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polymetis-23 · 4 years ago

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Diary Entry Sept. 12th, 2021

Day 1: Sunday - Computers Galore!

Everything is starting to settle down after the hectic week that was orientation. There are still some events happening for fraternities and sororities, but I don't think I would have the time to commit to them this semester, maybe I'll try recruitment next year. Either way, now that I am not running around like a chicken with their head cut off I can focus on getting properly set up my station.

Wait… I'm not sure I ever explained to y'all what my goal is. Looking back through old posts the answer is no, sorry to keep you in the dark but basically I want to become a hero. I've always loved reading the comics and watching the movies growing up and now I'm somewhere that I can develop the technology to become one myself. Cool right!?

So basically I brought a couple monitors and a desktop tower with me so I could surveille the city for anyone in need of help. I do need to figure out how to hack into the cameras around the city though … I have gotten some books and am taking a class this semester on coding so hopefully the hacking thing won't be too bad. I mean, everyone in movies has somebody who can do it right?

Day 2: Monday - Coding == spaghetti + alphabet soup; result = TRUE

Okay, so I promise I read some of the coding books prior to coming to campus and thought I understood what was going on, but uh, I don't? I mean there are all these letters floating around and subsets of letters that are supposed to be abbreviations for long words but then multiple words start with the same first few letters sooo… yea idk. And even if you can figure out what variable they are talking about (or even the ones you create, because I'll be honest, I term a variable and then work on some code and about 20 lines later have forgotten what it means), you are then jumping all over the place because of functions and then there are classes above functions and objects which can jump between classes and each have their own set of functions so you can't use the same function on different objects if they have different classes unless one is a subclass or the function exists in multiple places but then you could have the same named function that acts differently depending on the class of the object and yeah. Are you confused yet, because I'm not (that is a lie, I am totally lost in this mess of coding and hope the intro class can help untangle it).

Day 3: Tuesday - Going old fashioned

Okay so maybe I was a little over ambitious trying to hack into the city camera network without having taken a single programming class cause yesterday was a complete fail. So I think I'll go a bit more old fashioned and get a radio to scan all the police channels. I'm not giving up, that's not what this is, I'm just putting the coding on a back burner until I actually understand what is happening, plus the police scanner will be enough for the majority of crimes right?

I went dumpster diving (I know gross) around campus to see if I could find any old police radios, cause correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think store bought radios can usually hear those frequencies? Thankfully it was worth my time cause I found an old radio hidden in-between the cushions of a couch. (those things are literally black holes). Anyway I returned to my room to take a shower and set up the radio.

Upon searching the best ways to connect the radio to my computer, I discovered that yes, you can buy radios that can listen to police channels so I guess all that the dumpster diving did was save me some money/time (you can apparently build these things too? Maybe I should research more often). Anyway I got the radio hooked up to my computer so I can keep things centralized before going to sleep. Oh yeah, classes also start tomorrow.

Day 4: Wednesday - Classes, Yay!?

So I had my first day of classes today and isn't college supposed to be less time consuming than highschool even if the material is more advanced? Classes only meet 2-3 times a week and I don't even have all my classes everyday. Like seriously, in highschool I had 7 classes every day 5 days a week. How on earth did my 3 classes today feel like more work? Maybe I'm just not used to it after summer break? I'm going to bed early tonight cause I have my remaining 2 classes tomorrow and I feel like I'm gonna need more energy than a single human can possess.

Day 5: Thursday - Classes aren't that bad.

I guess I was just a little overwhelmed yesterday cause today was much better. Maybe it was partly because I attended a small highschool so, seeing that many people in the same long hallway was a very new experience. Maybe I'm just starting to get into the swing of things, I don't know. Reflecting on classes so far, I don't have much actual work yet seeing as most classes have just been reviewing the syllabi, though I'm sure I will actually have to start learning stuff tomorrow and next week.

I did have some free time today in which I was able to create a prototype of the lenses that I want to use for my goggles. They're a bit flatter than I would like but I don't know how to curve the technology without breaking it yet so I guess that will be an advancement for later. Thankfully I was able to find some code online that already takes the signal from the camera I ordered and puts it on a screen so I might actually be able to use these soon.

Day 6: Friday - The camera hath arrived!

I got a notification this morning that the camera I ordered had finally arrived and I could pick it up. Thankfully Friday is a pretty light day for me in terms of classes, otherwise I might have skipped some to get the goggles working and that would not have been a good start to my college career. Of course nothing can go smoothly when building stuff (why do shows have everything just working, can't they actually show me how to make it work and the errors I might encounter? It is so much more entertaining watching them than some old white dude drone on about vectors and integration… maybe the fact that they montage through the failures is what allows the shows to be interesting. Hmm something to chew on there I guess.)

I'm writing this at midnight and should probably get some sleep, but I will most definitely be testing these goggles tomorrow.

Day 7: Saturday - The test!

The goggles turned on without blowing up! (That's a start right, something I should be excited about and not something that is a given with these sorts of things?) And I could actually see what the camera was seeing, although it was a little disorientating cause the camera is a good inch above my eyes and the screen is translucent so I'm getting an overlap between what I can see in front of me an a shrunken off set view of what the camera can see. The weirdest thing is the fact that the IR camera (the code maybe?) shows things tinted red, I guess that is how the programmer decided to depict the IR waves since we can't normally see them. The camera had a couple different modes built in, the most interesting being the thermal detection where everything was displayed in a gradient across the rainbow (I'm sure that will come in handy later). But I think the default is all I can use for now with the contrasting position of the camera and my eyes, I'll have to sort the rest out later.

I went outside once it got dark to test the goggles in a setting more similar to where I would be using them. Thankfully I went out late and there weren't a lot of people around. Everything was covered in a haze of red, I had no idea there was this much ambient IR radiation. Some of the building windows were slightly more intense, I assumed there was some poor grad student staying late to finish their research. I continued to look around exploring the new layer of information I could see before turning around to head back to my dorm. As I was walking to my dorm I could see across the river and stopped in my tracks. There were bright red beams shooting across my vision, quickly I took off my goggles to get a better view, but the lights vanished. Confused, I put the goggles back on and there they were again. Every few seconds a bright beam would shoot up off the ground and across the sky. The angle looked too steep to be coming from a window so there was definitely something happening on the ground, but what? That was the question. *low battery* flashed across my eyes. Great, I forgot how long I had been testing the goggles, I'll need to add a power pack to the next version of these. I guess my exploring is done for the night so I'll see you guys next week.

- Polymetis

#fiction #oc #writblr #writing #vigilante series

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pain4gain305 · 8 years ago

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SUP PEEPS CHECK OUT MY NEW BLOG POST HERE.

Hey everyone, Low Vision Guy here with another post.

This post is a little different. I will start posting monthly reports of a new Shopify store that I opened up a month ago.

As you already know. I am visually impaired and as a result, getting around is pretty much limited. I can get around via public transportation or Uber. But I would also like to work from home or anywhere in the world. That is why I created the Low Vision Guy blog and most recently, an E-commerce site called SIMPLEMITTS.COM

The whole purpose of these projects is to create more freedom and make my own schedule. I regularly hear from people (mostly people who are lazy.) that it is a lot of work to run your own business. Frankly, I rather work hard to run MY OWN BUSINESS than run someone else’s! Think about that.

Shopify monthly report for July 2017

So, it has been about a month since I had my Shopify account. If you do not know what a Shopify account is, let me explain.

Shopify is one of many E-commerce sites that lets anybody create an online store. You can have a store to sell almost anything. Whatever your device or product is, Shopify can cater to that.

With low entry fees when it comes to opening an online store, it’s a no brainer that it is a lot cheaper than leasing out space at a mall or having a little kiosk. The newspaper keeps reporting that stores are having a hard time making their sales quotas, due to heavy competition from Amazon, Walmart and over seas wholesale online stores.

With Shopify, you only pay for the monthly plan that best fits your needs. There is no contract, but there is a discount if you do pay in a lump sum. Shopify has over 500,000 users and it safe to say that micro business is here to stay in America.

My business model: Drop Shipping:

Drop shipping is where you open up an online store with “no” inventory. Once a customer makes a purchase, you go to the vendor, buy the product and send it to your customer.

Easy, right? Well for now anyway. Once I start to get more orders, I will look for another method to fulfill them. So far, I notice that the bulk of my time is getting customers to the store.

My store and what I am selling:

My store is called SIMPLEMITTS.COM In this store, I am selling boxing gloves to consumers who have no idea how or where to buy gloves.

The majority of the consumers automatically go to Amazon, Walmart, Target or Dicks Sporting Goods to try to find a good pair of gloves.

I figured that I could build a site just like how shoe companies built their websites.

“Shop for the right occasion.”

The other product that I am selling is training videos to personal trainers on how to do boxing and kickboxing workouts. Just like how there are certifications on how to be a yoga instructor or a TRX instructor, I believe that I have the experience and the knowledge to teach someone to be a boxing mitt instructor. These videos will be digital products versus the traditional physical products. Think of them as on demand videos. Download them to your computer or phone.

My niche market: I have two types of clients.

Before you start selling, you need to be very clear who you are selling too. Without that, then you are running in the dark with a flashlight.

Client #1

My clients are between the ages of 20 and 45 both male and female. In this market, there always seem to be more women than men. I assume it is because of the fitness appeal of doing boxing exercises. Either way, it does not make sense to market people who are too young or too old.

Client #2

The other clients are personal trainers and fitness instructors. Along with the digital products; I am also going to sell trainers equipment. Like for example, jump ropes, training pads and more.

Now that I know my product and clients, It’s time to market and find them.

Selling and Marketing:

I have been in sales for almost 15 years. Most of my experience is face to face and over the phone. I believe that my best quality is talking and connecting with people. So, when it comes to sales, I can connect with people, build rapport and make a sale with hardly any effort. (Granted, it doesn’t always work, but at least they know my name when they come back.)

When it comes to selling online, it’s not harder; it’s just different. It’s a different style, and approach. I believe the same fundamental elements of selling are still there. Even though I know this, the execution is harder than I thought.

Marketing: Facebook adds.

I have heard a lot of great things about Facebook advertising. The fact that Facebook has BILLIONS of users every month from around the world is amazing. Not only that, without people knowing, Facebook is collecting every little bit of data about you so that they can sell it back to marketers.

With the information that you have generously given to Facebook, I was able to make a Facebook Add which I was able to customize and target to the type of client that will buy my product. Makes no sense to target teenagers if they do not meet my demographic. Don’t you agree?

It’s amazing how Facebook Adds can help a business advertise. Now I understand why the print publication is having a hard time selling add spaces to small and large business. I can stretch out a dollar a lot more with Facebook’s data.

This is how it works:

You can put age, gender, region, interest and more. What’s even cooler is that if you are on a budget, you can set your daily adds to charge you $1 a day. Bare in mind; you pay for what you get. The more money you put down, the more you get out of it. In my case, I only had a budget of $5 a day. With $5 a day, I was able to reach about 800 people per day. If I had set my budget to $1 a day, it would have only reached 300 people per day. Still, these are pretty good numbers to me. Your Facebook adds is not just being shown to 300 random people. It’s being shown to exactly 300 potential customers who “fit” your demographic

Okay…

We know our product: We know our market: We know our customer: We know where to find our customer: we know how much our marketing budget is:

It’s time to post….

This is the part that I am struggling with. For these Facebook Adds to be successful, you need to have a great photo or video and engaging call to action lettering.

The digital add has to be so good, that it will make you want to click on it and buy.

Here are my number so far with Facebook Adds.

I ran 7 Facebook Adds I spent $42.36 for the month I reached 5,314 people. I got 93 likes on my Business Facebook page. I got 22 clicks on my website $0 sales . The numbers may seem discouraging, but I feel like this is the price for learning. Compared to what college and universities cost these days. I happily accept these numbers.

Instagram marketing:

My second approach to marketing is using Instagram. Facebook owns Instagram, So, when you pay for an add on Facebook, it also shows to the users on Instagram as well. Which I think it’s a plus because I do not have to spend more money to reach more people on a different platform.

Instagram is a little bit harder for me because there are different variables to consider when using another social media platform.

Picture quality:

First of all, you need to make sure you have good image quality. I have noticed that the accounts with the highest amount of likes and following are the ones with the best picture and video content. If you are someone that likes to take pictures and play with the filters than this will be a great fit for you. On the other side of the coin, if you are someone like me that takes pictures once in a blue moon, then you will have some challenges.

#Hashtags (keywords)

Second, you need to make sure you are using the correct Hashtags. Hashtags are keywords to target your audience. For me, it will be #Boxing #Kickboxing and #BoxingGloves. These keywords are crucial for my business because this will target my ideal customer back to my page.

Consistency:

Third, You need to post pretty regularly on all your social media platforms. If you post one bad quality photo per day then you will have less traffic and by default less interest on your page. The top accounts that do well post at least three photos or videos per day; and of course, they are the highest quality post you will find on the internet.

The best way to look at Social Media and to make sure you are getting the results you want. You have to treat it like a plant. You have to give it daily care and water it every single day for your plant to grow. Right?

Social media is the same thing. If you do not nurture and water your social platforms, then they will not grow. If your platforms cannot grow, then your brand will not grow.

What I learned:

X-I learned how to build an online store. Shopify makes it real easy to create an online store. I have not tried the other services out there. However, I am happy with Shopify and their customer service support.

-Before I put a product out there, I need to do my market research and see what other retailers are selling the same product for. If you are not careful, then your potential customer can easily search and buy the same product somewhere cheaper.

-I learned how to launch Facebook adds. I am still in the beginning stages of it. However, I am pretty sure the more I do it, the better I will get.

-I need to treat social media like plants. If I do not water them daily, then they will not grow. Same concept here. I need to spend at least an hour a day to maintain my social media presence. Posting on social media can reduce my marketing cost and will help me build a funnel of potential customers going forward.

-I need to publish high-quality pictures. The generic screen shots of the products are not enough. So, I ordered some inventory to the house. When they arrive, I will do a product review. Hopefully, that will generate more traffic.

Well, I hope for the 2nd month I will have better numbers to report. Thanks for reading the post and look forward to hearing from you soon!!