Last day of fencing before the tournament!

So I got to work again today. It was really slow at the beginning, no one got there until just before seven. I did have to download and print some attachments for Jerry, and one of them was not cooperating. It was a .docx document, and it was opening in code. I think Donna and Jerry eventually figured it out, but I didn’t feel very happy about that happening anyway.

Jerry gave my epee lesson tonight, there were no other coaches. He combined my class with the lower level class and one of his private students, Jacob. We did footwork drills to music. We were supposed to find the beat of the song and then do footwork combinations to it. Some of the songs were really difficult to do that to. Jerry did say later, after I was finished with all of my bouts, that I did well though, so that’s good. I didn’t think I was doing that well. Jacob, on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant.

After that, I had a short break, indulged in some raspberry tea, before I started bouting. I started with Dave. It wasn’t a real bout though, which kind of made me sad, but a teaching one again. It was useful though. Then I went up against Wally and lost 5-1. After Wally, I fenced Warren twice, won both, the first 15-9 and the second 15-11. Then I fenced Wally again, still lost, but 5-4 this time, so I was finally warmed up. After that, I only fenced Matt. I eventually lost track, but I think I fenced him 9 times, and lost all of them, but about half of them were really good bouts, and one was absolutely spectacular. I started off slow, losing by more that I’m comfortable with, but then things started to pick up and I was back to my normal against him, i.e. 15-6 or 15-7. I actually did better than that once and went 15-9. Then we had a water break. When we went back to fencing again, I did extremely poorly. I actually lost 15-0! It was terrible. Then I went 15-2. After that bout was my extraordinary, absolutely amazing one. I still lost, but it was only by two points! I actually scored 13 points on Matt, the most I’ve ever done! It was just amazing. We were tied for most of the bout, but  I was actually beating him most of the time until we got to 13-13, then Matt scored twice in a row and won, but it didn’t really matter because I was just feeling great about myself anyway. It completely made up for losing 15-0.

We had another break. Jerry asked if we were finished, and I said one more (because Matt was like “That’s up to her,”), but one more turned into three more… I lost all of them fairly badly (15-1), (15-2), and (15-4), but I think I was also getting pretty tired, even though it didn’t feel like I was. By the last one though, I knew. Plus it was past 10.

In the way of bruises, I acquired a few new ones on my legs. Thankfully, my already painfully bruised arm was avoided and no one beat up on me again. I have the tournament on Saturday, I do not want my arm to be out of commission. I’d be very upset.

Vous n'avez pas peur aux yeux...alors essayez le "recrutement B2B"!

En business to business, difficile d’entrer en contact avec un décisionnaire auquel vous n’avez pas accès directement ? Il choisit, et évalue les idées ou les propositions mais s’appuie sur le travail réalisé en amont avec ses équipes, sans que vous puissiez argumenter directement auprès de lui. Et ce filtre peut vous empêcher de présenter votre projet comme vous le voulez…

Et puis un jour par hasard, vous croisez ce décideur dans l’ascenseur, au restaurant, lors d’un cocktail… La rencontre est furtive. Pour bien saisir l’opportunité, vous ne disposez que de quelques secondes pour éveiller son intérêt. Que lui dire ? Comment ne pas rater cette opportunité et savoir rebondir ? A ce moment précis la technique de l’accroche de l’ascenseur peut vous permettre de faire mouche.

Elle se déroule en trois étapes : Accroche, présentation flash et demande de rendez-vous. Elle repose sur une bonne préparation et un entrainement, car tout se joue en 10 secondes. Comme un spot publicitaire, si vous voulez faire mouche, il faut aller droit au but.

Comment font les publicitaires ? Ils nous vantent les bienfaits que leurs produits vont nous apporter. Il faut faire comme eux. Parlez des bénéfices que votre idée, produit ou projet peut apporter au décideur (lui ou l’entreprise).

Mettez vous à sa place. Il ne connaît pas le détail de votre proposition, il ne sait pas qui vous êtes, et à ce moment précis il n’est pas concentré sur votre projet, il pense même sans doute à tout autre chose. Par ailleurs, il a l’habitude d’être importuné par de nombreux interlocuteurs et sait très bien les éconduire poliment, en renvoyant à ses services.

Votre première phrase est déterminante. C’est l’accroche. Elle consiste à présenter en quelques mots votre idée ou vos projets formulés en bénéfices pour le décideur. Parler en bénéfices est très important, avec ses mots habituels. Il doit vous comprendre tout de suite. Visualisez ou quantifiez vos arguments pour qu’ils soient le plus explicites possible. Montrez lui que vous connaissez son entreprise ou sa problématique.

Attention, ne faites pas de fausses promesses, elles seraient vite démasquées. Ne parlez des bénéfices que vous pouvez démontrer.

« Mon entreprise peut vous faire gagner 10.000 euros » ; « Je viens vous proposer d’augmenter de 15% la fidélité de vos clients » ; « Je représente un produit qui vous permettra d’élargir vos gammes vers… » ; « Je peux améliorer la performance de votre équipe de… ».

Votre accroche est immédiatement suivie d’une présentation Flash. Si vous avez éveillé l’intérêt de ce décideur, il doit savoir qui est en face de lui. Dites-en peu sur vous, vous avez peu de temps. Donnez votre nom, le nom de votre produit ou de votre entreprise, et dites-lui avec qui vous travaillez chez lui. Il peut ainsi comprendre de quel projet vous parlez.

Indiquer nominativement quels sont vos interlocuteurs habituels est très important. Un décideur ne contourne pas ses collaborateurs sans connaître un dossier.

« Je suis Jean Dupont, de l’entreprise Durand. Je travaille avec le service de François Dubois ».

Laissez ensuite un court instant de silence, afin de permettre à votre interlocuteur reprendre la parole. Dans ce moment, le silence est une forme de question. Gardez les yeux posés sur lui, avec sérénité. Il peut ainsi réagir à votre accroche et votre présentation.

Il ne répond pas, ou refuse d’aller plus loin. Vous aurez créé un contact furtif qui peut-être sera utile plus tard si vous le recroisez. N’insistez surtout pas, et respectez son choix de clore la discussion. Réfléchissez néanmoins à la qualité de votre accroche qui n’aura peut être pas été assez percutante.

S’il marque un doute sur votre accroche, proposez-lui de l’en convaincre par une démonstration étayée. « Vous en doutez, voulez-vous que je vous le démontre ? ». Sa réponse précisera sa position. Ne forcez surtout pas son choix.

Il vous demande d’en dire plus, proposez lui un rendez-vous en présence de votre interlocuteur habituel dans l’entreprise. De toutes les façons, il n’aura pas le temps d’en écouter beaucoup plus tout de suite, et il pourrait être gêné d’intervenir directement dans les dossiers de ses collaborateurs. Sur le champ, vous risquez de développer un argumentaire non adapté au moment.

Enfin prenez congé, avec une poignée de main franche, les yeux dans les yeux, en lui disant « à bientôt ».

Même si vous ne savez pas quand vous en aurez besoin, une accroche de l’ascenseur ne s’improvise pas, vous n’aurez pas le temps lorsque vous croiserez ce décideur. Entraînez-vous à vous présenter en quelques mots, formulez vos propositions en bénéfices clients. Soyez prêt, le décideur que vous voulez croiser prend peut –être l’ascenseur aujourd’hui. Vous disposerez de 10 secondes…

http://www.lexpansion.com/carriere/pour-seduire-un-decideur-pratiquez-l-accroche-de-l-ascenseur_199842.html?XTOR=EPR-178

My Progress

While I was out and about this weekend, a couple of people asked me how everything is going with my writing. Since I haven’t given an update in a while and the main point of this blog was to document my transition into the freelance writing world. So for those of you who are wondering here we go:

Clients
I have done pretty good getting new clients. I am still applying for 5-10 writing projects a day, although I have to admit that it gets a little old sometimes. I have managed to get quite a few projects this way and a couple of times lately, I have had so much work, that I haven’t had time to apply for jobs every day. Just last week I signed a contract with a new client that will keep me pretty busy through December which is exciting!

Financials
My money situation is better than I thought it would be at this point. That being said, I am only making about half of what I was making in my full-time job. One of the reasons for this is that I’ve taken some lower paying jobs, just to have something to fill my time and bring in some form of income. Now that I am having a lot more work come my way, I am trying to narrow some of the lower paying jobs down and only take higher paying gigs so I can hopefully bring my income level up.

Published Work
A while back I said that I was going to start sending queries to more magazines. That is still hit or miss for me. I feel like querying magazines takes a long time. It’s something that is worth it, but it’s certainly not paying my bills right now. However, I’m happy to announce I do have an article that will be published in November in a local publication. To see my name in actual print again will be awesome and I can’t wait!

Overall, I am finding my weeks more and more full –I even have some projects lined up for the future which is great! I am definitely becoming more comfortable telling people what I do, giving my rates to clients and in general with running my own business. I even have business cards now! Most days I really feel like I am on my way to success and that right there is an accomplishment.

Why Do You Have a Job? Five False Beliefs That Lead People Into Jobs They Hate

If you acquisition yourself ashore in a job that you don’t adore or in a aggregation that isn’t fun to plan for, the aboriginal footfall to authoritative a change is allurement yourself, “How did I get here?” Your accepting actuality at this time in your activity is not a accidental event. You accept fabricated choices and decisions forth the way to get here. Your alone adventure has led you to this exact point.
And you are not broken. You don’t charge to be fixed. No one is to blame. You accept fabricated choices based aloft behavior that you accept held. And behavior are annihilation added than anticipation habits. They are account that you accept anticipation over and over afresh until they became a belief. Like an old record, you may be ashore in a canal or a acceptance that no best works for you.
So, afore you adjudge to leave your job or aggregation or accomplish any change, it is a admired exercise to abeyance for a moment and appraise your beliefs. If you don’t yield the time to do this, you will accomplish choices based aloft old behavior and end up in the aforementioned place.
In alive with my apprenticeship clients, I acquisition that there are 5 key behavior that advance humans into a job that does not accompany them joy. I will outline them here.
Belief #1: Money: Accepting a accumulated job is the best way to accomplish money. We are all conditioned to accept that accepting a job is the best way to accomplish money by our parents, teachers, and abounding well-meaning adults. There is a systemic acceptance in our association that a job is the best aisle to wealth. It is artlessly not true. You will never accomplish cogent abundance (of the retire early, be absolutely financially free, abridgement of money doesn’t adviser my decisions blazon of wealth) by traveling to a 9 to 5 job.
I generally apprehend acceptance in boilerplate magazines of humans who retire aboriginal by accepting two assets earners in the family, active acutely frugally, and extenuative about all of their balance for retirement. Not a absolutely fun way to reside in my estimation!
I would rather acquire lots of money accomplishing what I adulation on my own time agenda and not cat-and-mouse until I retire to accept fun. Can I do this in a approved job? I couldn’t. I was authoritative a six-figure assets alive batty hours and traveling constantly. I fabricated beneath money aboriginal in my career accomplishing the 8:30 to 5:30 bullwork but I wasn’t accepting any fun and I spent every dollar that I earned.
Why can’t you acceptable accomplish money in a job? First, alone the top bulk of workers accomplish over $100,000. The arrangement is set up this way – as a pyramid. The accumulated pyramid has lots of low-paid artisan bees and alone a few high-paid executives. Second, you are burdened heavily on becoming income. The tax arrangement is advised to account corporations. Third, you don’t get any balance assets – already you stop working, the dollars stop coming. You aren’t architecture up any acquiescent assets streams. You may architecture a artefact or software for your aggregation – but the aggregation gets the acquiescent or balance assets from your efforts.
Equity = wealth. All disinterestedness goes to the shareholders. It is abundant to plan in a aggregation that offers its advisers an buying pale – in actuality I wouldn’t accede alive for one that doesn’t. The alone downside is that you don’t accept ascendancy of a lot of of the decisions accepting made. I apperceive abounding humans who accept been downsized out of tech companies because the administration aggregation fabricated bad decisions.
Belief #2: Responsibility: I should get a accumulated job – it is what a amenable developed does. Already again, this is a acceptance that is drummed into you early. It goes something like this – abstraction harder in school, get acceptable grades, get into a acceptable college, maybe get a alum degree, get a celebrated job and the money and success will breeze to you. This is the aisle that amenable humans choose.
I accept this path. Did able-bodied in school, B.A. from University of Virginia, MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Money and success did breeze to me. But I was overworked, bromidic and accepting austere out and depressed. Is accepting at plan all the time, accepting austere out, and depressed what a amenable developed does? I don’t anticipate so! Yes, I accept a albatross to accommodate for my ancestors – but if there is a way that I can do this after sacrificing my angelic ancestors time and accord of apperception – don’t I accept a albatross to chase that path?
Belief #3: Importance: If I get a high-paying job and an absorbing title, I will be important. Interview 100 acknowledged humans and acquisition if money and appellation absolutely fabricated them feel important inside. You ability acquisition 1 or 2 who will say yes, but this is a apocryphal belief. We are important because we are here.
We all accept the aforementioned bulk of antecedent activity central of us. Call it “God”, or “energy” or “goodness” – whatever resonates with you. I accept that as concrete beings, we are on the arch bend of alertness and our job is to create. We actualize by accepting in blow with our antecedent and allotment accomplishments in alignment with our joy. The alone affair that you will yield with you if you cantankerous over into the airy apple is your amplification of consciousness. You will not yield any concrete ascendancy or appellation or award. You will alone yield your body and the acumen it has acquired during this concrete manifestation.
Belief #5: Security: I will be defended if I accept a good-paying job. If you apperceive anyone that has been fired, laid-off, or downsized you apperceive that this is not true. Yet, so abounding of us wish to play it safe. We let our fears adviser our decisions rather than demography risks and afterward our bliss. If you accept a job, you are at the benevolence of your employer. You may be abandoned with your absolute administration or accursed because a aloft doesn’t like you. It will be accidental and out of your control. Accurate aegis comes from accepting your own boss.
Belief #4: Enjoyment: I will adore alive in the accumulated world. I chose a in activity consulting because I was apathetic with all of my added s – both in the accessible and clandestine sectors. I anticipation – now this is something that will claiming me. To get a in consulting I bare to get an MBA – so I did. But I did not adore activity consulting. It was intellectually arduous but I didn’t adore the accumulated environment. It seemed too bogus – not real. I couldn’t be my accurate cocky – I could alone acknowledge the smart, analytic and adult part. I wasn’t accepting fun putting on my accumulated bold face and arena the game. It is accessible to adore a accumulated if the plan and ambiance are in alignment with your accurate calling. Unfortunately, it is rare.
Take a moment to reflect aloft the aloft beliefs. How did you accept a accumulated ? Were you afterward a acceptance or several beliefs? Or were you afterward your affection and intuition? Do you still accept this acceptance or accept your behavior afflicted but your affairs not changed?
Before you yield action, plan on replacing your old behavior with new, absolute ones that serve you better. Meditation, journaling, and absolute affirmations are acceptable means to ascendancy your acceptance system.
Find out how to breach chargeless from the accumulated world. Debra Thorsen is a blessed accumulated escapee who helps individuals actualize absolute abundance and beatitude after 9 to 5 s. Visit Fearless Guides for chargeless tips on career change.

Single Parents

Being a single parent presents the same challenges all parents face but you have two less hands to help. When you are raising a family by yourself you are the one getting lunches ready, giving baths, and driving to and from football practice. You can’t use the good cop/bad cop routine. You don’t ever get a break.  Many single parents work long hours or even work two jobs. You are faced with the financial and time constraints of a two-parent household with one income. Luckily, there are a few simple changes you can make that will help you support your child without adding stress to your already busy life.

Create a “home base”
For your “home base” you will need a calendar, a basket for incoming schoolwork, a spot for backpacks, and space to write. Your home base can be a corner of your kitchen, a side table in your living room, or an office. Announce this spot to your children as the hub of your home and remind them to use it as such. Use a different color pencil for each child’s activities to keep your children’s schedules straight. Encourage your children to keep track of their own activities. Designate a basket where your children can put notices that you need to see and forms you need to sign. Keeping all the forms in one place ensures you don’t miss important information. Keep pencils and pens next to the basket so you can fill out forms immediately and put them right back into your child’s backpack. Your time is valuable, and having a home base keeps you from wasting time searching all over the house for forms, notices, and assignments that need to get sent to school.

Ask for help…and return the favor
Don’t be afraid to ask a neighbor or friend for help. Most moms know that no matter what the circumstance, being a parent requires lots of juggling. Asking a neighbor to drive your child to school in the morning is fine, but be sure to return the favor and drive the kids to the school dance over the weekend. Remember- a simple thank you goes a long way. A bouquet of flowers, a gift card for a coffee shop, or a batch of cookies are inexpensive ways to show you appreciate the support you get and it has not gone unnoticed. A handwritten note to say thanks for the help does the trick, too.

Communicate with the teacher
Let her know what days or times are best for you to meet or to speak on the phone. Give her a time frame in which you intend to return her calls or notes. If you know you work late and don’t always get to her notes right away, let her know she can expect to hear from you within 48 hours. If you have a day off during the week, ask for her consideration when scheduling meetings. Being clear about communication with your child’s school leads to consistent and open interactions.

Prioritize
You can’t be in three places at once so choose the meetings, school events, and games that mean the most to you and your children. Include your children in the process by letting them choose an event they want you to attend. Be honest with your children about why you can’t be at all their events but don’t dwell on it. Refrain from constantly reminding them that you are the only parent helping out- they know this and you should vent to your friends, not your children. When they get home ask specific questions about what happened in the big game or the school play. If you want to volunteer at your child’s school but can’t be there all the time, ask if you can help stuff envelopes or make phone calls and do some of the behind-the-scenes work for events.

Remember that you are one person taking on a huge job and can only do your best each day. Pat yourself on the back for maintaining your children’s safety and security.  Give yourself credit for taking care of all the day-to-day responsibilities by yourself. Enjoy the time you get to spend with your children and stay positive- your children will model your attitude and you can be a happy and productive family together.

Jennifer Cerbasi teaches at a public school for children on the autism spectrum in New Jersey. As a coordinator of Applied Behavioral Analysis programs in the home, she works with parents to create and implement behavioral plans for their children in an environment that fosters both academic and social growth. In addition to her work both in the classroom and at home, she is also a member of the National Association of Special Education Teachers and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

i hate my job

every day i think about calling in so i can go look around for other jobs. there is just too much crap. too many changes. too many assholes there. they don’t pay me for my work. i don’t get to put my degree to good use. no one knows what the fuck is going on because the new broad that’s over everything feels like she needs to make her mark so she’s making all these decisions that affect everyone else without consulting us or even considering how it affects how we do our job. zero appreciation, zero respect. its a horrible job. being stuck in that little cubicle all damn day, not even having a window. crazy ass people to work with. i wanna cuss out a lotta people there, and i often daydream of setting the place on fire. i don’t think that’s normal. or healthy.

i have issues, i think…

No matter what - I will bless the LORD at all times

Many decisions that ought to be taken are not taken due to one of the following reasons:
1. we try to rationalize the situation assuming that our finite and limited human minds has infinite comprehension and abilities or
2. we think of the consequences of the decision and are paralyzed for fear of life or fear of being ridiculed.

In today’s text, taken from the book of Job, we will look at Job, who chose to bless the LORD at all times, NO MATTER WHAT.

Speculated to be chronologically one of the earliest books of the Bible, the book of Job tells the story of a man who loses everything, his health, his wealth and even his family, in spite of the fact that he was an upright man. His record begins with a heavenly debate between God and Satan and moves through three iterations of earthly debates between Job and his friends, in which they try to answer the question – Why; why is an upright man persecuted so gravely, that at one point, he even wishes death over his misery. In conclusion, the divine diagnosis yields the conclusion, that no matter what, the sovereignty of God is in fact unquestionable and mere acceptance of that is what God seeks of each of us. Job does indeed receive in return two times more than what he had lost (Job 42:10), but that is not the highlight of the entire account, although it may seem to be the case.  The highlight of Job’s life is his integrity and resolve to bless the LORD at all times, NO MATTER WHAT and despite him, losing his position (his servants were slain), his property (cattle taken away) and his paternity (children killed), he makes a very powerful statement; one that each of us should live each day with, which states “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away: blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21). Interestingly in parallel, Philippians 1:21 states, For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

If Job had rationalized the situation, he might have concluded that God was indeed evil, for having subjugated him under intense emotional, physical and mental turmoil, and he would have probably ended up like anyone else who cursed God and died. His act of integrity not only did it deliver him from all his troubles, but it also restored unto him twice as much as he had before, aand before he died full of days, he saw four generations. But most importantly, his act of integrity, did not let the head of God hang in shame. See God had boasted about Job to Satan and had questioned Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Job’s fervency and resolve to bless the LORD at all times, helped God to hold His head high and in essence, it would not be far fetched to say that a befitting conclusion to the life account of Job, is reflective of this testimony that God had of Job – there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?. Can this be said of us?

Points to ponder:

1. Are we blessing the LORD at all times?
2. What is God’s testimony of you/me today and what will it be when your/my life is over (hopefully full of days as was Job)?
3. Can we have the heart of Job, one of integrity, that will bless the LORD at all times, NO MATTER WHAT?