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One of the most contentious issues in the vast literature about alcohol consumption has been the consistent finding that those who don’t drink actually tend to die sooner than those who do. The standard Alcoholics Anonymous explanation for this finding is that many of those who show up as abstainers in such research are actually former hard-core drunks who had already incurred health problems associated with drinking.

But a new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren’t entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one’s risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers’ mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.(See pictures of booze under a microscope.)

Moderate drinking, which is defined as one to three drinks per day, is associated with the lowest mortality rates in alcohol studies. Moderate alcohol use (especially when the beverage of choice is red wine) is thought to improve heart health, circulation and sociability, which can be important because people who are isolated don’t have as many family members and friends who can notice and help treat health problems.

But why would abstaining from alcohol lead to a shorter life? It’s true that those who abstain from alcohol tend to be from lower socioeconomic classes, since drinking can be expensive. And people of lower socioeconomic status have more life stressors — job and child-care worries that might not only keep them from the bottle but also cause stress-related illnesses over long periods. (They also don’t get the stress-reducing benefits of a drink or two after work.)

But even after controlling for nearly all imaginable variables — socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support and so on — the researchers (a six-member team led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin) found that over a 20-year period, mortality rates were highest for those who had never been drinkers, second-highest for heavy drinkers and lowest for moderate drinkers.(Watch TIME’s Video “Taste Test: Beer With Extra Buzz.”)

The sample of those who were studied included individuals between ages 55 and 65 who had had any kind of outpatient care in the previous three years. The 1,824 participants were followed for 20 years. One drawback of the sample: a disproportionate number, 63%, were men. Just over 69% of the never-drinkers died during the 20 years, 60% of the heavy drinkers died and only 41% of moderate drinkers died.

These are remarkable statistics. Even though heavy drinking is associated with higher risk for cirrhosis and several types of cancer (particularly cancers in the mouth and esophagus), heavy drinkers are less likely to die than people who have never drunk. One important reason is that alcohol lubricates so many social interactions, and social interactions are vital for maintaining mental and physical health. As I pointed out last year, nondrinkers show greater signs of depression than those who allow themselves to join the party.

The authors of the new paper are careful to note that even if drinking is associated with longer life, it can be dangerous: it can impair your memory severely and it can lead to nonlethal falls and other mishaps (like, say, cheating on your spouse in a drunken haze) that can screw up your life. There’s also the dependency issue: if you become addicted to alcohol, you may spend a long time trying to get off the bottle.(Comment on this story.)

That said, the new study provides the strongest evidence yet that moderate drinking is not only fun but good for you. So make mine a double.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2014332,00.html?hpt=C2#ixzz0y92gkUWf

Why do so many freelancers fail while others who face even greater obstacles succeed? Is it natural talent? Is it hard work? Is it sheer persistence?

I find these questions absolutely fascinating. That’s why I’ve spent a great part of my adult life studying freelance success.

But it wasn’t until I recently read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers that much of what I had learned came together into one unifying principle:

Success only happens at the intersection of preparation and opportunity!

To better explain this, let’s take this discussion outside of freelancing for a minute because there’s a fascinating lesson here.

Talent Is Overrated

Did you know that in Canada, arguably the most hockey-crazed nation in the world, nearly ALL top players are born (get this) in the first three months of the year?

Why is that?

Gladwell explains that it has nothing to do with astrology or magic. Quite simply, the eligibility cutoff for junior hockey leagues in that country is January 1. That means that a boy who turns 10 on January 2, for example, will be playing with kids who won’t turn 10 until November or December.

Why does that matter? Well, as you probably know if you have kids that age, in terms of physical maturity, a 12-month difference in age is huge. In sports, it means you have a great advantage over the younger kids.

Now here’s where things start to get interesting. Canadian coaches begin selecting players for their all-star teams around the age of 9 or 10. And guess which ones they tend to pick? That’s right, the older kids, who, when compared to those just a few months younger, appear to be bigger and more coordinated.

Once a kid is picked for the all-star team, he gets better coaching. He has twice the number of practice sessions. He also plays in more games. And his teammates are better, which pushes him to improve continually.

By the age of 14, what started out as a small advantage (mainly in size and coordination due to his age) is now a huge advantage over the younger kids he left behind 4 years before. And now this young man’s chances of making it to the Junior League and into the big leagues are very high.

Gladwell found the same patterns in American baseball, where the cutoff date for almost all nonschool baseball leagues is July 31. As a result, more major league players have birthdays in August than in any other month.

Opportunity Is Only Half of the Equation

Is it luck? Call it what you want, but I say it all boils down to the intersection of preparation and opportunity.

These older kids were all given a chance (opportunity). But had they not prepared — or, more important, had their parents not signed them up for the junior hockey league — they would NOT have succeeded.

Once selected to the all-star teams, had they not worked hard, practiced day and night and loved what they were doing, they would not have made it to the majors.

I don’t know where you are today in your freelance career. I don’t know if you’re just getting started or if you’ve been at it awhile. But regardless of your current situation, if you want to succeed, you must continually practice, upgrade your knowledge base and work hard to become better.

In other words, you must constantly prepare.

That means refining your craft. Developing smarter prospecting approaches. Experimenting with better pricing strategies. Learning basic negotiation skills. Sharing best practices with some of your peers (especially those who are more successful that you). Adopting a healthier mindset. And much more.

Only then will you be able to take full advantage of the opportunities when they come your way. (And they WILL come. They always do!).

Earl Nightingale once said that if a person does not prepare for his success, when his opportunity comes, it will only make him look foolish.

Pay the price. Prepare today. Success is worth it.

via:FreelanceSwitch

On FreelanceSwitch, you’ll meet a lot of boss-shunning, solo-working rebels. But there may come a time when the freest of freelancers will need to hire employees. Or subcontractors.

Or you might want to sell your freelancing business, and the buyer will want to know how you’ve been handling things.

In short, these are the times when you will need to explain what you do to others. Or you may need to tell others what you want them to do. At first, these tasks may leave you at a loss for words. This article will help you get your words back.

The first task in your explaining project will be to figure out exactly what it is you’ll need to explain. Here’s an outline of the three basic functions of a business, with questions to guide your thinking:

1. DO

This is everyone’s favorite. Here you’re describing what you DO for money.

Let’s say that you’re a website designer. You don’t just pull those marvelous designs out of your head and dazzle the clients with them. You probably have some sort of prototyping process. How does it work? Do you create your layout ideas in Photoshop, then save them as JPEGs and post them in your server space for the clients to review? Or do you go straight into the coding and post rough drafts of your ideas?

Then, once you’re past the idea stage, how do you build websites? Are you building them out of HTML pages or are you using a content management system like WordPress or Drupal? Do you have subcontractors working with you on site buildouts? What kind of subcontractors? How do you instruct them?

Then, once the site is done, how do you hand the files off to the client? What sort of client training do you offer? How about service after the sale? Do you maintain websites? Do you offer related services like search engine optimization and website hosting?

Now, I just threw a whole bunch of questions at you, and you’re probably scratching your head, trying to figure out the answers. The good news is that you’ve answered them already. Here’s where you can find the answers:

1. On your website. You may have a page devoted to describing your production process. Or you may have written a client’s guide to working with a WordPress-based website.
2. In your proposals to prospective clients. Proposals are good places to find descriptions of production processes and the service you’ll offer after the sale.
3. In your e-mail and texting exchanges with prospective and actual clients. Those question-and-answer fests are good places to find details on everything I’ve covered above.

2. GET

How do you acquire new clients or drum up repeat business from existing clients?

This is the marketing and sales part of your business. For the purpose of this article, let’s define marketing as what you do to get people to come into your freelancing store. Sales? That’s persuading people to buy what’s on your shelves.

I’ve previously written about what can happen if you pay too much attention to marketing and not enough attention to sales. (Hint: your freelancing business suffers.) So, I’m going to devote most of this section to sales.

Sales consists of two activities:

1. Defining your Ideal Client Profile and figuring out where you can find people who fit this profile.
2. Reaching out to them.

As you may have guessed, a lot of people really enjoy the first activity, because it doesn’t require talking to strangers and asking them for their business. Heck, it’s kind of fun to write a little essay on who your Ideal Client is. And searching online and offline for leads lists? That can add up to hours of not talking to the people who might hire you.

Then there’s that second activity. Reaching out to people. Talk about scary. But using a script will make it a lot less scary. In my own business, I use scripts for making cold calls. Scripts for making warm calls. And I’ve created templates for cold and warm e-mails. I even have a scripted method for answering my telephone.

Scripts come in handy if Introverted You hires a vivacious employee to help you prospect for business. After all, you don’t want Vivacious Vincent to get on the phone and not know what to say. Or when the phone rings and Vincent is closest to it. What would you want him to say in that case?

So, what do you want your business scripts to say?

Now, a word (or two) about marketing:

It can consist of everything from placing advertisements to sending a monthly e-mail newsletter. Any marketing activity provokes a flurry of questions. For example, let’s look at advertising. You can place your ads in media ranging from printed publications to websites. What will those ads say? What will they look like? What do you want people to do after they’ve seen or heard them?

Same goes for your e-mail newsletter. Who will be on your list? What are you going to say? Will you use an HTML newsletter, or are you going to stick with tried-and-true plain text. (One of my friends still uses plain text for her newsletter. And she says it works just fine.)

3. RUN

Now this is a word that gets no respect. Some people even call it “administrivia.” But let the following things go, and watch your business run into the ground.

Accounting: Do you use accounting software? If so, what kind do you use? What sort of functions does it perform for you? Invoicing? If so, what information do you include on your invoices? What do your invoices look like? Can your software generate checks? What do your checks look like? Who do you order them from? What kind of financial reports can you generate with your accounting software? And how do you use those reports?

And, since I mentioned financial reports, I guess I don’t have to tell you that they’re needed for filing taxes. How do you handle that fun-filled task? Are you a DIY kind of tax filer? Or do you use a tax accountant? How do you communicate with your accountant?Do you consult with your accountant at times other than tax season? (I hope you do!)

Administration: That’s right. You the Administrator. That was probably the last thing you aspired to be during your job days. But, take heart. In your freelancing business, there isn’t a lot of administering to do. Unless you need to do some long-range planning. Like writing a business plan so you can get a bank loan or investor capital. Or developing a professional development plan. The word “plan” leads naturally to the next question: What will go into those plans?

Legal: This isn’t the part where you’re going to sue someone. Or (heaven forbid!) be sued.

But even the freest spirited of freelance business has some legalities to comply with. For example, do you live in a city that requires that businesses be licensed? If so, how did you apply for your business license? And how often does it need to be renewed? What’s the fee? And what about professional licensure? Are there certifications and licenses that you need in order to enter or continue in your field? How is this done? What about security clearances? Do you need those? If so, how do you apply and keep them current?

Office and Business Management: Okay, you don’t work in an office anymore. Which means that you’re now your very own office manager. Ever had to purchase equipment for your studio? A telephone or a computer? Or how about office supplies? As Internet-savvy as we like to be, there are times when we still need to send a letter to a client. What does the business stationery (letterhead, envelopes, and business cards) look like? And where do you order it from? And how do you manage all those projects that your business gets involved with? How do you supervise the work of your employees? Or, if you don’t have employees, your subcontractors?

Okay, that’s enough. I’ve asked you quite a few questions. And you’ll probably think of others. It will take time to answer them, but here’s what could happen if you do:

Years ago, I did business with a small accounting firm on the east side of Tucson. This firm documented everything that it did, and I do mean everything. They had quite a thick procedures manual, but no one felt overwhelmed by it. Rather, they regarded it as The Book. They turned to it many times a day.

The Book allowed this firm to run so smoothly that the boss and employees didn’t have to work through the weekend before April 15. (In the United States, April 15 is Tax Day, the federal tax deadline. A lot of accounting firms go flat-out during the last week or two before this date.) Matter of fact, Tax Day at this firm was so relaxed that the boss and her employees came to work in pajamas. And TV cameras would show up to document the occasion.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m referring to this accounting firm in the past tense. It’s because it no longer exists. Boss sold it to a larger firm, and, I’m told, the completeness of The Book helped to increase the sale price. That’s where documenting your business processes can get you.

A new study found that mobile phones contain 18 times the amount of bacteria as a toilet handle, the Telegraph reports:

Swabs and analysis of 30 mobile handsets found that seven had high or warning levels of environmental bacteria. One contained such an intense concentration of bacteria, including faecal coliforms, that anyone using it could have faced a serious stomach upset.

According to hygiene expert Jim Francis “The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilizing.” The tests showed how easily bacteria could linger on the surface of a phone, which could be passed on to other people if they held the handset to look at photos or other applications.

You got an app for that?

Following the passing of their acclaimed label founder and lead designer, the Alexander McQueen team pushes onwards showing that the spirit of Alexander’s great design lives on. This is exemplified by their Winged Leather Peep-toe boots ($1,285), which feature black leather, 5 inch heels/1 inch platforms, front zip, button flaps and large golden wings embroidered on both sides of each shoe. Ladies, if you get your hands on a pair of these Alexander McQueen winged shoes, you may not fly literally, but you’ll definitely fly figuratively

It started off with just a few, and now almost everyone who keeps up with the trends owns a pair of the popular Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. Now you can do them all one better, thanks to CrystalRoc and their exclusive Swarovski crystals encrusted Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. These black headphones are covered in over 4320 precious Swarovski crystal stones, and if black with crystals isn’t your thing, CrystalRoc has chrome and gold plated models planned for the near future. Currently there’s no word on the price, but just know it’s going to be up there.

via: UpscaleHype

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