It's all about the Money

The Secret To Success

2011-05-29T17:44:00.000+02:00

I apoligise, it's been a while since I posted something. Recently myself and my wife was watching Stargate Atlantis and Landry quoted Winston Churchill:

Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.

I believe success is not determined by the things you have accomplished, rather the things you are constantly achieving. Meditate on the following:

Just as encouragement brings hope, hope itself is a constant source of encouragement.

Success starts in your lifestyle and your attitude. On that note, I'd like to share this poem from Sandra Sturtz Hauss as encouragement to you:

May you find serenity and tranquility
in a world you may not always understand.

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

Always know that there are those
whose love and understanding will always be there,
even when you feel most alone.

May a kind word,
a reassuring touch,
and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts
as well as receive them.

May the teachings of those you admire
become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

Remember, those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours
are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter
that is more important than its form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value
on the goodness in your heart.
Find time in each day to see beauty and love
in the world around you.

Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard
you may be more than compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.

May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.

Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent
on another's judgment of your accomplishments.

May you always feel loved.
~ Sandra Sturtz Hauss

The Sensible Business Man

2011-05-18T10:10:00.000+02:00

Conducting business can be strenuous at times; due to lack of wisdom.

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Skill is knowing how to do it; and Virtue is doing it. ~ David Starr Jordan

Today, I am introducing a new concept:
Proportional Entrepreneurial Sensibility

Definition: Fallibility

1. Capable of making an error: Humans are only fallible.
2. Tending or likely to be erroneous: fallible hypotheses.

Ever considered that doing is associated with your hands, feeling mostly with your fingers, seeing with your eyes, hearing with your ears, smelling with your nose and tasting with your tongue?

Consider now the proportions:

8 fingers (10 digits, according to: Wikipedia: Thumb)
2 hands
2 eyes
2 ears
1 nose (2 nostrils)
1 tongue

So, where am I going with this?

Concept: Feelers
In terms of business, using your feelers is depicted as searching for opportunities and for testing practicality and ideas; something that should be done on a regular basis and should be the first step in testing feasibility.

Example: You are starting your new venture and decided you are going to focus on selling gardening tools.

You come across a very fancy leaf blower - instead of spending your entire budget (gambling) on this leaf blower, you should decide if it is doable with your budget - and only buy 1 or two - after considering all the alternatives available. (Remember to always buy bulk to save money!)

If it ends up being a big seller, you have hooked your customers - if not, at least you didn't spend your entire budget on it, and it will still sell even if you have to sell it at cost price. Alternatively, you could start your own gardening business, catering for the Do It Yourself Crowd and Convenience Crowd.

In order for you to correctly use your feelers, you need to apply your senses in order:

Look (x2)
Listen (x2)
Feel (x8)
Do (x2)
Speak (x1)
Smell (x2)

Using your business senses proportionally can reduce the chances of making mistakes and wasting your time and money. Be smart, use your Feelers.

I would love to hear your feedback if this series has benefitted you in any way! Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

In Demand

2011-05-13T21:06:00.000+02:00

Definition: In Demand
coveted: greatly desired

Today, we will be looking at a common small business opportunity. We know that the foundation of economy is supply and demand, previously discussed in short in 'It Ain't What It Used To Be'.

The truth is; the international market in regard to supply and demand is already saturated.

The challenge entrepreneurs face is finding something locally that is in demand with a low supply. This task as daunting as it seems, isn't quite so difficult.

The easiest entrepreneurial way of starting a business is by buying cheap and selling high. Usually when purchasing stock, you aim at getting stock prices (reduced total price per item).

Sometimes it requires you drive an hour or so to get to an area where supply is high and demand low.

Lets look at a few ways of making money (from simplest to most difficult):

1. Get a JOB

Entrepreneurs:

2. Buy cheap, sell high.
3. Buy, process and sell.
4. Deliver a service.

Other:

5. Investments (requires a rather large investment to make it worthwhile)

But don't judge a book by its cover. For example, in regard to Buy, process and sell: You could buy real estate, fix it up and resell it, or purchase vacant land, build a property on it and then resell for profit. You could buy ingredients, make a product and then sell it. Or even buy paper and materials to make birthday cards you could sell.

Opportunity presents itself in the company of others. The easiest of the three entrepreneurial ways is to buy and sell, also requiring the least effort (most of the time, in comparison to processing goods). Delivering a service usually has the highest profit margin, but the Do It Yourself market trend makes it very hard for entrepreneurs to enter the market.

When presented with such an opportunity, consider the market prices in comparison to quality and profit margin. Pricing the product is sometimes harder than making use of the opportunity.

Take for example: You get a product at 40% of the cost of similar products in the market, where the quality is about the same.

We must consider Perceived Value in estimating a price for our product. If our price is too low, then the perceived quality is low and people tend to want stuff that suit their needs. On the other hand, if the price is too high, people would rather buy the stuff they are used to.

Definition: Law of Demand
The lower the price of a service or commodity, the greater the quantity demanded.

Which is what we want, to make more sales on average to generate a larger profit and cash flow (in the case of local supply and demand).

Perhaps you are thinking; "now we have to do more work to get less money". Hidden from most entrepreneurs for far too long;

Generalization: Parkinson's Law
The demand upon a resource tends to expand to match the supply of the resource.

You must be wondering what Parkinson's Law has to to do with pricing of your product. In Less Than Adequate - Part 1, I mentioned the notion of business lines. In short, it is the means to expand your product/business by adding more lines (products, services).

Consider this scenario:
You have found a place where you can buy meat (pork, lamb and beef) at nearly stock price, which is about 50% cost of market price. Later on, you discover a place to buy chicken at a similar cost ratio.

You saw this opportunity (low cost, good quality meat) as feasible (doable with what is on hand and in current circumstances) because your family are meat lovers or you live in a complex/cluster housing where neighbours know each other.

In essence, Parkinson's Law states if people allocated a budget to buying things (such as meat in this example), that they would spend their entire budget, instead of only buying the quantity they need.

So by expanding your business lines, you could make all or most of the sales people budgeted toward acquiring meat.

Another opportunity that presents itself by selling low with a high Perceived Value, is creating an opportunity for others to buy stock from you for cheap (budget price, but you still making good profit) and reselling it in their areas. Which means, you make your sales and they find customers and distribute the product with their own margin, meaning regular business.

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

Feel free to leave a comment if you found this post helpful or if you wish a specific topic to be addressed.

Adieu,
Shelah

Now isn't that convenient?

2011-05-07T21:18:00.000+02:00

Necessity: the condition of being essential or indispensable

Plato said:
Necessity is the mother of invention.

When we apply this *rule*, the first thing we do is to perform introspection. We tend to think of things we need in terms of what we can see or have experienced.

If you've ever tried doing this to identify something you can do to make money, you will have realised it is quite futile, but why?

Modern society has come a long way. Unless you are really into pondering the things of the universe, I'd rather suggest a more direct route to making money.

Convenience
One of the more under appreciated terms in business today. The truth is, making things convenient for others, make it inconvenient for you.

Definition: Convenient
Fitting in well with a person's needs, activities, and plans
Involving little trouble or effort

Here are a few examples of how businesses use convenience to make money:

The birth of the supermarket.
The super-garage: a garage with a convenience store and also a car wash.
The baby washing basin.
Access to the Internet from home.

Apart from directly making money charging a service fee; creating convenience as a means to attract customers, gain an edge over competitors and means of extending their business is common.
Examples:
Directly making money by providing a service:

Maids
Gardeners
Management

Indirectly making money by attracting more customers by means of convenience:

Supermarkets vs Single store
Customer Services

In a previous post I mentioned business lines. In short, it means targetting different areas/needs in the same market.

For example take a pet shop and a veternarian

Extending a veterinarians' bussiness by also selling pet food or a pet shop also selling pet toys is common. This is due to marketting practise - a pet shop is associated with excitement, where by also selling pet toys can generate additional income, where to a veternarian selling pet food also is good practice due to the credibility of a veternarian selling his 'vet approved' pet food.

Although the examples are few, it shows 'inventions' aren't purely born of need, but also the necessity of convenience.

In layman's terms; when thinking of ideas to make money, you should not just think about needs, but also the things you got used to that you can't live without - or rather, don't want to live without.

It is important to remember convenience also has to be practical.
For example:

I'd like to leave you with one word: Patience
Although the need to make money is alive in kicking; making money is much like weight-loss in the sense that once you stop doing what you were instructed to do (eat this diet, take these pills, use this machine), you start to gain weight again.

The purpose of It's All About The Money is not just a way to teach you how to make money; but rather how to keep it and make more. It requires understanding and transformation of the mind! Be diligent!

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

Less than Adequate - Part 2

2011-05-05T17:45:00.000+02:00

Why is money called dough? Because we all knead it.

If only we knew what we needed instead of what we wanted, life would have been a lot simpler. In this case I'm not specifically pointing at money, rather the definition of poor - less than adequate.

Our attitudes filter through our daily lives in everything we do and say - transfomation of the mind is the only way to correct bad attitudes.

Each of us wages a private battle each day between the grand fantasies we have for ourselves and what actually happens.

He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. - Proverbs 28:19

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. - Proverbs 14:23

We could say we all live in a fantasy because we each have a different perspective on the world. Although this is not to be considered as bad, always talking and never doing something is.

Some people are talkers, while others are doers - it's important to remember to keep a balance. Just talking or just doing can have equally devastating results. It takes courage to be a planner and a doer - and to make money. Set realistic goals - more short term than long term!

How little do they see what really is, who frame their hasty judgment upon that which seems. ~ Daniel Webster

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. - Proverbs 21:5

He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. - Proverbs 13:18

Laziness and hasty usually goes hand in hand - getting things done quicker to become lazy again. The cure for this compulsion is to be diligent in everything you do.

Definition: Diligence
Diligence is a zealous and careful nature in one's actions and work, exemplified by a decisive work ethic, budgeting of one's time, monitoring one's own activities to guard against laziness, and putting forth full concentration in one's work.

You simply can't expect to get more out unless you put more in! Diligence in itself is effective, but seeking guidance and advice - heeding correction -
while being dilgent produces far better results.

Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling, enduring, and accomplishing.

He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich. - Proverbs 21:17

Simply said, chase happiness rather than pleasure. Chasing pleasure as a primary motive is destructive, yet so is anything that unbalances your life.

Some would considering chasing pleasure - whether it is watching tv, movies, listening to music, going clubbing or going on vacation - a means of investment in oneself, which it is.

But unless you invest in that what makes you monies, over investing in yourself can only make one succumb to poverty.

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

Less than Adequate - Part 1

2011-05-02T18:04:00.000+02:00

Poverty - The state of living on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank.

Another definition of Poor is

Less Than Adequate

Considering adequate is a relative term. Is being poor the way the world sees us or the way we see ourselves?

Today on It's all about the Money, we are going to look at defeating poverty.

For Greed, all nature is too little. ~ Seneca

A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him. ~ Proverbs 28:22

Unless it is obvious to everyone - to make an adequate amount of money, requires money. Also, money ain't what it used to be, in other words - it is always losing value.

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one. ~ Benjamin Franklin

The cure for this insanity is contentment. The greedy man lives in the future and constantly looks back at what he does not have. Clearly this is madness! Greed causes blindness to all the feasible opportunities that can make you money!

Being content provides an adequate view on what is going on now and opportunities than can shape your future.

Laziness travels so slowly poverty soon overtakes him. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. ~ Proverbs 10:4

So true it's almost a cliche - a man who does nothing, has nothing. Another way to look at it, if you spend no time doing something, then you can clearly not benefit - because Time is Money!

The cure for this insanity is diligence. Set your mind on what you want to accomplish and do it. The key to success is to keep on doing it if it delivers good results and stays feasible!

Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and governments. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.- Proverbs 20:13

This proverb requires clearer explanation. The moral of the proverb is: Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. What makes a man poor is not that he keeps on doing what he is doing, rather that he stops setting goals and is soon overtaken by others who chase accomplishment.

In order to succeed and grow in the long haul, it is neccesary to expand. Usually it is good to have at least 3 lines in your business in order to survive the waves of the economy.

Idleness leads to boredom, boredom to resentment and resentment to laziness and then to poverty.

The cure for this madness is faith. Consider:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ~ Hebrews 11:1

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money! Less than Adequate - Part 2 coming soon!

It ain't what it used to be

2011-05-01T15:47:00.000+02:00

A couple of years ago I overhead a joke in a parking lot. One woman was busy loading her groceries into her car when her friend ran into her.

Jokingly she said to her friend:
"I believe I've grown quite strong over the years!"
Her friend replied: "How so?" And she said:
"Ten years ago I needed a shopping cart to manuever my groceries. Nowadays, I just carry them under my arm."

Money ain't what it used to be.

To understand what role money plays in our lives today, we need to go back. Way back!

Before there was money, people used to barter. Comparing Apples and Pears wasn't what it was about. Before money, there wasn't really a measurement of worth to compare items and services. Instead, they went by trading according to what they figured was 'good'.
This was primarily determined by supply and demand.

Definition: Supply and Demand
Supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, price will function to equalize the quantity demanded by consumers, and the quantity supplied by producers, resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity.

Although this is all good and true, it is important to recognize the fact that global trade didn't play such a big role. Supply and Demand was local - and in some cases still is today.

Today, this economic model plays an integral part determining the feasability of ventures.

Definition: Feasibility
feasible - capable of being done with means at hand and circumstances as they are

Let's face the fact; if it ain't feasible - it's not going to work. Being an entrepreneur and identifying an opportunity is needed to be succesful - more than often this opportunity presents itself when locally there is a low supply and a high demand.

Be it selling make-up or mowing lawns, opportunity is where the money lies!

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!

What is your perception on money?

2011-05-01T00:33:00.000+02:00

Everybody needs it, no one wants to earn it. It's all about the Money is a dedication to the truth regarding money. Whether you just want make a few extra bucks for gaming online - or a living - we need to face the facts - and more importantly, need to understand them.

Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune ~ Jim Rohn

Indeed. The truth about making money is; you need to do something. I do believe many of us have faced the dilemma of needing more money when there isn't any around, but the truth is:

Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum, it makes one. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Tip: Learn from the experience of others.

Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time ~ Jim Rohn

To make money, you first need a grasp of what it is. Time is Money!

Effective learning takes time, but the knowledge gained is invaluable in the process of making money. When we work, we want to succeed. It drives us and motivates us.

Before we can define what money is, we first need to transform our minds by the way we perceive money!

Conclusion
Time is money. In order to make money, you need to spend time. Success is determined by many factors, but without a plan failure is prominent. Benefiting from the experience of others is a great way to invest time to learn what you need to know in order to be succesful.

Stay tuned for more tips & lessons on how to make money!