Many things learned are useful in other aspects of life.
Recently, I have learned a lot about business taxes and now personal taxes are so much easier to tackle. And, reading the IRS publications aren't that bad anymore. Prior to doing all of the business taxes research, I thought the IRS website and publications were overly complicated. Now, I consider each pub to be light reading even though they are small font, three columns per page, and typically around 5-40 pages.
I feel good.
~ Danial Goodwin ~
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good. Show all posts
2014-03-10
2014-02-16
Level Up - Creativity: Revamp Old Ideas
A thought just occurred to me, how am I going to describe the next game I create?
One requirement would have to be that the description entices visitors to download the game and try it..
So, I could try to be original, which I usually do try to do.. Or, a new strategy occurred to me: be original within the bounds of what people already know about.
Here's a few descriptions for new games off the top of my head:
- Bomberman, without the bombs.
- Flappy Bird, but you're a fish, and underwater, avoiding nasty underwater cactus.
- Flappy Bird + Bomberman = Try to blow up pixel birds.
- Pong, but one player and no computer opponent.
- Side-scrolling shooter
Maybe these aren't the most creative ideas, but they can work. For more creativity, assumption reversal usually works better. Post coming soon. ;)
~ Danial Goodwin ~
One requirement would have to be that the description entices visitors to download the game and try it..
So, I could try to be original, which I usually do try to do.. Or, a new strategy occurred to me: be original within the bounds of what people already know about.
Here's a few descriptions for new games off the top of my head:
- Bomberman, without the bombs.
- Flappy Bird, but you're a fish, and underwater, avoiding nasty underwater cactus.
- Flappy Bird + Bomberman = Try to blow up pixel birds.
- Pong, but one player and no computer opponent.
- Side-scrolling shooter
Maybe these aren't the most creative ideas, but they can work. For more creativity, assumption reversal usually works better. Post coming soon. ;)
~ Danial Goodwin ~
2013-12-30
Brand Marketing: Free T-Shirts
When doing a free t-shirt promotion, it is better to make the wearer look good rather than make the brand stand out the most. Then, user will wear the shirt more in more prominent places.
Thus, it follows that more brand promotion will occur if it makes the user look better. So, if you have the money to give away free t-shirts, then spend a few extra dollars to ensure that initial batch of t-shirts gets used well.
Caveat: The uber-fans will wear anything.
~ Danial Goodwin ~
Thus, it follows that more brand promotion will occur if it makes the user look better. So, if you have the money to give away free t-shirts, then spend a few extra dollars to ensure that initial batch of t-shirts gets used well.
Caveat: The uber-fans will wear anything.
~ Danial Goodwin ~
2013-11-13
Danial Versus Memory
The bad thing about having good memory is that, along with all the good things remembered, you also remember the mistakes.
Wait...
Maybe that isn't a bad thing. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, right? How can we do that without first knowing the mistakes and remembering them?
~ Danial Goodwin ~
Wait...
Maybe that isn't a bad thing. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes, right? How can we do that without first knowing the mistakes and remembering them?
~ Danial Goodwin ~
2013-11-06
Money In The Bank 2
So, awhile back I wrote a post titled, "Money In The Bank Is Freedom On My Back". I just thought of a small extension to it, so sharing away!!
Last time, in an uncharacteristic fashion, I wrote from a single biased perspective. So, I want to make it up this time by better covering multiple perspectives about "money in the bank".
To begin my basic research, this time I opted for the auto-complete feature of search engines.
From a Google search beginning with that phrase, I found:
- "Money in the bank is like toothpaste in the tube"
- "Money in the bank is safe"
- My blog post
- "Money in the bank is stupid"
- "How much money in the bank is insured"
- "Money in the bank is peace of mind"
All of these seem like reasonable perspectives, or at least understandable. When using Chrome's incognito mode, only the last "peace of mind" one shows up.
From a Bing search beginning with that phrase, "money in the bank is " (note the extra space after is), I found:
- "Money in the bank is it m1"
- "Money in the bank in the water"
- "Money in the bank in hot springs ar"
Then I noticed more results when I didn't put the extra space after "is". These results included the ones from above and more:
- "Money in the bank images"
- "Money in the bank injuries"
- "Money in the bank singer"
- "Money in the bank instrumental"
This blog post was suppose to be about me extending my previous money blog post. But, these are very interesting results. I probably should write another post just on the results (I did right here: Money In The Bank 3). The very interesting thing about these results is that it shows what type of people use each search engine! So many things can be said about each search engines' users. Here's just one of the ideas before I link to my full write-up on these results. Google users appear to be straightforward. Bing users appear to be more influenced by media (click here to read more search engine user analysis).
Anyways, getting back on to the original topic. It appears that 2 auto-complete answers are okay with money in the bank, and the other 2 societal answers are against money in banks, oh, and one isn't sure yet. Also, I have a few more perspectives of my own. I'll summarize all the the different thoughts below, in a tree:
"Money in the bank" is..:
When I started this post, I did not know there were going to be this many different thoughts about it. And, these are all big picture still. If anybody else things of more, then I will gladly edit this "chart" to reflect that, and include the idea-er's name.
The real reason I started writing this post was to talk about what's the difference between greed and ambition?
Oh no, time's up for this post. ;)
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - Maybe it's perspective on life. That may or may not be all of it.
pps - Always time for postscripts. ;) ;)
Last time, in an uncharacteristic fashion, I wrote from a single biased perspective. So, I want to make it up this time by better covering multiple perspectives about "money in the bank".
To begin my basic research, this time I opted for the auto-complete feature of search engines.
From a Google search beginning with that phrase, I found:
- "Money in the bank is like toothpaste in the tube"
- "Money in the bank is safe"
- My blog post
- "Money in the bank is stupid"
- "How much money in the bank is insured"
- "Money in the bank is peace of mind"
All of these seem like reasonable perspectives, or at least understandable. When using Chrome's incognito mode, only the last "peace of mind" one shows up.
From a Bing search beginning with that phrase, "money in the bank is " (note the extra space after is), I found:
- "Money in the bank is it m1"
- "Money in the bank in the water"
- "Money in the bank in hot springs ar"
Then I noticed more results when I didn't put the extra space after "is". These results included the ones from above and more:
- "Money in the bank images"
- "Money in the bank injuries"
- "Money in the bank singer"
- "Money in the bank instrumental"
This blog post was suppose to be about me extending my previous money blog post. But, these are very interesting results. I probably should write another post just on the results (I did right here: Money In The Bank 3). The very interesting thing about these results is that it shows what type of people use each search engine! So many things can be said about each search engines' users. Here's just one of the ideas before I link to my full write-up on these results. Google users appear to be straightforward. Bing users appear to be more influenced by media (click here to read more search engine user analysis).
Anyways, getting back on to the original topic. It appears that 2 auto-complete answers are okay with money in the bank, and the other 2 societal answers are against money in banks, oh, and one isn't sure yet. Also, I have a few more perspectives of my own. I'll summarize all the the different thoughts below, in a tree:
"Money in the bank" is..:
- Good
- Money is safe
- At least it grows more than money under the bed.
- Freedom to be yourself, not have to work in disliked job. Freedom to travel.
- Available anywhere
- Bad
- Banks are evil
- Can't/refuse to think ahead (...then typically spend right away)
- There are better ways to use money
- Make experiences / help others
- Make more money (...then do the above)
- Greed
- Ambition
- Neutral
- Just don't know
- Don't have money
- "no interest rate" (Technically, getting more money ~0.1%-1% interest, but technically losing money because of ~3% inflation)
When I started this post, I did not know there were going to be this many different thoughts about it. And, these are all big picture still. If anybody else things of more, then I will gladly edit this "chart" to reflect that, and include the idea-er's name.
The real reason I started writing this post was to talk about what's the difference between greed and ambition?
Oh no, time's up for this post. ;)
~ Simply Advanced ~
ps - Maybe it's perspective on life. That may or may not be all of it.
pps - Always time for postscripts. ;) ;)
2013-08-26
Graphs: 3x4 Types Of Goods And Services
The following graph explains the three different types of goods and services very well. It helps in determining what type of pricing structure you should use when you sell something. In my realm, it is how to price a smartphone application.
After the picture is my own take on the 3 categories.
Categories, from left to right:
1. Consumables, seasonal apps, fad/meme apps: These apps will be used only a few times at the most, then eventually probably uninstalled. Examples include apps that play off from something happening in the news, or an app for an Internet meme like that one dancing craze I forgot about already (Harlem shake).
2. News, reference sheets, utilities, tools: These apps will always be of use to the user, and functionality in them typically don't change drastically. Examples include flashlight apps, unit converters, information apps about a particular topic, and hourly/daily/weekly news feeds.
3. Productivity, social, leveling-up games: These apps get more useful the more you use them. Example: When you store more files in Dropbox, then the app becomes more useful to access, backup, and share files, thus you use it more. When using these apps, there is either a real or perceived difficulty in changing service providers. Users may worry about the future of these apps much more than the other two categories.
In each of the app marketplaces, apps that fit the first category (with consumables) are the most prevalent. And, apps in the third category are the most scarce. And, or course, there are always exceptions in the examples I gave, I will not list them all here.
Here's the pricing structure that should be used, in general, for each of these categories (if you want to make money from the app). An easy way to remember is: charge for the app when it is the most valuable to the user.
1. Charge once, early.
2. In order of preference: (1) Subscription model to keep all the information updated, or just to have access to the data/information. (2) Charge once, early. Then have additional (major) updates cost extra. (3) Ads.
3. Freemium: App should start off free and have enough basic features in order for most users to be satisfied with that. Then you should charge for more features only to users that get the most value out of your product. If you never have to update the app again, then a one-time fee is okay. But, if you are going to be providing updates to the app, then don't work for free! A subscription model or in-app purchases will allow you to stay in the business of creating more great apps and keeping that one updated and fresh.
But, wait! There's more!
You don't have all the information yet required for building a proper business model. In addition to those 3 categories above, your app can be further classified into one of the following 4 categories.
This following graph should give you a more thorough understanding of what type of app you have:
(I have labelled the quadrants according to mathematically standards with 1 in the top-right, going counter-clockwise to 4 in the bottom-right. A few hand-selected apps are positioned roughly in their corresponding quadrants.)
The biggest take-away from this graph is that most apps in the market are in quadrant 3 (least profitable), and it is very rare to have an app in quadrant 1, the most profitable quadrant.
Wide appeal apps have the luxury of choosing to only charge once and still be in a profitable business because many new smartphone users will always need/want these apps. Thus, a "never ending" source of income. Narrow appeal (niche) apps will not be able to draw as many downloads. So, a charge once business model is not sustainable in the long run. Though, many developers of quadrant 3 choose to create a framework and keep switching out the data to create new apps very quickly and easily. Example: A Chuck Norris joke app and Shakespeare Insult app could share 95+% of the code by just changing the database where the information is pulled. So, by creating many cheap niche apps, these developers are effectively reaching quadrant 2.
In order to effectively/successfully create a profitable premium app, users must "need" the app. There is also probably little to no [close] competition. Your app has to truly shine. These apps correspond to the category 3 (freemium) apps of the first graph. Category 2 apps from the first graph are most likely to be classified in quadrant 2 or 4. And just about all Category 1 apps from the first graph are located in the third quadrant, but not apps in the third quadrant are category 1.
If you have any further thoughts to share, then I'm all ears.
~ Simply Advanced ~
Additional great resources:
[1] http://www.xda-developers.com/android/the-smart-way-to-price-your-mobile-app-xda-developer-tv/
[2] http://mobile.smashingmagazine.com/2012/11/07/succeed-with-your-app/
[3] http://blog.ideashower.com/post/21276590202/why-pocket-went-free
[4] http://www.bradfordcoffey.com/bid/81600/pricing-model-lessons-matching-the-timing-on-value-price
2013-01-28
Heaven's Advocate
As I'm arguing with my roommate the other day, as we do pretty much every day (in a healthy jokingly manner), I know I like playing Devil's Advocate, but I want to introduce a new term now, Heaven's Advocate.
If you don't see the good in something, then the Heaven's Advocate will find it for you.
- A Devil's Advocate finds the "bad" points in your argument. A Heaven's Advocate will find the "good" part of your story.
- When you talk with a Devil's Advocate, you are meant to get defensive. When you talk with a Heaven's Advocate, the same thing can be done.
Have any more ways of describing a person that likes to be Heaven's Advocate? (As not related to religion)
~ Simply Advanced ~
NOTE: You don't have to believe in a religion to use these terms. They just happen to coincide with terms that religious books use, but words evolve.
NOTE2: "Evolve" is another word that doesn't have to refer to Darwinism, which it was originally used (just one time in the book).
If you don't see the good in something, then the Heaven's Advocate will find it for you.
- A Devil's Advocate finds the "bad" points in your argument. A Heaven's Advocate will find the "good" part of your story.
- When you talk with a Devil's Advocate, you are meant to get defensive. When you talk with a Heaven's Advocate, the same thing can be done.
Have any more ways of describing a person that likes to be Heaven's Advocate? (As not related to religion)
~ Simply Advanced ~
NOTE: You don't have to believe in a religion to use these terms. They just happen to coincide with terms that religious books use, but words evolve.
NOTE2: "Evolve" is another word that doesn't have to refer to Darwinism, which it was originally used (just one time in the book).
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