Black Swan Management, LLC

Investments and Strategies for the Future of Business

Posts Tagged millionaire

Venture Capitalists – Are They a Necessary Evil?

Feb 7

Posted by Lance Winslow in investing | No Comments

Any venture capitalist you meet will be pretty high on themselves, and they will tell you they create economic activity. Of course, most entrepreneurs don’t usually have that similar view, rather they see them as a necessary evil. Are VC a necessary evil? You see, in many regards Venture Capitalists have left a bad taste in the mouths of many economic development associations, but they realize that new ventures must have funding.

The VC credibility as you remember was at an all-time low after the dot-com bubble burst. The venture funding arena does create jobs, and economic opportunity, but don’t kid yourself, the VC are out for themselves, first and foremost, like any business, they want to make money, any way they can, whatever it takes, even if they have to pull favors from here to hell and back.

Why do cities and local politicians want to support VC so much, if they are merely out to enrich themselves? Well, it’s simple, you see, when cities and economic development associations get behind business start-ups they want to support the local home-grown teams, and they want those jobs to stay there, organically grown if you will.

Nevertheless, maybe the incubator model is a better way to go? Assisting garage type start-ups with what they need and choosing the best concepts could really help with the innovation needs of each DMA, and smaller regional areas in the US. America needs to keep up with the innovative pushes in South Korea, Japan, Germany, Australia, China, India, Brazil, etc.

It appears to me that we are losing our edge, and the concept of the US becoming the “knowledge workers” of the world seems somewhat “wishful thinking” because our innovations, inventions, concepts, designs are being stolen as fast as we produce them, and those nations which copy various aspects of our free-market system, are actually doing it better than we are as we bombard it with bureaucracy, barriers to entry, and socialist-style-governance.

Soon they will be teaching us how capitalism works, and why it works. This is why we need an innovation revival and I’d say that Venture Capitalists are one vehicle, but we need to explore them all and move this ball forward as fast as possible. Please consider all this.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes it’s hard to write 20,000 articles; http://www.bloggingcontent.net/

Note: All of Lance Winslow’s articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers.

Author: Lance Winslow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Creating, Recognizing & Measuring Value

Jan 6

Posted by George Torok in business, mindset | No Comments

Price is what you pay – value is what you get.
Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Securities

Deliver value that your customers recognize, appreciate and reward. If you want your customers to value what you offer – you must demonstrate that you value them.

Value implies trust so start by building trust. Always under-promise and over-deliver. Be known for keeping your promise and then some. Be honest. Never promise what you cannot deliver.

Don’t confuse value with cost. A product’s value is almost never equal to its cost. For example, your product might cost you $2 and you sell it for $10. The value to you is $10. The value to the customer will usually be more than the selling price. If it was only worth $10 to the customer then they have no motivation to buy. But if the value to them is greater than the selling price, they are motivated to trade their money for something of greater value. It may be worth $25 to the customer. Then they will gladly give up $10 of their money for the product. The more that value exceeds the cost of the purchase, the more the customer will want to buy from you. Always offer value that is greater than the price they pay. Your challenge is to ensure the customer sees much more value than their cost.

The Value Formula
How can value be so different from cost? Examine the following formula, then discover where you can concentrate your efforts to enhance value.

Total value = real value + perceived value

Let’s take it apart to understand it. Real value comprises the tangibles. It is relatively easy to measure. Real value can be expressed in this manner:

Real value = function/cost

Function is what the product or service does in mechanical or analytical terms. Imagine you are buying a new car. If you are shopping for the best real value, you would get the most function efficient ground transportation for the lowest cost. You could measure the car’s function factor by comparing it with the cost of your practical alternatives; public transit, car pooling, taxi, bicycle, limousine, various car models. You might wish to consider the costs of these alternatives in terms of time and inconvenience. What does your new car give you that these other modes of transportation don’t?

Having determined the new car’s function factor, you can divide it by its cost. Is its function worth more to you than its cost? If so, the new car has real value. At the end of your analysis you would buy the cheapest car. Not necessarily. Remember that what you are willing to pay for your car is based on the total value to you, which is a factor of both real and perceived value. So, sometimes without realizing it, you assign value to less quantifiable benefits and buy something that you like. Liking is not part of real value, it is part of a product’s perceived value.

Perceived Value = belief x emotion

Compared with real value, perceived value is more difficult to measure directly. Yet it can have greater impact on total value. Perceived value is the product of belief times emotion. It is influenced by intangibles such as image, credibility, beauty and feelings – all the benefits you should emphasize in your marketing efforts. Emphasizing your perceived value is the surest way to differentiate yourself from the competition – and gain you more profit. Perceived value is what makes a brand name more valuable than a no-name. Nike is one example of a company that built a fortune on perceived value. As individuals we think differently, perceive differently, and place different values on things. Beware of that. Use it to your advantage. When your prospect wants to negotiate price, remember to build up your product’s perceived value.

How can you enhance the value of what you sell? If you are only looking at the cost of paper and ink then you are forcing yourself to compete in the commodity game. Instead find ways to emphasize the value of your relationship, the creative, – the intangibles.
Always deliver real value too but compete on the perceived value.

George Torok is co-author of the national bestseller, “Secrets of Power Marketing”, the first guide to personal marketing for the non-marketer. He delivers training programs and inspirational speeches to corporations and associations. To arrange for your speech or training program call 905-335-1997. To receive your free copy of the special guide, “50 Power Marketing Ideas” and subscribe to monthly marketing tips visit http://www.PowerMarketing.ca

Author: George Torok
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Wealth Building Using 7 Principles

Apr 27

Posted by Ola Abitogun in business | No Comments

Wealth is the ability of choice and freedom of time and money. Wealth can be created simply and easily if one does not skip any of these important principles. Any success achieved without these principles is temporary and can be easily cut short by a third party, economical manipulation or shifts.

1. Quality Service or Product: Someone needs to be served in a repeated fashion if you want to create permanent wealth. You also need your consumer to need you and have the ability to refer more customers when they are happy with your service. Your product or service must be close to oxygen and water on peoples’ needs scale. Every business and corporate America is a pyramid scheme. The illegal ones are those that does not serve, provide services or sell any product.

2. Credibility: This can be acquired quickly by partnering up with an entity or person with a well documented track record of success and service. It is who you know and not what you know in life; not business only, but in life. The consumers, customers or whatever you want to call those you serve are naturally attracted to credibility. They would pay more for a bad product or service with good credibility if necessary.

3. Residual or Passive Income: This is the type of income that you generate when you do something only once and get paid over and over again; sometimes forever, either you get out of bed or not. True wealth is created only when your residual income outpace your residual bills.

4. Leverage: Every one physically has 24 hours in a day. One needs to strategically have more than 24 hours in a day to create true and permanent wealth. True wealth cannot be created with linear income regardless of how big your salary is; even $1 Million per annual. Leverage simply means doing more with less and the simplest way is to override residual income or others’ efforts.

5. Simplicity: Keep it super simple (KISS). One must be a able to explain your product and service in a simple and plain lay man language. Consumers that will continue to pay for your services are naturally attracted to simplified and friendly usability of product and services. Simplicity does not mean inferiority.

6. Initial Investment of Time and Money: Beware of any business opportunity that does NOT require this 2 things. If one does not invest time and money, it is as simple as they own nothing. Also, it psychologically removes the urgency and hunger for success by about 80%.

7. Education and Inspiration: Mindset is everything. One literally is a millionaire in their mind before it manifests in reality. The transition between being broke and being rich is a roller coaster and it can only be successfully done true constant education and inspiration. Most importantly surround yourself with successful people or people with same goals and a mentor.

Ola and Shola Abitogun are brothers and business partners. Ola Abitogun has a BS in Computer Engineering and MS in Engineering Management. However, he has successfully being involved in the Real Estate Business for 5 years. Shola Abitogun has a BS in Bio-Medical Engineering and MS in Pharmaceutical Engineering. He has successfully worked in the corporate America for 4-5 years and realized that true wealth cannot be created with any linearly paid or salary job. They have both achieved financial success, helped others do the same and dedicated their lives and careers to helping average people achieve financial freedom and true wealth through their organization, TBS Wealth Institute, Inc For more information on becoming a student and enrolling in their free Wealth Mentoring Program, visit http://www.TBSWealthInstitute.com

Author: Ola Abitogun
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Warren Buffet Essays are a Classic for Corporate Governance

Apr 1

Posted by Lance Winslow in business, investment gurus, warren buffett | No Comments

The Warren Buffet essays are as good for Corporate America as Milton Friedmans papers were for Free Markets or Henry Kissinger’s essays for Foreign Affairs. The stuff Warren Buffet wrote about is timeless. They are old now, but could have been written yesterday. Remember he is old school not a stock flipper, although today you could say he is a market maker, as his investments move stocks and industries. Well, I guess Kramer on TV is too these days.

The Warren Buffet essays on Corporate Governance should be considered classics. My copy is a hard copy, so I do not even know if they are digitally available on the Internet, I bet they are somewhere;

http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Warren-Buffett-Lessons-Corporate/dp/0966446119

Yes this is the copy I have. I think if you will set your mind in efficiency mode, you will indeed think like that anyway. I do automatically now, even wrote a few essays myself.

Well I have bunch you should read on the Flows of Civilization; Water, Energy, Raw Materials, Transportation, Monetary, etc.

Let me know if you are interested in more of the philosophy of efficiency, flows and realities human civilizations? Most importantly you must concentrate on what you are doing and then constantly feed you mind as you do, it helps the thinking, problem solving and innovation process.

Really it separates the men from the boys in industry, government, research and development or your personal life. Those who succeed and those who also ran; You know what I mean? I hope you have enjoyed this thought I have shared with you today and I hope it helps you in your quest to be the best in 2007.

Author: Lance Winslow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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My Internet Millionaire Challenge

Feb 5

Posted by admin in business, marketing | No Comments

I have seen so many claims by Internet “Millionaires” selling their secrets that I’ve decided to issue my own challenge.

Take me from zero to $10,000 per month PROFIT in six months and I’ll give you half of my PROFITS for that period as a consulting fee. Not a particularly lofty goal considering the claims I’ve seen made, but let’s see if any of the “gurus” are up to the challenge. I will also provide testimonials in whatever form you like – written, oral, video, etc.

I have seen endless screenshots of checking account and PayPal deposits – what is NOT shown is how much was spent to realize that revenue? This is known in the business world as “cost of sales”. For example, if I spend $9,950 and 100 hours of my time to realize $10,000 in sales revenues, I’ve made a profit of $50. These figures calculate out to 50 cents per hour. Not a particularly good wage from my perspective.

I have also seen numerous websites, advertisements, e-mails, etc. promoting the latest, hottest “system” to make incredible sums of money in a relatively short timeframe. Again, what is NOT revealed is that the bulk of the people marketing these programs are not making the money promised. I’m certain that the principals can and do make money by leveraging the efforts of the network marketers to sell their product. The question is: how do the working stiffs achieve these income levels?

If any of the Internet “Millionaires” can answer these questions and feel tempted to take me up on this challenge, here are the things you should know – like most people trying to make money on the internet:

I don’t have any downline to speak of.
I don’t have my own opt-in e-mail list.
I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on advertising.
I won’t buy a bunch of inventory of the greatest product since fried ice cream – been there, done that.
I am done calling prospects that aren’t really interested in the products or opportunities I have to offer.
I won’t base a business on selling Internet “millionaire secrets” until I’ve tried them – and they work.
I am tired of buying (or even downloading for free in exchange for my e-mail address) the latest and greatest, highest profit program/secrets/system.
I will not lie, mislead, or misrepresent myself or my PROFIT level in order to promote ANYTHING.

I do have some good, basic computer skills, and thought I knew the internet pretty well until I started getting involved in trying to make money on the internet.
I do have some money to advertise and promote, and I’m willing to re-invest my profits.
I am a quick study and can follow directions.
I have good communication skills – I know how to blog, and I’ve written several articles that are published.
I can spend 30 to 40 hours a week on a business.

While I may sound like a cynic, I do firmly believe that there are people out there making good money on the internet, and doing it in an ethical and moral manner. The problem is, how do we tell who is for real and who is just hype?

I am specifically issuing this challenge to Robert Allen, Stephan Ducharme, Declan Dunn, Stephen Mahaney, Ken McCarthy, Jonathan Mizel, Monique Harris, Jay Abraham, Paul Myers, Jim Daniels, Michel Fortin, Kevin Needham, Chayden Bates, Phil Wiley, Sam Robbins, Jimmy D. Brown, Scot Dantzer, Peter Sun, Ken Silver, Frank Garon, Dale Armin Miller, Brent Winters, David Garfinkel, Jay Conrad Levinson, Mike Enlow, Mike Chen, Armand Morin, Joe Vitale, Cory Rudl, Terry Dean, Dan Kennedy, Mark Joyner, and whoever else out there thinks that they can teach a newcomer to internet marketing how to REALLY achieve success.

About the Author
Bill Cox is an entrepreneur and Network Marketer learning to capitalize on the power of the internet to build multiple income streams.Visit me at my personal webpage!

Article source:
My Internet Millionaire Challenge

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Investing Offshore, Could it Be for You

Jan 21

Posted by admin in investing | No Comments

Is offshore investing only for the rich and famous? Probably not, although most of us don’t know a lot about offshore investing. Here is a simple primer for the fledgling offshore investor.

Offshore investing is simply placing your investment dollars in an account with a bank that is not in the United States. There are several advantages to investing offshore.

First, there is less regulation. Some may feel that this makes the investment riskier, but that is not necessarily the case. It does allow the fund manager or company to act more freely. The lack of regulation also means less taxes. Most offshore accounts are invested in countries that have minimal tax laws for these investments. That means that more of your money is available to work for you.

Privacy is also an issue for some investors. Most of the countries typically involved in offshore investments have laws making it illegal for the investment firms to release any information regarding their investors. There is virtually no governmental reporting. This ensures that your investments and personal information will be confidential. For many who want privacy, this is a major benefit of offshore accounts.

In our lawsuit happy society, those with assets want to protect them from litigation. Many of the offshore countries chosen have laws that don’t recognize foreign awards so the assets placed in these countries are not subject to seizure. Although not a major consideration for everyone, for many it is a factor in deciding to choose an offshore investment vehicle.

Many of the offshore jurisdiction have much less complicated estate laws and tax structures. Utilizing offshore accounts for estate planning purposes is becoming more and more popular. Many set up an offshore charitable foundation in countries with favorable estate tax laws.

In order to set up an offshore investment account, an individual must either reside in or establish a legal presence in the offshore country that will make the gains taxable in that jurisdiction and not the onshore one. There are several companies that will help you set up a corporation and complete the required paperwork to get started in offshore investing. These firms will help you set up a corporation called an International Business Corporation (IBC) or a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC).

If you’re happy with your existing portfolio, but you want to move it offshore, you can move to a brokerage firm offshore once the legal paperwork is completed. The brokerage account will be opened under the name of the IBC, and then the brokerage completes your orders in the name of the IBC. Your personal identity is never involved. Of course, these brokerages can invest in offshore mutual funds or any investment worldwide.
Offshore investing may not be for everyone, but if you have assets that you want to protect from seizure, you want to maintain the strictest confidentiality, or you want to seek tax relief, investigate the possibilities. You may find that offshore investing will help you reach your financial goals.

About the Author
Jay Moncliff is the founder of  a website specialized on Investing, resources and articles.

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