2014: The Year of The Entrepreneurial Spirit

2014 Is the year of the Entrepreneurial Spirit

As 2013 is almost over I cannot help but wonder what kind of spirit will motivate the small business, marketing, crowd funding, and the social media machine in the coming year. I predict an unprecedented renewal in the entrepreneurial spirit and the start up of a new era where dreams become possible at your finger tips. It is truly a great time to be an entrepreneur. Dreams will no longer be limited by money. Instead dreams will only be limited by how deeply you desire success and how hard you are willing to achieve your passion.

Its funny, I am getting to live in an age where people are weary of a mundane, repetitive, and unfulfilled life. More than ever people are becoming more likely to take the risk involved in going after their dreams. To the older generation we seem reckless and many in our own generation of the Millennials do not understand. To those that do understand the motivation of an entrepreneur, each person pursuing the entrepreneurial spirit and chasing toward there dreams are an inspiration.

Since the creation of the internet the momentum has been building up to this point in time, 2014: The Year Of The Entrepreneur. With a small business start up now easier than ever, prevalence of social media, and the rise of Crowd Funding as a means to gather monetary support, the road to being a successful entrepreneur has become even easier. In 2014 the entrepreneurial spirit  will shake up and wake up society to a new way of thinking.

The Start Up Of A New Era

As the Year of the Entrepreneurial Spirit creeps up on us and slowly begins to advance it is going to become apparent that we are on the cusp of the start up of a new era. Society is minutes away from a miracle but will we follow through with it or quit seconds before it happens?

Small business start ups are going to play a huge role in this revolution. I am proud to say that Growth In Recovery is honored and looks forward to the rebirth of a market where the entrepreneur is king.

My Relationship Status As A Freelancer: Strong Client Relationships And Foundation

 My Relationship Status As a Freelancer

Strong Client Relationships And Foundations

This week marks the start of my journey as a full time freelance writer. One thing that I knew before traveling on this road was that if I were to be successful that I needed to build strong client relationships with each person that desired to hire me. If I did not do this, I would be doomed to fail. It is unwise to bite the hand that feeds you, and not building a strong relationship with your client is doing exactly that. However, here are 3 steps that I have found to have worked for me to create strong client relationships.

1. Proper Schedule Planning- Before you take the dive into full time freelancing it is essential to take the time to create a rough draft schedule of the days and time that you wish to give each client each week. I first sat down and figured how many hours a week I wanted to write, which was about 40-46 hrs. Next, I took each project that I had and estimated the amount of time that I would need to spend on each one to split my time up as wisely as possible. Finally, I took all of this info and put it into a spread sheet and also posted it on my Elance profile to give potential clients an idea of my availability. When planning your first week to two weeks of work you should keep in mind that it is likely to change many times. To avoid any changes that are not essential, I recommend lining up consistent jobs that you know will provide work on a weekly basis.

2. Communication- Anytime you are providing a service for someone communication is key. However, in the first two weeks of full time freelance writing it can make or break some contracts. Let your clients know that this will be a time of growing pains for you, that you appreciate their willingness to hire you in the first place, and reassure them that they can trust things will get better. I have already almost screwed up here a few times myself. Thankfully, I have some very understanding clients. To succeed though, communication is a top priority in building strong client relationships.

3. Keeping An Eye For Details- Having a keen eye for detail is something that is needing during any freelancing project. If you are sloppy in the beginning on client projects then many clients may decide not to continue with you as a freelancer. A strong client relationship and eye for detail extended beyond just your projects. Are you keeping an eye on the details of your own promotion on social media as a freelancer? What about the treasure trove of information available on the web about the freelancing trade? This may seem like you would have to have eyes in the back of your head, palm of your hands, and god knows how many more where else to be as detail oriented as possible. It is possible though to keep an eye for detail if you take the time to organize the details.

 On What Terrain Are Your Client Relationships Built?

The idea for this post originally came to me when I was talking to my friend +Naias Kabir  . We were discussing the aspects of being patient, hardworking, and consistent in our freelance writing work. One thing in specific that I would like to mention from my conversation with him is about the ground that we build the foundation of a relationship with a client on. If we build the foundation on a fault line, then we will surely experience earthquakes that could potentially rip a strong client relationship apart. If we build it on sand, then our relationship with our client will slowly sink away and be swallowed back into the Earth. However, if we build a freelancing relationship with our client on stone then it is sure to be a sturdy, stable, and a strong client relationship. This is My Relationship Status As A Freelance Writer

Through Glass Frozen Here

Social Constructs can freeze the warmest of hearts during the holidays...

 Through Glass,
Frozen Here...

Through Glass solid
Frozen where I stand
Looking for your soul
My one and only demand

I see the tears
Each one that forms
I feel the pain
From My own storms...


Something that we should all realize during the holidays is not everyone are capable of seeing their family. Some people must either stare at there loved ones through glass within the walls of prison. While other people may only have memories frozen solid in time for their loved ones and the time they you used to spend together each holiday season. They each shed tears for one another. It does not matter if they behind prison bars, in the realm of the spirit, or the prison of social constructs Lets always pray for, remember, and help any individual that is not capable of spending the holiday season with their family. Share this. There can be great power in the art of poetry and its power to alter social constructs. Lets make sure other people know that we are thinking about them this holiday season. Many are imprisoned for often ludicrous social constructs, help this post go viral and share in their remembrance.

Breaking Social Constructs: Women In Porn

Marilyn Monroe is probably one of the most recognized people to ever engage in the Adult Industry. She was a true visionary when it came to breaking social constructs.

When it comes to social constructs, ideas, and controversy one that is vastly popular is the belief that pornography is degrading, immoral, and humiliating to women. Since the first pornographic material was published in the US there has always been a strong opposition to it, largely by religious and women rights groups claiming that it is the poster child for sexual immorality. These groups have helped instill a deep and persistent belief in our society that women who participate in the adult industry are directly harmful to the strides that have been made in women rights. However, this negative bias is founded in the individual interests of opposition groups, is destructive to the entrepreneurial spirit of America, and totally undermines the rights of women. It is for these reasons that breaking social constructs involved in porn and related industries are essential to the further ideological evolution of the United States.

Until recent times, nearly all religious organizations took a strict stance against any kind of behavior that they defined as sexual immorality. This not only included the topic of gay marriage but the adult industry as well. The difference between these two at the present time is that religious groups are breaking away from the law of their social constructs when it comes to marriage bur are still standing firm in their perception of the adult industry. So why the change in one and not the other? If religious groups caved in on both these issues then their entire theology system would crumble under their acceptance of porn, no matter how conditional any form of acceptance would be.

The reasoning for women rights group sticking with this principle, instead of adopting beliefs breaking social constructs with the issue, are very similar to those of religious groups. One of the main differences between the two exists in the fact that the religious ideas that advocate this stance have been around much longer than any women rights group. Essentially, this is a philosophy for them that was rooted in the good intentions of empowering women, but the bad idea of something that does not take into consideration the evolution of women and their beliefs in modern times. Now it is far too late for any of these groups to back out, they are so entrenched with this as one of the main pillars that it would nullify any clout that they have with their primary issues.

This social construct also represents a major blow for the entrepreneurial spirit of America. Breaking social constructs in this area would allow for growth in the entrepreneurial spirit of America by empowering other people who may desire to work in an area that is also diluted with unnecessary controversy. When people are afraid that their ideas will not be accepted by the majority of society they often choose not to go through with them. Anytime that people do not take on a business venture it is directly taking away from the flow of money that is possible in the economy. The monetary implications for the individual, the economy of a nation, and the creation of markets not governed by set principles should be more than enough to show how the status quo is only destroying the entrepreneurial spirit of America.

Furthermore, if action is not taken on breaking the social constructs of this currently flawed belief it will result in the demolition of the rights of women in the future. For the women who choose to make pornography their career choice it can be very empowering, freeing, and spiritually satisfying experience. These women of the adult industry have wisely taken a carnal desire of an audience mostly comprised of men and managed to shape it into a legitimate, though very high in controversy, form of marketing and job opportunity. When a person, male or female, makes a conscious and willing decision to enter into a venture largely surrounded by negativity they truly do become extremely powerful in their niche once the silence of the majority no longer matters. How can this ever be a bad thing when the people in the porn industry are largely happy with career choice?

Finally, breaking the social constructs of this concept would result in many positive benefits for the United States. Though religious and groups that advocate the rights of women will have a more difficult time reaping any benefit from breaking the social constructs involved in the adult industry and pornographic material, the entrepreneurial spirit of America will almost immediately see positive results. Though I realize the controversy that my view on an established social construct will create, especially one that involves women and sexual immorality, I stand by my belief that a change is imperative for the betterment of society as a whole.

In conclusion, any time that I stop and look at the perception of the majority I always ask myself if things could be better with a change than what they are in the status quo. What if these groups at least ceased their acts that perpetuate the controversy of porn and the adult industry? How could a mass liberation and recolonization of the entrepreneurial spirit of America be transformed in accepting this industry as such? Where did your own thoughts on this issue fall at the beginning of this article compared to now? Or if you simply have general comments about breaking the social constructs of women in porn then please comment.

Converting To Blogger For My Blogging Needs

Since about April I have been blogging on WordPress. I even took the time to dish out $18 for my Wordpress hosted domain name, another $100 for Wordpress premium, and $75 for a premium theme. Life with WordPress was good for many months, and then last night it happened...

Don't get me wrong, WordPress is a fairly good blogging platform. With that being said, it can be difficult to navigate at times for the blogger and you are constantly hearing about all of these great plug-ins only to find out they may only be gained with some degree of difficulty. I have already paid out almost $200 and I just do not feel like I have gotten my money's worth from them. Granted, some of this may be due to mistakes that I made at the start of my blogging journey.

However, once I discovered Blogger I was instantly in love. Not only is it easy to navigate but the integration with all of the other aspects of Google + make for a much more comprehensive blogging experience. Not to mention an added benefit of Blogger is that since it is Google's platform it ranks higher in pages.

In conclusion, WordPress, its not you, its me. We had many good months together and I will still come back to visit but I feel the spark that was there when we first met is no longer there. It is for this reason (along with my other gripes about WordPress) that I am converting over to Blogger.

Did Snap Chat Screw Up?

 Did Snap Chat Screw Up?

Declining Facebook

There was much talk about SnapChat when they made a rejection of Facebook and their 3 Billion dollar buy out offer. Did Snap Chat screw up big time? With the talk comes many questions as to why their business would so quickly turn down such a large amount, especially during a time when other social media platforms such as Vine or Instagram were so eager to sell. However, a look at some of the facts we know and a bit of logical speculation may yield a feasible answer and shed some light on SnapChat and their marketing tactics. This is actually a subject that +George Forbes  and I were discussing.

First, lets take a look at the current state of Facebook and their stocks. It is no secret that when the company initially went public that things were a little bit rocky. It did not take them long to balance everything back out and begin throwing around their muscle again with their 1 Billion dollar purchase of Instagram. However, any benefits that they might have gained from this purchase were quickly overshadowed in the fact the Facebook released data revealing that they were losing some of their most loyal and active users, teens and Millenial's. Where were all of these people migrating too? The answer, Snap Chat.

Second, lets look at where Facebook falls with its purpose of being a bridge for businesses to provide information and also a directory for them to post their contact information. Out of all major social media outlets, Facebook sits between websites (the largest social media & blogging platform) and Twitter ( a steadily growing platform with the added benefit of functioning as a micro-blogging tool). It is essentially the middle man in the whole concept, but you have to wonder if Twitter is capable of taking out the middle man and providing most of its services. I personally think that they are because the micro-blogging aspect of Twitter allows users to post short posts that would get the user to wherever they need to go. This is something that I feel the owners of Snap Chat recognize as well, not to mention they see that Twitter would compliment their platform more than Facebook. If my predictions on at least this aspect of Snap Chat are true then the question of "Did Snap Chat Screw Up?" may appear to be leaning more to an answer of no. That is until you take a look at a the recent changes that they have decided to create.


 Snap Chat And Their Newest Feature

Recently Snap Chat added a couple of features to their service. The first, a feature to add filters to your photos is the less significant of the features added. The one that may very well break or make Snap Chat a bigger (or smaller) name than it is already is their replay feature. What this feature allows a user to do is to view a message a second time, but only once a day.

What made Snap Chat unique was how it handled the pictures. No other photo sharing app permanently deleted (well at least as close to permanent as you can get) photos six seconds after they were opened. For whatever reason, this provided a wow and entertainment factor for individuals and they flocked to the service. How will a feature that may allow for less privacy to Snap Chat users effect those that enjoyed the service just for that purpose? Did Snap Chat Screw Up with this decision? I feel like they may have as people greatly value their privacy.