Business Management | Michael R Lewis, ASJA

May 16, 2014January 3, 2024

5 Reasons Now Is The Best Time to Start a New Business

The combination of inexpensive technology, accessible virtual markets, and easy funding through crowdsourcing is changing the face of entrepreneurship. Today’s new business starters are socially sophisticated, willing to bear more risk than previous generations, and more likely to work out of a home or small office and rely on others for business processes. Some are small guerrilla outfits surfing from one hot concept to the next, and some are venture capital-funded geniuses with disruptor ideas.
It is a great time to start a new business – the best time in history.

The Keys to Success

America has always been the land of opportunity, the Mecca for entrepreneurship. While great fortunes have been made by immigrants and first-generation Americans such as Andrew Carnegie in steel, John D. Rockefeller in oil, and William A. Clark in copper, thousands of others formed successful small companies that provided financial security and employment for hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens.

The possibility of being responsible for one’s own fate has never been greater in the history of the country. Latent opportunities for new ideas and businesses have exploded exponentially, each new concept and novel interpretation of old methods pregnant with possibility, just waiting to be birthed. There are several key reasons why this is so.

1. Cultural Accommodation

For much of history, capitalism was restricted to the beneficiaries of high birth, ancestral wealth, and exclusive education. The wide-open spaces and untapped resources of the new continent in the 19th century shattered cultural norms that had existed for hundreds of years. Entrepreneurs flooded the country, exploiting new resources, new markets, and new technology to create the greatest industrial nation in the history of the world.

Despite the success, access to these new possibilities was unfortunately generally limited to white males. Minorities (except in their limited communities) and women were excluded, restricted by racial prejudice, cultural stereotypes, and inefficient educations.
America in the 21st century is a more open society and access continues to broaden regardless of sex or ethnicity – anyone smart enough and brave enough to create a new business can try. According to a 2013 American Express report, there are 8.6 million women-owned businesses in the country, generating more than $1.3 trillion in revenues and providing jobs for 7.8 million employees. The rate of growth between 1997 and 2013 in new women-owned businesses has been one and a half times the national average. In a U.S. Census News release in 2011, Tom Mesenbourg, deputy director of the U.S. Census Bureau, proclaimed, “The growth in the number of minority-owned firms – both employers and non-employers – has far outpaced that of businesses overall.”

Led by federal and state governments, programs to assist potential new business owners are readily accessible and generally free. An entrepreneur can access classes ranging from basic accounting, to sophisticated product and service contracting. Face-to-face onsite mentoring is available from organizations such as S.C.O.R.E., while municipalities, colleges and universities, and private businesses offer incubator facilities with administrative and accounting assistance at low cost. Federal laws require that a percentage of federal contracts be subcontracted to small businesses and provide detailed contracting assistance for those individuals and companies who seek such work.

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April 24, 2014January 3, 2024

Mind Tricks & Common Illusions

Magicians and con-men have known for centuries how to deceive, seduce, and exploit audiences and individuals to their benefit. Francis Bacon, 16th century philosopher, scientist, and author, said, “Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.” We are willing victims, even active accomplices, in the regular misinterpretation of the world around us, often to our dismay and sometimes to our harm.

In fact, neuroscientists are just beginning to unravel the secrets of the brain – how we see the world, and how we remember details of events and environments. This can help us understand the hidden feelings that color our decisions and drive our actions, which in turn can help us make better decisions.

Decision Systems in Our Brains

The human brain is a magnificent organ, developed over hundreds of millions of years of evolution. It equals about 2% of your body weight but consumes more than 20% of your oxygen and blood flow. Research suggests that the brain functions through the more than 1,000 trillion synapses between brain cells (neurons) that are constantly growing and dying throughout life.

As explained in The New York Times, Dr. Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner and author of “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” theorizes that our brains operate on two different levels or systems which he calls “Experiencing Self,” or System 1, and “Remembering Self,” or System 2. The first system operates primarily on a subconscious level: It is fast, automatic, emotional, frequently in play, and relies mostly on stereotypes. The second system is deliberate, logical, slow, infrequent, and lazy – coming into play only with effort. System 1 jumps to conclusions, while System 2 forms judgments. System 2 likes novelty, significance, and endings (the last moments of an experience).

Kahneman theorizes that we rely on System 1 – what writer Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Blink” calls “intuition” – for most decisions, exercising System 2 only with conscious effort and when we are aware that System 1 might be faulty. These basic cognitive processes are necessary to accurately perceive and understand the world around us. However, the tendency to over-rely on intuition – stereotypes, impressions, and distorted, even false memories – frequently leads to bad conclusions, inappropriate acts, and later regrets.

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April 1, 2014January 3, 2024

Seizing Opportunities in the Mortgage Industry and the Missteps to Avoid

This article initially appeared in National Mortgage Professional.com on March 13, 2014.

From time to time, fundamental shifts occur in all markets, upending the traditional roles of industry players and besetting them with new opportunities and risks. These shifts may be the consequence of technology, government regulation, economic exuberance or deflation or a combination of factors. Whatever the cause, however, old ways of doing business are threatened and new industry leaders emerge. Now is one of those times in the mortgage banking and brokerage industries. Success as the playing field changes is not guaranteed. Strategic missteps can lead to loss, even liquidation. The rewards, however, may be great for those who see the future, move forcefully to implement a winning strategy, and consolidate their gains as they proceed.

The right time and opportunity

Following the 2008 implosion of the mortgage-backed security market and the subsequent international recession, housing prices dropped by almost a third, and the stock market as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell to 6,469 on March 6, 2009, less than half its previous value of 14,164 on Oct. 9, 2007. As a consequence, a number of investment and commercial banks failed (Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual), some were forced into involuntary mergers (Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch), and some were bailed out by the federal government (Goldman Sachs). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into receivership while Congress initiated the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 followed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to aggressively regulate mortgage and commercial bank activities.

How to Improve Customer Service at Your Operation

You may not be able to precisely define good customer service, but you know it when you see it. Does it begin before the sale with the image and message your company presents? Is it the process by which you handle customer complaints? Or is it the total customer experience from the time of initial contact until your product or service is delivered, payment is made, and the purchaser is satisfied? Whatever your definition, customer service is an essential – and possibly the most significant – element of business survival and success.

The essence of customer service is anticipating and meeting your customer’s needs quickly, fairly and completely. In the digital world, customer service means that the marketing, sales, and delivery of specific products and services are perfectly aligned with the needs and desires of each specific customer who purchases the product or service. Every interaction between company and customer is designed to avoid disappointment and enhance satisfaction.

Prerequisites to Great Customer Service

There is no single, perfect model of great customer service, no specific methodology you can implement, nor a recipe to follow that will guarantee that your company always delivers total customer satisfaction. The best companies understand that fulfilling each customer’s needs is a constant struggle that never ends. But their reward for persistently improving the customer’s experience is escalating revenues and profits.