Hello Elegant World, Welcome to another edition of the magazine that adds a little spice to your life
9 Steps to Finding Your Personal Style and Sticking to It
by EMMA SPEDDING
"Signature style" is one of those
fashion phrases that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it mean? The idea
of discovering your own personal style is often too heavily weighted on
celebrity style icons. While clicking through hundreds of pictures of the Olsen
twins, Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo has its merits, cultivating a look that
will work for years instead of wanting to dress exactly like somebody else will
always be the best option.
Whether you're looking for a total style overhaul or to try something a little
new, there are some simple steps that can make you like what you see when you
open your wardrobe each morning. First, you need to understand your body shape
and how to dress for it—then you can start to identify what makes you feel
confident. Scroll for the nine steps to finding your own personal style and
what we should all think about when developing our own wardrobes.
Whether you're looking for a total style overhaul or to try something a little new, there are some simple steps that can make you like what you see when you open your wardrobe each morning. First, you need to understand your body shape and how to dress for it—then you can start to identify what makes you feel confident. Scroll for the nine steps to finding your own personal style and what we should all think about when developing our own wardrobes.
1. UNDERSTAND YOUR BODY SHAPE
The most important thing is to understand your body shape and know the
silhouettes that are always flattering on you. Our clever body shape calculator
is a great place to start. We also advise you work with honest friends or
family and find the hero items in your wardrobe. Taking pictures as well as
looking in the mirror will help spot the silhouettes that you should rely on.
If you pay close attention to celebrities with similar shapes to you, then
you'll be able to spot the silhouettes that always work for them.
2. FIND YOUR SIGNATURE PIECES
Most of our ultimate style icons have
signatures that you can spot a mile off. This can be an accessory, a colour or
a print or even a beauty trick. Caroline Issa has her unmovable red lipstick,
Olivia Palermo and Kate Middleton have their glossy blow-dries, Anna Wintour
has her sunglasses and the Olsen twins have their dramatic silhouettes (and
Starbucks cups, of course).
3. INVEST IN ITEMS YOU KNOW YOU'LL RE-WEAR
A successful signature style is one you will love for years and years, and so
your focus should be on wearing the things you truly adore. One of our favorite
wardrobe-editing tricks is to have a separate rail and for one-month place
everything you wear on this rail—you will quickly realize the items that are
the building blocks of your wardrobe. If jeans are your thing, go with
it—Vogue's Sarah Harris famously has 80 pairs and wears them on rotation almost
every single day.
4. CREATE A MOOD BOARD
An editor's trick for working out your signature style is to create a detailed
mood board with all of the looks you love. Before you head for the glue and
scissors, it's best to create your mood boards on Pinterest, or even to use the
bookmark tag on Instagram so you can constantly add new outfits you'd like to
copy. Our Brit Style board is a particularly good place to start pinning.
5. RECOGNIZE THE THINGS YOU NEVER LIKE
When editing your wardrobe, it's just as important to pay attention to the items that don't make you feel good. It goes without saying that just because every blogger you can think of is wearing a Gucci T-shirt doesn't mean you should too, if tees just don't make your heart sing.
6. FIND THE COLOURS THAT SUIT YOU
As well as finding the silhouettes that suit you, also think about colour. Read up on expert tips and the colours that suit skin tones, and test different hues to find those that don't make you look washed out. A strong lipstick goes a long way to making so many shades seem easier to wear.
7. MAKE YOUR OWN STYLE ICONS
Look past the usual celebrity style icons, and find inspiration everywhere, whether it's your stylish boss or a new blogger you haven't heard of. Hannah Almassi, editorial director here at Who What Wear UK, looks to her mum for her main style inspiration, while our own Elinor Block says Michèle Lamy is her ultimate fashion icon.8. DO AN AUDIT OF YOUR WARDROBE
The key to nailing personal style is all about having an efficient, organised wardrobe. According to one expert, when creating a capsule wardrobe, you should aim for less than 50 pieces or less. No idea where to begin? See our comprehensive guide to decluttering and deciding what to keep and toss.9. DON'T RULE OUT A UNIFORM
The word "uniform" might sound terribly boring, but many of the most stylish women we know have one, whether that's for weekends, work or every single day. At fashion week, Anna Wintour sticks to tweed twinsets and Marni florals; Lucy Williams often wears jeans, a white T-shirt and ankle boots; and Céline's Phoebe Philo is usually spotted in a cashmere roll-neck, cropped trousers and Stan Smiths. And just because you have a formula that you know you can always rely on doesn't mean that it always has to look the same, as you can play with variations, unlikely accessories or just use this as an outfit to fall back on when you have "nothing to wear."
FULFILL YOUR FASHION DESIRE
WHY MANNEQUINS ARE USED FOR MODELING
Mannequin comes from the French word mannequin, which had acquired the meaning "an artist's jointed model", which in turn came from the Flemish word manneken, meaning "little man, figurine".In early use in the United Kingdom, it referred to fashion models themselves, the meaning as a dummy dating from the start of World War II.
Reason
Shop mannequins are derived from dress forms used by fashion houses for dress making. The use of mannequins originated in the 15th century, when miniature "milliners' mannequins" were used to demonstrate fashions for customers. Full-scale, wickerwork mannequins came into use in the mid-18th century. Wirework mannequins were manufactured in Paris from 1835.
Shop display
The first fashion mannequins, made of papier-mâché, were made in France in the mid-19th century. Mannequins were later made of wax to produce a more lifelike appearance. In the 1920s, wax was supplanted by a more durable composite made with plaster.
Modern day mannequins are made from a variety of materials, the primary ones being fiberglass and plastic. The fiberglass mannequins are usually more expensive than the plastic ones, tend to be not as durable, but are significantly more impressive and realistic. Plastic mannequins, on the other hand, are a relatively new innovation in the mannequin field and are built to withstand the hustle of customer foot traffic usually witnessed in the store they are placed in.
Mannequins are used primarily by retail stores as in-store displays or window decoration. However, many online sellers also use them to display their products for their product photos (as opposed to using a live model). While the classic female mannequin has a smaller to average breast size, manufacturers are now selling “sexy/busty mannequins” and “voluptuous female mannequins” with 40DDs and Barbie doll-sized waists.
TWO REASONS WHY RUNWAY MODELS ARE SKINNY AND SULKY
In 2006, after stepping off the runway in
Montevideo, Uruguay, 22-year old model Luisel Ramos died of anorexia-related
heart failure. The public was outraged, and they demanded that fashion
executives re-evaluate their hiring practices.
Nonetheless we find today that it has been eight years and runway models are not getting any heavier or healthier. In fact, the average size and weight of models in the fashion industry is at an all-time low (even while the US Council of Fashion Designers instituted a 16-year-old age limit in 2012). According to the British Association of Model Agents, the minimum height for a female should be 5’8, which the most acceptable range being 5’9-5’11. This woman should be approximately 115 pounds, and she should measure, bust to waist to hips, 34-24-34. At 5’9, this makes for a body mass index measurement of 17. 18.5 is where women become infertile and ill. 16 is where the WHO says it gets severely dangerous. 15 is where they often die.
As a culture, we know this is unhealthy. We know that model extremity is one of many cogs in the complex gears of slender body image norms. We know none of it is right. Nonetheless we cannot seem to shake our attachment to extreme thinness.
Body image is something that women continue to struggle with, perpetuated primarily by these ridiculous social norms.
Taking a good, hard look at the fashion industry reveals some powerful answers to the question of why models are so thin. These answers so powerful that they collapse whatever validity we had previously ascribed to thinness in the fashion world in the first place. They demonstrate that the fashion industry treats and depicts women as less-than human. Less-than-human is not valid. Less-than-human is not worth our attention and adoration. Less-than-human is something to reject and overcome, not something to aspire to.
These are two of the bizarre, harmful rules by which the fashion industry plays.
Nonetheless we find today that it has been eight years and runway models are not getting any heavier or healthier. In fact, the average size and weight of models in the fashion industry is at an all-time low (even while the US Council of Fashion Designers instituted a 16-year-old age limit in 2012). According to the British Association of Model Agents, the minimum height for a female should be 5’8, which the most acceptable range being 5’9-5’11. This woman should be approximately 115 pounds, and she should measure, bust to waist to hips, 34-24-34. At 5’9, this makes for a body mass index measurement of 17. 18.5 is where women become infertile and ill. 16 is where the WHO says it gets severely dangerous. 15 is where they often die.
As a culture, we know this is unhealthy. We know that model extremity is one of many cogs in the complex gears of slender body image norms. We know none of it is right. Nonetheless we cannot seem to shake our attachment to extreme thinness.
Body image is something that women continue to struggle with, perpetuated primarily by these ridiculous social norms.
Taking a good, hard look at the fashion industry reveals some powerful answers to the question of why models are so thin. These answers so powerful that they collapse whatever validity we had previously ascribed to thinness in the fashion world in the first place. They demonstrate that the fashion industry treats and depicts women as less-than human. Less-than-human is not valid. Less-than-human is not worth our attention and adoration. Less-than-human is something to reject and overcome, not something to aspire to.
These are two of the bizarre, harmful rules by which the fashion industry plays.
Models are made to fit clothes; clothes are not made to fit models.
The primary aim of
fashion designers is to sell their product to retailers. This means that
clothing is designed to drape and hang however it is most appeals to the human
eye, no matter how drastic the body size its design requires. The longer, more
flowy, or better draped an article of clothing is, the more likely a retail
executive’s eyes will pop out of his head, and he’ll scramble to place
thousands of orders. Krystle Kelley, a former model turned president of the
Desert Models Agency, said of this phenomenon in an interview with Fox News
that “people that pick up magazines are consumers. They want to see people that
relate to them, which will make the consumer more eager to buy products. But
designers are showing their garments to the majority crowd who are mostly
retailers. The collections are also considered drafts, and those drafts are
fitted to a mannequin that is size 0 or 2 dress size. The other concern of the
designer is for the garments to flow as well as be mesmerizing on the catwalk
and the way to accomplish that is for the dress, pants, gown etc. to be long.
The only way to fit a long garment is with a model who is thin and tall.”
So clothing is designed for its own appealing shape, not for how it fits actual human beings. Models have often been called “hangers” for this precise reason. They are valued first and foremost as objects. They are useful for their measurements. They are bones and angles off of which clothing is meant to hang, not living, breathing, vibrant human beings.
This problem is best demonstrated by the role of the “fit model” in the fashion industry. The fit model maintains a precise, tiny shape that fits to exact measurements. This enables her to be the first mannequin in the production line, the tiny size—or the “skeleton” in the words of once Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements–off of which all of the larger sizes are modeled. Clements remarks in an excerpt from her book The Vogue Factor published in the Guardaint in July 2013 that one model described her roommate as “’[being] a fit model, so she is hospital on a drip a lot of the time.’” Executives in the industry often confide the same perilous status of their own models to Clements. Sometimes they even resort to strategically arranging a model’s limbs during a shoot because she is too starved and exhausted to move.
After the design process, runway models must fit into these skeletal clothes. After that, the clothing is made available to the press to use for shoots. This forces the industry’s thinness norms down the throat of magazine editors and the popular presses (who nonetheless retain their own culpability in this process).
Models in the popular presses must fit into the sizes already produces: the fours, twos, or zeroes that come directly off the backs of women – hangers – on the runway. There are no bigger samples available, and it doesn’t matter much anyway, says Clement, since the industry knows that long, lean clothing sells, even if it will never drape off of a “normal” woman the way it does the fit model or a mannequin.
So models are so thin because they are hangers who are forced to squeeze themselves down to the size of pencil sketches. Models fit clothes; clothes don’t fit models.
So clothing is designed for its own appealing shape, not for how it fits actual human beings. Models have often been called “hangers” for this precise reason. They are valued first and foremost as objects. They are useful for their measurements. They are bones and angles off of which clothing is meant to hang, not living, breathing, vibrant human beings.
This problem is best demonstrated by the role of the “fit model” in the fashion industry. The fit model maintains a precise, tiny shape that fits to exact measurements. This enables her to be the first mannequin in the production line, the tiny size—or the “skeleton” in the words of once Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements–off of which all of the larger sizes are modeled. Clements remarks in an excerpt from her book The Vogue Factor published in the Guardaint in July 2013 that one model described her roommate as “’[being] a fit model, so she is hospital on a drip a lot of the time.’” Executives in the industry often confide the same perilous status of their own models to Clements. Sometimes they even resort to strategically arranging a model’s limbs during a shoot because she is too starved and exhausted to move.
After the design process, runway models must fit into these skeletal clothes. After that, the clothing is made available to the press to use for shoots. This forces the industry’s thinness norms down the throat of magazine editors and the popular presses (who nonetheless retain their own culpability in this process).
Models in the popular presses must fit into the sizes already produces: the fours, twos, or zeroes that come directly off the backs of women – hangers – on the runway. There are no bigger samples available, and it doesn’t matter much anyway, says Clement, since the industry knows that long, lean clothing sells, even if it will never drape off of a “normal” woman the way it does the fit model or a mannequin.
So models are so thin because they are hangers who are forced to squeeze themselves down to the size of pencil sketches. Models fit clothes; clothes don’t fit models.
Models disappear so clothing can shine.
Much as we might think of models as impossibly
beautiful, they are not necessarily chosen for this fact. Yes, they must have a
particular “ferocity” or “verve.” They must have the stage presence a designer
is looking for. But if they were too beautiful or too buxom they would be
distracting. Fashion executives fear that instead of focusing on the brilliant
cut of a particular piece of clothing on a runway or in a fashion magazine,
people would be drawn into lustful, envious thoughts of flesh. And they cannot
possibly have that! Emmy Award-winning stylist and author David Zyla affirms
this point in an interview with Fox News. According to Zyla, so much is at
stake in runway shows that curvy, healthy, vibrant women would “upstage” a
designer’s creations. “As a result,”
says Zyla, “the models chosen are typically slim and androgynous…so that
audiences are not distracted by a curvy hip or full bosom.”
This is a particularly potent aspect of the fashion industry we need to think
deeply about. Models are so slim, so young, so angular, and so often the antithesis
of healthy body shapes because industry executives deliberately want them to be
invisible. They are not chosen for sexual appeal. They are not chosen for their
astounding womanhood or beauty. They are not chosen to be beacons of vibrancy
or health. They are chosen for their potential to be a hanger…An
object…something that is not seen. If that’s not reason to buck the fashion
industry’s heavy-handed anorexia-mongering, I don’t know what is.
Of course, many of the female bodies we idolize in popular culture such as
Victoria’s Secret models are not at risk of death by anorexia nervosa, but
nevertheless the fashion industry is problematic because its drastic aesthetic
preferences perpetuate the myth of leanness as a necessary component of beauty
far and wide. The fashion industry is partly why even the curvier Victoria’s
Secret models are themselves still so tall and thin. The fashion industry is
partly why mannequins are so tall and thin. The fashion industry is partly why
women and girls flip through magazines and develop negative body images issues
and disordered eating behaviors. Extreme thinness is not a standard of beauty
for the ages. It’s not a norm founded in health and empowered womanhood. It’s
not even a standard that treats women like human beings. It is arbitrary, and
it is cruel. Recognizing this fact can help us move forward into the future
thinking more realistically about what makes a woman beautiful,
I do not have all the answers on beauty. But I suspect it has something to do
with health. I suspect it has something to do with personality. I suspect it
has something to do with goodness. And I am certain it has something to do with
dignity and inherent worth.
These are not values the fashion industry
offers–they are ones we must develop and stand up for ourselves. But we can do
this with courage, forgiveness, and love, and with passionate indignance at the
injustices perpetrated against women everywhere in the production of
fashionable clothing.
BIBLE VERSES TO HELP FIGHT DEPRESSION
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and
will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be
afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Psalm 34:17
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE
Websites That Pay
Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. There are all kinds of websites
that will pay you for various things, such as shopping, taking surveys or
testing products. No, I’m not getting paid to promote any of these and no,
these websites won’t make you a millionaire, but they are great for earning
some extra cash. I’ll leave out the scams.
ADVERTISING
Here are some legitimate websites that pay:
Swagbucks – Swagbucks is great for earning some extra cash. You can do a
variety of things to make money, from taking surveys to using their search
engine. You won’t get rich, but you will earn a few bucks. If you have the time
to kill, you can spend it earning some extra cash, instead of surfing the web.
InboxDollars – InboxDollars is similar to Swagbucks, since you’re going to be
taking surveys, shopping, etc., so if you want to maximize your return, sign up
with both websites. They also offer a search engine that pays you (like
Swagbucks) and you get $5 just for signing up.
I won’t continue to list survey sites one after another down the list,
but if you want to get paid to take surveys, also check out GlobalTestMarket,
E-Poll Surveys and Survey Club.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of the most popular ways to earn money online. Many
successful freelancers can earn an average of 50 cents to a dollar per word.
Some are earning twice that!
Of course, it doesn’t start out like that. You’ve got to build your portfolio
and your résumé, blah blah blah. If you’re interested in writing, I’m sure you know
this. If you’re not interested in writing, I wouldn’t recommend traveling down
this road just for the money.
It takes dedication and time, though it can be highly profitable if it’s what
you love. Assuming it is what you love, let’s talk about making money with it.
Before you decide to start reaching out to all of these freelance writing
companies, you need to have a web presence. You need a blog (in my humble
blogger opinion, of course).
Or you could just have an online portfolio. Even a LinkedIn profile works to
get started. When you’re ready to start, here are 150 resources to help you
write better, faster and more persuasively.
If that’s intimidating, just start with these 50 resources.
Now for what you’ve all been waiting for; once you’re ready to actually start
making money, here are 10 websites you can start with:
Listverse – Listverse pays $100 for each accepted post. The article must be a
list, it must be at least 1,500 words and you must include at least 10 things.
Other than that, you can get pretty creative with it.
TopTenz – TopTenz pays $50 for each accepted post. Again, the article has to be
in a list format and it must be at least 1,500 words, with few exceptions. They
post often so your chances of getting accepted are fairly high.
ADVERTISING
A List Apart – A List Apart pays $200 for each accepted post. They’re not first
on the list, because they tend to publish less articles, which means you have a
smaller chance of getting accepted. Same guidelines as above, 1,500 word
minimum.
International Living – International Living pays $75 for each accepted post.
They are mostly looking for travel experiences from countries you have visited.
For this site, it’s more about your experience than your writing ability.
FundsforWriters – FundsforWriters pays $50 for each accepted post. They are
looking for articles about writing and making money with it. They only accept
articles between 500-600 words, but they want you to make each word count.
Uxbooth – Uxbooth pays $100 for each accepted post. They do tend to take four
to eight weeks to accept and post articles, so don’t count on this being a
quick money maker. They take so long, because they pair with editors to only
publish amazing content.
iWriter – iWriter pays up to $15 for each accepted post. That may seem small,
but they aren’t as strict as many of the others above and they also allow you
to pick exactly what you write. You can write as many or as few articles as you
want.
Textbroker – Textbroker pays up to five cents per word, if you’re a 5-star writer.
You’ll start by submitting a short sample article and you will most likely
start as a 3-star writer, but you can work your way up by writing more and
writing great content.
Matador Network – Matador Network pays up to $60 for each accepted post, but
standard pay is around $20-$25. They don’t really focus on a minimum word
count, but they have a maximum count of 1,500 words.
The Penny Hoarder – The Penny Hoarder pays up to $800 (rarely), depending upon
the number of page views you receive. The pay starts at $100 for 50,000 page
views, so this isn’t a guaranteed paid article, but it can potentially be
highly rewarding.
There’s no doubt that you can make money with freelance writing, but it’s a
process. Once you start building your portfolio and your writing skills, you
can start making some serious money. If you’re not an experienced writer,
expect to put some time in before you really start to see some dough.
Sell Your Stuff
Ever since the idea of online auctions came into existence, the online selling
market has been on the rise. Many are interested, but don’t know how to get
started. There are still all kinds of ways to make money by selling online,
whether you’re selling what you already have or buying and selling like a
store. Before we get started, here are a few general tips when selling anything
online:
Get a PayPal account. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you’ll want to get
one if you’re doing business online. It’s the standard in online business for
receiving payment and paying others.
Take good pictures. Some of the options below don’t require you to actually
take the picture and sell the product, but for the ones that do, make sure you
take a clear picture that makes your product stand out from the others. If you’re going to be taking a lot of
pictures, set up a small “studio-like” area in your home with a backdrop and
proper lighting to really make your pictures come across as professional. And
of course, you’ll want a good camera too.
Be honest. If you’re selling used items,
be honest about every dent, scratch, blemish, etc.. This will reduce many
issues you could run into and keep your reviews positive.
Do good business. Plain and simple. Whether you’re selling on a small site or
opening an online store, your customer service matters. You’ll want to get
those positive reviews and make a good name for yourself. Respond to questions,
concerns and complaints. Offer a guarantee if available.
Follow those guidelines and you will do well in online sales. When you’re ready
to start selling, here’s where you go:
Amazon – Have you heard of FBA? It stands for “Fulfilled by Amazon” and it’s
getting pretty popular. Basically, you buy products (in bulk is best) and ship
them to Amazon for them to store. When your products sell, Amazon packs them
up, ships them out and sends you the money (after taking their cut). There are
people making a full-time living from FBA, while others just do it for some
extra money.
eBay – Of course you can’t read an article about making money online that
doesn’t mention eBay. You can start an eBay store and get serious about it or
you can just sell some stuff to declutter your home. Either way, I’ve made my
fair share from selling on eBay and it’s still a popular way to earn money. If
you decide to start an actual eBay store, you’ll want to find a drop-ship
business like Doba that will store and ship items straight to your customers so
you don’t have to deal with an inventory.
Etsy – If you like to create arts and crafts, you can sell them on Etsy.It’s
completely free to open an Etsy store. You simply sign up, post pictures of
your creations and starting selling. You can choose your payment option, but
PayPal is generally the easiest. Etsy makes it easy to sell and keep track of
your inventory. There is a small listing fee and they take 3.5% of every sale
you make.
Facebook – Facebook swap shops are great for selling things locally. It’s like
CraigsList, but a little easier. You simply search for swap shops in your area
and ask to join the group. Once you’re in, take a picture of the item, write a
quick description with the price and post it. It doesn’t get much easier than
that. You can generally expect to get about what you would get at a yard sale,
maybe a little more.
Blogging
Hey look, an article about making money online that doesn’t mention blogging. .
. oh wait, here it is.
First off, I’m a blogger so it seems wrong not to mention it, but more
importantly, it’s a legitimate way to make money. It’s quite possibly the least
straight-forward way on this list, but it’s very doable and it’s also quite
possibly the funnest way on this list. I love blogging and I know hundreds of
bloggers who feel the same. So let’s talk about making money blogging and what
it really means.
Blogging is something that requires patience, persistence and discipline. It
may mean writing everyday for over a year before you really start to see any
money from it. There are exceptions to the rule, but from my dealings with
other bloggers, it seems to be pretty common to spend one or even two years
building your blog, your brand and your authority, before making any serious
amount of money.
Some people argue that you can make money without a lot of traffic and while
that is true in some circumstances, you will generally need a lot of website
traffic to start earning from a blog and that takes a while. Once you’ve
reached that point, here are the primary ways to monetize your blog and start
earning:
Advertising – This is definitely the most old-school way of earning money with
a blog. It’s also starting to become the least common way. You can sell
advertising spots directly on your site or you can sign up with a company like
Google AdSense or Media.net. Either way, you won’t see a whole lot of money
from ads until your views are well into the thousands each day.
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE
The good news is, you’re not alone—in fact, I’ll guarantee that everyone has
pondered their career path, finding their passion, or what they're meant to be
doing at some point. And luckily, many of them are willing to share their
advice. If you’re at a loss for what steps to take next, read on for the best
pieces of advice from a recent Quora thread on this very issue.
1. Talk to People
Meet or call at least 50 people. They can be your friends, relatives, friends
of friends/references. Call them up, schedule a meeting, go see them and
interact with them on what they are doing. Don’t expect anything, don’t ask
them to find you a job, don’t ask them to give you a job. Just talk and meet
and have a normal conversation.
Gaurav Munjal
You’d be surprised at how much you can learn just listening to other people
talk. OK, yes, sometimes you might not learn much more than how badly traffic
was backed up during rush hour. But other times, if you listen (and listen
between the lines), you’ll get insight into people’s motivations, hopes,
dreams, and ambitions. And when you piece all that together, you can learn how
others got to where they are today—and if that’s a path you want to be on, too.
2. Get Started
My suggestion is to do something. Even if it isn’t quite the right thing, it is
nevertheless movement that can give you an opportunity to experience. You can
spend a lot of time taking tests and getting evaluations for what you might be
suited for; ideas always sound good on paper. But words don’t match experience,
so acting on something is your best choice.
Kathleen Grace
Regardless of what you generally want to do, it never hurts to start building
something. Really anything. Get your portfolio up and running, launch a
newsletter, or learn how Periscope works. There are so many things you can do
for your career—even if you don’t know what you want to do. And, just like the
previous advice, the actual act of simply doing will help further clarify what
paths you might want to be on, and which ones you should rule out.
3. Gather Inspiration From Others
Walk into your local bookshop and go straight to the autobiography section. Buy
three books from across different industries, societies, and cultures. Focus on
biographies that document great and successful people's early lives, before
they were great. Read them before bed. Wake up in the morning and write down 10
things you could do differently that day. Do some of them. Do this the next
day. And then do it again.
David Ball
No matter what you do, you probably want to be successful at it. So what better
way to get started than by learning how others reached their goals? Keep in
mind as you’re reading that these people weren’t born knowing what they wanted
to do either.
4. Prepare for a Long Journey
Expect that it is going to take a while and involve several iterations, or
so-called “life crises” to figure it out. For most people it’s a long and often
unfinished journey.
Andrei Palskoi
One huge misconception about figuring out what you want to do with your life is
that you will have a sudden, magical moment of extreme clarity and then have
your entire life planned.
In actuality, lives shift constantly, and you’ll need to regroup and reconsider
your journey as you go along. So instead of being surprised when you have to
make new decisions, anticipate them, and dare I say it, be excited for them.
5. Leave Your Comfort Zone
Try new things and widen your horizons. Try something you’ve always wanted to
but never got around to, something that scares you, something that is very
different from what you normally do.
Can Sar
Maybe you don’t know what you want to do because you haven’t tried what you’re
meant to do yet. And you won’t know if that is true or not until you get out
there and start ruling things out.
Seriously, it’s easy to get into a rut and feel like you have no options
besides what you are you doing right now. However, by taking a step outside
your comfort zone, you’d be surprised by how much you end up liking something
that you never, in a million years, imagined you would.
6. Be Okay With Failing
Learn the skills that are needed to accomplish what you want to achieve. Most
of us fail in [our] first attempt. We keep failing and learning and growing.
[The] point to be noted is that this is the time to learn, experiment, grow,
and fail without any substantial damage.
Anuj Kumar
Nothing will slow you down more in your quest to figure out what to do with
your life more than being afraid of failure. Yes, you’ve heard this before—but
that’s because it’s true. You won’t ever be able to nail down what makes you
happy if you rule everything out because it sounds hard.
7. Enjoy Not Knowing
Enjoy the meanderings, the soul-searching, the loves lost, the time wasted. All
of it will add up to a complex and very unique “you.” The more you appreciate
right now, the more the future will become a fantastic reality. Don’t pressure
yourself to be in the future.
James Altucher
You know how math problems always seem impossible when you first look at them,
but then, after taking a break, the answer feels so obvious? Figuring out what
you want to do with your life is kind of like that.
By focusing on other less-pressing matters, the obvious answer may just come to
you when you’re least expecting it—and it will be clearer than you ever
imagined it to be.
Feel better about not knowing what you want to do with your life? A little?
Just remember that you don’t have to have it all figured out. And that even
when you do, you might change course a few times. So don’t worry about having
all the answers—just thinking about it is a good start.
This is a particularly potent aspect of the fashion industry we need to think deeply about. Models are so slim, so young, so angular, and so often the antithesis of healthy body shapes because industry executives deliberately want them to be invisible. They are not chosen for sexual appeal. They are not chosen for their astounding womanhood or beauty. They are not chosen to be beacons of vibrancy or health. They are chosen for their potential to be a hanger…An object…something that is not seen. If that’s not reason to buck the fashion industry’s heavy-handed anorexia-mongering, I don’t know what is.
Of course, many of the female bodies we idolize in popular culture such as Victoria’s Secret models are not at risk of death by anorexia nervosa, but nevertheless the fashion industry is problematic because its drastic aesthetic preferences perpetuate the myth of leanness as a necessary component of beauty far and wide. The fashion industry is partly why even the curvier Victoria’s Secret models are themselves still so tall and thin. The fashion industry is partly why mannequins are so tall and thin. The fashion industry is partly why women and girls flip through magazines and develop negative body images issues and disordered eating behaviors. Extreme thinness is not a standard of beauty for the ages. It’s not a norm founded in health and empowered womanhood. It’s not even a standard that treats women like human beings. It is arbitrary, and it is cruel. Recognizing this fact can help us move forward into the future thinking more realistically about what makes a woman beautiful,
I do not have all the answers on beauty. But I suspect it has something to do with health. I suspect it has something to do with personality. I suspect it has something to do with goodness. And I am certain it has something to do with dignity and inherent worth.
BIBLE VERSES TO HELP FIGHT DEPRESSION
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and
will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be
afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Psalm 34:17
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
WAYS TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE
Websites That Pay
Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. There are all kinds of websites that will pay you for various things, such as shopping, taking surveys or testing products. No, I’m not getting paid to promote any of these and no, these websites won’t make you a millionaire, but they are great for earning some extra cash. I’ll leave out the scams.
ADVERTISING
Here are some legitimate websites that pay:
Swagbucks – Swagbucks is great for earning some extra cash. You can do a variety of things to make money, from taking surveys to using their search engine. You won’t get rich, but you will earn a few bucks. If you have the time to kill, you can spend it earning some extra cash, instead of surfing the web.
InboxDollars – InboxDollars is similar to Swagbucks, since you’re going to be taking surveys, shopping, etc., so if you want to maximize your return, sign up with both websites. They also offer a search engine that pays you (like Swagbucks) and you get $5 just for signing up. I won’t continue to list survey sites one after another down the list, but if you want to get paid to take surveys, also check out GlobalTestMarket, E-Poll Surveys and Survey Club.
Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of the most popular ways to earn money online. Many successful freelancers can earn an average of 50 cents to a dollar per word. Some are earning twice that!
Of course, it doesn’t start out like that. You’ve got to build your portfolio and your résumé, blah blah blah. If you’re interested in writing, I’m sure you know this. If you’re not interested in writing, I wouldn’t recommend traveling down this road just for the money.
It takes dedication and time, though it can be highly profitable if it’s what you love. Assuming it is what you love, let’s talk about making money with it.
Before you decide to start reaching out to all of these freelance writing companies, you need to have a web presence. You need a blog (in my humble blogger opinion, of course).
Or you could just have an online portfolio. Even a LinkedIn profile works to get started. When you’re ready to start, here are 150 resources to help you write better, faster and more persuasively.
If that’s intimidating, just start with these 50 resources.
Now for what you’ve all been waiting for; once you’re ready to actually start making money, here are 10 websites you can start with:
Listverse – Listverse pays $100 for each accepted post. The article must be a list, it must be at least 1,500 words and you must include at least 10 things. Other than that, you can get pretty creative with it.
TopTenz – TopTenz pays $50 for each accepted post. Again, the article has to be in a list format and it must be at least 1,500 words, with few exceptions. They post often so your chances of getting accepted are fairly high.
ADVERTISING
A List Apart – A List Apart pays $200 for each accepted post. They’re not first on the list, because they tend to publish less articles, which means you have a smaller chance of getting accepted. Same guidelines as above, 1,500 word minimum.
International Living – International Living pays $75 for each accepted post. They are mostly looking for travel experiences from countries you have visited. For this site, it’s more about your experience than your writing ability.
FundsforWriters – FundsforWriters pays $50 for each accepted post. They are looking for articles about writing and making money with it. They only accept articles between 500-600 words, but they want you to make each word count.
Uxbooth – Uxbooth pays $100 for each accepted post. They do tend to take four to eight weeks to accept and post articles, so don’t count on this being a quick money maker. They take so long, because they pair with editors to only publish amazing content.
iWriter – iWriter pays up to $15 for each accepted post. That may seem small, but they aren’t as strict as many of the others above and they also allow you to pick exactly what you write. You can write as many or as few articles as you want.
Textbroker – Textbroker pays up to five cents per word, if you’re a 5-star writer. You’ll start by submitting a short sample article and you will most likely start as a 3-star writer, but you can work your way up by writing more and writing great content.
Matador Network – Matador Network pays up to $60 for each accepted post, but standard pay is around $20-$25. They don’t really focus on a minimum word count, but they have a maximum count of 1,500 words.
The Penny Hoarder – The Penny Hoarder pays up to $800 (rarely), depending upon the number of page views you receive. The pay starts at $100 for 50,000 page views, so this isn’t a guaranteed paid article, but it can potentially be highly rewarding.
There’s no doubt that you can make money with freelance writing, but it’s a process. Once you start building your portfolio and your writing skills, you can start making some serious money. If you’re not an experienced writer, expect to put some time in before you really start to see some dough.
Sell Your Stuff
Ever since the idea of online auctions came into existence, the online selling market has been on the rise. Many are interested, but don’t know how to get started. There are still all kinds of ways to make money by selling online, whether you’re selling what you already have or buying and selling like a store. Before we get started, here are a few general tips when selling anything online:
Get a PayPal account. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you’ll want to get one if you’re doing business online. It’s the standard in online business for receiving payment and paying others.
Take good pictures. Some of the options below don’t require you to actually take the picture and sell the product, but for the ones that do, make sure you take a clear picture that makes your product stand out from the others. If you’re going to be taking a lot of pictures, set up a small “studio-like” area in your home with a backdrop and proper lighting to really make your pictures come across as professional. And of course, you’ll want a good camera too.
Be honest. If you’re selling used items, be honest about every dent, scratch, blemish, etc.. This will reduce many issues you could run into and keep your reviews positive.
Do good business. Plain and simple. Whether you’re selling on a small site or opening an online store, your customer service matters. You’ll want to get those positive reviews and make a good name for yourself. Respond to questions, concerns and complaints. Offer a guarantee if available.
Follow those guidelines and you will do well in online sales. When you’re ready to start selling, here’s where you go:
Amazon – Have you heard of FBA? It stands for “Fulfilled by Amazon” and it’s getting pretty popular. Basically, you buy products (in bulk is best) and ship them to Amazon for them to store. When your products sell, Amazon packs them up, ships them out and sends you the money (after taking their cut). There are people making a full-time living from FBA, while others just do it for some extra money.
eBay – Of course you can’t read an article about making money online that doesn’t mention eBay. You can start an eBay store and get serious about it or you can just sell some stuff to declutter your home. Either way, I’ve made my fair share from selling on eBay and it’s still a popular way to earn money. If you decide to start an actual eBay store, you’ll want to find a drop-ship business like Doba that will store and ship items straight to your customers so you don’t have to deal with an inventory.
Etsy – If you like to create arts and crafts, you can sell them on Etsy.It’s completely free to open an Etsy store. You simply sign up, post pictures of your creations and starting selling. You can choose your payment option, but PayPal is generally the easiest. Etsy makes it easy to sell and keep track of your inventory. There is a small listing fee and they take 3.5% of every sale you make.
Facebook – Facebook swap shops are great for selling things locally. It’s like CraigsList, but a little easier. You simply search for swap shops in your area and ask to join the group. Once you’re in, take a picture of the item, write a quick description with the price and post it. It doesn’t get much easier than that. You can generally expect to get about what you would get at a yard sale, maybe a little more.
Blogging
Hey look, an article about making money online that doesn’t mention blogging. . . oh wait, here it is.
First off, I’m a blogger so it seems wrong not to mention it, but more importantly, it’s a legitimate way to make money. It’s quite possibly the least straight-forward way on this list, but it’s very doable and it’s also quite possibly the funnest way on this list. I love blogging and I know hundreds of bloggers who feel the same. So let’s talk about making money blogging and what it really means.
Blogging is something that requires patience, persistence and discipline. It may mean writing everyday for over a year before you really start to see any money from it. There are exceptions to the rule, but from my dealings with other bloggers, it seems to be pretty common to spend one or even two years building your blog, your brand and your authority, before making any serious amount of money.
Some people argue that you can make money without a lot of traffic and while that is true in some circumstances, you will generally need a lot of website traffic to start earning from a blog and that takes a while. Once you’ve reached that point, here are the primary ways to monetize your blog and start earning:
Advertising – This is definitely the most old-school way of earning money with a blog. It’s also starting to become the least common way. You can sell advertising spots directly on your site or you can sign up with a company like Google AdSense or Media.net. Either way, you won’t see a whole lot of money from ads until your views are well into the thousands each day.
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE
The good news is, you’re not alone—in fact, I’ll guarantee that everyone has pondered their career path, finding their passion, or what they're meant to be doing at some point. And luckily, many of them are willing to share their advice. If you’re at a loss for what steps to take next, read on for the best pieces of advice from a recent Quora thread on this very issue.
1. Talk to People
Meet or call at least 50 people. They can be your friends, relatives, friends of friends/references. Call them up, schedule a meeting, go see them and interact with them on what they are doing. Don’t expect anything, don’t ask them to find you a job, don’t ask them to give you a job. Just talk and meet and have a normal conversation.
Gaurav Munjal
You’d be surprised at how much you can learn just listening to other people talk. OK, yes, sometimes you might not learn much more than how badly traffic was backed up during rush hour. But other times, if you listen (and listen between the lines), you’ll get insight into people’s motivations, hopes, dreams, and ambitions. And when you piece all that together, you can learn how others got to where they are today—and if that’s a path you want to be on, too.
2. Get Started
My suggestion is to do something. Even if it isn’t quite the right thing, it is nevertheless movement that can give you an opportunity to experience. You can spend a lot of time taking tests and getting evaluations for what you might be suited for; ideas always sound good on paper. But words don’t match experience, so acting on something is your best choice.
Kathleen Grace
Regardless of what you generally want to do, it never hurts to start building something. Really anything. Get your portfolio up and running, launch a newsletter, or learn how Periscope works. There are so many things you can do for your career—even if you don’t know what you want to do. And, just like the previous advice, the actual act of simply doing will help further clarify what paths you might want to be on, and which ones you should rule out.
3. Gather Inspiration From Others
Walk into your local bookshop and go straight to the autobiography section. Buy three books from across different industries, societies, and cultures. Focus on biographies that document great and successful people's early lives, before they were great. Read them before bed. Wake up in the morning and write down 10 things you could do differently that day. Do some of them. Do this the next day. And then do it again.
David Ball
No matter what you do, you probably want to be successful at it. So what better way to get started than by learning how others reached their goals? Keep in mind as you’re reading that these people weren’t born knowing what they wanted to do either.
4. Prepare for a Long Journey
Expect that it is going to take a while and involve several iterations, or so-called “life crises” to figure it out. For most people it’s a long and often unfinished journey.
Andrei Palskoi
One huge misconception about figuring out what you want to do with your life is that you will have a sudden, magical moment of extreme clarity and then have your entire life planned.
In actuality, lives shift constantly, and you’ll need to regroup and reconsider your journey as you go along. So instead of being surprised when you have to make new decisions, anticipate them, and dare I say it, be excited for them.
5. Leave Your Comfort Zone
Try new things and widen your horizons. Try something you’ve always wanted to but never got around to, something that scares you, something that is very different from what you normally do.
Can Sar
Maybe you don’t know what you want to do because you haven’t tried what you’re meant to do yet. And you won’t know if that is true or not until you get out there and start ruling things out.
Seriously, it’s easy to get into a rut and feel like you have no options besides what you are you doing right now. However, by taking a step outside your comfort zone, you’d be surprised by how much you end up liking something that you never, in a million years, imagined you would.
6. Be Okay With Failing
Learn the skills that are needed to accomplish what you want to achieve. Most of us fail in [our] first attempt. We keep failing and learning and growing. [The] point to be noted is that this is the time to learn, experiment, grow, and fail without any substantial damage.
Anuj Kumar
Nothing will slow you down more in your quest to figure out what to do with your life more than being afraid of failure. Yes, you’ve heard this before—but that’s because it’s true. You won’t ever be able to nail down what makes you happy if you rule everything out because it sounds hard.
7. Enjoy Not Knowing
Enjoy the meanderings, the soul-searching, the loves lost, the time wasted. All of it will add up to a complex and very unique “you.” The more you appreciate right now, the more the future will become a fantastic reality. Don’t pressure yourself to be in the future.
James Altucher
You know how math problems always seem impossible when you first look at them, but then, after taking a break, the answer feels so obvious? Figuring out what you want to do with your life is kind of like that.
By focusing on other less-pressing matters, the obvious answer may just come to you when you’re least expecting it—and it will be clearer than you ever imagined it to be.
Feel better about not knowing what you want to do with your life? A little? Just remember that you don’t have to have it all figured out. And that even when you do, you might change course a few times. So don’t worry about having all the answers—just thinking about it is a good start.
