Victoria Warner
One of the things to love about working on this site is there are three blogs going on it! That makes for a lot of enjoyment.
Vicki’s Spin, my thoughts on various matters, is always fun to produce. I tend to be a lateral thinker, so new ideas crop up all the time, and end up here, on this page.
With lateral thinking comes lots of tweaking. It's starts like an irritating mosquito buzzing around the head. Then things start to take shape, and somehow it often turns out in amazing ways. That’s how Your Turn was born. I wanted to find a way to showcase the writing and talents of others. And the food therapy blog also encourages other contributors. In the process it encourages those in need to feed themselves with simple but nourishing foods.
It's a serendipity thing really; there's excitement in seeing what truly meaningful things can happen when you focus on promoting and appreciating the work of other folks!
Vicki’s Spin, my thoughts on various matters, is always fun to produce. I tend to be a lateral thinker, so new ideas crop up all the time, and end up here, on this page.
With lateral thinking comes lots of tweaking. It's starts like an irritating mosquito buzzing around the head. Then things start to take shape, and somehow it often turns out in amazing ways. That’s how Your Turn was born. I wanted to find a way to showcase the writing and talents of others. And the food therapy blog also encourages other contributors. In the process it encourages those in need to feed themselves with simple but nourishing foods.
It's a serendipity thing really; there's excitement in seeing what truly meaningful things can happen when you focus on promoting and appreciating the work of other folks!
Surprising reactions
When Your Turn began, the most surprising thing was how people, sometimes very unlikely folks, just jumped in with enthusiasm after being invited to make a writing contribution. It's not about the money, because they don't get paid a huge amount for writing on Your Turn. A lot of them don't even want to be paid. They prefer instead to donate their earnings to my favorite charity, K9s for Warriors.
Last year it felt wonderful to donate $150 dollars to them.
Last year it felt wonderful to donate $150 dollars to them.
CLICK HERE to visit the K9sForWarriors website.
This way or that way
I've had people email me, telling me they prefer to read only my writing when they visit my site while others have written to tell me they enjoy the option of discovering new voices and new perspectives. In the end, I'm the one who has to make the content decisions on these pages, and my unswerving belief is, if your writing is about things interesting for others by others and caring in its content, help and good must come from it.
I would love to have this concept become more commonplace. Imagine poverty, wars, hunger and hardship being greatly diminished because people would be busy helping others realize their importance, and how caring exists for them! People grow and thrive when they learn the power of helping others in small ways. It's called sharing and caring. It's a global family!
I would love to have this concept become more commonplace. Imagine poverty, wars, hunger and hardship being greatly diminished because people would be busy helping others realize their importance, and how caring exists for them! People grow and thrive when they learn the power of helping others in small ways. It's called sharing and caring. It's a global family!
Venue possibilities
Sechelt Farmers' & Artisans' Market - CLICK HERE to visit their website.
I was just thinking of our local farmers’ market on Saturdays. What a fun place it is! Everyone who has a stall there has to have grown or made their products. There's no such thing as grabby self-promotion or stopping competition. Instead, everyone who has items and products is encouraged to add them to the already bountiful display. You might have five photographers, eight produce sellers, a couple of honey manufacturers, several more jewelry people, plant sellers and so forth.
There's no competition, because they're all focused on not only on selling their own produce, but on making this a huge buying experience for the shopping public, and it works!
You can hear the excitement as people walk from one stall to another. They buy more. They're fascinated by the choices. The merchants will actually guide buyers to one of their competitors if they don't have the product a buyer wants. See how it works? You give, and everything keeps on giving! It all just gets bigger and better.
The world of the Internet is much like this too. It's all about reciprocation really. It's also about closing gaps in the effort to improve recognition and virtual relationships. You can't do this kind of learning alone - this is a daily exercise in teamwork. The interesting thing is, you might not even know the person who has just become a member of your team!
It's full of Aha! moments in which you learn to share and enjoy the talents of others.
There's no competition, because they're all focused on not only on selling their own produce, but on making this a huge buying experience for the shopping public, and it works!
You can hear the excitement as people walk from one stall to another. They buy more. They're fascinated by the choices. The merchants will actually guide buyers to one of their competitors if they don't have the product a buyer wants. See how it works? You give, and everything keeps on giving! It all just gets bigger and better.
The world of the Internet is much like this too. It's all about reciprocation really. It's also about closing gaps in the effort to improve recognition and virtual relationships. You can't do this kind of learning alone - this is a daily exercise in teamwork. The interesting thing is, you might not even know the person who has just become a member of your team!
It's full of Aha! moments in which you learn to share and enjoy the talents of others.
Simplistic support
You may have noticed on occasion I've resorted to finding some of the wonderful free-to-use photos from Pixabay that can be used without attribution. A photographer or illustrator who doesn't insist on attribution for their work? Really? That seems like a strange idea yet, via Pixabay that's how it is.
My colleague and close friend, Angelia (femmeflashpoint of flashPress), edits my photos, and of course neither of us would dream of not giving credit to anyone who has work online that we're permitted to use.
The first time I needed a photo to enhance my blog, and didn't have a suitable one of my own, I looked closely at the info regarding the Pixabay photographer that had provided the photo I wanted to use. There, near their ID, I saw a simple word, coffee, at the top of the page. Immediately I knew, with a little giggle of appreciation, what it meant! I had the opportunity to buy a cup of coffee for the contributing photographer, thanking them for the use of the lovely picture.
Mind you, I didn't feel I had to, but I was sincerely delighted to have the option easily available. I immediately sent two dollars to the photographer through PayPal. It was a fast and simple process and I chose the PayPal option of sending it as a gift to friend or family. I was so pleased to be able to do this, I told Angelia about it right away.
Below is an example of a random photo available on Pixabay. Near the top right, you'll see (with a neon green outline), the area where a tip can sent to the photographer as well as options to follow their work and even leave them a comment.
My colleague and close friend, Angelia (femmeflashpoint of flashPress), edits my photos, and of course neither of us would dream of not giving credit to anyone who has work online that we're permitted to use.
The first time I needed a photo to enhance my blog, and didn't have a suitable one of my own, I looked closely at the info regarding the Pixabay photographer that had provided the photo I wanted to use. There, near their ID, I saw a simple word, coffee, at the top of the page. Immediately I knew, with a little giggle of appreciation, what it meant! I had the opportunity to buy a cup of coffee for the contributing photographer, thanking them for the use of the lovely picture.
Mind you, I didn't feel I had to, but I was sincerely delighted to have the option easily available. I immediately sent two dollars to the photographer through PayPal. It was a fast and simple process and I chose the PayPal option of sending it as a gift to friend or family. I was so pleased to be able to do this, I told Angelia about it right away.
Below is an example of a random photo available on Pixabay. Near the top right, you'll see (with a neon green outline), the area where a tip can sent to the photographer as well as options to follow their work and even leave them a comment.
Now, when I use a photo from that site, I often buy a cup of coffee for the photographers. I'm sure it’s appreciated because they usually email me a note of thanks and/or share some of my work with their friends. So, I don’t mind a bit to be buying rounds of coffee when I visit Pixabay for a hand with photo content. It's all in good fun, inexpensive, and inspirational for the blogger to know what they're doing.
You should never feel pushed to buy anyone a virtual coffee on a website. Just do it when you really want to express your thanks.
You should never feel pushed to buy anyone a virtual coffee on a website. Just do it when you really want to express your thanks.
Blogs and vlogs
As bloggers (and vloggers), we often tend to downplay the importance of our work. Blogs are very different in style, content and purpose, so it stands to reason you'll always enjoy some writing more than others. Writing and researching is meant for the reader to think it's easy. In reality it represents hours of artistic design, in that it’s much like a mind-painting made from words.
Buying a virtual cup of coffee as a way to support a favorite indie biz owner who produces online content, such as a blogger or photographer, is a sophisticated yet country way of showing appreciation. It also opens the door to the gift of inspiration for you. You get new, fresh ideas and often great new resources in exchange for your patronage. You may even be inspired with novel ideas to improve various things with your own website, or your own relationships. Of course, you might just be a fan, and have no wish ever to be anything more but there’s still the gratitude and sincere communication you develop between you and your favorite blog site owners.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this way to develop an income. I know of at least one popular and well-respected blogger who feels this sort of support might be considered as "cyber begging”. It’s true that some do regard it as such, but many deem it to be exactly what it is--a gratuity, tip or a gesture of monetary thanks (like buying a cup of coffee) for a job well done that readers/viewers have benefited from.
Since a few varied opinions regarding gratuity practice were written about in some recent email-relays, my curiosity is aroused as to your opinion about it, and so I've decided to query you and hope you'll take part in lending your thoughts to the anonymous poll below.
Buying a virtual cup of coffee as a way to support a favorite indie biz owner who produces online content, such as a blogger or photographer, is a sophisticated yet country way of showing appreciation. It also opens the door to the gift of inspiration for you. You get new, fresh ideas and often great new resources in exchange for your patronage. You may even be inspired with novel ideas to improve various things with your own website, or your own relationships. Of course, you might just be a fan, and have no wish ever to be anything more but there’s still the gratitude and sincere communication you develop between you and your favorite blog site owners.
Of course, not everyone agrees with this way to develop an income. I know of at least one popular and well-respected blogger who feels this sort of support might be considered as "cyber begging”. It’s true that some do regard it as such, but many deem it to be exactly what it is--a gratuity, tip or a gesture of monetary thanks (like buying a cup of coffee) for a job well done that readers/viewers have benefited from.
Since a few varied opinions regarding gratuity practice were written about in some recent email-relays, my curiosity is aroused as to your opinion about it, and so I've decided to query you and hope you'll take part in lending your thoughts to the anonymous poll below.
I'm looking forward to you sharing your take on today's post and also wishing you a safe and beautiful weekend!
Vicki
Vicki
RSS Feed
