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Business and Money Information

John

Income Inequality in the United States

Here is an amazing video on income inequality in the US. While the information presented is very important, the presentation is absolutely fantastic. Take a look to see what is possible when using video to make data come to life.

US Income Inequality

Did you know that the top 1% of Americans own 40% of the wealth, while the bottom 80% own only 7%? What’s more frightening is that income inequality is growing in the US.

Is it morally acceptable for the wealthiest to own that much of the wealth, while there is so much poverty and suffering in the world? You make the judgement.

Regardless, of your feelings on the subject, growing income inequality and poverty do not bode well for the future of the United States.

Why Great Entrepreneurs start off as Great Researchers

Entrepreneur Research

Starting a new business requires determination, hard work and thorough research. The last point is perhaps the most important of all; gaining a sophisticated knowledge of an existing business landscape within a chosen discipline is only possible if you put the hours in at the books (and the computer).

Investigating competition, searching for investors or potential business partners with relevant experience are all vital parts of the process and thankfully, entrepreneurs are blessed with plenty of resources when starting out in today’s market. 

Learn about your market

Every entrepreneur shares their business idea with friends and family, this is helpful to gain momentum, tap into a support community and assess the subjective merits of an idea. The next stage in business development takes on a more objective form. It is in this stage that business owners need to source reliable information related to their target market.

Market research is key. Small business owners should investigate potential demographics, locations, competitors and any relevant and available financial information about similar businesses already in existence. Websites like Company House and other online resources provide comprehensive and reliable data about a range of businesses.

Beyond internet research, conducting focus group type market research provides the opportunity to get inside the mind of a potential client or consumer group and solicit unbiased and honest responses about ideas.

This said, secondary market research is still important. Learn about your target demographic’s larger spending habits and income tiers, assess the success of previous products or services that might be similar to yours in even some small way. This type of research will provide an outline of where to focus further research and potentially reveal any holes in current available data.

The merits of networking

Researching previous and predicted consumer habits is extremely valuable in a rapidly changing marketplace, so utilize social and professional networks like Facebook and Duedil to find out which way the trends are moving. Market trends change quickly and analysing this can provide opportunities for development in response to changing attitudes, which will in turn result in resilience and a competitive advantage for your business.

Networking sites can also be invaluable tools for matching up with potential business partners. If you can search for a professional with complementary skills to your own, any new partnership will stand a much greater chance of success.

Starting a new business is no easy feat but with comprehensive research and a great business plan a determined entrepreneur with a great idea can source start-up capital and begin to build their business. Think of the business plan you started with as a living document that will evolve and change as research and experience inform new directions and ideas.

Image by Heisenberg Media, used under Creative Commons license

Is Corporate Culture Just Marketing Hype?

Are Company Culture and Cultural Fit Getting a Bad Name?

Rand Fishkin has a great article on What Company Culture IS and Is Not. With the current trend of companies offering silly work place activities and props, Fishkin offers some clear ideas of what company culture is NOT.

  • Secret Santa gift exchanges
  • Karaoke nights
  • Bean bag chairs
  • Nerf gun fights
  • Catered lunches
  • Cruises with your co-workers
  • Mashed potato sculpting contests judged by your auditors at Deloitte (yes, we really did this at Moz, and it was totally fun)

Rand Fishkin also goes on to identify typical interview questions that are NOT likely to gauge cultural fit very well.

  • If you could pick one person to play you in a movie, who would it be?
  • What are the top 5 cities you want to go to and why?
  • Where do you vacation in the summer?
  • What’s your favorite movie?
  • What’s the last book you read for fun?
  • Do you rock climb, play the cello, or enjoy film noir?
  • Star Wars or Star Trek?

What is Corporate Cultural?

If corporate culture isn’t about foosball tables and espresso machines, what is it?

Fishkin says,

Your company’s culture is three big things:

  1. Your values – those you state with words and those you exhibit through your actions
  2. Your mission & vision – the goal you’re driving toward and the force behind that goal
  3. Your hiring, firing, and promotion criteria – the reasons you bring people onto the team, the reasons you let them go, and the reasons you promote/reward them

He goes on to say that,

Cultural fit should be defined by:

  1. Shared beliefs – the things that you collectively hold to be true about the world (e.g. good people tend to have traits like X, the right way to treat others is Y, what’s appropriate/inappropriate at work is Z).
  2. Shared priorities – what matters in terms of big, overarching things like work/life balance, short vs. long term commitment, how decision are made, etc.
  3. Stylistic cohesion – some people don’t work well together, others find themselves able and inspired to do more when surrounded by a certain type. Cohesion isn’t about finding lots of people who are the same, but about making sure there’s no one on the team that detracts from others and that many get more enjoyment and progress from the diverse perspectives their co-workers bring.

How do you Create the Appropriate Corporate Culture?

An inspiring mission, authentic values and fair hiring, promotion and firing criteria seem obvious components of any corporate culture, however, they don’t seem to be effectively put into practice very often.

Think of the culture of a country, city or even neighbourhood. Culture is not something that is generally prescribed from the top down, it emerges from the actions of all members of that community.

That’s not to say that it can’t be created or fostered. In a startup environment, the culture emerges out of the actions of the founders and early employees. Most people are fairly cynical of crafted mission statements because it’s easy to say that you care about customer service, quality, employees and the environment, but much more difficult to follow through with your actions.

If you want employees and customers to buy into your company’s reason for existence, prove your culture by what the company does, not what it says. Motivational posters and craft beer nights are not enough.

 

How to Worry Less About Money

Does money cause you stress? How to Worry Less About Money is a great article on BrainPickings.org to help think about money in a more positive way.

Here are some highlights of that article.

Addressing money worries should be quite different from dealing with money troubles.

Troubles are urgent. They ask for direct action. … By contrast, worries often say more about the worrier than about the world.

I like the differentiation between worries and troubles. Troubles are problems you need to fix. Spending too much or not earning enough are problems you can take action on. Worry about money is a state of mind. Worrying doesn’t help solve the problem, it only adds to stress.

It’s widely believed that after a certain level, increasing amounts of money stop increasing happiness. However, the article shows that money can increase flourishing.

Money can purchase the symbols but not the causes of serenity and buoyancy. In a straightforward way we must agree that money cannot buy happiness.

While the things money can secure — like power, influence, and access to resources — may not be shortcuts to serenity and buoyancy, Armstrong argues, they are inextricably linked to flourishing by enabling you to pursue the things that are important to you and, in the process, to contribute to the lives of others. Here, the relationship between amount of money and potential for flourishing doesn’t flatline the way it does in a more narrow conception of happiness

money isn’t a cause of flourishing but an ingredient in it, a mere resource with which to build the life we want, catalyzed by virtue

Distinguishing flourishing from happiness is important. Obviously, more stuff, particularly if it does not really aid in leading a more fulfilling life, is not going to endlessly increase happiness. If you don’t have a car, maybe an old jalopy will increase your happiness. However, trading from a new $40,000 car to a new $80,000 car is not likely to improve your life in any meaningful way.

Money spent to help you fully realize your goals improve your ability to maximize your service to the world, can potentially endlessly aid your flourishing. For example, a billionaire is not going to get happier buying more personal possessions. However, if she were to give up her fortune to aid social causes, or grow a company that brings about good in the world, more money will improve her well-being.

Reminiscent of Ben-Franklian virtues like temperance, frugality, and moderation is another essential skill in alleviating our money worries — the ability to distinguish between wants and needs. The need-desire distinction, Armstrong suggests, is useful in warding off mere desires, like the longing for the latest shiny gadget, even if it’s of little utilitarian value, or that sleek new bike, even if the old one works perfectly fine.

There is a very imperfect relationship between desire and flourishing. Desire aims at pleasure. Whereas the achievement of a good life depends upon the good we create. And the opportunity to follow whatever desire one might happen to have is the enemy of the effort, concentration, devotion, patience and self-sacrifice that are necessary if we are to achieve worthwhile ends.

I like the phrase, “the achievement of a good life depends upon the good we create.” A good life is not measured by what we have, it’s measured by what we do.

There are quite profound reasons why we should care simultaneously about having and doing. Both are connected to flourishing.

What we do with our lives is obviously central to who we are. What we expend our mental energy on, what we put our emotional resources into, where we deploy courage or daring or prudence or commitment: these are major parts of existence and are inevitably much connected with work and earning money. And we need these parts of existence in order to find proper application in activities that deserve our best efforts. We don’t’ want to reserve our central capacities for the margins and weekends of life.

At an individual level, one is trying to find a way of making this happen in one’s own life. But because intrinsic worth is not just what is good for me, but what is actually good, this is a public service as well. It’s not greedy to want to make quite a lot of money — if you want to make it as a reward for doing things that are genuinely good for other people.

Ultimately, making lots of money is not bad. What’s important is how that money is earned and what that money is spent on. It you are destroying your soul in a company you do not believe in, just to earn enough to keep your consumer lifestyle afloat, then it’s very likely your relationship with money will be unhealthy and stressful, regardless of your income level.

In contrast, someone making much less money, doing personally rewarding work, who is able to limit needless consumption will have a more comfortable connection to money.

Are you proud of the work you do? Is it contributing to the world in a meaningful way?

Are you spending money to satisfy your own pleasures or is it to maximize your contribution?

 

How America is Leading the Way Towards Economic Recovery

Wall Street

The American economy has delivered some conflicting data sets in recent times, as financial market growth has conflicted with fluctuating levels of unemployment, job creation and consumer confidence. This is a trend that has been prominent across several nations, as the global economy has teetered on the brink between recession and sustainable economic recovery.

With the second financial quarter of 2013 now firmly underway, however, there are signs that global economic growth is now far more robust and consistent. This means that both economies and the financial markets are experiencing universal prosperity, triggering improved sentiment among business owners, consumers and traders.

How America Remains at the Heart of Global Economic Growth

The recent economic outlook supported this assertion, with markets rising on Monday after significant gains were made by the American economy. The most recent support of growth was triggered by an extremely optimistic U.S. jobs report, which gave weight to the suggestion that the global recovery may be gathering momentum. This information is also supported by this survey that offers a statistical analysis on employee retention rates. Both the U.S. Dollar (USD) and stocks subsequently soared to new highs on Friday, after unemployment fell to just 7.5% and achieved its lowest level since the distant summer of 2008.

The impact of this was felt globally, as the Asia-Pacific markets also soared to considerable heights. Hong Kong rose by 1.02% during afternoon trade of Friday, for example, while Shanghai advanced by a further 1.13%. Sydney also followed suit, while Malaysian shares soared by a staggering 7.76% to achieve a record high of 1,823 points. When you consider that both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 have both had the distinction of breaking similar national records in recent times, then you begin to understand the importance of sustainable economic growth.

Even European nations seem to be displaying more positive signs, with the UK having recently avoided the threat of an unprecedented triple-dip recession. This came as a considerable surprise to economists, who had questioned the governments austerity measures and forecast a prolonged period of recession for the island nation. With the British economy growing tentatively and the nations level of borrowing having fallen for the first time since the beginning of the recession, it seems as though America remains influential in terms of dictating the terms of global economic development. 

While stocks have soared considerably in the wake of American economic expansion, however, those involved with forex trading can also look forward to greater levels of prosperity. Whilst the USD remains the most popular influential currency in the world, it must also be remembered that a positive sentiment makes it far easier for traders to identify trends associated with the market and wider economy. As a result, economists are beginning to predict a cycle of growth and development that can impact on countries throughout the world.

Despite the recent economic uncertainty that has undermined the prospects of a global recovery, America appears to be leading the way towards more sustainable growth. This is also impacting heavily on the financial markets of the world, especially those that deal in stock equities and international currency pairs in the far East. So long as the U.S. economy can sustain its current level of momentum, there is every chance that the ghosts of the global recession may be finally laid to rest.