Almost everyone has access to a high-speed internet connection these days. It’s improved our lives in so many ways that it would be impossible to list them all on this page. However, today, we want to focus on some of the boredom busting advancements that keep us all entertained. It’s hard to imagine a life without the internet, and many people are too young to remember. That said, those who do aren’t in any rush for the technology to disappear. Indeed, nobody wants to go back to playing cards and completing crosswords to pass the time. The world is now at our fingertips, and that’s something we don’t want to change. So, let’s take a look at some of the ways the net helps to keep us busy.
Social media websites
We’ll bet you’ve already logged into Facebook and checked your account multiple times today, right? So had everyone else! Social networks get hundreds of millions of visits every hour from people just like you. They use to domains to catch up with the latest news and communicate with their friends. Twitter is the best place to check for breaking stories as they happen. Facebook is excellent for those who like to read mainstream media articles. Also, everyone has a personal profile that you can view. They post updates to let people know what’s going on in their lives. So, it’s the perfect place to catch the latest gossip from the people who matter most.
Movie streaming websites
Anyone can log into Netflix or get the MovieBox app from here in seconds at the current time. Those streaming services contain thousands of titles that change every month. Buying DVDs used to cost a small fortune, and so the concept helps us to save money too. It’s never been easier to find a broad selection of titles to suit every taste. Some services are free, and others require you to pay a subscription fee. However, the prices are always much lower than you would expect to pay for a single DVD. Internet users can watch as many movies as they like during their subscription. So, it’s no wonder the online world is turning us into binge-watchers. Still, at least we’re all entertained.
Dating/Romance websites
Meeting the love of your life used to be a difficult task. They could be anywhere in the world, and so you had to hope you would encounter them. Dating websites have become some of the most popular on the internet in recent years. Domains like eHarmony or Tinder have linked lots of people together. Research shows that single adults spend around 10% of their time online looking at dating sites. That figure rises year on year, and it demonstrates that romantic services are in demand. Experts claim that a third of newly married couples met online in the last two years.
As you can see from that information, the internet has improved our lives in lots of ways. It helps us to save time and money. It also assists us in meeting new people and keeping entertained. Will things continue to improve as we move forward? Almost certainly. Hundreds of thousands of new websites appear online every year. There’s sure to be something even more exciting just around the corner.
The energy you put into your business is unparalleled. Your pride and joy in seeing it go from a kernel of an idea all the way to a booming business means focusing on every tiny aspect and going over every fine detail until you are completely satisfied. Each part needs to be just so, and a key part of the image which will make or break the customer litmus test is the interior. If you run a shop, the design has to appeal and encourage customers to purchase more than they went in for, or if you work in an office environment, the atmosphere has to be conducive to productivity. It’s a very important thing to think about.
What is the main thing when you are attempting to make a customer feel relaxed in your space? Well, space. In a restaurant, the concept of street food eating is a common one, but does it make for a relaxing experience? Hardly. The type of image you wish to present with a restaurant is largely dictated by the space. An open-plan restaurant with classy music and high ceilings gives out an impression of class. Or a fast food restaurant is a conveyor belt of custom, and space doesn’t seem to matter that much as the experience will be over as soon as it starts. The experience a customer has of the interior setting in a food establishment is more important than the food in some respects. The age-old rule of “it wasn’t what the customer bought, it was how they felt” very much applies to this type of business.
The worker perspective is as important, regardless of the type of product you are selling. Adequate lighting in a factory setting, such as industrial lighting strong enough to help people focus on their tasks is very important. A factory line job requires a lot of focus, especially if the task is the same one they will carry out for 12 hours a day! What you see makes up the vast majority of your overall impression of something, not what was said or how they said it, and walking into a clothes shop where you can’t see the items (trust me, they exist) doesn’t help customers make the right purchase. It is more likely to secure a high amount of returns because the customer bought the wrong color!
As a whole experience, the interior setting can be fine-tuned to increase the customer’s perception of a store or a worker’s productivity. The atmosphere of a store will be the overriding factor in a customer’s return, and the comfortability of a working environment will impact on an employee’s ability to work better. These are only a partial factor of the whole business design, but if you are dependent on customer returns, or the need to work staff hard and fast, then it is something you should endeavor to get right first time. It’s all about feeling, and if people feel good they will buy, or they will work harder.
Doesn’t everyone dream of being their own business, using their creativity, and also bringing home the bacon? You bet they do. During those long commutes to and from the office, whose mind hasn’t wandered to a simpler life where their destiny is in their own hands? Well if that’s you, I’ve got some good news: it’s a lot closer than you think. If you get into the furnishing game, whereby you take old goods and restore them to a high quality, you can create a profitable business and have fun doing it! Sound intriguing? Here’s your step by step guide on how to do it.
You know how you always see advertisements for new furniture on TV? Well, they are there for a reason…people are always buying new furniture! And do you know what they do with the furniture they’re replacing? They sell it, often at a bargain price. That’s where you come in. Scour your classified listings in local newspapers and websites, take a search of online auction sites, and generally keep your eyes peeled when you’re out and about town to see if any furniture is being sold. And then buy it!
The Process
Once you’ve bought a piece of furniture, you’ll need to have a space large enough where you’ll be able to work on it. If you have a garage, then that’s perfect, but a spare room will do too. Then you get to work. Most of the time, a new paint spray will turn a beaten up piece of furniture into a must have item. Take a look at Nitrotherm Spray; you’ll be able to paint your furniture easily and quickly, increasing your output and thus your profits. If the furniture has handles, mix them up with a bright color that complements the paint job. Finally, wax the piece so it’s long lasting. You’ll be amazed at just how good a few hours of work can be for an old piece of furniture!
Selling On
Once everything’s dry and refined, you’ll be in a position to sell the furniture on. The piece is going to look good, so they’ll always be a market for it. Put it online and advertise in your local paper. Stay strong on your price, there’s no need to negotiate. The truth is that a piece of furniture that has been bought second hand and restored can attract a price three of four times what you paid for it.
The Next Steps
When you’ve sold your first one, you’ll find that selling after that will become easier. For starters, the person you sold to will tell their friends and you might just naturally get some orders. Otherwise, you’ll naturally hone your selling skills and get more ambitious with the furniture projects you take on. In time, you might just find that it’s worth renting a larger space away from your home just to cope with the demand. All in all, it’s an exciting journey that can bring plenty of fun – and, just as importantly, plenty of cash!
Developing a business in the arts industry can be a very lucrative asset, but it can also take a lot of time, patience, and energy to allow it to flourish to its full potential. With any kind of business, it can take a longer time than initially expected for your business to reach its targets. It is not uncommon for startup businesses of any kind to fail to reach its projected target in the first year, and reach that target at the end of the second year (or halfway through the second year) instead. Lots of business owners tend to feel disappointed and frustrated when this happens, and they may feel that their business is not going to work because of the failure to reach the targets that they wanted to. However, it is important to remember that the first year of any business is the most tough and that if you have faith in your business, it will pay off and make very admirable profit margins in further years to come. Keep the determination you have for your business, address the reasons why it is not meeting your expectations, work through those problems, and eventually you will be able to see that going through with your business idea was the right life choice for you.
More than any other form of business, setting up a company that sits within the arts industry is a very popular form of startup and – while it can be very admirable and remunerative – it can also be difficult to stand out from the crowd and propel your business off the ground. Again, though, all it takes is some patience, determination and guts and your business will eventually work. There are many different types of businesses that lie within the arts industry, and if you have an idea for one then you will need to do meticulous and precise research to enable you to develop a better idea of other similar businesses, especially ones local to you, and how they are benefiting with their business focus, or whether they are not using a gap in the market meaning it is having a detrimental effect on them. It may also be worthwhile to put some time into finding a business advisor, who can provide you with honest, intelligent advice. You could speak to people who have a knowledge of the businesses you are researching, or have been a customer of the businesses. This way, you will be able to get a first-hand account of what the business did well, what did not work for the customer when using the business, and what you can do to ensure their customers now use your business by exploiting their flaws. That may seem like quite a harsh statement, but as we all know: in the world of business, it is a dog eat dog world and any business owner must do what they need to do in order for their business to prosper.
Arts business can be wide in range and dense in depth. There are lots out there, but if it is done well then it is more than likely that will attract the attention of customers and intrigue people alike. For example, if you are thinking of setting up your own creative writing business with a focus on mentoring and tutoring, it is likely that there are lots of other similar businesses – especially if you live in or near a city. Look up those businesses, and see what you can offer which will be different to what those businesses provide. Are you going to provide face to face tutoring, or are you going to tutor over video chat – or are you going to do both? Are you going to charge a lower price per hour, to attract more customers, or are you going to charge higher to attract customers who are very serious about working with you?
If your arts business incorporates another industry into its mechanics, then this will take a lot of research into finding out what the best way will be to make it work for you. For example, if you are thinking of opening a cafe which exhibits artwork by local and national artists, or provides a space where creative people can meet up, socialize or discuss their work, then you will need to put some serious thought into the prices you are going to charge for drinks and food (a lot of creative people tend to be on a low income), whether you are going to charge for the gallery space or keep it free to attract more people into your cafe – you will still make money on drinks and food, and where your cafe is going to be situated. It is less likely to be a success if you decide to place your cafe in a rural area, simply because of transport links, whereas if your cafe was situated in a city, or near to a city, then it would attract more people as – simply – there are more people living in those sort of places and places in the city are easier to get to.
Whatever type of business in the arts industry you are thinking of setting up, you will need to put in research to find out what is going to work for you, what is not going to work for you, and which aspects you should completely ignore altogether. To allow your business to flourish, decide on the essential aspects that you are going to offer and the peripheral aspects which will stay on the sidelines at the beginning but will eventually move towards the middle of the business, and which you will incorporate into the main part of your business in due time. Do not neglect any aspect of your business, and put some thought into each part however small or insignificant they may seem. In business, every bit matters, and especially in the arts industry where it can tend to become fickle, do all you can to allow your business to stand out.
Etiquette is one of those essential things in life that separate people. Funnily enough, even the most rugged and horribly dressed person could present themselves in a formal manner if given the correct training and a fresh set of clothing. There aren’t many occasions in which we act formal. A wedding is perhaps one such example, and perhaps we eloquently present ourselves during a job interview in order to increase our chances of landing ourselves a new career. However, are these things really necessary?
When we walk into the courtroom, it feels like there’s an overwhelming pressure pushing down on us. The courtroom itself is a very familiar place even if you haven’t been inside of one on a regular basis. There’s the large podium where the judge stands with his wooden gavel, and do the side there might be extra booths for the defendant. Towards the side, there might be a shorthand reporter tapping away their keys, recording not words, but sounds. They keep track of everything being said, every cough being echoed and every nuance in the way you speak.
As you sit down and watch the judge enter the courtroom, it’s hard not to feel as though you’ve stepped into a film or an ancient ritual. Despite your personality outside of the courtroom, inside the courtroom it can feel as though you’re being overwhelmed by the glaring eyes of well-dressed individuals, so you have no choice but to follow what they do and act as they act. You speak differently inside of a courtroom, you’re influenced by things you normally wouldn’t care about, and even the slightest cough from the audience could make you paranoid about what’s happening.
There’s no doubt that the inside of a courtroom is overwhelming, but what does that tell us about how humans behave?
First of all, it tells us that humans are heavily influenced by those around them. In an unfamiliar and serious situation, we tend to follow the herd like sheep because we don’t know how to act. This kind of behavior is seen in local communities around the world. We pick up local jargon and behavioral tics from the people we grow up with and it also affects the types of interests we have.
However, those changes take a long time to develop. Imagine a child that is brought up for one year in Austin, then moves to New York, and then finally Boston. These locations all have different accents, so the child in question is going to pick up several different ones and eventually mash them up into a single accent that sounds very different to all three. This is an example of a long-term social change. So then why, in the case of a courtroom, does every human being suddenly have an overwhelming amount of respect for the judge and completely change their behavior?
It’s simple; humans have the capacity to drastically change their behavior and way of thinking based on preconceived notions. The human mind is a powerful thing and if we are able to suddenly change the way we behave just because we entered a courtroom, think of the power we could have in changing our career choices, obtaining happiness, overcoming troublesome situations and adapting to drastic changes in our lives. Entering the courtroom is just a glimpse into the power that our minds possess in changing our lives.
When Jerry opted for a low-key hang with his girlfriend, he thought he was winning on Valentine’s Day. Until an unexpected “grand prize” ruined everything.
I want to start this story by clearly stating that I have no illusions about my level of maturity when these events happened. When I tell the story people ask me: Why didn’t you do this or why did you do that? I’m not defending my actions—although they were all done with more naivete than ill intention. What is clear is that I lacked what is now called Emotional Intelligence or EI.
While I was in my 20s, I met a woman on New Year’s Eve. We seemed to get along well and the night culminated in a midnight kiss that showed promise. This midnight smooch was not merely a champagne induced mash-session, we had a real connection.
Because we found the idea of seeing more of each other enticing, we exchanged information and began dating. This was before texting or any real application of email, so we called each other on the phone and met a few times a week. It felt like a fledgling relationship and we were both committed to sincere exploration.
The timing of our meeting proved to be a challenge though. Only six weeks into our fun-but-new romance came Valentine’s Day. Being that we had only known each other six weeks, this holiday offered up some fear. Riddled with insecurity as to how to proceed, I asked Jennifer what we should do on that day. She had the perfect answer: “Since this is all so new, let’s keep things mellow.” I was ecstatic that we were on the same page and offered to cook dinner at my place.
On Valentine’s Day I went to the store to buy the ingredients for dinner. This was before paying with debit cards at the counter, so I stopped into the bank that was housed inside the store to withdraw some money. Upon completion of my transaction, I was informed that I had won the Valentine’s Day grand prize!This was an ostentatious package of romantic symbols that would win any husband weeks of goodwill from their wives; but I wasn’t a husband, and my new relationship was far too vulnerable for such a grandiose assortment. The prize included a stuffed bear with heart shaped soles on its hands, lingerie (his and hers), champagne and crystal flutes, massage oil, chocolates, and the biggest bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen including at least a dozen long-stem red roses.
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I kind of panicked.
I had never won anything and suddenly I was faced with this expensive bounty that I felt should belong to someone else. I made a weak effort to decline the winnings. No go. So I took everything to my car, which took several trips, then returned to shopping. When I got home, I put everything away. The flowers were too big to stash, so I put them where they could be seen, but not on full display.
Jennifer showed up on time. She brought me a card that simply asked, “Will you be my Valentine?” with two boxes, one for yes and one for no. It was the perfect amount of gift for our situation. I found it cute and non-threatening. We chit-chatted while I finished cooking. As I was preparing to plate the meal, she was wandering around and saw the flowers.
“OH MY GOD! Are these for me?” She cried with tremendous excitement. Inside I was terrified. If I said no, then I had to explain that why I didn’t get her flowers and why I had these flowers and they weren’t for her. That seemed complicated. If I said yes, I might be coming on too strong and give her the idea that I was too clingy.
In a sit-com-esque fashion I said a weak “yes…”. She was thrilled with the flowers and I felt like I made the right call. She was warm during dinner, shooting me flirtatious glances and body language that indicated I was in for a good night.
I kept thinking, I’m glad I said yes…
Jennifer spent the night and I felt like things were really heading in the right direction. It seemed I had dodged the bullet fate had shot in my direction, except for one little detail: I never saw her again. After that night she no longer returned my calls. Her sister asked me to leave her alone and it became clear that my over-the-top floral gift sucker-punched my future with her.
What I took from this is that romance is a dance. We have to constantly engage our partner to sense where they are, where they are going and not just dip them suddenly out of nowhere—even if they ultimately want to be dipped. We must communicate on a constant feedback loop.
