NevBlog

Neville's Digital Surrogate Brain

Archives for 2005

Ripe, Emerging Markets – Mexico

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A lot of buzz is going on about China and their emerging economy. If it’s all over the press, it’s old news.

One emerging market I’ve been interested in (on the domestic and international level) is Mexico.

Some quick observations:

  • Hispanic Americans (wow, I’m so politically correct!) have the highest percentage level of disposable income in the United States. This means they are big spenders for their relative level of income. Appealing to this market will be big business.
  • The hispanic population is the fastest growing in America. In a few years, it is projected the majority of Texans will be Hispanic.
  • Strong trends that introduced new races into more mainstream culture are currently happening: Hispanic boxers, music artists, athletes, politicians etc. are rapidly on the rise.

States such as California, Texas and Florida can already see a very strong infusion of Hispanic culture. In fact, my favorite radio station in Houston is a Reggaetone station (Spanish Rap). That’s just on a domestic level. In Mexico itself things are starting to become more online, a great opportunity for anyone. So how do you profit from this?? EASY:

Take a look back at the United States and other developed countries before our full-blown internet age, and replicate the processes and new services offered.

One lucky lady who happens to be in the PERFECT position to take full advantage of this is Rebecca who runs a new blog called Trendy Tendencias. I have been reading her blog as she brings something fresh to the blogging world, and is identifying trends you can profit on. I’m keeping an eye on her as she brings all sorts of new trends in Mexico to my attention.

It would be wise to appeal to this market before the press jumps all over it.
-Nev

Bottled Water Experiment – Part Deux

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During my first bottled water experiment I learned how to setup shop and shamelessly sell a product. The next item on my agenda is to delegate that task to others while I do nothing.

During the first experiment I met a homelss guy named Barry. He has a can-do attitude and also likes to make money. What he does NOT have is Capital and transportation.

Well I do.

I recently tracked Barry down and gave him a proposal. If I set him up with several cases of ice cold bottled water and a couple of ice chests, he could sell the water all day (instead of simply begging for money) and we would split the revenue down the middle. Obviously at first I get the sour end of this because I will be paying for everything…..but I also don’t do a fraction of the work he will have to do.

SO LET’S GET STARTED:

The previous day I went to Walmart and loaded up my car with 5 cases of water and one ice chest.

120 bottles of water cost me $19.80 + tax. The cooler cost me $18.86 and tax.
Total Spent so Far: $40.22
Even if he sells all 120 bottles, I will barely make a $20 profit on the first run.

I then brought all the products home and began cooling them:

Each 24 pack case had 3 gallons of water and packaging:
1 Gallon = 8 lbs.
1 Case = 24 lbs.
5 Cases = 120 lbs.

I could only fit 3 of the cases for cooling overnight. The rest would be cooled in the ice chest later.

The next morning I met near the selling corner where Barry and I agreed to meet at exactly 10:00am. He showed up exactly on time (Seriously, the SECOND my watch hit 10, he showed up riding a bicycle). Unfortunately for us, it was gloomy and under 70 degrees (I’m in Texas approaching summer…what the hell!?!)

I gave him another shirt I made that said “Water $1” on both sides. I forgot to take a picture but it looked exactly like the last one I made:

Barry then immediately started selling the already-chilled bottles of water while I made an ice-run (I didn’t buy ice in case he didn’t show up). I went to 711 and bought 40 lbs. of ice, a sandwich for Barry and a spare box (box was free). The total came to $9.22 . Total cost of experiment so far: $49.44. The chance of making a profit are pretty much gone now.

We loaded up the ice chests with water and ice, Barry did most of the work.

I had got the spare box from 711 upon Barry’s request. He had an idea where he would place the box saying “Bottled Water $1” further down from his starting point, informing drivers of the approaching vendor.

Before I saw what he wrote he said, “Damn, I spelled ‘bottle’ wrong and I misplaced the dollar sign.” It was too late to change the spelling, and we both agreed the comedic value would probably increase sales!

Before I left for class, we took a pic together. A guy in a wheelchair took it. I accidentally had the camera on black&white mode. I only sold one bottle of water, and that was on accident. A taxi driver saw me carrying the “Bottel” box, smiled and pulled out a dollar. I sold a bottle before I even reached the median, without trying! Keep in mind the purpose of this is to delegate the grunt work.

Barry tried his best to look clean, I even brought him an old pair of shorts I no longer use.

FIVE HOURS LATER…..
I came back after he had been selling all day. He sold exactly 60 bottles, meaning we had 60 bottles left. The combination of cold + gloomy weather + Tuesday = not a great day to sell.

The fact that you can sell 60 bottles of water on a cold day made us look forward to the upcoming sunny, swealtering days!

We split the $60 in half.
Barry got $30.
I got $30.
So in the end I LOST MONEY. 49.44

BUT ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST. This Wednesday Barry will sell the remaining 60 bottles. It shouldn’t cost me anything as the bottles are still being chilled with the same ice in the coolers.

We also want to give Barry a “brand name” by making him the “Water Guy” that everyone knows and trusts. People are more likely to give money when it looks like you are working for it.

This water experiment might actually turn out to be a decently lucrative side income for me in summer. I will be in Austin over the summer, and Barry is willing to work everyday. I will keep posting updates on the progress!

-Nev

House Keeping

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Few points of interest:

-Part 2 of the Bottled Water Experiment will be posted tomorrow. That’s right, I’ve got Barry the Bum selling 5 cases of bottled water this Tuesday. So far I’ve invested $42. Will he run away with my investment or outperform all expectations?

-My Alamo Apprentice team (Here and Here) beat the opposing team by 152% and set a new record for food/drink sales for a Wednesday night.

-I bought my first tailored suit. Thanks to “Bob” for the hookup.

-I bought another pair of shorts from Nordstrom. I still can’t believe how courteous and helpful their employees are. My own friends aren’t even that nice to me!

–PineCone Research sent me a $5 check for a 20 minute survey. Very painless process, and they sent the check in less than 5 days. Brought to my attention by Jim at Barganeering.

-I didn’t meet my 4-31-2005 goal of making $11,000. Son of a……. It was pretty much an arbitrary number that I selected, but I’m still very dissapointed I failed. I will continue to keep track of how much money I’ve made for another few months. I need to further analyze the wrong steps I took to miss the goals.

-I’ve added FORUMS to the site. It’s a work in progress, but fully ready for posting. Registration costs $150.00…..just kidding, it’s free and not even necessary (you owe me now!)

Assuming the Risk and Reaping the Reward

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Frequently when starting a new business, the proprietor will usually experience a certain amount of criticism and skepticism from others.

If the business fails, the proprietor will get a million “I-told-ya-so’s”….but if it succeeds, everyone wants to be your friend.

Here is a quick illustration of this phenomenon.

If the proprietor is serious about their idea, they will follow through….

Notice the rapid change of opinion once success has been tasted. The reason is because most people are afraid to take the risk of failing (which pretty much every entrepreneur will do at some point).

Once the original proprietor has got through all the initial risk, it is very easy to find people who all of a sudden think the business was a great idea.

Lesson Learned: While you should take comments to heart, you should not let doubters discourage you from trying a new business idea. Business ideas are only good as their jockey’s.

New Venture – FancyBlog.com

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Starting a side income is not hard as most people think. Take for example the “business” I thought of, then created in 15 minutes: www.FancyBlog.com

FancyBlog will be one of the only sites that offers free blog templates for a variety of blogging formats.

FancyBlog will offer:
Blogger Templates
Xanga Templates
Xanga Skins
Movable Type Templates
WordPress Templates

Here is the quick story of how I thought of and ACTED UPON the idea behind FancyBlog. This all happened on Sunday (4-10-2005) at 2:15pm:

  • 2:15pm – Doing some work at a coffee house when….
  • 2:16pm – Realized people like to “fancy up” their blogs.
  • 2:17pm – Checked availability of domain name.
  • 2:19pm – Had the domain name registered.
  • 2:20pm – Setup the DNS service on my server
  • 2:22pm – Designed a simple yet dynamicly upgradable site.
  • 2:25pm – Posted 2 blog templates for each blogging format.
  • 2:28pm – Adjustments and preperation for more templates.
  • 2:29pm – Added an advertisment for another business.
  • 2:30pm – BAM!! NEW ONLINE BUSINESS!

Will I make any advertising money on this? Who knows. Did I complete a business from “idea” to “live” in the time it takes to watch half a sit-com?….you betchyour ass I did. New blogs will continually be added and the business will hopefully take off.

Ideas are all around, just keep your eyes open for them.

On another note, people have lately been asking how much traffic I get. Here is a direct screenshot of my Plesk reports:

(Keep in mind that April is not over, so all traffic is not accounted for)

Piggy Banks Aren’t JUST for Children

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Ahh, the famous piggy bank. Call it a piggy bank, money box, change jar….whatever. The point is to put spare change from time to into this container for savings.

I think the power of the piggy bank is very underestimated. Take a look at MY piggy bank (Actually it’s a 3-year old Snapple bottle).

I stash away spare change AND SPARE BILLS. If I have five $1 bills, I will (without thinking) stash away two of them in the change jar. I do this all the time. I even stash $10’s and $20’s in there at times.

If you use a lot of cash or change, make a subconcious habit of putting some of it away everyday. DO NOT USE THE CHANGE JAR FOR SPENDING. This defeats the whole purpose.

Once, you’ve got a nice amount built up:

  • Go to a CoinStar or similar machine that gives you cash for change (at local grocery).
  • Get your ca$h.
  • Count all cash.
  • Deposit all cash into bank.
  • Keep 10% or 20% of the money for spending purposes (this will “reward” you for stashing money away).

Since January I will have “made” over $100 from my change jar. Not bad considering it would have just been money wasted in other places.

Also make sure to pickup EVERY penny, nickle, dime and quarter you see laying around. It truly adds up. I was once walking with a multi-multi-MULTI-millionaire who caught sight of a penny from the corner of his eye. Without breaking his line of conversation, he stopped, turned around, walked to the penny, picked up the penny and continued walking with me. He proceeded to carry on the conversation like nothing happened.

I understand why….it’s FREE money. No matter what economic class you are in, you’ve gotta like free money.

This has got to be the simplest form of savings possible. Do it…….NOW.

I’ve Got Friends In HIGH Places

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I’m attending a Texas Entrepreneurs event this Tuesday when I get an offer I COULD NOT refuse…hob-nobbing with the WEALTHIEST people all over Austin…

…..oh yeah, including ELTON JOHN and ANDY RODDICK.

I rushed home, put on nice clothes and headed over to the Four Seasons Hotel where I was helped into the this exclusive event by “Bob” and a special access wristband:

This event was an extremely exclusive, private party hosted by the Andy Roddick Foundation. With less than 400 people, the group raised over $800,000 last night.

I had the pleasure of meeting Andy, he was a really nice guy with a really great organization:

The first hour and few minutes of the event was more like a bar scene. Everyone was walking around, talking, eating hors d’oeuvres and drinking champagne. Everything was FANCY. The food, drinks and even the bathroom:

Later on I got to meet Elton John for a little while and shake his hand. I didn’t get a picture, but after dinner and auction that raised over $300,000 alone, he began his performance for a very enthusiastic group of around 350 lucky people:

This performance was taking place while I was being served a six-course meal and “free” booze.

Elton’s performance was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. He got the entire room standing up and singing along. Someone then paid (donated) $19,000 to hear him sing Candle In the Wind!!

The room looked incredible as everyone held up candles during the song:

Click here to see a small video clip of Elton’s Candle In the Wind performance (1.3 MB)

SO. Besides me showing off the fun I had last night, there is a lesson to take away from this. MEET PEOPLE. Meet LOTS AND LOTS people. Network. If it weren’t for me networking, I would have just had a plain-old Tuesday night. Instead, Bob, who I met through networking, helped me connect with some of the nations wealthiest and most powerful people (I met TWO billionaires that night…that’s right…with a capital B).

Try THAT sitting at home watching TV!

Here are some pics of Elton mingling with the crowd (Courtesy of Bob):

Lots of people were wearing crazy “Elton John Style” glasses

If you’re Elton John, it’s hard to walk through a crowd without signing your name and taking a million pictures.

All in all, it was an AWSOME night. I got to meet tons of powerful and successful people, wine and dine, meet two major celebs and get more experience on how to “work a room.”

I almost forgot….Thanks for everything ‘Bob’! Its not everyday that I go to a party that requires a 4-figure payment and an exclusive invite just to get in ;)

Gaga for Google

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I love google and everything they do. Google.com is my homepage and I use just about every feature on the Google Toolbar (which is the BEST software product in the WORLD….in my opinion).

Check out this simply AMAZING map tool. It’s a version of Google Maps where you can actually view satellite images of any location you enter. You’ll see what I mean: Google Maps (click on “satellite” at the top/right).

They are extremely innovative, fast-paced, a money-making machine and OVERPRICED.

Google is in a quick-growth phase. Take a look at a yearly chart:

It took only 5 months for the stock to double, not uncommon, but this is a stock with a $50,000,000,000 market cap. ($64 Billion at the time of this writing). The P/E ratio for Google has been over 140 for quite some time….it’s like a bull maket relic!

I’m sure there is tons of money to be made with the Google stock, but I am going to stay conservative and not buy. “Everyhing reverts back to the mean” according to Warren Buffet, who was also one of the few investors to come out of the tech bubble in a profit.

Take a look at a five year chart I pulled of Google:

Viewing the yearly chart really shows the rapid growth of Google. While I love ’em, I feel paying for a stock trading with a 140 P/E spells disaster in the longterm.

I’m looking to open an E-Trade account in addition to my current Ameritrade account. E-Trade allows you to buy specific international stocks, and I’ve had my eye on a few lately.

I could really go for a Google Lunch right now.
Ciao.

Billion Dollar Ideas Are WORTHLESS

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After talking to a couple wannabe entrepreneurs last week, I noticed some extremely strong misconceptions about starting new businesses and entrepreneurship in general.

One phrase that pretty much sums up entrepreneurship:

“It’s not the idea, it’s the jockey”

To prove this point. I am going to give away an almost sure-fire way to get rich:

———
As China is currently undergoing its own industrial revolution, simply replicate some of the services offered in the fully developed western countries. Start large chains of dry cleaners, gas stations, coffee shops, law firms, tax firms, shipping centers etc. and you will become filthy rich.
———

There, I just gave away a very feasible idea to literally become a billionaire. But who will act on it?

The person that has the courage to relocate to China and hurdle over the untold amount of obstacles is worth a billion dollars. NOT THE IDEA.

I told all my friends about my first online business idea, but I was the only one who acted on it. The idea wasn’t exactly unique, I just had the audacity to carry it out. After the business became lucrative, everyone wanted to be a part of it.

As Gandhi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

If you’re not the type of person who wants to jump all the hurdles and face the uncertainty of opening your own business, who cares! A franchise can offer great potential along with a tried-and-proven method to running a business already backing you. I suggest you check out Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Weblog for tons of great franchise ideas and articles about entrepreneurship.

So next time you hear someone tell you about a new idea, make your judgement based 10% on the idea and 90% on the person carrying it out.

The Cost of Going Out

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Take a look at my current assets and glance at my Spending Account.

Balance: $.86 (That’s 86 CENTS)

So it looks like I will be living very frugally this weekend! I will stay away from 4th Street (Where I have been very often recently because of the Alamo Apprentice) and I will not spend on any frivolous expenses. I need to be careful of making it to Downtown this weekend:

The Downtown area of Austin has a few primary attractions:

  • 6th Street – Cheap drinks, lots of live music and tons of college students. Austin is the Live Music Capitol of the US. On weekdays regular drinks are generally in the $1 range, very cheap. Weekends the price goes up to at least $2.00 specials and an average of $3.50-$6.00 for anything else. 6th Street is blocked off at nights due to the mass amount of people that walk through (It’s like a mini Bourbon Street). Lots of small food vendors on 6th also. I DO NOT leave 6th without getting pizza first (and maybe a Bratwurst). It’s a strict rule.
  • 5th Street – A mixture of clubs, restaurants and nicer bars. Priced between 4th and 6th Streets, but leans more towards 4th Street prices.
  • 4th Street – Mainly the more affluent, 25+ crowd. The bars and clubs here are swankier and appropriate dress is required. Expect to pay $6.50 – $12.00 for a relatively common drink (Mohito, Martini etc). There are lots of very nice restaurants in this area. My record is a $150 bill for 2 people at a Hawaain Fusion restaurant. I tend to have a drooling problem on 4th because of the amazing cars.

Going Downtown with friends generally ends up being pretty expensive, especially when you pay for other people also…but it’s also terribly fun!

Luckily I am good about not exceeding my spending account (I still have $20 in cash for the weekend), but I must spend it wisely. I also need to keep at least a $50 cushion of money in the Spending Account.

I wish I was a non-drinking, anorexic vegetarian. Life would be so much cheaper :-)