The Game and Compute podcast uses current and past notes from effective experiences I’ve had with creating some extra income from side hustles.
Workshop (Thursday 4/10/25 private link only): Recession-Proof Your Career Path with B. Johnson-Gray HMMHer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadettechambers/Purpose of coaching: In an unpredictable economy, securing your career and income is more important than ever. This interactive workshop will equip you with the tools and strategies needed to thrive in any economic climate.Key Takeaways: Identify High-Demand Skills – Discover the skills that remain valuable regardless of market conditions and how to position yourself as a must-have professional. Diversify Your Income Streams – Learn how to build multiple revenue sources through side hustles, freelancing, and strategic investments. Leverage AI & Automation – Understand how AI can enhance your productivity, increase your value in the job market, and create new career opportunities. Future-Proof Your Network – Develop a powerful network that supports career growth and opens doors to recession-resistant opportunities.Who Should Attend? Professionals looking to enhance job security Entrepreneurs seeking to adapt and grow Anyone interested in long-term financial and career stabilityShe gets 5 star reviews:Andre' BraggReviewed on February 2025When I began my journey in digital marketing, I was unsure where to start in pursuing my new career. I reached out to Ms. Johnson, and she was incredibly helpful, creating a well-structured strategy for me to follow. She provided an in-depth, real-world perspective on the digital marketing industry and a clear blueprint for building a successful career. Beyond that, she was highly knowledgeable, answering all my questions thoroughly and providing clear explanations for every challenge I encountered. She is an exceptional coach—experienced, insightful, and dedicated to her students' success. The information she shared was truly inspiring, and I know I will greatly benefit from everything she taught me during our coaching sessions. I can tell that she genuinely wants to see her students thrive and reach their full potential in their careers. I'm grateful to have Ms. Johnson as my career coach, guiding me with her expertise and mentoring me along the way. I know I can always rely on her, and the valuable insights she shares will help shape my career for success.""Dae'Vaun PattersonReviewed on August 2024This is by far one of my most informative and helpful calls. She did an amazing job of breaking down the steps what I needed to do to pursue a full time career in digital marketing. Cant explain how excited i am to get to work. Thank you so much Bernadette!!!"
Possible to profit $200 monthly in side hustles (crafts, gigs and reselling)I have created a projects for my online store, eBay and TikTok.I am continuing side hustles with EPMS Ellis Online and Uber Eats.I am continuing reselling and trying to open another eBay store due to potential traffic being blocked after Vero restrictions.Collin Ecom may be a scam? I'm still waiting on a follow up as I was removed from Discord.
Back-entered (Spotify for Creators crap app)Spotify for Podcasters is now Spotify for creatorsTime stamps: 0-14mins: intro on recent projects14-34mins: reviewing the monetization and visualizing what that might look like 34-44mins: talking about the new Spotify for Creators app; phone stops recording at the 44th min once I'm looking inside the Spotify App44-end mins: the last 34 mins is me trying to explain what is in the app and just ranting-Monetization: ad revenue share once you are approved to be in the partner program. You can use your own monetized ads or promotions but has to meet the qualifications. -App: can save on phone and upload but the app creates a brand new podcast and no ability to log in to the old podcast(s)
Back-entered (TikTok Shop Third Party Integrations, Workshop)
Back-entered (TikTok violations, TikTok Webinars for TikTok Shop)
Back-entered Shopify Info from 2023: limited IG account options, FB issues needed to be figured out; TikTok, Spotify, Medium.
Biaheza's Course (back-entered: that time I went rogue)
Shopify MailChimp Landing Page and Lead Capture Published (audio only workflow)Publishing landing page with lead capture form. Used Shopify with MailChimp app. I'm still needing to tweak and edit such as at least 1 page in addition to the home page on the landing page. And editing the MailChimp demo page, which is the second page that pops up automatically after the lead capture (at least at the current time). I'll then need to learn what type of form I'll use for the analysis opt in. Then I might create a screen recording of an analysis form being filled out if I do decide to keep the demo page.
Gig Income Easy $77 in 4hr + pending funds (Uber and Mystery Shopper)Here I discuss the latest Thursday May 1 Uber Eats Prop 22 payout, 1 day online for 3.5hr, and I also discuss potential funds to be posted for mystery apartment shopping gigs, some of which I've only done the routine phone cadence, and 1 which I identified then called after. The minimum listed is the $77 from Uber Eats. May 7th should expect at least a $50 payout from 1 mystery shop. But there are potential partial earnings for 3 gigs which could be max near $210, and minimum, partials of the $70 per site if I don't get all the funds since so far I've only been able to call without speaking to any leasing offices for those 3 gigs. Stay tuned to follow this series.
Ebay revising and comparing listings (prices, subscriptions, niche stores, HTML and editing text)
MailChimp Lead Capture Workflow (live audio only, elements, font sizes, formatting)
EBay! New account with new Tello number
ZOHO CRM Mapping (slow workflow, free version)
Shopify Lead Capture (slow workflow, free MailChimp trial app)
Uber Eats Mid April 2025 update (adding streams of income)
Commission only 1099 (is it worth it?)
Group Coaching Session (and my answers to the coaching worksheet, see link)Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OEgjLRPS_bUk2UFxBNhr8DQYMNikxmXV
Gig work making $240-$320 extra a month (in Southern California and possibly in large cities)Method I have used to make a few extra hundred with mystery apartment shopping. Sorry but the exact dates might be inaccurate. I'll post any corrections below as I continue. (If there are multiple corrections I may add an updated episode).NOTES:- most of my direct deposits after checking my payout history, were all posted on the 7th of each month. One gig I completed was on the 6th of the mint and I was paid on the 7th of that same month. - noon on the 7th it seems new phone call lists are posted.- possibly midnight starting early morning on the 8th it seems new apartments to view are posted on the map- I would recommend checking early morning for those posted midnights, and checking just after noon, so this multiple days per week to see if you recognize posting patterns as I cannot tell if there are patterns to new posts by dates or if I just happen to be checking near random times. I notice maps change more then once per month.
Uber Eats Side Hustle (my methods in Los Angeles South Bay Area)
Want Job Interviews? Use recruiters (getting a foot in the door)
Free Website Audit Series: high-end fashion and apparel niche (Shopify, social media conversions, blogs, logos). A very good job on this website! Nice Shopify store, I am providing free website audit content here for the Discord community I am a part of, and for all you Game and Compute listeners out there. Enjoy!
Website Draft is up, Biaheza's new vid (some newbie e-commerce tips)Biaheza:https://youtu.be/kgZ_-rMJLkg?si=zPH8WwH4j9LQSwzr
Why Did VeRO Only Restrict 1/2 of my Duplicate Listings (not sure if there is a logic to this, talking about EBay Listings Data)
NEW WEBSITE- it's in the works (brainstorming, ideal features, venting about GoDaddy.com, a potential niche reveal)TEMPORARY SITE LINK: https://gameandcompute9.godaddysites.com
GAME AND COMPUTE WEBSITE Temporary Changes (Please See New Link Below). https://gameandcompute9.godaddysites.com/
How I Bypassed EBay's VeRO Restriction, Data from non restricted posts (backlogged from Feb. 1, 2025)I've included some data in a spreadsheet to explain price points and the few that seemed successful. This has been going on since October 2024! My next possible step might be starting a brand new eBay store connected to a brand new phone number to verify the account, and using a VPN to setup.
Internet!? Information Control, Disconnecting, Addiction (nice long rambling)Talking some more about censorship, about some hesitations for posting content, experiences in past religion where mainstream media was more limited. What constitutes addiction with internet and social media?
BBB Responds to VeRO Restriction- Trademark Infringement? Or Not?Listen up! We got an answer, somewhat. Tell me if you think what this major brand described as “trademark infringement” regarding a VERO restriction, was true or false. If I don't use their brand name, logo, or device design and shape, how can they continuously restrict? And why did they not restrict the least profitable sale price?
Spotify for Creators (Castbox, Other Platforms, Analytics)
LA Fires hang in there fellow Angelinos (opinions on volunteer service, economic status, self care)
EBay + $1.39 First Profit.In the midst of all these bans, unlisted products, back and first with VERO, and 7 day restrictions, we somehow came out with a minor profit. Somehow one listing got overlooked. Still no response from the major brand that keeps getting my listings removed. I'm moving on to OfferUp for now with the beauty products. And after the restriction lifts on 12/28/24 I'll be forced to only deal with my other clothing, electronics, and accessories. I'm considering reporting EBay to BBB as well due to withholding information about VERO restrictions.
They've responded!BBB Response, EBay Response, and Company ResponseSo far there are some messages now responding to my claim.I still don't have any specific clarity in the exact “intellectual” property that is triggering the restrictions.A YouTube comment suggests even artwork may be intellectual property. And as the product is unbranded without logos, the only unoriginal photos I have are the ones printed on the box! So I may try uploading, now that I'm out of restriction, a post without the boxes and only use my photos from my bedroom of the products and the charging cable. Similar to A/B testing, I've resisted at this point, some listings have photos of only the device with no pictures of the artwork since there's no box, and other listings have only the photos of the box as well as the device while it is still wrapped in the plastic packaging, so the photos of those devices are not very clear, but there's a picture on the box.I'm also editing the description content just in case they are flagging me for using the same content generated by eBay's AI prompt.
BBB Claim and eBay Listing Intellectual PropertySome talk about BBB claim against the company reporting our eBay Listing. The following explains the start of the BBB claim against a potential eBay competitor. It is believed the competitor is incorrectly reporting to eBay. And eBay does not seem to have a process of human review of stores. They rely on reports only. Previous episodes explain that the recommendations by customer service have not yet resolved the issue. The account listing continue to be wrongfully reported. Both the competitor and BBB have been contacted to resolve the issue of a intellectual property use claim which is incorrect as no intellectual property has been used. All content on the current eBay store is original and none is content or products duplicated by the competitor.
eBay VeRO listing removal (customer service, intellectual property complaint). Following up with eBay listing removals and account. Since the example discussed in the previous post, that initial issue is not resolved. Customer service is contacted yet again. Here is the discussion and changes implemented based on this second customer service chat. I'm addition to this chat, a new claim with BBB has been opened.
EBay VeRO Listing Removal (reviewing customer service recommendations)Here we read through and discuss some of the faults with eBay's listing removal process. Over multiple weeks eBay has allowed listings to be removed, it is possible that they are receiving false reports from a competitor. This is an example of how we are attempting to address this. At this time there is not a direct solution. But it is worth documenting in case others find the content of some use
eBay, restrictions, and live customer service agents
Spotify for Creators Now! Still troubleshooting. The app appears operational. Here are some tips I am using to work around the glitches.
Shopify and Online Auctioning (online store campaigns for new beginners, brainstorming). Are you ready for Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Christmas? Chanukkah? Boxing Day? NYE? NYD? Here we brainstorm about some ideas to get started in online sales. The holiday season is upon us, so why not try and make money instead of spending it?
Spotify Podcasting RSS Feed Fix (Create a YouTube Podcast with your Spotify Pod Content). I walk you through some issues I have observed, below is the main link as of August 2024 (due to frequent changes to the Spotify for Podcaster platform, the content in my episode is subject to becoming obsolete, and the content in the link is already outdated). https://learn.acast.com/en/articles/3505483-what-is-my-show-s-email-address While this link shows steps (outdated) for ACast, I will walk you through the steps for Anchor.fm. I also talk about some other changes. These are all my own opinions. I have been frustrated with the changes to the Spotify for Podcasters platform. But I hope this content can provide value. Let's get those traffic numbers up! Let's go!!!
Sales Calls (Corporate versus Freelance). Early steps to improving calls. Trent Dressel: https://youtu.be/kHkvNtf-t20?si=PXKsYhwkHNX2hsnO Tyson 4D: https://youtu.be/_uiyTLT9W6k?si=1Ue08NR3P7RLW6Tj
SPOTIFY FOR PODCASTERS APP UPDATES (a bad app update?) Check out their new app ad: https://youtu.be/Q8eCRsSZVRo?si=MeLyjf_gUXIcftBG Here we discuss some of how podcasting has evolved from vlogging travels and home videos, to audio only radio style influenced shows, to video panel and round table discussions. How has the app changed? How do the changes impact podcasters? CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE MAKE A SIMPLE INTEGRATED SOLUTION??
G&C portfolios sales and digital advertising (brainstorming Intro). The other day as I drove home from a work meeting, I had some time during LA traffic to record about some brainstorm ideas. We next ought to discuss sales and marketing ideas. Projects. Taking action. Check out some knowledge from RICH UX: https://youtu.be/zSZjJbblHoI?si=W6MiN62-6Ls8IHVI
Spotify Podcasting and Reaching and Setting Goals and Analyzing Traffic
Spotify Podcasting and Analyzing Traffic, Analytics Outside of Spotify (What Can We Track?) Here I explain issues with: -TRYING TO LINK GOOGLE ANALYTICS -TRYING TO CONNECT ZAPIER TO GOOGLE AND SPOTIFY -USING UBERSUGGEST FOR TRACKING BACKLINKS -REVIEWING SPOTIFY ANALYTICS AND MONETIZATION CRITERIA -ARE THE NUMBERS ADDING UP?
Spotify for Podcasters (Growing a New Podcast) Henry G: (his last post about podcasting) https://youtu.be/fI1Rbr2nIvY?si=r-xpH4Xi-QiBgTTO Most podcast tutorials want to tell you the 7 steps or a very generic take on growing your podcast. Many podcasters want to get to a monetized position. During June 2024 I want us to discuss some alternative topics for growth, brainstorming some ideas so that we can be well-rounded and not just following the general path. Check out older episodes as well. Spotify podcasting has changed greatly since 2020 and now in 2024 it can benefit us all to even look back at the past. So check out those older episodes as well and see how podcasting has changed! No longer are the days when we can just launch a couple eps and get monetized instantly! Unfortunately, there is more competition, and the world began to rely on digital. So we have to change with the competition, learn, do, practice, and update our skills.
Learning to Podcast on Spotify (My Strategy for June 2024) This episode will cover my notes of monetization and strategy. Bear with me as I am learning as I go. I am attempting to get more organized. Here I discuss my experiences on growing a separate podcast (Not my experiences on growing Game and Compute). I look at analytics and talk about some past experiences of paying for promotion as well as organic traffic. Follow up episodes will include details about any progress, fine tuning strategies based on analytics, and if there have been any improvements toward monetization.
Game and Compute Learning about Spotify Monetization (Are Ads Available?)