Does Increase in Starbucks Spending Mean the End of Recession?

Investing

starbucks

I have seen more and more people drinking Starbucks. Does this signal the end of the recession?

When the financial crisis hit the U.S. , Starbucks suffered from cut back in consumer spending. In the news, reporters claimed consumers slashed Starbucks coffee from their daily routine in order pay off credit cards, fill up gas, and buy groceries.

So logically, an increase in Starbucks spending should mean that consumers are again confident in the economy and their financial status, thus signalling a broader trend in increased consumer spending i.e. cars, houses that will thrust us out of recession for good.

Invest in Starbucks.

EB Games + GameSpot in Canada

Media

gamestop logo
EBGAMES LOGO

Lately I’ve noticed EB Games in Canada are converting to Gamestop. For background information, Gamestop is EB Games parent company, with over $8 billion in revenue. On top of EB Games coverting its stores to Gamestop branding, all new stores are using the Gamestop brand. Is EB Games dead?

No. Gamestop seems to be riding on the model Best Buy used with Futureshop in Canada. Canada’s market isn’t incredibly saturated, so there is definitely room for more competitors in electronics, mobile and gaming. Best Buy realized that Futureshop was operating solo as a major general electronic store in Canada. So instead of re-branding each Futureshop to Best Buy when Best buy bought them out, they let Futureshop keeps its branding.

Why? Best Buy figured that if they owned the competition, they could watch the revenue roll in, keep customers happy and most importantly block out new electronic entrants into the market. To further their strategy, Best Buy made sure Futureshop and Best Buy were 2 different experences.

Gamestop seems to be running on the same model Best Buy used in Canada. By branding some EB Games as Gamestop and opening new stores as Gamestop, the parent company ensures entrants are blocked out from the market, while giving consumers a real or arguably perceived choice to video game purchases and game trade-in’s.

Warren Buffets Investing Lessons from Financial Crisis 2008

Investing

Warren_Buffet

Warren Buffet. Investor extraordinaire and one of the rishest individuals in the world. He is also one of the calmest individuals in the world. The financial crisis 2008 did not sway him like many investors, politicians etc. In fact, Warren Buffet was so confident in the strength of the U.S. and world economy that he plowed money into GE, Goldman Sachs and BYD near the low point of the financial crisis.

I like Warren Buffet’s lesson here. Buy stocks when the market is at a low point. The credo to buy low and sell high is very important to investing. Warren Buffet hits it home when he says: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”. With Buffets logic, when investors are greedy stocks are inflated and when investors are fearful stocks are low.

Another Buffet investing lesson comes from what stocks he invested in during the financial crisis. Is every stock out there a good buy when the stock is low? No. Buffet would be the first to stress a stock is literally a piece of a company. And if you buy a piece of a terrible company, you own a piece of a terrible company. GE, Goldman Sachs and BYD are great companies. Warren Buffet scored by investing in these stocks when prices were depressed.

Google of Job Search – Simplyhired & Indeed

Jobs

The job search should be easy.  Two job search sites I have used to find co-op jobs are Simplyhired.ca and Indeed.ca. These sites are the Google of job search. Indeed and Simplyhired are so good because:

– jobs are aggregated from Monster, Workopolis, Careerbuilder and more job sites
– jobs are also pulled from company career pages
– all the jobs on the internet are on one spot

An example search for co-op jobs in Toronto found NEW HP , Telus , RBC and IBM co-op positons. sweet.

I liked the job search engines that powered Simplyhired and Indeed so much, I used both job search engines for Buddingup.com to power the Canadian and U.S. job search.

Promotional T-Shirts for your Website or Business

Startups

Buddingup is in growth mode. It’s been 5 months since I launched the jobs site buddingup.com. To spur growth, I decided to start investing in promotions for Buddingup.

I decided to design t-shirts to promote the website – for guys and girls. T-shirts would allow me extensive coverage for a low price. I designed the t-shirts with Photoshop, sent designs to a t-shirt print shop and in 2 days had my set of promotional t-shirts.

buddingup promotional t-shirt
buddingup promotional t-shirt for girls

I wear my Buddingup promotional t-shirt as much as I can. At the mall, at KFC, outside. If you think about it, one hour of wearing your promotional t-shirt at the mall = 100+ eyes looking at your brand.

Here are my tips for designing an effective promotional t-shirt

(1) Make the t-shirt simple
(2) Make the t-shirt easy to read
(3) Display your business name or website clearly
(4) Include a catchy, interest-grabbing phrase
(5) Use your t-shirt’s front & back real estate

Lack Work Experience on Your Resume?

Jobs

Student/ Grad: I Don’t Have Much Work Experience to Put in My Resume.

This is what I hear from many students and new grads starting their job search: lack of experience.

But once I ask these students & grads about their work experiences, they have many. What many students undermine is their part-time experience throughout High school and University or College. Don’t.

If you worked at a retail store like H&M, include in your resume that you maintained visual appeal of the store, managed cash, and tracked conversion rates. Recruiters love all types of experience.

My Top 10 Investing Tips

Investing

My Top 10 Investing Tips are the result of 6 years of investing. I have made many investing mistakes, but learned a solid set of investment principles in return. Below are my top 10 Investing Tips:

(1) Invest in companies you know
(2) Invest in companies that will grow in the market
(3) Invest in companies that can raise prices and people will still buy
(4) Don’t invest in popular stocks or fads, fads die hard. i.e. Croc’s, Heely’s
(5) Research companies news and financial statements before you invest
(6) Use logic when investing, leave emotion at the door
(7) Keep your portfolio of stocks focused, don’t invest in over 30 stocks
(8) Invest in a stock only if you would you buy the entire company
(9) Invest for the long-term, the tortoise won the race.
(10) Look for companies with worldwide brand presence i.e. Apple, RIM

New Branding Lessons from Corporate America

Startups

With the financial fallout that plagued America and the world in 2008, it seems Corporate America has been branding a new image to usher in a new era.

Notice the Walmart, Best Buy and Pepsi logos are designed with utmost simplicity in mind. Clean and fresh.

new logos - Walmart, Pepsi, Best Buy

These new logos represent a new branding strategy to undo the real and psychological chaos that rendered many Americans upset and confused post financial crisis 2008.

Logo Breakdown:

Walmart
– The yellow beams symbolize the sun. Walmart is aggressively implementing green technology in their stores. The sun then portrays Walmart’s initiative to save energy, giving back to consumers.

Best Buy
– The full blue backdrop has replaced the yellow used in the old logo. It seems Best Buy is pushing the blue to strengthen its association with its blue shirt wearing work force .

Pepsi
– The slant in logo has a purpose: It’s supposed to be smiling at you in a big way. Its a subliminal message that Pepsi hopes will get people happy drinking more of its beverage.

New branding is a fresh start people want.

Simplicity will reign supreme with branding and logos in the years to come.