A Memoir - This Month Last Year - May 2021 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay

Hi Friends,

May 2021 was the time when the lockdown opened for a little while and a lot of virtual and in-person events started to happen. The first one I attended was the one for High Tea at Hype Park Corner where I also got my first Le Creuset mug as well. I won the various contests on Facebook for LG FN7 earbuds to Instax Superfan Contest on Mother's Day and on Twitter as well which kept me motivated during 2021. I was invited to the AC DC Express store and got some goodies there as well. I also got nice goodies from Huawei for the 947 Joburg Day too.

1. 3 Million Pageviews on www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay - It takes time to build up your following and pageviews on your blog. I am in my 10th year of The Life's Way and I am sure I am going to reach 4 Million by 27th December 2022 when it will be time to cut the cake of 10 Years of The Life's Way. I may have not earned anything from The Life's Way in terms of actual currency but in the notional currency terms, I have earned a lot. But does notional value brings food to the table - Definitely NO! Currently, I am hanging around 3.69 Million and the flow has been slower as I am more focussed on my Youtube channel. Will it be possible to do the 0.31 million page views in the next 6 months only time will tell?

2. A Memoir - This Month Last Year - May 2020 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay - I did a lot of posts in the previous year during the first lockdown. This post reviews all the ones I did during those days. You will find a lot of links to those posts and can enjoy the same.

3. A Memoir - This Month Last Year - Apr 2020 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay - The photo posts continued which were also shared on Google Connect Local Guides channel as well. It did fetch me a lot of support from the Local Guides community too. It made me take my number of posts on Google's platform to around 100 or so in a small amount of time.

4. A Memoir - This Month Last Year - Mar 2020 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay - I started reviewing a lot of products as well as photo posts from various locations around the world. I did a lot of posts for Dubai based on all the locations I visited during my trip in 2020. Dubai trip I really loved as I found it to be an amazing city worth living but you need to be earning in Dirham's as compared to going and spending there in some other currency, especially ZAR.

5. A Memoir - This Month Last Year - Feb 2020 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay - Feb 2020 was still the time when I was travelling back from India and UAE. I totally loved the same with my family. It was a fun time but also my onsite deputation ended leaving me hanging on the African shores with Indian income which was really trying but thanks to the job of my wife, we could carry on with our savings and the same lasted for around 10 months. Always you should have a savings balance which can last you a year long. Lesson Learned.

I watched a lot of web series during this time from Tripling Season 2 to Superman and Lois Season 1 to Lupin Season 1 to Permanent Roommates Season 1 to The Last Hour to Pati Patni Aur Panga to Runaway Lugai to November Story to Radhe movie to Sardar ka Grandson to Road of the Lions to LOL Hasee to Phasse to Wrath of Man to Tom Clancy Total Remorse and so much more in a single month.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate on your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #10YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

#Streaming: The Gear, The Bandwidth And The Ultimate Platform @AcerAfrica @juliabishrobson

Hi Friends, 

Gaming is fast becoming commercially recognized and shaking off the archaic stereotype of being grunge and anti-social past time for the young adult. One of the key elements to be taken seriously as a gamer is to increase your online presence in ‘streaming’.

According to Julia Robson aka Bish, an Esports contender, and keynote speaker at this year’s Vodacom rAge event in Johannesburg, the need for gamers to share their gaming experience online is becoming prevalent. “Streaming allows any gamer to share and create content for their followers whether this is for Twitch.tv, YouTube, Facebook or Mixer,” says Bish. “These platforms create a space for gamers to share their live gameplay with an audience and interact with a community of other streamers and players.” If you are a ‘noob’ (new to the industry) you should not feel overwhelmed by streaming. Simply record and share on social platforms you are comfortable and familiar with and as your confidence grows as a gamer you can explore additional options.

Gamers have the option of live streaming or pre-recording sessions. Editing pre-recorded sessions allows the user to create edited videos or VOD (Video-On-Demand) which can be more user-friendly for their audience and the ‘noob, but it is not as authentic as a live stream. Bish uses her Predator gaming laptop to stream and recommends software called Wondershare Filmora which assists in uploading to various social platforms.

Picture Credit: Julia Bish Robson Twitter www.twitter.com/juliabishrobson

“It is important to grow with your channel, learn from others and find your niche.” Bish identifies her top influencers as Samplayze, HutchieOG, and Shazz, which she deems entertaining and reliable. As with all influencers on social networks, it is about creating content and knowing what your audience is looking for. “It may be easier for you to start to stream to friends and getting their thoughts and feedback first.”

In summary building, a streaming channel is a process and requires originality and dedication. With Twitch.tv gaining up to 15 million unique viewers per day and these viewers spending on average 95 minutes on the channel, the goal should be to eventually stream live from this channel and ultimately become an Esports star.

Bish shares her top tips for the starting your channel:

• Have fun and be original: It can be daunting to have a camera focused on you but soon it will become easy to interact and have fun with the audience. It is important to think about what would engage you as an individual and then populate that and make it unique to your channel
• Find your niche: Whether this is a summary of your play at the end of each stream, cosplaying during your stream or having quirky terms during your gameplay, think of ‘what you like’ and ‘what you are good at’.
• Security and Privacy: Never give away any personal details or sensitive information. It’s easy to get comfortable with the camera but always remember that content is streamed across the world and the same cautions apply as mainstream channels like Facebook and Instagram. Trolls and cyberbullies are not restricted to streaming and implementing NightBot as a chat moderator can assist with keeping unwanted attention at a minimum.
• Gear: A decent camera with a frame 1080p 60FPS or webcam with a minimum 720p will ensure the quality of your stream is decent. A stable fibre line of at least 10/10 mb with a stable upload and download speed. Other baseline requirements include i5 Intel processor, GTX 1060 graphics card and 16gb of DDR4 RAM. Anything over and above these specs will add to the viewer's pleasure.

Cheers!!!

Contact me at thelifesway@gmail.com or editor@thelifesway.com to collaborate on your products, events, and services. #TheLifesWay #PhotoYatra!