EF Peace Day

In EF Oxford we organised 'peace lessons' on 21st September.
In all subjects, topics were focused on peace, like investment on peace industries (Business) or ecological research (Science)

Down you will find a clip of Peace Day at EF Oxford.

Ways to make money online

There are lots of activities you can do online to earn money. All of them require from you perseverance, because you start those business with no precedents. You are a real newbie. So, here are a couple of ways for you to start in business, generating passive income, and some of them can generate a profitable business.

1. Pay Per Clicks. (and other CPA's) As explained before, it's matter of time, paying each time someone clicks on your web site, and earning a percentage after a number of clicks.
   


2. e-Books. It's simple: you look for a book on internet (ebook) and read it. Then you can sell it on ebay. Also you can write a book about your favourite topic and sell it. You don't pay for printing, just for copy protection.


3. Selling web sites. If you are good at web design, you can produce a series of templates and sell them. You can use ebay, amazon, yahoo or your own method.


4. Design logos for companies. Start your own web page and make a name for yourself as a good logo designer. Some customers will come to you for getting a good image for their sites, products, companies... and if you're lucky, your customers could be (small) companies.

It's all mater of desire. If you desire to generate money on internet, you will find more ways to do it.

NeoBux: The Innovation in PTC

Last time i just summarized the operation of PPC's; the company (reflected on the site) pays you some cents for clicking links and taking a look of the advertisement. The more advertisements you click, more money you earn, so simple.

Neobux is one of all the PPC (also known as PTC, that stands for Pay to Click) existing on the Internet. But be careful, most of the sites scam you, they don't pay you when they have to.

Neobux has good payment proofs, you can find some in NeoBux Forum.
Also:
Payment proof 1.
Payment proof 2.

As you see, NeoBux figures in the most trustworthy PTC sites, it means they really PAY when you reach the payment deadline, and if you have earned the minimum payment quantity, $2.

In NeoBux you earn money for clicking advertisements and taking a look of the web page for 30 seconds. After the time runs out, $0.01 will be credited to your account.

Then you can have referrals. What are those? A referral is an user who generates money for you, each of its advertisement click generates $0.01 to him and $0.005 to you. It's a kind of employee.

You can have three kinds of referrals:

• Direct Referral: when you persuade a friend of yours to participate in NeoBux (speaking directly to him) and he signs up in the system, he will do that thanks to you, so you earn 50% of the credit he generates.
• Rented Referral: you can rent a random NeoBux user for 30 days which will work as a direct referral.
• Bought Referral: paying a little bit more, you can have a random user to generate money for you forever. As if it was a Direct Referral, but buying it (like an employee)

Obviously the first week you won't generate much money, because you have a limited number of advertises per day, but when you collect enough money you can rent some referrals and the earnings will be multiplicated.

It's just a matter of time, like every investment, you have to 'sacrifice' something to have profit from it.

Will you try?

Think And Grow Rich - Chapter Two

Think and Grow Rich - Chapter Two (pdf). On this chapter, N. Hill explains deeply the power of desire in the achievement of our goals. "Desire, The Starting Point Of All Achievement" means that you have to mix the will for gaining something with the possibility of getting it. All the great inventors had a big desire to materialize their ideas, that's why they succeeded in their tasks. Edison, Marconi, Volta, the Wright brothers... All of them wanted so much to reach their dreams.

That is the second key point in business, dream. Don't be afraid to be a big dreamer, because the more you dream, the more you want to reach success. You need to meddle with your dreams, ideas, beliefs so they become part of you. "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he or she believes it can be acquired." as the book says.

Also it insists on the fact that each crisis carries an opportunity after it. Bad things have to be balanced with good things, so no bad circumstance comes without a posterior reward. It's the basis of equilibrium, every system has its own methods to counteract the variations by setting up something of equal magnitude and opposite sense.

"Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds.” That means we can make things happen if and only if we wish them to be done, if we act with passion and perseverance to achieve them.

The example given in the book of the last statement is the author's own son. He was born with no ears - he should be deaf mute - but with his parents' desire of teaching him how to hear and speak, adding hard effort and perseverance, the boy could hear and speak. At the end, the hearing skill was improved with a technological aid, so he supported the manufacturing company to create best ways to help deaf mutes. His parents' effort was worth.

The Big Idea Book

Do you think that there aren't new things to be developed in the world? If you do, you are wrong. The Big Idea Book was published after the initiative of the web site Idea a Day, which each day received an idea which could be developed and transformed into a profitable business, or just would help to change the world in a certain way.

500 of the best ideas in the web page were taken and compiled into this book, ranging from intelligent gadgets to absurde inventions.

It's a good way to motivate your creativity, thanks to people who shared their ideas with the rest of the world.

Pay To Click

Making money always seems hard. The idea of setting up a business from scratch does not gives a good inspiration to start in the money making world. But business involves not only physical trading, doing something and getting paid for it; you can earn some pounds by using Pay-to-Click systems.

And what are the PTC's?
It's simple: earn money by visiting web pages. Does it sounds hard? You just have to sign in, configure your payment account and start browsing! Monthly, your account balance will be credited to your payment location. Most of the PPC sites request the user to specify a PayPal account to credit the earnings. Then you can transfer the money from PayPal to your bank account, just paying a little fee for the transaction.

If you focus on working with PTC, first you need to check if the site has payment proof because the internet is full of fake sites, scamming users. Is better to start with well known sites as Neobux, You-Cubez.

Each service has different payment rates and dates. You can read more information on their own sites. And some of them offer a referral service: you can buy (forever), rent (30 days) or refer the page to a friend so he creates his account thanks to you. Each of those will generate money for each page they visit, 50% of the income that each click will generate to them. So the point is have more referrals and click daily so the activity becomes profitable.

Think And Grow Rich - Introduction

Think & Grow Rich - Introduction (pdf) Such an amazing book if you feel that you were not born for business, when everything goes bad or when you just don't achieve what you want... Through diverse anecdotes, the author gives you tips to get trough those eventualities, and how to find the answers in your own life, even in a single decision you have to make you can earn a valuable knowledge, applicable to life, to future decisions you will make, and to improve your business or start a new one.

In the introduction chapter, N. Hill explains that a defeat can not be the boundary of your will to achieve a goal. The will has to be the power to keep working for getting what you want.

Most of the times, a 'no' answer does not means a real 'NO', and we have to learn how to know that and how to overcome that apparent defeat. The author explains with a passage of a child asking for money, who faces an intelligent old man who first doesn't want to give 0.50$ to the child - under the sentence '50 cents for my mom' - but after the child insistence and innocence, the old man gave the girl what she was asking for. Also says that the old man sat in front of the window for 10 minutes, thinking...

The key point is the power of the will to achieve our goals, we own our destiny and we can make things happen.

Lapdesk

30 Days Business (Pre-IB) post about Lapdesk

a. modify the product
Unless a profitable business is set for the product, modifying it can be considered as risky, because all modifications made have to be paid with the initial budget, so it will increase the price of the product and reduce sales.

b. market the product
For marketing it, the sales field would be Health and Businessman, so the product would be sold at health products stores, in meetings at a low price (can include a sample gift - increase slightly its cost) and in airports/train stations stores.

A wider promotion is surely necessary, it has not been promoted so much for being invested with £25,000.

Four Ideas to start a business

Umbrella Vending Machines

Ideal for England, where rain is seen everywhere it's a business which has a great demand but it has to balance the quality and so the price, for selling in vending machines. It can be largely exploded and linked to other business as umbrella brands, so it generates a business network.

CONCEPT: In rainy cities, vending machines selling cheap umbrellas are strategically placed to maximise the need for protection from the rain.
STRENGTHS: If located in busy subway/train stations, shopping or business areas, like big buildings, sales should be outstanding; the owner does not need to be present to operate
business; unique form of vending machine; no competition; senior-friendly small business.
WEAKNESSES: Dependent on rainy weather; the need to secure strategic locations for maximum sales; specialised nature of machines in terms of servicing.
ADVANTAGES: England is mostly rainy so the market for the idea is large, and highly populated cities are also exposed to heavy rains.
DISADVANTAGE: prices of the umbrellas cannot be high because vending machines are not intended to earn much money for each product.

Wind Turbines for Homes

A great business is convincing the consumer that he can save money by paying less on house bills (electricity, water...) so having a wind turbine at home for auto-supplying electricity to it generates a wide action field. But the idea to have big machines at home does not seems very accepted...

CONCEPT: Electricity-generating micro wind turbines have never been smaller, cheaper or easier to install than they are today. Undoubtedly they will become even more so in the future. Given the rise of eco-consumerism, selling these green energy creators looks like the basis of an excellent small business. A little known fact is that homes are actually much bigger polluters of our environment than cars.
STRENGTHS: Eco-consciousness friendly; relatively cheap; easy to fit; feelgood factor. WEAKNESSES: Competitors; need for showroom; constantly developing technologies that need to be followed.

Smoothie/Juice Bar Operator

Against a busy life, refreshing with natural soft drinks is a great idea, more if the quality is good, the consumer will not be disgusted for paying a little bit more for the product. But will it sell the quantities it needs to generate profit? A good marketing is needed to do so.

CONCEPT: In high traffic locations, fresh juice and Smoothie bars offer instant cashflow and plenty of retail action to a small business entrepreneur. According to Boost Juice, for example, their franchisees sell a collective total of 1 million juice drinks every month.
STRENGTHS: Dynamic; instant business when properly sited in high traffic area; small business ‘footprint’; constant cashflow given its impulse-buying nature.
WEAKNESSES: Start-up costs; staffing; franchise costs if that option pursued (copying them and keeping all proceeds would be a better option).

Business Computer Relocator

In these times almost everything is automatized, and those processes involves a computer. Computer issues needs to be solved, so investing on the field of solving computer issues (as relocating, backing up, technical service...) is a profitable business. But will you find enough qualified staff to do the job?

CONCEPT: When businesses need to relocate, one specialized aspect of this move is the safe and orderly dismantling, transportation and re-installation of their computer systems. This is a very lucrative area of IT small business and for the tech-literate, an excellent potential small business.
STRENGTHS: Home-based; low overheads (apart from vehicles – which could be hired specifically for each job); networking opportunities with clients (no pun intended).
WEAKNESSES: Canvassing of businesses initially, Yellow Pages advertising essential including online + on Google; staffing; low repeat business cycle as businesses don’t move that often.

Marketing Plan - Rotating Spaghetti Fork

Luigi's Rotating Spaghetti Fork

This product is an particular item never seen before. A fork provided with a low strength engine and two batteries slots which make the fork rotate. Offers an innovative and easier way to eat the spaghetti. It saves the user's effort to roll its fork to get a good spaghetti bite, which almost every time goes bad.

The sales of the product should be high, because of the number of forks sold to each costumer – as much as the number of forks a cutlery set has. The preferred sales method would be group selling, and number offers (buy X get Y free). And for buying the forks, the customer will get four batteries free (affiliated to a battery producer brand)

Investing on this product has one great goal: earn by innovate. A non-precedent idea which finds almost no competition should get the whole market at its favour. But the initial budget wouldn't be so high for external investors because the business has not been proved yet. So the initial price cannot be too high, should be just the product cost plus a little bit for revenue. If the business is profitable, a major investment should be necessary.

Promoting the product will be by:

TV ads, private publicity

Publicity linked to “As Seen on TV” stores

Internet ads

Stock sales by internet (charging the sending)

For marketing the product, the strategy will be product differentiation, give something new to the customers, generating the desire to try it – a perfect method to increase the sales.

Introduction Post

Pre-IB Course
Business & Economics
Luigi's Blog