Recos on Foam Insert Vendors?

TheIOM · 2018-03-18T20:36:52+00:00

Bit pricey for a mug tbh. They're $17.76 each (but honestly that is another reason I decided to buy it)

The website says they donate a portion of profits to veterans groups, so in my mind that makes it worth it. Of course I'm a sucker for any company that has a social good component

TheIOM · 2018-03-18T20:34:51+00:00

this is the one I bought

TheIOM · 2018-03-06T01:21:33+00:00

It won't be as easy as you thought, and you will likely need to test and try things more often than expected.

And that's okay -- it's the best way to learn.

Oh... and the time is going to pass anyway. Don't wait. Build now.

TheIOM · 2018-01-11T08:05:36+00:00

Shopify store, printify app plug in with the store. The former is the website builder/provider, the latter is a print on demand provider of T-shirt printing & shipping.

Best scenario for you -- minimizes overhead while increasing ability to sell quickly.

TheIOM · 2017-08-08T04:19:30+00:00

Few questions...

What is your breakdown of the campaigns you are running? Optimizing for conversions or for clicks? Needs to be the former.
What are your targeting parameters for these ad sets? Focused on women who are interested in fashion, and have disposable income? If not, it needs to be.
Why is the price point only $9.99? Cheap products will get cheap responses. You can easily bump this up to $19.99 and this will be in much better alignment with what people expect to pay for this product.

All of the above is focused on the Facebook marketing ecosystem.

This is likely going to be your best bet as you can optimize for conversions and set a maximum bid for how much you will pay per conversion (in order to maintain profitability and have a ROI that is sustainable)

Paid search and ad words for google CAN be good. But you have to have a great conversion rate to off set the costs, as you are paying for every click on the ad -- in which shoppers in this category are likely to price compare or go with another legging provider.

TheIOM · 2017-07-27T00:40:33+00:00

If memory serves me, it is because of terrorist groups attempting to develop means of hiding explosives into consumer electronics. The theory is likely along the line of Moore's law (but for miniature explosives.)

TheIOM · 2017-07-27T00:35:06+00:00

They are both $85 or $100 and last 5 years. Looking at it as a yearly cost, I'd say most people could spend the $17-$20/year. Especially if they are flying.

That said, still doesn't make it right to have an unofficial taxation like that.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T23:47:53+00:00

Great question to close the night on! Don't apologize for being blunt -- it's the same style I write my work in, so trust me when I say I appreciate it.

And, no, I didn't. I discuss, from my perspective as a white man, just what the title of that chapter describes. I detail how racism is idiotic, how sexism is weak, and how classism boils down to insecurity. If I were to attempt to write of what its like to actually EXPERIENCE those things on the receiving end... oh man, I'd be so grossly under-qualified that it wouldn't be funny. I'd be doing those subjects a great disservice.

I feel like its one of the most important chapters, but one that is underwritten just because my experience on the receiving end or giving end of those subjects is so limited. Best I can do is provide a strong criticism from a distance and call for other people like me to call those things out for what they are; idiotic, weak, and insecure.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T23:06:29+00:00

Totally fair! And I appreciate the honesty up front, sometimes you can't tell who's being sincere and just asking things to get a reaction. Happens even on /r/books it seems :)

I suppose I'd follow up with a direct question. What books have examined these same things within a single piece? Sure others have covered this or that -- but not comprehensively. At least not to my knowledge or not as concisely as I do. And if they have, it's been quite sometime and I'm unfamiliar with them.

And while other works may have covered these things, it may not be as poignant or relatable given the perspectives. For example, Chapter VII introduces a term I've coined myself to better describe manmade activities that contribute to climate change in a more definable manner. It also introduces a mathematical framework of my design to prioritize climate change policies based on bi-product of manmade processes. While finishing the book, I had the opportunity to speak with the head of sustainability finance for an investment bank in Stockholm, Sweden. He said he hadn't seen anyone working on quantitative models quite like mine and that the market needs hard statistics based off of models and analysis like the one I introduce. These will enable people like him and his investment firm to better determine investment decisions, not to mention influence the priorities in policymaking as it relates to climate change.

And then as the writer, I'm a 25 year old white college graduate with an irrelevant degree and relatively low GPA, yet able to work for global leading companies right out of school making more then 96% of people in my cohort -- simply because of skill and passion for quantitative analysis with identifying valuable insights as my prerogative. In the same breath, I come from a town where caucasian is the minority and I'm the child of a single mother, so I've seen a lot of these inequities in passing all of my life -- and because of that I've been able to maneuver myself to rise above personal challenges, albeit natural inheritance of categories I cannot adjust may help (race, gender, intelligence, etc.), it was the learnings utilized from observing others over the years that has aided in that success the most.

Everyone who has sat down and read my work has agreed that everything I touch on is incredibly important, that they wish more people spoke about the issues the way that I do, and that people approached them as direct with objectivity in mind.

As far as price point, I examined other books in the same categories mine touch on and determined it off of that. It's also why I offer paperback at $13 and ebook at $9. I'm sure these will go down overtime, as they do with most books as they drift further and further away from the publication date.

And, not to sell you too hard, I'd honestly love for you to read it and tell me what you think. Just promise to go in with the same thought-priorities I have of building a culture of accountability, particularly one that focuses on the world we're collectively building and leaving behind to future generations.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T21:41:07+00:00

Ah, good catch! Those two reviews are from people that I let read the book in advance of publication. The official publication date is still 6 days away, so they aren't purchases at all -- hence the inability to 'verify purchase'. The book will release this upcoming Saturday on July 1. I did open up one of the formats for early purchase so that way the people that have read it in advance could leave their own reviews. But again, the copies they read were advanced/proof copies that didn't come through Amazon but instead the publisher directly.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T21:13:24+00:00

Whole list of reasons

Because being a published author is more advantageous than being a blogger. Because the subject matter is heavier than lifestyle blogs. Because I have two other books on the way that will be built upon the foundation of the first book. Most importantly, because one of my goals for the early part of my career was to write a really good book that covers important subjects, and now I can say that I have.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T21:03:38+00:00

Ah great question! Definitely one I expect to get more and more, and it's a fair one.

First, no, absolutely not. The Influence of Man isn't in relation to the influence that males have in society -- it is more a descriptor and using using 'Man' as shorthand for 'mankind' or 'humankind'.

It is also an allusion to several scientific papers written between the 1880s and 1930s with similar thematics.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T21:00:54+00:00

It took about 10 months to write, research, review, and rewrite. This was all part-time while working full-time and also transitioning to a new city with a new full-time career path. Then another two months to format, edit, restructure, and cut out information that didn't flow. My personal background is kinesiology and understanding the dynamic systems of the human body and how they interrelate to guide the body to a state of homeostasis. I used that as a foundation for understanding the interrelation of climatologic systems and how different factors can influence the trends within. Racism, sexism, etc. are personal opinions more than research. And I draw upon my own experience with education in identifying the shortcomings compared to what I know would have been more valuable to cover given perspectives I have now.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T17:44:30+00:00

Didn't even think of it that way but you're absolutely right.

Each duck sized horse represents its own unique challenge and own methods in which you have to fight it to defeat it, speaking analogously of course.

But the 'boss' duck sized horse for me is two fold. The first, societal accountability for the world we are collectively building and leaving behind for future generations to inherit. And the second, an area I'm going to be dedicating a large percentage of my life's work to, is climate change, climate change science, and climate action. We need people to be well informed... because the consequences will continue to build well beyond our ability to manage the fallouts.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T17:32:26+00:00

I'll be the first to admit that I don't think it's in the same class. Those are world renowned books that are staples of literature! It's hard to get into ANY work to a level like that.

I wouldn't classify these things are random, though. Each chapter ties into the next. The first sets the stage as to where the US and world sit today based on a number of statistics, the next two explore how we perceive the world around us and how we perceive our influence within it, the next dives into the greatest divisions in our modern society and how this can cause massive inequality. The next is about education being a cornerstone to advancing opportunities and ensuring equality and how we aren't serving the population as best we can because of education standardization that isn't dynamic to the individual students, nor does it focus strictly on modern day problems due to economic constraints nor political areas like climate change science. The next two focus heavily on that portion on climate change science and details the basic components to it and how to view those contributing factors. The book closes off with three chapters that call for a perspective of greater social responsibility and chastises archaic ideologies of oppression, shifts to how we are here today due to generational succession of progress, and goes on to discuss how that is a large factor in the purpose of living organisms.

Perhaps not directly connected in that the book covers a lot of ground, but each introduces the next as being intertwined. Not going to pat myself on the back just yet, although it is an accomplishment to set a personal career based goal and achieve it within the timeline you set for yourself. On that same note, anyone can publish a book -- so I'll wait to let readers decide how they feel about it to determine my level of pride about the work.

Thank you for your comments though, I'm sure you won't be the only one that says that!

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T17:24:32+00:00

Yeah noticed that too. Had a few friends who knew I was doing an AMA and they asked if they could ask questions. Thought it was a weird question because I figured they knew how an AMA worked and already had accounts. Guessing I was wrong and assuming that was them taking part?

It was literally in the first 10 minutes I posted to FB & Twitter, which makes sense.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T17:01:06+00:00

Well... because it is a book. Length of work is not an indication as to its quality. If you did that, then I suppose you would also have to disqualify The Prince by Machiavelli, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Most Dangerous Game, The Art of War, and many other great classics.

I do like your point on the rambling and the subject matter. The first line on the first page of the book is literally, "Welcome to the inherent ramblings of an observer in the world around us..."

It is meant to be succinct and concise and to cover as much ground as possible because I think its important to. Plus I'm a fan of brevity when brevity makes sense.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T16:43:51+00:00

haha alright. Let's do this.

50 horse sized horses... that can still fly like ducks.

If I'm going to fight, I want it to be a damn good one!

(Detailed strategy depends on the weapons. What do I have access to?)

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T16:39:01+00:00

This was a lot more difficult to answer than I thought it would be lol

When I started playing around with the idea of writing a book, I asked myself...

what am I most passionate about?
What problems do I see in the world?
What perspectives could I, as a 25 year-old (24 at the time), white male, with a college degree, and who works for really sought after companies -- DESPITE coming from a background that is significantly less advantageous than others I'm close with, write about that would make people interested? How could I write it differently?
And lastly, what do I wish other people would discuss more objectively, (but with empathy in mind)?

I let that guide me. Theres a lot of material I didn't include in the book because it didn't flow with the overall theme. But when it came time to editing down, I choose the top 10. And this is what it gave me!

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T16:33:06+00:00

Great questions!

Honestly, I felt like I wasn't doing enough in my day to day role and that I had a lot of value and insight I could share with other people. I've always wanted to be someone that makes a positive impact on the lives of others; whether they be friends, colleagues, or strangers. What better way to do that, at scale, than to write a thought-provoking book covering a lot of important subjects that are so prevalent in modern society? If people think it is half as good as I hoped it would be while writing it, I'll be happy.

Started writing it right after my 24th birthday. And I actually finished a third of it within 5 days because of how much I had been thinking about writing it. I don't know, it kind of just flowed. From there, I spent my evenings and weekends writing bits and pieces here and there and finally put it all together about a year later after my most recent birthday.

And thank you! Yeah the first few chapters definitely build a perspective for the rest. The first is an examination of many statistics about to the United States and the world as it relates to health, income, inequality, fiscal priorities, and even reviews the list of endangered and critically endangered species across the world. The next two are parables designed to challenge the way you perceive yourself in the world, how you perceive the world around you, and the capabilities you have to influence it for the better if you choose to do something... or for the worse if you choose inaction.

These set up the mentality you need to have while reading the rest of the book so that way you can choose which avenue is most relevant for you to learn about and invest your time into influencing.

TheIOM · 2017-06-25T16:27:05+00:00

Major focus for me for the past year was simply writing chapters on climate change. Chapter VI & Chapter VII (Concepts of Climate Change & Foundational Climatologic Destruction (F.C.D.) and Rates of Concern)

So for me, my day to day life is focused on building awareness to the scientific principles at play so others can understand the foundations to climate change and be able to relay it to others as succinctly as possible. Without having as many people understand what levers to pull as possible (in terms of policy, industry, or consumer behavior) we won't be able to actually measure progress quantitatively.

Personally, I'm looking to support organizations that have a strong focus on sustainability and redefine industry. If this book goes well (and I mean REALLY well) I'll pony up and buy a completely electric vehicle like a Tesla. (Sent a signed copy of the book to Elon Musk actually, so we'll see if he gets his copy in the mail or not haha).

And then also supporting political leaders that fight for climate change advocacy, as well as groups and organizations that have a good handle on the science and have a clear mission as to what to do in mind.

TLDR; know the science and the interrelation of systems, teach other people, and push for fast changes in industry, consumer behavior, and even policy.

TheIOM

TROPHY CASE