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#affiliate marketing 2019
eliias-bouchard · 1 year
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[18/12 version; check notes to see if theres an updated version]
quick summary:
- newt schottelkotte posts an article about RQ mismanagement & exploitation (https://medium.com/@newtschott/whos-afraid-of-alex-j-newall-ae3a67f3a5e1)
- the first version of the article didn't note that newt is a marketing director at fable and folly, another podcasting network; this has now been edited in
- they cite approximately three sources in total, mostly coming back to unverifiable anonymous RQ affiliates (ex employees, people who were offered a position, etc). the other two sources are a tweet from RQ specifically about the official discord, and a line in the beginning stating that "The information presented in this article is not only taken from  interviews with my sources, but publicly available data that I was able  to find and access.". there is no further clarification of what data, where it came from, etc, and the only time a source is linked or references is the aforementioned tweet from RQ.
ETA: this is false! there are multiple sources on multiple different things.
- (https://rustyquill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Operations-Update-2020-PUBLIC-RELEASE-1.pdf) this RQ operations update was used to source two quotes on RQ's payment structure. it's worth noting that the payments listed in the article are all above both the uk minimum wage and (with the exclusion of the £11 figure) the national living wage (https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates, https://www.livingwage.org.uk/calculation)
- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1438175815615791111?s=20&t=m1Z2vI0Fmpvq3gVt72gIvQ) this rq tweet was used to source a screenshot from rq's statement about the discord.
- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1408001969218859008?s=20&t=ngBXzvyzl4PJY9XpOL7DjA) this rq thread was used to source a screenshot from rq about the transcripts.
- there is a relevant link to the unofficial fan transcripts, although i personally wouldn't necessarily call this a source.
- (https://medium.com/acast/how-to-go-from-0-to-millions-growth-strategies-for-fiction-podcasters-fde8d6dc0cb5) this callum dougherty interview was used to source a quote from callum dougherty about TMA's success.
- the interview is misquoted. newt's article quotes:
"Believe it or not, Magnus was something of a hit right out the gate.  Comparative to I guess what would be considered a popular audio-drama  podcast now. It found an audience quite quickly… To borrow a phrase from  Alex Newall [Rusty Quill CEO and founder], I’d also mention that  nothing at Rusty Quill — despite what it might seem — has ever happened  by accident. And the factor that I would consider — and this may be my  own ego — is the show began to grow really dramatically because this was  the point that I came in."
- this misses out a relevant paragraph, reading
"Though  what I would certainly say is that it was in 2019 that the show began  to grow, and it went on what I would describe as a 10-month journey from  being considered a very popular podcast, to the most popular fiction  podcast in the world. That was a line of growth that looked pretty much  like a straight line upwards, where we were finding month-on-month  listenership doubling at a point. Every single month you could see it —  there were hundreds of thousands, now there was a million this month,  and it would go in that direction." (emphasis my own)
- newt's article goes on to state
"As someone who engaged in the fandom side of audio drama for a long time, including the period of Magnus’ rise to popularity to its finale, I remember things quite differently. TMA  wasn’t nearly the smash hit Dougherty describes until about 2019, when  the season four finale saw the consummation of Jon and Martin’s  slow-burn enemies-to-lovers storyline. Until that point, I had never  heard of TMA." (emphasis my own).
- it's also worth noting that newt's article didn't include the typical ellipses in square brackets to indicate missing text from a quote - it simply has an ellipses, which makes it seem that dougherty trailed off and then continued.
- at the end of the article, there are multiple links to social media accounts of people who may provide a list of laid off employees, intended for those looking to hire ex-RQ employees
- the rest of the claims made are either unsourced or from newt's anonymous sources.
- RUSTY QUILL HAVE RESPONDED: https://rustyquill.com/2022/12/13/public-response-to-an-opinion-piece/
- FABLE AND FOLLY HAVE ALSO RESPONDED: https://fableandfolly.com/2022/12/15/our-statement-on-the-article/
- rq has posted crew testimonials: https://rustyquill.com/crew-testimonials/
- tal, one of the editors, not affiliated w/ f&f, says this isn't a marketing thing, was run past two editors and multiple lawyers
- there's some truth in the article, mostly a lot of plausible but unverifiable things, and some plain misinformation / bad faith readings [i.e; article states that "there’s a very good chance that the list on Kickstarter of stretch goal guest writers may be the totality of the people in the audio fiction indie world that have still not had an experience with Rusty Quill." this is provably false; many of the guest writers have RQ podcasts or have interacted with RQ before, although it may be intended to mean bad experiences rather than simply an experience]
- ben meredith retweeted the article w/o comment; not sure what he's agreeing with. he also liked a tweet reading "Alright, read the thing. I’m terribly sorry for everyone who has been dealt with so badly by Rusty Quill - and I can only imagine the distress that must have incited this action. I hope these concerns are taken seriously, and that these issues are resolved swiftly.“ (https://twitter.com/GejWatts/status/1602420853630697475)
- ben meredith has now un-retweeted the article, although he hasn’t unliked the tweet about it
- malevolent podcast's official twitter posted
"I don't know much but I will say that if you decide to stop listening to my show; a show I work so very hard on, because of an article that presumptively and poorly attempts to speak for me, then I think you're hurting the thing you intend to be helping." (https://twitter.com/MalevolentCast/status/1602441871992782849?s=20&t=Z_86aECzgsdU9OgtfoiU6g)
- "harlan guthrie [creator of malevolent], quoted above, spoke on the topic in his discord server, invictus. i'm nor comfortable posting screencaps of his words, which were not intended as a public statement, without permission, but the highlights include: "The timing, authorship, and intent of this article doesn't sit well with me." "Overall, this isn't a watergate, neither is it an expose of a dangerous company, it's akin to a glassdoor report with half truths. My experience with RQ has been absolutely fine across the board." "The contract is in no way misleading nor manipulative the way the article would make it seem (no moreso than any other contract)"" (via orchidbreezefc on tumblr; i am not personally in this discord)
- malevolent podcast’s tumblr also posted this:
https://www.tumblr.com/malevolentcast/703493906802868224/you-probably-already-know-about-this-but-an
- the creator(? correct if wrong) of The Town Whispers and Tiny Terrors tweeted:
"What do I say here? I work day and night on @/TheTownWhispers & @/tinyterrorspod. I personally create, fund, produce, and direct my shows. What a shame to see someone speak on behalf of what I and others have built for years at our own expense dominate the conversation. No one reached out to me about "the article" ahead of time, no one asked me if I consented to be spoken for, I don't appreciate people victimizing me & weaponizing it for personal gain, & I don't appreciate that it's being passed off as a benevolent act of courage on my behalf." (https://twitter.com/ColeWeev/status/1602447361045065728?s=20&t=aAf1T5fen0FzXuAAllevLA)
- woe.begone's official twitter tweeted: "The only thing I want to say about The Article is that I am concerned that readers will believe things about my show and my relationship to my network that have not been my experience. I think this is what others mean when they describe feeling "spoken for."" (https://twitter.com/woebegonepod/status/1602453798332538881)
- the cellar letters twitter tweeted: "About the article: I am not going to attempt to invalidate anyone's thoughts or feelings... but I will say that it absolutely does not speak for me or align with my relationship and experiences with the network or anyone involved at the company.   Love you all. Go create stuff." (https://twitter.com/CellarLetters/status/1602457106271330304)
- multiple people have reportedly been blocked by newt on twitter for criticising the article, or asking questions about it. (https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602425447098228737?s=20&t=IQ9wZJuHgqX2mgfDvTizqA, https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602455204557127681?s=20&t=j22xMz0Hxw0yvW6Oz7B8SQ)
- alexander j newall has given a statement to podnews! it reads;
"Redundancies can be a highly emotional topic but this opinion blog is full of provable factual inaccuracies and its writers include individuals that hold senior positions at competitor companies that stand to monetarily gain from a reputational attack. We were approached for comment under false pretences and were not given a copy of this piece by the author. Numerous cast, crew and contractors have notified us directly in solidary about similarly misleading approaches made to them for this blog.
Rusty Quill has already internally released its 2023 Operations Update which included factual information on these topics along with information on out 93% RQ Network creator retention rate and our independent Employee Satisfaction Survey which scored an exceptional minimum of 4.3 out of 5 in all areas. This Operations update is due for public release in the new year."
(https://podnews.net/update/audio-drama-company-drama)
- audio editor michelle snow made a thread about this: https://twitter.com/MeeshSnowDoes/status/1602717570729132035?s=20&t=mMfAO5TjNFBNWQ_aMfhsHw
- in the (unofficial) “Rusty Quill PLEBS” discord, the creator of the storage papers said “The RQN stuff - I'll just say it's not entirely accurate or, at least, it's not the full picture which means it's painted in an unnecessarily bad light. I can't comment on the RQO stuff because I'm as much in the dark about that as anyone. But, as others on RQN have said, there's at least some of that that hasn't been my experience (and, for the record, I myself am not legally obligated to not say negative things about RQ).”
- annie (an RQ editor) retweeted this (https://twitter.com/serhawke/status/1602375132579827713?s=20&t=Q3iAjLLwsdIqYShTKinvHw)
- this thread also has a useful tweet further up on how to assess the utility of a source:
"PURPOSE - what was it meant to achieve? ACCURACY - can the facts be proven or disproven? CONTENT - what does it actually tell you? LIMITATIONS - what is it NOT telling you? Why? AUTHOR - biased? DATE - was its publication date "convenient" for any reason? Firsthand or hearsay?"
[this method is from their partial study of history in uni]
edits: added crew testimonials, updated tl;dr
tldr: newt (marketing director at a different podcast network) posted an article making serious allegations of mistreatment & worker exploitation towards RQ. the article has some plain misinformation, some truth, and mainly unverifiable info from anonymous sources
multiple rq creators stated they weren’t asked about this, and that their experiences w/ rq aren’t accurate to the article and/or that it doesnt speak for them. all of the crew testimonials from rq’s post are positive.
rq have responded, saying that the allegations made in the article are false. fable & folly have responded, saying that newt made + posted the article of their own accord. i think newt’s working on a followup article, which i’ll add here when it’s released
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netherworldpost · 1 year
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Hey Atty, I've seen a few creators starting to use Substack for their stories. I was wondering if you'd heard anything/have any opinions on it since i usually find your take on this sort of stuff interesting
I actually wrote a huge, long, rambling review --
-- VERY POSITIVE REVIEW UNTIL--
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via SUBSTACK SUPPORT
...what. I'm sorry. What?
"Note: Substack charges a one-time $50 USD fee to use a custom domain for your publication."
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Without exception: If you are creating content, you need to own your domain.
The gears behind-the-scenes will almost certainly belong to someone else, but you need to own the address.
To market it, be it on one social app or many, in print or in t-shirts or in skywriting, you need to say "Find my stuff at My Website Dot Whatever. Sign up!"
This domain needs to belong to you and cannot be tied to a service you cannot get away from.
What if you decide Substack sucks?
What if they say "hey we are doubling our rates"?
What if they go out of business?
What if you want to branch out into other things beyond newsletters?
To be fair. You are not being locked into Substack's system.
You can pay them $50 USD, then walk away in 3 years and point your domain somewhere else, the cost being this one-time fee.
But I want to talk about something.
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When you get a domain, from Google Domains or any other the other billion companies that sell them, the registrar says "okay where does this thing point to?" -- as in -- Substack is not doing the work. The registrar is. That's part of the roughly $12/year fee you pay them for.
I have never seen a company charge you to point a domain to their service before. I am suspicious.
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Notice how Tumblr is not charging to use a custom domain?
At this point, I am admittedly guessing, but the only reason I can think of a charge is to make authors second-guess if they leave the platform.
Evil Supply Co. closed in the summer of 2019, I am writing this in February 2023, I still get traffic on the old domain. It diminishes month-by-month and yet it is still a valuable "I am rebranding!" tool.
I plan on keeping the domain forever. It costs me very little per year because no one has charged me to point it at the address of the new project. I can change gears once a week and point it somewhere else without fee.
I have never seen a site charge to have a domain pointed at them.
Prior to writing this answer, I had never looked into Substack's business model.
Having found this point, I would never recommend them to anyone for any reason, even if their newsletter is going to be free forever.
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In contempt and anger at this bullshit, I offer a non-affiliate link to MailChimp's blog on launching a paid newsletter.
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I'm not so much saying "you should use MailChimp" as "there are other solutions that won't charge you."
I have used MC in the past to great enjoyment and success.
I've used other services too. They won't charge you for pointing a domain to them.
Because this is Tumblr which is owned by Automattic which owns WordPress and because I am super fucking mad at this Substack bullshit I will close with saying WordPress.com also has the ability to launch a newsletter and they won't charge you for a domain to be pointed at it.
I hope this is helpful.
It has been an illuminating experience to research for you.
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linguisticdiscovery · 2 years
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The Linguistics Starter Pack
Curious about linguistics but not sure where you can learn more? The Linguistics Starter Pack is for you! This is a curated list of my top recommendations for getting started in linguistics. Most of the items on this list are popular science books, aimed at a general audience, and written in a non-technical way. I’ve also included a few highly accessible introductory textbooks if you’re looking for something more structured instead.
Note: The links on this page are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a small commission from any book you buy through these links (at no additional cost to you).
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Language myths (Bauer & Trudgill, 1998)
If there’s one book on this list you should read to introduce yourself to linguistics, it’s this one. Consisting of short, bite-sized chapters each focused on a different myth, this book dispels some of the most common misconceptions about language and linguistics. The book is almost a quarter-century old, but remains one of the best places to start learning about linguistics.
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The 5-minute linguist: Bite-sized essays on language and languages (3e) (Myrick & Wolfram, 2019)
A collection of tiny essays answering some of the most common questions about language and linguistics. This book is a more up-to-date take on Language myths (see above), except the style is more FAQ than myth-busting. This third edition is sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America because of the great impact that the first two editions had on educating the broader public about linguistics.
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How languages work: An introduction to language and linguistics (2e) (Genetti, 2018)
Hands down the best introductory linguistics textbook on the market. Extremely easy to read, and covers a variety of topics not typically included in other introductory linguistics textbooks. It also includes a number of language profiles, illustrating the rich diversity of languages in the world. The chapters are written mostly by the linguistics faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara, one of the top linguistics departments in the world. Proceeds from the book help fund fieldwork with endangered languages.
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Through the language glass: Why the world looks different in other languages (Deutscher, 2010)
How does language influence the way we think and see the world? This book is a brilliant journey into the relationship between language and thought, covering everything from how color terms shape our perception of those colors to how grammatical gender shapes the way we categorize people and things in a surprisingly captivating writing style.
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The language myth: Why language is not an instinct (Evans, 2014)
A long-overdue introduction to language and the mind for a general audience, this book explains how humans bring to bear a huge array of cognitive skills to make language possible, debunking the idea that language is an instinct and that we all possess a Universal Grammar. Written by the foremost scholar on cognitive linguistics, this book is perhaps one of the most important popular science books published this century. Think of this book like a non-technical introduction to cognitive linguistics.
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When languages die: The extinction of the world’s languages and the erosion of human knowledge (Harrison, 2007)
This book showcases the incredible diversity of ways that Indigenous languages work, and highlights just how much of this diversity and indigenous knowledge is being lost as more and more languages stop being spoken. The book covers topics like Indigenous ways of telling time, spatial orientation, and number systems, while serving as a poignant introduction to linguistic diversity and language endangerment.
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The unfolding of language: An evolutionary tour of mankind’s greatest invention (Deutscher, 2006)
An enthralling introduction to how languages change over time, and how languages develop their incredible grammatical complexity, evolving from rudimentary utterances like “man throw spear” to the beautifully intricate Turkish sehirlilestiremediklerimizdensiniz ‘you are one of those whom we couldn’t turn into a town dweller’. This is the second book on this list by author Guy Deutscher (see Through the language glass, above), and for good reason, because his writing style makes his books impossible to put down. Think of this book like a non-technical introduction to historical linguistics.
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Empires of the word: A language history of the world (Ostler, 2011)
A history of the world told not by tracing the development of civilizations and empires, but by following the growth of the world’s major languages. Ostler weaves together a fascinating narrative that gives a fresh perspective on history. This book is a must-read for any history buff.
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The dawn of language: Axes, lies, midwifery and how we came to talk (Johansson, 2021)
Weaves together the latest research in archaeology, anthropology, neurology, and linguistics to tell the story of how language evolved.
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Language files: Materials for an introduction to language and linguistics (13e) (Ohio State University Department of Linguistics)
Want to get your hands dirty with some actual problem sets in linguistics? This is the book for you. Half textbook, half workbook, Language files is one of the most widely-adopted textbooks for introductory linguistics courses, packed with problem sets illustrating each concept in the book.
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An introduction to the languages of the world (2e) (Lyovin, Kessler, & Leben, 2017)
If you’re interested in learning about specific languages and language families, this is the book for you. It introduces the field of linguistics by taking you on a tour of the world’s languages. This is one of the most unique textbooks in linguistics, and a lot of fun to read.
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An introduction to linguistic typology (Velupillai, 2012)
A survey of the incredibly diverse ways that languages work. This is the most technical / advanced book on the list, but is the ultimate guide to the grammars of the world’s languages. This is a great reference to keep on hand when reading other books and articles about linguistics.
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lovistella · 8 months
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tw mentions of suspicious death, corruption + mistreatment of idols
JUPITER RECORDS is a fictional idol company created in 2004 by founder MOON HANBYEOL. descending from the popular MOON chaebol, hanbyeol had immense pressure from his family to carry on the family business. hanbyeol created the company not to benefit the reputation of his family but after his teenage daughter, ELARA MOON, had dreams of becoming an idol. hanbyeol 'suspiciously died' before he could see her debut. but not before leaving the company to his younger sister, MOON HANNA with the main shares divided between his children. 
jupiter records is best known for favouring their biggest stars, PRIMADONNA, 1004 and D'ELITE, while mistreatment and corruption curses the company.
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  ♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ  basics
COMPANY jupiter records SUBSIDIARY callisto co. TYPE public INDUSTRY entertainment + music FOUNDED april 4, 2004 FOUNDER moon hanbyeol HEADQUARTER seoul, south korea EMPLOYEES 404 AFFILIATIONS moon family group
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 ♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ  creatives
PRIMADONNA 2011 ✧ princesses of jupiter TIMEZONE 2012 ✧ time travellers SUNKISSED 2013 ✧ cursed by the moon 1004 2014 ✧ angels of the universe POWERUP 2015 ✧ retrofuturism D'ELITE 2016 ✧ utopia vs dystopia ANTI-U 2017 ✧ real vs fake clones QUARTZ 2018 ✧ shooting stars FOLKLORE 2019 ✧ galaxial aliens RINGS OF JUPITER tbd ✧ battle amongst jovians
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♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ  distinguished staff
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CEO moon hanna COO shin akyung CASTING DIRECTOR lim yonghui GLOBAL DIRECTOR rowan delgado MARKETING DIRECTOR ginny won
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artemistartarus · 9 days
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Still not over this, Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch are using their money to spit on her grave.
Full article here:
“An award named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg has gone to a slate of accomplished women since it was launched four years ago to honor the legacy of the late Supreme Court justice known for championing women's rights and liberal causes. This year is different.
Next month, the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation will present the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Leadership Award to four men and Martha Stewart. Among the winners are two convicted felons, the founder of right-wing Fox News, and Elon Musk.
Stewart, Musk, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Milken and Sylvester Stallone are the five "iconic" and "exceptional" recipients of the 2024 RBG Leadership Award, the organizing foundation said in a news release on Wednesday.
Ginsburg's family is blasting the foundation's selection of this year's recipients, saying the decision is an "affront" to the memory of the late justice and her values.
"This year, the Opperman Foundation has strayed far from the original mission of the award and from what Justice Ginsburg stood for," Jane Ginsburg, daughter of the Supreme Court justice, said in a statement.
The award was conceived in 2019 to recognize "an extraordinary woman who has exercised a positive and notable influence on society and served as an exemplary role model in both principles and practice." Past recipients have included Queen Elizabeth II and Barbra Streisand.
This year, "woman" has been dropped from the name of the award, and the criteria has expanded to include "trailblazing men and women" who "have demonstrated extraordinary accomplishments in their chosen fields," the Opperman Foundation said.
"Justice Ginsburg fought not only for women but for everyone," the foundation's chair, Julie Opperman, said in the news release. "Going forward, to embrace the fullness of Justice Ginsburg's legacy, we honor both women and men who have changed the world by doing what they do best."
The Ginsburg family says it was not informed of the changes in name or criteria for the award. It is pressing Opperman to remove Justice Ginsburg's name from the award "unless the original award criteria, as accepted by Justice Ginsburg, are restored," as Trevor Morrison, Ginsburg's former law clerk, wrote in a letter to the foundation's chair that spoke on behalf of the Ginsburg family.
Until then, Morrison said, the justice's family wishes "to make clear that they do not support using their mother's name to celebrate this slate of awardees, and that the Justice's family has no affiliation with and does not endorse this award."
"Each of this year's awardees has achieved notable success in their careers, and each may well deserve accolades of one form or another. But the decision to bestow upon them the particular honor of the RBG Award is a striking betrayal of the Justice's legacy," he wrote.
Most of the awardees' track records bear controversies and scandals rivaling their achievements.
Milken, an investment banker famous for creating the junk bond market, was arrested in the late '80s for securities fraud. After he was released from prison, he built a reputation on his philanthropy. President Trump pardoned Milken in 2020.
Stewart, who built a multimillion-dollar empire as a homemaking maven, served prison time for lying to investigators about a fishy stock sale.
Murdoch, the retired mogul who leveraged his media outlets to embrace right-wing leaders and views, allowed Fox News stars to promote baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, has been accused of antisemitism and, since taking over Twitter — now known as X — reportedly allowed pro-Nazi content to proliferate on the platform, prompting companies to pull ad revenue.
Actor Stallone of Rocky fame has faced multiple allegations of sexual assault, all of which he denies and for which he's never been charged.
Stallone escorted Justice Ginsburg to the stage — as the franchise's theme song played — during the award's inaugural ceremony in 2020, as Opperman noted at the time.
At that ceremony, Justice Ginsburg stated her hopes for the award: "By honoring brave, strong and resilient women, we will prompt women and men in ever-increasing numbers to help repair tears in their local communities, the nation and the world, so that the long arc of the moral universe will continue to bend toward justice."
In an email to NPR, RBG's son singled out two recipients in his condemnation of the new criteria.
"... that is quite a step down from the original criteria and, apparently, means people like Murdoch and Musk who are antithetical to everything Mom stood for, qualify," Jim Ginsburg said. "Speaking only for myself, I would say that those who foment hatred and undermine democracy do not stand for the ideals of equality, respect, and engagement my mother strived to advance."
The Opperman Foundation has not yet responded to NPR's request for comment.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit NPR.”
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kmp78 · 5 months
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https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/adventures-in-wonderland
This is the company that is doing the VIP experiences for the tour. Looks like Jared is taking over the event planning VIP experience. This is his company. It has lots of affiliations and he’s it’s doing other peoples events as well. I guess who knows better than the Plan a VIP experience than Mr. VIP himself
He's not taking over the event planning business cos that company has been around for over a decade.
And their track record has been... let's say spotty. 🤭
Most of us who have done M&Gs over the pas decade have had big or small "dealings" with AIW. 😂
And the employee mutiny that went on over there in 2019/20 that resulted in half of them walking was a sign that it's not exactly a big player in that market. 🤭🫣
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By: The Quillette Editorial Board
Published: Dec 23, 2023
The Montgomery, Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was founded in 1971 with a mission to fight poverty and racial discrimination. Its early litigation campaigns, which targeted the Ku Klux Klan and other overtly racist organizations, met with success, and the group soon came to be seen as an authoritative source in regard to right-wing extremism more generally. 
Another form of expertise the organization developed was in the area of marketing—especially when the market in question consisted of deep-pocketed urban liberals. As former SPLC staffer Bob Moser reported in a 2019 New Yorker article, the group has consistently taken on attention-grabbing urgent-seeming causes that its leaders knew could be leveraged as a means to gain publicity and—more importantly—donations. It’s no coincidence that the SPLC’s co-founder and long-time fundraising guru, Morris Dees, had previously operated a direct-mail business that sold cookbooks and tchotchkes. “Whether you’re selling cakes or causes, it’s all the same,” Dees told a journalist in 1988.
Dees’ big fundraising break at the SPLC came when he got access to the direct-mail list from the 1972 presidential campaign of Democrat George McGovern. The SPLC co-founder went on to maximize the SPLC’s revenues through what would now be known as targeted methods. According to one former legal colleague, for instance, Dees rarely used his middle name—Seligman—in SPLC mailings, except when it came to “Jewish zip codes.”
Thanks to Dees’ slick marketing expertise, the SPLC was eventually taking in more money than it paid out in operational expenses. (As of October 2022, its endowment fund was valued at almost US$640 million.) But over time, his hard-sell tactics began to alienate co-workers, as there was an obvious disconnect between the real class-based problems they observed in society and the fixations of the naïve northern donors whose wallets Dees was seeking to pry open.
“I felt that [Dees] was on the Klan kick because it was such an easy target—easy to beat in court, easy to raise big money on,” former SPLC attorney Deborah Ellis told Progressive writer John Egerton. “The Klan is no longer one of the South’s biggest problems—not because racism has gone away, but because the racists simply can’t get away with terrorism any more.”
On March 14, 2019, Dees—by now 82 years old, but still listed as the SPLC’s chief trial lawyer—was fired amid widespread rumors that he’d been the subject of internal sexual-harassment accusations. His affiliation was scrubbed from the group’s web site; and the organization’s president, Richard Cohen, cryptically (but damningly) declared that, “when one of our own fails to meet [SPLC] standards, no matter his or her role in the organization, we take it seriously and must take appropriate action.” (Less than two weeks later, Cohen himself left the organization, casting his resignation as part of a transition “to a new generation of leaders.”)
In describing his tenure at the SPLC during the early 2000s, Moser argued that the very structure of the organization betrayed its hypocrisy: Here was an entity dedicated to social justice (as we would now call it), yet which was run by an extremely well-paid, almost exclusively white, corps of lawyers, administrators, and fund-raisers who ruled over a mixed-race corps of junior staff. As far back as the 1980s, Dees was openly admitting that he saw the fight against poverty as passé, and admitted that the “P” in SPLC was an anachronism. Jaded staff began ruefully referring to their own flashy headquarters as the “Poverty Palace.”
Dees and Cohen may have left the Poverty Palace, but the SPLC’s tendency to betray its founding principles clearly remains a problem, as illustrated by a new SPLC report released under the auspices of what the group dubs “Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Through Accessible Informative Narratives.” (This verbal clunker seems to have been reverse-engineered in order to yield the acronym, “CAPTAIN.”)
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The report purports to demonstrate “the perils of anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience” and “anti-trans narratives and extremism.” Much like the dramatically worded hard-sell direct-mail campaigns that the SPLC started up under Dees, it’s marketed as a matter of life and death: According to the deputy director of research for the SPLC’s “Intelligence Project,” the “anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience” uncovered by the SPLC has “real-life, often life-threatening consequences for trans and non-binary people.”
At this point, it should be stressed that there is certainly nothing wrong with the SPLC—or anyone else—campaigning for the legitimate rights of people who are transgender. Such a campaign would be entirely in keeping with the SPLC’s original liberal ethos. Just as no one should be denied, say, an apartment, a marriage license, or the right to vote based on his or her race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation, no trans person should be denied these rights and amenities simply because he or she experiences gender dysphoria.
But the SPLC’s report hardly confines itself to such unassailable liberal principles. The real point of the project, it seems, was to catalogue and denounce public figures who’ve expressed dissent from the most extreme demands of trans-rights activists—specifically, (1) the demand that children and adolescents who present as transgender must instantly be “affirmed” in their dysphoric beliefs, even if such affirmation leads to a life of sterility, surgical disfigurement, drug dependence, and medical complications; and (2) the demand that biological men who self-identify as women must be permitted unfettered access to protected women’s spaces and sports leagues.
The SPLC’s authors seek to cast their ideological enemies as hate-addled reactionaries whose nefarious activities must “be understood as part of the historical legacy of white supremacy and the political aims of the religious right.” And it is absolutely true that some of the organizations they name-check are hard-right, socially conservative outfits that endorse truly transphobic (and homophobic) beliefs.
But many of the supposed transphobes targeted by the report aren’t even conservative—let alone members of the religious right. In a multitude of cases, they’re simply parents, therapists, and activists who argue the obvious fact that human sexual biology doesn’t evanesce into rainbow dust the moment that a child—or middle-aged man—asserts that he or she was “born in the wrong body.”
It’s also interesting to note who gets left out of the SPLC’s analysis. The most influential figures leading the backlash against (what some call) “gender ideology” are women such as author J.K. Rowling and tennis legend Martina Navratilova, both of whom come at the issue from explicitly feminist perspectives. Being successful public figures, neither woman needs a cent from the conservative think tanks that the SPLC presents as being back-office puppet-masters of the alleged anti-trans conspiracy outlined in the CAPTAIN report.
In keeping with the conspiracist motif that runs through the document, the authors have provided spider-web diagrams that set out the connections binding this (apparently) shadowy cabal. In this regard, it seems that Quillette itself served as one of the SPLC’s sources: In a section titled, “Group Dynamics and Division of Labor within the Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Network,” the authors footnote “an August 23, 2023 podcast for Quillette,” wherein
it was revealed that [Colin] Wright is in a relationsihp [sic] with journalist Christina Buttons, who is an advisoary [sic] board member of [the Gender Dysphoria Alliance] with Drs. Lisa Littman and Ray Blanchard, an editoral [sic] board member of Springer’s Archives of Sexual Research [a mistaken reference to the Archives of Sexual Behavior] with J. Michael Bailey. Notably, Buttons and Wright are interviewed by host Jonathan Kay. In addition to hosting Quillette’s podcast, Kay serves on FAIR’s board of advisors.
We’ve chosen to highlight this particular (typo-riddled) text from the report not just because of the absurd suggestion that our publication has enlisted in an imaginary “anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network,” but also because the above-quoted roll call of supposed gender villains illustrates the intellectual dishonesty that suffuses the whole report.
Let’s go through the references one by one, in the order in which they are presented. The Gender Dysphoria Alliance (GDA) is a group led by people who are themselves transgender, and who are “concerned about the direction that gender medicine and activism has taken.” Are we to imagine that its members are directing transphobia—against themselves? Lisa Littman, formerly of Brown University, is a respected academic who’s published a peer-reviewed analysis of Rapid Onset Gender Disorder. Ray Blanchard is a well-known University of Toronto psychiatrist. The Archives of Sexual Behavior is a peer-reviewed academic journal in sexology. Michael Bailey is a specialist in sexual orientation and gender nonconformity at Northwestern University. Colin Wright is a widely published writer (including at Quillette) with a PhD in evolutionary biology from UC Santa Barbara. (The SPLC’s claim that he is in a relationship with journalist Christina Buttons, who also writes about gender issues, is completely true. But the fact that the group saw fit to report this fact as if it were evidence of sinister machinations says far more about the report’s authors than it does about either Wright or Buttons.) FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, is a classically liberal group led by a Harvard Law School graduate named Monica Harris. Do any of these people or groups sound like extremists?
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The fact that the SPLC is attempting to market its report as a blow against the “anti-LGBTQ+” movement, writ large, is itself quite laughable, since many of the activists who’ve been arguing for a more balanced approach to gender rights are themselves either gay (as with Navratilova and Julie Bindel) or (as with the founders of the GDA) transgender.
Others on the SPLC gender-enemies list are author Abigail Shrier, and therapists Sasha Ayad, and Stella O’Malley. These women openly broadcast their views in best-selling books, as well as mainstream magazines and newspapers. The idea that the SPLC has successfully “exposed” these women through some kind of investigation, as suggested by the title that’s been slapped on the CAPTAIN report, would be ludicrous even if they’d said anything scandalous (which they haven’t).
And what course of future action does the SPLC endorse? For one, it concludes that educators should stigmatize gender-critical views as analogous to “racism, sexism, and heteronormativity.” The report's authors also want academic journals to sniff out groups that “espouse an anti-LGBTQ+ ideology” (as that latter term is speciously defined by the SPLC). And in a final flourish, the group urges reporters to “be aware of the narrative manipulation strategies and the cooptation of scientific credentials and language by anti-trans researchers when sourcing stories about trans experiences.”
With this last point, we get to the real nub: The apparent goal is for this report to be read as a catalogue of people, ideas, and groups that must be shunned. Indeed, the authors explicitly cite the work of one Andrea James, a once-respected arts producer who, as Jesse Singal has documented, now runs a creepy (“stalker” is the word Singal uses) web site called Transgender Map, which lists personal details of anyone whom James deems a gender heretic. When it comes to one-on-one communication, James’ manner of dealing with critics is exemplified by an email sent to bioethicist Alice Dreger, in which James referred to Dreger’s then-five-year-old son as a “womb turd.”
One way to describe the CAPTAIN report is as an SPLC-branded rehash of the information contained on Transgender Map. And one can understand why the authors thought that such a gambit might work. The SPLC already publishes other curated lists of hatemongers—e.g., its “Hatewatch” service, “Hate Map,” and “Intelligence Report.” It wasn’t such a long shot to imagine that this new report might convince readers to treat the listed “Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Network” acolytes as equally disreputable.
But if that was the authors’ goal, it doesn’t seem to have been achieved. The SPLC report landed with something of a thud—and has attracted little attention on social media except insofar as it was mocked by its intended targets.
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This may have something to do with the report’s timing. For several years now, a backlash against this kind of gender agitprop has been building within many of the same liberal and progressive circles that the SPLC has traditionally targeted for donations. The trend is reflected by the rise of such groups as the LGB Alliance, a coalition of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people who are fed up with the ideological takeover of LGBT groups by a militant subset of trans activists.
The same trend is playing out internationally. While the SPLC does its best to heap blame on America’s conservative Christians, many of western Europe’s governments (none of which are in thrall to the Heritage Foundation or the Charles Koch Foundation) have been following a more gender-critical path for years.
Just a week after the SPLC put out its report, in fact, the UK government published new guidelines advising teachers that they have no duty to automatically “affirm” a child’s assertion that he or she is transgender; and that, in considering such situations, teachers should speak with a child’s parents and consider whether the child is under undue influence from social media or peers. Sweden, Finland, and Norway—hardly bastions of Christian conservatism—have also rolled back policies that rush children into transition. In Canada, several provinces have recently enacted rules that require parents to be notified when a child seeks to transition, even in the face of a sustained media campaign that repeats lurid claims to the effect that such policies will cause an epidemic of trans suicides. Are all of these foreign governments also complicit in the vast “junk-science and disinformation campaign” against trans people that the SPLC claims to have “exposed”?
The SPLC would hardly be the first progressive organization whose reputation has suffered by going all-in on the gender issue. The American Civil Liberties Union, which also was rooted in traditional liberal values before succumbing to more faddish progressive tendencies, has attracted ridicule due to its parroting of slogans such as “men who get their periods are men,” and the claim that males have no “unfair advantage” over females in sports.
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These organizations have never been shy about angering conservatives and reactionaries; indeed, they wear such anger as a badge of pride. But their cultish refusal to engage with the reality of biological sex also antagonizes progressive feminists seeking to protect female spaces from biological men, and LGB activists who see the attempted erasure of sex-based attraction as a species of progressive homophobia.
Which is to say that the SPLC’s report seems not only intellectually dishonest, but also self-destructive. While the SPLC leaders who green-lit this project once may have been able to bank on the popularity of pronoun checks and esoteric gender identities among the wealthy white coastal progressives who comprise the bulk of their donors, this is an ideological movement that’s decidedly past its peak. It’s a marketing error that the savvy Dees likely never would have made.
The SPLC obviously does a lot more than lend its name to sloppily edited gender propaganda: A review of its press feed shows that it still has staff working traditional legal beats such as voters’ rights, police accountability, and humane treatment for prisoners. But when an organization publishes misleading materials in regard to one issue, the natural effect is to raise serious questions about the group’s values and credibility more generally—questions that SPLC supporters will want to think about the next time one of the group’s fundraisers hits them up for a donation.
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This is what institutional capture looks like.
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101214132 · 6 months
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Is blogging still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram?
In an era where attention spans are shrinking, and social networking sites (SNS) like TikTok and Instagram dominate the digital landscape, one might wonder whether traditional blogging still has a place in the digital world. After all, TikToks offer 60-second video clips filled with entertainment, and Instagram showcases stunning visuals in a matter of seconds. Does blogging, with its long-form content, still have a role to play? The short answer is yes. While TikToks and Instagram have their strengths, blogging continues to thrive and play a crucial role in online communication and content creation.
The Power of TikTok and Instagram
Before delving into the enduring relevance of blogging, it's essential to acknowledge the undeniable power of TikTok and Instagram. These platforms have revolutionized the way we consume content, making it easier than ever to share and discover a wide array of multimedia content, from short dance videos to captivating photos (Herrman 2019). Their visual and interactive nature is particularly appealing to a younger generation of internet users, and they have become essential marketing tools for businesses and influencers alike.
Statistics of Blogging (Tumblr)
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Let's use Tumblr as an example. According to Bondarchuk (2023), every day, a remarkable 12.8 million blog posts are created and shared on the platform and in 2023, Tumblr experienced substantial growth and increased activity. Over an eight-year span, the platform saw its number of blogs double, highlighting its sustained popularity and continued appeal to its user base, which shows that it is still relevant.
The Strengths of Blogging
Now, let's explore why blogging is still very much relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram:
1. Depth and Detail
One of the primary strengths of blogging is its capacity for depth and detail (Lazarov 2018). While TikToks and Instagram posts are limited by their short-form nature, blogs allow for in-depth exploration of topics. Whether it's a comprehensive guide, a thoughtful analysis, or a personal essay, blogs provide the space to delve deep into subjects and offer valuable insights that cannot be fully conveyed in a 15-second video or a single image caption.
2. Timeless Content
Blog posts have the potential for longevity that social media posts often lack. A well-written blog article can continue to attract readers and provide value for years after it's published. In contrast, social media content tends to have a fleeting lifespan, with posts quickly buried in users' feeds (Lazarov 2018).
3. SEO and Traffic (Businesses)
Blogs can be powerful tools for improving search engine optimization (SEO) and driving organic traffic to a website. Search engines like Google still prioritize text-based content, and a well-optimized blog can help a website rank higher in search results. This makes blogs a valuable asset for businesses and individuals looking to increase their online visibility and attract a broader audience. According to Hubspot's research findings, websites with blogs receive 55% more traffic compared to those lacking blogs, even if there are no readers (Schaefer 2023).
4. Monetization Opportunities
Many bloggers, just like social media influencers on Instagram and TikTok, generate income through various methods, such as affiliate marketing, sponsored content, and selling products or services. Blogging offers multiple avenues for monetization, making it an attractive platform for those looking to turn their online presence into a source of income (SendPulse 2023).
5. Community Building
Blogs often foster a sense of community among readers. Through comments and discussions, readers can engage with the author and fellow readers, creating a sense of belonging and connection that can be challenging to replicate on platforms like TikTok or Instagram (SendPulse 2023).
6. Diverse Content Formats
Blogs aren't limited to text-based content. They are highly versatile platforms that allow you to incorporate various media formats, including images, videos, infographics, and even podcasts. This flexibility enables you to cater to a broader audience with varying content preferences (Lazarov 2018).
For instance, you can create a blog post that combines written content with embedded videos, offering the best of both worlds. This multimedia approach allows you to engage your audience on different levels and ensures that your blog remains visually appealing and interactive.
Conclusion
In conclusion, blogging remains a relevant and valuable platform in the age of TikToks and Instagram. While these social media platforms have their strengths, blogging offers unique advantages in terms of depth and detail, timeless content, SEO and traffic, monetization opportunities, community building, and diverse content formats. Blogging complements other forms of content creation and can be a foundation of a well-rounded online presence. So, if you're wondering whether blogging is still relevant in the age of TikToks and Instagram, the answer is yes.
List of References:
Bondarchuk, Y 2023, ‘100+ Tumblr statistics for 2023 (demographics, traffic & employee)’, MarketSplash, MarketSplash, viewed 2 October, 2023, <https://marketsplash.com/tumblr-statistics/>.
Herrman, J 2019, ‘How TikTok is rewriting the world’, The New York Times, The New York Times, viewed 2 October, 2023, <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/style/what-is-tik-tok.html>.
Lazarov, T 2018, ‘Why you should prefer a blog over social media’, Fstoppers, viewed 2 October, 2023, <https://fstoppers.com/business/why-you-should-prefer-blog-over-social-media-250816>.
Schaefer, M 2023, ‘10 benefits of blogging even if nobody reads it’, Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}, viewed 2 October, 2023, <https://businessesgrow.com/2023/02/20/benefits-of-blogging/>.
SendPulse 2023, ‘Blogging’, SendPulse, viewed 2 October, 2023, <https://sendpulse.com/support/glossary/blogging>.
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mariacallous · 6 months
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In a private letter delivered to the White House earlier this month, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq warned that Kurdistan—and Iraq’s post-2003 federal system—faces imminent collapse unless the United States intervenes. Masrour Barzani sent his extraordinary warning amid mounting political and economic challenges for the autonomous region and an increasingly belligerent government in Baghdad.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is important to U.S. interests in several ways. Its Peshmerga forces are key partners in the fight against the Islamic State and other extremist groups and crucial to the West’s counterterrorism efforts in both Iraq and Syria. The region has historically constituted a buffer against tumult and turmoil in the rest of Iraq, providing a safe haven for nearly 1 million internally displaced people and refugees, while also containing the ascension of militant Iran-backed militia groups responsible for conducting numerous attacks on Western forces.
However, with Washington now preoccupied by its intensifying rivalry with China and the war in Ukraine, little attention is being paid to Kurdistan. Sensing America’s focus is elsewhere, the KRG’s rivals, including militia groups designated as terrorists by the United States, have started circling. Kurdistan’s collapse would spell upheaval and chaos with implications stretching well beyond Iraq.
The KRG has endured a string of troubles in recent years. Soon after Barzani took office in 2019, his cabinet was confronted with a pandemic, a military escalation between the United States and Iran and its affiliated militias, and an economic crisis after oil revenues took a huge hit when crude prices plummeted in 2020.
Kurdistan has also been undermined by the rivalry between the two largest political parties, Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Their division weakened the Kurds’ bargaining power in Baghdad during negotiations over forming an Iraqi government after the 2021 parliamentary elections. Iran and its allies, including the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF)—the 200,000-strong umbrella militia organization—exploited Kurdish discord by allying with the PUK to expand their influence over the Iraqi state.
Iran-backed groups have also consolidated their control over the Iraqi judiciary, paving the way for a February 2022 ruling that Kurdish oil exports through Turkey were illegal. This influenced an international arbitration decision a year later that came to the same conclusion. Since then, Kurdish oil exports have stopped, crippling the region’s economy and impacting global energy markets—a win for the PMF and its hopes of neutering Kurdistan’s economic independence.
Earlier this month, Iran-aligned groups massacred Kurdish protesters in the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which Kurdish forces had withdrawn from in 2017 after the PMF mobilized its militias with federal government backing. As part of an agreement between Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Barzani, the KDP was to return to a base in the city, but the PMF moved to torpedo this by blocking a highway connecting Kirkuk to Erbil and other Kurdish provinces in August. The disruption to the lives of people who rely on the highway daily prompted the protests. Following the massacre, the Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad, which is aligned with the PMF, suspended the order for the KDP’s return.
The divisions between the KDP and PUK have deeply undermined the KRG. Indeed, fraternal rivalry has been the Kurds’ Achilles’ heel for decades. Between 1994 and 1998, the two parties fought a civil war for control of the region, which was finally resolved through U.S. mediation. Their 1998 peace settlement paved the way for a strategic agreement that became the basis for Kurdistan’s golden era after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which gifted the Kurds outsized influence over the Iraqi state, expanded their autonomy, and precipitated an unprecedented economic boom.
While today’s rivalry represents a clash of personalities within a new generation of Kurdish leaders, it also reflects the two parties’ respective trajectories since 2003. The KDP owes much of its power to its long-standing organizational discipline, which has delivered it electoral success and allowed it to control the prime minister’s office since 2012. The PUK, on the other hand, has been factionalized almost since its inception in the 1970s. In 2021, Bafel Talabani launched a coup to oust his cousin Lahur as co-chair of the party and head of its counterterrorism and intelligence forces.
These violent dynamics have degraded the PUK’s ability to present a serious alternative to the KDP. Instead, it has opted for spoiler tactics, working with Iran-aligned groups in Baghdad to undermine its rival politically and economically. The PUK leadership regularly courts Iran-aligned individuals and factions sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, sometimes against the backdrop of missile and drone attacks on Kurdistan by these groups.
This raises serious questions for Washington and its relationship with the party, but also for the PUK itself. Looking to Iran and Baghdad may help the PUK reassert itself locally, but undermining Kurdistan as a whole to weaken the KDP is dangerously myopic since it relies on the good faith of the PMF, and it is potentially existential as it risks gambling the autonomy of Kurdistan in the long term.
Kurdish woes and Iranian encroachment into Kurdistan have far-reaching implications for U.S. interests. The KRG is a vital ally in the campaign to secure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State. Intra-Kurdish divisions, Iran’s attempts to subjugate the Iraqi state, and Kurdistan’s economic turmoil all undermine the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State and empower Iranian-backed militant groups designated by Washington as terrorists. The U.S. base in Erbil province is one of Washington’s most important military bases and listening posts in the Middle East, serving as a special operations hub and a staging site for operations in both Iraq and Syria.
The very presence of this base requires a political order that is conducive to maintaining the U.S.-KRG partnership, something Iran is hoping to weaken and, eventually, demolish by instrumentalizing the PUK. Iran has proved willing to play the long game to supplant the United States in Kurdistan, as it has done in Baghdad over the past two decades.
Washington must, therefore, step in to pressure the PUK into ending its collusion with Tehran. The PUK and its leadership risk breaching U.S. sanctions that are designed to inhibit the capabilities of the designated Iran-aligned groups and officials the PUK partners with.
These sanctions could underscore an effort by Washington to establish red lines for the PUK, both to contain Iran’s encroachment and to protect the credibility of its sanctions infrastructure. Washington must also discourage the PUK from threatening to return Kurdistan to the dual administrative structure of the 1990s, which would effectively dissolve the autonomy of Kurdistan and its hard-won rights under the 2005 Iraqi constitution. This system saw the two ruling parties govern their stronghold provinces as two separate administrations and empowered Iraq’s neighbors, while undermining U.S. strategic interests in Iraq and the region.
Regional actors such as Turkey can also be brought into play. Ankara has escalated its drone attacks on the fighters and affiliates of the Turkish-Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who have found refuge in Sulaymaniyah, the PUK’s stronghold province. That has destabilized the province and added to the party’s woes, despite the PUK’s efforts to discourage further strikes.
The PUK cannot force the PKK to withdraw, since this would trigger a violent conflict, but it can ill afford further Turkish attacks. However, it could strike a bargain with Ankara premised on a commitment to end its collusion with the PMF, which has PKK affiliates within its ranks. This would ensure that the PUK no longer directly or indirectly enables the PKK. It diminishes Iran’s influence, alleviates Turkish apprehensions, and reduces the geopolitical tensions that result from Turkish incursions.
Moreover, Washington has failed to resist or condemn Baghdad’s punitive measures against the KRG’s economy, which have been engineered by Iran-aligned groups through the subjugation of the judiciary in Baghdad. The suspension of Kurdistan’s oil exports has also stopped 500,000 barrels per day of Kurdish oil from reaching global markets: some 10 percent of Iraq’s total exports, or 0.5 percent of global production. This has reverberations well beyond the region; Europe has relied increasingly on Kurdish oil since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. has so far been a bystander to both the intra-Kurdish escalation and Iran’s encroachment. Washington may believe that these problems are internal Kurdish matters, but this is a mistake. The ascension of the PMF and, therefore, its ability to exploit Kurdish discord can be directly tied to the legacy of U.S. engagement in Iraq over the past two decades, including Washington’s acquiescence to the group’s takeover of Kirkuk in 2017.
The KRG has proved resilient, but this has its limits. A full collapse of the region’s economy would ultimately force it to capitulate to Iran. In practice, this means giving Iran a greater say over the contours of the KRG’s institutions, its armed forces, borders, and, most importantly, the future of the U.S. base in Erbil.
Preventing this would require the United States to mediate intra-Kurdish tensions to unify Kurdish ranks in Baghdad to protect the KRG’s autonomy and restore its budgetary entitlements and its right to electorally contest disputed territories such as Kirkuk without being subjected to the coercive tactics of the PMF—while maintaining a healthy democratic rivalry at home.
If Washington is serious about safeguarding its interests, it could start by convincing the PUK that its best hope of reversing its decline is by addressing its internal crisis, and not by turning to Iran—a self-defeating exercise. The PUK will struggle to match the KDP’s political supremacy: At best, it can hope to slow its rival’s ascension. At worst, its collusion with Iran gambles the fates of both the party and Sulaymaniyah.
Secondly, the U.S. could focus its mediation on Kurdistan’s gas reserves, potentially addressing global shortages in the long term while propping up the KRG’s economy. The KDP has the political and constitutional legitimacy to move the sector forward and attract investors—but gas reserves are located primarily in PUK-controlled areas.
The U.S. could encourage dialogue over developing these gas fields and securing Kurdistan’s position in what the International Energy Agency has described as a “golden age” of natural gas. It is precisely here—at home, and not in Baghdad or Tehran—where the PUK, with U.S. support, can push for its economic stake through a comprehensive arrangement with the KDP that includes a revenue-sharing agreement.
Such a transactional engagement could be a stepping stone toward a wider settlement. The PUK blames the KDP for hoarding revenues and the fact that Sulaymaniyah has lagged behind other provinces, but that argument is weakened when Sulaymaniyah’s degradation is a reflection of the degradation of the PUK.
The correlation is not coincidental. By continuing with its current path, the PUK risks detaching Sulaymaniyah’s 700,000 inhabitants from the economic transformation being led by Barzani, which will only add to the frustration of its supporters. That reform agenda could rescue Kurdistan from dependence on oil by diversifying the economy, improving efficiency, and promoting good governance.
The alternative for the United States—standing by and watching the collapse of the KRG—would be a disaster for Iraq’s Kurds and for U.S. interests in the region. The KRG’s fate will play an important role in determining the contours of the wider Middle East.
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nichenirvana · 9 months
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8 Profitable Niches in the Crafting Industry
The global Arts and Crafts market was valued at USD 41590 million in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 54530 million by the end of 2026.
Read on to find out the niches, why they are profitable, and at the end I’ll reveal how you can find out more about each niche and profit from them…
Crochet - 28.8 million Americans participate in knitting and/or crochet and Etsy marketplace sellers had $1.3 billion in total revenue in 2020 from over 80 million active buyers with several affiliate programs paying up to 10% commission,
Diamond Painting – the Diamond Painting Market Size is projected to Reach Multimillions USD by 2029 and gets 135,000 searches p/m on Google with over 3,000 related products on Amazon.
Hand Crafted Jewellery - Etsy has over 3.3 million results for “handmade jewellery, Amazon over 30,000 products, and Google has over 14,000 searches p/m for the term.
Homemade Soap and Skincare - The global organic bar soap market size was estimated at USD 1.83 billion in 2021 and there are over 76,000 Etsy listings for “handmade soap plus 30,000 products related to the niche on Amazon.
Knitting - The knitting marketing industry is worth US$ 582.5 Bn to US$ 998.6 Bn by 2031, has 74,000 searches p/m on Google, and over 100,000 products available on Amazon.
Paper Crafts - Paper crafters in America spend $4.57 billion on their craft annually, there’s 110,000 searches p/m on Google, and over 100,000 products on Amazon.
Quilting - The Quilt market revenue was 231253 Million USD in 2019, and will reach 311677 Million USD in 2025, with 135,000 searches p/m, and over 30,000 products listed on Amazon.
Scrapbooking - In the United States, there are roughly 25 million active scrapbookers, supported by over 3,000 scrapbooking store, with over 33,000 searches p/m, and 40,000 products on Amazon.
To discover more about each of these niches including where to find the profitable affiliate offers as well as 100+ other niches then go here: >> https://nichenirvana.com/all-niches/
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sassyfrassboss · 2 years
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Background on the owner of the private jet
Marc Ganzi is an American businessman. He is the President and CEO of DigitalBridge, and is the founder and former CEO of Digital Bridge Holdings and Global Tower Partners. He is also a polo player.
He received a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He interned in the White House for Stephen M. Studdert, special advisor to President George H. W. Bush in 1989. In 1990, Ganzi served as an assistant Commercial Attaché in Madrid for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Foreign Commercial Service Department.
After graduation, Ganzi bought distressed real estate for Resolution Trust Corporation. He worked at Deutsche Bank, where he oversaw investments in the radio tower sector.
In 1993, he co-founded AD Development Corporation, a real estate development company in the Mid-Atlantic states, where he worked until 1994. He co-founded Apex Site Management, which was purchased by SpectraSite, and he served as group president for a year. In 1998, Ganzi founded Eureka Broadband, an application service provider and high-speed Internet access corporation. From 2000 to 2002, he was a partner in DB Capital Partners in New York City.
In 2003, he founded Global Tower Partners, a telecommunications company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. He served as its Chief Executive Officer and built the company into the largest privately held operator of U.S. cell towers. The company was purchased by Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) in 2007, and, in 2013, American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT) acquired GTP for $4.8 billion.
In 2013, Ganzi and Ben Jenkins founded Digital Bridge Holdings, an investor and operator of mobile and internet connectivity companies. Digital Bridge Holdings was acquired by Colony Capital in 2019, where Ganzi took over as CEO-elect. On July 1, 2020, he became CEO and President of Colony Capital. In 2021, the company rebranded to become DigitalBridge, a digital infrastructure investment firm, and he remained in those respective positions.
DigitalBridge Group, Inc. is a global digital infrastructure investment firm. The company owns, invests in and operates businesses such as cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells, and edge infrastructure. Headquartered in Boca Raton, DigitalBridge has key offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Singapore.
In 2010, DigitalBridge, then still Colony Capital, was reported to manage about $30 billion in investments. In 2011, DigitalBridge was tied for 3rd largest private equity real estate fund in the world, behind Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley Real Estate
Colony purchased Raffles International on July 18, 2005. This included the 41 hotels and resorts operated under the Raffles Hotel and Swissotel brand names. On January 30, 2006, it acquired Fairmont Hotels and Resorts of Toronto, Ontario with Kingdom Hotels International as a joint partner for US$3.24 billion.[citation needed] On April 10, 2006, it acquired French professional football team Paris Saint-Germain.
On November 11, 2008, Michael Jackson transferred the title of his 2,700 acre estate Neverland Ranch to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, a joint venture between Jackson (represented by attorney, L. Londell McMillan) and an affiliate of Colony Capital. It is still unclear whether Colony Capital has a part in the property. Jackson earned a total of US$35 million when he agreed to the joint venture between himself and Colony Capital.
In March 2010, Colony arranged a financing and marketing package for Annie Leibovitz. The New York celebrity photographer had been in financial difficulty and in danger of losing to her previous lender, ArtCapital, the rights to her photographs and negatives and her three Greenwich Village townhouses. ArtCapital's credit was for $24 million. In December 2010, Colony purchased Miramax from Disney with Qatar Investment Authority, Tutor-Saliba Corporation and The Weinstein Company as part of a joint venture called Filmyard Holdings for $663 million.
In September 2017, Colony NorthStar agreed to sell its Townsend Group unit to Aon for $475 million.
In October 2017, Colony entered discussions to purchase The Weinstein Company, a movie and TV production studio that sustained damage after its co-founder, Harvey Weinstein, was accused of multiple counts of sexual harassment over three decades. In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal, in late October 2017, it was reported that Colony Capital LLC had proved hesitant to purchase Weinstein Co. after a week of exclusive negotiations. Fortress Investment Group was also in talks to provide a loan to Weinstein Co.
In June 2018, The New York Times reported that Colony North Star had raised more than $7 billion in investments since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election. 24 percent of the money came from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
In April 2022, DigitalBridge bought out Wafra’s stake in its investment management subsidiary for $800 million and switched from REIT to traditional C-Corp. DigitalBridge announced and initiated several acquisitions during 2022 including AMP Capital's global infrastructure equity investment management business for $328 million and Switch, Inc., a data center company, for $11 billion. The firm sold 27 percent of its stake in DataBank to Swiss Life and EDF Invest for $1.2 billion. DigitalBridge said it would own 15.5 percent of DataBank after the sale.
Thanks!
He looks a lot like that Mark Dyer guy that used to keep tabs on Harry.
Mark Ganzi
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Mark Dyer and Harry:
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cogitoergofun · 11 months
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Members of the Sackler family—the infamous, mega-wealthy family largely seen as sparking the nationwide opioid epidemic—donated roughly $19 million to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine while the organization drafted two reports that influenced national policies around opioids, according to an investigation by The New York Times.The revelation is another glimpse at the extent to which the Sacklers apparently tried to manipulate science and policy to plump its profits. The report also raises questions as to why the National Academies has been quiet about the donations and has not conducted a review of whether the funds and other potential conflicts of interest influenced its reports. The Times notes that in 2019, the World Health Organization retracted two opioid guidance documents after a review backed up concerns that the drafting process had been influenced by opioid manufacturers, including the Sacklers' Purdue Pharma.
Members of the Sackler family owned and largely directed Purdue Pharma in the late 1990s when the company allegedly began aggressively and deceptively selling its highly addictive opioid painkiller, OxyContin. The Sacklers are estimated to have raked in more than $10 billion from opioid sales in the years after.
According to the Times report, Raymond Sackler and his wife, Beverly Sackler, who were both heavily involved with Purdue, began donating to the National Academies in 2008. They donated around $14 million in total before their deaths in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Jillian Sackler, the widow of Arthur Sackler, who died before Purdue began selling OxyContin, began donating in 2000, with the total reaching $5 million by 2017.
Meanwhile, in 2007 and 2009 a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, Burt Rosen, pushed for legislation that would direct the National Academies to convene a "Conference on Pain" that would "increase the recognition of pain as a significant public health problem in the United States." When the legislation was passed in 2010, Rosen held a 10 pm meeting of the Pain Care Forum, a group of drug companies and affiliates, to discuss meeting with the National Academy of Medicine (then the Institute of Medicine) and becoming members.
Concerning committees
In 2011, the National Academies released a report called "Relieving Pain in America," which put forth the questionable estimate that 100 million adults—or 42 percent—in the US suffered from chronic pain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would later peg the percentage between 7 percent and 21 percent, depending on the severity. But, for years, the 100 million figure was used as a talking point in opioid marketing and appeared to influence federal agencies' actions and doctors' prescribing. The Times noted that some of the report's authors had financial ties to Purdue, but there were no conflicts of interest disclosed.
In 2016, the National Academies began setting up another committee to work on a report aimed at addressing the epidemic of opioid overdoses and addiction. But, as members were provisionally assembled, Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, raised concerns that at least two of the possible committee members had clear ties to drug makers, including Purdue. While Wyden was not able to vet all the potential members, the findings from just the two were "extremely troubling, and strongly suggest" that the Academy needed to do a better job of reviewing potential members, he wrote in a letter to the president of the National Academies at the time. After that, the National Academies removed four people from the committee.
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How to Determine Interest Rate for Late Payment Obligations in Commercial Transaction?
The most important obligation of the parties to a commercial contract is to deliver or provide services and pay in full and on time as agreed. However, in reality, there are times that one party or the parties fail to perform their payment obligations, causing damages to the other party. In particular, in the case of a breach of the payment obligation, the aggrieved party may request the person having caused damage to pay late payment obligations interest. Potential dispute on this matter might arise between parties.
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How to Determine Interest Rate for Late Payment Obligations in Commercial Transaction?
Article 306 of the Commercial Law 2005 provides for the application of the interest rate due to the delay of payment as follows: Where a contract-breaching party delays making payment for goods or payment of service charges and other reasonable fees, the aggrieved party may claim an interest on such delayed payment at the average interest rate applicable to overdue debts in the market at the time of payment for the delayed period, unless otherwise agreed or provided for by law.
The interest rate for late payment of obligations in commercial business is applied according to the average interest rate on overdue debts in the market at the time of payment corresponding to the late payment period, unless otherwise agreed or otherwise provided by law.
However, the Commercial Law 2005 at that time did not have a specific regulation on the average interest rate of overdue debts on the market. The Resolution No. 01/2019/NQ-HDTP has detailed instructions on this interest rate. When determining the interest on late payments, the Court shall determine the interest rate on late payments on the basis of average interest rates on overdue debts announced by at least 03 (three) commercial banks (such as Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank, etc.) whose headquarters, branch or transaction office is located in the same province or central-affiliated city where the headquarters of the Court in charge of the case is located at the payment date (the date of first-instance trial), except otherwise agreed upon by the parties or regulated by laws.
In case of late payment liabilities defined in a contract which includes the parties’ agreement on interest payment, the judgment debtor is liable to pay interest on the outstanding judgment debt at the agreed interest rate which must be conformable with applicable laws; if the agreed interest rate is not available, the Court shall decide application of the interest rate prescribed in Clause 2 Article 468 of the 2015 Civil Code. In case interests are charged on amounts payable to the state budget as regulated by laws, the judgment debtor is liable to pay an interest on the judgment debt arrears calculated at the interest rate prescribed in Article 357 or Article 468 of the 2015 Civil Code, unless otherwise prescribed by laws.
In order to protect the best interest of parties, it is important to consult with dispute lawyers in Vietnam for advice.
ANT Lawyers - English speaking law firm in Vietnam, recognized by Legal500, IFLR1000. We are an exclusive Vietnam member of Prea Legal, the global law firm network covering more than 150 jurisdictions. The firm provides a range of legal services to multinational and domestic clients.
Source ANTLawyers: https://antlawyers.vn/library/how-to-determine-interest-rate-for-late-payment-obligations-in-commercial-transaction.html
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gideonayomideblog · 1 year
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tilda1954 · 2 years
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Biennial, Biennale, Bienal, Art Basel? Part One
Let's return to our examination of Alexandra Grant's career measured against the conventional benchmarks for success in the art world.
I'll be looking first at Art Fairs, some of which are purely commercial, featuring artists affiliated with major galleries. Among the most well known are Art Basel (in its various incarnations), Frieze, the Armory show in New York.
Second, we'll consider Biennials (which appear under various spellings in various places, but broadly speaking are government sponsored or affiliated, and feature pavilions and international artists with some degree of government sponsorship.
At Art Fair, or at least Art Fair Adjacent
Grant's lack of gallery representation, outside of the period between roughly 2009 and 2012 with the Honor Fraser gallery, and her short-term representation by and Ochi Projects at Marfa, excludes her from most art fairs, where galleries participate and select artists to display.
Despite this handicap, Grant has managed to be a presence, not by displaying her studio art at the fair, but by performatively exhibiting her related "collaborations" of art philanthropy, art book production and publishing adjacent to the fair.
For example, as discussed in my earlier post on grantLOVE, the Honor Fraser gallery included a video and photographs related to the LOVEhouse project at the Armory Show in New York in January 2009. (check date).
Grant's art may not have made it inside Art Basel in Miami in 2012, but her Century of the Self images, printed on clothing by Clover and Canyon clothing, were sold to benefit LAXART at a cocktail party at a venue near the fair, and throughout the fair. It's not clear to me if Grant personally attended Art Basel Miami that year, but in 2016 Grant and her co-author Keanu Reeves participated with other celebrities at the UNAID Gala at Art Basel Miami in 2016.
Grant's studio art wasn't represented at LA Frieze, but she did sell her grantLOVE merch (and some XAB books?) in a parking lot adjacent to the fair in 2020.
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Grant has donated an artwork to Artadia for auction, and in this way seen her name included in the programs of fairs such as the Expo Chicago art fair.
instagram
The closest Grant has come to an international art fair would be the Marfa International in 2021. Even there, she added to her impact by installing a pop-up shop close to fair activities.
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What conclusions might be drawn from this? I would suggest that if Grant ever aspired to be represented by a major gallery and present at major fairs, she no longer does. Instead, she leverages her "art philanthropy" and the symbol that represents it to place herself alongside her more successful colleagues, using her trademark to advance her personal brand.
Placing yourself alongside someone more accomplished, and drawing a false equivalence between you? Where have we seen that before?
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wpkurzus · 1 year
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2022 évértékelés, 2023 évtervezés – Nagy Attila
Mikor lesz már végre egy normális évünk?
2022-ben kitört egy háború a szomszédunkban, volt egy országgyűlési választás, óriási az infláció és az energiaárak, gyenge a forint, meghalt Erzsébet királynő és Pelé, és még számtalan megrázó esemény.
Azért történtek a világban jó dolgok is, bár a lista az előzőnél valamivel rövidebb. Megvertük az angolokat 4-0-ra, megjelent a Sárkányok háza, voltak rendes fesztiválok és kijöttek forradalmian új AI eszközök.
Ezekhez az eseményekhez képest az én személyes dolgaim és a WPViking Kft. történései nem igazán érnek fel, de pár éve rendszeresen megosztom ezeket, így az idei év se marad ki.
Az évértékelő bejegyzéseim a legolvasottabbak, főleg azért, mert számokat is megosztok a vállalkozásomról, de a magánéletem változásaira is kitérek.
A magyarok által készített YearCompass egyébként hű társam minden évben, így ennek a kitöltését neked is ajánlom.
A korábbi írásaimat itt találod:
2021 évértékelés, 2022 évtervezés
2020 évértékelés, 2021 évtervezés
2019-es évértékelés, 2020-as évtervezés
2018-as évértékelés, 2019-es évtervezés
Én is szeretem olvasni másokét is, így íme pár, ha tetszik ez a téma:
Papp Gábor
Szendrei Ádám
Domán Zsolt
Gál Kristóf
2022 évértékelés
Mi vállalkozók imádjuk figyelni más cégek teljesítményét, az Opten elég sűrűn megnyílik nálam is.
Tudom, hogy te is nagy részben emiatt vagy itt…
Ha olvastad a 2021-es évértékelésemet, még emlékezhetsz, hogy akkor olvadtunk egybe az ügynökségi osztályunkkal, amit Bence öcsém és Tóth Dániel barátunk visz már pár éve.
Emiatt a számaim kicsit csalókák az azelőtti időszakból.
A lényeg, hogy a tavalyi és mostani évben is már teljes Kft. eredményeket nézek, viszont külön kitérek a kivitelezői águnkra is.
Fontos még tudni, hogy a számításaim nem biztos, hogy tökéletesek, jogilag nem működik minden a Kft. égisze alatt, de megpróbáltam a legjobb közelítést adni az eredményeinkről.
Jöhetnek is a számok…
A WPKurzus számai 2022-ben
Bevételek – 2022
Induljunk el a nettó bevételekkel:
ÉvBevétel20164 millió Ft201711,5 millió Ft201814,7 millió Ft201920,6 millió Ft202030,9 millió Ft202162,2 millió Ft202261,4 millió Ft
WPKurzus bevételei – 2016-2022
A bevételekben kisebb visszaesés volt idén, amit nem egyszerű megélni vállalkozóként, de ez most egy ilyen év volt. Nemsokára kitérek a miértekre.
Azért még nézzük meg, hogy a bevételek mikből álltak össze:
Képzésekből származó bevételek – 27,3 millió Ft
Jutalékok / Affiliate – 2,4 millió Ft
Kivitelezési szolgáltatások – 31,7 millió Ft
Az ügynökség bevételei a tavalyihoz képest nőttek 28%-kal, viszont a képzéseinkből és jutalékokból származók 22%-kal csökkentek.
A tervünk nettó 80 millió Ft volt, de csökkentünk is tavalyhoz képest, így ezt én kicsit csalódásnak élem meg a rosszabb napjaimon.
A kedvezőbb napokon inkább (tévesen vagy jogosan, ki tudja?) megracionalizálom, hogy egy ilyen szar évben azért ez se rossz.
Az még hozzátartozik, hogy a Szabadúszó webdesigner képzésünk részletfizetései még nincsenek a 2022-es bevételekben, így ez azért kicsit megdobná az évet.
No de a bevételek nem jelentenek semmit a költségek nélkül…
Kiadások – 2022
Nagy levegő…
Nettó kiadások:
ÉvKiadás2016~0,6 millió Ft2017~2,7 millió Ft2018~4 millió Ft2019~11,4 millió Ft2020~16,5 millió Ft2021~ 27 millió Ft2022~ 43,6 millió Ft
WPKurzus kiadásai – 2016-2022
A kiadásaink 61%-kal nőttek, ami azért érdekes, mert 2020-ról 2021-re is 60%-kal nőttek, szóval ezt az ütemet tartottuk. 
Sajnos a bevételek nem ugyanebben az ütemben emelkedtek.
A legérdekesebb szerintem az, hogy mire mennyit költünk, így erről is készítettem egy összefoglalt számítást a számodra (zárójelben a tavalyi számok):
Személyi kiadások – 15,7 millió Ft (tavaly 11,2)
saját fizetésünk, marketing asszisztens, oktatásszervező, pénzügyi asszisztens, webdesigner, grafikus, vágó, programozó, szövegíró, fordító, videós
Marketing, hirdetések – 4,9 millió Ft (5,4)
Facebook, Google Ads, SEO
Eszközköltség – 7 millió Ft (3,5)
Laptopok, videós eszközök, irodaszékek
Bővítmények, szoftverek – 4,6 millió Ft (2,4)
Adók, járulékok – 9,3 millió Ft (2,7)
Könyvelés, jogi költségek – 1,6 millió Ft (0,5)
Egyéb – 0,5 millió Ft
bankköltség, stúdió bérlés, rendezvény, oktatási anyagok…
Ezeken felül ÁFA befizetésünk kb. 12,5 millió Ft volt, ami még mindig fájdalmas, de ilyen a biznisz.
Szinte minden kiadásunk jelentősen nőtt:
Nőttek a fizetések, és több emberrel dolgozunk együtt
Irodába költöztünk, és vettünk egy csomó eszközt
Rengeteg bővítményt vásároltunk meg, és többet költünk szoftverekre is
A 2021-es eredmény adóinak egy része most jelent meg, és azokon felül is egy csomó adót fizettünk be
Rendbetettük az ÁSZF-ünket, és megnőtt a könyvelési díj is
Az érdekesebb történésekről úgyis mindjárt írok részletesebben.
A költségeinkkel egyébként elég tudatosnak érzem magunkat, sőt eléggé kockázatkerülők vagyunk, na de majd jövőre…
Eredmény – 2022
Íme az elmúlt évek összesített eredményei:
A matek szerint 61,4 – 43,6 = 17,8 millió Ft a WPViking Kft. 2022-es eredménye. Körülbelül.
Ez a tavalyi eredményünk kb. fele.
Fontos megjegyeznem, hogy a 3 vezető fizetése (Bence, Dani és én) szakmai minimálbéren van, és így is számoltam vele. Tehát az igazi “költségeink” ennél is magasabbak, viszont mivel osztalékot nem vettünk ki, így ezt nem számolom most. Bevételeink külföldi cégből, egyéni vállalkozásból, személyes befektetésekből is származnak, így az Opten nem lesz teljesen pontos.
ekintsük át, hogy mi vezetett ehhez a csökkenéshez a 2022-es évben.
A WPKurzus történései 2022-ben
Az idei évünk kívülről kevésbé volt érdekes, de belül fontos fejlődéseken mentünk keresztül.
Megváltozott a munkamódszerünk, a gondolkodásmódunk, és célunk is a vállalkozásunkkal.
A szolgáltatásaink és termékeink is eléggé átalakultak, de mi ezt sokkal intenzívebben éltük meg, mint a látogatóink.
Nézzük, mik határozták meg az évet…
Szabadúszó webdesigner képzés 3-4. évad
A szabadúszó webdesigner csomagunk hozta idén is a legtöbb bevételt, így elsőnek erről szeretnék beszélni.
A 2021-es start után idén is folytattuk 2 új évaddal és folyamatos fejlesztésekkel.
2022-ben több, mint 200-an vettek részt ezen a kurzuson, köszi ha te is csatlakoztál.
Ez az a képzésünk, ahol 3 hónap alatt elindítunk a weboldal készítői úton.
Elég magabiztosan állítom, hogy ha ez a téma érdekel, akkor a világon nemigen van ennél jobb lehetőség ténylegesen fejlődni.
2015 óta fejlesztjük a kurzusainkat, és Bencéék több, mint 500 WordPress weboldal projekten dolgoztak, így a tapasztalataink és odaadásunk eléggé benne van ebben a tréningben.
A tematikát folyamatosan alakítjük a visszajelzések alapján, így idén bekerült a Canva és Figma is a tananyagba.
A Figma egyértelműen hiányzott eddig, kicsit sajnálom is, hogy korábban nem találtam ki, hogyan lehetne behozni a képzésbe anélkül, hogy hosszú hónapokon keresztül kelljen tanulni a használatát.
Most viszont kialakítottunk egy új módszert, amit a jövőben természetesen még tovább fogunk csiszolgatni.
Szuperek a visszajelzések, imádom hallani a tanulók történeteit az új ügyfeleikről, a kedvencem pedig az élő találkozó a tréning végén.
Szabadúszó 3. évad csoportkép
Az 5. évad 2023. márciusában indul, szóval ha érdekel, akkor a remarketing miatt úgyis látni fogsz róla hirdetést.
Home office-ból iroda
A működésünk leglényegezebb változása, hogy közös irodában kezdtünk el dolgozni.
Bence Budapestre költözött, Dani és én pedig meguntuk az otthoni munkát, szóval nyár közepére sikeresen kialaítottuk az irodánkat.
Szerencsés helyzetben vagyunk, mivel a családunknak volt egy lakása Budapesten, ami ideális elosztású volt, hogy átalakítsuk irodává, így ezen tudtunk spórolni.
Új iroda
Én korábban soha nem dolgoztam irodában, mindig home office-oltam vagy a világ egyik pontján nyitottam fel a laptopomat.
A munkatársaink is távolról dolgoznak, és mivel az utóbbi években a COVID is fel-fel ütötte a fejét, ez eddig normálisnak tűnt.
Viszont a céljaink megváltoztak, rájöttünk, hogy nem igazán működik a vállalkozás hatékonyan a mostani rendszerben.
Nem voltak meg azok az rendszereink, hogy otthonról dolgozva is jól menjen a munka.
Itt nem eszközökre vagy szoftverekre kell gondolni, hanem számonkérésre, feladatmegosztásra, menedzsmentre. Egyszerűen nem voltunk elég jók benne. 
Ráadásul idén laktam először egyedül, mert korábban barátokkal vagy barátnővel éltem együtt, és bármennyire is szeretek a kis barlangomban dolgozni, kiderült, hogy sokkal több szociális érintkezésre vágyom – munka közben is.
Még most is tanuljuk a munkát, mivel ez eléggé új nekünk, de hónapról-hónapra jobban érezzük magunkat, és az már most kiderült, hogy 2022 legjobb döntése volt, hogy elkezdtünk közös irodában dolgozni.
A termékeink és szolgáltatásaink miatt elég sokszor kell a másikhoz fordolnunk egy gyors kérdésre, így sokkal olajozottabban megy az egész, ha csak odaszólunk neki.
Persze van, amikor így kicsit kivesszük a másikat a flowból, de bőven pluszos így a hatékonyság.
Szeretünk vicceskedni, együtt ebédelni, megmaradt a szabadságunk, de van a működésünknek egy egézsséges kerete.
Kevesebbet is dolgoztam este és hétvégéken, mivel hatékonyabban működtem napközben, ami szuper hatással volt a magánéletemre is.
Ez a változás számunkra kulcsfontosságú a jövőre nézve, de nem biztos, hogy másnál is ennyire jelentős lenne: én azt ajánlom, hogy gondolkodj el róla, ha hasonló helyzetben vagy.
Új arculat és weboldalak
A legtöbb esetben pár évente érdemes átgondolni egy vállalkozás arculatát és weboldalát.
Mi is így tettünk, és kicsit felfrissítettük az arculati elemeinket.
A narancssárgánkat megtartottuk, de az évek folyamán összegyűlt sok színt kivezettük és egy sötét lilás-kékes árnyalatot választottunk.
A címsorunk betűtípusa sokkal karakteresebb lett, illik a vikinges témához.
Ezzel együtt megváltoztak a weboldalaink is: a wpkurzus.hu, a belső felületünk és az új honlapunk is. Ha már az arculatunk megújult, akkor egyúttal újraépítettük szinte az összes aloldalunkat.
Ezt az egész váltást viszont nem az arculatunk ráncfelvarrása indította el, hanem a termékeink rendszerének teljes átalakítása, amivel szinte az alapoktól újjáépítettük az egész vállalkozást.
WPFegyvertár és termékek változása
2015-ben kezdtünk bele a WPKurzus építésébe, és azóta a termékeink eléggé hasonlóak voltak. Képzés ha:
Ha saját magadnak építtenél weboldalt
Ha blogger lennél (csúnya bukás volt)
Ha online kurzust készítenél
Ha szabadúszó webdesignerré válnál
Egy konkrét célcsoportra vagy igényre nyújtottunk egy tanfolyam csomagot különböző extra segítséggel.
Rengeteg tananyag készült, miközben végig az volt a célunk, hogy a lehető leggyorsabban érd el az adott célodat.
Egy csomó tananyagnak nem volt meg a helye, mivel csak kevés embernek fontos, de nekik viszont elképesztően hasznos.
Közben az is kiderült, hogy a magyar piac elég kicsi, ráadásul egy csomó versenytársunk is lett idő közben.
Emiatt át kellett gondolnom, hogy miként lehetne fenntarthatóbb vállalkozást építeni.
A nagy kampányaink jól mentek, de elképesztően kiszámíthatatlanok voltak a bevételeink.
Így jött fel megint újra az egyik “legforróbb” termék típus – az előfizetéses termék.
A “pályám” elején 2 olyan előfizetéses terméknek is a tagja voltam, ahol túlzás nélkül több 100 óra anyagot dolgoztam fel.
De a weboldal készítést nem éreztem kompatibilisnek membership rendszerhez, mivel többnyire azt szeretnéd, hogy elkészüljön a honlapod, és ennyi.
Viszont amikor bejött a Szabadúszó webdesigner képzés, egyre több olyan elemet találtunk, amik kiváló értéket képviselnek, és bőven megérheti miattuk egy tagsági rendszerhez csatlakozni.
Ezekből építettük össze a WPFegyvertárat:
Prémium bővítmények felhasználási joga
Ezeknek a bővítmények használatának tanítása
Haladó Elementor, webáruház és egyéb pluginek oktatása
Facebook csoport szakértői támogatással
Havonta webinárok
Design eszközök oktatása
Marketinges tananyagok
Élő találkozók
Ez egy elég brutál csomag lett, aminek remélem a jövőben igen sok tagja lesz (a terveknél majd beszélek a célokról).
Egy előfizetéses terméket a mostani rendszerbe viszont igen kemény dió volt berakni.
Az árazása se lett hétköznapi, és harmóniába kellett hozni a jelenlegi tagok működésével is.
Ráadásul technikailag mindent újra kellett építeni.
Így alakult ki az új tanulói rendszerünk, amiben együtt szerepel a korábban is ismert kurzusaink megújított változata és a WPFegyvertár.
Ezt technikailag főleg a következő eszközök hajtják:
WordPress
Elementor
WooCommerce
Learndash
Stripe
WooCommerce Subscriptions
Download Monitor
Uncanny Automator és Toolkit
és egyéb kisebb bővítmények
Őszintén, nem igazán ajánlom ezt a tech csomagot, ha nincs mély ismereted a témában, mert számunkra is kihívás volt összerakni.
Az átállás elvitte kb. az év harmadát, de erre már bátran tudunk építkezni a jövőben.
Eddig csak a korábbi tagjainknak volt elérhető a WPFegyvertár, és a következő pár hónapban egyelőre csak az csatlakozhat, aki megvásárolja valamelyik tanfolyam csomagunkat.
6 hónap ingyenes hozzáférést adunk, és utána 65% kedvezményt, így ez lesz a legkedvezőbb módja a tagságnak.
Így minden tananyagunknak meg lesz a helye, olyan tartalmakat is tudunk gyártani, amik csak pár tucat embernek fontosak, és egyre nagyobb olyan tudástárat tudunk felépíteni a weboldal készítés témakörben, ami minden honlap tulajdonos hasznára válhat.
És persze a több, mint 1 millió Ft-ba kerülő bővítménytárhoz is hozzáférsz az előfizetéseddel.
Szóval ez egy kicsit reklámszagú rész lett, de az évünknek legnagyobb részét ennek a létrehozása vitte el, így el szerettem volna magyarázni.
Elképesztően magas értéket szeretnénk adni, és olyan közösséget építeni, ami tényleg támogató.
És ugye ez a bizniszünknek is jót fog tenni, mivel rendszeres bevételt tudunk szerezni, amivel sokkal biztosabb alapokon fogunk állni, és így több terünk lesz a fejlesztésre.
Teljes game changer.
Tehát 3 termékünk maradt:
Hódító csomag
Szabadúszó webdesigner képzés
WPFegyvertár
Érdemes lecsekkolni őket.
Emiatt a változás miatt a 2022-es évünk inkább építkezővé vált, kevés marketinggel és így kisebb bevétellel is.
Rájöttem, hogy kb. 2 éve nem tudtam elég időt fordítnai a marketingünkre, mivel a termékfejlesztés vitte el az időt folyamatosan. Pedig a marketing a legfőbb erősségem, és azt is szeretem a legjobban csinálni.
Mégis úgy döntöttem, hogy türelmes leszek, felépítünk egy kifogástalan tréning csomagot, amire most már tényleg lehet építeni.
Végre, hétfő! podcast
2021-ben indult a podcastem, amivel szépen indítottuk az évet, de be kell vallanom, hogy a jelenlegi működésünkben számomra szenvedés volt.
Nem volt túl sok rendszeres munkám vele, részenként kb. 5 óra, de ezek teljesen kimerítettek.
15. adás Gyenes Donáttal
Imádtam, hogy új emberekkel és barátokkal beszélhetek ebben a formátumban, de egy jobb csapat kell ahhoz, hogy ez megfelelően tudjon működni.
Nem kizárt, hogy 2023-ban visszatér, de az biztos, hogy kevesebb résszel, és egy jobban felépített rendszerrel.
Egyéb történések a WPKurzusnál
Ilyenkor év végén mindig érdekes megnézni, hogy amúgy miket is vittünk véghez.
A befektetett energia vajon a megfelelő helyekre ment?
Ebben nem vagyok teljesen biztos, de hiszek a víziómban.
Történt még pár dolog, amit érdemesnek tartok megosztani.
A vállalkozás legnagyobb kihívása, hogy a tananyagokat folyamatosan frissíteni kell, amit mi becsülettel meg is teszünk.
Ezzel viszont nekem van a legtöbb munkám, ami idén elvitte kb. az időm felét.
Igaz, hogy a csomagjainkat egyszerűsítettük, de ez azt is jelentetette, hogy újra kell építeni a legfontosabb kurzusainkat.
Melós volt újraírni, újravenni, sőt a Webáruház kurzusunk még januárban fog frissülni.
Most már több, mint 60 óra tananyagunk van, aminek a 90%-a le van írva.
Több könyv kijönne belőle, ha formátumot váltanánk, de a téma legtöbbször ezt nem engedi (van ahol igen, de ez a jövő zenéje).
Ezeken kívül több, mint 30 webinárt tartottunk. Pár éve nem hittem volna, hogy én képes leszek élőben oktatni, de ez mára már teljesen természetes lesz.
Tehát tananyagkészítésben megint nagyot alakítottunk, a legfontosabb változás, hogy web design irányba jobban elmegyünk a jövőben a Figma bevezetésével.
Mivel egyikünk se UI designer, így viszont szükségünk volt, és szükségünk lesz a csapatba egy ilyen emberre.
Így kötném át a témát a csapatunkra.
Voltak változások a csapat összetételében, jelenleg így állunk:
Én felelek a legtöbb dologért, vagyok a menedzser, tartalmokészítő
Bence főleg a technikai dolgokért felel, és kb. az idejének 30%-át teszi ki a WPKurzus, a többit az ügynökség és egyéb projektjei
Dani főleg projektmenedzser az ügynökségben, és weboldalakat is épít. A WPKurzusban inkább tanácsokkal segít, viszont ő látja át legjobban a tananyagokat
Noémi már szinte mindent csinált a bizniszben, tananyagot készített, videókat vágott, fordított, marketingezett, ellenőrzött, designokat elemzett, szóval egy multitálentum. A jövőben főleg oktatásszervező feladatokat lát el.
Gábor év közben érkezett, korábbi WPKurzus tanuló volt. Főleg weboldalak készít az ügynökségi oldalon, de a jövőben egyre többet besegít a technikaibb tananyagok elkészítésében is.
Szandi marketing gyakornokként érkezett decemberben, és vele együtt fogjuk felvirágoztatni 2023-ban a WPKurzus marketingjét.
Viki a pénzügyi asszisztensünk, aki felel azért, hogy a számláink és pénzügyi folyamataink megfelelően működjenek.
Sajnos még eléggé el vagyunk szórva az országban, de Szandi már az irodában dolgozik Bencével, Danival és velem.
Egyre inkább szeretnénk a teljes állásban dolgozó munkatársak felé fordulni, mivel a KATA megszűnése csökkentette az alvállalkozókkal való munka előnyeit.
Vágyom egy igazi csapatra, és azon vagyunk, hogy egyre inkább azzá váljunk.
Ezekből állt tehát a WPKurzus 2022-es éve.
A látványos fejlődés elmaradt, de olyan alapokat sikerült lerakni, ami remélhetőleg megágyaz a sikereknek 2023-ra.
WPViking Agency
Egy külön bjeegyzést szentelnék az ügynökségi részlegünknek.
A szolgáltatói águnk áll a legerősebb alapokon. Egy mindenki által ismert modellben működik, a szakértelmünket adjuk el.
“Mi”-ként írok, de ez főleg Bence és Dani reszortja.
Mivel még mindig erős a szinergiánk, így kölcsönösen tudjuk felhúzni egymást.
Az ügynökségi munkák miatt a szakmai tudásunk folyamatosan frissül, ami bekerül a tananyagokba, a WPKurzus hírneve pedig egyre több weboldal készítési munkát hoz Bencééknek.
Konkrétan 0 a marketing költségük, ajánlásokból vagy korábbi ismeretségből érkezik az összes ügyfél.
Fontosabb számok:
27 új weboldal projekt
~ 31,7 millió Ft bevétel
~ 11 millió Ft költség
A profit egyértelműen jobb, mint a WPKurzus esetében, viszont a skálázás még mindig jóval nehezebben megy, amit jövőre igyekszünk megoldani új emberek felvételével.
A legnagyobb feladat, hogy a munkafolyamatokat át kell alakítani, hogy könnyebben kiszervezhető, átadható legyen a munkatársaknak.
Most túl sok olyan feladat van, amik Dani és Bence kezében vannak, de folyamatosan dolgoznak az alakításokon.
Jövőre nagyobb növekedés a cél, még az is lehet, hogy ha sikerül pár embert felvenni, akkor még marketingezni is fognak
Mindenképp fontos volt, hogy működött az Agency, mert ez tette lehetővé, hogy a WPKurzus bevételmentes időszakában is menjen a vállalkozás.
Ha te is szeretnéd kiszervezni és profikra bízni a weboldalad építését, akkor klikk ide.
RB Fitness
Az első vállalkozásom nem a tőlem megszokott volt, mivel 2013-ban, amikor 21 éves voltam, a családommal döntöttünk úgy, hogy csinálunk egy edzőtermet Hajdúszoboszlón.
Semmi tudásunk nem volt a témában, be lettünk hajítva a mélyvízbe, de Bencével így tanultuk meg a vállalkozások alapjait.
Mivel én szerettem volna a saját utamat járni, és elég jól leautmatizáltuk a folyamatokat, így pár év után én már csak mint egy tanácsadó működtem a teremben.
Bence viszont sokat foglalkozott vele, és mivel ez fizikai vállalkozás volt, kevés fejlődési lehetőséggel, így az elmúlt években már gondolkodtunk azon, hogy kiszállnánk belőle.
2022-ben meghoztuk az elhatározást, és egy szuper csapatot találtunk, aki megvette tőlünk az egész vállalkozást.
Így 9 évvel az indulás után exiteltünk.
Pillanatképek az RB Fitness életéből
Sokat tanultam a 9 év alatt, itt kellett elsőnek felvennem embert, pénzügyi tervet készíteni, folyamatleírásokat csinálni, emberekkel foglalkozni, szóval egyáltalán nem bánom, hogy az életem része volt, de ezután több időm jut arra, amit igazán szeretek.
Személyes történések 2022-ben
A vállalkozói élményeim után térjünk át a személyes életemre.
Nehéz éveken vagyok túl, de most úgy néz ki, hogy kezdenek helyreállni a dolgok.
Nem feltétlen az élmények és az általam nyilvánosan mutatott történések azok, amelyek meghatározzák a boldogságérzetemet, de azért megpróbálom pár sorban leírni a legfontosabbakat.
Utazások, élmények
A régebbi olvasóim még úgy ismerhettek meg, hogy digitális nomádkodok, bejárom az egész világot.
A Covid óta ez eléggé megváltozott, és azóta minden évben valami áthúzza a terveimet.
Az idei év elég csendes volt élmények és utazások szempontjából, de egyáltalán nem panaszkodom, mert ezt most így jónak érzem.
2 kisebb külföldi kiruccanásom volt.
Az egyik baráti társaságommal kimentünk Ciprusra, aminek a felét lázasan a szálláson töltöttem.
Az itteni quados napunk viszont az életem egyik legjobb élménye, volt szóval ezt mindenképp ajánlom másoknak is.
A másik kis utazásom célja Milánó volt, ahova a barátnőmmel mentünk ki pár napra.
Olaszországot még mindig félelmetesen jó adottságúnak érzem.
Az utazásokon kívül végre volt egy jó fesztivál szezon és több koncerten is voltam.
A mostani generációváltás a magyar zenében nekem eléggé bejön, és sokkal szívesebben hallgatok hazai muzsikákat, mint régebben.
Dzsúdló, Beton Hofi és Azariah koncerteken idén elég sokszor megfordultam, és a jövő évet is hasonlóan tervezem.
Idén sokat voltam szabadulószobában és sikerült több társasjátékot is kipróbálni. Amikor az agyamat kell járatni játékosan, az az igazán nekem való élmény.
Csapatépítés 2022 december
Az év végi csapatépítőnkön is elmentünk egy szabadulásra, amit mindenki imádott.
Sajnos az aktívabb, sportosabb élmények idén leredukálódtak…
Sport és fizikai egészség
A sport mindig az életem fontos része volt, 10 évig tollaslabdáztam, az elmúlt években pedig egy amatőr focicsapatban játszottam.
Heti 3-4 foci mindig volt, amikor épp nem volt valami kisebb sérülésem.
A tavaszi szezont nagy elánnal kezdtük, mert célunk volt a feljebb jutás.
Az egyik meccsen sajnos egy felugrás utáni rossz talajra érkezéskor elpattant a keresztszalagom.
Aki sportol az tudja, hogy ez a leghosszabb rehabbal járó sérülés. Én meg főleg tudom, mert a másik térdemben korábban már elszakadt a keresztszalag.
Így májusban jött az újabb műtét, és a legalább 9 hónapos rehab kezdete.
Természetesen ez fizikálisan eléggé meghatározta az évemet, újra kellett tanulni járni, lépcsőzni, futni.
Szerencsére dolgozok együtt gyógytornásszal, masszőrrel, személyi edzővel, de még így is elképesztő lassú és fájdalmas ez a folyamat.
Mindenki mondja, hogy jobb lenne, ha abbahagynám a focit, de tudom, hogy az a flow, amit ott érzek, azt eddig sehol máshol nem tapasztalom meg.
Így a cél, hogy 2023. márciusában visszatérjek, bár ez jelenleg elég valószínűtlen.
Ennek hatására sokkal jobban odafigyeltem az edzésre és a kajálásra is.
Még mindig a Food Revolution által jön az étkezéseim egy része, igaz ez már csak kb. az étkezéseim harmada.
A körülményekhez képest jó formában érzem magam, de sok mélypontom volt az út során.
Elképesztően várom már, hogy csoportos órákra tudjak menni, és hogy újra felvehessem a stoplisomat.
Mentális egészség
Ahogy olvastam az előző évértékelőmet, eléggé negatív voltam.
Nehéz volt számomra a 2021-es év magánéleti és biznisz szempontból is.
Ez 2022-ben rengeteget fejlődött.
Nagyban köszönhetem ezt annak, hogy elkezdtünk irodában dolgozni.
Megkaptam a keretet, amire szükségem volt és a szociális igényeimet is lefedi ez.
Izgatott vagyok a vállalkozásom miatt, rengeteg tervem van, amiket meg akarok valósítani 2023-ban és azt követően.
De nem csak a vállalkozásról szól az élet. 2022-t szinglikén kezdtem, így elindultam a párkeresés rögös útján.
Az év második felében már egy bimbózó párkapcsolatban éltem, ami eléggé megdobta a boldogságérzetemet.
Ami kicsit hiányzik az életemből, az a koncentráltabb személyes önfejlesztés. A vállalkozói tanulmányaim telítik az agyamat, így a saját kis fejlődésem ezekből a forrásokból, valamint a pszichológusommal való üléseken épül.
Régebben jóval több videót, könyvet olvastam önfejlesztéssel kapcsolatos témákban, és bízom benne, hogy vissza tudok erre térni, mert van pár terület, amire ráférne a fejlesztés.
Összességében jól érzem magam a fejemben, ami ugye a legfontosabb.
2022 pontszámai
Még mindig furcsa egy pontot adni az évnek, de érdekes visszatekinteni rá később
Munka (7/10)
A bevételi céloktól messze elmaradtunk, de legalább nem álltunk földbe ebben a nehéz évben. Elég későn jöttem rá, hogy miként lehetne jobban működni, de év végére sikerült egy olyan pozícióba kerülnünk, amire már stabilan tudunk építkezni.
Jobban élveztem a munkát, izgatott vagyok, ha a vállalkozásomra gondolok.
Magánélet (8/10)
Az év első fele lassabban telt, a térdsérülésem pedig elvette tőlem a focit. Ezektől függetlenül nincs sok okom a panaszra, remekül alakulnak a dolgaim.
2023 évtervezés
Az évtervezést sokan túlértékelik, mert honnan lehetne előre tudni, hogy kitör egy háború, vagy hogy elszakad a keresztszalagod?
De számomra még mindig nagy ereje van annak, hogy tudom, milyen irányba tartok.
Azt viszont már észrevettem, hogy 3-6 hónap a max, amit rendesen látok előre, így fél év múlva ezt a tervezést meg fogom ismételni.
De neked, kedves olvasó megpróbálom a homályos terveimet is kibontani.
WPKurzus – 2023
A biztonságos alapunk kész, jön az aratás időszaka, ami ebben a gazdasági helyzetben elég kérdéses, hogy mennyire fog működni.
Van pár fontosabb része a jövő évünknek…
Jelenlegi termékek
Érdekes, hogy minden évértervezőmben valami új terméket vagy szolgáltatást akartam bevezetni a következő évre.
Most ez nincs így, és ez lehet a kulcs…
2023-ban a jelenlegi termékeink lesznek fókuszban.
A csillogó új termékek, a külföldi piac meghódítása mindig hívogató, és sokszor el is csábított.
De az új termék elkészítése mindig elvitte az energiánkat a meglévők megfelelő eladásáról.
3 termékünkre fogunk koncentrálni:
Szabadúszó webdesigner képzés 5-6. évada (márciusi és szeptemberi kezdéssel)
Hódító csomag folyamatos marketingje és esetleges kampánya
WPFegyvertár megnyitása a nagyközönség számára
Ezeknek a megfelelő marketingjével el fogjuk tudni érni a célunkat.
A tananyagfejlesztés viszont nem áll meg:
Pár elmaradásunkat pótoljuk
Figma kurzus készülőben
WPFegyvertárba tartozó anyagok folyamatosan készülnek
A tanulóinknak szóló tartalmakon kívül viszont 2023-ban jobban ráfókuszálunk az ingyenes tartalmainkra.
Marketing
Már 2022-ben rájöttem, hogy évek óta nem marketingezek rendesen.
Ha csak megnézzük a blogunkat, vagy a YouTube csatornámat, akkor látszik, hogy alig készült új tartalom.
Közben pedig az egyik legnagyobb szószólója vagyok a tartalommarketing erejének.
Tipikusan abba a hibába estem, hogy a szolgáltatás nyújtása (ami nálam a tananyag készítés) és a napi menedzsment feladatok mellett nem volt idő megfelelő marketingre.
Próbálkoztam én, volt segítségem a marketingben, de nem volt meg a tartalom készítő rendszerünk.
Ezért 2023-ra a terv, hogy egy brutális produkciós gépezetet építsünk.
Az elmúlt években róbálkoztunk már sokféle ingyenes tartalommal:
Több részes videó sorozat (WPKurzus Mini)
Ingyenes kurzus
Hosszú előre felvett webinár
Élő webinár
Tartalom ajánló hírlevél
Előre megírt hírlevelek
Letölthető csekklista / útmutató / gyűjtés
Általam írt blogbejegyzés
Kiszervezett blogbejegyzés
Lapozós megdesignolt Instagram poszt
Képes és tanulság megosztós Instagram poszt
YouTube videó
Podcast
Mindegyiknek van előnye és hátránya is ezek közül, amire 2023-ban fókuszálunk, azokat félkövérrel jelöltem.
Mi az, ami hiányzik a listából?
A vertikális rövid videók, amik 2-3 éve meghódítják a világot.
A terv tehát az, hogy tudatosan felépítsünk egy tartalom gépezetet, ami ezeket képes előállítani.
Ezért jött Szandi a csapatba, hogy együttes erőnkkel rájöjjünk, hogyan lehet a leghatékonyabban csinálni.
Imádom a marketinget, és szuper érzés visszabontani, hogy mi működik, tesztelgetni, kreálni és értéket adni.
Emiatt kellett 2022-ben felépítenünk a biztos alapokat, hogy a marketingünkből tudjuk a megfelelő termékekre irányítni a leendő követőinket.
Izgalmas lesz, kövess be a különböző csatornákon, ha érdekel, hogy miket fogunk létrehozni. Hamarosan jönnek az első rövid videós posztok is:
TikTok
Instagram
YouTube
Facebook
Végre, hétfő! podcast
A drága kis podcastem elhalálozott az év elején.
Ez köszönhető annak, hogy nehéz számomra egy epizód felvétele és annak is, hogy melós egy nagyobb követőtábort felépíteni.
Véges az erőforrásunk és sokadrangú lett egy podcast epizód elkészítése.
Simán lehet, hogy még visszahozzuk, ha a marketing masina többi része flottul megy, de ez az év első felében nincs tervben.
Ha hallgattál Végre, hétfő! epizódot, akkor ezt köszönöm neked és bízom benne, hogy a jövőben még készülnek új adások, mivel rengeteg olyan ember van, akivel leülnék beszélgetni.
Csapatbővítés
Ahhoz, hogy gyorsabban haladjunk, egyértelműen a csapat bővítésére lesz szükség.
A 2 legnagyobb problémánk az volt, hogy:
1) Nem igazán állt össze, hogy mik azok a termékeink, amikre építhetünk. 
Ez lett most a Szabadúszó webdesigner képzés és a WPFegyvertár.
2) Nem volt meg, hogy egy új munkatárs miként tud segíteni.
A WPKurzusnál előre készítjük el a terméket, és vásárlás után már nincs sok feladat a szolgáltatás nyújtásával. Ez tök jó, de furcsa helyzet olyan szempontból, hogy akkor miket is kell csinálni.
A kulcs az volt, hogy megértettem, hogy szét kell választani a terméket és a marketinget.
Az oktatásszervező azért felel, hogy a termékek (tananyagok) megfelelő minőségűek legyenek, és az élő csoportok (Szabadúszó webdesigner képzés) flottul haladjanak.
A marketinges pedig a marketingért felel, és kvázi nincs köze a tananyagokhoz.
Bagatel, de ez eddig nem volt így. Mindenki össze-vissza csinált mindent, amire épp szükség volt.
Ahhoz viszont, hogy tovább fejlődjünk, ez nem mehetett így tovább.
És a jövőben is ezt a gondolkodást fogjuk folytatni.
A Karrier oldalunkon kint lesznek az éppen nyitott pozícióink.
Terveink 2023-ban, hogy a következő pozíciókkal bővüljön a csapatunk:
Web designer / UI designer
Projektmenedzser
WordPress Site Builder
Tehát a terv, hogy a mostani létszámot 3 remek munkatárssal megnöveljük az év folyamán.
Ahhoz, hogy ezeket a felvételeket meg tudjuk csinálni, természetesen növelni kell a bevételeinket…
Bevételi tervek
Vicces, hogy az előző évértékelőmben azt mondtam, hogy 2022 az aratás éve.
Csúsztunk egy évet…
2023-ban viszont tényleg el szeretnénk érni a 80 millió Ft-os bevételt.
(Azt se bánjuk, ha ez felugrik 100 millióra.)
Úgy érzem, hogy a mostani alapokkal és a marketingünk felvirágoztatásával ez menni fog.
Utazás – 2023
Egyre kevesebbet merek kívánni, de 2023-ban már tényleg szeretnék pár izgalmas helyre eljutni.
A következők vannak tervben:
Csehország
Thaiföld
Izland
Portugália
Hollandia
Ehhez viszont kicsit ügyesebben kell szervezni a bizniszt.
Egészség és sport – 2023
A mentális egészségem ápolása szempontjából továbbra is járni fogok pszichológushoz, és tervezek pár könyvet is elolvasni.
A fizikai egészségem már egy kicsit komplexebb téma.
A nagy célom, hogy újra focizhassak, ami két ilyen ropogós, foltozott térddel nem egyszerű.
2022. május 18-án műtöttek, így március-április környékén már jó lenne, ha kergethetném a labdát.
Az étkezésem viszonylag rendben van, köszönhetően a Food Revolution-nek, de az irodázás miatt sokszor becsúsznak egészségtelenebb ételek is.
Nem akarom teljesen kitiltani ezeket, de az édességet viszont muszáj lesz.
Összegfoglalás 2021-2022
Köszönöm, hogy érdeklődtél annyira, hogy elolvasd (vagy átfusd) az évértékelőmet.
Megírni is elég melós volt…
A sok nehézség ellenére 2022 egy jó év volt számomra, végre sikerült kicsit összeszedni magamat.
Nagy reményekkel megyek neki 2023-nak, remélhetőleg fogsz még hallani rólam.
A 2022 évértékelés, 2023 évtervezés – Nagy Attila bejegyzés először WPKurzus-én jelent meg.
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