Friday, June 30, 2017

Why I will not do a blog income and traffic report on my blogs

To post or not to post, that is the Question
(c) 2017 P.Lynne Designs
Lately, I have been seeing on Pinterest boards pins like this: “How I made $250 ($1000, $4,000 whatever amount) in my first year (first month, first week) of blogging.  At first, I thought it was a joke, but now I am sort of concerned.
We have all heard the phrase, “Never discuss your income with anyone at work”.  Well, there is a good and valid reason for that quote.  Companies do not want animosity among the minions (Oops, I mean employees). Let me give you an example of what could happen.
Two people are going for the same job.  Both are hired and start on the same day.  They are both given 90 days probation, which is the standard in the United States. Although, I had a preschool teacher’s job once, which the director gave me one week to take a deconstructed classroom, clear the junk, and turn it into a working classroom for me to teach in.  She was going to bring in my potential students in the classroom that Friday.  I started that Monday, had to ask the other teachers if any of their stuff was in my classroom, please remove it. Oops, off-track, you will have to read until the end of this post to find out the rest.  No skipping ahead.
Anyway, back to the two new employees.  If one employee finds out that the other is making more money than other, that could cause problems, and maybe a fight or two.  This is one of the reasons you should never discuss your income with a co-worker unless you are looking for a fight.
So, back to why I will not share my blog income.
To not share my income with the world is something that was taught to me by my father.  This was something you never do because you do not want to be one of the troublemakers in the workforce.  Sharing is caring, but not in this case.  Everything I learned about working a 9-5 job, I have carried over to my business.  The second reason it is simply no one’s business.  If someone asks me that question, I give estimates, not the real amount.  If someone wants to know how much my business is making, I will tell them that too, but only certain people like bankers and my accountant need to know that.
The last reason is I do not like to discourage people.  I do not like to see people upset, and well, in the African American community, some people do not like to hear that your business is successful.  They do not like to hear that you are doing well and you do not need any financial help.  I guess that is in every community.
I was at a community vendor fair.  I was taking orders for Longaberger products.  There were many African American vendors at this fair, and this was my second one.  I had done one the previous year.  People would come, look around, and leave.  Of course, I would greet them, ask them if they were interested in purchasing an item, and they would kindly say “No”, and leave.  This went on for several hours.  Finally, one lady came up, and she asked me, “why do you sell these baskets?” “They are white man’s products” she would further explain herself in her line of questioning.  Soon after, I received 5 more people who asked the same thing.   I did not think that I was offending anyone with the product line, but I was.  Why were 6 people so offended with the product line? I still ask myself to this day, since I still sell the products, as well as doing my own business.  I got the same question when I came back the next year when I sold Tastefully Simply food products.
I am happy to discuss what I sell, my target audience, and again my income regarding the business itself, but not my personal income.  I also will discuss my recommendations on how to make money and what I use to generate extra income.  Everyone has their own way of generating income. There are billions of ways to do it.

Now, if you stuck to the end of the post, you know I started to talk about my 7-day probation period with that preschool.  Where I left off was I asked the teachers if there was any stuff they had in my classroom, please remove it.  No one came to get their stuff. 
 The second day, I asked if the extra light bulb box (the big florescent light bulbs) be removed from my classroom.  They were too heavy for me to lift.  The janitor did no move the box.  The third day, I was almost done, when I heard a knock, and it was the director with the children.  “Ugh”, I thought, “not now.” I had no bought my materials from the teacher supply store.  I was going that afternoon.  She said that she brought the kids in so they could meet their teacher.  The official day was still Friday.  I thought it was 5 minutes, it ended up being the rest of the afternoon.  Again, I was not prepared.  I had seen a box of stuff that no one claimed (meaning no teacher has claimed it), so I took out some windmills, and handed them to the children. I came up with a brief lesson on the wind.  Second, that box of bulbs, they broke because one of the boys was trying to find out where his cubby was.  Thank God, he was not hurt.  I was mad at the inconvenience that was thrown at me.  I was not driving at the time, so my mother picked me up.  I cried in the car.  Later, we went to get the materials I needed to teach these kids something for Thursday. 
When I arrived the next day, the children were not arriving in my classroom.  They had gone back to the previous class, which I thanked God for that.  Now, I had an extra day to truly prepare.  So, I put up my stuff, banged out a couple more lesson plans for the next week, and everything was smooth sailing, when all of sudden, one of the teachers came into my classroom.  She wanted to know if I had seen the windmills in the box I looked at the day before.  “Yes, I used them for my children,” I told her.  “I did not have anything set up for them when the director brought them in. I used them for a lesson on the wind.”  The teacher’s concern turned to anger, as she explained to me that they were for her kids to play with, and one of them was broken.  Apparently, I owed her a windmill.  I then explained to her that I asked Monday if there was anything in my classroom that was theirs, and to come get it.  No one claimed the box, so I used it.  I offered to pay for the windmill if it meant so much for her to have it.  She said, “No”.  After she left the room, I went back to planning the first real week with my kids.  I left work that day thinking that is was a rough week, and the next week should be better.  It was not.  Sunday night, I received a call from the director to not come in.  I was fired.  7-days in, and now I had no job.   I went in the next day to gather my stuff.  Mom went with me.  When you are in your 20s, parents tend to stick up for you.  So, when I got there, my stuff was neatly in a box, and the director saw us in. Before I could say two words, mom wanted to know why I was fired.  I thought, “Mom, I think if I was old enough to get the job, I think I am old enough to ask why was I fired.”  The director explained that I was not prepared to receive the kids.  She then sighted the problems that I was having, which her staff caused in the first place. If anything, I should have quit before I was fired.  I enjoyed setting up my classroom and my kids, the two days I had them, but I needed cooperation from her, the other teachers, and the janitor. If she did not want to hire me in the first place, she should have said it the day of my interview.  

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Why Complain? A Social Media Epitope

 “so, why are you on FB? You could always delete your account. Sure, FB is not perfect, nothing is perfect, but if a person is dissatisfied with a product that is practically free (meaning you are not paying a monthly fee to use it), then you do not need it if you complain.”
Please no complaints, just delete your account.
(C) 2017 Google.com
This was my comment to a person last week, who was complaining about Facebook (FB) on FB.  I fail to see the irony of the complaint.
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg did an interview and in that interview, he spoke of FB’s mission statement change. 
Facebook started out as a place where friends and families can post, show pictures and the like to each other, as well as meet new people.  Then groups came along, and now you have a place to meet with others who share your common interest.  Well, Mark (can I call you Mark?) said that he now wants to focus more on community and less on the friends and family feature of the social media platform. 
Yes, I read the article, and before I get into the meat of my title, I want to make a few suggestions to Mark:
·         Please get rid of or change friend requests.  This is my biggest pet peeve of the whole FB community since we are now supposed to call it a community.  I am sorry, but in the wake of hackers wanting your account to do you and your Facebook account harm, I have zero interest in the feature, especially if the person FB is suggesting me to friend has 0-4 connections (friends) in common with me.  I have friends who do not have an FB account and I have family members who do not have an FB account.  They have seen it in action, and they do not like what they see.  This is the reason for me to post the comment to the person who was complaining that FB has become a “Libtard” and always has been.” First, what is a libtard?  On second thought, do not answer that question.  I do not want to see the word in the comments section.
·         Games.  OK, I’ll admit it.  I do play Candy Crush, Cookie Jam (which recently had a baby named Cookie Jam Blast-hey, I am a sucker for games named for food.), and Toy Blast, but that does not mean I want you to play along with me.  I do not want any game suggestions, game friend requests, and I do not want to invite my friends either.  If they are in a game, fine, I will play with them, but if not, I am not going to invite them.  In fact, I would be fine if games were eliminated, period. They are time wasters.
·         Chain letter posts.  You all seen them. Asked to re-post them and ask to add your name to the comments section.  We are talking “If you do not post this, God will not bless you” (how mean), “Please post your business and I will have my friends buy from you” (I am still waiting on my first Longaberger order from these so-called friends – not happening). Now the latest…” in honest of FB’s new GIF feature, please type 12345 or some type of fake URL/Your name, and see what will pop up first”.  Meanwhile, some hacker is getting a kick out of it, and copying your FB account as we speak. WARNING:  DO NOT GIVE IN TO THE MADNESS.  In fact, I have been deleting posts, and I will start deleting friends if that person keeps it up.
So, these are my top three complaints about FB.  It is not Mark’s fault.  People have turned FB into a trash heap, and he wants to change it.  Heck, it is his company.

Complaints about social media.
Repeat after me…. I do not have the need of a social media account if I do not want one.  Do that several times.  Now, the next time you have a big beef about the following social media platforms:
·         Facebook
·         Twitter
·         Instagram
·         Pinterest
·         Google plus
·         SnapChat
·         Periscope
·         Blogging
Remember, you can always delete them.   That is what that black button on the side of your keyboard or the button on the website is used for.  It will ask “are you sure you want to delete?” Kindly say yes.  Don’t think, do.  It will eliminate all the stressors of your life, but I have to ask, “Why did you sign up in the first place?  Oh, I forgot, your best friend from 5th grade is on there.  You must connect.
Notice I did not mention LinkedIn or YouTube.  These social media platforms are a little different.  LinkedIn, which uses a linkup from the others, is mainly for those of the corporate world. No games needed.  No gimmicks.  Only business.  YouTube is video sharing and it does not require you to be a friend to subscribe to a channel, but if you want to continue to see that person’s videos, you must subscribe to the channel. 
I often wonder why people complain.  A complaint is usually legitimate when you have something to complain about and something is put into place to correct the situation.  For instance, you can complain about not having any money.  I will admit that this is my number complaint.  Why do I complain about this problem?  That is the next question.  Am I complaining because I have an electric bill that is due in three days and the amount in my bank account is a little less than the amount that is due?  I will then have to look at how much electricity I have used and try not use so much the next month.  How about if I know how much the bill is going to be, and do not spend so much in other areas, like less shopping.  That way the complaint is solved before the problem has occurred.  There is always a way around a situation. If I have to spend that much, I would try to make extra money, or borrow from my parents.  
So, when I look at a complaint like how a social media company like FB is run, and who is running it, I look at why am I on this site in the first place.  If my complaints outweigh the reasons why I like FB, it is time to delete the account and do something else with my life.  That is what my sister, my nephew, and a couple other people did, they deleted their account.  They looked at what they could be doing, and why, and took matters into their own hands.
Was this a legitimate complaint about the person who’s comment I answered?  Sure, it was.  Everyone has their own reasons for the same complaint.  I would like to think that Mark Zuckerberg is answering someone’s complaint when he had that interview with CNN.  For a complaint to be solved by the person or company you are complaining about, several people need to have that same complaint.  Will my complaints about getting rid of friend requests, getting rid of games, and chain letter posts problems ever be solved by Mark?  If I stick around long enough they may, but I am only one person, and I have not registered those complaints to the powers that be.  Maybe other people do not have those same complaints as I do.  I am willing to live with them.  I have done so this long.  Maybe friend requests will go away soon. I will stick with the few games I play and maybe they will go away too.  As for the chain posts, I will delete at will, and pray that this is a trend that needs to die a quick and powerful death.
Takeaway:  We all have complaints.  It is a part of human nature.  Some are legitimate, while others are utter nonsense.  All can be fixable, especially the ones that can be solve with the simple push of a delete button.  The ones that can are not in your control.  I like to use the art of prayer to get to the complaints.  They at least make me feel better, but I was also taught as a child to pray about everything, no matter how trivial that seem to be to someone else.  Yes, I was one of those children who prayed for a pony.  Did God give me a pony?  No, but that is another post for another day.  I was also taught to never complain for God will take care of all your troubles and sorrows.
Complaints about a social media platform like Facebook takes more than prayer, it takes action on your part.  If you do not like something, say something, but to the right people.  See what they are up to.  Ask questions, don’t assume that your complaint will be taken care of.  Maybe you will find out that the complaint has already been registered and handed over to the right people.  Maybe it is a matter of time and money or simply that it is already taken care of, but they need to test it.  Be patient. 

If not, and no one will listen, there is always the delete button.  At least you have tried.  There is a saying that goes, “nothing beats a failure but a try”.

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