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martinacollenderplaywrightblog · 4 years

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Interview I did with #FierceWomenCollective

Name: Martina Collender

Occupation: Playwright and Repeal the 8th Activist

Nationality: Irish

Country of residence: Ireland

Languages spoken: English

Contact: [email protected]

Tumblr blog: martinacollenderplaywright

Twitter: @Teenycollender

Availability: Martina is available to teach Creative Writing and Drama to all ages and also to give workshops on Play-writing. She is also available to gives talks on Repeal The 8th Campaign.

Advice to other women: "Everyone has a story in them. Write that play. Write the play you need to write. And don't ever, ever let anyone tell you you can't do it, because people will. They'll tell you, "You can't do that. You're not able to do that," and it's their own self-worries projected onto you. So don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it."

Today I'm joined by an incredible woman who has a really long list of accomplishments up her sleeve. Involved in theatre and performing arts industries, Martina Collender is a playwright, writer and performer who is also actively involved in teaching of writing and drama to many young people. But in addition to her paid work, Martina is also a fierce campaigner for the Repeal the 8th movement in Ireland, which I will let her go into more detail about shortly. Welcome, Martina.

Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, it's wonderful to be able to speak with you today, and I really appreciate your time. Look, I thought we could start with talking about your theatre career. First question I had was, have you always wanted to be a playwright, and what is it about performance that captures your imagination?

Well, I joined Waterford Youth Arts, which is a youth theatre company based in Ireland. They do drama, arts, dance, creative writing and film. I joined when I was 16 and I left school quite young. I left school when I was 13 or 14, and I didn't really know what to do with my life. I quickly discovered I'm not an actor, I'm the worst actor in the world, so I was about to give it all up. I hated acting.

When I went to see a play by a local playwright called Jim Daly, To Leap From Paradise, and it might as well have been the West End, I fell in love with the lights, with the performance, with the idea you can tell a person's heart on stage through writing and performance. So I couldn't act, I couldn't do too much else, so I decided I was going to be a writer. So I got loads of plays out of the local library. I got Brian Friel, I got all the classic playwrights, and I read them all and I fell in love with it.

Ever since then, I haven't really been able to do anything else and I'm just enthralled by the idea that theatre can give a voice to the voiceless. And any good theatre, I think, if you pay your money for your ticket, you can sit down and you can see your own life on stage. That's the magic of theatre for me. I can't do anything else so I'm kind of stuck with writing.

Oh, it sounds absolutely beautiful. You left school so, so young and it's hard for an adult to imagine what they want to do, let alone a young person of that age. Was it easy to infiltrate the performing arts scene in your local area? Were you welcomed?

Well, I was really, really lucky. I was incredibly supported. I had Ollie Breslin at Waterford Youth Arts who welcomed me with open arms and gave me every opportunity I could possibly hope for. And then in Garter Lane Arts Centre, our local theatre, Jim Nolan opened doors to me, a professional director, and training me up as a stage manager. And then I went onto Ben Hennessy with Red Kettle Theatre Company, another professional theatre company, and they opened their doors for me and allowed me opportunities to learn. I think with theatre, you can't really learn from a book. I think you have to learn by doing it.

I then went onto Liam who gave me every opportunity, and Liam said a great thing once. He said, "The only thing you can ever give someone in this life is your time. Money and all of that other rubbish doesn't matter. The only thing you can give someone is time." And I was really lucky that I had all these professionals give me their time and patience and knowledge and look after me and take care of me when I messed up again and again and again. And what a wonderful thing to do. They weren't paid for that. They had no reason to do that. They just saw a young person who loved theatre and desperately wanted to learn, and they gave me everything they could. So I've been incredibly supportive. I've been very, very lucky.

Ah, that's absolutely wonderful. I must say, the idea about time being the most valuable thing you can give someone, I completely agree. It really is amazing what that can do for somebody's life. So it's wonderful to hear that other people around the world use that motto as well.

Yes. When Liam said it to me, and he said it to me two years ago and it was like a revelation, I was like, "Oh my God, you're right! That's all we can give each other. Yes!"

Martina's first play, written at just 17 years old.

What about the process of writing for you? How old were you when you produced your first play?

I was 17 when I had my first play put on, and that was a youth theatre play, so I work with youth arts regularly and I write for the old people. My first adult production put on in 2013 in the Theatre Royal with Red Kettle Theatre Company called Lover's Dust, which was directed by Ben Hennessey. That was a huge, huge opportunity for me and I learned a lot of lessons from it. The main thing Ben gave me was the confidence. He gave me the confidence that I was someone and that I could write.

In terms of the process of writing, it's really hard. It's really hard to write a play. It's really hard. But I picked up a lot of skills over the years on how to do it and how to sit down with it. I suppose, again, it comes back to support. The best thing you can do is get a group of actors in a room who read the play with you and say, "Oh, that doesn't work. Maybe try this," and you take a pen and you start cutting things.

Okay, so this is probably a really ignorant question, but I'm going to ask. What about the selection of people, the casting selection for the play? When you are writing something, do you have a strong idea in your mind of who you want to portray that or is that something that kind of happens organically?

I wouldn't. I suppose a lot of people are writer/director. I don't have the skills to be a director, so through the audition process I just don't know. When I write my character, I don't write them for specific actors. There's obviously actors I admire desperately and I dream of having them in my play, but I kind of leave that up to the director. I'd hand over and I'd trust the director and I'd be like, "I don't know what to do now. You take that over. You do that bit."

Does that partnership always go well for people around you as well?

Yeah. Well I suppose it's the thing I love about theatre. It's one of the one art forms that's all about collaboration. You can't to theatre alone, and it literally is collaboration, so you have to work with the actors. So if an actor says, "I can't say that line," you won't get anywhere if you go, "Well I wrote it. Say it." You have to work with them.

The magic of theatre is it's collaboration down to the person who's sewing a button on someone's shirt so it looks right. It's collaboration down to the person who sweeps the stage. It's collaboration down to the light designer, the sound designer, the set designer. Nothing happens without a group of people coming together and saying, "We're coming into this room and we're going to try and create something together."

If you write a book, it's very much yours. You've got pure creative control over it. Like, you work with an editor, but that world you're creating's yours. But in theatre, when I create a character, what a costume designer might do with that character might be completely different to what I had in my head. And it's hard. It's hard sometimes. Like, you would be having fights with people, you would be killing each other, but that's all part of it and that's what I love about it. And it's why I don't write film scripts, it's why I don't write books, it's why I write theatre.

'Cause we live in an age now where we've seen so many progressions in the way we experience culture, I guess. People used to go to the theatre and then there were movies and now there's Netflix. Have you found that people are still as interested in theatre and attending a theatre performance as they always have been? Or have people increased their interest in theatre? What's your experience there?

It's a tricky one. It's a tricky one. It's difficult to get people to come to theatre. It's very difficult, and because of Netflix and because of the cinema, and it's hard to get people in the door. I suppose you're trying to sell different playwrights to people as different authors or different filmmakers, so I do think it is difficult. On the flip side of that, I will contradict myself. I have seen a lot of younger playwrights come up and therefore a lot of younger people going to the theatre. But it's hard. Publicity for theatre is one of the main things that you have to push.

I do think it has changed. I think theatre has changed. I think Friel and all the classic playwrights, I don't really see a lot of that anymore, and I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. I think we can always have respect for Friel and Shakespeare and the old school playwrights and we can also make room for the new playwrights. It's just about advertising it a way so people know if you're coming to see this place, you know what you're going to get. But in Waterford Theatre is alive and well. We're lucky with that. We're very lucky in Waterford 'cause we have Spraoi, we have a national street theatre festival, so we have a lot of arts in Waterford. Sheila Penkart has recently taken over Garter Lane Arts Centre, and she's worked in theatre since she was 11, so I'm incredibly excited to see what she'll do. But it's a constant battle to get people in the door. But I find once you have them in the door, they're hooked. We just have to get them in the door.

Yeah, this is the thing. The thrill that you get from a live performance cannot be rivalled by anything that you see on screen, and that's not to take away from movies. Obviously we enjoy movies and they tell a story, but I know for myself, there's nothing like a live performance and connecting with a character or a theme.

Absolutely. Like you have to nail on the head ... nailing it on the head there. The cinema's great, books are great, these are all extraordinary art forms, but when you're in a theatre, if theater's done well, you're feeling what the characters are feeling, you're in the courtroom, you're going through them with it and it's happening right in front of you. If you're lucky enough to see a group of extraordinary actors, you feel like you're living the story with them. That's why I much prefer to go to the theatre than to go to the cinema because, with the cinema, there is a block of screen, and also the magic of live theatre, you don't know what will happen every night. With a film, if you mess something up you can just do another take. You don't know how the audience will react. Sometimes the audience will laugh at one thing, they won't laugh at another, so you don't know. So every time that curtain goes up, who knows what will happen? Who knows what will happen? When things go wrong, they're the stories you're going to be laughing at 20 years from now. It's really magic 'cause you're watching human beings be live on stage, and you don't know what will happen. But as with like Netflix, you can pause it. Do you know? You can press pause when you're bored. That's exactly what I'd be selling. That's exactly the reason I sell theatre to people.

I'm sorry, I have to ask: obviously you're working with professionals and you have strategies with dealing with that, but what does happen when things go wrong? Is it just a matter of ploughing ahead or have you seen any real disasters?

I've worked with nine year olds, I've worked with amateurs, I've worked with professionals, and everything has gone wrong. Whether you're a professional or you're a nine-year-old child acting for the first time, what we say is keep going. You just keep going. You keep going. I've heard ... there's a hilarious story about this. There was a play, and there was a coffin on stage, and they had a mannequin in the coffin to play the body. The actor was giving a really big emotional speech and the head of the mannequin fell off and rolled across the front of the stage, and all he did was he walked down, picked up the mannequin and he said, "Right, well that's it then." You have to keep going and you have to have a sense of humour about it. Now, for the actors, it's the worst thing in the world to happen, but if you keep going, I guarantee you it'll be the best story to tell. It's the best story to tell.

I just love that so much. I mean, it's good. I think you do have to keep a light heart about that kind of thing, and you're making memories at the very least.

Yes, yes. Looking for the positive, always.

You just mentioned it there about you work with a lot of young people. In what ways do you think drama and creative writing are benefiting young people nowadays?

Well, one thing I think that theatre does for young people, it's very little to do with the play. I'd actually say the play, the end product, is the last on the list. I think what theatre does for people in general is give them confidence. It gives them confidence. So when we do drama classes, for me it gave me confidence, it saved me. I work with Shine Discovery, which is for people who are recovering from mental illness, and I work with young people. So what if none of them pursue a career in theatre? That has nothing to do with it. But the confidence they get, and they get a group of friends and they get a summer of memories and they get to laugh and they get to know it's okay to laugh at yourself. Like, they do. Do you know, it's like, "We're going to make a show of ourself here. If something goes wrong, doesn't matter at all. Doesn't matter. Laugh it off," and so their confidence soars. And whether it be with speech, or finding out who they are ...'Cause being young is really hard. I don't think young people get enough credit. You're 13, you're in a new school, you're trying to find yourself, you're trying to keep up with study, you're trying to keep your parents happy, you're trying to find friends, you're discovering the first pain of friends not lasting forever, you're trying to find out who you like, you're discovering alcohol, you're discovering drugs, and all this time you're expected to smile and be perfect. So if they can come into a room, and we run around and play games and we get to find out about each other and we get to discover empathy and, more importantly, they're told they have a voice and they matter. Even if that voice is saying, "I'm really angry at the world," that's incredibly important. A lot of them leave and go off to do other careers, but they carry the confidence with them that they got in drama. So that's actually what theatre does for people. It has very little to do with what the audience sees. It's teamwork, it's importance, it's responsibility, it's valuing you as a human, and it's telling the world that we care about you and if you're not here, this play isn't going to happen. That's how important you are. So that's what I think's the real magic of working with kids in theatre.

It sounds absolutely beautiful. As you know, this project is about developing confidence in people, and it's wonderful to hear that there's a medium out there, particularly in young people, help them during, as you said, what is quite a vulnerable time in their lives. Is it easy to recruit young people to come along and learn about drama and partake in your activities?

We have a huge membership at Waterford Youth Arts, but I suppose the barrier I feel when I say to young people, "Come and do drama," they think we all sit around wearing black, talking about Shakespeare sat down and I'm like, "We don't do that! Come along." So that's the barrier, I find. But I do believe, and I understand how difficult it is to walk into that room. It's very difficult to walk into a room for the first time, but if you can just make that first step, once you come in, you'll stay.

And what about the teaching side of things when it comes to writing and drama? Obviously, as you've just said, it's not just about coming out with a finished product, it's about developing all these special skills and individual skills as well. But is it easy to teach someone to think creatively and be involved in drama, or do you think that it really comes from the person themselves?

I think it definitely comes from the person itself. Well, I fully believe, hand on heart, there's not a single person who walks on this earth who is not creative. I fully believe that. So my role, as a tutor, is getting them to find their voice, getting them to find what they want to say, getting them to find their confidence in making their art. I can give them tips and tricks and formulas that they might find useful when they're trying to figure out what they want to create, but at the end of the day my main goal is to help them find their voice.

Like, when it comes to teach creative writing, I'm dyslexic. I left school quite early. I have no time whatsoever for marking someone's work or spelling or grammar. I tell you, when I teach creative writing, forget about spelling or grammar. Let's just get out what's in your head. I give them writing prompts. For example, with the 15 to 19s I'm working with, the most recent prompt I asked them to do was secrets. We all have a secret, so they all wrote down their secrets and swapped them with someone else, and that was a writing prompt. Or with my nine to 11 group, I asked them to bring in their favourite teddy bears, 'cause our teddies know everything about us, they know everything about us, and we wrote the adventures of our teddy bears, and that was extraordinarily beautiful. We had one teddy called Froggy who is afraid of water and hasn't been washed in all of his life.

What I find as well, with young people, if you give them that skill of their teddies, if they're feeling scared or they're worried, they find it easier to talk to the teddy. So they're able to say, "Well, Froggy's a bit scared of this," and then it's "That's okay." So it's able for them to talk through their problems without having to say it's me. So when I teach performers, when I teach drama, I just teach them the basics. I teach them blocking and focalization, I teach them that. But mainly I teach them the self-belief and confidence to walk out on stage.

It sounds like the impact you're having transcends the drama itself, which is just so wonderful. What about in terms of young people that you work with that do want to pursue a career in the arts? I know for myself and people around me growing up, pursuing a career in the arts could be dissuaded because it's perceived as an unstable career path. I was wondering, for yourself, have you experienced any negativity pertaining to wanting to be a playwright, or do you feel that the children that you work with have those fears as well?

Well, I've been quite lucky. I've been incredibly supported from my family and from my community and from my friends. But at the same time, I do acknowledge that it's a tough career. Like, financially, I'm quite lucky. I don't have a mortgage, I don't have a family, I don't have kids, so I just have to look after myself, and I know a lot of people who are professionals in this career and are still not financially rewarded. What I always say to people when they say, "I want to study creative writing," I always say you do what you need to do. If you need to study theatre or creative writing, don't get to 90 years old and regret it. You have time. You can study creative writing and drama, and if it doesn't work out you can go back to college as a mature student. What I always say to someone who's unsure, I say you never have to give it up. You can be a nurse, you can be a guard, you can be any other career in this world and you can still write, you can still perform. This is not something that will ever be taken away from you. It's not a direct choice. And obviously the people will say, "I don't want to study it." I'm like, "Cool, best of luck but please come back and visit."

But it's tough, and I'm not a parent but I can imagine the anxiety that parents have when their child wants to do it, because it's a tough business when you go to your fifth audition and you don't get the part, or you get your age rejection letter, and you need the support of someone sitting there and telling you it's okay. It is a tough business to get into, but it just comes back to it's you don't want to regret that you didn't give it a shot. Like, there is time. You can try it. And if it doesn't work out, so what? You'll get memories, you'll have learned a lesson, you can keep it up, you can go on to teach creative writing, you can go on to teach drama, you can do an amateur production of a play. It doesn't end. But if you're 18, you have nothing to lose, you have no one else to look after in this world, apart from yourself, go for it. Go for it. What's the worst that could happen?

On the flip side of that, if you're 50 and you've had your job and you're kids are reared and you think maybe now I could write a play, do it. Do it. Do it. Absolutely, do it. If the thoughts in your head, do it. What's the worst that could happen? Someone will say they don't like it and you tell them to go away. That's just one person's opinion. Do you know?

That's exactly right. So what? I do feel that sometimes we're so caught up in other people's opinions that we forget that it's okay to live and just do what we want to do. If we're not hurting other people, why not give it a go?

Absolutely. And look, I'm not saying I don't get hurt from people saying I didn't like the play, but it's part of it. You have to go, "Yeah," and do you know what? It's better to have the audience halved and one half saying I liked it and one half saying the other liked it. The worst thing in the world is a group of people to come out and say, "It was nice." Nice! Steak is nice. I'd much prefer for someone to be so angry by hating the play and have an emotional reaction rather than going, "It's grand, yeah."

Actually, I've never thought of that before, but that must be so true. I think, yeah, I'd rather polarise reactions than the word nice, for sure.

Yeah.

And so we've covered it a little bit. You say you've experienced negativity and you move on. What about performance itself, or even the idea of presenting your work to other people? Do you ever feel nervous about doing that and, if so, how do you tackle those nerves?

Yeah, I'm terrified constantly. I'm terrified on a daily basis. If I send an email to someone, I am terrified, and when it gets to opening night of one of my plays, I freak out. I completely freak out. It's agony. Do you know? It's tough. It's very, very, very tough. I don't have a solution. I don't have a magic solution. All I know is that it's worth it when the audience say or the actors say or someone says it had an impact on them. I think self-doubt. In any creative business you're always battling with self-doubt, you're always going, "I'm rubbish. This is rubbish. Who do I think I am to be a writer? Everyone's going to hate it." And it's part and parcel of it. It's part and parcel of it. You have to find ways to cope.

I walk a lot. I find exercise genuinely saves my mental health. I talk to my friends, my very close friends about it, and I cry a lot. I cry a lot. I cry so much. But I think it's important to release it out of your body in some way, because if you keep it inside you, you're just going to end up being unwell, so if you can find a way to get it out of your body, I think is the only advice I can offer. And do you know what? If you feel that nervous about it, then it means you care about it 'cause you're having to put a lot of your heart into it, so it's a good thing to be nervous.

And what about your experience as a woman in the performing arts industry? Obviously it sounds like you've had a very supported career and that you're surrounded by supportive people. Would you say that women are well represented in your field?

Yes and no. We had to....in the feminist campaign that hit the Abbey Theatre, which is the national theatre of Ireland, two years ago, and it was making the point that it was a lot of male writers that had been chosen by the Abbey in the recent years, and it was making a point of women being underrepresented and represented in the arts.

To be honest, it's a tricky one and I struggle with it. I wouldn't want to see a situation where five females and five males have been chosen because we need five females. I think it should always come down to talent. I think in every show I've worked with there's been equal men and women been involved, but I do think it's a campaign worth noting because I don't think it was always that way and I do think there is still battles with women being asked to take lower wages and having to fight your way to top, and there are horrible people you meet who make sexist comments and I don't think that's representative of the industry, I think it's representative of horrible men, but they are in the industry and I'd like to see that broken down that there's a way where you don't have to engage with them. You can get around it. But, in my opinion, like, both of our theatres in Waterford are being run by Mary Boland and Sheila Penkart. They're the strongest women in Waterford Theatre, so I'm quite lucky living in Waterford. I'm surrounded by strong female role models and there's even more coming up. But I do think it's a question we should be asking ourselves as society.

There's been a lot more information about this kind of thing recently, so I know there have been in studies, in academia, showing that if a person's name is put on a list and the gender is revealed or the gender is inferred by their name, that men will often be put to the top of the pile or selected over a woman. In the theatre industry, are there ways to combat that? In a selection of plays, is it possible to remove people's names so that it is based on the play itself and not the person associated with it?

Yes, that is possible, and my name is Martina. I've often thought about, when I submit plays, would I change it to Martin? And I didn't out of principle. I refused to. I think the danger of removing the playwright's name for the posters is you're taking away the credit to the playwright. But that is a solution, do you know, and I think it's very important we're having the conversation. Let's find solutions, and even if 50 of those solutions are wrong or don't work, we're having the conversation.

Now, that would just be my opinion. A lot of people would say the playwright has nothing to do with it because it's on stage at this point, so it should be regardless whether the playwright's name is mentioned. But I would just argue back for the playwrights it's important to have the acknowledgement of the name on the poster.

Yeah, and I can absolutely see, of course you put all that work in, and it also has implications for future work for you as well obviously if you're names on a poster or whether it's not. It's a very complicated issue. How do you get to the root of that problem and that bias that's still in there?

Absolutely. I'm intrigued by the fact it's so complicated. I'm like, well, let's keep talking about it, 'cause anything worth doing never had an easy answer, and if it has an easy answer I think it would've been done years ago. But I think it's so important this dialogue is opened and it's talked about with people within the industry, people outside the industry, how do they perceive it? Male, female, transgender, everyone needs to be involved in this conversation until we find a solution for it. Because we can't bury our heads in the sand and say, "Oh, that's too difficult." I think as society, as the world, we need to address yeah, there's been a problem, women been oppressed for years. Just because we're not oppressed anymore, just because we're fighting and we've risen doesn't mean that we're not still holding onto old habits that need to be erased from the way we speak about women, the way that we address and acknowledge women, and it's just keep conversation open.

What are your thoughts then, as a woman in the performing arts industry, on the recent MeToo campaign? Obviously this is a huge ... there are many campaigns around the world, there've been people for many years discussing these issues, but obviously this has blown up and it's very topical at the moment. Do you have any thoughts and opinions about that campaign or things pertaining to it?

Yes, absolutely. I suppose I might get in trouble for saying this. I'm a bit controversial on the MeToo campaign to be brutally honest. My problem with the MeToo campaign is this is brilliant, we're finally breaking silence. Absolutely. I am 100% behind it. I can't imagine the pain of women who have suffered this. But my problem with it is it's blown up, it's everywhere, it's on Twitter, you can't escape it even if you want to, and I'd be very concerned the counselling services been put in place for women who have suffered this abuse.

In Ireland, counselling for survivors of sexual abuse is very limited, and recently the MeToo campaign broke in Ireland. I'd be very concerned about women who are very distraught, very upset, open wounds have happened, and they're on Twitter asking for someone to help them. So that's one of my concerns with the MeToo campaign.

My other concern with the MeToo campaign, we have a court of law. Whether we like it or not, that's our court of law and we have to abide by it, because if we start taking the law into our own hands we're going to end up destroying each other. Literally destroying each other. And what I'd say to the MeToo campaign, I'd like to see the MeToo campaign as tackling the court of law.

In Ireland, there's one per cent, one per cent of conviction of rape cases, and the way a woman is treated in rape or sexual assaults in Ireland is disgusting. It's the only crime, it is the only crime where the victim is a liar until proven innocent and you're underwear is shown to you in court and you go through eight days of cross-examination, and if you had any alcohol in you you're just not believed. So I would like to see this campaign move forward fighting for counselling and also fighting for conviction of rapists.

I heard a brilliant quote. Someone said, "My experiences deserve more than a MeToo hashtag on Twitter." Twitter is 160 characters. How can you put what happened to you into 160 characters? I think it's brilliant that we're vocalising it, but I think we need to follow up the vocalisation with action, and I think the law needs to stand up and admit that they've been treating women horrifically and they need to change the law. Because, at the minute, I can't actually imagine why anyone would go to the police if they'd been raped because you're treated horribly. You're treated like you're the one who committed the crime. In Ireland, for example, if you go to a sexual assault and rape clinic, you're asked is there mental illness or alcoholism in your family? If you're stabbed you're not asked that. What does that have to do with the fact that you've just been raped?

I'm delighted, I'm really, perversely I'm using the word delighted, that it's been acknowledged, because for years women, and men who've been raped as well, have just had to get over it themselves and know there is no justice for it and that's it. And particularly with Facebook and camera phones now, that's an issue that needs to be addressed. People are having pictures taken of them and put up without their consent. So it's great, but I'd like to see us moving forward with it and putting in practical solutions and help for women that just has not been there.

You have articulated your thoughts on that absolutely beautifully, and I must say that I mirror a lot of those sentiments. I find it very concerning the idea of a trial by social media, and I also feel that in today's day and age it's very easy to become complacent, that we feel that if we comment online and don't actually do any action in the real world that that is participating and actually helping to change things, and I think that's only very true on a very limited scale. It's very good, as you said, to talk about things and get the knowledge out there, but at the end of the day action is what is going to change things, and I think that's a beautiful perspective. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Thank you very much. Thanks a million.

Moving on, I think it's a really good time actually to introduce talking about the Repeal the 8th campaign that you have been a fierce campaigner for yourself. You obviously have very strong opinions and are very passionate about topics pertaining to women and women's rights. For those overseas who aren't aware of the Repeal the 8th campaign, are you able to tell us what the campaign is about and why you support it so strongly?

Yes. I've spoken to a lot of my friends who are overseas, and they found it incredibly shocking when I told them what Repeal the 8th is. So, the 8th Amendment, basically if you're pregnant in Ireland, under no circumstances can you have access to an abortion. That includes rape, that includes if your life is in danger, that includes if you're told your child won't live, you still have to carry that child. That includes if you have had an accident and you're on life support. If the foetus has a beating heart, you will be kept on life support.

Wow.

It's very, very, very restrictive. Under no circumstances, under no circumstances are you able to access an abortion in Ireland. Abortion pills are illegal. If you're caught taking an abortion pill you can face up to seven years in prison, I think. So our option at the minute for thousands of Irish women is to travel to England for an abortion, and that costs a lot of money. It's averaging a thousand Euro to get over there, including flights and including the money for the procedure once you get over there. We have heard horrific cases, we have heard horrendous cases.

In 1991, there was case X. She was a 14-year-old girl who was raped by a man known to the family, and became pregnant. She decided she wanted to have an abortion and her mother was going to go with her, and the family told the Guards that they were going over there because they just wanted them to know, and they also were hoping would there be any evidence that they could get to try and identify the man and get him convicted. They were stopped from going and that girl was forced to remain pregnant. At 14, raped, she was forced to remain pregnant. They eventually went to court, and she eventually ended up having a miscarriage. But if she hadn't miscarried, that 14-year-old child would've been forced to remain pregnant. Most recently, last year, a teenager requested an abortion, and she was put into a psychiatric ward and was forced to remain pregnant.

Now, they're the extreme cases on the most basic level. No woman in Ireland has the rights to her own body. No woman. We have to be forced to remain pregnant against our will, so if we're suffering mental illness, if we just don't want to have that pregnancy for whatever reason, whether it be cases of rape, whether it be an abusive situation, whether it be financial strain, whether it be that they're in college and they want to live their own life, whether they feel they have three children and they can't afford to feed them, whether it be their last child was a stillborn and they can't go through with another pregnancy, it doesn't matter. You have to leave your own country to access basic healthcare.

Look, I must say it blows my mind, and I am actually at a loss for words. I mean, this is 2018, and I firmly believe that my body is my body and what I do with it is my right, and so I would love to believe that there's enough support in the community to repeal the 8th. But the fact that it's still there is concerning, from what you've said. So what is the feeling like in your community at the moment? Are you confident that the 8th will be repealed, or is there still strong resistance to keeping it there?

I'm terrified. We're going to have a vote in May and we're campaigning, we're canvassing, we're going door to door, we're doing stalls, but I'm genuinely worried. I'm really worried whether it's going to come true or not because the Pro Life are against the 8th Amendment being repealed. They've got a huge amount of money and also they're quite aggressive with their lies. They tend to tell lies, and they tend to also pull on the heartstrings. Like, they're going around saying, "Oh, if abortion is allowed in Ireland a woman can have abortion at nine months." That's absolute lies and its ridiculous. But they are pulling on the heartstrings and they're very emotionally abusive, I think. So I'm genuinely worried.

In the past five years, there's been a huge uprising, a huge uprising for Repeal the 8th. There's a woman I work with, Sue Larkin, she's been fighting for this for 35 years. That's a very long time, and she said when she used to go out 30 years ago, people would throw bottles at them, they'd release dogs on them, they'd call them murderers. You might get three people to go to an event because people were so afraid to say that they were pro-choice, but it was happening. It was happening. Thousands of people were going to England. So in the last five years there's been a huge, huge uprise, and there've been T-shirts and jumpers done, and it's starting to feel like there's a community behind it. Anyone who's going to vote no on this is crazy and is ridiculous because they're trying to control a woman's body. But I don't know, I think it'd be very dangerous at this stage to say we have it in the bag. I think the whole world is looking at Ireland to see what you're going to do, and I hope that pressure will put it forward, but I'm going to keep canvassing and hopefully we will make a difference.

And what about the idea of the referendum itself? This is something that I'm not sure of what my opinion is on it, but the idea of a referendum sounds wonderful, it's very democratic, but we're talking about a decision pertaining to someone's body, and you're allowing the masses to make that decision when you would hope that the people that you have elected to parliament have the good sense and the education and understanding to be able to pass these things in parliament without referring to the people.

As we've seen in recent years, I mean, just because there's a referendum, doesn't mean that sensible choices will be made, and I don't need to go into anymore detail about that. Are you happy with the path of a referendum? Do you think this is the only way to change it in Ireland at the moment?

No, I'm not really ... What happened in Ireland before Christmas, they had a thing called the Eighth Committee, so they had people who've been directly affected from both sides give their say on it. So they had a wonderful woman speaking about foetal fatal abnormality, and they had people from the Pro Life side, and this went on for weeks. I followed it and I genuinely thought that was enough. I thought that was enough because they had hundreds of women saying this has affected me directly, and the cruelty of the journey of travelling. But it's our legal system and I have to abide by it. Whether I agree with it or not I have to abide by it.

I do hope the people of Ireland will make the right decision because what's bizarre at the minute is there's no aftercare for women when they come home, and we're all pretending like this isn't happening. It's 12 women a day are making an horrific journey. It was admitted that at least one woman bled out flying home. When you go over there, you're told, once you've gotten the procedure, to go to a cinema because it's warm, and if you collapse there'll be people around you to help you. When you return home, you're expected to go to work on Monday morning.

It's very difficult to find counselling that isn't from the Pro Life side. Just physical aftercare, it's not there. You're given Panadol and you're expected to be silent about this. Even if you are 100% sure you're making the right decision, this is one of the hardest things you're going to have to do in your life, and you have to carry it around by yourself, so if Ireland is saying abortion is illegal, they're completely ignoring 12 women a day who are travelling.

I heard a great thing. A couple moved to Ireland from America because they thought that Ireland didn't allow abortion that we had great care for people with disabilities. And we don't. But they presumed because abortion is illegal we've got all these supports. We don't at all. We don't at all. And there's a group, People with Disabilities for Choice, and they're making the point, well, what if I have a disability and I want to have an abortion? So there is a huge, huge uprise, but it is shocking. Ireland is very, very shocking with the way we treat women.

I always find that very interesting that you on one hand don't provide the support to women to enable them to have control of their bodies and have an abortion, and then on the flip side of that also don't provide support. It's almost like an extension of punishment to women: yes we're not going to allow you rights to your body and if you do take that path, we're not going to support you and give you the help that you need afterwards to make you a happy and healthy person in society. It just blows my mind, in short.

Absolutely. For a single mother, there isn't a lot of financial support and it's very difficult to get that support. You're treated horribly by the system. We have a housing crisis at the minute. Do you know, a lot of families are homeless at the minute. A lot of families are homeless at the minute. If you do choose to have the baby, it's impossible to get counselling after a pregnancy. There's no support. There's no support for any kind of pregnancy. And contraceptive isn't free. Contraceptive is not free in Ireland. You have to get the contraceptive pill on prescription from your doctor. Condoms aren't free. Our sex education is horrendous. There's no sex education for gay or transgender people. So what I'd say to the government, how about you put a lot of money into fixing the housing crisis, how about we allow free non-catholic, non-religion-based sex education that actually answers people's questions, and free contraceptive. And then when they've done all that, they can say, "We don't want abortion here."

That's a very, very valid point. And the idea that church and state are still so intertwined is very, very concerning. What about the topic of abortion itself? Obviously it's a very serious one. There are probably women who are listening to this who are Pro Life and don't agree with it, but in particular if you do support abortion, it tends to leave women open for attack in a variety of horrendous ways. I was wondering, have you personally experienced any negativity about your beliefs and, if so, how do you cope with those attacks?

I do. I do. I experience a lot of negativity. I have no problem talking to someone who's Pro Life and we can debate it calmly, and more often than not we have to shake hands 'cause I'm trying to change their mind and they're trying to change my mind and it's not going to happen, so we just have to part ways and leave it go. But there is the extremists who will call you a murderer, who will scream at you. And the way I cope with it is because I know right now, on a plane, there is 12 women going through the worst day of their life, and they are hoping someone is going to do something about it. So if I wear a jumper, if I have a protest, if I buy a badge, if I have a conversation, it's me helping those women in a tiny, tiny way. And you know what? Abortion is very upsetting. No one wants to have an abortion. There is not a single person in this world who wants to have an abortion. It's a crisis pregnancy. Crisis. And they deserve our support as well. And often people who have an abortion, they are thinking about the child. They don't want to bring the child into their circumstances or this world for a reason, and they should be given support in making that choice. In terms of negativity, it's getting very hot here in Ireland, it's getting very heated, and I think it's going to get worse in the next couple of weeks. I just have to practise self-care. I need to be warm a lot. I find being warm helps me, or exercise. And not engaging with it. Do you know, if someone is becoming abusive, I would never become abusive to someone who is Pro Life. I respect your opinion, I respect that you would never make the choice to have an abortion, but how can you take that choice away from someone else?

That's exactly right. And what would your advice be to Irish women out there who may be pregnant or lack access to contraception and feel they have no options? I mean, you're obviously very aware of the campaign, you know the ins and outs of the law, are there support services you can recommend that they may be able to access?

Women on the Web is a fantastic service, and they can offer you advice. My main thing to women is when you're googling, be careful of the sites you look up, because sometimes sites you're looking up is Pro Life and they're trying to change your mind. And now it can be easily solved by just clicking on whatever site you look up and making sure that they're not trying to lead you in one way. And also to contact clinics in England. BPAS, B-P-A-S, is fantastic. They're a brilliant clinic. They can offer you counselling, they can offer you options, they're going to explain exactly what's going to happen to you. They look after you and they'll take care of you. Unfortunately, they're looking after Irish women, 'cause we won't look after them at home. But they are a fantastic service and they will look after you.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. I can't imagine the fear that a woman must feel not being able to access services that she so desperately needs. I'm sure that even if one woman knows that there is now a site that they can at least go to or some way that they can maybe get out of their situation, I'm sure that is a huge help. Concerning the campaign itself, what if there are women who want to support the campaign but don't really know what to do or how to go about it, do you have any advice for them?

Yes, absolutely. Well, if you're in Waterford you can contact Pro Choice Waterford. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and our email is [email protected]. What we are saying to people is, 'cause a lot of people want to get involved in the campaign but they're saying we don't have time or we don't really feel comfortable standing on streets, so we offer a wide range of things you can do to help.

If you've got half an hour spare and you can drop some leaflets in your area, that would be a fantastic help 'cause we can't get to everywhere. We're based in the city centre. If you would like to sell some badges or T-shirts, that would be brilliant for us if you want to take five away. If you'd like to help us set up a table quiz, because it is quite negative, so if we have a night out and we're all supportive of each other, that would be fantastic. If you want to share us on Facebook, that would be great. If you could give us a like, even to build up a community. If you'd like to write a letter, this'd be very important. Writing a letter to your local newspaper — letters to the editor have to be printed — just on why you're supporting Repeal the 8th. If you're national in Ireland, you can get involved in the Abortion Rights Campaign, if you're across the seas and you want to help, you can order merchandise from the Abortion Rights Campaign. All money goes back into the campaign and it would greatly help us. So if you just check out the Abortion Rights Campaign, Pro Choice Waterford, we've loads of events coming up, and even literally, it sounds stupid, but if you can buy a mug for a fiver it would be a huge help for all that money to go back into this campaign.

Fantastic. And what I love about that, as you said, there are so many ways that you can hep that can fit in with your lifestyle and your ability and your ability to speak out, because I understand there may even be women who are really in support of this but can't speak out because of their certain situation at home or whatever it may be, so that's wonderful that you have so many avenues that women can access.

Yes, absolutely.

You said you're on Facebook as well, and I have to draw attention to that because a lot of people do use Facebook nowadays, and so sorry, is it Repeal the 8th at Facebook? Is that what you're campaign is?

Yes. We're on Pro Choice Waterford. If you type in Repeal the 8th at Facebook, you'll find all the Repeal the 8th pages, and you can find the national one and the local one just so you can find out more information. If you want more information on what the 8th Amendment is in Ireland, you can find it all there.

Moving a little bit to a little bit more about you. Obviously you are an amazing woman, you're achieving great things professionally, you're a writer, you've achieved your dream of working as a playwright, you're also helping young people, you're also very educated and supportive of women rights generally with your involvement with the Repeal the 8th campaign. We've already spoken a little bit about confidence, but everything that you do really requires confidence, and you, yourself, have acknowledged how important confidence is. So, how do you foster confidence in yourself? Is it something that you actively have to think about, or do you think it's something that is innate within you?

Well, I was never very, very confident, and I still would freak out and get very anxious about even sending an email. I suppose someone said to me once, and it was a brilliant thing, "No one is confident, but we all pretend we are." So if you are scared and if you are nervous, pretend you're confident. And I do that daily. I'll meet someone for coffee, I'll give a talk, I'll write, I'll go to the open night of my play and I'll come home and I'll collapse in exhaustion, and I'll allow myself then to be scared.

When it comes to learning to be confident, it's very difficult for anyone in this life to be confident, but if you smile and if you can pretend you're confident and if you can get passionate about something, if you're really passionate about something, I think confidence comes hand in hand, 'cause if you really care and if you really want to make a difference, you will find confidence to shout.

When I was younger, I was very scared of everything, and I still remain to be scared, but I'm so passionate about Repeal the 8th and I'm so passionate about young people being given a chance, I find myself standing up then and going, "No, we need to fight for this. We need to fight for this," 'cause we only have one life and if you do anything in your life, be kind to each other or help someone. But it's a daily battle and I think a lot of people listening to this will recognise that. It's a daily, daily battle.

For some women, makeup. I find when I wear makeup, when I'm particularly nervous, gives me a confidence boost. I don't know why. I think mainly, if I'm wearing foundation, no one can see me when I go red. When I get embarrassed, no one ... And such a simple thing. It's such a simple thing, but it helps me so much. When I wear high heels I feel confident, because I'm quite short, so I feel confident when I'm wearing high heels. Like, little tricks. Tricks. That's all they are is tricks. Water. Whenever I go anywhere I need to have water with me 'cause my mouth gets very dry. When my mouth gets dry I start panicking, I start gasping. So, little tricks. You only know it about yourself, you know? Some people say it gets easier when you get older, but any person I know who's older says it doesn't, it gets worse. You just get better at pretending. You get better at pretending. And it's hard. It's hard. Life is hard. Do you know, life is like one really bad awkward day that doesn't end, and we have to keep going. And laugh at yourself. Oh God, when it comes to confidence, laugh at yourself. I get so embarrassed and worked up over little things, and this is something I'm still learning to do. I get so upset over nothing and so I'm trying to learn to laugh at myself and going, "It doesn't matter and it'll be fine," and most of the time things end up being fine.

I'll tell you what, everything you've said resonates so much with me. I must say, it's so true about finding what works for you. I mean, what helps with someone else's confidence may not work with yours, and I think that holding that with you ... If wearing makeup is enough to get you through the day or through an interview or whatever it is that you're going through, if that works for you, go for it. There's no harm, is there, in doing what works for you.

Not at all. Absolutely not. And it comes back to caring what people think. I heard a great quote: "When we're younger we worry about what people think of us. When we're older we don't care what they think of us. When we're old enough, we realise they weren't thinking about us at all."

Do what's best for you. Wear high heels. If you need anti-anxieties, if you need medication, use it. If you need water, if you need makeup. And if anyone says you're stupid for them, they've just got their own insecurities that they're trying to put onto you. So it's very important to recognise that they have stuff they're working through. It's nothing to do with you. Do what works for you because it's your life. It's your life. And it's hard. Do whatever makes it easy on you.

On yourself. That's right. And you only get one life so try and enjoy it as much as you can.

Exactly, yes…you're like. I mean, when it comes to it, we all know we're all going to the grave. The last person to latch down is the undertaker. You don't want to be going down with worry, and life's too short to be worrying. Look, I'm saying that and I spent all day yesterday worrying. I'm not saying I have it down to a tee, I'm just saying I'm trying to laugh as much as possible.

As well as encouraging confidence in women. We want women to stand up and be proud of what they do, and so I wanted to know what it is today that you're most proud of. When I say that, it can be with your writing, it can be with the Repeal the 8th, it might be something completely different, but you're very accomplished. What is it something that deep down you are really proud of that you've achieved?

That's a really tough question. It's a really difficult question. It's a really tough one. I suppose one of my proudest moments, and there's different levels of pride in your life. One of my proudest moments was when I got my first paycheck and I cashed it. I went home and I was able to give very small money to my mam and my dad and my sister, 'cause they supported me, they gave me money, they gave me dinner, they gave me love when I didn't deserve it, they gave me everything. And that was just a wonderful moment of all the years they spent collecting me, having dinners ready for me, giving me money when they had nothing, giving me everything, showing up to plays. It was a wonderful moment walking in the door at home. And it wasn't money, it was able to say thank you. It was able to say thank you. And I'll never be able to thank them. You can't thank them for everything they've done for me. But what an extraordinary moment to go, "You've supported me all this way and I got paid for it. People applauded and you were in the audience and thanks." And, you know, we got chips out of it and we had a great night and it was just a lovely, lovely moment. It was a lovely moment.

And just on that, I know you only asked me to say one, but when we did a Repeal the 8th protest and I was standing on Ballybricken and it was freezing cold and we genuinely thought no one was going to show up, I looked down and there was about nine or 10 of my friends. I knew they were going to walk down that quay with me if it was only the 10 of us. It was only the 10 of us and that was such a proud moment because I know if I've done nothing else in my life, I've gathered these wonderful humans and they love me enough that they will walk with me anywhere, and they're all wonderful. How lucky am I to have them as friends, and how lucky am I to have them as friends who go, "All right. Grand, girl. You want to do a march. Okay, we're with you. Okay, this is a bit crazy but yeah, we'll go with you." So those are the moments that stand out.

I just love that response so much. For me, it's the fact that, as you said, you can have pride in so many levels in your life and those are very different places to have pride, but they also revolve around the people in your life and how they've helped you too, which I think speaks bountifully about the kind of person that you are, so congratulations on those achievements. I was just sitting there thinking about that feeling you would've had, being able to go home and do that for your family. That would've been amazing.

Thank you so much. Thank you so so so much.

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sesshatetsuko · 5 years

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Rurouni Kenshin Fanfiction : See you in life Beyond -Chapter 4-

Summary : For as long as he remembers, life had never been easy for him. So when carefully-buried memories are brutally awakened, the worst can happen... * A canon post-Jinchuu story, depicting how Kenshin tries to survive his inner demons, and how he and Kaoru finally became a family...* (rated M)

To find previous chapters, just search for #fanfiction on this blog!

Sitting in seiza at the end of the training room so as not to disturb the endless flow of shinai, the wanderer was watching attentively the activity under his eyes. Kaoru was training students of Maekawa dojo in addition to her own. As a result Yahiko was redoubling of effort, proud of his master's teachings and eager to show his technical superiority against the opposing school. Sweat, quick gestures and kiai cries filled the air.

Giving lessons for another dojo allowed the young kendoka to support as much as possible the needs of the house, helped in this task by her only disciple, who although unable to pay for his lessons participated in living together by bringing a little money from his work at the Akabeko. Sanosuke, on his side, sometimes helped as a docker at Yokohama Port, his imposing physique allowing him to carry heavy loads. Thanks to this livelihood he was able to finance things like his nocturnal escapades. Above that, he had recently developed a strange fascination for ships coming back from abroad, and all the stories of unknown countries swimming with them...

Only Kenshin, unemployed, was out of step compared to his young companions.

Having always experienced poverty as a child and then wandered for more than 10 years as a penniless and homeless wanderer did not do anything to help things. He had lived so long without thinking about the next day, indifferent to the fact that his own death could happen from one moment to another, that changing his way of life now that he had settled at Kamiya dojo was very difficult. In fact, he had to relearn everything, having absolutely no personal reference of standard family life. Thus, if surviving had become one of his specialties, money remained a mysterious data for him, since absent during most of his existence. As a result, he had trouble caring for it, associating it personally neither with need nor with happiness.

Kaoru seemed to understand this, since she never pushed him in that direction, and for this he was secretly grateful to her. He had tried to look into it, but ... what could he do? His level of writing and reading was barely passable and he had only learned the art of the katana, developed more particularly that of murder, a perfectly useless competence in this new Meiji era he had sweated blood and tears to build. He did not want to transmit the Hiten Mitsurugi (his own youthful failure regarding the values that his teacher wanted to teach him was damaging enough), and the professions of policeman or bodyguard had proven to be a formidable stimulant for his innate assassin reflexes that he desperately tried to bury. Not to mention the fact that he did not like to go away of the dojo for a long time after the traumatic incident of Enishi, and that sometime, his body began to make him pay for all of his swordsmanship years...

Finally, this one might not be suitable for this new era ...

He focused his gaze again on the young students before him, and on the life that emerged from them. Basically it did not matter to him to be obsolete, if these people could know the happiness of a peaceful life. That was the reason he had fought for and would fight again.

Kaoru was in the center of the room, and she was performing a series of kata demonstrations for her students. She was lifting her shinai at full speed, hitting her arms and hips in different directions, her feet resting each time in very particular points on the ground. These were traditionally rigorously codified exercises where each gesture mattered.

Although he had initially come to see her out of sheer curiosity when he arrived at the dojo, Kenshin's eyes had become much less innocent since he had begun to develop feelings for her. Because if the young woman was just emerging from adolescence, his own adult life was already well under way, and his body was often painfully reminding him of that... which had earned him to this day many cold water buckets, meditation sessions and other nocturnal baths. Worse, since he had started courting her without allowing himself to touch her, training sessions had literally turned to torture. To see her waving fiercely in this low necked man's outfit, sometimes revealing her tightly bandaged chest, was enough to bring his blood on fire. Moreover, her incredible agility made him wonder what kind of acrobatic positions they could u... -Kenshin took a deep, long breath.

This one will definitely have to go back to the river ...

Chasing these ideas did put his self-control yet strong at severe test. Himura was also careful not to stare at the young kendoka too intensely, for fear of frightening her with the ardor of his thoughts. Concealment was after all a specialty among assassins. Kaoru was executing the movements with precision, causing her slim yet robust body to be covered with a thin layer of sweat, which slid down her neck and lower.

The river, the cold river ...

While Kenshin was struggling internally, all the students seemed captivated by the current demonstration. The master of Kamiya Kasshin performed kendo with a grace and tenacity inherited from her father. All except a boy who was standing aside, a pout on his face, apparently bored by all fo this.

She seemed to have noticed it since it was to him that she spoke first.

"Gyôsei, come to reproduce the exercise, I will mime your partner"

" Why me?" He replied, exaggerating his grimace.

He doesn't seem to want to work this morning, his master noted irritably.

"You're lucky she's the one taking care of you," Yahiko replied, waving his shinai. If you don't want to do any more katas, I'll be happy to be your opponent and kick your ass, idiot! "

If slackers were people of the worst kind for the brave first Kamiya Kasshin disciple, men who were not interested in martial arts were just downright aliens.

"Stop arguing, boys!" Kaoru continued without losing her concentration. "Come on Gyôsei, put yourself in position. "

The young man reluctantly complied. He began to realize his series of movement awkwardly, the assistant master reproducing them identically in front of him, then quickly lost patience. Kaoru countered every shot, but Gyôsei became more and more abrupt and rough in his gestures. After a while, clearly angry at having been put to work and ridiculing himself in front of his classmates, he aimed a shoot that was not intended in the choreography directly at his teacher's ribs. The young woman, although surprised, saw his attempt and narrowly dodged him, but the aggressive gesture did not go unnoticed by the redhead sitting in the back of the room, who had suddenly raised his head.

"Well," Kaoru noted, "you still lack coordination ..."

"Pfff ... what's the use of learning these choreographies? It's not even a real fight! "

"It's you who are the real moron! argued Yahiko who was regretting not having previously kicked the damn boy's ass "If you cannot even master that you'll never be able to fight! These are the basics, the ba-si-cs! "

The two boys stared at each other fiercely. Meanwhile, the wanderer had risen from the corner of the room, unbeknownst to everyone.

"Gyôsei, right?" He said with a smile. "You do not seem to have really grasped the concept of kata. "

" ...What do you mean? "

Why does it matter to him? If even the housekeeper of the dojo comes to annoy me now! Gyôsei already had no desire to come to class, only obeying the order of his parents, but if in addition everyone fell on him ...

"That stroke at the ribs was not in the demonstration. "

The boy clenched his teeth, displeased that his little hanky-panky was noticed.

"So what... ? "

"This one will be your partner. "

Without waiting for his answer, the samurai grabbed a training sword hanging from the wall. Gyôsei looked at him with a hint of apprehension. He had never noticed how callused his hands were, nor that his usually high-pitched, even feminine voice could become so low. Not to mention, did he not have a sword hung on his hip? The impulsive boy was suddenly intimidated by this scarred man with tawny hair, who had suddenly decided to take part in their training...He had been coming at the Kamiya dojo for some time now and from memory this guy was only satisfied to observe them without speaking, occasionally smiling in a honeyed or even silly way. If only he had been told that this man could do something other than cooking or washing laundry...

"Are you sure, Kenshin?" The young kendoka wondered. "It's really not worth it ..."

This is the first time he ever gets involved in one of my classes! He has never accepted to train with me, or even to give advice to Yahiko before...

"This one insists. "

He put himself in position immediately, to everyone's surprise. The students had spontaneously formed a small circular group around them, curious to see the abilities of the redhead who lived with their master. As for Kaoru, she was as shocked as her students.

"Hajime! "

His voice was definitely not honeyed, and Gyosei felt for a moment the dark authority of a powerful ki. He resumed his kata, this time reproducing it very carefully. The wanderer dodged all his blows without any difficulty, not bothering to lift his shinai or even change the position of his body. Then, half-way through the exercise, at the exact moment when he had previously tried to hit the kendoka at her ribs, the samurai vigorously pressed his foot between the boy's and mowed his leg with a dry gesture. Gyôsei crashed face down at full speed.

"Kenshin!" Kaoru immediately glared daggers at him.

The boy got up with difficulty, surprised at his sudden fall, having seen absolutely nothing. He would probably be rewarded later by a good bump on the head.

"Hey, that -that was not planned!" He groaned, rubbing his chin where a small hematoma was already forming.

"You deserved it!" Replied Yahiko, openly laughing. He, too, had not missed the gesture tempted against his master just now.

"A kenjutsuka must be ready for any eventuality. "The redhead calmly replied, hanging up the shinai on the wall. "That's why it is helpful to be focused on any exercise, as basic as it appears. "

The former Master of the Kamiya Kasshin gave him a complicit but accusing look.

He did it on purpose ...

She came near the samurai, partly amused by his possessive reaction and partly annoyed by his hint of authority and the punitive gesture that followed against her disciple.

"Kenshin," she murmured, "I'm able to correct my own students by myself. "

"This one knows, that he does. "

"Don't try to play the innocent with me..."

"Oro? Please forgive me, Kaoru-dono. This one will resume cleaning." He said, scratching his head, adopting a resilient posture. Challenging a kendo teacher in her own school was never a good idea.

"You'd better! "

The class then resumed to a normal rhythm, and the pupils of the Maekawa dojo as much as the one of the Kamiya dojo, redoubled their ardor in the execution of their katas. Definitively, Gyôsei would be wary of housekeepers.

Despite the recent building of a railroad between the two cities, the Tôkaidô road, more than 500 kilometers long, linking Kyoto to Tokyo in more than 50 relays - without forgetting Osaka and Kobe - was still very popular, mostly because modest people did not have enough money to buy a train ticket. It was dotted with thriving inns and abandoned checkpoints since the end of the Meiji era and the reunification of modern Japan. Its creation a long time ago had allowed the trade to prosper all along the coastal path, this axis having remained several centuries during the most traveled of Japan.

About two weeks of travel were needed to cross this road on foot without horse or palanquin, ridiculous and useless attributes in the eyes of the thirteenth master of the Hiten Mitsurugi, but by rushing only ten days would be necessary for the man to complete the journey. To have large legs and a developed musculature, fruits of a rigorous training for decades, had proved useful in many situations.

And the faster I will go, the faster I will get rid of this crowd ...

But while Hiko was only barely getting close to Kusatsu, second stop of the above-mentioned route, his sharp hearing suddenly detected the cry of a young boy, as if smothered by ...

...Leaves?

He moved instinctively towards a tree-lined massif at the entrance to the village. Above a Scots pine, half masked by thorny branches at almost 15 meters high, a small body was leaning dangerously towards the void.

"Help!"

"... what's your name, kid?" Hiko shouted from the bottom of the tree, very curious to know the name of the one who'd had the imbecility to climb higher than he knew how to get off.

"Toshiro, but ... HELP ME FINALLY! I'M GONNA FALL!"

The boy was desperately clinging at a medium-sized branch, which was already emitting dangerous crackling sounds. He was covered with green goads. Hiko found the scene in front of his eyes rather funny.

"Patience, kid, you don't have to be afraid when I'm right below you."

"Huh?"

With that, the master jumped several meters high, lifting the dust at his feet to land on a branch halfway from the child. He quickly made his way towards him, clutching the trunk with dexterity. Then came a moment when it was too thin to support his weight, and Hiko stopped his progress.

"Let yourself fall."

"No, I can't ..."

"Let yourself go, fool, I told you I was right below!"

"HUWAAAAAH"

The young boy did not have to execute the said move because the branch that supported him suddenly yielded, obliging the master to throw himself immediately in the emptiness to catch him. They landed on the ground with a crash but no damage, since Seijuro held the boy in his arms with a perfect squatting position. You don't become thirteenth master of Hiten Mitsurugi for nothing, see.

He laid the child on the ground and dusted his coat disdainfully.

"So, Toshiro... what kind of stupid reason did cross your mind to have you climbing on a tree ten times higher than you?"

Not that I really care about it...

Toshiro waited a few moments to regain his breath and his balance, then devoured with an indescribable intense gaze the imposing brown man in a white cape that had so spectacularly restrained his fall.

"It's my dog, Mochi... He ran away several weeks ago, and since then we've been staying at the hostel in order to find him ..."

The boy's face darkened sadly. From Hiko's point of view, he was only going to babycry.

They must have money to afford themselves to be stuck here for so long, just for an animal ... I guess these are the benefits of this carefree Meiji era.

"..You know, everyone loves him at home, he's part of our family. I thought climbing up this tree would give me a better view of the valley ..."

"It was a silly idea."

"He was scared by that damn raven!" continued the boy, as if to defend himself. "Mochi goes crazy every time he sees one ; you see, a bird attacked him when he was a puppy, and since then he has always been afraid of it!"

Stupid master, stupid dog ...

"I did not ask you for so much information ..." Hiko pointed out, his annoyance growing.

Toshiro suddenly looked up at his savior.

"Oh, I'm so rude ... You helped me, and I don't even know your name?"

"Niitsu Kakunoshin ... I'm a potter."

Even to a child, Seijuro Hiko did not reveal his true identity. Never. Precaution of thirteenth Hiten Mitsurugi's master, a school that had survived for several centuries with only one disciple and one name.

"Po ... potter?"

Toshiro could not believe his ears. This man was so muscular and agile ... Potters suddenly rose high in his esteem.

"Please come to the inn with me. My parents and my little sister are there and my father is an art dealer, he will surely give you money to thank you."

"That's nice, kid, but I'm in a hurry."

Hiko had no desire to hang out in this rotten shed, let alone meet other people.

"Just be careful next time."

"Yes sir!"

Toshiro greeted the great ceramist very low, who went on his way as quickly as possible, silently muttering against reckless kids climbing the trees and wasting his time. One stupid apprentice was enough.

Saito was fuming. They had a lot of trouble collecting data on this case, and he still had no tangible track. During these last weeks the agents deployed to the field had returned once again with shreds of information without concrete link to each other. Children were disappearing, mainly in remote villages and poor areas of Japan. In most cases they were orphans, making it hard to identify and even account for them. Nobody claimed their bodies, and few people cared about them.

The number of disappearances is probably wildly underestimated ...

He took a puff from his cigarette. A dirty habit inherited from Westerners.

They may simply have died of starvation and their corpses would have been left aside in the absence of a loved one to bury them.

Unfortunately, some disappearances were oddly localized. And Saito did not believe in coincidences.

What use would a group of kids without connection be?

This case did not make any sense. He was turning that same question again and again in his mind, spinning impatiently around his desk. Outside his window, afar in his visual field a little girl was holding a puppy on a leash. An Akita, probably, judging by its already imposing size despite its young age. It was then that he was wandering on this innocuous reflection that an unhealthy idea began to germinate in his mind...

...A human trafficking?

They were roaming into the streets of former Edo, still noisy despite the late hour. One of the pleasant changes of this new era, in comparison with the desperately empty alleys of Kyoto as soon as the day was off during Bakumatsu, noted the wanderer. Night had fallen and the red glow of Izakaya's lanterns alternated with the fleeting flashes of candles entrenched inside the intimate houses of wood and clay. Their path consisted of wide, animated passages as much as of narrow lanes, where the single shadow of the crescent moon gave the high stone walls an almost threatening look. The brawler had his hands in his pockets and was chatting about futile things on the way : this cuttie here had pretty eyes, the fish dealer there yet open rather looked like he was selling junk... He was smiling while walking, obviously relaxed, stretching his long legs covered with badly trimmed trousers to the front. The other man, smaller and older, remained silent most of the time, but was following him at a good pace. With his face somewhat lowered, only the slight wind that sometimes played among its red strands could discover his deep azure eyes.

It had become one of their rituals. Strange, how a friendship can be forged between two persons of a different generation, bound by a visceral fighting instinct and the trials that life had put in their path. Going out in such a regular basis was granting them with privileged moments between friends, far from the sometimes suffocating female agitation of the dojo where the samurai lived.

"... Hey, are ya even listenin' to me when I speak?"

He raised his head, suddenly thrown out of his thoughts.

"Gomenasai Sanosuke..."

The samurai let his words linger in the fresh air of spring. His eyes were still dark.

Kenshin doesn't seem like himself tonight... my job to cheer him up!

Sanosuke Sagara logically decided to take his mind off the brooding by using the best way he knew, a method that he believed had been proven in any age and any individual.

"Well, whaddya think about givin' a good hit into a woman tonight?"

"ORO?"

The wanderer gave him a meaningful, almost comical glare.

"This one does not value violence against women." he said seriously.

"Oh my, you're so straight, Kenshin! Relax a little!" He gave him a big pat on the back. "I only meant to have sex with a woman, if ya see what I'm talkin' about!"

"Oro? This one still does not see the interest, that he does." The samurai blushed discreetly, but seemed however to consider the proposition for brief a moment. "Besides, Kaoru-dono would be furious ..."

"Kami-sama, how can ya be so austere... Okay, let's have a drink instead!"

They were approaching a place with warmer vibes. Sanosuke went on with an exaggerated cheering tone :

"This spot will be perfect!"

He lowered his head and lifted the entrance's curtain of the small building which seemed almost out of time. The atmosphere was more hectic inside than outside - not to mention noisy. As soon as they had taken their seats near a window, the two buddies were knocking back fermented rice beverage shots together, one of the rare local alcohol on this isolated island of the Far East.

"Ya don't speak much tonight." He corrected himself. "I mean, ya're chattin' even less than usual."

The redhead sighed, annoyed by this display of hidden questions, before swallowing his saké.

"Sano... This one is just a bit tired, that's all."

With an absent gesture he handed the cup to his friend anew.

"I'm already used to do most of the talkin'," he continued, serving him, "but now that's a one-way dialogue."

Without paying more attention to his remarks, Kenshin emptied this new cup in one gulp, his cerulean gaze still lost on the outside agitation. Sanosuke stared at him, dumbfounded.

"And ya have a hellish thirst tonight, nothin' to compare with that fuckin' restrained behavior ya have with Jou-chan or the others."

"Ah, sorry..." He scratched the back of his head and forced a smile as he turned back to his friend.

"Give up the excuses, these drink're on me for once;" he smiled, elbowing the red-haired, "Want another?"

"Huh, I guess..."

He hesitated, then handed his glass again. It was like any other promptly emptied, but his attention never truly returned to the current conversation.

Sanosuke was peering at him silently. He knew that if the wanderer did not want to talk he would get absolutely nothing from him. This man could have a head harder than steel and was naturally not eager to confide. Although it was annoying him strongly (he was officially impatient), he had learned over years to get the best of it : it was better to spend a good time together and leave those problems until later on when he would feel ready to speak - if such a moment ever existed in this life. That's why he maintained the conversation on his own, Kenshin just nodding now and again.

The smell of saké was surrounding the small building enclosed between two other inns. Its wooden tables, worn but friendly, were covered with sticky and odorous traces resulting from the strong passage of individuals throughout the day. The evening continued until numerous bottles were emptied. Nothing unusual for the fighter accustomed to this kind of trip, but much more unnatural for his companion who appreciated so much self-control. He had swallowed the majority of the drinks served without really paying attention, under the half-amused eye of his friend.

Yep, definitely, somethin's wrong.

"... ya better stop here, don't ya think?"

It did not sound like the brawler at all to restrain others' consumption, but something didn't seem right in the samurai's behavior tonight, and he did not like it.

"Hmm." Kenshin put his glass down, awkwardly dropping his elbow on the table. "Let's go."

He got up with the help of his left arm and crossed the door, head bowed.

Sanosuke was following him closely. The samurai had a slightly feverish and unsteady walk. For an innocent eye his balance would seem perfectly normal, but for the trained eye of someone who knew the precise and agile moves of the fighter like the back of his hand, there was no doubt about it : he was dead drunk.

Sanosuke took place at his side while discreetly positioning himself in the background to be able to catch him in case of fall.

"I never saw ya drink this much..."

"Gomenasai" he mumbled

"Stop apologizing all the time, it's becomin' really annoyin' t-"

The wanderer suddenly lost his balance, stumbling on a misplaced pebble. Sanosuke narrowly caught him by placing his arm under his belly.

"Baka, I'll take you back to the dojo."

"... Arigato, S-Sano"

The fighter put his arms around his friend's shoulders, and while supporting most of his weight, walked on the pavement carefully. The wind that had gotten colder by now was playing melody against the surrounding silence, between the leaves of trees barely lit by the nocturnal star. They stopped several times on the way so that the redhead could empty the contents of his stomach, implicitly helped by his friend to stabilize him. As he watched the samurai folded in half, his hair stuck to his face, Sanosuke was thoughtful.

No more words were exchanged that night between the two men. Only the sound of occasional regurgitation and settas hitting the ground punctuated their march.

Next chapter : Enemy of my enemy

#fanfiction #See you in life Beyond #chapter 4 #Rurouni Kenshin #kaoru kamiya #himura kenshin #seijuro hiko #yahiko myojin #Sagara Sanosuke #Saito Hajime #sesshatetsuko

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rainbow-sides · 5 years

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It won't be 2019 for another 3 hours where I live and the passing of time and dates and when we start a new year in our calendar is all just a construct anyway, but I thought it would probably be a good idea for me to talk about where I've been and where I'm going on this blog. Putting it under a read-more because it got very long.

Warning, I'll be talking about death, depression, dropping out of school, and suicidal thoughts.

A hell of a lot has happened since last New Year's Day for me. Last January, one of my best friends was killed. It was unexpected, a shock, traumatizing for everyone who knew him. I had seen him only three days previously, happy and healthy and excited about his plans for life. I had just landed in the airport going back to school 3000 miles away when I got the call, and it absolutely shattered me. I was a wreck: depressed, having nightmares and panic attacks about other people I loved dying in ways that were just as horrible as how he died.

I tried to do well in school--I was taking a biology class, a photography class, and a novel writing class. But I was sleeping constantly. I couldn't focus. I alternated between eating too much and not eating enough. I had no good friends at school and I was 3000 miles away from my support system. I couldn't afford the time and money to go home for my friend's memorial service. I was a complete wreck, but after about the first week of being there when I couldn't stop crying and I missed my first day of classes, I looked fine from the outside. I'm a very good actor. I knew how to make the school counselors think I was doing great, how to make my parents think I was fine so they wouldn't worry as much about me.

But I couldn't handle school anymore. I had already been considering taking some time off from school to figure out a direction in life because I felt aimless (as many 18-19 year olds do, I know) and I wasn't functioning very well in a classroom environment. My friend dying brought everything to a point where I couldn't even return for spring term to finish the year. I was going to drop out.

And then sometime in early February, after CLBG? came out, I decided to watch the Sanders Sides series. I had heard about it and thought it sounded interesting. So I watched it over a span of two days. Moving On happened, and I was sobbing on the bottom bunk with a pillow against my face so I didn't wake up my roommate (I had done a lot of that over the term). Once I had finished the series, I made a post on my main blog wondering if there was a fandom and fanwork to consume because I wanted more. I eventually found my way into the community, and it was one of the best things I've ever done.

I started writing. I wrote Sunshine and Foils, and I wrote one-shots, and I got feedback like I had never gotten before. The community was more active and loving and supportive than any other fandom I'd ever been in. (Sure, we have some problems, but it's still an incredible community.) I was writing for fun for the first time since my friend had died, and I wrote to cope. I wrote Anomalies. I wrote about grief, about how a loved one dying changes everything. I made friends, amazing friends. (Hey you, you know who you are 💙.)

Term ended. I went home. I won't bore you with the details, because nothing happened. I spent 7 months sitting and sleeping and writing and being depressed and being unsure if I was ever going to want anything out of life ever again. It all seemed pointless. I wrote Stay in the Equation.

In October, just before Halloween, I got a job. I'm now a teacher, sort of. I don't have a degree, I'm not credentialed, but I work as a special education aid in a 7th/8th grade Resource Specialist classroom, helping students who need extra help, time, and accommodations in their classes. I work at the middle school I went to, seeing some of my old teachers and still calling them by their last name because calling my old amazing biology teacher Justin just seems so...wrong.

I wrote a bit more on my original novel that I hadn't worked on at all since last year, since before my friend died. I've written some songs with my sister. I came out as trans to my parents and sister and friends, and I go by my correct name at work.

My students call me Martin. They don't know me as anything else. They tell me I should become a science teacher because they love it when I go off on tangents helping them with their science homework. Sometimes I think they're right. 13 year olds have an instinct for that sort of thing. It's before society has completely wiped any originality and creative thinking out of their heads, which is why I like that age group. I still have time to help them stay who they are, to help them grow, to guide them carefully away from their "I'm better than my peers because I don't use slang words or say 'like' all the time" phase. I'm helping. I have a routine, which is good for me. I walk a mile to work every week day, which is also good for me.

And after another year and a half of teaching there and maybe taking some gen-ed classes at a community college, I think I might go back to school full time and study marine biology in Monterey, much closer to home than my previous school. Get a single subject teaching credential and teach 13-year olds that mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. And during the summers, maybe I'll do the research and/or conservation education that I want to do. I might publish my book. I might make more music. I don't know.

But I do know that without this community to dive into headfirst, to lose myself in creating something for people other than me, I wouldn't have gotten back on my feet. I owe so much to everyone who read any of my fics, who liked and reblogged and especially those who took the time to comment or message me about it. You kept me going.

The anniversary of my friend's death is this coming Sunday. It's already hard, and I'm feeling the anniversary effect. I've had a lot of anxiety these past few weeks, and it will probably only get worse as the days pass. My hands are shaking a little bit as I type this. Part of me just wants to curl up and hide from the world forever, and I'm sure I'll be doing some of that. But I'll be okay. The time will keep passing, and I'll get further away from the rawness of the pain and the anger about how he died until it doesn't consume me when I think about him. I just want to thank you for being there with me.

I'm going to post the final chapter of Anomalies soon. It's the story I wrote to most directly cope with my friend's death apart from a few that were too personal for me to ever share. Maybe it's silly, but I feel a little bit as if posting it will bring me some kind of closure. Probably won't actually help--the pain and the anger are too real and too big for much closure to come from a story I wrote--but maybe it will. Maybe it will.

Okay, I'm going to go do that now. I hope you all have a lovely New Year. Please stay safe. May 2019 bring you a better part of your life than 2018 brought you. I sure hope it will for me.

Much love. 💙 ~Martin

#personal #death mention #depression mention

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andreaeppolitoevents · 3 years

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What Education Do You Need to Be a Wedding Planner

How to become a wedding planner: Do you need a college degree?

Emma Holland left a comment on my video about Theft in the Wedding Industry that said, ”Hi Andrea! Could you make a video about the education requirements to be a wedding planner? I’m a high school student and I’m very interested in event planning. ❤️❤️”

Well, Emma - this video is for you and the thousands of men and women who are interested in this field, but not quite sure how to proceed.

One of the reasons that I am so committed to teaching others is because I remember how greatly I struggled to find information on the industry when I was in high school and college. The World Wide Web was not yet a thing, and there were not great resources for those of us who wanted to become wedding planners and event designers.

As a matter of fact, my family relocated from Long Island to Las Vegas so that I could attend UNLV, which was and remains one of the top hospitality universities in the world. When I first met with my college counselor I was asked, “So, what do you wanna be when you grow up?”

I said I wanted to be a wedding planner. The counselor looked at me with this blank stare and blinked a few times before telling me, “But that's not a real job. You should study catering!” I kind of laughed and said that while wedding planning was not the most popular job right at the time, there was a woman Marcy (Marcy Blum) doing it in New York. All of these celebrities and socialites were hiring wedding planners. I really believed that the industry would take off, and I was just so insistent and so passionate about it that the counselor enrolled me in….catering. There really was no other place for me to go!

Fortunately, times have changed. In the last 25 years, the role of a wedding planner has grown from something that only socialites and celebrities used to widely being considered a necessity, With so many different types of wedding planning experiences available, many couples find that they can afford to include some sort of professional planning and execution in their budget.

And so how do you break into this industry? What kind of education is it that you need?

The truth is, all you need to do to start your own wedding planning company is a business license, insurance, and a website. That's it! A couple of clicks of a button and boom! Your wedding planner. But that won't make you successful, and it certainly won't make you good. I have a lot of issues with people entering the industry without having taken the time to study both the art of design and the business of being a wedding planner.

Being good isn’t enough. Checklists are good. Apps are good. To do this the way it needs to be done, you need to be great. T and the only way to be truly great is to be incredibly and continuously educated..

Here are 5 things educational elements you need to commit to in order to start a successful wedding planning business:

1. WORK: Get real-world experience. One of the greatest differentiators that sets me apart from others in my field is that I have decades of hands-on, real-world experience. Think about your career and every job you have taken. From my first job as a greeter at a wedding tradeshow to my first "real" job as a hostess at a high-end restaurant to all the years that I spent in hotel and resort catering departments, restaurant sales, and nightlife operations, every job I took was with the intention of honing my craft so that I could be the very best operator on site. I knew that in order to execute and run a successful wedding day, I needed to fully understand what it took to set up event space, to cook and produce food for hundreds of people, and what the service standards were that needed to be obeyed and adhered to. Not because I read about a 1 per 75 rule in a book, but because I watched a bartender get crushed at the opening of doors. My years in retail taught me how to sell to a woman in a dressing room, which has helped me understand what a bride wants to look and feel like while shopping for a wedding dress. There is no amount of book knowledge that will ever substitute for starting from the bottom and working with your own two hands in every facet of the industry you are entering.

2. READ: Equally important to the real-world experience is reading about business. This doesn't necessarily need to be about the wedding and events industry. When I want to engage my mind, I seek to learn from others who have become icons in their own space. Books such as Shoe Dog, written by Phil Knight (the founder of Nike) and inspirational how-to guides from the likes of Tim Ferris and Gary Vee have helped me learn about the business side of being a wedding planner. Reading books gives you the opportunity to learn directly from people that you respect and admire, that you would likely never get to meet. My own personal goal is to read 2 to 3 business or autobiographical books a month. Start with one book, and you will quickly find it addictive. Not a reader? Listen to them on audiobook!

3. INTERNSHIPS: When I was working at the Bellagio as a wedding coordinator, I offered to come in on my own time to learn how to capture and edit video. Back then,, we were working with VHS! I spent about two months working in the darkroom for free so that I can understand how to quickly cut a ceremony and turned around for our couples. I spent another month and a half in horticulture learning how to make a bouquet and boutonnieres. While I was a hostess, I volunteered to set up for large parties so that I could figure out how to set up and teardown around.

Interning may sound like real work experience, and to some extent it is. The difference is, when you're an intern you work for free. There is this idea that working for free is bad. No one wants to work for free anymore. But the truth is that an internship is an investment that you make in yourself. You are paid not in money, but in education and experience.

I get emails and DM's weekly from people who want to come and "work a wedding for free" I never accept these offers for a few reasons. First, my clients deserve to be serviced by top-notch, skilled professionals. I will not disrespect their experience or violate their trust by allowing someone who has not been fully trained on hand. It simply is not worth the risk, and my clients deserve more. Secondly, in order to make the process of an internship beneficial for the intern, I need to be able to spend time with them. I want to be able to give them real access and knowledge, to go over their questions, and to fully explain how I work in a one on one setting. On a wedding day, my focus is my client and I simply cannot do both at once.

So how exactly do you get an internship that will help you while not taking away from the person you're interning for? The trick is to offer to do the grunt work. Offer to respond to emails or direct messages. Offer to schedule social media. Offered to sweep up someone's floral shop, or wipe down rentals. It's not about being in the front of the line and doing the glamorous work. An internship is about you doing the grunt work and learning by osmosis. It's about you being around the real nitty-gritty so that when you are ready you have real-world, behind-the-scenes knowledge that you simply wouldn't have otherwise.

4. FREE CONTENT: Today you are reading and watching a video on the types of education you need to become a wedding planner. That in and of itself is a part of your education. There is a tremendous amount of free content available on YouTube and on Podcasts, blogs, and digital downloads. I can tell you firsthand that I have absolutely learned and picked up tips and tricks on how to run my business by listening to the podcasts and watching the videos that others in my industry have created. Spend your time following and studying the wedding professionals that you admire. Watch how they work if they share behind the scenes videos. Study their style. If they create content, download everything they offer. This will give you a strong basis for developing your own set of skills.

5. Last and Finally….PEER TO PEER LEARNING: Of all the things I've suggested you do, none of them are as valuable as peer to peer education. Conferences and associations put a lot of time and energy into bringing out guest speakers that will present on highly specialized topics that you can learn from. Organizations like WIPA, ILEA, and NACE are amazing for peer to peer education. Conferences and educational events produced by The Knot Pro, Wedding MBA, and Engage are built on the idea that we learn best from each other. These activities are so worth it, and I will say that even with 20+ years of experience and my degree, the most important things I have learned have come from others that are in the trenches with me. If you cannot join an association, enroll in an online course. Personally, I love online courses and am forever enrolled in something. There are also a number of Facebook groups both private and the public that has been created specifically for peer-to-peer education in the wedding planning space.

You may have noticed that nowhere in this video did I say that you needed a college degree or certification because you don’t. That does not mean that I don’t value the degree - I do! I love learning and believe that you should attend college if you have the ability to do so and if you truly enjoy the process. A degree is something that no one will ever be able to take away from you. However, I don't believe the book smarts are the only pathway to success, and when I think about what traditional upper education has turned into I think about that line from Goodwill Hunting where Will says, “You wasted $150,000 on an education you could've got for a buck-fifty in late fees at the public library."

The greatest indicator of success is someone who is committed to continuously learning. My best advice is to read everything you can. Listen to podcasts. Watch videos. Sketch, design, and play. Get a job in the industry. Intern on your off days as often as you can. Volunteer to work on every event you possibly can, because nothing will ever take the place of real-world experience.

So to Emma and anyone else wondering about what kind of education you need to be a wedding planner, I hope this helps! I also hope it encourages you to send in comments and questions. I really do read them and try my best to create the content that YOU need. It is my way of giving back to an industry that has given me everything in terms of professional success and happiness, that has allowed me to make a living while building a life.

Interested in my courses? Watch the video above to the end for a special code that will enroll you today and give you a one-hour consultation with me.

Always…

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wallpaperpainting · 4 years

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You Should Experience Benjamin Moore Paint Store Near Me At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | benjamin moore paint store near me

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myexperienceinspain-blog · 4 years

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Is this what homesick feels like?

I was 12 years old when my family decided to move to Spain in order to help my sister pursuit the degree of her dreams and offer me the best education.

It all happened so fast, I remember saying goodbye to my old school friends, classmates and childhood friends I've endured so many experiences with.... my farewell party with all of them, the photos, and all of the memories i made at that party and all of a sudden, I’m on an airplane.

The destination? Madrid.

The airplane ride was super long, it felt like I was on that plane for ages. Mainly because it had to do with my queasy stomach and nervousness about tackling a new adventure. I didn’t have any expectations, I just wanted the plane to land in Madrid so I could get it over with.

The first couple of days I was obviously feeling jetlagged and a bit queasy, the winter was brutal that month. Nothing felt like normal. One thing that made me more comfortable was that there was good food here and my mom and sister were always by my side. My sister was also feeling the same as I did, we would have long talks in the middle of the night when we couldn’t sleep due to our bodies getting used to the different time-zone, we would talk about everything - how sad we felt about leaving our loved ones behind, how much we missed our pets, how we longed for the comfort of our old beds, but we understood that it was crucial that we decided to live abroad in order to become the best version of ourselves, we understood the challenges that we had to face but since we were together with our mom, nothing felt impossible.

My mom and I began searching for private schools that were close to where we live, and close to where my sister is still currently doing her bachelors degree, but the one that caught my attention was the one i’m currently studying in, Casvi. When I did the admissions exams, I was really nervous because I wanted to do well in order to get into the school. I’ve always been an excellent student, and I always put effort in everything that I do, and I think that’s one of the main reasons I got in!

My first day of school was really stressful, the school was new, everyone was different and it was so diverse. I have never met so many kinds of people in just one place. I was scared during the first day of school. I didn't know anyone, I got lost since the school was huge. I never had the majority of my classes in Spanish before. I was super nervous because I realized that all of my classmates knew each other and they have been friends for years. But fortunately, everyone was super nice to me and I fit right in.

I definitely felt more comfortable in the school uniform especially since it was winter and it’s very stylish, my school uniform’s from my old school were very uncomfortable and usually made me feel very hot.

The academic workload was tough, and it definitely took a toll on me before I got the hang of it. That’s when I realized that I made the right decision of enrolling in Casvi, the teachers are suburb and the education is excellent, I’ve gained so much knowledge. Of course, when the workload was too big there were times where I couldn’t help but to wish I was back home, gobbling homemade food and having a sleepover with my friends. But eventually those feelings passed because I started to see the pros more clearly of studying abroad, and I even read different blogs of students feeling the same as I did and I learned that It completely reveals the perception of people of different worldviews. People can touch different cultures while studying abroad. Teach various cultural conventions such as rituals, rituals and human relationships. It also helps people understand these different cultures. It also reflects a variety of lifestyles, such as the food people eat and the timely activities in which they participate. Studying abroad also promotes intercultural relationships and communication. After learning that, I realized that I made a great choice of moving to Spain.

Months passed and I became more used to the Spanish culture, my teachers were very comprehensive and I’ve learned so much about the spanish language. I made some amazing fun friends, going out opened my eyes to more similarities and differences in the American culture. It was one of the times I was so proud of being American and proud of myself because I’ve learned so much Spanish that I even sound sometimes like a native.

Every semester I met other exchange students in our region. I became friends with people from Germany, the Netherlands, England, etc. It was nice when we were together because we saw that language, color or size didn't matter. We were all the same. We would talk about differences at home, at school and in our countries. I learned a lot about other cultures and I could even share mine.

Thinking back and seeing how much I’ve changed i can definitely say that I've changed my perspective in a way I never thought I would, I’ve grown intellectually, culturally and physically. I value more my family and friends here, I am open to new ideas and I have more confidence in myself. Studying abroad and learning another language taught me that everything is possible and that I can do anything I set my mind to.

My advice for anyone reading this is that although moving to a new country seems scary, its culturally enriching. You grow in every aspect and you see the world from a different perspective. The main reason why you should study abroad is that you have the opportunity to see the world. If you study abroad, you will discover a new country with an incredibly new appearance, customs and activities. The advantages of studying abroad are the opportunity to get to know the new terrain, the wonders of nature, the museums and the views of the host countries. You can see that immersing yourself in the educational system of the host country is an excellent way to truly discover and understand people, traditions and culture.

I think everyone should get to know a different culture firsthand. Culture is not just about languages, food, personal appearance and habits. It can represent deep perceptions, beliefs and values that influence the lifestyle and the way you see the world. It is a good opportunity not only to limit a single set of ideologies, but also to understand a completely different style of ideologies.

Education is an important part of life. I think that people often opt for immigration from their home country for a variety of reasons. Many people think that studying abroad is a way to change people's worldview and ability to explore. Many people choose to study in developed countries that offer progressive education. There’s a lot of different reasons why people choose to study abroad and if you decide to, don’t be scared, the feeling of homesickness will pass and all of your fears as well. I know because mine did and I absolutely love it here.

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darcyfarber · 4 years

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The Best of the Best Proven Side Hustles You Should Know About

Need to make a little (or a lot) of extra money this month?

Side hustles are an incredible way to boost your monthly income. Whether you want to stay home and make money from home, get out of the house to make money, or try something unique and fun – I have you covered.

This list is updated weekly and if there is anything you think I need to take out or add to the list, please let me know in the comments below the post.

Also, if you do find something and you’re having a lot of success with it, you’d be helping everyone out by sharing your win in the comments below. Thanks so much and enjoy the guide to making more money each month.

Table of Contents

My First Picks...

1. Share Your Opinion

2. Door Dash

3. VIPKID

4. Airbnb

5. Share Your Blog with the World

6. Become a Virtual Assistant

Online Hustles

7. Start a Social Media Marketing Business

8. Ebates (Now Rakuten)

9. Honey Browser Extension

10. Inbox Dollars

11. Fiverr

12. Make Money with PayPal

13. Amazon

14. Amazon Affiliate Links

15. eBook Publishing

16. Etsy

17. Craigslist

18. User Testing

19. Become a Freelance Writer

20. Zazzle

21. eBay

22. Do Transcription Work or Data Entry Work

23. Sell Your Photos Online

24. Start a Web Design Business

Driving Hustles

25. Uber/Lyft Driver-Partner

26. Uber Eats

27. Be a Paid Designated Driver

28. Drive People to the Airport

Extremely Passive Hustles

29. Rent Out Your Garage or Driveway

30. Become a Voiceover Artist

31. Rent out your Car

32. Rent out a Room full-time

Some Skill Required Hustles

33. Become an Online Coach

34. Create an Online Course

35. Spray Tanning

36. Become a Cover Letter/Resume’ Writer

37. Develop an App

38. Catering

39. Computer Repair

40. Computer Training

41. Guitar Gigs

42. Guitar Lessons

43. Handyman Work

44. Lifeguard

45. Mobile Oil Change

46. Network Marketing

47. Personal Training

48. Tutoring

49. Teach Music Lessons

50. Start a Baking Business

51. Become a Sports Umpire

Physical Labor Hustles

52. Clean Pools

53. House Cleaning

54. Mowing Lawns

55. Painting Gates

56. Painting Services

57. Shoveling Snow

58. Wash Cars

59. Wash Windows

Unique Hustles

60. Rent out Your Baby Gear

61. Sell Your Hair Online

62. Paint Street Numbers

63. Sell Drinks

64. TaskRabbit

65. Start a Home Staging Business

66. Be a Work-From-Home Customer Service Rep

67. Start an Estate Sale Service Business

68. Start a Vending Machine Business

69. Pick Up Trash in Parking Lots

You’ve Got to be Kidding Me Hustles

70. Be a Sperm Donor

71. Be a Plasma Donor

72. Become a Cuddler

73. Pick up Dog Poop

74. Rent-a-Friend

Easy Peasy Hustles

75. Babysitting

76. Dog Walking

77. Gig Walking

78. Golf Course

79. House-sitting

80. Mystery Shopper

81. Pet Grooming

82. Pet Sitting

83. RedBox

84. Sell ScrapMetal

85. Tax Prep

86. Sign Spinner

87. Sign Holder

Final Takeaway

My First Picks…

These first five are favorites because they are quick ways to get started making extra money and they have long-term potential as well! All five of them do require an internet connection, but sine you’re reading this from the internet, I think you’re covered there ?

1. Share Your Opinion

and get money sent to your PayPal

Yup, you can actually generate side income by simply giving your opinion via online surveys. It’s not going to make you rich tomorrow, but it’s still a great way to generate extra income during your down time.

If you think surveys may be the way to go, check out our full list of the top survey companies for both online and offline opinions here.

Survey Junkie

2. Door Dash

Door Dash is our favorite pick for food delivery because it’s been reported back to us that DoorDashers make slightly more than UberEats drivers. While we don’t have any factual statistics to prove this right or wrong, we still pick DoorDash over UberEats as our top side hustle for food delivery. If you have a car, bike, or scooter, get started with Door Dash today and start making money for your next vacation, your upcoming wedding, or whatever expense you’re saving for!

Maybe you just don’t feel like driving people around in your car or maybe you don’t even have a car. Depending on the city you live in, Uber Eats allows you to deliver food to people via your car, bike, or scooter. Turn on the app in the morning before work, when you get home, or whenever you have some extra time to make money on your terms.

Door Dash

3. VIPKID

VIPKID will pay you up to $22/hour to teach English from the comfort of your home to children in China. Currently VIPKID has over 70,000 teachers teaching English as a second language to over 600,000 children in China.

They do require you to have a Bachelor’s degree from either the USA or Canada and they ask for “some teaching experience”. However, from the teachers we have spoke with from VIPKID, they said “teaching” doesn’t have to mean teaching in a traditional educational setting.

The lessons are 30 minutes long and you will be paid up to $11 for each 30-minute lesson. One thing to note is since you are teaching across the globe in a live setting, you will be teaching at odd hours (late at night or first thing in the morning). However, the teachers we spoke to said it was fun, rewarding, and it paid well for being able to stay at home and teach from their laptops.

VIPKID

4. Airbnb

Did you know you can rent your room or house out at Airbnb? They have been around since 2008 and millions of people have been renting out their rooms or entire homes to travelers from all over the world. If you do this right, you may be able to cover your entire mortgage! If you’re going to be gone for a month or two, you may as well allow your space to make money while you’re gone.

Airbnb

5. Share Your Blog with the World

I started this blog in 2015 from my laptop at my kitchen table and today it generates over $10,000 per month 🙂 However, in the beginning it was just a side hustle project that turned into full-time income much quicker than I would have ever dreamed.

If you love writing, then starting a blog is exactly the right side hustle for you. There are many ways to generate income from blogging, with one of the most popular being through affiliate income.

How does it work?

You know how you can share a referral link from companies you love and they will send you $5 for referring them a customer? Affiliate partners work the exact same way.

Is blogging complicated?

Absolutely not! But just in case, I did create a step-by-step guide to help you get started in about 15 minutes.

Start a Blog

6. Become a Virtual Assistant

If you enjoy working from your laptop, then becoming a virtual assistant may be exactly what you need. We use a few virtual assistants for Money Peach and one of them earns over $10,000 per month as a VA. Other places where you can become a virtual assistant for an agency where they find work for your is Upwork. They take a 10% fee, but 90% is still a great side hustle.

You can also listen to Episode 80 on the Money Peach Podcast (below) where my own Virtual Assistant shares how she got started as a VA and within a few years was able to quit her full-time job and start earning over $10k per month doing what she loved.

Virtual Assistant Course (Use Promo Code Peach 10 for $50 Off)

Online Hustles

I love online hustles because they give you the freedom to do these anywhere. If you’re constantly traveling for work or out of town a lot you’re going to absolutely love these online side hustles.

7. Start a Social Media Marketing Business

Our very own social media manager was actually someone who was enrolled inside Awesome Money Course. We noticed how great she was inside our private students-only Facebook group and we offered her a job with us. Now she manages all of our social media for Money Peach and she has also been offered social media jobs from other bloggers!

A great place to get started is visiting the Facebook Side Hustle Course by Bobby of Millennial Money Man. You can read how many of the students from the course are landing social media jobs for $1,000 – $2,000 month! Not a bad little side hustle, right?

Facebook Side Hustle

8. Ebates (Now Rakuten)

Ebates is a company that has partnered with over 2,000 online companies to form an affiliate relationship with each of them. An affiliate relationship simply means Ebates and each online company have created a partnership where Ebates will refer you or I to buy something from them, and that company then sends Ebates a thank-you referral.

The good news: Ebates then splits the thank-you referral with you, and you earn Cash Back.

The Better News: You can Make Money by referring friends, family, or anyone else to join Ebates!

Ebates extends their referral program to any Ebates member who would like to share how to earn Cash Back while shopping online. Once you create an account with Ebates, you can invite your friends and family to join in on the Cash Back savings, and YOU will also receive a thank-you referral, aka make money.

BONUS $10 with Ebates Right Now

9. Honey Browser Extension

Honey is a free tool that will search for online coupons and apply them to your online shopping cart to make sure you are saving the most money. Instead of searching for coupons one at-a-time and applying them individually, Honey does all of this for you in the matter of seconds. Not only will you save money, but you will also MAKE MONEY with their refer-a-friend program. For anyone you refer to the app, Honey will send you $5 as soon as they purchase something via the app up to $1,000.

Honey Browser Extension

10. Inbox Dollars

Inbox Dollars is a rewards club that pays you in cash for completing a variety of online activities. This can include searching the internet, filling out surveys, printing off coupons, and shopping online. If you are already doing these things, you may as well get paid for it, right?

Inbox Dollars

11. Fiverr

Fiverr is a platform where you can sell your products and services starting at $5 per gig. After you have a few $5 gigs under your belt, you can start increasing how much you charge. Here at Money Peach, we hire people from Fiverr all the time. Just recently, we found someone for a quick logo design and another to transcribe some videos we created.

Also, the Fiverr platform does take 20% from each gig. Therefore, if you do a $5 gig, you will take home $4 per gig. However, if you can complete 3-4 gigs in an hour, your hourly rate could start at $16 – $20 per hour!

Fiverr

12. Make Money with PayPal

Already have a PayPal account?

We have put together a list of the side hustles that will pay you in PayPal gift cards which can then be deposited into your PayPal account – just like cash!

Where to make money with PayPal

13. Amazon

Selling on Amazon is almost identical as selling on eBay in terms of fees and ease of use. However, sometimes items that don’t sell as well on eBay do better on Amazon and vice versa. Either way, it is a side hustle worth looking at if you can buy for cheap and resell for a higher price.

14. Amazon Affiliate Links

I know of a guy who started out as a handyman. He then took that idea as a handyman and started his own blog to teach people how to fix things themselves through blogging and video tutorial. At the end of every post or video, he would tell you what tool he used to get the job done and would provide a link directly to Amazon for you to purchase that product.

However, he also signed up for a free Amazon Affiliate Account. Every time someone clicks on his link and buys ANYTHING on Amazon, he gets a commission! Think about this: Amazon pays him for the tool he recommended and also for anything else they Add To Cart. This is why I love blogging and why I have a free tutorial to help you get started.

15. eBook Publishing

Make money by writing your own book and self publishing it on Amazon for free. There are different options available for how your can price your book and earn income from the sale of your book in the Amazon store. Questions about self publishing your own book? Check this out.

16. Etsy

Instead of having to open up your brick and mortar store, sell your creations on Etsy. Whether you make clothing, crafts, baby toys, or jewelry, you can open up your own store at Etsy. I have a friend selling her awesome clothing line on Etsy and it brings in a very nice income for the family. This is another great side hustle, but don’t expect instant results. You may need to be patient for this one.

17. Craigslist

We all know you can buy and sell stuff on Craigslist, but have you ever thought about offering a service you can provide. If providing a service isn’t your thing, you can scan Craigslist for great deals and then later resell items for a profit. This takes persistence and patience, but I have a friend who went from a $4k truck to a $24k in truck in 18 months by flipping cars from Craigslist.

There are also many other sites competing with Craigslist and you may have better exposure by posting on these sites like Craigslist.

18. User Testing

Don’t want to do an online survey, but still like to surf the web and earn some cash? Companies will pay you to try out their apps or visit their websites and give them feedback. Usertesting and UserFeel uses your feedback on apps and websites that aren’t as user-friendly and then pays your for it.

19. Become a Freelance Writer

If you are a good writer, consider searching online sites such as freelancer.com for writing jobs. Individuals or companies might need freelance writers for a number of reasons.

Individuals or companies might need a writer for their blog or website, or a company might need a writer for its instruction manuals, for instance.

Pro Tip: The best way to learn how to get freelance writing jobs is from someone who has been doing it for years. Holly Johnson generates over $100k per year freelance writing and she has a program to show you how to do it.

**Money Peach Readers: Use Coupon Code PEACH10 to Receive 10% Off at Checkout**

Become Freelance Writer

An even better option is to learn from those who are already making 6-figures as freelance writers. Check out Episode 13 on the Money Peach Podcast where Holly and Greg Johnson share how they got started as freelance writers and soon turned their side hustle into a 6-figure income.

20. Zazzle

Make money on Zazzle as a designer by selling your artwork on different products or you can actually make and manufacture the products for sale. I have a friend who takes old dry wood and paints slogans on them. She needs to sell them on Zazzle; she could create a very quick and profitable side hustle.

21. eBay

You can have your own store up in only a few minutes at eBay. To start, you must have a seller account, must be verified through PayPal. You are even able to give a detailed description of your store with a catchy design to attract customers. I have a friend who will buy all of the unused bras at a last chance type of store and resell them for a profit at her eBay store. Last I heard, she was doing $1,000/month in her first couple of months.

22. Do Transcription Work or Data Entry Work

Companies hire transcriptionists for a number of reasons. A doctor’s office might need a medical transcriptionist to record information about a patient’s appointment, or law enforcement agencies might need transcription services for court cases or suspect interviews.

Data entry work, which is a bit easier than transcription work, is also available from companies who hire people to work from home. Simply google “transcription work” or “data entry jobs” for a list of companies currently hiring work-from-home reps.

23. Sell Your Photos Online

Do you take amazing photos? You can actually sell your photos online at places like iStockPhoto, Shutterstock, Fotolia, and Bigstockphoto. Photos can be sold over and over again, allowing you to earn a residual income!

24. Start a Web Design Business

If you’re knowledgeable about web design, you could make money creating or improving on websites for individuals or businesses.

Advertise on Craigslist or approach businesses directly if they have a website that needs improvement.

There really is no shortage of ways to make extra money if you’re willing to get creative and do some research. Which financial goals will you use the extra cash you earn to accomplish?

TWEET THIS 'When you're broke, the best place to go to get more money is work'Click To Tweet

Driving Hustles

If you have a car, you may as well use it to help you side hustle, right? Here’s our favorite driving side hustles.

25. Uber/Lyft Driver-Partner

If you are unfamiliar with Uber or Lyft, then make sure you still have a pulse and you are breathing air.

To get started, some minimum requirements you need are a car, a smartphone, and the Uber or Lyft app. You become available to drive as soon as you complete the activation process and then you are ready to start earning money. Fares are paid out weekly or up to 5X a day when you register for Instant Pay with your debit card!

Today, there are more riders on the road than ever! This is one of my absolute favorite ways to start generating money quickly.

Drive with Uber

Drive with Lyft

26. Uber Eats

Uber Eats

27. Be a Paid Designated Driver

Pretty self-explanatory.

28. Drive People to the Airport

Some airports don’t allow Uber or Lyft to drop people off or pick them up, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still offer up airport rides on your own. Post an ad to all of your friends on social media that you are now their preferred method of getting to the airport. I used to do this when I first got my license and it paid very well 🙂

OR JUST DRIVE WITH UBER OR LYFT (See Number 24 Above)

Extremely Passive Hustles

If you like passive income, then you may want to review the top 40 passive income ideas . But to get you started, here are our favorite side hustles that are also extremely passive.

29. Rent Out Your Garage or Driveway

You’ve likely heard of AirBnB, where you can rent out rooms in your house – or your whole house – to travelers wanting to avoid the impersonal feel and high cost of hotel rooms.

Maybe you can’t or don’t want to rent out rooms in your house, but you might have space in your garage to rent out. Sites such as Air Garage help people rent out their garage spaces and driveway spaces.

People might want to rent out your garage or driveway space because they work close to where you live and want cheaper and safer parking options.

Or they might want to rent out your parking space because there’s an event near you, such as a state fair or sporting event.

Depending on where you live you could easily earn $50 or more a month for parking spots in your garage or driveway.

Check out this Money Peach podcast with AirGarage CEO Jonathan Barkl for more info.

30. Become a Voiceover Artist

You know those people who talk on radio and TV commercials but you never see their faces? They’re called voiceover artists, and they get paid good money to do what they do.

Sites like Backstage list available voiceover jobs, and Carrie Olsen, professional voiceover artist, has a great web site that can help you learn how to become a voiceover artist.

Check out this Money Peach Podcast with Voice Over Star Carrie Olsen for more info.

31. Rent out your Car

Did you know your car sits idle 93% of the time? If you’re not going to need your car for the next couple of days/weeks/months, you may as well let it earn you some cash. You can list your car through RelayRides and have your personal car rented out tomorrow.

32. Rent out a Room full-time

Own a home and need extra cash each month? Rent out a room in your house to help cover the mortgage and free up some of your cash. I have a single friend who has a $1,200 mortgage and he consistently earns $2,000+ every month by renting out room(s) in his house via Airbnb. Fun fact – he applies the extra cash towards his mortgage each month!

Airbnb

Some Skill Required Hustles

So, not all side hustles are for everyone. In fact, these ones below do require some skill to make money. But, the more skill you have, the more money you will make!

33. Become an Online Coach

If you have an idea and can help people, pay attention. Whether it is motivating someone, helping them pass a class, or teaching them how to build a website, this can all be done online. Setup you’re pricing, terms, and accept payment through something as simple as PayPal and you are on your way. I recommend using Skype or Google Hangouts since it is 100% free. Help someone and get paid – genius.

34. Create an Online Course

Is there something you are good at and can teach to others? I have a friend who will teach you how to clean pools over his site, Swim University. Check out Udemy for ideas on your next online course and see how much people are paying for someone like you to teach them.

One of the greatest accomplishments I have had in my business is helping others reach financial freedom. We have had over 500 students graduate Awesome Money Course and completely turn their money situation around!

If you are tired of living the paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle and would like to save more, pay off debt, and reach true financial freedom, then Awesome Money Course was made for you.

I am so confident you will absolutely love the program that I have 100% money-back guarantee…meaning you could download the entire course, keep it, and ask for a refund.

I hope no one would do that, but I will also take that risk if it results in you learning how to manage money, pay off debt, save, and build a wealthy future.

However, if you would like to try a little bit of our program out, we do have a 100% free mini-course called the Cash Flow Formula which will show you the step-by-step to building a monthly cash-flow plan with many of our favorite money-hacks to save more and pay off debt quicker!

Start Cash Flow Formula (FREE)

35. Spray Tanning

A good friend of mine (Jessica) has become the queen of spray tanning in our area. In fact, she is making $900 per week cash spray tanning both the ladies and the men and it’s all through word-of-mouth! You can check her out at JC Glows on Facebook to see how she set up her side hustle.

I asked her how she got started and she said this:

She started with this exact tanning kit

She uses this tanning tent

She taught herself how watching YouTube

36. Become a Cover Letter/Resume’ Writer

Professionals of all kinds pay ridiculous amounts of money for professionally written resumes. I know one guy who paid a professional resume’ writer $5,000.

If you have a knack for writing compelling and attention-grabbing resumes, consider offering your services on sites such as freelancer.com or Craigslist.

37. Develop an App

If you’ve got a great idea for an app that will make people’s lives easier or more exciting, this could be a great side hustle for you.

Check out this post on learnappmaking.com for more information on how to develop and market an app for some extra income.

38. Catering

If you love cooking, serving food, and entertaining at your own home, then get paid to do it for someone else. This can be fun and can often go from side hustle to full-time if you’re really good at it!

39. Computer Repair

If you love “playing” computers, then help someone repair theirs and get paid for it. Note: You must know a little bit about computers 🙂

40. Computer Training

How many Baby Boomers (or anyone for that matter) do you know who are still having trouble checking their email. If you were able to navigate to this web page, then you probably have the skills to teach extremely basic computer skills to an extreme beginner.

41. Guitar Gigs

A friend of mine finds guitar gigs online, on Facebook, and in the paper all the time. He shows up, plays for a few hours, and leaves with cash in hand. Note: you must be good at playing the guitar.

42. Guitar Lessons

If you are handy on the 6 string and can show someone else, teach them. Better yet, teach the world online how to play guitar.

43. Handyman Work

Some people are handy and others are not. Let your neighbors know that you are available to hang a ceiling fan, patch a hole in the drywall, fix an irrigation leak, or paint a fence. All can be done for them ASAP for a small fee 🙂

I love TaskRabbit. Whether I need a doggy door installed, someone to clean my house this weekend, or even mount a TV, I can go on TaskRabbit to find someone in an instant. YOU could be that person I find next on TaskRabbit for hire!

44. Lifeguard

Become a lifeguard and earn $16/hr – $20/hr part-time. Not only do you make some extra cash, but you are guaranteed to get a little tan as well.

45. Mobile Oil Change

If you don’t mind getting underneath the car and pulling the drain plug for people, then this could be your next side hustle. People are busy, and may want to pay you to change their oil while they are at work. Note: Wal-Mart always has the cheapest oil.

46. Network Marketing

Network marketing (sometimes referred to as multi-level-marketing) can sometimes have a bad connotation if you have ever been scammed in the past. However, there are very reputable companies out there that you can start working for today with very little buy-in or overhead. A member of our family started off her network marketing business as a side hustle and has turned it into a part-time gig with full-time income. Warning: if you are told it doesn’t require any actual work – run away!

47. Personal Training

Someone out there wants to get into better shape, and they are willing to pay you to help them. If you love fitness, this would be a perfect side hustle for you.

48. Tutoring

Take your education and use it to make money on the side. Tutor students and get paid handsomely.

Live in the U.S. or U.K. and hold a bachelor’s degree? You can earn up to $20/hr plus bonuses to teach kids English online from the comfort of home. Learn more here.

49. Teach Music Lessons

From singing to playing piano or any other number of instruments, parents everywhere are seeking music lessons for their kids.

If you have a gift for a musical skills, consider teaching that skill to local kids. You might be able to find jobs by looking on Craigslist or by seeking out local public school or homeschooling groups to connect with parents who have school-aged children.

50. Start a Baking Business

Do you have a gift for baking goodies such as cake, muffins or cookies? Why not use that gift to make yourself some extra cash?

Events such as birthday parties, weddings, office parties and meetings, retirement parties and more often have baked treats as a part of their celebration.

Advertise your culinary skills on Craigslist and with local event booking venues for your bakery services.

Be sure to check with state officials on what the rules are for serving and selling food in your area first.

51. Become a Sports Umpire

Are you knowledgeable about the rules and regulations of certain sports? Do you like working with kids? Recreation associations often pay good money for organized sports umpires for football, baseball, and more.

In our area, umpires earn about $30 an hour. Check with local sporting organizations for job opening details.

Physical Labor Hustles

If you don’t putting in a little sweat equity, you can do very well side hustling with some physical labor attached to it. I did #50 when I was getting out of debt and generated over $1,000 each month.

52. Clean Pools

This requires very little overhead and is simple to do. Go to Google Earth and look up which homes in your neighborhood have a pool, and offer to start today. I actually did this to get out of debt and it worked out great!

53. House Cleaning

People are busy and don’t have time to clean their homes. This is where you come in 🙂 Search your area in Craigslist to get an idea for pricing your own services.

54. Mowing Lawns

If you don’t have the funds to purchase all the equipment, then offer to your mow lawns with their equipment. I actually did this in grade school because I wasn’t old enough to drive. I just showed up, grabbed their lawnmower, and was paid.

55. Painting Gates

Gates fade and someone needs to repaint them. A kid in the neighborhood took pics of faded gates and pretty gates and posted them on the mailbox with his number and price. (I think one of the faded gate pics he took was my gate also).

56. Painting Services

Remember that movie American Pie 2 where they spend the summer in a lake house and do some side painting. No one likes painting their houses or walls, so why not help them out for a little side cash? Start out small by offering to paint a bedroom or two, and work your way up from there. Pricing rule: $1 per square ft of painting.

57. Shoveling Snow

No one likes shoveling snow and this is why you will be paid for it.

58. Wash Cars

If you can wash a car, then you can make money. People are busy and don’t have time to even take their cars to the wash anymore…this is where you come in.

59. Wash Windows

I recently paid a guy to wash my windows because he advertised $4/window. He spent about 1 hour washing a total of 20 windows and walked away with $80 cash. His entire setup was a bucket and a squeegee. Maybe I should wash my own windows and my neighbor’s windows for an affordable price of only $4 a window.

Unique Hustles

If you are unique, then you deserve some unique side hustles. Some of these are extremely cool, but a few of them…well I am still waiting for you to try.

60. Rent out Your Baby Gear

Think of it as the Airbnb of Baby Gear.

Have you ever traveled with kids and realized what a pain-in-the-butt it is to take the stroller, hi-chair, pack-n-play, and everything else that babies need? Think about dragging all of that through the airport, onto the train, or inside the Uber?

BabyQuip offers a simple solution. They provide families with a wide assortment of clean, quality baby equipment—everything they need to keep their little ones sleeping well at night and happily engaged during the day.

And guess who makes 80% commission (plus tips) renting their baby gear out?

You, the side hustler!

BabyQuip

61. Sell Your Hair Online

Thinking about a new hair style? You may want to. People are paying up to $1,000 for quality hair if you can remember to wash it more than once a month J Check out what your hair is worth at Hairsellon.

Hairsellon

62. Paint Street Numbers

A father and son rang my doorbell and pointed out to me my street numbers were faded. “For only $10, they would repaint my street numbers so my house would look better”. I paid it and it took them 37 seconds. They did 6 houses on my street alone. This is a great little side hustle.

63. Sell Drinks

where it’s hot (and where it’s cold)

I live in Phoenix where it will hover at 116°F during the summer. During the hottest weeks, there is a guy who sells snow cones and water for a premium.

I asked him how business was recently – he smiled and said “Business is gooooooood”. Buy a case of water at Costco for $0.12 a bottle and resell them for $2 wherever it is HOT. Who wouldn’t pay $2 for ice-cold water during the dog days of summer?

64. TaskRabbit

Become a task rabbit and get paid. People in your neighborhood are looking to pay you to put together furniture from Ikea, do their grocery shopping, install a ceiling fan, be a bartender at their party, or mount their TV to the wall.

65. Start a Home Staging Business

Somebody is always selling a home, and homes sell faster and for more money when they are “staged”.

As a home stager you can tailor your business to meet a variety of client needs. Creating relationships with local realtors is one way to help you find home staging clients.

66. Be a Work-From-Home Customer Service Rep

There are many legit companies that offer to hire customer service representatives who can from home. One of the more popular work-from-home companies is U-Haul, the well-known moving company.

67. Start an Estate Sale Service Business

An estate sale business buys a large majority of a client’s belongings, including furniture, vehicles and more, at a group rate and sells the stuff individually for profit.

This is a business that will take some work as you get to know the ropes but can be very lucrative in the long run.

68. Start a Vending Machine Business

Many companies want vending machines installed at their businesses for the convenience of employees and clients alike.

Although this type of side hustle would involve some costly initial cash, you may be able to make it up quickly if you install the machines in thriving businesses that service large numbers of people.

69. Pick Up Trash in Parking Lots

Brian Winch came on the podcast to share how he picks up trash around parking lots and now earns a 6-figure income by doing so. Although it may not be glorious work, it does pay well and it’s extremely affordable to get started. Before you get started, check out the Clean Lots tutorial here.

You’ve Got to be Kidding Me Hustles

Before you read on, just remember the name of these side hustles are you’ve-go-to-be-kidding-me side hustles. Some of them will actually shock you ?.

70. Be a Sperm Donor

This is straight out of the movie Road Trip when they need gas money. However, you can make substantial money donating sperm, with some places offering up $1,000/month to healthy men. Be aware, if you’re not a true thoroughbred, you won’t be paid as much!

71. Be a Plasma Donor

Since there is no way to synthetically make plasma, you will be compensated for your donation. Rates vary from state to state, but you can make on average $200/month for only a few hours of your time….and blood.

We have a full list of where you can earn $400 per month donating plasma here.

72. Become a Cuddler

Ah yes, cuddling. This is an actual real job and I recently saw it featured in a news segment. People are paying for up to 3 hours of platonic hugging (and they pay a lot). Job requirements: enjoy hugging strangers.

73. Pick up Dog Poop

Who likes picking up dog poop? Nobody. This is why you can get paid for it.

youtube

74. Rent-a-Friend

You can sign up for free at Rentafriend to be someone else friend both part-time and full-time with pay between $20/hr – $50/hr. Yes, this sounds very strange from the outside looking in, but a lot of times you are helping someone get acquainted in a new town, meet a new group of friends, or simply have a cup of coffee with. Most importantly – friendship is always platonic (no touching).

Easy Peasy Hustles

These are some of the classic side hustles that we call the easy peasy ones. If you are looking for simple, but yet effective, these are the side hustles for you.

75. Babysitting

If you like kids and don’t go out on the weekends, become a babysitter. Advertise to all of your friends (and Facebook Friends) that you will watch their kids so they can have a date night. New to the area? Then get connected with Care.com to become a certified/recommended babysitter in your area.

76. Dog Walking

Create this ad: “Love your dog but simply don’t have time to walk them? Let me help you!” There will always be someone willing to pay to keep their doggy happy, and this person is you.

77. Gig Walking

Download the free App and then find “gigs” in your neighborhood that companies are willing to pay you for. Can you check out the price of milk in a certain store for $6 or snap a pic of a storefront for $5 on the way to work? Note: You will start off with the crappier jobs in the beginning, but prove yourself and you will start getting offered the higher-paying jobs soon enough.

78. Golf Course

If you love being around the golf course (or don’t mind a few drunk old men) you can make pretty good money part-time by collecting balls off the range, cleaning golf carts, or serving cold beers at the tee box.

79. House-sitting

Who doesn’t want to get paid for simply living in someone else’s house for a few day days? This is simple and people will pay you for it. You can think of it as a mini staycation too!

80. Mystery Shopper

Get paid $10 – $30 on average to be a mystery shopper. However, beware because there are a lot of scams out there. I recommend checking out Marketforce, Best Mark, and Intelli-101 before you head anywhere else.

81. Pet Grooming

There are people out there that simply will not shave their dog and will pay you for it. Create a Facebook Page called “iShaveDogs” and let all your friends know! Someone will hire you.

82. Pet Sitting

If you truly love animals, then why not get paid to hang out with someone else’s dog or cat for the weekend? You can become a pet sitter at Care.com or specialize in only watching over someone’s pooch at Rover.

83. RedBox

You love renting movies for only $1.75, but did you know you can get paid to stock DVDs into the kiosks and make sure they are working properly? Check out Redbox Jobs and also see these 12 free Redbox Codes for free moves and games.

84. Sell ScrapMetal

Post in your social media or offer in the newspaper that you will come and take any scrap metal away for people. Not only could you make a few extra bucks for hauling away metal, but then you could sell it at a scrap yard. Double whammy!

85. Tax Prep

When I was in college, TurboTax hit the Internet. I created an ad on a bulletin board and offered Tax Prep for those who make less than $100k/year so I could use the free 1040EZ software. My overhead was $0 and I charged $20 to punch the numbers from the W-2 into TurboTax. Another great option is to try H&R Block and see which one you like the best. We also have a full review of H&R Block here.

TurboTax

86. Sign Spinner

Do you ever see those people standing on the corner, wearing headphones, oblivious to the entire world around them, and flipping signs in the air? They are making money and you can too. What about sign holder? Well, maybe you’re not the spinning type…

87. Sign Holder

Maybe you’re just not the spinning type 🙂

TWEET This: When you're broke, the BEST place to find more money is at work.Click To Tweet

Final Takeaway

As you can see, we live in a time when anyone who wants to make a little (or a lot) of money can. Your local area is no longer the only area to make money. The entire world is at your fingertips through the use of many of the options mentioned in this post.

What is one skill you have that others could learn from? Think about what’s the one thing you actually love doing that people would want to pay you for? How can you take your side hustle idea and turn it into monthly income?

3…2…1… it’s go time my friends!