An Analysis of Wells Fargo & Company (WFC)

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) is a huge Western and Midwestern bank that provides a diverse array of financial services to its more than 23 million customers. The company employs more than 150,000 people at its over 6,000 locations nationwide. Wells Fargo has about $500 billion in assets.

While the company continues to derive more than half its revenues from interest income (about $26 billion), its activities are not limited to collecting deposits and lending money. Wells Fargo engages in other businesses such as brokerage services, asset management, and investment banking. The company also makes venture capital investments.

Over the last ten years, Wells Fargo has averaged a 1.57% return on assets and an 18.19% return on equity.

Location

Wells Fargo is closely associated with California in the minds of most investors. The company now operates in 23 different states. However, the concentration in California remains.

Mortgage lending in California accounts for approximately 14% of Wells Fargo’s total loan portfolio. Commercial real estate loans in California account for another 5% of the company’s total loans. No other single state accounts for a similarly sized portion of total loans. In fact, neither mortgage lending nor commercial real estate lending in any other state accounts for more than 2% of Wells Fargo’s total loans.

Cross-Selling

Wells Fargo’s focus on cross-selling is well known. The company has a stated goal of doubling the number of products the average consumer and business customer has with Wells Fargo to eight products per customer (from the current four products per customer).

Cross-selling increases customer stickiness. It also helps increase profitability by decreasing expenses relative to revenues. The need for a large physical footprint is reduced – as is the need for a large number of bankers. Instead, the existing infrastructure is able to provide additional revenue from the same customers.

Wells Fargo’s Chairman & CEO, Richard Kovacevich, explains the importance of the company’s cross-selling in the “Vision & Values” section of the corporate website:

Cross-selling — or what we call “needs-based” selling — is our most important strategy. Why? Because it is an “increasing returns” business model. It’s like the “network effect” of e-commerce. It multiplies opportunities geometrically. The more you sell customers the more you know about them. The more you know about them the easier it is to sell them more products. The more products customers have with you the better value they receive and the more loyal they are. The longer they stay with you the more opportunities you have to meet even more of their financial needs. The more you sell them the higher the profit because the added cost of selling another product to an existing customer is often only about ten percent of the cost of selling that same product to a new customer. This gives us–as an aggregator — a significant cost advantage over one product or one channel companies. Cross-selling re-invents how financial services are aggregated and sold to customers — just like other aggregators such as Wal-Mart (general merchandise), Home Depot (home improvement products) and Staples (office supplies).

Mr. Kovacevich’s enthusiasm for the cross-selling model is well justified. It is difficult to quantify the importance of meeting all the varied needs of your customers, because you can not measure the opportunities you missed. However, it is obvious that reducing each customer’s interest in considering a competitor’s services will greatly increase long-term profitability for any company engaged in any line of business – not just for a bank.

Later, in the same website section, Mr. Kovacevich addresses the importance of customer stickiness:

(Cross-selling) is our most important customer-related sales metric. We want to earn 100 percent of our customers’ business. The more products customers have with Wells Fargo the better deal they get, the more loyal they are, and the longer they stay with the company, improving retention. Eighty percent of our revenue growth comes from selling more products to existing customers.

This focus on retention is an important part of a long-term plan to maintain Wells Fargo’s above-average returns on assets and equity. Extraordinary profitability comes from differentiating your product or service from those of your competitors. Increasing customer stickiness and reducing “comparison shopping” is a key part of maintaining extraordinary profitability.

Some businesses are blessed with enviable economics because of their product’s natural prominence in the minds of their customers. Most businesses are obsessed with market share. But, how many really think about “mind share”? Obviously, a product like Coke (KO), Hershey (HSY), or Snickers is going to have a positive association in the minds of consumers.

For many people, these products will also have a prominent place in each customer’s mind (relative to other products and services on which money can be spent). A few other businesses have a healthy mind share without the positive association; GEICO is the most obvious example. The company’s brand conjures up nothing but the words “auto insurance”. Of course, that’s all the GEICO brand has to do.

So, what does all this have to do with Wells Fargo? Mind share isn’t just the result of exposure to advertising. In fact, in most cases, exposure to advertising can not duplicate the kind of results that a direct, differentiated experience creates. Entertainment properties are by far the leaders in mind share. People who saw and loved Star Wars remember the film. In fact, they don’t just remember the film, they actually file it away (or, more precisely, cross reference it) in countless ways within their mind.

The evidence for this particular example is abundant. There are countless references to Star Wars in other media. The name, the music, the opening text and countless other elements are immediately recognizable. Even the films Star Wars fans hated made more money than almost any other movies in the history of cinema – and this was decades after the original came out. So, obviously Star Wars has the kind of lasting mind share any business should aspire to if it hopes to continuously earn extraordinary profits.

Unfortunately, most businesses, however well run, can not attain this kind of mind share. The products and services they provide can never be as differentiated and memorable as a motion picture. Just as importantly, the positive associations will not be present, simply because the product or service is not inherently exciting, entertaining, or pleasant. This is clearly the case in financial services.

So, what can a financial services company do to improve its mind share? The most obvious tactic is simply to “wow” its customers. In fact, Wells Fargo’s CEO discusses this particular option in the “Vision and Values” section of the company’s website:

We have to “wow!” them. We know what that feels like because we’re all customers. We go to the cleaners, the grocery store, a restaurant or whatever, and we find a situation where we’re “wowed!” We walk out and we say, those people really listened to me and helped me get what I need. All of us hear stories about customers, say, who pick a certain line at the supermarket because they know the person who bags the groceries connects with customers — smiles, greets regular customers by name, asks how their families are doing. When a personal banker helps a customer in one of our stores, or when a customer gets help from one of our phone bankers or does transactions on wellsfargo.com we want them to say, “That was great. I can’t wait to tell someone.”

Another option worth pursuing is widening the associations present in the customer’s mind. Financial services is a business where associations tend to be more conscious, categorized, and hierarchical than the associations formed in more heavily branded businesses. Put simply, the (potential) customer usually thinks of a “set” before thinking of an “element” within that set. Like many mental associations, the information can be returned in either direction. For example, the customer may normally think “banks” and then think “Wells Fargo”, but will also be able to return the word “bank” if prompted by the name “Wells Fargo”. This categorization is important, because it provides (limited) permission for Wells Fargo to expand its mind share horizontally (across service categories).

In other words, providing a diverse range of financial services doesn’t just make sense from the provider’s perspective, it also makes sense from the user’s perspective, because the user of financial services has already grouped deposits, borrowing, credit cards, insurance, brokerage services, asset management, etc. together in a very loose way within his mind. As a result of this mental network, one positive experience with Wells Fargo will greatly affect a customer’s desire to pay for an additional service, even if the two services are not really all that similar.

The three key elements here are: a broader definition of what Wells Fargo is (a place that does “money things”, not just a bank), a positive experience, and some sense of trust that the quality of service will be consistent. The last requirement is the easiest to meet, because it’s natural for a customer to assume that the positive experience was not a fluke, much the way a diner assumes the good meal he had at a particular restaurant was not caused by his picking the best offering from the menu. The diner usually assumes the overall quality of the restaurant’s various entrees is superior. Likewise, a good experience with one of Wells Fargo’s products or services will likely rub off on its other offerings.

Valuation

Shares of Wells Fargo currently yield just over 3%. The stock trades at a price-to-book ratio of just under 2.75 and a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 15.

Conclusion

Over the last 5, 10, 15, and 20 years shareholders of Wells Fargo & Company have fared better than the S&P 500. As of the end of last year, WFC’s total return over the last ten years was 17% vs. 9% for the S&P. Over the last 20 years, WFC outpaced the S&P 500 by an even wider margin: 21% vs. 12%.

Wells Fargo has a stellar reputation with investors. The company is the only U.S. bank to earn Moody’s highest credit rating. Wells Fargo also boasts a well-known major shareholder. The largest owner of the company’s common stock is Berkshire Hathaway. Warren Buffett’s holding company has a roughly 5.5% stake in Wells Fargo. Berkshire’s last reported purchase occurred during the first quarter of this year.

Wells Fargo has a stated goal of achieving double-digit growth in earnings and revenue while managing a return on assets over 1.75% and a return on equity over 20%. Those are both very ambitious goals. The company has achieved some of the highest returns on assets and equity of any major U.S. bank. However, Wells Fargo will probably need to increase the percentage of revenue it derives from fee businesses if it is to achieve these goals.

In the years ahead, the company may well become more of a diversified financial services business. In fact, that’s what I expect will happen. The company’s commitment to cross-selling is not some fad. Eventually, this commitment will change the way investors think about Wells Fargo. Soon, it may be considered much more than a bank.

Wells Fargo’s CEO makes the case that his company’s P/E is simply too low. Wells Fargo has a solid history of strong growth and profitability. So, why should it be valued similarly to most other banks? Shouldn’t it be awarded a multiple more in line with a growth company?

There’s actually some merit to this argument. Wells Fargo is unusually well positioned for a bank. Often, those banks that seem certain to earn very high returns on assets and equity for many years to come are poorly positioned for future growth. These banks are often smaller than their competitors and focused on a specific geographic niche. Any acquisitions would dilute the exceptional profitability of the bank’s niche.

Of course, there are also many consolidators in the banking industry. Unfortunately, many of these banks do not have a history of earning the kind of returns on assets and equity that Wells Fargo has achieved. Even more importantly, there is little differentiation between these titans of the banking industry and their national competitors. Therefore, their moats are highly suspect.

Wells Fargo is a different kind of bank. It has a history of extraordinary growth and profitability. There are two obvious opportunities for future growth: geographic expansion and cross-selling. Of these two opportunities, it’s clear I’m more enamored with the latter. An eastward push is not necessary, and certainly not via an ill-advised acquisition.

There is a lot of value in the Wells Fargo franchise and there is plenty of room within that franchise for future growth. That’s one of the great advantages of the financial services industry. With the right model, limits to growth are almost non-existent. In other highly-profitable industries, there is often nowhere to reinvest new capital at a similar rate of return.

If Wells Fargo is a growth stock, it is a peculiar sort of growth stock. Maybe that is what attracted Buffett to the company in the first place. Here is a business with a strong franchise that can grow for many years to come. Perhaps most importantly, it is a growth business that frequently trades in the market at value like multiples, simply because it’s a bank.

At the current market price, Wells Fargo is the sort of investment you make once and forget. The valuation is not so cheap as to promise a good return if the business falters. But, the business is not so suspect as to require the margin of safety be provided by a low P/E ratio. Sometimes, near certain growth is the margin of safety.

On a separate topic, I’d like to encourage anyone with an interest in competitive advantages to read the entire “Vision and Values” section of the Wells Fargo site.

Superficially, it looks like any other online presentation to investors. In truth, it is nothing like those hollow, sugary slide shows. It’s actually an engaging exploration of competitive advantages within an industry that seems totally unlike the sort of branded, consumer-oriented businesses one normally associates with strong franchises. Even if you aren’t interested in the banking industry in particular, I recommend reading this section for its insights into customer psychology and behavior.

Drones and UAVs in Air Delivery & Freight Services

The fact that drones are linked with military operations and unlawful trespassing behavior often overshadows the peaceful and important role they play in civil airspace. Nowadays, drones play a significant role in almost all fields of life. Farmers use them to water plants, camera men use them to capture exquisite shots, astronauts use them to explore planets, and recently mega corporations started to invest heavily in unmanned air delivery & freight services.

The recent increase in the rates of drone use encouraged big companies in the air delivery and freight industries to invest in drone based delivery. It even prompted corporations who aren’t associated with air delivery and freight services at all to experiment with the idea.

On November 28th, Cyber Monday, Amazon announced their futuristic delivery system that’s expected to deliver packages to customers within only 30 minutes. They played a video that showed an aircraft delivering a pair of sneakers to a customer with consummate ease. They announced that they service will be named Amazon Air Prime. In April 2015, Amazon Air Prime began testing their first parcelcopter. The date at which their first parcelcopter is expected to begin operating is yet to be announced however with development reaching its peak and the beginning of the testing phase, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, announced recently that they’re expected to start operation late 2018.

According to forecasts, drones based air delivery and freight services are expected to reach the large sum of $36.9 billion by 2022, achieving an unprecedented rate in the history of delivery and freight services.

The birth of drone-based air delivery and freight services isn’t geographically restricted to US only but also Europe. Earlier in 2016, Swiss Post Ltd. announced that they’re going to launch their own line of drone manufacturing to be used in post and parcels delivery. Such a breakthrough will change the nature of air delivery and freight services. The company announced that its aim to provide affordable drone based delivery to Swiss residents. If the project as imagined was successfully implemented it will mark another unprecedented milestone by creating a drone service affordable to the common man, as opposed to Amazon’s services which is expected to be expensive in pricing and thus available exclusively to the elite and rich.

The world as we know it will definitely see an irreversible change once the drone based air delivery and freight services kick in. Automation has already taken over a large portion of our lives and with the introduction of drones as integral part of our daily routine, automation will be thorough and full to say the least. The prophecies of science-fiction novels will be fulfilled and our lives will become easier than ever. At the end this was meant to happen, our lives were meant to be automated. From the beginning of the industrial revolution, our thinkers realized that machines are the future and humans are nothing but obsolete.

Advantages of E-Learning & How To Create An App For It

Education is no more confined to the walls of schools and educational institutions. With the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, it has now become possible to facilitate learning experiences online and beyond the boundaries of schools and institutions.

eLearning has been gradually grabbing up space in the apps market and the reason is the widespread education industry. There’s literally no limit to the number of categories, learning fields, languages, or cultural peculiarities involved in it. Besides, students or young learners are striving hard too to do better than others. The idea of eLearning apps is to help them compete in the rat race by letting them read, learn, and absorb knowledge beyond their textbooks. However, getting an app developed is not that easy and instant. You need to decide first who will be the audience. Kids, young students, and grown-up are the user groups that can benefit from an eLearning app. Second, you need the conceive the idea or purpose of learning the app will serve. It can be about providing reading experiences (of any course materials, books, etc.) video-based learning, online aptitudes, tricky riddles and question-solving, language learning and many more.

If you’re thinking about making your entry to the education industry with one purposeful learning app, here is a guideline.

Decide the type of leaners to target

Among the three defined users groups, decide whom do you want to help out with your app. The kind of app you want to develop depends on that. For instance, if it targets kids, consider focussing on puzzle solving, numbers and alphabets learning through games, or elementary topics learning with fun interactions. On the other hand, engaging young scholars and adult students mean getting the app featured with any online tutorials, practice sets, eBooks and study materials, online conference or discussion form, or learning videos by teachers.

Consider the features of your eLearning app

To make your app fun as well as engaging to the users, make sure you incorporate the most interactive features.

  • Gamification: It avoids making the learning experience dull. Gamifying the learning process with rewards, badges, or power points will make the experience fun-filled for the learners.

  • Cloud storage for the database: There should be a secure database in the form of cloud storage from where learners could quickly access all whatever information they need.

  • Virtual classroom: In whichever category your app belongs, make sure it offers a virtual space where learners could come together and interact with each other. Besides, the classroom must be having writing tools, whiteboard, video recording, and share features.

  • User account and dashboard functionality: Make sure your app should enable students to maintain an independent user account, where they could keep track of their learning courses, tests attained, videos downloaded, etc. in a dashboard.

  • Other features: Try implementing other interactive features speech-recognition, social media sharing, push-notifications, and multi-language support.

Consider monetisation approaches to earn from your app

After settling with your eLearning app idea, it’s time for you to decide how to make money with it. Effective monetisation approaches that will let you earn some good returns are in-app purchases, freemium policy, paid subscription packs, and partnership with schools and big educational organisations. Taking with app marketers will further help you in monetising your app and can even help to optimise your app store submissions.

Hire a mobile app development firm

Lastly, to assure the success of your eLearning app and make it really big as your contribution to the education industry, partner with a competent adept mobile app development company. Surely, you need a team having technology expertise in both iOS and Android and experience in widespread app categories to kickstart your app idea.

Timely & Lucrative Audio Interview Ideas

Lucrative to one person may mean something different to another.

There’s millions and millions of different topics and niches and products out there.

My niche, the internet marketing crowd and copywriting and marketing niche, it is such a small niche.  

Copywriting niche, if you ask ten people on the street, “What is copywriting?” I guarantee you probably out of ten, maybe one may know what copywriting is.

My niche is a very small niche, but there are huge niches out there. One niche that I like within my small niche here is I like business opportunity.  It’s that saying, “Catch a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for life.”

When you’re selling a business opportunity on how to make money, or you’re selling them a system that he can implement and use to provide for his family for the rest of his life, that has a lot of value. There are a lot of people looking for that. So, I like business opportunity. One of my main products is an HMA Marketing Consulting System. That really is a business opportunity. It teaches you how to be a marketing consultant, and if you take to it and study it and implement it, you could make a nice living doing marketing consulting. So, it’s a short cut to the process.

Those type products have a lot of value, and it’s great to use audio interviews, expert interviews and testimonial type interviews to promote that type of thing.

So, I would go with business opportunities and you might find some other niches that are even more popular that have a higher demand and say, “Do your research.”

A lot of my recordings aren’t necessarily business opportunity, but they’re information trainings. Copywriting really, it could be a business opportunity, but there’s skills like negotiating and copywriting and sales scripting and how to get more referrals. Those are all skill type interviews, and those actually will translate into more money in your pocket.

So, my niche, business skills and business opportunities have been pretty good for me. So, I would stick with something like that, and I would also think about the type of margins when you’re creating your information product. What could they sell for?

Business opportunities tend to sell for higher margins. People will pay more for those. People will pay a million dollars. I don’t know how much a McDonald’s franchise is. Maybe they’re two or three million now, or they’ll pay a million dollars for a Subway. Franchises are being sold everyday, and these things go for fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, a million dollars because they’re business opportunities.

When people buy into them, they believe that that franchise is going to support them for the rest of their life. So, I would consider something like that with high margin. I absolutely believe that audio can sell high ticket items like that.

Friends & Family As Sources of Business Funding

As a budding entrepreneur, it took a lot of hard work and diligence, but you finally have your business idea squared away and things are starting to make sense. While visions of success circle throughout your mind, there’s probably one haunting fear that remains: how on earth will you come up with enough money to fund this whole thing? That’s usually not an easy question to answer, but it remains critical that we find an answer if we ever want to turn aspirations into achievements.

One of the first places that entrepreneurs look for funding is from family and friends. Sometimes an entrepreneur may be so lucky as to have family and friends come to them before they even ask for funding themselves! But while the sentiment should be appreciated, a wise entrepreneur will consider drawing funding from these two groups of people very cautiously. And while many people draw a hard line on fundraising from family and friends, doing so isn’t always necessary. Yes, these sort of business transactions can have horrible consequences if they sour, but if entered into wisely and with enough analysis, it’s possible for great things to happen. And although the range of things to be considered when entering such an agreement is vast and nearly infinite, I’ve distilled the subject down to three important considerations to ponder when you think of starting a business with the help of family or friends. To emphasize, these aren’t the only considerations that need to be made, neither may they be the absolute most important of any consideration – my aim is simply to provide a few pieces of food for thought.

1. Will the investment dramatically hurt or imbalance the lifestyle of your family member or friend if the deal goes wrong?

Consider how financially stable the prospective investor currently is. For example, if your friend is living with unpaid student loans or other debts, she may not be the best candidate for a round of financing. Even if she is enthusiastic and willing to contribute cash, the risk that this transaction results in if your business fails are simply too high. This isn’t to say that she cannot still provide other types of capital, however. Even though financial investments are out of the picture, personal capital of labor or social capital of contacts may still be desirable!

2. What level of control, if any, does your family member or friend desire?

Some people will contribute money to your cause merely because they want to help you achieve your dreams, and without a second thought to having a role in the business aside from financial backing. On the other hand, other people will expect some role or control in the company. The level of control could range anywhere from having free products and services for life, or a paid position in the upper levels of management. When probing for their desires, be sure to recognize that giving some level of control to the individual may not always be a bad thing. If he is qualified and brings talent or experience to the position, it’s worth considering.

3. What is the payout for your family member or friend? Will it be financial gains or simply goodwill?

Aside from control in business, a second big motivator for investors is the result or “exit strategy,” and family members and friends are no exceptions. Ask the interested investor what her expectations are for the future. Would she like to see her investment double? Or would she simply like her money back after a certain number of years? Either way, planning for the future by evaluating the expectations made today can be instrumental in reducing tensions down the road.

Top 9 Online Jobs & Part Time Work From Home For College Students, Housewives & Freshers

Most people have certain unique skills that can be monetized. Also, you can re-skill yourself anytime nowadays. After starting to do these part time online works from home, your income would increase.

You can become a successful businessman / woman and increase your income and profits by starting these types of online businesses. These business ventures require little or no investment.

You can operate and sustain many of these business activities from your home. Even, if you are already employed, you can operate a small business. For many, these ventures can become a full-time business.

A few top proved and profitable part time jobs from home and small business ideas are listed here, which would suit the skills, knowledge, and temperament of different types of people. Here are some excellent online business ideas here for everyone.

You can start a small business on your own. You can set up a home office. You can utilize the workspace at your home.

Most of the times, a fast/reliable Internet connection, a computer, phones and the required skills are all that is needed to start a small online business.

Profitable Home-based Online Jobs For College Students/ Housewives/ Fresh Graduates/ Unemployed/ Working Professionals

1) Social Media Expert

You can offer your social media promotion and marketing services from your home to the small-scale businesses.

You may manage their Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media profiles, groups, and pages as a freelancer. You will be implementing the right methods for managing the posts, content, and followers.

2) Make Money From Home By Freelancing

One can earn money by offering various types of freelance services to the companies. Fiverr.com, Upwork.com, Peopleperhour.com, and Freelancer.com are some popular platforms for freelancers for getting projects. Numerous assignments and jobs are available for all kinds of skill sets.

Register at these sites as a freelancer to get projects. Technical services, website designing, content writing, logo designing, illustration, translation, proofreading, editing, ghostwriting, etc. are some sought-after areas for contract work.

Freelancing is one of the best online jobs for college students, fresh graduates, housewives and retired persons.

3) Creating a YouTube Channel

If you prefer online part time work and home based business ideas, then starting a YouTube channel is quite profitable.

Independent channels can be started by the users on YouTube and videos can be uploaded there for free. YouTube videos are highly popular. YouTube receives about a billion monthly visitors.

Videos showing and reviewing the latest gadgets, digital devices, electronics, cosmetics, etc. are very popular. You can create informative and entertaining videos, how-to video guides, videos on beauty/makeup tips, life and relationship tips, recipes, etc. that are highly profitable.

Most of us have seen advertisements while watching any video on YouTube. “Skip Ads” is clicked to watch an interesting video. This way the makers of the videos earn money. When the visitors play any video in which an ad is shown, the owner of the channel gains some money from Google. This process utilizes YouTube AdSense.

If needed, you can re-skill yourself anytime joining a short course, to learn the secrets of becoming a successful YouTube Channel owner.

4) Monetize Your Blog / Website Using Google AdSense and Affiliate Marketing

Do you have your blog/website where you have been posting great content? Does this site or blog have many visitors? If your answer is ‘Yes’ then you can start monetizing your blog. This is a profitable small business at home.

A great way to convert your blog into a source of income is using Google AdSense. Sign up for your Google AdSense account.

AdSense allows you to display ads on your blog or website. The ads are targeted at your website’s content. For including the AdSense ads to your website, you just have to add the script where you wish to display the ads. You can earn money if the site-visitors click on the ads to view them.

You can also register for affiliate programs. If your web content or blog post focuses on a specific topic, you can include affiliate ad links of products relevant to your content. If the reader clicks on the affiliate product link and purchases it, you will earn money as commission.

Amazon Associates Affiliate program is quite popular since Amazon.com has a vast range of products.

Monetizing your blog is a profitable part time work from home. Manage your blog or other’s blogs.

5) Online Tutor and Online Courses / eBooks

If you excel in the academics and can explain complex topics lucidly or have a flair for teaching you can become an online tutor. Earn money by sharing knowledge through online, virtual classes. You can teach and guide students online via video-calling.

Online tutoring is one of the best part time jobs from home.

You can work as an online trainer for your favorite subjects/skills. Also, if one is adept at creating videos and eBook, he/she can create online video courses and eBook courses. Reasonably priced online courses are very popular nowadays.

After creating eBooks, you can sell them via online retailers such as Amazon. Also, you can sell your courses, eBooks, and videos via your website.

6) Content Writing

A ghostwriter sells his/her articles or other written content to another party, without claiming any ownership or rights over those write-ups.

If you possess excellent writing skills, you can start your own writing business or work as a freelance writer. You can work as a content writer. This is one of the most popular part time work from home jobs.

For becoming a web content writer, you need to cultivate the proper reading, writing and research skills. You will get paid for writing creative or technical content such as reviews, articles, blogs, press releases, website content, social media content, etc.

Register at the freelance job sites and create your impressive online portfolio.

7) Editing or Proofreading

Proofreading and editing are necessary for all significant write-ups. If you are good in the languages and have good reading and writing skills, you can start your editing/proofreading business.

8) Translator

Vital documents or articles often require translation services. If you are good in English or other languages, you can earn money by working as a translator online.

Create your online portfolio and register at the top freelancing websites.

9) E-commerce Business

Selling products and services online is easy nowadays. Collect your chosen products from a wholesaler and sell them at higher prices via your websites or sites like Amazon or eBay. You can also ship your goods to Amazon, and it would sell and ship them to the customers for you.

If you can make various types of the latest jewelry or other exciting handicrafts or attractive soft toys, you can sell them on sites like Etsy.

This is a great part time work from home for housewives, fresh graduates, students and retired people.

How To Enter The Realms Of Entrepreneurship & Start Your Own Business

If you have been thinking of starting your own business but with a little information on how to make the first step, then, you have to take the following into great consideration.

1. Decide what type of business you want to put up. You may ask to some of your successful friends what is a good type of business. Well, they might suggest some, but the right answer is in you. Deciding what type of business you would put up means reflecting deeply the things you want to do and things you are good at. Look ahead and ask yourself these questions: Am I willing to do this business everyday for years? What do I love to do? What are the things that are both profitable, at the same time, things that I find enjoyable? These questions will lead you to specific type of business you want to put up. Take your time.

2. Do research. Once you have determined a particular type of business you want to put up, study its profitability. You simply don’t put up a business you love, don’t you? You still have to think if the business will click. Feasibility study would do the job. In other words, study if the business you are trying to put up will return to you the investment you have given. In here, you have to decide where to put up your business. Remember that a certain type of business would hit big time in one place but not on the other, so make sure that the place you will choose will give you good sales once you have opened.

3. Decide on the name. Create a name that is snappy; the name that will put every element of your business in a nutshell. A name may or may not be short as long as it distinguishable.

4. Decide on the form of business. Form of business means that you will have to choose between, incorporation, partnership, and sole proprietorship. Know the difference between the 3 and what are their advantages and disadvantages to you.

5. The registration. Most businesses must be registered and there are processes to follow. You need to reserve for the business name and registering your business. One state might have different business registration procedure from another. Check the information on the website of your state.

6. Get the license and business number. Register for the PST and the GST/HST. All these must be accomplished before you can operate your business. Again, you may want to check on the whole procedure of starting a business on your state.

7. Get you employees ready. Having an employee helping you will certainly give additional boost on your business. It may be the last thing you would think on the early stage of business but it is nice to know that when you have an employee, you know there is someone who can assist you as you go along the way.

8. Get business insurance. A support net would come in handy once you fall from the sky. Research on the types of business insurances that you can get.

9. Get started. Give a good start and keep your name clean. You may want to study more on the principles of entrepreneurship as you go along.

Although all these may sound easy or awfully hard task, you still need to understand how the business world works. Yes, having read this would not mean that you would instantly become a tycoon. These are only your initial steps; somewhat the basic information you need to know when you decide to start a business of your own. To become a successful entrepreneur, you need to dedicate you whole heart and soul to the business you love. Before you know it, you are a growing businessman.

Once you have started, never disregard the chance of failure. And this should not demoralize you. It is just the part of the game. Learn how to adapt to the business and charge all your failures to experience. You will learn as you go along. Successful people never give up. Remember, always head forward but have time to look back, learn from the past and seek out new information to improve your results.

Get started now at: http://www.BusinessGrowthGuru.com where you can claim your FREE copy of Aaron Parsons Best New Book “How To Make A Million Dollars In Your Business In The Next 3 Years Or Less”

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Commitment & Determination – What Makes You an Entrepreneur

What makes you an entrepreneur?; this question is simple but very difficult to answer. For a long time, people have studied the science behind entrepreneurial process, what drives a great entrepreneur, the things that make an ordinary person transforms into a job creator.

To answer this question, it’s much better if we try to understand what’s behind entrepreneurial process. At the heart of every entrepreneurial process is the founder, the opportunity seeker, the creator and initiator, the leader, problem solver, and motivator; the planner and the guardian of vision and mission. Without this human energy, behavior, drive, and vitality, the greatest ideas-even when they are backed by an overabundance of resources and people-will fail, grossly underperform, or simply never get off the ground. Brilliant athletic aptitude and potential is not equal with the great athlete. The difference is invisible and intangible: commitment, tenacity and determination.

Commitment and determination are seen as more important than any other factor that inspiring an entrepreneur. It makes an entrepreneur can overcome incredible obstacles and also compensate enormously for other weaknesses. Almost without any exception, entrepreneurs live under extreme, constant pressure (when they start their business, for them to stay alive, and for them to grow). A new business requires top priority of entrepreneur’s time, emotion, patient, and loyalty. The level of entrepreneur’s commitment can be measured in several ways: through a willingness to invest a substantial portion of his or her net worth in the venture, through a willingness to take a cut in pay because he or she will own a major piece of venture, and through the other big sacrifices in lifestyle and family circumstances. Clearly, commitment and determination usually demand personal sacrifice.

What you should keep in mind is that the desire to win never equal to the will to never give up. And this is actually a critical distinction. So many lead entrepreneurs say that they really want to win, but only few have the dogged tenacity and unflinching perseverance to make it happen. Just take an example of a young entrepreneur who made several phone call but none were returned. He made a few more calls but still, no response. Over the next week he made yet another series of calls that once again received no response. At that point, what would you do? Would you keep trying, or decide to move on and not waste any more time? Only you can answer this question, and the answer will gives a clear picture of your persistence’s level.

Entrepreneurs who successfully build new business seek to overcome hurdles, solve problems, and complete the job. They are disciplined, tenacious, and persistent. They are able to commit and recommit quickly. They love to win and love to compete at anything. However, if tasks are unsolvable, an entrepreneur will be the first person to give up than the others. There is a fair opinion says that while entrepreneurs are extremely persistent, they are also realistic in recognizing what they can and can’t. They know where they can get help to solve a very difficult but necessary task.

Women & Business Partnership – The Good, the Bad and the Synergy

Team sports prepare boys for the corporate model of business. Girls, however, typically play closely with one or two friends. What great preparation for entrepreneurial partnership! So it is fitting, as women continue to start businesses in record numbers, that many are finding partnership is a comfortable format. In fact, business partnership works for women coming from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences including those tired of hitting the corporate glass ceiling, stay-at-home Moms, and women who want to turn their passions and their social connections into business ideas.

Partnership brings a wide variety of benefits including a sense of connection and someone to cover when you go on vacation. On the other hand, many partnerships end in crisis and conflict. To avoid partnership failure, your partnership needs to possess the following seven components of positive partnership.

Shared Values. Partners need a sense of shared standards regarding what is desirable, undesirable, good, and bad. These values will guide partners’ actions, judgments, and choices. Values, which often carry considerable emotion, may range from valuing family, prosperity, ambition, a work ethic, or a political persuasion. In addition to helping partners make congruent decisions, shared values serve to keep partners united.

Different (Complementary) Skills and Traits. Successful partners will possess different (complementary) skills and traits. The broader the partners’ range of skills, the clearer the division of their labor (and power) can be. It may be easy to distinguish the marketing person from the technical person in a business but other necessary variables are often not as easy to see. Michael Gerber’s classic book “The E-Myth” explains that a business owner needs to play three roles, Entrepreneur – the creative visionary; Manager, the administrator who brings planning, order and predictability; and Technician – the craftsperson. Partnerships have a distinct advantage in that two or more invested people are available to perform the three necessary roles.

Sense of Equity. Equity occurs when the rewards of a relationship are proportional to what each side perceives as his or her contribution. Strangers and casual acquaintances maintain equity by keeping track of the benefits they exchange. However, in long-term and more committed relationships it is not healthy to keep track. Instead, a sense of equity should be established. A perception of inequity (I am giving more then I get) takes a tremendous toll on a partnership.

Growing Together. From the moment we are born until the day we die, we are in the process of growing and changing. Partners and their partnerships are continuously undergoing this process of change. However, we are often not aware of the changes we’re experiencing. And, sometimes change is viewed as a threat to the status quo. Successful partners embrace change and growth, knowing that this attitude benefits both their individual and shared professional identities.

Proactive Conflict Management Strategies. Competing and avoiding are not effective conflict management strategies for partnership. Instead, successful partners will use proactive and strategic approaches to conflict management such as accommodation, compromise and collaboration to resolve their differences.

Shared Vision. Partners need a shared vision or plan for the future. Vision is what determines and expresses where an organization wants to go and how it intends to get there. A shared vision allows partners to focus on their goals and the methods they will use to achieve those goals. When partners hold different visions they become discouraged, overwhelmed, and disconnected. In order to create and effectively benefit from a shared vision, four tasks are necessary: creating the initial vision, translating that vision into the necessary physical actions, articulating and selling the vision to others, and holding true to the essence of the vision when reality changes the plans.

An Exit Strategy. It has been said that a graceful exit is proof of a successful venture. Without an exit strategy in place partners can be faced with making crucial decisions at a time when they were least levelheaded. An exit strategy is a shared sense of when and how an alliance will end and one should be included as the end-point in a business plan. However, while planning for the end may be a critical aspect of owning a business, it is also one of the most neglected. Exits are easy to avoid when the issue is not pressing and raising the issue might sour the deal or suggest a lack of trust. Four questions should be addressed when considering an exit plan: what events might trigger an end to the partnership; how will the business be valued at the end; which options for future ownership are acceptable; and what post-alliance ties and restrictions, such as non-compete clauses, need to be included.

When you enter into a partnership that is strong in these seven components you have the potential to create synergy and reap some amazing benefits. True synergy comes about when two (or more) people work together to create results that would have been unobtainable independently. In a synergistic partnership 2+2>4 and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Creativity & Entrepreneurship: The Creative Evolution of an Intellectual Property(c)

In each of us, there is a creative spark – a unique purpose and destiny for which we are born. Most of us have forgotten what that special gift is, or we are afraid to live it. My successful secret formula as outlined in my seminars, e-book and CD’s will help you unlock your creative potential and discover your purpose in life. Passion, right-action, hard work and a commitment to excellence will create the quantum leap you desire in your life today!

I have been involved in entrepreneurship, creative endeavors and public speaking for many, many years. First of all, I would like to say that I incorporate a unique blend of lessons and concepts that I have researched, studied, learned and experienced over the years to access my own creativity, to develop my ideas and launch my own intellectual properties and entrepreneurial ideas into successful business ventures.

In my seminars I incorporate ancient secret wisdom, creative lessons and exercises to open you up to the deeper parts of your mind, heart and soul, where creativity is born and nurtured. After that we get down to the business aspects which will include how to protect your intellectual property, strategic business planning, funding your idea/business, developing prototypes, marketing, advertising, promotions and sales, and others important steps to launch or expand your ideas and business–and some of the challenges you may face and pitfalls to avoid.

As most of you know, I have created a unique life for myself. I am an entrepreneur, executive producer, writer and motivational speaker. I have many, many interest. I am writing my autobiography: The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword, polishing up the first book of my mystery series: Prince D’Arcy de Montebello, writing another book on entrepreneurship and I do consulting and public speaking. I also love to teach. I would have to say that my top three passions are: creating, writing and helping others any way I can.

There is an imminent need for love, and light, and personal empowerment in the world today as never before. Many of you may also know I ran for the presidency in 2004 as a true-democrat and write-in candidate in the eleventh-hour to “right the wrongs of America!” So I know first hand about the need to bring about truth, peace, love and compassion in this very disturbing and violent world. And the key begins within each of us. That’s why I have decided to focus a lot of my energies on teaching others about creativity and how to put your creative ideas to work to make you money through entrepreneurial ventures. There is an huge need for this, especially now.

My philosophy is that if each of us are lifting our own light up, in our own way, through positive thinking, positive ideas and creative thinking then we can focus on building or growing or expanding our own businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. This is something each of us can do right now. We can choose to focus on the light within and bring it forth and share with others, instead of focusing on all the fear and negativity in the world…I call it “drowning in the illusion”. So you can chose, right now to either sink or swim! And that is where I come in. To help you swim, to help you soar, to help you fly!

We all know that Light is the first element of creation! So, let there be light! Light is the creative force, the life-giving force in the entire universe, and in each of us. Don’t you feel your heart lifting right now. I do. Every time I think about this, or hear this, or am reminded of this, my spirit soars! Isn’t that beautiful? So I hope your mind and heart are opening right now, because this is light! This is Truth! And from this truth, this pure light, comes creativity. That’s why I call my book and workshop: “The Creative Evolution of an Intellectual Property”, because it is an evolution, but it begins with light–a thought, a bright idea–a light bulb goes off!

I draw from my own real-life experiences and knowledge that I have acquired over my lifetime thus far. I have learned from the masters and many experts in a variety of important fields and industries. Many have helped me to achieve harmony, balance and creativity in my inner-personal life and others have guided me in business, legal, marketing, advertising, promotions and sales. But there is nothing like hands-on experience–trial and error–learning from your own successes and mistakes.

I encourage all of you to DREAM & THINK BIG! But take realistic steps to achieve your desired goals.

Join one of JJK’s dynamic tele-seminars–see website below.

“Creativity is coloring outside the lines, and entrepreneurship is living outside the box!” JJK

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