Dear readers,

Barack Obama is officially elected the 44th president of United States!

When two political powers clash in a contest to be the most powerful man in the nation, it takes a huge amount of effort to come up top.

Marketers around the world has got to give credit to Obama and his team for the brilliant use of the Internet to give themselves to promote their campaign. This is probably the best case study ever, demostrating the power of the Internet in international marketing.

Here are some examples of how Obama used the Internet to propel himself into presidency, reinventing the way campaigns are run with modern tools.

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Dear readers,

Let’s face it. Nobody is indispensible to companies!

In such times of uncertainty where even giant corporations suffer in a sea of red in the stock market and dark clouds cover the economy, one has to make contingency plans and create escape routes.

So what are you going to do, should your company collapse or if the top management decides that you are redundant and gives you the sack?

Instead of looking at making money for the short-term, I always advocate to aim at sustainability. That is, having long-term money making plans.

Here’s what I may do for the next three months if I get retrenched.

Expanding clientel in my Webhosting Business
I’ve been running a webhosting business for the past two years and revenue has been consistent. It’s high time that I focus on expanding my clientel to generate more revenue for the business.

Make more money online
My approach to internet marketing has always been passive. Build well-designed websites with good ad placements, that are more or less self-generating in terms of content and visitors. With little or no work needed, passive amounts of income would pay for my bills. With more time in, I could take on a more active approach.

Turn my hobbies into cash cows
Having always been interested in photography, I’ve always been thinking of taking up a full-time photographer role. Having little flair for designing, I’ve also been accepting long-term content management jobs for both static and flash websites.

Yup, so that’s pretty much me. What are your plans?

 
(Photo: moe_de_ho)

Dear readers,

Nowadays, people are working hard to earn as much money as possible. To most people, time and money is probably on two ends of the scale whereby the more money you earn, the lesser time you have. The same for vice versa. My friend who’s a private equities investor is constantly monitoring the markets and the poor guy has less than two hours each day to spend with his family, let alone the shiny, expensive BMW Roadster he has in his garage.

Well that is not always the case. Here are a few tips to increase your income or work productivity without spending more time:
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Dear readers,

Check out this video before you read the rest of this post.

Dear readers,

Earlier this month, the guys from JPMorgan, Imran Khan and the JPMorgan Internet, Media and Entertainment team released an Internet Investment Guide called “Nothing But Net” that reports on the key investment themes for 2008.

Reading through the 312-page report, here’s a summary of interesting points from the report that you should take note of:

The eCommerce action in U.S has grown hand-in-hand with Broadband penetration rate. The Broadband penetration rate is also relatively high in comparison, and can only go higher in time to come. I would bang on the fact that eCommerce in Singapore will be a very common thing in future as the population gets more eCommerce-friendly.
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Dear readers,

When is a good time to start a business?

Actually, yesterday sounds pretty darn good. When Google was launched, have you heard from people around you that they have already thought of this idea before? Same thing happened when YouTube came into the picture. The idea that you thought of yesterday, could be happening today!

So what should you do when you come across an idea that you think has the potential to make you rich?

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Dear readers,

Sometimes when entrepreneurs come up with fantastic ideas, what usually holds them back from seizing the opportunity is capital funding. Most traditional businesses are capital intensive and require loans to begin the venture.

If you were to apply for a bank loan, they would require you to place some collaterals to process the loan. They do not care about how great your idea is, or how much money you are going to make. Banks simply want to ensure that they are getting the best returns for their money at the lowest risk possible.

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Dear readers,

Mindmapping is a very powerful technique which unlocks the potential of the brain. Invented by Tony Buzan, mindmapping harnesses the full range of cortical skills - word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness. By doing so, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain.

Sounds deep doesn’t it? Mind mapping (sometimes termed as concept mapping) involves writing down a central idea and thinking up new and related ideas which radiate out from the centre. By focusing on key ideas written down in your own words, and then looking for branches out and connections between the ideas, you are mapping knowledge in a systematic manner. By using colours, arrows and graphical images, mindmapping helps you to understand and remember new information better.

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Dear readers,

Our brains are constantly generating new ideas. Whether you are on your way to work in the train or just hanging out at the mall, ideas will always pop out from everything we see and hear. For me, I always carry a small notebook and pen to record these ideas because you’ll never know when any of these ideas can grow into a money tree for you.

 Let me share with you, three qualities I look for, in any new business opportunities.

1. Is there an active market?
2. Is there an effective marketing model?
3. How much profit can I make from this opportunity?
4. Do I have the necessary skills or people?
5. Can I extract myself out of the workflow?

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Dear readers,

It’s been some time since I posted something about business. Today, I shall share with you some of my business philosophies.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is a concept, defined as how much each customer is worthed in dollar terms. While it is difficult to gauge the CLV of each and every customer, I would advise make a rough forecast and adjust accordingly in future.

For my webhosting business, I forecast my customers to stay with me for at least three years. Therefore, my CLV is 3 times the annual webhosting package taken up. This method of calculating CLV is sometimes referred as the horizon model.

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