For my last day at Techie Youth, I spent it watching tutorials about Thinker Card and Autodesk Mesher.
It's been a great 6 weeks, with a lot of knowledge gained on my part. I really enjoyed the program, despite some little hiccups here and there. I was able to look at a lot of different units, and saw that they were all detailed. I especially liked the Stocks Unit because I believe it did a great job at introducing trading at an intermediate level. I say this because the Options subsection not only taught me everything about options, but there was also a whole video series dedicated to option trading strategies.
All in all, I treasured the time spent on the program, and hope Techie Youth continues to teach and change the lives of youths around the world.
Today I spent the day continuing the Mobile App unit. I was able to learn the importance of XCode and how it is used in developing IOS Apps.
If you want to build an app on Iphone, you can search for XCode on the App Store, and download it. XCode is Apple's integrated development environment for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS.
An interesting fact I learned was that you can use an emulator to test out your android app. I thought this was interesting because like the unit said, it might be a problem if you don't posesses different android devices. Therefore, something like the Android Emulator, simulates Android devices on your computer so that you can test your application on a variety of devices.
Today I went back to the Stock Unit and saw that the assignment has changed to 2 YouTube vides instead of the original posts. Therefore, I went ahead and completed it. One thing to note is that I used information from 8/1/2022 in my video(I was too lazy to redo the entire assignment). In my defense, if my previous posts were checked ASAP, then I would've gotten credit for the assignment anyways. I also completed a follow up video.
Then, I went on to finish up my blog post on Techie Youth. That didn't take a lot of time as I only had one more section to polish off.
I spent the rest of my day looking over the Learn Immediate Income Unit, watching some videos from GaryVee and seeing how he goes around reselling things he buy for cheap at garage sales. I get the value in doing that, but for me that takes time, and as Gary mentions, a lot of knowledge. If I don't know how much things can sell for, there is no point in doing what he does. Gary is very knowledgeable so he knows when something is underpriced or not. I don't hold that capability yet.
Then towards the very end, I actually got started on the Creating Mobile Apps Section, although I just watched 2 videos and read 2 articles.
I spent the early part of my day just breezing about, watching some videos in the Earn Immediate Income Unit. I did this because I had a rough outline of my writing unit assignment planned out, so I knew I could use some extra time exploring the voluntary unit. Then, I spent the rest of my day completing my blog post on Techie Youth. As I am writing this log, I have yet to finish my assignment(although I am like 90% done and will submit after I eat dinner). It was actually a bigger feat than I expected, mainly due to the fact that I wanted it to be a casual blog post, but also not super casual where it is a 1 minute read. I made sure to include information to gas up Techie Youth, which is incorporating not only blogging, but a little bit of copywriting(which I learned from the Writing Section). This way, my piece is a blog from my own website, that is aimed to sway readers to try out Techie Youth's Program. If I did have a blog website with over 50k clicks per month, I would then be able to get paid sponsorship money from Techie Youth? haha...
Today I decided to go revisit past units that I clicked on. I clicked on them to get a feel of whether or not I wanted to pursue those topics, which ultimately I did not as I settled on stocks. However, I keep receiving the same email saying I didn’t complete enough tasks/assignments even though I explained In my daily log and email as well as through the customer service chatbox. So instead, I decided to just take some of the quizzes to see if that will solve the trick.
I then focused on the writing section, which I am almost done with. I finished up the grant writing unit.Grant writing is the idea of requesting funds to support the activities of a business.This involves writing proposals asking foundations, corporations and grant-making organizations for money to be used to fund (as examples)charities and non-profit organizations. I believe Techie Youth might have done this at some point?
I learned that grant writing isn’t like writing cover letters where you can change miniscule details. In most cases, grantmakers require a cover letter, executive summary, problem statements, work schedule, budget, qualifications, conclusions, and appendices. Basically, these grantmakers require details on the business so they can get a picture on whether or not it is a good plan to invest. I was surprised to hear that grant writers make a hefty sum of money, with the average salary being around $70,000.
Today I started the writing unit because it was getting close to the end of SYEP and I wanted something light to finish off on. I just wanted to use today's log to talk about my situation with the Stock Unit Assignment. I tried posting on Reddit but I didn't have enough karma so couldn't . Therefore, I opened a Stocktwits accounts and was able to post there .However, I guess because I did 10 individual posts and each had links to techieyouth.com, they suspended my account due to spamming advertisements. I asked for help, but got a vague answer in return.
Today I started a new unit which is aimed to provide information on jobs that are tailored towards providing services for customers. A section of the unit focused on Transcription, which boils down to listening to a file and writing down what you hear. It is a good side hustle to do if you can type well and accurately. I was pretty interested in this market, so I took the time to actually apply as a freelancer on Rev.com, the best text-to-speech company.
I will have to wait quite a while to hear back, as demand is not that high right now apparently. They gave me an estimated 4-8 week time frame before I get to hear back from them. Besides transcription, I also learned a lot about other topics such as web design, digital marketing, and data entry. I've actually been looking to find a data entry job on the side, as it is a skill that will benefit my major.
I spent today researching companies and their stock prices, and trying to see if I can predict the movement of their share prices. I used stocks that I currently own myself, including SPY(an etf) and KO(Coca Cola). I chose mostly stocks I own because I have interest towards these companies, which is the reason I invested in them in the first place. This made researching news easier and less boring. Seeing as how the time range of the assignment was 3 days, I saw it as not a huge timeframe to implement trading strategies. Although stocks like TSLA can move hundreds of dollars a day due to insane volatility and high overall price, other stocks like KO and SAVE(Spirit Airlines) don't have that luxury. Therefore, when utilizing my knowledge, I mainly looked at the 1 month stock price change and the 5 day stock price change, to see if there are any recent patterns I can use to base my predictions. I also researched news and updates regarding each stock to see if momentum can be an added figure I can use in my predictions. For example, TSLA shares rose today due to the closing of its shareholder voting session this Thursday, where shareholders will vote to either approve or disapprove the latest proposed stock split. I used this key piece of information to predict that investors will ride this anticipated approval and boost TSLA stock prices higher, possibly breaking its resistance level.
Today I learned that an option assignment represents the seller's obligation to fulfill the terms of the contract by either selling or buying the underlying security at the exercise price. This obligation is triggered when the buyer of an option contract exercises their right to buy or sell the underlying security. An interesting thing to keep in mind is the fact that ANY option worth $0.01 or more intrinsically will be automatically exercised if held through expiration.
No trader looks forward to assignment, in fact everyone tries to avoid it. However, when you write/sell options, that is an inherent risk. When you sell an option (a call or a put), you will be assigned stock if your option is in the money at expiration. As the option seller, you have no control over assignment, and it is impossible to know exactly when this could happen.
Lets look at an example:
I exercise my $120 strike price call option when the stock price is at $130.
A trader who is short the $120 call option will get randomly assigned to sell me 100 shares at $120, or if they don’t have the shares, have to buy 100 shares at the $130 price and sell it to me for $120.
When selling calls, collateral is needed, either you need to own the 100 shares of stock, or enough money to buy the stock at the price it is. This was an important fact that I managed to dig up through my own research. On the flipside, you can exercise a put option even if you don't have the shares of the stock to sell. In this scenario, you would be short selling, and taking a short position in the stock. Short selling is borrowing shares you don't have, and selling it.
Today I learned some more option vocabulary and some useful beginner strategies for trading options. Some of the few vocabulary words I learned are: In the Money - any option that has intrinsic value, Out of the Money - any option without intrinsic value, and At the Money - An option with strike price very close to the current stock price.
An ITM Call is when the strike price is lower than current price. For example, let's say stock X is currently at $130. A call option strike price at $125 would qualify the option as ITM since the strike price is lower than the current price, which allows the owner to buy stock X cheap and sell it for profit.
An OTM option is when the option is not profitable, a.k.a no intrinsic value. OTM options are the only options with 100% extrinsic value. This is because if an option has no intrinsic value(only options ITM have intrinsic value), then the option is left with extrinsic, or time value.
ATM means the strike price is similar/close to the current market price of the underlying asset. For example, if stock X is at $130 and a call option strike price is at $130.45, it can be considered as ATM.
An interesting thing to note is that an option can be both ATM and OTM. For example, A stock is $130, and you see a call option for strike price of $131. It is ATM bc the strike and current price is relatively the same, but this option also has 100% extrinsic value so it is also OTM.
A valuable piece of advice I got away from today's video was that one should never hold short options through expiration because there is still a chance the stock can still increase in that short period of time.
I also got to learn about Implied Volatility. Implied Volatility, or IV for short, is the market's expected magnitude of stock price changes. You can make money with increase in implied volatility, but on the flipside you can lose money when implied volatility decreases(when implied volatility decreases, it means market expects less volume, so extrinsic value decreases, meaning your option loses value)
Today I learned about Intrinsic and Extrinsic values. They are the two components that make up an option's price. The Intrinsic Value is the asset's value based on an analysis of its actual financial performance. For example, the video uses a house that has an option strike price of 200k whereas the cost of the house right now is 350k. Since you can buy the house for 200k, 350-200k = 150k, 150k is the intrinsic value. The intrinsic value is simply the benefit the owner can get from the option.
Moving on, the Extrinsic Value in simplest terms is the Option price - intrinsic value. This is also categorized as the time value or potential for that option to become significantly more available between now till expiration. Options with more time till expiration will trade with more extrinsic(time value)
If an option doesn’t have any intrinsic value it does not mean it is worthless if it has a long period of time till expiration because the stock still has time to move. As the option gets closer and closer to expiration, the extrinsic value will “decay”, known as Time Decay/ Extrinsic Value Decay
Today I continued learning about options. I started watching the first informative video(which was 2 hours long) and took away a lot of information. The video first started with the definitions of an option, then dives into the meaning of a call and put option.
I learned that an option gives the owner the RIGHT, but not the obligation. to buy/sell an underlying asset at a specified price. A call option is one where you believe the underlying stock will go up in price, so you want the right to buy the stock at a low price. To put it in perspective, let's say I believe AMC will go up from it's current price of $13. Therefore, I can buy a call option at a strike price of $15 with expiration on 10/28/2022. That means, up until 10/28/2022, I have the right to buy 100 shares of AMC at the predetermined rate(strike price) of $15.
I forgot to mention that options have an options multiplier. Normally, an option gives the owner the right to buy 100 shares of an underlying asset. So most options have a multiplier of 100.
To continue our example previously, we left off at the fact that I can by AMC at $15 up until 10/28/2022. However, I DO NOT HAVE TO exercise this right. If AMC goes down to $10, it is no longer profitable for me, since I will be buying the stock at $15. That's why an option is the RIGHT, not the OBLIGATION to buy/sell an underlying asset.
Today was a short day because I had to do something in the afternoon. I started by re-watching some crypto videos and finishing up the Blockchain chapter. I'm guilty of thinking blockchain was bitcoin, but I learned that they are different. Bitcoin is a coin, and is stored in the blockchain.
Afterwards, I moved on to the options section, which I will be spending the bulk of the week on. I am currently an investor, having created an account on Robinhood and TDAmeritrade. I've been introduced to options by my friends, but never gave it much thought, so I'm glad to be given the opportunity to learn more about the topic.
Besides learning the basics of a call and put(former is when you hedge that the underlying stock will go up and the latter is when you believe the stock will go down), I was pleasantly surprised to learn that you can sell your own options. Selling your own options is less risky, but your profit is only limited to the premium.
I received helpful tips in regards to my executive summary, so I spent the majority of today polishing it up. I created mock tables and financials for my business, seeing as how there was really no way to pull actual numbers. I included a few tables and financials, as well as risks and mitigations.
After that was done, I spent the remainder of my day exploring the entrepreneurship branches, specifically selling digital goods. Finally, I ended off on FOREX, which is the continuation of the stock chapter. FOREX traders trade the currency of countries. for example, dollars to euros. Traders take advantage of the price fluctuation(just like how normal financial instrument traders do) and capitalize on it to find gains. I will be heavily focused on stocks going forward, so can't wait.
Today was relatively a light day, I got finished with my executive summary on WeWalk. It took me a while to come up with a decent idea for my business. Once I started thinking, it felt like a competition to find the best idea to work with. However, I realized it was just giving me unnecessary stress, so I settled with an app similar to Sweatcoin. One benefit of this task was that it wasn't an actual grade. The executive summary was just putting in practice what I learned, so I was free to use my imagination on how my company would make money and such.
After my executive summary, I spent some time rewatching videos and making sure the entrepreneur section was close to finished so that tomorrow I can wrap it up.
For the first few hours, I watched a series of videos by Eric Benari aimed to tackle attracting clients and sales. There was definitely a lot of knowledge to be gained from these videos, ranging from how silence can be useful when negotiating to finding simple traits that everyone has that can be used to your benefit. For example, everyone doesn't want their work to go to waste, and nobody wants to hear criticism, no matter how good you think you can take it.
One main thing I took away today from the videos was when Eric said "sell benefits not features". I loved how he brings in a sports car to describe what he means. Eric says how people buy a bentley not because it has 350 horsepower, but because they feel good driving it, "they are buying it because of the happiness it brings them to drive it"
Finally, the latter hours of my day was spent revisiting some of the videos and articles on the entrepreneurship page to get ready for drafting my own executive summary. I don't really have a great idea in mind, so a lot of thinking is needed to come up with an idea for my business. For the time being, I'm putting the thought of getting an idea to the side, and focusing more on making sure I know what to write for each section of an executive summary, which is relatively easy due to yesterday's work.
A large portion of my day was spent learning about executive summaries and how to write each specific part of it. I learned that an executive summary lets readers know what your business plan is all about. It should also be no longer than 2 pages.
The sections of an executive summary should include the company’s mission statement, Information about the company’s owners, outline of business model, target market, competition, sales strategies and campaigns, company’s current financial status, goals, projections, and needs, and finally an implementation plan for bringing the business into the real world. The article that explained how to tackle each section as well as provided an example was really helpful for me in visualizing how a great executive summary should look like.
Afterwards, the rest of my day was spent on the Entrepreneur page's section, diving into branding and creating a website for my business. I also spent some time in Mission Statements, and I enjoyed using the slogan maker examples to draw up possible slogans.I was introduced to the Wix site, a popular site people use to create a website. Personally, I also have experience on Wix, having creating a small and easy site a few years ago.
Today, I learned about starting a business and the business model itself. Before starting a business, an entrepreneur must make sure they have a concrete path on how they are going to make money. This idea of generating revenue must not have any "if statements", but must be well thought out and actually achievable. If you leave everything to chance, there is no telling you will actually generate revenue for your business.
Moving on, I was able to gather a lot of information regarding business models. There are nine building blocks that describe and assess a business model: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. It is recommended for entrepreneurs to fill out a business plan beforehand so they can assess their ideas.
I was also introduced to different examples of profit models. There is the production model, the rental/leasing model, the advertisement as well as the commission model. These are all ways of generating revenue for our business.
Today I got an in depth lesson on bitcoin and how it’s technology works. I was introduced to the blockchain, and bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mining definitely was something that caught me by surprised. When I first heard of the term, I thought it literally meant mining for bitcoins, which resulted in me thinking there were trillions of bitcoins(I know, I wasn't really logical at that time). However, now I know that "mining" is a little different from my original definition. Although it does incentivize miners with new bitcoins, it is meant to strengthen the overall algorithm and blockchain.
On top of that, I also found out that bitcoin is traded 24/7, unlike stocks. I also saw that fundamental analysis and technical analysis are applied to bitcoin as well
7/13
Today I got started on the prerequisite unit for entrepreneurship. I’ve always found it interesting how anyone can start a business, whether online or physical. As a high school student, I was lazy and didn’t see the value of work, so the idea that entrepreneurs can be their own boss and set their own time schedules stuck out to me. I learned that entrepreneurs are self disciplined and passionate. They usually have an A+ in one class and not in others, since they might be passionate about that class topic. Entrepreneurs also take calculated risks when they see they have an advantage. I also gained insight on picking specific target markets to pursue, and how tools like google trends can help speed up and pinpoint the job.
On top of learning about entrepreneurs, I was able to see what a day of an entrepreneur looked like through various different videos aimed to show a day in the life of someone who is their own boss. I saw that a lot really did depend on what you set yourself, but there is definitely a lot of hard work and dedication in being an entrepreneur.
A little earlier on, I was finishing up with public speaking and learned a good tip:if you make a mistake, forget it and move on. Nobody will know you made a mistake because nobody knows your agenda, so if you don’t make it a big deal, it will be as if nothing happened. Furthermore, it is fine to take small 1-2 second breaks to recollect yourself and think about what to say next. Small breaks are a cheat code because the audience won’t even realize you are taking a break between sentences due to the shortness of said breaks.
7/14
I spent a lot of time reviewing the index cards for stock market vocabulary. I was able to differentiate between index funds and mutual funds. They seem similar on the outside, but they do have small differences. For example, index funds are meant to mimic the annual market returns, while mutual funds are actively managed by a group of investors and its aim is to beat the market returns. In terms of fees, mutual funds require a higher fee compared to index funds since mutual funds are actively managed and seek to outperform the market.
I also learned about a statistic used by traders conducting technical analysis:Moving Average. I’ve always wanted to see how intricate technical analysis can be, so it is nice that I am getting an introduction to one of the statistics used by traders. A Moving Average(MA) is literally what it says. It is an average of a stock price, and you calculate it depending on how long you want your time period to be. It can be a 5 day moving average or a 7 day moving average.
Last but not least, I got an introduction to cryptocurrency. I see how crypto has become a big thing in society, but I never gave it much thought. I was hesitant to invest in crypto because I didn’t know enough about the topic, so it's great for me to have a whole unit dedicated to cryptocurrency.
Today was one of, if not, the best days of learning for me. I learned useful formulas for excel that I know will help me tremendously. To sum up, I looked at SUMIFS,VLOOKUP, and pivot tables. I created my own excel file to follow along with the video, and found it to be really helpful. Specifically, I incorporated the video's knowledge on VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP and created my own data sheet and a section labeled "agent lookup" where I utilized my new knowledge gained and fooled around with different scenarios. using the same data set but only salaries and agent names, I created a pivot table and experimented with averages, sums and other variables to put on my table.
However, I got quite bored once I hit the data analyst section. I read through the summary and saw some lessons on coding, and decided it will be a good idea to change topics. I do want to learn coding, but mainly python. I don't think I will be able to sit through any other language, seeing how it's not something pressing and required.(This brings me back to the things I want to work on, specifically finding and keeping motivation.)
I browsed some more topics, and I think I will start entrepreneurship and stocks soon.
Today I finished up the second prerequisite and got started picking a main track. I decided to pursue business analyst, seeing as how I am already interested in the financial world. I learned that business analysts help facilitate solutions for stakeholders, by acting as the "middle-man" between IT developers and stakeholders of the business. When a business needs to solve a current or future problem it’s a business analyst’s job to help facilitate a solution by listening to the two sides, and coming up with something in terms of vocabulary that both sides can understand.
After watching the video, Business Analyst Training: How To Do Requirements Gathering, I gathered that the main job of an analyst is to write requirements. From there, I learned various tools and methods that business analysts use to do their job.
Key roles:
1)Gathering business requirements
2)brainstorm solutions after getting a better understanding of everything
Middle man between IT Developers and stakeholders
Job of a business analyst: WRITE REQUIREMENTS(Language translation between stakeholder and IT)
Today I continued the 2nd prerequisite unit, and dove deeper into making money online. Here, there were specific roads that I read up on that I can pursue to make some money. For example, a travel blogger or a youtuber. I watched videos by current youtubers and gained insight on what they did to become successful in their craft and how they made a living from it. Personally, I don't see myself as a digital nomad. I can see a route with ecommerce and such but not as a blogger or social influencer. That takes a lot of work and I tend to be reserved with what I do daily. Furthermore, I will most definitely run out of content sooner or later.
I really liked the tedTalk delivered by Tomislav Perko detailing how one can travel the world with relatively no money. It really tore down the stigma that you must be well-off to travel. I really liked the idea of going off the main road, and trying new things with locals and such. The quote at the end of Perko's ted talk sums it up "In 20 years, you will regret the things you didn't do more than the things you did do".
On top of that, I also picked up on useful tips to manage my time more wisely as well as dealing with stress. It is important to be in a safe and healthy state of mind, both mentally and physically. I learned the value of working out, which is great because I go to the gym everyday. I also learned that there are many benefits of meditation, which I will be sure to utilize.
Ever since the pandemic, people have been forced online, and inevitably develop feelings of loneliness and stress. Thanks to the knowledge provided by Techie Youth's Improving Your Quality of Life module, I will know how to stay away from such feelings and emotions should it ever enter my mind in the future.
For July 7:
Today was a relatively quiet day as I had to take a bus from Binghamton NY to New York City. Therefore, I didn't work for quite as long. In the short time today, I learned about how to save for my financial independence early on, by living below my means and avoid buying wants. I also learned about ways to make money through forex, stocks and cryptocurrency. I got a detailed introduction to NFTs, and reasoning behind why volatility can be good.
Today, I got started with the prerequisite unit "Introduction to Earning Money Online". I gained valuable insight on a variety of topics that all cumulate to financial literacy. For starters, I was able to learn about bank accounts and accepted forms of payments. Specifically, checking and savings accounts. I have a checking account and was surprised to learn that there are different ways to endorse a check, including a blank endorsement as well as For-The-Benefit-Of endorsement. Moving on, the bulk of the important information was on the units dedicated to resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profile. A great LinkedIn profile goes a long way, and the units had information to guide us on formatting and drafting a good profile. Not to mention, resumes and cover letters are hard topics to master, so it was important for the units to also dive deep in regards to these tools. I had a hard time grasping the concept of a cover letter, but after today I realized that a cover letter is intended to attract the hiring manager to your resume, and ultimately pick you out for an interview. I learned tips and tricks that can be applied to a cover letter, including how it is the place where you can dive deeper and explain more about experiences not mentioned on your resume. Although elevator pitches came later in the unit, I wanted to tie in an useful fact in that chapter as well: don't say everything in your elevator speech, that way if you are asked a question you will be able to refer to nondisclosed information to paint a better picture.
I am invested in real estate and sales, and believe I learned a crucial piece of information pertaining sales, which is that "whoever gives a number first loses all of the time", brilliantly said by Techie Youth founder, Eric. I don't believe it is 100% correct, but it is definitely a crucial aspect in negotiating. I will be sure to incorporate this the next time an opportunity presents itself.
On top of things I've learned, I also respect the fact that the units serve to promote Techie Youth across all social media platforms. Before going into several other social media platforms including Instagram and Tiktok, it was just LinkedIn and I really liked how the assignments were structured. We utilized the information gathered to create our own LinkedIn profile, and it was convenient to promoting Techie Youth's Profile, giving how networking is everything. However, in my opinion, using the other socials to promote Techie Youth was pretty bland, and as soon as I saw there were assignments, I knew that there was a strong possibility that they were all along the lines of "follow techie youth on ___".
In conclusion, today was a decent day overall. I started a little earlier because I was ecstatic and curious on how Techie Youth was structured and what it had to offer. So far, I've had no complaints so I am excited to see what is in store for the future