The Smartphone, a viable economic tool for you in 2023
THE SMARTPHONE, A VIABLE ECONOMIC TOOL FOR YOU IN 2023
Introduction
The smartphone as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is a mobile phone that performs many of the functions of a computer, typically having a touch screen interface, internet access, and an operating system capable of running downloaded apps.
The smartphones in our hands can be a very viable economic tool which can add great value to our lives and businesses. The big question here is: what do you use your smartphone to do? Apart from the normal routine of making and receiving phone calls and sending and receiving text messages, how else can you use your smartphone to add value to your life and business? There are very many ways that you can identify and unlock great opportunities online using your smartphone and this article is aimed at revealing some of these.
Economic Uses of the Smartphone
- Building your social capital;
- Learning;
- Working;
- Buying and Selling;
- Making money directly;
- Etc.
Building Social Capital with your Smartphone
Every business needs capital to operate as this is an important factor of production. Social capital which is a form of business capital entails your connections i.e. the people you relate or connect with (using your smartphone in this context). Your contacts and online audience can play a key role in the growth and development of your business as you can utilize them in the marketing and promotion of your products, goods and services.
The following can be considered as the forms of social capital that you can build using your smartphone:
1. Social Media Audiences e.g. your friends, followers and subscribers on social media such as facebook, instagram, whatsapp, tiktok, linkedin, youtube channel etc.
2. Email Lists: You can form a collection of e-mail lists with the help of your smartphone, tablet or computer. The email list can be grouped into categories to suit a variety of purposes. The email lists can be a great asset in promoting your products, goods and services online via email marketing.
3. Phone Number Lists: The phone numbers stored in the phone book of your smartphone can be of immense benefit in growing your business. With your smartphone, tablet or computer, you can also create classified phone number data bases using notepad or any document processing software like MS Word or Excel. This can be useful in sending bulk SMS to your customers and prospective customers alike. Your phone number data base can also be useful in carrying out campaigns and religious evangelism.
4. Online Forums: With the help of your smartphone, tablet or computer, you can visit and belong to some online forums and social media groups. Within the forum, you can share your ideas and problems, get your problems solved by more experienced members of the forums, contribute in solving other people’s problems etc.
Learning with your Smartphone
With your smartphone, tablet or computer, you can undergo a lot of online trainings to improve your skills, credentials, self confidence and employability. Some online learning platforms are free while some are not. See a list of free online courses and training platforms here. Some will issue to you their certificates which you can use and boost your resume. The following are very good online platforms to learn:
1. Youtube: Youtube.com is an online platform where you can watch thousands of free videos. Among these videos are very useful tutorials where you can learn tons of skills. Just visit youtube.com, on the search bar, just type and search for anything that you want to learn and you will get a good number of tutorials relating to your search. You can search for things like: how to do email marketing; html tutorials; how to make cakes; how to make salads; how to make bread; how to secure a website, how to send bulk sms, how to do affiliate marketing; and so on.
2. Udemy: udemy.com is a good platform where you can learn virtually anything. They have a broad selection of courses covering several areas of skill acquisition including design, development, marketing, ICT and softwares, personal development, music, business etc. Some of their courses are free while some are paid. The beauty of this great learning platform is that if you purchase any course, the course material remains your own for life, no expiry.
3. Google: The google search engine is a great asset for your learning. With your smartphone, tablet or computer, just search for any information on google and you will be availed with thousands of materials relating to your search query. Google also has a free online courses for those who want to become professionals in digital marketing, career development and data analysis. The course is called google digital skills for Africa and an internationally recognized certificate will be issued to you at the end of the training and you become a google certified professional. You can take advantage of this free training and boost your skills, confidence and credentials. You can comfortably take this free courses even with your smartphone.
4. Lynda: Lynda.com is an online learning platform powered by linkedin. Lynda.com has a wide range of courses covering business, technology and the creative industry. You can subscribe on this platform and start learning.
5. Codecademy: Codecademy.com is a New York based online training platform for those who want to become ICT professionals. You can learn online with your smartphone, tablet or computer from any location in the world. You don’t need any qualification for this training. All you need is your interest and passion to learn and build a professional career in web and software development. As a matter of fact, this is where I personally learnt web engineering. Their interactive learning platform will teach you how to write codes with so many programming languages, libraries and frameworks (e.g. HTML,CSS, Java Script, Java, Node.js, React, SQL, Python, Bash/Shell, Ruby, C++, R, C#, PHP, Go, Swift and Cotlin) depending on your chosen career path.
On this platform you can learn code fundamentals, web development (front end, back end and full stack web development), data science, computer science, developer tools, machine learning, etc. The platform is loaded with a lot of coding instructions and examples, practical exercises, quits, mobile practices, real life practical projects, video tutorials, reference materials and lots more.
6. W3schools: W3schools.com is a free online school for web developers. You can also read about web development here using your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Working with the help of your smartphone
You can comfortably work and earn money online with your smartphone, tablet or computer. There are several web platforms that you can utilize your skills and professionalism to add value to your business. Lets look at some of these:
1. Topservices.ng:
Topservices.ng is a web platform that aims to give a free online presence to every service driven business. People are free to search for and hire experts and professionals from every field of work to work for them. So you are free to create your business account now at topservices.ng, present your business profile by describing what you offer, posting pictures and even videos of your job samples, creating your services online, updating your contact details and so on.
On topservices.ng, people will search and find you based on your location and field of work, and you will be hired to work. Here your prospective customers can also request for your quotation online. Customers also post job offers requesting for bidding from experts and professionals who are registered on the platform. So if you’re an expert or professional in your field of work, you can register free of charge on this platform with the help of your smartphone, tablet or computer and start getting hired to work. Your prospective customers will find you easily on this platform. Try it and see and you will be surprised of the customers that will find and locate you. It is free.
As a registered service provider on topservices.ng, you can write and post articles from your account dashboard free of charge. The articles should be such that will promote your business and direct customers to patronize you. Immediately you post your article it will be published on the blog section of topservices.ng and the platform will then optimise and advertise your article in the search engines such as google, bing etc.
Every field of work is covered. Cake designers, DJ’s, MC’s, comedians, caterers, make-up artists, fashion designers, spa services, hair & nail stylists, photographers, videographers, accountants, auditors, lawyers, motivational speakers, teachers, nurses, dentists, doctors, veterinary services, opticians, ambulance services, plumbers, tillers, house painters, borehole drillers, water treatment experts, house builders, architects, surveyors, electricians, aluminium fabricators, carpenters, furniture makers, POP makers, auto mechanics, auto electricians.
The following are not also left out: landscaping, real estate, gardening, fumigation, cleaning services, laundry, welding, wheal balancing, wheel alignment, leather works, towing van services, electronics repairs, air conditioner services, solar systems, cctv installations, cable tv installations, refrigerator repairs, security tracking, security guards & bouncers, printing, arts & crafts, fitness training, website development, computer repairs, computer training, computer networking & systems security, web hosting & server administration and lots more.
For further support from topservices.ng, please call: 234 8033498578, 234 8089239678
2. Upwork:
Upwork.com is a freelancing job website where you can register and trade your skill online. People all over the world do post their jobs on this platform and as a registered freelancer on the platform you can bid for any of the jobs that you can successfully handle. On successful completion of every job the money for the job which was already paid for by the owner of the job will be released into your account less the commission charged by the platform.
With your smartphone, tablet or computer you can register on upwork.com and start working to earn money in dollars.
There is a wide range of jobs posted on this platform from very technical jobs to jobs that require less technical skills. Jobs are posted from fields like engineering, law, accounting, administration, customers service, ICT, language interpretation, data entry and so on. Just explore the platform and see for yourself.
Buying and selling online
1. Create your own online shop to sell your goods and services.
Creating one may be a little technical so you can hire a web developer to do it for you. Once it is successfully created, you can then manage it with your smartphone, tablet or computer. With your online shop, you will be able to reach more customers and also enjoy the tremendous benefits of doing business online.
2. Buy from other online shops.
With your smartphone, tablet or computer you can enjoy the benefits and comfort of buying or ordering for goods and services and have it delivered to your doorstep. There exist a great number of online shops both locally and internationally where you can buy from. A typical example is amazon.
Making money directly with your smartphone
There are several ways in which you can make money directly with your smartphone, tablet or computer. This article will not dwell on ponzy schemes as most of these are fraudulent. We will only focus on some credible methods:
1. Own and manage a blog :
A blog is simply a web page where you post interesting contents that you feel that people will always like to read. Your blog could have such contents as news, sports, fashion, health tips, food recipes, inspirational materials, comedy, etc. The contents of your blog should be constantly updated and should be relevant and credible.
To make money from your blog, ensure you market and drive enough visitors traffic to it. When this is done, you then introduce google adsense into the blog. The more the people that visit and read the content of your blog the more they are likely to click on the advertisements automatically presented by google on your blog. Google pays you based on the number of clicks.
You can hire a web designer now to build a blog for you and integrate google adsense. Once your blog is built, you can manage it with your smartphone, tablet or computer and you will start earning money.
2. Affiliate Programs (Affiliate Marketing):
This is where you market and promote the products and services of other websites on your website, blog or social media pages. Just contact the owners of the websites whose content you want to promote. Based on their terms and conditions they will create an affiliate link for you to place on your own platform. Any purchase made by a customer that follows your affiliate link to buy from the website, you automatically earn a commission. So, with your smartphone, tablet or computer you can earn money by introducing and promoting the products of other websites to your online audience.
3. Create Contents for other Websites:
You can earn money without stress by simply using your smartphone, tablet or computer to create contents or posts for other websites. Very good examples are:
- Become a teacher with udemy.com. Here, you develop tutorials on those things that you know how to do best. Send this tutorial to udemy.com and they will keep selling it for you and taking their commission. People from all over the world are buying curses from udemy and you keep earning money when ever somebody buys your tutorial.
- Youtube Channel: Own a youtube chanel and post your videos. Youtube pays you a great part of the income they make from people watching your videos.
Conclusion
Our smartphones that we purchased with good amounts of money should serve us better than just phone calls and text messages. The above provides a great insight about how we can utilize the smart phones in our hands as a business tool to add value to our lives.
I hope this article was helpful. Please, give it a good rating and also share it with your friends.
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