Upgraded Plan

Since we are having dreadfully slow connection these past few days and it’s giving me a real headache, we settled on upgrading our speed connection plan. It was from 1mbps to 2mbps now and it was just connected this afternoon. Since it’s vague waiting for PLDT Mydsl connection and I’m tired of hearing complains from my customers, we considered upgrading.

We are still in the testing process and looking for a great result soon. The representative of our provider informed me that the reaction will be seen in 2-3 days so it might not be giving the best for now. Let’s see if this resolution will work for good or not. I’ll post in one day here. 

The shop's renovation

We had our shop renovated as for maximizing space and for a better look adding up the reason of preparing more spaces for more computers in the near future. We are operating with 6 computers for renting and we are hoping for additional 2 or more units. Since the shop is doing well and we’re also having growing number of customers, more units are really needed. Just like now as I’m attending our shop, many renters are waiting for their turn, hehe. Good thing a new blessing arrived and our plan will have a big chance to come true.

Look at the shop before the renovation:

As you can see, 4 computers are set together in the right side of the shop and the other 2 units are in the middle portion. It makes the shop crowded because of the server positioned in the front corner. 

So, we (actually it's Cholo's idea) came up of renovating the shop for the better. Here's the shop now:

All units are positioned in the left side of the shop and the server is now on the right upper part. It makes the place more convenient for renters and also for us.

The new look of my blog

I do like the new look of my new dressed up blog. I’m so proud of myself I now know how to create my own header and I like how the color blends and how my piece looked like. I am not a pro when it comes to designing this kind of thing and it so flattering having this masterpiece now. I hope you’ll like it! :)

I will consider this as a new learning for me.

Business Permit

Our net shop is frequently open until 01:00 am to 02:00 am dawn. Sometimes, though not intentional, customers make a lot of noise inside the shop and that bothers me it might cause inconvenience in our neighborhood. Actually, I do have understanding neighbors around but of course if they will encounter frequent disturbance because of my shop, I’m sure they will complain soon. Mom as my mentor advised me last night to get a business permit from our barangay for me to comprise legal documents in case I will have any issue in the future. And that supposed to be the first thing I’ve done when I started up this kind of business. I’m not saying that I’m conflicting rules but I already tried to get a permit from them but they advised me to do it after the election this May, so, I followed. However, though it might be sound wrong because some may think about that “PADRINO” thing since the chairman of our barangay happened to be my partner Cholo’s uncle, we intended to go after the right process appropriately. I don’t want other people to be aware that our internet shop is operating without any permit. So in order for us not to be known for abiding any regulation, my Partner get a barangay business permit then.  It is also a big help to us not to be required from getting any other business permits aside from this one given that our shop is located not near commercial area.

I also want everything about the shop to be taken care of and put in proper order. Before, we are not so strict in regard to the policies and regulations of the shop. But, I noticed that sometimes it became disadvantage in our part. So what I promised myself now is to become more firm but not to the point that it will affect the operation of our business hence still keep our customers and provide quality customer service.

Counter Strike

Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le andJess "Cliffe" Cliffe. By the fourth beta version, Valve Software, the developer who created Half-Life, began assisting in the development of Counter-Strike. In 2000, Valve bought the rights to Counter-Strike, and would publish the title for Microsoft Windows that year, and later in 2003 for the Xbox. Mac OS X and Linux ports were available in January 2013.

The game has been expanded into a series since its original release, which currently includes Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Counter-Strike pits a team of terrorists against a team of counter-terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won by either completing the mission objective or eliminating the opposing force.

The game was the most played Half-Life modification in terms of players, according to GameSpy in 2008.

Here in our net shop, Counter Strike is the most game players usually play. They sometimes play 3 by 3 means three players versus three players occupying 6 computers. They sometimes have their bet which is commonly known here as “BAYAD PC”. The lost players will be the ones who pay for the rent of the 3 winning players.

Our shop has its good sales because of this game. I don’t know why they’re hooked on it, if I will assess the game it is just like an action film or much better to be like soldiers fighting with the terrorist that is actually the real concept of it hehe. Even girls are captivated in this game including my nieces and also my nephew. Sometimes, I want to try playing it but I’m afraid I might be obsessed like the others.

Target Market

I remember a friend’s question when we were just starting this business of ours. Since I am just a first time business woman, before entering the business I have now, I considered and pondered a lot. From the business plans and operating techniques up to how to serve customers by heart (hehe, it’s really important to serve them by heart though sometimes they are really irritating) But, I have this thing in mind until now in its analyzation. My friend asked me “what’s your TARGET MARKET?” Actually, it was just a familiar word I heard when I was in college and doing my feasibility studies. Then, that familiar word has to be truly understood now.

For me, target market is a group of customers or patrons patronizing my products or it can be anyone interested in my services. This is the very first thing to consider when you are putting up a business of your own. Of course, it will not become a business if you don’t have your own customers.

From the first day of the operation of our Computer Shop, while observing every patron we have, we then realize who our target market is. The opening of the shop happened to be in summer season and students and children are on their summer vacation. I have to choose from the markets which are GAMERS, RESEARCHERS and just typical RENTERS doing anything in the net considered as SURFERS. Gamers are a lot in the shop, if you will just notice though they can be deem as Surfers, even with their Facebook accounts they are playing games. So, more than half of the people renting in our shop are included as GAMERS. Maybe because it’s summer vacation and children are not yet ready for their researches. Come month of June we will then see.

Nevertheless, whoever our target market is, for me the most important still is the customer service we are providing our customers.

Antivirus

The renters of the shop missed me a lot since it was not open yesterday due to our family outing. So, they woke me up so early in the morning to rent. I had no choice but to stand on end to accommodate them though I'm still sleepy and tired and really wanted to sleep more. Until this afternoon there are still lot of gamers and renters here in the shop.

Suddenly, I found out that the antivirus software in PC 6 has been expired since it's only a trial version of Norton Antivirus. In order to fix everything, I inserted my flash drive with the ESET NOD32 ANTIVIRUS saved on it. I didn't know that the flash drive has virus and PC 6 got infected. It really irritates me because I have to reformat the computer again so that the other computers in the shop will not get infected. It's so annoying to have a free trial version of a software.

So, what I'm going to do now is to reformat the computer. But I have also learned to provide a full version of every software I have for me not to encounter this again in the future.

According to Wikipedia, Antivirus or anti-virus software is software used to prevent, detect and remove malware (of all descriptions), such as: computer viruses, malicious BHOs, hijackers, ransomware, keyloggers, backdoors, rootkits, trojan horses, worms, malicious LSPs, dialers,fraudtools, adware and spyware. Computer security, including protection from social engineering techniques, is commonly offered in products and services of antivirus software companies. This page discusses the software used for the prevention and removal of malware threats, rather than computer security implemented by software methods.

I searched for the best antivirus in Goole and found out this comparisons of different antivirus to use. It's very helpful. I know now what to do. This is the site.

Computer Specifications

When it comes to computer, you will always hear the word "specs" to those computer wizards. I am not really into computers before, my degree is very far from computer technology studies. When I had my first computer few years ago, I didn't check for the specifications of it because for me it doesn't really matter. But that was before.

When we started our own business and provide our own computers, I then realized how important "specs" is. Everything about the computer starting from it's very tiny part has it's big role for the computer to work properly. So, when our technician checked for the specifications of the units we bought, we make sure we will have the good ones.

                                 OUR COMPUTER'S SPECIFICATIONS

Understanding specifications of your computer by looking at this picture...

Changes...

As I was checking and sorting all my blogs in the past that were abandoned and left undone, I found out this one which I can use for some stuffs that I want to write and share. This was a love blog I made which is a copycat of my other blog that has it's own domain now. So I decided to make this my diary of the things I've known and learned. This will also be the page for my new discoveries, learning and searches. As for now, this will look like a simple blog but I will try to make this one of the great blogs I have. So, see you guys here! Welcome blogging world again. :)