Business

China's exports and imports slowed

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Mon, 9 May 2016 00:33:00 +0400

China's economy has been sparked, by figures showing exports and imports fell more than expected last month. Export has dropped by 1.8% in comparison with April last year, according to official data.

Economists had expected exports in April to fall by just 0.1%, after a surprise 11.5% rise in March.

China's exports to the United States slid by 9.3% in April, but those to the European Union increased by 3.2%.

Economic growth slowed to 6.7% in the first three months of this year. That was the weakest figure since the financial crisis, but activity picked up in March as government measures to kickstart growth, including six interest rate cuts since late 2014, seemed to help.

China’s economy slowed from July to September 2015

Beijing has said it will take steps to boost exports, including encouraging banks to increase lending and raise tax rebates for some companies.

China increased its share of world exports from 12.3% to 13.8% last year, meaning that its export sector remained competitive despite higher costs.

5 Ways Analytic Tools Can Have a Big Effect on Small Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 12:47:00 +0400

Analytics tools is just another way of saying “useful statistics about your forms and content.”

It assists you in getting a greater understanding of how many people want to fill out your form, as well as what promotion tactics are effective.
Even if you’re not much of a bean counter, remember that each specific view can be a potential customer. And every abandonment is someone who didn’t finish your form or buy your product or services.

The whole purpose of an online form is to gather data, not get stood up halfway through. When you take the time to review your metrics, you get a better idea of how viewers are flowing through your form.

According to (PDF) the SBA, there are over 27 million small businesses in the United States at last count. The majority of them are using analytic tools successfully, and here’s why:

Form Analysis Tells You Where Your Traffic is Coming From

Maria Contrera-Sweet is the current Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and she advises:

“Your online traffic needs to be tracked, analyzed, and engaged on a regular basis; the fact is, that the more often you update your information the better your chances of success.”

Or, in the words of Sun Tzu in his famous book, The Art of War, “Old information is no better than old weapons.”

It’s All About User Behavior

Social scientists have an axiom: “Past actions predict future behavior.” Aytekin Tank is the founder of JotForm, a form analytics company facilitating business.

He states:

“Understanding your customers is key to success in any business, big or small. As you track their previous behavior you are given insights into what they are likely to do in the future, and then you can format your landing page and social media to meet their expectations.”

Don’t Be Colorblind. Use Heat Maps!

Back in the days of rotary phones and Rolodexes, this used to be called color coding. Today it’s called heat mapping, and it happens in real time — you can view your landing page or any other platform, and actually tell by how ‘hot’ the colors are, just what people are viewing and clicking on the most.

It is analogous to a Doppler radar screen that’s tracking a storm. The more intense the red, the more activity there is in that area. This can be an enormous help in repositioning things like your CTA button for maximum effect.

If You’re Using Twitter . . .

Followerwonk analyzes your Twitter followers and all tweets to present a variety of information that can be used for targeted marketing. And it’s free. The data is divided into charts that allow for a simplified graphic representation. It also allows marketers to figure out most-often-used hashtags on an account plus optimal times for tweeting (when most of your followers are actively on Twitter).

As a statistical tool, Followerwonk is a treasure trove. The insight displayed allows you to streamline posting times and employ Twitter more effectively in the form of a marketing channel.

You can even try researching your competitors, since Followerwonk is not restricted to providing data for one lone Twitter account.

And the Best for Last

Google Analytics gives detailed demographic data about your target audience. It measures engagement, helps you to determine which topics are best liked, and identifies exactly where the audience is likely coming from.

You can trust Google Analytics to appraise the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaigns, plus many other custom strategies.

Along with the company’s analytics, you should also use Google Webmaster Tools. You can trace keywords for which your website has been ranked, the quality and number of backlinks, plus the number of indexed pages and broken pages. You will receive error messages, plus reports that are useful to improve your website’s performance and boost the effectiveness of all SEO efforts to reach the proper audience.

5 Small Business SEO Campaign ROI Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 12:43:00 +0400

Making search engine optimization (SEO) work in acompetitive keyword space is difficult. The secret about Google is out – there’s big traffic to be found.

Making things even worse, SEO campaigns die a premature death every day because the appropriate return on investment (ROI) parameters aren’t in place. With an intense focus on the mechanics of SEO, small business often lacks discipline when evaluating the success of an SEO program, missing key components that simply can’t be missed.

Don’t Fly Blind

Believe it or not, people actually spend time and money on websites that don’t run analytics. This is crazy. You can’t fly an airplane without instrumentation, unless you want to crash into a mountain.

You need to know your traffic sources, such as the percentage of visitors that come from search engines versus referral sites. You need to know what keywords perform, which means tracking time-on-site and bounce-rates at the keyword level. You simply can’t have a positive ROI from your SEO campaign without tracking, studying and really understanding your traffic.

Non-Branded Traffic is Key

Mastery of web traffic analytics means understanding the types of traffic as well. Branded traffic are visitors that either directly type in a domain name or use a search engine to find a variation of a business name they already know.

If a veterinarian clinic in Cleveland is called DrPuppy.com, then a visitor who found the website via Google by typing in “DrPuppy vet” would be considered a branded visit. These are very important visitors as this customer already knew the business name. Public relations, reputation management, advertising and branding will drive this traffic.

SEO, on the other hand, is about non-branded traffic. A potential visitor who finds the website via Google by searching “vet in Cleveland” is a non-branded visit. This is SEO at it’s best. A well-positioned website scooping up existing demand in the marketplace that had zero knowledge of the business name, but is searching in a relevant category.

Conversion is King

A great deal of time and resources are spent getting visitors to a website. A common trap is to then forget about the experience after a visitor lands. Typical conversion rates are in the 1-3 percent range. That may sound small, but it’s huge.

The difference between a 1 and 3 percent on-site conversion can make-or-break the ROI for an entire SEO strategy. Study this. Use tools to understand where people go on the website and why they leave. Complete A/B testing to tune the site.

People Like Telephones

When focusing on Internet marketing strategies, it’s easy to forget that people like to use phones for initial contact. Up to 40 percent of conversions can come from phone calls for customers who were on the website before deciding to call the business. Without phone tracking techniques to understand which phone calls were ultimately from organic web sources, the ROI will look much poorer than it really is.

Email is Alive and Well

A confirmed lead from a website must be automatically enrolled into an email nurture program. While not a sexy topic, email is in fact one of the best tools for keeping leads warm between sales calls.

The metrics on open and click-through rates are easy to understand and should be reviewed. Sophisticated sales managers also understand the importance of integrating email nurture data events (such as a lead opening an email or newsletter) with sales CRM.

Conclusions

SEO is a competitive place. With such a strong emphasis on specific SEO mechanics and tactics, it’s easy for small business owners to lose the forest for the trees.

A disciplined approach that surrounds sound SEO with best-in-class measurement and evaluation techniques is critical. Furthermore, tight integration between SEO and other marketing processes such as email nurturing and sales CRM might just make the difference in achieving a positive ROI for SEO.

Preparing For Another Oil Price Crash

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 12:32:00 +0400

t was almost a year ago, when having tumbled in early 2015, oil proceeded to rebound strongly into the summer, where it traded at about $60 for three months, before U.S. production resumed resulting in the next big leg lower which culminated with this February’s drop to 13 year lows. At that point a comparable rebound to last year materialized, and just like last year, the pundits have emerged claiming that there will be no further downside. Incidentally, we covered this comparison previously in

However, unlike last year, not everyone is (wrongly) convinced that this time the rebound in oil will be sustainable. One very prominent company that is already preparing for the next oil crash is the world's largest shipping company, Danish conglomerate A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (also known as Maersk).

Maersk is perhaps best known for its pragmatic, even downright bearish outlook on the global economy. Recall that three months ago, the company admitted in its annual report that "demand for transportation of goods was significantly lower than expected, especially in the emerging markets as well as the Group’s key Europe trades, where the impact was further accelerated by de-stocking of the high inventory levels."

The company's CEO, Nils Andersen, told the FT in February that "it is worse than in 2008. The oil price is as low as its lowest point in 2008-09 and has stayed there for a long time and doesn’t look like going up soon. Freight rates are lower. The external conditions are much worse but we are better prepared."

Related: Shell’s Profits Plunge 83%

It is the risk that the current 60 percent rebound in oil prices from 2016 lows is just another temporary bounce that has forced Maersk to start preparing for the next oil crash. The company's CEO is confident that since the world keeps producing more petroleum than it can consume, it is "adapting its cost base to prepare for the risk of lower crude prices" according to Bloomberg.

As a result, Maersk's oil unit is already exploring bigger cost cuts than previously planned. "The price will obviously be driven by the balance between supply and demand and there will be oversupply for many months still,” he said by phone from Copenhagen. "It definitely can’t be ruled out that the oil price will fall again."

To be sure, Andersen is ultimately bullish on higher oil price... he is just not bullish on the path that oil prices will take to his higher price target: "I have previously said the oil price was too low, but it’s very plausible that the balance between supply and demand will continue to be unfavorable,” Andersen said.

Recent cost-cuts by Maersk have drastically reduced its breakeven oil price: in its latest full year forecast, the company predicted it can now break even with oil at $40 to $45. It previously said oil needed to trade at about $45 to $55 in order to avoid a loss. "We’re happy we’ve reached the goal we set,” Andersen said. “We will definitely work on cutting costs even further."

As it continues to cut costs, we expect that Maersk will soon be profitable with oil in the $30, if not lower. Which is precisely the contingency Maersk is actively preparing for.

Why Oil Prices Will Likely Drop Below $40 Soon

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 11:36:00 +0400

The 70 percent rise in crude oil prices from the lows of $27.1 per barrel to a high of above $46/b in a matter of three months is being driven by speculative activity—make no mistake about it. The speculators have latched on to every bit of rumour and news to bid prices higher, and this has nothing to do with the real fundamentals.

However, speculation can boost prices only to a certain extent in the short-term. After this, the fundamentals take over. The extent of speculation is enormous, though the daily production of oil in the U.S. is around 9 million b/d, the WTI crude oil contract trades more than 100 times the produced quantity, as highlighted in this January 2016 post.

The trading volume is generated by the algo traders, day traders, and scalpers who are in and out of their positions many times a day. Due to their enormous volume, they set the direction of prices in the short-term.

However, these traders are neither involved in the production nor do they take physical delivery of oil; they are usually active only in the near-term contracts until expiry; after which the users of oil take deliveries.

The oil producers have used the sharp rise to hedge part of their production for 2016 and 2017 as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

However, Citi Research points out that the oil producers have hedged only 36 percent of their estimated production for 2016, compared to 50 percent in the previous years.

If prices creep up further, the producers will not only hedge more, they are likely to increase production to mend their balance sheet.

Pioneer Natural Resources has hedged 50 percent of its expected 2017 output and has conveyed its intention to add five to ten horizontal drilling rigs if prices recover to $50/b, with a positive outlook for oil fundamentals. Earlier on, too many U.S. shale oil drillers had indicated that they will be back at around $50/b levels.

Though the bulls have latched on to the largest U.S. rig count drop in the past six weeks, their bullishness might be short-lived because if prices reach above $50/b, we might see anincrease in the oil rig count, reversing the current trend.

The short-term trend changed with the idea of a production freeze by Russia and OPEC, but the Doha meeting turned out to be a non-event.

The chart below by Yardeni Research, a provider of independent investment and economics research, shows that in 2016, the oil inventories continue to rise, confirming that the supply glut continues.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) STEO report expects the supply glut to reduce in the second half of the year; however, if prices remain high, production might increase adding to the supply glut.

Though Nigeria, Kuwait, and Venezuela’s production has been hit hard due to various reasons, OPEC’s production of 32.64 million b/d is very close to its highest level of 32.65 million b/d recorded in January 2016, according to Reuters survey records since 1997.

"The market is massively oversupplied," said Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "This rally doesn't have strong legs," reports Reuters.

There isn’t much by way of fundamentals to rely upon for the rally to continue. Closer to $50/b, additional supply will start trickling in and buyers will be wary to buy at higher prices. With no excuses at hand, the speculators will find it difficult to prop prices higher.

The short-term speculative pop in crude is about to end and the long-term fundamentals will take over. Prices should drop closer to $36 to $38/b in the near future.

By Rakesh Upadhyay for Oilprice.com

Crude oil prices

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 10:26:00 +0400

Crude oil prices are considered one of the most important indicators in the global economy. Governments and businesses spend a lot of time and energy to figure out where oil prices are headed next, but forecasting is an inexact science. Standard techniques are based on calculus (linear regressions and econometrics), but alternatives include structural models and computer-driven analytics. There is no widely accepted consensus on the best way to forecast oil prices.

Companies also pay special attention to – and often participate in – oil futures markets. Crude oil futures are traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM).
Understanding Crude Oil Prices

At an elementary level, the supply of crude oil is determined by the ability of oil companies to extract reserves from the ground and distribute them around the world. There are three major supply variables: technological changes, environmental factors, and the ability of oil companies to accumulate and replenish capital. Technical improvements – especially hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling – helped flood world markets with oil after 2008.

Crude oil demand comes from individuals, companies and governments. Generally speaking, oil demand increases during good economic times, and it decreases during slower economic times. Increases in the standard of living in China and India have been a major source of global demand in the 21st century.

Companies need to understand these factors before making oil price forecasts, but even that isn't enough. Oil prices are heavily influenced by non-market forces, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which effectively acts as a multinational oil cartel. OPEC member nations make joint decisions about how much oil to release to world markets based on what is best for their governments. However, the extreme swings in oil prices between 2005 and 2015 are an indication that OPEC influence is limited.

Oil is also highly regulated in most countries. The United States, like many nations in Europe, has strict restrictions on where oil can be drilled; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may have as much to say about oil prices as Exxon Mobil or British Petroleum.

The reason why movements in oil price (or any commodity) often surprise analysts is because there are hundreds of variables, each of them moving simultaneously in unpredictable ways. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System put it best in their July 2011 discussion paper "Forecasting the Price of Oil," which began by identifying "unexpected large and persistent fluctuations in the real price of oil."
Quantitative Methods

Companies hire econometricians and other market experts to make short- and medium-term predictions on the oil market. These professionals use highly complicated mathematical models, which either focus on financials (using spot and future prices), or supply and demand considerations (quantifying variables and testing their explanatory power).

Spot and future price models are still popular with many companies but are trending out of favor. The basic concept is that futures markets – particularly the relationship between futures price fluctuations and spot price fluctuations – will point the way to tomorrow's oil prices. Two influential academic papers were published in 1991 (Bopp and Lady; Serletis) that suggested that future oil prices were not unbiased or completely efficient, but were probably still better than any other indicators. This conclusion was reached through error and correction models (ECMs), which allow statisticians or econometricians to account for bias in futures data.

A third study in 1998 (Zeng and Swanson) looked at crude oil on the NYMEX, the New York Commodity Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange between 1990 and 1995. It found that ECM models performed best. Until the early 21st century, most companies employed the ECM approach.

Later studies have been less kind to financial models. One reviewed West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures prices on the NYMEX between 1989 and 2003, finding that forward and futures prices are neither efficient nor unbiased enough to accurately predict future spot prices (and, curiously, that there was "little evidence of risk premiums" in the oil market). The authors instead recommended a time-series random walk process; random walk theory suggests that stock price changes cannot be used to predict future movement. (Research from the University of Portugal in 2013 discovered that time-series econometric modeling is the most common forecasting method for crude oil prices.)

Supply and demand models focus on macroeconomic variables, such as OPEC production, income elasticity of demand for oil and real gross domestic product (GDP). Because there are so many possible combinations of variables, most companies or analytic services use proprietary calculations and change their formulas frequently. The goal is to find the most statistically significant variables, then find chart fluctuations in those variables and create rough estimates for future oil price ranges.
Qualitative or Nonlinear Methods

The advocates of alternative approaches, which statisticians might call "non-standard" or "nonlinear" approaches, argue that future oil prices are too random and chaotic for any traditional processes. These methods might still use some of the same data as standard models, but the computations are based on pattern recognition rather than linear models or econometric regressions.

One popular pattern recognition tool is the artificial neural network (ANN). The ANN model, which is predicated on the biology of the human brain, supposedly lets the simulation learn and generalize experiences based on new data. ANNs are used for a variety of analyses in business, science and investment fields. One standard criticism of the ANN method – and a primary reason why ANNs aren't popular with private oil forecasts is the intrinsic inputs used to evaluate price series are often subjective or arbitrary.

Fundamental investors and analysts tend to shy away from complex statistical models. Instead, fundamental analysts rely on aggregate business factors, such as inventory levels, production trends, natural disasters and the actions of speculators. The implicit reasoning behind these knowledge-based approaches is that oil prices heavily affected by large, identifiable events. It is commonplace for companies to employ market analysts who rely on information from other sources, such as the World Bank's Commodity Forecast, rather than creating their own models.

20 Tools For Small Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 10:16:00 +0400

Besides the company that I founded, 1000 Angels, which is a private investor network connecting founders and high net-worth individuals, there are other great tools out there that every small business should use in order to increase the growth of their company over the course of time.
Starting a new business can be tough, as roadblocks you never thought to imagine crop up especially when doing startup fundraising. Limited time, manpower, and budgets can all be a factor as the workload starts to pile up and the bills come rolling in. With a solid team and the right tools however, you’ll soon be on your way to reaching your business potential. Below is a curated a list of 20 must have tools that all small business owners can utilize.

1. Google Analytics

With a new business, it’s all about the numbers. How much traffic does your website generate? Where does the majority of that traffic come from? What are some key demographics of your target audience? All of these questions play a major role in the success of a startup, and tracking them is no easy feat. That’s where Google Analytics comes to play. Playing off their reputation for innovative and easy to use services, Google’s statistics tool is no exception. Users can view the countries their site has been seen in, the percentage differences in traffic drivers, and their key numbers, broken out by the day, week, month, or year. Best of all, Google Analytics uses clearly marked charts and graphs so that even the least tech savvy individual can feel confident with understanding their information.

2. EchoSign

Tired of filing cabinets full of loose documents that just keep mounting?EchoSign is the eco-friendly solution. Simply upload your documents onto the EchoSign server and send to the other party. With its E-sign capability, EchoSign makes signing contracts a hassle-free event, with no printer or scanner necessary. Simply type in your name and initials and EchoSign will save your signed documents on their server for you to reference whenever you need. Instead of throwing away hundreds of dollars on paper, printer ink, and a scanner, EchoSign saves you time, money, and work, all while creating an effort to improve our ecosystem.

3. DropBox

Who can relate to toting around a bag full of gadgets, because each one contains different documents? Dropbox is the multitasker’s savior, creating a virtual link between all of your Internet connected devices. Utilizing the cloud saving capability, users can save all of their images, documents, and video clips onto their Dropbox account, which can then be accessed from anywhere. Don’t worry about losing a document, or sending files that are too large. With Dropbox, you can easily share files to other users. Finally, one of the more unnoticed benefits to this file storage, Dropbox allows you to maintain organization for all of your files. Create personalized folders and save your documents accordingly; they’ll all be there when you land the next morning.

4. Wix

Wix has something for everyone. For those individuals who are less tech savvy and more design centered, Wix is a great resource for website and blog creation. With a “no coding” promise, Wix uses a drag and drop template so you can fully customize your site. If you change your company colors in a few months, Wix allows you to easily swap out your old template for an updated version. On the flip side, people with a stronger tech background can benefit from Wix’s newly launched market app, allowing users to mesh their personal apps onto the Wix platform. This is ideal for app creators, adding another potential marketplace for their product, as well as Wix users who will have access to a larger range of apps. With attractive perks like an online store setup, round the clock customer service, and easily trackable statistics, Wix makes website building seem like a walk in the park. The best part? Creating a Wix website is absolutely free.

5. Odesk

Starting a business often involves utilizing the skills of others. Without the means to hire fulltime staff, but with project deadlines looming, hiring a per-project contractor can be extremely beneficial. With no time to waste looking for that perfect candidate, Odesk streamlines the process for you. Take advantage of their huge database of contractors looking for work, and follow their step-by-step process to find the best fit for your company. Odesk profiles provide previous work experience, sample portfolio, and client reviews so that you can make an informed decision, and meet with only those candidates that would be a great asset to your team. You can then set up a virtual interview without even leaving your workspace, and easily assign your chosen candidate the project at hand. Odesk continues to aid you in the process with their tracking tool, allowing you to constantly watch your project’s performance, and make notes or additions along the way. Finally, don’t worry about the hassle of payment issues and dealing with bank paperwork. Odesk handles all of the transactions so that you can pay your contractor with ease, and enjoy your completed project, stress free.

10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 10:12:00 +0400

Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you make that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader. When money is tight and startup fundraising is required, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

Honesty

Whatever ethical plane you hold yourself to, when you are responsible for a team of people, its important to raise the bar even higher. Your business and its employees are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a key value, your team will follow suit.

As we do at 1000 Angels, the ecosystem where venture investors and founders connect, we try to make a list of values and core beliefs that both you and your brand represent, and post this in your office. Promote a healthy interoffice lifestyle, and encourage your team to live up to these standards. By emphasizing these standards, and displaying them yourself, you will hopefully influence the office environment into a friendly and helpful workspace.

Delegate

Finessing your brand vision is essential to creating an organized and efficient business, but if you don’t learn to trust your team with that vision, you might never progress to the next stage. Its important to remember that trusting your team with your idea is a sign of strength, not weakness. Delegating tasks to the appropriate departments is one of the most important skills you can develop as your business grows. The emails and tasks will begin to pile up, and the more you stretch yourself thin, the lower the quality of your work will become, and the less you will produce.

The key to delegation is identifying the strengths of your team, and capitalizing on them. Find out what each team member enjoys doing most. Chances are if they find that task more enjoyable, they will likely put more thought and effort behind it. This will not only prove to your team that you trust and believe in them, but will also free up your time to focus on the higher level tasks, that should not be delegated. It’s a fine balance, but one that will have a huge impact on the productivity of your business.

Communication

Knowing what you want accomplished may seem clear in your head, but if you try to explain it to someone else and are met with a blank expression, you know there is a problem. If this has been your experience, then you may want to focus on honing your communication skills. Being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want done is extremely important. If you can’t relate your vision to your team, you won’t all be working towards the same goal.

Training new members and creating a productive work environment all depend on healthy lines of communication. Whether that stems from an open door policy to your office, or making it a point to talk to your staff on a daily basis, making yourself available to discuss interoffice issues is vital. Your team will learn to trust and depend on you, and will be less hesitant to work harder.

If your website crashes, you lose that major client, or your funding dries up, guiding your team through the process without panicking is as challenging as it is important. Morale is linked to productivity, and it’s your job as the team leader to instill a positive energy. That’s where your sense of humor will finally pay off. Encourage your team to laugh at the mistakes instead of crying. If you are constantly learning to find the humor in the struggles, your work environment will become a happy and healthy space, where your employees look forward to working in, rather than dreading it. Make it a point to crack jokes with your team and encourage personal discussions of weekend plans and trips. It’s these short breaks from the task at hand that help keep productivity levels high and morale even higher.

At Onevest, we place a huge emphasis on humor and a light atmosphere. Our office is dog friendly, and we really believe it is the small, light hearted moments in the day that help keep our work creative and fresh. One tradition that we like to do and brings the team closer is we plan a fun prank on all new employees, on their first day. It breaks the ice and immediately creates that sense of familiarity.

Confidence

There may be days where the future of your brand is worrisome and things aren’t going according to plan. This is true with any business, large or small, and the most important thing is not to panic. Part of your job as a leader is to put out fires and maintain the team morale. Keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that setbacks are natural and the important thing is to focus on the larger goal. As the leader, by staying calm and confident, you will help keep the team feeling the same. Remember, your team will take cues from you, so if you exude a level of calm damage control, your team will pick up on that feeling. The key objective is to keep everyone working and moving ahead.

Commitment

If you expect your team to work hard and produce quality content, you’re going to need to lead by example. There is no greater motivation than seeing the boss down in the trenches working alongside everyone else, showing that hard work is being done on every level. By proving your commitment to the brand and your role, you will not only earn the respect of your team, but will also instill that same hardworking energy among your staff. It’s important to show your commitment not only to the work at hand, but also to your promises. If you pledged to host a holiday party, or uphold summer Fridays, keep your word. You want to create a reputation for not just working hard, but also be known as a fair leader. Once you have gained the respect of your team, they are more likely to deliver the peak amount of quality work possible.

Positive Attitude

You want to keep your team motivated towards the continued success of the company, and keep the energy levels up. Whether that means providing snacks, coffee, relationship advice, or even just an occasional beer in the office, remember that everyone on your team is a person. Keep the office mood a fine balance between productivity and playfulness.

If your team is feeling happy and upbeat, chances are they won’t mind staying that extra hour to finish a report, or devoting their best work to the brand.

Creativity

Some decisions will not always be so clear-cut. You may be forced at times to deviate from your set course and make an on the fly decision. This is where your creativity will prove to be vital. It is during these critical situations that your team will look to you for guidance and you may be forced to make a quick decision. As a leader, its important to learn to think outside the box and to choose which of two bad choices is the best option. Don’t immediately choose the first or easiest possibility; sometimes its best to give these issues some thought, and even turn to your team for guidance. By utilizing all possible options before making a rash decision, you can typically reach the end conclusion you were aiming for.

Intuition

When leading a team through uncharted waters, there is no roadmap on what to do. Everything is uncertain, and the higher the risk, the higher the pressure. That is where your natural intuition has to kick in. Guiding your team through the process of your day-to-day tasks can be honed down to a science. But when something unexpected occurs, or you are thrown into a new scenario, your team will look to you for guidance. Drawing on past experience is a good reflex, as is reaching out to your mentors for support. Eventually though, the tough decisions will be up to you to decide and you will need to depend on your gut instinct for answers. Learning to trust yourself is as important as your team learning to trust you.

Inspire

Creating a business often involves a bit of forecasting. Especially in the beginning stages of a startup, inspiring your team to see the vision of the successes to come is vital. Make your team feel invested in the accomplishments of the company. Whether everyone owns a piece of equity, or you operate on a bonus system, generating enthusiasm for the hard work you are all putting in is so important. Being able to inspire your team is great for focusing on the future goals, but it is also important for the current issues. When you are all mired deep in work, morale is low, and energy levels are fading, recognize that everyone needs a break now and then. Acknowledge the work that everyone has dedicated and commend the team on each of their efforts. It is your job to keep spirits up, and that begins with an appreciation for the hard work.

Approach

Not all human beings are the same. A basic concept, but something that is often overlooked. You have cultural perspectives, language barriers, different educational backgrounds, personality traits and varying value systems with which individuals come pre-conditioned that greatly affects how information is processed and interpreted. Some people work well under pressure, others don’t. Some respond best to tough love, others take it personally and shut down. In order to optimize your effectiveness as a leader, you must have the ability to customize your approach on a person by person basis, based on the situation at hand. Your capacity to execute this concept will play a huge role in your ability to get the best work out of your team and other partners along he journey.

How to Come up with Hundreds of Business Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 07:31:00 +0400

This article is part of our “Business Startup Guide” – a curated list of our articles that will get you up and running in no time!

For some people, coming up with ideas is as easy as spotting chewing gum on the sidewalk. For others, it’s nearly impossible.

For me, new idea generation isn’t just easy, it’s something I’m doing all the time and often without trying. I do not believe this is an innate ability, but rather a “skill” that I’ve learned and practiced over the entire course of my life.

While this “learning” has primarily been subconscious, as I’ve run into more and more people who struggle to come up with new ideas, I’ve made an effort to become conscious of how I do it and where I do it best. The fact that research on the subjects of creativity and innovation has become so popular certainly helps too.

I fully believe that anyone who puts in enough practice and who makes a conscious effort to notice problems and identify needs, can improve their ability to come up with new ideas.

A brief bit of science before we dive into how to come up with ideas:
Good ideas are networks

If you’ve taken even the most rudimentary psychology course before, you will know that the brain is largely composed of a cell we refer to as “the neuron.” In a human brain, there are approximately 100 billion of these cells. Connected together, they form a nervous system that is capable of making decisions, sensing surroundings, and issuing commands to our body.

How we think, what we think, and what we’re capable of, are largely a consequence of the connections these neurons have made with one another.

Every feeling, every thought, every memory, and every sensation you have is a direct result of the signals that pass between the neurons in your brain.

In fact, something particularly interesting about the human brain is its ability to rewire these connections and to make new connections, regardless of age. Neuroscientists refer to this property as “plasticity.” And, the more experiences we have and the more changes in behavior or environment that we experience, the more plastic the brain becomes, or, the more capable of making new connections and rewiring old connections.

This is why, in our older years, when most of us do less and use our brains less, we have a harder time remembering information and controlling bodily actions. Our brain has not stopped being plastic but has simply fallen out of the habit of making new connections.

A similar difference exists for those in the habit of generating new ideas and those who aren’t. The more practice you get doing it, the better your brain will become at creating new connections. Simply put, the more active you keep your brain, the easier you will find it to come up with new ideas and good ideas!
The perfect state of mind for idea creation

Steve Johnson, author of “Where Good Ideas Come From,” has spent years researching and writing about this subject.

He believes that you are more likely to develop great ideas when:
You explore and experiment in different areas
You are a part of a “liquid” network
You allow your idea to develop slowly, over time
You are exploring and open to the idea of serendipitous connections
You make mistakes
You look for new uses for old inventions
You build on platforms that have come before

If you read his book, it will become obvious fairly quickly that the environments you spend time in contribute to or detract from your ability to ideate.

“In order to create new connections, you need to place yourself in environments that actually mimic the neural networks of a mind exploring the boundaries of the adjacent possible.” – Steve Johnson

When humans first organized themselves into dense settlements, innovation soared.

With the invention of agriculture, for the first time, humans began forming settled groups that numbered in the thousands. This meant that more connections with more people were possible and that a good idea could quickly spill over and take root in others’ minds.

If you keep this in mind as you work, live, and experiment, you’ll quickly realize that it’s a lot easier to come up with new ideas, when you’ve got an influx of ideas coming your way in the first place. This doesn’t have to happen in a city or a university or an environment full of people, it can just as easily happen, if you’re interacting with ideas from many people online, in books and across other modes of communication. The key is “connectedness.”

With this in mind, let’s move on to how you can actually go about coming up with business ideas.
1. Solve problems

The easiest way to come up with business ideas is to solve problems you have. The second easiest is to solve problems others have. These don’t have to be big solutions like Google search or Amazon, they could be much smaller.

One company that solves a big problem I have, thanks to owning cats that use the litter box a lot, is Fresh Step. Fresh Step has created a line of “scoopable” cat litter, which means that when the cat does its business, the litter clumps together and I can scoop it out no problem. Ultimately it means I have to change the sand less often and that cleaning up is a lot easier.

Another of my favorite products that solves a problem for me are my Bose headphones (mind I don’t have this fancy version). That’s because they’re fitted with noise-cancelling technology. This means a lot when you’re working in a busy office, or when you’re taking public transport. Hello world, goodbye world. You literally have to be tapped on the shoulder to hear people coming. When I first tried these headphones on, I felt like I was underwater. Today, they’re a necessity.

Many of the products you have become used to using were actually invented to solve a problem, including Thermoflasks to keep coffee/food warm, sunglasses to protect from the glare, security alarms to alert you that someone has broken in, fire hydrants to put out a fire before the whole place goes up, toothbrushes to keep your teeth clean, and dental floss to fish out unwanted food. The list is literally endless.

All you have to do is get good at identifying problems. Once you’ve realized that each of your own frustrations is actually an idea in the making, you’re actually going to start having fun!

One of my frustrations that I wish there was a product for is something you probably think is too obvious—a jewelry stand. Because I have so much jewelry, I have to stick thumb tacks in the wall to hold it all up. There is no stand that I have seen on the market to solve my problem—only small stands for a time long past when people bought fewer but more expensive items. Today, I’d almost describe fashion as “disposable.” You buy something, you wear it a few times and set it aside, partly because things like costume jewelry have become so cheap. Because this is true, people that enjoy jewelry accrue a lot of it and, as you can see in the picture below, don’t have a place to put it.

My problem? Too much jewelry and no stand to fit it all.

Another good example of a company that has come with a business idea by solving a problem is UK car insurance company, ingenie. For many young drivers, the price of buying insurance is just something they can’t afford. Ingenie has taken a rather clever approach to solving this problem. They’ve created a small black box that you fit into your car. As you drive, the box monitors your driving style, including things like braking, speed, acceleration, turns, etc. Every 10 days the box assigns you a score out of 100. The higher your score, the bigger the discount you’ll receive on your insurance policy come the three month review period. Ingenie claims to help customers (often students) save up to 50 percent of what they would otherwise be paying. And, there’s the added bonus of encouraging people to drive better. Very clever.

I’ll leave you with one last example. Ever heard of GoPro? They’re a camera company that got started in 2002. Founder Nick Woodman had recently been on a surfing trip to Indonesia. Nick was unable to find amateur photographers who could get close enough to get good action-shot pictures of him surfing, or who could obtain quality equipment at an affordable price.

The solution to the problem? The GoPro camera—a wide-angle lens HD camera capable of taking excellent video and good action shots, and which could go where other affordable cameras couldn’t. Snap one into a case and you can literally do anything with it, from scuba diving and extreme mountain biking to flying (and crashing) a model airplane.

Footage shot by a GoPro camera attached to a model airplane – Derbyshire, England

As you go about your daily tasks, be they at home or work, try to get in the mindset of noticing the things that frustrate you. If you’ve been in a particular industry for a while, you may have good insight into this as there may be things that have been a problem for a long time. This is why venture capitalists like Boris Wertz see value in investing in those that have a lot of experience in the market they’re pitching their idea for. He calls it “the secret of the market.” It’s this secret or those problems that you have to identify.

For me, sitting at work, it’s having to stay at my desk—because that’s the only place I have two monitors—that irks me. A lot of the time, I need to leave my desk to do writing in a quieter area. But, without a second screen, writing and research don’t go hand in hand. I like to have my research up on the one screen and do my writing on the other. Moving away from my desk is always a sacrifice. The solution to this problem would of course be a laptop with two screens—now, who is willing to help me start the company?

Even if you work for someone else, try to get into the habit of finding the pain points. It baffles me when companies have products that their own employees don’t use. At Palo Alto Software, we use our own product—LivePlan—to manage and keep track of key business metrics. If we didn’t do this, we wouldn’t fully understand a user’s pain points and we wouldn’t know what the problems that needed fixing were.

Once you get into the habit of finding problems, you’ll probably start to enjoy it. Remember, every problem is an opportunity for a new product, service, or company, especially if it’s a problem many others have too.
2. Solve things that may become problems

Solving problems that you currently have is not the only way to come up with new ideas. Why not think of solving problems that will exist, but don’t yet?

In this very futuristic sense, no one stands out quite so well here as Elon Musk. The ventures he undertakes, including Solar City and Tesla Motors, may make some scoff, but lack of fossil fuels will become a problem in the near future and Elon is taking steps to fix that before it happens. This gives him the time to innovate as he’s first in and it gives him marketshare. Good luck to others catching up!

If you think there’s not yet a market for your idea, you may just be able to create one by appealing to those that, like you, believe it will be a problem in the future.

At present, there are numerous potential problems with obvious solutions, including desalination plants for California, a state that is quickly drying up and running out of water, preventative medication for diseases that could become problems (like Ebola), makeup and accessories to protect privacy when face recognition software really takes off, and breeding programs/nature reserves for animals that without help, will become extinct.

If you have a problem and you’re not sure how to solve it, send me a tweet or leave a comment below. We’ll be happy to do some brainstorming with you!
3. Adapt to evolving needs

Physiological needs stay the same—the need for food, shelter, and water. Emotional needs tend to stand the same—envy, greed, pride, etc. What doesn’t stay the same are the products and services it takes to fulfill these needs.

I’ve got a crazy example for you, if just to show you how far you can take things. My partner, James Shields, is an avid unicyclist. More than that, he’s an avid unicycle hockey player.

You might never have heard of the sport but it exists and, in the UK and Germany, is becoming increasingly popular.

When you play unicycle hockey, you typically use a unicycle, an ice-hockey stick, and a tennis ball.

To cater to a unicycle hockey player’s needs, Unicycle.com, headquartered in the UK, has decided to stock ice-hockey sticks. It’s them coming up with products that will suit a need that has just come into existence and, as ice hockey isn’t nearly as popular in England as it is Stateside, it also solves the problem of getting hold of this accessory.

I’m betting they’re not making a killing now, but if the number of unicycle hockey teams grows, they’ve got their bases covered.

James Shields uses an ice hockey stick during a serious unicycle hockey competition.

The easiest products to market are also products that fulfill a real or contemporary need.

An example of a service that has quickly become popular is “cloud storage.” It’s a result of our very contemporary need to have access to our data, information, photos, music, and so on, no matter what device we’re on. Google sells cloud storage, as does Dropbox, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and a host of private companies that do as well.
4. Save people money

Yet another great way to come up with ideas is to think about saving people money. I buy 23 watt energy-saving lightbulbs because they’re affordable, not because they last for years and are actually the equivalent of a 100 watt lightbulb, though that’s an obvious bonus too.

I also continue filling my car with ARCO gas because it’s cheaper than Chevron and Shell, even though they’re owned by BP who was responsible for the horrible Gulf spill.

And, even though I am desperate for real-life bookstores not to vanish as a consequence of sites like Amazon, I still prefer to buy my books on Amazon because it saves me a lot of money.

The truth is, unless you’re earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, pounds, or euros, it’s still a luxury to be able to make more “moral decisions” to buy from and support better companies and people.

Were it up to me I’d own a Tesla, I’d only buy books from independent bookstores, and I’d buy all my food at local farmers markets.

This is why, if you can figure out how to save people money, you’ll have a good business idea, new or not. Have a look at some of our money saving tips for further information on this topic.
5. Make people’s lives easier

A coffee machine with a timer that ensures there’s hot coffee when you wake; a central vacuum cleaning system that means only carrying a hose and brush around the house rather than the full unit; a smart thermostat like Nest that can figure out how to save you energy; shopping baskets placed at convenient intervals in the store in case you decide you want to purchase more than what your arms can hold—the list goes on and on.

Remember, coming up with business ideas doesn’t mean you have to focus on inventing new products or services. In fact, you could just as easily adapt an existing service or introduce a new benefit that makes peoples’ lives easier.

Kohls is one company that I return to time and time again because they’ve got a lifetime return policy. Even if you’ve lost your box and your receipt they will take back a product and replace or refund it—your choice. Not only does this make me feel good about the company, but it keeps me coming back, despite the fact that their prices have obviously been marked up to account for this benefit. In short, it makes my life easy.

When I moved to Eugene I bought my microwave, kettle, toaster and vacuum cleaner from Kohls, knowing that when they packed in, as electronics always do, I can take them back even if that’s in four years time when I’m guaranteed to have lost or thrown out my receipt.

There are always small ways you could be making things easier for yourself or for others. In fact, if you think about doing this, on an ongoing basis, you may find you’re also able to release new products that are simply a version of the old product that makes someone’s life easier in some small way. The Garmin Nuvi is a step up on GPS predecessors that did not include live traffic updates. This small addition makes the product so much more useful and helpful.

Can you think of something—an action, product, service, or chore that could be adapted to make your life easier?

My Salamon trail running shoes do exactly this. Instead of normal laces, they have pull laces, which means they don’t come undone when I’m running. They don’t fit as well as my Asics do but they mean I stop a lot less because for some reason tying laces has never been my strong point.

Start looking at the things around you and asking, how could this be easier? How could it be more intuitive, less stressful, and in general more pleasant to use? You may find that even the tiniest change will create something incredibly popular.
6. Make chores or things that feel like tasks less unpleasant

In the online world, marketers and developers often look to “gamifying” software in order to make using it feel less onerous. That is, they come up with small ways to reward you for taking an action. When I go running, I use the Strava app on my phone to track my distance and my average speed. Each time I beat a previous record, Strava gives me a trophy or some other small acknowledgment that makes me feel I’ve achieved something. Occasionally, this will push me to go a little bit further as once I’ve got into the habit of receiving trophy icons, it’s very difficult to do a run and not get one! The point is, it makes my run a little more fun.

Not too long ago, I stumbled upon a Kickstarter campaign called Run an Empire. This app promises to make running even more fun (or less painful) than even the likes of Strava. It allows you, the runner, to capture territories. You’ll have to watch the full video if you want to understand how it works, but it’s clever. It stands to make the exhausting task of running feel like a game.

And then there’s the possibility of making real chores—like going to the toilet—fun. Ever heard about Japan’s high-tech toilets? Well, they play music, have heated seats, blast warm air, and clean with jets of water. We haven’t taken it to that extreme here yet but that’s a great example of how to make an unpleasant task pleasant. Or so I imagine.

What do you hate doing? How could you make it more enjoyable? Personally, I need someone to make hanging my clothes less of a pain, to make drinking water feel less like a “to do,” and to take all my bills and pay them for me. Know of any solutions?
7. Turn a hobby or something you’re passionate about into a business

For those of you already actively making or doing something, this may be an obvious next step. Or, if you’ve been doing something on a regular basis and find yourself good at it but don’t think of it as a hobby, perhaps you should think about how it could be a business.

Things that I do on a regular basis that could potentially be turned into business ideas include glass painting, writing, researching, jewelry making, fixing jewelry, illuminated lettering, social media training, and so on. Everyone has things they do on a regular or semi-regular basis. If you’re good at any of these things and are looking for business ideas, you just might want to think aboutturning your hobby into a business.

My sister’s boyfriend, Alex Alotte, is doing just this. When he worked as a bartender in the San Francisco Bay area, he wanted to be able to use the best tools possible, not just because a craftsman’s tools are his pride, but also because they’re an important part of your image. Alex catered for a number of reputable clients and companies, so this last part was especially important. Unfortunately, there weren’t a whole lot of quality muddlers on the market that he could choose from. Most were plastic, or they were made using boring wood, or they were poorly shaped, poorly finished, you name it. So, when a relative who was enrolled in a high school woodshop course heard about Alex’s hunt for the “perfect muddler,” he suggested Alex make one himself.

Given that he enjoyed using his hands and already felt he needed a hobby, Alex decided to make his own muddlers or to make, in his words, “high quality, beautiful, wooden muddlers that verge on art!”

He purchased a lathe and all manner of other tools and set to work. The result is a product that resembles a small bat or large pestle and which, when used by a bartender, serves a similar purpose to a pestle, grinding, mashing, or crushing herbs, sugars, fruits, and ice. Mojitos are made using muddlers, but hardly ever using ones like Alex has created, out of beautiful figured wood.

While Alex is still refining his product, he’s already sold one of his “art” muddlers for 50 dollars. The next step will be setting up an online store and figuring out how to make this a full time business.

Alex Alotte—handmade muddlers for professionals.

If you find the idea of starting a business intimidating, start with something you know. This way, it might not feel like a business and you’ll enjoy the process as you go. Be sure to think carefully about how you’ll feel if things do work out. You may find things suddenly become less enjoyable as you’ve got to start making them to meet customer demands or to pay the bills. Or, you might just need a new hobby!
8. Fulfill a need

Take any of the human needs on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and think of the products and services created to meet these needs. Then, build on those.

Consider: As humans, we have a constant need to hydrate ourselves. If we did not drink water, we’d die. As such, we’ve had plumbing built into our houses and into all of the buildings we work in and visit. But, despite being able to pop in almost anywhere to drink water for free, companies have come up with additional ways to meet this need. They’ve provided solutions for water on the go. They’ve provided solutions for clean water on the go. They’ve provided solutions for flavored water on the go, for “vitamin” water, for water in bottles that won’t increase your risk of developing cancer.

Move up to the love/belonging level on Maslow’s pyramid, and you get companies like Facebook that allow a user to feel a sense of connection to friends and family.

Move up another level to esteem and you get the likes of Tony Robbins with books and tapes on how to achieve your dreams, improve your self-confidence, and become the best.

It might feel a little manipulative looking at things this way, but many of the products you use already bear reference to these needs, including the toilet paper you buy (physiological), the locks you have on your door and the pepper spray you carry (safety), the birthday card you buy for your friend (love/belonging), the feedback you seek via recommendations on LinkedIn (esteem) and the tools and situations (like the Peace Corps) that allow you to practice your creativity, morality, or problem solving skills (self-actualization).
9. Appeal to a base emotion

What makes you angry, what makes you happy, what makes you jealous? What does this to others? There’s a new social media site on the block that has capitalized on anger. It’s called Ello and even though it’s still only invite by request, already it’s got a lot of press, mainly because its appealed to those people that hate Facebook for essentially being a gigantic ad platform that sells their personal details on to other companies looking to make money.

Author and renowned copywriter, Andy Maslen, phrases appealing to base emotions a little differently. He says, exploit a base emotion!

Think of it as you will, positive or negative, but fundamentally, Andy is right. According to him, humans often make decisions based on one of seven emotions. These emotions are more popularly known as the seven deadly sins:
Pride
Envy
Lust
Greed
Gluttony
Sloth
Anger (wrath)

When you consider some of the services and products available to us today, you’ll quickly realize how many of them were invented to appeal to or take advantage of these emotions. Take beauty salons as an obvious example. How many people really need their nails buffed or their legs waxed to survive?

The fact is, that as a society, we have taken evolutionary reactions a step further. Where cleaning hair may previously have been an action we took in order to attract a mate and look better than the competition, today we’ve taken it to the extreme.

Now, rather than simply having products that get the job done, we have products that build on and create new needs like salt spray to add volume to hair, hair spray to hold a style, dry shampoo for when you don’t have time to shower. Companies are able to sell these products because they’re still able to exploit our base needs.

I have very fine hair so salt spray and volumizing shampoo is an easy sell. Oil, not so much, however for friends I have with really thick, bushy hair, oils are the easy sell. All of this is exploiting our pride. After all, none of these products are really necessary.

Take a look at those seven deadly sins and see if you can think of how products and services you use on a regular basis are exploiting those needs. Perhaps you’ll even start picking up on how advertisers do the same!
10. Experience more

It’s true that the more you do and the more you experience, the more material you will have at your disposal to be able to create new ideas, or stitch together seemingly disparate ideas.

In fact, Bill Gates believes so strongly in the power of serendipity in order to come up with new ideas, that he frequently allots time to read books on a number of different subjects in a short amount of time.

Nirmalya Kumar, Professor of Marketing at the London Business School, knows how important it is to be curious and to look outside of your your own business or industry in order to come up with new ideas.

In a video interview, he says that if he did not read broadly and then try to find connections, he would always feel he was going to write or say the same thing as everyone else. Primarily reading outside of business helps him come up with new ideas and draw new correlations between topics.

According to Nirmalya, “Intelligence and raw knowledge are overrated. It’s more important to have diverse interests.”

His discussion with interviewer Matt Symonds is in fact so interesting, I’ve included it here and I encourage you to watch it if you have the time.

The other simple things you can do to make coming up with ideas easier is to simply do more. This is how I come up with new topics to write about, new case studies or people to mention, and new things to say. If I didn’t do this, I’d be limited to those things I know. Doing things and reading things that differ from my “usual” activities, hopefully gives me more interesting stories to share!
11. Steal others’ ideas

There is no shame in this. In fact most good ideas are built upon someone else’s idea. The dissertation that I ended up submitting for my MA program actually grew out of the seed of a story that my sister had written while in high school. I liked her idea so much that during my undergraduate degree I wrote about a man that spent his days going through Johannesburg’s bins. From this, I adapted it.

Take J. K. Rowling and “Harry Potter.” Don’t tell me the Death Eaters weren’t modeled off the Ku Klux Klan, and that the spiders in the Forbidden Forest didn’t bear reference to Lord of the Rings, or that J. K. Rowling didn’t use myths as a basis from which to create the strange and fascinating creatures in her books. In fact, even the original and entirely fictional game of Quidditch has its origins in the idea that witches ride broomsticks. She simply built on this idea.

One of my favorite holiday destinations growing up in South Africa was thePalace of the Lost City. It’s a gigantic resort modeled off the ruins of a real lost city. Like something you might stumble across in Cambodia, perhaps? There was probably a little bit of creative theft here.

The Bridge of Time at the Palace of the Lost City, South Africa

I’ll leave you with this final thought from Albert Einstein: “Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.”

4 Secrets of Successful Business Owners

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Sat, 7 May 2016 07:22:00 +0400

Have you ever wondered how some entrepreneurs and business owners seem almost superhuman, that everything they touch and do practically turns to gold?

Take Richard Branson for example. He started Virgin in 1970 and has built numerous businesses across multiple industries over the last 35 years. A company that stands for excitement, uniqueness, and more recently, making the world a better place through giving back

.

While you and I may not be looking to start a massive company that generates enough revenue to support a small country, there are important lessons that we can learn from the way they do business and how they operate.

Let’s dive deep and look at four incredible entrepreneurs—who have shaped the way we do business today—and what they say that makes them successful. Sit tight. Epiphanies ahead.

1. “Chance favors the prepared mind. The more you practice, the luckier you become.” – Richard Branson

Don’t be fooled by Richard’s calm demeanor and laid back style. You better believe he had a plan and was prepared when he launched each of his businesses over the years. It may not have been 100 percent conventional, but he was always prepared in some form or fashion.

Be sure you take advantage of free resources to prepare your mind and lay out a strategy for your business. And if you want to take your preparation a step further, use a tool like LivePlan. Even if you’re a current business owner, take a step back and analyze your strategy.

Once you know you’re prepared and ready to tackle the task at hand, just get started. There is no better teacher than experience. Richard never went to business school to learn about building a business. He just got started and learned through the processes.

And it seemed to work out pretty well for him, didn’t it?

2. “Work like there is someone working twenty-four hours a day to take it all away from you.”- Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban

Powerful, right? Now I know I don’t have to tell you that hard work is a part of the game when you’re trying to build your future, but man, is it important. Not everyone will understand the fact that we have to keep our heads down and focus on building what we believe in, but that doesn’t really matter.

You’re building your business for a reason. To feed your kids. To secure your family’s financial future. To travel the world. Whatever your reason, hold it close and let that fuel you.

So when the time comes that your friends are pressuring you to take the weekend off and you know there are 174 things you have to do to keep your business running—keep your head down and do what you have to do. Because even though Mark’s quote is hypothetical, you better believe there is somebody else out there with twice the resources and twice the backing that you have trying to put you out of business.

If you’re going to build something worthwhile, you’ve got to work hard and stay focused. There are no shortcuts.

3. “The easier it is for someone to understand who you are and what you stand for, the easier it will be for that person to spread the word to others.” – Blake Mycoskie

Blake Mycoskie

If you aren’t aware of who Blake Mycoskie is, he’s the guy who started TOMS, the shoe company that gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every shoe sold.

One for one. It’s as simple as that. If you were to check out the TOMS website or look through any of their social media profiles, it is very clear who they are, what they stand for, and what they do.

Has anyone ever asked you what you do or what your business does?

“Uhhhhhhh… Well, I sell…. clothes for… cold babies.”

Ouch. Let’s try this again.

If your business sells baby clothes that keep the babies three times warmer than all other baby clothing brands, be clear about it. You might say something like this:

“My company sells baby clothes that keep your child three times warmer than all other brands. This means fewer colds, better naps, and a much happier childhood!”

See how different that is? Heck, I’d buy it, and I don’t even have a baby.

Let’s look at one more example. I run an online magazine for entrepreneurs that gives back to children’s education and have had a hard time in the past explaining what I do. To keep it nice and simple, this is typically what I say:

“My company empowers the entrepreneurs who are building tomorrow’s small businesses by giving them the information and resources they need to succeed. And as part of our mission to give back and make the world a better place, we give a large portion of our revenue to support children’s education.”

Figure out early what you stand for and tell your story in a way that is easy to remember and retell. It’s ok to pivot your brand over time, but you can only do that effectively if you thoroughly understand who your customers are and what resonates with them. And that begins with a strong brand.

4. “It’s fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates

Bill Gates

We’ve all messed up at some point in our life. I know I sure have. But before you throw in the towel and give up on your dreams altogether, look for a lesson from your moment of failure. There’s bound to be one.

For example, in a previous venture, I took on far too many responsibilities on my own and became completely overwhelmed. My health started to decline, my relationships suffered, and the company ultimately fell apart because there was too much to be done, and not enough people to do it.

The golden lesson in that situation was to swallow my pride, ask for help, and not get so overwhelmed. And to be completely honest, that lesson has saved me far too many times to count.

A failure is only a failure if you let it be. You may have made a few missteps in your past, but don’t let that define your current business. Work smart, stay humble, and learn from your mistakes. With those lessons in mind, I promise you’ll go far.

Wrapping up and moving forward

At the end of the day, as a business owner, there are a lot of factors to becoming successful. By being prepared, working hard, telling a good story, and learning from your mistakes—you’re far ahead of your peers and are on your way to living life on your terms, whatever they may be.

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How to Become a Successful Businessman

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 23:17:00 +0400

Five Parts:Gaining Appropriate Experience Establishing the Best Habits Turning Your Passion Into Work Knowing the Right People Taking Care of Business Community Q&A

Anyone who conducts business—whether that business is on behalf of a small company, a globe-spanning corporation, or your own entrepreneurial venture—can be considered a businessman (or businesswoman). Success in this field can be measured by looking at both personal achievement of a businessman, and the overall health of the businesses that person has been a part of. The two are often intertwined quite deeply, as the attainment of company-wide goals begins with the work a person puts into their own success.

Part1
Gaining Appropriate Experience

1

Educate yourself. It’s important that you know the fundamentals of your industry, though that doesn’t always necessitate an MBA. A lack of post-secondary education can be a deal breaker for many prospective employers, however.^[1] Enrolling in business classes, even if they’re at the learning annex or a community college, shows a determination to learn that will definitely appeal, and should be highlighted on your resume. Everybody has to start somewhere!

College. A degree in business makes sense for any businessman, though you should research the industries you’re interested in before declaring your major. Some positions may prefer more specialized degrees, so do your homework.^[2]

Trade schools. If the business you’re interested in specializes in a particular trade, you might be best off immersing yourself in the trade.

Lectures and seminars. Listening to the advice of those who are successful in their field can be enlightening. Check the schedule at local colleges for speaking tours, or search online for industry-related speaking engagements in your city. Staying up-to-date on what the top minds in the industry are saying is essential, even if you already think you’re at the top of your game.^[3]

2

Put in after-hours work. Success in the business world means going the extra mile. There are multiple resources available to you online to further immerse yourself in further learning, if you find you’re finishing your schoolwork (or the work at your side job) with time to spare. Never rest on your laurels: think about what should come next.

Many employers nowadays are prioritizing the skills a candidate brings to the table over their GPA or higher education.^[4] Research example resumes for positions you’d like to hold, and put effort into developing those skills in your free time.

The extra mile shouldn’t come at the expense of every other aspect of your life, though. Finding time to reward yourself for hard work will instill better habits in you for the future.

3

Seek the guidance of a mentor. Developing a relationship with a professional whose career you admire is one of the more direct and efficient forms of networking. Establishing the connection might prove difficult, but reach out through whatever means are available to you. Prepare a few pertinent questions for your meeting, e.g. “How did you get your start?”; “Did you go to business school?”; and “Was this your first endeavor in the industry?”

If a coworker or friend of your parents works in a profession you’re interested in, ask your parents for their email address, or to arrange a meeting.

With a local business owner, you might just try walking up to them in their place of business and asking! Introduce yourself as an aspiring businessman and admirer of their accomplishments, and ask if they have any time available to speak with you on the subject.

At school, you might find a mentor in a professor. Never neglect the wealth of knowledge which exists in a university, and don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re only allowed to learn during class. Approach your professor for advice during their office hours.

Some companies employ on-the-job mentoring programs which pair recruits up with experienced workers.^[5] Take advantage of these, and look to them not as a burden but as an opportunity to learn and excel.

4

Apply for internships. When you don’t yet have the experience, use internships to get your foot in the door. Don’t balk at unpaid positions if they can build the bridges you need to succeed in the long-term, and the hours won’t leave you penniless in the short-term. Internships provide many college students their first opportunities to network on the job with working professionals.^[6] Low-paying entry level jobs are simply the price to be paid in the business world right now, when true “entry level” jobs won’t give you a chance without a few years of experience already under your belt.

Do balk at unpaid positions which don’t present themselves as pathways to success, either within the company or by opening further doors to you.

Part2
Establishing the Best Habits

1

Prioritize tasks. Complete the tasks which will benefit you the most in the long run first. You’ll need to identify the difference between “high-value” tasks (those which will benefit you the most in the long term) versus “low-value” tasks (tasks which may be easier, but will offer fewer benefits).^[7]

2

Stop procrastinating. Avoiding the less pleasant aspects of work doesn’t make them disappear. Building up a huge hunk of the bad stuff to deal with all at once, after you’ve completed the enjoyable stuff, is just going to leave a sour taste in your mouth at the end of a project.^[8]

Make lists. Enough can’t be said about the anti-procrastination benefits of seeing your work in front of you, and crossing it off as you finish it.^[9] Each list should be long enough to keep your workload in perspective, but not so long that your day feels paralyzingly demanding.

One tactic is to divvy your seemingly unmanageable task into manageable chunks, then sprinkle those less-enjoyable aspects of a task into that other stuff that you really like.

Stick to a schedule: physically writing out to-dos and calendars isn’t necessary for everyone, but establishing a regular schedule can help you efficiently take care of business. Scheduling the work you dislike for a specific day—and then pushing it out of your mind to avoid stress on other days—might help you conquer unhelpful procrastination habits.

3

Complete projects.^[10] Follow through on the tasks you begin. Finishing one project will teach you exponentially more than a dozen fizzled-out attempts, even if you never want to look at that project again.

Sometimes you’ll find yourself bogged down in work that seems, now that you’ve toiled away at it for a week, misguided in its goal. If the project has a projected timeline that will take up a great deal of your time moving forward, it’s sometimes best to reassess whether you’re spending your time well (see above, about “high-value” tasks versus “low-value” tasks). So how do you know when you should drop a project? Honest introspection, and self-awareness. If you find yourself thinking this often—and you’ve got a string of unfinished projects in your wake—it might be a sign you need to buckle down and see this to the end.

4

Take responsibility. Whether they’ve done well or screwed up, a successful businessman must be able to take responsibility for their actions. It signals to both employees and employers a willingness to deal openly and responsibly with the tasks at hand. Squirming away from negative fallout your missteps have made endears you to no one, and can have disastrous consequences on the relationships you’ve made in the business world.

Part3
Turning Your Passion Into Work

1

Pursue something important to you.^[11] Committing yourself to a fulfilling pursuit allows passion to pick up the slack on those days that you’re not feeling especially driven. Passion doesn’t translate to “fun 24/7,” but it should be meaningful to you in some capacity. The effort you exert should always be on something that will make you proud in the end, or will at least put you one step closer to what it is that you really want to do.

2

Strike a balance between work and play. Healthy work life balance is essential to long-term success and a worker’s well-being. But as might be expected, when you’re starting out, more ambition means longer hours. Passion for your work will help to keep those hours you spend burning the midnight oil meaningful.

Diving too hard into work without giving yourself a break will increase your stress levels and decrease your effectiveness.^[12] Set boundaries on your workday, and take frequent breaks to recharge your batteries.

Don’t confuse your work for who you are. Finding time and space away from our work—even if it is our life’s passion—can often provide insight on that work.

3

Forget perfection. The more meaningful your work is to you, the tougher this can be, but great, as they say, is the enemy of good. Focusing too intently on creating the perfect, most ideal iteration of that pitch, graphic, or copy can leave you with one excellent piece of work, instead of the ten pieces you needed.

Find a balance in your work that satisfies you, your boss, and your client without causing the rest of your life to suffer. Employers prize those employees who can deliver solid work dependably over those who occasionally produce great stuff… but repeatedly miss their deadlines.^[13]

4

Talk the talk. When you’re beginning a new enterprise, it might feel presumptuous to speak of your career like it’s the real deal. Doing so, however, will help others see you seriously, and will help you see yourself seriously as well.^[14]

If you’re starting a business, don’t equivocate. Talk about your new business as you would any other. Refer to it as “work,” and even when you work from home a certain room can be “the office.” It’s alright to have a sense of humor about it, but don’t undermine your efforts.

Part4
Knowing the Right People

1

Build bridges, don’t burn them. Behaving respectfully, courteously, and humanely to everyone you meet is a good starting point! You never know when you might form a true bond on an unexpected occasion, and find your next business partner, investor, or employer.

Definitively end relationships only when it’s absolutely necessary. When you leave a job, resist the temptation to gloat, slack off, or tell your boss “how you really feel.” When you tug on a thread in your network, you never know who’ll be feeling its reverberations down the line.

2

Network like a person, not a product. Networking can feel mercenary and shallow when advertised too overtly. Understand that networking is essential to success in most industries, but that you should never forget that you’re forging connections with people. Taking a holistic, human approach to your interactions can make you more memorable down the line when it comes time for hiring; employers might have thoughts not just of “Who do I know that would be good for this copywriting job?” but “What job do I know that would be a good fit for Richard?”

Everybody else in your industry understands how crucial networking is, so don’t think you’re the only schmuck out there advertising your skill. Self-promotion is, to some degree, the name of the game.^[15]

3

Develop your interpersonal skills. Not only will you need these skills to navigate the day-to-day with your employers and employees, you’ll also benefit from them when you negotiate deals and contracts. Studies have shown that the most successful business people excel in both cognitive and social skills.^[16]

Make it a point to appreciate the work and input of others.

Practice active listening. This means acknowledging what other people say by repeating it back to them in your own words, as you understand it to be.

Pay attention to others. Be proactive about noticing others' feelings, words and body language.

Connect people. A successful business owner is a hub through which other interpersonal connections are made. Promote an environment that brings people together by treating people equally and fairly, and encouraging them to work together.

Take a leadership role when it comes to resolving conflicts. Act as the mediator, rather than involving yourself personally.

4

Know your customers and clients. Co-workers and potential employers aren’t the only people you should be forging strong relationships with in the business world. Make an effort to develop appropriate relationships with the people who come into your store, use your product, or appreciate your work. Emotions—not prices—are often more of a deciding factor in many purchasing decisions.^[17]

5

Hire wisely. Your employees are your support network, and are necessary to your success. Hire those who are skilled and competent, but also consider how well your employees will mesh together as a team.

Homogeneity should never be prioritized in an effort to have your employees mesh well. Diverse viewpoints offer myriad advantages to your business as a whole, in both innovation and experience.^[18]

Be careful if you’re in a situation to hire family members and personal friends as employees. While connections are the #1 way in which many jobs are found, nepotism can reflect poorly on you. Ensure your hires are qualified for the position,

Part5

Taking Care of Business

1

Survive. As a business owner, the most important goal when beginning a new business, job, or craft is simply to survive.^[19] If you’re starting your own business or getting in on the ground floor, avoid establishing unrealistic goals for the fledgling enterprise.

The heart of all businesses, even those with altruistic, selfless ownership, is making money. The goal might be modest (just enough to allow your business to survive and grow) or enormous (to attract additional investors and satisfy shareholders), but this is true to some degree for every business.

You will never achieve that goal of, say, providing mittens to all of the underprivileged kids in the world through your new mitten shop, if you don’t focus on keeping that coffee shop in business and thriving first. Long-term goals are important, but shouldn’t come at the expense of sustainable short-term ones.

2

Invest in your future. Ever heard the saying “You’ve gotta spend money to make money?” Frugality is advised wherever possible, but only so much that it frees up capital for the more important, more deserving expenses. Those expenses might be the salaries of particularly accomplished professionals you’re hoping to woo, or trade magazines, or simply a nice suit so as to look the part in the company of your colleagues and clients. Aim to invest in future success, not just celebrate current success.^[20]

Avoid exorbitantly expensive ties and jackets, company cars, and huge offices you really don’t need—but don’t take it for granted that nice things are automatically exorbitant. Image is an important component of success in business, but not just when it comes to the superficial. Having an enormous office you can’t fill or work you can’t pay for punctually (on account of that enormous office or company car lease) will feed into other companies’ perception of you as well.

3

Take calculated risks. New businesses need to survive if they’re going to ever be anything, but all businesses must take on risk of some kind.^[21] Stepping outside the norm, either in your role at a company or in the expectations for the industry, is necessary for success in a crowded field. Plan your ventures carefully and hedge as much risk as you can, but be prepared for the occasional setback.

4

Introduce the unexpected. Successful innovators are held in high esteem in the American consciousness, but actually pursuing unproven ideas can be terrifying. Don’t be afraid of venturing into the unknown—great ideas may be a dime a dozen, but putting in the work to pursue a great idea shows spirit and tenacity.

An idea’s failure isn’t always indicative of having the wrong idea—sometimes it’s simply the right idea, pursued ineffectively. Don’t scrap everything you’ve been trying all at once and or totally restructure. When working within a company or partnership, for example, the issue could be solved by better understanding each member’s accountability.^[22]

5

Embrace failure. Failure illuminates some truth about your methods and goals, however much it may sting. Interpret your failures not as shameful, but as a reason to reflect on your work. Sometimes it’s only through facing the insurmountable, failing, and then struggling to pull ourselves back together that we develop the tenacity our work requires of us.^[23]

”Failure,” as Henry Ford put it, “is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”^[24]

nswered Questions

What should I do to start a new business?

Begin by reading: How to Start Your Own Business.

Helpful? 9 0

Is it necessary to have a business degree to become a successful businessman?

No it isn't. But that depends on your personality type, what you know already and how much personal motivation you have. Some people can't sit still long enough to get a degree and are fine to go out there and get their business going. Other people find a business degree gives them the knowledge, careful restraint and contacts they otherwise feel that they lack. Do research into both options before deciding.

Helpful? 12 2

What academic subjects should I learn?

You should take some business classes, to learn the basics of business. You should also consider taking math for accounting skills, English for writing skills, and communications for speaking skills

Top Five Apps for Futures Traders

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 18:48:00 +0400

Here is a list of various futures traders apps for iPhone, android, windows, blackberry and iPad. Futures traders are very busy people- enter the apps to make their lives easier!

5. BlackGold
BlackGold is an app that allows mobile price watching for crude oil, gold, gas, natural gas and heating oil. The app is free and works with iPhones, ipads and iPods. Reviews indicate that the app’s recent bug fixes have enabled greater functionality but bearing in mind this app is free, you may find you get what you pay for.

4. iFutures
iFutures allows tracking commodities futures from the iPhone or iPod Touch. The app provides over 100 futures from various markets. iFutures features include charts, watchlists and category settings for each commodity from metals to livestock.

3. Bloomberg
Bloomberg have a range of apps for the iphone, ipad, blackberry, android phone and tablet, windows phone and nokia phones. The standard Bloomberg app allows the user updated business news and data, especially useful as we know the stock market can flip at any minute. The app includes stock quotes, graphs and push notifications so you’re kept in the loop.

2. FuturesLive
Designed with the commodity crowds in mind, this app allows traders to keep track of futures contracts and commodities. FuturesLive lists quotes from futures contracts at major exchanges. The main attribute making this app stand out is that it doesn’t try to track your portfolio which can slow the app down.

1. StockTwits
StockTwits is like Twitter for traders. The app provides real time updates on traders and their movements in response to markets. There are amateurs up to investing firms and media outlets on this social network. Some traders also post free technical advice and analysis. StockTwits is best for day traders to watch throughout the day- and it’s free!

Have any of you had good or bad experiences using these apps? Which is your favourite or are there any better than these?

To keep up to date with Total Trading on the move, we have our very own app that you can download here.

HOW TO DAY TRADE: 10 TRADING SECRETS

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 18:43:00 +0400

Day Trading refers to market positions which are held only a short time; typically the trader opens and closes a position the same day. The concept got a bad reputation in the 1990’s when many beginners began to day trade, jumping onto the new online trading platforms without applying tested stock trading strategies. They thought they could “go to work” in their pajamas and make a fortune in stock trades with very little knowledge or effort. This proved not to be the case.

Yet day trading is not all that complicated once you learn a simple, rules-based strategy for anticipating market moves, such as that taught at Online Trading Academy. Here are 10 secrets to day trading for beginners:

Look for scenarios where supply and demand are drastically imbalanced, and use these as your entry points.

The financial markets are like anything else in life: if supply is near exhaustion and there are still willing buyers, price is about to go higher. If there is excess supply and no willing buyers, price will go down. At Online Trading Academy, students are taught to identify these turning points on a price chart and you can do the same by studying historical examples.
Always set price targets before you jump in.

If you’re buying a long position, decide in advance how much profit is acceptable as well as a stop-loss level if the trade turns against you. Then, stick by your decisions. This limits your potential loss and keeps you from being overly greedy if price spikes to an untenable level. Exception: in a strong market it’s acceptable to set a new profit goal and stop-loss level once your initial target is achieved.
Insist on a risk-reward ratio of at least 3:1 when setting your targets.

One of the most important lessons in stock trading for beginners is to understand a proper risk-reward ratio. As the Online Trading Academy instructors point out, this allows you to “lose small and win big” and come out ahead even if you have losses on many of your trades. In fact, once you gain some experience, risk-reward ratios of as high as 5:1 or even higher may be attainable.
Be patient.

Paradoxical though it may seem, successful day traders often don't trade every day. They may be in the market, at their computer, but if they don’t see any opportunities that meet their criteria they will not execute a trade that day. That’s a lot better than going against your own best judgment out of an impatient desire to “just do something.” Plan your trades, then trade your plan.
Be disciplined.

Again, you need to set a trading plan and stick to it. At Online Trading Academy, students execute live stock trades in the market under the guidance of a senior instructor until right decisions become second nature. If you’re trading on your own, impulsive behavior can be your worst enemy. Greed can keep you in a position for too long and fear can cause you to bail out too soon. Don’t expect to get rich on a single trade.
Don’t be afraid to push the “order” button.

Novice day traders often face “paralysis by analysis” because they get wrapped up in watching the candles and the Level 2 columns on their screen and can’t act quickly when opportunity presents itself. If you’re disciplined and work your plan, actually placing the order should be automatic. If you’re wrong, your stops will get you out without major damage.
Only day trade with money you can afford to lose.

Successful traders have a “little bucket” of risk capital and a “big bucket” of money they’re saving for retirement or another long-term goal. Big bucket money tends to be invested more conservatively and in longer-duration positions. It’s not absolutely forbidden to use this money occasionally for a day trade, but the odds should be very high in your favor.
Never risk too much capital on one trade.

Set a percentage of your total day trading budget (which might be anywhere from 2% to 10%, depending on how much money you have) and don’t allow the size of your position to exceed it. Otherwise, you may miss out on an even better opportunity in the market.
Don’t limit day trading to stocks.

Forex, futures and options are three asset classes that display volatility and liquidity just like stocks, making them ideal for day trading. And often one of them will present appealing opportunities on a day when the stock market is going nowhere.
Don’t second-guess yourself, but do learn from experience.

Every day trader has losses, so don’t kick yourself when the occasional trade doesn’t go your way. Do, however, confirm that you followed your rules-based strategy and didn’t get in or out at the wrong time.

Secret of Big Trader's for Small Traders

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 18:35:00 +0400

et's be honest, everyone begins trading with the hopes of making a lot of money through their trades, maybe even enough money that they can quit their jobs and trade for a living. However, when asked how they are going to make "a lot of money trading" most traders would not be able to give you an answer. Somewhere in the back of their minds they secretly hope that they will catch the one big move that will set them up with a big enough account to be able to trade like the big boys. Unfortunately the odds of catching the "big one" are probably the same as those for winning the lottery.

So what is a trader to do? Perhaps the most important trait of any successful trader is the ability to make money consistently. This should be obvious. No trader, no matter how large of an account they have, can continue for long without consistent profits. So how does a trader develop consistency?

A successful trader once told me that I should have a trading goal. The goal did not have to be a large one, but the simple fact of having a goal would help me focus better on the markets. I would come to see better opportunities (note this is not the same as “more opportunities”) as well as managing my money better. Since I did not have a very large trading account, the trader suggested I start with a goal of netting$250 per week out of the markets using only single contracts. If I could do this consistently for four weeks, I should be able to net $1000 a month from my trades.

I was quick to point out to the trader who shared this advice that I couldn’t exactly live on a $1000 a month! He said that if I could consistently net $250 a week, using single contracts, for the next 12 weeks, theoretically there would be no limit on the amount of money I could earn by trading. Still confused I asked how this was possible.

He said that no trader, who trades for a living, does so trading just one contract at a time. The power of making money in the markets comes through the use of multiple contracts. If you can net just $250 a week using single contracts out of your trades, then with four contracts you should, in theory, be able to net $1000 a week, or $4000 a month. With eight contracts that would be $8000 a month, with 10 contracts, $10,000 and so on. However, trading multiple contracts like this without first being able to trade consistently would be financial suicide.

The key to this formula is to be able to NET $250 a week from the markets using single contracts. This means that after commissions and losses you should be up $250 at the end of each week. Now here is the tricky part: while you should never enter a trade with the hopes of making up losses, the fact remains that if you are going to make consistent gains from your trading, your winning trades will need to surpass your losers (plus commissions).

The more I thought about what the trader told me, the more I came to realize that this was possibly the best advice for cutting losing positions quickly that I had ever heard! It hit home that, while each trade is its own trade, the consequences of keeping a losing position too long would either make, or break me in the long run. If my profits were not able to offset my losses and expenses, then I might as well pack up my trading account right now and take the money to Las Vegas, where at least I could have a good time spending it.

The trader went on to point out that because the focus was on a profit goal, it was important to maintain a proper risk/reward ratio. If there was too much money at risk, given the possible reward, then it would put too much pressure on the following trades to make up for losses that were incurred earlier. However, by keeping losses to a minimum, the following trades would have a better chance of adding to the weekly profit goal.

The trader told me, that by having a trading goal, especially a smaller one, I would be more inclined to bank profits when I had them; rather than hold on too long only to watch the market eventually take the profits away. Countless traders have given up thousands of dollars in profits because they thought the market would move just a little bit more.

The trader suggested setting an exit order to bank profits, rather than using a trailing stop loss to exit the market. There are times when a tailing stop loss is more appropriate, especially if a larger market move seems likely; however for most short term trades a profit exit order will serve the small trader better than will trailing a stop loss.

As your account grows and you can afford to trade with multiple contracts, you will simultaneously be able to bank some of the profits from a portion of your open contracts, while still leaving a few contracts in place, with a trailing stop loss order, to take advantage of further market moves. Yet before you can begin trading like this, you first need to build your account and develop your consistency.

The trader reminded me that this was just a goal however and that you can not make the markets give you more than they are prepared to give. This means that you must be constantly prepared to take a profit; rather than sacrifice the profit you already have, in hopes of gaining more, even if you are shy of your goal. After all, if the market continues higher after you exit, you still have the option of re-entering the market again if the trade still looks viable.

To develop your trading consistency you first need to decide on a weekly goal. If you are like most small traders, a goal of netting $250 per week using single contracts is a good place to start. While it might not seem like a very challenging goal on the surface, you might soon discover, through your paper trading, that it is not be as easy as you first believed. Remember, your goal is to gain $250 per week with single contracts, net of commissions and any losses that were incurred earlier in the week.

While you are working on improving your trading consistency, remember that this is only a practice session and should be treated as such. Make a game of it but don’t cheat. Once you have set a weekly goal for yourself, see for how many weeks you are able to attain it. If you can reach your goal for 12 to 16 consecutive weeks you will be doing very well. If you are doing any less than that, then you still need to practice.

Start each week fresh. There will be some weeks where you will not fair very well at all. You might find yourself with a string of losses and a cumulative loss for the week that seems insurmountable. If you are unable to attain your goal for that week, do your best to learn from your mistakes and make a new start the following week. Remember that you are performing the exercise to learn to trade consistently, so don’t be too hard on yourself.

If you are able to earn consistent profits on paper then, when the time comes, it will be more likely that you will be able to reproduce the results with real money as well. Start small and most importantly, don’t rush. Learn to paper trade profits with one contract before paper trading with more. While you might be comfortable trading one contract at a time, trading multiple contracts can put a lot of pressure on the psyche. If you can consistently earn profits with one contract then add another. If you continue to earn consistent profits with two contracts add two more contracts, and so on.

Do the same when you start trading with real money. Begin by trading one contract at a time until you get accustomed to the emotional side of trading. Then if you are successful, slowly add contracts as your account size allows. As a general rule of thumb, you can allow one contract per $5000 of your trading account. Therefore if you have a $10,000 account you could trade two contracts at a time, a $15,000 account would allow three contracts and so on.

One final tip: Take care choosing the markets you wish to follow. Since your goal is consistency you might be best off to avoid the more volatile markets. Due to their volatility, these markets normally have higher margin requirements as well; however it is not usually a problem as there are plenty of less volatile, lower margin markets that offer plenty of potential for the small trader.

While any market can have volatile streaks, the grain markets are usually a fairly safe bet for the small trader looking for consistency. Some of the softs like sugar, cotton and cocoa might be worth following although OJ should be avoided as it can be very unpredictable. While some of the meats have lower margins and can trend well, they can also be fast moving markets in which it can be difficult to minimize your losses. If you feel you have to include a meat market (or two), live cattle and live hogs are usually not as dangerous as feeder cattle or pork bellies. Most of the currencies and energies will be too expensive for the small trader to participate in; however including a metal like gold or silver might serve to round out the trading portfolio.

Take your time and remember that consistently earning profits is the real goal.

Banks Need Strong, Standardized Anti-Money Laundering Programs To Fight Financial Crime

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:52:00 +0400

Financial institutions are working hard to fight financial crime and bank fraud driven by demands to protect the bank’s assets, as well as by regulatory compliance. One area of specific focus is that of Anti-Money Laundering (AML). For many institutions, there are several challenges to creating a sustainable AML organization – one that can respond to regulatory reporting mandates and provide information to support “business as usual” demands – while also finding, developing and retaining the talent needed to accomplish these critical activities.

Regulators expect functions to be standardized on a global level and across business lines. The businesses themselves need consistency and efficiency, and one of the best ways to satisfy these expectations is to centralize functions. This is an important first step in sharing and harmonizing skills throughout the organization. Ultimately, banks and capital markets firms may wish to develop centers of excellence – with skills and expertise concentrated in specific locations – or to use managed services to gain access to desired expertise on an “as needed” basis.

While standardization, centralization and optimization may be ultimate objectives, organizations should be careful not to attempt migrating the entire AML function at once. Individual opportunities should be identified, converted and used as a foundation on which to build. Activities such as compliance case management or metrics reporting around risk, which may fall across multiple elements of the AML function today, are often a prime target to begin the journey towards standardization and/or centralization. Some banks and financial institutions may want to look within a specific line of business, while others may want to consider a broader range of activities; the key is to start with a specific focus and develop a methodology that works and that can be leveraged.

The digital revolution presents firms with an opportunity to improve how they manage financial crime compliance, reduce financial crime risk, support customer management and help drive down compliance costs. To accomplish this, firms need to get three things right:

1. Communications. Too many companies wait until they are faced with regulatory enforcement actions before updating their AML and sanctions compliance communication and training programs. That means personnel are not aware, familiar or knowledgeable of regulatory requirements or policy updates, let alone any of the implications.

Firms need to enhance their communication with strong messages from leadership and a consistent “tone at the top” to help build a compliance culture. These messages should be conveyed along with the necessary technical information through a defined learning capability strategy, including a learning program for all employees that uses case-based training methods to simulate real challenges..

2.Technology. Financial institutions should consider AML and sanctions solutions and screening software that can support regulatory requirements while minimizing time, resources and operational risk. Some firms try to stretch temporary solutions and stopgap measures into permanent answers, often resulting in wasted time and increased effort due to inefficient interim solutions.

Institutions should define their strategic roadmap in order to perform long-term objectives using a comprehensive sanctions technology architecture that is automated and integrated. The platforms in scope should include:

3. Data and monitoring. Institutions trying to improve the effectiveness of their AML monitoring systems may not be looking at the right areas of focus. Many, for example, may have overlooked the periodic review of AML source data, which is essential for a fully functioning and efficient AML monitoring system.

There are several other elements to consider in relation to data monitoring. Data quality and data integrity should be focused on data sourcing analysis and data quality analysis, assessing completeness, conformity, consistency, accuracy and duplication. Know Your Customer (KYC) and sanctions screening information should be integrated to capture the right information up front and should be included in sanctions data feeds. Finally, a risk-based approach to sanctions screening can deliver an efficient set of procedures that places greater emphasis upon higher risk areas.

Some firms have undertaken large-scale remediation programs and look-back efforts to achieve AML compliance. A carefully designed, ongoing program can help assess capabilities against industry practices, identify strengths and weaknesses, and pinpoint needed improvements. The overall compliance effort will continue – regulators, for example, have now turned their attention to anti-bribery and corruption issues – but a strong AML program can serve as a model for future efforts to fight crime while addressing regulatory concerns.

Money laundering

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:48:00 +0400

Money laundering is the generic term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to have derived from a legitimate source.

The processes by which criminally derived property may be laundered are extensive. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, the reality is that hundreds of billions of dollars of criminally derived money is laundered through financial institutions, annually. The nature of the services and products offered by the financial services industry (namely managing, controlling and possessing money and property belonging to others) means that it is vulnerable to abuse by money launderers.

How is the offence of money laundering committed?

Money laundering offences have similar characteristics globally. There are two key elements to a money laundering offence:

The necessary act of laundering itself i.e. the provision of financial services; and
A requisite degree of knowledge or suspicion (either subjective or objective) relating to the source of the funds or the conduct of a client.

The act of laundering is committed in circumstances where a person is engaged in an arrangement (i.e. by providing a service or product) and that arrangement involves the proceeds of crime. These arrangements include a wide variety of business relationships e.g. banking, fiduciary and investment management.

The requisite degree of knowledge or suspicion will depend upon the specific offence but will usually be present where the person providing the arrangement, service or product knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that the property involved in the arrangement represents the proceeds of crime. In some cases the offence may also be committed where a person knows or suspects that the person with whom he or she is dealing is engaged in or has benefited from criminal conduct.

Are all crimes capable of predicating money laundering?

Different jurisdictions define crime predicating the offence of money laundering in different ways. Generally the differences between the definitions may be summarised as follows:

Differences in the degree of severity of crime regarded as sufficient to predicate an offence of money laundering. For example in some jurisdictions it is defined as being any crime that would be punishable by one or more years imprisonment. In other jurisdictions the necessary punishment may be three or five years imprisonment; or
Differences in the requirement for the crime to be recognized both in the country where it took place and by the laws of the jurisdiction where the laundering activity takes place or simply a requirement for the conduct to be regarded as a crime in the country where the laundering activity takes place irrespective of how that conduct is treated in the country where it took place.

In practice almost all serious crimes, including, drug trafficking, terrorism, fraud, robbery, prostitution, illegal gambling, arms trafficking, bribery and corruption are capable of predicating money laundering offences in most jurisdictions.

Can Fiscal Offences such as tax evasion predicate Money Laundering?

The answer depends upon the definition of crime contained within the money laundering legislation of a particular jurisdiction.

Tax evasion and other fiscal offences are treated as predicate money laundering crimes in most of the worlds most effectively regulated jurisdictions.

Why is money laundering illegal?

The objective of the criminalisation of money laundering is to take the profit out of crime. The rationale for the creation of the offence is that it is wrong for individuals and organisations to assist criminals to benefit from the proceeds of their criminal activity or to facilitate the commission of such crimes by providing financial services to them.

How is money laundered?

The processes are extensive. Generally speaking, money is laundered whenever a person or business deals in any way with another person’s benefit from crime. That can occur in a countless number of diverse ways.

Traditionally money laundering has been described as a process which takes place in three distinct stages.

Placement, the stage at which criminally derived funds are introduced in the financial system.

Layering, the substantive stage of the process in which the property is ‘washed’ and its ownership and source is disguised.

Integration, the final stage at which the ‘laundered’ property is re-introduced into the legitimate economy.

This three staged definition of money laundering is highly simplistic. The reality is that the so called stages often overlap and in some cases, for example in cases of financial crimes, there is no requirement for the proceeds of crime to be ‘placed’.

20 Investments: Futures Contract

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:44:00 +0400

What Is It?

As the name implies, futures are contracts on commodities, currencies, and stock market indexes that attempt to predict the value of these securities at some date in the future.

The popular perception of futures is that they are a form of very high risk speculation. This is true. But futures are also widely used as financial tools for reducing risk. Futures speculators invest in commodity futures in the same way others invest in stocks and bonds, and mutual fund managers also use futures to hedge against risk. The primary purpose of futures markets is to provide an efficient and effective mechanism for the management of price risks. Futures traders accept price risks from producers and users with the idea of making substantial profits.

A futures contract on a commodity is a commitment to deliver or receive a specific quantity and quality of a commodity during a designated month at a price determined by the futures market. For example, someone buying an April Canola contract at $5 a pound is obligated to accept delivery of 100 pounds of canola during the month of April at $5 per pound. Selling a futures contract means you are obligated to deliver these goods. The same concept applies to buying a futures contract on any other asset. It is important to know that a very high portion of futures contracts trades never lead to delivery of the underlying asset; most contracts are "closed out" before the delivery date. (For an in-depth look at the futures market, read our Futures Fundamentals tutorial.)

Objectives and Risks There are two reasons to use commodity futures contracts: to hedge a price risk or to speculate. What do we mean by hedging? Let's say you are a farmer and you have 1,000 pounds of wheat to sell. You could either wait until harvest and sell your wheat at the current market price, or you could use a futures contract to "lock-in" the price today. If you are satisfied with the price of wheat today, then you will sell (or short) the appropriate wheat futures contract. By shorting the contract, you are guaranteeing that you will get today's price at harvest time. How does that work? The gain (or loss) on the futures contract will equal the gain (or loss) on the market price at harvest time - this is called a perfect hedge. A mutual fund manager would use this same strategy, but with index futures. He or she would short futures contracts on a stock index, therefore reducing any downside risk for a certain period of time.

The risks associated with futures contracts apply mainly to speculators. Speculators take positions on their expectations of future price movement, often with no intention of either making or taking delivery of the commodity. They buy when they anticipate rising prices and sell when they anticipate declining prices. The reason futures are so risky is because they are usually bought on margin, and each futures contract represents a large amount of the underlying asset. For example, a bond futures contract might cost $10,000 but represent $100,000 in bonds. Futures rules state that you only need to deposit 5-10% down and the rest of the contract can be purchased through the use of margin. (To learn more about the advantages and risks of margin trading, read our Margin Trading tutorial.)

The bottom line is that you should only invest in futures if you are very experienced and you have a lot of money.

How To Buy or Sell It
Futures can be purchased through most full-service and some discount brokers. There are also brokers that specialize in futures trading.

ITV dips on worries about online competition and falling ad revenues

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:41:00 +0400

ITV has been caught in a two way pull and the bears appear to be winning at the moment.

The broadcaster’s shares are down 1.8p at 226.2p, with Deutsche Bank issuing a sell note with a 200p price target, partly on the basis that the competition from mobile and online viewing is beginning to bite. Analyst Laurie Davison said:

We are cutting ITV advertising estimates again. It is tempting to point to the EU referendum as causing temporary uncertainty and assume a second half bounceback. But our checks point to three factors, none of which are going away: UK National Living Wage; falling number of adverts being watched from shifting viewing habits and advertisers being more aggressive on pricing. Consensus hopes for a second half recovery are too optimistic. A falling number of adverts being watched is of particular concern as it highlights our concerns for the linear TV ad model, where ITV is most exposed in Europe. ITV stock can fall further; at 10.9 times enterprise value/EBITDA versus more diversified and higher quality US peers at 7-10 times.

On advertising, Deutsche said:

Our channel checks with media agencies point to continuing deterioration in ITV ad revenues. In March, ITV guided for first quarter flat, and April -5% with a stronger May and June to come from spend in the run-up to Euro2016. Our Media Buyer call in Jan had agency forecasts for the second quarter at +4% to 9%. This has now fallen to +1-2% with April/May/June consensus at -5%/+3%/+7%, but some estimates as low as +5% for June. Ahead of ITV’s first quarter interim management statement on May 12, we cut second quarter from +3% to +1.5% and 2016 from +2.0% to +0.5%, earnings per share falls 3%.

And on the growing competion:

[The] shift to online viewing is not new, but is starting to bite. Let’s be clear, falling impacts is just one of the three reasons for the cuts. But we still find European investors remarkably sanguine on the growing risks to the linear TV model. The argument that “Europe is different” is right, but Euro TV is more exposed, not less than US entertainment names. ITV is most at risk with the UK seeing most rapid shifts and 75% of earnings from linear ads.

Meanwhile Credit Suisse has cut its price target from 296.74p to 270p but kept its outperform rating:

We lower our EPS forecasts by -4% for 2016 and 2017 to reflect the weaker expectations for net advertising revenue from UK media buyers. Our new forecasts leave us 1-2% behind consensus earnings per share for 2016. ITV has underperformed EU Media by -15% since the start of the year and we believe that these earnings downgrades will come as no surprise to investors. We believe that weaker net advertising revenue growth and risk surrounding the referendum has been more than priced in and we think that ITV looks attractive on an 8% free cash flow yield despite the risks.

We believe that the significant transformation of the business which has reduced reliance on advertising and increased the strategic value of their Studios business means the long term strategic value of ITV is undervalued at current levels.

Are You Ready To Trade Futures?

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:36:00 +0400

So, you want to trade futures in the hopes of speculating correctly and becoming wealthy in the process. The question you have to answer is: are you prepared and ready to learn how this dynamic market works?
Futures do not trade in shares like stocks. They trade in contracts. Each futures contract has a standard size that is set by the futures exchange it trades on. For example, the contract size for gold futures is 100 ounces. That means when you are buying one contract of gold, you are really controlling 100 ounces of gold. If the price of gold moves $1 higher an ounce, that will affect the position by $100 ($1 x 100 ounces). You need to check each commodity or futures contract since each of them is unique. (Learn to keep your losses to a minimum and consistently produce positive results. Read Top 4 Mistakes That Cause Futures Traders To Fail.)

Win or LoseMany people begin trading without fully understanding the fundamentals of the contract. Futures trading is a zero-sum game. For each trade there is a winner and a loser. Many companies and professional fund managers use futures to hedge their other positions. They are using their futures contract to reduce the risk of their portfolio. This could be the jet fuel prices for an airline or gold produced by a mining company who wants to fix in a specific sale price. While future contracts protect against the downside of price fluctuations, they also limit potential upsides as well.

When you trade futures for their own sake, it is like playing in a casino. The floor traders, futures exchanges and a few experienced traders with deep pockets win in the long term. Most other traders end up losing their capital and leave poorer and disappointed.

Long-term success in futures trading comes from mastering three disciplines. If you are a successful stock trader, you are probably familiar with these rules. First, you need a proven trading process that works for futures trading. Next, proper money management techniques can go a long way to helping you win the futures trading game. Finally, any time your emotions control your trading you are likely to lose.

Trying to master these techniques overnight while learning the futures game is foolish. You would be better off just giving your money to the experienced traders, as it would save on your emotional wear and tear. Before venturing into futures trading, be sure you are ready to take on those with more experience and success. (The futures markets can seem daunting, but these explanations and strategies will help you trade like a pro. For more information, refer to Tips For Getting Into Futures Trading.)

The "Are You Ready" ChecklistHow do you know if you are ready to trade futures? Ask yourself these questions to see if you believe you are ready.

Trading Process
Do you have a proven trading process that applies to futures trading? Keep in mind you are making bets on the trend in a futures contract where you compete with experienced pros who use their own trading process.

Ask yourself these questions to help you decide:

Is your trading process focused on a long or short time frame? Futures contracts are available for many time frames creating opportunities that can be exploited.
Do you use technical or fundamental analysis or both? Most professionals employ a blend of both methods, with one confirming the other.
Do you have a special knowledge of a futures market that gives you an added advantage? For example, if you work in the energy industry you might know more than most about the important factors that determine the price of energy.
Do you always use a well-defined trading plan that you follow without fail? Disciplined trading helps to level the playing field.
Does your trading process recognize the market trend? Trading with the trend is a core strategy for futures traders.
Does your trading process work well in up and down markets? Futures' trading does not depend on a bull or bear market. You can trade either way, depending on the trend in the futures instrument you are using.

A well thought trading process gives you an edge. Be sure to use it.

Money Management
Good money management is necessary for success in any trading situation. It is especially important in futures trading.

Is your risk-reward method clearly articulated and used? For example, do you know in advance how much of your available capital you are willing to lose when trading futures? The corollary to this rule is being sure your process defines how much you can lose on each trade and that you enforce this rule.
Each trader views risk from his or her own perspective. Are you aggressive or conservative? Either view works as a futures trader. Just be sure to sustain that view with each trade.
Do you employ risk reduction techniques without fail? Proven techniques, such as position sizing and stop losses, are essential. Successful traders are willing to admit when they are wrong and get out of the trade.

Money management provides the tools to help you maximize your winning trades and minimize your losing ones. That is the secret to long-term profitable futures trading.

Emotional Control
Lack of control over your emotions is one of the primary reasons traders fail. Fear, anxiety, and greed are common traits in everyone. Keeping them under control is an ongoing effort. When they take over; your trading results will suffer.

How do you develop confidence in your trades? Do you use gut feel or good research? Confidence based on solid research helps to remove the emotion for the trading decision. Reading a blog or following someone else's lead without knowing why they are making the trade is a recipe for failure.
If you are unsure, do you trade anyway? Executing a bad trade is worse than not trading at all. The excitement of making a trade that does not make sense makes no sense.
When you have a losing trade, what is your reaction? If you follow your trading discipline and close the trade you have your emotions under control. On the other hand, if you change your mind and begin to hope for a better outcome, you are losing control, setting the stage for a larger loss.

The best traders never let their emotions enter into their trading. When they suspect their heart is overruling their mind, they stop until the feeling passes. It serves them well and can do the same for you. (Learn more about controlling your emotional trading, read 3 Psychological Quirks That Are Killing Your Trading.)

The Bottom LineTrading futures is fraught with risk. Since the vast majority of futures traders fail to make consistent profits, anyone who is considering trading futures should take a step back and ask themselves a number of questions before proceeding. If after careful consideration, you wish to proceed, do so knowing that you are embarking on an exciting venture that will test your trading discipline to the utmost. (If you are a hedger or a speculator, this market offers a world of profit-making opportunities. To learn more, see Trading Gold And Silver Futures Contracts.)

Barclays to sell off more than 100m shares in Africa subsidiaries

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:24:00 +0400

Barclays has kickstarted the sale of parts of its African operations, eyed by its former chief executive Bob Diamond.

In a sale that could raise £750m for the bank, Barclays announced it was placing 103.6m shares – or around a 12.2% stake – in Barclays Africa with institutional investors.

Barclays wants to reduce its 62.5% share in Barclays Africa, which is listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange, to below 20%. Diamond is part of a consortium that is trying to bid for the operation.

Last month, Diamond said the “consortium has committed long-term strategic investors. The funding is in place. There is support for this potential transaction”. Diamond was speaking in a presentation to investors in the London-listed African-based bank Atlas Mara, which he formed after being forced out of Barclays in the wake of the Libor-rigging crisis in 2012.

Barclays said Public Investment Corporation, a South African state pension fund which already has a more than 5% stake in the African business, was acting as an anchor investor in the share placing.

The sell down leaves Barclays with an influential 50.1% stake in Barclays Africa. While the selloff could be seen a blow to Diamond’s ambitions, the sale had been anticipated by the market.

Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays since the start of December, said the sale was “an important first step as we seek to reduce our shareholding in Barclays Africa to a level that achieves accounting and regulatory deconsolidation”.

In March, when he presented first quarter results, Staley had announced the planto pull back in Africa and cut the dividend this year and next. “As we said at our first quarter results, we continue to explore opportunities to reduce our shareholding, including capital market and strategic options.

“Barclays Africa is an important partner, and we are working closely with local management, including planning for the operational separation of the two businesses in a way that will preserve value for shareholders in both the Barclays and Barclays Africa groups.”

Bloomberg had earlier quoted the national regulator expressing concern about the nature of the bid. “As a regulator we won’t be comfortable with a private equity play for any of the banks,” the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank, Kuben Naidoo, said.

Sainsbury slips as analyst warns of Argos distraction

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:19:00 +0400

Ahead of Sainsbury’s results on Wednesday, analysts at HSBC have cautioned that the supermarket group’s purchase of Argos could cause disruption at a key time for the business.

HSBC analyst David Mccarthy said:

Sainsbury lacks scale compared to Tesco in an industry that is scale driven, in our view. We also believe Sainsbury is vulnerable to a Tesco recovery that is gaining momentum. To combat this, Sainsbury is buying Argos with the expectation it will be a game changer. The deal is due to complete later this year when we expect price competition to intensify. We expect Tesco to turn the heat up again as part of its long-term plan, Asda to start trying to recover margin, and the industry generally to increase competition as Sainsbury faces the difficult task of converting and integrating the Argos business. There are positives around the Argos purchase, mainly concerning the loan book, for which consumers pay nearly 30% interest, but we do not see a retail solution to Sainsbury’s structural disadvantages.

Sainsbury has moved to a medium-low pricing strategy. We applaud this move, which sees overall core prices lower and less reliance on promotions. This brings more consistency in sales performance, which in turn makes forecasting and store operations simpler and more efficient. However, this does not address the disadvantages it faces through a lack of scale versus the market leader. These scale disadvantages include buying, cost sharing, and distribution. When Tesco was not using its advantages efficiently, Sainsbury did well, but now Tesco is becoming increasingly efficient in sharing these benefits with customers.

2015/16 results [are] due Wednesday 4 May. We expect EBIT to be down around 12% to £685m, and EBIT margin down 38 basis points to 2.92%. We forecast underlying pre-tax profit to have fallen to £575m from £681m last year. This near 16% decline follows on from a near 15% decline last year. As the dividend is linked to earnings, we expect a further decline in dividend per share to 11.6p versus 13.2p last year. Although some may suggest that Sainsbury has done well on a relative basis in recent years, on an absolute basis the company has seen its underlying profit performance deteriorate in a concerning manner.

We remain cautious on Sainsbury, expecting further declines in profits and dividends over the next several years. Argos integration will confuse the numbers for a while, but the real issue is the potential disruption Argos could bring at a crucial time.

HSBC has a reduce rating on the shares and a target price of 200p. Sainsbury is currently down 3.4p at 285.5p.

White-collar crime by banks in Australia is rife and going unchecked

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 16:17:00 +0400

Systemic criminal activity in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors has placed the livelihoods of consumers at risk, while authorities are aware but do nothing to stop it, a report from financial thinktank, LF Economics, says.

The 52-page report tabled to the Senate inquiry into white-collar crime details evidence of widespread fraud committed by banks.

The report uses research from an academic specialist in banking, financial and corporate fraud, Prof William Black, and banking and finance consumer rights advocate, Denise Brailey.

Timeline: banking scandals in Australia since 2009

It says that fraud within the finance and banking sectors occurs with the full knowledge of Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

“None of these public organisations, however, have taken any meaningful action to identify, uphold the law and impose penalties on those engaged in white-collar criminality, let alone suggesting such penalties be increased,” the report says.

“The authorities know of these control frauds but refuse to act upon this knowledge; this is the first issue the inquiry must address.”

The major political parties had failed to take action to investigate or stamp out fraud and other crimes, the report says, adding that both the Coalition and Labor take campaign contributions from the sectors, “which may explain their reluctance to investigate the allegations of control fraud”.

“Long trails of victims are now left to fend for themselves, unassisted and blatantly ignored by regulators that should be striving to bring justice to these victims,” the report says.

Several examples of fraud are given. To hide the alleged fraud committed via service calculators and loan application forms, lenders have used a long, complex and opaque chain stretching from the brokers’ offices to the business development managers, the report says.

“It allows both major banks and smaller lenders to keep their hands clean of alleged fraud, while ensuring the blame falls on brokers,” the report says.

They make enormous profit and rip customers off – banks need to clean up their act
David Richardson

“The chain’s complexity suggests it is purposefully designed to hide the banks’ alleged fraud, providing a legal liability escape clause through plausible deniability. Under normal circumstances, banks would simply advertise sub-prime mortgages directly and hire more loan officers to meet demand.

“No bank manager with a sound understanding of business principles would seek to establish and deal with a complicated brokerage chain and pay fees and commissions, especially since services can be provided directly to the public at a lower expense ratio and with less bureaucracy to increase profits.”

Despite Australian law requiring that a mortgage must be approved on the basis of the borrower’s ability to finance the principal and interest payments out of income, this has not prevented lenders from approving mortgages based on the equity in the owner-occupied home.
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The report includes loan application forms from banks, including from Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which suggest control fraud has been committed– crimes by the controlling agents of firms, including executives and managers.

The report suggests credit assessors and bank officers have illegally altered borrower details by falsely inflating the value of assets and incomes to “justify” issuing much larger mortgages than would otherwise be the case.

“Brokers are unwittingly engaged in control fraud as lenders coerce them into using the ‘serviceability’ or ‘amortisation’ calculators as covered above,” the report says.

“Brailey has many emails leaked from the broker chain demonstrating lenders will not do business with brokers unless this calculator is used to fudge the borrowers’ details.”

A response to the report by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank strongly refutes the allegation that borrower details were illegally altered. There were numerous controls in place to verify the information submitted in loan applications, the bank said.

“Further, the bank maintains a ‘hindsight’ review process to review the credit quality of a random sample of loan approvals by credit assessors or officers,” the bank said.

“The bank is satisfied that these controls would detect systemic actions by its credit assessors or officers of the type alleged in the submission.”

McDonald's takes virtual tours of actual supplier farms on the road

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 07:22:00 +0400

McDonalds is to tour agricultural events around Britain with a roadshow that uses virtual reality to bring people closer to the fast food chain’s supplier farms.

The company will invite visitors to don headsets allowing them on to virtual farms, where they can drive a tractor and help harvest the potatoes for its fries. They can also go behind the scenes with a virtual tour of actual supplier farms producing eggs, milk and beef for McDonald’s 1,250 UK restaurants.

The roadshow, which begins next week, is the one that was recently banned by Labour from its autumn party conference. Labour’s move, deemed by critics of its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to be evidence of “a snobby attitude”, also lost the party revenues of £30,000. McDonald’s at the time said it was disappointed by the decision – it has been allowed by the Tories and SNP to set up similar stands at their conferences.

Technology developers, young farmers and experts from the leading agricultural university Harper Adams have been enlisted to create the roadshow, which McDonald’s hopes will reach up to 1 million people at farming shows and other events across the UK over the next year.

The “Follow our Foodsteps experience will make its first stop at the Balmoral show, in Northern Ireland, for three days next week, and will also visit the prestigious Royal Bath & West and Royal Highland shows in June.

“As a nation, we have never been more focused on food,” said Connor McVeigh, director of supply chain at McDonald’s UK. “As one of the biggest customers of British and Irish farming, we want to lift the lid on the passion and skills that exist at every stage of the process, from farm to front-counter.”

The initiative comes amid staff unrest at the chain, marked by a global day of action in April, when fast-food workers protested over pay and conditions in 40 countries. In the UK, through its TUC-backed Fast Food Rights campaign, the bakers’ and food union BFAWU (Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union) isfighting for a £10 an hour minimum wage for all staff.

McDonald’s is one of the biggest single customers of British and Irish farming – working with more than 170,000 farmers – but wants to help its customers better understand its supply chain while challenging outdated stereotypes in farming.

A YouGov poll of 2,000 consumers for the chain found 74% wanted to know more about where their food came from, but one in five could not explain any food production process. Two in five (41%) had never been to a working farm, despite national initiatives such as Open Farm Sunday.

The initiative was given a cautious welcome by the National Farmers’ Union. Its chief food adviser, Ruth Mason, said: “This innovative approach to connecting consumers with food production sees McDonald’s UK build further on its efforts to demonstrate the vital role that farmers and growers play in its supply chain. However, we would like to see it improve its UK sourcing in some food sectors, particularly with chicken, where it is currently only 10%.”

The roadshow is the latest move by retailers to try to connect consumers with the realities of modern-day farming in the UK.

In what it claimed as an industry first, Waitrose used a “cow cam” to capture scenes from a Berkshire dairy farm for its current TV advertising campaign, with other adverts focusing on a farm producing free-range eggs and fishermen who supply Waitrose fresh fish counters.

Oil firms have 10 years to change strategy or face 'short, brutish end'

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Fri, 6 May 2016 07:11:00 +0400

International oil companies such as Shell and BP must completely change their business model or face a “nasty, brutish and short” end within 10 years, one of Britain’s most influential energy experts has warned.

Paul Stephens, a fellow at Chatham House thinktank, said in a research paper the oil “majors” were no longer fit for purpose – hit by low crude prices, tightening climate change regulations and their own wrongheaded strategies.

In the report, Stephens argues the only way forward for the companies lies in diversifying into green energy, drastically reducing their operations or consolidating through mega-mergers.

“The prognosis for the IOCs [international oil companies] was already grim before governments became serious about climate change and the oil price collapsed … their old business model is dying,” said Stephens, a visiting professor at University College London.

“In this new world, the only realistic option … lies in restructuring and realising (selling) many of their current assets to provide cash for their shareholders.”

The death of these key fossil fuel providers would be an astonishing reversal in fortunes for powerful companies that have previously been accused of being climate change deniers and tools – if not makers – of foreign policy.

The companies, increasingly facing calls from many of their shareholders to take more account of the environment, have also been stalwarts of the London stock market and important providers of dividends for British pension funds.

Stephens believes the companies have spent too much time trying to maximise shareholder value by finding and proving more reserves while outsourcing key operations.

The collapse in crude to $45 per barrel has exacerbated problems for the industry, but the Chatham House expert says a major price recovery cannot be guaranteed. He says companies have 10 years to change strategy or die.

“This means inevitably, however, that they must shrink into the remaining areas, functionally and geographically, where they can earn an acceptable return.

“This requires a major change in the corporate culture of the IOCs. It remains to be seen whether their senior management can manage such a fundamental shift. If they can, then the IOCs will be able to slip into a gentle decline but ultimately survive, albeit on a much smaller scale. If they do not change their business model, what remains of their existence will be nasty, brutish and short.”

The call for a shakeup comes less than 24 hours after another thinktank, the Carbon Tracker Initiative, also called on oil companies to slim down and base their business models around global warming targets.

The big oil companies, including US firms such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron, have been warned that they are presiding over “stranded assets” of carbon that can never be burned if the world is determined to keep average temperatures from rising no more than 2C (35.6F) above pre-industrial levels.

But the future of international climate change strategies, and therefore carbon emissions, will depend to a great extent on whether countries implement the necessary policies agreed at the UN talks in Paris last December.

A range of issues could influence this, not least whether America elects a president this year who is as committed to the low-carbon agenda as Barack Obama. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, may not be.

Stephens said he had assumed the Paris agreement – known as COP21 – would be implemented, allowing the world to move slowly but surely into a new lower-carbon phase.

There are isolated signs of companies taking action to change their business model, with Shell merging with its rival BG and pulling back from high-cost and environmentally challenging drilling in the Alaskan Arctic.

The Chatham House expert notes that the influence of the international oil companies has waned since the 25 years following the second world war, when they controlled virtually all crude production outside of the US and communist states.

They also owned “70% of all refining capacity, every important pipeline and about two-thirds of the privately owned tanker fleet. In this period, international crude oil trade moved entirely within their integrated operations or through long-term contracts between them.”

53 Ways to Make Money From Your Website

noreply@blogger.com (ziko) — Thu, 5 May 2016 17:59:00 +0400

When many start-up websites launched (including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and others), they didn’t have much of a monetization plan initially. Their primary goal was focusing on creating something that would attract attention and big traffic.

Once they had the traffic in place, lots of different ways to make money will present themselves. Although, I suspect that none of us will be creating the next huge internet start-up (like Facebook), we would be wise to have a few things in mind when creating a new site.

First, we should make sure there is a market for our site (keyword research is big part of this). Secondly, we should try to create something of value. Finally, we should ideally find a niche that has money being spent in it.

Today, I want to focus on different ways that you can make money from your website.

How to Monetize a Niche Site

In the past, I’ve primarily focused on Google Adsense for my own niche sites. I did try out a few Adsense alternatives, but I came back to Adsense because its the highest paying contextual ad network out there…by far. Its easy to implement, pays the most, and just works.

However, as I set out to start my very first public niche site project, I have decided to use something besides Google Adsense to monetize my site. (You can learn more about the niche site project and live webinar to be held here).

I’m not going to pick a particular monetization strategy until I pick a niche and keyword. Right now, I’m thinking that I would like to build an email list and monetize that list with affiliate offers or my own products. However, this is not set in stone, and could change as I pick my niche OR as I test different strategies on the same site.

However, as I contemplate how I should make money from my new niche site, I am again reminded of how many options are out there. First, I’m going to list the general ways to monetize (categories like CPA, contextual ads, etc) and then I’ll number off the specific networks or options within each of those general categories.

Pay Per Click Contextual Ad Networks

These are networks like Google Adsense that have ads displayed based on the content of your site. Typically you will get paid per click from these types of contextual networks. Here are a few (there are likely many many more):

1. Google Adsense

2. Media.net (now manages both the Yahoo and Bing ad Networks)

3. Infolinks

4. Kontera

5. Vibrant Media

6. GumGum (In-image ads)

7. Chitika

8. Clicksor.com (both eCPM and pay per click).

CPM Advertising Networks

Rather than paying on a per click basis, these ad networks pay on a per view basis (usually a dollar amount based on 1000 pageviews). Most of these networks require that you have a large visitor base to be approved to their network; therefore most of these won’t work for a smaller niche sites.

9. ValueClick Media

10. Tribal Fusion (500,000 unique visitors per month required).

11.
~~Adbrite~~ (update – Adbrite is shutting its doors on Feb. 1st 2013).

12. Casale Media

13. ePom.com

14. Adblade.com

15. Advertising.com (part of AOL)

16. Burst Media (25,000 monthly page views)

17. CPX Interactive

18. Technorati Media

There are a TON more CPM ad networks out there, this is just a small sample. You need to find one that fits your niche or works best for your site.

CPA (Cost Per Action) Networks

These types of ads pay a fixed dollar amount based on an action taken (like an email submit form filled out). Many of these ad networks listed below offer both affiliate commissions (% of the actual purchase price) AND CPA opportunities. There are also a LOT more ad networks out there than I could possibly ever list in this category – this is just a few.

19. Neverblue Media

20. Clickbooth

21. MaxBounty.com

22. PeerFly.com

23. CPAway.com

24. Adscend Media

25. ShareaSale.com

26. CPAlead.com

About a thousand others…

Affiliate Networks

An affiliate network pays out a fixed amount or a percentage of the sale amount. You refer someone through your link and get paid if someone actually buys something. As mentioned, some of these networks bleed together; meaning some of these affiliate networks pay out on CPA offers as well.

27. Amazon Associates – Can be a good option because you get paid no matter what the person buys on Amazon within 24 hours (not just what you referred them to).

28. Commission Junction (CJ.com)

29. Clickbank

30. SkimLinks (This is actually an in-content ad network, but it pays out based on actual sales made. So its not a per-click basis, but does display ads automatically based on the content of your site. Its a pretty cool option actually that I’ve used and like).

31. LinkShare

32. ClixGalore

33. eBay Partner Network (Actually pays on a per click basis – but the amount you earn goes up or down based on the history of actual sales you’ve generated. So if lots of people buy through your links, you get more per click.)

34. AvantLink.com

35. Google Affiliate Network (different than standard Google Adsense).

36. PepperJamNetwork.com

37. JVzoo.com

38. WarriorPlus.com

Direct Affiliate Programs

Thousands (yes thousands) of companies offer their own affiliate programs that are NOT listed in any network. These can be harder to find, but often pay very well. Here are just 2 examples of companies that run their affiliate program in house:

39. HostGator – runs affiliate program here

40. Unique Article Wizard – runs affiliate program here

This is probably the biggest category because you can also contact companies directly and ask to start an affiliate program with them or otherwise work out a deal with them directly.

Sell Ad Space Directly

This is a big market as well with lots of options. You can contact people directly on your own or use an ad manager/network to help. Here’s just one option:

41. BuySellAds.com

Create Your Own Product

The most profitable way to monetize your site is usually going to be with your own product. Obviously the kinds of products you can create are only limited by your imagination. Here’s just a few common options:

42. Create a video training course

43. Create an eBook

44. Create a membership area or paid forum

45. Sell a physical product and ship it.

46. Create a piece of software

47. Create other tools, services, or information that customers are willing to pay for

Sell Text Links

Obviously this won’t be right for everyone and many consider questionable. But there’s a huge marketplace. Here’s just a few places you can sell links:

48. Text-Link-Ads

49. TextLinkBrokers.com

50. Digital Point Forum

51. Warrior Forum

Donations

When all else fails, you can ask for money :). Many sites have done this in the past.

52. Ask for donations

Sell Your Site

Even if you never monetize your site, you might be able to sell out for a pretty penny! If you build the traffic of your site or otherwise have an audience, there is value there. If the traffic is high enough, you could sell for a lot (think Twitter kind of traffic…). And of course, people buy brand new sites all the time that have no traffic or audience based on design and niche (but usually for very cheap).

53. Sell Your Site

Overview and Your Thoughts

To be honest, I probably missed several other ways that you can monetize your site, but this is a good start! And most certainly there are thousands of other ad networks or affiliate programs out there that you can use. But for the most part all your options for monetization are going to fit in these main categories covered: Pay Per Click Networks, CPM Ad Networks, CPA Networks, Affiliate Networks, Direct Affiliate Programs, Selling Ad Space, Creating a Product, Sell Text Links, Donations, or selling your site.

Overall, as I begin the process on Thursday evening on the live webinar, I’ll be thinking these different ways to monetize my site. I’ve excluded Adsense as a choice, but I have at least 52 other ways I could make money from my niche site.

I would love to hear your thoughts! Did I miss any major money making networks or methods? Let’s discuss below.