rid of a lot of papers, but you can also find things so much more easily when you need to (e.g. for insurance purposes, taxes, etc). I've also used this to scan written mementos (e.g. holiday cards, postcards that I want to see again, written notes) that I don't want to get rid of completely, but that I also don't want to have in a big bin in my house. We have one small container (one of those 6-8" deep file bin things) for papers one HAS to keep (e.g. car titles, birth certificates), and a couple of small shoeboxes of physical mementos. And that's it. Get rid of as many annoying errands as you can. If you have a bit of room, stock up on annoying cleaning supplies and paper goods at Costco or the like. Order other annoying household type things from Amazon (yes, I know, there's a trade-off here in that local businesses don't get the revenue from things you've ordered from Amazon. At the same time, spending an hour to get to and from a store to get dish soap can really suck the life out of you). Rather spend that errand time enjoying shopping for good food, patronizing local businesses for high-quality items (e.g. things that are NOT, say, dish soap), spending time doing things you actually WANT to do. Consider observing the sabbath, or a sabbath-like day to some extent. This doesn't have to involve religion. But enforcing some strict rules on yourself regarding what you are and are not allowed to do for 24 hours can really get you out of the constant complexities of modern life. A sabbath-like day should be a day of rest, a day devoid of work of all kinds. Obviously, you can choose to follow the judaic tradition or you can make up some rules yourself. But the general idea that you're not to use electronic devices, that you're not to do any work, that you're not to finish anything, that you're not to write anything, that you're not to clean or scrub anything completely changes the way you travel through your day. All this being said, enjoy yourself. Live simply to allow yourself more time and energy to actually go out and do things, to read things, to learn things, to make things, to spend time with people, to exercise, to travel. I think too many people equate "living simply" with being a complete ascetic. I think that my family and I live quite simply (though we're always trying to get a bit better at it), yet we are not monks. We love having nice clothing that makes us feel spiffy (some of it used/vintage, some of it new), we love eating excellent food, we enjoy having certain electronics that work really well and that add to our lives, we love watching good TV and movies and listening to a variety of music, we love biking most places but taking the car when we have to (and we actually also love our 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser with more than 350000 miles on it), we really enjoy having nice, well-made athletic equipment that makes our athletic endeavors more enjoyable. Could we get on without much of that? Sure. But we are also not in a race to live in a yurt in the middle of nowhere (which is a completely lovely option for those who wish to do just that).

Startups 101: How to Create a Business PlanThe first thing you need to do is create an executive summary and a mission statement.  After that, you need to study your market, compare yourself to your competition, create a share structure, outline financials, and fill out the rest of the pertinent data like the other people suggest.Below is an example of the last executive summary and mission statement that I created for a company I was planning to launch earlier this year.Since I own the company, wrote this from scratch, and decided that I will not be launching this product, I decided to share. (Yes, it is heavily focused on marketing, but that's my primary expertise, if I'm even somewhat good at it... Who in the world knows...)I worked with a Product CEO and operated as the COO at this company and recruited a highly talented team, however the Product CEO decided to part ways so we scrapped the business.Also, you may not want to make a public benefit company unless you already have investors you can turn to for sure who don't care what kind of business you own. If you are seeking to raise money from venture capital, then it is highly unlikely that they will invest into your model. 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYCompany Name | Tagline | An American Public Benefit Company Founded in February of 2013, (“SE”) features contemporary women’s fashions specializing in comfort, fit and sexiness, established by a diverse group of individuals, led by the C.E.O. Ms. Lee.  SE holds idealistic aspirations of giving back to the underprivileged, creates American Jobs and gives back to the community, while keeping the clientele engaged through social interactions  SE provides:  • A Philanthropic Vision.  • Patriotism.  • Quality Clothing.  • Best Styles for women of the 21st Century.  • Quality Content. • An Interactive Community.  SE’s innovative design and marketing team constructs visionary product campaigns and strategies, designed to push SE to the forefront of the industry. Derived from the fictional character, Sophia Serrano, from the film Open Your Eyes, SE’s inspiration is characterized by Sophia’s radiant qualities of being: positive, down-to earth, original, mysterious, sexy, and guileless in a perfect world.  Sophia is the “ideal” woman because not only is she divine in nature, she is able to cope through the greatest obstacles that obstruct her from her path. Simultaneously, Sophia is so unique, she makes a man follow her into the afterlife of his dreams. Not only did she (tagline) in the real world, she left him in need of her in the afterlife.  SE wants other fashion brands and the world to know that everyone in this world matters, no matter your race, ethnicity, financial background or country of origin.  SE empowers people to make a difference by:   • Helping the Underprivileged Children of America. • Creating American Jobs.  • Providing a more Eco-Friendly environment.  All of SE’s products are made in the United States, providing more opportunities to influence economic growth.  SE ensures no usable fabric goes to waste by collecting all the scraps of fabrics and donating the items to (charity), with the sole intent to create exclusive items, blankets, or articles of clothing for the less fortunate. In addition, SE donates 10% of all sales to (charity) , to help feed, clothe, and provide shelter for the less fortunate.SE plans to take a creative approach to branding and marketing the company.  Not only will SE use traditional methods of marketing, such as mailing clothes to celebrities, look books to bloggers and editors, buying editorial spots, sponsoring events, and advertising online, SE will take grass root efforts to the next level in attracting hits to the website, along with social media to keep the clientele engaged. Sending celebrities, fashion editors and bloggers free gifts never guarantees the promotion of an item, so SE has decided to implement a revenue sharing program with its clothing. Each individual influencer will have a personalized URL to direct their clients to SE’s website. Each purchase made within thirty days by the referral of an “influencer” will generate an earnings check of $25 to the referrer. Checks will be cut once the accumulated balance signNowes $300, or can be exchanged to store credit. SE will seek out make up artists, photographers, stylists, and other professionals within the fashion industry to provide an opportunity to earn an extra source of income through its revenue sharing program. SE will also provide clothing to stylists, to have featured in editorial along with video content. SE’s grassroots efforts will take place in the form of carefully selected event sponsorships. Through event sponsorships, models will be showcased wearing the SE product through a trade booth. SE will take pictures of celebrities who try on the products and feature blog posts through social media efforts of the celebrities, while distributing the highly sought out images to fashion bloggers. SE will then pass out $10 SE Clothing Branded Gift Cards to people who fit the role of the target consumer of the brand at the event. Initially, 50,000 gift cards will be made for distribution within the first year, of which we expect at least 25,000 to visit the website URL.  SE will implement a referral based program, where if a friend is referred to purchase an item through the SE website through their email or social media link within 30 days, the customer will have the choice to have one of the following occur: • $25 will be credited to the referrer’s account for Future Purchases. • $25 will be donated to the referrer’s Charity of Choice. The referee will also receive $10 credited off their first purchase. Studies indicate that 1 out of every 3 customers will refer their friends to a site that they trust and enjoy.  SE will partner with publishers and affiliates such as Google Affiliate, Commission Junction, Avantlink, Affiliate Window, Webgains, Pepperjam, Integrate, Etc. to allow professionals to earn a profit by referring their clientele to purchase items from SE.  In order to create better organic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) results to guide more online traffic to the website, SE will carry lines of both popular name brand and up-and-coming American Made products by other designers, such as Nasty Gal, Diesel, Ralph Lauren, Armani, Etc. In order to acquire the product necessary, SE will create a strategic partnership with its manufacturer to sell their excess inventory.  Once new customers visit the SE site, they will be given an opportunity to register on the site to claim their $10 credit. Through registration, information such as the customer’s name, email address, phone number, address, and social media profiles will be gathered.  Once the customer registers, they will be able to access the site. A welcome email will be sent to the customer within one day, welcoming them to the site. Within 5-7 business days, a letter stating SE’s appreciation of the customer with an outline of the brand’s philanthropic vision will be physically mailed to the customer on company letterhead and hand signed by the C.E.O., Ms. Lee. The customer will then be emailed, informing them that their gift card will expire in 30 days, 3 weeks, 15 days, 7 days, 3 days, 2 days, and a final offer email. This cycle will repeat for another 30 days for a total of 60 days, which will trigger a sense of urgency within purchasing an item within the allotted timeframe.  SE will engage with customers by providing the first few sentences of educational content through email, while providing links to the blogging section of the website to read the full article, along with social media efforts on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, DeviantART, Tumblr, Google+, Polyvore, Wanelo, Quora, Lyst, Etc. to build trust with the clientele, and keep them engaged with the brand. SE will track user activity through analytic services provided by Kissmetrics to measure which campaigns work best, to better understand our audience. SE will influence increases in transaction sizes by donating one item to charity for every $300 spent in a single transaction. Not only would revenues increase, the philanthropic vision would accelerate to creating a bigger influence to society, which in turn will create a better image for the brand. SE will have a section on the site where users can upload images of their new purchases, how they pair their outfits, provide feedback to others, and like other consumer’s styles, creating an engaged society of buyers who become advocates and prosumers of the brand.  SE will begin sales on the retail website, then slowly trickle into many online boutique stores, physical boutique stores, then into major department stores. Since bulk purchases from vendors decrease manufacturing costs, the business model is extremely scalable. As SE becomes a more established brand, price increases will be implemented in 10% increments per season, increasing profit margins while manufacturing costs decrease. SE will create separate databases for consumers who have at least purchased one item and another database for loyal consumers. In regard to the database of consumers who have purchased, collateral material providing a promo code for a promotional discount will physically be mailed to the clients two weeks prior to an anniversary or holiday sale, to provide exclusive access to the promotion. SE will randomly select users from the loyal consumer database to provide a free gift with purchase, expedited or free shipping, and various other promotional tools to reward brand loyalty.  Once SE establishes a loyal client base, verticals will be integrated one product at a time in minimal quantities, initially to test the market to see how well the product does. Verticals will range from products such as cosmetics, shoes, handbags, hats, stockings, scarves, jewelry, and other womenswear based products. Led by C.E.O. Ms. Lee, SE has hand selected a managerial team of 8 creative unique individuals to grasp a portion of the $500+ billion dollar market by creating quality content, negotiating with vendors, managing finances, and laying out the long term growth of the company, all while creating beautiful product.  10 years from now, in the year 2023, SE plans to be acquired by LVMH, PPR, Richemont, Valentino Fashion Group, The Aeffe Group, Puig, Diesel, Phillips-Van Huesen, Hermes, Liz Claiborne, Inditex, The Arcadia Group, or Aurora Fashion for a strike price of $300 million. SE is currently seeking seed financing in the amount of $275,000 to be used to cover manufacturing, marketing, legal and operational expenses to establish the brand. MISSION STATEMENTUnited together, SE’s commitments to society are as follows:#1. To Mother Earth:We vow to make sure that no usable fabric is wasted. All usable scrap material will be recycled into specialty items, blankets or created into articles of clothing for the less fortunate.#2. To Our Nation:We vow to Shop American. We vow to only manufacture our product in America. We are creating American jobs and doing our part in rebuilding the American economy.#3. To Our World:We vow to take a stance against child labor. We take a stance against the Chinese sweatshops with hazardous work conditions.#4. To The Less Fortunate:We vow to provide food, clothing, and shelter for children who are unable to take care of themselves, especially the ones right here at home.#5. To Our Customers:We vow to make sure you feel beautiful and (tagline). We vow to create the sexiest, most reliable products made from the best material we can find. We will provide the best fit possible. We will listen to your opinions and make decisions based off of your feedback. Your voice will be heard. #6. To Our Design PartnersWe vow to provide our client base accessibility to your designs to increase your exposure in the market place. Whether you are a small designer who is just beginning or an established brand, there is a place here for you to showcase your items, as long as the product is manufactured here in America.#7. To Our Employees: We vow to bring the jobs back home and provide fair wages. We vow to provide a fun and friendly stress-free work environment.#8. To Our Shareholders:We vow to provide you a seat on our board. We vow to listen to your expertise. We vow to provide returns in a timely manner. We vow to fulfill your philanthropic vision.Oh, it might be in your best interest to include a mind map as well.The first five pages should include the following information:BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN MARCH 2013 ****** CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLOSURE NOTICE ****** IMPORTANT: This document is for information purposes only and sent at your request and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2510‐2521. This is neither a solicitation of investment nor an offer to sell and/or buy securities. This communication may contain non‐public, private, confidential or legally privileged information and documents intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited under the applicable laws of the U.S.A. and the State of Nevada. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons/entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this document and / or a transmission of this document in error, delete any electronic copies of this document and / or return this document to (Name, Address) CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLOSURE NOTICE IMPORTANT: This document is for information purposes only and sent at your request and is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521. This is neither a solicitation of investment nor an offer to sell and/or buy securities. This communication may contain non-public, private, confidential or legally privileged information and documents intended for the sole use of the designated recipient(s). The unlawful interception, use or disclosure of such information is strictly prohibited under the applicable laws of the U.S.A. and the State of California. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons/entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this document and / or a transmission of this document in error, delete any electronic copies of this document and / or return this document to (Name, Address) CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT The undersigned reader acknowledges that the information provided within this Business Development Plan (“BDP”) is confidential; therefore, reader agrees not to disclose it without the express written permission of SE. It is acknowledged by reader that information to be furnished in this BDP is in all respects confidential in nature, other than information which is in the public domain through other means and that any disclosure or use of same by reader, may cause serious harm or damage to SE and other sources identified herein. The information, estimates and projections contained herein have been prepared by SE in good faith and on a basis believed to be reasonable; such estimates and projections involve signNow elements of subjective judgment and analysis. No representation or warranty, expressed or implied, can be made as to the accuracy or completeness of such information, and nothing contained in this BDP is, or shall be relied upon as, a promise or representation as to the past or the future. This BDP is submitted in connection with the evaluation of a potential transaction and may not be reproduced or used, in whole or in part, for any other purpose.  Upon request, this document is to be immediately returned SE,.  ___________________ Signature  ___________________ Name (typed or printed)  ___________________ Date This is a Business Development Plan. It does not imply an offering of securitiesFORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT This document may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including, but not limited to, statements as to future operating results and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. We use words such as “expects”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, the negative of these terms and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those projected in the forward-looking statements for any reason. References herein to “the Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” and similar words or phrases are references to SE, and/or its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.  CONTACT INFORMATION Inquiries may be directed to the appropriate party below:Leonard Kim COO SEAddress:Phone: Fax: Email:The Table of contents should include the following information that no one, aside from analysts read:TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY1.1 OBJECTIVES1.2 MISSION1.3 KEYS TO SUCCESS 2.0 COMPANY SUMMARY2.1 CAPITALIZATION SUMMARY2.2 COMPANY LOCATIONS AND FACILITIES.3.0 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES3.1 THE SE TECHNOLOGY3.2 COMPETITIVE COMPARISON3.3 MARKETING MATERIAL3.4 TECHNOLOGY FULFILLMENT3.5 FUTURE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS SUMMARY 4.1 MARKET SEGMENTATION 4.2 TARGET MARKET SEGMENT STRATEGY4.2.1 MARKET NEEDS4.2.2 MARKET TRENDS 4.2.3 MARKET GROWTH4.3 SERVICE BUSINESS ANALYSIS 4.3.1 BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS 4.3.2 DISTRIBUTING A PRODUCT 4.3.3 MAIN COMPETITORS 5.0 WEB PLAN SUMMARY5.1 WEBSITE MARKETING STRATEGY5.2 DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENTS6.0 STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY6.1 SWOT ANALYSIS 6.1.1 STRENGTHS6.1.2 WEAKNESSES 6.1.3 OPPORTUNITIES6.1.4 THREATS6.2 STRATEGY PYRAMID 6.3 VALUE PROPOSITION6.4 COMPETITIVE EDGE 6.5 MARKETING STRATEGY SUMMARY6.5.1 POSITIONING STATEMENT 6.5.2 PRICING STRATEGY6.6 SALES STRATEGY 6.6.1 SALES FORECAST 6.7 MILESTONES7.0 MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 7.1 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE 7.2 MANAGEMENT TEAM 7.3 MANAGEMENT TEAM GAPS 7.4 PERSONNEL PLAN 8.0 FINANCIAL PLAN8.1 START-UP FUNDING 8.2 KEY FINANCIAL INDICATORS8.3 BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS 8.4 PROJECTED PROFIT AND LOSS 8.5 PROJECTED CASH FLOW 8.6 PROJECTED BALANCE SHEET 8.7 BUSINESS RATIOS 8.8 THE INVESTMENT OFFERING8.9 VALUATION8.10 USE OF FUNDS9.0 APPENDICESTABLE: SALES FORECAST TABLE: PROFIT AND LOSS TABLE: PROFIT AND LOSS TABLE: CASH FLOWTABLE: CASH FLOWTABLE: BALANCE SHEETIf you're using a business plan to try to attain a loan for a small business... I took a different business plan for a nightlife company, brought a cofounder with a 680 credit score, and went to Long Beach SBDC and they helped me get approved for a loan from a credit union for $30,000 two years ago. The whole process took less than a week, since we already had our business plan finished prior to showing up. We ended up not taking the loan because our programmer ran off with the money we had paid him prior without delivering our technology.There are Small Business Development Centers, sponsored by the Small Business Association, all across the United States that will help you make a business plan for free, read it, and even shop it out for business loans.If you're using a business plan to attain financing from an Angel Investor or VC, then all that matters is your executive summary and your slideshow. I mean, you still need the other data filled in, but these are the only two areas of which they put their main focus on. However, a lot of investors use two financial analysts to carefully go over every detail within a business plan prior to investing their own cash. So, the fine details are pretty important regardless of what anyone else says. Also, if you need to know how to split equity with your startup, read more here: How much equity do you give early employees when the company is bootstrapped?Read more at my blog: Startups 101: How to Create a Business Plan

Six years ago I was so depressed I thought I would kill myself. I had nothing going on in my life. And the girl I was dating kept calling me "crazy", would break up with me every day, and refuse to introduce me to her friends. I had three failed businesses that year and the year before. And I was going to go broke with two kids to support. This past year, one of my investments sold for 4000% of my initial investment. A business I started went from $0 in revenues to $12,000,000 in eight months. I published two books and wrote 100s of articles and do 12 podcasts a week. But I don't work hard. I'm about to go get a sandwich. I slept late today. I don't say this because it's so great. I'd like to be a little more effective in my work. It's a practice and not a formula. Every day I practice. Here's what I do. If you don't like it, that's fine. I think each person has to find what works for them. I used to not do these things. And when I didn't do these things, nothing would happen. Life doesn't stand still: it either gets worse or better. Eventually it gets a lot worse. We die. That's the only real truth. But in the meantime, here's what I try to do to be successful and work harder. - NOTHING I don't read the News [ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2012/07/go-on-a-news-diet-starting-today/?utm_ad=23048&utm_placement=146&utm_medium=15 ]. I used to work for the news. I know what happens there. The more you read news, the less informed you are, the more time you just wasted. Since I stopped reading news, I read more books. i get more info. I feel more alive. I get less scared. I also don't talk to people who want to gossip. Gossip never made anyone a success. And I don't say "yes" to things I don't want to do. Else I resent the person who asked me, I hate myself for saying yes, and I'm bad at whatever it is I said "yes" to. So, in order to work harder, I try to find as much NOTHING in my life as possible. - EAT WELL It's a simple diet but I try to follow it. No snacks. No eating after 6pm (so my liver isn't on overdrive when I am trying to sleep). Plates at 10 inches. (Studies show when you reduce plate size from 15 inches to 10 inches, you eat 30% less calories). Note! If your plate size is 8.5 inches, you eat more - your body is not stupid. It knows you are tricking it. And that's it. The Plate Diet. Or the - not after 6pm Diet - MOVE A little exercise every day is known to have just as much effect on your mood as a full dosage of anti-depressants. - SLEEP In the morning, you have energy. At the end of the day, you don't. Which is why you need sleep. The average person needs eight hours of sleep. For instance, they took some famous orchestra and determined that the professional violinists in the orchestra were sleeping 8.6 hours a day. Don't think that less sleep makes you more productive. Whenever I get only six hours of sleep, I know the day is going to be useless. Preparation is how you win the game, and lack of sleep means you didn't prepare well. - GRATITUDE Worry never solves tomorrow's problems, and only takes energy away from today. Worry and Gratitude can't exist in the mind at the same time. Regret and Gratitude can't exist in the mind at the same time. Anger and Gratitude can't exist in the mind at the same time. Whenever I notice these things happening in my head, I try to replace with gratitude. Now I can continue my day - LAUGHTER The average child laughs 300 times a day. The average adult...five. Dr. Norman Cousins did a series of studies on the benefits of laughter. It improves health, cures disease, improves productivity, and of course, makes you happier. So I try to watch standup comedy when I'm low. Or thing of funny things. Laughter heals the soul. - SURRENDER Too often I would try to control things that were outside of my control. For instance, when a boss is yelling at me, it's his problem. I can't control him. So that's when I try to find a better job rather than put up with abuse. The same in relationships. One of the most important decisions you can make in life is who you spend your time with. It's like falling into an sea of hands and hoping they catch you. When you surround your self with good people, you can surrender that they will catch you. When you are creative, you can surrender to the fact that your ideas will always catch you. When you sleep well and are grateful, you can surrender to the fact that your good health and spiritual attitude, will guide you through the difficult moments. Whenever I'm scared, I surrender. I do my best. I'm honest. I know good things will happen. IDEAS I write down ten ideas every day. The Idea Muscle always needs to be exercised. It atrophies after about two weeks of no use. like any other muscle. People think that ideas are nothing and execution is everything. Execution is just a subset of ideas. You still have to have the ideas in order to execute. And the only way to have good ideas is to exercise the idea muscle. Every day. The result: your life will look completely different in six months. You will be an idea machine. You can be stuck on a highway in the desert with no gas and you will have 100 ideas to save you in no time. The idea machine is magic. FRIENDS The people in your life are like a bonsai tree. It's always growing. And every day you prune the bad branches and keep the good branches. Do that every day and you get more productive. Every entrepreneurial movement, every artistic movement, every leap in science, was done by a group of people. There are no lone geniuses. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had the HomeBrew Club. Jack Kerouac had the Beats Andy Warhol had his community of Pop artists. Even Larry Page had the thriving entrepreneurial cultures of both Stanford and Silicon Valley and all the search engines before him that he was able to stand on the shoulders of. You can't be productive without shoulders to stand on. MESSAGE OVER MONEY I think people are scared. I know this. I am often scared. We live in a hard world. It's a sentence of frightening nightmare punctuated by periods of intense joy. The message I like to convey is that these ideas help you not only be more productive, but more creative...happier. At least for me, this has worked and transformed me from someone crying on the ground in a pool of vomit, to someone who wakes up and (some of the time) feels the full beauty of the day. I do the above. I surrender to it. And hope for the best. Read More: The 100 Rules for Being an Entrepreneur [ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/04/the-100-rules-for-being-an-entrepreneur/?utm_ad=23046&utm_placement=146&utm_medium=15 ]

Whee! GRE is the one exam I had a lot of fun preparing for. One year is plenty of time, so you're good to do. How you should go about preparing for the GRE depends a lot on where you stand right now. The Quantitative Reasoning (Math) part of the exam is fairly easy for anyone with an engineering background, so that can be tackled by solving a few practice tests to ensure that your speed and accuracy is adequate. Aim at getting ALL questions correct. The Verbal Reasoning part of the exam is where most Indian students need plenty of preparation. It's important to understand here that the VR part doesn't intend to test just your vocabulary, per se. Rather, it intends to test your reasoning and analytical skills, and vocabulary is just tool. Through comprehension exercises and other questions, the aim is to see how well you can analyze arguments and draw conclusions from a given text. Vocabulary * Try and gauge your vocabulary by attempting a few tests given in the Barrons GRE book. If you feel it's decent (you know at least 50% of the words), your job is rather easy. In my case, I could attempt about 65%. * If you feel it's lacking, there is this red book (now it is white) called Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis that a lot of students seem to love. I have only read it occasionally, so I don't have a strong opinion about it, but its etymology approach is useful, especially if you've never seen language that way. It is good for vocabulary, but you'd better ignore its grammar advice. * Try to at least complete the word lists given in Barrons. It's not exhaustive, but it's a fairly good collection. There are about 3500 words in there, and it will take you a fair amount of time if your vocabulary isn't great to begin with. Expect to spend about 3-4 hours per word list. * Apart from this, you can check out online resources too Reasoning * This will come largely with practice. As you work on the vocabulary, keep solving practice tests and analyze how many of your errors were not because of vocabulary issues but because of logical / reasoning issues. These are the ones you need to work on. You'll get better with practice, and will also improve your vocabulary alongside. * As I said earlier, the GRE is not a test of raw vocabulary. Instead of merely mugging up words, try to put them in context. Get a feel of how those words are used, where those words are used. Get a sense of whether a word is used in an approving sense or a disapproving sense. Try to appreciate the nuances between words that appear very similar in meaning but are still not interchangeable. This is what will help you more, both in life and in the examination. Closing Notes * If you prepare well and prepare properly, you'd come off with a much stronger vocabulary and reasoning ability. This is a useful asset in academia, as well as in everyday life. * Students who start with relatively low vocabulary and then ramp up signNowly during GRE preparation often suffer from what I call obnoxious-word-usage-syndrome, where an over-enthusiastic attempt to use the newly acquired vocabulary results in prose that is not only pathetic but that often makes little sense. This can be easily remedied if you spend time in understanding exactly how / where a particular word is used (as mentioned above)

Forget about the traditional way of studying for hours, with the door closed, book opened in front of you and the world passing you by right outside your window. Be smarter than that! Train your brain to focus better, keep the big goal in mind, visualize your progress, and do it all in less time than you anticipated. Here are 5 tips that should help you study more effectively: ONE. Zoom out to see the big picture. Stop what you’re working on right now. Ask yourself, “Why am I even doing this? What’s in it for me?” When you zoom out of your current situation and connect with the initial reason you started doing your work, you will remember that your actions are directly linked to your personal and professional goals. You may be studying to acquire new skills for a future job, or you’re in the middle of studying for exams so that you can get a degree that will open doors for you to embark on an exciting career. Either way, think of it like this: Studying →degree →greater likelihood of getting a job as a skilled worker → gaining financial independence → having personal freedom. TWO. Divide and conquer. You do not need to work on any subject endlessly for hours at a stretch. If you’re doing that right now, STOP. Try something different: use a timer. A timer can help you divide up your study sessions into manageable increments so that your brain can focus in a more targeted and effective way. Here’s how: * To review study material: Set the timer to 30 or 60 minute increments to maximize concentration; or, you can also try the Pomodoro technique [ http://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730 ]for even shorter time blocks. * To rehearse for an exam: Use the review questions from the textbook or given by your professor (and if you have neither, create your own questions based on the most important concepts from each chapter). Write the questions down on a sheet of paper. Then, use the Pomodoro technique to give yourself only a short time to answer each question. * Talk it through: As you’re going over new material and complex sections for the first time, write an outline of the basic points and then talk it through out loud. This helps you review, recall, and retain what you’ve learned in a much better way than just silently looking over the material and writing it out. THREE. Take breaks often to boost your memory. Have you ever heard of the Zeigarnik effect [ http://www.spring.org.uk/2011/02/the-zeigarnik-effect.php ]? It’s a concept in psychology that argues that we remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than the ones we already completed. * What’s in it for the brain? When we start a task and then interrupt it with a break, for example, this creates a task-specific tension that can improve cognitive function. Even though we’re stepping away from our desk, the tension we feel of still having to continue working keeps the task top of mind; this means that the brain is still focused on it and can easily access the information and an also remember it better. * How can you use this to your advantage? Take frequent breaks during your deep work. The Zeigarnik effect suggests that students who take breaks during which they perform unrelated activities (studying other unrelated subjects, reading a book, working out or performing other physical activities, for example) will remember material better than students who go through longer study sessions without taking a break. FOUR. Visualize your success. This technique is called building a mental model: you imagine in great detail how you expect things will go during your studies and when you get to exam time. By telling yourself a story, you train your brain to anticipate next steps and expect a positive outcome. Here’s how: * Before you begin your study session, take 5–10 minutes to visualize your progress. * Think about all the steps you will take, from covering the chapters and exercises planned for that day, to taking the time to review the material, to writing out an outline of important concepts, to practicing exam questions and knowing the answers. * Anticipate which parts you will find challenging to understand and remember, and come up with ways to resolve this (for example, by asking a classmate, signNowing out to the professor during office hours or via email, or by designating a little extra time for review). * Imagine yourself at the end of the day feeling great about covering all the material and understanding the important stuff. It’s not all about just what happens on the day of the exam that can contribute to your feeling of success. Celebrating small wins every day will boost your motivation and help you feel more positive about moving ahead. * Take a minute to think what you will do in the evening to treat yourself for all your hard work. You may wish to go for a long walk by yourself or with a friend, go on a long bike ride, run, prepare a dinner with some of your favorite ingredients, watch a fun movie, or spend some quality time with a friend or partner. FIVE. Let your brain make sense of it all while you sleep. Neuroscientists say that sleep can help us learn and memorize better, while giving our brain the time to get rid of unnecessary waste. That’s why it’s so important to not skip sleep. In the long run, chronic sleep deprivation can reduce your cognitive abilities, can impact your concentration, and can even reduce your IQ [ http://www.edublox.com/sleep-deprivation.htm ]. Here are some tips to help you sleep better: * Unwind and prepare your brain for a good night’s rest. About 30 minutes before bedtime, step away from electronics (mainly your computer and TV screens) to signal to your brain that the day’s work is done. Then, do something relaxing: listen to music, read a book, or just close your eyes and breathe deeply for 10 counts before you brush your teeth and get ready for bed. * Sleep on your side. According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience [ http://www.jneurosci.org/content/35/31/11034.short ], the brain's glymphatic pathway (the exchange of two fluids, the cerebrospinal fluid in your brain and the interstitial fluid in your body) helps to eliminate “brain junk,” and this process of elimination is most effective when we sleep on our side. The result? You wake up more refreshed the next day with a clear mind. Want to see how you can implement these studying tips into your day? I created a 30-day plan to help you study smarter. You can read more about it on my blog [ https://nelacanovic.wordpress.com/2016/09/24/how-can-you-benefit-from-a-30-day-plan-to-study-smarter/ ].

Hello, you can increase creativity by working on these two skills:ObservationYou should have good observation skill. Because we can’t create anything out of nothing. We play with colors, words, objects in order to make any creative art or product. So without good observation, you can’t make something creative out of those things.ImaginationAs I used to say people there is a cycle in order to come up with awesome ideas Observe-Imagine-Create. Let your imagination fly, don’t restrict it. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. And try not to go with the first idea which you get because if it’s easy for you then it’s easy for everyone. Do iterations as many as possible before finalizing any design or artwork.ExampleWhile watching a cricket match, I observed that there is a shoe icon forming in between letter T & S of Hotstar logo.Now with this observation I created a logo for a hypothetical shoes business “Trendy Shoes”.So follow this simple rule Observe-Imagine-Create in order to increase creativity because there are no tutorials for this.Thank You.

Let me start by telling something about myself (ya, it’s necessary!). I was the kind of person who couldn’t and certainly would not sit at a place with a book in hand for 15 minutes, at the least. But now, I seem to be fine with concentrating for an hour maximum , however appealing the distractions maybe. It took me 10 minutes to completely abandon my old habits and inculcate this much required skill. Here I’ll reveal some tips and hacks to improve your concentration and it just takes 10 minutes and believe me, it’s too easy. 1. Don’t aim to study for longer hours : This was my first mistake. Over-night cramming is definitely not going to work , contrary to the popular belief. Your brain is wired in such a way that you can only be effective in your job for 1 hour at a stretch, then you are bound to feel tired. Time for a break! 2. Try to get a full sleep : Yes, sleep is vital and many people ignore it. In fact, if you want to remember something which you think you will forget , read it and sleep for 30 minutes , you will not forget it. (Source : quora)Power naps help a lot. 3. Get up and walk : Did you know that exercise will actually help you to concentrate better. If not, don’t worry, the next time you feel sluggish while studying , get up and do some basic exercise! 4. Study in a place where there is minimum or no distraction : Oh, you don’t want your mobile phone constantly ringing by your side, enticing you with much more fun than studying has to offer! Best way , you can switch it off or try the ‘Forest app’ , it doesn’t allow you to open any apps in your phone when you’re building a forest . Give it a try ( Source : Quora). 5. Avoid multitasking: Most of us are in the illusion that when you multitask, your’e actually saving a lot of time. Quite antithetical to that is the fact that your brain can only perform one task at a time! Time to get rid of those old habits. 6. Have a peaceful mind : If you have any unsettled problems, take your time and go resolve them first. You certainly don’t want your brain jumping to those problems when you want to concentrate. 7. Prioritize your work : Be smart , it’s important too! 8. Have a good breakfast and avoid caffeine : Coffee and tea will make you alert for some time , but later you’ll find yourself sluggish. Your brain needs fuel too. Feed it well. 9. See as if for the first or last time : ” When the eye wakes up to see again, it suddenly stops taking anything for granted”- Frederick Franck When you look at something as if it were the last opportunity given to you, you wouldn’t want to miss a single detail. The same goes for your work.Give the mind the illusion that it’s the last time you are going to do that work.You’ll see how focused you are and how efficiently you want to complete the work, even though it’s the thing which you detest greatly! 1. Meditate : Almost everyone knows it’s important,so let me skip it. 2. Look at the colour red : Have you ever found yourself staring at something blue and after a while , your brain gets too creative and you are in a different world? That’s because , the colour red induces concentration while, blue induces creativeness. If red doesn’t work for you, try green instead. 3. Try chewing sugar free gum while studying :Research shows that chewing gum while performing a task can improve your concentration on the task. 4. Take mental snapshots : Turns out that your eyes are better cameras. Flex your concentration muscles by focusing on something intently and close your eyes, it will be registered in your brain. Pictorial representations help. It is a bonus if your’e a picture-person. 5. Reward yourself: Here comes the good part. People may call it silly, but it works fine for me. Set yourself a goal to be completed and promise a treat later and no cheating, which means no eating chocolates or watching your favourite program before you complete the task at hand. This way, you will be able to finish the task , beat-out procrastination,be focused till the end and avoid distractions. 15. Try playing brain games : Playing brain games , help to keep your mind active and brain teasers make you think out-of-the-box. My suggestions would include games like Lumosity , Elevate and Peak. 16. FOLLOW THE FIVE MORE RULE: From now on if you’re in the middle of a task and tempted to give up – just do five more!!!! 17. Conquer procrastination. P.S : If you’ve found this answer useful, your’e sure to enjoy this :How To Improve Your Concentration In 10 Minutes [ https://archaicrhapsody.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/how-to-improve-your-concentration-in-10-minutes/ ]. This is from my blog and you’ll find the entire post in this link.

Every weekday, personal sized pizzas spilled out of the ovens to sustain the noon rush at a local Italian restaurant. At 1:00, lunch was no longer available, and neither were the mini pies.My boss required us waitresses to follow a strict procedure for all the unsold pizzas. We had to put them in a garbage bag, but we were not allowed to throw away the food in the dumpster out back. My boss actually thought that people would not buy pizza if they knew they could get it for free after 1:00… from the dumpster. So, he would load the unsold pizzas into his trunk and dispose of them in an unknown location.I hated throwing away those pizzas, especially knowing there were a few homeless men who lived nearby in tents on the riverbank. They would come in asking for food after the lunch rush, but I was scared to disobey my watchful manager.My manager, however, did not work EVERY weekday. Occasionally he trusted his young assistant to handle lunch. We had an understanding, as the assistant did NOT want to drive around with a bag of unsold pizzas in his back seat. He didn’t ask me about the left overs, and I reported that he had followed the proper dumping procedure.I loved the days I didn't have to use that garbage bag. The homeless men knew to come in shortly after 1:00 when my manager’s car was not in the lot. I packed up all the remaining mini pizzas in exlarge pizza boxes and handed them to the homeless men as if they were picking up a carry out order.The routine continued for over three years until I graduated from college and got married.Right before my wedding, my fiancé and I decided to have an intimate dinner party… at my former workplace. Our guests were four homeless men. My manager was unusually quiet and gave us a strange look as we ordered way too much food. After dinner, our guests took all the left overs, packed in extra large pizza boxes, back to their tents on the riverbank.

Hi, I’m Neil Patel. I’ve grown quite a few sites from scratch to hundreds of thousands of views per month. I’m going to show you how you can get more traffic to your Hawaii travel blog, given that you’re starting from the bottom.Here are some tips you can use right now:Cover trending topicsOur biggest traffic days tended to be those when we covered major events within our niche.For example, with Quick Sprout, when I covered Google updates like Panda and Penguin, I saw a surge of traffic. The same thing happened when Hummingbird was covered on KISSmetrics.We also saw similar traffic trends when we blogged about Apple’s marketing around its events.The beautiful part about these surges is that when they are over, your traffic is still a bit higher than it was before the spike.If you are interested in covering trending topics, you can use Google Trends to see what is hot. Make sure you don’t write on just any topic. The content needs to be relevant to your niche. With a quick search on Google Trends, you should be able to get a good idea on what is increasing and what’s decreasing in search volume.Create higher quality, viral content.Everyone wants to create viral content, but most people fail. That’s because they don’t pay attention to the sites that successfully create viral posts, day in and day out. If they did, they would learn three secrets of viral content creation to increase blog trafficThe first secret, which isn’t really a secret, is to write great headlines. 8 out of 10 people will click to read your content, if you get the headline right.The second is to get the length right. Viral content publisher Buzzsumo found that its most shared posts ranged from 3,000-10,000 words.Understand your audience.What does your audience want? I sometimes use Quora to figure out what my audience is passionate about. All I do is type my primary keyword into the search box and hit enter to get a list of people’s most pressing questions and concerns. I get a better idea of longtail keyword phrases to help build user intent in my blog article.Use Buzzsumo to generate content ideasIf you want to engineer a viral post, you need to find out what makes other posts successful. Buzzsumo is a great tool for this. Plug in your primary search engine keyword (I’m using “conversion optimization” in this example) and search.You can see the number of social media shares for the top posts related to your keyword. The top post in this example has 1,364 tweets and 2,601 shares. Check out the top headlines, too. In this example, you can see that conversion optimization tutorials are very popular. Use this technique to find the most popular topics in your niche for social media engagement in blog posts.Use your blog comments.I love to read blog comments. Not only is it great to connect with readers, but I’ve gotten a lot of useful content ideas from comments over the years. You can too, but you need to find comments from people who really know their stuff that help with future blog article content.The best way to find them is to visit authority blogs to find expert advice to include in your posts. For example, check out the comments on blogs, like the Moz blog shown in the example above. Commenters on those sites are usually seasoned entrepreneurs, SEOs and content marketers whose comments provide great ideas.A good example of a blog that is creating viral content on a consistent basis is Upworthy. Upworthy has grown rapidly, since its launch two years ago, with a whopping 88 million visitors. That’s more than Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and even Business Insider.Many of Upworthy’s posts are viral and there are three reasons for their success:Curiosity-driven headlinesFewer sharing buttonsA short emotional videoLook at the headline below. Does it make you want to read? Each Upworthy headline makes readers curious enough to click and read more.You can do this, too. Here are some typical headline templates that you can use to create magnetic, clickable and sharable headlines designed for social media. Just fill in the blanks with your primary keyword or goal.This 3-Minute Video Will Show You How To ______________How a 5-Minute Video Generated ____________ Visitors In ______ DaysThe Only Proven _______________ Technique That Works10 Weird Tricks To Get More ________________ in Just 15 Days_____ Ways To Work Less Than 2-hours Daily And Still Earn $_____Example: if your niche is blogging, you could write:This 3-Minute Video Will Show You How To Install WordPressThe Only Proven Blogging Strategy That WorksWrite in a conversational tone.Have you noticed that I get over 176 comments per blog post on Quick Sprout? It’s because I write in a conversational tone.Sure, you can use tricks like “top commenters” to try to boost your numbers, but by making your blog posts sound like a conversation, instead of an essay, you’ll invite more comments from people naturally.You can create the same effect on your blog by:Using the words “you” and “I” within your content.Asking questions throughout your blog post.Making sure anyone can understand your content…In other words, write for a 5th grader.Keeping your paragraphs short and to the point.Comments are a great way to increase your readers’ loyalty. If people continually comment on your blog, it means they are reading your content, and they are more likely to share it via the social web.Having multiple authors on your blog, instead of just one, decreases comments and engagement as your readers don’t have a chance to build a connection with you. Just look at the Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics blogs. We have multiple writers, and most of them don’t write in a conversational tone. As a result, those two blogs get far fewer comments than Quick Sprout’s blog does.If you take my friend’s blog (he ripped my design…you can too if you want), you’ll see that he only gets 2,000 visits a month, and yet some of his posts have 13 comments. That’s because he writes in a conversational tone.And if you are thinking about using Facebook comments to increase your engagement and social traffic, don’t. Every single popular blog I’ve worked with always receives more Google traffic than Facebook traffic. With Facebook comments, the comment text doesn’t get indexed by Google, which means you will get less search traffic.Collect emails through offers and opt-ins.All the blogs I’ve created have a common trend… email is one of the biggest sources of traffic.For the month of November, emails made up 18% of the traffic to Quick Sprout, 6% to KISSmetrics and 4% to Crazy Egg.Those percentages may not seem high, but there are two good reasons for that:All three blogs get a lot of traffic, so small percentages still add up when it comes to visitor count.Except for Quick Sprout, the blogs do a terrible job of collecting emails. If KISSmetrics and Crazy Egg were optimized like Quick Sprout, the numbers would have drastically gone up.If you want to collect more emails from your blog, follow step 2 in this blog post. It will teach you everything you need to know. Plus, you can just download the WP Lead Magnet plugin. Those are the tactics I use on Quick Sprout, and they work wonders.Once you have an email list, you should blast it with your new blog post every time you publish it. Why? Because it will drive traffic, create more comments and, best of all, generate social shares. Email subscribers are 3.9 times more likely to share your content than your other blog visitors.Create blog posts on evergreen topicsEvergreen content means “content having a continued and sustained success” and also shows that evergreen posts can generate traffic years after their original publication.So, how do you decide whether a topic has evergreen potential? There are two ways.First, ensure that there is at least one magazine or publication on the topic/subject that you want to write a list blog post on (this reveals how popular your topic/idea is).Go to magazines.com and type your primary keyword into the search box. I typed “marketing” and found more than 50 marketing magazines:Second, assess previous list posts with evergreen potential that enjoyed social media success.