Matt Filippini spends a few thousand dollars annually on sports and other activities, including as much as $300 on fly fishing

Matt Filippini is a 27 young man that works in business development at app developer Ibotta Inc. in Denver.  He makes $40,000 a year.  Every month he will transfers $800 form his checking account into his saving account, but still he has other money need to spend.  He spends a lot of money on annually skiing, flights and hotel.  The reason that he is saving money is because he wants to have his own house.  He says:” the house is not only a financial goal but a lifelong goal, I want to take the next steps in being a homeowner and having those responsibilities.”

There are some suggestion that from profession.  For example, Matt Filippini has to rethink that if he can afford a house in next year if he really buys it.  If he cannot be sure he will stay in the same city in next few years then he probably better just renting.  To buy a house is a huge decision, especially now the housing are in such expensive price.  It will takes years for us to work hard and save money.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304176904579111523057086670

Ashish J. Thakkar, a young businessman has named by the World Entrepreneurship Forum as the world’s best young entrepreneur.  Christopher Heathcoat mentioned in his blog that Thakkas is a passionate and hard working man.  Like he said, we learned from the lectures that to become a entrepreneurs is not easy, but it is about a spirit and a belief.

Ashish Thakka CEO Mara Group

“It’s very humbling for me and this gives me all that more energy. The thing I’m most excited about is that we as Africa won.” Thakkar said.  He is not only represent himself but also his country.  He is going to make more difference in the future.

Comment on Christopher Heathcoat’s blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/christopherheathcoterey/2013/11/17/success-just-be-passionate-about-it/

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2013/11/12/african-millionaire-is-named-worlds-young-entrepreneur-of-the-year/

The ONEHOPE team.

ONEHOPE – a large wine distribution company, starting their business by only $10,000 in 2007.  It has received national distribution & sold over 100.000 cases in their early 20’s.  I agree with Fiona Chan’s idea:” there is a movement towards new businesses integrating social responsibility in their business models. Consumers are more likely to steer towards buying products linked with support in a social cause, and directly cause social enterprise to thrive in this modern generation.”  She believes that in future, ONEHOPE will continue increase their profit with a positive commerce motivation purchases.

Comments Based on Fiona Chan’s blog: https://blogs.ubc.ca/fionachan/2013/11/18/wine-not/

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/evankirkpatrick/2013/11/12/onehope-the-social-enterprise-with-over-1-million-raised-for-charity/

5 years ago, Warren Buffett wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that encouraged investors to buy.  Well, at that time nobody was listening to him.  He wrote it is chaos in the finical world, either in America or overseas.  He wrote:” A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful, and most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors.”  In fact, there were lots of reasons back there made people ignore him; a series of events made stock investing appear dicey.

What action was happening was predominantly buying.  Warren Buffett proved himself once again!

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/10/31/when-buffett-was-crazy-and-we-were-scared/

Everyoneknows that the aviation industry’s code of silence on pricing in this era of information overload.  When Airbus and Boeing Co. announce the orders, no one believed in them, which make it much mystery and speculation.  Robert Milton, who is the chairman of Air Canada parent Ace Aviation Holdings Inc. says they approximates the real price is half by what they announced.  Why people keep the price of airliner in secret?  There were different reasons from manufactures and buyers.  In psychology it because “Less-experienced plane buyers like to think they got a bargain and don’t want to be embarrassed if they overpaid.”  However, does not matter what is a real price and the catalog price, it can be use in marketing.  For example, the catalog price becomes the headlines in the newspaper.

Based on all these reasons, actual prices for popular models have barely budged in years.; discounts will keep growing.  I think until now we still have to ask:” How much does a new airliner really cost?”

Source: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303649504577494862829051078

It is usually that people to make themselves stuck into a position and is not easy for them to change.  However, one day we have to learn to become a leader rather than follower.

Becky Johnson, right, was asked by her boss, Lisa Gable, left, to take on a leadership role at their Washington, D.C., foundation.

This article is about Ms. Johnson who was a former Commerce Department staffer, but after her boss Lisa Gable promoted her three times, now she is a senior director.  How did she do it?  At the beginning, she had essentially pigeonholed herself; she thought her job was to make her boss look as good as possible.  After she did the changes, like bought new clothes, learned body languages, she is feeling more confidence than before.

I learned a lesson from Ms. Johnson’s story.  When you doing your job, always think out of the box and believe you can do it.  Need to put ideas forward without any hesitancy.  It is important to be positive in your workplace.

Souece: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304200804579165682751271964

On Monday Seaspan Marine’s net  $3.3-billion federal contract to build 10 coast guard ships to training new people.

That’s good news for a province that has more than $73 billion in possible industrial construction projects, also the educators fill the demand of province needed to invest in skill training.

The company faces competitive pressure from other industries that need workers with the same skills, such as welders, machinists, and engineering technicians. But a revived shipbuilding industry can offer long-term employment where other construction projects cannot, Shaw said.

It is good that B.C. tries to improve employee’s skill based on their training.  It will help the ship company to increase their profit.

Article link: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ship+contracts+increase+need+skills+training/9010035/story.html

Small business or big business, both have their advantages and disadvantages.  Both needed times to operate in a right way.

Based on a recent BMO survey, it suggests that small business owners in Canada are more confident about the future than they were last year.  BMO uses the survey to calculate a business confidence index, which takes into account how a business is currently performing.  “The positive outlook among businesses for 2014 is consistent with our forecast for accelerating

growth as we move into next year.”

Compare to big business, small business has the more ability to improve their profit.  Therefore, we cannot only look at one side of a business.

The article link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/small-business-owners-gaining-confidence-bmo-survey-suggests-1.1928656

If we want to negotiate a business successfully, there are lots of factors have to be considered.  Not only the factors link to the company, but also connect with the government.

From this CBC news, Manitoba Telecom Services tries to sell its business unit Allstream to Egyptian investment group Accelero Capital.  However, the federal government has rejected a deal for it to sell its business to Accelero Capital, because the “unspecified national security concerns.”  On the other hand, MTS said: “MTS Allstream and Accelero continue to believe this transaction is to Canada’s net benefit and to the best of our knowledge would not be injurious to national security.”

This article shows that sometimes government will interference the business that dangerous to the nation.  When to create a business plan, different factors may lead to different consequences.

The article link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/allstream-sale-to-accelero-rejected-over-national-security-1.1929191

When we think about operate a company, first thing that comes into mind is how to maximize the overall profit.  Simultaneously, consider moral principles when we conduct a business is also necessary.  Companies should place high priority on business ethics, because their decisions can affect society, and they have responsibility to their customers, employees, stockholders and creditors, etc. So operating in an ethical manner is essential to company success.

In this article, all these credit card companies understand their branding power.  However, there are still problems under their equality-branded initiatives.  “They profit from groups that assert gays are pedophiles, that Arab-Americans want to subjugate the country to Shariah law and that immigrants are mounting hostile invasions of the U.S.”  As well-known companies, they should not receive or process payments to groups/organizations that violate their worldwide principle.

After I read and analyse this news, I understand that companies should apply the highest standards of integrity to everything they do.  Without integrity, a company cannot possibly gain the trust of customers, clients and public.  As a result, it will certainly fail to survive in this highly competitive age.

The article link: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/08/08/the-ethics-of-doing-business-with-hate-groups/credit-card-companies-should-cut-off-hate-group-donations