Queer Eye How Bobby Berk Climbed Out of $600,000 in Debt

'Queer Eye' How Bobby Berk Climbed Out of $600,000 in Debt “I moved to New York in 2003 with about $100 bucks in my pocket and a suitcase,” Bobby Berk says. So begins the story of how Berk, “design expert” on Netflix’s Queer Eye, left the Midwest for one of the most expensive cities in the world, took on nearly $600,000 in debt, and managed to come out on top. It was rocky, to say the least. For three months, Berk couldn’t find a job â€" he’d held restaurant and retail gigs in Missouri and Colorado, but neither of those industries were hiring anyone without “New York experience” on their resume. Berk persevered and eventually landed a job at the home furnishings store Restoration Hardware. Not long after, an Italian homewares company brought him on to expand its linen line in the states. But it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. “Every time I told them what would work in the U.S. market, they were against it,” Berk says. “In the end, we went our separate ways, with them telling me that I was worthless, and wouldn’t amount to anything. Ever.” Luckily, Berk’s career soon took a turn for the better. One of his old customers, the head of a home furnishings chain called Portico, immediately offered him a job. There, Berk worked his way up to creative director, and built the company’s e-commerce system. After Portico shuttered, Berk acted quickly, cloning the online infrastructure for his own web store, Bobby Berk Home, in 2006. “I thought, ‘maybe I’ll sell a sofa or two online while I look for another job,” he says. To Berk’s shock, his company took off, and quickly became a popular online shopping destinations for home furniture. Business was so good, in fact, that it led to a surprise call from his old boss â€" the owner of the Italian company who had fired him just a few years prior. Sales had plummeted after Berk left, he explained, and the company was struggling to stay afloat. Now, he wanted Berk to buy him out of the business â€" to the tune of $600,000. At just 24 years old, Berk agreed. After the deal was signed, Berk transformed the store into his first brick and mortar Bobby Berk Home, which was a massive hit (and was a jumping off point to outposts in Miami, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, before Berk moved all of his retail operations online). If success is the best revenge, suffice it to say, that Berk sold more than a few sofas. “Within six or seven months, I had completely paid off all the debt,” he says.

5 Hacks to Improve Your Home Office Productivity

5 Hacks to Improve Your Home Office Productivity The experts at GlassDoor.com have put together a list of suggestions to improve your working-from-home productivity! The independence is priceless but the distractions are endlessâ€"these tips will help you make the most out of working from the couch or coffee shop in your sweats.1. Have an Office SpaceThe couch is your enemy when youre working from home. No, hear me out! The couch is where you watch TV, read, snooze, cuddle with loved ones, put your feet up. Your brain is wired to unspool when you feel its comfy embrace.Even if its just a basic dining room chair and a laptop desk, try to carve out a dedicated office space in your home. My husband and I each have ownership of a corner of the living room, and I rearrange my desk and bookcase configuration every 6 months or so to keep it fresh since I get tired of staring at the same walls all day.2. Schedule Your Work WeekThis one has been huge for me as I start a full-time freelance and teaching  scheduleâ€"I have to plot out deadlin es for my classes and fit freelance writing and editing projects in around those. If I dont know whats coming, I wont know when I need to pull a late night and when its okay to knock off early.Every week, take a few minutes to plan aheadâ€"its vital time well-spent that will save you stress and scrambling down the line.3. Have a Regular RoutineThe beauty of working at home is that if I wanted, I could work from noon to 8 p.m. and lounge around every morning. But  Ive found that while I am the worlds crankiest morning person, getting up early, walking the dog, having breakfast and coffee, working diligently from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and then doing smaller, less demanding projects in the afternoon hours is the way to go.Come up with some rituals that replace the morning commute (mine is an extra long shower), and reward yourself with a trip to the kitchen or the corner store when youve accomplished your goals for the day.4. Know Your MotivationThere is something about noise-canceling hea dphones that immediately puts me in a ready-to-work mindset. Even if the apartment is quiet, confining my senses to my immediate surroundings helps me zero in on the work at hand.Figure out what motivates you to buckle down. Is it consistency? Variety? Do you need a different coffee shop table every day of the week or are you better off wearing a groove in your home office floor from sitting in the same spot?5. Get in a Working MindsetA tricky part about the omnipresence of Gchat or texting when you work from home is that you can actually stay just as connected to your friends at work as you could when you shared office space. Sometimes my husband works from home and I wind up relocating to the bedroom because Ive gotten so used to the empty space around me.Figure out how to filter out the distractions that might derail youâ€"and remember, you are the only one responsible for getting your work done! Be gentle with yourself as you adjust, be realistic about what you can take on, and dont be afraid to draw firm work-life boundaries. Just because your home office is right next to your couch station is no reason you have to be on call 24/7!And truthfully, working from home isnt for everyone. There are likely co-working spaces near you where you can set up shop on a weekly or monthly basis if you find you need a background hum of things happening.

15 Common Thoughts That Mentally Strong People Learn to Avoid

15 Common Thoughts That Mentally Strong People Learn to Avoid Mental strength takes time to build, and becoming a mentally strong person doesnt just happen overnight. Encountering setbacks and still pushing through helps people increase their mental strength. parte of achieving success involves recognizing thought patterns that get you off course and derail the path to victory. Here are 15 thoughts that mentally strong people avoid1. If I ask for help, everyone will think Im weak.Mentally strong people know that people rarely accomplish everything alone. They ask for assistance when they need it to avoid getting too overwhelmed.2. Ill deal with that tomorrow.People often put things off because they dont want to have to confront unpleasant feelings that can be associated with completing certain tasks. Confronting these feelings and getting the job done is a sign of mental strength.3. Im not as good as ___.Comparing yourself to others can be toxic. Dwelling on your own perceived insuf ficiencies compared to others often does mora harm than good.4. Im just not good enough.Defeatist thinking patterns cause can lead to inaction. Part of being resilient means pushing through unpleasant outcomes and keep working toward your goals.5. If I fail at this, my life is over.A big part of being mentally strong is striving to keep things in perspective. Remember that one misstep doesnt mean everything is wrong.6. If its meant to happen, it will happen.If you sit back and wait for the things you want in life to appear out of nowhere, youre more likely than not to end up disappointed. Being proactive and working toward what you want is a must for the mentally though.7. Nothing good happens to me, so why even try?Dont let a few setbacks keep you from getting back up. When those with mental strength are knocked down, they shake it off and keep striving.8. Some people just have all the luck.Because part of mental strength involves practicing gratitude, those who possess it are happ y when those around them are successful. Being envious of others breeds negativity and uses up energy that could be used toward achieving goals of your own.9. If it hasnt happened yet, it probably never will.Reaching a goal often takes longer than expected. Instead of throwing in the towel when obstacles appear, the mentally strong keep faith in themselves and keep working hard.10. Since ___ rejected me, everyone else will.The mentally strong dont let one no squash their vision. Rejection is a part of life, and though facing it may sting, its important not to take it to heart.11. If it doesnt work out this time, I give up.Instead of experiencing failure as an end, mentally strong people experience it as an opportunity to grow. Giving someone else the power to take your dream from you is a sign of mental weakness.12. Once I get___, Ill finally be happy.Believing that reaching a certain milestone or attaining a certain material possession will lead to happiness is a recipe for constan t dissatisfaction.13. Its important that everyone likes me.Its trueyou cant please all of the people all of the time. Trying to make everyone like you is an energy drain, and the mentally strong understand this.14. They hurt me, so I hope someone hurts them.Wishing badeanstalt things onto others is a major waste of mental energy. The mentally strong accept and move on instead of letting negative people take up space in their minds.15. Its better to stay comfortable than take a risk and be let down.Because rejection and disappointment are painful experiences, settling for less than you want can be tempting, but the mentally strong know that amazing things live on the other side of that discomfort.--Kayla Heisler is an essayist and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. She is an MFA candidate at Columbia University, and her work appears in New Yorks Best Emerging Poets 2017 anthology.

Resume Writing with No Job Experience Explained

Resume Writing with No Job Experience Explained When you do good work, you are going to observe that the quantity of referrals you get from happy clients is sufficient to keep you with an abundance of work (a lot of the moment) Find out more about the prospects of the particular job you need and know the hiring practices. While you might not have had a great absprache of qualified experience, youve had the chance to connect and leave an impression on others. Your rich, extensive expertise in the area will be interesting to employers, therefore it ought to be highly visible. The Lost Secret of Resume Writing with No Job Experience Even if you believe your teaching experience is minimal, its likely greater than you believe For instance, if youre asking for a job as an administrative assistant, you dont will need to discuss the way your position for a babysitter helped improve your childcare skills, but you might share the way the experience helped you cultivate time management a bilities and the capacity to juggle several tasks simultaneously. While comparing the JD, you shall discover the vital skills needed for your intended job. As an example, as a waitress youre guaranteed to build skills in customer support, sales, and multi-tasking, all which may be very valuable to a prospective employer. When seeking to land that first job, you will end up faced with the job of demonstrating that youve got the background to be successful despite your lack of job history. Do not invent a work history that you dont have. You dont have to incorporate every job you have held, especially when you have many years of expertise or have worked in unrelated fields. Field jobs and advertising jobs are given to folks who havent any experience or little experience. To begin with, it may be an effective method to show employers about your work ethic. Unfortunately theres no one true way to compose a resume. The expert experience or employment history section is among a couple of vital sections employers will appear at to establish whether you may be a superior fit. Bear in mind, your resume is just the very first step. Most Noticeable Resume Writing with No Job Experience Learning how to do a resume when dont have any work experience is much simpler if youre able to demonstrate some seasonal or short-term work experience. Area of proficiency Here you can mention all of the job profiles which youre good at. If youve got to compose a resume with minimal or no experience, dont worry Possessing no work experience doesnt mean that you are unqualified.

What You Do Not Know About Resume on Linkedin

What You Do Not Know About Resume on Linkedin Whatever They Told You About Resume on Linkedin Is Dead Wrong...And Heres Why Lastly, choose the resume from your computer that you want to upload, and click Save. A search bar at the very top of the webpage also enables you to look for jobs. Provide a comprehensive job history The expert experience part of your LinkedIn profile is really straightforward, but I still binnensee clients dont supply in depth info about their current and previous positions. Help people find you and all your social networking profiles by offering them with an immediate link. A lot of people can do just fine with an absolutely free LinkedIn account, but if youre seriously interested in using LinkedIn and all its most advanced features, you might want to upgrade to premium. As stated previously, a fantastic place to include your resume link is at the base of your LinkedIn summary section. If you do a resume example search, you can also find cover letter examples also. You should simply select the one which you should use and then use your resume example in order to make the ideal letter for your resume. You might have to relocate to a better job marketplace. You can have different resumes for various jobs you want to pursue, and youll be able to send such carefully customized resumes straight to the headhunters, company recruiters, and hiring mangers you most want to speak to. An increasing number of companies are providing customer service jobs from the comfort of someones home. In spite of the fact that most transcription companies require experience there are some that will hire with no experience. Where various professionals, students, and company folks are active. Classroom education is simply 1 component of post-college preparation. Nonetheless, in order to make an application for an employment, students will often will need to supply a resume. In the event you dont understand how to upload a resume at LinkedIn after its redesign, here is a quick guide. Aim for a minumum of one recommendation for each and every job that youve had. The previous tip is to receive recommendations. You will always get recommendations from LinkedIn about jobs you could be interested in, but you could always use the search bar to look for certain positions too.When you have posted your resume and made a profile on LinkedIn it is the right time to do a little searching online. Some websites that let you to apply to jobs will even permit you to connect to your LinkedIn profile to import all of your information. Do a Google search and LinkedIn search for those people who youll be speaking with. Utilize Social Networks for Networking Social networks offer the prospect for someone to find out more about you through repeated interactions. As a consequence of knowing whats truly not working, you are now able to concentrate on what does work instead. If you do so, then youll be hurting your odds of being hired. You must be wise and youve got to consider logically before building a decision on your career move. A career change resume example should teach you the way to concentrate on your preceding employment. When youve made some adjustments to your tailored resumes, spare some time to update your LinkedIn resume also. Your reader isnt interested in every small detail. Otherwise, then your reader may want to dig through your resume to discover who you are. While uploading a resume on LinkedIn isnt a lousy notion, there are a few things you should think about before uploading your resume on LinkedIn. The great thing is that you may also add resume on LinkedIn. There are two methods to acquire your resume onto LinkedIn. As soon as you are in possession of a polished and proofread resume, youre discover that uploading resume to LinkedIn is rather easy. Nowadays you know what LinkedIn offers and what sort of people typically utilize it, but that probably doesnt offer you any particular ideas for how to begin using it yourself. The social networks are amazing methods to supply touch points to understand a persons personal interests, social activities, and tastes while youre learning about their professional experience too. Attempt to create relationships with people that are prepared to provide help. You will see material that gives an entrepreneurial game plan generating a new approach to work, family members, and way of life.

10 Reasons Why Employees Loathe Holiday Parties

10 Reasons Why Employees Loathe Holiday Parties10 Reasons Why Employees Loathe Holiday PartiesIts the holiday season again, and its time for the company party. Whether its a Christmas, New Year, or Year End Party, your company is having one, and its fantastic. You go to a great deal of effort for the party, but youremployees landseem somewhat unenthusiastic. Why is that? Here are ten reasons why your employees loathe the holiday party. 1. You Charge Employees to Attend Heres a little hint If something costs money, its not a party. Sure, your employees may have fun, but a party is something the host gives to his guests. In college, everyone chipped in for food and drink, but this isnt college. When you make employees buy a ticket for themselves and their plus one (if allowed to attend), it doesnt feel like a gift from the employer. This makes sense, of course, because its not. Even if the business is covering the vast majority of the cost, employees dont want to have to pay to go to a party. 2. Its an Evening Event and Plus Ones Arent Invited Its your company, so you want just the employees there. That makes perfect sense, except that your employees see you and each other all day every day. They want to spend the weekend and their evenings with their significant others. Having to leave that person at home so they can go to a work obligation doesnt feel like a party. If you want an employee only event, hold it during work hours. If you want an evening event, pay for your employees significant others to attend 3. Babysitters Required While adult only evenings are great, if a lot of your staff has young children, it becomes a major expense and a pain in the neck to come to your party. Not everyone has a grandma living next door. Most people have to hire and pay for a babysitter. Yes, it was their choice to reproduce. It doesnt mean that finding a babysitter during the busy holiday season is easy, especially when your employees are scheduled for multiple holiday events. 4. Babies Everywhere On the flip side, if you invite children, the holiday party can turn into a kids party, which is fine if your staff is comprised of only families. But this is likely to leave your childless employees feeling like they arent even guests at the party. If youre thinking that you cant win on this, youre right. If your party requires babysitters, the people with small children may feel put out, and if you have a family party, your childless employees will feel overlooked and undervalued. The key here is knowing your employees and asking what will work best for them. Remember the party isnt about you, its about rewarding your employees for their contributions. 5. Lousy Food A party is only as good as the food and drink, and if you rent the fancy hotel ballroom and then cheap out on the food, people will be annoyed. Additionally, you can no longer just assume everyone can eat everything. You need to take the major allergies into considerationan d have vegetarian and (sometimes) vegan options available. Yes, its impossible to meet every little dietary consideration, but you need to try. If your business is small, you should be able to meet everyones needs. In a larger group, consider having people pre-order, or make the menu available in advance so that people dont show up to a party they where they cant eat anything. Or, make the dinner a buffet with a variety of choices to meet the needs of every employee. 6. Attendance Is Voluntary Many companies have parties where you dont have to come, but, if you dont come, the managers will note your failure to attend and hold it against you. Jane isnt a team player- she didnt even come to the holiday party. If you are going to hold non-attendance against people, then make that clear. Dont say attendance is voluntary and not mean it. Employees will certainly figure this out. Additionally, keep in mind that there are plenty of people who have religious or personal reasons for why they may not want to attend a party. If its labeled a Christmas Party, you may have employees of other religions who feel left out. If you have free-flowing alcohol, you may have a recovering alcoholic on staff who would rather not attend. Make attendance at holiday parties truly voluntary. 7. Everyone Gets Drunk Excess imbibing in alcohol doesnt have to be everyone to make the holiday party uncomfortable. When everyone knows that the marketing manager is going to get sloshed and make a fool of himself, no one wants to see it happen. When the director of sales has too much to drink and forgets her sexual harassment training, her behavior can open up the company to eignung liability. Additionally, if you serve alcohol, you need to provide a way that ensures that people will get home safely. 8. Long Executive Speeches Youre the boss and thats great. But, no one wants to hear much from you at the holiday party. If you have atendency to give a long speechabout anything, people w ill avoid your party like the plague. Heres what you can say, Were so glad to have all of you here tonight. We had a great year and Id like to thank you for all your hard work. Have a great evening. Thats pretty much the limit. The employees dont want to hear a year-end reportor a critique of the latest advertising campaign. They dont want to hear your innermost thoughts on the plan for the future. Save those for a meeting. Executives should keep their mouths shut at the holiday party. 9. A and B Parties Its okay for a manager to have a party and just invite her direct reports. Its not okay, for the CEO to throw a party and invite only certain people (unless its just her direct reports). While people arent paid the same amount of money, its not a good message to send your lower level employees that they arent good enough for the cool party. If your company is too large to invite everyone, then dont have a company party- have division heads or whatever level is practical- hold a party with everyone reporting up to them invited. Divide the parties by location, or function. All is fine, as long as the parties are equal. HQ employees shouldnt get caviarand champagne while the warehouse employees get pizza and soda. (Although, frankly, many people would prefer the latter.) 10. Forced giftstoff Giving Remember Miss Manners rule of gifts at the office They go down, not up. That means the CEO never, ever, gets a gift from her employees. At the most, they can give her a card, a group box of chocolates, or homemade cookies, but never anything beyond that. Dont hold a party where employees are expected to shower the senior team with gifts and praise. It should always go the other way. Polly-Annas, White Elephant Exchanges and Secret Santas are fun as long as participation is truly voluntary (see above) and there is a price limit that is strictly enforced. Never, ever, question why a coworker is not participating. Its only $20, you might say. But you dont know if your coworker is managing a mortgage on her own because her husband just got laid off and her mother-in-law has just moved in. Remember, fun activities are only fun if they are voluntary. If your employees arent jumping for joy at the announcement of this years holiday party, look at this ten-item list and figure out what youre doing wrong. Make sure that you fix your errors to ensure that your employees ?enjoy the work-related holiday season. Suzanne Lucas is a freelance journalist specializing in menschengerecht Resources. Suzannes work has been featured on notes publications including Forbes, CBS, Business Insider and Yahoo.

ASMEs Five Strategic Technologies Robotics

ASMEs Five Strategic Technologies Robotics ASMEs Five Strategic Technologies Robotics ASMEs Five Strategic Technologies RoboticsThis is the second in a series of ASME News articles on the Societys five strategic technology focus areas robotics, bioengineering, clean energy, manufacturing and pressure technology. This article will focus on ASMEs activities related to the topic of robotics.Much like the area of manufacturing, which welches the focus of an article in the last issue of ASME News, robotics was selected as an area where ASME and its products, programs and technical content could impact and possibly expedite industry solutions in the growing global robotics market.ASMEs research community has long been involved in robotics through events such as the annual zwischenstaatlich Design Engineering Technical Conferences Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE). This years event, to be held from Aug. 8-12 in Anaheim, Calif., will feature the Conference on M echanisms and Robotics, now in its 43rd year, as well as 11 other conferences. In addition, the Societys Dynamics Systems and Control Conference will be offered from Oct. 8-11 in Park City, Utah. The technical program typically covers the modeling, simulation, analysis, design and control of dynamic systems. Conference topics include control theory, industrial applications and innovations in dynamic systems and control education. With ASMEs growing presence in the research community, the Society now aims to expand its presence in manufacturing applications for robotics. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the global market for robotics systems for manufacturing was $40 billion in 2016. Within that arena, the area of robotics for pipeline and plant inspection and maintenance including drones, robot crawlers and submersibles accounted for $1.7 billion in 2016 and was expected to increase to $3.7 billion by 2021.That projected growth, along with ASMEs long-stand ing ties to the oil and gas arena, made robots for inspection a useful first entry point for the Society in the industry events landscape, according to Raj Manchanda, ASMEs business development director for robotics and manufacturing. ASME has served the petroleum sector for many years, he said. Plant owners now realize the benefits of conducting inspections using UAVs improving personnel safety, eliminating associated expenses with scaffolding, and reducing plant downtime.Launched last year, ASMEs Robotics for Inspection and Maintenance event was designed for engineers and business professionals in the oil and gas, pipeline and power generation industries who could meet and interact with robotics experts and learn how their businesses could deploy robotics technologies for inspection and maintenance. The Societys second Robotics for Inspection Maintenance conference, to be held Sept. 24-25 in College Station, Texas, will feature companies presenting live demonstrations of their r obotic solutions as well as experts discussing the latest in robotic/drone, data analytic and artificial intelligence technologies for performing asset inspections and maintenance more quickly, safely and effectively. John Lizzi, executive leader for robotics at GE Energy, will be the events keynote speaker. Seating is limited. For more information or to reserve a seat, visit roboticsforinspection.asme.org.ASME Standards Certification (SC) has also been extremely active on the robotics front lately. In addition to the recent approval of a new Robotic Arm Performance Standard Committee, SC also recently formed a new Mobile Unmanned Systems Standards Committee and a Special Working Group on the Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Systems for Inspection. A Special Working Group on the Use of Crawlers/Ground Robotics for Inspection is also being established. In addition, the B30 Crane Safety Standards Committee has also been working on two standards B30.32 Unmanned Aircraft Systems Used in Inspection, Testing, Maintenance and Lifting Operations and the B30.31 Self-Propelled, Towed or Remote Controlled Hydraulic Platform Transporters.Examples of other robotics-related endeavors underway at ASME includeThe upcoming publication of Precision Programming of Roving Robots and the recent release of Mechanics of Accuracy in Engineering Design of Machines and Robots, Volumes 1 and 2 and Robot Manipulator Redundancy entscheidungThe publication of Mechanical Engineering magazines Robotics Special Report last August and the launch of the magazines Emerging Technology Robotics Award program recognizing engineering excellence in the five strategic technology areas andThe publication this fall of a special issue of the ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robots addressing topics related to mechanisms and robots for safe human-robot physical interaction.Other robotics-related products and initiatives are also in development at ASME. Be sure to check forthcoming issues of ASME News for fu rther updates.For more information, or to become involved in any of the above activities, contact roboticsasme.org.