The best way to save money when you are looking for a job is to find a better auto insurance rate. When you are unemployed, you need to find ways to get by without squandering your savings or going into debt. Comparing rate quotes from QuoteWizard.com is the right first step.
Auto insurance rates have fallen all over the country. While you are online submitting resumes and looking for potential jobs, take five minutes to visit QuoteWizard.com and save up to 40% on your auto insurance. It is the best move you can make to save money while you look for work. Don't pay for another month of coverage without checking to see if you can find a better rate.
The amount of driving that you do directly affects the price of your auto insurance. If you are not commuting to work anymore, you don't have to keep paying for an expensive insurance policy. Since you are probably driving less, comparing auto insurance rates could save you money every month. Also, consider reducing the number of cars in your household. If you can share a car with your significant other or get rid of a car that you don't need, you will have less maintenance, fewer car payments, and cheaper car insurance.
When you compare rate quotes, keep in mind some of the simple things that you can do to reduce your premium. First, consider a higher deductible. This will reduce your overall premium. Second, think about lower coverage levels. It is always smart to have more than your state's minimum liability coverage, but make sure that your policy doesn't included expensive provisions that you don't need. Finally, bundle your policies together for a multi-line discount. If your home and auto insurance policies are from the same company, you can save money on both premiums.
When you are unemployed, you deserve better rates on auto insurance. Click here to compare rates and save up to 40% right now.
Ash Trays Bowls Christmas Ornaments Clocks Deep Bowls Humos Plates Judaica Lazy Suzzanes sets, Ceramic trays, & Hexagonal Bowls Mirrors & Tables Mugs & Goblets Oval, Fry, Felucca & QI Plates Tea, Coffee, Milk Pots & Sugar Bowls Tiles Vases, Candle Sticks, Egg cup, Bells, Oil Lamps, & Bedouin Coffee cups Wooden trays & Coasters Ideas Tracker Israel Jerusalem Palestine 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Stupid Online Business Ideas
Christie Rein was tired of carrying diapers in a bag on the freezer. (34 years), a mother of three found herself constantly stuffing diapers for her baby in freezer bags to prevent them from getting scrunched up in her purse. Rein thing it wants a compact, sleek and stylish, and in November in November 2004, and sat with her husband, Marcus, who helped to design a custom diaper bag so big enough to hold a travel pack of wipes and two to four diapers. With more than $ 180,000 in sales in 2005, Christie's company, Diapees & Wipees, and bags in 22 different patterns, on the Internet and 120 shops around the world for $ 14.99.
Well, how is a good idea. Access to e-mail address in the North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for each message you send to their children? Also, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of work in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer.
Icbonnic fake. Now, this is just a dumb idea destined to fail. In the world who needs Icbonnic fake plastic? There are a lot of people, as shown. Is currently producing 30,000 Icbonnic daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $ 1 million.
How do you want to go on a date with someone infected with AIDS? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating for HIV positive people during the past year. Expected sales in 2006 were $ 110,000, and we hope to have two 50,000 by two members of the sign of the year.
Create goggles for dogs and sell them on the Internet? Boy, this is the dumbest idea for business. How in the world it was not able to become millionaires and shops all over the world with that one? Is beyond me. Hire someone else to think about in the domain name is cold for you? In any way that people are paying the price. In fact, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free.
PickyDomains currently on a waiting list of people who want to pay a service to go out and do not forget snappy domain name. PickyDomains is expected to reach six figures this year. LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian monastery of Our Lady Spring Bank, eight monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yes, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! The 2005 sales were $ 2.5 million! Praise the Lord.
Well, how is a good idea. Access to e-mail address in the North Pole, Alaska, pretend you are Santa Claus and charge parents 10 bucks for each message you send to their children? Also, Byron Reese sent over 200000 letters since the start of work in 2001, which makes him a couple million dollars richer.
Icbonnic fake. Now, this is just a dumb idea destined to fail. In the world who needs Icbonnic fake plastic? There are a lot of people, as shown. Is currently producing 30,000 Icbonnic daily (they retail for 3 bucks a pop) Ken Ahroni, the company founder, expects 2006 sales to reach $ 1 million.
How do you want to go on a date with someone infected with AIDS? Paul Graves and Brandon Koechlin thought that someone would, so they created a dating for HIV positive people during the past year. Expected sales in 2006 were $ 110,000, and we hope to have two 50,000 by two members of the sign of the year.
Create goggles for dogs and sell them on the Internet? Boy, this is the dumbest idea for business. How in the world it was not able to become millionaires and shops all over the world with that one? Is beyond me. Hire someone else to think about in the domain name is cold for you? In any way that people are paying the price. In fact, naming domain names for others turned out a thriving business, especially, when you make the entire process risk free.
PickyDomains currently on a waiting list of people who want to pay a service to go out and do not forget snappy domain name. PickyDomains is expected to reach six figures this year. LaserMonks.com is a for-profit subsidiary of the Cistercian monastery of Our Lady Spring Bank, eight monk monastery in the hills of Monroe County, 90 miles northwest of Madison. Yes, real monks refilling your cartridges. Hallelujah! The 2005 sales were $ 2.5 million! Praise the Lord.
Yourself as a Teacher
To remember that most Americans do not know enough information
From other countries, and about the way their
Can be found on the side of those who live abroad.
You can use your Stay in the United States as an opportunity to teach in the
At least a few Americans something about your country and
About foreign reactions to the United States. Imagine yourself
A teacher can help you to stay patient (remember
The importance of patience!) In the face sounds like a lot
Stupid questions Americans might ask you, and the issues
Which is often based on stereotypes and misinformation, or
Any information at all.
From other countries, and about the way their
Can be found on the side of those who live abroad.
You can use your Stay in the United States as an opportunity to teach in the
At least a few Americans something about your country and
About foreign reactions to the United States. Imagine yourself
A teacher can help you to stay patient (remember
The importance of patience!) In the face sounds like a lot
Stupid questions Americans might ask you, and the issues
Which is often based on stereotypes and misinformation, or
Any information at all.
Ideas to Learn the Names of Local and Institutional VIPs
Every community has its “very important people” (VIPs),
those who hold influential positions and whose names
are likely to appear frequently in the news. The highestranking
state official is the governor. Local officials include
the mayor or city manager, chief of police, sheriff,
and members of the city council (or whatever the local
legislative body is called). Certain businesspeople will be
considered “prominent,” as will certain active citizens.
Each state has two members of the U.S. Senate; each
part of the state has one representative in the U.S. House
of Representatives, commonly referred to as “the House.”
Institutions such as businesses and universities have
their own VIPs—the chief executive officers and other officers
who hold positions of power.
Local celebrities (for example, media personalities and
athletes) are also considered to be VIPs in many communities.
You can learn the identities of these VIPs in various ways.
Read the newspapers. Go to the library and either look up
the information in publications or ask a librarian for help.
The most direct way to obtain such information is to ask
neighbors or other Americans you meet.
(Do not be surprised
to find Americans who cannot name their elected
political representatives. You may have to ask more than
one person before you get all the information you want.)
those who hold influential positions and whose names
are likely to appear frequently in the news. The highestranking
state official is the governor. Local officials include
the mayor or city manager, chief of police, sheriff,
and members of the city council (or whatever the local
legislative body is called). Certain businesspeople will be
considered “prominent,” as will certain active citizens.
Each state has two members of the U.S. Senate; each
part of the state has one representative in the U.S. House
of Representatives, commonly referred to as “the House.”
Institutions such as businesses and universities have
their own VIPs—the chief executive officers and other officers
who hold positions of power.
Local celebrities (for example, media personalities and
athletes) are also considered to be VIPs in many communities.
You can learn the identities of these VIPs in various ways.
Read the newspapers. Go to the library and either look up
the information in publications or ask a librarian for help.
The most direct way to obtain such information is to ask
neighbors or other Americans you meet.
(Do not be surprised
to find Americans who cannot name their elected
political representatives. You may have to ask more than
one person before you get all the information you want.)
Ways to Talk with Experienced Foreigners
There are advantages and disadvantages to becoming
affiliated with the local expatriate (foreign) community (if
The advantages include the sense of identity
and security you feel when you are around people who
resemble you in important ways and who share the experience
of being a foreigner.
One disadvantage is that time
spent with other foreigners is time that you won’t be
spending with Americans. Another disadvantage is that
you are likely to accept uncritically whatever misjudgments
and misinformation have come to be perpetuated among
the foreigners.
Try to find people who are from your country or world
area, who seem to have a balanced and rational point of
view, and who have been in the United States for less
year are likely to have forgotten much of their initial experience
surprising? What was hardest for them to adjust to? Who
helped them the most? What field trips do they suggest?
who have lived in your own country, are likely to prove
interested and helpful. people through a college or university international education
office.
affiliated with the local expatriate (foreign) community (if
The advantages include the sense of identity
and security you feel when you are around people who
resemble you in important ways and who share the experience
of being a foreigner.
One disadvantage is that time
spent with other foreigners is time that you won’t be
spending with Americans. Another disadvantage is that
you are likely to accept uncritically whatever misjudgments
and misinformation have come to be perpetuated among
the foreigners.
Try to find people who are from your country or world
area, who seem to have a balanced and rational point of
view, and who have been in the United States for less
year are likely to have forgotten much of their initial experience
surprising? What was hardest for them to adjust to? Who
helped them the most? What field trips do they suggest?
who have lived in your own country, are likely to prove
interested and helpful. people through a college or university international education
office.
Activities & American Culture
Tips Ask Questions
Many foreigners are reluctant to ask questions of the natives.
They feel embarrassed by their ignorance of simple
things or by their limited English proficiency. for you, as a foreigner, to remember that you are the
one unfamiliar with the local culture, society, and ways of
behaving. Your limited knowledge can make even simple
tasks like going to the bank more difficult than is necessary.
questions.
Whenever I talk with newly arrived foreign students
about asking questions, I advise them how they can do
so without embarrassing themselves. I suggest that they
begin their questions by saying, “Excuse me. If you introduce your question
that way, I explain, people will understand that you have a
valid reason for asking your question and they will not
consider you foolish or childlike.
university five years previously. “I still remember your advice
about how to ask questions,” he said, “by explaining
When you have questions, ask them. If the first person
you ask is not helpful (or patient), ask another. But
If you were in your home country, you would probably
offer the same advice to travelers there.
Some of your questions will be requests for practical
information. “Where is the closest service station?” for example,
or “Where can I get my hair cut?” ask more general questions. Ask people for their opinions
that appear in this book. You will find that people
have differing views about them, and you will begin to
see that this book’s generalizations about Americans are
indeed merely generalizations and subject to exception
and qualification.
Many foreigners are reluctant to ask questions of the natives.
They feel embarrassed by their ignorance of simple
things or by their limited English proficiency. for you, as a foreigner, to remember that you are the
one unfamiliar with the local culture, society, and ways of
behaving. Your limited knowledge can make even simple
tasks like going to the bank more difficult than is necessary.
questions.
Whenever I talk with newly arrived foreign students
about asking questions, I advise them how they can do
so without embarrassing themselves. I suggest that they
begin their questions by saying, “Excuse me. If you introduce your question
that way, I explain, people will understand that you have a
valid reason for asking your question and they will not
consider you foolish or childlike.
university five years previously. “I still remember your advice
about how to ask questions,” he said, “by explaining
When you have questions, ask them. If the first person
you ask is not helpful (or patient), ask another. But
If you were in your home country, you would probably
offer the same advice to travelers there.
Some of your questions will be requests for practical
information. “Where is the closest service station?” for example,
or “Where can I get my hair cut?” ask more general questions. Ask people for their opinions
that appear in this book. You will find that people
have differing views about them, and you will begin to
see that this book’s generalizations about Americans are
indeed merely generalizations and subject to exception
and qualification.
Tips for Choosing Professional Advisers
A good accountant, lawyer or business consultant can make orbreak your business. right advisers?Most businesses need advisers of one sort or another inorder to function properly. Some will see an accountantjust once a year whilst others will need a range ofprofessionals for legal, tax planning or managementaccounting advice. These are close relationships witheach adviser knowing the very smallest detail of yourbusiness.
A bad adviser can wreck your business.Whilst most advisers belong to professional bodies, theselicensed to practise. Personal knowledge is useful but tryto avoid using personal friends, as this can often be ahindrance rather than an advantage. good friendship. Try to get a personal recommendationfrom someone whose judgement you trust. It's also important to define the needs of your businesssold services you don't actually need. If, for instance, your business is highly specialised you may well require aspecialised service which you can't find locally. Distancecan be a barrier but modern technology means that manyLook for firms with a reputation in your area or industryApproach a few firms at the same time to find outwhich one really wants your business.
Remember, you'repaying the bill and if they are not willing to make an effortto gel your business they are probably not worth using.business, though this will be easier with certain types ofwork legal for instance, where work is normally done onan ad hoc basis. You may also have two firms providingaccountancy help - one for year-end accounts and anotherfor taxation advice. After all, we arc all more effective andAlways remember that these advisers will be an essential part of yourbusiness.
A bad adviser can wreck your business.Whilst most advisers belong to professional bodies, theselicensed to practise. Personal knowledge is useful but tryto avoid using personal friends, as this can often be ahindrance rather than an advantage. good friendship. Try to get a personal recommendationfrom someone whose judgement you trust. It's also important to define the needs of your businesssold services you don't actually need. If, for instance, your business is highly specialised you may well require aspecialised service which you can't find locally. Distancecan be a barrier but modern technology means that manyLook for firms with a reputation in your area or industryApproach a few firms at the same time to find outwhich one really wants your business.
Remember, you'repaying the bill and if they are not willing to make an effortto gel your business they are probably not worth using.business, though this will be easier with certain types ofwork legal for instance, where work is normally done onan ad hoc basis. You may also have two firms providingaccountancy help - one for year-end accounts and anotherfor taxation advice. After all, we arc all more effective andAlways remember that these advisers will be an essential part of yourbusiness.
Great Gift Ideas for Mother's Day
Here are a few great gift ideas for that special mother in your life on Mother's Day.
Jewelry
A great idea would be give her a pendant with picture of her child/ren in it or a bracelet, ring or necklace with the birthstone/s of children or grandchildren.
Gift Baskets
You can find Gift baskets that contain any and everything. There are baskets that are specifically designed for Mother's Day, but other choices include gourmet and fruit baskets, spa baskets and candle baskets. Many places also make custom baskets.
Flowers and Plants
This is the most common of Mother's Day gifts. It's the obvious choice for that bouquet lover or for a very picky person.
Weekend Getaway
A weekend retreat to a ski lodge could be great for the mom who needs a weekend to unwind.
Digital Camera
For the new mom, this makes a great gift. Children grow up so fast, catching those fleeting moments are important. With scrap booking becoming so popular, digital cameras also make a great gift for the scrapbook lover.
Charitable Donation
For the mom who never stops giving, she would be honored to know that a donation was given to her favor charity in her name. This is truly a gift that keeps on giving.
Buy a Tree or Star
Have that special mom immortalized for years to come. Have a star named after her or buy a tree in her name. With God's love that star and tree will be around even if we are not.
Night Out
New mothers would surely appreciate a night out of the house with some adult conversation and atmosphere. It's a simple request, yet such a grand gesture for those moms who just want an evening as an adult. This works well with the morning and afternoon spent with the children. That is what Mother's Day is about in the first place.
Spa Day
Most mothers I know could use a spa day. Whether her children are at home or have long since moved out, a spa day is great choice. Spa Days range from a whole package of all the goodies like mud baths and lunch or just a half hour of massage.
The Star Treatment
Being a good mother is the hardest job in the world. Offering that special mom the star treatment for a day is a great gift. Start with allowing her to sleep in. As if that weren't gift enough, breakfast in bed and cleaning the house is just what the mom ordered. Lunch and dinner preparation should be included along with bathing, feeding and dressing the children. Basically don't allow her to left a finger. Supply a good book or time for her to do what she wants. What mother wouldn't want a day to recuperate?
Jewelry
A great idea would be give her a pendant with picture of her child/ren in it or a bracelet, ring or necklace with the birthstone/s of children or grandchildren.
Gift Baskets
You can find Gift baskets that contain any and everything. There are baskets that are specifically designed for Mother's Day, but other choices include gourmet and fruit baskets, spa baskets and candle baskets. Many places also make custom baskets.
Flowers and Plants
This is the most common of Mother's Day gifts. It's the obvious choice for that bouquet lover or for a very picky person.
Weekend Getaway
A weekend retreat to a ski lodge could be great for the mom who needs a weekend to unwind.
Digital Camera
For the new mom, this makes a great gift. Children grow up so fast, catching those fleeting moments are important. With scrap booking becoming so popular, digital cameras also make a great gift for the scrapbook lover.
Charitable Donation
For the mom who never stops giving, she would be honored to know that a donation was given to her favor charity in her name. This is truly a gift that keeps on giving.
Buy a Tree or Star
Have that special mom immortalized for years to come. Have a star named after her or buy a tree in her name. With God's love that star and tree will be around even if we are not.
Night Out
New mothers would surely appreciate a night out of the house with some adult conversation and atmosphere. It's a simple request, yet such a grand gesture for those moms who just want an evening as an adult. This works well with the morning and afternoon spent with the children. That is what Mother's Day is about in the first place.
Spa Day
Most mothers I know could use a spa day. Whether her children are at home or have long since moved out, a spa day is great choice. Spa Days range from a whole package of all the goodies like mud baths and lunch or just a half hour of massage.
The Star Treatment
Being a good mother is the hardest job in the world. Offering that special mom the star treatment for a day is a great gift. Start with allowing her to sleep in. As if that weren't gift enough, breakfast in bed and cleaning the house is just what the mom ordered. Lunch and dinner preparation should be included along with bathing, feeding and dressing the children. Basically don't allow her to left a finger. Supply a good book or time for her to do what she wants. What mother wouldn't want a day to recuperate?
Ideas Start A Home Business
Try to find a home based business that you can start without a large financial investment. There are more than plenty of legitimate home based businesses you can start that offer a very low start up cost (some are even free to start).
It just takes a little time looking to find the right one.How Much Money Do You Need To StartThere are some almost free home based businesses you can start especially where you are involved in selling services.
Even if this applies only for your office equipment such as internet connection, printer, computer, etc.
How Much Money Do You Want To MakeYou need to figure out how much money do you want to make from your home business. Depending on the type of home based business that you decide to get involved with, you may be able to make more or less. This would depend on the products and services that you sell, and the business model you choose. Carefully consider what home based business to start. Be persistent and don’t quit too soon.
Have realistic expectations and don’t be disappointed if the money doesn't roll in immediately!
It just takes a little time looking to find the right one.How Much Money Do You Need To StartThere are some almost free home based businesses you can start especially where you are involved in selling services.
Even if this applies only for your office equipment such as internet connection, printer, computer, etc.
How Much Money Do You Want To MakeYou need to figure out how much money do you want to make from your home business. Depending on the type of home based business that you decide to get involved with, you may be able to make more or less. This would depend on the products and services that you sell, and the business model you choose. Carefully consider what home based business to start. Be persistent and don’t quit too soon.
Have realistic expectations and don’t be disappointed if the money doesn't roll in immediately!
Tips to Earn Money
I hope that this information will help you to get inspired and start your new business today. Do you have a particular interest? We all possess unique knowledge about certain subjects that others would like to find out more about.
If we didn't share common interests then a lot of people would be out of their jobs. Sharing a common interest with others is exactly how you will be earning your money online. Now that we've covered those aspects of things you know, let's turn to some of the other factors that need to be considered.
You will need to do research about what others with your similar interests are looking to buy and what information are they eager to find. You might even have a great level of expertise in the subject. As someone who is already experienced with your interest, you will have a massive advantage over your competition. The way which you will use this advantage is by giving the consumers in your targeted market exactly what they want and you will be earning some serious cash as a result.
It's really easy to make money online as long as you put in the necessary effort.
If we didn't share common interests then a lot of people would be out of their jobs. Sharing a common interest with others is exactly how you will be earning your money online. Now that we've covered those aspects of things you know, let's turn to some of the other factors that need to be considered.
You will need to do research about what others with your similar interests are looking to buy and what information are they eager to find. You might even have a great level of expertise in the subject. As someone who is already experienced with your interest, you will have a massive advantage over your competition. The way which you will use this advantage is by giving the consumers in your targeted market exactly what they want and you will be earning some serious cash as a result.
It's really easy to make money online as long as you put in the necessary effort.
Ways _ Find a Cash Job
1. Pet Sitting or House cash and jobs there are many people that there is a need for assistance in some cases from their homes or pets while they are on vacation or traveling for business. The summer months and holiday seasons and times of prosperity for this type of business cash.
If you do yard work or sit a child already, and stated that the clients you will be happy to take care of animals or sit home when they go out of the city. Pet walking is also very popular commercial cash in some areas. Most people who hire dog walkers to let their animals outside during the day while the pet owners at work. After your name and phone number in places such as pet supply stores, veterinary clinics or animal shelters to find new customers.
2. Clean cash and functionality of some people do not have the time and energy, or are not able to clean their homes. Such need or necessity to be very easy and turned into a lucrative job, cash for yourself.
You can share your information in community centers or other gathering places in your community to get new customers. Some people who earn extra money that provide cleaning services charge by the number of rooms or square footage of the house while others charge hourly rates.
The best way to find these jobs is as dedicated to your services. You can post your phone number and name on the public bulletin board space in the local grocery stores, churches, senior center, recreational area or public transportation centers.
If you do yard work or sit a child already, and stated that the clients you will be happy to take care of animals or sit home when they go out of the city. Pet walking is also very popular commercial cash in some areas. Most people who hire dog walkers to let their animals outside during the day while the pet owners at work. After your name and phone number in places such as pet supply stores, veterinary clinics or animal shelters to find new customers.
2. Clean cash and functionality of some people do not have the time and energy, or are not able to clean their homes. Such need or necessity to be very easy and turned into a lucrative job, cash for yourself.
You can share your information in community centers or other gathering places in your community to get new customers. Some people who earn extra money that provide cleaning services charge by the number of rooms or square footage of the house while others charge hourly rates.
The best way to find these jobs is as dedicated to your services. You can post your phone number and name on the public bulletin board space in the local grocery stores, churches, senior center, recreational area or public transportation centers.
Best Ideas Home Based Business
Here are some of the best home based business opportunities available today, in no particular order:
1. Become a personal trainer If you are fitness-minded, you might be able to start a new career in personal trainer. You can start a business of your own supervision of students. You can advertise in schools and other places frequented by families. 3. Become a yoga instructor Start your own business through the teaching of yoga classes and share your expertise with others.
4. Claims of medical bills Home 5. Become medical or legal Transcriptionist If you have all the necessary equipment and skills of copying, you can very easily work from home for many different companies. Check local community colleges or on the Internet for medical or legal copies of training courses. 6. Start consulting business from home If you are an expert in your field, such as marketing, finance, or sales, and to consider starting your business consultancy. 7. Work from Home Web Designer If you are able to design high quality websites, and consider converting your web design skills to work from home business opportunity.
1. Become a personal trainer If you are fitness-minded, you might be able to start a new career in personal trainer. You can start a business of your own supervision of students. You can advertise in schools and other places frequented by families. 3. Become a yoga instructor Start your own business through the teaching of yoga classes and share your expertise with others.
4. Claims of medical bills Home 5. Become medical or legal Transcriptionist If you have all the necessary equipment and skills of copying, you can very easily work from home for many different companies. Check local community colleges or on the Internet for medical or legal copies of training courses. 6. Start consulting business from home If you are an expert in your field, such as marketing, finance, or sales, and to consider starting your business consultancy. 7. Work from Home Web Designer If you are able to design high quality websites, and consider converting your web design skills to work from home business opportunity.
ideas & Ways One Step Ahead on Ebay!
Selling on eBay can be a good hobby or a nice profitable business for others. I would like to sell on eBay and other auction sites for both of these reasons.
1. Determine whether the product that you are going to auction at once, or if you have a continuous supply of this item. This means that if the item once you are going to want to get the best price for it. I know that a lot of people say that the reserve price will hinder the chances of selling an item, but will not if you try to not be greedy. If you have a continuous supply of products, and take $ 15 - $ 20 profit is the way to go on something like a digital camera for $ 200 because you have more sales.
2. If you want to get a steady income on eBay you need to find suppliers. The best way to do this is to determine the type of product that you want to sell it, and then start researching what the item is for sale on auction sites. Once you find the supplier that carries your product and you can specify that you can win at least 10% after completion of the registration fees and charges, if any, mind, and then you're ready to climb on board the vehicle eBay.
3. The next thing you will want to do when you find the right supplier is to buy some items for sale. It also is good if the supplier will dropship to your customers. The reason for this is, in some cases you may get this item is broken or scratched and you do not realize it until it was time to ship to your customer. Dropshipper can send this item to your customer, such as what came from you. I hope these little tips will help you get started in a hobby or perhaps on eBay a lucrative business.
1. Determine whether the product that you are going to auction at once, or if you have a continuous supply of this item. This means that if the item once you are going to want to get the best price for it. I know that a lot of people say that the reserve price will hinder the chances of selling an item, but will not if you try to not be greedy. If you have a continuous supply of products, and take $ 15 - $ 20 profit is the way to go on something like a digital camera for $ 200 because you have more sales.
2. If you want to get a steady income on eBay you need to find suppliers. The best way to do this is to determine the type of product that you want to sell it, and then start researching what the item is for sale on auction sites. Once you find the supplier that carries your product and you can specify that you can win at least 10% after completion of the registration fees and charges, if any, mind, and then you're ready to climb on board the vehicle eBay.
3. The next thing you will want to do when you find the right supplier is to buy some items for sale. It also is good if the supplier will dropship to your customers. The reason for this is, in some cases you may get this item is broken or scratched and you do not realize it until it was time to ship to your customer. Dropshipper can send this item to your customer, such as what came from you. I hope these little tips will help you get started in a hobby or perhaps on eBay a lucrative business.
ideas to Earn Money
And a great idea and ran across the other day meant I could get a substantial amount of cash in about 3 days.
All of this means that I bought an item on eBay that had resale rights and strike a deal with powerseller.
Before I explain that I want you to imagine this ...
This item is desirable for the sale of 10 pounds and suddenly offered to you for £ 5. A person who provides that it is the person you've bought similar items before, so I trust them.
But this offer is half the price will only be available for 48 hours. The person who gives you this item has struck an agreement with the seller. They have agreed to offer their item half price but only for 2 days.
If something you really want to think you missed and pay full price at a later date. No, of course not. 3 out of 10 people who made this offer go ahead and buy. Every time!
Now imagine if 100 people are offered this or 200 or maybe 500. Hit the third £ 5 half, and this is happening in your bank account in 3 days.
Whether the product is usually £ 20 and offered for £ 10?
How it works is simple. You can either write an ebook on this is desirable or purchase e-book with resale rights, and this is already a bestseller. Do not waste your time with 99p items that you want something not less than 10 pounds. Verification of another person is no longer displayed on eBay for less.
Then you send e-mail message to a powerseller on eBay or any person in the eBay store owner. I tell you that if your item will be provided to buyers last for half the price you have to go fifty-fifty with the profits. Make sure they are selling e-books similar to their customers. In this way they are already interested in what you have to offer.
You can simply create a free web site on something like Tripod.com. Just follow the instructions. You can put a link to the mind as well as easily.
If someone agrees to extend your item to the list you can simply send a link to your web site temporarily. They then send an email with a temporary half to view the price, and link the website for all our customers past. E-mail telling them at the end of the offer to create some urgency to buy.
At the end of 48 hours and you simply provide a temporary closure on the Internet. Check how much money was taken into your account via PayPal. You'll be amazed. Copy the screen to the e-mail and send it to powerseller evidence on earnings. To pay 50% of the workers in his account of mind. You have to keep the other half yourself.
Powersellers or shopkeepers who sell eBooks on eBay has a large number of buyers years. Imagine they offered your item normally sold for £ 10 in £ 5 to the list of 500 people. The results showed that nearly one third of the people and view this item, in fact buy. And the third of approximately 500. 166. Multiply 166 of £ 5 = £ 830. Division (2), which is for you and powersellers share and you get 415 £. Not bad for 3 days work eh?
3 days is required because on the first day is what you need to allow you to build a temporary location Make your powerseller partner to all e-mail list.
All of this means that I bought an item on eBay that had resale rights and strike a deal with powerseller.
Before I explain that I want you to imagine this ...
This item is desirable for the sale of 10 pounds and suddenly offered to you for £ 5. A person who provides that it is the person you've bought similar items before, so I trust them.
But this offer is half the price will only be available for 48 hours. The person who gives you this item has struck an agreement with the seller. They have agreed to offer their item half price but only for 2 days.
If something you really want to think you missed and pay full price at a later date. No, of course not. 3 out of 10 people who made this offer go ahead and buy. Every time!
Now imagine if 100 people are offered this or 200 or maybe 500. Hit the third £ 5 half, and this is happening in your bank account in 3 days.
Whether the product is usually £ 20 and offered for £ 10?
How it works is simple. You can either write an ebook on this is desirable or purchase e-book with resale rights, and this is already a bestseller. Do not waste your time with 99p items that you want something not less than 10 pounds. Verification of another person is no longer displayed on eBay for less.
Then you send e-mail message to a powerseller on eBay or any person in the eBay store owner. I tell you that if your item will be provided to buyers last for half the price you have to go fifty-fifty with the profits. Make sure they are selling e-books similar to their customers. In this way they are already interested in what you have to offer.
You can simply create a free web site on something like Tripod.com. Just follow the instructions. You can put a link to the mind as well as easily.
If someone agrees to extend your item to the list you can simply send a link to your web site temporarily. They then send an email with a temporary half to view the price, and link the website for all our customers past. E-mail telling them at the end of the offer to create some urgency to buy.
At the end of 48 hours and you simply provide a temporary closure on the Internet. Check how much money was taken into your account via PayPal. You'll be amazed. Copy the screen to the e-mail and send it to powerseller evidence on earnings. To pay 50% of the workers in his account of mind. You have to keep the other half yourself.
Powersellers or shopkeepers who sell eBooks on eBay has a large number of buyers years. Imagine they offered your item normally sold for £ 10 in £ 5 to the list of 500 people. The results showed that nearly one third of the people and view this item, in fact buy. And the third of approximately 500. 166. Multiply 166 of £ 5 = £ 830. Division (2), which is for you and powersellers share and you get 415 £. Not bad for 3 days work eh?
3 days is required because on the first day is what you need to allow you to build a temporary location Make your powerseller partner to all e-mail list.
Great Ideas for your Auction
Finding great items to sell, it can be difficult for some people. Finally, also depends on your auction site business to large items that you can buy very cheaply and sell lead to a profit. If you have trouble with items for your online auction business, here are a few simple tips.
One of the best ways to find, is a good idea to check out the auction sites. Many people do not know that good ideas are on almost every page of Ebay. You can see which products are selling, how much they favor and the average price that they sell will be sold to win. Using Ebay is probably the easiest and fastest way to get great products, which are already a flourishing market.
There are many foreign manufacturers and distributors, would love to sell their products to you for a reasonable price that can be quickly converted into profits for sale. Many of these manufacturers abroad are generally removed on big marketplace sites that are easy to find.
You can also auction site forum. Here, many people are talking about the great products that are hot. There are even companies to analyze the auction analysis of millions of pieces of data that come with great products for their customers to sell.
So if you sell on the lookout for big items on the auction sites, follow the tips above.
One of the best ways to find, is a good idea to check out the auction sites. Many people do not know that good ideas are on almost every page of Ebay. You can see which products are selling, how much they favor and the average price that they sell will be sold to win. Using Ebay is probably the easiest and fastest way to get great products, which are already a flourishing market.
There are many foreign manufacturers and distributors, would love to sell their products to you for a reasonable price that can be quickly converted into profits for sale. Many of these manufacturers abroad are generally removed on big marketplace sites that are easy to find.
You can also auction site forum. Here, many people are talking about the great products that are hot. There are even companies to analyze the auction analysis of millions of pieces of data that come with great products for their customers to sell.
So if you sell on the lookout for big items on the auction sites, follow the tips above.
Tips for Working for a Difficult Boss
Well. All of us at some point of time or other and faced the beast from hell that just loves twisting you round his little finger Li'l happy to destroy the right to work in your days of hard work in the bin without any compunction! Here are some practical indicators that can help you not only in dealing with those scenes difficult boss, but also may help you to win him over! Man's inclination to call it pain, but experience shows that people crib about their bosses just two days on the job! Therefore, if you're just in your job and facing problems in dealing with a major epidemic for reasons not understood, take a deep breath. Instead of rushing to conclusions, take the time to understand your boss and his method of work. Give yourself some time to give you some breathing space to settle in your business, and get used to the work environment, and hit off a working relationship with colleagues, and most importantly, your boss. According to experts, and 3 months is the right time enough.
Understand the mental state. Silently noticing your boss and your colleagues give you a peek into nature. Pay more attention to your boss in the talks, said that his behaviors, and how he interacts with the rest of the team. Monitoring will help him to discover his likes and hatred, and interests, and even pets weakness. Speak. Ok so you have smiled a broad smile and put your boss. Then it's time to have some frank talk with him / her. If your boss is considerate, he may make efforts to change behavior.
According to experts in the industry, and talking in some cases, help to purify the air and give your boss a chance to correct itself. Vent your troubles to willing ears! Can not handle the stress anymore? Cautionary advice: If you think you made your best shot to live with that bully of the boss and he still end up making your life a living hell? Biographer CAMO Technologies is an IT company outsourcing to provide global information technology solutions that provide employment services, development of applications and services, and testing of software, services and Web services
Understand the mental state. Silently noticing your boss and your colleagues give you a peek into nature. Pay more attention to your boss in the talks, said that his behaviors, and how he interacts with the rest of the team. Monitoring will help him to discover his likes and hatred, and interests, and even pets weakness. Speak. Ok so you have smiled a broad smile and put your boss. Then it's time to have some frank talk with him / her. If your boss is considerate, he may make efforts to change behavior.
According to experts in the industry, and talking in some cases, help to purify the air and give your boss a chance to correct itself. Vent your troubles to willing ears! Can not handle the stress anymore? Cautionary advice: If you think you made your best shot to live with that bully of the boss and he still end up making your life a living hell? Biographer CAMO Technologies is an IT company outsourcing to provide global information technology solutions that provide employment services, development of applications and services, and testing of software, services and Web services
Ideas to earn More money on weekends
Is working in 9 to 5 job seven days a week? If you are up to that, there are many things you can do at the weekend to make a little extra money. If you want to earn a little extra money on the weekends there are options for consideration. If you play the cards right you may be able to make more money than you thought possible.
The Internet is the world's largest market, and if you know how to use them correctly, you can start providing a decent income high school in the weekends. Search options that are available on the Internet, and then make the decision to those that will work best with you and your current schedule.
You can find a job until the end of the week on the Internet you can turn into full-time job with the passage of time if you so wish. 2. Some people think that the newspaper is delivered to children, but if you want to earn some extra money on weekends, but is also a good choice for folks work. Check with your local newspaper and see if they employ people to hand over the weekend. Do a few days a week can make you a little bit of extra money without having to put a lot of time and effort. 3. Become part of the garden time.
If you want to work outdoors, and good at determining what people reach meadows, you should look for a job as a landscaper weekend. This could mean everything from cutting grass to planting trees. 4. Take a full time job, and expanded to include seven days a week by working on the contract. For example, if you work in a web design company you can do contract work for customers in the weekend. Of being a freelancer in your field is a great way to earn extra money on the weekends. Overall, making extra money on the weekends is more than possible. Hundreds more available, and you can find them at any time if you start the search today.
The Internet is the world's largest market, and if you know how to use them correctly, you can start providing a decent income high school in the weekends. Search options that are available on the Internet, and then make the decision to those that will work best with you and your current schedule.
You can find a job until the end of the week on the Internet you can turn into full-time job with the passage of time if you so wish. 2. Some people think that the newspaper is delivered to children, but if you want to earn some extra money on weekends, but is also a good choice for folks work. Check with your local newspaper and see if they employ people to hand over the weekend. Do a few days a week can make you a little bit of extra money without having to put a lot of time and effort. 3. Become part of the garden time.
If you want to work outdoors, and good at determining what people reach meadows, you should look for a job as a landscaper weekend. This could mean everything from cutting grass to planting trees. 4. Take a full time job, and expanded to include seven days a week by working on the contract. For example, if you work in a web design company you can do contract work for customers in the weekend. Of being a freelancer in your field is a great way to earn extra money on the weekends. Overall, making extra money on the weekends is more than possible. Hundreds more available, and you can find them at any time if you start the search today.
Ideas To Protect Cars
How to protect cars, bicycles, motorcycles ... How to protect cars, bicycles, motorcycles ... Entertainment mates published by the press How to protect your car Always closed the doors of the car. When driving, keep all doors closed. If you must leave the key with the attendant, leave only the ignition key. In all cases, lock your car.
At night, park only in well-lit areas. If you have a garage, and secure one on the door is not enough to keep intruders from prying up the opposite side and crawling where one of the three methods can be used to secure the door: (1) add another bolt and lock on the opposite side, or (2) installation of husband cane bolts to the inside - only operable from the inside, or (3) Add to the top center hasp. Any person of average height can operate this device lock. Health and safety plan must be of steel and install the screws with a door or gate. Use large washers at home. After the nuts and content, or obscure and handling of the bolt ends with a hammer to keep the nuts from being removed. Never leave the lock unlocked.
This is an invitation to remove the lock and key so it can be, and the lock returned to its location. Later, when no longer a thief and one is home and enters in his spare time, using 'his' key. How to protect bikes Using a chain and lock and approved whenever you're not on the seat! Lock to the garage - with 3 / 8 '× 6' eye screw installed to the nail. Whenever lock your bike in a public place, a series of rack to secure or landmark within the framework and the wheel. Maintain a series of high above the ground and allow the bike.
This reduces the influence of the bar pry or cut the bolt attack. Low model adopted Chen Ties must be continuously welded. A series of lighter, or a series of links with Fatah simply will not withstand bolt cutting attacks. Do not give your bike away! It must be content with the unpaired 3-8 'hardening of alloy steels and a lock of equal strength. Coated cables did not prove to be a satisfactory deterrent to theft. Light Good exterior lighting is important, especially when the area was obscured by high-field, non-removable bushes. You can buy an inexpensive timer or photo electric cells that will automatically turn lights in the dusk, and turn them off at dawn.
At night, park only in well-lit areas. If you have a garage, and secure one on the door is not enough to keep intruders from prying up the opposite side and crawling where one of the three methods can be used to secure the door: (1) add another bolt and lock on the opposite side, or (2) installation of husband cane bolts to the inside - only operable from the inside, or (3) Add to the top center hasp. Any person of average height can operate this device lock. Health and safety plan must be of steel and install the screws with a door or gate. Use large washers at home. After the nuts and content, or obscure and handling of the bolt ends with a hammer to keep the nuts from being removed. Never leave the lock unlocked.
This is an invitation to remove the lock and key so it can be, and the lock returned to its location. Later, when no longer a thief and one is home and enters in his spare time, using 'his' key. How to protect bikes Using a chain and lock and approved whenever you're not on the seat! Lock to the garage - with 3 / 8 '× 6' eye screw installed to the nail. Whenever lock your bike in a public place, a series of rack to secure or landmark within the framework and the wheel. Maintain a series of high above the ground and allow the bike.
This reduces the influence of the bar pry or cut the bolt attack. Low model adopted Chen Ties must be continuously welded. A series of lighter, or a series of links with Fatah simply will not withstand bolt cutting attacks. Do not give your bike away! It must be content with the unpaired 3-8 'hardening of alloy steels and a lock of equal strength. Coated cables did not prove to be a satisfactory deterrent to theft. Light Good exterior lighting is important, especially when the area was obscured by high-field, non-removable bushes. You can buy an inexpensive timer or photo electric cells that will automatically turn lights in the dusk, and turn them off at dawn.
Working as a freelancer for business - ideas
Freelancer is a great way to do business. As in the business
The world to adapt to change more than ever, people are finding increasing
Working as a freelancer that can provide income and improve the lucrative
Quality of life.
Successful self-employed working in the broad framework of vocational
Environments. The site designer may choose to
Self-employed, as well as public relations consultants, artists and writers
And journalists and specialists in marketing, sales or builders
And gypsum. In fact, anyone who chooses to work
On an ad hoc contract freelancer.
The simple fact is that the work piece is more about choosing
Lifestyle than anything else. It provides the opportunity for
I say yes or no on the work they do and when to do so.
Some freelance work for a period of six months of the year and then
Holiday for the remaining period. Others choose to work in the
The same patterns of their counterparts working.
Independents are not employees and should be one
The vigorous pursuit of their own work, negotiate the terms of
And conditions contained in the project and completed, to
Customer satisfaction. And usually paid better --
Generally good piece can do much better than
Average employee doing the same work, although it takes
Time to develop a reputation that people are willing to pay a premium for.
But there are also things that you may find less attractive.
For example, in most professions you will need to be
Prepared for the isolation and loneliness. You'll have to hunt
Payments not everyone will pay you only
Because you send an invoice. There is a good percentage of your account
The time spent cold calling, selling and marketing
Yourself. If you do not like doing that might not working as a freelancer
Be for you.
Networking is probably one of the most important
Aspects of life on their own. Much of this can be done on
Telephone - will be surprised in the relations
You can build without meeting people than ever before.
Similarly, keeping records and accounts is vital for good
The piece - you have to pay tax only in the same
evervone else!
Messaging can be great, but life has the same challenges and
Opportunities as any other business - so make sure it's right for you
Before turning your back on the security of employment.
Business Ideas to Get Ahead
And good business plan is vital to the success of your business
- And that is the need to update it frequently. Here are some of
Vital components.
Life can be chaotic when you are starting or running
Business and day to day management issues and can often
Strength of long-term planning to the back burner. But
Allow short-term problems to distract you from the long-term
Goals will not help your business grow.
A plan of action and commitment is one way for
Ensure the business remains on track.
It is not, however, Just something that satisfies the bank. Business
The plan is a tool to measure performance on the current
Basically, it's a good business practice.
A good business plan should be ambitious but realistic.
It is futile to identify targets for sales or expenditures
Can not be met. And should include a summary of the
Business and markets, in the past (in the case of business
One), including the management details of the experiment, and description
Of the product or service, and how it will be marketed
And sold, and financial analysis - which should include the profits
And loss accounts and cash flow forecasts and balance sheet.
Remember that the Action Plan is also a selling tool. You
You will need to get readers in all parts of just what is interesting
About your business, and exactly why anyone would want
To invest in it. Ideal form is to be among the three
And ten pages and extract all the important points. It
Also worth having a plan for inspection by an independent
Experts prior to show potential funders.
When the plan for your business or project is written by
Should allow you to compare against the actual targets
Performance. This will help you to monitor progress
Of business on a regular basis. It may also give early
Indicators of the need to re-assess the situation, and even
Re-formulation of a plan that takes into account the new issues.
When used both for planning and measurement tool well written
Action Plan will lead the business forward in a positive way. After
Above all, you will not dream set to campaign in all parts of the world without
The road map, would you?
- And that is the need to update it frequently. Here are some of
Vital components.
Life can be chaotic when you are starting or running
Business and day to day management issues and can often
Strength of long-term planning to the back burner. But
Allow short-term problems to distract you from the long-term
Goals will not help your business grow.
A plan of action and commitment is one way for
Ensure the business remains on track.
It is not, however, Just something that satisfies the bank. Business
The plan is a tool to measure performance on the current
Basically, it's a good business practice.
A good business plan should be ambitious but realistic.
It is futile to identify targets for sales or expenditures
Can not be met. And should include a summary of the
Business and markets, in the past (in the case of business
One), including the management details of the experiment, and description
Of the product or service, and how it will be marketed
And sold, and financial analysis - which should include the profits
And loss accounts and cash flow forecasts and balance sheet.
Remember that the Action Plan is also a selling tool. You
You will need to get readers in all parts of just what is interesting
About your business, and exactly why anyone would want
To invest in it. Ideal form is to be among the three
And ten pages and extract all the important points. It
Also worth having a plan for inspection by an independent
Experts prior to show potential funders.
When the plan for your business or project is written by
Should allow you to compare against the actual targets
Performance. This will help you to monitor progress
Of business on a regular basis. It may also give early
Indicators of the need to re-assess the situation, and even
Re-formulation of a plan that takes into account the new issues.
When used both for planning and measurement tool well written
Action Plan will lead the business forward in a positive way. After
Above all, you will not dream set to campaign in all parts of the world without
The road map, would you?
Search Ideas
When the going gets tough market research can be effective
Provides a real advantage in the face of competition. There are three
Areas that can reap the rewards for companies starved of
Success.
Market research is vital to any company, as it determines
Or whether people do not want to buy what you have to
View. They can provide valuable information to have
Action plan and strengthen your case if you are going
To the bank for the money. Three main areas of research
Worthy of exploration are:
1. Customer base
When conducting market research on your potential
Ask yourself the customer base who are customers. How
There? Where are they? How can that be
Contacted? Which controls the decision-making process?
2. Your demands customer
You should also consider the potential customers
Really want: What are the services they so desperately need to do? When
They are likely to want your services? How they
Be willing to pay you? You can package your services in the
Especially attractive manner?
3. Competition
You can not complete the research without also effective
Study your competitors. Who are they? If there is
There is competition, why not? What is the competition
The strengths and weaknesses? What are the types of indirect
Competition exist?
Can too much of this information is often found on the
The following sources:
Libraries: Reference libraries are particularly useful;
Commercial department often contains reports on the
Various sectors of the market and competitors. Shall
Also find evidence of organizations by type of industry,
Which can be a valuable resource.
Trade unions: Most of them have specialized
Libraries on the market segments.
Trade publications: Magazines, news or facts can give
You are up-to-date information on the movements of
Industry and your competitors.
Exhibitions and conferences: contacts, and promote
Yourself, and to consider the competition.
Phone Directory: Yellow Pages and Thompson list
All your local contest. You can check out the
From other areas in the library reference.
Home companies: For details on limited companies and
Copies of their audited accounts.
More time spent in market research and you're likely to
Tailor your services to the needs of clients. If you are selling
What your customers want, you are more likely to develop a successful
Work.
When the going gets tough effective market research can
provide a real edge against the competition. There are three
areas that can reap rewards for businesses hungry for
success.
Market research is vital for any business as it determines
whether or not people will want to buy what you have to
offer. It can provide valuable information for your
business plan and strengthen your case if you are going
to the bank for money. The three main areas of research
worth exploring are:
1. Your customer base
When carrying out market research on your potential
customer base ask yourself who your clients are. How
many are there? Where are they? How can they be
contacted? Who controls their decision-making process?
2. Your customer demands
You should also consider what your prospective clients
actually want: what services do they most need? When are
they likely to want your services? How much would they
be willing to pay you? Can you package your services in a
particularly attractive manner?
3. The competition
You can't complete effective research without also
considering your competitors. Who are they? If there is
no competition, why not? What are the competition's
strengths and weaknesses? What types of indirect
competition exist?
Much of this information can often be found at the
following sources:
Libraries: Reference libraries are particularly useful;
the commercial section often contains reports on
various market sectors and competitors. You will
also find directories of organisations by industry type,
which could be a valuable resource.
Trade associations: most of these have specialist
libraries on market sectors.
Trade publications: magazines or news-sheets can give
you up-to-date information on the movements of the
industry and your competitors.
Exhibitions and conferences: make contacts, promote
yourself and examine the competition.
Telephone directories: Yellow Pages and Thomson's list
all your local competition. You can check out those
from other areas at the reference library.
Companies house: for details on limited companies and
copies of their audited accounts.
The more time you spend on market research the more likely you are to
tailor your services to the needs of your clients. And if you are selling
what your clients want, you are more likely to develop a successful
business.
Provides a real advantage in the face of competition. There are three
Areas that can reap the rewards for companies starved of
Success.
Market research is vital to any company, as it determines
Or whether people do not want to buy what you have to
View. They can provide valuable information to have
Action plan and strengthen your case if you are going
To the bank for the money. Three main areas of research
Worthy of exploration are:
1. Customer base
When conducting market research on your potential
Ask yourself the customer base who are customers. How
There? Where are they? How can that be
Contacted? Which controls the decision-making process?
2. Your demands customer
You should also consider the potential customers
Really want: What are the services they so desperately need to do? When
They are likely to want your services? How they
Be willing to pay you? You can package your services in the
Especially attractive manner?
3. Competition
You can not complete the research without also effective
Study your competitors. Who are they? If there is
There is competition, why not? What is the competition
The strengths and weaknesses? What are the types of indirect
Competition exist?
Can too much of this information is often found on the
The following sources:
Libraries: Reference libraries are particularly useful;
Commercial department often contains reports on the
Various sectors of the market and competitors. Shall
Also find evidence of organizations by type of industry,
Which can be a valuable resource.
Trade unions: Most of them have specialized
Libraries on the market segments.
Trade publications: Magazines, news or facts can give
You are up-to-date information on the movements of
Industry and your competitors.
Exhibitions and conferences: contacts, and promote
Yourself, and to consider the competition.
Phone Directory: Yellow Pages and Thompson list
All your local contest. You can check out the
From other areas in the library reference.
Home companies: For details on limited companies and
Copies of their audited accounts.
More time spent in market research and you're likely to
Tailor your services to the needs of clients. If you are selling
What your customers want, you are more likely to develop a successful
Work.
When the going gets tough effective market research can
provide a real edge against the competition. There are three
areas that can reap rewards for businesses hungry for
success.
Market research is vital for any business as it determines
whether or not people will want to buy what you have to
offer. It can provide valuable information for your
business plan and strengthen your case if you are going
to the bank for money. The three main areas of research
worth exploring are:
1. Your customer base
When carrying out market research on your potential
customer base ask yourself who your clients are. How
many are there? Where are they? How can they be
contacted? Who controls their decision-making process?
2. Your customer demands
You should also consider what your prospective clients
actually want: what services do they most need? When are
they likely to want your services? How much would they
be willing to pay you? Can you package your services in a
particularly attractive manner?
3. The competition
You can't complete effective research without also
considering your competitors. Who are they? If there is
no competition, why not? What are the competition's
strengths and weaknesses? What types of indirect
competition exist?
Much of this information can often be found at the
following sources:
Libraries: Reference libraries are particularly useful;
the commercial section often contains reports on
various market sectors and competitors. You will
also find directories of organisations by industry type,
which could be a valuable resource.
Trade associations: most of these have specialist
libraries on market sectors.
Trade publications: magazines or news-sheets can give
you up-to-date information on the movements of the
industry and your competitors.
Exhibitions and conferences: make contacts, promote
yourself and examine the competition.
Telephone directories: Yellow Pages and Thomson's list
all your local competition. You can check out those
from other areas at the reference library.
Companies house: for details on limited companies and
copies of their audited accounts.
The more time you spend on market research the more likely you are to
tailor your services to the needs of your clients. And if you are selling
what your clients want, you are more likely to develop a successful
business.
Lifeline Business -Ideas
Without a constant flow of ideas most companies will fail. But
Ideas can be good and bad. So how to generate and
Evaluate them in order to start a new business or grow an existing
One?
Ideas are vital to the development of new products or existing or
Services or even to take this first step in a new business.
In fact, wherever you are in the business life cycle you
Need a lot of ideas if your business to thrive.
Generating ideas is the first step and some
Questions that must be the question and what if? ',' How?
And why? Try looking at how you can change the list
Products or services to meet an unmet need, is
The need for a different direction and in a manner more appropriate or to improve
Or quality of service. Be observant and look for
Emerging trends and the expansion of market outlets.
During this process, and the use of any technique you can think of
For, including the exchange of ideas. It's often hard to find
But this time, because it deserves it. Focus on your
Consumer market, not on your product - and there is no
The point in making something better if no one needs or wants
It's in the first place.
Once you have a short list of ideas to start it lime
Assessment of job opportunities and viable. This
I mean to devote the time and effort to evaluate and research,
Development and planning.
Talk about the product or service with potential
Customers. Is there really a demand for your offerings? If so,
How strong? How price sensitive? What sets you apart
From your competitors?
All you can search for your target market
And competition. Who are they, and how they are structured,
How; they were not long in business, what are their
The stock market each of them, what sets you apart? The price
Joint Warfare? If so, you may have a lot of competition.
There is only one or two of the top players and there are a few of them?
To search for markets where there is healthy competition
Between the product or service providers, but where profits
Reasonable margins. To work on your expenses and how
Much revenue you need to generate to break even. Then
Realistic project, and how much you need to make a profit.
Ideas really are the backbone of any business and vital to the long-term
Success. In an attempt to adjust the time allocated for the development of new ideas on a regular basis
And your business and not only survive, but thrive as well.
Ideas can be good and bad. So how to generate and
Evaluate them in order to start a new business or grow an existing
One?
Ideas are vital to the development of new products or existing or
Services or even to take this first step in a new business.
In fact, wherever you are in the business life cycle you
Need a lot of ideas if your business to thrive.
Generating ideas is the first step and some
Questions that must be the question and what if? ',' How?
And why? Try looking at how you can change the list
Products or services to meet an unmet need, is
The need for a different direction and in a manner more appropriate or to improve
Or quality of service. Be observant and look for
Emerging trends and the expansion of market outlets.
During this process, and the use of any technique you can think of
For, including the exchange of ideas. It's often hard to find
But this time, because it deserves it. Focus on your
Consumer market, not on your product - and there is no
The point in making something better if no one needs or wants
It's in the first place.
Once you have a short list of ideas to start it lime
Assessment of job opportunities and viable. This
I mean to devote the time and effort to evaluate and research,
Development and planning.
Talk about the product or service with potential
Customers. Is there really a demand for your offerings? If so,
How strong? How price sensitive? What sets you apart
From your competitors?
All you can search for your target market
And competition. Who are they, and how they are structured,
How; they were not long in business, what are their
The stock market each of them, what sets you apart? The price
Joint Warfare? If so, you may have a lot of competition.
There is only one or two of the top players and there are a few of them?
To search for markets where there is healthy competition
Between the product or service providers, but where profits
Reasonable margins. To work on your expenses and how
Much revenue you need to generate to break even. Then
Realistic project, and how much you need to make a profit.
Ideas really are the backbone of any business and vital to the long-term
Success. In an attempt to adjust the time allocated for the development of new ideas on a regular basis
And your business and not only survive, but thrive as well.
3 – WOULD YOU MARRY ME AGAIN?
Of course, if you’ve already been married for a while, you might be feeling
like you’re losing the spark or that you could be doing more to show your
spouse that you love them.
Here are some ideas for those that have already been married for a while
and want to remind their spouse how much they love them.
• Keep a gratitude journal – Write down all of the things that you love
about your spouse every day for a month or so. When you’ve gotten
to the end of the month, write, “Will you marry me…again?” on the last
page and wrap up the journal to give to your spouse.
• Create a photo slide show of your marriage – With digital pictures and
simple programs, you can even set your life to music.
• Take a picture of the two of you at your wedding and one more recent
picture and place them into a picture frame with two frames. Wrap
this up and present it to your spouse as a reminder of where you
began and where you are now. If you can find a frame with another
place for a picture, write the words, “Here’s to more of us.”
• Recreate your wedding day on a smaller scale – By inviting old
wedding guests and getting the same cake as you had on your special
day, have a renewal of vows for you and your spouse. If you can find
the original minister - all the better. If your spouse doesn’t mind
being surprised, try to keep it a surprise.
Every day, you can celebrate the wedding and the memories that brought
you together.
• Tell your own versions of how you met
• Talk about the first time that you told each other, “I love you.”
• Share your love stories with your family
4 – WHEN YOU’RE ON VACATION
Too often in our lives, we become distracted by things that happen. We let
work take over, responsibilities take over, and our relationships can suffer.
Instead of letting your love go to the back burner, why not take your love on
vacation with you?
• Call ahead to any restaurants that you might go to – Make sure they
have your partner’s favorite dishes and that you can have a special
dessert or other food brought out when you’re there.
• Try to arrange for the same room as a previous vacation – But when
you arrive at the room, pretend like you don’t notice. If your partner
doesn’t notice, then point out the room and tell him/her that you just
wanted to remind them that you loved them – then and now.
• Do two things that you would never do on your own, but your partner
would love to do – For example, if your partner likes to line dance, go
line dancing. If your partner wants to learn how to scuba dive, then
go do that. By showing that you support every part of them, you’re
telling them that you love them again and again.
• Have a basket of your favorite lotions and massage oils sent ahead to
your hotel room to help liven up your romantic evenings – When the
basket is there when you arrive, it shows that you’ve thought ahead to
your time together.
Being apart is hard for any relationship – new or old – but taking the time to
connect with your partner will help you feel closer rather than further apart.
5 – WHEN YOU’RE FAR AWAY
There are times when you will be separated from your partner – a business
trip, a family emergency, etc. In those times of separation, it can help to
show your partner that you really care about them.
• Call them each night – Simply talking to your partner each night or
once a day will help you stay connected and show that they’re the
most important person in your life.
• Send them small trinkets – Small, unexpected things from your trip
will show your partner that you were thinking of them.
• Come home when you say that you will – When your partner misses
you as much as you miss them, be sure that they always know when
you’re going to be home and if there are any changes in that plan.
• Be happy to talk with them – Even if you’re tired and jet lagged, be
sure that you smile when you talk to your partner on the phone. This
will sound like heaven to their ears.
6 – WHEN YOU ADOPT
Adding to your family is an exciting time – no matter how it happens.
When you’ve decided to adopt a child, you might have already been
struggling with fertility issues that have been tough on your relationship –
what better time to show your partner that you love them?
Here are some ways:
• Give your partner a photo album or a photo frame to start collecting
pictures of your new family.
• Purchase a book that you can fill in to create a family history of this
new family that is coming together.
• Make a date to travel to your child’s country of origin on the same day
each year.
• Talk about your plans to adopt and write out the story that brought
you into the decision to adopt. You can give this to your child when
they get older.
John and Julie have a special date each year that their daughter was
adopted. They spend the day with their daughter at her favorite place – the
park. And while this sounds like it would be more of a date for the daughter,
it’s a celebration for the entire family unit.
like you’re losing the spark or that you could be doing more to show your
spouse that you love them.
Here are some ideas for those that have already been married for a while
and want to remind their spouse how much they love them.
• Keep a gratitude journal – Write down all of the things that you love
about your spouse every day for a month or so. When you’ve gotten
to the end of the month, write, “Will you marry me…again?” on the last
page and wrap up the journal to give to your spouse.
• Create a photo slide show of your marriage – With digital pictures and
simple programs, you can even set your life to music.
• Take a picture of the two of you at your wedding and one more recent
picture and place them into a picture frame with two frames. Wrap
this up and present it to your spouse as a reminder of where you
began and where you are now. If you can find a frame with another
place for a picture, write the words, “Here’s to more of us.”
• Recreate your wedding day on a smaller scale – By inviting old
wedding guests and getting the same cake as you had on your special
day, have a renewal of vows for you and your spouse. If you can find
the original minister - all the better. If your spouse doesn’t mind
being surprised, try to keep it a surprise.
Every day, you can celebrate the wedding and the memories that brought
you together.
• Tell your own versions of how you met
• Talk about the first time that you told each other, “I love you.”
• Share your love stories with your family
4 – WHEN YOU’RE ON VACATION
Too often in our lives, we become distracted by things that happen. We let
work take over, responsibilities take over, and our relationships can suffer.
Instead of letting your love go to the back burner, why not take your love on
vacation with you?
• Call ahead to any restaurants that you might go to – Make sure they
have your partner’s favorite dishes and that you can have a special
dessert or other food brought out when you’re there.
• Try to arrange for the same room as a previous vacation – But when
you arrive at the room, pretend like you don’t notice. If your partner
doesn’t notice, then point out the room and tell him/her that you just
wanted to remind them that you loved them – then and now.
• Do two things that you would never do on your own, but your partner
would love to do – For example, if your partner likes to line dance, go
line dancing. If your partner wants to learn how to scuba dive, then
go do that. By showing that you support every part of them, you’re
telling them that you love them again and again.
• Have a basket of your favorite lotions and massage oils sent ahead to
your hotel room to help liven up your romantic evenings – When the
basket is there when you arrive, it shows that you’ve thought ahead to
your time together.
Being apart is hard for any relationship – new or old – but taking the time to
connect with your partner will help you feel closer rather than further apart.
5 – WHEN YOU’RE FAR AWAY
There are times when you will be separated from your partner – a business
trip, a family emergency, etc. In those times of separation, it can help to
show your partner that you really care about them.
• Call them each night – Simply talking to your partner each night or
once a day will help you stay connected and show that they’re the
most important person in your life.
• Send them small trinkets – Small, unexpected things from your trip
will show your partner that you were thinking of them.
• Come home when you say that you will – When your partner misses
you as much as you miss them, be sure that they always know when
you’re going to be home and if there are any changes in that plan.
• Be happy to talk with them – Even if you’re tired and jet lagged, be
sure that you smile when you talk to your partner on the phone. This
will sound like heaven to their ears.
6 – WHEN YOU ADOPT
Adding to your family is an exciting time – no matter how it happens.
When you’ve decided to adopt a child, you might have already been
struggling with fertility issues that have been tough on your relationship –
what better time to show your partner that you love them?
Here are some ways:
• Give your partner a photo album or a photo frame to start collecting
pictures of your new family.
• Purchase a book that you can fill in to create a family history of this
new family that is coming together.
• Make a date to travel to your child’s country of origin on the same day
each year.
• Talk about your plans to adopt and write out the story that brought
you into the decision to adopt. You can give this to your child when
they get older.
John and Julie have a special date each year that their daughter was
adopted. They spend the day with their daughter at her favorite place – the
park. And while this sounds like it would be more of a date for the daughter,
it’s a celebration for the entire family unit.
AMAZING WAYS & IDEAS TO SAY “I LOVE YOU!”
1 - WE’RE HAVING A BABY
One of the most amazing experiences for a loving couple is the birth of a
child. But when you’re the one that knows before your partner does, it can
be filled with wonderful possibilities to show them how much you love them.
Mary wanted to tell Bob that they were pregnant for the first time in a special
way. They had been trying for a child for years, but nothing ever seemed to
work for them – all of their medical resources were not panning out.
But when Mary found out she was pregnant – without any help from the
doctors – she realized that she hadn’t told Bob just how much she loved him
through all of their hard times. He never complained and he was ready to
adopt in order to be a parent with Mary.
To help share the news, she wrapped up a small box in wrapping paper and
set it out on the counter in their kitchen, where Bob always went when he
came home from work.
In that box, she had put a small heart shaped candy with a note that said, “I
love you Bob and know that you will be the best father a child could ever
have.”
Stunned when he read this, Bob walked back to their bedroom to find Mary
beaming with happiness. She had placed a bow on her stomach with a tag
that read, “To Mary and Bob. Sorry it took me so long to get here.”
Other ideas include:
• Creating a card from the baby to the spouse.
• Buying a piece of baby clothing and wrapping it up.
• Placing a note where your partner will find it.
• Wrapping up the pregnancy text box and placing a note inside that
says, “Positive!”
2 – WILL YOU MARRY ME?
Getting married is the first big step in any lifelong relationship. But when
you want to show someone how much you love them, the engagement
becomes all the more important.
Here are some ideas:
• Take a bouquet of flowers and tie the ring around one. Have your
soon-to-be fiancé/fiancée receive the flowers with a card that reads, “I
will always protect you from the thorns.”
• Bring your partner to your favorite nature setting. Pack a picnic and
have the engagement ring sitting in with their favorite foods. Tell
them or write a note that says, “Want to share every meal with me?”
• Write them a note on a sticky piece of paper and then stick it to their
most used credit card.
• Create a collage of pictures of the two of you together and place it
somewhere that your partner will see it – in the middle, write, “Will
you marry me? These memories are great, but I’d like to create
more…”
Popping the question doesn’t have to be limited to the man asking the
woman either – so women can ask that all important question too.
One of the most amazing experiences for a loving couple is the birth of a
child. But when you’re the one that knows before your partner does, it can
be filled with wonderful possibilities to show them how much you love them.
Mary wanted to tell Bob that they were pregnant for the first time in a special
way. They had been trying for a child for years, but nothing ever seemed to
work for them – all of their medical resources were not panning out.
But when Mary found out she was pregnant – without any help from the
doctors – she realized that she hadn’t told Bob just how much she loved him
through all of their hard times. He never complained and he was ready to
adopt in order to be a parent with Mary.
To help share the news, she wrapped up a small box in wrapping paper and
set it out on the counter in their kitchen, where Bob always went when he
came home from work.
In that box, she had put a small heart shaped candy with a note that said, “I
love you Bob and know that you will be the best father a child could ever
have.”
Stunned when he read this, Bob walked back to their bedroom to find Mary
beaming with happiness. She had placed a bow on her stomach with a tag
that read, “To Mary and Bob. Sorry it took me so long to get here.”
Other ideas include:
• Creating a card from the baby to the spouse.
• Buying a piece of baby clothing and wrapping it up.
• Placing a note where your partner will find it.
• Wrapping up the pregnancy text box and placing a note inside that
says, “Positive!”
2 – WILL YOU MARRY ME?
Getting married is the first big step in any lifelong relationship. But when
you want to show someone how much you love them, the engagement
becomes all the more important.
Here are some ideas:
• Take a bouquet of flowers and tie the ring around one. Have your
soon-to-be fiancé/fiancée receive the flowers with a card that reads, “I
will always protect you from the thorns.”
• Bring your partner to your favorite nature setting. Pack a picnic and
have the engagement ring sitting in with their favorite foods. Tell
them or write a note that says, “Want to share every meal with me?”
• Write them a note on a sticky piece of paper and then stick it to their
most used credit card.
• Create a collage of pictures of the two of you together and place it
somewhere that your partner will see it – in the middle, write, “Will
you marry me? These memories are great, but I’d like to create
more…”
Popping the question doesn’t have to be limited to the man asking the
woman either – so women can ask that all important question too.
Finding the Director’s Idea
Strategy for Reading the Script
Three crucial questions should emerge from the first reading:
1. What is the genre or story form? Each story form has a different
dramatic shape and presentation of character and deployment
of plot.
2. Who is the main character and his or her goal? There should
be a distinct main character with a clear goal.
3. What is the character arc, or, to put it another way, how will the
experience of the story change the main character? You should
be able to identify the state of the character at the beginning of
the story and how the character changes as the story unfolds.
Upon a second reading, another set of questions should be
answered:
1. What is the premise of the story? The premise—sometimes
called the spine, central conflict, or engine—of the story is best
understood as the two opposing choices facing the main character.
Often these two choices concern important relationships
presented in the narrative.
2. Is the premise consistent with the main character and his goal?
It should be. If, for example, the main character in the “The
Verdict” is a successful lawyer, then the premise of restoring
dignity to a dissipated life would not resonate. There must be
a link between the premise and the main character.
3. Does the main character transform in such a way that his or
her transformation is credible, meaningful, and emotionally
satisfying?
4. What is the plot in the film, and how is the plot used? Ideally,
plot works most effectively when it puts into place forces pitted
against the main character’s goal. In “A Very Long
Engagement,” a young woman cannot believe her fiancé has been killed in World War I. The lethality of the war as well as
the plot to find him and restore the relationship seem closer
to fantasy than a realistic likelyhood. Unless plot puts some kind
of obstacle in the way of the main character achieving his or
her goal, the plot is not working. Think also of the voyage of
the Titanic in “Titanic” as an example where the plot works
effectively. The ship sinks, and Rose’s hope for love becomes
a memory rather than a reality. Deploying plot in a story can be
a major weakness for directors, so this aspect of the director’s
idea requires considerable attention.
5. How do the secondary characters representing the two choices
of the premise fit in with the premise? Are they two distinct
groups—helpers and harmers? Is one of the harmers more
essential than the others? How? This character, the antagonist,
can be the most critical character of all, determining
the vigor of the main character’s response, the shape of the
character arc, and how we feel about the main character at
the end. The more powerful the antagonist, the more
heroic the sense of our main character at the end. In their
nature and actions, secondary characters serve specific purposes
in a script. The more they resonate as people rather
than story elements, the richer the script will be. Although
we experience the story through a main character, secondary
characters can help the script seem more credible and
compelling.
Let’s return to the genre issue at this point. Genre implies the
dramatic arc of the film. A thriller is a chase; a police story is about
solving a crime and putting the criminal away; a gangster film is the
rise and fall of the main character; a science fiction film is a story
about the threat of technology to humanity. Some genres are internal.
The melodrama is about an interior journey around loss, ambition,
or spiritual rebirth. The situation comedy is about values in life
and the behavior of the main character (e.g., a man pretends to be
a woman to further his ambitions for his career in “Tootsie”).
Westerns also tend to be about values, with the pastoral, free past
representing the positive and civilization and progress representing
the negative. Each genre has a different shape. What is the dramatic
arc, and how does it serve the goal of the main character? If the script does not follow genre expectations, do the changes make the
script better, fresher, and stronger . . . or the opposite?
Now that you have read the script a second time and taken copious
notes, a third reading is necessary to explore dimensions of the script
that could yield a director’s idea.
Three crucial questions should emerge from the first reading:
1. What is the genre or story form? Each story form has a different
dramatic shape and presentation of character and deployment
of plot.
2. Who is the main character and his or her goal? There should
be a distinct main character with a clear goal.
3. What is the character arc, or, to put it another way, how will the
experience of the story change the main character? You should
be able to identify the state of the character at the beginning of
the story and how the character changes as the story unfolds.
Upon a second reading, another set of questions should be
answered:
1. What is the premise of the story? The premise—sometimes
called the spine, central conflict, or engine—of the story is best
understood as the two opposing choices facing the main character.
Often these two choices concern important relationships
presented in the narrative.
2. Is the premise consistent with the main character and his goal?
It should be. If, for example, the main character in the “The
Verdict” is a successful lawyer, then the premise of restoring
dignity to a dissipated life would not resonate. There must be
a link between the premise and the main character.
3. Does the main character transform in such a way that his or
her transformation is credible, meaningful, and emotionally
satisfying?
4. What is the plot in the film, and how is the plot used? Ideally,
plot works most effectively when it puts into place forces pitted
against the main character’s goal. In “A Very Long
Engagement,” a young woman cannot believe her fiancé has been killed in World War I. The lethality of the war as well as
the plot to find him and restore the relationship seem closer
to fantasy than a realistic likelyhood. Unless plot puts some kind
of obstacle in the way of the main character achieving his or
her goal, the plot is not working. Think also of the voyage of
the Titanic in “Titanic” as an example where the plot works
effectively. The ship sinks, and Rose’s hope for love becomes
a memory rather than a reality. Deploying plot in a story can be
a major weakness for directors, so this aspect of the director’s
idea requires considerable attention.
5. How do the secondary characters representing the two choices
of the premise fit in with the premise? Are they two distinct
groups—helpers and harmers? Is one of the harmers more
essential than the others? How? This character, the antagonist,
can be the most critical character of all, determining
the vigor of the main character’s response, the shape of the
character arc, and how we feel about the main character at
the end. The more powerful the antagonist, the more
heroic the sense of our main character at the end. In their
nature and actions, secondary characters serve specific purposes
in a script. The more they resonate as people rather
than story elements, the richer the script will be. Although
we experience the story through a main character, secondary
characters can help the script seem more credible and
compelling.
Let’s return to the genre issue at this point. Genre implies the
dramatic arc of the film. A thriller is a chase; a police story is about
solving a crime and putting the criminal away; a gangster film is the
rise and fall of the main character; a science fiction film is a story
about the threat of technology to humanity. Some genres are internal.
The melodrama is about an interior journey around loss, ambition,
or spiritual rebirth. The situation comedy is about values in life
and the behavior of the main character (e.g., a man pretends to be
a woman to further his ambitions for his career in “Tootsie”).
Westerns also tend to be about values, with the pastoral, free past
representing the positive and civilization and progress representing
the negative. Each genre has a different shape. What is the dramatic
arc, and how does it serve the goal of the main character? If the script does not follow genre expectations, do the changes make the
script better, fresher, and stronger . . . or the opposite?
Now that you have read the script a second time and taken copious
notes, a third reading is necessary to explore dimensions of the script
that could yield a director’s idea.
How the Director’s Idea Works
Two versions of “The Manchurian Candidate” offer us the opportunity
to look at two directors applying two different director’s ideas
to essentially the same story. Both versions are based on George
Axelrod’s screenplay of the Richard Condon novel, and both focus
on the plot of creating an assassin via brainwashing—an assassin
who is trained to kill a presidential candidate at a political convention.
The killing would allow the antagonists and their backers (the
Communists in the 1962 version, a transnational corporation in the
2004 version) to control the presidency and consequently to exploit
the most powerful country in the world for its own purposes. In this
sense, both versions are “paranoid” political thrillers.
The 1962 version, directed by John Frankenheimer, focuses on
Raymond Shaw, who is the assassin brainwashed in Manchuria. His
mother, a conservative political powerhouse, is the American agent
who controls him on behalf of the Communists. Her husband is a
U.S. senator who, as the vice presidential candidate, would become
the presidential candidate when the assassination takes place.
Bennett Marco, Raymond’s commanding officer in Korea, is a man
with bad dreams. He keeps dreaming that Raymond killed members
of their patrol in Korea rather than saving the platoon, as Raymond’s
Medal of Honor commendation reads. These dreams drive Marco
to discover the truth about Raymond Shaw and to try to stop him.
In this version of “The Manchurian Candidate,” Raymond is the
main character, and the Cold War context gives this 1962 film a
frighteningly believable quality. The Axelrod script bristles with
irony about Cold War politics as well as the domestic divide on
race—a black soldier dreams of the Communists as black church
ladies and Marco, a white man, dreams of the Communists as white
church ladies (pillars of their community). The Frankenheimer version
also has humor—the newspaper columnist who sleeps in his
dead wife’s nightgown; the costume party where Senator Jordan’s
daughter, the lost love of Raymond Shaw, appears wearing a Queen
of Hearts costume. The Queen of Hearts is the visual cue to put
Raymond into a hypnotic state. This time instant obedience is to a
good purpose—to advance his relationship with the woman he loves.
The Frankenheimer version also has daring scenes, such as the
seductive train conversation between Marco, in the midst of a panic
attack, and Rosie, the woman who becomes his love interest.
Another such scene is the Raymond Shaw confessional scene
(“I know I’m not loveable”), where Raymond recounts his relationship
with Jocelyn Jordan at a time when he was loveable. The scene ends
with his mother stepping in to destroy the relationship.
The irony, the humor, and the audacious scenes are characteristic
of the first version of the film but are absent in the later version.
Frankenheimer’s director’s idea was to focus on power and powerlessness:
political power and powerlessness, personal power and
powerlessness. This idea arises from a less conscious substrata of the
plot, the creation of an assassin for political purposes. To articulate
how the director’s idea works, we must look first at the characterizations.
Raymond is powerless with regard to his relationship with his
mother and his Communist handlers. Bennett Marco is also powerless
and is a victim of his dreams. He is powerless as a military man
subjected to political authority, and he is even more powerless as a
troubled military man within the structure of the military. Power,
on the other hand, is embedded in the Communists’ scientific ruthlessness
(evaluating the brainwashing apparatus by carrying out a
murder at each stage of testing), in Raymond Shaw’s mother’s political
power, and in Communist influence via Raymond’s mother
over her Senator husband and through his nomination as vice president
and candidate for his party.
Visually, the theme of power and powerlessness is created by
Frankenheimer’s camera choices. He often used a moving camera
and wide-angle or deep-focus images to create a sense of power.
When we see Raymond in his mother’s home, the depth of focus of
the images of her home conveys her power. Her dominance in the
foreground of those images tells us who is at the top of this pyramid
of power. Rarely has a matriarch been as evocatively captured visually.
Powerlessness, on the other hand, is presented in the middle or
background of the frame, where Raymond Shaw and Bennett
Marco are so often found, as are Raymond’s victims, his newspaper
employer, Senator Jordan, and Jocelyn Jordan. And, by using a
moving camera to approach the victims, the ultimate outcome of
powerlessness, death, is all the more vividly presented.
If the original “The Manchurian Candidate” is about externalized
power and powerlessness, Jonathan Demme’s 2004 version is about
something far more internal. Whether he is portraying a descent into
madness or madness run amok in the political–industrial complex,
Demme’s concerns are all the more personalized. In this version,
Bennett Marco is the main character, and Raymond Shaw occupies
the plot position the Marco character occupied in the first version.
In this version, both Shaw and Marco have been implanted with devices
to make them compliant to the wishes of the corporation—to assassinate
the President. In this version, Vice President Raymond Shaw will
become the corporation’s President rather than the President of all the
people. The Jordans, who played such personal roles in the first version,
are now relegated to being political adversaries. Rosie, the love
interest for the Marco character in the first version, is now an FBI
agent investigating Marco’s allegations. She pretends to be interested
in Marco romantically and, although she echoes Janet Leigh’s dialogue
from the first version, plays a far more central role in this version.
Demme’s director’s idea was that paranoia when it is real is not
madness, but he works with an inner sense of madness and paranoia,
particularly for Marco. Although Shaw and Al Melvin (Jeffrey
Wright) are both played off center (troubled, disturbed), in fact the
majority of the inner madness is left to Marco to portray.
To deepen
this idea, Demme used many more close-up and medium-range
shots than is typical. Long shots and wide-angle shots tend to contextualize,
and Demme was trying to take away rather than create
context. He also used a camera placement that crowds the Marco
character, again creating a sense of disturbance and that all is not
right. The pace of shots and scenes, particularly early in the film,
also suggests disruption, that the circuits are not all working.
What works less well here are the actors’ performances feeding
this sense of madness and paranoia. The performances tend to be
too realistic. Perhaps an example from a director’s idea keyed to performance
will illustrate my point here. Elia Kazan, in his direction
of performances in “Splendor in the Grass,” perfectly captured his
director’s idea. “Splendor in the Grass,” set in 1928 Kansas, tells the
story of two teenagers in love. Deenie is beautiful and poor. Bud is
handsome and rich. Both are overflowing with sexual desire and
both are mindful of their parents’ admonitions. Her mother tells her
that boys don’t respect girls who go all the way. His father tells him
that he has plans for him (to go to Yale and take over the business),
and if he gets Deenie pregnant he will have to marry her (and ruin
his life).
Kazan begins the film in mid shot. The two main characters,
Deenie and Bud, are kissing passionately in his convertible, parked
adjacent to a waterfall. The sensuality at the core of the scene is
powerful, but the scene ends with Bud frustrated at Deenie’s resistance
to go any further than petting. The next scene is between
Deenie and her mother after Bud has dropped her at home. The
scene that follows is Bud’s return home and his encounter with his
father. Both Deenie and Bud try to articulate their feelings but neither
parent allows those feelings to be acknowledged. Deenie and
Bud are clearly overwhelmed by their desire, and the parents warn
their children about the consequences of that desire.
Here is the
point where Kazan’s brilliance with actors deepens the director’s
idea. Kazan’s director’s idea is that sexuality is tactile and good but
to censor it is destructive.
In the scene between Deenie and her mother, the mother states
her position. Deenie asks about whether she, the mother, ever felt
(as Deenie does about Bud) desire for Deenie’s father, her husband.
Deenie at this point embraces and holds on to the mother, as the
mother tells her that women do not like sex and they give in to their
husbands’ sexual desires only after they are married. When the
mother is not being held by her daughter she is munching away at
a sandwich. The tactile quality, the physical need of each character
is pronounced and central here; it overrides what is being said. For
Kazan the need to touch is more important than the words spoken.
We find a parallel in the scene between Bud and his father.
pummels Bud verbally with his ambitions for his son. All the while
the father also physically pummels Bud, punching him with a mix
of pride and aggression. As he punches Bud’s shoulders, again we
are aware of how much each of these characters needs a physical
connection. Again, Kazan used his direction of the performances
to illustrate the primacy of the physical. Indeed, for Kazan, desire
and physicality are life itself, while control and censorship imply a
life half lived and worse, as the tragedy that befalls these two
lovers suggests.
Returning to Jonathan Demme’s treatment of the performances
in “The Manchurian Candidate,” I have suggested that overall they
were too realistic. Although Raymond Shaw and his mother are presented
as narcissistic and political, we do not sense any madness
here nor is there madness to be found in the Marco character.
Because Rosie is there not as a bystander drawn to Marco in the
midst of a panic attack (as in the first version) but rather as an FBI
plant, she gives credibility to Marco’s eccentric behavior.
Consequently, only Wright’s portrayal of Al Melvin’s character suggests
the madness that is necessary to make the director’s idea work
as effectively as does his early camera placements. The realism of
the performances suggests that the political–industrial complex has
an agenda that is credible and feasible And, in good thriller fashion,
the audience is saved when Marco kills Shaw and his mother, preventing
them from highjacking the presidency. Were the performances
keyed to the director’s idea as they were in Kazan’s
“Splendor in the Grass,” this remake of “The Manchurian
Candidate” would have been as unnerving as the original.
Having looked at how a director’s idea shapes choices for the
director and how those choices either deepen the outcome or, in
the case of “The Manchurian Candidate,” differentiate two treatments
of the same story, we should now return to our central topic
of the good director.
I hope that I have not suggested that there is a single approach
to being a good director. On the contrary, how good a director will
be depends upon how far the director goes in his realization of the
director’s idea. Before providing a case study of the good director,
I would like to address the diversity among good directors.
First not all directors are exceptional in every area. Essentially,
the areas of opportunity are performance, visualization, and text
interpretation. As I mentioned earlier, Elia Kazan’s strength lies in
his direction of the performances of his actors. I would add that he
is also a powerful interpreter of text. His film “America America”
(1962) offers a good example. The director’s idea in “America
America,” an epic journey of a young man from Turkey to
America, is that in life everyone is either master or slave; consequently,
in every scene—whether involving a father and son, husband
and wife, employer and employee, or simply fellow
travelers—the director’s idea determines the shape and outcome
and the level of the performance within the scene. The visualization
in “America America” is strong but secondary to the director’s
text interpretation.
Visualization on the other hand, goes to the core of Ridley
Scott’s work. His director’s idea in “Gladiator” is “What is a man?”
Scott is interested in all aspects of manhood—son, father, friend,
lover, leader. His visualization of the main character, Maximus, is
Scott’s idealization of what it is to be a man—assertive, aggressive,
yet tender and moral. The antagonist, Commodus, on the other
hand, is less than a man. He becomes Caesar by killing his father.
He is cowardly, a man in need of constant attention and jealous of
rivals, a man who needs his sister’s comfort to have a night’s sleep.
Scott’s visualization of manhood is always powerful. Maximus is
foregrounded and photographed in movement.
Low angles suggest
his heroism. Commodus, on the other hand, appears mid-frame or
toward the back. Mid shots instead of close-ups make him appear
less of a man. Ridley Scott relied on visualization to articulate his
director’s idea.
The Coen brothers had a very different director’s idea in
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Their idea is that the American
odyssey is less noble than the original. It is all about self-interest
and religion, sin and repentance. This fable-like idea requires
exaggerated performances, exaggerated text readings, and a
visual style that connotes the opposite of realism—let’s call it the
fabulous.
What I am suggesting is that to be a good director, the director
must have a director’s idea that he executes using the tools of directing—
text interpretation, performance, visualization in balance with
the director’s interests and skills. Now, let’s turn to a case study of
good directing.
to look at two directors applying two different director’s ideas
to essentially the same story. Both versions are based on George
Axelrod’s screenplay of the Richard Condon novel, and both focus
on the plot of creating an assassin via brainwashing—an assassin
who is trained to kill a presidential candidate at a political convention.
The killing would allow the antagonists and their backers (the
Communists in the 1962 version, a transnational corporation in the
2004 version) to control the presidency and consequently to exploit
the most powerful country in the world for its own purposes. In this
sense, both versions are “paranoid” political thrillers.
The 1962 version, directed by John Frankenheimer, focuses on
Raymond Shaw, who is the assassin brainwashed in Manchuria. His
mother, a conservative political powerhouse, is the American agent
who controls him on behalf of the Communists. Her husband is a
U.S. senator who, as the vice presidential candidate, would become
the presidential candidate when the assassination takes place.
Bennett Marco, Raymond’s commanding officer in Korea, is a man
with bad dreams. He keeps dreaming that Raymond killed members
of their patrol in Korea rather than saving the platoon, as Raymond’s
Medal of Honor commendation reads. These dreams drive Marco
to discover the truth about Raymond Shaw and to try to stop him.
In this version of “The Manchurian Candidate,” Raymond is the
main character, and the Cold War context gives this 1962 film a
frighteningly believable quality. The Axelrod script bristles with
irony about Cold War politics as well as the domestic divide on
race—a black soldier dreams of the Communists as black church
ladies and Marco, a white man, dreams of the Communists as white
church ladies (pillars of their community). The Frankenheimer version
also has humor—the newspaper columnist who sleeps in his
dead wife’s nightgown; the costume party where Senator Jordan’s
daughter, the lost love of Raymond Shaw, appears wearing a Queen
of Hearts costume. The Queen of Hearts is the visual cue to put
Raymond into a hypnotic state. This time instant obedience is to a
good purpose—to advance his relationship with the woman he loves.
The Frankenheimer version also has daring scenes, such as the
seductive train conversation between Marco, in the midst of a panic
attack, and Rosie, the woman who becomes his love interest.
Another such scene is the Raymond Shaw confessional scene
(“I know I’m not loveable”), where Raymond recounts his relationship
with Jocelyn Jordan at a time when he was loveable. The scene ends
with his mother stepping in to destroy the relationship.
The irony, the humor, and the audacious scenes are characteristic
of the first version of the film but are absent in the later version.
Frankenheimer’s director’s idea was to focus on power and powerlessness:
political power and powerlessness, personal power and
powerlessness. This idea arises from a less conscious substrata of the
plot, the creation of an assassin for political purposes. To articulate
how the director’s idea works, we must look first at the characterizations.
Raymond is powerless with regard to his relationship with his
mother and his Communist handlers. Bennett Marco is also powerless
and is a victim of his dreams. He is powerless as a military man
subjected to political authority, and he is even more powerless as a
troubled military man within the structure of the military. Power,
on the other hand, is embedded in the Communists’ scientific ruthlessness
(evaluating the brainwashing apparatus by carrying out a
murder at each stage of testing), in Raymond Shaw’s mother’s political
power, and in Communist influence via Raymond’s mother
over her Senator husband and through his nomination as vice president
and candidate for his party.
Visually, the theme of power and powerlessness is created by
Frankenheimer’s camera choices. He often used a moving camera
and wide-angle or deep-focus images to create a sense of power.
When we see Raymond in his mother’s home, the depth of focus of
the images of her home conveys her power. Her dominance in the
foreground of those images tells us who is at the top of this pyramid
of power. Rarely has a matriarch been as evocatively captured visually.
Powerlessness, on the other hand, is presented in the middle or
background of the frame, where Raymond Shaw and Bennett
Marco are so often found, as are Raymond’s victims, his newspaper
employer, Senator Jordan, and Jocelyn Jordan. And, by using a
moving camera to approach the victims, the ultimate outcome of
powerlessness, death, is all the more vividly presented.
If the original “The Manchurian Candidate” is about externalized
power and powerlessness, Jonathan Demme’s 2004 version is about
something far more internal. Whether he is portraying a descent into
madness or madness run amok in the political–industrial complex,
Demme’s concerns are all the more personalized. In this version,
Bennett Marco is the main character, and Raymond Shaw occupies
the plot position the Marco character occupied in the first version.
In this version, both Shaw and Marco have been implanted with devices
to make them compliant to the wishes of the corporation—to assassinate
the President. In this version, Vice President Raymond Shaw will
become the corporation’s President rather than the President of all the
people. The Jordans, who played such personal roles in the first version,
are now relegated to being political adversaries. Rosie, the love
interest for the Marco character in the first version, is now an FBI
agent investigating Marco’s allegations. She pretends to be interested
in Marco romantically and, although she echoes Janet Leigh’s dialogue
from the first version, plays a far more central role in this version.
Demme’s director’s idea was that paranoia when it is real is not
madness, but he works with an inner sense of madness and paranoia,
particularly for Marco. Although Shaw and Al Melvin (Jeffrey
Wright) are both played off center (troubled, disturbed), in fact the
majority of the inner madness is left to Marco to portray.
To deepen
this idea, Demme used many more close-up and medium-range
shots than is typical. Long shots and wide-angle shots tend to contextualize,
and Demme was trying to take away rather than create
context. He also used a camera placement that crowds the Marco
character, again creating a sense of disturbance and that all is not
right. The pace of shots and scenes, particularly early in the film,
also suggests disruption, that the circuits are not all working.
What works less well here are the actors’ performances feeding
this sense of madness and paranoia. The performances tend to be
too realistic. Perhaps an example from a director’s idea keyed to performance
will illustrate my point here. Elia Kazan, in his direction
of performances in “Splendor in the Grass,” perfectly captured his
director’s idea. “Splendor in the Grass,” set in 1928 Kansas, tells the
story of two teenagers in love. Deenie is beautiful and poor. Bud is
handsome and rich. Both are overflowing with sexual desire and
both are mindful of their parents’ admonitions. Her mother tells her
that boys don’t respect girls who go all the way. His father tells him
that he has plans for him (to go to Yale and take over the business),
and if he gets Deenie pregnant he will have to marry her (and ruin
his life).
Kazan begins the film in mid shot. The two main characters,
Deenie and Bud, are kissing passionately in his convertible, parked
adjacent to a waterfall. The sensuality at the core of the scene is
powerful, but the scene ends with Bud frustrated at Deenie’s resistance
to go any further than petting. The next scene is between
Deenie and her mother after Bud has dropped her at home. The
scene that follows is Bud’s return home and his encounter with his
father. Both Deenie and Bud try to articulate their feelings but neither
parent allows those feelings to be acknowledged. Deenie and
Bud are clearly overwhelmed by their desire, and the parents warn
their children about the consequences of that desire.
Here is the
point where Kazan’s brilliance with actors deepens the director’s
idea. Kazan’s director’s idea is that sexuality is tactile and good but
to censor it is destructive.
In the scene between Deenie and her mother, the mother states
her position. Deenie asks about whether she, the mother, ever felt
(as Deenie does about Bud) desire for Deenie’s father, her husband.
Deenie at this point embraces and holds on to the mother, as the
mother tells her that women do not like sex and they give in to their
husbands’ sexual desires only after they are married. When the
mother is not being held by her daughter she is munching away at
a sandwich. The tactile quality, the physical need of each character
is pronounced and central here; it overrides what is being said. For
Kazan the need to touch is more important than the words spoken.
We find a parallel in the scene between Bud and his father.
pummels Bud verbally with his ambitions for his son. All the while
the father also physically pummels Bud, punching him with a mix
of pride and aggression. As he punches Bud’s shoulders, again we
are aware of how much each of these characters needs a physical
connection. Again, Kazan used his direction of the performances
to illustrate the primacy of the physical. Indeed, for Kazan, desire
and physicality are life itself, while control and censorship imply a
life half lived and worse, as the tragedy that befalls these two
lovers suggests.
Returning to Jonathan Demme’s treatment of the performances
in “The Manchurian Candidate,” I have suggested that overall they
were too realistic. Although Raymond Shaw and his mother are presented
as narcissistic and political, we do not sense any madness
here nor is there madness to be found in the Marco character.
Because Rosie is there not as a bystander drawn to Marco in the
midst of a panic attack (as in the first version) but rather as an FBI
plant, she gives credibility to Marco’s eccentric behavior.
Consequently, only Wright’s portrayal of Al Melvin’s character suggests
the madness that is necessary to make the director’s idea work
as effectively as does his early camera placements. The realism of
the performances suggests that the political–industrial complex has
an agenda that is credible and feasible And, in good thriller fashion,
the audience is saved when Marco kills Shaw and his mother, preventing
them from highjacking the presidency. Were the performances
keyed to the director’s idea as they were in Kazan’s
“Splendor in the Grass,” this remake of “The Manchurian
Candidate” would have been as unnerving as the original.
Having looked at how a director’s idea shapes choices for the
director and how those choices either deepen the outcome or, in
the case of “The Manchurian Candidate,” differentiate two treatments
of the same story, we should now return to our central topic
of the good director.
I hope that I have not suggested that there is a single approach
to being a good director. On the contrary, how good a director will
be depends upon how far the director goes in his realization of the
director’s idea. Before providing a case study of the good director,
I would like to address the diversity among good directors.
First not all directors are exceptional in every area. Essentially,
the areas of opportunity are performance, visualization, and text
interpretation. As I mentioned earlier, Elia Kazan’s strength lies in
his direction of the performances of his actors. I would add that he
is also a powerful interpreter of text. His film “America America”
(1962) offers a good example. The director’s idea in “America
America,” an epic journey of a young man from Turkey to
America, is that in life everyone is either master or slave; consequently,
in every scene—whether involving a father and son, husband
and wife, employer and employee, or simply fellow
travelers—the director’s idea determines the shape and outcome
and the level of the performance within the scene. The visualization
in “America America” is strong but secondary to the director’s
text interpretation.
Visualization on the other hand, goes to the core of Ridley
Scott’s work. His director’s idea in “Gladiator” is “What is a man?”
Scott is interested in all aspects of manhood—son, father, friend,
lover, leader. His visualization of the main character, Maximus, is
Scott’s idealization of what it is to be a man—assertive, aggressive,
yet tender and moral. The antagonist, Commodus, on the other
hand, is less than a man. He becomes Caesar by killing his father.
He is cowardly, a man in need of constant attention and jealous of
rivals, a man who needs his sister’s comfort to have a night’s sleep.
Scott’s visualization of manhood is always powerful. Maximus is
foregrounded and photographed in movement.
Low angles suggest
his heroism. Commodus, on the other hand, appears mid-frame or
toward the back. Mid shots instead of close-ups make him appear
less of a man. Ridley Scott relied on visualization to articulate his
director’s idea.
The Coen brothers had a very different director’s idea in
“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Their idea is that the American
odyssey is less noble than the original. It is all about self-interest
and religion, sin and repentance. This fable-like idea requires
exaggerated performances, exaggerated text readings, and a
visual style that connotes the opposite of realism—let’s call it the
fabulous.
What I am suggesting is that to be a good director, the director
must have a director’s idea that he executes using the tools of directing—
text interpretation, performance, visualization in balance with
the director’s interests and skills. Now, let’s turn to a case study of
good directing.
The Director’s Ideas to Make Business
The director’s idea is a deep subtextual interpretation
that unifies the production. Using an aspect of the
main character and his goal, the director finds an
existential, relational, or physical dimension that
relates to the main character in the deepest fashion.
Using the subtextual idea, the director articulates a
complementary approach to the performances and to
the camera. It is the quality of the director’s idea that
differentiates the competent from the good and great
director. The director’s idea drives all the many
decisions a director makes in the course of the
production.
I am going to say many things about technique, about
directors, and about directing. To persuade the reader that what
follows is not simply esoteric, abstract, and academic, I would like
to use this chapter to demonstrate that the views presented in this
book are conceptual in their framing but practical in their goal. The
goal is to help readers become better directors by utilizing the concept
of the director’s idea. What needs to be said at the outset is that
there are all kinds of directors: intuitive directors, self-conscious
directors, dictatorial directors, laissez-faire directors, directors whose
agendas are political, and directors who are utterly commercial and
exploitative in their intentions.
In order to develop our understanding of directing, we must
consider three broad areas of decision making that are critical to
defining the type of director: (1) text interpretation, (2) attitude toward
directing actors, and (3) how the camera is used (e.g., shot selection,
camera angle, shape of the shot, point of view of the shot). Beyond
those areas is the issue of whether the director’s decisions add value to
the project. What I am proposing in this book is that there are three
categories of such decision making: competent, good, and great. To
understand directing, each level of decision making must also be
clearly understood; accordingly, the next three chapters address the
concepts of competent, good, and great directing.
In each case, the consciousness of the director’s idea is where
progress begins. The competent director conveys a singular attitude
about the script, be it romantic, violent, or victorious. The good
director conveys a more complex, layered vision of the narrative.
The great director transforms the narrative into something surprising
and revelatory. Each of these options exists. Only the ambition
of the director can elevate the audience’s experience.
The goal of this book is to illuminate the pathway from basic to
great. We can assume that the director consciously chooses a director’s
idea, which implies an awareness about the directorial choices
that must be made and a sense of what constitutes better directing.
This is not a matter of intellect or personality. It is far more about
conscious goal setting and moving along a pathway to achieve that
goal. The opposite view, which has its proponents, is that art (including
directing) is mysterious, subconscious, intuitive, and therefore
impossible to articulate. My approach in the book is to embrace
what I believe to be the source of art making: consciousness.
The
13
The Director’s Idea
greater the consciousness of the director with regard to what the
director’s idea is and how to apply it, the better, the clearer, and the
more powerful the outcome.
The tools that the director uses are text interpretation, directing
the actors, and directing the camera shot selection. The director can
value one of these tools over the other or use them equally.
Whichever he chooses, these three tools are the prism through
which he filters the thousands of choices he will have to make in the
course of a production. What I am suggesting is that a clear, articulated
director’s idea will help sharpen the focus and purpose of those
thousands of decisions.
Here we come to the hierarchy that this book creates as its pathway
to great directing. The presumption here, as elsewhere in life, is that
some people are better at their jobs than others. In addition to our
three categories of competent, good, and great, we could add another
for those who misunderstand directing or are unable to function as
directors. Let us call them ill-suited and unsuccessful in their goal of
directing. Of course, our categories of competent, good, and great are
subjective, so I put forward the following criteria.
The competent director tells a clear story, even an effective story,
but the audience’s experience of the film is single-layered and flat.
A film directed by the competent director can be commercially
successful and the director’s career can be a rewarding one, but
even from the directorial perspective the experience is flat. A competent
director is technically competent and produces shots that are
useful to a clear edit and performances that are credible within the
parameters the director has set for the film. The competent director
provides a kind of technical baseline for the purposes of this book.
The good director gives the audience a more complex experience,
a layered experience. The layering may be generated from a
more complex text interpretation, such as a modern main character
in a classic Western, for example. The layering may arise from modulation
of the actors’ performances; Elia Kazan, the great director of
performers, utilized this kind of strategy. Or the director might use a
broader variety of shots, wide-angle foreground–background shots
rather than mid two shots or extreme long shots rather than the anticipated
close-ups. Whatever the choice, the good director seeks out a
director’s idea that will deepen meaning, add subtext, and complicate
the narrative.
The great director not only adds value to the experience of the
film but also provides a transformative experience. By transformative
I refer to what all great art does: It gives us another way of seeing
the ordinary. A man uses his bike for work. The bike is stolen. The
economic future of his family is in jeopardy. The man steals a bike,
and his son watches as he is caught. The boy shares his humiliation.
Vittoria De Sica transforms an everyday story of survival into a story
about poverty and fathers and sons. The shared humiliation of
father and son will no doubt have an effect on the child. How will
this boy grow up—a thief or a doctor? Will he be a caring or callous
person? Such questions emanate from the directing of “The Bicycle
Thief,” in which De Sica transformed a simple story into something
quite special about all of us. This is what the great director does.
And the instrument is the director’s idea. Because individual chapters
are devoted to each of these categories, we will move on to a
discussion of how a director’s idea unifies a production.
that unifies the production. Using an aspect of the
main character and his goal, the director finds an
existential, relational, or physical dimension that
relates to the main character in the deepest fashion.
Using the subtextual idea, the director articulates a
complementary approach to the performances and to
the camera. It is the quality of the director’s idea that
differentiates the competent from the good and great
director. The director’s idea drives all the many
decisions a director makes in the course of the
production.
I am going to say many things about technique, about
directors, and about directing. To persuade the reader that what
follows is not simply esoteric, abstract, and academic, I would like
to use this chapter to demonstrate that the views presented in this
book are conceptual in their framing but practical in their goal. The
goal is to help readers become better directors by utilizing the concept
of the director’s idea. What needs to be said at the outset is that
there are all kinds of directors: intuitive directors, self-conscious
directors, dictatorial directors, laissez-faire directors, directors whose
agendas are political, and directors who are utterly commercial and
exploitative in their intentions.
In order to develop our understanding of directing, we must
consider three broad areas of decision making that are critical to
defining the type of director: (1) text interpretation, (2) attitude toward
directing actors, and (3) how the camera is used (e.g., shot selection,
camera angle, shape of the shot, point of view of the shot). Beyond
those areas is the issue of whether the director’s decisions add value to
the project. What I am proposing in this book is that there are three
categories of such decision making: competent, good, and great. To
understand directing, each level of decision making must also be
clearly understood; accordingly, the next three chapters address the
concepts of competent, good, and great directing.
In each case, the consciousness of the director’s idea is where
progress begins. The competent director conveys a singular attitude
about the script, be it romantic, violent, or victorious. The good
director conveys a more complex, layered vision of the narrative.
The great director transforms the narrative into something surprising
and revelatory. Each of these options exists. Only the ambition
of the director can elevate the audience’s experience.
The goal of this book is to illuminate the pathway from basic to
great. We can assume that the director consciously chooses a director’s
idea, which implies an awareness about the directorial choices
that must be made and a sense of what constitutes better directing.
This is not a matter of intellect or personality. It is far more about
conscious goal setting and moving along a pathway to achieve that
goal. The opposite view, which has its proponents, is that art (including
directing) is mysterious, subconscious, intuitive, and therefore
impossible to articulate. My approach in the book is to embrace
what I believe to be the source of art making: consciousness.
The
13
The Director’s Idea
greater the consciousness of the director with regard to what the
director’s idea is and how to apply it, the better, the clearer, and the
more powerful the outcome.
The tools that the director uses are text interpretation, directing
the actors, and directing the camera shot selection. The director can
value one of these tools over the other or use them equally.
Whichever he chooses, these three tools are the prism through
which he filters the thousands of choices he will have to make in the
course of a production. What I am suggesting is that a clear, articulated
director’s idea will help sharpen the focus and purpose of those
thousands of decisions.
Here we come to the hierarchy that this book creates as its pathway
to great directing. The presumption here, as elsewhere in life, is that
some people are better at their jobs than others. In addition to our
three categories of competent, good, and great, we could add another
for those who misunderstand directing or are unable to function as
directors. Let us call them ill-suited and unsuccessful in their goal of
directing. Of course, our categories of competent, good, and great are
subjective, so I put forward the following criteria.
The competent director tells a clear story, even an effective story,
but the audience’s experience of the film is single-layered and flat.
A film directed by the competent director can be commercially
successful and the director’s career can be a rewarding one, but
even from the directorial perspective the experience is flat. A competent
director is technically competent and produces shots that are
useful to a clear edit and performances that are credible within the
parameters the director has set for the film. The competent director
provides a kind of technical baseline for the purposes of this book.
The good director gives the audience a more complex experience,
a layered experience. The layering may be generated from a
more complex text interpretation, such as a modern main character
in a classic Western, for example. The layering may arise from modulation
of the actors’ performances; Elia Kazan, the great director of
performers, utilized this kind of strategy. Or the director might use a
broader variety of shots, wide-angle foreground–background shots
rather than mid two shots or extreme long shots rather than the anticipated
close-ups. Whatever the choice, the good director seeks out a
director’s idea that will deepen meaning, add subtext, and complicate
the narrative.
The great director not only adds value to the experience of the
film but also provides a transformative experience. By transformative
I refer to what all great art does: It gives us another way of seeing
the ordinary. A man uses his bike for work. The bike is stolen. The
economic future of his family is in jeopardy. The man steals a bike,
and his son watches as he is caught. The boy shares his humiliation.
Vittoria De Sica transforms an everyday story of survival into a story
about poverty and fathers and sons. The shared humiliation of
father and son will no doubt have an effect on the child. How will
this boy grow up—a thief or a doctor? Will he be a caring or callous
person? Such questions emanate from the directing of “The Bicycle
Thief,” in which De Sica transformed a simple story into something
quite special about all of us. This is what the great director does.
And the instrument is the director’s idea. Because individual chapters
are devoted to each of these categories, we will move on to a
discussion of how a director’s idea unifies a production.
Business & ROMANTIC IDEAS
This is a free bonus version of 101 Romantic Ideas. Feel free to forward to or make copies for your friends.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
101 ROMANTIC IDEAS
by Michael Webb, Founder, TheRomantic.com
IDEA # 1
If your partner is going away for a few days, tell her that you are worried about her so you have organized a bodyguard to look after her. Then give her a small teddy bear.
IDEA # 2
Buy a packet of glow in the dark stars and stick the stars on the roof above your bed to spell out a message such as "I Love You" When the lights go down, your message will be revealed!
IDEA # 3
On a special occasion, buy your partner eleven real red roses and one artificial red rose. Place the artificial rose in the center of the bouquet.
Attach a card that says:
“I will love you until the last rose fades.”
IDEA # 4
Buy the domain name of your partner's name if it is available for example www.TanyaJohnston.com. Create a web page containing a romantic poem and a picture of a rose. When your partner is surfing the web, casually ask whether she has ever checked to see whether her domain name is taken. Let her type it in to discover her page.
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IDEA # 5
Buy a stylish hand mirror and give it to your partner as a gift. Include a card in the box saying
“In this mirror you will see the image of
the most beautiful woman in the world.”
IDEA # 6
Take a book that your partner is reading and using a pencil, underline letters in a section of the book she has yet to read to spell out a love letter. For example in the following exert from a novel, the underlined letters come together to spell out the secret message "I love you"
The palace was a labyrinth, their passage through it tortuous and interminable. Initially they passed from building to building under the sodden sky. Steve's feet ached; he might have laughed at himself, the tireless traveler, grown too soft from his months in the city to walk any proper distance. Abruptly the guards halted.
The underlined letters will make your partner curious and with a bit of luck she will write them down. Spend time to encode a proper message such as "Dear Belinda, I love you honey"
IDEA # 7
Have flowers delivered to your partner's workplace. She will not only enjoy the flowers but will also receive comments and attention from her office mates which will add to her enjoyment.
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IDEA # 8
While walking with your partner on a weekend getaway, pick up a smooth stone and say that you're going to keep it as a special memento of your trip. Later, have a message such as
"I Love Rebecca"
engraved into the stone by a jeweler and give it to your partner.
IDEA # 9
Drive into the country, find a grassy hill and lie with your partner and look up at the clouds.
Play the kid’s game of looking for shapes in the cloud formations.
IDEA # 10
Get a piece of paper and some crayons. Draw a bright childlike picture with a smiley sun and two stick figures holding hands. Add labels with your two names pointing to the stick figures. Write "I Love You" inside a heart.
Next get a large formal envelope. Place your drawing inside and type up a formal address label of your partner's work such as:
For the immediate and urgent attention of:
Rebecca Jones
Level 20
Collins & Smith Solicitors
New York
Mail it to your partner so she receives it in the middle of a busy day.
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IDEA # 11
Memorize one of Shakespeare's love sonnets and recite it to your partner when you are in a romantic setting like a botanical garden. Don't just suddenly start reciting poetry as this will just sound corny.
While you are cuddling your partner, ask in a joking manner, "So is now a good time to recite a love poem to you?" She will probably say yes, expecting you to come up with something of the "Roses are Red..." variety.
Instead, look into her eyes, smile and recite the sonnet while you gently stroke her face. Try the sonnet below. If this is too long, just memorize the first four lines and the last two.
Shakespeare Love Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
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IDEA # 12
If your partner has to work late, take a lunch box and fill it with some of her favorite things such as chocolates, herbal tea, cookies, a small teddy bear.
Next, get a piece of paper and write
"Michelle's Late Night Survival Pack"
Draw a big red cross below this and stick the paper to the top of the box. Tell your partner to open the box when things get really tough.
IDEA # 13
If you are walking by a park, visit the swings and give your partner a ride. This will often bring back happy memories from her childhood.
IDEA # 14
Leave a long stem rose where your partner will find it with a note on it saying:
"Thank you for coming into my life."
IDEA # 15
If your partner is starting a new job, buy a copy of "The Sound Of Music" sound track. Tape the song, "I Have Confidence" onto a tape and add your own message at the end of the song saying,
"Good Luck honey, I have confidence in you."
Give the tape to your partner to play on the way to work in the car.
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IDEA # 16
Buy a small decorated cardboard box, a sheet of colored tissue paper, some massage oil and a blank card.
Line the box with the tissue paper. Place the massage oil in the box and write the following message on the card:
I know a great Masseur.
For an appointment ring:
(Your Phone Number)
IDEA # 17
When your spouse has had a really long hard day, run a hot bath for her. Pour some fragrant bath oil into the tub and gently bathe her from head to toe. Carry her into the bedroom. Gently towel her dry and tuck her into a freshly made bed with a kiss on the forehead.
IDEA # 18
For this idea you will need a portable CD player. If you and your partner have a favorite song, get a copy of it on CD and take it with you when you go away for a romantic weekend.
When you are in a romantic spot, ask your partner if she would like to dance. Place one earpiece in her ear and one in your own and enjoy your private dance floor.
This technique is particularly effective if the romantic spot you have chosen is somewhere where people would not normally dance, for example, the top of the Empire State building at sunset or on top of a mountain during a camping trip.
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IDEA # 19
If your partner has a pet that she adores, at Christmas, in addition to buying a gift for your partner, buy a small present for her pet.
IDEA # 20
Go for a walk on the beach. Trace out the shape of a large love heart in the sand. Sit inside the heart and cuddle your partner as you watch the sun go down.
IDEA # 21
Invite your partner to go for a walk. Get a back pack and pack the following items: A picnic blanket, a selection of fruit in small containers eg. strawberries, grapes, watermelon and kiwi fruit. Some cheese and crackers. Some sandwiches. A small tin of caviar. A half bottle of champagne and two plastic champagne glasses. If your partner asks what's in the backpack, just say a jacket and some lunch.
When you find a romantic spot, ask if she would like to stop for a bite to eat. Open your pack and remove the items one by one to set up your picnic. The last item you remove should be the glasses and champagne.
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IDEA # 22
If you play a musical instrument, create a romantic environment in which to play for your partner. For example, let's say you play the saxophone. Contact your partner's roommate and arrange for her to make sure that your partner steps out onto the balcony of their apartment at exactly 9.30pm.
Drive to her apartment and set up before hand. Place a large sparkler in the music holder of your sax and light it as your partner steps on to the balcony. Play something slow and romantic.
IDEA # 23
Use this idea if your partner is going to work and you are staying at home for some reason (Perhaps you are sick or are working from home).
Say goodbye to her at the front door and then immediately send an email to her work address. The email should simply say,
"Miss you already".
The email will be in her in-box when she does her morning email check.
IDEA # 24
If your partner has long hair, take the time to brush it using long slow strokes. This is particularly effective after she has had a shower or when she is getting ready for bed.
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IDEA # 25
On a special occasion like your partner's birthday, plan a treasure hunt for her. The fun begins when you suggest going for a walk on the beach.
When you get to the beach, carry a small bag with you. The bag contains a bottle that you prepared earlier. Inside the bottle is a treasure map. To make the treasure map look authentic, burn the edges with a match.
As you are walking, slip the bottle out of your bag and let it drop to the sand near the water's edge. You may have to pause and kiss your partner to do this unnoticed. Walk a little further up the beach then turn around and retrace your steps to 'discover' the bottle.
On the map have a dotted line leading from the beach to a nearby cafe. At the cafe, your partner won't know what to look for so suggest that you just sit down and have a cup of coffee.
When the waitress delivers the coffee, she suggests to your partner that she might find what she is looking for under the coaster. When your partner turns over the coaster she finds a key taped to the bottom. Obviously you will have to set this up before hand with the waitress. Most waitresses will be happy to help a romantic guy out with this type of thing.
At the next stop on the map, your partner finds or is given a spade. Then at the last stop on the map your partner finds a large 'X' made up of two crossed sticks. She digs and discovers a locked box. The key unlocks the box to reveal her present.
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IDEA # 26
Invite your partner on a date by sending her a plain brown envelope containing a tape. On the tape, record the Mission Impossible sound track and then record yourself saying, “Your mission if you choose to accept it is to make your way to Café Venoli, 123 Park Lane at 18.30 Eastern Standard Time. There you will rendezvous with a stunningly attractive man wearing a red carnation. The future of the free world is now in your hands. This tape will self destruct in five seconds.” Then record ten beeps from a stopwatch and record yourself saying, “Would you believe ten seconds…” Its corny but it usually gets a laugh!
IDEA # 27
Contact your partner's family and ask if there was anything she always wanted when she was a little girl.
For example if she always wanted a porcelain doll, buy one for her birthday. She will not only appreciate the gift but also the fact that you were thoughtful enough to find out what she always wanted.
IDEA # 28
Organize a professional photo shoot to obtain a portrait of the two of you as a couple. Frame the picture and put it somewhere prominent. Remember to make sure you give your partner plenty of notice so that she can get ready.
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IDEA # 29
Write a note saying
"I thought of you today, and it made me smile."
Leave the note somewhere where your partner is sure to find it.
IDEA # 30
For Valentines Day, buy your partner a charm bracelet with at least 14 charms.
Remove all the charms and let your partner 'find' one charm each day for the first fourteen days of February. On Valentines Day give her the bracelet and any remaining charms.
IDEA # 31
When you and your partner are in a shopping center or airport, stop at one of those booths that allow you to take an instant photo and print them out as stickers.
Choose a romantic background and kiss your partner while the photo is being taken.
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IDEA # 32
If your partner has voice mail at work or on her mobile, leave a message saying
"Just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you."
She will appreciate this anytime but especially when she is going through a rough period.
IDEA # 33
Organize a mystery trip for you and your partner. Some travel agents will organize mystery packages where the destination of the trip is kept secret until you are actually on the plane or arrive at the destination.
IDEA # 34
Buy some rose petals and place them behind the sun visor on the passenger side of your car. Take a post it note and write, "I Love You" on it and stick it to the back of the sun visor.
As you are driving to a romantic destination, look at your partner and tell her she has a mark on her cheek. She will pull down the sun visor to use the mirror and be showered in rose petals and see your note.
IDEA # 35
If your partner is going on a trip, pack a small present into the corner of her suitcase that she will find when she is away.
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IDEA # 36
When you and your partner are having an anniversary, buy two champagne glasses and get them engraved with your names and the date, for example:
Mal and Kate
7 May 2002
Go to the restaurant where you have made your reservations and request that when you and your partner arrive that your champagne be served in your special glasses. This will be a great surprise for your partner and a wonderful keepsake for you both.
IDEA # 37
On a special occasion such as your partner's birthday, buy twenty-four red roses. Arrange to meet her at a specific spot in a shopping mall before going out for dinner. Get to the shopping mall early and position yourself around the corner from your meeting spot.
Ask a guy who is walking by whether he would mind helping you out. Give him a rose, point out your partner and ask him to walk up to her and say, "Happy Birthday Meagan" and give her the rose and then walk away. Repeat this with eleven other guys. Choose guys who are not too good looking and choose guys of different ages. A nice touch is to have the last rose delivered by a small child who could even by accompanied by his parents.
After the first twelve flowers have been delivered, approach your partner with the twelve remaining roses.
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IDEA # 38
Always listen for things that your partner reminisces about and jot them down somewhere. For example, perhaps she talks about the ice cream that she had from a particular shop when she was a little girl.
When a special occasion comes along, check your list of things that your partner talks about and try to recreate one of them, for example, visit the shop and buy a tub of ice cream making sure that the name of the shop is on the container.
IDEA # 39
Create a love montage by collecting some photographs of you and your partner, some ticket stubs of places you have visited and any other small odds and ends that have special meaning to you both.
Take these items and get them professionally framed in a three dimensional montage. Alternatively, buy a frame and create a simple montage yourself.
IDEA # 40
Buy an ornately carved wooden box which is lined with green or red felt. Find an old fashioned key and place it in the box.
Next, get a small gold plaque and have it engraved with the words
The Key To My Heart
Fix the plaque to the inside of the top of the box so that it can be read when the box is opened.
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IDEA # 41
Buy a tree with your partner and plant it in a special spot. Each year on your anniversary, have a glass of champagne next to your tree and talk about how your love and the tree have grown.
IDEA # 42
If you shower first in the morning. Steam up the bathroom and write a message such as "Pete Loves Kathy" on the mirror for your partner to read when she uses the bathroom. This also works on car windows when it's cold.
IDEA # 43
As a special gift, name a Star after your partner. A number of astronomical agencies allow individuals to name stars and you receive formal documentation identifying the star that you have named. See the following website for details:
http://www.theromantic.com/gifts.htm
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IDEA # 44
Find a comic strip that relates to something that you and your partner have shared together, for example perhaps you both work in the same office and you find a Dilbert cartoon that relates to the politics at your workplace.
Enlarge the cartoon using a photocopier and use white-out to cover the cartoon text. Type up your own text that relates to you and your partner and paste it in the appropriate places and then photocopy the cartoon again so that it looks like your text was the actual text of the cartoon.
For an added touch, get your customized cartoon laminated before giving it to your partner.
IDEA # 45
When you and your partner are enjoying a restful time away, organize to wake up early one morning and go to a scenic spot to watch the sun rise.
This may seem difficult but it is something which is definitely worth doing at least once. Seeing a new day being born is something really special to share with your partner.
IDEA # 46
When you have access to a spa, create a romantic atmosphere by placing some candles around the tub and some rose petals floating on the surface of the water.
As your partner enjoys the water, serve champagne and chocolate covered strawberries before joining her.
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IDEA # 47
Create some love coupons that your partner can exchange for romantic favors.
For example you could have a coupon that reads
This coupon entitles the bearer to:
One Foot Massage.
Use by 07/08/2045
Use a date many years in the future if you want to suggest that you and your partner will always be together. Get 50 love coupons at this site: http://www.theromantic.com/lovecoupons.htm
IDEA # 48
On a warm summers night, organize a backyard picnic. Spread a picnic blanket on the ground and get together some snacks, chocolates and champagne. Lie down on the blanket with your partner and gaze up at the stars together.
IDEA # 49
Next time it is raining really heavily, go for a walk with your partner. Forget the umbrellas and the raincoats. Run through the streets together, jump in puddles and get totally saturated.
Pick her up, twirl her around and kiss her while the rain falls. Taste the water off her face and hold her close.
When you get back home have a hot shower and then share a warm drink preferably in front of an open fire.
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IDEA # 50
Organize a hot air ballooning trip as a special surprise. Most trips begin with a glass of champagne before you float over the countryside with your partner.
IDEA # 51
When your partner is sitting at a table or desk, come up behind him or her and give her a back, shoulder and head massage. Finish with a gentle kiss on the cheek.
IDEA # 52
Place an ad in the paper on a normal day saying something like:
Dear Amanda,
With you by my side, everyday
feels like Valentines Day.
Thank you for being you.
Love,
Graham
IDEA # 53
Buy a book that you and your partner are both interested in reading.
Read one chapter each night in bed with each of you taking turns to read out loud.
This can be a great alternative to television.
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IDEA # 54
When your partner is having a shower or bath, take her towel and place it in the dryer to make it really warm and then wrap her up in it when she is done.
IDEA # 55
Photocopy your hand and fax a copy of it to your partner with a message saying, "Do ya wanna hold hands?"
IDEA # 56
Next time you order a pizza, ask to have it cut into a heart shape before it is delivered to your home.
IDEA # 57
Buy a box of chocolates and very carefully open one side of the plastic wrap so that you can gently slide the box out. Open the box and place a love note inside. Then slide the box back into its plastic wrap and reseal it.
IDEA # 58
Rent a tandem bike and go for a ride with your partner. At the end of your ride have a picnic in the park.
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IDEA # 59
If you are away on a business trip, document a day in your life for your partner. For example:
'A Day In The Life Of Mark'
6am: Just woke up and thought of you - Wish you were laying next to me. Well, I better get ready for work.
7am: Am on the train. It's crowded; everyone looks like they are half dead. I miss ya heaps.
8.30am: Have just organized my day, it's going to be a busy one.
9.30am: Am in the middle of a really boring meeting. I am trying to concentrate on this months sales figures but I keep thinking of your beautiful eyes.
...
6.30pm: Thank goodness the day is over. I am counting the days until we’re together again.
Send your letter to your partner. This is a wonderful way to tell your partner how often you think about her during the day and to share your life with her in a special way.
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IDEA # 60
Speak to your partner's family and find out what her favorite book was when she was a little girl.
Buy a copy of the book and read it to her in bed.
IDEA # 61
Write an email story with your partner. Start the ball rolling with an email that says something like:
Chapter 1:
This is the story of Pete and Kate who met at a friend's engagement party one summer afternoon.
The email can then continue to develop the beginnings of a story which can be completely fictitious or a combination of fiction and reality.
Finish your email by saying, "And now for Chapter 2, its over to you..."
IDEA # 62
Buy a kite and on a windy day find a park and fly the kite with your partner.
If you can afford it, buy a large kite that you control with two hand lines. These kites are great fun.
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IDEA # 63
When you and your partner are planning to go out for dinner, suggest that you have an 'Adventure Dinner'. Here's how it works
Set the timer on your stopwatch to count down twenty minutes. Next, ask your partner to choose a number between 5 and 10. Lets say she chooses 7.
Give your partner a coin and tell her that at every 7th intersection, she has to flip the coin. If it is heads you will turn left. If it is tails you will turn right. When your watch timer goes off you have to both keep a look out for the nearest place to eat.
This is a fun way to get out and about and try new places to eat.
IDEA # 64
When you and your partner are going somewhere special, get your camera, buy a new roll of film and wait for her to come out of the house.
When she appears, act like a professional photographer and go wild taking pictures of her with the flash. While you are taking photos, bombard her with questions as though she was a famous actress and you are trying to get a scoop for the magazine you represent.
Not only is this fun but you will also get some great photos to look back on together.
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IDEA # 65
When your partner is sick at home, take a day off to look after her.
Rent some videos, make her some soup, wrap her up in a blanket and just be with her.
IDEA # 66
When you are having dinner one night, ask your partner about the things she has always wanted to do.
Later on, write these things down so you don't forget them and over time try and help make them happen. For example she may say that one thing she has always wanted to do is swim with dolphins. Find out where she can do this and organize it for her as a special surprise.
IDEA # 67
Rent the video, "An Affair To Remember". Buy some popcorn, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries and have a special film night at home.
IDEA # 68
Go to the drive in but instead of sitting in the car, spread a picnic blanket on the ground. Light a candle and buy popcorn. Cuddle your partner and enjoy the film.
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IDEA # 69
Create a personalized magazine cover for your partner. To do this, get hold of a good quality photo of her and a copy of a popular entertainment magazine.
Take these two items to a print shop or graphic design agency. Ask them to scan your partner's photo and develop a magazine cover with the lead story being, "The 30 most beautiful women of 2003".
When you get the cover, stick it on the front of a real magazine and ask your local shop owner whether you can place it in the magazine rack. Organize to meet your partner at the shop before going out. When she arrives, tell her that you are just looking for a magazine. Let her browse the rack and discover her magazine.
IDEA # 70
Fill the trunk of your car with helium balloons. Drive to a romantic spot in the country to go for a walk. The ideal spot is somewhere up high with a clear view of the surrounding countryside.
Get out of the car and act as though you are about to set off for your walk. Make sure your partner is closer to the car than you and then throw her the keys and ask if she can get your jacket from the trunk while you tie your shoelace.
When she opens the boot the balloons will be released. You can also place a sign saying, "I Love You" on the inside of the trunk so that it will be revealed when the trunk opens.
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IDEA # 71
On a special occasion create a unique present for your partner by buying two white t-shirts and some fabric paint. Draw half a heart and the letters LO on one t-shirt and the half a heart and the letters VE on the other t-shirt.
When you walk down the street holding each other close, the heart will be made whole and your message of love revealed.
An example is shown below.
IDEA # 72
On a hot summers day, buy two large water pistols and take them to the beach with you.
Pull them out and throw one to your partner and then have a huge water fight.
IDEA # 73
Share your food with your partner. When you go out for a meal, hold a forkful up to her mouth and say, "You've got to try this."
Sharing your food and even feeding each other is a great way to become closer as a couple.
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IDEA # 74
Compliment your partner in public. If you are talking in a group and it is appropriate to the conversation say something like, "Kate makes the most incredible roast." Squeeze her hand while you are talking about her.
IDEA # 75
Arrange a special day off from work. Start with breakfast, go for a walk in the park, go shopping, have afternoon tea in a cozy cafe and finish off with a romantic dinner.
IDEA # 76
Buy a gift voucher for a facial at a local beauty clinic and place it in a card accompanied by the message,
A special treat for
someone special
IDEA # 77
Even if you are just going down the road to buy some milk, act as though you are returning home after a major adventure.
Say something like, "Well it was touch and go there for a while with the snow and the wolves but I made it!" and then give your partner a huge bear hug.
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IDEA # 78
Send your partner a thank-you note. For example:
Dear Bec,
Thanks for helping me move house.
Having you there made a huge difference.
I really appreciate your help and your love.
Tim
IDEA # 79
If you have kids, organize for them to stay at their grandparents for the weekend.
On Friday evening, announce that the weekend is yours and start planning how you are going to spend your special time together.
IDEA # 80
Give your partner a magic gift box. Every month, place a new small gift in the box for her to discover.
IDEA # 81
Research your partner's favorite hobby and identify a gift that is really useful for her. The more specialized the gift the more impact it will have. Talk to her friends and family and use the Net to find the information you need.
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IDEA # 82
Go to a masquerade ball. Send an invitation to your partner telling her to meet you at a specific spot at the stroke of eight.
Wear a mask and when you meet her, don't say a word. Just take her hand and lead her on to the dance floor.
IDEA # 83
On Thursday, ask your partner to pack a bag for the weekend. Tell her she'll need casual clothes and walking shoes but don't tell her what you have got planned.
Pick her up after work on Friday and drive to a romantic bed and breakfast for a romantic weekend of relaxation.
IDEA # 84
When you are relaxing at home one night, take two large sheets of paper and some pencils or crayons. On each piece of paper, draw the outline of a large crystal ball sitting on a stand.
Tell your partner to look into her crystal ball and draw what she sees five years in the future. Do the same thing yourself and then come together to share and discuss your drawings.
IDEA # 85
Create a loving nickname for your partner. This could be the name she was called by her family when she was a little girl or something that is special just for the two of you.
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IDEA # 86
If you are musically inclined, write a love song for your partner. Call it something like "Natasha's Song".
Produce a professional looking manuscript, print it out and get it framed. Record your song onto CD and take a photo of your partner and get a print shop to create a CD cover if you can’t create one on your computer.
Place the framed manuscript and the CD in a box and give it to your partner as a special gift.
IDEA # 87
Pick your partner up for a date and blindfold her before driving to a special destination.
Try to make the destination something really unexpected like a table set up at the top of a cliff or a dinner on a boat or old-fashioned ship. It needs to be something that will have an impact when she removes the blindfold.
IDEA # 88
Have a really big pillow fight. Set up for it by buying two pillows that are filled with feathers. Put holes in the pillows so the feathers will start to fly and then attack your partner when you feel the time is right.
IDEA # 89
Get out into the great outdoors. After a day of hiking, build an open fire. Sit by the fire with your partner, toast marshmallows and watch as the embers of the fire climb into the night sky.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 90
If your partner uses a computer, take a photo of the two of you and get it scanned at a print shop (or scan it at home) and store it on disk as a .bmp file.
Transfer the file onto your partner's computer and set the image as the computer's wallpaper.
To do this on a Windows machine, select Start / Settings / Control Panel / Display. Choose the Background tab and click the Browse button to find your .bmp file.
IDEA # 91
If you are artistically inclined, do a life drawing course, practice until you are confident and then ask your partner to pose for you.
IDEA # 92
Take your partner to a carnival or festival. Try the following:
(1) Food festival
(2) Jazz festival
(3) Wine festival
(4) Music festival
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IDEA # 93
Develop a video time capsule. Start with the two of you sitting together on a couch introducing the video. Say something like, "It is currently July 14th 2002. We have decided to make this video so that we can watch it together on our 25th wedding anniversary."
Then have a section where you talk to the camera by yourself, telling the camera how you feel about your partner and why you love her. Get her to do the same thing. When you are done, place the video in a bank vault and on your 25th wedding anniversary you will be able to look back in time and reminisce about everything that you have shared.
IDEA # 94
If you are in a secluded spot near a beach or lake and the weather is warm, go for an impromptu skinny dip with your partner.
IDEA # 95
This one is great for long distance relationships. It takes a bit of organization but if you can pull it off, it is sure to be a surprise that your partner will never forget. Organize to catch up with her regularly over the internet using either a chat room or an Instant Messenger program. Then arrange a secret trip to meet her without telling her that you’re coming.
When it comes time for your usual chat over the Net, arrange for a close friend back home to log on using your nickname while you position yourself outside her door. Phone your friend on your mobile and be speaking to him in real time. Tell him to type in the following sentence, “I really miss you honey, I wish I could be there and just reach out and knock on your door.” As soon as he has sent the message, knock on the door!
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IDEA # 96
Buy your partner a gold fish in a bowl and give it to her with a card saying,
“Of all the fish in the sea,
you're the fish for me!”
IDEA # 97
Go for a drive either early in the morning or at dusk. Get a CD/tape that contains sounds of nature such as Sounds Of the Rainforest and play it as you hold your partner's hand and drive.
IDEA # 98
The day before your partner's birthday buy some helium balloons, streamers and flowers and hide them in a closet.
When your partner has fallen asleep, string the streamers around the room and bring out the balloons and flowers. Place them around the bed so that your partner wakes up to a real birthday surprise.
IDEA # 99
Spend a leisurely afternoon with your partner in a large book shop such as Borders where you can browse the shelves, share a coffee and sit down to peruse your purchases.
IDEA # 100
If you can afford it, hire a sports car for a weekend. Pick up your partner and give her a long white cashmere scarf to wear with her sunglasses. Go for a drive along the coast with the top down.
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IDEA # 101
Serve your partner breakfast in bed. Try the following:
(1) A poached egg in the shape of a heart - you can pick up a heart shaped poacher at most shops that sell kitchen wares.
(2) French toast with cinnamon and maple syrup.
(3) Cereal.
(4) Fruit juice.
(5) A fresh flower.
Books By Michael Webb:
What you ABSOLUTELY MUST know about the person you are with. This ebook also comes with a free 300 Days of Questions e-course. www.questionsforcouples.com
Have you ever had a dull date? No more. This book features nearly 6 years worth of creative date nights. Tips on first dates and asking someone out for a date too. www.300creativedates.com
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
Hundreds of fun, creative, inventive and wild tips to spice things up. Written in Michael’s typical, classy style – none of the material is raunchy, immoral or in bad taste. Includes over a dozen lovemaking positions to try out. www.500lovemakingtips.com
Less than 1% of marriages rate themselves as “blissful.” What are the secrets of the most successful marriages? www.50secrets.com
Unknowingly, the most way people have been taught to date actually destroys relationships. If you want to find a perfect partner and date the right way towards marriage, you must read this. www.datingbible.com
The most popular book on proposal ideas. Over 100 winning stories - photographs included. www.howtoproposemarriage.com
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
A sequel to Michael’s wildly popular 50 Secrets of Blissful Relationships. Contains many more insightful tips and advice by one of the world’s most trusted relationship experts. www.50secrets.com
This #1 best-seller has been called the "Bible of Romance." Packed with over 200 pages of creative and inexpensive ideas on ideas for gifts, dates, celebrations and ways to say "I love you". Sold in bookstores everywhere including Amazon.com
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
101 ROMANTIC IDEAS
by Michael Webb, Founder, TheRomantic.com
IDEA # 1
If your partner is going away for a few days, tell her that you are worried about her so you have organized a bodyguard to look after her. Then give her a small teddy bear.
IDEA # 2
Buy a packet of glow in the dark stars and stick the stars on the roof above your bed to spell out a message such as "I Love You" When the lights go down, your message will be revealed!
IDEA # 3
On a special occasion, buy your partner eleven real red roses and one artificial red rose. Place the artificial rose in the center of the bouquet.
Attach a card that says:
“I will love you until the last rose fades.”
IDEA # 4
Buy the domain name of your partner's name if it is available for example www.TanyaJohnston.com. Create a web page containing a romantic poem and a picture of a rose. When your partner is surfing the web, casually ask whether she has ever checked to see whether her domain name is taken. Let her type it in to discover her page.
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IDEA # 5
Buy a stylish hand mirror and give it to your partner as a gift. Include a card in the box saying
“In this mirror you will see the image of
the most beautiful woman in the world.”
IDEA # 6
Take a book that your partner is reading and using a pencil, underline letters in a section of the book she has yet to read to spell out a love letter. For example in the following exert from a novel, the underlined letters come together to spell out the secret message "I love you"
The palace was a labyrinth, their passage through it tortuous and interminable. Initially they passed from building to building under the sodden sky. Steve's feet ached; he might have laughed at himself, the tireless traveler, grown too soft from his months in the city to walk any proper distance. Abruptly the guards halted.
The underlined letters will make your partner curious and with a bit of luck she will write them down. Spend time to encode a proper message such as "Dear Belinda, I love you honey"
IDEA # 7
Have flowers delivered to your partner's workplace. She will not only enjoy the flowers but will also receive comments and attention from her office mates which will add to her enjoyment.
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IDEA # 8
While walking with your partner on a weekend getaway, pick up a smooth stone and say that you're going to keep it as a special memento of your trip. Later, have a message such as
"I Love Rebecca"
engraved into the stone by a jeweler and give it to your partner.
IDEA # 9
Drive into the country, find a grassy hill and lie with your partner and look up at the clouds.
Play the kid’s game of looking for shapes in the cloud formations.
IDEA # 10
Get a piece of paper and some crayons. Draw a bright childlike picture with a smiley sun and two stick figures holding hands. Add labels with your two names pointing to the stick figures. Write "I Love You" inside a heart.
Next get a large formal envelope. Place your drawing inside and type up a formal address label of your partner's work such as:
For the immediate and urgent attention of:
Rebecca Jones
Level 20
Collins & Smith Solicitors
New York
Mail it to your partner so she receives it in the middle of a busy day.
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IDEA # 11
Memorize one of Shakespeare's love sonnets and recite it to your partner when you are in a romantic setting like a botanical garden. Don't just suddenly start reciting poetry as this will just sound corny.
While you are cuddling your partner, ask in a joking manner, "So is now a good time to recite a love poem to you?" She will probably say yes, expecting you to come up with something of the "Roses are Red..." variety.
Instead, look into her eyes, smile and recite the sonnet while you gently stroke her face. Try the sonnet below. If this is too long, just memorize the first four lines and the last two.
Shakespeare Love Sonnet 18
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
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IDEA # 12
If your partner has to work late, take a lunch box and fill it with some of her favorite things such as chocolates, herbal tea, cookies, a small teddy bear.
Next, get a piece of paper and write
"Michelle's Late Night Survival Pack"
Draw a big red cross below this and stick the paper to the top of the box. Tell your partner to open the box when things get really tough.
IDEA # 13
If you are walking by a park, visit the swings and give your partner a ride. This will often bring back happy memories from her childhood.
IDEA # 14
Leave a long stem rose where your partner will find it with a note on it saying:
"Thank you for coming into my life."
IDEA # 15
If your partner is starting a new job, buy a copy of "The Sound Of Music" sound track. Tape the song, "I Have Confidence" onto a tape and add your own message at the end of the song saying,
"Good Luck honey, I have confidence in you."
Give the tape to your partner to play on the way to work in the car.
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IDEA # 16
Buy a small decorated cardboard box, a sheet of colored tissue paper, some massage oil and a blank card.
Line the box with the tissue paper. Place the massage oil in the box and write the following message on the card:
I know a great Masseur.
For an appointment ring:
(Your Phone Number)
IDEA # 17
When your spouse has had a really long hard day, run a hot bath for her. Pour some fragrant bath oil into the tub and gently bathe her from head to toe. Carry her into the bedroom. Gently towel her dry and tuck her into a freshly made bed with a kiss on the forehead.
IDEA # 18
For this idea you will need a portable CD player. If you and your partner have a favorite song, get a copy of it on CD and take it with you when you go away for a romantic weekend.
When you are in a romantic spot, ask your partner if she would like to dance. Place one earpiece in her ear and one in your own and enjoy your private dance floor.
This technique is particularly effective if the romantic spot you have chosen is somewhere where people would not normally dance, for example, the top of the Empire State building at sunset or on top of a mountain during a camping trip.
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IDEA # 19
If your partner has a pet that she adores, at Christmas, in addition to buying a gift for your partner, buy a small present for her pet.
IDEA # 20
Go for a walk on the beach. Trace out the shape of a large love heart in the sand. Sit inside the heart and cuddle your partner as you watch the sun go down.
IDEA # 21
Invite your partner to go for a walk. Get a back pack and pack the following items: A picnic blanket, a selection of fruit in small containers eg. strawberries, grapes, watermelon and kiwi fruit. Some cheese and crackers. Some sandwiches. A small tin of caviar. A half bottle of champagne and two plastic champagne glasses. If your partner asks what's in the backpack, just say a jacket and some lunch.
When you find a romantic spot, ask if she would like to stop for a bite to eat. Open your pack and remove the items one by one to set up your picnic. The last item you remove should be the glasses and champagne.
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IDEA # 22
If you play a musical instrument, create a romantic environment in which to play for your partner. For example, let's say you play the saxophone. Contact your partner's roommate and arrange for her to make sure that your partner steps out onto the balcony of their apartment at exactly 9.30pm.
Drive to her apartment and set up before hand. Place a large sparkler in the music holder of your sax and light it as your partner steps on to the balcony. Play something slow and romantic.
IDEA # 23
Use this idea if your partner is going to work and you are staying at home for some reason (Perhaps you are sick or are working from home).
Say goodbye to her at the front door and then immediately send an email to her work address. The email should simply say,
"Miss you already".
The email will be in her in-box when she does her morning email check.
IDEA # 24
If your partner has long hair, take the time to brush it using long slow strokes. This is particularly effective after she has had a shower or when she is getting ready for bed.
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IDEA # 25
On a special occasion like your partner's birthday, plan a treasure hunt for her. The fun begins when you suggest going for a walk on the beach.
When you get to the beach, carry a small bag with you. The bag contains a bottle that you prepared earlier. Inside the bottle is a treasure map. To make the treasure map look authentic, burn the edges with a match.
As you are walking, slip the bottle out of your bag and let it drop to the sand near the water's edge. You may have to pause and kiss your partner to do this unnoticed. Walk a little further up the beach then turn around and retrace your steps to 'discover' the bottle.
On the map have a dotted line leading from the beach to a nearby cafe. At the cafe, your partner won't know what to look for so suggest that you just sit down and have a cup of coffee.
When the waitress delivers the coffee, she suggests to your partner that she might find what she is looking for under the coaster. When your partner turns over the coaster she finds a key taped to the bottom. Obviously you will have to set this up before hand with the waitress. Most waitresses will be happy to help a romantic guy out with this type of thing.
At the next stop on the map, your partner finds or is given a spade. Then at the last stop on the map your partner finds a large 'X' made up of two crossed sticks. She digs and discovers a locked box. The key unlocks the box to reveal her present.
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IDEA # 26
Invite your partner on a date by sending her a plain brown envelope containing a tape. On the tape, record the Mission Impossible sound track and then record yourself saying, “Your mission if you choose to accept it is to make your way to Café Venoli, 123 Park Lane at 18.30 Eastern Standard Time. There you will rendezvous with a stunningly attractive man wearing a red carnation. The future of the free world is now in your hands. This tape will self destruct in five seconds.” Then record ten beeps from a stopwatch and record yourself saying, “Would you believe ten seconds…” Its corny but it usually gets a laugh!
IDEA # 27
Contact your partner's family and ask if there was anything she always wanted when she was a little girl.
For example if she always wanted a porcelain doll, buy one for her birthday. She will not only appreciate the gift but also the fact that you were thoughtful enough to find out what she always wanted.
IDEA # 28
Organize a professional photo shoot to obtain a portrait of the two of you as a couple. Frame the picture and put it somewhere prominent. Remember to make sure you give your partner plenty of notice so that she can get ready.
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IDEA # 29
Write a note saying
"I thought of you today, and it made me smile."
Leave the note somewhere where your partner is sure to find it.
IDEA # 30
For Valentines Day, buy your partner a charm bracelet with at least 14 charms.
Remove all the charms and let your partner 'find' one charm each day for the first fourteen days of February. On Valentines Day give her the bracelet and any remaining charms.
IDEA # 31
When you and your partner are in a shopping center or airport, stop at one of those booths that allow you to take an instant photo and print them out as stickers.
Choose a romantic background and kiss your partner while the photo is being taken.
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IDEA # 32
If your partner has voice mail at work or on her mobile, leave a message saying
"Just wanted to let you know that I'm thinking of you."
She will appreciate this anytime but especially when she is going through a rough period.
IDEA # 33
Organize a mystery trip for you and your partner. Some travel agents will organize mystery packages where the destination of the trip is kept secret until you are actually on the plane or arrive at the destination.
IDEA # 34
Buy some rose petals and place them behind the sun visor on the passenger side of your car. Take a post it note and write, "I Love You" on it and stick it to the back of the sun visor.
As you are driving to a romantic destination, look at your partner and tell her she has a mark on her cheek. She will pull down the sun visor to use the mirror and be showered in rose petals and see your note.
IDEA # 35
If your partner is going on a trip, pack a small present into the corner of her suitcase that she will find when she is away.
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IDEA # 36
When you and your partner are having an anniversary, buy two champagne glasses and get them engraved with your names and the date, for example:
Mal and Kate
7 May 2002
Go to the restaurant where you have made your reservations and request that when you and your partner arrive that your champagne be served in your special glasses. This will be a great surprise for your partner and a wonderful keepsake for you both.
IDEA # 37
On a special occasion such as your partner's birthday, buy twenty-four red roses. Arrange to meet her at a specific spot in a shopping mall before going out for dinner. Get to the shopping mall early and position yourself around the corner from your meeting spot.
Ask a guy who is walking by whether he would mind helping you out. Give him a rose, point out your partner and ask him to walk up to her and say, "Happy Birthday Meagan" and give her the rose and then walk away. Repeat this with eleven other guys. Choose guys who are not too good looking and choose guys of different ages. A nice touch is to have the last rose delivered by a small child who could even by accompanied by his parents.
After the first twelve flowers have been delivered, approach your partner with the twelve remaining roses.
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IDEA # 38
Always listen for things that your partner reminisces about and jot them down somewhere. For example, perhaps she talks about the ice cream that she had from a particular shop when she was a little girl.
When a special occasion comes along, check your list of things that your partner talks about and try to recreate one of them, for example, visit the shop and buy a tub of ice cream making sure that the name of the shop is on the container.
IDEA # 39
Create a love montage by collecting some photographs of you and your partner, some ticket stubs of places you have visited and any other small odds and ends that have special meaning to you both.
Take these items and get them professionally framed in a three dimensional montage. Alternatively, buy a frame and create a simple montage yourself.
IDEA # 40
Buy an ornately carved wooden box which is lined with green or red felt. Find an old fashioned key and place it in the box.
Next, get a small gold plaque and have it engraved with the words
The Key To My Heart
Fix the plaque to the inside of the top of the box so that it can be read when the box is opened.
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IDEA # 41
Buy a tree with your partner and plant it in a special spot. Each year on your anniversary, have a glass of champagne next to your tree and talk about how your love and the tree have grown.
IDEA # 42
If you shower first in the morning. Steam up the bathroom and write a message such as "Pete Loves Kathy" on the mirror for your partner to read when she uses the bathroom. This also works on car windows when it's cold.
IDEA # 43
As a special gift, name a Star after your partner. A number of astronomical agencies allow individuals to name stars and you receive formal documentation identifying the star that you have named. See the following website for details:
http://www.theromantic.com/gifts.htm
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IDEA # 44
Find a comic strip that relates to something that you and your partner have shared together, for example perhaps you both work in the same office and you find a Dilbert cartoon that relates to the politics at your workplace.
Enlarge the cartoon using a photocopier and use white-out to cover the cartoon text. Type up your own text that relates to you and your partner and paste it in the appropriate places and then photocopy the cartoon again so that it looks like your text was the actual text of the cartoon.
For an added touch, get your customized cartoon laminated before giving it to your partner.
IDEA # 45
When you and your partner are enjoying a restful time away, organize to wake up early one morning and go to a scenic spot to watch the sun rise.
This may seem difficult but it is something which is definitely worth doing at least once. Seeing a new day being born is something really special to share with your partner.
IDEA # 46
When you have access to a spa, create a romantic atmosphere by placing some candles around the tub and some rose petals floating on the surface of the water.
As your partner enjoys the water, serve champagne and chocolate covered strawberries before joining her.
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IDEA # 47
Create some love coupons that your partner can exchange for romantic favors.
For example you could have a coupon that reads
This coupon entitles the bearer to:
One Foot Massage.
Use by 07/08/2045
Use a date many years in the future if you want to suggest that you and your partner will always be together. Get 50 love coupons at this site: http://www.theromantic.com/lovecoupons.htm
IDEA # 48
On a warm summers night, organize a backyard picnic. Spread a picnic blanket on the ground and get together some snacks, chocolates and champagne. Lie down on the blanket with your partner and gaze up at the stars together.
IDEA # 49
Next time it is raining really heavily, go for a walk with your partner. Forget the umbrellas and the raincoats. Run through the streets together, jump in puddles and get totally saturated.
Pick her up, twirl her around and kiss her while the rain falls. Taste the water off her face and hold her close.
When you get back home have a hot shower and then share a warm drink preferably in front of an open fire.
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IDEA # 50
Organize a hot air ballooning trip as a special surprise. Most trips begin with a glass of champagne before you float over the countryside with your partner.
IDEA # 51
When your partner is sitting at a table or desk, come up behind him or her and give her a back, shoulder and head massage. Finish with a gentle kiss on the cheek.
IDEA # 52
Place an ad in the paper on a normal day saying something like:
Dear Amanda,
With you by my side, everyday
feels like Valentines Day.
Thank you for being you.
Love,
Graham
IDEA # 53
Buy a book that you and your partner are both interested in reading.
Read one chapter each night in bed with each of you taking turns to read out loud.
This can be a great alternative to television.
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IDEA # 54
When your partner is having a shower or bath, take her towel and place it in the dryer to make it really warm and then wrap her up in it when she is done.
IDEA # 55
Photocopy your hand and fax a copy of it to your partner with a message saying, "Do ya wanna hold hands?"
IDEA # 56
Next time you order a pizza, ask to have it cut into a heart shape before it is delivered to your home.
IDEA # 57
Buy a box of chocolates and very carefully open one side of the plastic wrap so that you can gently slide the box out. Open the box and place a love note inside. Then slide the box back into its plastic wrap and reseal it.
IDEA # 58
Rent a tandem bike and go for a ride with your partner. At the end of your ride have a picnic in the park.
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IDEA # 59
If you are away on a business trip, document a day in your life for your partner. For example:
'A Day In The Life Of Mark'
6am: Just woke up and thought of you - Wish you were laying next to me. Well, I better get ready for work.
7am: Am on the train. It's crowded; everyone looks like they are half dead. I miss ya heaps.
8.30am: Have just organized my day, it's going to be a busy one.
9.30am: Am in the middle of a really boring meeting. I am trying to concentrate on this months sales figures but I keep thinking of your beautiful eyes.
...
6.30pm: Thank goodness the day is over. I am counting the days until we’re together again.
Send your letter to your partner. This is a wonderful way to tell your partner how often you think about her during the day and to share your life with her in a special way.
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IDEA # 60
Speak to your partner's family and find out what her favorite book was when she was a little girl.
Buy a copy of the book and read it to her in bed.
IDEA # 61
Write an email story with your partner. Start the ball rolling with an email that says something like:
Chapter 1:
This is the story of Pete and Kate who met at a friend's engagement party one summer afternoon.
The email can then continue to develop the beginnings of a story which can be completely fictitious or a combination of fiction and reality.
Finish your email by saying, "And now for Chapter 2, its over to you..."
IDEA # 62
Buy a kite and on a windy day find a park and fly the kite with your partner.
If you can afford it, buy a large kite that you control with two hand lines. These kites are great fun.
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IDEA # 63
When you and your partner are planning to go out for dinner, suggest that you have an 'Adventure Dinner'. Here's how it works
Set the timer on your stopwatch to count down twenty minutes. Next, ask your partner to choose a number between 5 and 10. Lets say she chooses 7.
Give your partner a coin and tell her that at every 7th intersection, she has to flip the coin. If it is heads you will turn left. If it is tails you will turn right. When your watch timer goes off you have to both keep a look out for the nearest place to eat.
This is a fun way to get out and about and try new places to eat.
IDEA # 64
When you and your partner are going somewhere special, get your camera, buy a new roll of film and wait for her to come out of the house.
When she appears, act like a professional photographer and go wild taking pictures of her with the flash. While you are taking photos, bombard her with questions as though she was a famous actress and you are trying to get a scoop for the magazine you represent.
Not only is this fun but you will also get some great photos to look back on together.
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IDEA # 65
When your partner is sick at home, take a day off to look after her.
Rent some videos, make her some soup, wrap her up in a blanket and just be with her.
IDEA # 66
When you are having dinner one night, ask your partner about the things she has always wanted to do.
Later on, write these things down so you don't forget them and over time try and help make them happen. For example she may say that one thing she has always wanted to do is swim with dolphins. Find out where she can do this and organize it for her as a special surprise.
IDEA # 67
Rent the video, "An Affair To Remember". Buy some popcorn, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries and have a special film night at home.
IDEA # 68
Go to the drive in but instead of sitting in the car, spread a picnic blanket on the ground. Light a candle and buy popcorn. Cuddle your partner and enjoy the film.
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IDEA # 69
Create a personalized magazine cover for your partner. To do this, get hold of a good quality photo of her and a copy of a popular entertainment magazine.
Take these two items to a print shop or graphic design agency. Ask them to scan your partner's photo and develop a magazine cover with the lead story being, "The 30 most beautiful women of 2003".
When you get the cover, stick it on the front of a real magazine and ask your local shop owner whether you can place it in the magazine rack. Organize to meet your partner at the shop before going out. When she arrives, tell her that you are just looking for a magazine. Let her browse the rack and discover her magazine.
IDEA # 70
Fill the trunk of your car with helium balloons. Drive to a romantic spot in the country to go for a walk. The ideal spot is somewhere up high with a clear view of the surrounding countryside.
Get out of the car and act as though you are about to set off for your walk. Make sure your partner is closer to the car than you and then throw her the keys and ask if she can get your jacket from the trunk while you tie your shoelace.
When she opens the boot the balloons will be released. You can also place a sign saying, "I Love You" on the inside of the trunk so that it will be revealed when the trunk opens.
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IDEA # 71
On a special occasion create a unique present for your partner by buying two white t-shirts and some fabric paint. Draw half a heart and the letters LO on one t-shirt and the half a heart and the letters VE on the other t-shirt.
When you walk down the street holding each other close, the heart will be made whole and your message of love revealed.
An example is shown below.
IDEA # 72
On a hot summers day, buy two large water pistols and take them to the beach with you.
Pull them out and throw one to your partner and then have a huge water fight.
IDEA # 73
Share your food with your partner. When you go out for a meal, hold a forkful up to her mouth and say, "You've got to try this."
Sharing your food and even feeding each other is a great way to become closer as a couple.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 74
Compliment your partner in public. If you are talking in a group and it is appropriate to the conversation say something like, "Kate makes the most incredible roast." Squeeze her hand while you are talking about her.
IDEA # 75
Arrange a special day off from work. Start with breakfast, go for a walk in the park, go shopping, have afternoon tea in a cozy cafe and finish off with a romantic dinner.
IDEA # 76
Buy a gift voucher for a facial at a local beauty clinic and place it in a card accompanied by the message,
A special treat for
someone special
IDEA # 77
Even if you are just going down the road to buy some milk, act as though you are returning home after a major adventure.
Say something like, "Well it was touch and go there for a while with the snow and the wolves but I made it!" and then give your partner a huge bear hug.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 78
Send your partner a thank-you note. For example:
Dear Bec,
Thanks for helping me move house.
Having you there made a huge difference.
I really appreciate your help and your love.
Tim
IDEA # 79
If you have kids, organize for them to stay at their grandparents for the weekend.
On Friday evening, announce that the weekend is yours and start planning how you are going to spend your special time together.
IDEA # 80
Give your partner a magic gift box. Every month, place a new small gift in the box for her to discover.
IDEA # 81
Research your partner's favorite hobby and identify a gift that is really useful for her. The more specialized the gift the more impact it will have. Talk to her friends and family and use the Net to find the information you need.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 82
Go to a masquerade ball. Send an invitation to your partner telling her to meet you at a specific spot at the stroke of eight.
Wear a mask and when you meet her, don't say a word. Just take her hand and lead her on to the dance floor.
IDEA # 83
On Thursday, ask your partner to pack a bag for the weekend. Tell her she'll need casual clothes and walking shoes but don't tell her what you have got planned.
Pick her up after work on Friday and drive to a romantic bed and breakfast for a romantic weekend of relaxation.
IDEA # 84
When you are relaxing at home one night, take two large sheets of paper and some pencils or crayons. On each piece of paper, draw the outline of a large crystal ball sitting on a stand.
Tell your partner to look into her crystal ball and draw what she sees five years in the future. Do the same thing yourself and then come together to share and discuss your drawings.
IDEA # 85
Create a loving nickname for your partner. This could be the name she was called by her family when she was a little girl or something that is special just for the two of you.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 86
If you are musically inclined, write a love song for your partner. Call it something like "Natasha's Song".
Produce a professional looking manuscript, print it out and get it framed. Record your song onto CD and take a photo of your partner and get a print shop to create a CD cover if you can’t create one on your computer.
Place the framed manuscript and the CD in a box and give it to your partner as a special gift.
IDEA # 87
Pick your partner up for a date and blindfold her before driving to a special destination.
Try to make the destination something really unexpected like a table set up at the top of a cliff or a dinner on a boat or old-fashioned ship. It needs to be something that will have an impact when she removes the blindfold.
IDEA # 88
Have a really big pillow fight. Set up for it by buying two pillows that are filled with feathers. Put holes in the pillows so the feathers will start to fly and then attack your partner when you feel the time is right.
IDEA # 89
Get out into the great outdoors. After a day of hiking, build an open fire. Sit by the fire with your partner, toast marshmallows and watch as the embers of the fire climb into the night sky.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 90
If your partner uses a computer, take a photo of the two of you and get it scanned at a print shop (or scan it at home) and store it on disk as a .bmp file.
Transfer the file onto your partner's computer and set the image as the computer's wallpaper.
To do this on a Windows machine, select Start / Settings / Control Panel / Display. Choose the Background tab and click the Browse button to find your .bmp file.
IDEA # 91
If you are artistically inclined, do a life drawing course, practice until you are confident and then ask your partner to pose for you.
IDEA # 92
Take your partner to a carnival or festival. Try the following:
(1) Food festival
(2) Jazz festival
(3) Wine festival
(4) Music festival
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 93
Develop a video time capsule. Start with the two of you sitting together on a couch introducing the video. Say something like, "It is currently July 14th 2002. We have decided to make this video so that we can watch it together on our 25th wedding anniversary."
Then have a section where you talk to the camera by yourself, telling the camera how you feel about your partner and why you love her. Get her to do the same thing. When you are done, place the video in a bank vault and on your 25th wedding anniversary you will be able to look back in time and reminisce about everything that you have shared.
IDEA # 94
If you are in a secluded spot near a beach or lake and the weather is warm, go for an impromptu skinny dip with your partner.
IDEA # 95
This one is great for long distance relationships. It takes a bit of organization but if you can pull it off, it is sure to be a surprise that your partner will never forget. Organize to catch up with her regularly over the internet using either a chat room or an Instant Messenger program. Then arrange a secret trip to meet her without telling her that you’re coming.
When it comes time for your usual chat over the Net, arrange for a close friend back home to log on using your nickname while you position yourself outside her door. Phone your friend on your mobile and be speaking to him in real time. Tell him to type in the following sentence, “I really miss you honey, I wish I could be there and just reach out and knock on your door.” As soon as he has sent the message, knock on the door!
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 96
Buy your partner a gold fish in a bowl and give it to her with a card saying,
“Of all the fish in the sea,
you're the fish for me!”
IDEA # 97
Go for a drive either early in the morning or at dusk. Get a CD/tape that contains sounds of nature such as Sounds Of the Rainforest and play it as you hold your partner's hand and drive.
IDEA # 98
The day before your partner's birthday buy some helium balloons, streamers and flowers and hide them in a closet.
When your partner has fallen asleep, string the streamers around the room and bring out the balloons and flowers. Place them around the bed so that your partner wakes up to a real birthday surprise.
IDEA # 99
Spend a leisurely afternoon with your partner in a large book shop such as Borders where you can browse the shelves, share a coffee and sit down to peruse your purchases.
IDEA # 100
If you can afford it, hire a sports car for a weekend. Pick up your partner and give her a long white cashmere scarf to wear with her sunglasses. Go for a drive along the coast with the top down.
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
IDEA # 101
Serve your partner breakfast in bed. Try the following:
(1) A poached egg in the shape of a heart - you can pick up a heart shaped poacher at most shops that sell kitchen wares.
(2) French toast with cinnamon and maple syrup.
(3) Cereal.
(4) Fruit juice.
(5) A fresh flower.
Books By Michael Webb:
What you ABSOLUTELY MUST know about the person you are with. This ebook also comes with a free 300 Days of Questions e-course. www.questionsforcouples.com
Have you ever had a dull date? No more. This book features nearly 6 years worth of creative date nights. Tips on first dates and asking someone out for a date too. www.300creativedates.com
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
Hundreds of fun, creative, inventive and wild tips to spice things up. Written in Michael’s typical, classy style – none of the material is raunchy, immoral or in bad taste. Includes over a dozen lovemaking positions to try out. www.500lovemakingtips.com
Less than 1% of marriages rate themselves as “blissful.” What are the secrets of the most successful marriages? www.50secrets.com
Unknowingly, the most way people have been taught to date actually destroys relationships. If you want to find a perfect partner and date the right way towards marriage, you must read this. www.datingbible.com
The most popular book on proposal ideas. Over 100 winning stories - photographs included. www.howtoproposemarriage.com
TheRomantic.com 101 Romantic Ideas
A sequel to Michael’s wildly popular 50 Secrets of Blissful Relationships. Contains many more insightful tips and advice by one of the world’s most trusted relationship experts. www.50secrets.com
This #1 best-seller has been called the "Bible of Romance." Packed with over 200 pages of creative and inexpensive ideas on ideas for gifts, dates, celebrations and ways to say "I love you". Sold in bookstores everywhere including Amazon.com
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