Saturday, November 13, 2010

Your Proposal Didn't Win? Make Sure You Get Something From Losing

No matter how successful you are, eventually you will lose potential contracts. This is not always a bad thing - losing contracts can present you with opportunities to get closer to the client and get valuable feedback. It allows you to analyze what you did wrong, what was done right, and how you can improve your products, services…and proposals.

If you do lose a contract you should always ask for feedback and find out why you lost. Client's are often happy to provide feedback to "soften the blow" of losing a contract. This is especially true if there was an elaborate qualification period or your proposal required an extensive amount of preparation and research.

Quite often, the deciding factor may be price and you may lose out on contracts where you proposed a superior product or service. Everyone who has lost a contract has been told that it was lost because they were too expensive…but how often have you been told you won because you were cheap?

Even if price is the primary reason, it's good to know. It may mean that you misinterpreted the tender requirements and proposed something above the specification. Alternatively you may need to re-evaluate your pricing, or even serve to shift your focus to higher end clients who pay a premium for the products and services you offer.

It may be they liked another company's track record better, they may have previous dealing with the chosen supplier, or sometimes you may not have fully addressed their concerns in your proposal. Whatever the reason, there is always something that can be learned.

Try and get a face to face meeting. This will enable you to get the most honest and detailed feedback possible – clients will often be prepared to say things off the record that they won't commit to paper. You can also use the lost opportunity as a chance to get to know the client better, build rapport and start to position yourself for future contracts. Any opportunity to develop a relationship with a perspective client serves to better your business base so always take advantage of these opportunities whenever you can.

Remember to also ask for feedback when you win. Ask the client why you were chosen, exactly how you stood out from the rest of the field and how your proposal could have been better – check if there were any parts of your proposal that caused doubt or uncertainty with the client.

All of these options offer you a chance to improve your products and services, eventually resulting in more clients and better business. In such a competitive marketplace you need to grasp any potential advantage you can find. Finding out exactly why you lost makes a huge difference the next time around. Be willing to look at your faults and be prepared to change – it's about what the client wants, not what you have to offer.

Source : http://www.readbud.com

A Guide To Buying A Digital Camera Equipment

How to Buy Digital Camera Equipment

There are so many digital cameras that it can be confusing trying to buy digital camera equipment. Here are some tips to help you decide which the best choice is for you and buy digital camera equipment that you will get the best results with:

• The first step before you buy digital camera equipment is to set a basic budget on how much money you want to spend. You do need to be realistic about the fact you won't be able to get the best of every feature, as you may have to make tradeoffs when you actually buy digital camera equipment.

• Your experience level has to have a big influence in your decision to buy digital camera equipment. There is no point in buying too much buy digital camera equipment than you can actually use. For a novice you should buy digital camera equipment that is point and shoot so that you don't have to worry about manually changing any settings. Digital zoom is not as important a part in the process of choosing to buy digital camera equipment as you may first think. Basically it just means that the camera crops the picture and gives you the center piece of it. You do not need to buy digital camera equipment that does this as you can do it better yourself after you take the picture. You can usually move closer to the subject anyway and to buy digital camera equipment that includes an optical zoom can add a lot of unnecessary cost and weight to the camera. Of course, expert photographers will want to buy digital camera equipment that gives them more manual control over the exposure process.

• Next you need to consider what you will use your camera to capture before you set out to buy digital camera equipment. A fast shutter speed is necessary for moving subjects. You can also buy digital camera equipment that has special features to enable you to take multiple pictures in quick succession for high-action pictures.

• There are a number of helpful websites that give reviews on photographic products to help you decide on the best camera for your needs before you buy digital camera equipment. Of course, you can also ask friends and family about their digital camera choices. Price comparison websites are also essential to help you to buy digital camera equipment at the best possible prices. Remember that when you buy digital camera equipment there are often a list of extras that you may want to purchase, including batteries and memory cards.

Don't be tempted to go for a trendy-looking, colorful camera if you really want to buy a less cool looking one that does more of what you want. Make sure that you have got as many of the features that you wanted to have in the first place and haven't compromised too much on them for the sake of a few extra dollars. It is important to ensure that you buy digital camera equipment that you are happy with and enables you to take the photographs that you want.

Source : http://readbud.com

Start Your Own Sheet Music Collection

Starting a sheet music collection is easy, once you've decided what you want to collect. Sheet music is inexpensive and relatively easy to find. You can find music at yard sales, antique shows and on the internet. Only music that is very scarce or rare is expensive. Most pieces can be found at a price between three and twenty five dollars. Extremely rare sheet music can carry a price of up to a thousand dollars, but few pieces fall into this category. You will find music in any color graphic or subject matter you are looking for.

People collect sheet music in many ways. Sometimes sheet music is collected by the genre or songs. You could put together a history of music in America with a sheet music collection. You could do this with the entire history of our country or concentrate on one time period or decade. The possibilities are endless - be creative when building your collection! Songs have been written about most important events in our history, including wars, plane crashes and natural disasters. Themes such as love or the evolution of images of women in music are popular themes for sheet music collections. Other collectors focus on one composer or cover artist.

Ragtime music from the early twentieth century is popular with collectors of vintage sheet music. This music is considered the foundation of modern jazz music. A ragtime music collection looks great displayed in a room decorated in the Early American style. And the cover art on rag time sheet music looks great displayed in picture frames on a wall or sofa table.

Music written by famous composers is popular among sheet music collectors. This music is readily available in all music genres. Other collectors focus on rare or vintage sheet music. The value of these documents depends largely on the condition of the sheets. Pieces in mint condition will be more expensive. Most sheet music isn't found in perfect condition. The spine of the sheet was usually broken to make the score stand up in the music stand. Spills, tears and names written on the covers are common because sheet music was often used at parties.

Sheet music displayed in a family room or bar area makes a great focal point. Even people who don't collect sheet music use it in a display of other collectibles. Collectors of beer, whisky, golf, military, cigars or trains can find sheet music to accent their collection. A few pieces of sheet music with great cover art enhance a display of other collectibles. Collectors of memorabilia from movies or Broadway productions often look for sheet music written for the production.

Any sheet music that isn't displayed should be stored properly to preserve the condition. Store each set of sheet music in a plastic baggie like those used for comic book collections. Place those bags in a large plastic storage container to protect them from being ripped or crumpled. Store your containers in a dry place away from sunlight or moisture, which can damage the music.

Source : http://readbud.com

You Need Your Own Reasons for Organizing Your Home

First off, you need to know organizing your home is different for you than it is for someone else.

Some folks don't have a lot of clutter and junk but need to know how to maintain organization and have a place for their stuff.

On the other hand, some homeowners have piles upon piles...a big mess, and still think it's just a matter of needing storage.

When, in fact, storage is the last thing you need. The first step is getting rid of clutter, rather than adding more storage just to keep more stuff.

The thing is, once you start organizing your home, you'll see how great and real the benefits are:

-It's reducing stress by having order and discipline.

-It's having more space by keeping clutter out for good.

-It's simplifying the way you live at home by creating useful systems that work for you personally.

-It's a way of being on time, and not feeling the strain of running against the clock.

Quite simply, when you finally start to make the simple changes of organization, it all adds up to give you more room to breath so you can enjoy your family and friends more.

Being organized isn't a matter of being rich or poor, young or old. We were never taught organization in school and, in fact, were taught to multi-task and go in too many directions at once.

This was how they told us to live.

Personally, I have always gone against the grain and never worried about keeping things we don't need. My wife Megan and I make sure if something is not being put to use or it's out-of-date... it's getting sold or thrown out.

We also utilize smart, affordable storage to keep only useful items and starting teaching our kids the value of being organized at a very young age. It makes it easier on them and on us to stay disciplined about organization.

The funny thing is I don't think I was raised to be organized. Nobody knew much about "organization" back then, although I was always a little "neat" as a kid.

But somewhere along the way I figured out it made the most sense. I like to be on time and being organized makes that possible. I don't like wasting time looking for things, like tools or ingredients for cooking or paperwork or bills.

Being organized makes it all a lot easier.

It's not going to make you ri*ch, but it will certainly save you money by avoiding duplicate purchases and late bills.

It's not going to make you any younger, but it will certainly give you more time to do things you might think you don't have time to do.

Being organized isn't going to give you a bigger house, but it will clear clutter and open up some space so you'll feel like you have a bigger house because there will be less congestion and "stuff" all over the place.

There may seem like there is a lot to getting organized and over the next few days I'm going to share with you even more tips and tricks to getting and staying organized.

Source : http://readbud.com

What is PP in Digital Photography?

Of course, we would like to say, that this is PP Group – a leading team in the photography branch, because this is our name! Because we are PP Group. But PP in the Digital Photography means something else.
Our research shows, that most of the people use this abbreviation - PP in digital photography conversations to say the word "Photoshop" shortly. It comes out from the first and the last letters in the word - P. Normally the Photoshop software is in use from the Professional Photography, because it offers a lot of abilities for picture optimization and getting higher images quality.

Another use for PP with the photography stuff is when people are trying to say "Post-Processing" shortly. In this case people are talking about the Post-Processing in Digital Photography or for short: "PP in Digital Photography".
You can see the PP abbreviation, when it says "Photographic process". It means the processing, developing photographs. As we understand there is even a book, called this way – "Photographic Processes", which describes the PP – color-negative / color-reversal processing, shooting and developing photographs. Color and B&W (Black and White) film and print processing, as well.

And talking about print processing we remembered that there is another PP meaning, which is used in digital photography conversations. That's right! This is the Photo Printer's stuff or the Photo Paper's stuff. There are even some printers' models that are called "(something) PP". One of them is a Canon's model. Or photo paper, called "high gloss photo paper PP 101D" or something similar.

May be you will hate us, but we feel the need to share with you, that there is another PP abbreviation and it's for Pocket Pouch. Believe us – we think that this is not normal too, but it is a fact. The pocket pouches for your digital cameras can be offered in some sites or pamphlets like PP for digital cameras.
Believing or not, but you may see PP like "pages" meaning in Photography as well. There are lots of lessons, courses, lectures and articles that are written on different places – mostly in the internet and they are quotations from some photography books. When it is attended by numbers it is too possible PP to be a page number. Mostly it looks like this way: pp 136-278, and means, as you know – pages 136 to 278.
Well, it is not so difficult to understand what is PP in the Digital Photography now, when you know the rest of the text. You can assess which meaning will be helpful for you and to understand the main text idea.

Source : http://readbud.com

Crochet Tips You Need To Know

Anyone who is beginning to learn how to crochet, or even those who have been crocheting for a number of years, can benefit from some crocheting tips every now and then. There are some common crocheting queries that require tips which everyone needs at some point. For example, how to add beads can be a mystery unless you get a few tips from someone who is knowledgeable about crocheting. There can be a number of different ways of achieving your goals, so crocheting tips can differ. There can be several ways to add beads to crochet work and include threading the beads onto the yarn itself so that they can be pulled up whenever they are needed. Another way is to slip the bead onto the crochet hook when it is needed. Crocheting tips like these need to be tried out and then you can decide which one is best.

Crocheting Tips for Complete Beginners

Complete beginners can need very basic crocheting tips to get them started, such as how to start a row, how to finish off and how to add another ball of yarn. The importance of keeping equipment clean and tidy is a valuable crocheting tip for beginners because if they are dealing with skeins of yarn that is not rolled into a ball, it can easily tangle and snap. It is well worth the time it takes to wrap the yarn into a ball and this is one thing that beginnings often try to skip.

Another important crocheting tip that beginners should note is that when a row has been completed, the work needs to be turned. Constantly turning the same way will lead to the yarn becoming twisted. To prevent this, the work must be turned the opposite way after each line, for example turning clockwise with the first row, anti clockwise with the second and so on. To make the ends of the yarn neat and tidy, it can be a good idea to weave the ends of the yarn into the work using an embroidery needle. It can make the ends almost invisible to the eye. Likewise, when adding a new yarn to work, it can be better to sew in the ends; it may give a few thicker areas to the work but it will be barely noticeable. There are many more crocheting tips to be had, but a beginner can learn wisely and quickly from experience and their own mistakes.

Source : http://readbud.com

You Don't Know How Write To A Song ... You're Not A Musician!

This is something I briefly touched on in a previous newsletter - ...over and over I get asked "will I write better songs if I'm a musician"?

What's the answer?

Yes AND no.

Confused?

Let me explain. For the sake of simplicity, here I'll talk about the 'music' aspect of songwriting.

First up, I'll tell you that I'm a musician, songwriter and a vocal coach. And I have worked with both songwriters who play instruments and songwriters who don't. Which group are a better bunch to work with?

It goes like this. Those who play an instrument (to a certain degree) are more prone to understand timing, tempo and perhaps some syncopation. Sometimes, musicians will also understand the creation of melody a little more than non-musicians. They'll understand the structure of harmony and some music theory that goes along with it.

Because of the various 'pieces' or 'songs' they have played with their instruments, these musical and rhythmic elements are more or less naturally embedded in their brain - in practice and in theory.

Of course, this is GOOD thing. It's an advantage. Now yes - there are non-musicians who are gifted with these elements also, but I'm just talking in general terms here. For the most of it, more musicians will have these elements than non-musicians.

Now here's the twist. It's because of this very same reason that many musicians find it hard to write great songs. How? Well, because there are musicians that are pre-programmed into believing that perhaps a melody should flow a certain way, or maybe a chord sequence shouldn't fall in that pattern, etc, BECAUSE they get caught up in the theory that indirectly tells them "this isn't right".

You see, songwriters who don't know anything about music theory or playing an instrument will write freely. Meaning they won't think about whether something is 'musically right' or not. Of course, you can't write a song of pure non-musicality and expect to get a welcoming reception. You'd be mad to.

But it's nice when you don't think too much about something 'sitting right' musically in the song. Why care? It's a song. If the second verse has 10 bars and the first verse has 8 - so what? No big deal.

On the flip side, there are non-musical songwriters who just need that little push to learn some very basic chords on a piano or guitar....just to give them that edge and sometimes to even super-charge their creativity. So....

....here's my conclusion. If you play an instrument and you wish to be a songwriter, then don't think too much about what's musically correct. Let the chords and melody take you away. Don't think about it too much. Yes, stick within the rules of music, but don't get caught up in it.

If you are a non-musician and you write songs, then a great idea would be to learn some very basic chords on the keyboard. This isn't completely mandatory, but it will definitely give your songwriting a boast. Just the basic chords will do. You'll be amazed the kind of music you can make with learning the basic stuff.

And why did I say the keyboard and not the guitar? Well, I believe the keyboard to be fundamentally easier to learn than the guitar, as you can blatantly see the notes for the intervals you are playing face-front.

But please, don't let me deter you from learning the guitar if that's in you to do so. It's a wonderful, natural songwriting accompanying instrument.

If and when you do decide to learn an instrument, I wouldn't get too caught up in the theory, unless it's your desire to really learn about it....

......and if you wish to do so, then try to draw a firm line between your musical ego and your songwriting craft. This is the key here. As much as they may fight against each other, they *can* work together, if you consciously try to find a balance.

Source : http://readbud.com

Learning Musical Instruments

People pick up a musical instrument, the sound produced by which is pleasing to their mind. Different people may prefer different types of musical instruments. The first task that any beginner has to perform is choosing the right musical instrument. This is a very crucial step and requires a considerable amount of research. The research to be done here includes listening to the sounds generated by each instrument. You can do this either by going to a musical instrument store and playing all the instruments there one by one, or by looking at the internet on various websites for the sound files of each instrument.

Then you come to the task of buying an instrument. This is not a very difficult task due to the wide range of choices available to them. Different types of instruments are available at different prices. There is also a wide range of models for each instrument. The person can also look at models available on a large number of websites on the internet. These websites offer instruments at prices less than that of the local offline stores.

Now, you get to the task of learning how to play these instruments. Playing an instrument is not a difficult task as people usually think. By practicing regularly on an instrument of his choice, a person can play whatever tune he wants with terrific ease. What is required here is perseverance and constant effort.

The most effective tools to learn music more effectively in the early stages are singing, playing instruments, moving, and listening. Children usually do all these things when they start training on their musical instruments. Hence, they begin to enjoy the process and hence learning becomes an enjoyable thing for them.

The fundamental music processes are mainly creating, listening and performing. To be able to create the tune he wants, the person must have good hold over his instrument. Hence, this increases his control over his instrument. He must also listen to the good tunes played by others and analyze what variations the player is making on the instrument to generate the tune. Another important requirement to excel in the field of music is to be able to perform the tune of your choice in front of other people.

Please purchase good quality instruments even if they are a little highly priced. They generate better sounds than old instruments and increase the confidence of the player.

Source : http://readbud.com

How to get your husband to cancel his weekly poker game

Over the past few years it always bothered me that my husband would go play poker with his friends every Friday night. Whenever I complained that it would be nice to spend time with my husband on Friday, he just complains that this is the only time he gets to be with his friends.

I decided I had to come up with a way to make him choose me over his poker buddies so I tried many different things, at first I tried by asking him to stay home so we could have sex all night. That worked a few times but then he caught on to what I was doing.

I also tried finding different events that he may want to go to like action movies, car shows and other things of that nature but there were not always things to do, so that was another failed attempt.

But after 6 months of trying I had just about given up, finally at my wits end I decided that maybe I could get real good fast I could challenge him to a game and if I won he had to stop going to his game, and if he won I would pay for him to go to Vegas I spent every spare moment I had reading everything I could find online about Texas Holdem. Eventually I decided to go online and practice at some Video Poker.

Eventually I started playing for real cash Online, and once or twice while he was at his game I would drive to one of the local casinos and play for a few hours in their poker rooms.

Finally I felt I was good enough to make the challenge. So one night I told him that I wanted him to stop going to his Friday night games and to stay home with me, as I had expected it started a big argument. I waited until he made his speech about working hard and needing some "guy" time.

So I felt this was my time to strike, I asked him if he would at least allow me to come and watch the game, to which he replied that players only as the rule and that since I did not know how to play I could not go.

So I said if he could do it how hard can it be that really got him going, so he then asked me if I wanted to make the game a little interesting with a little bet. Now I had exactly what I wanted.

I said if he won I would pay for him to go to Las Vegas alone, he did not know I had made some good money playing poker recently, and if I won he would give up his seat in his regular Friday night game.

He looked at me suspiciously at first and I thought he was not going to risk it but he said ok. He ran to the closet and grabbed his chips we each started of with $100 in chips and agreed the first one out is the loser.

Well in the end it was me that lost, but he was so excited at how good I was that he did stop going to his Friday night game, now every Friday night we go and play together at the casino. We have been doing this for 2 years now and our relationship has never been this good.

Sometimes it really is better to try to get interested in his hobby.

Source : http://readbud.com

Choice Theory

You have listened to me for a year now talking about Choice Theory but I know I've never really explained what Choice Theory is. Choice Theory is actually an explanation of all human behavior developed by Dr. William Glasser.

There are basically five components of this theory-the basic human needs, the quality world, the perceived world, the comparing place and total behavior. I'll give a brief overview of each one, starting with the five basic human needs.

The Basic Human Needs
We are born with five basic human needs-survival, love & belonging, power, freedom and fun. We are all born with these needs but we experience them to varying degrees. One person might have a high love & belonging need, while another person is high in freedom. We are born with these needs and are biologically driven to get them met in the best way available to us.

The Quality World
This is a place that exists inside all of us where we store pictures of things that have satisfied one or more of our basic needs in the past or things we think may satisfy them in the future. These things do not have to meet society's definition of quality. Alcohol is in the quality world of an alcoholic, steeling cars in the quality world of a car thief, and domestic violence is in the quality world of a batterer. The only two requirements for entry into the quality world are that it meets one or more of our needs and it feels good.

The Perceived World
There is much to be said about the perceived world but for the purposes of this article, all I want to say is that we each have our own perceptions of the world. Our sensory system takes in information through sight, touch, sound, taste and scent, however we all have unique ways of processing that information based on our life experiences, our culture, and our values.

The main thing to remember about the perceived world is that if you encounter others whose perceived world doesn't match yours, it doesn't mean one of you is wrong. It simply means you are different. Remembering this simply statement will reduce much of the disagreements and fighting that occurs in people's lives. Acceptance of this fact would mean we could give up the need to convince others of our point of view. We could simply accept the fact that we see things differently and move on.

The Comparing Place
The comparing place is where we weigh what we want from our quality world against our perceptions of what we believe we are actually getting. When these two things are a match, all is well.

However, when our perceptions and quality world don't line up, in other words we perceive we are not in possession of the things we want, then we are driven to action to get those things we are thinking about. People generally don't make a lot of progress or change the things they are currently doing unless they are in some degree of discomfort-the greater the pain the more motivation to try something different.

This is where conventional wisdom tells us that if we want what's best for other people in our lives, then it is our responsibility to raise their pain level to get them to do things differently because we generally know what's best for them. Right?

Wrong. We can only know what's best for ourselves. Remember, our perceived worlds are all different. We have unique values and experiences. How can we possibly know what's best for someone else when we haven't been in their skin or lived their life? We can only know what's best for ourselves.

Total Behavior
There are two main things about behavior. One is that all behavior is purposeful and two is that all behavior is total. Let's begin with the idea that all behavior is total. There are four inseparable components of behavior-action, thinking, feeling and physiology. These all exist simultaneously during any given behavior in which we engage. The first two components-acting and thinking-are the only components over which we can have direct control. This means that if we want to change how we are feeling or something that is happening in our bodies (physiology), then we must first consciously change what we are doing or how we are thinking.

As for all behavior being purposeful, all behavior is our best attempt to get something we want. We are never acting in response to some external stimulus. We are always acting proactively to get something we want. This means that when I would yell at my son to clean his room after asking him nicely several times, I wasn't yelling because my son "made me mad." I was yelling because I was still using my best attempt to get him to do what I wanted, which was to clean his room. This seems like I'm splitting hairs but it's an important distinction to make when you are attempting to move from a victim's role to that of an empowered person.

The Implications
Choice Theory pretty much rids us of the idea that people are "misbehaving." All anyone is doing is their best attempt to get something they want. Of course in the process, they may break laws, disregard rules and hurt others but those are really side effects of doing the best they know how to get their needs met. We are all doing our best-some of us simply have better tools, resources and behaviors at our disposal than others.

If we embrace Choice Theory's concepts, then our function should be more to educate and help others self-evaluate the effectiveness of their own behavior. Know that often they will continue to do things exactly as they have because it's familiar and/or because what they are doing really is getting them something they want. It is not our job to stop them, nor is it our job to rescue them from the consequences of their own behavior.

We can only make our best attempt to help others evaluate the effectiveness of their behavior and to choose a different way that perhaps is not against the rules or doesn't hurt the person or someone else. Then, we need to get out of the way and let the situation play out. This may seem hard to do-like you aren't doing your job as a parent, teacher, counselor, or supervisor, however, I ask, what is the alternative?

When you attempt to force or coerce or bribe another person to do things he or she doesn't want to do, you may be successful. You may be able to find the right reward or create a painful enough consequence to get another person to do what you want but in so doing you are breeding resentment and contempt. Your relationship will suffer. If you believe, as I do, that relationship is the root of all influence, then you are losing your ability to influence another by using external control.

Source: http://readbud.com

How to Act on a First Date

The key to a successful first date is to relax and just be the real you. If you try to act in a way that you think the other person will like, then they may start liking someone who you are not, and in the end you will wind up breaking up and getting hurt, so honest truly is the best policy, and in the end if you are just being you and it does not work you, you know they were not the one for you.

Dating is like gambling at poker, sure a good bluff may win you a hand or two but you are not going to win the World Series of Poker by bluffing, only by playing the best you can. This is no different from dating if you make things up to try and impress this person they are not liking you but are liking the fake you and eventually they will see the two are no the same.

Try to think back to the things you talked about when the both of you spoke on the phone and see if you learned anything that may help you decide where to go for your date, but if you do not have enough information about them to know what they may like you sometimes have to gamble and throw the dice, and hope you don't crap out.

The most important thing to do on a first date is to have a good time, the bigger a deal you make of it the harder it is going to be and the higher the chances of you making a jerk of yourself. If you are nervous before the date take a few minutes and take a few deep breaths and if this does not help then I recommend you do what I like to do in the casinos when my nerves are bothering me I simply have a drink. The alcohol in one drink will usually calm me down enough to concentrate.

The key to having a nice first date is simple:

Take her/ him to a nice place, quite but not too quiet, you should be able to hear each other but other distractions are also good for those uncomfortable moments.

Do not take her/ him to a place where your friends hang out, this will make her/ him feel as if they are being ganged up on or they may feel out of place and resent you for making them feel that way.

It is very important to have the whole night planned out already before the date and have a backup idea just incase. The tricky part is making it look like it was not all planned. Let's say you decide that you are going to take her for dinner, then after you want to take a walk on the beach do not just say hey after dinner let's take a walk on the beach. I would recommend you wait till after dinner and ask her if she wants to take a walk to burn off dinner and then take her to the beach.

Then when you are on the beach take her/his hand while walking, this makes a physical connection between you and makes it easier later on when you go for your first kiss.

Just remember that dating is a gambling sometimes you are going to get a bad hand and eventually if you play your cards right you will find the right person and win the jackpot.

Source : http://readbud.com