John Raul dot Com

Web Graphic Designers Attention: It’s Time to Monetize Your Skills

johnraul — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 03:00:07 +0000

After long and busy months, I’m finally back and I have some good news to share with you!

I want to share to you a very interesting website that I stumbled just a few days ago. Web and graphics designers like me will benefit this most, as they will use their skills to participate.

So what’s the website?

The website I’m talking about is Prova.fm, which calls itself a “crowdsourcing” platform that takes social approach to business. Crowdsourcing is a brand new buzzword (for me!) that implies “the act of businesses outsourcing their talent needs from within a community.” It also connects to social networks like Facebook and Twitter, helps promote the work of graphic designers and improves the publicity of participating businesses.

Why it’s good for web graphic designers like me?

As a web and graphics designer, Prova.fm provides a great way for me to try monetizing my designing skills based on the quality of my work. Prova.fm enables companies that need graphic resources – for instance, a company logo – to run contests that designers can join and participate. These contests are listed in Prova.fm and they are open to all interested designers, regardless of their country of residence or nationality. That is so cool.

Designers who submit entries to Prova are ensured to receive feedback from customers, and fellow participants through its “I like” voting system. In most cases, popularity of the design will decide the winner. Designs submitted to Prova are also allowed to be included in the respective designers’ portfolios.

The best thing with Prova happens when you win. Aside from getting guaranteed prize money (which is usually hefty), your entry also has a good chance to be promoted on Prova’s partner sites. If that happens to you, you’ll get epic exposure of what you do and gain good reputation. That is truly awesome!

Will I be joining the contests?

Yes! I think I make good use of my free times if participate. If you’re a graphic designer, I truly encourage you to visit Prova.fm now and check out what I’m talking about. The opportunity to win is so high, especially when you already feel confident of your graphic designing skills. If you think you’re still an “emerging” professional designer, go ahead and submit your entry for a chance to win. No other contest website provides enormous motivation to hone your design skills as Prova.fm.

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Top 10 People Of My Life In 2009

johnraul — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:14:27 +0000

Update: To all other people who made something significant that I failed to mention on the list, please know that I remember you. You don’t have to be on the list to know that you’re special to me especially when you’re a friend. The numbering system below represents the level of influence or significance of the people in my 2009 life. Finally, I want to make it clear that this was not a competition. I came up with the list personally after assessing what happened to me this year.

This post is one of my year-ender posts for 2009. This is about the top ten people outside my direct biological family that brought happiness, helped me, or significantly influenced or contributed changes to the perspectives and ways of my life as a dignified human individual. It was difficult to come up with this list because there were many good people whom my life engaged with this year, but the people below are the creams of the crop and the roses among thorns.

10 – Demitri Aleksejev (Chester, England, United Kingdom)

I met Demitri through the online tech show I established this year, the Tech Conclave. Demitri found my show through Dylan Comb’s Live Show and since then he expressed his support and became a tech correspondent for my Internet show. Through him, I also met online a new friend, Sean Jonze, Demitri’s best friend who also appeared in a Tech Conclave episode. Demitri is a smart young bloke who loves all things tech especially web graphics, gaming and video production. In most of our chats, we talked about our tech passion and exchanged wicked jokes. I’m always hit by his sharp sense of humor which I find quite amazing as it always made me interested to engage a conversation with him. He originally came from Estonia which means he has a rich Latin and Russian background. These are few things that made him unique on my top-ten list.

9 – Geoffrey Moffett (Coleraine, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)

Geoffrey is a new friend who just surfaced this year. He is my first friend coming from Northern Ireland. I think he found me through Tech Conclave. We share same passion towards technology except he has strong liking towards Internet marketing and online money making. He is frequently a busy guy oriented so much on his online ventures which is really good. He had shared some web work to me this year and helped me through that. And yeah, he has an outstanding English accent that is unique among the rest of people on this list. I tried to mimic it with no success – LOL – but I’m not giving up. Geoffrey is a good friend and I feel there’s going to be a lot of business work we’ll share in the future.

8 – Brad C. (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

I really never expected to become a close friend of an Aussie guy who just popped up randomly when I was broadcasting at Justin.tv a year ago. At first, I was so hesitant to believe about Brad because of his unusual behavior especially when you compare it with other people among his age. However, I recognized I was too quick to judge and he turned out to be a very good friend among the rest. In fact, I owe the existence of my show, the Tech Conclave, to him as he influenced me into podcasting and sponsored me a condenser microphone this year. We also created a podcast together, called Tech Webcast, which I didn’t really expect to last long. However, his unusual determination slapped me in the face, as he stunned me in disbelief when his show reached over 50 episodes and he was able to engage many people into his show.

7 – Dylan Combs (Cincinnati, Ohio, United States)

It was Brad who brought Dylan Combs on my table this year. He runs his own tech blog featuring a live stream show called Dylan.Combs.tv. When I formally met this person, I had initial impression that he was a strong influence of Chris Pirillo shortly after I started the first episode of Tech Conclave. Our first few conversations on Skype gave me the impression that this guy has an impressive vocal tone on par with the quality that I’ve usually heard from radio and TV broadcast shows which I really, really find attractive because it sets the bar up of his potential in becoming a great show host virtually on any broadcast media channel he likes. At first I was quite hesitant to befriend him because he seems rather dominant and frank person when I listened to his broadcasts. I later realized when I finally made him as a friend that he’s also very friendly, very supportive and very professional on the flip side. What more when you learn you’re on same boat? Well, it just escalated my desire to work with him, share geeky thoughts and things that we can only understand. LOL Dylan truly made history by becoming Tech Conclave’s first ever Geek of the Week, which soon he later became a very active tech correspondent. He also contributed so much to the exposure of the show and through him and his live stream I met many new geek friends from around the world. He also supported me big time with the HP contest that I participated in September. He created a testimonial video and wrote a blog post in support for my entry. Such noble acts are things that I’d always remember and never forget in 2009. You will know how special they were for me when you learn that I consider him as one of my favorite online geeks. I hope that we meet one day. That would be freaking awesome.

6 – Michael Bolton (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)

I met Michael Bolton online and became my first friend from Sydney. Because we share similarities when it comes to our orientation, he was always one of few people who can easily relate my rough roads. Michael strongly supported Tech Conclave and extended my attraction towards Australia. He also gave me opportunity to visit KFC a few times and I shared that joy with a few people around me. If I ever have the chance to visit his country one day, I’m sure he’d be on my list as one of the many people that I’d like to meet.

5 – Chris Morris (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

Chris Morris got to be one of few people who know where to hit me humorously. He has been my close friend for almost two years now – and like everyone else on this list, I just met him randomly online. He is possibly the most expressive, well evolved, and very talented young Aussie I’ve met so far. He’s one lucky person too – when it comes to ownership of good computer systems. Hahaha. And that inspires me to work more to be able to gain them one day. One thing that I really appreciate about Chris is his dynamism in dealing with people, his out-of-the-box attitude (our similarity), and his strong passion towards technology (again, our similarity) and innovation. If in the future there’ll be a nice shiny product that people appreciate, I would not be surprised if the creator is named “Chris Morris.” Perhaps he’s one of few people whom I can trust to share and understand whenever my pent-up emotions go overboard.

4 – Dimitar Avramov (Plovdiv, Bulgaria)

I’ve written a few articles for Dimitar since last year for his online business. Since then, he became very supportive of me and helped bring me and my endeavor, the Tech Conclave, into spotlight. Since I met him, I was exposed to his online feats and activities. They made me form a deep inspiration of him and his ability to travel from country to country to do or to attend business events. I have strong feeling that he will play a huge role in evolving my personal, business, and career life in the future. I believe he’ll contribute some unique history in my life that no other person on the list would be able to rival. I’m prepared for that and will do my best to reciprocate all of them with good service and relationship.

3 – Bryce Thomas (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

If I have one good friend that’s shrouded with mystery without question that would be Bryce Thomas, also known online with a codename "bilsta57." He owns a tech reviews blog with same name. I first met him on Skype earlier this year through Brad’s podcast called Tech Webcast and I was able to converse with him about many tech-related things for nearly a year now. I must admit the first few weeks after I met him I was totally awestruck with all his computer systems — it’s my first time to know a person and a friend living a geek’s dream in real life. Oh dear! He owns many computer devices and gadgets many geeks can only dream of (including myself). His Apple computer systems are just his little toys among his massive geeky collections. Unbelievable? Why not watch his YouTube setup video that garnered tens of thousands of views? The chair that I sit everyday can’t even compete his’. LOL. But yeah, enough envy. What makes Bryce mysterious for me is that for so long I’ve communicated and exchanged thoughts with him, I still have no idea what he looks like! I don’t have a single clue either so imagining has no use. However, I respect the reason underneath the clouds when he told me that he’s doing it for his own security. I think I can understand that. I’m just very grateful that he let me witnessed his true character that goes beyond his hidden identity and purchasing power. He overwhelmingly supported me this year when I joined an HP contest on YouTube. A level of support that gave me and a few members of my family some tears of joy. I may have failed to know what he looks like, but his act was enough for me to get convinced to understand the shape of his heart.

2 – Gerardo Velasco (Alhambra, California, United States)

I’m really glad that Gerardo remained one of the most special friends I’ve ever met online. This year, he has been super supportive with all my online endeavors. He actively participated on many Tech Conclave episodes and supported it through his talent and time. I trust him with anything without doubt. It comes from his distinct honesty, keen listening, and open-mindedness. He’ll probably become one of the friends that I will cherish and keep for life. I think he’s already one since last year. This year, we both experienced major crossroads in our lives that made us really busy. He’ll go to university soon so I expect that we’ll not be able to communicate as frequent as before, which I feel sad about. Even so, I’m confident to meet him one day and be able to share stories about our lives, work or do tech-related business together. And yeah, he was my first Hispanic friend. That’s special.

2 – Tom Maxwell (York, England, United Kingdom)

If Batman has Robin and if Harry Potter has Ron Weasley, I believe Tom Maxwell has earned the same place and importance in my life this year. I met him online through Chris Morris early this year and since then we get to know each other well. He listened my daily stories of happiness, joy, and sorrow – things that not everyone would be willing to listen. He simply made a difference. I am eternally grateful for the time he spent with me whenever he’s online and for his eagerness to share his own exciting life in Yorkshire. He has helped me a lot by becoming a good company of whom I can comfortably share my thoughts about the world and our evolving, yet contrasting lives, as they run parallel. I would never forget the person who made history with an Easter egg and good thoughts. Hehehe. Tom has really become a special friend for me — no doubt it’s something permanent, and I’d really work hard to reciprocate the good things he brought me this year and the years to come. We might meet next year – who knows – and that is something I strongly look forward and extremely excited about. Fun times, big times ahead! I’m sure we can celebrate our lives together as good friends.

1 – EV (name withheld) (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Don’t ask, don’t tell. Always remember, that the list above is a result of my personal assessment only for this year. In the future, I will look back on this post and I will be able to identify whose people remained attached in my life.

Check last year’s top 10 here.

My First Tech Conclave Interview: I Got Featured On A Hosting Website

johnraul — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:56:49 +0000

I was recently interviewed and featured by the people behind B10WH.com because of my tech news show, Tech Conclave. B10WH.com is a web hosting news, reviews, and directory website that features a plethora of web hosting related topics and exclusive interviews of some known web hosting executives across Europe. B10WH indicated that it was their first time to interview someone different and someone very young. I’m flattered!

As far as I can remember, this marks my first time to be featured on a website. And it’s especially remarkable because they interviewed me because of the show that I’m running online.

I’m quite happy with the questions that were asked to me. They basically dug information about how I started with computers, what my computer programming skills are, and how I see myself in my future IT career. Additionally, I was able to share an glimpse of my life when I was younger and the challenges that I’ve faced that have molded me to a kind of person I am today.

In the interview, B10WH expressed their appreciation for Tech Conclave and I’m super happy to learn about that, considering the smaller audience that I have presently with Tech Conclave. As you know, Tech Conclave is something that I’m really working hard for online besides my main job and despite technical constraints, I’m doing my best to steer the show to a good direction by being resourceful and patient.

You can watch my Tech Conclave episodes here.

I’m hoping that the interview would bring more viewers to Tech Conclave. It’s really nice motivation when people appreciate your hard work. It made me encouraged to produce more content for the show.

OMG Big-time Help From A Friend

johnraul — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:27:58 +0000

Update: HP has already released the list of winners.

You can watch the Tech Conclave video or read the article here.

You know in the past two weeks I’ve drawn my focus to campaigning for my video entry for HP You on You contest in YouTube. I really want to win because the prizes can improve my life, the lives of people directly attached to me online or offline, and my show, Tech Conclave.

Last night, I got a big surprise from my online friend named Bryce whom I met through a podcast and owns a tech reviews blog called Bilsta57. He has been helping me campaigning for my video entry in the past few days and last night he made me stunned and totally shocked when he announced on Twitter that he will do an iPhone 3GS giveaway if I ever win the HP contest. That’s extremely generous. I’m not even an iPhone owner myself nor can afford to buy it. He literally made me cry and my parents were very pleased as well. It’s just unbelievable for me: I’ve never encountered a compassion or help yet that big in my personal life. Bryce actually doesn’t actually talk or chat with me as my other closer friends do and I don’t even know what he looks like, so I firmly believe that his help is extremely sincere.

At the moment, I only have the chance to win the Community Award because my video wasn’t selected as one of the 24 finalists.

Check out his announcement and the video he created for his intent to help. I cannot campaign for his cause because it may cast doubts to HP that I’m violating the rules of contest (an accusation that can easily be thrown at me). If you ever support his intent to help me, thank you in advance for all your thumbs up votes and ratings. I just hope I was able to inspire you with my video entry. To Bryce, man, I cannot express how grateful I am for this act. It’s life-changing.

HP You On You: How To Vote For My Video Entry For The Community Award

johnraul — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:43:38 +0000

Update: HP has already released the list of winners.

You can watch the Tech Conclave video or read the article here.

The video entry I submitted is included in the HP contest in YouTube’s Week #6 as an eligible entry. Watch my video here.

Unfortunately, the chances of winning for the major prizes are getting slimmer each day since September 1 because I have not received any notifications yet that my video is included in the Semi Finals. However, there’s still a way for you to help me bag a prize and you can do this by voting for my entry for the Community Award. Please vote for me and my video… It takes only 3 minutes of your time.

Here are the steps to do it:

Visit HP’s official channel in YouTube through this link: http://www.youtube.com/hp
In the main navigation menu, click “VIEW + VOTE” and on the page that loads click “COMMUNITY AWARD.”
On the dynamic page that loads, type in the Search field these exact words “Me My Computer” and press Enter. Only my video entry should come up as a result.
Click my video entry’s thumbnail and allow the video to play.
You should be able to see a thumbs up and thumbs down on the right side.
Click Thumbs up to vote for my video entry.
You can cast a vote for my video entry once a day from July 24, 2009 up to September 13, 2009. So please help me and thank you very much for doing so.

On or about September 21, 2009, HP will announce the Community Award Winners. The prizes for Community Award are the following:

1st place: $15,000 USD
2nd place: $7,500 USD
3rd place: $2,500 USD
Top 100 entries will receive an HP Artist Edition laptop

Again, thank you so much for your support. This contest can definitely improve my life here. I also need a faster computer for my video show, Tech Conclave, and this HP contest offers that very opportunity.

Vote For My Video Entry: HP You On You

johnraul — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:45:36 +0000

My friend Gerardo from Alhambra, California, USA, informed me about another cool HP contest. This time the contest takes place in YouTube with the title "You On You" where entrants create videos featuring themselves in a creative way for one minute without exposing a face. I decided to join the contest because I strongly believe I have a good story that may motivate some people in the world. Here’s my entry and the full script:

Hi I’m John Raul and I’m a geek from the Philippines.
People say life is tougher here and they were right.

Back in my childhood, I experienced selling fruits in the streets
and even massaged people’s feet to convince them to buy.

My parents told me if you want something you gotta work using your mind and heart. And so I did, I focused hard on my education until it brought me somewhere.

Last year I acquired my first room and my first bed after sleeping on the floor since 21 years of my life.

Thanks to my HP Compaq laptop, I was able to work at home,
express my thoughts through my blog, and innovate with my computer skills through coding, web designing, videos, and writing. I even formed a tech news video podcast featuring all of my online friends. I’d like to meet them and see the world someday and my hard work and computer would enable me just that.

I gotta be consistent in doing my best. I’m sure I’ll get there.

For now, I gotta enjoy my life here with the ducks, birds, roosters, the trees, and of course, my computer.

I’m John Raul, your friendly geek from the beautiful islands of the Philippines.

Please vote for me by leaving comments, rating 5-star and favoriting the my video in YouTube. Thanks a lot!

Here’s the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPJbQhPBwY

Create A Website With Web Studio

johnraul — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:13:43 +0000

If you’re looking for an instant web presence whether it’s for your business or just to express yourself online, I suggest that you check out Web Studio at NetIDNow. Web Studio is a website builder that lets you create a website without suffering the complexities of web coding or the lack of web tools or IT expertise to start something from scratch. If you run a business and you’d like to establish an identity or port that online, Web Studio lets you build an ecommerce store as well. And guess what, you’ll just create them through your favorite web browser. Isn’t that cool?

Being someone who have worked in the web development and web hosting industry since two years, it’s not my first time to see a web application that lets you create websites on the fly. I have experienced doing something like that using H-Sphere’s Site Studio. However, I think it’s still too complex for an ordinary, non-techie user that’s why I don’t recommend it. I’m more inclined to encourage you to use the WebStudio website builder instead.

Another reason why I liked WebStudio website builder is that besides rapid development of a personal or e-commerce website, it’s also cost-effective and inexpensive. You can also use customized templates for greater design flexibility. This is rather great if you have your own web developers to develop a custom design template for your web application. Their enterprise solution comes with several Internet marketing features ranging from search engine submission to website consultation and features an integrated web hosting services.

Finally, the support team that they have there is excellent and just like what their website claims, they facilitate/advise you so that you can fully take advantage of their web application and you can come up with a site that works as you wanted.

If you think you’d like to try Web Studio, there’s a free trial in their website so you can get familiar with their service and get started to establish your online personal or business identity.

Life Of A Freelance Web Developer After 2 Years

johnraul — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:17:47 +0000

On August 6, 2009, I marked my official second year (unofficially, it’s more than 2 years LOL) anniversary of my work here at home as a freelance web developer. Well, I’m more than just web developer. Time flies, as they say, and it really just flew in my case. My 48 months were not bad at all and it wasn’t bliss to work at home everyday either. There were lots of interesting and dramatic changes in my personal and professional life as witnessed by this blog.

While my work may have contained my life in the four corners of my home, it also brought some unparalleled events and evolution not just in my life but also to others who were directly attached to me in the offline and online world. I personally believe that I experienced some things that you can’t get in a real office environment. Of course, I also recognize that there are also things I have missed. I guess I can just say “C’est la vie.” I think that if I was working in the city, it would have exposed me to different places and people. Unfortunately, that’s not my circumstance and that being said, I’m relying on my holistic dynamism and upbeat intellect that have brought advancements despite my situational constraints. I believe it will continue to push me forward in the next years to come. After all, I think and dream about my future every day and I parallel that with hard work.

Recollection and Evaluation

When I started my work 2 years ago, I had nothing else in my mind than just four goals that boosted my motivation:

to find an opportunity to visit, work, and live abroad,
to solidify my career in Information Technology,
to make money to help my parents and brothers, and
to find new special people that I could integrate and be part of my life.

My first goal didn’t happen yet; I kind of fulfilled the second one but not to a sustainable point due to changing circumstances; the third one is a continuous work and that’s evidenced by what I do online; and the latter, I believe I managed to find special people that are now part of my life.

The past two years working at home have taught me many things and brought realizations that I have presented in the past milestone posts listed below.

Professionally-talking, I think being a freelance developer has a risk especially when you’re not eager enough to teach yourself to be better in your field of expertise. As in my case, I have no choice but to develop my knowledge. It’s the key to realizing my goals and it has always provided me ways through life’s obstacles.

What’s Ahead

As uncertain as the future can be, I can only pledge to be consistent with my hard work to realize the goals I have and to be dynamic with each new circumstance. I’m looking forward to meet my online friends, I’m excited to the development of my tech news show, to start new venture and engage more in online business, to hone my I.T. expertise, and most importantly, to fly somewhere. With all these goals I have, it only means there’s an opportunity to do more in the years to come.

Web Hosting For Geeks

johnraul — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:40:14 +0000

I’ve written many web hosting articles in the past 12 months until my life has gone super busy with my web development main job, and the existence of my tech news show, Tech Conclave. Today, I’ve decided to update myself with the latest in the web hosting industry and I found this website called Web Hosting Geeks. Certainly, the site captured me because of its "geek" word. Like what I always say at Tech Conclave: it’s good to be a geek.

So, in their home page, they have a list of best web hosting companies for 2009. In my opinion, the top web hosts listed there are the ones who have established themselves in the web hosting industry since ages. People who are new to web hosting could easily be convinced that the top has the best value for your money. Certainly not. Remember, big companies have better funds to initiate a massive marketing. However, looking at the site’s reputation (and Internet marketing parameters), it seems to me most of the web hosts listed there are reputable. Now, that’s just a tip.

Back to Web Hosting Geeks, their website presents neat hosting categories for specific hosting platforms and purposes. In addition to the top ranking for each year, you can view lists of web hosts sorted according to the type of services they offer (e.g., Unix Hosting, Blog Hosting, VPS Hosting, and many others), according to type of web hosting (e.g., dedicated server, green hosting, multiple domain hosting), according to web hosting rating, or come up with the result of web hosting companies according to the awards they have received.

If you feel like you need to familiarize yourself with the web hosting terms and/or you want tips and tricks, they also have useful web hosting blogs you can immerse into.

Presently, this blog is currently hosted at Top Hosting Center, running over their Speedy hosting plan. My show’s website, Tech Conclave, is hosted at Host Color.

Tech Conclave To Try Weekly, Needs Support

johnraul — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:40:59 +0000

Hi everyone. Sorry, I wasn’t able to write for my own personal blog for a couple of weeks due to high workload that I have with my main job, my tech news show, Tech Conclave, the Global Geek News Patrol, and Tech Webcast.

Speaking of Tech Conclave at the time of this writing, I’m now working on our eighth episode, the first to start in a weekly basis, and I’m very happy at this point because Episode 7 was a success (probably because of the new microphone). It earned honors at YouTube.com and I earned some new friends from other places in the world. The exciting point of the show is its social aspect: every episode I am self-mandated to hunt for a Geek of the Week online.

I have several personal complaints with the show though: my Internet is slow and video editing is choking my laptop! The system that I use to work on the video is truly not meant for video editing and I need something better and faster. I believe I’m only limited by the systems and resources that I have, not what I can do out from my ideas or motivation since I’m full of it. I’m looking now for sponsors and if you have suggestions, please let me know.

On the side, I’m also working on several websites for survival. As far as you know, I only earn like $200 a month and that’s a pain because my bills eat more than half of that and considering that I work like around the clock each day. I’m hoping that Tech Conclave would escalate and my hard work be recognized: I am doing my best for it and I spend many restless nights to bring great episodes for the world. So if you can, please support my show. Your $1 donation can help me a lot or if you don’t want to offer monetary help, there are things you can do to support Tech Conclave like subscribing to our official YouTube account, spreading the word to your friends and to tell your friends to tell their friends, and registering at Tech Conclave website.

Thanks for reading this and for your time. I’ll try to do more and become even more productive. In some ways, I truly need your help.