MySTEPS

HOW TO Build A Business From Scratch

2022-02-05T13:48:00.002+05:30

Business from Scratch: 44 top tips for those who decide and who make up their minds!

01 Get your butt off the couch as quickly as possible.

02 Don't be afraid to meet new people and make new contacts.

03 Find other entrepreneurs and start talking to them.

04 Stop communicating with people who drag you down.

05 Don't be afraid to make mistakes.

06 Always be open to new things.

07 Do not be afraid of problems.

08 Do everything very quickly.

09 Separate the main from the secondary.

10 Do not take loans at the beginning.

11 Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

12 Reduce costs.

13 Don't look for a completely new idea, work with what is.

14 First, manage to sell a product or service, and only after that do the rest: rent an office, look for employees, "lick" the site.

15 Be different - provide the best service, the best conditions, or the best product.

16 Becoming a sales and marketing professional is the heart and engine of any business.

17 Delegate.

18 Do what you love - a product or service that you are indifferent to will not lead you to success.

19 Do not strive to do at 5 at once - do at three at first, make sure of your ability to achieve the desired result.

20 Hire people who are better than you.

21 Do not recruit employees based on "friend" or "relative"

22 Do not put legal registration at the forefront - the first transactions can be carried out through someone else's LLC for a percentage.

23 At the same time, it is not worth working in the dark - as soon as the first money goes, put legal and accounting cleanliness in the company.

24 Manicly track and analyze the effectiveness of advertising, do not waste money on what does not work.

25 Do not pull the cat by the tail - if something needs to be done, do it right away.

26 Do not think that you are able to do a million things at the same time - highlight the main thing, weed out the unnecessary.

27 The office is not a necessity.

28 Know your competitors inside and out: who are they, what are their strengths and weaknesses, where are you better than them, where do you fall short?

29 Do not start a project if the theoretical estimated profit on it is disproportionately small compared to the effort that needs to be spent.

30 Remember that you are not obliged to work only where you live - thanks to the Internet, the whole of the USA is open to you, the whole world is open.

31 Make sure that people need your product, that there is already a market for it - and do this before investing.

32 A wholesale client brings an order of magnitude more profit - and working with wholesale or retail is, as a rule, a matter of only your thinking.

33 Remember, customers, don't think the way you think. Sometimes their thoughts are like scratching your right ear with your left foot - from your point of view. Therefore, any idea needs to be tested. Only a test can show an objective picture.

34 Be critical of your ideas. Don't believe yourself, your eyes are clouded with ambition and inspiration.

35 Fast, cheap, and high quality - three characteristics that do not exist at the same time. Good people need to be paid good money.

36 If something can go wrong, it goes wrong - be prepared for it.

37 After the first success, the first failure necessarily comes - the so-called pit. Be prepared for this.

38 Get some rest. Five minutes of rest today can give you a whole week without a hospital tomorrow.

39 Don't try to punch through the wall with your forehead. You can probably
bypass it or find a door.

40 Selling goods at a higher price is more profitable than selling at a lower one. Dumping is the last and most ineffective means of promotion.

41 No matter how beautiful your product is, it is nothing without advertising. You need to be able to tell the world about yourself so that the world wants you.

42 Know your client better than yourself: who he is, how he lives, how he breathes, what kind of music he listens to, what magazines he reads, where he dreams of going on vacation, what he has complexes about and what he enjoys.

43 A product intended “for everyone” will not be sold to anyone. Narrow down your target audience. "Focus"

44 Take the choice of a partner very seriously - this person will become closer to you than your wife.

Be smart

How did Airbnb become so Successful?

2021-09-16T11:11:00.007+05:30

Airbnb.com

11 years, Airbnb went from being a company that rents 3 mattresses to a company that counts 150 million users, arranges 2 million Bookings per day, and whose value is estimated at $38 billion.

To help you understand how Airbnb achieved such a huge success, we’re taking you back to 2008, when Airbnb provided the people with a clever way of earning extra money off of their homes as the housing market was crashing.

Once, we were told to stay away from strangers, to never give out personal information on the internet, and never ever go inside someone’s house you don’t know. Now, we all connect with people we’ve never met online, get their addresses, and sleep in their homes. All thanks to the way Airbnb changed how we think about travel. Airbnb is one of the biggest unicorn businesses of the modern age, creating a sharing economy centered around renting out rooms of your home to strangers.

let’s explore how it all happened. How did Airbnb, a $38 billion company with more rooms than all of the largest hotel chains combined, become the giant that it is today? Even more remarkable, how did Airbnb use the timing of the 2008 global recession to create a new opportunity for people around the world to make money?

Joe Gebbia & Brian Chesky

When Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky were living in San Francisco, they both wanted to do something that would change the world. Having quit their jobs, Joe and Brian committed to working on their Next Big Thing. But two things happened almost simultaneously that pushed them in a new direction they hadn’t anticipated.

First, they were notified that their rent was increased by 25%, due next month. For 2 unemployed design students, this was a looming deadline that would almost certainly make them homeless.

Second, they were made aware of a conference coming to San Francisco for designers. But in big letters across the bottom of the flyer, it stated that “All Hotels Were Sold Out”

Disappointed that people who wanted to attend the conference couldn’t come, as well as desperate for a way to make a few bucks, Joe suggested that they offer their place to anybody who wanted to stay on the airbeds they had in the closet.

Not long afterward, they launched their own website, AirbedAndBreakfast.com. And for $80, they offered designers a place to stay for the weekend’s event. They included travel guides to the city they loved so much and made the guests from around the world feel like locals. After the three guests that booked with them left, Joe and Brian remarked that they had such a great time hosting that they wanted to create a way to offer that experience to more people.

Bringing on a specialist in coding and technology, Joe and Brian decided to target the next big conference, South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. They reasoned that it worked so well with the conference in San Francisco, surely it would have the same result at the next big event.

But it did not. Only 6 people created listings on their site and only two bookings were registered, one of them being Chesky himself. Undeterred by their first failure, they looked to expand the concept. Maybe this wasn’t a conference and festival business like they first imagined it to be.

Maybe...this was a travel business. Looking to capitalize on that new direction, and finding a wave of national interest to ride, they settled on the DNC speech coming up in Denver by Barack Obama. The year was 2008 and the candidate was making big ripples in the political scene. The city expected to receive 100,000 visitors to see Obama, but it only had 30,000 rooms.

There was an immediate housing crisis, and AirbedAndBreakfast.com decided that they could come to the rescue. And so, financed just by their credit cards, Joe and Brian launched their site again, but this time received national and international attention for their site. In just 4 weeks, they went from Zero listings to over 800 listings. But after the speech, the site’s traffic dropped again. Using this wave of media interest, they started to meet with investors. But of the 20 investors they approached, 10 sent replies, just 5 agreed to meet with them, and not a single one invested in their company. It seemed as if the walls were closing in. Discouraged by the tens of thousands of dollars of crippling debt, Brian and Joe brainstormed ways to self-finance this business they were certain would take off.

Building off of the idea that had already worked, they wanted to use the political atmosphere around the upcoming 2008 election as a way to get some more money coming in the door. So, Joe and Brian came up with a random, yet innovative idea:

Politically-focused cereal boxes. They called their cereal Obama-O’s: “The Taste of Change” and “Cap’n McCain: A Maverick in Every Bite.” They took the idea to an illustrator who printed 1,000 boxes in all. 500 for each political candidate. They then bought regular cereal from their local supermarket, put it into their new boxes, and created a website to start selling their new invention. But because they only had 1,000 boxes, they decided to number them, marketing them as “limited edition” collector's items. By doing that, they were able to sell each box at a ridiculous price of $40 a pop. Shockingly, it worked.

They ended up selling over 800 boxes and generating over $30,000 in profits. In addition to clearing a bunch of their debts, the branded cereal boxes also caught the eye of Y-Combinator’s co-founder, Paul Graham. The start-up accelerator is famous in the valley for financing big names, but Joe and Brian’s home-sharing business was, at first, repulsive to Graham. In their first interview, Graham even remarked “You mean people use this? That’s weird”. But it wasn’t the business idea that sold Graham.

Y Combinator.com

Rather, Graham agreed to take them on because of their self-starting attitude and their hustle and grit in selling simple cereal boxes to make $30,000. If they could sell cereal for $40 a box, they could probably figure out a way to make the business work. Y-Combinator’s initial $20,000 investment opened the door to other investors, soon raising over $600,000 in the first round of funding.

Airbnb.com

It was enough to hire a team and begin operations as a proper business, this time as the new-named Airbnb. One of the reasons that the idea of Airbnb gathered momentum was that people were hurting from the recent Global Financial Crisis.

Just like Joe and Brian at the beginning of their venture, people were desperate for ways to make extra income when the job market was crashing just as quickly as the stock and housing market.

Incredibly, Airbnb’s fortuitous timing helped change the perception of housing from a liability to a means of making extra money. When people say that the model worked, they flooded on to this new platform. By taking a cut of every transaction, the business model depended on more listings to succeed. But there was a problem. Most hosts didn’t know how to market their own homes. And as a result, Airbnb was making just $200 a week in revenue.

So, they offered a free photographer service to every single host on their site to improve the images shown on their listings. By working with the hosts directly, Joe and Brian learned how to redesign the site and improve the inefficiencies of the business.

In 2010, Brian would go on to live exclusively in Airbnb for many months while employees crowded him out of his own home. To this day, he still recalls that time as pivotal for understanding the experience of hosts using his site. And when international listings started to increase, investors sat up and noticed Airbnb. This time, instead of the founders calling the investors, venture capital firms were knocking at their door.

Ashton Kutcher

Later that year, they raised a further $7.1million from VC firms. The next year, celebrity investor Ashton Kutcher invested a significant amount of money into the rising San Francisco startup and secured a spot on the board as a strategic advisor.

It was around this time that Fiji Island was listed, a private 5-acre island with water sports and a private chef in the South Polynesian Sea. At this point, Joe was personally reviewing every single listing, and when he saw that come in, he knew that Airbnb would be huge.

By early 2011, Airbnb had hit the 1-million listing mark and had homes in 89 countries, including a boat, a treehouse, an 11-century manor in the English countryside, and a deluxe villa on the beaches of Bali. 5 months later, the number of users had hit 2 million. And by the end of the year, they had 5 million users registered on their site. By June of 2012, that number had increased again to 10 million. They’ve grown now to boast 150 million users from over 100,000 cities. On any given night, 2 million people are staying in an Airbnb. And with an estimated valuation of $38 billion.

So the next time you’re planning a stay somewhere around the world, remember that it’s more likely that you’ll choose Airbnb than any other accommodation. Joe and Brian’s innovation in the accommodation industry is a game-changer.

Be smart

BEST 6 Millionaire Mindset Books

2021-06-28T11:55:00.011+05:30

There's a reason why the world's most successful people think alike and act alike, especially when it comes to work, career and success. Could it be that they have an association of successful people or perhaps they're special people born with genes of a genius?

Okay. Just kidding.

Here's one open secret of the world's most successful people; they read a lot.

Also, they read almost the same kinds of books. Oh! You see now. Why didn't you think of that earlier? It doesn't matter.

In this, we’ll be sharing with you 6 books the world's most successful people read and recommend.

01 "How to Sell Anything to Anyone" by Joe Girard.

The author is mentioned in the Guinness Book as the world's most successful car salesman. A very decent sales tutorial from one of the world's best salespeople.

[ How to Sell Anything to Anyone ]

02 "How to be Rich" by J. Paul Getty.

To Getty, who first bore the title of "the richest American", and then the title of "the richest man in the world."

[ How to be Rich ]

03 "The Success Principles(TM)", Jack Canfield.

The author of a number of best-selling Guinness World Records books, a teacher of success and a multimillionaire, shares his experience and his recommendations on how to become a successful person.

[ The Success Principles ]

04 "Dare to Succeed", by Jack Canfield and Nick Naunton.

Share their views on how to succeed.

[ Dare to Succeed ]

05 "The Aladdin Factor", Jack Canfield, Mark Hansen.

Both authors are multimillionaires.

[ The Aladdin Factor ]

06 "The Millionaire Next Door", Thomas Stanley, William Danko.

Two American scientists have been researching the lifestyles and habits of first-generation millionaires for many years - those who made their millions rather than inheriting or winning the lottery. And share their findings in this book.

[ The Millionaire Next Door ]

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Untold Truth Of RED BULL-Krating Daeng

2021-05-08T14:56:00.001+05:30

Surprisingly, Red Bull comes from Thailand.

Now, Thailand is a country that’s not particularly known for its political stability. In fact, since 1912 Thailand has experienced a total of 21 coup attempts, about half of which ended up being successful, for an average of one coup every 5 years. The latest edition, by the way, was in 2014, but since their king died less than a month ago, we’ll probably be seeing another coup attempt pretty soon. Although today Thailand is a medium-income country with the 20th largest economy globally, it was extremely destitute for most of the 20th century. Over 70% of the population lived in rural areas, and the average person got by on $2 a day. The region of Thailand that interests us is the Phichit province, located in the center of the country.

In 1923 a man named Chaleo Yoovidhya was born to a family of duck herders. As you can imagine, herding ducks isn’t a very profitable business, and Chaleo grew up in poverty with minimal education. He was the third of five children, and as soon as he was old enough, his parents sent him 330 kilometers south to work in his older brother’s chemistry shop in Bangkok. Chaleo worked there as an antibiotics salesman, and over the years he learned a lot about chemistry and marketing.

In 1962 he had saved enough money to start his own company, TC Pharmaceuticals. Chaleo ran his business well, but in the early 1970s, he made a very curious observation. He noticed that the majority of energy drinks in Thailand at the time were imported: the most popular one, called Lipovitan-D, came from Japan. These drinks were marketed mainly to the wealthier residents of Bangkok, which at the time was Thailand’s largest international port and so most imports went through it. Chaleo realized that the wealthy people of Bangkok weren’t the ones who would need energy drinks the most. Having come from crippling poverty himself, he knew all too well what it meant to be a low-paid worker pulling tiresome night shifts. Chaleo set about creating an energy drink of his own, and his first step was to analyze the composition of competing drinks.

The primary ingredient in most energy drinks, including the ones sold in Thailand during the 1970s, is a compound called taurine.

Now, taurine is a chemical of huge significance for the human body: it’s necessary for the function of your cardiovascular system, skeletal muscles, and central nervous system. Contrary to the claims that you might find on social media, taurine isn’t made of bull semen. The reason it’s called taurine is that it was first isolated from ox bile. Not only is taurine essential for the function of the human body, but it’s also a compound that we naturally synthesize, and to be honest, we should be glad about that. Unlike us, some mammals can’t produce taurine on their own and have to get it from external sources. I’m looking at you, cats. But even though we can produce small amounts of taurine on our own, dumping extra taurine into your bloodstream can give you a significant performance boost, especially if you’re sleep-deprived. It is precisely for this reason that Chaleochose taurine is the primary compound of his energy drink.

He also added caffeine to serve as a stimulant, a bunch of B vitamins to support cell metabolism, and two forms of sugar to provide a source of energy. With the chemistry figured out, Chaleo’s next step was to design his brand.

He wanted to convey the strength and potency of his drink, and so for his logo, he chose to depict the gaur, a wild bovine species native to Southeast Asia. Gaurs are the largest living bovines, adult bulls reaching up to 7 feet in height and weighing over 3,000 lb. Chaleo painted two red gaurs charging against each other in front of a golden disc, and he called his drink Krating Daeng, which unsurprisingly means Red Gaur in Thai. Having worked as a salesman for most of his life, Chaleo knew very well how to market his beverage. Instead of advertising in urban areas like Bangkok, Chaleo focused his efforts on the provincial regions of Thailand.

One of his best ideas was to sponsor local Muay Thai events. Muay Thai is Thailand’s most popular martial art, whose origins date back to the 16th century. It was and still is an integral part of Thai culture, and it was the foundation upon which the Japanese developed kickboxing in the 1960s. Muay Thai became prominent internationally in the 1970s, and Chaleo managed to harness this rising wave of popularity for Krating Daeng. Thanks to a series of key event sponsorships through Thailand, in 1976 Krating Daeng was off to a phenomenal start.

By the end of the year, it had become the second most popular energy drink in Thailand, behind only Lipovitan-D, which it managed to overtake just one year later. Chaleo was lucky because from the 1970s up until the 1990s Thailand experienced a period of unprecedented economic growth. Its GDP quadrupled, per capita income tripled, and Thailand was on its way to becoming an economic powerhouse rivaling the likes of Taiwan and South Korea. Krating Daeng became Thailand’s unofficial beverage during the boom years.

Unlike the foreign energy drinks, Krating Daeng captured the national spirit and became a symbol for the perseverance of the workingman.

At this point, you might be wondering, “Well hold on a minute, wasn’t Red Bull actually from Austria!”

Technically, you’re right. I mean, if you open Red Bull’s website, that’s pretty much what they say. You shouldn’t look at a company’s website for an unbiased account of its history, though. Here is what happened: While Krating Daeng was conquering Thailand’s energy drink market, an Austrian man named Dietrich Mateschitz was struggling to work as a salesman. He didn’t come from a particularly wealthy family: his parents were primary school teachers, which is rather ironic considering it took him 10 years to graduate from university with a marketing degree. He worked for half a dozen companies, including Unilever, before finally landing at Blendax, a German-based company notable for its toothpaste.

In 1982 Dietrich traveled to Thailand for business, of course, and after his flight, he felt very sleepy so he decided to buy an energy drink. The drink he bought was Krating Daeng, and to his surprise, it not only woke him up, but it also cured him of his jet lag. Dietrich got hooked immediately, drinking as many as 8 cans a day, and he liked the drink so much he decided to try to import it back to Austria.

In 1984 he approached Chaleo with an offer: both of them would invest half a million dollars each into the establishment of an Austrian company that would distribute Krating Daeng internationally. Dietrich would be in charge of the new company’s operations, while Chaleo would continue to run TC Pharmaceuticals and Krating Daeng back in Thailand. Dietrich’s first task would be to westernize Krating Daeng and make it appealing to its European clientele. He left the basic formula pretty much the same, and the only big change he made was carbonating it.

Dietrich liked the brand’s overall design, but instead of going for its name’s literal translation, he went for the more generic Red Bull. In many ways, Dietrich was faced with the same marketing challenge that Chaleo had overcome a decade earlier. Krating Daeng was successful because it represented the spirit of its buyers, the working class of Thailand.

Unlike Thailand, however, the vast majority of Europe had a pretty decent lifestyle, so Dietrich had to take a different approach. He knew that Red Bull would work best as a party drink, but had to figure out how to market it to a young generation of people who were firmly against traditional forms of advertising. This is where Dietrich struck gold. He paid students to have their Volkswagen Beetles or Mini Coopers redone with large Red Bull cans on top, and he also hired students to serve as “brand managers”. These “brand managers” were essentially paid to throw huge parties, where they would distribute free Red Bull cans to promote the brand. From these parties have emerged dozens of cocktail recipes using Red Bull, like the Vod-Bomb, the Jumping Jack Flash, and Liquid Cocaine. As you can imagine this marketing strategy was brilliant, and during the first year of its launch in 1987, Red Bull sold over a million cans in Austria. From then on it spread like wildfire, hitting the shelves of Hungary and Slovakia in 1992 and Germany and the UK in 1994. By the time Red Bull entered the US in 1997, it was selling 1 million cans every day. During this dramatic expansion, Dietrich developed another ingenious marketing tactic.

As an avid sports enthusiast and a proud owner of a pilot’s license, Dietrich was well aware of the rise of extreme sports during the 1980s. That’s one of the reasons why he gave the drink its emblematic slogan: “Red Bull gives you wings”. Dietrich’s first serious venture into the world of sport came in 1991 when he organized the first Red Bull Flugtag in Vienna. The event brings together competitors from across the globe who try to fly their homemade human-powered flying machines, usually with minimal success, but great entertainment value. The success of Flugtag convinced Dietrich to start hosting other sports events, and to that end, he’s been spending an ever-increasing amount on this alternative marketing strategy. In 2011, for example, Red Bull’s marketing budget amounted to 2.1 billion dollars, a stunning 84% of their gross profit. The list of events organized by Red Bull is truly impressive, and it features sports ranging from freestyle motocross to downhill ice skating.

Red Bull has also acquired five soccer teams, including the New York Red Bulls, and three stadiums to go along with them. Over the years Red Bull has bought or sponsored teams across many different sports, but their most notable acquisitions by far are their two Formula, One team. That’s right, they’re bankrolling not one, but two teams participating in one of the most expensive sports in history.

In 2011 Red Bull spent a third of their entire marketing budget on their Formula One teams, which has more than paid off considering their impressive track record. Scuderia Toro Rosso is the junior Red Bull team, which they bought from Minardi in 2005. The best drivers from Toro Rosso usually advance to the senior team, Red Bull Racing, which Dietrich acquired in 2004 from the Ford Motor company. Red Bull Racing has won a total of 8 titles, all thanks to their star driver Sebastian Vettel. Today Red Bull is bigger than ever, with a 43% global market share despite the rise of copycat brands like Monster and Rockstar.

Interestingly enough in 2013, they got hit by a class-action lawsuit that claimed their “Red Bull gives you wings” slogan was tantamount to false advertising. Of course, it’s doubtful that anyone ever bought a Red Bull can with the hope of eventually growing wings, but hey, it’s the US so why not start a lawsuit, right? Eventually Red Bull settled for 13 million dollars, about half of which ended up in the hands of the victims whose dreams of growing wings had been shattered.

On a final note, I’d like to share with you footage from the Red Bull Stratos project, which in 2012 helped Felix Baumgartner skydive a record-breaking 24 miles from the stratosphere.

Be smart

15 MORE ways to create a breakthrough in your life.

2021-04-17T20:38:00.019+05:30

01 Don't watch TV. Never.

02 Don't go back to people who betrayed you. They don't change.

03 Have an idea? Write it down. Someday it will be useful to you!

04 Are you running late? Find a way to warn about this. It's not that hard.

05 Don't laugh at other people's dreams. Think about yours.

06 Speak the truth, and then you won't have to memorize anything.

07 Don't spread gossip. They will not lead to anything good.

08 Politeness conquers cities. Use it more often, gentlemen.

09 Know how to admit your mistakes.

10 Give up the habit of complaining all the time. Nobody is interested in other people's problems.

11 There is such a thing as "Move on no matter what." Try it, it will help.

12 In unclear situations, always go to bed. Also, in any situation, it is useful to remember that "this too will pass."

13 Even in case of a serious quarrel, do not try to hurt a person for a living... You will make up (most likely), and the words will be remembered for a long time...

14 Do the most difficult and unpleasant thing at the beginning of the day. When you have done it, the rest of the day you are not overwhelmed by unnecessary thoughts.

15 No one owes anything to nobody. Forget the word "must". Throw it out of the active vocabulary. Otherwise, you will get bogged down in debt, and not only material but also moral.

Be smart

Who invented FedEx/FDX?

2021-03-15T12:28:00.007+05:30

-Federal Express Corporation (FedEx/FDX), is an American multinational courier delivery services company. The name "FedEx" is a syllabic abbreviation of the name of the company's original air division, Federal Express, which was used from 1973 until 2000.

-The company is known for its overnight shipping service, but also for pioneering a system that could track packages and provide real-time updates on package location (to help in finding lost packages), a feature that has now been implemented by most other carrier services.

-In April 2015, FedEx acquired its rival firm TNT Express for $4.8 billion as it looks to expand its operations in Europe.

FedEx: Now, the story of FedEx is a story about airplanes. You know how important airplanes were during the 20th century. From dropping bombs on Nazis to supplying food to West Berlin, they completely changed the rules of warfare and logistics. It wasn’t just the military that benefited: the commercial airline industry also took off in the decades after World War 2. The 50s and 60s came to be known as the Golden Age of Flying, a time before the popularity of cramped seats and crying babies. There was, however, one industry that lagged behind military aviation and commercial airlines:

the courier industry. That might seem strange. After all, if planes can carry people, then why not packages too? Well, the surprising answer is, that they carried both. Before the 1970s, the airline industry was one of the most tightly regulated ones in the US. The Civil Aeronautics Board had authority over all domestic air transport. They could set fares, pick routes, and choose airlines, essentially acting as the federal equivalent of Agent Smith. The regulation was so tight that most freight was moved not through specialized air carriers, but the cargo hold of regular commercial aircraft. Instead of being at the mercy of the CAB and having to pay for its delivery fleet, the courier could just rent the space he needed on passenger flights. This solution made sense economically, but it also meant deliveries would be very slow, especially to smaller cities with fewer flight routes. This issue of cost versus speed was the topic of one Yale student’s economics essay.

His name is Fred Smith, and in his essay, he outlined the basics of an overnight delivery service, the idea that would eventually give rise to FedEx. His professor didn’t like the paper though and gave him a C on it. A few years later, when he graduated from Yale in 1966, Fred joined the US Marine Corps. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and he got to see firsthand how the military handled their logistics.

When he returned from service in 1969, he immediately started working on his courier idea. To make it happen, in the true spirit of the American dream, he got a small loan of 4 million dollars from his father’s trust fund. Fred’s original plan was to use his courier service to deliver checks between the Federal Reserve banks. Now, the way the checking system work is like this: I write you a check and you cash it in at your local bank. They send the check to one of the Federal Reserve banks, where it gets validates. From there, the check travels to my bank, where the payment is settled. As you can imagine the process was very slow, sometimes taking as long as 10 days to complete. Fred planned to speed up the whole thing by delivering the checks overnight using his delivery fleet. The Federal Reserve initially agreed to the idea, and so Fred bought two Falcon business jets to start things up.

He even decided to name his company Federal Express and incorporated it on June 18th, 1971. Things were looking good until the Federal Reserve decided to pull out on their agreement. Fred was stuck without a client, but he didn’t give up. Instead, he raised 91 million dollars from venture capitalists. He spent a big chunk of that money on marketing and he finally launched his service in 1973 with a fleet of 14 Falcons that would fly between 25 cities. It was a good start, but that very same year the Arab members of OPEC initiated an oil embargo. The price of oil doubled over the next two years, and since jet fuel is made from refined oil products (kerosene, naphtha, gasoline), the early Federal Express saw their costs skyrocket. By the start of 1975, they had lost more than 29 million dollars just from running their business. Things were so bad that the company’s bank account in July amounted to less than 5 thousand dollars. Fred knew he couldn’t pay for next week’s fuel costs ($24,000), so he did what any reasonable businessman would in his position: he flew to Las Vegas and played blackjack with the company’s last 5 grand. It was a questionable move, but Fred ended up winning 27 thousand dollars, enough to keep Federal Express going for another week. That week ended up being all that mattered since by then Fred had managed to secure another loan from investors.

His strategy was the polar opposite of what the airlines and other couriers were doing. While everyone was cutting costs and raising prices, he was still spending money on marketing. Federal Express grew rapidly over the next two years, processing almost 20,000 packages a day in 1976. By the end of 1977, they had 8 million dollars in profit, with over 31,000 regular customers: not just local firms, but big guys like IBM and the US Air Force. Their success was in large part due to their focus on smaller cities. While all the major airlines fought for market share along the big passenger routes, Federal Express was raking in millions with almost no competition. A lot of that profit was spent on lobbying for deregulation.

Remember how strict the CAB was at the time? Well, Federal Express and other air freight companies were pushing hard against it, and their efforts finally paid off in 1978 with the introduction of the Airline Deregulation Act. This was a huge win for Federal Express. It removed most of the CAB’s authority, as well as other old rules that hurt the industry: one of the regulations lifted, for example, was about the weight of cargo that could be transported. Before the act, Federal Express planes were forbidden from carrying more than 7,500 pounds. This was hugely ineffective since they had to use a bunch of smaller aircraft instead of a single big one. The Deregulation Act gave Federal Express the freedom to expand, and they did so rapidly.

By 1981 they were the largest air freight company in the US, and their fleet had increased to 32 Falcons, 38 Boeing 727s, and 5 Boeing737s. Other companies quickly caught on to how successful the Federal Express model was, and so they started copying it. Outside the US, Germany’s Deutsche Post express service, now known as DHL, was also offering overnight freight. To answer their competitors, Federal Express went on a buying spree, acquiring courier companies in the US, Britain, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates. By 1988 they were operating in 90 countries across all continents, and their overnight service revenue was almost double that of their closest competitor.

In 1994 Fred Smith finally gave up on the cumbersome Federal Express name and replaced it with the more popular FedEx. Today, FedEx is the third biggest air courier in the world: they operate 8 separate divisions and provide service around the globe. Interestingly enough, even after the Airline Deregulation Act, they remain one of the biggest lobbyists in the US. They spent over 5 million dollars on lobbying just in the first three months of 2010. Back in 2005, they donated 250 thousand dollars to support George Bush’s second inauguration.

Their latest move was in 2015 when they acquired TNT Express, one of their biggest European competitors, for the meager sum of 4.4 billion dollars. UPS had also tried to acquire TNT, but the European Commission has blocked them on antitrust grounds. Fred Smith is still the CEO of FedEx 45 years later, and you have to hand it to him, he’s done a pretty good job so far. Let’s hope, for the sake of our PC Master Race guy, that he continues to do so in the future.

I hope you enjoyed the FedEx story.

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How can I double my salary?

2021-02-22T10:05:00.002+05:30

01 Write down right now on a piece of paper what income you want to receive in half a year, in a year.

02 Put these numbers into strong and inspiring sentences. For example - I want to…number easily and with pleasure to earn 1500 dollars. Try to constantly repeat this phrase to yourself at least once every few days. It is advisable to hang this phrase at home in a conspicuous place so that your subconscious mind reads it as often as possible.

03 Sit down and write down at least 10 ways to increase your income. These can be both quite real and a little fantastic ideas. The main thing is that you express your intention to earn more.

04 If you have long wanted to buy yourself some necessary thing (or just wanted to make yourself a gift), but constantly refused or put it off for later, do it now. This will unblock your cash flow.

05 If you are saving money and saving it, consider why you are doing it. If you are putting off for a rainy day, it is best not to. If because you do not believe that you can earn more, this is not an option either. And only if you earn enough and save with pleasure, then you are on the right track. The main criterion is a pleasure. If you feel uncomfortable or uncomfortable when thinking about money, shopping, or saving money, then you are treating money in the wrong way.

06 Write on a piece of paper all negative thoughts, beliefs, phrases in relation to money, wealth, rich people. Don't convince yourself that you don't have such thoughts. If you are not a millionaire yet, then you definitely have them.

07 Write next to each negative phrase that replaces it with a positive one. Rip the piece of paper in half and burn or tear negative beliefs. For 2-3 weeks, carry a positive affirmation sheet with you and reread it from time to time.

08 Analyze how your parents felt about money. What did they say about them? Draw a parallel with your current financial situation. Where do you copy the parental settings? Replace them with ones that are right for you.

09 A great idea is to make a collage where you post a photo of yourself in the future, where you look successful and wealthy. Be sure to stick a photo of money in the center. Hang the collage on the wall and admire it every day.

10 Most importantly - do not be afraid of big money and take real steps to increase your income. I can assure you that any of you can easily increase your income in 1 month by at least 30%. I emphasize "minimum". Start increasing your income a little every month. Constantly write down new ways to increase your profits. There are a lot of them, you just need to want to see them.

-Each person has their ways to attract money. And it is right. What works for one person may be harmful to another. Therefore, follow these recommendations, but at the same time listen to your inner voice. Perhaps you will feel that some exercise is contraindicated for you (although your blocks and fears may interfere here), or maybe you will come up with some of your unique techniques.

-The most important thing is to realize that you can get a lot of income in any country and any, even the most difficult situation. You just need to stop feeling sorry for yourself and finally start looking for a way out.

-Every person, regardless of their social status and age, deserves to live in abundance and allow themselves to buy what they want, not what they can afford. Let this thought into your mind, and it will do all the work for you. Allow yourself to live in abundance. Believe that you deserve it.

-We receive exactly as much money as we agree to let into our life. Don't be afraid to increase this flow. Allow him to come into your life.

Be smart

Who owns Nestle?

2021-02-09T22:55:00.008+05:30

We live in the most plentiful times known to mankind. Whereas in the past our ancestors had to spend most of their waking hours tirelessly working for their food, today we are just one click away from an endless slew of delicious goodness.

It might seem strange, then, to discover that today, when the choice of brands couldn’t be higher, the companies behind the food industry have never been so few.

That’s why today we’ll be taking a look at the world’s largest food company, Nestle. The year is 1866, and two entrepreneurs on the opposite sides of Switzerland were getting ready to start their own companies. The man on the right was Charles Page, a former USA consul who had fallen in love with Switzerland’s green meadows and fat cows. His dream was to build a condensed milk factory, hoping to mimic the success of the first such factory in the world built ten years earlier by Gail Borden in the USA. Charles had previously sent his brother George to that factory to try to learn more about Borden’s method, which involved evaporating the water in the milk and adding sugar. Together the brothers founded the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, with the hope of becoming the British Empire’s primary supplier of canned milk.

At the same time, 100 miles southwest of the Page brothers lived Henri Nestle, a German immigrant with an equally fervent passion for dairy products. As one of fourteen children in the Nestle family, Henri was painfully aware of the high infant mortality rate across Europe. To help solve the problem, Henri spent several years developing an affordable breast milk substitute by combining milk with grain and sugar. From 1867 onwards, Henri’s Farine Lactée became indispensable to Swiss society. By 1871, his infant formula was sold throughout Western Europe, with his factory churning out over 1,000 cans every day. Just two years later, Henri was selling over2,000.

In 1877, however, a new competitor rose up to challenge Nestle. While Henri was earning pennies selling his infant formula in Western Europe, the Page brothers had made a fortune selling their condensed milk across the world. They had become the primary supplier of the British Empire, as they had originally intended, but by 1877 they had also spread to the USA and Continental Europe. Eager to expand their business, the Page brothers started selling their infant formula. To Henri, this was a declaration of war, and so he promptly released Nestle-branded condensed milk in retaliation, starting a relentless price war that would rage on for almost 30 years. Although both companies grew during this period, competition hurt their bottom line immensely.

Henri and the Page brothers were proud men and were unwilling to concede, but by 1905, when all three of them were dead, the directors of the two companies agreed to a merger. The newly created company had a total of 20 factories and over the next decade, Nestle would spread to every inhabited continent. The advent of World War 1 seemed advantageous at first since the world’s militaries knew how valuable canned milk would be. Pretty soon, however, Nestle realized that they would have no way to service this new demand: Raw material shortages and international embargoes left Nestle’s 20 factories empty. In response, Nestle started buying factories in the USA, drastically expanding their production and cozying up to Uncle Sam. By 1917 Nestle’s capacity had doubled to 40 factories, and by 1921 it had doubled again to 80.

World War 1 had taught Nestle a valuable lesson: don’t keep your eggs in one basket. Throughout the thirties, Nestle opened factories in Asia and Latin America, so that when the next war came around they’d be ready. Coincidentally, this decentralization kept Nestle safe from the Great Depression and allowed them to develop one of their most renowned products:

Nescafe: The idea for Nescafe came from the Brazilian government, which wanted Nestle to find a use for their immense coffee surplus. The Brazilians had suggested making coffee cubes, but Nestle eventually decided to make a soluble powder instead. Nescafe hit the USA shelves in 1938 with minimal advertising, and yet one year later it had become one of the most popular coffee products in the country. To Nestle, the outbreak of World War 2 felt like a deja vu. At first, demand grew rapidly, but the sheer scale of the global destruction left Nestle with huge supply shortages.

Nestle’s saving grace came in 1941 when the USA formally entered the war. Nescafe became a staple of the armed forces and government contracts propelled Nestle to record profits. World War 2 ended up being so profitable for Nestle that they immediately started buying up the smaller European companies that weren’t so lucky.

Their best purchase by far came in 1947 when they acquired Maggi, the manufacturer of various soups and seasonings. One year later, Nestle unveils two other brilliant products: Nestea and Nesquik, which quickly reach Nescafe levels of popularity. Throughout the next decade's Nestle expanded mainly through acquisitions, entering various new markets, from frozen food to pharmaceuticals.

One of their most successful moves came in 1974 when they acquired a 30% stake in the French cosmetics firm L’Oreal. Just three years later, however, Nestle was faced with its first major controversy. USA activists accused Nestle of using predatory marketing tactics to promote their breastfeeding substitutes in the developing world. The boycott quickly spread to Europe, and although Nestle eventually complied with the demands set forth by the World Health Organization, the boycott has been intermittently active to this day.

Nestle’s expansion continued throughout the 1980s, buying up brands like Friskies, KitKat, and After Eight. During this time they also created the Nespresso system. In 1992 Nestle decided to go all-in on mineral water, establishing what eventually became the world’s largest bottled water company. Since then their brand ownership has grown exponentially, but so too have their controversies.

In 2002 Nestle demanded debt repayment from Ethiopia during one of the harshest famines in recent memory, eventually backing down after over 8,000 angry email complaints. In 2005 the CEO of Nestle claimed that people shouldn’t have a right to water, a claim that backfired so profusely that Nestle has a Q&A webpage dedicated to his apologies and backtracking.

Last but not least is the cocoa industry, which is the bedrock of Nestle’s chocolate products and is also, coincidentally, one of the global centers of child labor, slavery, and human trafficking. Despite the numerous lawsuits and calls for boycott, however, Nestle has become bigger than ever, owning over 2,000 different brands across the world. Since people are unlikely to give up on Nestle’s delicious goodies any time soon, it’s safe to say that Nestle will continue expanding in the future.

-Nestlé is a Swiss transnational food and drink company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It is the largest food company in the world. Nestlé's products include baby food, medical food, bottled water, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea, confectionery, dairy products, ice cream, frozen food, pet foods, and snacks. Twenty-nine of Nestlé's brands have annual sales of over $1 billion, including Nespresso, Nescafé, Kit Kat, Smarties, Nesquik, Stouffer's, Vittel, and Maggi.

-Nestlé was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1866 by brothers George and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé. The company grew significantly during the First World War and again following the Second World War, expanding its offerings beyond its early condensed milk and infant formula products.

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TESLA Before Elon Musk: The Untold Story Martin Founded TESLA & E-CAR

2021-01-17T13:23:00.031+05:30

There is a popular myth on the Internet that Elon Musk created Tesla. While he was instrumental in the success of the company, the founding of Tesla is an unknown but fascinating story!

Tesla was the brainchild of Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who created the first Tesla Roadster and later invited Elon Musk to lead the company early. Eventually, the co-founders left as a result of a personal struggle, with Elon Musk taking over the company from then on.

TESLA: One of the biggest names in the automotive industry. From its clever car designs to its promise of a renewable future, Tesla has taken the world by storm.

Today, Tesla's simple reference immediately clarifies the image of a man: Elon Musk, a real-life equal to Tony Stark. You may have heard of his plan to force humans to colonize the planet or to take him to Mars from his boring company, which plans to build a superscope between New York and Washington. But for almost everyone, Elon Musk is synonymous with Tesla.

Today's story, however, does not concern Elon. Instead, he is a person you may not have heard of, although he was the real driving force behind the company.

His name?

Martin Eberhard Although the media believes in you, Martin founded Tesla and

The year is 1997. Martin spent a decade working as an electrical engineer when he met his future business partner, Marc Tarpenning.

Several seasons later "Magic: The Gathering" and the couple were already planning their first business venture: an ebook reader. In just three short years, the company he founded, Nuvomedia, sold 20,000 e-readers and sold its stake in it for $ 187 million. With a bright future ahead of them, the two entrepreneurs decided to focus on electric sports cars.

But how can one jump from ebook readers to electric sports cars? In a word: divorce.

You see, Martin divorced in 2000, and because he was stuck in any crisis in his mid-40s, he wanted to buy a sports car. However, he could not buy any of these rude gas criminals running wild on the streets.

This puzzle got him thinking, and he finally approached his old friend Mark with an elegant suggestion: build an electric sports car. In 2003, they began working together, which would eventually be the first car from Roadster, their new company Tesla.

Instead of relying on traditional combustion engines, Martin and Mark thought hard about using lithium-ion batteries, a technique they discovered in the days of their eBook. But, of course, building everyone from the beginning was not a realistic possibility.

Instead, he worked with two companies: AC Propulsion, a California-based automaker, and the British automaker Lotus. AC Propulsion created a small electric car called the Zero, which was fully electric and could reach 0 to 60 mph in 0 seconds, an achievement that no other electric car could achieve at the time. Martin could make his engine technology deal with AC Propulsion, but he still needed a real car to install the engine. This is where Lotus came from. One of his models, Lotus Ellis, marked all the correct boxes. It was short, fast, and sporty.

So Martin and Mark arrived at the Los Angeles Auto Show, where they defeated Lotus until he was a "very kind British man" and finally gave him the time of day. And yes, we are very good at this side of the lake, or at least our friends say we are. Now, where were we? With the car running and applying the latest technology, Tesla Motors began to grow rapidly.

By mid-2004, however, the company's coffers were gone. Martin and Mark managed to get out of the company for their first year and managed to get a modest investment from some capitalists, but to make the Roadster into production, Tesla needed some serious money. And I know what you think, is a car company having a problem?

What an irony, what a surprise. But here comes the myth of man, the myth, Elon Musk. Musk had just sold PayPal on eBay and was sitting on a large pile of $ 7.5 million he had invested in Tesla after meeting with Martin and Mark.

Musk invested $ 70 million in Tesla until 2008 but was still the iconic duo at the helm. Thanks to Musk's initial capital injection, Tesla successfully made a big leap in November 2004 when it created its prototype, the Lotus Ellis designed with AC Propulsion technology. The "mule", as it is called, ran like a charm and let the engineers swim with their performance. Tesla continued its R&D, taking another two years to make its Roadster debut.

Finally, on July 19, 2006, this labor product was presented in Santa Monica. The Roadster cost $ 100,000, but people were ready to throw money at Tesla. In the two weeks since the Roadster debuted, 127 cars have been sold. While the Roadsters did not close production lines until 2008, Tesla was a huge success and the first successful car launch in decades.

Internally, however, not everything was good and terrible. For reasons we would never know, tensions were rising between Elon and Martin. We all know that in August 2007, Martin received a phone call from a mask that was very nervous. In this call, Martin discovers that the Tesla board had met without him and decided to fire him as CEO. Oh, my dear. He was essentially forced to leave his own company. Technically, he was appointed president of technology, but he knew what he meant.

He later told Business Insider, "I did not hear what he said. I could not defend myself. I felt trapped." Eventually, of course, Marcos also resigned. In 2009, Martin sued Tesla for trying to "rewrite history," claiming that Martin was trying to get credit for what Markand did.

The suit also noted that the company deliberately and unjustly presented Elon as the founder, whom we know today is believed by almost everyone. Elon, in order not to lie without a fight, objected, and later that year, Martin dropped the charges. It seems that he and Musk came out of court, and maybe that is why the whole case was shrouded in mystery. Needless to say, the two are no longer talking. Of course, there is no doubt that both men contributed greatly to making Tesla what it is today, but it seems a little unfair that Martin has completely disappeared from the Musk interior. Perhaps this is the inevitable fate of any company with its charismatic co-founder.

(I'm looking at you Steve Jobs here!)

However, the fact remains that Tesla will not be a superstar of the automotive industry, he is today without the talent and perseverance of the real heroes of Tesla Martin Eberhard and Mark Tempering. Without the cooperation of these two men, Tesla would not exist today and Elon Musk would not have a car to send to Mars.

Be smart

19 life lessons we still haven't learned :

2020-12-14T13:42:00.003+05:30

1- You need to accept people as they are, or not at all.

Because it is almost impossible to change them. Actually. If you are trying to remake them and make them the way you want them, all you have to do is wish you the best. Since this idea is doomed to fail.

2- Your definition of happiness is different from other people.

What works for you does not work for them. You are not a magistrate to judge the decisions of your friends' lives. As stated in a well-known Bible: "Do not judge, lest you be judged."

3- You need to be able to stand up for yourself.

The world is full of villains who try to seize superiority over you. No one can stand being defenseless. You have to learn to be stubborn and irritated (in moderation) to get what you want.

4- You are alien today, but tomorrow - not now.

Man is fickle. We go to bed in love and feel betrayed. Sometimes a breakup may mean nothing to you. And sometimes it is a complete tragedy. In any case, after a breakup, being depressed about your inattention and looking for flaws in yourself is a waste of time. You will have many more opportunities to fall in love! The only obstacle in your path is the fear of your new relationship.

5- You do not have to be close to all the members of your family.

If any communication with your family poisons your life, it is in your interest to establish some limits of such communication as soon as possible.

6- If you buy clothes that do not fit you,

But you are going to use it as an incentive to lose weight, you will never wear it.

7- Regrets and guilt about constantly doing bad

Karma only proves once again that you will do them again and again.

8- Stop being jealous of people

Who is more successful at your age than you. Take this energy towards achieving your goals.

9- Self-esteem is the greatest gift you can give yourself. But it is more difficult to find.

10- If you find yourself thinking that you are constantly losing your job,

Friends, important relationships and relationships, maybe it's time to accept that you are the root of all problems!

11- You don't want to give anything to anyone.

If you think otherwise, you will be constantly unhappy and dissatisfied with life.

12- To achieve something in this life,

You need to work hard and even work hard. If you want to know the answer to the question: "Why don't I get what I want," you should study your work habits and way of working.

13- Moving to another city does not save you from all misfortune. At least in most cases.

14- It is okay to periodically fuck or sometimes lie.

15- He who does not risk does not drink champagne!

If you realize that your job has offended you, just quit. Get your inner "I"!

16- Do not pour alcohol on an empty stomach.

If you don't want to look mega-stupid, then...

17- There is nothing like enjoying guilt.

Many, without knowing it, like to torment themselves and suffer once again. it's not healthy.

18- Sometimes it is better to do something first,

You will always have time to apologize.

19- You should stop in time.

For example, leave the party on time. Because after 4 in the morning nothing is usually good. Everyone knows when you want to keep having more and more fun. Learn to leave the extreme. If you hesitate, all the fun will go down the drain.

Be smart

15 Leadership Rules

2020-11-04T17:01:00.003+05:30

15 Golden Rules of Leadership. Here are 15 leadership rules you must follow to become a great leader.

1 Set goal. In everything.

2 Go to meet the circumstances, do not wait until the circumstances come to you.

3 Live with humor. You can laugh at what you can't learn.

4 Experiment. Above yourself, over people around you, over fate. Failure will be forgotten, triumphs may go down in history.

5 Give people credit for your shared ideas and accomplishments. Going ahead of others is only part of leadership. You must also sometimes walk alongside them.

6 Be optimistic. Always ask yourself, "What if it works out?"

7 Make your own rules and live by them. In the game, the winner is not the one who plays the best, but the one who sets the rules of the game.

8 Believe in yourself and believe in those who follow you.

9 Love people. Half of the people will not answer you for this, the other half will give three times more than they took.

10 Ask yourself the question "how can I find out more." Tomorrow will be better than today only if tomorrow you are better than you were today. Or quite harshly: if you don't improve, you get worse.

11 Know your talents and build your life around them. Help others find their talents.

12 Trust people with some of your work, delegate. Taking all the work for yourself is an even greater sin than taking all the money for yourself.

13 Plan your day. The leader plans his day for himself. Leaders make plans for other people.

14 Don't pay twice for knowledge. Don't waste your whole life looking for an answer that someone else has already spent theirs on. Buy other people's ideas. A greedy person doesn't always pay twice. In the worst cases, the greedy pay only once, but ends up paying with a wasted life.

15 Leaders know how to alternate the globe with the microscope. They think big but selectively go into detail when considering key points.

Be smart

Dell: Father of the PC Industry

2020-11-02T18:09:00.007+05:30

Dell founder and former CEO Michael Dell founded the company 32 years ago. On his journey to success, he dropped out of college, flirted with PCs, and turned a profitable hobby into a successful business that conquered the computer world.

Dell: One of the top names in the computer revolution. Thirty years ago Michael Dell revolutionized the entire business model behind computers and to this day his company is one of the world's largest computer manufacturers.

In it, we'll see how Michael Dell started a world-changing business from his dorm room, and it made him one of the richest.

As a man who revolutionized the computer business, Michael Dell experimented with childhood in early computers. He will be tinkering with his Apple II, but more importantly, he already has an understanding of the business. As the story progresses, Michael had a summer job at a high school with a Houston Post membership. Instead of making random cold calls, he tracked down newlyweds and families, who simply moved into the neighborhood; People are most likely to look for a newspaper subscription.

He made eighteen thousand dollars that summer, all by directly targeting his buyers.

Now, although his parents wanted him to become a doctor, Michael was not ready to give up his interest in computers. While enrolled in pre-med in 1983, Michael spent his free time repairing and upgrading PCs, which he sold as an informal business from his dorm room. The nineteen year old's hobby quickly proved profitable and Michael dropped out of university to pursue his startup.

In January 1984, Michael registered his company as PC Limited and began selling computers from his condo. A young entrepreneur, Michael was faced with a question: How do I compete with established competitors, who not only have name recognition but also have a network of retailers to pursue products? At that time, customers went to retailers to buy their personal computers. A Best Buy or Radio Shack staff helps shoppers find the right computer - and in exchange for their services, these middlemen raise prices by 10, 20, or 30 percent. So, Michael understood: why not cut out the middlemen altogether and sell them directly to consumers?

Although initially difficult to attract buyers, PCs Limited will be selling at a discount to its established competitors. Michael drove everyone on his approach, known as the "direct model of sales". He advertised directly to knowledgeable consumers in computer magazines. This experienced consumer base may opt for its PC custom assembly, a service that cannot be provided by mass production giants such as IBM. And so, with the use of Chinese component suppliers and assembly plants, Michael Dell's PC Limited began manufacturing and selling personal computers.

In its first year of operation, PCs Limited sold more than $ 6 million worth of computers, proving the potential of their new business model. Michael's company rode the computer boom in the late '80s, with its direct-sales and low prices gaining momentum as word spread.

In 1987, the 22-year-old CEO changed the name of the company from PC Limited to Dell Computer, and a year later, its sales reached $ 160 million. Michael's vision extended beyond just direct consumer sales, of course, and he now finally had the resources to expand his customers. One of the most critical criticisms Michael faced was that his model could not be applied to businesses and large customers, much like the customers of any growing company.

However, Michael was prepared to prove critics wrong: he attracted corporate clients by not only assembling built-to-order PCs but preloading them with all the software they needed.

If you are filling an oil company in a new office location, for example, Dell Computer will not only build your PC with the appropriate hardware for you, but it also uses software to track sales of your gas stations nationwide. Will load the system as well. Dell was ultimately building PCs for everyone, but the advent of the Internet was the beginning of its global ascendancy.

When Dell launched its direct-sale website in July 1996, it gained access to innumerable customers. For the first time, people could buy PCs online, instead of calling the company or sending faxes. Within two months of the launch of its website, Dell had an average of more than $ 2 million in Internet sales a day. By 1998, the figure had grown to $ 5 million and Dell has since remained in the top 3 of computer manufacturers.

Michael Dale is still the CEO, despite the many foundations about taking the company privately and then making it public again, which are honestly complicated.

Be smart

Warren Buffett Method :

2020-10-27T19:30:00.004+05:30

Mike Flint was the pilot of Buffett's personal plane for ten years (Flint also flew the planes of four US presidents, so there is no reason to doubt his professional qualities). Mike once discussed his career with his boss, and Buffett advised the pilot to do a simple exercise of three steps:

STEP 1: Write down 25 main goals

You can start small and complete this exercise using only short-term goals. Try writing down 25 things right now that you would like to do this week.

STEP 2: Re-read the list, select and circle the five most important points

And here Flint had to break his head and carefully analyze the list to choose from twenty-five important points the five most important.

If you are reading this article at home, stop right now, and complete the first two steps before moving on to the third.

STEP 3: Remove excess

At this point, Flint had two lists. Five circled items were on list A, and the remaining 20 items were on list B.

Flint was ready to start work on the A-list, but Buffett asked him what the pilot was going to do with the second list. Flint replied:

“Five of the most important goals are my main focus, but twenty others are also important, so I will work on them from time to time when I have the opportunity. They are certainly not so urgent, but I still plan to pay attention to them."

To what Buffett said:

“No, Mike. You misunderstood me. The items you haven't circled are a list of things to avoid at all costs. No matter what happens, from now on, you should not pay any attention to List B until you reach the five most important goals."

Give up and win

Simplicity and minimalism are the keys to success. There is nothing better than getting rid of excess trash. Parting with all the things that are not critical is a great way to make life easier, develop good habits, and learn to enjoy what you have.

Of course, it is not so easy to abandon interests and plans and affairs to which the soul lies, especially if they are important, even if not strictly necessary. However, they are the ones that most lead astray.

Each step brings a certain result. Even neutral actions are not neutral. They take up time, energy, and space that could be used to take more targeted actions or solve more important tasks. Because of them, you are marking time in one place instead of taking a step forward.

Buffett's strategy is a brilliant way to define your priorities.

List items 6 through 25 are exciting, interesting, and seem important - it's easy to see why they take so long. But when you compare them to your top five goals, List B is just a distraction. Wasting time on things of secondary importance is the reason that instead of five fully completed projects, you have 20 unfinished projects.

Remove the excess. Focus. Complete the task or get rid of it. The main enemies of productivity are pleasant things that don't bring tangible results.

Warren Buffett

Be smart

LEGO Group: Big Business Built Little Bricks

2020-10-24T16:52:00.006+05:30

Lego is recognized everywhere by children worldwide. Today, we'll take a look at the story of how the Lego group built a large-scale business one plastic brick at a time.
Lego is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colored interlocking plastic bricks with an array of gears, sculptures called mini-figures, and various other parts. LEGO pieces can be assembled and combined in many ways, to form objects; Vehicles, buildings, and working robots.
The Lego Group began manufacturing interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Since then a global Lego subculture has developed. Supporting films, games, competitions, and six are developed under the Lego and Amusement Park brand. As of July 2015, 600 billion LEGO parts were produced.

Chances are you either played with Lego when you were young or you had a friend who did. Plastic construction sets are one of the best ways to foster creativity, and there are very few companies out there that have as much impact on children's lives as Lego. Their business model is very simple: they buy plastic for one dollar and sell it for 75. Beneath this simplicity, however, is a very interesting story, we will learn where these plastic bricks come from.

Lego's father was a Danish man named Ole Christiansen. He came from a small family of farmers near the small town of Billund and his favorite hobby was making wood. When he was old enough to travel, he practiced carpentry in Germany and Norway, earning just enough money to buy a local lumber shop in Billund when he returned in 1916. For the next 16 years, he worked as a carpenter and found it very good. During that time he married a woman in Norway and eventually had four sons. Life was good, but then the Great Depression ensued and things took a worst-case scenario. Prices crashed across Europe and Danish farmers could barely make enough money.

Ole Christiansson was forced to shoot at most of the employees of his shop because he could not pay them. He was left alone to take care of his four sons that same year, leaving his wife. Ole got them to work and exchange in the shop he used to make for wooden toys. The children liked him very much and soon Oleg started making toys in addition to his regular business. Local farmers however did not have the income to buy them, and most of the time they offered food in return.

In the end, Ole had to sell his toys door-to-door in nearby cities, where people had money to spend them. In 1934 he brought a name for his toys: he called him Lego by the Danish phrase "Leg Godt", which means he plays well. Incidentally, the word lego also means to gather in Latin. His shop burned down after a devastating fire in 1942, with Ole borrowing money to build an actual factory to make his wooden toys. Since then toys became his main occupation and the Danish people loved him. Ole made his eldest son Godfred the manager of the new company and together they started expanding their customers not only in Denmark but also in Norway.

By 1947, the company's workforce had grown to 40 and they were selling more than 150 wooden toys.

In 1949, while attending a toy fair in Copenhagen, Ole found was a businessman, plastic building blocks that you could use to build towers. Ole liked the idea a lot, so he brought the samples back to Billund to study them. A year later Lego began selling a modified version of these blocks, called automatic binding bricks. They look like modern LEGO bricks, but their underside is hollow, making them tickle and difficult to combine. Most customers did not like them, and by 1954 binding bricks barely made up five percent of the company's revenue. That same year, while visiting the UK to attend a toy fair, Godfred met a very enthusiastic department store manager. He talked about the state of the toy industry and the manager complained about how little incentive people had to buy new toys. He argued that finished toys are hurting the business because parents often will not need to buy more toys. As soon as Godfred came back to Billund, he started thinking about a system that would encourage people to buy their toys. He drew up a list of qualities he wanted his new system to be: some of the things he listed, for example, unlimited play ability, development of creativity, and suitable for children of any age and gender.

The obvious choice for this new system was automatic binding bricks, and a year later in 1955, Godfred released the first real Lego manufacturing set: the Lego System of Play. Unlike previous iterations of binding bricks, this time children could build entire cities, not just individual buildings, and only limit how many sets they had. This new set included small cars, trucks, and road signs, and as you can imagine it became extremely popular. Exactly two years later, God trade developed the modern Lego bricks we know today by introducing tubes on the underside, which made bricks more stable and allowed for more combinations.

Godfred became Lego's official leader in 1958 when his father Ole died. His first order of business was to accelerate the overseas expansion of companies. Lego's first international office opened in Germany in 1956 and soon thereafter, they began to spread to Western Europe. In 1961 Lego entered the US market by licensing its toys to Samsonite, which you probably know today for their suitcases. By that time, Lego had stopped making wooden toys after the 1960s fire. Over the next decade, Lego became one of the world's largest toy manufacturers.

By 1976 he had about $ 300 million in worldwide sales and made 1% of Denmark's total GDP. They released new sets based on various themes, but they always lived up to their design principles of simplicity and compatibility. For example, a brick made in 1957 would have no trouble fitting into a modern construction set and although they have added a bunch of new parts over the years, everything is backward compatible.

One of Lego's biggest hits was from Lego Mini figure 1978, which has since become one of Lego's most iconic symbols. Guesses from 2003 say that more than four billion of these small figures have been made, and today you will find them in almost every construction set.

She also made a film with him in 2014, which is very good, it got a 7.8 rating on IMDb. Lego was doing very well in the 1980s. Their sales were growing at around 10% annually and by 1992 they controlled 80% of the construction toy market with about $ 600 million in annual sales. However, Lego's patent for their bricks expired in 1981, and by the early 1990s other copycat brands were already popping up around the world. They will mass-produce nearly identical construction sets and sell them at a cheaper price, drastically cutting Lego's profits. Things became so bad that in 1994 the company saw a 2% drop in its first annual sales in Germany and 8% in the United States. The situation in the Asian market was worse because you know how loose they are about copyright and patents. With its first annual loss at $ 30 million, and by 2004, the company was almost bankrupt, losing $ 228 million in that year alone.

The CEO at the time was Gotfred's son, Kjeld Christiansen, and he felt so helpless that he resigned and hired the company's first non-family CEO: Jorgen Vig Knudstorp. His solution to the crisis was a bit radical, but it was effective. Over the next three years, he cut Lego's workforce in half and shifted his main manufacturing activities to Mexico. This was a drastic reduction in expenses, but the company decided to actively pursue licensing deals to Jorgen. Do you know all those expensive Lego sets based on Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or mine craft? Jorgen's idea of combining Lego with popular culture was brilliant and the success of these new sets saved the company from bankruptcy. Licensed Lego products made up about 60% of their total sales in 2008, and although the world was in the midst of the Great Recession, people were buying more Lego than ever before. The company has grown even more since then and in 2014 they beat Mattel to become the world's largest toy company. His most recent report from 2015 showed his global sales at $ 5.3 billion, larger than Mattel and Hasrombind. Lego has become so vast that Mattel and Hasbro are considering a merger only to remain relevant. Lego's success as a concept is not only due to its unique design, but also due to the impressive marketing behind it. One of Lego's best marketing decisions was to build its Leg land theme park. If you haven't visited one then you definitely should. There are seven Lego and Parks worldwide, with 4 currently under construction. All the parks have these huge model cities made of millions of huge bricks and they are worth seeing. The first one, by the way, is in Billund and Lego had to build an airport there because of how remote it was.

I hope you like the story of Lego.

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Vespa: Scooter that rebuilt Italy WWII

2020-10-14T19:10:00.004+05:30

Vespa: Stylish Italian scooter that can be found in any corner of the world. You may be surprised that Vespa's origin came out of Italy's destruction during World War II. In it, we will see how Vespa succeeded in gaining worldwide fame through the economic turmoil of its time.

By the end of World War II, Italy was left in ruins. It surrendered to the Allies in 1943 and captured Germany almost immediately; Thus, over the next two years, the peninsula became a fierce battlefield, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The country bombed its infrastructure and sank into massive debt.

Come by 1946, and the Italian government was too weak to restart its industry. Meanwhile, the rest of the world was focusing on general consumer products, with gas-powered automobiles being one of the most popular goods after the war.

During the war, automotive factories were converted for wartime military production, and while industrialized Allied nations could return the switchover to civilian production, the Italian government had too much debt to support such a transition. Without the repaired infrastructure or any government assistance, Italy's industrialists had their hands tied. They had to work with very limited resources and, more importantly, adapt them.

Enrico Piaggio, who ran the eponymous Piaggio company. Before the war, the Piaggio family produced locomotives and train cars, but once the war broke out, their factory was converted for military production, like most of Italy. Piaggio produced some of Italy's best-performing aircraft during World War II, which was certainly a major target for Allied bombing.

By 1945 his factory was ground-locked and Enrico did not have the money to rebuild such an expensive product line. Suffice to say, he knew it was time to shift gears.

Now, Italy's roads were demolished, with Enrico saying that his fellow countrymen would struggle to find a useful mode of transport. Italy's infrastructure was in such poor condition that driving full-size vehicles was practically out of the question.

Enrico had to explore a new method of transport that was both sufficient and versatile to survive whatever was left on the Italian streets.

Luckily for him, he almost drove the initial scooter during the war. The Cushman scooter during which concentrates were used by soldiers during World War II to almost arrive at targets. They were also paratroopers side paratroopers or used to sneak in between enemy lines.

Of course, due to their military nature, comfort in design was not considered, nor was there any form of driver safety, or visual appeal. Thus, Enrico's job extended beyond technical specifications; The vehicle he wanted to build to advance Italy should be stylistically bold.

Fortunately, Italy had plenty of engineering talent at the time; The country was banned from developing any military technology for 10 years after the war, which of course fired many engineers. Enrico had hired one such person to build a prototype - a strong enough bombardment — understanding the infrastructure out of the bombing, yet considerably cheaper for a country left in financial ruin.

Enrico's new engineer was one of the leading Italian helicopter designers, and thus he could apply principles from aircraft engineering to overcome the obstacles inherent in two-wheel vehicles.

As a counterweight to the dirty impact of motorcycles, they designed a body that would protect the driver from any dirt or rocks. He hid the engine to keep oil, grease, and dirt away from the driver. However, the final focus was on the scooter's design, and the prototype Enrico eventually saw an interesting response from him. Enrico looked like antennas on the broad central piece and steering rod and remarked that "it looks like a wasp"; The word for which it is Italian is Vespa.

Production was fairly easy to finance, especially when compared to the construction of the aircraft and therefore Vespa was already being sold to the public by the spring of 1946. In its first full year, Enrico sold 2,500 units and invested prudently in expanding its factory. The following year, sales quadrupled to 10,000 Vespas, rising to 60,000 by the end of the decade. Very soon, a new verb was caught in Italian parlance: extra, meaning to go somewhere in a Vespa.

Before long, the whole of Italy fell in love with the fashionable scooter. It was clean, light, and reliable, so it rapidly became an everyday mode of transportation.

Although its original purpose was to overcome Italy's destroyed infrastructure at the time, the unique beauty of Vespa attracted the attention of consumers abroad.

Enrico began exporting Vespas to India in 1948, becoming the country's first scooter dealer, where it had a monopoly for decades.

Vespa became an American sensation in 1953 with the release of the film Roman Holiday, in which Audrey Hepburn rode the iconic Italian scooter around Rome. It was estimated that over 100,000 units were sold as a direct result of just that film. Then you have something like Mods, a subculture in London that was based around the Vespas ride by itself late into the night. As a cheap, reliable mode of transportation, the Vespa was perfect for a teenage Mods in search of independence from Mundane.

Becoming a cultural icon was Vespa's path to global fame, which continues to this day.

Enrico's story is proof that you can get out of a bad situation and during World War 2 the bombing of Italy was very bad.

Be smart

Top 20 Differences Between Winners and Losers Which side are you on? {Winners VS Losers}

2020-10-12T11:25:00.006+05:30

Winners focus on the solution.

Losers focus on the problem.

Winners take responsibility.

Losers blame others.

Winners find crisis opportunities.

Losers complain about the crisis.

Winners enjoy the present and learn from the past.

Losers live in the past.

Winners make a decision and stick to it no matter what.

Losers promise but never deliver.

Winners think about how they can achieve this.

The losers ask for forgiveness.

Winners Emphasize personal development.

Losers neglect personal development.

Winners face their fear and accept it, jump over and move on.

Losers live in their fears.

Winners are constantly expanding their comfort zone.

Losers stay in their comfort zone.

Winners are constantly in action.

Losers refrain from acting, they lack consistency.

Winners learn from their failures.

Losers are afraid of failure and shy away from failure at all costs.

Winners try different strategies when they don't get the results they planned.

Losers do the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.

Winners set goals.

The losers lack a purpose.

The winners are planning.

Losers don't like to have plans.

Winners believe there are always things to learn.

The losers consider themselves experts, yet they know little.

The winners are humble.

Losers are selfish.

Winners continue to hone their skills every day without indulgence.

Losers create little effort by honing their abilities.

The winners work hard.

Losers avoid work.

The winners give all their strength to the goals they have decided to achieve.

Losers do their best.

Winners are good at using their time and indulge in activities that will lead them to achieve their goals.

Losers lack time management, indulge in activities like playing games, watching endless replays.

BE smart

These rules will teach you wisdom!

2020-10-05T22:04:00.004+05:30

Every time there comes a time when Ben wakes up and he wants to change his life. Sometimes he wants to start exercising and get in shape, other times he wants to read more books or start a meditation practice. So he decides that he is going to make it his new habit. The first few days go very well, as Ben feels inspired and excited about it. But as more days pass, his so-called "new habit" does not excite him. So Ben tells himself, "It's fine, I'll do it tomorrow." Then tomorrow turns around and he still doesn't feel like doing it. Then he says; "tomorrow." This keeps on happening until his fresh new habit is almost forgotten. However, Ben is not alone in his struggles, as we have all been at one point in time. But why does this happen? Why is it so difficult to follow our new habits? Well, one reason for this is that the habit we are trying to create may seem a bit overwhelming, so we have this mental resistance. In the beginning, when we are super motivated it is very easy to do something.

Examples; Going to the gym for 1 hour does not seem difficult, as early motivation is a powerful driving force. But when we are motivated it is easy to impose some super high expectations on ourselves. We think; "Okay, so I went to the gym for the first few days. From now on I will go to the gym for 1 hour every single day." But once the initial motivation fades away after a few days, there is now nothing that is pushing us forward, and we have not yet formed a habit. That is why when we are infallible, we will probably leave the gym altogether, as it seems difficult to dedicate an entire hour to it. So instead of relying on motivation to push us forward, we should focus on creating our new habit, real habit.

1 Let go of people and situations.

Don't scroll through the possible options. It happened as it happened. When letting go is difficult, ask two questions:

"Will it be important to me in 5 years?"

“I'm flying to Buenos Aires tonight (any place you want to visit), will I take this problem with me?”

2 At the end of each week, answer the following questions:

"What did I learn last week?"

"What's your biggest achievement in a week?"

What was your most memorable moment this week and why?

“Have I wasted time on something? If so, what for? "

3 Watch your appearance.

Always be ready for new achievements and unexpected encounters.

"Hello! My head does not fit... I dreamed of meeting you all my life! Uh... Just excuse me, today I don't look very good... I got tired, you know... "

4 Don't whine or complain about fate.

Stand up silently, go, and do whatever is necessary.

5 Travel!

Travel twice a year where you have never been. Traveling will help you find yourself.

6 Allow yourself to make mistakes.

Missing something - don't miss a lesson from this. A mistake is a great opportunity for development.

7 Develop personality

You are who you are. You are not competing with anyone but yourself.

8 Make your own decisions.

Do not cook according to someone else's recipes.

9 Don't be intrusive.

The world is huge - there is someone in it who will be happy, receiving exactly your look and smile.

10 Meditate every day.

Learn to relax and concentrate.

11 Smile if something doesn't work out as you planned.

Remember, not getting what you want is sometimes luck.

12 Learn to say NO.

Don't be afraid to refuse!

- Would you like to make a courtesy visit? No?

- No!

13 Evaluate every word you speak for truthfulness, helpfulness, and kindness.

Speak in essence, nothing superfluous. NO - gossip, lies, and complaints! Better keep quiet if you have nothing to say.

14 Think.

Before making a decision, estimate its cost.

15 If you manage to get very angry with someone - wait 24 hours before answering.

16 Be independent and self-sufficient.

Your happiness depends only on you, and not on how other people think and act.

17 Respect yourself and others.

The person chooses himself. Do not interfere in matters that do not concern you. Do not look into someone else's life with thoughts and words - do not lose sight of Your choice!

18 Act exclusively within your sphere of influence.

Don't worry about what you can't influence.

19 Be outdoors every day.

Regardless of the weather and mood.

20 Believe in dreams and ideas.

Time is not linear. They have already come true!

21 Develop talents.

Remember, you have them! Just open your eyes.

22 Be responsible for your words and actions.

Your words are powerful.

23 Be faithful. People, principles, and choices.

“Being faithful is not an innate quality. This is the solution! "

24 If there is a case, work on which will take less than 3 minutes, it should be done immediately.

Don't put it in an oooo long box. Nothing fits there for a long time.

25 Monitor your health.

It is one. You have achievements ahead of you - health will be needed for their implementation. Sports, yoga, meditation will help. Check it out!

26 Find inner peace and harmony.

The true strength of a person is manifested not in impulses, but calmness.

27 Accept that the past is in the past.

It doesn't exist! Gain experience, let go and move on.

28 Prioritize.

Everything has its place.

29 Conquer fears.

Fear is just an illusion.

30 Never give up!

Perseverance and tenacity are always rewarded.

Be smart

Samsung: How the Korean War Made Samsung

2020-10-03T22:10:00.006+05:30

While many people today know Samsung for its fancy products such as smartphones and TVs, many are not familiar with Samsung's long alliance with the South Korean government, which has saved Samsung from many crises and one of the world's largest companies Has helped to become.

Samsung is one of the world's leading tech companies. Unlike some of its American rivals — such as Apple or Dell — Samsung did not make it to anyone's garage or college dorm room. No, Samsung emerged in the wake of the most devastating war in Korean history, and in it, we'll see how all those massacres paved the way for Samsung's global domination.

The first half of the twentieth century was not very good for Korea, say it lightly. After a hundred years of political intervention, the Japanese Empire had reduced Korea to just a puppet state, formally ending it in 1910. As you can imagine, the Japanese occupation was brutal, with many Korean peasants and traders removed from their lands and out of their factories.

As an ambitious colonial power, Japan was eager to settle Korea with its people, which is why Japanese ownership of Korean land, for example, skyrocketed from 8% to 50% in 1910 after twenty years.

For a time, it seemed that the Korean nation was destined for oblivion, the Japanese not only forced Koreans to change their names, they also stopped schools from teaching the language. Despite Korea becoming independent once again during World War II and the chaos of the US and Soviet military administrations in 1945, the people of Korea were cautiously optimistic.

One such optimist was Lee Byung-Chul, one of the few Koreans who started his own business during the Japanese occupation. He created a small transportation company called Samsung in 1938, which specialized in the export of groceries.

From the very beginning, Samsung had a huge competitive advantage: it was located in the south-east coast city of Masan, which the Japanese were using as their largest exit port, from where they carried all the exploited Korean resources.

Now, Lee was not a true ally, but his utility in governance earned him many favors that were not available to most Koreans, such as obtaining loans from Japanese banks.

While Samsung's Japanese era was good for its time, newly-independent South Korea offered immense opportunities. The years immediately after liberation were much more profitable for every Korean businessman for one simple reason: while the Japanese administrators were gone, their wealth remained and the Korean government gave them the right for cents on the dollar to rebuild the country and She was doing left hand.

Everything looks great for Samsung, but then the Korean War broke out. The invasion of North Korea quickly turned into a proxy war between the Soviet bloc and the capitalist West, with modern weapons ravaging large cities and industrial centers in South Korea.

Most of Korea's factories were damaged during the three long years of the war; For example, more than 60% of the textile and chemical facilities of the country's railways were destroyed. At the end of the war — Korea's infrastructure was in dire need of repair, and its companies were too small to sustain its economy, which was honestly on its last legs.

Prices rose dramatically, as the South Korean government was forced to print more money to finance the country's vast military expenditure. Hyperinflation was so extreme that in July 1953, Korea's wealth in circulation was only 24 times greater than it was three years earlier. By extension, South Korea and Samsung's future looked increasingly uncertain, but fortunately, they had Uncle Sam's back. After the war, the US essentially created the Korean version of the Marshall Plan, which was soon followed by the United Nations.

During the 1950s, three billion dollars were sent to the Korean government, which then chose medium and large companies eligible for investment. Samsung was among the companies benefiting from this relief aid, no doubt thanks to Lee's close friendship with the first South Korean president.

Samsung kept in mind the extent of state aid during its tenure. Generally imposing very strict limits on exports, the government essentially gave Samsung a free pass, making it the largest exporter of scrap iron, for example, after the war.

Funding of US relief money at Samsung allowed it to expand beyond simple transportation and into actual manufacturing: in 1953 they began making sugar and flour, and then a year later made textiles. Purchasing and then rebuilding factories wasted by American money was such a lucrative business that Samsung grew at an average of 93% annually during the 1950s. However, relief aid was only part of the picture: the Korean government was also giving generous loans to Samsung at very competitive rates.

Lee was one of the biggest beneficiaries of government lending through government-linked banks, and, even more happily, once he got the money, he made the rounds and started buying the same banks.

By the end of the decade, Samsung had taken over three banks linked to its friend's rule and was also infusing insurance and chemicals. Samsung had grown so large that not even a revolution could bring it down.

Thus, when the army overthrew his friend's rule in 1961, Lee was probably not too worried. Under the new administration, the Korean economy opened up and focused largely on export growth, for which Samsung was perfectly positioned after a decade of state-funded preparations.

Thus, despite a second regime change in 15 years, Lee was once again in the good graces of the Korean government. The most popular Samsung division we know today was

Also made with government assistance: In 1969 the government passed a law on companies working in the electronics business by cutting taxes by 50%, which was too much for Samsung Electronics at the time, which was made the same year.

Samsung became a symbol of Korean modernization during the 70s as it helped bring televisions and washing machines to every family's home, and since then it seems only natural to jump into semiconductors and more recently smartphones. Certainly, this would not be possible without Lee's prolific position, which in his time was close to political power.

even today Samsung and the government go hand-in-hand. Luckily for you, Samsung is a public company, or at least its largest division, so you can easily benefit from the close relationship forged many decades ago.

Be smart

Nutella World War 2: The Miracle of WW2

2020-10-01T17:58:00.004+05:30

Everyone knows Nutella and almost everyone loves it. Delicious spreads have gained a cult following in the US and around the world, but few people know how Nutella came about.
The lack of major imports due to WW2 left many Italian chocolates with no product. To increase their limited supply they added chopped hazelnuts to their mix. What started as a gimmick chocolate replacement eventually evolved into Nutella as we know it today!

Nutella: heavenly spread that has captured the appetites of millions of people worldwide. In just one year, Nutella sold enough jars to cover the Great Wall of China 8 times. But how did this nutty breakfast spread like this? As you will soon find out, Nutella came in very deep times of war and turmoil.

The creamy conch shell has a long and winding history, dating back to 19th-century Italy. Nutella's first predecessor about thanks to none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. As the story goes, chocolate was a rarity due to the Napoleonic Wars between France and several other European countries, including Great Britain.

Now, Britain was a global center of commerce and Napoleon naturally forbade French allies and neutral colonies to trade with the British in an attempt to destroy their economy. The result was a continental blockade that drove up the price of chocolate.

People were scrambling to find a solution, and some resourceful Italian chocolatiers had the idea of adding chopped hazelnuts to their chocolate to increase their supply. The result was a delicious paste that came to be called gianduia.

While popular during the war, it faded into obscurity that once cocoa imports returned in full swing. But, you know what they say: History repeats itself, and before another dictator's shadow threatened the Italian chocolate industry once again.

Italian chocolate lovers simply did not get a break, it seems, as the country once again found itself in crisis in the wake of World War II. But the Italians were hardworking and went back to their old ways of increasing their limited chocolate supply.

This time, however, a pastry maker named Pietro Ferrero will take Jianduya to the next level. He created a new recipe using hazelnuts, small bits of sugar, and cocoa, which he could get his hands on. The result was a thick, sweet bread, known as Jayanaduja. If you're having trouble imagining a version of Nutella that has to be cut with a knife, don't worry - it's never really been caught. However, this failure did not stop Ferrero from trying again.

He targeted the drawing board, and in 1951 he came up with an expandable version. He called it Super Crema, and although its name was artificial, it did not taste.

Since it was spreadable, a small portion of it moved a lot further, and the price made it accessible to chocolate lovers, who could afford the real thing.

The results of World War II, of course, continued to send shock waves around the world, but at least people finally had an economical way to satisfy their sweet tooth.

Now we fast in 1964 when Super Crema's recipe was adjusted for mass production and reintroduced as Nutella. By that time, Pietro had handed over control of the company to his son Michel. Over the next few decades, he would spread Nutella across Europe and then the United States, creating an empire that would have embarrassed Napoleon. Of course, to make other iconic sweets like Pharrell Rocher and Kinder, Michelle won't rest on her laurels, but that's a story for another time.

Mitchell's biggest strategy, however, was his focus on privacy, as during his tenure the company refused to hold press conferences or give anyone access to their plants. With such tight control over its production, Mitchell can keep high quality while the company speeds up.

Nutella quickly ceased to be a substitute for chocolate and gained a cult following of its own.

Today, you can connect with fans who spread Nutella on their morning toast, and you can celebrate World Nutella Day on 5 February each year. In many ways, Nutella is a testament to the persistence of humanity. It was built in the wake of one of the worst wars in history, and it continues to make people smile.

Be smart

What are the strongest currencies in the world?

2020-09-29T18:18:00.002+05:30

It was in 1971 that President Nixon declared drugs "America's Public Enemy Number One". After more than four decades, we want to know if the war on drugs was working?

In December 2015, the International Monetary Fund welcomed the Chinese Yuan to its elite club of global currencies. This means that the yuan, also known as the renminbi, will include the US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, and Japanese Yen as the world's most reliable and freely usable denominations.

What makes a strong currency?

Well, the strength of a currency is usually measured by its purchasing power, which is the number of services or services a unit or a penny buys. Since modern currencies are not supported by collateral like gold, their value is entirely dependent on external factors. This would include such things as how much control the government has over a currency, whether it has a reasonable exchange rate and long-term stability. All of these contribute to public confidence in the value of the currency.

For example, in 2005, the Turkish government eliminated six zeroes from its lira overnight. It essentially turned 1 million lire into a lira, and people quickly accepted it because they had faith in the economy that was supporting it.

The number of bills did not matter. Overall, people tend to place more trust in currencies that are widely used and accepted internationally. In this way, the value of a currency is not only based on what you can buy with it but also how much the world uses it.

Internationally the currencies that are trusted are often referred to as hard currencies. The US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, and Japanese Yen all fall into this category because, again, governments and economies that look back on them are considered strong and stable. Many countries have abandoned their domestic currency in favor of hard currency.

More than a dozen countries and territories have adopted the US dollar as their own, a process commonly known as "dollarisation". Also, both average citizens and investors prefer hard currencies during political unrest or global economic instability.

When rapid inflation hit Latin America in the 1980s, many people there temporarily turned to the dollar, fearing that their domestic currencies would go down in value. Because of their consistency and reliability, currencies such as the US Dollar and Euro are held in large reserves by countries with smaller currencies. These nations use their reserve currencies for international trade or to borrow foreign money. US dollars are the most popular reserve currency, accounting for about 60 percent of all global foreign exchange reserves. What's more, about 90 percent of all international transactions involve dollars.

How has the Chinese Yuan made its way into this specific set of currencies?

Well, the Chinese government has recently lost some control over its currency and created trading hubs in other countries. As a result, market forces will play a greater role in establishing the value of the yuan, and the currency will be more tradable, and susceptible to government manipulation.

The newly powerful yuan is already gaining ground on the euro, and China hopes to one day rival its dollar as a reserve currency. However, that possibility remains in the distant future.

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WTO: The World Trade Organization (History and Facts)

2020-09-22T19:16:00.005+05:30

The World Trade Organization was created in 1995 out of the final round of GATT negotiations. It essentially formalized the GATT into an international institution with a permanent secretariat and organizational structure. The agreements negotiated in the various rounds of GATT talks provided the foundational structure for the WTO, and the text of those agreements was incorporated into the WTO framework.

The primary goal of the WTO was similar to that of GATT, namely their elimination of trade barriers. As of 2020, the TWO has 164 member states, represented in green and blue on this map, and 24 observer governments shown in yellow. Most of the observer governments are in various stages of ascending to full membership in the organization. Collectively, the member states and observer states represent more than 99 percent of the world's trade, gross domestic product, and population. There are only 13 United Nations member states who have not applied to WTO membership. They are represented in red on this map. Most of these countries are relatively small in economic terms. Many are small island developing states like Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia Palau, and Tuvalu, Others are countries in crisis, like Eritrea, Somalia, or East Timor And still, others are philosophically opposed to WTO--for example, North Korea, and Turkmenistan. Collectively, however, the non-member states represent less than 1/2 of 1 percent of global trade and gross domestic product and about 7/10th of 1 percent of the global population.

The WTO operates according to several key principles, which are binding on member states. The first and perhaps most important for member states themselves the principle of nondiscrimination. This principle encompasses two separate but related ideas.

The first is the most favored nation or MFN Most favored nation status refers to the trade status given to your closest trading partners--the lowest tariffs and highest export quotas, for example. Under the rules of the WTO, all states that are members of the WTO must be extended the most favored nation status by all other members of the WTO. In other words, you cannot offer preferential market access to one state in the WTO without giving it to all members of the WTO.

The second is national treatment. This means that goods produced by other WTO member states and imported into your country must be treated according to the same rules, or in WTO parlance, no less favorably than goods produced domestically. In other words, you cannot impose different technical standards, safety or security requirements, or other measures that may disadvantage foreign producers. Taken together, the most favored nation and national treatment are the two most important carrots for WTO membership and explain why so many countries seek to join the organization.

The second key principle is that of reciprocity. WTO members agree to work towards the elimination of non-tariff barriers--things like quotas or restrictive state safety standards--and instead to use tariffs to regulate international trade. They also agree to move towards the elimination of tariffs through reciprocal agreements.

Third, the WTO ensures transparency by requiring members to publish trade regulations. The WTO also conducts and publishes regular reviews of administrative regulations in member states.

Fourth, the WTO provides safety valves that permit member states under certain specific circumstances to restrict trade to attain non-economic objectives. These usually focus on the protection of public health and national security.

Fifth and finally, the WTO maintains a dispute settlement process that can hear cases brought by WTO member states against other member states for violation of WTO rules. If a state is found to have violated WTO rules, monetary fines and countervailing tariffs can be imposed to bring the violating state into line.

The WTO's dispute settlement mechanism has been widely used. Between 1995 and 2019, nearly 600 disputes had been filed with the WTO, and more than half of those had been successfully resolved. The number of disputes filed has gradually albeit unevenly declined over time. The United States and the European Union have been the most active in their use of the mechanism. The United States has been involved in 279 cases either as the lead complaint or the lead respondent, and the European Union's been involved in 191 cases, with many of those cases brought against one another. Other actively involved countries include China, which has been involved in 65 cases mostly as a respondent, Canada with 63 cases, and India with 56 cases.

The most common subject issues brought for dispute settlement in recent years include accusations of dumping and disputes over environmental food safety and labor regulations.

While the dispute settlement mechanism functioned reasonably well, it's been subject to some criticisms. The US government has asserted that the organization was biased against the United States, despite the fact that the United States has won more cases on average than did other countries. Developing countries often claimed that the mechanism was biased against them. The enforcement mechanism available in most cases--namely the use of countervailing tariffs against countries that violate trade rules-- certainly privileged the countries with larger economies. But at least in principle, the playing field was equal, and any country could initiate a complaint and receive a hearing. But perhaps the most dramatic development in the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism was the decision by the Trump administration to block the appointment of new judges to the appellate body. Under the WTO's rules, judges are appointed to four-year terms, and at least three judges must sit to hear any appeal. By blocking the appointment of new judges and permitting the current judge's terms to expire, the United States effectively depopulated the pool of available judges, and by December of 2019, only one judge remained. The WTO could no longer hear any cases. The WTO has also seen protests from outside the organization.

When the World Trade Organization was established in 1995, it was originally envisioned that it would continue to liberalize international trade just as the GATT had done through successive rounds of trade talks, producing new agreements.

The first round of trade talks was scheduled to be launched in Seattle in 1999. However, something different happened. Unlike previous rounds of talks, which had largely been viewed as technical affairs, the domain of trade ministers and their ilk, the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle were met by massive popular protests, called the Battle in Seattle. An estimated 40,000 protesters took to the streets. They drew from all areas of civil society and came from countries from around the world.

The protests brought together a fascinating mix of global civil society: labor unions like the AFL-CIO, anti-debt and religious charity groups like Jubilee, non-governmental organizations focused on labor issues and the environment especially in the global south, student groups, anti-capitalist groups, all converged on Seattle, barring entrances to buildings and blockading streets to shut down the negotiations.

And inside the WTO talks themselves, there were also interesting developments taking place. The World Trade Organization, like the GATT before it, operated based on consensus, meaning that any single country could block the agreement. In practice, however, this was rarely the case. Indeed in many previous rounds of talks, the Quadrilateral Group, comprised of the United States, the European Union, Canada, and Japan, would meet well ahead of formal negotiations to develop agreement among themselves.

Once they were able to agree on a framework, it was presented to the rest of the organization-- and the rest of the world, mostly small developing countries--could choose to sign on or leave the group.

As a result, trade liberalization had tended to focus on free trade and manufactured goods, where the developed countries had an advantage while permitting more protectionist measures including subsidies in areas like agriculture, where developing countries had a comparative advantage.

The uneven negotiating power of countries in international forums like the World Trade Organization or even the United Nations has long been the subject of criticism from the global south. International trade talks are complicated, and there may be multiple issues being negotiated simultaneously. At the World Trade Organization, a single session may have concurrent trade negotiations in different parts of the city, simultaneously addressing issues like agricultural liberalization, health and safety measures, access to essential medicines, intellectual property, and liberalization of trade and manufactured goods.

Negotiating teams from the most powerful countries might include dozens of lawyers, economists, policy wonks, diplomats, professional negotiators, and others. Many developing countries, by way of contrast, may be able to only send a single representative to negotiate on their behalf. The Seattle round was different because, for the first time, the developing world presented a unified front.

Led by the Africa group, the developing countries collectively refused to consider any new international trade agreement that did not include what they called development issues. They met well ahead of the conference and assigned each country a lead responsibility for a particular area of negotiation, based on a common position agreed to ahead of time. In doing so, they were able to force negotiations to shift to areas where they were concerned or to block them altogether. So between the popular protests in the street and the refusal of the developing countries to go along with the proposed negotiation framework, the Seattle round collapsed. Negotiators were sent home without an agreement, and the future of the world World Trade Organization appeared to be in question.

As a result of the coordinated position put forward by the global south at Seattle, the World Trade Organization was forced to cancel the Seattle round. It relaunched a new round of trade talks two years later, dubbed the Doha development agenda.

The new round of trade talks looked dramatically different than the proposed agenda at Seattle. Instead of focusing on strengthening intellectual property rights or expanding protections for investors, Doha looked at a central focus catering to issues of concern in the global south. While it included the perennial issues of liberalizing trade and industrial goods through tariff reductions and proposed new anti-dumping measures, it also included areas of particular interest to the developing world, including liberalization of trade in services, measures to phase out agricultural subsidies and liberalize international agricultural trade, something the little south had been demanding for years.

For the first time, it also included measures considering public health. Specifically, during the Uruguay round of GATT talks, the Trade-Related Intellectual property rights or (TRIPs) agreement had been negotiated. The TRIPs agreement imposed stronger intellectual property protection across a number of areas. But the greatest concern for most developing countries was the impact that this had on access to pharmaceuticals.

Because TRIPs imposed 20-year patent protection on new medicines, developing countries feared they would not be able to access them to address public health concerns. Remember that this was the era when HIV/AIDS was at its peak across Sub-Saharan Africa and around the world. And so during the Doha round, developing countries were seeking to negotiate exemptions to patenting of medicines in times of public health emergencies. They also sought greater clarification on environmental protection measures. And finally, the Doha round carried overprotections for foreign investors as a topic that had been a concern of the global north as they entered the Seattle round. This measure, however, was withdrawn from negotiations in 2004, among popular protests and expanding anti-globalization sentiment.

[HIV/AIDS]

So while the Doha round was launched with great hope, the hope quickly faded and proved to be misguided. Talks stalled. The United States and Europe could not agree on a process of liberalizing agricultural production or removing subsidies. The global north and south could not agree on public health exceptions for intellectual property rights protections. And there was little appetite for discussing foreign investment protections.

Despite efforts by successive heads of the World Trade Organization to relaunch the talks, they've been stalled since 2008, and there appears to be little interest or ability to move forward.

So where are we today? The current framework--that is, all of the GATT agreements and the WTO's institutional structure--remain in place. But there doesn't appear to be much appetite in progress or expansion. Instead, the most powerful countries appear to be shifting to bilateral trade negotiations where they can exercise greater power over their trading partners. The World Trade Organization's dispute settlement mechanism is also breaking down.

China and the European Union have proposed changes to the system which would permit it to continue to operate, but the United States blocks all proposed changes, and many countries appear to be turning to regional or bilateral trade mechanisms for dispute resolution.

And more broadly, the globalization boom of the 1990s and early 2000s appears to be drawing to a close, as the united states and other countries are making more frequent use of neo-mercantilist policies to limit free trade. What the or what the future of the organization looks like, in short, is uncertain. And from outside, the organization continues to be subject to widespread criticism, particularly from the left. Concerns include its lack of focus on issues of the global environment, public health, and human welfare, and its excessive focus on economic concerns, its failure to address development, issues raised during the Doha round, and its closed negotiation structures which facilitate unequal participation, and a general lack of transparency within the negotiation process.

As a result, the WTO appears to be an organization that is stalled and whose relevance is increasingly challenged in the contemporary international environment. Despite the success of the GATT and the WTO in establishing an open international trading system. The ability of the organization to continue to operate appears to be in doubt. But we'll have to see what the future holds.

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Nazi Fanta: How a Man-Made a Global Soda in Nazi Germany

2020-09-19T16:56:00.004+05:30

Fanta: Every day a drink is enjoyed by millions of people which has a very interesting origin. In it, we are going back to the second world war to see how it is one of the world's most iconic beverages.

The year is 1933, and when Hitler came to power, another force was also growing in Germany. Coca Cola, one of the best American companies, entered the German market in 1929 behind this boy, Max Keith. He built the company's entire infrastructure in Germany, starting with the bottling plant in Frankfurt and the Cologne warehouses.

He and an army of salesmen scour the streets of every major city, distribute pamphlets and put up posters until every German knows about Coca-Cola. Through his aggressive marketing, Keith did something truly remarkable; Instead, they found centuries of alcoholic tradition to drink soda. Of course, Keith's timing was impeccable. They built factories and hired people when everything was cheaper due to the Great Depression.

Then, when Germany started recovering in the early 1930s, Keith Coca-Cola was the first product that many bought when they finally had some disposable income.

The technology was also helping Keith: In the 1930s the refrigerator swept across America and was also making its way into Germany, allowing people to enjoy an unprecedented Coca-Cola.

Of course, Keith was very careful in his advertising:

He went to great lengths to hide the fact that Coca-Cola was an American business. He listed the German subsidiary in every single advertisement and even attempted to obscure the ownership structure by claiming that the American company was not a shareholder, but only a lender, providing secret formulas and money. In a way, Keith was right: his unprecedented success persuaded his American observers to grant him incredible freedom, so much so that by 1935 he was producing 7 of Coca-Cola's 9 secret ingredients in his factories.

By that time, Germany had already become the largest market for CocaCola outside the US, but Keith was only getting started.

The 1936 Olympics held in Berlin became as much a victory moment for Hitler as for Keith himself. As Germany won 33 gold medals, more than any other country, Keith Coca-Cola's banners flew throughout the event and they sold more than a million cases of Coca-Cola that year. And yet despite this achievement, a new threat looms over the Keith Cola Empire.

Under Hitler's orders, the German economy was to resume a four-year plan and prepare for self-sufficiency and meant very few shipments from the US.

Keith had no choice but to expand production further: in 1938 he had nine factories under construction, with 43 operations. When the Nazis announced Austria in March of that year, Keith was quick to establish a subsidiary there six months later. And yet this wave of expansion would be greatly reduced, as Hitler's troops marched in Poland in September 1939 and started the Second World War.

Coca-Cola shipments from the US were very limited and were completely halted by the US entering the war in 1941. As a director of an American-owned company, Keith feared that he would be imprisoned and his business nationalized, which happened for the German subsidiaries of General Motors and IBM.

The Nazi bureaucracy was eager to continue the nationalizations it had undertaken in the 1930s and Keith was an easy target. His only solution was to join the bureaucracy, and fortunately, he became friends with the Nazi justice minister, who appointed Keith to the office of enemy property. From this situation, Keith was not only protected from the Nazis, but he could also save other European Coca-Cola companies.

As the German war machine swept across Europe, Keith would occupy the Coca-Cola factories in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway. But of course, all the factories in the world would be worthless if they had nothing to produce, and Keith had no more shipments from the US. They best rationed two Coca-Cola missiles, limiting their limited supply for use in Nazi hospitals, but this rationing lasted only a few years.

Keith either had to find a new product or go bankrupt, but with the German economy undergoing total mobilization, the material available to him was extremely scarce.

Keith asked his chemists to make a recipe, which he called "leftovers of leftovers", which consisted of cider press and whey leftover apple fiber, the watery substance that remains after milk to make cheese. Depending on what production was coming from Italy, the recipe would sometimes include grapes, lemons, and oranges, but still, the resulting cloudy, brown liquid was far from delicious.

It was also not used as a drink most of the time, but instead, people were downing their soup with it.

Nevertheless, Keith finally had a product he could easily manufacture and starting in 1940, Europe's Coca-Cola factories were once again running at full capacity. To come up with a brand name for his new product, Keith instructed his salesmen to use his imagination or fantasy in German. The term became the codename of the product and eventually, it was shortened to Fanta and Keith ran away with it.

By the time Keith Kolaran ran out of supplies in 1943, he was selling 3 million cases of Fanta per year, but due to the Eastern Front being against Germany, the war was starting to take a toll.

When the military began requiring Keith to strike, he had to start bottled water to get his company on the list of "essential" occupations for the war effort. And yet, from 1943 the German Air Force steadily reached the point where the Allies were attacking German cities every day. Each of Keith's factories was bombed at least once during the war, while its headquarters in the industrial city of Essen were completely flat.

By January 1945, the Nazi government was collapsing on its own and was looking for traitors who it could blame. The Ministry of Justice was no longer safe for Keith: First, he ordered her to change her company's name to something other than Coco-Cola, and then she asked him to "inquire" and begin the process of nationalizing her company Called for Berlin.

By that time, Keith's friend was dead and was replaced, but the following week in a rhythm of unbelievable fate, the Allies bombed the Ministry of Justice, causing the death of the new minister and practically a definite death to Keith. Was saved from

For the next three months, he would continue beating Punta until the Americans found him in a partially destroyed factory in May 1945. His first telegraph to the US headquarters was to confirm that the German subsidiary was still alive and to ask for help, but the Americans were ahead of him. As the Allies liberated Europe, the Coca Colaengineers sent to America marched behind them, rebuilding their factories and bottling Coca-Cola in Germany in early April.

In the US, Keith was revered as a hero: not only did he keep the company alive, he did not officially become a member of the Nazi Party, keeping Coca-Cola away from the strain of fascism. For his efforts, Keith was made president of Coca-Cola Europe, and after a few years of careful planning, he released an appropriate version of Fanta worldwide in 1955. Fanta has since become one of Coca-Cola's selling beverages, but it all happened thanks to a man's daring to make soda in front of Nazi Germany.

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What Truly Separates The Rich From The Poor:

2020-09-17T06:03:00.003+05:30

The richest 1% of the world we live in today has 48% of the total wealth, and the top 80 richest individuals are worth half the world's population of about 3.5 billion people. When considering these figures, there is no doubt about the fact that there is a separation between rich and poor. While many believe that these wealthy individuals gained their wealth by generating money or winning the lottery, this is simply not true. Out of the 80 richest individuals, only 11 got their fortune, while the other 69 made their wealth through their hard work and determination. And one of these 69 individuals is none other than investor Mogul, Warren Buffett. Like the majority of these wealthy individuals, Warren Buffett grew up in a middle-class family but found a way to gain the knowledge and skills that would eventually lead him to earn more than $ 70 billion in assets.

Of course, we have all seen people living in excess and others living with the next few, but have you ever taken a second to wonder what separates the rich from the poor? Certainly, the obvious answer is that the rich have more money than the poor, but I am talking about reasons beyond dollars and cents. When you think about it, a rich and poor person can live in the same city, reach the same job and both have only 24 hours a day, yet someone stays in a paycheck for a paycheck. While others may have more money than they could spend a lifetime.

What differentiates between those who will earn billions of dollars in their lifetime and those who struggle financially forever?

Well, to explain using our rich friend John and our poor friend Tim, I separate them both, so that you can adopt these rich man's habits and realize the financial prosperity in your life. Before we leave, you should know that both John and Tim have similar intelligence, come from middle-class families, and live in the same city. In short, neither man has any advantage over the other, although their bank accounts are on the exact opposite end of the money spectrum. It is a Monday afternoon and both John and Tim come home from work. When Tim gets home, he goes to his couch, turns on Netflix, and watches bi-clockless TV watches to numb himself from a long workday. While Tim's boss recommended that he should read more books to increase his chances of getting promoted this year, Tim can't be bothered to read, especially now that a new season of his favorite shows has surfaced. When John comes home, he immediately enters his computer to begin studying. As the hour passes John reviews his notes for his upcoming exam. While John already has a master's degree and multiple designations, he continues to work towards another accreditation for a few hours each night that will help him move up the corporate ladder faster. John recently learned that one of his idols, Dan Lok, invests more than $ 500,000 per year in continuous learning. John figures that if millionaires are spending more time and money learning that new thing then they should do the same.

difference number 1 between rich and poor is that the rich never stopped learning:

The next day at work, Tim's boss starts handing out bonuses to all employees. As Tim opens his envelope, he sees that he has received a $ 100 bonus, which is far less than all his peers. Tim goes to his boss and complains that he has been in the company for 10 years and it is an embarrassing bonus to receive it. His boss explains that Tim is never too late to help his team and his productivity has started to fall every year since. Across town, John is working through his current project, when his boss contacts him. His boss hands him an envelope and as soon as he opens it, he sees a $ 10,000 check-in in front of him. John is stunned and generous bonuses are greatly appreciated. John's boss explained that John was getting a ton late and that his final project saved the company $ 1 billion in operating expenses to recognize their work, the least they could do.

Difference number 2 is the price of selling rich and the time of selling poor:

Next week, Tim is counting down the days until Thursday when he pays. As soon as his boss gives him his bi-weekly check, he runs into the bank and starts sending payments to all his creditors. He sends money to his landlord, to his hydroelectric company, and of course to his monthly installment for income tax. As Tim arrives at the end of the month, he decides to see how much money he saved. As he opens his balance, he realizes that not only did he save no money, but that his account was lower than it was a month ago. Tim has no idea where all the money could have gone. When John is paid, the $ 500 is automatically deducted and funneled into a savings account that he cannot access. After making sure that his savings have been funded for the month, John then makes his mortgage payments, pays his utility company, and pays the government a monthly installment of his income tax. At the end of the month, John smiles as he notices that once again, his bank balance has increased to make him richer than ever.

Difference number 3 is the rich pay themselves first while the poor pay themselves:

One night after work, Tim is watching TV and sees an advertisement for a new high-definition television that is being released. The TV costs $ 1,000 that Tim can spend on entertainment equipment for all year. While Tim considers this purchase, he is also dying to buy the new PlayStation that just came out but at a cost of $ 500, there is no way he can get both. Tim Sulks wished his boss hadn't sucked and gave him a big bonus so they could buy both. After passing his exams, John wants to treat himself for his hard work and decides that he wants to buy himself a new gaming system and TV. John has a budget of only $ 1,000 for his purchase, but both want a new state-of-the-art TV and PlayStation console. Instead of deciding between the two, John asks himself how he can get both. John figures that he can take on a side consulting project to earn an extra $ 500, which he needs to cover the costs of PlayStation and build himself the perfect gaming set to celebrate his big achievement.

Difference 4 is the rich have a growth mindset while the poor have a fixed mindset:

Because Tim was going to work every day, he made grabbing Frappuccino a Starbucks staple in his morning routine. Without his sugar-laden latte, Tim knows he can't even make it through just a few hours at work which makes him more than happy to trade him $ 5 per day for a morning caffeine shock. On the other hand, John walks right by Starbucks every day, and instead of getting an expensive latte, he drinks the free coffee that was served at work. Certainly, coffee is not as good as a Starbucks drink, but being able to save $ 5 per day on coffee is worth it in his eyesight. You see, John has been saving $ 5 that day for a year and now has $ 1,500, which he is going to use to go on an all-inclusive trip to Mexico with his friends. John is also aware that this delay of gratification helps him to adopt the traits of his fellow wealthy peers, as he learned while studying the Tempuniversity study. The study ranked the most important factors in determining affluence. Business, education, location, and gender topped the list, but the delay in instant gratification defeated many more traditional signs, including age, race, ethnicity, and height. Researchers believe that a person's ability to imagine future big rewards reduces their chances of moving on to short-term pleasures. That's why imagine all the opportunities on the beach in Mexico with your friends It was easy to turn off daily lat while doing.

Difference number 5 is the rich understand the power to delay gratification while the poor want short-term happiness:

As the economy begins to collapse at a difficult time, many companies start closing people as a cost-cutting strategy. As Tim sits at his desk on Facebook at noon and is doing the bare minimum to keep his job, he gets a note from his boss. The message says, "Please put a hand in your laptop and a badge at the front desk - we are letting you go". Tim starts freaking out wondering how he will pay his rent and bills now that his only source of income is gone! Tim always believed that being a job is job security and after being fired he starts to wonder if this notion was wrong for so many years. Unfortunately for John, he too is let go by his master. In an exit interview, John's boss talks for an hour about how great he is with a worker and how he let all the other employees go before letting John go. John politely acknowledged his fate and thanked his boss for the opportunity and assured him that he would recover financially. You see, John knew that no job was secure, which is why he started building an online business as soon as he entered the workforce and contributed to a dividend-stock portfolio that would keep him up until now Is sufficiently established for until he finds a second job.

Difference number 6 is the rich create multiple flows of income while the poor rely on only one:

About a week after leaving, Tim is moping at home with his other loser friends about how useless the economy is, and finding a second job will become almost impossible. They go on about how unfair life is with them and how they will be rich if they get lucky breaks just like the others. After leaving in the evening, John invites his close friends to his house for dinner. As the group is eating, John explains that due to difficult economic times, he is let go by his company but assures his friends that other sources of his income will support his current lifestyle. A friend excitedly states that this is the right time for John to join his production company and offers him an executive position. Another friend chimes in and asks John if he wants to start a consulting company with him because the two have worked so well together in the past and could become one of the city's leading companies in no time is!

difference number 7 is the rich surround themselves with other rich people while the poor surround themselves with other broken people:

In short, the difference that separates the rich from the poor is that the rich never stop learning, they sell value, not time, they pay themselves first, they have a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset Hai, they use the power of delay in giving satisfaction, they create multiple streams of income and in the end, they surround themselves with other rich individuals!

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Pepsi: How Pepsi Won the USSR... [Soviet Union]

2020-09-11T20:15:00.003+05:30

Pepsi: almost the best selling cola in the world. For well over a century Coca Cola and Pepsi have been vying for dominance, but in one particular case, Pepsi dramatically outpaced Coca Cola.

As you’ll see today, Pepsi achieved what no other American company could do: it conquered the heart of America’s greatest rival, the Soviet Union.

Our story begins in the late 1950s. Stalin was dead and from the ensuing power struggle, Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the victor. His vision for the future of the Soviet Union was quite different from his predecessor’s: unlike Stalin, Nikita wanted to reform the country and to improve the lives of the population. He decided to end the Gulag system of labor camps and to open up the country’s borders so that citizens could travel and see the world.

The ultimate expression of his liberal policies was the ambitious decision to host an American National Exhibition right back home in Moscow. The US government was happy to oblige, and in the summer of 1959 the Americans brought in an impressive array of items: from art& tv sets to automobiles and fashion. The US was keen on showing the merits of capitalism to the USSR and it spared no effort in doing so. It even went so far as to build a model house to showcase just how well off the average American was living.

Over six weeks, three million soviet citizens would visit the exhibition. And yet, despite the publicity, the true purpose of the exhibition was to open up the Soviet Union to international trade.

You see, the American government had supplied the exhibition with the products of 450 American companies, who were very eager to do business with the USSR. And you guessed it, Pepsi was among the first in line to support this radical endeavor.

The day before the exhibition opened, Donald Kendall, the head of Pepsi’s international division, approached then-Vice President Nixon with a simple request. Nixon had to get a Pepsi into the hands, of Nikita Khrushchev.

The very next day at the exhibition’s opening, Nixon welcomed Khrushchev at the site of the model house’s kitchen, and there the two men engaged in a fierce but friendly debate on the merits of communism and capitalism.

This exchange came to be known as the “kitchen debate”, and immediately after it, Nixon led Khrushchev to a refreshment booth filled with nothing but Pepsi. Khrushchev liked it very much and encouraged everyone to partake: most people enjoyed it, although some described Pepsi as “smelling like shoe wax”. In any case, this colossal PR victory catapulted Donald Kendall through the ranks at Pepsi and within four years he had become the company’s CEO.

His prime focus was making Pepsi available to the average Soviet citizen, but trade with the Soviet Union was much harder than you'd imagine. You see, the Essentially worth essentially worthless outside the USSR. The Kremlin determine forbade any on end forbade anyone from taking the currency abroad.

It took Kendall almost finally to negotiate a solution: for every bottle of Pepsi sold, the Pepsi receives a would receive an equivalent amount of Stolichnaya vodka to be sold in America. Pepsi became the product sold list product sold in the USSR and the deal turned out surprisingly well:

by the late 1980 s the Soviets drank a billion servings of Pepsi per year. But Americans could only drink so much vodka, so eventually, Kendall had to figure out a different medium of exchange.

In the spring of 1989 incredible news: Pepsi would become the proud owner of 17 diesel submarine, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer, courtesy of the Soviet Union. For a brief moment, Pepsi had become the 7th largest navies in the world, until it turned around sold everything for scrap.

When confronted about the exchange by the US national security advisor, Kendall said: “I’m disarming faster than union faster than you are”.

Just a year later Kendall arranged an even more ambitious plan: he’d hire the USSR to build 10 oil exchange forms in exchange for about a billion dollars worth of Pepsi. The media called it the “Deal of the Century”… but then, the Soviet Union collapsed. Pepsi’s massive returned increment turned into a frantic scramble to salvage its Russian assets. Amid hyperinflation borders national borders and a very corrupt process of privatization, Pepsi would stand to lose everything. Suddenly, they had to over satiate with over a dozen different states, and not all of them were willing to cooperate.

The shipyard building For example, for example, was in Ukraine, while their plastic bottling plant was in Belarus. Over the next year, Pepsi all itself devotes all its energy to reclaim its assets, and amid this chaos, on the company would make a very opportunistic move.

In the wake of Pepsi's struggle, Coca Cola entered the Russian market aggressively. They bought the dollar rises for cents on the dollar during the privatization and went so far in the specialized cocoa they sent specialized Coca Cola cans to the Russian space station.

Unsurprisingly, Coke’s massive campaign paid off: by 1996 it had overtaken Pepsi as Russia’s most popular cola. Nevertheless, today, Russia remains Pepsi’s largest market outside the US, and despite the setback in the early 90 s the Pepsi Company is as profitable as ever. In the end, while Coca Cola might be more popular than Pepsi today, it is Pepsi that truly conquered the Soviet Union.

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IMF: What is the International Monetary Fund?

2020-09-08T16:34:00.004+05:30

On 30 June 2015, Greece missed a major loan repayment deadline to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF provided 32 billion euros in emergency loans to save the Greek economy from collapsing.

Why did the IMF take a risk on such a volatile economy? What exactly is IMF?

The IMF was created with the World Bank in 1945, as an overlapping form of UN finance arms. The World Bank focuses on financing and investing in developing countries as well as alleviating poverty. The IMF primarily monitors exchange rates, stabilizes international monetary systems, and promotes global financial cooperation.

Since World War 2, the world's economies have become interdependent through trade and investment. While it helps strengthen the global financial system, it also creates weaknesses in the economic chain.

When an unexpected crisis, like a recession or a natural disaster, destabilizes a nation's economy, it can severely affect dependent countries. The IMF's balancing power prevents any possible "domino effect" in the collapse of economies. The IMF is one of several global banks that provide loans to troubled economies to promote a stable world economy.

The IMF and its sister organizations, the World Bank, serve more Western interests like the US and the European Union. While other global banks, such as the New Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, serve Chinese and Russian interests more.

In total, the IMF has 188 member states. After the 2008 global financial crisis, African countries suffered severe injuries. Demand for goods imported from Africa declined and international growth slowed. In response, the IMF provided billions of dollars in places like Ghana at extremely low-interest rates. With this support, Ghana's growth rate exceeded 9% in 2011 and remains one of Africa's emerging markets.

Currently, the IMF's largest borrowers are Portugal, Greece, Ireland, and Ukraine. The IMF also gives "precautionary measures as a debt preventive measure before things go awry."

Recipients of precautionary loans include; Mexico, Poland, Colombia, and Morocco. Despite their support, the IMF was criticized for allowing influence on a wider scale. The reason for this is that countries that invest more money in the IMF get more voting rights.

The US comprises one-fifth of all available votes as they are the largest contributor. Additionally, since the IMF is to some extent the last resort, countries in trouble have no choice but are important austerity measures that are not necessarily at their best or agree or agree with their ideology.

While the IMF is a powerful force for world economic balance, it also openly serves the interests of its member states. With so much influence in the political policies of the struggling countries, domestic problems have to be treated with simple cash transfers and austerity measures.

However, without this, countries such as Greece may face worse options. If Greece leaves the eurozone on ozone due to the money crisis, it will be disastrous throughout Europe. The European Union is also in danger after Greece refused to take a bailout. wiki

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