Recently, there are so many advertisement in television, media, and online ads about registration for any kind of things. Reg_primbon, reg_cinta, reg_jodoh, and so on and on ... The price for that is not cheap. it's about 2000 rupiah/sms as i know. I myself never be interested for that kind of not-so-useful things. But the fact, those not-so-useful things are booming! Just right here, in Indonesia! Some of them can reap millions and millions rupiah each day.
These days, we can find many advertisement on the internet about some emotional offers such as: cara gampang jadi kaya, kerja santai dan kaya, cepat kaya dgn mudah, and so on ... Here is another great examples! I read on some media that spot on these. According to them, some of these are big liar, some are quite good, and some are great. Despite of its purposes and motivation, statistic said that players in this field are earning billion and billion rupiah.
I was wondering what is so interesting with this business. After I spent sometime reviewing, researching, and thinking, I realized that there is a huge and unique potential in Indonesia' business world: Emotion. Everything that has an emotional feeling are HOT business in Indonesia. Simple stuff can be a serious business if you can add emotional spices. Those who can sense and diligently wrap their products with emotional spices, and put effort to work on it, can easily conquer a segment of unique markets.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Bill Gates on local business advertising: Yellow Pages gone in 5 years!
Microsoft wagered an estimated $1 billion of its competitive kitty that it will loudly beat search nemesis Google in both the mobile search and local business advertising $50 billion challenge, as I report and analyze in What Microsoft is telling Google about mobile search: Tellme Networks, Inc.
In buying Tellme, Microsoft aims to bring the “power of voice technology to everyday life.”
Mike McCue, co-founder and CEO of Tellme on what the Microsoft acquisition means:
This combination allows us to really fulfill our vision and bring it to billions of consumers, literally, on any phone. We love the idea of allowing people to be able to simply pick up a phone, push a button, and say find the nearest Starbucks, and then get a map and driving directions to that location, or be able to push a button and say, give me the latest score on the Yankees.
Bill Gates, Microosft Chairman, has a voice enabled mobile local search and advertising vision, and it doesn't include the Yellow Pages.
In a Q & A last week with Joanne Bradford, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Chief Media Officer, at the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit 2007, Gates projected a short life span for the Yellow Pages.
GATES: A lot of these interfaces will be mixed voice/screen interfaces. When you have just voice, and you say something, let's say on the other end there's three or four possibilities, that voicing of, did you mean A, B, C, D, that's really slow and kind of painful. If you're just sitting there with your phone with the screen, then it will propose those, and the idea that, okay, if it's the one on top you just press enter, if it's the others you just cursor down, take that, and press enter. Then it's far more natural. And when I call up and I say, what is the movie schedule for this movie, voice has always been super slow, I have to sit there and hope that I'm listening right at the time it says the one thing that's in my lane. If I say that, and it just comes back up on that screen, you know, I may have additional links, get more information, then it's the voice/screen interaction that I believe in because it's far more robust in the face of some uncertainty of exactly what the input is as opposed to a voice/voice interaction that is very limiting.
BRADFORD: There's a big implication that I think about to the local advertising market, and I really think that if you can do those two things in the phone, and in the screen, that you change that. So the Windows Live Local data on the phone, it's a great experience. But I think it's going to be better when I can combine the speech and the screen there. You think that's coming sooner than later, and will it really wipe out Yellow Pages?
GATES: Well, the Yellow Pages are going to be used less and less. We should be able, when you go to the service that's going to take our technology and the Tellme technology that we acquired, when you ay something like plumber, the presentation you'll get will be far better than what you get in the Yellow Pages. After all, we know your location, and so we can cluster around that. We can take the information and show you the names, and then you can expand the information easily.
So, yes, I think that these things always take time, but Yellow Page usage amongst people in their, say, below 50, will drop to zero, near zero over the next five years.
Source: Click Here
In buying Tellme, Microsoft aims to bring the “power of voice technology to everyday life.”
Mike McCue, co-founder and CEO of Tellme on what the Microsoft acquisition means:
This combination allows us to really fulfill our vision and bring it to billions of consumers, literally, on any phone. We love the idea of allowing people to be able to simply pick up a phone, push a button, and say find the nearest Starbucks, and then get a map and driving directions to that location, or be able to push a button and say, give me the latest score on the Yankees.
Bill Gates, Microosft Chairman, has a voice enabled mobile local search and advertising vision, and it doesn't include the Yellow Pages.
In a Q & A last week with Joanne Bradford, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Chief Media Officer, at the Microsoft Strategic Account Summit 2007, Gates projected a short life span for the Yellow Pages.
GATES: A lot of these interfaces will be mixed voice/screen interfaces. When you have just voice, and you say something, let's say on the other end there's three or four possibilities, that voicing of, did you mean A, B, C, D, that's really slow and kind of painful. If you're just sitting there with your phone with the screen, then it will propose those, and the idea that, okay, if it's the one on top you just press enter, if it's the others you just cursor down, take that, and press enter. Then it's far more natural. And when I call up and I say, what is the movie schedule for this movie, voice has always been super slow, I have to sit there and hope that I'm listening right at the time it says the one thing that's in my lane. If I say that, and it just comes back up on that screen, you know, I may have additional links, get more information, then it's the voice/screen interaction that I believe in because it's far more robust in the face of some uncertainty of exactly what the input is as opposed to a voice/voice interaction that is very limiting.
BRADFORD: There's a big implication that I think about to the local advertising market, and I really think that if you can do those two things in the phone, and in the screen, that you change that. So the Windows Live Local data on the phone, it's a great experience. But I think it's going to be better when I can combine the speech and the screen there. You think that's coming sooner than later, and will it really wipe out Yellow Pages?
GATES: Well, the Yellow Pages are going to be used less and less. We should be able, when you go to the service that's going to take our technology and the Tellme technology that we acquired, when you ay something like plumber, the presentation you'll get will be far better than what you get in the Yellow Pages. After all, we know your location, and so we can cluster around that. We can take the information and show you the names, and then you can expand the information easily.
So, yes, I think that these things always take time, but Yellow Page usage amongst people in their, say, below 50, will drop to zero, near zero over the next five years.
Source: Click Here
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Warren Buffett Way: Principals for Successful Investment
In his Business Investment book "The Warren Buffett Way", Robert Hagstrom outlines 12 principles Warren Buffett follows in his successful investment decision making. This article illustrates these tenets implemented by Buffett when selecting stocks or companies.
Principle 1: Simplicity and Understandability of the Business
Warren Buffett avoided the investment in a business he had no understanding of. This is the reason for which he did not undertake investments on technology stocks. He claimed that understanding a business facilitated the spotting of problems and opportunities.
Principle 2: Reliable Operating History
Buffet studied the history record of a target company. He is well aware of the fact that a past performance is not a guarantee for future success, but he used it to see whether the particular business was able to endure the different market conditions.
Principle 3: Positive Long-Term Prospects
Warren Buffet investing philosophy included the holding of a company over the long-term. Therefore, a clear future was of importance to him. He disregarded the profitability of companies that were about to fall out of taste tomorrow, such as technology stocks or companies that were susceptible to trend conditions.
Principle 4: Rational Management
Buffet placed extreme importance on the management team of the company. He paid attention on the way the management operated with the excess cash generated. In order to construct a shareholder value, the cash that is generated above the average returns should be reinvested. If the reinvestment is not possible the excess cash should be returned to the shareholders in a dividend form or whatever other form the management considers appropriate. Rationality is what should stand behind every decision.
Principal 5: Open Management-Shareholder Relationships
Buffet put a great importance on the open relationships between shareholders and management. This means that the latter should provide information on the activities of the company and be able to admit its mistakes when committed and take its responsibilities in fixing them.
Principal 6: Institutional Imperative Resistance by Management Teams
Buffet is against the acting as the rest of the companies in the industry no matter that sometimes this may mean undertaking out-of-the-ordinary actions.
Principal 7: Return on Equity Importance
Return on equity is one of the basic criteria against which Buffett evaluated a target company. He regards earnings as of less importance. The significance of return on equity is dictated by its defined effect on the wealth of the company over the long run.
Principal 8: Owner Earnings Importance
When evaluating a company Warren Buffet makes estimations that disregard cash flow, but instead focus on future capital expenditures. As a result he gets a more clear view on the value of the company.
Principal 9: Profit Margins Importance
Buffett places importance on the ability of a company to transform sales into profits. A failure on the part of the company to do so discouraged Buffett to invest in it. Additionally, if the expenses of a company are inflated, Buffett considered this as a lack of discipline no matter the level of profitability of the company. Control over the expenditures of the company is what matters.
Principal 10: The Creation of a Dollar Market Value for Every Obtained and Retained Dollar
If the company has failed to do so, then this is an indication of incorrect capital allocation. Thus, the company has failed to create both shareholder and market value. The holding of cash is regarded as pointless by Buffett.
Principal 11: Company Value Importance
Again the long-term focus is present in this tenet. This is so since Buffett uses total net cash flow that is projected to occur over the lifespan of the target company to determine its value. This may seem impossible since it requires you to be able to predict the performance of the company over a too long time period. However, Buffett claims that if all other tenets can be found in the company, this prediction will be of no difficulty.
Principal 12: Company Availability at a Discount
The discounted price of the stock will compensate for the potential downs in the value. This is one of the main tactics of Buffet that provides him with a level of safety.
Source: stock market investor
Principle 1: Simplicity and Understandability of the Business
Warren Buffett avoided the investment in a business he had no understanding of. This is the reason for which he did not undertake investments on technology stocks. He claimed that understanding a business facilitated the spotting of problems and opportunities.
Principle 2: Reliable Operating History
Buffet studied the history record of a target company. He is well aware of the fact that a past performance is not a guarantee for future success, but he used it to see whether the particular business was able to endure the different market conditions.
Principle 3: Positive Long-Term Prospects
Warren Buffet investing philosophy included the holding of a company over the long-term. Therefore, a clear future was of importance to him. He disregarded the profitability of companies that were about to fall out of taste tomorrow, such as technology stocks or companies that were susceptible to trend conditions.
Principle 4: Rational Management
Buffet placed extreme importance on the management team of the company. He paid attention on the way the management operated with the excess cash generated. In order to construct a shareholder value, the cash that is generated above the average returns should be reinvested. If the reinvestment is not possible the excess cash should be returned to the shareholders in a dividend form or whatever other form the management considers appropriate. Rationality is what should stand behind every decision.
Principal 5: Open Management-Shareholder Relationships
Buffet put a great importance on the open relationships between shareholders and management. This means that the latter should provide information on the activities of the company and be able to admit its mistakes when committed and take its responsibilities in fixing them.
Principal 6: Institutional Imperative Resistance by Management Teams
Buffet is against the acting as the rest of the companies in the industry no matter that sometimes this may mean undertaking out-of-the-ordinary actions.
Principal 7: Return on Equity Importance
Return on equity is one of the basic criteria against which Buffett evaluated a target company. He regards earnings as of less importance. The significance of return on equity is dictated by its defined effect on the wealth of the company over the long run.
Principal 8: Owner Earnings Importance
When evaluating a company Warren Buffet makes estimations that disregard cash flow, but instead focus on future capital expenditures. As a result he gets a more clear view on the value of the company.
Principal 9: Profit Margins Importance
Buffett places importance on the ability of a company to transform sales into profits. A failure on the part of the company to do so discouraged Buffett to invest in it. Additionally, if the expenses of a company are inflated, Buffett considered this as a lack of discipline no matter the level of profitability of the company. Control over the expenditures of the company is what matters.
Principal 10: The Creation of a Dollar Market Value for Every Obtained and Retained Dollar
If the company has failed to do so, then this is an indication of incorrect capital allocation. Thus, the company has failed to create both shareholder and market value. The holding of cash is regarded as pointless by Buffett.
Principal 11: Company Value Importance
Again the long-term focus is present in this tenet. This is so since Buffett uses total net cash flow that is projected to occur over the lifespan of the target company to determine its value. This may seem impossible since it requires you to be able to predict the performance of the company over a too long time period. However, Buffett claims that if all other tenets can be found in the company, this prediction will be of no difficulty.
Principal 12: Company Availability at a Discount
The discounted price of the stock will compensate for the potential downs in the value. This is one of the main tactics of Buffet that provides him with a level of safety.
Source: stock market investor
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Crisis is a Season to Start Up New Business
Thinking of open a new business in the crisis season may not sounds like a great idea for most entrepreneur. There are hundreds of reasons backup this statement. Difficult to get funds, high risk of business, need more time to break even, and the list goes on and on ... I believe most people will agree with this.
However, crisis is not just bring a new obstacles for entrepreneur or business, crisis also bring a new OPPORTUNITY in the marketplace.
In crisis season, It will be easier for you to get a GREAT employee with lower fee. Especially those who are laid-off from their old company (some company may close their business or reduce employees). Many experienced-smart-hardworking person outthere are waiting to empowering and add new value to your business.
Based on statistic, crisis is lowering the turnover of employee. They will think twice to move on another job (security of job might become their first priority). In company side, indeed it is beneficial, you can build strong foundation for human resources and their loyalty.
Another significant impact of crisis is lowering intensity and quantity of competition in new business market. It can boost up small or new company to survive and penetrate to the new level.
From financial side, loan money from bank may look risky in crisis situation. But you know what, based on experience, the intensity of crisis will decreasing after one to two year. And it will be followed by GROWTH! Pay back loaned on growing economic season will be very helpful.
However, crisis is not just bring a new obstacles for entrepreneur or business, crisis also bring a new OPPORTUNITY in the marketplace.
In crisis season, It will be easier for you to get a GREAT employee with lower fee. Especially those who are laid-off from their old company (some company may close their business or reduce employees). Many experienced-smart-hardworking person outthere are waiting to empowering and add new value to your business.
Based on statistic, crisis is lowering the turnover of employee. They will think twice to move on another job (security of job might become their first priority). In company side, indeed it is beneficial, you can build strong foundation for human resources and their loyalty.
Another significant impact of crisis is lowering intensity and quantity of competition in new business market. It can boost up small or new company to survive and penetrate to the new level.
From financial side, loan money from bank may look risky in crisis situation. But you know what, based on experience, the intensity of crisis will decreasing after one to two year. And it will be followed by GROWTH! Pay back loaned on growing economic season will be very helpful.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Internet Marketer in Indonesia: Potential Market!
Based on recent statistic, population of Indonesia has reached more than 220 million people and has more than 25 million Internet User! It's not really a great percentage, but still, it's quite huge of numbers! Last few years, Indonesia experiencing rapid growth in Internet User every year. It means that Internet Marketer in Indonesia has more and more opportunity in this field. Every year there are bunch of New Internet Marketer players join into this new world.
Few years back, I'm still thinking it is quite impossible for Indonesia to have such of this market due to many barriers (slow internet, expensive internet, many people do not have computer - or maybe have no idea what is computer look like -, and the list goes on and on ...). As I look the market today, I have to admit that my old perception is absolutely wrong! Lots of people from diverse demographics have used Internet for thousand reasons. Some just used it for fun, e-mail, browsing, chatting, when others used it for business purposes (either individual or company).
Whatever the reason is, the most important thing is that we realize there are lots niche and potential market outthere! One of the tools that is used by most of Internet Marketer is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These days, many people are very grateful to Google because of SEO technique. It's faster, cheaper, and much more FOCUS and TARGETED!
For example, if you need to advertise your products in newspapers, you need to pay at least few millions dollar just for 2 or maybe 3 short line. And it may not targeted very well into your potential customers. While in SEO, if you put proper keyword on your website, when people search for those things through google search engine and they are able to find your website, they have become your POTENTIAL customer immediately! Let's put it this way, when people try to look for a flowers shop in google, they won't search for pet shop through google search engine.
Few years back, I'm still thinking it is quite impossible for Indonesia to have such of this market due to many barriers (slow internet, expensive internet, many people do not have computer - or maybe have no idea what is computer look like -, and the list goes on and on ...). As I look the market today, I have to admit that my old perception is absolutely wrong! Lots of people from diverse demographics have used Internet for thousand reasons. Some just used it for fun, e-mail, browsing, chatting, when others used it for business purposes (either individual or company).
Whatever the reason is, the most important thing is that we realize there are lots niche and potential market outthere! One of the tools that is used by most of Internet Marketer is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). These days, many people are very grateful to Google because of SEO technique. It's faster, cheaper, and much more FOCUS and TARGETED!
For example, if you need to advertise your products in newspapers, you need to pay at least few millions dollar just for 2 or maybe 3 short line. And it may not targeted very well into your potential customers. While in SEO, if you put proper keyword on your website, when people search for those things through google search engine and they are able to find your website, they have become your POTENTIAL customer immediately! Let's put it this way, when people try to look for a flowers shop in google, they won't search for pet shop through google search engine.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
10 Rules of Sam Walton's
As a business brilliance and genius, Sam Walton is well known for their 10 rules even after he passed away. Most people acknowledge these as his "secret weapons" to be success in Wal-Mart. Today, Wal-Mart is the world's #1 retailer, with more than 4,150 stores including discount stores, combination discount and grocery stores, and Sam's Club. And it's still growing!
No wonder many people who doing business are tyring to grasp some of his principle and technique. Here I share his 10 rules:
Rule #1
Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anything else. If you love your work, you'll be out there every day trying to do the best you can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you - like a fever.
Rule #2
Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations.
Rule #3 Motivate your partners. Money and ownership aren't enough. Set high goals, encourage competition and then keep score. Make bets with outrageous payoffs.
Rule #4
Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners. The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping them. Information is power, and the gain you get from empowering your associates more than offsets the risk of informing your competitors.
Rule #5
Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free and worth a fortune.
Rule #6
Celebrate your success and find humour in your failures. Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up and everyone around you will loosen up. Have fun and always show enthusiasm. When all else fails put on a costume and sing a silly song.
Rule #7
Listen to everyone in your company, and figure out ways to get them talking. The folks on the front line - the ones who actually talk to customers - are the only ones who really know what's going on out there. You'd better find out what they know.
Rule #8
Exceed your customer's expectations. If you do they'll come back over and over. Give them what they want - and a little more. Let them know you appreciate them. Make good on all your mistakes, and don't make excuses - apologize. Stand behind everything you do. 'Satisfaction guaranteed' will make all the difference.
Rule #9
Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. You can make a lot of mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you're too inefficient.
Rule #10
Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction
One remarkable way, he uses "associates" and "partners" as interchangeable terms for his employees and vendors. That was he felt about everyone who worked for him or supplied to him was his equal and an expert from whom he could learn. And above all, his customers were everything
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Sam Walton's Way [#1 Company in the World's Founder]
Wal-Mart was one of the Most Successful company and absolutely Biggest Retail Company of our time. Sam Walton was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. Even after he passed away, two of his son still in the top 5 of richest man in the world.
Sam Walton was a simple, unique, and and self-made man. Starting from scratch, with a singularity of focus, he built Wal-Mart into the largest and most successful company in the world.
As a continuous learner, Walton was committed to constantly increasing his own knowledge. He challenged existing business theories and paradigms by developing and implementing a new set of rules and used this new information to build and improve every aspect of Wal-Mart.
Here is set of rules that he considered as his entrepreneur key success:
*Motivate yourself and others to achieve your dreams
*Communicate with people and show that you care
*Appreciate and recognize people for their effort and results
*Listen to others and learn from their ideas
*Control expenses and save your way to prosperity
*Swim upstream, be different, and challenge thestatus quo
In leadership aspects, here is what he considered the best:
*Listen to your people and respond to their needs
*Recruit employees who have the capacity to replace you
*Allow people to think and try new things
*Create an environment that allows your staff to comfortably disagree with you
While many leader thinks that what they said is the only one that matter,Walton just did the opposite. He encourages his employee to critize, complain, and disagree with his thought. His eagerness to learn is contagious in his entire company. This is why they always motivated to move forward and take Wal-Mart as their own family.
Sam Walton was a simple, unique, and and self-made man. Starting from scratch, with a singularity of focus, he built Wal-Mart into the largest and most successful company in the world.
As a continuous learner, Walton was committed to constantly increasing his own knowledge. He challenged existing business theories and paradigms by developing and implementing a new set of rules and used this new information to build and improve every aspect of Wal-Mart.
Here is set of rules that he considered as his entrepreneur key success:
*Motivate yourself and others to achieve your dreams
*Communicate with people and show that you care
*Appreciate and recognize people for their effort and results
*Listen to others and learn from their ideas
*Control expenses and save your way to prosperity
*Swim upstream, be different, and challenge thestatus quo
In leadership aspects, here is what he considered the best:
*Listen to your people and respond to their needs
*Recruit employees who have the capacity to replace you
*Allow people to think and try new things
*Create an environment that allows your staff to comfortably disagree with you
While many leader thinks that what they said is the only one that matter,Walton just did the opposite. He encourages his employee to critize, complain, and disagree with his thought. His eagerness to learn is contagious in his entire company. This is why they always motivated to move forward and take Wal-Mart as their own family.
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