UNCATEGORIZED

Tips for traveling abroad on a tight budget

Traveling abroad used to be a luxury far beyond the reach of everyday people. Yet discovering the riches of foreign lands is no longer an inaccessible fantasy. The world has opened up, and tourism has become one of the fastest-growing industries. According to the World Tourism Organization, 1.5 billion people traveled the world in 2019. And even after years of international turmoil and crisis, tourism is getting back on its feet.

As exciting as planning a trip abroad might be, though, it does cost quite some money. But the silver lining is, packing your bags and wandering the world has never been more affordable, provided you plan it carefully. So, here are some tips and tricks to go out into the world, even on a shoestring budget.

Travel off-peak

We start out with perhaps the most obvious advice of all. Granted, every traveller in the book dreams of seeing the cherry blossom in Japan or the fiery carnivals of Brazil. But such experiences come at a steep cost. With millions of tourists flocking in, accommodation options run low, and prices get sky-high, from car rentals to flight tickets. The same goes for the hot summer months, as beach-goers and vacationers on extended holidays hit the same spots.

If your budget is somewhat constrained, try and be flexible, as many destinations empty out off-season. Autumn is optimal for a city break in Europe without queuing endlessly in front of the Louvre Museum or the Coliseum, while the heat waves of Middle Eastern summer mean the Pyramids won’t be as jam-packed as usual. Of course, the weather might not always be on your side off-season. Yet you’ll discover another side to the destination of your choice and save money all the while.

Rely on public transportation

Road trips are all fun and games. But from the ever-increasing price of gas to the mere cost of a rental, travelling by car often ends up more expensive than you’d expected. If you want to keep your expenditures in check, thus, you might settle for a simpler itinerary. Many cities across the world are close enough for you to hop on a train.

Certain companies even allow you to move across borders smoothly by train. In Europe, for instance, the Interrail Pass will get you to as many as 33 countries for a fixed fee. Overnight buses are even less pricey, and some are surprisingly comfy. At last, many transportation options apply a range of rebates for travellers, such as student discounts.

Pick the right destination

Your spendings essentially come down to the destination you’re traveling to. Certain parts of the world are notoriously costly, from Japan to Scandinavia. Other countries offer good value for money, but unavoidable domestic flights to get from point A to point B will weigh heavily on your wallet. Working out a budget-friendly trip, therefore, means switching the focus. Instead of popular tourist magnets like Rome and London, you might turn to Belgrade or Sofia for your next European city trip.

Likewise, you may have to tick off certain spots entirely. For all the years you’ve been yearning to go on a safari, Kenya and Tanzania are not exactly budget travel destinations. And as much as you’d dream of rolling the dice at the casino, locations like Monaco are mostly playgrounds for the super-rich. Besides, platforms like Vegas Slots Online now conjure up the vibe of a brick-and-mortar casino for free. Thousands of slots are a click away without spending a penny. As for tabletop games, live dealer sessions send players straight to Monte Carlo and Vegas. Better yet, all games are mobile-friendly to play on the go while touring Eastern Europe or Southeast Asia.

Search your destination

Once you’ve made up your mind on where your wanderlust will take you next, doing some extensive research can save you as much time as money. Whether you buy a paper guide or scroll down travel blogs, read all you can about your future destination. This way, you might avoid some scams that often fall upon unsuspecting tourists.

This research phase can also help you weigh your options in terms of accommodation, from budget hostels to inexpensive homestays. Knowing a bit more about the habits and customs may also boost your confidence and allow you to stray from the beaten path, swapping the overpriced touristy restaurant for a cheaper dining outlet with a local flair.

Three Tips for Elevating Your Home Decor and Making it Luxurious

We all want to live in luxury. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but many people think that a luxury home is out of their reach financially, reserved for super-rich celebrities and A-list Hollywood stars.

However, achieving a luxury home can be easier than you might expect. With a few tricks and careful interior design choices, you can emulate the home of your dreams and wow your guests. We’ve put together three tips for elevating your home décor and making it luxurious. Check them out below.

Get New Furniture

Furniture can often be the most important interior design feature. Be it a chair, a sofa, or a bed, the type of furniture you choose can have an enormous impact on how your space is perceived by yourself and your guests. If you’re looking for luxury, you don’t necessarily splash out on expensive antique furniture. Often, a large, impressive piece can be more affordable than you might expect. Check for a sectional sofa for sale, where you can pick up some real bargains to add a touch of opulence and style to your living space.

Go For a New Color Scheme

Introducing a new color scheme or palette into your home can be an incredibly effective way of rejuvenating your interior décor. Neutral tones such as white or creams can be used to create a sense of sophistication, and these will work perfectly with most other colors and textures that you might find on furniture or soft furnishings.

However, opting for a bolder color choice can be a viable option as well. Colors like gold and purple are extremely effective at creating a sense of luxury, as these are often associated with ideas of royalty and aristocracy. Color can elicit a range of different moods and emotions, so experiment with the color in your home and see what works best for your space.

Harness the Power of the Senses

When it comes to designing an interior space, visuals and aesthetics are often the primary focus. However, this shouldn’t mean you should neglect the other senses. These can often be just as or even more effective in some cases. When we visit a luxury hotel, we are often treated to expensive scents from candles or diffusers. Doing the same in your home can be an effective and affordable way of giving your home décor that extra boost and making it seem incredibly luxurious.

Touch is important too. Think about the textures and fabrics in your home. Soft, silky fabrics can work to create a sense of elegance and can make your home far more inviting and comfortable.

Conclusion

You would be forgiven for assuming that a luxury home requires a significant financial investment. However, the truth is that you can elevate your home décor and make your space far more luxurious through a number of relatively affordable steps. Choose the right furniture, experiment with new color schemes, and use the senses to create a luxury effect in your home.

What Are Cymatics and How Are They Used in Popular Culture?

People find inspiration in everything. Although you might look to music or art for inspiration, some people delve into the science of sound. It’s why so many pop culture phenomena rely on cymatics.

This article explains everything you need to know about cymatics to understand why it appears so frequently in popular culture. You may even find yourself inspired to use it in your own life.

What Are Cymatics?

Cymatics is the study of turning vibrations and sounds into visual art. Scientists and creatives will use a material — such as sand or metal — as a background and study how the soundwaves or tremors create patterns.

In 1967, Hans Jenny published his book, “Cymatics: The Study of Wave Phenomena.” He coined the term to describe the impacts of acoustic sound on sound waves. It opened doors for other forms of research that developed his term into real-world applications.

However, cymatics began back in the sixteenth century with Galileo Galilei. He studied the science of vibrations, specifically related to the frequency and pitch of the specific sound playing at any given time.

What Are They Used For?

It may be challenging to picture why sound waves are so important to science. Jenny’s work opened a new field of science, which experts explored to potentially further explain their own areas of expertise.

In 2013, scientists applied the theory of cymatics or sound waves to what they found as a result of the Big Bang. They noted sound produced after the Big Bang, which left patterns within light throughout the universe. By transforming those pockets into sound wave patterns, people can now listen to the echoes that were the first thing that happened in the known universe after the Big Bang.

Cymatics can also transform how people produce art or explain science outside of professional fields. It’s a visual and auditory medium, so it’s often used in popular culture to entertain.

Examples of Cymatics in Popular Culture

There are a few ways cymatics appears in popular culture and why people might implement it in their work.

1. The Finishing Touch

The Glenfiddich team knew the brand’s Glenfiddich 21 whiskey had a unique story. The marketing campaign explained how the flavors were raised in Scotland and roused in the Caribbean. Cymatics became the way to visualize the rising action in their narrative.

In the Glenfiddich commercial, a Caribbean vocal artist and an orchestra from Scotland play a song. As the music plays, quick shots reveal sound waves on the surface of the whiskey. Sound waves even contort the falling liquid into S-shapes and levitate a single drop with the power of science. The resulting eight million views are a testament to the entertaining power of visual sound.

2. Björk’s Tour Projections

In 2011, singer-songwriter Björk began her Biophilia international tour. Before the first show, she partnered with abstract artists to create cymatic projections. They invented projected video clips of vibrating sand and the Big Bang soundwaves in reverse. The images reflected meanings within Björk’s lyrics and brought a new entertaining element to the show.

While people could view pictures and video clips on the TVs above the stage, others with seats higher in the audience watched Björk perform on a stage continually shifting in cymatic images. Creating more visual meaning to live lyrics led to a more entertaining experience, all because scientists began to study sound in centuries past.

3. The Rosslyn Motet

When composer Stuart Mitchell took a closer look at the carvings within Scotland’s Rosslyn Chapel, he wondered if they were specific notches to note cymatic patterns. He transformed the symbols from the chapels’ 14 arches into sound and pushed “The Rosslyn Motet” album in 2006. It was musical art expressing love for science, sound and the exciting potential for a musical conspiracy etched within architecture.

4. The Glitch Mob’s Music Video

Fans of electronic music watched cymatics in action when The Glitch Mob released their music video for “Becoming Harmonious.” The song overlays a black background that shifts in shapes and colors as the song winds through drops, faster beats and ever-changing volume.

5. Mandali Mendrilla’s Kamadhenu Dress

Cymatics also reaches the fashion industry’s sector of popular culture. Designer Mandali Mendrilla created the Kamadhenu Dress — or the third installation of the Wish Tree Dress series — in 2015. Mendrilla intended for the series to inspire people to feel happiness by evoking various sources of the emotion throughout global cultures.

Moodboards brought the dress to life, which featured cymatic imagery as inspiration for how energy affects the human experience. Mendrilla combined the various shapes with mythology about the goddess Kamadhenu in the dress’ final form. After its runway debut, it became an interactive art installation.

6. Jimmy O’Neal’s Cymascope Painting

People know Jimmy O’Neal as an abstract painter, so when he created a mural outside 5 Walnut Wine Bar, many people were surprised. His outlet of creative expression had momentarily changed, but it was because he found inspiration in cymatics.

O’Neal used a wine glass with a singular sip of wine inside to record a sound. He traced his finger around the wine glass rim and created a 511.95 Hertz frequency in a recording. The frequency translated onto a cymascope water dish in the same shapes projected onto the wine bar’s exterior walls.

The public art drew attention to the science of frequency and vibration. Although O’Neal remains a painter, the one-time installation became famous in the worlds of art and advertising. Cymatics continued to expand various popular culture sectors to bring people together with a scientific visual medium.

7. “The Rings of Power” Opening Sequence

Real-world physics might be the last thing you think about when opening one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, but science plays a significant role in one of his show’s opening sequences. When “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” debuted in 2022, fans watched ichor and small chunks of granite morph across their screens in ever-changing ways.

The sequence’s directors found themselves inspired by sound. With a homemade cymascope and an iPhone, they recorded what visual effects happened when they played sounds like rock and roll or Gregorian chants.

Seven months of editing resulted in CG and real-life footage of cymatics transforming into images coincidentally evoking moments in the TV show’s season. The result was a timeless sequence that made the show stand out from other “The Lord of the Rings” media.

Ten Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed Online

The current digital age is an ideal hunting environment for online scammers. Email and social media are gold mines, where millions of people willingly share personal information and fall victim to cyber attacks daily. Many don’t even realize they’ve been scammed until days or weeks after. If you want to avoid the wrath of scammers and keep your information safe, follow these ten online safety tips.

Know the Signs of Scammers

Most scammers are easy to spot based on a handful of common behaviors. They often impersonate real people or organizations to let your guard down and persuade you to give up personal information. Here are some other telltale signs that you’re talking to a scammer:

The account is new or has few followers.
They write with bad grammar and spelling.
They’re contacting you from another country.
They know something personal about you.
They want you to perform an immediate action, such as clicking on a link or answering personal questions.

If any stranger randomly contacts your phone, email or social media, it’s best to assume they have ulterior motives. Always play on the safe side when browsing the web. Scammers are everywhere, so you need to be on a constant lookout for trail marks.

Stop Oversharing

Oversharing information is the biggest mistake people make that attracts scammers’ attention. You need to be careful what you post on social media. As a general rule, don’t mention anything scammers could use against you, such as:

Personal or professional issues.
Family members’ information.
Bank or credit card information.
Home address and other contact information.

Your Facebook and email accounts are not the places to share your life story, even with people you trust. Once you hit send, you make that information available to the public and no longer have full control over it. It can fall into a scammer’s lap and the next thing you know, you’re receiving a bunch of suspicious emails and direct messages from strange accounts.

You don’t have to delete your social media accounts, but you need to keep a low profile. Use it as a source of entertainment and keep your private information to yourself.

Use Multifactor Authentication

Scammers are always trying to figure out people’s passwords since it’s the simplest way to access people’s accounts without drawing attention to themselves. That’s why you should add multiple steps to the log-in process — also known as multifactor authentication. This strategy requires you to pass a second obstacle after entering your password to ensure your account’s security.

The best multifactor authentication steps ask specific questions with answers only you know. The website or social media platform will usually provide a list of questions for you, such as these:

Who was your kindergarten teacher?
What was your first pet’s name?
What is your favorite movie, book or song?

Whichever question you choose, the answer has to be unique. If your first pet’s name was something generic like Max or Daisy, a stranger could eventually make that guess. If it had an uncommon name nobody would think of, you have a substantial authentication question. Adding more layers of security to your online accounts will go a long way toward stopping scammers.

Contact the Sender for Verification

As mentioned before, scammers love to impersonate people and businesses. If a friend on Facebook or a random company contacts you, you can’t be 100% sure if they’re the real deal. The simplest solution is to reach out to the sender for identity verification — talk to the person or organization through another line of communication.

If they confirm the validity of the original message, you’re safe to proceed. If they don’t know what you’re talking about, inform them that a scammer has been impersonating them online. People have to look out for each other online.

For businesses, it’s also essential verifying user age online. There are identity verification APIs out there that you can use for this.

Watch Out for Gift Cards

Scammers love when people use gift cards because the money disappears when people use them, allowing for a clean getaway. There’s no way to track how the scammer uses the card once they get ahold of it. They will also tell you which gift cards to buy so they can get the gift card number and steal the money before you even buy anything.

So, although gift cards are convenient and easy to use, they’re also valuable resources for scammers. Use them with caution and don’t take spending instructions from anyone, especially around the holiday season when gift cards are flying all over the place.

Avoid Strange Downloads

Scammers often include strange attachments in their messages, such as folders and zip files. You should never open these attachments, even if you trust the account sending them. A friend could have accidentally sent a file infected with malware they received from a scammer, making you a second-hand victim.

You can ensure the file is OK to download by checking the attachment’s extension — the file is usually safe if it has a standard three-letter extension such as .jpg, .png or .pdf. If it has multiple extensions, steer clear and ignore the message.

Don’t Click on Suspicious Links

The same general advice applies to links. You should never click on links sent by random people, especially when they have long and cluttered URLs. Scammers often infect these links with malware or send you to a website with many viruses. Legitimate websites have concise and organized links with a green padlock icon to confirm their safety.

Only Use Private Wifi

You should only browse the internet from a secure private Wi-Fi network if possible. The public network at your favorite coffee shop might be convenient, but it also exposes your online activity to scammers and other eavesdroppers using the same network. Stick to private Wi-Fi on your personal mobile hotspot if you need an internet connection on the go.

Use Spam Filters

Spam filters used to be just for email accounts, but now they also exist on social media. If you encounter any spammy posts or messages, you can report them to the app and block the sender. The app’s algorithm will then adjust to watch out for similar messages in the future, helping you steer clear of scammers.

Use Antivirus Software and a VPN

If you want to make your browsing as secure as possible, you need antivirus software and a VPN (virtual private network). They will help you safeguard your information and prevent scammers from flooding your inboxes. You still need to do your part to watch out for suspicious activity, but these tools will make your life much easier.

Four Essential Tips for Your Design Website

Are you in the process of launching a design website? If so, you likely already understand just how important it is to make sure yours stands out from the competition. You need to not only have stunning visuals and content that will draw your customers in but also ensure they can interact with your site effortlessly. Fortunately, achieving both goals is simpler than it may seem, as long as you take into account our 4 essential tips for designing websites! In this blog post, we’ll break down what makes a successful design website, helping you avoid common mistakes that could derail your business dream before it even has a chance to get off the ground. Get ready—let’s start building your perfect web presence today!

Show Off Your Skills

The very first tip on this list, and the most essential thing that you can do if you are launching a design website, would be to show off your skills. By having an extremely well-designed website, you can advertise what you can do for your clients. At the end of the day, think about it: who is going to use the services of a design website that has a poorly designed site?

More importantly, the people who then visit your website are going to be people who are thinking about using your services to improve the design of their site. If you don’t have a well-designed site, people will visit your site and then leave almost immediately when they see what it looks like. This is going to increase your bounce rate and, therefore, decrease your ranking on search engines.

Create Engaging Content

The next thing that you are going to have to do if you are launching a design website is created engaging content. If you were to use the services of an SEO agency such as Figment Agency, the very first thing that they would do for you is take a look at the content that you are producing and help you formulate a content marketing strategy.

There are two main reasons why you should be creating engaging content. The first is that Google will reward websites that answer the search queries of users, and engaging content does this. The second reason you should be creating engaging content is that it will help to increase the level of organic traffic that your website is receiving. More importantly, you won’t be able to link anything to your website without content, and you also won’t be able to target any keywords.

Focus on Keywords

This brings us to the third tip on this list, which would be to focus on keywords for your design website. While it is true that keywords don’t play as much of a fundamental role as they did in the past, they are still essential to focus on if you want to rise in the rankings and target an audience. However, if you aren’t familiar with what keywords are, they are words that you insert either as tags or in your content to tell search engines what content can be expected to be found on your site.

More importantly, if you are just launching your site, it is going to be new, which means that you are going to be competing against other sites that have already established themselves. In other words, if you are going to be competing against other websites that have established themselves for the same keywords, you are not going to win, so you are going to need to do some intense keyword research to find low-ranking keywords that you can compete for.

Create a Good Backlink Profile

Finally, the last tip on this list, if you are going to be launching a design website and you want to rise in the rankings, would be to create a good backlink profile. If you are not aware of what a backlink is, a backlink is a link to your website that you place on other websites.

A large portion of backlinking takes place through guest blogging, which also means that you are going to need to get out there and make connections. The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to backlinks is that you should avoid a backlink farm at all costs, and always ensure that the site you are giving your backlink to has a higher domain rating than your site.

A Globe-trotting Brand: The Hard Rock Cafe

With its long-standing association with American rock ‘n’ roll, something that finally coalesced into a guitar-shaped hotel and casino in South Florida, the Hard Rock Cafe is one of the most recognizable chains in the world. However, the fifty-year-old company is actually a British export, having been founded in London way back in 1971. Is it still the icon today that it claims to be though?

Memorabilia

As brands become more corporate, they have a tendency to shed their early fans in favor of a more mainstream audience. The Hard Rock is a perfect example. Now with a huge range of restaurants, hotels, casinos, and even stadia to its name, its modern visage is almost impossible to compare to its earliest ventures, i.e. the cafe in Mayfair, London, that puts rock memorabilia on the walls.

Of course, for the people who still regularly call it home, none of that matters. The Hard Rock will likely always be considered an icon of the music world, even if investor meetings get in the way of open mic nights. Its fame around the world does vary just like any other franchise (it’s conspicuously absent from parts of Australia and Canada, for instance) but a growing online brand is maintaining its global relevance.

Cyberspace

On that note, the Hard Rock Cafe seems to be moving into the online casino industry, without shedding any of its prior interests in hospitality. The company already has 11 brick-and-mortar casinos, including one that opened in 2021 in Gary, Indiana, and another on the Las Vegas Strip, but it has been able to operate in cyberspace since 2018 when the Hard Rock casino started serving New Jersey.

Competition for customers in this space is fierce, especially in the United States, where the casino industry is still rather new. In an effort to get ahead of its rivals, the Hard Rock has started offering welcome bonuses to new players, which currently include no deposit spins and a $1,000 deposit match. In their post on the topic, the BonusFinder website indicates that this is fairly standard practice for US websites. Sites such as this provide all the necessary information for consumers to make informed decisions about the best option for them on the market.

Canada

With world domination seemingly complete, where does the Hard Rock go from here? As mentioned, there are still some gaps in its global coverage but the first steps toward fixing that are underway. By 2025, there should be a new Hard Rock in Canada, in London, Ontario. The franchise has previously had ten different establishments north of the border, all of which are now closed.

The Hard Rock also has plans to create around eight more hotels, casinos, and restaurants before the middle of this decade. This will include bases in smaller regions such as Serbia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname, which will end up with two Hard Rock Cafes sometime in 2023. There are also plans for a Rockford, Illinois arm of the brand to accompany the Hard Rock in Chicago.

Overall, while the Hard Rock Cafe might be about as indie as McDonald’s in 2023, it’s still one of the most popular alternative hotel chains in the world.

Six Tips for Tackling Debt in the New Year

The new year brings new opportunities to reflect on your achievements and set new goals to crush throughout the coming months. Financial resolutions are among the most common goals people set for themselves. Many Americans are acquiring more debt than ever and struggling to keep up with their bills.

Whether you want to tackle residual debt or recover from overspending during the holiday season, check out these six tips to help.

Create a Budget
Creating a budget will help you allocate where your funds go and get a handle on working towards any goals you may have for the new year. A budget gives you a realistic visualization of how much money you make, where it goes and what’s left over after you pay your monthly bills. This visualization lets you plan costs like grocery shopping and other living expenses or extras like special family activities.

First, you’ll want to calculate how much money you bring home each month after taxes. Then, list your fixed and variable expenses and how much they cost each month. Review your monthly expenses compared to your net income and see if you need to make any adjustments. The more money you have after paying your bills, the more you should save. Budgets can help you save, pay off debt and help you track your spending.

Lower Your Yearly Taxes
Did you know there are ways to reduce your yearly taxes? Lowering your taxes can save you money and help you pay down other debts. Some ways to lower your annual tax rates include opening a health savings account, contributing to a retirement account or deducting home office expenses from your taxes if you work from home. If you aren’t offered a 401k through your workplace, you can opt for an IRA instead.

Making charitable donations throughout the year can also reduce your taxes. If you are fself-employed, you could qualify for the home office tax deduction or other special deductions, like continuing education or phone or Internet bills. Rather than opting for standard deductions when doing your taxes, you’ll need to itemize your returns. Ensure that you keep records of everything you’ll need for tax time.

Track Your Spending
Try to avoid acquiring more debt than you already have. While this can prove challenging, there are ways to limit and track your spending to maximize your funds. First, analyze your spending habits and look for ways to cut back. Many people use impulse spending as a coping mechanism and stress reliever, so identifying your weaknesses can help you limit your spending. Emotional spending is dangerous when you are on a limited budget and can substantially increase your debts.

To avoid buying things you don’t need in stressful times, feel your emotions rather than avoid them. Hold yourself accountable — you can use a spreadsheet to track your spending, write in a journal or use an app on your phone. Knowing where your money is going can tell you where you need to make adjustments.

Set Up Automatic Payments
Setting up automatic payments can help you track your expenses and stay on top of your bills. You can set up automatic payments that align with your monthly income, like scheduling bills immediately after payday. Your fixed expenses should be withdrawn from your bank account automatically to ensure you are paying them monthly.

Mortgage payments, insurance, property tax–all constant bills should directly come out of your account each month. Late fees on monthly bills are generally high, so automatic payments can eliminate the possibility of missing payments. You can also use your budget to make extra payments on your debt.

Lower Your Interest Rates
High-interest debt is expensive, so pay that down first. Since interest makes everything more expensive, you should consider calling your lender or credit card issuer to ask for a lower interest rate. Success rates are high for people who have done this, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.

You can also lower your interest rates with a balance transfer credit card or a personal loan since their rates are lower than most credit cards. Be careful with getting a loan to pay another loan since that can cause additional debt. Pay close attention to interest rates, hidden fees and potential drawbacks of cards and loans.

Consolidate Your Debt
Another option for tackling your debt in the new year is consolidating it all into one payment plan. You could qualify for a line of credit from your bank with a low-interest rate if you have a good credit score. One good loan with a low-interest rate can pay off all of your debt and leave you with one big monthly payment, which is much easier to manage than multiple payments.

You can reduce your balances and save money if you qualify for a low enough interest rate. Paying down debt can significantly improve your credit score, making it easier to get approved for debt consolidation. A secured credit card can help improve and build your credit over time. Financial advisors are always available to hire if you need more guidance on tackling your debt.

Get a Side Hustle
Side hustles are an excellent way to generate extra income to help you tackle debt. Due to inflation, side gigs are popping up everywhere right now — you are not alone. Making some cash on the side can give you more funds to allocate where you need them and give you peace of mind that you can pay your bills.

You can maximize your free time with fun hobbies that can turn a profit, like making jewelry or designing digital downloads you can sell online on sites like Etsy. There are also many other options available, like driving for a delivery service or exploring freelance opportunities. If you have free time to earn some extra cash, you can take advantage of your skills that are monetizable and help pay down debts.

Protected: Romantic restaurants in the Big Apple

Henry Jan, Founder of Vezbi Super App, on Altruistic Egoism

Henry Jan, the founder of Vezbi Super App, developed Vezbi with the philosophy of Altruistic egoism at its core. Altruistic egoism is a term that refers to the idea that one can act in an altruistic manner, or in a manner that aims to benefit others, while still acting in one’s own self-interest or said another way, the act of benefiting or improving others lives can also be an act to improve one’s own life.

Altruistic egoism is the economic model in which Vezbi was created. Vezbi’s actions can be seen as altruistic egoism, as it is motivated by a desire to benefit both the Company and others. For example, Jan had launched Project Seva, a donation and partnership program for qualifying nonprofits who focus on (but not limited to) medical research, education, children & family services, immigration assistance, animal rights, disaster relief, community support and homelessness support.

Seva is the concept of selfless service that is performed without any expectation of result or award for performing it, an act of compassion and care for others above oneself. Vezbi will reward and work with these organizations to help carry out their mission and goals by utilizing our Super App platform or resources to assist them.

It is the hope of Jan and the Vezbi team that they can be an example of a better and more positive model for future businesses to be built around. Hopefully, in time, others will be inspired by this example and will continue to make a positive impact on a larger scale when combined with the efforts of other like-minded individuals and businesses.

Executive Director of nglccNY

Executive Director of nglccNY, and continue supporting LGBTQ entrepreneurs on an even larger scale,” said Kellie Parkin.

Under her transformative leadership, The Pride Chamber was honored as Chamber of the Year in 2017 by the NGLCC. Kellie was honored during the 2020 pride month by U.S. Congressman Darren Soto as a distinguished leader in Central Florida. Most recently, she was recognized as a 2021 Social Justice Game Changer by the Orlando Magic.

“Kellie received the inaugural Affiliate Chamber Leader of the Year Award by the NGLCC, and continues to be a mentor and role model for chamber leaders throughout the nation,” said NGLCC Co-Founder and CEO Chance Mitchell. “We are thrilled to have Kellie in the expanded and important role helping New York’s vast and diverse LGBTQ business community thrive.”

nglccNY serves the LGBTQ and allied business community across all five boroughs of New York City, as well as across the entire Empire State through a network of outposts and specialized partnerships. The organization produces over 30 programs a year to educate, grow, and connect LGBTQ entrepreneurs and the corporate and community partners seeking to work with them. Learn more at nglccNY.org