The CEO Game

Most of the time, when one encounters an act of unprofessionalism we tend to related it, in our mind, to small and unsuccessful businesses. The main reason we have this connection between unprofessionalism and small businesses is due to the fact that most small businesses don’t hire professional marketing companies to design their marketing message. The reason for this fairly simple: They don’t have enough money to pay for it. Well the fact that you lack the money to hire professional marketing company doesn’t mean that you are hopeless, here are few tips that will help you create a professional looking marketing campaign but under a tight budget.

Small Business Marketing

Internet Marketing:

Internet marketing does require a financial investment and basic technical knowledge, but there are ways that you can create a successful low cost marketing campaign. Internet presence is a must in today’s financial age and the easiest way to reach the masses.  There are many ways to create an online presence, some might be: Social networks, Targeted Ads or even Search engines. You should explore all those tools for better understanding of what each of them has to offer. Anyway the first step you should perform in your internet way is to create your own site because it gives a way to reach you (Using blogs, forums or even simple contact details).

Branding:

A small business has some advantages; two of them are agility and the ability to produce new product or services fast. When you talk about branding, being a small business is not a strong point. In order perform a successful branding plan your brand should project an image of a strong and a leading product and not a small fragile one. Those attribute are usually associated with large companies, therefore when you brand you must present yourself as if you are equal among the large companies. In today’s world projecting a strong image is a far easier task than it used to be. Using low-cost services such as: ready to go web site templates or even professional business cards is quite cheap and can add a lot to your business image.

In the CEO Game, you will start as small business owner. Knowing how to act among the larger fishes in pool will be a must if you want to eat and not be eaten. Using intelligent marketing tricks and hard work will be the keys for getting to the next level.

Ailon.

The CEO Game.

From a young age we are exposed to many myths about money and wealth. Those myths may come from our family, relatives or even friends. The myths we grow up with will have a tremendous effect on how we manage our financial wealth when we reach maturity.

Today I want to discuss few of those myths.

Understand the Myths.

Myth #1: Work hard and you’ll be rich

Many of us believe that having a high-level position in a company or a company of our own assures us that we are on right track for financial wealth. With so many cut-backs and financial recessions, anybody can find himself out of job at any given moment. Working hard doesn’t assure you that you’ll ever be rich.

Myth #2: Saving is good

From the first day that we got our first nickel, we were taught that saving enough money will mean that one day they will gain financial wealth. Can saving assure a financial wealth?

Although saving might assure that you’ll have some money one day, it is definitely not the way to reach a true financial wealth. You should learn how to invest your money in different routes to achieve better and faster rates.

Myth #3: Being in debt is bad

Another myth we grow up on is that being in debt is bad and we should avoid it in any cost. Well, the truth is that not all debt is bad. It depends on what you do with the money you borrow. If you invest the money you owe in ways to gain more money then you actually use the debt to cover itself and even return an income, which is not bad at all.

Myth #4: Investments are a dangerous business

Many people live under the false assumption that investing in the stock market is equal to gambling in the casino; this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Investments are not as dangerous as long as you how to manage your risks.  If you truly understand the investment that you’re about to make than the risk is far lower and you know more or less what to expect.

Ailon.

The CEO Game.

Barak Obama attacks US banks: When you needed, you were helped; now it’s your turn to give back.

The President of the US addressed all the banks that were helped during the ongoing financial crisis and requested them to return a favor. In his words, now it’s the time for the banks to do their part and chip in to help the financial recovery and give more credit to little businesses. He is practically saying, hey the US tax payer helped you bail out; now the time has come for you to give something back to the public.

Time For A Change?

Obama made this statement at his “weekly address” which is broadcasted live via the radio and the internet. In his speech, he commented that many business owners in America are having a hard time to get credit from the banks, even though the government had done a lot to improve the financial situation of the banks after the economic collapse in September 2008, which afterwards the banks stopped handing out loans for small and medium businesses.
“These are the very taxpayers who stood by America’s banks in a crisis, and now it’s time for our banks to stand by credit worthy small businesses and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations and create new jobs” Obama said. He pointed out the White House is willing to take the steps needed to encourage the banks to give credit, but he didn’t mention what steps will be taken if at all. “It’s time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery, a more secure system and more broadly shared prosperity” he added.

Earlier last week, Barak Obama criticized the American banks and financial institutes and claimed that they were working through Congress to try and sabotage his idea of a federal agency the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency”. Obama blamed them for “using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo” that has helped them get richer “at the expense of American consumers”. That is in spite of the fact that recently those same consumers helped them bail out as a consequence of their wrong decisions.

According to estimations, the financial bailout package cost taxpayers around 700 billion dollars. In his address last Saturday, Obama also said that small businesses have created two thirds of US new jobs over the last 15 years, thus making them a crucial part of the economy, that we must help to sustain- “they must be at the forefront of our recovery”, he said. In addition, last week, he asked Congress to increase the size of SBA loans (small business administration) and announced his rewarding plan: to give low interest loans to banks, who do help and agree to lend more money to small businesses.

When playing business simulation games, you can learn from these past mistakes and learn how to foresee the consequences of your actions. During the development of The CEO Game, we have kept in mind the financial crisis and have taken a great deal of effort in creating and simulating a vast real-life like economic system which generates and is influenced all the time by unplanned events and misfortunes, that every CEO has to cope with in order to succeed.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.