Category: Problem Solving

A digital force awakens

When it comes to providing means of storing, sending, and receiving money, banks and their affiliated institutions, have enjoyed a monopoly for centuries.

They (especially central banks which allegedly are owned powerful families) have the authority to influence countries and their governments. We will not go into the level of control as this paves the way for conspiracy theories which though not proven – are not farfetched.

So, it’s only expected that when some new and unknown entity threatens their prosperity, they start to react.

Blockchain frenzy

How banks are responding is evident by how they are fervently building their own blockchains. This, however, defeats the purpose of a having decentralized system.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies get their appeal not just because they are very secure. But because unlike fiat money, they are not heavily regulated and can be mathematically restricted.

The 21 million unit limit on Bitcoin by default places it closer to the status of gold (which is also not infinite). But what happens when all are mined in 2041?
Bitcoin’s current ‘value’ of over $30 000 (adjusted), could move up again, according to the traditional laws of supply and demand as it becomes rare.

To unlock more value the creators will split it again. The first major splits (forks) gave rise to Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Both cryptocurrencies are racing to newer heights daily.

How banks operate

Now back to the banks – they make money from our deposits and these deposits are backed up by our reserve banks.
Reserve banks lend retail banks money which they essentially just print. The banks must ‘turn it’ and pay it back with interest (repo rate).

So, technically we ‘empower’ banks by depositing our money so they can invest the funds in all sorts of mechanisms. Such mechanisms include the credit and loans to you, your businesses, equities, and property.

Then, they also invest in high-risk investment vehicles like currency trading, derivatives (futures). They are essentially the biggest regulated and legal Ponzi-schemes. They also make a significant amount of the daily fees they charge you.

A quick example

Let’s quickly put things into context. A bank with over a million customers transacting daily. Let’s say they charge you a 10 cent (conservative figure) transaction fee for depositing, withdrawing from another bank, or an intra-bank transfer.

They then make 0.10c x 1 000 000 = 100 000 units of the currency on the day. This equates to 1,2 million Euros, Dollars, Rands, or Yen annually. And that is just off your transactional fees!

Then they also charge you monthly service/maintenance fees. Those are to cover the convenience of you having an account and, for services like online banking.

This is what cryptocurrencies can potentially wipe away from banks we all go the digital currencies route. Granted, how you acquire and transfer Cryptocurrencies are not as straightforward as receiving paper money – yet.

That, coupled with the stigma around ‘Cryptos’, means there is still a barrier to entry for the ‘open-source’ monetary system.

Banks will try and bring about their own blockchains to address security concerns around making transactions. For them, however, it would still be business as usual when it comes to the charges.

Birth of Fintech

Some newer financial institutions, however, are already progressing in the favour of you and me – one such is the European based N26 Bank.

We often end up paying for things all month without even having to go to an ATM. It works as a traditional bank would, however, allows the (smart) card to be used as a credit card (backed by Mastercard) would.

This allows you to quickly purchase goods online, book events, flights ticket, and accommodation. Basically, all things you still can’t do with your debit card.

In countries like Sweden and Estonia, card and digital systems have been a thing for a long time now.

Some of these Fintechs are adopting or partnering with Cryptos companies to deliver their services. One such as the relationship the one between a German bank and the crypto Ripple.

Click image to purchase Ripple here

It would be interesting to see what governments and financial institutions do to ‘protect’ their payment systems. Likewise, it will be equally fascinating to observe how they adapt in general to the new digital era upon us.

25 November 2017
Connect with the world faster

It is quite hard to understand why anyone would bother to ask (sometimes silly) questions these days when answers lie within the tips of our fingers – literally.

Back in the day, we used to have the ordained task of trekking to school or public libraries, or in some cases, rely on the local nerd to help answer questions and grasp difficult concepts.

Most of you don’t realize it, but we carry information boxes via our smartphones and tablets daily. It is easy, however, to get bombarded by misinformation and what is now dubbed ‘fake news’.

This is why it’s important for you to be able to identify credible sources when conducting research or looking for quick answers.

Information overload

One source of information that we subconsciously consume daily is social media. Thanks to the advent of the Internet, news, and information can reach us within milliseconds.

We can now tune into local news broadcasts only to get things that are specific to our areas of interest.

A quick and ill-prepared online search for a diagnosis, however, can lead to you discovering that you only have three days to live.

Worse yet, you might even “uncover” an imminent evil ploy to destroy the world and have us living underground or under the ocean.

Not all such theories, however, are far-fetched. Soon we will be seeing flying cars and man-manned drones such as the EHANG 184.

And whether rumour of fact, these quick news snippets get us thinking and prompts further research into more credible sources.

Uses of social media

Your football clubs, politicians and musicians are all actively using them to break new signings, announce new albums or push new policy or campaign objectives.

In addition, most, if not all companies, banks governmental institutions and even religious organizations now have a presence on social media. They use it to aggressively promote their brands or agenda.

So, you see, ignoring the news and social media completely these days is the equivalent of retreating to a cabin in the woods or cave. You would be shutting yourself completely from family and the rest of the world.

A social media detox is probably not a bad thing to do. We often get overly bombarded by information. However, skipping a week can leave you feeling as though you just emerged from the stone ages!

Here is a quick guide to the mainstream information sources that you can use as starting points for your research.

Google:

The biggest search engine and while it generates more results (quicker than other search engines ) – it also naturally, carries a lot of misinformation.

Google specifically has great features such as the voice-activated ‘OK Google‘ feature. It is quite responsive and good if you can’t be bothered to type but need voice-activated quick responses.

You can quickly get the latest football scores, the next flight to Tokyo, or the latest stock price of Oil or Bitcoin.

Wikipedia:

Always a quick reference guide (commonly used here). Bear in mind that their entries are put together by ordinary people.

So while fairly accurate, you should cross-reference information there especially when it comes to dates and events.

The website, however, gets reviewed/verified regularly and is therefore still quite a practical ‘go-to’ source for you to get quick facts. Be wary of the usage of short ‘Wikis’ though.

Investopedia:

For credible and simple to understand finance-related terms concepts on the go along with related news and great blog. They even have a great simulated stock trading game that you can enjoy.

Twitter:

Brandishing the iconic blue bird logo, Twitter is quick, instant, and addictive to some (no names mentioned).

Twitter is the best platform enabling you to announce and share information quickly via your mobile devices. News often breaks on it often before mainstream can media can announce/publish it.

It’s even quite common for news anchors to quote the tweet handle of a politician or celebrity when delivering news these days.

Facebook:

Launched as the first real (public) social media platform. It was designed to connect university/college peers. It has since grown to be the one source of finding your old flames, colleagues, family.

Authorities and companies are known to have used it to find out criminals or veto job candidates.

The platform was even allegedly used as a source for political campaigns and meddling with outcomes of a certain major presidential election.

It has, since its inception in 2004, been a place where many applications such as gaming application developer Zynga have made millions by capitalizing on our addiction to mobile games.

Facebook also has its other uses. It serves as a large marketplace to sell things, sends instant messages (with video-calling), and provides us with security alerts in times of terror attacks and natural disasters.

LinkedIn:

This app is important but often overlooked source of company information, recruitment, and career-building website. Though it looks similar to Facebook, it is more career-oriented and a great source for recruiters to head-hunt find you online.

LinkedIn gives you an extra professional ‘leg-up’ and even enables you to quickly convert your profile into a well-structured PDFed CV.

So useful, that it was acquired by Microsoft late last year. It is a powerful resource for their CRM solutions to be able to track individuals, companies, and decision-makers.

Instagram:

This has become a lot more than a place to post pictures of your dog´s gourmet dinner. This picture-based app has a fully-fledged marketing engine backed up by hashtags like Twitter. Like Whatsapp, it also now belongs to Facebook.

It has become a necessary tool for both, individuals and businesses and of course, celebrities like Kim Kardashian.

Instagram took over, in terms of popularity, the likes of similar older picture sharing platforms such as Photobucket or Flickr.

WhatsApp:

Owned by Facebook (if you didn’t know). This phone and the desktop-based app got their edge by taking over the SMS function from mobile operators.

We don’t send SMSes anymore. And if you still do, it’s usually because your phone is too old – or you are up to something shady! 🙂

Blackberry (R.I.P) started this idea with the BBM Messenger. But like others that tried and failed using exclusivity, not everyone wanted a Blackberry just to use that feature.

Enter WhatsApp with the ability to use your mobile phone number rather than the device itself to set it up. And just like that, it snatched up the whole market!

Running off Wi-Fi or your mobile data, you can instantaneously share videos, links, and pictures.

You can use it to host – or rather – facilitate group events like the planning of a surprise party, a birthday party. It can help you also get serious things done. You can collaborate on assignments, prepare a presentation, or (for start-ups on a low budget) launch a marketing campaign.

The funniest thing is how we now have people walking with more authority – with the title of “WhatsApp group admin”.

Snapchat:

This animated short video-making application is more for the youth but you can also use it for enterntainment. Snapchat is used mostly by celebrities like DJ Khaled – who is often viewed as its ‘ambassador’. He even owns shares in the company.

It also has also recently surged in popularity (number of users) and earned a place with some of the business powerhouses on the NYSE.

20 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
Sustainability – the greatest farce?

We exist not to exist. Now, what does that really mean? Well, in simple terms, it means we are born to die. As grim as this unwanted reality sounds, it is the basis of why people do what they do and behave the way they do.

Some live to enjoy that short moment and blissfully hope it doesn’t come sooner than later. Others strive and prepare for that day with the hope they make an impact and leave a lasting impression.

That lasting impression, in turn, can be for good or bad reasons – often confused by the individual.

Martyrs and suicide committers, for example, tend to feel that their unpleasant actions are doing a great cause to society.

Though their loved ones would beg to differ, it is the individual who decides whether that impact they leave behind is a good or terrible one.

The irrational human mind

One thing one learned in earlier days as undergraduates studying economics was that as individuals, we are mostly self-consumed and irrational.

Some refer to it as being emotional – but all irrational traits to what ideal? After all, that is what separates us from machines and robots!

Living for the present is an inherent human attribute that is hard to change or condition.

We have so quickly moved on to adopt artificial intelligence without mastering our own level of intellect and compassion.

We are certainly not advocating for a utopian state where everyone gets to the level of Albert Einstein. Emotional intelligence, however, unlike the more numerically rigid intelligence quotient, is inherent but can be honed or learned if one is willing.

Difficulty implementing

The problem with its adoption is that it takes effort. This is something not everyone is enthusiastic about – like math, chemistry, or gym class in high school.

One must ponder why significantly less than 10 percent of the world owns all the riches. Meanwhile, we currently still must deal with world hunger, disease, and abject poverty.

We must revisit the above notion of emotional intelligence. This is because one of its inherent traits is compassion – something most of those individuals don’t have or consciously try to avoid. Though this should be one of the obvious attributes that separate us from so-called beasts. Animals only have instincts to help with their decision-making processes. We, on the other hand, still struggle to use them.

Sociopaths, psychopaths, dictators, and oppressors are, therefore, not far from beasts. They lack the compassion that would even amaze the most ruthless animal predator if they had the consciousness to see what was going on in our world. These people also lack what we basically have mythologically termed – a soul.

A greater role to play

This piece is however not to criticize or state the obvious about such people but to try to explain why they behave as they do.
Psychologists and sociologists alike perhaps need to revisit their curricula and amend them to focus more on this very important but often ignored concept.

This should be added in both subject areas but must begin the analysis from the grassroots level – from childhood.
The stigma of seeing a psychologist (clinical, child, or industrial) would first need to be eradicated somehow for this to happen.

These professions play a much larger role in shaping the world that we live in. A lot more than they may realize.

It is when we learn to be compassionate and more emotionally conscious, that the concept of sustainability, conservation of any resource for future generations becomes a reality.

11 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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