Today at Techie youth I learned about web development. Web development is essentially building and developing a website. Website development is an integral part of business in today's society as everything is connected to and through the web and every successful business must leverage using online servers to reach a lot of customers. Some new terminology I learned about in this unit were HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and what these programming languages do. HTML is the base program language for the website. CSS is a language used to help design and layout the website which is uber important for drawing in customers and keeping customers on your website. JavaScript is also very important because it allows the web page to be interactive. Web pages need to be interactive so that customers can click on links and move around the website with ease.
Today at techie youth I learned about using social media platforms as a stream of revenue. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter offer ways in which users can build up an account up to a point where they can begin to use that account to earn money. Facebook ads are on the most famous ways people use social media to make money. For companies running ads on platforms that have millions of users are extremely important and vital to the business as it brings a large amount of eyes to your product. When creating facebook ads you must be creative and make it worthwhile for the user to click on the ad or else people will choose to almost always ignore the ad. On top of being creative you must also use a call to action in the ad in order to lead people to the product website and to potentially buy the product. Conversion rate from social media ads are low but when the ad is viewed by millions and millions of people you will have a certain percentage of users clicking on and buying the product. This information is also useful because you can test out which ads generate more traffic to your website and increase conversion rates. Twitter is a bit different in that in order to start gaining money you must generally hit the 10,000 follower mark. Sponsored tweets and twitter ads are ways in which you can use that account to start earning money.
Today at techie youth I learned about business plans and the different ways people sell digital goods. A business plan is a plan that is concocted to help guide and manage an entrepreneur. Business plans vary depending upon what is being sold. Selling digital goods is vastly different than businesses selling physical, tangible goods. Digital goods are goods that are intangible such as selling a service. Services such as Netflix, Disney+, amazon prime, and any other monthly subscription online service. These services are much different than tangible products because physical products are made up of materials that must be purchased and stored in an inventory. Online subscription services differ in that there are no physical materials needed to make and sell each subscription and there is no physical inventory. The inventory can be looked at as the data base infrastructure to keep the services up and running and available to be purchased at any time
Today at techie youth I learned about where artists sell their art online aside from the major social media platforms Facebook and Instagram and the roles within the art industry. Some of those websites include Etsy, fine art America, storenvy, minted, pinterest, etc. These websites are mainly online platforms that allow you to create a website storefront for your artwork. This is different than say a Facebook marketplace since Facebook is a website used for a plethora of different things these websites are prioritized for artwork.In terms of roles within the art industry one role I learned about was being an art advisor or art consultant. An art advisor is someone who educates client about certain artwork that is of interest to the client and provides access to that artwork for the client.
Today at techie youth I learned about selling art online. Selling art online is something that many people do on a plethora of different platforms. You can sell art on websites like Etsy, Facebook, Instagram, eBay, and so many others. For Instagram, there are certain tips and tricks that people use to sell their art. Use filters and photo editors on your phone to help design the art to your liking, Using certain hashtags under your posts that are not too over-utilized to where your work is drowned out by others but not too underutilized that many people won't see it. Another aspect of selling your art online is getting your name out there as an artist so people will know who you are, the artist behind the art. Websites like Shopify and Squarespace help with this in that you can create a whole website for your art and can tell your story and where you come from. A big part of selling to people is having relatability with another person, you are more likely to sell to someone who likes you or can relate to you than you are to sell to someone that has neither.
Today at techie youth I finished the writing unit section. After finishing off the writing unit I learned about technical writing, transcription, and grant writing. Technical writing is a style of writing that is meant for detailed instruction. Examples of technical writing include instruction manuals, installation guides, etc. This type of writing is very specific and leaves almost no room for creative expression such as blogging. Transcription is a job that companies hire people to do when they would like a video or audio translated into writing. Essentially transcription writing is listening to an audio or video and typing out exactly what you hear. Grant writing is when you a person or an entity would write to foundations and corporations for grant funding for a charity or nonprofit organization. In this type of writing is very important to pay attention to detail since you must persuade these companies to invest their time and money into your organization.
Today at Techie youth I learned about copywriting, blogs, and ghostwriting. Copy writing is a type of writing that is centered around marketing a product or service. Things such as mass emails or advertisements. The point of copywriting is to ultimately convince the reader or viewer to take action to click a link or buy a product. The strategy used is that in the writing there must be the features of the product or service and the benefits. Writing about the features allows the viewer/reader to understand the inner workings of the product and the benefits allow them to understand how it will help solve a problem they are having. Helping solve a problem is the key component to the success of a business so if you can master showing customers the benefits of your product it will more than likely be a success. Blogs, short for "web log", are places on the internet where one can write about practically anything they feel like writing about. It can be something creative, informative, or selling something to others. Ghost writing is when someone is paid to write something and that work is not accredited to the ghost writer, hence the name "ghost" writing.
Today at Techie Youth I learned about Writing for magazines and journals. Writing for different publications involves a plethora of different writing styles and techniques. For example, writing for a magazine is much different than writing for a journal. For starters, Journals are peer-reviewed pieces of literature that are viewed upon as academic writing. Vernacular used in scholarly journals are held to a much higher standard than that of a magazine. Scholarly journals also are working with data and statistics and used charts and graphs in their writing. Magazine writing is a bit less strict in terms of jargon used based on the audience reading the content. Magazine writing of course must be edited and professional but magazine articles are more so intended to be compelling and controversial rather than statistics and data-based like scholarly journal writing. Also, magazine writers are fairly decently compensated on a nationwide scale being at an average of 71K a year. Also learned about the Pros and Cons of traditional book publishing. The pros are being validated by the "top guys", book distribution is much easier as they have large bookstore connections and they are established professionals in the book publishing space. The cons are the process is slow, you give up a bit part of creative control over your work and the royalty percentage on books sold isn't very high. The traditional publishing route has the major pro that they have distribution connections and are established but you will ultimately be giving up a lot of control over the creativity of the marketing of the book and will be paid a fairly low royalty for your own work.
Today at techie youth I learned about fundraising. Fundraising is something very important that keeps not-for-profit companies afloat. Nearly 80% of the money for non-profits comes from donations from individuals. Raising money is extremely vital to keeping non-profits afloat so understanding how to run a fundraiser is extremely important. There are different types of online funding which include: crowdfunding, social media campaigns, and celebrity fundraising. Crowdfunding is a fundraising method in which the company seeks to raise a large sum of money through many different little investors as opposed to seeking a couple of large investors or a bank. Social media campaigns are self-explanatory in that, you use social media to promote and bring traction to your company and your cause in the hopes of gaining monetary supporters. Social media campaigns have to be strategic to where you are not only promoting the company and fundraising but also showing how the company is helpful to others because people will start to be annoyed by strictly promotion-based content asking viewers for money. The split is around 80% content showing how your business helps and 20% promotional content. Celebrity fundraising is a little different in that you are looking for someone that aligns with the same values as your brand but has a huge following. Having a celebrity onboard can be a huge asset to a company because they have hundreds of thousands if not millions of people constantly looking at their feeds so with them promoting your content at least a small percentage of those viewers will look into what they are promoting and it gives your business a major boost in public awareness of your company.
Today at techie youth I finished the analyst section and started the fundraiser section. I learned about the difference between data analysts vs data scientists. Data analysts are hired to examine and analyze data and regurgitate the findings in a simple and understandable way back to the company. They are also asked for their professional advice on how the company should move forward with the data found. Data scientists are the individuals who help facilitate and create the programs and solutions data analysts use the interpret the data. In the fundraising section, I learned about cold pitching vs warm pitching and the importance of building a relationship with sponsors beyond asking for money. Warm pitching is pitching an idea or business to a business or individual you have been in contact with before. Cold pitching is when you are pitching a business or idea to a person or business you have never been in contact with before. Building a relationship with sponsors is essential to getting and keeping a sponsor. About 80% of sponsors for not-for-profit companies are through individuals so being able to have a relationship beyond asking for money is important because if you solely speak to them for the money you will be just like thousands of other people and they will be looking to move elsewhere with their investments. People want to invest in not only companies they believe and resonate with but also people they resonate with.
Today at Techie youth I learned about skills that are very important to learn for being successful as a data analyst. I learned about programs that you are required to have knowledge of to be a data analyst. Some programs include Excel, R Studio, SQL, and others. Excel is a part of the Microsoft suite that allows chart building, mathematical formulas applied to large sets of data, organization of data, and plenty of other functions. R studio is an IDE or Integrated Development Environment for programming language synonymous with statistics and computations. SQL is a programming language used on IDE's to update or retrieve data. These programs have their own language structure so one must take time and learn the language before being able to use them properly and efficiently.
Today at Techie youth I learned about the different types of analysts there are and what their roles are within the industry. There are mainly two types of analysts: Business Analysts and Data Analysts. Business analysts need to have excellent communication skills as they are responsible for solving a problem related to the business. Their main focus is to use all their resources to propose a strategy that will help a business with a certain issue. Data analysts are heavily involved with crunching the numbers of the business and transforming it into a way to regurgitate the findings back to the business. Data analysts crunch the numbers on any specific issue and can also manipulate the numbers to give a prediction of future performance based on a variety of factors. There are also analysts called internal and external analysts. An internal analyst is someone who was hired to solve an issue and continue in that position with the company. An external analyst is someone who was solely hired to solve a specific issue and then be released from their duties for that specific company.
Today at Techie youth I learned about more categories of skills for virtual assistant opportunities. In the literary section, I learned about the difference in English dialect between American English and British English. I also learned about proofreading which essentially is just editing documents, emails, or letters and checking for grammatical errors. I also learned about virtual meetings such as Zoom, Skype, and Google hangouts. These applications are amazing platforms that give individuals the ability to enter a meeting with people from anywhere in the world practically. It facilitates business and corporate meetings that may not be held in person, especially during the recent pandemic. I also learned about e-commerce websites like Shopify and eBay. These platforms allow users to basically have online stores. Shopify is more of an online store website platform that allows users to pay to access their platform to create an online store and engage in online sales of their products. eBay is a website that is more geared toward an auction type of set-up where people can put up anything they own for sale and individuals can set an offer price or buy the product outright for the price it is posted for.
Today at Techie youth I learned about virtual jobs and how to perfect your emailing skills and set up your Gmail account. Virtual jobs consist of jobs that are done remotely that can be done from almost anywhere in the world with an internet connection. Jobs such as Transcribing,email management, being travel agent etc. Transcribing is the process in which you are sent an audio of some form and must type of what the audio says. To work this job you must be typing generally above 50 WPM and they pay per word. This is a way to make immediate income but not very much with websites like REV, Transcibeme, Quicktate and others. Email management is organizing an email account to clean up how it looks and ease of access. Labeling emails helps sift through all emails so that you can have a section of only just important emails. Being a travel agent is fairly simple in that you must search for hotel deals for your employer based on their needs. Websites like booking.com and trip advisor are websites designed to help find deals on vacations. A lot of these virtual opportunities are good ways to make a decent amount of income wherever you may be in the world but are often times not sustainable long term solutions for a career
Today at Techie youth I learned about Talent acquisition/Recruitment and the methods that go into it. Recruitment is more akin to filling a vacant role swiftly. Talent Acquisition is more of a process in which recruiters will be filtering through applicants that have specific skills tailored to the specific role. Recruiters use software called "Applicant Tracking Software" that is used to sift through resumes using keywords to match the roles' qualifications. I also learned about the importance of a resume and cover letter. A resume must go beyond listing your work experience and general information. On your resume, you must check for spelling errors, and punctuation errors and list hard/soft skills. Beyond a resume, something that is extremely important to employers is a cover letter. Cover letters give applicants a chance to expand upon their resumes and why they are applying for the job. Cover letters give you an opportunity to let employers know about things that aren't present in a resume and gives more insight into why you would like to work that certain job.
Today at Techie youth I learned about funding strategies, creating a product, and negotiation tactics. Funds for a start-up company often times is hard to come by. Most times companies need investors that believe in their business to either lend them money or give up equity in the company for a set amount of money. In order to sell these investors into making an investment in your company, you must have a pitch that is concise and thorough and shows why your product is needed and how it can compete in its market. In terms of creating a product I learned about MVP which stands for Minimally Viable Product. Minimally Viable Product means creating the lowest version of your product that could still be used by customers. This strategy is used in order to minimize launch costs while getting real user feedback. This strategy allows the entrepreneur to pivot at a much lower cost and your amount burned on the first launch is much less than it would have been if you initially launched the full fledged product. In terms of negotiating tactics not being hungry when you are negotiating is really important. When someone is hungry and there is only one food option they would be willing to do almost anything to get that food. Using that analogy in business terms dont be starving to make a deal because you will most likely be making a mistake since you are not in the right mindset. You must be willing to act like you will walk away if the deal isnt to your liking. The point isnt to actually walk away but to haggle a deal that makes it worth your time
Today at Techie youth I learned about identifying your customer market, the different types of business entities, and branding. Identifying your customer market has a lot to do with value proposition. Understanding your product and how it meets the needs of potential customers and how it differs from other products that may be similar to it. Products need to be solving some type of problem or provide happiness to the user and the value proposition is there to let customers know what the product will do for them. In terms of companies, I learned about sole proprietorships vs partnerships vs corporations. A sole proprietorship is when a business is run by one owner and there is no legal distinction between the two. This leaves the owner's personal assets at risk if the company were to get sued. A partnership is essentially a sole proprietorship but with multiple owners and a corporation is essentially a business that acts as an individual entity from the owner. Also for branding, I learned about the different steps it takes to build up a business from a marketing and public relations standpoint. Things like creating a website name, a company email address, creating a logo, and creating a mission statement. These simple things are often overlooked when thinking about becoming an entrepreneur because your focus is solely on creating the product but they are very important to the success of the business in the pioneer period.
Today at techie youth I learned about a plethora of facets that entail starting your own business and creating a new product. When starting a business one of the first things that should be considered is comparative advantage. Essentially why are you making the product and how is it different than everything else in the market? Also understanding the market you are entering into in terms of break-even costs, cost of overhead, profit margin, etc. One of the most important things is also learning when to give up on a business or not even start the business. Many businesses fail because of market saturation or the lack of demand for a specific product. For a product to be successful it must either be a need and solve some problem people have or make people happy. If a product doesn't fit either criteria then it is most likely a product that will fail because there will be no demand for it.
Today at techie youth I learned about commodities and remote jobs. Commodities are economic resources that can be traded on a market just like stocks or crypto. There are many different types of commodities. Agriculture commodities such as coffee, corn, cotton, etc. There are also Livestock and meat commodities so beef, chicken, milk, cattle, etc. The next type of commodity is energy products which contain oil and gas and the last type are metals such as copper or aluminum. The commodities market is solely based on supply and demand and the purpose of the trading commodities market is because an investor/trader believes either a certain commodity will rise in demand or lower in demand causing it to either rise in price or fall in price. In the remote jobs section, I was learning about the different online work opportunities that are out there in the market. From freelancing to digital marketing and Data entry/typewriting. Freelance writing is a job where a person writes blogs or articles for whatever company hires them to do so but they are not bound by one employer by contract. Digital marketers help companies develop and enhance different strategies to market their business to customers through online advertising. Data entry and typewriting are similar in that they both require some type of fast typing skills and entering data into a computer. Typewriting is more focused on typing out whatever it is the company may send you like an audio tape of something that needs to be written down. Data entry is more number based in that you will be entering numbers into some type of software.
Today at Techie youth I learned about Forex, REITS, and Stock options. Forex,aka the Foreign exchange market, is a market of currencies around the world. The Forex market is open 24 hours a day and is a market in which many people speculate and trade many different types of currencies. The ultimate goal of trading in the Forex market is to change one currency for another in hope that it will go up. REITS are a way for small retail investors to get into the real estate market. REITs or, Real estate investment trusts, are companies that you can buy shares of that purchase or finance real estate properties in the public and private sectors. REITs are good because it essentially acts like a stock split for physical real estate purchases in that small retail investors can engage within real estate by buying a piece of a company that owns real estate. Stock options give an investor the right to exercise the selling or purchase of a set amount of stock at a certain price before a certain date. A put option allows the investor to sell a certain stock at a certain strike price in hopes that the stock went down after purchasing the option to take advantage of the price discrepancy. A call option is the opposite of a put option in that the investor buys the right to buy a certain stock at a certain price by a certain date. The goal of a call option is to hope the price goes up once you purchase it and then the stock will be higher than the strike price. When the strike price is higher than the current stock price a call option has intrinsic value and can be sold for a profit. When the strike price is below the current stock price the put option has intrinsic value and can be sold for profit.
Today i learned about cryptocurrency and the inner workings of the blockchain. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized payment systems that people can obtain via the cryptocurrency market. The cryptocurrency market is 24hrs and can be purchased through applications like Robinhood and other platforms. These cryptocurrencies run based off blockchain technology through either Proof of stake or Proof of work. Transactions are not verified through a third-party system such as a bank it is rather verified through miners in the blockchain. The cryptocurency unit was very informative and important as defi and crypto are major parts of the future of finance that most people dont understand
Today I learned about ways in which to improve your quality of life. The most important being to value your time. Time is money and time is something that you cannot get back. Wasting your valuable time on things that only bring you temporary satisfaction such as TV and video games doesn't allow for progression in the real world. Also, invest money into things that decrease time spent on everyday chores such as a dishwasher and washing machine so that you can increase your time available to be doing other productive things. Also learning about time management is immensely important with its sub-categories being planning, organizing, prioritizing, and stress management. Ultimately your time is the most important thing that you should protect since you can never get it back, so be productive as possible with your time and try to decrease time spent on activities that are either nonproductive or have alternatives that can shorten the time spent on them.
Today I learned a plethora of important information at Techie Youth. I learned about tactics and ways that businesses try to take advantage of employees by having them work extra unpaid hours. I learned how to combat this by subtracting those extra hours from another day of work if those extra hours were unpaid. Also how to not get taken advantage of in a professional setting. Another important thing I learned about was being mindful and aware of scams. Some ways you can spot a scam are unfathomable promises, wanting all the money upfront, no verification of reputable clients, selling an item for much less than market value, etc. Also learned something extra important to me specifically since I am a finance major graduating from college soon, how to network and where to network. Also learned a bit a bout investing and the different type of investments from Stocks, Crypto, ETF, REITS, Collectibles and more.