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Know These 4 Usual Start-up Mistakes To Save More Money

Although you are eager to venture on the business scene in Singapore, you must first be aware of your chances. In 2012, a research showed that 3 out of 4 start-up businesses fail.This is why it helps to know and learn from the usual mistakes that previous business owners have made.

These are just four of them:

1. GETTING OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT

It is paramount to choose the right partners, team, co-founders, or investors to start the company with. Not only does your skills have to balance but also your values must be aligned too. What is even more difficult than having unsuitable partners is having a lone founder. Well, your chance of succeeding is slimmer when you do it alone because of limited access to resources and funding.

2. HAVING TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE MONEY

Raising bountiful amounts of money can make you appear more successful but it shifts away the real focus of the business – the clients. You must give more time and energy into making your product appear impressive for all the consumers to patronize.

On the other hand, having scarce funding because of underestimating the start-up costs can lead you to using your own savings just to meet the business’ monetary needs. You can either use your retirement savings or borrow money from friends and family. This is not always a good idea! Furthermore, you will not be able to optimize your product to its full potential.

3. MISTAKE IN TIME

Jonathan Wegener, the founder of ExitStrategy and Timehop, told Mashable that a common mistake that companies make is wasting one of the most valuable currency on Earth – time.

He then said this: “The biggest mistake I see is companies waiting too long to release the product. It’s easy to let the scope of what you’re building get out of hand. But equally importantly most startups build much more than they truly need to, but this is often only realized in hindsight”.

4. PAYING NO ATTENTION TO THE PRESENT OR FUTURE CONSUMERS

Engaging in activities that enable you to reach out to your potential clients earlier on can help you reach success. Get feedback from the present consumers to examine the demand for your product and the uniqueness of your brand. Then, target your future consumers by using social media.

Image Credits: Clément Petit via Flickr with Creative Commons

Sources: 1 & 2

Countries That Offer Unbelievably Free University Education For All

As the cost of higher education catapult over the years, undergraduates around the world have one thing in common – they are susceptible to an enormous pile of debt. The Tuition Fee Loan Schemes and total student debt vary globally.

For instance, in Japan, about US$5 billion in student debts were past due last 2011. In America, the college students’ debts summed to over US$1.2 trillion in 2013. Looking no further, in Singapore, one-third of the local students who graduated last 2005-2007 had an average debt of S$20,000 per student.

With these overwhelming numbers, it is surprising to know that some countries are offering free or low-cost tertiary education – in English! If you are willing to leave the Lion City for your studies, here is a concise list of those countries:

1. FINLAND

Regardless of your nationality and level of studies (i.e., diploma, degree, or Masters), tuition fee is free in Finland. But, you are expected to cover your personal living expenses that cost about 500 Euros or S$746 per month.

Image Credits: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho via Flickr with Creative Commons License

2. GERMANY

9 months ago, Germany has implemented a rule that enables all students to enjoy no-cost fees for undergraduate studies. Yes! International students are included. Currently, 900 programs are available in English to attract foreign students, as they are experiencing shortage in skilled workers. Like Finland, living expenses in Germany cost about 500 Euros or S$746 per month.

Image Credits: Moyan Brenn via Flickr with Creative Commons License

3. NORWAY

Norwegian students and foreigners studying in the country can go to undergraduate studies, Masters programs, and Ph.D. programs at no cost! Be informed, however, of the harsh weather conditions and the high cost of living. A single student’s living expenses will equate to about NOK 7,500 or S$1,261 per month.

Image Credits: Edward Dalmulder via Flickr with Creative Commons License

With all these information at your reach, you have to understand that debts are not only rooted from school fees but also from living expenses. In fact, U.K. students have borrowed about US$10,200 per student to cover tuition fee and living expenses in 2011-2012. So, before you pack your bags, calculate whether the total cost of your education and living expenses are less here or there.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6

How much a Master’s Degree is worth in Singapore today?

While there is a general consensus that taking a master’s degree in Singapore today may be beneficial in many respects from brighter employment prospects to enhanced cognitive abilities, the true value may be less evident. .A master’s degree isn’t cheap, but there are many ways to find financial help Some might even resort to getting a loan from a moneylender.

Truth be told, evaluating a financial and temporal investment in a master’s degree should be as rigorous, if not more, than an investment in a financial asset. Just like ploughing through a heap of annual reports to pick the best stocks, specifically the most undervalued stocks, selecting the most ideal master’s degree course should spare no less effort.

Contrary to popular belief that it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify the net monetary gain/loss from pursuing a master’s degree, the diagram below illustrates a rudimentary step-by-step decision-making guide for studious graduates striving to further develop their intellect.

First, explore the roles that are in demand in the job market. Then, answer the next 2 questions. If both answers are “yes”, proceed to conduct extensive research on the possible range of salary increment. At the end of the evaluation process, it is likely that you would obtain a better idea of the “payback period” which you can then deem a master’s degree as a worthy or unworthy investment.

Improve Your Business With Employee Engagement

Do you want to increase your employee’s happiness, safety, participation, and good health? Then, you have to be familiar with the term called “Employee Engagement”. Employee Engagement is an approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to the organization’s values and goals. This later leads to organizational success.

The benefits of Employee Engagement are tremendous.

For instance, a study examined 168 engaged and disengaged employees to measure their stress levels and health indicators. Findings showed that engaged employees reported lower stress as well as improved cholesterol and blood pressure readings. Not only that, they engaged employees are proven to perform better by producing better results. Lastly, research showed that engaged employees have a lower chance (i.e., 5 times less) of experiencing accidents at work than their disengaged counterparts.

Having this in mind, you must know that Employee Engagement is one of the most important things to manage and to measure an organization. Measuring employee engagement may seem like a challenge as it focuses on specific areas of the organization’s strengths and gaps. This shall be observed in a personal and a group level through monthly or yearly surveys.

To boost and manage the employee engagement, here are a few steps you may take:

1. ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR STRENGTHS AND CAPABILITIES

Recognizing the employee’s strengths and capabilities does not always have to be monetary. A respectful acknowledgement of the contributions they have made is enough. Never forget to give your employees flexibility to explore how they can contribute best by allowing feedbacks.

2. CREATE TRANSPARENCY

An organization with transparency creates a room for engagement and a sense of significance. Transparency exists when the leader is comfortable enough to share his or her success to the team.

3. EMPOWER THEM

To enable active participation, put your employees in the position of influence. For example, let them lead a project and choose whom they want to collaborate with. This simple deed will make them realize their own potentials.

Image Credits: thetaxhaven via Flickr with Creative Commons License

Sources: 1, 2, & 3

You’d Be Surprise At How Much YouTube’s Grandest Stars Make (Hint: Up To 8 Figures)

Gone are the days that we rely on MTV to show as the latest music hits. Nowadays, with a stroke of the keyboard, we can just browse our favorite music video and play it on the loop. This was made possible by a website called YouTube.

Since its inception, YouTube has paved way for local stars like Justin Bieber or Ryan Higa to emerge in the worldwide scene. It is surely incredible that the founders named Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim created it about a decade ago. In 2006, Google bought it for US$1.65 billion – a price that we currently know as a serious bargain! Good move for Google indeed.

As the rise of the visitors coming to YouTube increase, the revenue of the renowned YouTube stars also increase. Personally, I am curious to know their yearly earnings. With the combination of the recent data available, here are the estimate yearly earnings of YouTube’s brightest. But bear in mind that YouTube takes 45% of the ad revenue. And, these numbers exclude that.

4. SMOSH

The comedy tandem behind the SMOSH is consisting of Anthony Padilla and his friend, Ian Hecox. They usually do amusing sketches, lip-sync videos, or just about anything funny they find on the web. This attracted 20,686,912 subscribers with about 4 billion total views! If you are shocked with those numbers then, brace yourself as they make an estimate of US$336,000-$5.4 million yearly.

3. BLUCOLLECTION

In 2010, BluCollection ToyCollector‘s maker had created children-friendly videos in English, Portuguese, and Español. These children-friendly videos are purely unboxing, trying out, and reviewing of toys and play sets. Interestingly, his collection of videos had attracted about 2,158,228 subscribers and a total of over 3 billion views! Well, those numbers added to an estimate of US$585,200-$9.4 million yearly earnings.

2. PEWDIEPIE

One of my all-time favorite YouTubers is PewDiePie. Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (real name) lives the life he dreamt. He is making money on doing what he wants: playing video games. With the most number of subscribers on the list (37,436,585 subscribers), PewDiePie’s humorous commentary videos have garnered about 9 billion views! It has been estimated that he makes about US$896,100-$14.3 million yearly.

1. FUNTOYZCOLLECTOR (Previously: DISNEYCOLLECTORBR)

A channel filled with videos of a simple premise: to unbox and demonstrate the toys made by Disney, Pixar, and so on. With a staggering amount of 4,774,148 subscribers and a total of over 6 billion views, FunToyzCollector proves to be one of YouTube’s elite. She has an estimate of US$1 million-$16.6 million yearly.

How Does One Get There?

In 2014, New York Times did a case study of a full-time YouTube channel creator named Olga Kay. Olga has nearly a million subscribers to date. And, at that time, she has earned about US$100,000-$130,000 per year. Her earnings are brought by the combination of advertising, sponsorships, and merchandising. Her channel cost include hiring an editor that is paid about US$500-$700 a week.

To put the advertising revenue in perspective, a video with ads makes about US$7.60 per 1,000 ad views. That is a down rate compared to US$9.35 per 1,000 ad views in 2012. Furthermore, YouTube gets 45% from the total ad revenue.

With the diminishing rates of ads and all the effort put into production, Olga shares to New York Times that: “But we think if we were coming to YouTube today, it would be too hard. We couldn’t do it.”

Although being a YouTube star is a viable career, it may not be for everybody.

Sources: 1,2, & 3

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