New App To Be Released Soon

Since we've had over 5900 downloads of "The Perfect Husband App", we decided to go ahead and combine my audio essays, short story, and one-minute "dollop-a-day" features into an audio app.  I'm using ibuildapp again, and after reacquainting myself with the in's and out's of one of my favorite do-it-yourself online software programs, I am ready to launch "Live, From Milwaukee, It's Tuesday Night".  My husband, Mike, the software engineer and technical support for our company, Language Rocks, uses his developer's certificate AND his expertise to help me upload the app to the Google Play store and to iTunes.  I've decided to charge a small fee for this app, so we'll see how that goes. Wish us luck.

Ibuildapp is a bit glitch-y to use, but they do have a help desk with online chatting available during certain hours along with email support.  I have posted and will continue to post little hints I've found useful.  One hint, before I close tonight, is to be aware, when using ibuildapp that the widgets are tied to the "manage content" functionality.  You can turn off a widget that you don't want by going all the way back up to the place you added your button images and then clicking on the "tab" button.  There you will see an "on-off" switch for your widget. 

More later and please don't hesitate to add your comments or questions.  Cheers, Billie

Our Winter Sweepstakes - Win $100

Welcome Visitors from Language Rocks "I Have a Dream" Speech Page.  Here you will find the specific rules and guidelines for the 'Dream Speech' Sweepstakes.  To enter the contest, simply go to the "I Have a Dream" page and enter your email address. We have a strict privacy policy and your email will not be shared with any other company than Windmill Works at languagerocks.com.  One lucky winner will be chosen on February 14 and notified within 24 hours.  Thank you for your interest in Languagerocks.com 

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. ALL FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, AND MUNICIPAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS APPLY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

 

 1.            Eligibility

                'Dream Speech' Contest (the Contest) is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry. Employees of Windmill Works at languagerocks.com and other companies associated with the promotion of the Contest, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates and advertising and promotion agencies as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of each such employee are not eligible. The Contest is subject to federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  

 2.            Sponsor

                The Sweepstakes is sponsored by Windmill Works at languagerocks.com, located at 1024 Bayside Dr #325, Neport Beach, California 92660.  

 3.            Agreement to Official Rules

                Participation in the Sweepstakes constitutes entrants full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of 

these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding. Winning a prize is contingent upon being compliant with these Official Rules and fulfilling all other requirements set forth herein.  

 4.            Contest Period

                The Contest begins on January 19, 2014 at 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time and ends on February 14, 2014 at 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time (the Contest Period). Entries that are submitted before or after the Contest Period will be disqualified. Submissions will be accepted for the duration of the Contest using any of the following methods: Online .  

 5.            How to Enter

Online: This method of entry will be available by visiting our website (http://www.languagerocks.com/-i-have-a-dream--speech.html) and following the directions provided to fill out the entry information, and submit.  

                Limit one (1) entry per person, per email address, and per household for the duration of the Sweepstakes Period, regardless of method of entry. Entries received from any person, e-mail address, or household in excess of the stated limitation will be void. All entries become the property of Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.  

 6.            Prize Drawing

                On or about February 14, 2014, the Sponsor will select potential winners in a random drawing from among all eligible entries received. The odds of being selected depend on the number of entries received. The Sponsor will attempt to notify the potential winner via telephone or email on or about February 14, 2014. If the potential winner cannot be contacted within five (5) days after the date of the first attempt to contact him/her, the Sponsor may select an alternate potential winner in his/her place at random from the remaining non-winning, eligible entries.  

 7.            Winner Notification  

                The potential winners will be notified by email, mail or phone. Each potential Grand and First Prize winner (parent/legal guardian if a minor in his/her state of residence) will be required to complete, electronically sign and submit a Declaration of Compliance within five (5) days of the date notice or attempted notice is sent, in order to claim his/her prize. If a potential winner cannot be contacted, or fails to submit the Declaration of Compliance within the required time period (if applicable), or prize is returned as undeliverable, potential winner forfeits prize. If the potential winner is at least 18 but still considered a minor in his/her jurisdiction of residence, Sponsor reserves the right to award the prize in the name of his/her parent or legal guardian, who will be required to sign the Declaration of Compliance on the potential winners behalf and fulfill any other requirements imposed on winner set forth herein. Potential winners must continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. In the event that a potential winner is disqualified for any reason, Sponsor will award the applicable prize to an alternate winner by random drawing from among all remaining eligible entries. Only three (3) alternate drawings will be held, after which the prize will remain un-awarded. Prizes will be fulfilled approximately 8-10 weeks after the conclusion of the Sweepstakes.  

 8.            Prizes  

                Cash Prize - $100 (Your choice of check to your mailing address or deposit to your account at PayPal.com)  

9.             General Conditions

                In the event that the operation, security, or administration of the Contest is impaired in any way for any reason, including, but not limited to fraud, virus, bug, worm, unauthorized human intervention or other technical problem, or in the event the Contest is unable to run as planned for any other reason, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion, the Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, either (a) suspend the Contest to address the impairment and then resume the Sweepstakes in a manner that best conforms to the spirit of these Official Rules or (b) terminate the Sweepstakes and, in the event of termination, award the prize at random from among the eligible, non-suspect entries received up to the time of the impairment. The Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to damage the website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, the Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages (including attorneys fees) and any other remedies from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. Failure by the Sponsor to enforce any provision of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

 

 10.         Release and Limitations of Liability

                By participating in the Contest, entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Sponsor, and each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, other companies associated with the Sweepstakes, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, shareholders, representatives, and agents (the Released Parties) from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Contest or receipt or use of the prize (including any travel or activity related thereto), including, but not limited to: (a) any technical errors associated with the Contest, including lost, interrupted or unavailable Internet Service Provider (ISP), network, server, wireless service provider, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunications or failed computer, satellite, telephone, cellular tower or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties; (b) unauthorized human intervention in the Contest; (c) mechanical, network, electronic, computer, human, printing or typographical errors; (d)application downloads, (e) any other errors or problems in connection with the Contest, including, without limitation, errors that may occur in the administration of the Contest, the announcement of the winner, the cancellation or postponement of the event and/or the flyover, if applicable, the incorrect downloading of the application the processing of entries application downloadsor in any Contest-related materials; or (f) injury, death, losses or damages of any kind, to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrants participation in the Sweepstakes or acceptance, receipt or misuse of the prize (including any travel or activity related thereto). Entrant further agrees that in any cause of action, the Released Parties liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Contest, and in no event shall the entrant be entitled to receive attorneys fees. Released Parties are also not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest. Entrant waives the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct, or indirect damages.

 

 11.         Disputes

                Except where prohibited, each entrant agrees that any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of, or connected with, the Sweepstakes or any prize awarded shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action, and exclusively by the appropriate court located in California. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, entrants rights and obligations, or the rights and obligations of the Sponsor in connection with the Sweepstakes, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of California, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules, which would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than California.  

 12.         Privacy

                Information collected from entrants is subject to sponsors privacy policy.  

 13.         Winner List

                To request the name of the winner send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to

Windmill Works, 1024 Bayside Dr. #325, Newport Beach,CA 92660. Winner List requests will only be accepted after the promotion end date (listed above). For the Winner List, you can also

Motivating Reading Game for Christmas

The goal of Windmill Works at www.languagerocks.com has always been to make reading and language development motivating.  What could be more motivating, we thought, than colorful Christmas images to improve reading skills?  Of course, being a teacher of the deaf, the focus of our products has always been visual and NON-phonetic.

We're hoping that our remarkable sale of the DOWNLOADABLE "Johnny Rock's Christmas" for only $3.99 will be a great holiday success.

We've focused on little blurbs in the parent groups, speech/language pathologists, teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing, and special ed. teachers on linkedin.  Tonight, we're hoping to add an online sample of "Johnny Rock's Christmas" to promote our lovely Christmas sale.  Read more about the classic matching games with the exciting Christmas vocabulary at www.languagerocksproducts.com where you'll find great screen shots of content and testimonials.  We'd love to hear how your little wide-eyed reader does with matching "Johnny's" fun reading and language building games.  Happy Holidays!

Scheduling Google Adwords Driving You Crazy?

If you've just started your small business and are new to Google Adwords, I'm going to talk to you like the grandma who says, "Back in my day, I had to walk 10 miles to school in the snow without boots..." And yes, that's exactly how it felt as a small (let's face it 'tiny') business person trying to put an ad up in Google Adwords a few tears ago. My mantra at the time was: "How can the best search engine people in the world get this interface so messed up?"  My software engineer husband couldn't figure it out either, however, living with a left-brain thinker helped me analyze exactly was some of the problems were. A large part of the confusion for me was a question of semantics. While "campaign" may make sense in the software and advertising world, it made no sense in mine.  Differentiating a "campaign" from a plain old "new ad" threw me.  In addition, Ad Words must have gotten some perverse pleasure in hiding the "keyword" button and it usually took it a half an hour to locate it.  But you can thank me for writing tons of "feedback" emails to adwords that minced no words to google.  (I'm sure it was totally my personal input that created a better interface today, but we just can't prove that ;)  


 LINGERING PROBLEM TODAYLet's assume the above problems described in the paragraph above are not problems for you.  However, I guarantee that if you're new to Google Adwords you will have trouble scheduling an end date for your d"campaign".  This posting is devoted to helping you put an end date on the ad you're creating so you are not shocked three days after posting that your ad cost you three times the amount you intended. There is one simple setting to change when starting "a new campaign"  Be sure that you CHANGE the setting from Standard to All Features.  The setting All Features will allow you to see the Scheduling choice toward the bottom of the page and you'll be able to set the end date.  If you click on "Help" and search for "schedule end date" you'll be presented with a video that explains this process in depth. You can also go to this Google Adwords resource page.  The video is right in the middle  Good Luck!

New Business Owners - Choose Your Name Wisely

We've been on the web for over 15 years creating educational learning games and activities as well as producing educational software matching games for schools, especially schools that have special programs for deaf and hard of hearing students. 

Windmill Works was the name we chose for our company for a very sentimental reason:  "Man of La Mancha" was released the year that I first decided to re-create the card game, "Authors."  My card game, "American Authors," was modeled after the fun card game by Whitman Publishers that I had played as a child.  Since we knew reviving this game might be an "Impossible Dream," and since the Don Quixote character in "Man of La Mancha" was stabbing at windmills, bells and whistles started sounding and Windmill Works was born.  It's too back the bells weren't of the alarm type that indicated that since many places on the web still list companies alphabetically, "W" might be a bit ill advised.   

Once you start with a logo and business cards, it's difficult to deviate from your name even though you may have branched out into a whole new line of products since the inception of your company.

And thus, today, we struggle to convert our Windmill Works website to Language Rocks.  All of our url addresses to pages on our former website, and believe me, there are pages that even I don't remember having created, would have to be sold if we sold our name.  Since our goal is to move toward that end, we have spent the last 6 months re-doing, re-constructing, re-inventing our website.  We're exhausted! So while you don't have a crystal ball, make sure your name and the domain names you purchase and pages you create on the web with them will be pertinent in the future.

Well, now it's back to the painful re-construction at Language Rocks which, for the time being, is a division of Windmill Works.  I hesitate to link to our site at this moment in time because what you'll see is a version of spring cleaning where everything has been pulled out of the closet, is strewn in heaps on the floor, with only a bit having been put back to it's newly organized state.  Well, embarrassment be damned, you can take a look at a work in progress at www.windmillworks.com or www.languagerocks.com.  Our ebook website should be fairly intact at www.leftpawedpuppy.com

Best to you and Happy New Year!,

Billie

Best to you.

Multi-Media Ebook and App Disappointment



Let's back-up a bit. The real reason I started to publish "The Perfect Husband App" was to try the new software at ibuildapp.com in order to convert my children's narrated ebook, "Lucky, the Left-Pawed Puppy" as a narrated app.  After struggling with the audio, I went back to interactbuilder.com which I had been trying to use about a year ago.  That lets a user create really great looking mobile apps, but there is quite a cost involved. PLUS, I myself, find that software hard to use.  I then tried talespring.com last to use their software, and that has possibilities except I don't have a MAC and while I can create in that platform, I can't test it out to make corrections, etc.  To use Apple's iBuild Author software which creates multi-media books, one would need a MAC 10.7 (LIon) or beter which retails at about $999. Bookbaby.com, the company with which I have published "Lucky..." for Kindle, Nook, etc. is not doing narrated apps at the moment.  I contacted B-interacktive in Germany and they seemed interested in exploring whether they would create an app for me, but I haven't heard back from them.  I tried Desktop Author's epagewiz which creates page-turning ebooks like my narrated, page-turning online ebook at www.leftpawedpuppy.com, but when your app then goes into the Desktop Author ebook store and when you download apps you have to use their app reader to run the software and finding a book app with Desktop Author app is a nightmare.  So you might be able to see why I'm frustrated and disappointed.

All the forums keep saying getting a multi-media book made is "on the cutting edge."  I say, "It's NOT on the cutting edge because software engineers are doing it throughout the world as evidenced by the narrated children's apps that are out there.

My conclusion is this:  There seems to be a big problem with integrating audio with images for apps.  Somehow, some software coders who have figured it out are doing it and are charging a large sum for having accomplished this.  Here's my prediction - whoever comes up with a Do-It-Yourself piece of software that allows authors like me to integrate narration with images will have a multi-million dollar company.  I wish my software husband could do it for me, but apparently you need C++ or Objective C or some other C thing to do it!  With 12 computer languages in my guy's brilliant head, and more than 40 years of programming under his belt, he's not inclined to tackle any more languages.  Who can blame him?  Not me, but we do need a software hero to come swooping down and let creative children authors go to town.  We'd pay!  Because as a group, we may be a little cash poor, I'd say $150 for such software would be tolerable.  If there are any super-heroes out there who can create this wysiwyg, diy software for multi-media ebooks, show forth thyself!

Update for Ibuildapp Previous Blog Posting

Dear Fellow Novice App Builders with ibuldapp,

Previously, I had talked about not being able to insert an image and type over it in the software for ibuildapp.com and that is true as I understand the software as it works on this date in September of 2012.  What I was aiming for was a screen that looked like this:

Quite a daunting task this would be to create 20 images like the one to the right for each of entry in  "The Perfect Husband App". 

 So, if you're asking, why don't you just use a background color and insert a small image with your text, you would be about 1000 miles ahead of me.  So that just occured to me this morning, and if it hadn't occured to you, you might try this for your "quotation" app or other interesting "ibuildapp app."  The image on the right is the labor-intensive way of creating a colorful page in ibuildapp.

 

In the "Let's eat out tonight"  screen to the left,  just one image imbedded on a page with color.  It certainly cuts down on hours of work, and I think if I intersperse these pages with the other more "beautiful" screens, it will satisfy the customers. 

And by the way, speaking of customers, don't be disappointed if you have NONE.  Unless you have an "Angry Birds" app or a boat-load of money, promoting your creation for thousands of downloads will be difficult.  After I finish pretty-ing-up my app this weekend, I'm going to create a facebook business page for it and take out a facebook ad.  We'll see where that goes. 

By the way, if you are kind of heart, I sure could use some positive reviews of my app at the googleplay.com store.  Search for it with the "the" as in "The Perfect Husband App" or just click here.  It's only a 99 cents.

Cheerio for now.  Let me hear from you.  This is all very exciting, albeit a tad frustrating, but onward we go. 

Ideas for Promoting a Contest?

I actually wrote this about a month ago, but it has some information you, as a fellow publisher trying to promote your ebooks might like to mull over. Again, this is in keeping with my favorite quote from despair.com:  "Maybe the sole purpose of my existence is to serve as a warning to others."

(originally written sometime in Sept. 2012)

Well, on this journey together, perhaps you've had a successful contest to promote your book because mine isn't going as smashing-ly as I had hoped. How did I get this crazy contest concept spinning in my cranium?  I was actually looking around for websites that parents might go to find books for their children and what should I find, but the  the AMAZING Reading Rockets website.  Clicking around,  I was instantly attracted to those little boxes that tell you there's a youtube video on this site.  The videos posted at Reading Rockets had adorable pictures begging one to click onto even more adorable videos.  Never being one to want to re-invent the wheel, I thought:  "I can have a children's video contest, too!"  I'll run a google ad and ask for video re-enactments of my ebook, "Lucky, the Left-Pawed Puppy" and voila', hundreds of entries will come tumbling out my email inbox.  I worked really hard on contest's webpage, purchased just the right prizes, set the deadline to coincide with International Left-Handers day (August 13) since Lucky is left-pawed, listed it on Facebook, Twitter, updated my facebook business page and on and on.  Result:  NOT ONE ENTRY so far. 

So I went to the place where I post some essays and articles, hubpages.com and learned this much at least:

1.  Never charge an entry fee.  (So my requirement that parents purchase the download-able, narrated ebook for $3.99 so that their child could actually ACT OUT the Lucky story on video was apparently too much to hope for).  I have since offered a FREE download.  The cost of the prizes that I thought would be covered? You guessed it.  I changed my goal from earning money to earning name recognition.  iii !

2.  Don't ask for a video to be made unless the prize is REALLY big.  After contemplating that advice, I changed my submission requirements to INCLUDE:  a drawing, a song on an mp3 file, a written little summary or report of "Lucky, the Left-Pawed Puppy" or ANY creative way of re-telling Lucky's story.

Update on the contest:  I never did get ONE response to all that hard work.  If anyone has any promotional ideas, be a sport and pass them along this way.

From Ebook to App with Ibuildapp.com

This Novice's "Work-around" the Ibuildapp Software

Dear Fellow Self-Published Authors,

Either we're very ADHD or just quite forward-looking.  Let's assume the latter.  So I'm not satisfied that  "Lucky, the Left-Pawed Puppy" is published on Kindle, Nook, and whatever other e-reader platform is out there.  I want the NARRATED version published as I published it on my website  (www.leftpawedpuppy.com). However, that narrated version is an .exe file and can't be uploaded to Kindle, etc.  So I sell it from my casually visited website.  Ugh!  All that work! 

So on my way to trying to get audio embedded in "Lucky..." my thoughts turned to app development, and I turned to ibuildapp.com.  Not being able to figure out the audio embedding here, I decided to go ahead with a simpler app which I am presently calling, "The Perfect Husband App" which is essentially a "cheat sheet" for husbands who want to say the words their wives actually want to hear.That app is up in googleplay.com,  ("Available now for only 99 cents!" tee-hee ) BUT I'm working to make it prettier.  If you happen to find it and download it for your Android, be assured that within the week, the changes that will pretty-it-up will be automatically inserted in your app. (You can see what I mean if you click on the last item in the list - "OUR Words for YOU! That's the one pretty page that I hope to duplicate for the rest of the perfect husband list.) 

If you're struggling to get your ebook into an app, you MIGHT try this software.  However, there are a few important points to keep in mind:

1. If you have a book that you wish to make into an app, you'll want to choose the Ebook template at ibuildapp.com, preferably ebook2, which has chapter capability. (You'll struggle with the other templates if you don't choose an ebook format).

2. Don't worry that the simulator doesn't show your total chapter line; it will wrap your text around to a second line in the real app.3.  If you are having trouble with some of the features in ibuildapp, try a different browser.  I was having difficulty with Google Chrome and switched to Firefox successfully last week.  Then today, I wasn't able to insert a picture when working in Firefox and switched back to the Google Chrome browser and that worked better today. 4. Keep in mind that the software for ibuildapp is continually updated because there are features that need to be added to make this software more appealing. It seems to be somewhat in a Beta stage at the moment.  If you build your app and finally are able to upload it to googleplay.com for sale, you might be a little disappointed with the generic-looking quality of your app.  In order to "pretty up" your work, assuming that you've conquered using this software, several tips may help:  a.   If you want a pretty background for your chapters (let's say you're publishing a book of quotations), you will not be able to upload an image and then type text over it with ibuildapp. Therefore, you'll need to create an image with text on it with your graphics program.  Creating that image can be a tedious process, but it is worth it.  What size of an image should you use?   I've experimented for hours and it appears to me that 300 x 410 works best for portrait.  When the mobile device is turned for landscape, the user has to scroll down.  Because the ibuildapp software doesn't allow expansion of your image for landscape, you'll probably have to decide which view you prefer if you go the add-image route. I decided to create the image that looks best in portrait.  If the user chooses to view in landscape, he or she will have to scroll down to see the total image.

     b. When inserting your image in the "content" section, be sure to CENTER your picture.  That way the 300 x 410 images will be centered on the portrait screen of your app. and on the landscape view as well.

     c. You can add a background color for your landscape view since the image of 300 x 410 will not fill that screen.  It's putsy, but you insert this into the html code
<div style="background-color: rgb(89, 135, 206); text-align: center;">
Those rgb colors are for the blue I wanted.  If you want black, for example, you'd change those numbers to: 0,0,0.  Otherwise, forget the background color for now and wait until the software of ibuildapp catches up to your creative desires.

  Best of luck, my fellow authors!  You're on a noble, albeit arduous, journey.

How to Publish a Children's Book

A presumptuous title, this one, but I needed to get important keywords in for the search engines, and "Billie's Mistakes to Avoid," didn't seem like the way to go when I published this article on hubpages.com.  I really did try to cover many of the pitfalls I encountered when publishing "Lucky, the Left-Pawed Puppy," and I think you'll find at least a little something useful whether you're publishing your ebook for children or a wider age range.  I did get a bit carried away in this article, but Hubpages was running a contest at the time, and I was trying to  win. I didn't :( 

but I think it's a nice little piece anyway.  Just click on the picture to get to the article. Hope you like it.  

 

Don't Change Emails in the Middle of the Stream

Ah...my first post about ebook publishing on blogger. Ah, hem...not really, and that's why my first little hint about ebook publishing and blogging (since blogging seems to be an important part of this whole process) is this:  

"Don't change emails in the middle of the stream"  

image  purchased from istockphoto.com

If you create a blog under one email account and suddenly get the idea, like I did, to match your blog's email with your book's name, just because it seems consistent and cool - Don't!  That is, don't change your email address on a blog you've created until you've EXPORTED your old blog. While Blogger does save your blog for a short time after you delete the email address connected to it, the may not be there by the time you remember to change to the new email address.   I thought I'd change the email of my blog, "Publishing Lucky" to a new email I created to be more similar to my book's, "Lucky, the Left-Pawed Puppy".   It seemed as if the only way to do that was to delete the old email address, so I did.  By the  time I remembered to add the NEW email address: leftpawedpuppy@gmail.com, my blog had disappeared. So here I am trying to duplicate the same polka dot background (please tell me why!) while starting all over from square one.

And all of that brings me to my favorite quote paraphrased from despair.com, and the main reason I write at all:  'Maybe the sole purpose of my life is to serve as a warning to others.'  So "Welcome"; don't fool around with changing emails or deleting your blogs accidentally, and let's start our journey together.