Since the age of 15 I have been a gym rat, putting the gym as a priority in most cases. It has so many benefits including: release of stress, gaining muscle and strength, increased metabolism and fat loss, among other and that is why it is the perfect sport for me. Nonetheless, I have been going to my club’s gym all of my life (which my parents paid of course) and I was not aware of how much gym memberships cost. It wasn’t until I came to Vancouver when I realized how expensive it is, although luckily enough, we have the Birdcoop gym. This is something Rick Berks realized and surprisingly enough, he managed to create Youfit, a gym that charges you only $10 a month, less than a third of what gym normally charge members.

When I read this interview, I was astonished about how he could reduce costs without decreasing the quality of the machines or the atmosphere of the gym itself. All I can say is that truly understands his business (or as he refers to: his “business model”) and therefore can make the most of it without taking advantage of consumers or having losses. Mr. Berks target audience is clearly defined: anyone who wants to start get fit and not body builders. That is most of the population as not everyone has the body they would like to. He lets regular people train, he is not training athletes and that is how he gained so many customers, by giving them what they want. Furthermore, being a gym rat himself gives him an advantage as he can test machines and knows what machines are the most used. So in other words, he understands what people need and doesn’t lose money in equipment that is not necessary.

I believe that Youfit will keep growing as its low membership cost attracts lots of customers. Nonetheless, this also means that it will have some restrictions that other expensive gyms don’t have: this being extra private classes, saunas, masseuses, nutritionists. Hence, if its members start gaining more money, they might think of changing gyms so that they can have more benefits.

References:

Youfit founder creates a no-fat model of success in gym scene | Tampa Bay Times. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/youfit-founder-creates-a-no-fat-model-of-success-in-gym-scene/1203528

Marijuana is one of the major drugs consumed by many people although it has many side effects, including addiction. Nevertheless, it gives high revenue for the people that sell it and as it is illegal in many parts of the world, suppliers in the black market are the ones that receive the money but if it was legal, the governments could gain this revenue instead and use it to benefit their citizens.

As I mentioned in my blog ‘Tobacco, the puzzling market’: the marijuana market is like any other market, were consumers should have the liberty of buying what they want as long as they don’t harm or aggravate other people. Just to give you a clear comparison the marijuana market makes revenue of $47,660,000 per km² compared to tobacco which only gives $277,000. Many states in the US have seen this and they have started to legalize it as it doesn’t only benefit the government but its producers and sellers. Furthermore, by legalizing it, the black market for marijuana would cease to exist and this would decrease criminal activity. Also, legalizing it would increase tourism as it can be seen in Amsterdam were many people go just because they are allowed to freely consume marijuana.

In other words, the legalization of marijuana brings benefit to everyone: the suppliers, consumers and governments.

References:

The legalisation of marijuana isn’t just about liberal values – it’s about dollars | News | The Guardian. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/nov/07/the-legalisation-of-marijuana-isnt-just-about-liberal-values-its-about-dollars

Due to the financial crisis, the annual income of Britain’s working families has declined and they can’t afford living conditions such as childcare and national insurance. Hence, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has counseled the British government to cut down £7bn of taxes to £3bn and to increase the hours of free childcare by 15 hours each week in order to improve these families’ lifestyles.

This is an important matter because a government should care about all of its citizens, not only about the elite classes which provide all of the money through taxes. These families have and are working hard to survive after the financial crisis and the government cannot just leave them alone, they need to do something about it. Even if it means reducing taxes by £4bn because it is the health of their population and looking it in a business aspect, less people working means less income for the government. In this sense, in Peru, there is a similar problem although it is worse because as many of the towns/villages and even communities are spread around the territory so it is difficult to assist them. Thus, they live on poor conditions and they only work for their own benefit, without paying taxes because why would they if they are not receiving anything in exchange.

Therefore I agree with CBI and suggest the British government to help its working class as it will benefit everyone in the short and long run.

References:

Monaghan, A. (2014, November 10). CBI calls for tax cuts and childcare subsidies for working families | Business | The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/10/cbi-tax-cuts-childcare-subsidies-low-income-families

Nowadays, university students are becoming consumers to the new market created by universities. This being, the educational market were the college presidents become CEOs and try to maximize their profit by increasing tuitions and student loans.  How has this happened? Well it is due to cases such as in Cooper Union were the president Jamshed Bharucha made risky investments (using $200m from their loan) on hedge funds that suffered loses and even after suffering these losses, he continued on investing to create a new engineering building. Hence, the university started forcing its students to pay half of the tuition ($20,000) in order to gain revenue and be able to pay its loans. Before this, education was free as long as students showed they had the potential and grades to be the best.

The article clearly explains the consequences of cases such as this: university years should be about soul searching, learning new knowledge, etc. Contrary to this, now students are studying and going to their classes so that they don’t waste money, instead of going because of the passion of studying what they like. Furthermore, they dislike the managements that are not helping them against this unfairness. This problem has grown so much in the past years that student debt has surpassed $1tn in the USA.

I believe that money should never be a constraint to stop someone from going to university or school; as long as they should they are capable of doing and show the determination. This is not an unlikely concept as countries like Brazil, Sri Lanka, as well as France, Italy and Malta (for Europeans) offer free education. Plus by offering education to its citizens they will be able to later generate money for the government or, if they work abroad, increase the recognition of their country. So at the end of the day, giving free education doesn’t mean that the government is going to lose money; they are investing it on their citizens. As my parents tell me: the payments for my education aren’t a waste of money, they are an investment on my future.

References:

The harsh truth: US colleges are businesses, and student loans pay the bills | Money | The Guardian. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/oct/07/colleges-ceos-cooper-union-ivory-tower-tuition-student-loan-debt