Get more Engagement on Twitter!

The facts below may help you reach a greater amount of people:

Brand engagement is bigger on weekends.
Tweeting later on the day is likely to get you many followers, but don't do it during dinner times, people are engaged then for obvious reasons!
If you put a picture on your tweet, chances are that you will have a much greater response.
The shorter the tweet, the getter response.
Twitter is most popular among people in the age 55 to 64.
Add a hashtag and you'll get two times more engagement than if you don't.
66% of tweets that mention brands come from mobile devices.

Read more here.

Cards Against Humanity's Black Friday Response

As Reuters wrote, the Cards retailer Cards Against Humanity which doesn't normally spent much on marketing or advertising decided to make fun of Black Friday. Instead of making zero sales, it actually boosted its sales more than ever. By incqreasing its prices on Amazon on that day! Click on Reuters's website to read more.
It is a pretty cool brand. They allow you to download their cards for free as long as you don't sell them. Otherwise you'll regret it.

Please do not steal our name or we will smash you

 http://cardsagainsthumanity.com/

What Am I Good at?

After completing Oprah's test for finding out what I'm good at, here are the results that popped up:

Striving to Be Spontaneous
You are an adventurer: Action-oriented, curious, outgoing, and often technically gifted, you live for new experiences. You are drawn to risk-taking and aren’t afraid to fail. Generally restless, you tend to job-hop or choose a field that offers constant novelty. If you had to name your favorite place, it might be the center of attention—you’re a born entertainer, and can easily adapt to any audience. While you collect many acquaintances, you’re less likely to develop deep, committed relationships.
What to watch out for: When you can’t satisfy your thirst for variety and excitement, you may see yourself as trapped, which can lead to impulsive and self-destructive behavior—drinking, drugs, breaking off relationships, ditching financial responsibilities. Try to find value in some traditions; if you learn to appreciate repetitive experiences, you won’t always feel the urge to bust free. And when a new opportunity thrills you, keep in mind that just because it sounds exciting, that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
Looking ahead: Life will have meaning for you as long as you feel stimulated. That might mean chasing twisters, exploring the polar ice caps, getting a degree in dance therapy, or becoming an astronaut. It might also mean reading new books, attending workshops, or letting yourself get swept up in an intoxicating romance. As a risk-lover with a lot of energy, you’re a natural entrepreneur. You’ll be happiest if you change jobs every so often and travel extensively. Movement is what keeps you going.

I couldn't agree more.
Now I realise why in the last few weeks I've been feeling a bit down, feeling dissatisfied with what I'm doing and overeating. Because food gives me the variety that I NEED so desperately.


So..


big action plan: go back to being adventurous, full of ideas and so on by:


1. Meeting new friends (since my work takes 8 hours form my life every day, (yeah placement years i uni turn you into an... adult), and another 2+ in travelling, and 1-2 in working out + taking care of my body/hygiene, 7-8 hours of sleeping, there is what is left:
around 6 hours to do something awesome :)
So.. need to find new people to chill out with
Be more persistent with my old friends (I know that they all have deadlines/new ventures/part-time jobs etc but they still must have some hours of the day left to see others, like me :P


2. Become good at photography


3. Continue with the meaningful books/movies


4. Read more about successful people and businesses


5. Take up new sports, like classes in a gym or swimming for example.

Wish me luck!

And by the way, here is the test itself. You can do it too :)

The Gym group history/startegy

I fell in love with The Gym - the fact that it is open 24/7, so whenever I need to burn some calories, I can always rely on it, even if it is 1 am. Also, the atmosphere is very nice, it's all blue, gray and black (and very clean). So I became increasingly interested in its strategy. I read that it was established in 2008 by a former English squash player and today it is one of the fastest growing companies in the UK. Of course, it relies heavily on its investors (otherwise I don't know how it would've afforded to buy its equipment - one treadmill is several thousand pounds and there are loooads of machines of many kinds. 

So I imagine that one of their ways to cut down on costs is by employing freelancer personal trainers, but I wonder whether they have any base salary... I see them every day - not only training people, but also distributing flyers and cleaning the equipment...

More about the history - here

Food Saving Challenge

Day 13 (3/06/13)

LIDL:

Loose pears 0.64

Iceberg lettuce 0.95

Grapefruit loose 0.39

Cherry vine tomatoes 1.39

Cuccumber 0.59

Cherry plum tomatoes x3 2.07

Greenland prawns 3.99

Rainbow trout 2.49

Octopus 3.49

Salmon 1.99

Mozzarella x2 0.88

Cottage cheese x5 2.20

Eggs 2.67

Plastic bag 0.03

Toothpaste 0.99

TOTAL: 24.67

Day 14 (4/06/13)
Whey Proetin powder 14.93

Day 15 (5/06/13)
Food (ASDA) 11.80
Food (TESCO) 3.15
Total: 21.85

Day 16 (6/06/13)
Total: 0.00

Day 17 (7/06/13)
Total: 0.00

Day 18 (8/06/13)
Bus: 10.00
Total: 10.00

Top 25 Jobs for Geeks

Here we go:

1. Game Tester 
2. Web or Graphic Designer 
3. IT Guy 
4. Sales person at the Sharper Image
5. Editor 
6. CNet Product Reviewer
7. Watch Maker 
8. History Channel Re-enactment Actor 
9. Bladesmith
10. Comic Book Illustrator or Cartoonist
11. Software Engineer 
12. Tornado Chaser 
13. NASA
14. Auditor 
15. Laboratory Assistant 
16. Sound Engineer 
17. Starbucks Barista
18. Quality Control 
19. Band Conductor 
20. Optometrist 
21. Orchestra Conductor
22. Best Buy Geek Squad Geek
23. Librarian 
24. Thespian
25. Science Teacher

And here is the original article with proper explanations!

Back to my Money Saving Challenge

Day 11 (1 June)

TESCO

Blackberry (reduced) 0.40

Milk 1.29

Porridge oats 0.75

Brazil nuts 2.50

Total in TESCO: 4.94

Chain swing carousel (fun times!) 2.90

Total: 7.84

Day 12 (2 June)

Skipping rope from eBay 0.99

Total: 0.99

Lush's History

What a lovely story! Lush's cosmetics were invented in a spare room in Poole (Dorset, UK) and they originally suppled The Bodyshop!
Here is the full story - click

Some update of my Money Saving Challenge:
Day 7 (28 May)
Bus Ticket single - 1.90
Reduced fruits and veg 1.56 (Long's)
LIDL:
Wild rocket 0.65
Wild salmon frozen 1.99
Cottage cheese x2 0.88
Cottage cheese light 0.44
10 caged Eggs 0.89
Almonds 1.49
Plastic bag 0.06
Total in LIDL: 6.40
Total: 9.89

Day 8 (29 May)
Total: 0.00

Day 9 (30 May)
Mixed Peppers 1.50
Cottage cheese x2 0.88
Wild salmon (frozen) 1.99
Olive Oil 2.19
Soft Dates 1.09
Total (LIDl) = 8.53 (love this place!)
Bus Ticket Single - 1.90
Cherry Tomatoes 0.64
Strawberries 1.29
Total (Long's) 1.93
Bake paper - 1.00 (Wilkinson)
Total: 13.36
Day 10 (31 May)
Total: 0.00

The Great Luck of Reduced Items

Kings prawns raw  0.55
Salmon fillets cooked 0.60

Total: 1.15!

Instead of 7.50 :)  Am I not lucky!

Zero spending today :)

Next Day of the Savings Challenge

Prawns 2.50

Bananas (reduced) 0.65

Cherry tomatoes 1.00

Greek Yogurt x2 1.00

less Coupons (1.50)

Total: 3.63 :)

Day 3

Just a cup of tea today from Merry Shelleys bar
Total : £1.15

:)

A Money-Savig Challenge: Day 2

23/05/13
2.15 a cup of tea at lug and Lettuce
Cottage Cheese x2 (Lidl)
Mozzarella x2 (Lidl)
German Sunflower Bread 0.89

Total: 5.39

Not bad, Lidl saves a lot of money. Of course, the tea is extremely expensive, but at least the atmosphere at slug and lettuce is nice + they give you a biscuit with the tea :)

A Money-Saving Challenge! Day 1

After realising how much I've spent over the last few months, I decided that it was high time I did something!As much as I enjoy buying new stuff, the enjoyment is even bigger when I've earned this right by saving money and THEN buy whatever I want to :)

So, starting today, my goal is to spend less than £200 a month! How am I going to achieve that?e.g. by trying to buy less fancy type of food (agave syrup, spirulina, exotic dried fruit etc..), stop using eBay and Amazon that often!

Day 1:
22/05/2013

• A bottle of water (Lidl) - £0.29
• A bowl (Wilkinson) -  £0.75

Total:  £1.04 

A great beginning! :))

Image source: http://i.dailymail.co.uk

The Art of Asking

The inspirational story of a street => music artist who learned how to grow by asking people 

to help

Unilever LYNX Fireman Ad

I was thinking about this ad and so decided to share it :)

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One second every day (Cesar Kuriyama)

I came across a truly inspiring video of a person who decided to have a year off from his career in advertising  He  needed to find some time for his family and for his own individual projects. When he heard someone's idea to do a certain unique thing every day, he decided to follow that action straight away. What the idea is about is to record a second of your life every single day. Pick up a moment that was really meaningful to you and will remind you of the whole day when you see it later.
Think about all the days that seem all the same when you look back in the past? Don't you have these periods of time when it all looks the same?
I definitely think that if we start doing what Cesar Kuriyama is, we'll add a scoop of a magic powder to our days and who knows, maybe we'll challenge ourselves to go there and do something crazy and unexpected which we wouldn't have thought of otherwise... :)



. 

Infographics

I have a Chinese friend who is very attracted by the so called infographics. I admit that before he mentioned it, I had never heard about them heard it. Now I have :D

According to Wikipedia, infographics are: "are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly.They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends. The process of creating infographics can be referred to as data visualization, information design, or information architecture."

For me, they are simply a way to make the boring results from statistical data appear more attractive and eye-catching. Like those for example:

Real golden spider silk!

 A British art historian has created the world's largest and rarest piece of cloth made entirely from golden spider silk.


The 11ft hand-woven silk shawl took Simon Peers five years to make and cost him and his American business partner Nicholas Godley more than £300,000


The silk has been extracted from more than one million golden orb spiders, which can be found in Madagascar. Only the females produce the silk which is known for its rich golden colour and strength
It is probably the only thing in the world like this! 


One spider is capable of spinning up to 400 yards of gold-coloured thread.

The spiders are believed not to be poisonous, however they bite a lot!

That is an absolutely brilliant idea..! Here is the full article.

A bit of inspiration

Business is good but from time to time I definitely need some true beauty to keep me away from the materialistic world :)

 

For more: AmazingThingsInTheWorld

Top Low Budget Movies

Even though most of the famous movies that we have all heard of  normally have huge budgets to support their special effects or simply to pay for the wages of the celebrities, (e.g. Lord of the Rings has an overall budget of over $281 million, Titanic -  $200 million, Love Actually - £30 mln, FInding Nemo - $94 mln) there are actually some films who became famous AND "cash cows" despite the low investment in them!

Here are some examples:

The Blair Witch Project (1999) 
A really good horror movie in my opinion (although about a year after I watched it I still feared entering any forests during autumn that reminded me of the one in the movie), very realistic, it makes you really wonder if what they show us was actually real. The budget was $35,000 and guess how much they got out of it...Worldwide Gross: $248,300,000. Strangely, I am reading that many people hated it, but I think that that's because it was really, really scary!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
They didn't invest that little, but they got a lot out of it! $5 million in for $365 million out - not bad! I suppose the reason is that the fans love the idea of how different it is and that the filmmakers introduced the Greek culture in a very charming way.

Super Size Me (2004)
Oh, I love this one! Finally someone to prove publicly how bad McDonald's food is! The poor guy who voluntarily changed his eating habits from super healthy to super fast-foody for a month demonstrated how damaging the effects of eating the wrong food over and over are on his blood pressure, heart rate etc. This person even vomited the first time he tried McDonald's! Well done, not only did he show the truth, but the worldwide gross was $29 million compared to the petty cash of $65,000.

Rocky (1976)
No need to tell the story. You all most definitely know it. The film which was Sylvester Stallone's idea, who nobody had heard of before, made a gross 225 times the invested amount! And yeas, these figures are in million dollars! 

So it seems that movies can be very, very profitable.. Good business, I like it, I feel that I will be stalking it for a while :)

P.S. There are more low-budget phenomena on unrealitymag.com