All posts by ECVtalks

The next time I say…

The next time I say I’m sticking to my posting schedule I need to be reminded to check my calendar first.

How dare I say I’m going to post when I knew I had meetings back to back, followed by a trip to the Bahamas, followed by more back to back meetings upon my return. This is honestly the first chance I’ve gotten to sit for any period and type up a fresh post for you guys.

My sincerest apologies.

The next time I say something I will mean it and follow through.

Artwork by ASP – 8

So the intern moved to a charter school and now has the opportunity to take art classes to improve her craft. Remember the days when art classes were the rule and not the exception, showing the fun side your history and math classes. But I digress.

Her most recent project for school was to create a cereal box. Of course she went with this…

 Sailor Moon cereal box idea

This was the initial drawing before she enhanced it in class using photo-shop. Check back later to see the photo-shopped version.

How to Divorce Your Job and Keep the House – 4

Here it is after our summer hiatus, the much delayed follow-up post in the Divorce Your Job series on sharing what you know. Yes, it’s later in the day than it should be but it’s still on schedule since it’s Friday.

 Cats celebrating Friday

While you can pretty much find any and everything on the internet nowadays sometimes people just need or want that face-to-face or one-on-one interaction to answer any specific questions they have. Thus a money-making opportunity for you arises.

Think about the things you know how to do well. Don’t exclude anything no matter how insignificant you may think it is. Great at making a spreadsheet or formatting a document file? Know the ins and outs of organizing a closet? Or maybe you’re Mr. Fix-it when it comes to an assortment of household repairs? Then consider teaching or tutoring someone in your specific skills.

There are a variety of sites out there that do everything from connecting you with potential clients to helping you create an online instructional program. Here are just a few:

Thumbtack
You’ll notice our Thumbtack widget in the left sidebar. We use this site for the tutoring side of ECV but you can also use it if you perform different services like photography and event entertainment. You set up your profile and the site funnels clients in your area to you. To respond to  a potential client, you have to buy quotes for a nominal fee. Still it’s a good way to expand your client base in your quest towards divorcing your day job.

Udemy and Skillshare
These sites are like online academies that you can apply to be an instructor and create your own course. While Udemy says that it’s free to create your course, Skillshare mentions that the cost to create your online course can vary based on the tools you use. If anyone has used either of these, please tell what you thought of them.

Also if you know of any other sites that we should know about, please mention them in the comments.

Weekly Beauty Tip #8 – Foundation Basics

Any skin can look like great skin with the right foundation. In fact it’s the last step in protecting your skin from the harsh world out there.

  1. Find the right color. Smear a stripe on your jaw line, step outside and peer into a compact mirror-if the color looks right in daylight, it’ll look right anywhere.
  2. Smooth your skin. Moisturize and wait five minutes before applying foundation to get rid of flakes. Use foundation primer.
  3. Use four dots of foundation. Apply a dot on each cheek, one on your forehead and the lady one on your chin. Then spread in upward and outward strokes. Make sure to blend, blend, blend. Streaks are never cute.
  4. Powder up. Apply loose, translucent powder to your forehead, nose and chin – oil-magnet areas.
  5. Spritz on water. Misting makes foundation look ultra natural. Hold the bottle at least a foot and a half from your face and you won’t wind up feeling wet. Or alternatively use a setting spray for a dual use product. We mentioned earlier how we love Victoria Secret’s setting spray. Check back later for our review of Avon’s new spray.

Aloha Summer

September is National Self-Improvement month here in the states. It’s also the month where the northern hemisphere has to say “Aloha” to summer.

goodbye summer

I spent a lot of my summer working on self-improvement, from volunteer work to finally adding some credentials to my degree in the form of my insurance  & annuities license to become a financial advisor with WFG.

My self-improvement continues this month with me returning to some routines abandoned over the summer (and years). Here’s the short list:

  1. drinking lots of water daily (want my glowing skin back)
  2. eating healthy (taking vitamins to fill in the gaps hasn’t been cutting it lately)
  3. exercising daily; it was the summer after all but follow Ms_ME on Fitocracy and I’ll follow back
  4. following my personal budget (busy making budgets for others necessitates that I’m actually following mine)
  5. and of course  my blogging schedule

What will improvements will you make this month?