Posts Tagged ‘risk’
One of the largest problems facing people these days is debt, but to simply narrow it down to “debt” would be a bit oversimplistic. The reality is that overspending is one of the roots of debt, and it’s this “root” that you will need to address if you’re truly serious about staying out of debt. One of the biggest things that you will need to do is to figure out how to not only keep from overspending, but track the purchases that you do make.
A traditional checking account really can’t give you this type of flexibility, as you still run the risk of going over the money that’s in your account. This will cause overdraft charges to hit your account, which puts you further into debt. It’s something that you will definitely want to avoid, but what is the solution? A credit card holds many of the same problems, except that you get over the limit fees rather than overdraft charges. What’s worse is that you also have to deal with interest being charged to the card simply because you agreed to those terms in order to use the credit card.
The better solution is a prepaid debit card — specifically a reloadable Visa card. This type of card will give you the power to monitor your spending, as well as rest easy knowing that additional charges beyond what you load onto the card cannot go through. In other words, you only can spend what you load onto the card. There’s no risk of going over, and there’s no interest being charged. Therefore, the fees for a reloadable Visa card are far lower than just about anything else on the market.
Add in the fact that most of these prepaid debit cards also allow for direct deposit, and you definitely have a great tool that can help you stay out of debt and monitor your spending effortlessly — just what you were looking for in the first place!
Looking at developing trends can help you position your business for sale at the right time and at a higher price.
Today it’s surprising we thought it was a big breakthrough but when I wrote the first business plan to get the AOL franchise, it was considered breakthrough. That’s quite comical given that I wasn’t a great market researcher and had a zero technology bent. I just realized that you could ask questions of anybody anywhere by talking through type.
So it’s a great application of using what you know and doing it in a new way before anyone else had ever thought of it.
I think a great lesson to be learned is to be fearless in trying new things. Figure out how to hedge your risks, but then plunge forward. I wouldn’t advise diving head first into a shallow pool, but I certainly would encourage walking into a shallow pool and trying to figure out how to make best of the water.
So what is a trend spotter and what was my path to become one?
Actually, to me the word ‘trend spotting’ is anomaly. It doesn’t really apply to anything except how we go about entertaining the conversation.
I was just a sophisticated market researcher who is very good at extrapolating medium range trends – what I was seeing in society and how it was playing out numerically from survey data and our quantitative data points.
Then I would add in what I was seeing qualitatively doing journalistic interviews and ethnographic work. What was I seeing and learning that could be put to good use and every day life for business?
My objective has never been to be the kind of a crystal ball person. It’s really to build businesses; to know when to get in and when to get out.
So what I’m talking about is feet on the ground work, grabbing a lot of data from different sources and then pulling that together and connecting the dots in order to figure out what’s going on out there.
The only other piece that is really critical is timing.
Look at George Magazine, which John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Michael Berman started more than a decade ago. In those days, politics was not pop culture. It was an idea before it’s time.
If a magazine like that would have been launched around the rise of Obama culture, it would have had a very different place, much more mainstream, and the timing would have been even more right for it.
It’s medium term trending. It’s not going out too far or too far fetched.
I don’t write science fiction, and I can’t make accurate predictions about the stock market. My work is usually oriented to what’s going to happen the next 12 to 18 months from a political standpoint, from a commercial standpoint, from a consumerism standpoint, that’s going to really create business opportunity.
How did I get to do what I’m doing now?
It was a combination of having great bosses, having a lot of guts to go in and out of entrepreneurial life back into corporate life; and then really understanding how to take these ideas, the major observations that I had developed, and translate them into positive commercial events.
It sounds very multiple disciplinary.
I’m not an economist. I’m not just a hard core advertising, hard core PR person. I’m really a marketer, looking to identify a desire and how do you put product in that fulfills that desire.
Niche marketing has always been a discipline of rules and principles. In fact, the success or failure of a niche marketing strategy can be predicted based on fundamental principles. Failure could also be predicted based on how many principles were not applied and how many outdated rules they kept doing.
But unlike principles or laws, rules are subject to change. For example, rules often change in sports, politics as well as marketing. Better rules are created to adapt to changing times, technologies and circumstances. As the saying goes, “man was not made to serve rules, but rules were made to serve man.” This also applies to niche marketing.
A fundamental under-the-radar shift in niche marketing has happened. The changing economy has also changed the way successful businesses market to consumers. Social networks, mobile marketing and computer software has changed the game forever.
Keep in mind, the principles of niche marketing hasn’t changed but the rules have. As with any rules, the ones who master them first will win the biggest share of the market. The last ones to apply the new rules often finish last or not at all.
Here’s 3 niche marketing rules you should avoid in 2011.
1. The More Unique The Better:
Many niche marketing books have stressed the importance of uniqueness in a product or service. However, this is a major risk, especially in a slow economy.
The secret now is to offer what people are already buying with a slight uniqueness or twist. Because of technology finding out what people are buying is now easier to do than ever before. Experience proves risk can be reduced by following this new rule and avoiding the temptation to reinvent the wheel so-to-speak.
People are creatures of habit, we have a tendency to make similar purchases at similar prices and at similar times. By remembering this and avoiding the risk of trying to be too unique can increase the chance of success.
2. The Less Competition The Better:
One of the hallmark rules of niche marketing was to find a section or area of the market that had little or no competition. Now the key is finding markets with competition, the more the better. Why? Because this always signals a vibrant market with people who are spending money. Having an exclusive market does little good if no one is spending money.
The key to finding a market where people are currently spending money is to look for competition. Why? Because 9 times out of 10 people are spending money. After the vibrant market is discovered next apply solid niche marketing principles that separate your business, product or yourself from the competition.
3. Narrow Target As Much As Possible:
Excessive targeting can result in running out of prospects quicker, especially in a slow economy. That’s why good judgment must come into play when deciding how narrow to target prospects.
It’s better to cast a big net and narrow it down as time and sales increase, as opposed to narrowing target prospects too much and too soon. The key here is moderation. Beware of going to the other extreme and not targeting prospects enough. This can give worse results than over targeting.
Health is one of the prized possessions we have in our life. There is no life without a good health. Health is the most important thing that can help you in enjoying all the bliss of life. Never neglect your health. But there are many people across the globe who neglects health and by doing this they put the future of their family in trouble. Bad life style is not only the reason for poor health. Increasing work pressures and busy lifestyles is also a factor for people having poor health. The consequences of poor health are plenty. Don’t put the life of your immediate family in danger. Opt for a productive health insurance plan that takes care of your family even if you are no more in this world.
Health Insurance plan has become an important part of our lives in this modern period. People are securing their future and also of their family with health insurance plans. Today, getting health insurance for oneself and the family has become very essential. Given the fast pace, and poor lifestyles, chances are great that the health may fail or one might get dead in an accident or injured in a mishap. In such adverse situations, the rising cost of health and medical facilities can be taken care of by health insurance policies.
Getting health insurance plans is not that difficult. There are so many independent insurance providers who provide health insurance plans that ensure smiles on the face of the buyer. The competition in this segment is huge and hence one can find suitable policies at lower rates. Health insurance policies are available for individual as well as for the entire family. The family floater plans as they are popularly called, cover the lives of the entire family (usually, the husband, wife, and two kids) at a single premium. You can avail the benefits of health insurance plans from so many providers. You can buy plans according to your family needs and budget. Payment options are designed as per the buyer’s preference in three options, viz. credit card, debit card and cheque; you can opt for any of the given alternatives.
You can also buy health insurance plan online also. Most of the health insurance providers have their own websites that provides easy methods to buy health insurance plans. Each plan is described in detail so that buyers have no fear in investing their hard earned money on it. Opt for a plan that suits your needs and benefits your family.
So, don’t take your health for granted. There is so much risk involved in daily life. Insure your health and life. If you have still not bought a health insurance, it is high time you did. It is difficult to afford hospitalization costs and sometimes it may put you in debt. To avoid such situation, buy health insurance plans from reliable health insurance providers.
Every investment you go for carries a certain amount of risk. The question is whether you are happy with a large amount of risk or you would prefer settling for a smaller amount. Investing in bonds is no exception to this rule, and this means you have to think carefully and work through the facts before you decide whether to invest or not.
When you invest in bonds you need to be able to accept that part of your bonds or possibly even all of them may be lost. So if you are investing money you don’t want to lose, you may be better off looking for a more secure investment.
Of course you can make a decent profit on a bond investment – it all depends on the nature of the investment, how risky it is and the various conditions in place at the time.
Generally speaking there are different types of bonds available with different goals in place for them. So if you don’t like to take much risk you can think about investing in a bond that is more secure. If you want to go for more profits you need to opt for one that also offers more risk. This is how the bond system works.
The best position to start from then is one of knowledge. For example you need to know how settled you are with the idea of risking your money. Some people save up a certain amount to invest in bonds, knowing they are not relying on this amount of money for any other reason. In this way they will know that if the worst happens and they do lose the lot, it won’t affect their life in any way.
One thing to bear in mind with the risks associated with bonds is that they are generally safer as an investment vehicle than the stock market is. So if you find stocks unappealing because of the risks involved, bonds provide the next step down and it could be enough to make you feel safer in investing in this way.
Finally, look at the yield for any particular bond to gauge how risky it is. The better the yield is heralded to be, the more risk is involved with it. You can use this as a yardstick to figure out whether you have found the right bond investment for you.