Becoming your own boss by utilizing the vast and far-reaching vehicle called the Internet has become a much desired and wildly popular way to earn money these days. Through the Internet, you can reach millions of potential customers interested in purchasing what you are offering through your web site content. It doesnt matter if you are looking to supplement your income, replace the boring job you are currently employed at, or if you are interested in becoming the next millionaire or billionaire mogul. Nothing is impossible. Knowing the best possible ways to set up your web site, and present the products you wish to sell in an interesting way, can make or break your new business venture. And it is all done through the information you utilize on your web site.
There are many ways to set up a web site, in order to make it a profitable means with which to earn money. One of these ways is to develop web pages that are available to member subscribers only. These types of web sites are one of the most popular up and coming things to hit the Internet. In todays busy world and information overload society, people need to have an easy method available to get to what they need, without spending hours and hours trying to find it. With a subscription web site, you can generate a regular monthly or yearly income from subscribers, while providing your clientele with everything they need to know about their topic of interest, thereby cutting down the time they must spend just finding what they want. And people are more than willing to pay for that very valuable service.
For example, a couple of the resources you will find to help you, all located in one easy-to-use web site, are:
* How Do I Get Started?
* Small Business Success Secrets
* Instant Cashflow Secrets
* 100 Sizzling Business Strategies
These are only a few of the many business building resources available to you that can turn your web site content into top quality content that will make your products attractive. With the right presentation, people will not only be interested in what you have to sell, but will also want to buy them. Enterprising, would-be entrepreneurs often come up with brilliant ideas that can be turned into prospective money-making websites. However, without the knowledge of how to properly present their web site content, these ideas can fall by the wayside, bringing in very little profit for their originators, when they could become a resounding success if only they knew how to catch a prospective buyers interest.
Do yourself and your budding Internet business a big favor. Visit http://www.wow-content-club.com, your one-stop source for everything you need to make and operate a successful Internet business. Find out how to turn your web site content into a money-making venture that will allow you to make a big difference in your earning potential through the Internet. You will see how the products offered here can show you how to turn a little extra income into a profitable business that can change everything from just paying your bills on time to living a life you only dreamed possible.
2008年1月1日星期二
2007年12月29日星期六
New Business:Real-life dollars buy in-game currency?
Will people pay real dollars for virtual money to help their virtual characters buy in-game goods?
One gamer, who goes by the screen name Haylo, said he spent $10 to $20 real dollars a month on in-game platinum(all nonexistent, of course) to buy weapons and other goods in Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC), but would spend more if he could afford it.
Most video games have some form of currency. In many ways, the in-game economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to mutual advantage and are mediated in currency (platinum, gold,credit,etc.). "With all the things you can buy in game," a gamer said, "it's hard not to want them, just like real-life stuff."
The average Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game(MMORPG) player is 27-year-old -- a demographic drooled over by marketers. Plus, nearly half of all players have jobs, which often means they have more money than time and are the perfect consumers of virtual assets. On the Internet, many gamers now buy virtual money that only exist as data files stored in a server run by a game company with real-world dollars, and the buying and selling of virtual currencies may be off most people's radar, but it is truly big business.
An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online games until his 15-year-old son became interested in Final Fantasy XI. He then noticed that a large number of gils which are the currencies used in FFXI were for sale on eBay.
"I started hearing about players leaving the game who were selling their assets at cheap prices," he said, "so I figured, buy low, sell high."
But Rolala found his moneymaking options in FFXI "very limited". He switched to World of Warcraft. There, he has leveraged his real-life experience into an online business. He converts his game profits into real money on sites like "eBay" and "buy wow gold" ,etc. Earnings can be considerable. He said he was on track to earn about $120,000 in real money in his first year in this business.
Rolala's business is just one example of how increasingly popular online role-playing games have created a shadow economy in which the lines between the real world and the virtual world are getting blurred.
"World of Warcraft", the world's largest MMORPG, boasts more than 1 million paying users in North America.There are many sites like wow gold free strategics and world of warcraft gold guide , teaching gamers how to earn wow gold in game for free, however many players are still willing to buy gold and weapons to help their virtual characters get a higher virtual status more rapidly. Some virtual goods in World of Warcraft have been sold for thousands of dollars. It obviously creates a large real world market.
Edward Castronova, an economics professor at Indiana University who has written a book on the subject, calculated that if you took the real dollars spent within "EverQuest "as an index, its game world, called Norrath, would be the 77th richest nation on the planet, while annual player earnings surpass those of citizens of Bulgaria, India or China.
Go to GameUSD, an exchange-rate calculator for the virtual worlds, and do a search for the latest rates of virtual currencies against the U.S. dollar, and let your jaw drop open. The rates of some virtual world currencies are even better than that of the Iraqi Dinar! For instance, here is the recent exchange rate of several popular virtual currencies:Everquest Plat ($0.54/1K), EQ2 Gold ($0.17/gold), WOW Gold ( World of Warcraft Gold ) ($0.098/gold), SWG Credit ($4.40/1M), Lineage 2 adena ($2.80/1M), Guild Wars Gold ($0.12/1K),FFXI Gil ($17.89/1M), etc.
Right now, this business is one of the most hotly debated issues on the internet. Many game companies such as Blizzard who run World of Warcraft discourage profit from in-game properties, though none have found a way to stop it.
Sony Online Entertainment, on the other hand, encourages the practice (albeit within the confines of their own "Station Exchange", their own forum for the sale of in-game properties). It recently announced the first month's figures from "Station Exchange". According to SOE, over 45,000 characters from "EverQuest 2" have been active on the exchange and have spent over $180,000 USD in one month, half of which have been spent on in-game gold and platinum.
Despite of different attitudes towards virtual currency trade, the number of people who are getting into such business is rising, and the size of market has been expanding very rapidly.The market also creates a competitive environment. We could refer to sites like wow gold price comparison , a price comparison site, to see the fierce price competition between different exchange sites.
For some ordinary gamers, however, such a capitalist approach spoils the experience. Nick Yee, a psychology researcher from Stanford University, believes many players dislike virtual currency traders because, by using real wealth to buy virtual power, "they're breaking the fantasy-reality bubble, getting an advantage in a way that other players can't".
According to a recent survey by IGN, an internet media focused on the videogame markets, most gamers say they dislike and avoid this business, believing that it gives players with more discretionary income an unfair advantage.
But such attitudes are called into question by size estimates for the virtual asset trading market, which is seen having a value of $200 million to nearly $900 million in 2005.
One potential explanation for the disconnection between attitudes and money spent may be that gamers are unwilling to admit they use the services, IGN said.
In terms of the law's concern, another issue is, who owns the virtual money? Many virtual world designers maintain that anything created in the world belong to the company. They refuse to recognise the rights of their players in the virtual property for fear of attracting liability for its maintenance or security.
But will this work in the long term? Players spend considerable time and/or money acquiring such assets. In many cases they are the creation of the player and even the intellectual property ownership is questionable. "As we spend more time in these worlds, it's not enough for companies to say that 'we own everything and we can turn it off at any time,'" said a gamer. "The question may soon be should we have recourse against a game company for obliterating virtual assets?"
With the rapid growth of virtual currency exchange market, should people accord virtual property the same protection as property in the real world?
One gamer, who goes by the screen name Haylo, said he spent $10 to $20 real dollars a month on in-game platinum(all nonexistent, of course) to buy weapons and other goods in Dark Age of Camelot (DAOC), but would spend more if he could afford it.
Most video games have some form of currency. In many ways, the in-game economy is similar to a real world economy - goods and services are traded to mutual advantage and are mediated in currency (platinum, gold,credit,etc.). "With all the things you can buy in game," a gamer said, "it's hard not to want them, just like real-life stuff."
The average Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game(MMORPG) player is 27-year-old -- a demographic drooled over by marketers. Plus, nearly half of all players have jobs, which often means they have more money than time and are the perfect consumers of virtual assets. On the Internet, many gamers now buy virtual money that only exist as data files stored in a server run by a game company with real-world dollars, and the buying and selling of virtual currencies may be off most people's radar, but it is truly big business.
An online broker, who goes by the screen name Rolala, was not a fan of online games until his 15-year-old son became interested in Final Fantasy XI. He then noticed that a large number of gils which are the currencies used in FFXI were for sale on eBay.
"I started hearing about players leaving the game who were selling their assets at cheap prices," he said, "so I figured, buy low, sell high."
But Rolala found his moneymaking options in FFXI "very limited". He switched to World of Warcraft. There, he has leveraged his real-life experience into an online business. He converts his game profits into real money on sites like "eBay" and "buy wow gold" ,etc. Earnings can be considerable. He said he was on track to earn about $120,000 in real money in his first year in this business.
Rolala's business is just one example of how increasingly popular online role-playing games have created a shadow economy in which the lines between the real world and the virtual world are getting blurred.
"World of Warcraft", the world's largest MMORPG, boasts more than 1 million paying users in North America.There are many sites like wow gold free strategics and world of warcraft gold guide , teaching gamers how to earn wow gold in game for free, however many players are still willing to buy gold and weapons to help their virtual characters get a higher virtual status more rapidly. Some virtual goods in World of Warcraft have been sold for thousands of dollars. It obviously creates a large real world market.
Edward Castronova, an economics professor at Indiana University who has written a book on the subject, calculated that if you took the real dollars spent within "EverQuest "as an index, its game world, called Norrath, would be the 77th richest nation on the planet, while annual player earnings surpass those of citizens of Bulgaria, India or China.
Go to GameUSD, an exchange-rate calculator for the virtual worlds, and do a search for the latest rates of virtual currencies against the U.S. dollar, and let your jaw drop open. The rates of some virtual world currencies are even better than that of the Iraqi Dinar! For instance, here is the recent exchange rate of several popular virtual currencies:Everquest Plat ($0.54/1K), EQ2 Gold ($0.17/gold), WOW Gold ( World of Warcraft Gold ) ($0.098/gold), SWG Credit ($4.40/1M), Lineage 2 adena ($2.80/1M), Guild Wars Gold ($0.12/1K),FFXI Gil ($17.89/1M), etc.
Right now, this business is one of the most hotly debated issues on the internet. Many game companies such as Blizzard who run World of Warcraft discourage profit from in-game properties, though none have found a way to stop it.
Sony Online Entertainment, on the other hand, encourages the practice (albeit within the confines of their own "Station Exchange", their own forum for the sale of in-game properties). It recently announced the first month's figures from "Station Exchange". According to SOE, over 45,000 characters from "EverQuest 2" have been active on the exchange and have spent over $180,000 USD in one month, half of which have been spent on in-game gold and platinum.
Despite of different attitudes towards virtual currency trade, the number of people who are getting into such business is rising, and the size of market has been expanding very rapidly.The market also creates a competitive environment. We could refer to sites like wow gold price comparison , a price comparison site, to see the fierce price competition between different exchange sites.
For some ordinary gamers, however, such a capitalist approach spoils the experience. Nick Yee, a psychology researcher from Stanford University, believes many players dislike virtual currency traders because, by using real wealth to buy virtual power, "they're breaking the fantasy-reality bubble, getting an advantage in a way that other players can't".
According to a recent survey by IGN, an internet media focused on the videogame markets, most gamers say they dislike and avoid this business, believing that it gives players with more discretionary income an unfair advantage.
But such attitudes are called into question by size estimates for the virtual asset trading market, which is seen having a value of $200 million to nearly $900 million in 2005.
One potential explanation for the disconnection between attitudes and money spent may be that gamers are unwilling to admit they use the services, IGN said.
In terms of the law's concern, another issue is, who owns the virtual money? Many virtual world designers maintain that anything created in the world belong to the company. They refuse to recognise the rights of their players in the virtual property for fear of attracting liability for its maintenance or security.
But will this work in the long term? Players spend considerable time and/or money acquiring such assets. In many cases they are the creation of the player and even the intellectual property ownership is questionable. "As we spend more time in these worlds, it's not enough for companies to say that 'we own everything and we can turn it off at any time,'" said a gamer. "The question may soon be should we have recourse against a game company for obliterating virtual assets?"
With the rapid growth of virtual currency exchange market, should people accord virtual property the same protection as property in the real world?
2007年12月28日星期五
Are You Ready For The Next Level As A Professional
A fully competent professional is someone who has mastered and outgrown his or her job. Are you a fully competent professional? Do you believe you have outgrown your job role? Are you looking to move up to the next level in your profession? If you answered yes to these questions, you are due for a promotion and/or it is time to progress to the next level or two in your profession.
Right now you may be feeling as though you are in a dead end job. In truth, however, there are no dead end job, since all jobs act as a stepping -stones to get to the next level. Rather, it is usually your own thinking and self-doubt that are haunting you and causing you to feel that you are stuck with this job for life and there is no way out.
But yes, it is true that you can get stuck in a job if you have nothing new to offer an employer. Does this apply to you? You can easily find out by evaluating what new skills, experiences and attributes you have acquired since taking on your current or last job role.
If you are serious about moving up the ranks, you will need to learn how to stay a step ahead of your competition. Ensure that you do not leave your industry self-development to your employer; rather, make sure that you are active in continuously working on improving yourself when it comes to the latest trends, terminologies, training and specialization schemes required in your industry. Those who do this are the ones who effortlessly get jobs and set the standard by which all other job applicant candidates are evaluated and judged as competent or not for a specific job role.
Remember, it is an employers market. You therefore need to develop industry-specific and job market-specific highly tuned skills to ensure you gain the edge over your competitors. To evaluate how advance your job market skills are, take this free job market performance assessment.
Right now you may be feeling as though you are in a dead end job. In truth, however, there are no dead end job, since all jobs act as a stepping -stones to get to the next level. Rather, it is usually your own thinking and self-doubt that are haunting you and causing you to feel that you are stuck with this job for life and there is no way out.
But yes, it is true that you can get stuck in a job if you have nothing new to offer an employer. Does this apply to you? You can easily find out by evaluating what new skills, experiences and attributes you have acquired since taking on your current or last job role.
If you are serious about moving up the ranks, you will need to learn how to stay a step ahead of your competition. Ensure that you do not leave your industry self-development to your employer; rather, make sure that you are active in continuously working on improving yourself when it comes to the latest trends, terminologies, training and specialization schemes required in your industry. Those who do this are the ones who effortlessly get jobs and set the standard by which all other job applicant candidates are evaluated and judged as competent or not for a specific job role.
Remember, it is an employers market. You therefore need to develop industry-specific and job market-specific highly tuned skills to ensure you gain the edge over your competitors. To evaluate how advance your job market skills are, take this free job market performance assessment.
2007年12月27日星期四
Famous Chefs in History
Because of the French domination of the culinary scene since time began (or so it seems, anyway), it stands to reason the most famous chefs in history are what else? French, with the exception of one American woman (discussed later), who was, nevertheless, trained in classical French cooking.
Known as the King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings, Antoine Careme went from being an abandoned child left at the door of a restrauteur in 18th century Paris, to become the father of haute cuisine the high art of French cooking in the early 19th century. Chef to then-world movers and shakers such as diplomat Talleyrand-Perigord, the future King George IV, Czar Alexander I, and the powerful banker James Rothschild, Careme is noted for his voluminous writings on cooking, including the famed LArt de la Cuisine Francaise (The Art of French Cooking), a five-volume masterpiece on menu planning, table settings, hundreds of recipes, and a history of French cooking.
Another Frenchman, George Auguste Escoffier, bridged the 19th and 20th centuries with a modernization of Caremes elaborate cuisine by ingenious simplification of it. Escoffier lent his talents as a chef to open the Ritz and Carlton hotels with partner Cesar Ritz, and then went on to wow such illustrious passengers as Kaiser William II of Germany on the German liner Imperator. Besides being known for such famous treats at Peach Melba, created for Australian singer Nellie Melba in 1893, Escoffier penned numerous volumes on cooking and was largely instrumental in the betterment of conditions within commercial kitchens. A stickler for cleanliness, he demanded the same from his workers and forbade swearing or any type of violence, which at the time, was common as apprentices and other help were routinely beaten by older staff.
Charles Ranhofer, the son of a restrauteur and the grandson of a chef, goes down in the annals of great chefs as the first French chef to bring the grandeur of his countrys cuisine to America. Noted primarily as the head chef of New York Citys famed Delmonicos restaurant, Ranhofer ran its kitchens for nearly 34 years. Serving such luminaries as President Andrew Johnson, President U.S. Grant, Charles Dickens, and a host of foreign dignitaries, Ranhofer created such culinary distinctions as Lobster Newburg and Baked Alaska, among many others. He also wrote one of the most complete treatises of its kind, according to the New York Times in praise of his book, The Epicurean, published in 1894.
A discourse on famous historical chefs would not be complete without the inclusion of one of the most gifted chefs of all time: an American woman named Julia Child. Born to a prominent California family, Child did not begin to cook until the age of 34. It was after she moved with her husband to France that she had her grand epiphany: Good food is more than roast beef and mashed potatoes. She flung herself headlong into an education at the esteemed Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris and later wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking with two partners. Child went on to become the first celebrity chef with more books, television programs, newspaper columns, and magazine articles. She brought exquisite French cuisine to America as much with her have-a-good-time attitude toward cooking as she did with her talent and expertise.
To all these great chefs, we owe a debt for their giftedness and tireless contributions that have truly turned cooking into an art form. It does make one wonder, however, if ever the temptation arose with any of them to ever dine secretly on a lowly peanut butter and jelly sandwich or to toast the evening with Kool-Aid and crackers. Well never know, but well surely speculate as we take another bite of quiche Lorraine.
In the meantime you can find out more by visiting the web site listed below.
Keith Londrie II has worked and researched the subject of chefs. To learn more information, please visit the new site for culinary information at
http://define-culinary-arts-program-schools-restaurant-management.info/
2007年12月22日星期六
Bank deposit and lending rates again stressed Yantai people queuing up to the early morning of
Re-adjustment of the central bank's benchmark interest rates for deposits and loans in RMB, demand deposits down for the first time in five years, Hor Namhong Street in the city, and other cities in the north of the city roads, a number of banks had to be from a long row team. Public Junu:shi said: "that came after media reports to depositors, after all, 10,000 a year money to a lot of bad money?" This is the sixth meeting of central bank interest rate increase this year, the public is happy to trouble, members of the public asked: "Always to the bank depositors to queue up to get the increase after interest rates. why not for the banks depositors Zidongzhuaicun?"
Taiwan branch of the China Everbright Bank financial Phoenix when, in answer to this question, said: Based on the March 1, 1993 from the implementation of the "savings Management Ordinance," the outstanding regular savings deposits, all paid in advance, paid by listed on the Notice of demand savings deposit rate of interest paid. In other words, the deposit interest rate increase after all there is a "transfer of critical point", over this critical point, commercial banks if all deposits with interest rate adjustments Zidongzhuaicun, some depositors may be prejudicial to the interests. In addition, the current banking system does not have the policy to depositors, the banks will not easily give depositors to keep their own.
ICBC financial management division, said those remarks, depositors in interest rates should increase the impact of the financial market, it is necessary to understand more financial knowledge to a detailed count. For example: depositors must understand "to keep critical point", to the early withdrawal of time deposits, may lose interest, but lose more than they gain. Mr Lau suggested that depositors can be obtained through a number of techniques to increase interest rates on earnings, the reduction in interest rates in the demand deposits, depositors should be sufficient to stay in the lives of liquidity, appropriate increase the proportion of regular savings.
For example: in the interest rate increase is expected next year still exist, depositors a "ladder savings" more reasonable. Plan to depositors of 30,000 yuan regularly as an example, depositors can be one-year, 2-year, 3-year-deposit 10,000 yuan. After one year, will expire 10,000 yuan to keep the three-year, and so, after three years, all holders of certificates of deposit for the three-year period, the age of maturity is different, followed by a difference of one year. Mr Lau said that this approach can help people cope with the continuous change in the rate of the central bank policy, and a higher income. wholesale pearlwholesale necklace
Taiwan branch of the China Everbright Bank financial Phoenix when, in answer to this question, said: Based on the March 1, 1993 from the implementation of the "savings Management Ordinance," the outstanding regular savings deposits, all paid in advance, paid by listed on the Notice of demand savings deposit rate of interest paid. In other words, the deposit interest rate increase after all there is a "transfer of critical point", over this critical point, commercial banks if all deposits with interest rate adjustments Zidongzhuaicun, some depositors may be prejudicial to the interests. In addition, the current banking system does not have the policy to depositors, the banks will not easily give depositors to keep their own.
ICBC financial management division, said those remarks, depositors in interest rates should increase the impact of the financial market, it is necessary to understand more financial knowledge to a detailed count. For example: depositors must understand "to keep critical point", to the early withdrawal of time deposits, may lose interest, but lose more than they gain. Mr Lau suggested that depositors can be obtained through a number of techniques to increase interest rates on earnings, the reduction in interest rates in the demand deposits, depositors should be sufficient to stay in the lives of liquidity, appropriate increase the proportion of regular savings.
For example: in the interest rate increase is expected next year still exist, depositors a "ladder savings" more reasonable. Plan to depositors of 30,000 yuan regularly as an example, depositors can be one-year, 2-year, 3-year-deposit 10,000 yuan. After one year, will expire 10,000 yuan to keep the three-year, and so, after three years, all holders of certificates of deposit for the three-year period, the age of maturity is different, followed by a difference of one year. Mr Lau said that this approach can help people cope with the continuous change in the rate of the central bank policy, and a higher income. wholesale pearlwholesale necklace
2007年12月20日星期四
Thinking About Buying A Work-at-home System On The Internet? Dont Get Scammed!
Okay, so you're ready to kiss your day job goodbye. Great. You go to the internet, enter your search and wow! Millions of websites at your fingertips: "Buy my system and get free money" or "Turn your paperweight into a money making machine".....The possibilities seem endless. But how do you know who really wants to see you succeed, and who just wants a quick buck?
First, do your homework. A lot of these sites will draw you in with the hopes and dreams of making huge amounts of money with little to no effort. This just isn't possible. If you want that, buy a lottery ticket or marry rich. You have to give a little to get a lot.
If you happen upon a website offering you a work at home opportunity, do what I did. In your browser's search bar, enter the name of the system followed by the word "scam". What you will end up with is a list of all the sites that offer that system, as well as sites by people who have been burned by it! If there are more than a few sites from people who were really scammed (and not just unwilling to put the effort in), click away from that site and stay away.
I wish I had done this in the beginning when I started my quest for a place in the internet workplace. I don't even want to think of how much money I've kissed goodbye, and I certainly won't tell my husband!
The good systems are VERY few and far between, and by looking them up this way, you may also find websites by people who have tried, been scammed, and then succeeded. They will often give suggestions for their top picks of the best systems. This is a much more reliable way to weed out the good systems from those who want to take your money and run.
Also, don't just think that by paying someone for their system that your work is done. The good ones contain tons of useful information to help you be successful, and will guide you step by step to make sure that what they promise is what you get. I know first hand that you need to log some time at your computer to get everything running smoothly before you can walk away and make money without thinking about it. But the work you put in will definitely be worth it. And much better than sitting in some cubicle working for someone else!
I know it's exciting and sometimes overwhelming. Everybody has something to sell you that will claim to get you the big bucks. If you're not careful, you could lose. But by arming yourself with a little bit of knowledge, you could end up with everything you ever wanted.
First, do your homework. A lot of these sites will draw you in with the hopes and dreams of making huge amounts of money with little to no effort. This just isn't possible. If you want that, buy a lottery ticket or marry rich. You have to give a little to get a lot.
If you happen upon a website offering you a work at home opportunity, do what I did. In your browser's search bar, enter the name of the system followed by the word "scam". What you will end up with is a list of all the sites that offer that system, as well as sites by people who have been burned by it! If there are more than a few sites from people who were really scammed (and not just unwilling to put the effort in), click away from that site and stay away.
I wish I had done this in the beginning when I started my quest for a place in the internet workplace. I don't even want to think of how much money I've kissed goodbye, and I certainly won't tell my husband!
The good systems are VERY few and far between, and by looking them up this way, you may also find websites by people who have tried, been scammed, and then succeeded. They will often give suggestions for their top picks of the best systems. This is a much more reliable way to weed out the good systems from those who want to take your money and run.
Also, don't just think that by paying someone for their system that your work is done. The good ones contain tons of useful information to help you be successful, and will guide you step by step to make sure that what they promise is what you get. I know first hand that you need to log some time at your computer to get everything running smoothly before you can walk away and make money without thinking about it. But the work you put in will definitely be worth it. And much better than sitting in some cubicle working for someone else!
I know it's exciting and sometimes overwhelming. Everybody has something to sell you that will claim to get you the big bucks. If you're not careful, you could lose. But by arming yourself with a little bit of knowledge, you could end up with everything you ever wanted.
2007年12月19日星期三
An Analysis Of Wells Fargo & Company (WFC)
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) is a huge Western and Midwestern bank that provides a diverse array of financial services to its more than 23 million customers. The company employs more than 150,000 people at its over 6,000 locations nationwide. Wells Fargo has about $500 billion in assets.
While the company continues to derive more than half its revenues from interest income (about $26 billion), its activities are not limited to collecting deposits and lending money. Wells Fargo engages in other businesses such as brokerage services, asset management, and investment banking. The company also makes venture capital investments.
Over the last ten years, Wells Fargo has averaged a 1.57% return on assets and an 18.19% return on equity.
Location
Wells Fargo is closely associated with California in the minds of most investors. The company now operates in 23 different states. However, the concentration in California remains.
Mortgage lending in California accounts for approximately 14% of Wells Fargos total loan portfolio. Commercial real estate loans in California account for another 5% of the companys total loans. No other single state accounts for a similarly sized portion of total loans. In fact, neither mortgage lending nor commercial real estate lending in any other state accounts for more than 2% of Wells Fargos total loans.
Cross-Selling
Wells Fargos focus on cross-selling is well known. The company has a stated goal of doubling the number of products the average consumer and business customer has with Wells Fargo to eight products per customer (from the current four products per customer).
Cross-selling increases customer stickiness. It also helps increase profitability by decreasing expenses relative to revenues. The need for a large physical footprint is reduced as is the need for a large number of bankers. Instead, the existing infrastructure is able to provide additional revenue from the same customers.
Wells Fargos Chairman & CEO, Richard Kovacevich, explains the importance of the companys cross-selling in the Vision & Values section of the corporate website:
"Cross-selling or what we call needs-based selling is our most important strategy. Why? Because it is an increasing returns business model. Its like the network effect of e-commerce. It multiplies opportunities geometrically. The more you sell customers the more you know about them. The more you know about them the easier it is to sell them more products. The more products customers have with you the better value they receive and the more loyal they are. The longer they stay with you the more opportunities you have to meet even more of their financial needs. The more you sell them the higher the profit because the added cost of selling another product to an existing customer is often only about ten percent of the cost of selling that same product to a new customer. This gives usas an aggregator a significant cost advantage over one product or one channel companies. Cross-selling re-invents how financial services are aggregated and sold to customers just like other aggregators such as Wal-Mart (general merchandise), Home Depot (home improvement products) and Staples (office supplies)."
Mr. Kovacevichs enthusiasm for the cross-selling model is well justified. It is difficult to quantify the importance of meeting all the varied needs of your customers, because you can not measure the opportunities you missed. However, it is obvious that reducing each customers interest in considering a competitors services will greatly increase long-term profitability for any company engaged in any line of business not just for a bank.
Later, in the same website section, Mr. Kovacevich addresses the importance of customer stickiness:
"(Cross-selling) is our most important customer-related sales metric. We want to earn 100 percent of our customers business. The more products customers have with Wells Fargo the better deal they get, the more loyal they are, and the longer they stay with the company, improving retention. Eighty percent of our revenue growth comes from selling more products to existing customers."
This focus on retention is an important part of a long-term plan to maintain Wells Fargos above-average returns on assets and equity. Extraordinary profitability comes from differentiating your product or service from those of your competitors. Increasing customer stickiness and reducing comparison shopping is a key part of maintaining extraordinary profitability.
Some businesses are blessed with enviable economics because of their products natural prominence in the minds of their customers. Most businesses are obsessed with market share. But, how many really think about mind share? Obviously, a product like Coke (KO), Hershey (HSY), or Snickers is going to have a positive association in the minds of consumers.
For many people, these products will also have a prominent place in each customers mind (relative to other products and services on which money can be spent). A few other businesses have a healthy mind share without the positive association; GEICO is the most obvious example. The companys brand conjures up nothing but the words auto insurance. Of course, thats all the GEICO brand has to do.
So, what does all this have to do with Wells Fargo? Mind share isnt just the result of exposure to advertising. In fact, in most cases, exposure to advertising can not duplicate the kind of results that a direct, differentiated experience creates. Entertainment properties are by far the leaders in mind share. People who saw and loved Star Wars remember the film. In fact, they dont just remember the film, they actually file it away (or, more precisely, cross reference it) in countless ways within their mind.
The evidence for this particular example is abundant. There are countless references to Star Wars in other media. The name, the music, the opening text and countless other elements are immediately recognizable. Even the films Star Wars fans hated made more money than almost any other movies in the history of cinema and this was decades after the original came out. So, obviously Star Wars has the kind of lasting mind share any business should aspire to if it hopes to continuously earn extraordinary profits.
Unfortunately, most businesses, however well run, can not attain this kind of mind share. The products and services they provide can never be as differentiated and memorable as a motion picture. Just as importantly, the positive associations will not be present, simply because the product or service is not inherently exciting, entertaining, or pleasant. This is clearly the case in financial services.
So, what can a financial services company do to improve its mind share? The most obvious tactic is simply to wow its customers. In fact, Wells Fargos CEO discusses this particular option in the Vision and Values section of the companys website:
"We have to 'wow!' them. We know what that feels like because were all customers. We go to the cleaners, the grocery store, a restaurant or whatever, and we find a situation where were 'wowed!' We walk out and we say, those people really listened to me and helped me get what I need. All of us hear stories about customers, say, who pick a certain line at the supermarket because they know the person who bags the groceries connects with customers smiles, greets regular customers by name, asks how their families are doing. When a personal banker helps a customer in one of our stores, or when a customer gets help from one of our phone bankers or does transactions on wellsfargo.com we want them to say, 'That was great. I cant wait to tell someone.'"
Another option worth pursuing is widening the associations present in the customers mind. Financial services is a business where associations tend to be more conscious, categorized, and hierarchical than the associations formed in more heavily branded businesses. Put simply, the (potential) customer usually thinks of a set before thinking of an element within that set. Like many mental associations, the information can be returned in either direction. For example, the customer may normally think banks and then think Wells Fargo, but will also be able to return the word bank if prompted by the name Wells Fargo. This categorization is important, because it provides (limited) permission for Wells Fargo to expand its mind share horizontally (across service categories).
In other words, providing a diverse range of financial services doesnt just make sense from the providers perspective, it also makes sense from the users perspective, because the user of financial services has already grouped deposits, borrowing, credit cards, insurance, brokerage services, asset management, etc. together in a very loose way within his mind. As a result of this mental network, one positive experience with Wells Fargo will greatly affect a customers desire to pay for an additional service, even if the two services are not really all that similar.
The three key elements here are: a broader definition of what Wells Fargo is (a place that does money things, not just a bank), a positive experience, and some sense of trust that the quality of service will be consistent. The last requirement is the easiest to meet, because its natural for a customer to assume that the positive experience was not a fluke, much the way a diner assumes the good meal he had at a particular restaurant was not caused by his picking the best offering from the menu. The diner usually assumes the overall quality of the restaurants various entrees is superior. Likewise, a good experience with one of Wells Fargos products or services will likely rub off on its other offerings.
Valuation
Shares of Wells Fargo currently yield just over 3%. The stock trades at a price-to-book ratio of just under 2.75 and a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 15.
Conclusion
Wells Fargos CEO makes the case that his companys P/E is simply too low. Wells Fargo has a solid history of strong growth and profitability. So, why should it be valued similarly to most other banks? Shouldnt it be awarded a multiple more in line with a growth company?
Theres actually some merit to this argument. Wells Fargo is unusually well positioned for a bank. Often, those banks that seem certain to earn very high returns on assets and equity for many years to come are poorly positioned for future growth. These banks are often smaller than their competitors and focused on a specific geographic niche. Any acquisitions would dilute the exceptional profitability of the banks niche.
Of course, there are also many consolidators in the banking industry. Unfortunately, many of these banks do not have a history of earning the kind of returns on assets and equity that Wells Fargo has achieved. Even more importantly, there is little differentiation between these titans of the banking industry and their national competitors. Therefore, their moats are highly suspect.
Wells Fargo is a different kind of bank. It has a history of extraordinary growth and profitability. There are two obvious opportunities for future growth: geographic expansion and cross-selling. Of these two opportunities, it's clear Im more enamored with the latter. An eastward push is not necessary, and certainly not via an ill-advised acquisition.
There is a lot of value in the Wells Fargo franchise and there is plenty of room within that franchise for future growth. Thats one of the great advantages of the financial services industry. With the right model, limits to growth are almost non-existent. In other highly-profitable industries, there is often nowhere to reinvest new capital at a similar rate of return.
If Wells Fargo is a growth stock, it is a peculiar sort of growth stock. Maybe that is what attracted Buffett to the company in the first place. Here is a business with a strong franchise that can grow for many years to come. Perhaps most importantly, it is a growth business that frequently trades in the market at value like multiples, simply because its a bank.
At the current market price, Wells Fargo is the sort of investment you make once and forget. The valuation is not so cheap as to promise a good return if the business falters. But, the business is not so suspect as to require the margin of safety be provided by a low P/E ratio. Sometimes, near certain growth is the margin of safety.
While the company continues to derive more than half its revenues from interest income (about $26 billion), its activities are not limited to collecting deposits and lending money. Wells Fargo engages in other businesses such as brokerage services, asset management, and investment banking. The company also makes venture capital investments.
Over the last ten years, Wells Fargo has averaged a 1.57% return on assets and an 18.19% return on equity.
Location
Wells Fargo is closely associated with California in the minds of most investors. The company now operates in 23 different states. However, the concentration in California remains.
Mortgage lending in California accounts for approximately 14% of Wells Fargos total loan portfolio. Commercial real estate loans in California account for another 5% of the companys total loans. No other single state accounts for a similarly sized portion of total loans. In fact, neither mortgage lending nor commercial real estate lending in any other state accounts for more than 2% of Wells Fargos total loans.
Cross-Selling
Wells Fargos focus on cross-selling is well known. The company has a stated goal of doubling the number of products the average consumer and business customer has with Wells Fargo to eight products per customer (from the current four products per customer).
Cross-selling increases customer stickiness. It also helps increase profitability by decreasing expenses relative to revenues. The need for a large physical footprint is reduced as is the need for a large number of bankers. Instead, the existing infrastructure is able to provide additional revenue from the same customers.
Wells Fargos Chairman & CEO, Richard Kovacevich, explains the importance of the companys cross-selling in the Vision & Values section of the corporate website:
"Cross-selling or what we call needs-based selling is our most important strategy. Why? Because it is an increasing returns business model. Its like the network effect of e-commerce. It multiplies opportunities geometrically. The more you sell customers the more you know about them. The more you know about them the easier it is to sell them more products. The more products customers have with you the better value they receive and the more loyal they are. The longer they stay with you the more opportunities you have to meet even more of their financial needs. The more you sell them the higher the profit because the added cost of selling another product to an existing customer is often only about ten percent of the cost of selling that same product to a new customer. This gives usas an aggregator a significant cost advantage over one product or one channel companies. Cross-selling re-invents how financial services are aggregated and sold to customers just like other aggregators such as Wal-Mart (general merchandise), Home Depot (home improvement products) and Staples (office supplies)."
Mr. Kovacevichs enthusiasm for the cross-selling model is well justified. It is difficult to quantify the importance of meeting all the varied needs of your customers, because you can not measure the opportunities you missed. However, it is obvious that reducing each customers interest in considering a competitors services will greatly increase long-term profitability for any company engaged in any line of business not just for a bank.
Later, in the same website section, Mr. Kovacevich addresses the importance of customer stickiness:
"(Cross-selling) is our most important customer-related sales metric. We want to earn 100 percent of our customers business. The more products customers have with Wells Fargo the better deal they get, the more loyal they are, and the longer they stay with the company, improving retention. Eighty percent of our revenue growth comes from selling more products to existing customers."
This focus on retention is an important part of a long-term plan to maintain Wells Fargos above-average returns on assets and equity. Extraordinary profitability comes from differentiating your product or service from those of your competitors. Increasing customer stickiness and reducing comparison shopping is a key part of maintaining extraordinary profitability.
Some businesses are blessed with enviable economics because of their products natural prominence in the minds of their customers. Most businesses are obsessed with market share. But, how many really think about mind share? Obviously, a product like Coke (KO), Hershey (HSY), or Snickers is going to have a positive association in the minds of consumers.
For many people, these products will also have a prominent place in each customers mind (relative to other products and services on which money can be spent). A few other businesses have a healthy mind share without the positive association; GEICO is the most obvious example. The companys brand conjures up nothing but the words auto insurance. Of course, thats all the GEICO brand has to do.
So, what does all this have to do with Wells Fargo? Mind share isnt just the result of exposure to advertising. In fact, in most cases, exposure to advertising can not duplicate the kind of results that a direct, differentiated experience creates. Entertainment properties are by far the leaders in mind share. People who saw and loved Star Wars remember the film. In fact, they dont just remember the film, they actually file it away (or, more precisely, cross reference it) in countless ways within their mind.
The evidence for this particular example is abundant. There are countless references to Star Wars in other media. The name, the music, the opening text and countless other elements are immediately recognizable. Even the films Star Wars fans hated made more money than almost any other movies in the history of cinema and this was decades after the original came out. So, obviously Star Wars has the kind of lasting mind share any business should aspire to if it hopes to continuously earn extraordinary profits.
Unfortunately, most businesses, however well run, can not attain this kind of mind share. The products and services they provide can never be as differentiated and memorable as a motion picture. Just as importantly, the positive associations will not be present, simply because the product or service is not inherently exciting, entertaining, or pleasant. This is clearly the case in financial services.
So, what can a financial services company do to improve its mind share? The most obvious tactic is simply to wow its customers. In fact, Wells Fargos CEO discusses this particular option in the Vision and Values section of the companys website:
"We have to 'wow!' them. We know what that feels like because were all customers. We go to the cleaners, the grocery store, a restaurant or whatever, and we find a situation where were 'wowed!' We walk out and we say, those people really listened to me and helped me get what I need. All of us hear stories about customers, say, who pick a certain line at the supermarket because they know the person who bags the groceries connects with customers smiles, greets regular customers by name, asks how their families are doing. When a personal banker helps a customer in one of our stores, or when a customer gets help from one of our phone bankers or does transactions on wellsfargo.com we want them to say, 'That was great. I cant wait to tell someone.'"
Another option worth pursuing is widening the associations present in the customers mind. Financial services is a business where associations tend to be more conscious, categorized, and hierarchical than the associations formed in more heavily branded businesses. Put simply, the (potential) customer usually thinks of a set before thinking of an element within that set. Like many mental associations, the information can be returned in either direction. For example, the customer may normally think banks and then think Wells Fargo, but will also be able to return the word bank if prompted by the name Wells Fargo. This categorization is important, because it provides (limited) permission for Wells Fargo to expand its mind share horizontally (across service categories).
In other words, providing a diverse range of financial services doesnt just make sense from the providers perspective, it also makes sense from the users perspective, because the user of financial services has already grouped deposits, borrowing, credit cards, insurance, brokerage services, asset management, etc. together in a very loose way within his mind. As a result of this mental network, one positive experience with Wells Fargo will greatly affect a customers desire to pay for an additional service, even if the two services are not really all that similar.
The three key elements here are: a broader definition of what Wells Fargo is (a place that does money things, not just a bank), a positive experience, and some sense of trust that the quality of service will be consistent. The last requirement is the easiest to meet, because its natural for a customer to assume that the positive experience was not a fluke, much the way a diner assumes the good meal he had at a particular restaurant was not caused by his picking the best offering from the menu. The diner usually assumes the overall quality of the restaurants various entrees is superior. Likewise, a good experience with one of Wells Fargos products or services will likely rub off on its other offerings.
Valuation
Shares of Wells Fargo currently yield just over 3%. The stock trades at a price-to-book ratio of just under 2.75 and a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 15.
Conclusion
Wells Fargos CEO makes the case that his companys P/E is simply too low. Wells Fargo has a solid history of strong growth and profitability. So, why should it be valued similarly to most other banks? Shouldnt it be awarded a multiple more in line with a growth company?
Theres actually some merit to this argument. Wells Fargo is unusually well positioned for a bank. Often, those banks that seem certain to earn very high returns on assets and equity for many years to come are poorly positioned for future growth. These banks are often smaller than their competitors and focused on a specific geographic niche. Any acquisitions would dilute the exceptional profitability of the banks niche.
Of course, there are also many consolidators in the banking industry. Unfortunately, many of these banks do not have a history of earning the kind of returns on assets and equity that Wells Fargo has achieved. Even more importantly, there is little differentiation between these titans of the banking industry and their national competitors. Therefore, their moats are highly suspect.
Wells Fargo is a different kind of bank. It has a history of extraordinary growth and profitability. There are two obvious opportunities for future growth: geographic expansion and cross-selling. Of these two opportunities, it's clear Im more enamored with the latter. An eastward push is not necessary, and certainly not via an ill-advised acquisition.
There is a lot of value in the Wells Fargo franchise and there is plenty of room within that franchise for future growth. Thats one of the great advantages of the financial services industry. With the right model, limits to growth are almost non-existent. In other highly-profitable industries, there is often nowhere to reinvest new capital at a similar rate of return.
If Wells Fargo is a growth stock, it is a peculiar sort of growth stock. Maybe that is what attracted Buffett to the company in the first place. Here is a business with a strong franchise that can grow for many years to come. Perhaps most importantly, it is a growth business that frequently trades in the market at value like multiples, simply because its a bank.
At the current market price, Wells Fargo is the sort of investment you make once and forget. The valuation is not so cheap as to promise a good return if the business falters. But, the business is not so suspect as to require the margin of safety be provided by a low P/E ratio. Sometimes, near certain growth is the margin of safety.
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