I was thinking it would be a nice ride but the first day was pretty calm.

 If you bought or are now thinking of buying into Visa what are your feelings?

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I have heard Wednesday last week and this weekend then I read some information that a rumor of Tuesday now. If you are buying, are you ready?

How to make sure you have funds ready

Phone Broker - If you still have one my old phone broker would take my order over the phone and gave me 3 days to get him the money. They may or may not do this for IPO.

Electronic Transfer- If I put an order in right now 9 times out of 10 my funds will be ready to trade before the market opens the next day and I use Ameritrade.

Selling holdings- This is a tricky one, if you cannot get the cash uploaded in time and have current holdings you could sell them and hope the settlement is quick enough to turn around with the cash to buy IPO.

Just a couple of ideas……

If it is really Wednesday then you have more time to act but if it is tomorrow and not a rumor and you really wanted to get a piece of it then you better act now to see if you can make it happen.

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Well I am short Goldman so I know this up’s my chances but I am not overly happy to see Bear Stearns fall other then that. It is tough to see an almost 100 year old financial institution failing like this because it is not a good sign for our financial markets.

If you missed the ticker, JPMorgan bought Bear Stearns for $2 a share with the help of some Fed financing. I would have never thought this would have happened “this way” let alone so fast but they are officially sunk.

The fed’s also dropped rates 25 basis points to help calm the market but I don’t think that is enough. Either let the market bleed or drop it enough to say something, at least 50 and many people wanted to see one full point.

For all of the investors out there be careful in the coming weeks, this is a very unpredictable time for the market.

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Hey Bear Stearns, I know a business that is having trouble, shoot me the number to get some of that federal money so they can stay a float. Thanks buddy…. psss. “mark to market”.

The Bear Stearns stock is in a free fall right now losing over $27 dollars yesterday. At this point I hope the short on GS pays off because that will be one hell of a winner! Many people are saying we are in a recession just be looking at what Bear Stearns did this week and all I have to say is; When does it say we are in a recession because a company made bad decisions and they are failing?

 I just love how I and many others are taxed to death for being successful and then our money is given to LOSERS. Whatever happened to true capitalism? Companies rise and fall and new ones startup. Poor businesses ARE SUPPOSED to fail and those that do well get rewarded for doing good business by the way of profits.

I still do not understand this country and why we must keep patting the losers on the back for being stupid. Bear Stearns took to much risk or took on poor investments and they failed, it is time for someone to come pick them up for 5 cents on the dollar because that is capitalism.

And all the poor home owners that bit off more then they can chew. I do not believe even half of the people in this mess were “tricked” by the greedy mortgage people. Everyone I know dealing with an inflated arm right now did it on their own. They did it to buy more house and have a lower payment. Somewhere they thought they could flip it and sell it, some windfall inheritance would come or as many people thought, I would get a big bump in my salary or career by the time 3-5 years comes and I could afford it.

Well most of that didn’t happen and not you cannot afford the house. Those of us WHO DO THE RIGHT THING, have to to get taxed to death to bail out the people that make poor decisions over and over.

What should happen.

•  Do not use our tax dollars to bail out people and corporations that make bad decisions.
• Let the housing marketing correct itself by people losing their homes and others picking them up on the market from the banks
• Let the corporations fail, be bought out and another new one can start one day
• Lower taxes for those that make profits because of good decisions, yes we will reinvest into the market

If you are one of the financially responsible, how do you feel that your tax dollars are being used to bailout these people and corporations that made bad decisions?

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The two teams did battle today by creating their own sandwiches at Quiznos and selling them without the help of their black-books. The two choices were the Champ Sandwich and the Cowboy Club (guess who’s team had which one).

The cowboy club sounded good but may not have been as marketable as the Champ since it was just straight up turkey and cheddar which represents a large majority of sandwiches in this country.

In the end Hydra wins again and although no one was really to blame for this one, Stephen was fired based on the fact that he has not raised any money in the last couple of competitions.

The next episode looks interesting as 2 people will be fired right at the beginning of the show and it looks like at some point the entire cast will be back.

On a Quiznos note, those little sandwiches for $2 are pretty small, I have known a few people to complain about the size\cost of them so I doubt they will last long. Quiznos tried something like this before and it failed. We will have an another post on Quiznos in the future as their business may be a bit shaky right now.

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The title sums up the best way I can describe the situation that many of the account managers I have come across are in. You have a list of “players” that could turn your business around or make you the next salesman of the year. Many dial for dollars, get the person on the phone after telling the gatekeeper your a tax auditor looking for Mr. Smith and the next thing you know the pitch comes flying out and the call is over.

I look at those failed attempts and begin to think it would be easier to sell Executives crack.

Lets look at the top 5 things you can do to have a better success rate with the C-Level crowd.

1. Cardinal rule, call early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Such a basic thing to know as an account manager but how often do I see someone trying to reach an Executive at 6:45am or 6:30pm? Not often enough! You all know this rule but you become to impatient and call right after lunch. It could take you 30 days of trying on off hours but sooner or later you will have your chance. Wake up early or slide that call in from your cell phone while your kids are at soccer, just make sure you do it!

2. Do your research. Integrate things you learned about the business or individual into the call, this will make the prospect pay attention to what your saying. No one wants to listen someone that doesn’t know what their talking about.

3. Make sure your product or service can do them some good before you even waste a call. Take an issue they have and convey it so whatever it is your selling will have some value to them. The more it effects the person your calling the better chance you have of succeeding.

4. Don’t rush off the phone. Do not believe that just because you cold called them it means they want to get you off the phone. I equate it to when I was learning to snowboard, my body always wanted to fall even though I didn’t need to. It was the mind making me weak as it already was planning my failure. I had many chatty Executives go on and on so keep them on the line and talking about relevant information until you have accomplished your goal.

5. Be bold. I rarely meet a C-Level individual that is really shy. These are high powered people that will eat your lunch in a heartbeat. Now I am not talking about being cocky, arrogant or slick, just tell it like it is without all the slimy talk. Be strong and powerful with your statements and you will not only gain respect but you will have someone listening. Meek people do not well in sales.

Do you have some other tips? Post up a comment.

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In a recent article I talked about setting up a high end audio system for your PC. As I searched for speakers that I wanted to demo I came across a couple of brands I wanted to hear. Along with that I  wanted to have a couple of places to get quotes from so the best price could be found.

I do a search in my area and come across 3 dealers. They are all owned by the same place and no other dealer is in my area that carries those speakers. So I get to thinking, what a slick way to make sure you get a premium price for your product.

Now this cannot work with everything but if you are reselling a product and can purchase a “zone” then why not game it up and set up several stores. Once you set in place a great plan you should have trapped a geographic area to either buy from you or force them to drive 30-40+ miles if they want to deal with someone else.

You seen many warnings on company sites that you will not get a warranty if you purchase from an Internet reseller and you clearly know why now. I cannot really find those speakers online and I really don’t want to drive over an hour to “try” to save a few bucks so what can I do other then pay up or chose another brand?

Aggressive business so you have to love it, unless your the one buying from a regional monopoly.

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I have grown tired of hearing the word recession over and over every single day. Sadly enough here I am contributing to it but in the end I hope this article offsets me using it.

If you say something enough then it is bound to happen. If you want to succeed but you are constantly talking about failing then what do you think will happen? If you are managing a department and you constantly talk about how poor the state of the company is what do you think will be the outcome?

Everyday I hear it on the news, on the radio or read it on the web. The United States is heading for a recession as if we are heading for a great DEPRESSION.  We all know how much the media loves to write about the “bad stuff” and here it is no different.

Why not call it a slow down? What if people just decided to put more money in the bank rather then shopping and traveling like crazy? That would not be such a bad thing but revenue reports would be down and everyone would fear……… a recession.

It seems everyday the people of the United States get a constant dose of how bad things are. If you own a business you will think twice before hiring someone if we are in a recession. If you are thinking about spending money on something you may be concerned about your job so you hold back spending. If you are thinking about switching jobs or starting a business you will hold back because your worried about the recession. If we are in a recession then you may not invest into that stock like you wanted to so the market falls.

The constant talk about a recession slows America down.

As a business owner and capitalist I wake up in the morning with a positive outlook. If I want to continue to be successful and move forward with my life I cannot focus on the negative things. I must pull the trigger ever single say on the items that will continue to move me forward otherwise the negative views and outlook around my life will assist in my failure.

The fact is people still need to eat; they need to buy gas; they need cloths;they will have to travel to visit family;they will continue to get educated;they need medicine;they will need some products from the lumber yard to repair their home.

This country can only slow down so much, people still have to live.

Maybe the country is slowing down and that is cyclical but we do not have to throw up a white flag and say the recession is here, lets all call it a day.

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People say there is a lack of good careers in this country but I have to say maybe the college crowd should stop focusing on many easy to get and often useless degree’s and focus on a education that will get you somewhere. Here is one example of a career track that is lacking people.

 Being in recruiting for some time I have come across more people with history degrees that I can count and nearly all of them never even ended up using them! Do you know what they used it for, to meet the basic requirement to have a degree when applying for certain jobs. If you are going to spend the time getting an education then make it useful!

This brings me to a blog I just read about Microsoft going to Washington as they seek even more H1-B visa employees. Right here we see a huge hole in our talent bank and it needs to be filled.

America needs more qualified Software Engineers. I am not talking about web developers, I mean people that write applications, help develop operating systems and those that can combine their software knowledge with some Electrical Engineering experience to work on high tech machinery.

Right here we are looking at thousands of highly professional, high paying jobs that this country and it’s corporations need. Keeping the jobs and money in this country will only help America.

And before those with history degree’s decide to light me up, I know people who have put them to use it. It was simply an example of what I have seen.

If your kids are coming out of highschool or you plan to change careers and are going back to school then keep an eye on software engineering if you want a stable high paying career.

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We have had a few articles on here about this monster but I wanted to reach out to my readers.

If you plan to buy this IPO then bookmark this site and come back to tell the story. This has to be one of the largest talked about IPO’s I have seen outside the tech boom so I would like to see how each investor did.

As for me I am staying away from it. I know what Mastercard did but I believe these are really two different companies in the same business so I am standing on the side lines for now.

Make sure to come back and tell us about it!

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I had to add another category for “Smart Business” because after walking around the IKEA store I had to post up my thoughts.

 First off the raw amount of the people at the store is amazing for such a downed economy in the rust belt here. But it is a bargain store and you would assume those low on cash would be looking for a deal.

The floor plan is amazing. It must take us a good 30min to walk the entire maze they have setup. The plan has you zig zag through each mini-section looking at all the different departments. This is setup is kind of Kaizen like where you follow the arrows to the desired path. Signs also note the next sections and there are places to take a shortcut but their rather hidden so unless you are looking for them you stick to the beaten path.

They pretty much force you in a good way to view their entire store and a large percentage of their product base. By doing so you  made me look at things that I didn’t even come here to buy which worked well because we found a couple of decorative items we thought would look good although we were not even in the market for that stuff when we walked in the door.

Reasonable prices on products with decent quality along with a floor plan that makes any logistics manager drop their jaw and you have one hell of a smart business.

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The video game market is bigger then ever and when one of my good friends says he would rather play Xbox with his kid then read him a book, then you know its a big market!

Simple fact is kids love video games (just as many adults to) and I do not see this market going backwards. Play N Trade looks to have a sweet store build out and a pretty good franchise system to support their stores. I will admit I have stopped at a like store on the way home before and picked up a game I wanted and I don’t even consider myself part of that core market. And if you ever come across one of these stores in the mall you cannot even get a step inside they are so packed.

Lets take a look at the basics

Liability - Low

Startup Cost - $160-400k (rough numbers but considering you need a retail store \ nice build it out it will cost a bit)

Risk - Low to Moderate (unknown question is length of time to build an inventory of used games but I am sure corporate assists with that)

I do not really have anything bad to say about this business. I like the gaming market and I certainly like the margin on the products. In any economy you will find people wanting to offload their old stuff so they can buy some new stuff and in a market like today you can bet more and more people are selling their used items without question.

I wonder if mall locations are part of their plan? Even in a normal retail space you have a decent chance of doing well with this business.

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This is an interesting franchise and I mulled over an idea like this in the past. But for me I get the joy from writing about business and answering questions for free on this site. But I always thought something like this would be a good idea if it was marketed right because there are so many small business owners that are drained from working to much and they often lose sight of where they need to be.

 The Growth Coach Franchise offers training and they have a system that assists you coaching your clients. I will keep this one short because it really is a simple business. Startup costs are low, liability is reasonably low, risk is moderate and I didn’t see a franchise fee posted anywhere so that is a guess although others are saying a total startup cost of around 40-50k so not to bad.

I really like this kind of business just for the simple fact that many people that want to be successful often need a kick in the ass and why not have someone to do that every couple of months? Consistency and having a driven spirit to be your best if what if going to make you wealthy. But you can have all the brains in the world and if you do not stay on track and work very hard you will never reach the heights you have set out for. A good coach will help you balance your life so you can reach your goals but also have an enjoyable personal life.

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I still have a good laugh when I go into my stats for this website and I see someone hit this website with Netscape. I have had 9 Netscape hits this month out of the tens of thousands of the others. IF you using Netscape to view this site then post up a comment, it would be nice to hear from you.

I still remember those good old days of when the web was new. SLIP on into a UNIX box straight up or via a BBS, the big upgrade came when PPP started to be hot then the browser wars. Netscape was king for a while. I recall running it on networks for automotive companies and when IE would fail on a Tier 1 supplier app we would have the user flip over to  Netscape.

It didn’t take long before IE took over and along with if I think Netscape became a bit bloated. Then again I am sure it is easier to make an app run well on your own operating system so maybe the field was not exactly level.

We will talk more about the good ole’ days in the future. There is too much good stuff from the tech past to forget.

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In the backrooms of the Midwest you will hear the term NAFTA come up. You won’t find too many people having anything good to say about it.  The reality is it hit the Midwest very hard but NAFTA was felt throughout the country so regardless of where you live it is worth taking an interest in from a business perspective.

In the last month NAFTA was a hot topic with all the political campaigns especially in Ohio but other then the name and roughly what as happened a few really do not understand the effects it has on businesses and the effect it still has on your business today.

If your in the planning stages of a manufacturing based business or one that services manufacturing then the following link below has a 4 part article that will help you understand the fall out from NAFTA.

http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7295&secID=1187&catID=126

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The 2008 nominations are up and running. If you like this site and content then please place a vote for The Capital HACKER as we will continue to write and answer business questions throughout 2008 for our member base.

 You can place a vote by visiting the link below.

http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/blogs/show/43073

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If you are a parent did you ever have trouble finding a tutor? Not anymore just check out your local strip mall!

Mathnasium locations assist young students with the difficulty of learning math. They are noted as to opening up 1 franchise per week now which is a rapid rate. As of today they could have over 200 locations with only a couple of them company owned. There is and always will be a need to assist kids in many areas of studies as parents want their kids to excel greatly in school. It really comes down to are they willing to pay for it.

Lets take a look at the basics.

Liability - Low (unless you teach them 2+2 is 2, then you may have a problem)

Franchise Fee - $15,500 at signing (on the light side but the $325 per month and 11% of revenues is steep)

Startup Cost - $50-70k (reasonable)

Risk - Low to moderate

I have seen a couple of general learning businesses around here fail but I am not sure they were as highly focused as Mathnasium is.

The costs from their website

“What do parents pay to enroll their children in Mathnasium?

Tuition in the US typically includes a one-time $100 registration and testing fee plus about $175 to $225 per month enrolled, for a 6-12 month commitment. Parents then bring their children to the center when convenient, typically twice a week, for about an hour. “

It seems like a lot then again it doesn’t. What would you pay a private tutor for the same amount of hours? I am sure a bit more then that but it is still a lot on top of everything else a kid needs, hey kids are costly period! The real upside is that any parent that wants to get their kid extra help would be willing to pay that price since it wouldn’t exactly be unreasonable to most.

The training seems light but if the developed their system as they said they did then maybe you do not need much training. I have a feeling you won’t need to be a math guru yourself to run this business so with their material and training one would assume you are all set.

I guess it is time to check those school ratings and wherever they have the lowest ratings it is time to setup shop because the profit potential on this one seems decent.

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The wife and I have looked at these type of places before and always ended up at our local market. On the other hand we just put an a gourmet kitchen in our new home loaded up with Wolf to the nines so I could be a bit bias.

But I can already tell you this review is not going to come out on the good side even if I had a family of 6 and hated to cook. We have seen many like places go out of business around here and for me I just have a hard time justifying any additional cost when it comes to feeding the family. But let me say this, I see where this business could do well for parties, events or families going through a period where cooking 3 squares a day is not doable so the real question is can this business do well enough on those kind of customers?

Lets take a look at the basics

Liability - Low (fish allergy maybe? not sure I find a huge liability risk for this business but I could be wrong)

Franchise fee - $35,000 (bit on the high side, along with a royalty fee of 4%)

Startup Cost - $100-263k (information seems to vary but I can see where the build out could be costly)

Risk - High (noted earlier, I have to question the kind consistent business)

People on the net seem to rave about the Super Supports which could prove me wrong about my thoughts. Although seeing some like businesses die around here was not a good sign but maybe Super Suppers has a better product \ brand. I am sure the area you place this franchise will determine a lot about your success.

The downside is noted so well from another review that bascially called it an assembly line stouffers which could be true. The same reviewer also noted the food was not as good as expected. My own business sense says will a family come back time after time and year after year to these kind of places and I have to think no. Sooner or later it gets old or you want to save money. They are a rather new franchise so I want to see how well they do over the years. Once the “coolness” wears off in the area you serve then what? Or will the part\event business keep them busy enough?

The cost factor for the meals seem reasonable as I could go to KFC and drop $25 for a family of four on the other hand I have not see many talk about the portion sizes. The real savvy consumer knows there is no way they can offer you the same amount of food you would buy at Meijer, have 2-5 people on site, cleaning, prep and business overhead and offer it to you cheaper then you could have bought\fixed it.

But they do save you time and hassle so what is that worth to you? DO your homework and if the area will support a business like this you maybe it will turn into a huge success for you because many around the net seem to think highly of this business.

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I have to take a guess from readings that this is not really an one hour service but maybe it is? And if so I really have to ask what kind of staff you would carry to make that kind of marketing statement? We will take it as just a name for now but the name is misleading to me.

Automatically I say its a good business to be in because people need heating and cooling so no questioning the market there. One Hour Air Conditioning has over 100 franchises in the states and many of which seem to be company owned which is one of those things I like to see. This is not exactly your next sub or tanning business so I like the idea of seeing an home service business up for review.

Lets take a look at the basics

Liability - Low to Moderate (biggest risk seems to be repairs leading to fires \ fumes etc)

Franchise Fee - $25,000 (reasonable for this type of business)

Startup Cost - $46,000- $500,000+ (depending on building, equipment, employees etc)

Risk - Low to Moderate

The pitfall here is the training that is needed for someone to work on this equipment and not make any fatal errors. If the owner is not going to preform the work then you have the other downside of hiring a professional which it seems many will do but floating this salary could be costly plus dealing with turnover can be painful.

On the upside if you are in a good territory and marketing is done right you could really limit the risk of failing in this business because it is REALLY hard finding good contractors and that is coming from someone that just built a custom own and was his own general contractor.

Grab a good market, hire good workers and offer outstanding customer service and this franchise could be a real success for you.

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I have had some experience in commercial cleaning as I worked for a family member cleaning dealerships when I was in high-school for extra money. I also consulted for a local cleaning and maintenance startup but that was not a franchise. The good news is people are slobs and you wont find the owners of any reasonably sized business throwing on some gloves to clean their own place so the business is there to be had.

System4 commercial cleaning does exactly what their name says, commercial cleaning. They note on their site that commercial cleaning is a $90+ billion dollar industry which I do not have a hard time believing. They have options to own a regional area (Master) or just be a local franchise that serves your immediate area. I like the fact they are thinking a little bigger and allow regions which could also be a bad thing as I knew someone that owned a series of Damon’s and ran the entire region out of business.

A quick look at the basics

Liability - Low to moderate (damaging parts of a building could be costly)

Franchise fee - varies on package but it seems on the low side

Startup Cost - $5,500 to over $40,000 roughly (their fee’s plus equipment and vehicle makes it vary)

Risk - Low to Moderate

From the information that is available it seems you can spend more to make more. The real plus to this franchise is the fact that System4 brings in the sales for you which is one of the hardest parts of this business or any business. Very few people want to bang on the phones all day to make some real money so short of hiring a seasoned sales rep the business owners often find themselves attempting to make the calls.

On the down side this is a highly competitive business and at sometime it seems every entrepreneur has tried a cleaning company since they are easy and most fail. The key thing is perseverance and staying in the business long enough to build a good book because if you pickup last years phone book and call cleaning companies you can bet a good portion of them are already out of business.

Over all I like what System4 has to offer, the risk is on the low side given the fact that they bring in sales for you so all you have to do is clean or hire people to clean. The real question is how well their sales systems works so do some home work before you dive in.

You will find System4 at www.system4usa.com

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A 6 figure ass whippin, that is what happened on this episode of the Celebrity Apprentice.

Omarosa prefaced all of this by noting she lost in a similar task last time so we could already see where this was going. As a two time losing project manager we know she was kept around for entertainment factor. At the end of the day her and the team raised $7000 compared to Hydra’s $164,000.

 In the boardroom we all knew it was time for her to go. With the biggest loss on the show ever, a now 3 time loser and probably the most hated, Trump finally gave her the boot.

I shouldn’t get such satisfaction from this but it reminds me working in a big corporate office and when that one idiot you wanted fired for so long gets the boot, you cannot do much but celebrate.

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Crocs made an announcement today that they do not sell Crocs branded products to Costco and they have no intentions to. The news reports have noted that other companies have sold Crocs to Costco in an indirect fashion.

It looks like the stock dipped at bit at the end of the day and here is what I am thinking. In that press release they wanted to protect their brand and image and over all they didn’t want to the public to think their products are sold “at a place like Costco”.

The thing that bothers me is if you walk around Costco your looking at the people that buy the Crocs brand. Yes you will see Mr. Blue or White collar, bare foot and or with socks wearing them out about as they shop. I see this as a jab to the people that buy the Crocs brand.

The fact is we are looking at a company that is down from $70 a share in Oct to around $20 today, would selling your product at Costco be all that bad right now?