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Author Topic: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?  (Read 9315 times)

Paul Keith

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Apologies for the title. I don't really know how to phrase this question.

I'm wondering which software once learned can generate income as well as an estimated list of time and additional prices (like books) to fully maximize the growth of becoming a novice of such software.

Obviously Photoshop for graphic designers. Programming languages for all purpose softwares. Game makers for producing games. Maybe even Novel Makers for creating novels. There's also blogs for the ad-click. Anything else I might be missing?

Also I don't know what the avg. estimate time and cash is for all these specific programs. (projected learning level: tech newbie) Could anyone share their experience and knowledge on this?

Rhutobello

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2009, 01:18 PM »
it is not so much the program that convert their price to your income....it is your ability..then a program is a help for you to better your ability in such way that other want to buy it.

You can own any of the most productive and expensive programs, but if you have no "creative mind" then the program is less worth then any of those you use regular, even if they are free.

Paul Keith

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2009, 02:21 PM »
Video semi-related: http://www.ted.com/t...rches_happiness.html

True Rhutobello, however with the lack of a list, it still falls into the category of what technology you encounter the most + your ability.

Let's use a basic example. You attend a below subpar seminar on how you can use Linux for businesses. Said person explains how you can save cash plus you meet a stranger who explains to you stuff like how Linux's ability is a good environment to know how to be an admin. An admin in that context = better job opportunity due to knowing how to use Linux.

From this event, you basically flip several scenario dices (ignoring the coin flip on actually being a tech newbie who discovers said seminar)

Each of this dice scenario can easily change your direction.

You mentioned one aspect already. The "ability" scenario: How good am I? How fast can I learn? How easy is it for me to grasp these concepts?

Other scenario includes:

Dedication scenario:
 How lazy will I be? How busy will I be on other stuff? How dedicated will I be? How motivated will I be?

Environmental scenario:
 How supportive will people around me be? How much access do I have to a computer? How much free time do I have?

Opportunity scenario:
 How well do I communicate with people so that I can convey my message to them? How well can I be specific in what I need help for? How much instructions do I have gathered? How many person do I know which can offset the price of something?

Improvement scenario:
 How newb-friendly has the technology evolve to? How many free quality guides are there already? How many ways are there to find free quality guides?
There are many more scenario available but each of these can easily put a filter on "ability" and vice versa.

In this case, ability can be sliced and diced into 3 important halves because of the other criterias.

Determination will help improve your ability but it can also slice your time to find better ways to learn the item or even miss out new developments that might leave you behind because you're too busy being a specialist to be updated with the generalist picture. (Remember even if the newbie was determined, the newbie is still a newbie as opposed to one who has already other specialization skills and abilities that they nearly need to look sideways to find out about the news and act on switching things) Right there ability needs to be sliced into: determination+something else or determination+little else.
Then add the other two more variables: Opportunity begs the question that what you already want is equivalent to what you can do (ability-wise) It also begs the question that what you lack in ability you are motivated enough to adapt into. (hence also related to ability despite directly separate from talent)

Environmental scenario further slices up ability. After all, as you said a program can only do so based largely on your ability.

...but the best ability often loses to the best environment. Otherwise there will be little need both for free tutorials and great teachers. The greatest artist can die not having their art appreciated. Worse, a person of great ability can be traumatize in their childhood when something they are particularly good at is made fun of by a person of higher authority or of elder age.

Finally the opportunity scenario is particularly interesting. It's interesting because like all of these scenarios, it can be so confusing to trap them and create the perfect model for a general people. Hell, many might even paralyze themselves by analyzing all these variables.

Yet opportunity is so much more open to this problem than all of the other scenarios combined. It's so based on luck that you can pretty much raise your hand and simply say: it IS luck.

...yet despite being the most ambiguous scenario, it is also the best at destroying the ability scenario.

Why?!

Because how good a person is at being able to reduce the necessity for the luck scenario to be good = how much better he can be at applying his ability.

Think about it. If you are able to time it so you grew up with the internet available for anyone who has an ISP nearby. The need for your charismatic ability to convince someone to give you access to the internet is nearly eradicated.

Add having an opportunity where the internet is mainstream and unlimited connection is near-available and cheap...the need for your money-making ability prior to taking advantage of tools that require the internet is unanimously halved!

Add more user-friendly Linux distroes. Another drop in your ability requirment.

Add the what-if of your ultimate ability being in creating art in 3d and then discovering Blender through Linux. BAM!

All these near instantaneous just because you scored higher on your opportunity scenario than on your general ability scenario.

That is why I think this list still has some value.

Sure, to those who already gutted it out, it seems that they are trivial.

But to future generations and people with less opportunity, even an outdated table is like a trail of clues on increasing the opportunity scenario and reducing all the other scenarios and thus allowing the ability scenario to flourish even if you're not highly talented. (After all, what do buyers of indy games care if you are no Square Enix when your game satisfies them enough to vote with their cash for you? To your deviantart followers, why do they care if you don't immediately start out as an art god? To linux newbies, why would they mind if you're not Linus Torvalds lvl. 9000+ when you're providing them with a distro that comes pre-packaged with enough improvements to make it user friendly and promoting a guide that is vastly superior to the other guides they have read/seen before.)

« Last Edit: September 02, 2009, 02:32 PM by Paul Keith »

app103

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2009, 03:49 PM »
Have you ever gone to the mall and seen those stands that sell framed images of your last name and some heritage information?

A lot are made with this: http://www.kksoft.com/ (they sell a ton of different applications for making that kind of stuff)

Some also sell custom framed award certificates (sometimes for world's greatest mom or dad, around the appropriate holidays).

Those are often made with this: http://www.baudville...s/productlisting/1/0

And some sell stuff related to your birthday, like a "newspaper" with various things related to the date & era in which you were born, made with this: http://www.symphonic...e.com/symsoft/ba.htm

And wedding anniversary stuff made with this: http://www.symphonic.../anniversarybios.asp

None of this stuff takes much knowledge or skill to use, and most don't require the best pc. In fact, the older slower Win9x PC's have more software options. So if you have an old hunk of junk computer with a printer, can afford the rental for a mall or flea market stand (flea markets are much cheaper, but limit you to only working weekends), can afford the investment for the paper and frames, and grab the trial versions (not sure if they watermark images) you might be able to make the money to buy the software to keep running your business.

I have a friend that does this stuff. She isn't all that computer savvy. She has a small compact Win98 PC with worse specs than my snail, a 15" CRT monitor, and a printer she bought for about $20. The whole setup takes up slightly more space than my sewing machine.

She loads it into the back seat of her car, along with a box of frames and a few packs of paper, every weekend, traveling from flea market to flea market (costs her about $30/day for table space rental). Occasionally she rents a mall stand and works 7 days a week around Christmas time, if she can get one. (mall stand rental is about $2000/month + 10% of her profits)

She also designs take-out menus for restaurants (she prints 1 for them, and they take it to a printer to have it mass produced). And she does business cards for exotic dancers, laminated with glitter. And she does fliers for a few churches and local businesses.

Everything is with easy to learn software that can run on her hunk of junk.

Paul Keith

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2009, 05:08 PM »
@app

No. From the way you describe it, either my country's mall don't have it or it's so rare to find that you have to actually know what you are looking for.

I don't even understand the sites you link to. They seem... I'm not really sure. I guess...web 1.0 sites trying to sell trial versions of their works? (No offense meant. I was thinking something more of a table where you can quickly skim what's it all about.)

app103

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2009, 06:52 PM »
There is an image on this page that shows what it does, which essentially is nothing more than make pretty pictures that serve the egos of vain people who shell out tons of money buying this crap in frames.

They give you the personal info, you enter it in the software, print out the image, frame it and they pay a lot more than the paper, ink, and frame is worth.

And this is what the mall & flea market stands look like:

New-Booth-2B.jpg
« Last Edit: September 02, 2009, 07:05 PM by app103 »

Paul Keith

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2009, 07:12 PM »
Aah. We have something of this sort. I can't say it's financially viable though...is it?

I mean I even see people in the mall having their pictures be fast sketched and then framed and this seems borderline vendor stuff as opposed to something that is on the level of say ...a freelance amateur online graphic artist (although I would admit, from the looks of it, it seems to require better skills but the demand for it seems slow and no upside.)

app103

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2009, 07:55 PM »
Well, you asked about software that could be converted to income. I just gave an example of some that requires very little computer skills. I thought it would help answer your question.

Paul Keith

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Re: What are the lists of software that can be converted to income?
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2009, 08:06 PM »
Thanks. It did. I apologize if I sounded like I was criticizing instead of legitimately curious about your example.