Tag: investment

A Few Reasons Why Some Startups Fail

On February 19, 2021

In Career, Finance, Investing, Leadership, Nicholas Fainlight

Every new startup faces risks of failure, but, as an entrepreneur, it’s up to you to minimize those risks as much as possible. One way you can do this is by taking the time to understand why startups do fail. In doing so, you can take steps to avoid those common pitfalls.

Failing to Fulfill a Need
While your product might be fascinating or utilize the latest technological advances, it will gather dust on shelves if it’s not fulfilling a need. Products that solve problems in new and more efficient ways are the ones that attract consumers. Your goal should be to convince consumers that they can’t live without your product.

Failing at Providing Good Customer Service
Another weakness of new entrepreneurs is failing to recognize the importance of providing good customer service. In today’s digital world, customer experiences are instantly shared and consumed online. This creates a force for developing brand reputations over which businesses seemingly have no control. In fact, your only control over your business’ reputation is in how you promote customer satisfaction.

Failing to Hire the Right People
You can’t be present for every interaction each consumer has with your business. Instead, your own employees will collectively become the face of your business. Employees that seem uninterested or rude will lead to customer dissatisfaction and fewer consumers will visit your business. Your goal should be to hire individuals with a passion for your products or for the field of interest your business operates within. Additionally, they should be knowledgeable about your industry and passionate about performing well in their jobs.

Failing to Generate Capital
From the moment you launch your business, you’ll have to create a cycle of growth and reinvestment. This requires generating enough capital on a continuous basis to provide you with surplus cash to invest back into your business. Whether the capital is used for marketing, enhancing the business, or meeting growing customer demands, you should continue to reinvest in your business. If you’re not generating the capital to meet these demands, your business will likely fail in a very short time.

While addressing these issues won’t guarantee success, your actions can increase your chances for success. In addition to avoiding these common mistakes, you must also dedicate yourself to succeeding. While talent will take you far, perseverance has the power to take you all of the way.

How To Balance Profit And Purpose In Business

By Nicholas Fainlight

On January 28, 2021

In Career, Education, Finance, fitness, health, Investing, Leadership, Nicholas Fainlight, postgraduate, Technology, Uncategorized

Entrepreneurs need to build business empires while still staying committed to their purpose. A significant number of business people struggle to commit to their purpose while still keeping their enterprises profitable. Businesses need to demonstrate their contribution to humanity while still growing their profit margins. Here are ways businesses can balance profit and purpose.

Go Green

In the past few years, many businesses have shown their commitment to adopting more sustainable production methods. No matter the size, every organization can play a role in reducing its environmental footprint. Surprisingly, the current generation prefers to buy green products. Therefore, companies that will demonstrate high sustainability credentials will gain numerous customers who want to buy green.

For instance, manufacturers can reduce carbon emissions by sourcing closer to home. When raw materials are transported for short distances, it helps cut both transport costs and carbon emissions. Besides, leaders who have a passion for conserving the environment can shift to renewable energy sources.

Find an Inspiration

Walk away from your comfort zone and start doing something new that challenges you. Learn from these things and find inspiration in them

Leverage Technology

Technology is changing every aspect of life, including how consumers interact with brands and how they buy products and services. For example, online sales have doubled in the past five years. Additionally, organizations are using machines to understand customer needs better. This means that businesses must stay on top of the latest innovations to remain competitive in their respective industries.

Share Your Success

Entrepreneurship is a murky journey characterized by ups and downs. Therefore, successive entrepreneurs should consider sharing their experiences with novice business people. When you balance profit and purpose, your impact is significant and tangible, and more consumers will want to be associated with your business.

Understand Your Purpose

Purpose goes beyond providing high-quality goods and services to consumers. It also means that your business prioritizes the common good of the community. For example, some companies such as Unilever have already developed a unique living plan to track their progress of minimizing their environmental footprint. Business leaders should devote time to learn about societal impact and how to improve it.

To change business operations to meet new expectations requires exceptional and visionary leadership. In today’s versatile business world, leaders who will adopt agility will be in a better position to achieve long-term success.

Piece of paper with a graph on it sitting on a table, image used for Nicholas Fainlight blog about learning to invest

How to Teach Yourself About Investing

By Nicholas Fainlight

On October 24, 2017

In Finance, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Far too many people are unaware of the basics of investing, even though it’s one of the best ways to build your wealth. Public schools do not teach anything about it and if you go to college, you really only learn about investing if you take business or finance courses. This lack of knowledge leads to people shying away from investing and relying on a steady and reliable source of income. They often view the stock market as a way to simply lose money, especially if they lack basic knowledge about investing. This viewpoint is completely understandable, but not one you should subscribe to. If you know nothing about investing, it’s never too late to learn! Here are some ways you can teach yourself more about investing and get ready to start a portfolio of your own!

Take a look at your finances

The first step you’ll need to take is examining your finances and determining how much money you want to put into investments. If you’re heavily in debt or have no savings, you should take care of those issues before attempting to invest large amounts of money. Get an accurate picture of your finances so you know how much you have available to invest.

Learn the basics

When you first begin looking at everything that goes into the markets and investing, it can feel overwhelming. People spend years trying to learn the secret to investment success. Instead of feeling intimidated by these approaches, simply start by learning the basics of investing. Learn what different terms mean and how creating an investment portfolio works. But, don’t take too long; the sooner you begin investing, the better!

Check out online resources

After you feel like you have a basic understanding of investing, it’s time to start learning about the different approaches people take and cultivate a deeper understanding of the market. A great place to look is online, because there’s a seemingly endless amount of online resources, such as ebooks, blogs, podcasts, and many websites that offer expert advice. Check out the credentials of a source before believing everything you read, but most information on investing can be useful, even to just teach you what not to do.

Find experienced people

You might know someone who’s a financial advisor or who spends a lot of time following the market and knows about investing. These are the people you should talk to. Even if you don’t personally know anyone like this, you can certainly find a forum or website where you can chat with someone who can give you actual advice about investing.

Set your goals

Before you actually start investing, take a bit of time to set your individual goals. How much money do you want to invest? Why are you investing? What return do you hope to see? People invest for different reasons, not simply to generate wealth. Once you’ve decided what your individual goals are, you can start investing.

Start small

As you begin your journey as an investor, remember to first start small. You definitely shouldn’t take your entire savings account and invest in high risk stocks; use a smaller, manageable amount first and invest smart. Research the best types of stocks and start out with moderate risk.

Person holding a phone with a bunch of apps on the screen, image used for Nicholas Fainlight blog on whether or not investing apps are worth it

Are Investing Apps Really Beneficial?

By Nicholas Fainlight

On October 16, 2017

In Finance, Investing, Nicholas Fainlight, Technology

Lately, there’s been a rise of apps offered to help you manage your personal finances. There are various types of apps and options to choose from. Whether you merely want to work on budgeting, keep track of your credit score, or begin investing, you have plenty of apps to check out. However, many people question whether or not these apps are actually worth it, especially investing apps. Is your information secure? Are you wasting money? Will you see any kind of return? I’d like to examine whether or not investing apps actually benefit the user.

The concerns about them

One of the main issues surrounding investment apps is the security of them. When you create an investment portfolio with a recognized bank or investment company, you must go through layers of security every time you want to do anything, even if it’s simply transferring money into an account. With investment apps, it doesn’t seem as though there’s as much security. Many people are also wary of putting their information online, so creating a new account with an app seems like the perfect way to have your account information compromised. While this concern is completely understandable, all of the popular investment apps have layers of cybersecurity, very similar to that of a banking website. Many apps also guarantee insurance for accounts up to a hundred thousand dollars, so if you’re below that number, you’d still be able to recover all of your money.

Another concern is whether or not the apps are worth the cost. Some of them charge high trading fees or have regular monthly fees, which can seem like a waste of money, especially when you’re trying to grow your wealth. The answer to this issue is a little murkier than the last. While you should certainly be investing your money in some way, it’s up to you what app you choose. Research the fees associated with each app and learn what different keywords mean, such as how much the app charges per trade. Decide how much you’ll be planning on investing into these accounts and whether or not regular fees are worth it.

Benefits of investing apps

One of the greatest benefits of investing apps is how most of them are designed for beginners to use. Many people do not have the first clue about investing and the best practices for it, so these apps have been designed with this issue in mind. Most investing apps are relatively simple to use once you take some time to play around with them. Some even offer blogs and other tips to help you with investment decisions. Still others offer you direct assistance from a financial advisor.

Another great benefit of investment apps is that you can open an account with relatively small amounts of money. You can start investing spare change or a few dollars and grow your portfolio. For younger investors, this feature is great, especially since many traditional investment companies require you to have a minimum of a few thousand dollars to invest upfront.

How to make them work for you

Finally, if you decide you do want to get into the world of investing and an app on your phone is the best option for you, there are ways to make sure you make the most of it. The best thing you can do is take your time and research the various apps. Check out blogs that focus on investing, financial advice, and financial apps to see what expert opinions are on the different apps and decide which one best fits your needs.