Category: Companies

An investor state of mind

As an Arsenal Football Club fan, one has the natural tendency to follow the progress of both present and past players of the revered North London title-winning institution.

The prestige of playing for the club comes along with all the bell and whistles required to make life living in the small yet expensive hub city often dubbed to be the centre of modern Europe, a breeze.

It was rather sad to read about the unfortunate fortune of a former player who had a big heart and passion for the beautiful game. He was, however, a bit aloof and care-free on the pitch. It turns out this was a character trait that perhaps extended to his financial affairs.

He was recently reported as sleeping on the couch of a friend without a penny to his name. How can that happen, you might ask?

His weekly wages were a reported 50 000 Great Britain Pounds! So how did he go from earning that figure, to being dead broke?

Such a bad turn of fortune is not uncommon for celebrities, qualified professionals, and lottery winners. This can be explained by a simple lack of ‘investor mentality’.

The right state of mind

This mindset can be instilled in us from a relatively young age if you have had the luxury of growing up with parents, teachers or a mentor who imparts this knowledge to you. It can also be learned later in life – often the hard way.

Similar to starting a business, the biggest barrier to entry into any form of investment is always the initial capital. Once you have it, coupled with the investor mentality, it’s hard to fail financially in life: just ask the current sitting American president!

Now as obvious as this sounds, you need to put in money to make money. That is why investing, for instance, is mainly carried out on a large scale by banks – with your money!

What you do with the money when you inherit it, win it, or save up from a weekly or monthly project-based income is more important than just having it in the first place.

Wouldn’t you agree that money comes then often goes faster than you realize? Having a grasp on why it leaves so fast is what we should be paying attention to.

Let’s firstly be sensible about this – investing is always a long-term project. A desire to reap short-term gains or having such a mentality is paramount to risky gambling or betting against the odds.

“Patience is an investor’s game – if you don’t have any, don’t bother with the mechanisms that don’t lock you in for a few months to enable you to realize a return.”

Enough of the rhetorical questions and statements. Let’s briefly look at a few investment vehicles in the true fashion of Debunqed.

Savings

This is the least risky investing vehicle and tends to suit patient investors. Usually, it is for you if yo are the kind that loves to watch paint dry. 🙂

Your only risk would be using a non-government backed bank for it. The higher the amount you invest, the better the interest rate you get. So this basically benefits the already wealthy. Some savings accounts are even known to offer you 0% or fractional decimal interest rates which are calculated nominally.

So it begs the question – why would you even consider putting your money in savings? Well, using this investment strategy helps with a good credit score. That comes in handy when you apply for loans or obtaining financial backing to start your new business. So they do have some use.
Risk level: Little to none.

Property (residential or commercial)

This is the golden nest egg of investing – that is if you can raise the bond for property or inherit one.

Property is one asset class that tends to only appreciate and relatively well over the years depending on what is happening in the area/town or economy.
Getting in is the difference between having a spender or an investor’s mentality.

What do we mean by this? Well, if you can save up for a deposit to buy a brand-new luxury car, you could and should do the same for a house.

That way each “monthly rent” payment goes towards something you will eventually own. You could also buy-to-rent. The income generated from the tenant (rent) will help you pay off the bond.

Consider the appreciation value of property in your local area over the years. But like anything valuable, you must be prepared to maintain its upkeep – the costs will be more than your weekly carwash.

In the long-run when you realize the greater future value, you could even downgrade to have some extra cash to spend. You could then get that car of your dreams or travel and see the world.
Risk level: Low to moderate.

Share/Stocks

The days of stockbrokers are numbered. Trading firms and hedge fund companies are slowly being replaced by AI computers. These days, you can take full charge of a portfolio of equities, CFDs, Futures, Commodities, Options, Forex and Cryptocurrency directly from your laptop.

There are a number of online trading platforms out there so it is a good idea to go with the accredited ones.

One of the key benefits is that they all offer a free trial – which often gives you a mock .account. That’s a great way to learn about the tools and the above-mentioned markets.

There are aspects you need to pay attention to. One of them is leverage trading . It is essentially borrowing money to trade (payable with interest) – a double whammy if or when things go south for you.
Risk level: High to Excessive.

Mutual funds

As the name suggests it is derived from a pool of funds from a specific institution or industry. Mutual funds are offered by institutions as a supplement to retirement plans (pensions and annuities).

They offer you a return (often a stable monthly or quarterly pay-out) based on a fixed term that you agree on with your portfolio manager.
The offering institution would then apply your pooled monthly contributions into a diverse portfolio to spread your risk exposure.

This, however, requires the attention of a (paid) portfolio manager and is thus susceptible to the principal-agent problem.
Risk level: Low to moderate.

Venture Capitalism/Angel funds

If you have some spare cash and don’t want to bear the risk and burden of running a business yourself, you can fund other people you believe will be successful.

In this arrangement, confidence is placed by you on the owner and the offering. You can then state the terms for the release of your funds such as a quarterly return on investment or a larger stake in the business and its profits.

Rapper Nas is known for his investment in Silicon Valley start-ups as a Venture Capitalist – which gives him a share in the companies he backs with the hope of it growing exponentially to increase that shareholding’s worth.

Celebrities and sports stars usually have the capital to diversify their portfolio by investing in or starting up a new business. One such notable venture was the one where Rapper/Producer Dre’s Beats brand got bought by Apple for three billion USD.
Risk level: Moderate to high.

Rare items

Though not an easy commodity to come by because often the initial value can be quite high (unless of course, you are lucky to find an item at a junk sale or low-key auction), rare commodities can also form part of your future financial security.

Rare coins tend to take a long time to mature in value. Likewise, a painting can appreciate quickly in value if the artist’s “interesting” background comes to light in the press for good or bad reasons.

As an example, a rare Nelson Mandela coin once sold for 100 000 USD while he was still living. So, one can only imagine what the few in circulation are worth now.

Read more about rare coins here.

A rummage around old antique shops and secondhand sales can reap rewards if you know what you’re looking for.
Risk level: Low to moderate.

Bonds

These are long-term interest-bearing certificates issued primarily by governments (via monetary policy) but also by certain large public institutions.

Bonds give you a guarantee of a future value using a specially controlled interest rate. They are usually issued with fixed terms and can only be accessed after 3 to 10 years.

This locks you in, to hold the bond for the agreed period regardless of which way the interest rates are going.

Naturally the higher the rates the better for you. As a cautionary note, you will be subjected to the regulatory activities and monetary policies of the country in which you hold the bonds. Choose where you buy very wisely.
and research your product.

Accessing bond markets is also not easy and you may be subject to complex rules pertaining to the country, residence status and your credit score, and so on.

It is really for the long-term investor and can be used in the same way mutual funds tend to be applied, to supplement one’s retirement annuity package.
Risk level: Moderate to high.

All things investment

You need to remember the importance of imparting this knowledge to our youth, friends, and family so as to continue the cycle.

The simple answer being: Education. The lack of it is one of the fundamental causes of poverty.

A number of celebrities and sports stars have overlooked it’s true importance so as to follow their true passion and skill. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you have the right people around you to help you manage your finances.

It was reported he signed documents without knowing the full content and liability of what was being presented to him. It was also said that she would even bring paperwork to the football club’s training ground for him to sign.

Let’s be honest, we don’t know the full facts but there is a lesson. This “wife” character could be anyone that you entrust with managing your finances so, be wise as to who you choose to oversee your accounts.

Make a plan

Having a grasp of your assets (if any) less your liabilities is the first place to start. Once you know what you have or don’t have, you can then set goals.
Think about what you need to do to achieve a net worth that will sustain you for the long term.

Granted we all must pay bills. We will write down that part of our income but we need to focus on what is being done with the money that is left once your overheads are met.

Educate yourself (skip a binge session on Netflix). Take a deeper dive into the investment vehicles briefly spoken about. The resources page will provide more comprehensive details about all seven vehicles discussed.

It will also guide you on where to go to find out more once you have decided and which vehicle or combo would fit your investment type and appetite for risk.

Make 2018 a sensible year finance-wise and happy investing!

1 January 2018
The Big ‘Crypture’

I’m not quite sure if anyone has given some careful thought – in the heat of this ‘Crypto mania’. More specifically, have you ever considered the ramifications of the blockchain and its impact on the global economy?

This is an attempt to perform a calculated prophecy, based on the conversations we’ve had with like-minded visionaries.

An introspection into this ‘much-talked-about technology’ has led to endless possibilities.

Presently, every Tom, Anastasia, and Patel are pursuing short-term gains. You are all probably investigating ways in which they too can “cash in” by investing in new digital currencies.

This frenzy is mainly driven by how some of the altcoins are performing in value. Some digital coins are rising as much as 1000% in a ‘Crypto bull-run’. But the real appeal for digital “currencies” comes from the security, speed, and cost of transactions they facilitate.

A case for Cryptos

Most of you are understandably looking at it solely from an investment point of view – after all, greed never sleeps.

Also, let’s not forget the anonymity it affords one – great for criminals and money launderers. Because of the increased risk, monetary authorities and regulatory bodies will make a case for tighter controls.

They may even push for the outright banning of this new currency altogether.

Retail banks, are currently entrusted with the movement of your funds (electronic transfers) and are governed by economic monetary policy. This happens under the watchful eye of big brother – the Reserve Bank.

These commercial banks are the “primary targets” so to say of the blockchain. They were, therefore, the first to react by investing or attempting to start up their own blockchains.

Such projects, however, prove to be expensive and still risky ventures given that no-one knows the source and destination of the blockchain.

Banks are nevertheless having to either make quick decisions about whether they get on board or partner with developers of Cryptos such as Ripple).

We also look at other financial institutions such as credit lending facilities and money transfer institutions. They are also are naturally in partnerships with the banks. They, however, stand to get wiped out by the blockchain if you think about it.

Really, who would want to cough up a 10% commission or a transfer fee for money sent abroad to your family? You could simply use something like IOTA which, by the way, is as a Crypto hovering around 3-5 USD (at time of publishing) per unit.

It is capable of transacting very quickly and securely with no transaction fees!

And how so you may ask? Those details are listed clearly on their respective websites.

Peer review functionality

It is the belief that the plan for Cryptos’ was to enable anyone to have access to a shared (decentralized) peer-to-peer type service that enables the secure transacting of literally – anything!

You can look at the blockchain working in the same manner as BitTorrent or E-Mule (for those who remember that far back). In the way, that data, albeit mostly bootlegged music, videos, and software, was distributed and downloaded on the web.

“Blockchain is essentially a quick peer-to-peer transaction of digital currency”

The value of Cryptocurrencies is now driven by how well it works as a system. You must look more closely at the added value it can offer society from a functional, practical, convenient, and of course, cost-saving perspective.

A real threat?

So, what does that then mean for companies like Visa, Mastercard, or even a digital banking app like PayPal?

You can also imagine the implications for investment banks and their traders. That is if markets such as the very volatile foreign exchange (Forex) are completely abandoned and substituted by Cryptos.

There are now many an exchange for Cryptos in the appearing monthly.
You will be able to switch or trade Bitcoin for Ethereum, Litecoin, IOTA, or Ripple.

Handy if you need them quickly for a specific transaction, country, or product that accepts digital currency.

More practical uses of Crypto

The purpose of ‘Cryptos’ running on the blockchain is, therefore, to change the way we transact and pay for goods and services.

The aim was to make it a ‘form of exchange’ but also to provide the resources for you to “mine” and own them. This can be an alternative income generator alleviating the need for job creation. It can also be a substitute vocation for those you who were perhaps made redundant by automation and AI.

So, once you mine the currency (provided you have the infrastructure and pay the overheads), you can use it to get the things you need or must pay for.
Your electricity bill, for example, can then be processed and paid for directly from an IOTA-holding wallet.

Speaking of electricity, we came across a very insightful article (referenced in the resource section) focusing on the impact of energy consumption that global rampant mining will cause the price of electricity and the environment.

Coupled with the switch to electric cars this could surely force you to invest in better ways to generate electricity. That is if we are to maintain sensible levels of sustainability.

Whether the price of electricity goes up or down will be determined by how quickly energy providers globally will be able to meet this surging demand.

We can surely be in a position to observe the upcoming impact on electricity consumption from next year.

More and more of the global population are beginning to mine altcoins for themselves.

As we head into the festive season and bonuses are being paid out, be responsible for how you splash out. Do your research first – even if it means waiting a year to see how it all plays out.

22 December 2017
Globalization 2.0

The implementation of globalization has not been without its major flaws. Abolishing it, however, is paramount to anti-socialist behaviour or looking inwards. This concept is against the tendencies of human nature.

If you read up on any definition of globalization, you will see that the intention was always genuine. The need to integrate and collaborate for the mutual benefit of nations.

It can, however, like any product (like knowledge), be exploited out of selfish desires and lead to exploitation.

Of course, it also doesn’t mean that globalization must apply to every sector of your economy. Some inward investment is always healthy. It should, however, not lead to extreme nationalism for a fear of loss of national identity.

Trust issues

The problem, like many others, lies in the hands of politicians who are controlled and dictated to by a handful of large corporations. These ‘corps’ have one and only self-interest – profit, power, and control.

The main concern for sovereign governments is that ‘giving up’ or sharing one’s technological, innovative, or manufacturing secrets to other countries. The premise is that this would make them ‘vulnerable’.

The real issue lies in a lack of trust – leading to the notion: “I will not let you know how I do it because you may use it against me – in trade or war”.

Despite the existence of supposedly ‘compartmentalized’ trading blocs and free trade areas like NAFTA, EU, ECOWAS, SADC, etc, the rate of globalization has sped up significantly in the past decade.

This is due to boundless advances in information technology as accurately predicted by Neoclassical Growth Theory.

Information technology has now given us valuable new tools to identify and engage in economic activity.

Tech provides access to and faster, more informed analysis of information, transfers of assets, and collaboration.

The impact on finance

A globalized world means that with the aid of technology, you can buy and sell shares of an Italian firm from a desktop in Namibia!

You would then only have to deal with the commissions and transaction fees (capital gains tax) locally pertaining to your online trades.

And think about it, on a micro-level. If globalization is entirely a bad concept then no-one should be using Amazon, eating MacDonalds, or watching Netflix in protest. Hard to imagine, isn’t it?

We must praise its positive outcomes and work hard against the negative impacts. The negative ones are also giving rise to a new era of extreme nationalism or populism.

You can only do your bit by promoting and backing policy-makers who can enforce good trade laws. This would force both local and international competitors to play by the same rules.

Penalties for financial misconduct should be a lot greater to deter exploitation. Rather, perpetrators still get the proverbial slap on the wrist.

The creative destruction of the financial system will be brought about by cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain technology.

Depending on its uptake, and whether the authorities can legitimize its legality, we may see individuals and governments using decentralized currencies.

The Venezuelan president is investigating the concept of a national cryptocurrency dubbed ´Petro´. They would use it to alleviate dependency on (heavily interest-ridden) loans.

10 December 2017
Rise of the machines

As a young man born in and living in Pretoria South Africa, multi-billionaire Elon Musk – better known for pioneering the Tesla battery-operated motor concept – was shunned by the Industrial Development Corporation several times.

His innovative ideas were denied financial backing so he moved to the USA for better support. The rest as we all know is history.

The futuristic thinker, however, took a rather skeptical and worrisome handbrake-turn when it came to the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its benefits to society.

When a man like that with so much insight into technology warns of its potentially harming effects, it warrants notice. Musk warned that its use could foster ‘the coming of third world war’. We have to for such reasons, delve a little deeper into the topic.

We have rapidly progressed from longer periods of stone, iron, industrial, to that of space, technological/information ages. The world is now apparently fused between the latter three.

Despite skipping a few ‘crucial’ stages, we have now surged into the age of digital automation. This is while sadly still dealing with the ravages of poverty, disease, and irreversible damage to our environment.

Automation & AI usage

Automation is helping business through software like ERPs that take over traditional back-office finance and operations.

In the IT industry, the Internet of things (IoT), cloud services, and general Software as a Service (SaaS) have simplified things for IT managers. You can now just monitor and attend to more pertinent issues and tasks (hopefully not just stream movies and play games on duty).

While seated comfortably, you will be able to now perform tasks such as deploying new software, installing/removing updates on multiple machines/devices simultaneously. All with a push of a few buttons.

Trading bots

In the high-risk investment scene, automation has given traders more room for better research and analysis Thus relieving you from the known stresses and mundane tasks associated with trading.

For many trading houses and brokers, AI has even completely taken over the mundane task of making and executing trades.

Advert

If you haven’t already, read this great book entitled: The Fear Index (thriller by Robert Harris). Though fiction, it illustrates the use of a machine learning tool using algorithms to help a hedge fund company generate billions for its investors.

The use of AI is not without fault. It can also lead to costly system-generated errors like the trading error a few years at Goldman Sachs cost the firm $100 million and other cases.

Other use cases

It can still, on a ‘micro’ level, help free human capital (individuals) from PC-related issues. So things like having stress, headaches, backaches, and lack of time spent with family and friends can be a thing of the past.

In the industrial and manufacturing sectors, the advent of AI creates even more of a fear and a concern. The number (staffing) of redundancies, may increase when it is introduced.

This would require careful planning to ensure the blue-collars that are ‘replaced’, are compensated. More so, they would need to be incorporated into different areas of businesses.

Limits of robotics

Obviously, not every task need to be automated or performed by robots. We (as humans) are still required to check-up, inspect, and perform quality checks for instance.
We can, as a result, deal with inter-personal jobs that require more empathy like in customer and social service.

Human resources or getting into corporate social responsibility (CSI) projects that reach out to communities.

Embracing it

More importantly, policies by governments will need to focus ever so more on job-creation. Governments must now adopt innovative means of creating jobs or foster and supporting entrepreneurship. Projects like those of Mr. Tesla/Mr. PayPal/Mr. SpaceX has created thousands of new jobs.

As for the use of AI in weaponry and military defense systems, the less said the better. When it comes to privacy and security concerns we can only hope that rogue politicians don’t get unregulated access to such technology. In such a case we would only be able to protest and hope not to feature in a real-life James Cameron sequel to Judgment Day.

3 December 2017
One tool to serve them all

When working in retail, finance, and manufacturing (sales) industry, you often come across one unavoidable piece of software.

A Customer Relationship Management software or what is abbreviated to CRM.

Now what really is really astonishing is when people ask how a CRM can actually help their business. Often one gets asked what CRM stands for or even means!
Now granted, it is a technical and industry-specific jargon depicting an online tool. More specifically, it is software used on hardware like PCs, tablets, scanners, point-of-sale devices, and modern cash registers).
What it does, however, is something many businesses both small and large take for granted – and mostly to their detriment.

The purpose

We use CRM solutions a lot more than we think. Take our Smartphones for instance: they are basically miniature customer (data or content) managing tools and though personalized, they serve the same function.
Now to put this into perspective very quickly and simply: our phones store and manage all our contacts. Our friends, family, businesses, and clients are kept in records primarily to help us access and communicate with them quickly.
Mobile phones, have also evolved to now enable you to not only manage your contacts to just make calls or send SMS. You can now share all sorts of content with via the various social media platforms.
Each of these platforms naturally has its own purpose and account. Android phones, for instance, come with (need to be activated by) a Google account.
You can then subsequently use it to access many applications (via an app store) and not just your email.
CRMs manage a company’s accounts in a similar way. They enable you to quickly get a hold of people to either sell directly to, create or follow-up on a sales lead, or nurture the lead until it becomes a sale.
This is carried out by software that sits on the front-end of a database stored on a local server or on the cloud. The software is normally user-friendly for it to be adopted and used frequently by end users.
This enhances your productivity and therefore increases revenue for your business.

Practical uses of CRM

They are used more by salespeople and staff of companies that offer a service via their customer support services or front-end teams.
So, when you call your local phone company because you are behind on a payment or would like to hand in a product for repairs, it is a CRM system that is used to log, track and manage the case till is solved.
The transcript, along with the call logs and resolutions are kept for a later date or time for if you make a follow-up call, request a new service. These records are stored in a database or what is called an instance.
Depending on what your company does, it will have several (national or regional) instances to help access data even faster.
A CRM can help you manage a healthy relationship with your clients to ensure that you are not calling them several times a day to put them off.
It will stop you from forgetting to follow-up on scheduled calls or emails or worse yet, sending them the wrong product or information about your offerings.

Salient features

A good CRM package also comes equipped with a means for you to create and store brochures, create effective and targeted marketing campaigns, generate quotes and invoices (PDFs). It will also come with a solid built-in knowledgebase.
This is a stored pool of resources containing processes and scenarios to help you quickly resolve a problem, prescribe a product or log a case.
And nowadays, like a mobile phone, a good CRM software can seamlessly help you integrate with social media platforms to follow, service or attract customers from those digital marketplaces.

Several CRM tools out there that offer different functionalities and depending on the size of your business, you can get a basic one that just manages your contacts and interactions.
Then you have ones that handle full-scale operations (back-office processes like warehousing, inventory, accounting, finance, payroll, and HR).
Those fall under another high-level category of CRMs known as Enterprise Resource Planning tools or ERPs. A topic for another blog perhaps as they are a totally different animal altogether.
CRMs are however, an component of ERPs and bigger companies would need both to handle large scale operations.
So you see how useful a CRM is in helping to run your company. They are now being even more automated with the help of Business Intelligence and AI.
That makes it even easier for you to use them to grow your business to levels where ERPs you would eventually need an ERP.

Many CRM suppliers offer free trials and even free online software, so take a shop around to see which one fits your needs.

The current industry leaders in CRM solutions are Dynamics (Microsoft), Salesforce, Oracle, SAP CRM and Zoho.

30 November 2017
Sales misconception – debunqed!

The ‘great’ art of selling is about earning and keeping your client’s trust. In business or commerce, there is nothing greater than the feeling of completing that successful sale.

By successful, we refer the whole process: from convincing the customer that your product or service will meet his/her long or short-term needs. This is after listening carefully to their requirements through thorough discovery. The client is then able to the payment without hassles and take timely delivery of the goods.
Finally, the customer acknowledging and thanking you for it with the hopes of coming back should be the most rewarding part of the sale. That coupled with your commission of course!
A successful sale is a step-by-step process and must have all the above elements.
Anything short of that is paramount to a quick-fix or even a scam. It is only lazy salespeople (taking shortcuts) that give the trade a bad reputation.
Granted, not all of your sales interactions will turn out to be complete success. Some elements of the above process could be stymied by aspects out of your control. For instance, the client’s lack of funds, suppliers’ delivery delays or a faulty product can mess up a good sales cycle.

A true story

Some of the most successful sales are even conducted by faceless agents. Once, while based in Johannesburg, we sold a product (that was mass produced in China) and had it delivered from New York to Cape Town via air-freight.
This was based on a demand (order) that was placed on a then operational website. The actual sales were brokered via correspondence by email and phone.
Luckily, the product (and delivery) quality was good enough not to warrant a face-to-face visit, though in those days having Skype for Business would have been a great resource to at least give ‘a face’ to the sales rep.
They were, however, willing to deal with the agent several times without having met them personally based on the quality of the (medical) product. This was in addition to the vote of confidence and guarantees provided throughout the intensive sales interactions.
This little anecdote proves that it doesn’t matter what you sell, if the product is of good quality, and meets all (compliance) requirements including the recent GDPR law – the sale actually becomes the easy part.
You will, however, still require a little bit (and the right kind) of presentation skills to position the product/service adequately enough to execute the sale.

There is no real art to selling – we all do it all the time without realizing it. From the time we apply to a kindergarten or high school, to university and finally to all the jobs in our working career.

Reinforce the brand

As salespeople, we must present ourselves (our unique skills and character) and persuade a ‘buyer’ to take us on. This is also something no automated sales agent or Chatbot can do and is an area that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not beat us on.
And just like a brand, everything we do is intended to enhance our value and the more we beef-up our brand (with educational, mentorship and technical qualifications). The better our brand, the more demand for your offering.
But back to selling. We sell people ideas: something as simple as convincing your mate to meet at the pub after work or your girls to join you for a weekend spa takes skilful persuasion. And even more so if they had other plans or options.
That is essentially what sales is about – persuading a buyer to choose your product or service over that of others using tools such as the consumer black box.
Such persuasion obviously can be genuine or fraudulent. Those salespeople trained by their leader Jordan Belfort as illustrated in the 2013 Wolf of Wall Street movie are a testimony. The revealed how persuasion can be used effectively when capitalizing on with an inherent human trade – greed.
Being truthful, however, (even if it means letting go of a sale) will determine whether you get repeat customers. This is something most successful salespeople make use of to boost their conversion rates and pipelines.

Mentorship

Debunqed.com likes to follow unconventional salespeople who use unorthodox but effective methods. These are not necessarily the textbook style of selling but will help to inspire you to address the potential client’s needs honestly.
Such ‘on the ground’ learning is done with the help of a mentor. Shadowing one or two mentors that are passionate about what they do can rub off a few skills that can supplement traditional sales theory.
Sales is a skill best learned on the ground and you will hardly find an institution offering it as an elective course.
Such revenue-multiplying potential that repeat-customers can provide for your sales portfolio or pipeline beats getting a quick-fix by conning people no matter how big the ‘score’ is.
What you should be doing as a salesman is gaining your customers’ trust whilst solving their problem.
A trusting customer will always look you up for more purchases.

If you operate in an industry where you have multiple products or one that needs to be renewed – you earn revenue for life!

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14 November 2017
The not-so mysterious world of cryptocurrency

Warren Buffett once referred to financial derivatives as “weapons of mass destruction” . He warned that they are detrimental to the global economy and financial markets.

Cryptos have a way of creating something supposedly of intrinsic value out of nothing. This is as dangerous as propaganda that leads to conflict or promotes struggle.

They are backed up by a cloud of non-regulatory policies by states who themselves, still traditional monetary policy measures.

And this is despite their full understanding of the instruments of financial wizardry.

In economics, the term creative destruction, however, has a paradoxically positive meaning. It is perfectly suited to the new form of “crypto”- currency (Bitcoin) that is not as mystic as it seems.

A brief history

Money is a concept that probably also met up with resilience when it was first supposedly introduced by the Chinese. They started carrying folding money during the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907).

The instability generated by uncontrolled usage and denomination, however, soon led to rapid inflation. This prompted the Chinese to drop it, only for it to be taken up again later when it got stabilized by the adoption and use by the West.

They developed paper money as an offshoot of the invention of block printing. Block printing is like stamping.

Ironically that very same term ‘block’ is the foundation behind the Bitcoin – which is generated using blockchains (digital public ledger).

We won’t get into the mechanics of Bitcoins. We will, however, attempt to increase awareness on why and how this new payment method could cause positive ripples in the financial global system.

What is Bitcoin?

As per Wikipedia, and as simple as it can get in terms of a description: Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a digital payment system.

It was supposedly invented by an unknown programmer, or a group of programmers, under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

Though the anonymity creates an element of distrust about the agenda of its creators, it is surprisingly more transparent than derivatives.

Cryptocurrency uses a system of cryptography (encryption) to control the creation of digital ‘coins’ and to verify millions of transactions.

These transactions include are a basic movement of funds between two digital wallets and get submitted to a public ledger and await confirmation through encryption.

This video is a great and simple way for you to understand the above because it is best understood when explained as a larger picture. Check out this useful and basic video on Bitcoins.

That is quite a feat worth acknowledging because 11 years of existence is nothing compared to gold’s multiple century reigns.

Now 2009 was not long ago considering the Bitcoin is now ‘worth’ well over $20 000 each (updated to 2021 levels).

For centuries, gold has been our standard of trade or backing of all types of currency until it was ‘uncoupled’ by Nixon in 1971.

The future of trade and commerce is in the digital sphere – are you in the know?

Potential currency?

For something to become the standard measure or mode of trade it, however, needs to be stable. So, while the technology behind Bitcoin (the Blockchain) is relatively sound, its actual price needs to find its firm nesting.

Established currencies trade on markets via exchange rates with relatively minuscule increments of change in price and value. In comparison, Bitcoin can jump in value by $1000 within (minutes or seconds) – prompting skepticism about its stability.

Google Engineer Ray Kurzweil, who is revered as a “prophet” for his mysterious predictions, such inconsistency undermines the cryptocurrency’s value as a currency.

The aim is nevertheless to relieve our dependency on money or more so, the iron grip and often abusive control that some banking institutions have over consumers.

You could even argue that the recent surge in its price is being fuelled by agents of the traditional banking industry. They naturally feel threatened by the fact that they may not fully understand it and its inherent potential. So they (cash-flush) could inflate it for an inevitable ‘burst’.

But the currency though very volatile in its movement has remained buoyant. It has now held for well above $10 000 for sustained periods since its inception. Gold is now approx. $1,900.

Bitcoins provide more guarantee than financial derivatives especially because of their open-source approach to its existence and use.

Complexity

The tricky part is simply getting to grips with the vastly abundant information about it and how you could even generate it.

It is still a great backup ‘of a backup’. We rely on technology and more specifically the Internet for transactions and the associated traffic for our daily lives.

A simultaneous crash of a few major servers, however, could send it all tumbling back into the digital abyss. But as with money and other forms of currencies, only time will tell.

Bitcoin will just have to further prove its resilience and stability in the long run.

Getting attention

It is certainly not a ‘fly by night’ thing because it has sparked the interests of both public and private institutions globally. China even made a bold move to block the Bitcoin market from trading within its borders at some stage.

China is notorious for blocking things that stem from the ‘West’ only to later introduce it under their own control to protect their financial sector.

So, we can be rest assured that the creator is not Chinese! Sweden has allegedly passed legislature to make it an accepted form of currency.

Currently, banks and governments are frantically creating their own sets of blockchains to ensure they are not caught off-guard.

Read more about the implications of Cryptocurrency on the financial sector.

Bitcoin also gets its collective strength (intrinsic value) from its limited quantity in circulation (19 million out of a finite 21 million).

Spillover effects

Bitcoin has also paved the way for others such as Ethereum, (mostly used for smart contracts and by developers) which is also seeing good growth.
Then there is Litecoin, which was formed as part of a controversial yet civil split from the originators of Bitcoin to use ‘variant technologies’.

All these platforms (companies) now use the blockchain to create all types of cryptocurrencies to capitalize on the spoils of this digital revolution.

There are also several institutions that are offering late-comers a chance to benefit from the spoils of using and investing in digital currency.

Naturally, all these schemes with their investment packages would require a ‘buy-in’ and marketing to attract more takers.

Such Crypto ‘companies’ are likened to a pyramid scheme and subject to many investigations by fiscal and criminal authorities.
But that is how Bitcoin, its promoters, and the market were initially treated.

Interested? Check out the following useful links to their official websites to help you get started.

You can learn more about them, about mining them, or simply buy some Bitcoin here.

RISK WARNING: YOUR CAPITAL MIGHT BE AT RISK WHEN INVESTING IN CRYPTOCURRENCIES.

7 November 2017

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