Sherry Tingley

Asking Better Business Questions

August 13, 2013 by Sherry Tingley

Flowers, Social, Shopping, Banking or Staples?

The Right Questions

How does a business owner know if they have asked themselves the “right questions” to start a business or make their business grow? To answer that question, let’s take a look at some successful businesses.

Facebook, Amazon, Bank of America and 1-800-flowers.com are recognizable companies to most people. People are also familiar with the DJIA, Dow Jones Industrial Average. Whether you own stocks in any of these companies or not, they command attention even from you. We have examined company growth of their stock prices for the last eight months for Facebook, Amazon, 1-800flowers, Bank of America and the DJIA. Results from this data show that In the last eight months, there has been considerable growth in Flowers and Facebook. You can also see that the biggest improvement during this time period is at 1800flowers.com.

What is the bigger question you need answers to?

It seems that one question begets another question. So how have the companies performed over a long period of time? Like since 1999? That might give us better information. We found that Amazon.com grew by over 502%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a 43% growth. Facebook maintained minimal loses of 2.29%. Bank of America lost ground by 52% and 1-800-flowers by 73.29%. Now that might paint a different picture about the companies.

So What Questions Do You Ask?

Sometimes business owners ask themselves the wrong questions and focus on the wrong areas. What questions can you ask yourself that will help take your business to it’s next growth spurt? Not sure what to ask?

Here are five questions you may want to think about.

1. If you are buying a previously owned business do you know all the details of what made it work?

2. If you are creating a new product, have you Provisional Patent Application to protect your idea from being copied for up to a year?

3. Do I have the best suppliers for my niche? Thomas Register of Manufacturers, offers the largest directory of direct industrial suppliers, while your local library has listings of manufacturers listed by state.

4. What does my competition look like? Research online and offline.

5. What is my market potential?

There are many questions that businesses need answers to. Make sure you have asked the most relevant questions for your particular business.

What questions do you ask yourself about your business?

Behind The Scenes At BankRate.com

July 24, 2013 by Sherry Tingley

If you have ever wanted to know things like rates on mortgage loans or car loans you may have found the answers to your questions at www.bankrate.com. The website provides current rates on many financial products and has a goal of helping you make informed financial decisions when it comes to buying a house, a car or signing up for a credit card. It has been online since 1996 and has become one of the most trusted sources of personal financial information on the Internet today.

When you read about the history of this company and the mound of information it aggregates, you can’t help but be impressed.

In 1976, a company called Bank Rate Monitor produced a printed newsletter that provided bank rates for consumers in the United States. It became a recognized brand among those interested in personal finance. Twenty years later the company took it’s services online at www.BankRate.com. By 2009, Apax, a UK private equity and venture capitalist firm bought the company for $571 million dollars. Now it is attracts over 15 million unique visitors per month.

Amazingly, the site as it stands now, gets loan rates and bank data from all 50 states. Data is pulled from 4,800 banking institutions. Their primary focus is to provide consumers with information to help them with purchases of homes, automobiles, loans, CD’s, Money Market accounts and an additional 300 financial products.

Their databases of information includes 172,000 individual rate tables, 30,000 stories with 155+ new articles coming out each week. They run 13 blogs which are updated 2 – 3 times per week. They conduct 9 exclusive research studies per year and offer 14 opt-in email newsletters.

Their readers are educated, financially savvy and self-directed. The average FICO score for visitors is 775+. So if you visit this site on a regular basis, consider yourself in good company.

Bankrate.com is often quoted in high quality financial news organizations like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NBC News, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe.

Their social presence on Facebook reaches 100,000+ users and on Twitter, they have 64K+ followers. They receive 7,000 social mentions on blogs and social media per month. They have 12,191,108 backlinks referring to them from other web sites with NBCnews.com using 1,295,337 links in reference to BankRate.com.

The current President and CEO – Thomas R. Evans has a background as the CEO of the GeoCities. Prior to that he was President and Publisher of U.S. News & World Report, Fast Company and Atlantic Monthly Magazines.

For personal finance bloggers, this company is the one to look for expert personal finance content and current rates on anything dealing with money and investing.

Behind the scenes of Bankrate Inc. you see a fast growing, reliable company providing financial information for millions of people. A leader in data aggregation and the use of technology to help people in all walks of life.

Bank of America In Utah

July 23, 2013 by Sherry Tingley

In the latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch CFO Outlook survey, U.S. financial officers gave the economy its highest score in five years and were “significantly more confident about economic growth in 2013.” This new economic outlook may bring consumers to the investment table.

Have you considered investing in the Bank of America? You may want to do some research to find out about the bank’s assets, investing philosophy and what they are doing in your own backyard.

In a report published by the bank on January 1, 2013, small businesses in the state of Utah were granted $61.7 million in new credit. That figure is up from 2011 by 35%.

What about home loans for people in Utah? In 2012, Bank of America has provided 9,381 Utah customers with home mortgages. This figure includes 1,267 home loan modifications.

What about helping communities in Utah? During 2012, $292,980 was given in grants and matching gifts to help local nonprofit community
organizations develop and grow.

What about donating to Utah charities? The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has donated $91,980 to match employee contributions to their favorite Utah charities. Employees pledged $19,342 to the local chapter of the United Way, which helps provide people with food and shelter as well as aid in financial education. Local employees also donated 1,388 volunteer hours to local communities.

What about helping the environment? During the years between 2007 through 2012, Bank of America contributed more than $37 million dollars to help renewable energy and energy efficiency projects as well as supporting nonprofits trying to focus on climate change.
As of January 1, 2013, one of their objectives is to provide financing of $50 billion for environmental improvements.

What about helping our American troops? They have a program that donates $1 for each written or photo contribution you make to them. Officially the money goes to the “Wounded Warrior Project.”

What about their debt? Recent quarterly reports say that their long-term debt has decreased by $18 billion dollars.

What about their expenses and spending? Expenses declined by $13 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2013.

Gather the information you need before investing in any company. Hopefully this article will give you some idea of what Bank of America is doing in Utah. What are they doing in your state?

Fighting Credit Card Debt

July 16, 2013 by Sherry Tingley

Since the beginning of the 2008 recession in the United States the economic reality of many middle to low income families has not been a pretty sight. More and more families have struggled to meet their monthly mortgages, rents, utilities, groceries and essential living expenses. You may be struggling as well.

Unemployment and rising medical expenses have driven many people to use credit cards as a “plastic” safety net. With high interest rates on credit cards, debt can keep growing until you are experiencing a debt snowball.

The US Census projects that Americans will carry $870 billion in credit card debt in 2013.

Some may think that their lucky charm is a debt protection product which will cover expenses in times of disability. In 2009, consumers spent about $2.4 billion dollars for this type of protection.

Self Assessment

There really is no lucky charm when it comes to managing your credit card debt, but you can easily figure out if you are having difficulty managing your personal finances.

Personal Questions To Ask Yourself

Are you living paycheck to paycheck?
Do you have little or no money put aside in a savings account?
Are you unable to pay your creditors on time and are starting to receive collection calls?
Can you only afford to make the minimum monthly payment on your credit cards?
Have you taken out new loans to pay off existing debts?
Do you hide credit card bills from family members?

All of these factors can lead you to even worse problems, which will eventually, if not corrected control your life in ways you had never dreamed possible. Low credit scores can affect employment, the ability to borrow money at a reasonable rate and increased interest rates on your current credit card balances.

Solutions

The easiest solution to credit card debt problems is to get serious about saving money and paying off your debt. Going to a website like Utah Saves will let you take a pledge to save money, reduce debt, and build wealth over time as well as encourage others to do the same. So far, 310,000 people have signed up and taken “The America Saves Pledge.”

Benefits of signing up are that you will receive text messages to encourage you to save money. You have access to money management workshops. You will have access to personal financial counselors. You can also share your own money saving tips and qualify to win $25 if your story is selected.

While there, you can set up your own personal savings goal, choose the amount of money you want to save and how long you have to achieve the goal.

Getting Help

For consumers that are feeling overwhelmed by debt, you can call the National Financial Counseling Center at 1-800-351-4195 for a free confidential consultation with a Certified Financial Counselor. Plan to get out of debt today, not tomorrow!

Four Biggest Banks In The US Using Social Media Strategies

July 10, 2013 by Sherry Tingley

The four biggest banks in the US, Bank of America, Citi Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo Bank together have assets of $7.883 trillion dollars.
It is interesting to learn about each bank and exactly how successful they are. In this article we will compare assets, their online presence and what strategies each bank uses on Facebook and Twitter.

JP Morgan Chase – (JPM)

The Chase Bank (formally referred to as JP Morgan & Chase) is the resulting company of a merger between Bank One,
Chemical Bank, Bear Stearns, the Bank of Chicago, and Washington Mutual Is the largest bank in the U.S. with assets of $2.509 trillion US dollars.

Social media reports 3,787,601 likes for their Facebook page. with 1,219 people talking about them. Majestic SEO reports 1,232,691 links to the site in the last 5 years, from 39,221 domains. They have 18,292 Twitter followers.

Topics they include on their community page include charitable contributions such as their recent $25K towards helping Uganda with clean water, holiday support like July 4th, encouraging people to plant seeds of change in their communities, and supporting military veterans to engage in service projects to help cope with post traumatic stress disorder.

Bank of America

Founded in 1904 in San Francisco as the Bank of Italy, designed to serve immigrants, this bank has become a household name, one of the most recognizable brands in banking. Assets worth $2.175 trillion US dollars and acquisitions like CountryWide Financial and Merrill Lynch added considerable wealth to the corporation.

Notable building projects have brought national attention to the company. The Bank of America Tower – a $1 billion dollar skyscraper in Manhattan, New York – is known as one of the most ecologically friendly buildings in the world. They have also built twenty eight other buildings that are located throughout U.S. as well as in Hong Kong.

Controversies and law suits against the company are numerous. American federal prosecutors filed a $1billion civil lawsuit against Bank of America for mortgage fraud (October 24, 2012). The US government filed a law suit against them in 2010 which resulted in payment of fines up to $137.7 million dollars.

Social media reports 1,044,200 likes on their Facebook page and 41,013 talking about them. Majestic SEO reports 17,645,960 backlinks to their website in the last 5 years. Twitter reports 125,276 followers.

Topics they discuss on their Facebook page deal with saving money, entertaining on a budget and encouraging going “green” in daily living habits. They even post schedules of summer activities such as upcoming state fairs. They express concern for local tragedies like the recent loss of the 19 firefighters in Arizona. Charity is high on their list of content articles. Rewards for opening new credit cards include donations to the Susan G. Koman for the Cure. Honoring our American troops is also recognized.

Citi

Citi Group also known as Citi Bank has 200 million customer accounts in 160 countries.
Assets are $1.882 trillion dollars. They have donated (3 year $6 million a year fund) to financial innovation and research. During 2012, The Citi Foundation invested $76.5 million in programs that support the economic empowerment and financial inclusion of more than 1.1 million people globally. They also make a huge effort to coordinate Global Community Day where thousands of volunteers give of their time – 1.3 million volunteer hours to be exact – to improve playgrounds, planting trees, picking up trash and improving various communities. They were the top affordable housing lender for three consecutive years.

Citigroup has 551,171 likes for their Facebook page. Majestic SEO reports 53,912,259 backlinks coming from 26,045 different domains. They have 157310 Twitter followers.

Discussions on Facebook include geography quizzes, charitable giving news and environmental contributions. Twitter updates report more of the same.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo assets are worth $1.437 trillion U.S. dollars. They claim to serve 70 million customers, have over 9,000 stores in more than 35 countries, and have more than 12,000 ATM’s.

Their banking philosophy is well stated here: “Now is not the time to retreat but to reach out and connect with our stakeholders and communities, to listen and understand, to do what’s right, to admit mistakes and learn from them and, most important, to tell the Wells Fargo story and what makes us different to as many people as we can.”

Wells Fargo Facebook page posts about Community Leadership Awards, interviewing tips, customizing credit cards with your own photo, tips about using credit cards when traveling outside the U.S., graphic puzzles and quizzes. They have 45,837 Twitter followers

Conclusion

Although JP Morgan Chase bank is clearly the leader in total amount of assets, and has a grand following on Facebook, Citi Group is the leader in getting inbound links and Twitter followers. Each bank has their own social media strengths and there is something to be learned from how they are using social media effectively. It seems evident that community involvement plays a big role in succeeding in developing a good online presence. For those people that have their own sites without the financial power of the big banks, you can get some good ideas about how you can improve your own online presence. Offering community service or promoting green living goes a long way.