A financial expert shares how to save (and budget) for a vacation

A financial expert shares how to save (and budget) for a vacationA financial expert shares how to save (and budget) for a vacationMillennials are a little different from our parents and grandparents generations. We want to see the world, and we favor companies that afford us the opportunity to do so. Forbes reported that millennials spend nearly $600 billion a year, and more and more of that money spent is going toward traveling. With companies like Travel Noire or Remote Work, we are able to cultivate experiences through travel and open up our minds to something much bigger than our neighborhood or our comfort zones. We got a chance to speak with millennial finance expert Stefanie OConnell, who shared tips to keep at the top of our minds for a cost-effective and enjoyable vacation.Be flexible with your destination and do some researchIn the beginning stages of your leisure travel planning, youre more than likely going to think of destinations you would like to visit. Several things can help to make a destination look enjoyable, like the weather, the activities associated with the location, and if youre like me, the price point. When considering where Id like to go, I begin by asking myself if this trip will deplete my savings, if I can truly afford it or if I will have to eat Top Ramen when I come home.A great distributions-mix to begin answering those questions? Websites like Skyscanner, where you can see ideal travel dates for certain locations, or which places are cost effective in the months you want to travel. Other websites/apps like Hopper, Airfare Watchdog, or Google Flights can help you further identify the best timing and the costs associated with those travels. There are tons of ways to save, but you just have to do some research.Millennial finance expert Stefanie OConnell echoes that point by saying, Im a big fan of finding insider deals by scouring reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor. I also love a good Airbnb find - both homes and experiences. Addit ionally, being flexible with when and how you travel can be a great asset during the early stages of planning. Plan trips around friends or family visits for example, using public transit, traveling in the offseason, or using deal sites on local attractions, says OConnell.You CAN save for your future and for fun at the same timeAccording to a new survey from Citi AA MileUp, 38% of consumers say that budgeting for a trip is the most stressful and least enjoyable part of vacation planning. Theres also a misconception that if you are saving for a trip, you cant save for your future. To ease that anxiety, there are a few things to consider.The best strategy for a vacation is to set money aside all year long. I recommend opening up a dedicated savings account for your vacation and travel goals and contributing a small percentage of each paycheck to it, says OConnell. Setting aside 5% or even as little as 2% each paycheck can go a long way over time. By saving for your vacations in a sepa rate savings account, youll get a clear picture of what trips you can and cant afford to take just by checking the balance of your accounts.Going back to your personal savings, OConnell says the same way in which you are hoping to make traveling a priority, you need to do the same with your personal savings goals. In the same way you prioritize setting aside the savings for your vacation, I recommend setting aside savings for your future - as a percentage of each paycheck. Better yet, automate the savings process so that as soon as your paycheck lands in your checking account, a portion of it gets automatically rerouted to your various savings goals. When you dont see the money in your checking account, youre less likely to think of it as money you have available to spend at that moment.Find a Side HustleIf you want to be like Aladdin and Jasmine and see the whole world, but your budget is saying girl, no, consider taking on a side hustle. The beauty in side hustles is that its som ething youre doing on the side and it doesnt have to take on a major time commitment like your full-time position. A great way to make your side hustle work for you is to center it around something that you actually enjoy.For instance, if youre a shopper - look into being a mystery shopper, stylist, or even selling clothes you want to get rid of on Poshmark or ThredUp. You can tutor, or write, or drive Uber/Lyft, be a book reviewer, or anything that you want to bring in extra funds. If traveling is a priority for you, you will find what works best for your situation and time. If you take on a few weekends of babysitting now, maybe you can afford that bachelorette party weekend in cash come fall - without dipping into your long-term savings to afford it, says OConnell.The silver lining at the end is that spending those extra hours per week can afford you the opportunity to go places you want like Bali, Italy, or Greece.This article was originally posted on TheEverygirl.com.

5 Negotiation Tips to Remember for Your Next Job Offer

5 Negotiation Tips to Remember for Your Next Job Offer5 Negotiation Tips to Remember for Your Next Job OfferIt is really exciting to have a job offer on the table. When the job offer includes a pay negotiation it is time to stop and think about these negotiation tips.1. Your salary looks VERY different after taxes and feesThis is so very important to remember when you enter a pay negotiation. Factor in the cost of taxes, direct deposit, and other bank transaction fees. These fees add up. You may be happy with the sound of what you will earn in gross salary, but after everyone takes their cut, what are you really left with?A negotiation tip here is to remember the city you live in, your bank fees, bills, and taxes. You may have a higher cost of living.Do the math for yourself or use a cost of living calculator. Figure out your net income before becoming too impressed with the gross income offer.2. Consider your own needsThink about your personal needs that could require extra money. M edical insurance and commuting all come with a cost. Your pay negotiation will not involve a company proactively taking your needs into consideration. You must let them know.Using a real example, a Senior VP has to relocate to England to work directly with a department. She has to relocate to another country for a job, which means her needs include time to binnensee family, travel costs, traveling back home for emergencies, food, rent, and the cost of business clothes in the area.Negotiation tip Try and think long-term when it comes to your salary. How far will it get you and will you be able to do your job or live paycheck to paycheck?3. Prepare for the unexpectedWe see it every day on the news. The reality of life is that unexpected things happen. Loved ones get hurt, sick, or pass away. Our homes suffer damage in storms. On the brighter side, we also need vacations and travel costs for special events in the family.Companies generally do not see why they should pay for anything ot her than the tasks you perform. The problem is, when you are vital to a companys success, you need time away and still want to stay productive. That costs money. You may find with the right pay negotiation that you can spend time working remotely, and they will cover it.Negotiation tip with a real-life example During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, a website manager loses his electricity and car. The manager works from a hotel for the next week and the company does not pay for it. This is something that should have been worked out during a pay negotiation.4. Your industry has a salary range Unfortunately, it always seems like the people who sweat less, get paid more. People in the food service industry work very hard, but they are not paid as well as CEOs of investment firms.The point here is not to go into a pay negotiation and ask for too much. Be aware of your industry averages.Try and avoid answering the question about your last salary. Some cities have laws preventing employers from d emanding salary history. It is an unfair request. Your previous salary was the result of the companys profit, your last negotiation, or the industry you worked in.5. Get paid for all you bring to the tableThe fact is a resume is only a snippet of what you bring to the table. We all have skills we picked up throughout life. They will come into play when thinking outside the box is required at work.Examine the job carefully and its description before a pay negotiation. You may have a hidden skill not worthy of your resume that can make you more money.You should use it, especially if it means increasing your value within a company

3 Steps to Quit Your Job

3 Steps to Quit Your Job 3 Steps to Quit Your Job 1. Find a Replacement Job FirstIt seems simple enough, and most people who make the mistake of quitting their jobs also make this one. Too many assume their worth in their field is enough to get them hired and they shouldnt worry about the downtime of unemployment because it wouldnt be long. Even still, there are other things to think about, like when will your benefits start or when will you receive your first paycheck? If your current job pays weekly and your new one would pay bi-weekly, do you have some vacation pay or sick pay that you will be paid to make up for the time in between? How long will you still have to go to work despite notlage getting a check? In many jobs, there is a period before your first check that adds a week or more to the length of time it takes to get paid. This can be detrimental to those who did not plan ahead. Make sure you have a replacement job and make sure you know how long you will go without a ch eck before you turn in your nametag.2. Prepare for the InterrogationWhen you quit, not only do you have to tell your employer, but everyone will want to know why you quit. This includes your next employer. Make sure that what you have planned to tell people is both truthful and positive. Staying positive about your former company will keep you from looking like a bridge burner and staying positive about your unemployment makes it seem like a well-crafted move. Employers are going to want to know you didnt quit or were fired on the spot, so make sure you make them understand that it was your plan all along, and that it worked perfectly.Fill Your TimeWhen you find yourself unemployed, make sure you arent just turning in applications all day. Find something productive to do, either a class or certification you could receive or community work you can do. This will make sure you dont get bored at home, or worse, complacent, and also look good on the resume. You want the image of you quit ting to be about you carefully planning you didnt want to be there, you would rather do other things for a while, and also you would like to work where you are applying. Not that you left suddenly and now need a job. That gives employers power, which they already have a ton of. Try to retain some of that power with a little bit of spin and some productive downtime work.

The Sole Strategy You Need to Be Using for Language Skills on Resume Unveiled

The Sole Strategy You Need to Be Using for Language Skills on Resume Unveiled Using Language Skills on Resume Resume language skills are the same. Knowing a language is the initial step in understanding a culture, which enables you to commence seeing people from some other peoples points of view. English is really the most important worldwide language to speak. All About Language Skills on Resume If you believe that skills are wanted in the job which youre applying for, make aya to include them to your resume. Some skills could be relevant while others arent. Job-specific skills vary depending on the ort. More technical or computer-centric hard skills are occasionally also called technical skills. As you proceed through the list of skills above, make a distinct list with the skills which you already possess. As stated earlier, assessing soft skills is far more difficult. Try to remember, the majority of the distinctive skills that you set on your resume ought to be job-r elated skills taken from the work description and your best transferable skills. On the flip side, soft abilities, also referred to as interpersonal or social abilities, are those which you have as personal qualities or you get through professional experiences. If one of these categories is an area where you excel, visit its precise page to learn how resume skills may be used to your benefit. Its also advisable to check their social networking pages and take note if theyre frequently citing specific hard and soft skills that are desired by the firm. Review their About Us page and see whether your soft abilities or attributes are aligned with the organizations core values. You ought to have a particular languages section which gives more comprehensive info on your ability. If youre searching for a job for a sommelier, list your understanding of wine fundamentals and food pairing, together with your experience with inventory administration. Just make sure you double-check whe ther adding social media to your particular resume is acceptable for the job Your skills section stipulates a window into how much capability you may bring to the provider. No matter where you include your skills section on your resume, you can be sure that the hiring manager is likely to find it and definitely likely to ask about doing it. The placement of your skills section is also a rather important point to contemplate. Then make a list of your matching skills that you are able to incorporate in your resume. There are some unique forms of skill sections and formatting options which you need to consider when crafting your resume. Purpose The skill section ought to be optimized to enable a computerized scanning system recognize job skills for your favorite industry. Resumes could be organized in various ways. Although the subsequent sample resumes are for certain jobs and reflect specific experience, look at looking at them all for a broader range of suggestions and stra tegies. Hard skills have a tendency to be more technical, and each business or kind of job will often have its personal necessary set. Some skills are universal no matter the position youre seeking, while some are likely to be career specific. Thus when writing down your job skills take some time to strategize and find out the ideal approach to organize them in your resume. Great people skills are an essential portion of what makes you such a standout employee whod be an asset to any company that provides you with an opportunity to shine. Get the Scoop on Language Skills on Resume Before Youre Too Late A Functional Resume or Skills Resume is intended to highlight your abilities and accomplishments at the very top of your resume instead of grouping them below the jobs or positions which you have held as in a chronological resume. Hard skills are quantifiable and frequently learned from school or at work. Technical skills are either something youve got or you dont, but theyre always something which you are able to learn. 3 First, you should pick the best skills for your resume. To submit an application for a position for a phlebotomist, you have to have a resume that gives employers an insight on how they wont regret hiring you. It is very important to know just which skills the employer is searching for so you know what things to concentrate on when tailoring your resume. Since you can imagine, a hiring manager is searching for the same from you. A hiring manager will be searching for skills which are the absolute most relevant to the job available.

The Ultimate Best Resume Builder Trick

The Ultimate Best Resume Builder Trick Resume or CV or cover letter is getting a significant part our academic and the skilled lives. A CV isnt really worth a lot in the startup world but its still a necessity when one goes out hunting for work. As an issue of fact, on an average, the majority of the recruiters do not start looking for over 6 seconds at a resume. The majority of us already know that the resume we submit while putting in an application for a work interview is very crucial for a lot of reasons. If youre targeting work within the defense business, dont hesitate to use military jargon. If youre targeting work beyond the defense arena, youll need to civilianize your military language to demonstrate your abilities and experience match the employers needs. The Pain of Best Resume Builder 1 cool feature is the capability to import data from LinkedIn. When you open the app you are going to be requested to pick a language from the 10 available alternatives. The app doesnt have a huge platzset of functions but all the crucial features are included. Its possible to import the simple information from social media such as Google, Facebook or Twitter. If youre using the USAJOBS application, all you have to do is log in the system and click the Application Status connection. If you know a small html, you could even like to conserve the source to disk, add a couple of further tags, and voila You pick a template and start filling out information to construct your resume. Needless to say, youll have a good deal of unique templates to assist you in making a cv. You also receive the choice to select a template from the bunch of beautiful resume templets out there. There are various well-designed templates that can help you to construct a great cv. The New Fuss About Best Resume Builder You are then going to be in a position to see real-time information about jobs which youve applied for. If you are in possession of a lengthy employment history, you dont will need to include everything. If youve worked for just 1 employer in the past decade or more, show your recent promotions. As a way to do that you will certainly have to produce a resume that will entice a possible employer. Include an objective when youre pursuing a particular job goal and when you know the specific title of the position youre applying for. The next step is to fill in the info step-by-step. Also be sure to tailor the document to the job youre applying for. Dont be concerned about whether any specific bit of information may be related to your objective. There is not any time for procrastination once it comes to getting your perfect job. The work search may be a lengthy process just consider the statistics below It is crucial to make sure youve got someone review your resume to acquire feedback on grammar, presentation, and general effectiveness. By working in a new positionor even career fieldyou are getting an opportunity to see whether its something you genuinely would like to do. You might find yourself sending the same resume to different job applications and although you may think that youre saving time youre actually lessening your odds of receiving an interview As an example, locating a virtual volunteering job will make it possible for you to work from your house office, in place of heading into an office each day. When it has to do with your work history, begin with the latest job you had. Definitely, among the fruchtwein important measures in life is to find a job which will supply you with feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment. When you would like to find the best resume help, its possible to simply follow our lead. You require assistance with making a resume. The Chronicles of Best Resume Builder A basic resume is also less difficult to read. To help you receive the ideal CV possible (at least in appearance), you may want to look at a tool like Resume Builder, a comprehensive application that cou ld help you produce the perfect resume. Not merely the resume, it has the amazing functionalities for a CV along with the very best cover letter builder too. All you need to do is simply edit the document to include your private information. There are two features which you should be aware of. Double check to ensure that everything on the last version of the resume is about you. If youre running into an issue with the builder or you own a feature suggestion, wed like to hear from you To better understand which option might be ideal for you, lets look at every one of them separately. A Startling Fact about Best Resume Builder Uncovered Focus on skills that the prospective employer might be searching for. Incorporate keywords from the work description so that youre tailoring your experience to what they are trying to find. If youre open to different varieties of jobs, let us know. At times its possible to apply to get a job through internet platforms where its possible for you to fill in all your professional data. Now, take a look at best free online resume builder websites. Resume builder services often enable you to make mailing labels. ConnectCV is another exact efficient online resume building tool free of charge. Resumes are rather predictable in features and data, but some choices must be made.

How Honest Should You Be in an Exit Interview

How Honest Should You Be in an Exit Interview The decision to give your notice is a difficult one to make. While no job is perfect, there are surely things you will be sad to leave behind. Your exit interview serves as an opportunity to share feedback andhelp thecompany find ways to improve.But beware The questions asked during an exit interview may stir some negative feelings youve been keeping inside. Its important to offer your honest feedback,but you must resist the urge to point fingers.The best approach is to stick to the facts. Speak from your own personal opinionabout what youve experienced firsthand. The opinions you share should be your own and not meant to represent the consensus of other employees.Youll be asked a range of questions during your exit interview. The HR representative will usually start by asking you how long you were looking for a job and how your new job compares to the one youre leaving. Additionally, you can expect a few questions on what you think the company is doing well andwhere it could stand to improve.The fruchtwein challenging questions will be the ones concerning your manager. Most employees dont leave companies they leave managers. If this is the case for you, then questions about your manager can quickly get personal if you arent vigilant.Here are a few questions you can expect to be asked about your managerHow would you describe your relationship with your direct supervisor?How did your supervisor handle any complaints or grievances you may have had?Did you speak with your supervisor about your career goals? Why or why not? What was the outcome?Remember, this is not a forum to unleash a stream of complaints. Be measured in your responses. You can easily share that it wasnt the relationship you had hoped for without placing blame. For exampleOur relationship wasnt as close as I had hoped. I was really hoping for a mentor-like relationship, and that just didnt materialize.vs.She really di dnt take any interest in what I was doing. She was always quick to give negative feedback, and she never invested in helping me improve what she saw as deficiencies in my skills.You dont want to burn bridges. Its important to know that your exit interview lives in your personnel file. It is not confidential. If your particular circumstances give you any reason to doubt your ability to stay calm and cordial, consider skipping the exit interview altogether.A version of this article originally appeared on theAtrium Staffing blog.Michele Mavi isAtrium Staffings resident career expert.

Bob Dylan When and why you should reinvent yourself

Bob Dylan When and why you should reinvent yourselfBob Dylan When and why you should reinvent yourselfWhen he was a 20-year-old kid, nobody in New York really knew what to make of Bob Dylan.He had come to the city about a year after dropping out of college, simply telling people he was there to visit his musical idol Woody Guthrie and to start a new life as a performer.This was an exciting time to be there, though. The folk music scene was picking up steam, and soon, the clubs were giving him his time of day. Hed show up, perform, and move on.With time, however, attention started to congregate around him. Slowly, he began to get showings on the radio, a few critics heard his name, and by 1962, he had managed to sign on with Columbia Records, even releasing a self-titled debut album.This was the beginning of a career that has now spanned mora than six decades. To say that Dylan is an iconic figure in 20th-century culture is to understate his name. There were times around his peak when he was arguably larger than the concept of pop culture itself.With his poetic music, he has shaped movements and genres, and he has done so while staying relevant throughout. In 2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.The secret to Dylans longevity comes from a part of him that most people are afraid to face in themselves the part that tells you, at a certain point, its about reinventing yourself.Life is long, and its diverse, and its challenging. To live is to grow and to grow is to create a new self when circumstances demand. Dylans story shows exactly how we can do this byCommitting to development beyond successExpanding your identity to beat plateausValuing the authenticity of growthWe dont become who we are by staying as we are now. We do so by continually evolving.2Commit to development beyond successThe benefits of success have diminishing return, but they tend to amplify temptation.Once you have a taste of what you thought was the goal, and you realize that maybe it wasnt all you had imagined it would be, its very easy to fall into a cycle of chasing mora.External success, especially, has an allure. Early on, it can have many different perks as it covers our basic needs, whether they be personal or financial, but once those basic needs are met, it just becomes a game of setting a higher bar for no other reason than familiarity.By the mid-1960s, Dylan had become a national and an international superstar. He had started to bring the kind of music that was previously on the fringes to the masses.Then, right at the height of his newfound fame, in a move that shocked and even alienated many of his fans and contemporaries, he chose to switch up his sound. He added an electric guitar to the mix. Rather than exploiting what already worked for mora, he changed gears.After becoming what the media called the spokesman of a generation, he left behind his old sound so he could continue to explore and grow, even if it meant giving up existing success.Iro nically, later, this change would actually go on to be one of the reasons for his longevity.Any meaningful achievement is never the product of direct planning. Its often the byproduct of a commitment to developing yourself in a more inwardly-focused way. Its what you get by aiming to be someone who is willing to try new things for the sake of growth and maybe fun.Your sense of attachment to who you want to become is more valuable than a life of more.Expand your identity to beat plateausIn a way, the dive into electric sounds in the 1960s was just the start of his experimentation.Throughout his career, Dylan would go on to produce songs with a touch of everything from his early folk music to blues to country to gospel to electric rock and roll to even jazz.A lot of this was a natural evolution for him, but there were times when he explored simply because he had to. He was stuck in some way, either not progressing or moving backward.When he injured his flosse and wasnt able to pay as much attention to his instruments, he focused more on songwriting, forming an identity around that. When he was struggling with his aging voice in performances, he decided to completely reinvent how he made sounds.There are various reasons we fall into plateaus in our lives. Sometimes, the cause is time. Sometimes, its a lack of interest. Sometimes, its something else entirely out of our control.If this is concerning a thing that we have built confidence around, it can be an incredibly difficult transition, and often, if it isnt dealt with, it can even force a mental purgatory.By remaining versatile to the idea that you can create a new identity by mixing and matching with something else, plateaus dont have to exist longer than they must. You can bypass them by changing the rules of the game, rather than trying to change the game itself.The fact that you defined yourself one way in the past doesnt have to get in the way of you choosing another way that leads to a better end. These l imitations are often just mental.There is always room to improve, and there is always a path to refining something about yourself in a meaningful way. You just have to be open to seeing an opportunity when it arises.Value the authenticity of growthWhen we change ourselves in response to lifes demands, there is generally tension between doing what we must do and what we feel we ought to do to remain authentic to ourselves.We all have an innate nature that is, to some degree, always a part of who we are, and this nature doesnt respond well to anything that conflicts with what it finds natural.That said, we often wrongly conflate this nature with our broader character, identity, and value system at any given point in our life. While its true that a part of our brain is largely programmed the way it is at birth, much of how it understands the world is, in fact, malleable.For decades, psychologists have studied the different stages children go through as they age or as their experience b ecomes more complex, but it wasnt until recently that they realized that adults similarly go through a layer of very natural phases of development.3The more we live, the more we change in ways that are authentic to us in a new form.When Dylan was called the spokesman of his generation due to his counterculture lyrics and then being pressured to lead the movements that were occurring at the time, he began to hide out. At the height of his fame, he started to shun being in the public eye. Why?He had gotten married and was starting to have kids, and he realized that this part of his life was far important to him than his career, and he wasnt willing to let his privacy suffer for it.There is no such thing as a static identity. As we follow the arrow of time and experience, we all grow in various ways, and throughout this process, so does our concept of who we are.This growth can bring with it shock, but that doesnt mean it isnt authentic or necessary.All you need to knowTime changes a l ot of things, but perhaps most of all, it changes our circumstances. How well we accommodate this, then, depends on how well we are able to reinvent ourselves.Over the decades, Bob Dylan has seen just about as much as anyone, and we have seen him overcome just about everything to remain an icon. He knows change better than most.Here are three important things we can take away from his storyChoose development beyond success. External achievements have diminishing returns, and after a certain point, the only way to capture meaningful success is to give up chasing more of what you already have. By exploring new things and becoming more of what you want to be, even if it means sacrificing familiarity, you eventually find what you were looking for without even aiming at it.Expand your identity to beat plateaus. At different times, for different reasons, we all end up in places where we no longer see a way to improve. We get stuck. Now, rather than fighting this stuckness within the confi nes of an existing identity, the more effective way to deal with this is to mix and match parts of yourself to create a new identity. You can change the rules of the game to broaden possibility.Value the authenticity of growth. There is a sense of pride in doing what you know and doing what aligns with who you are as a person at any given point. Sometimes, however, who you are changes in response to circumstance, and while it can be disorienting, it is also often necessary. Theres an authentic way to grow as a person.Many of us find comfort in what we know, who we are, dreading the idea of changing ourselves. But living in an evolving reality and expecting a stable sense of self doesnt work.You are going to have to change one way or another. Why not take dienstgrad of it yourself?Want to think and live smarter? Zat Rana publishes a free weekly newsletter for 30,000+ readers atDesign Luck.

3 essential steps to turn a passion project into a business

3 essential steps to turn a passion project into a business3 essential steps to turn a passion project into a businessThree years ago I got serious about turning my passion project of Tudor history into a business, and now I see regular five figure monthly revenues with an average profit of 50%.If you would have told me then that selling physical products would be the way I make a full time income, I would have laughed. Ive only been studying eCommerce for the past six months, hardly an expertStill, over the past 5 months, Ive traktament nearly $50,000 in products related to my niche, and Id like to share the three steps I took to turn my passion project into a full time businessBuild a passion project platformDevelop a proof of conceptGive your audience moraBuild a passion project platformIn 1998 I started writing about history online. In 2009 I started podcasting about Tudor England.My dream when starting welches to be surrounded by history, to write and be creative, and to be able to work anywhere I could find a wi-fi signal.Theres a quote I keep on my wall that saysNever compromise on a dream. Always compromise on how it will come true.This is what my platform looked like when I startedPodcastBlogI was on a call with a business mentor who bedrngnisiced that, while I had a great site filled with lots of useful information, I wasnt actually making it very easy for people to give me money. Well, I have Patreon, I responded.She pointed out that there are only a handful of profitable organizations that rely solely on asking readers to pay directly for your content. Even National Public Radio has to sweeten your pledge by offering swag.The lightbulb turned on. What if I tried selling things to people? Real physical, tangible things that they could own? Things that would also remind them how much they love my show, and give them an easy way to share my show with people?I didnt know anything about shopping cart software or sourcing products, but three years ago I g ot serious about making a business out of this passion project.Being an introverted writer type, the idea of customer service made me queasy.Develop a proof of conceptAfter brainstorming for a month, I came up with the idea of doing a planner/diary filled with Tudor historyMonthly calendar with a quote from a famous TudorWeekly pages with This Week in Tudor HistoryRenaissance music listening lists and Spotify playlistsGorgeous titelblatt inspired by an illuminated manuscriptWith a company likeBlurbyou can print books on demand, so the only out of pocket costs are a designer for the cover, a subscription toInDesign, and the time spent learning how to create a planner. All told, it cost me less than $200.I spent the month of October, 2016 designing the planner, gathering the dates and information, and putting it all together. In early November I put up some Facebook ads and got my first saleI had no idea how many would sell. I was hoping for 50. Before Christmas I had traktement over 300It took me two months and less than $200 to develop a proof of concept.Now that I had proof, I knew people would pay for physical products in my niche. I also noticed customers who found me through the Facebook ad had never heard of me before. They liked my Facebook page and started listening to my show.That made my download numbers go up, which meant that more people could find me through the podcast charts. Many of those people signed up for my mailing list, because I offered a discount on the planner in exchange for the email address.In six weeks, I added four times as many email subscribers as I had the entire year before. - Heather TeyskoThis is what I have termed the Abundance Whoosh, because it was a whoosh of new email subscribers, new listeners, and sales, in one big spiral.Give your audience moreI spent early 2017 trying to replicate this success. I only knew about print on demand books, so I stuck with that strategy for the first few months of the year, creating journa ls that were historic.For example, I created a journal with a cover based on a 15th century French book of hours. It was shaped like a heart and filled with quotes from Henry VIIIs love letters to Anne Boleyn.I also started working with a printer to create a 2018 planner with customizations you cant get with Print on Demand, like a pocket in the back and a ribbon marker. But I really wanted to add more products likeclever mugst-shirtscreative leggingsSites likeCafePressandZazzlehad margins so small you arent left with any money to pay for the ads you run on Facebook. I knew ads were a big part of my success with the planner, and I wanted to duplicate the Abundant Whoosh- growing my audience and not just selling things to my existing one.Then I found out about Shopify and print on demand services.Whats the difference between using Shopify and going the CafePress route to give your audience more ways to support you?Ownership of the sales process.The CafePress compromiseWhen you use Ca fePress, or similar merch sites, you hand your customer over to that company. They take care of the entire transaction from start to finish, sending you a commission once a month. All you have to do isUpload your artworkShare your shop addressThis is easy for brands with limited time but want to offer something for their audience to buy.But handing your customer over to another company mean you are losing touch points with them.Most of these march sites wont give you the email address of the people who bought your products. They add your customer to their own email list, where they will then send marketing campaigns featuring other creators.You cant set up discount codes as an incentive to sign up for your mailing list, and when the customer receives their purchase, the branding isnt yours. You have, in effect, created a customer for another company instead of your own.The Shopify differenceShopify is a web host, shopping cart, and payment processor all in one. When integrated with a print on demand company that only prints and fulfills your orders, youve got the perfect recipe for success.Shopify handles the payments and Gooten or Printful handle the fulfillment automatically, from my shop,TudorFair.com, with simple integrations.No more directing customers to a different company.I tell my podcast listeners they can support the show and buy cool stuff. Here is the flow after thatCustomer buys from my siteI collect the money via PayPal or Shopify PaymentsThe fulfillment company charges me and fulfills the orderThe fulfillment company ships the product, with my branding, to my customerThe next day, an automated app sends a personalized thank you note to my customerThe fulfillment company updates the tracking informationI dont pay the fulfillment company anything until I already have a sale. There are no fees to get started, or to import your products to Shopify. The only fee is from Shopify, where the basic plan after free trial starts at $29.99/month.The margin s are larger because Im doing more of the work. If creating a full time income from a passion project is your goal, you have to work.If creating a full time income from a passion project is your goal, you have to work. - Heather TeyskoThe downside is when a customer hasnt received their order, or wants to return something youre the one handling that.The percentage of people doing that is so small, the extra bit of work is a tiny price to pay for ownership of the process.You have more options for productsWith Shopify you can sell a huge variety of products through various fulfillment companiesAliExpressimports goods from ChinaPrintfuloffers clothes and postersGootenhas tote bags and phone casesArtsAddoffers everything from clothes to home decorArt of Wheredoes some very cool clothingGalloreeeven offers custom printed skateboardsBeeouxoffers laser-cut sterling silver jewelry in designs you provideYou can put your designs on nearly anything you can think of Many of these fulfillment co mpanies have cross-over in their product offerings.Some products may not be a perfect fit, but they can be on theme with your niche enough to make sense. Ive sold Tudor-themed jewelry that was not an exact English history match.You have more places to sellShopify will integrate with Facebook so you can have your store on your Facebook page, and in many countries people can check out within the Facebook environment directly, never having to leave the app.As you get more experience, you can explore the dozens of apps in Shopify that will help grow your customer base, and provide subscription options, affiliate selling, reviews, and social proof.Your steps to successIf this is something that appeals to you, here are the steps you can take to start offSign up for a free trial of Shopify. (Use myaffiliate linkto get a two week trial, and Ill get a small commission.)Investigate the various print on demand companies you can work with to get your products into your shop.Ask your audience wh at they want from you and what theyll pay for.Design your products, hiring freelancers fromFiverror usingPicMonkey.Link your fulfillment provider to your Shopify store.Make sales.Send personalized thank you notes with links to your content.Use the Abundance Whoosh to spiral your success.Since October I sold nearly 1000 2018 Tudor Planners, and hundreds of items ranging from leggings that have portraits of Henry VIIIs wives, to combat boots with portraits of Elizabeth I.I also started a subscription box service where each month I send a box of curated treats related to Tudor history. All of this has equaled nearly $50,000 since my shop launched.Running an eCommerce site isnt for everyone, but I have more blog traffic, more podcast listeners, and more interest in my work overall, simply by integrating product sales into my portfolio. - Heather TeyskoOnce we purchase something from someone, we become more invested in their success, so now I have a growing number of supporters who are p ersonally interested in helping me grow my work and spread our shared love of history.I have become a huge believer in product sales as a way to grow, serve, and deeply connect with an audience, especially for creative passion-based businesses.I believe in it so much that Ive started teaching other creatives how to build their own shops. You can learn more when you get my freeGetting Started on Shopify Guideand join myFacebook group where we share our experiences growing stores based on creative passion businesses.Heres to lots of new paths for creating income and spreading our messagesHeather Teysko is a storyteller, writer, and podcaster, and mom who has been writing about history online since building her first website on Colonial American history in 1998. But even more than that, she is a creative entrepreneur. You can find Heather on Twitter and her amazing Renaissance English History Podcast.Thisarticlefirst appeared onGoins, Writer.

Just Add Salt to 3D Printing

Just Add Salt to 3D Printing Just Add Salt to 3D Printing Just Add Salt to 3D PrintingPass the salt is a phrase you hear at the dinner table, but not when it comes to 3D printing. That could change as a team of researchers at Wilkes University uses the mineral to make medical scaffolds and more.You dont think of salt, but it can mischung well with 3D printingto give scaffolds improvement in material porosity, says Xiaoming Mu, assistant professor in mechanical engineering at Wilkes University. Its ideal for biomedical because you can culture cells and beyond. We had originally worked through a few technologies, but this had the strength we were looking for.His team originally started looking at substances that were coarser than salt, but they ultimately saw that salt could be used after it went through a special leaching process, in which salt particlesare added to a polymer resin. The particles contact each other and, in the small space between each particle, there is fusing.Later o n, shining light and curing the polymer is involved, with water ultimately dissolving, Mu says. We need salt to connect so water can go inside the structure, otherwise there will be encapsulation and it cant be washed out.Different granule sizes of salt, from coarse to extra-fine, were experimented with to understand the variety of porosity that can be achieved in this method. Image Georgia TechConner Dunn, who worked on the project while a graduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology, described the method as a layering process.A motion stage moves up and down and a projector above this rotating stage holds the resin in place, he says. The projector on top then projects a cross-sectional stellung onto the resin and then photocures the polymerunder the projector itself, he says. Among the rest of the process is the motion station moving down and the rotating sweeper eventually laying another thin layer of material over a previously cured layer.The researchers used custom-built 3D printers and they basically used a projector to project a cross-sectional image onto a liquid, Dunn says. You have a self-supporting, powder bed-type printer that comprises a pretty simple fabrication scheme, according to Dunn.Simple leading images to our software and the exposure duration and layer thickness are factors, he says. We customized things. We built the frame for the printer itself, bought separate motors and a motion stage projector.From the customization, Conner says they developed MATLAB softwarethat processed the images and controlled the motion. The frame is customized because with the printers we had available it wasnt easy to print because we could not get even infill in the platform.The sweeping blade, resin bag, and the blade design changed over time. As the sweeper pushes new material over, it inlays the material, Dunn says. The salt leeches out within the CAD model.I think salt was chosen partly because its low cost and can be implemented in existing 3D pr inters right now, Dunn says. You dont think salt. But it just shows you have to keep an open mind.Eric Butterman is an independent writer. For Further DiscussionYou dont think of salt but it can mix well with 3D printing to give scaffolds improvement in material porosity, Prof. Xiaoming Mu, Wilkes University