klbarry's comments

klbarry | 13 years ago | on: Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (August 2012)

SEEKING FREELANCER:

We're looking for a programmer with experience in RFID to integrate the data collected by various UHF RFID hardware readers into a user interface on the iPad. Knowledge of RFID is obviously a huge bonus.

This job is not just for someone looking to follow precise instructions on code requirements - we're looking for someone to consult with us and guide us through the most efficient path to the goal of the product, as well as executing the development.

Our company is an innovative start-up with plenty of traction. We're revolutionizing inventory management for the jewelry industry, where a single lost product, smaller than your pinky nail, can costs thousands and thousands of dollars.

To the right candidate this project is the first of many. We would like to grow with a skilled outside contractor for many of our upcoming projects.

www.tractechsystems.com for more info Email [email protected]

klbarry | 13 years ago | on: Being a Developer Makes You Valuable. Learning How to Market Makes You Dangerous

Note: I am not a developer. My experience is in e-commerce marketing and my degree (est. May 2013) is in Statistics.

I've loved the field of human persuasion for years, and I think I can add something that I have written in the past to this conversation. I essentially made a list of marketing "truths", based on my research and experience, and have tested it against others. What remains of the list is what no one has been able to refute, so I think it's decently close to a list of universal irrefutable "rules of marketing."

The Truths of Marketing

1) Ethos (your perceived character) is the most important.

2) People make judgments by comparison/anchoring.

3) People process information best from stories.

4) People are foremost interested in things that affect them.

5) Breaking patterns gets attention.

6) People look to other people's decisions when making decisions.

7) People will believe things more easily that fit their pre-existent mindset. The converse is also true.

8) People handle one idea at a time best.

9) People want more choices, but are happier with fewer.

10) People decide first, then rationalize - If people are stuck with something, they will like it more over time.

11) Experience is memory, the last part of the experience is weighted heavily.

* Keep in mind that this should not necessarily be used a checklist; see what the director of a large creative agency says on the subject:

"I think that in broad strokes these truisms are accurate, but they aren't really how I personally get to the bottom of the marketing equation when working on a brand.

Of them, I think 1 and 4 are probably the closest, but I think the biggest problem is the same problem you find in how any analysis of consumers, or what is usually called "consumer behavior" is used -- it is, by definition, one step removed from what you're trying to analyze, yet it's treated like the consumers themselves.

Because consumers are often perceived as black boxes to marketers, there's a temptation to analyze their behavior and then market to that analysis instead of to them. Maybe this is because I'm on the creative side, but for me the most useful role of research is to inform and guide what is a form of for our consumer. To not just analyze what drives them, but to genuinely it yourself.

Reading research about twelve-year-old girls' purchase decisions and focus group transcripts is not the same thing as thinking like one. I have a client in that market, and I read everything when I'm working on something -- research, web sites, fan magazines, television -- but none of it is a substitute for sitting in a dark room and genuinely trying to imagine the trials of what it must be like to actually be a twelve-year-old girl from a first person perspective.

It sounds absurd, but that's how you come up with great ideas -- to do your best to become a twelve-year-old girl, and then develop things that you would enjoy.

So I think truisms like yours are useful as long as they remain a means to an end, and not, as they so often do, a checklist, or worse, the end itself."

klbarry | 13 years ago | on: We (unexpectedly) got 60K users in 60 hours - What we learned

Interesting! I made my own guide a while back for my friends, with great success.

1a) Make a "brand" with your middle name Google your first and last name. If you’re like most people on earth, you’re one of many with your particular combination. So how can you rank higher?

Never fight a battle you don’t have to. Pick a middle name, real or imaginary. Google your new full name.

Example: My name is Kevin Barry. The Google result is completely owned by Wikipedia and other impossible to compete against sites.

My full name is Kevin William Lord Barry. I think Lord sounds cool, so I’ll make Kevin Lord Barry my “official” online name. It’s much easier to rank for and even helps with personal branding.

1b) Consistency! Put your new name on top of your resume for consistency.

2) Edit/Create Your Facebook Take your new name. If your Facebook looks professional, change your Facebook name to your new name. If not, make sure your Facebook doesn’t use your new full name.

3) Edit/Create Your LinkedIn Take five minutes to create a LinkedIn account with your new name. Put all of your resume information on it neatly. LinkedIn will rank well for your new name, and you can brag as much as you want on it without looking pompous.

4) Make Yourself Look Good on Amazon Make an account on Amazon, using your new branded name. Pick a couple of books in your industry with good ratings. Read the summaries (read the book, preferably, but I won’t judge if you don’t). Leave a review of the books that makes you look good: show that you know industry terms, talk about your experience, etc.

Each review you leave will go to your Google front page and make you look smarter. This only works if you know enough about your industry to sound smart, of course. You can also do this for textbooks, or fiction that you like if you want to sound interesting.

5) Make Accounts on Web 2.0 Websites Take five minutes to make an account on sites that allow descriptive profiles with your full name Quora, Yahoo Answers, DisQus, Meetup, or anywhere else you want. Feel free to participate in these communities to help even more, although it’s not necessary.

6) Strut Your Stuff! Here’s where you can have fun and really seem impressive. Go to Weebly.com and make a free website, called “yourfullname.weebly.com”. Set the page title to “Your Full Name Online” and the page description to “Your Full Name’s Online Website”. Write a paragraph about yourself on one page, and a page with links to your linkedin, Facebook, or anywhere else you want to show people. Go nuts and add anything else you want that might make you seem interesting. Voila!

klbarry | 13 years ago | on: The Perfect Compliment

It disturbs me because it's quite selfish. It's okay to not immediately do what feels good like a child would.

klbarry | 14 years ago | on: Is Now the Time to Hire MBAs?

I'm curious - what does H.N. think about a Masters of Science in a business field (Marketing, Statistics, Accounting, etc.) as opposed to an MBA?

klbarry | 14 years ago | on: List of emerging technologies

I work for a company working on RFID (radio frequency identification technology on the wiki) for the jewelry industry. Some of the biggest wholesalers on the planet have recently bought our system and we have had requests for proposals from Rolex and more. We're currently looking for paid interns in NYC, feel free to contact.
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