Since I have been traveling I have been noticing how some companies are using iPhone Applications, in the perfect way.

They are adding value and convenience to the customer and leading to either sales or a better experience of the existing product or service offering.

For example the Tate museum in London has an iPhone application to help you navigate around the museum and understand the background of the pieces.

Wimbledon has an application which shows a dynamic draw displaying who is playing where and when but also has scores at real time so you can see where a close match is being played so you can walk there and catch the action.

A charity event here in London was run completely through an iPhone application where it was a treasure hunt, telling people where to go next and as the event coordinator if you wanted you could make changes or additions to the directions in real time all the contestants would have to do if connect to Wifi which is everywhere.

Same product/ service but improved via an iPhone application.

It’s using what you have through a new medium for relatively no cost (just in design).

My personal favourite, which I think should/ could be the model for a lot of companies is Hostel hero.

Taken from their home page. http://www.hostelhero.com/

“Download our free, “native” iPhone application from the App Store. Unlike normal booking websites, many features of Hostel Hero work offline. Now you can download and save the most useful information to your device, and use it anywhere…

Research hostels from the beach, bus, bed or boat! Save your favourites, and then when you next connect to a wi-fi point you can make a booking. And because Hostel Hero can optionally save your personal details as well, a booking can be made in seconds with just a few simple clicks!”

How perfect is this? Absolute convenience to the traveler with limited time and resources and it actually leads to sales for the company.

If I owned Hostel world or WotIf I would be getting this type of thing done ASAP.

It’s cheap to get done and it gives your customers your products at their finger tips.

Just make sure your iPhone application actually adds value and don’t just do it to do it, our generation can see right through it just like politicians with twitter.

Finally a well written article on the opportunity that a recession brings to young entrepreneurs.

Top 10 Reasons to Start a Business in a Recession-

http://entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/startupbasics/startupbasicscolumnistbradsugars/article200342.html

I have read and watched my fair share of speeches (commencement speeches) and this is by far the best, it is old but a lot of people I know haven’t seen it so I just wanted to post it up.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Steve Jobs

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

Text Link

Video Link

Who? Nate Green- blogger, author, trainer, nutritionist, ladies man

What? Blogs about training, nutrition, girls and miscellaneous

Why? I first noticed Nate a while back while going through articles on T-Nation, he has a no BS approach when attacking what ever topic and the thing that stands out is that he is still one of the boys (he is only 23).

Nate Green skips the BS that has many people wasting their time in the gym and helps you to on the path to building a better body and achieving a better lifestyle.

Nate’s attitude is positive, and his work ethic is inspiring, his workouts are simple enough for beginners to learn, yet challenging enough for a veteran lifter and his nutrition advice and hygiene tips are also excellent.

He understands what it is to be scrawny and not know how to train properly or feel goofy approaching women, that’s why he learns from his mistakes and finds the best ways to go about things and then he blogs about them for free.

I have just ordered his book so I can’t offer any insight into that yet but for the small price tag and the great reviews online I’m sure I will get plenty of value out of it.

Nate does short little videos which are always entertaining whether it be interviewing girls what the really look for in a guy’s body or how to make the ultimate healthy and cheap breakfast in under 5 minutes.

Also if you sign up to his site, you get access to five great PDF’s on different topics for free and Nate’s won’t be getting spam in your inbox.

How?
His website- http://www.thenategreenexperience.com/

About his book:
Built for Show is the first fitness book to address young men on the prowl. It’s not just written for them; it’s written by one of them. Green, who’s just twenty-three years old, is already a veteran fitness professional who’s been quoted in Men’s Health and Maximum Fitness magazines.

Link to his book on Amazon.

The aim of this site is to help young professionals help them find their way to their financial or career goals so that means via this site or any other.

James Cox is a very smart switched on guy from Sydney who like many of us is unsure of his direction for his career and has decided to jump into the crazy world of finance at possibly the hardest time.

James’s bio is here, he has started a finance blog which aims to take his readers along his ride in education as he enters his new career path in finance after leaving his sales job and completing his science and law degree from Sydney University.

I really like the broad topics he is tackling in the finance field and the way he lays it out it’s great so that even laymen’s can understand a previously complex issue.

James has managed to land himself a job at intelligent investor which covers news and analysts opinions and provides tools to help you become a more successful investor.

He is now studying for the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) level one exam in December and will be covering his adventure through out his blog which is especially interesting to someone like me who wants to one day do the course.

He cover topics like Company Valuation, Investment Banking, Trading, Corporate Law, Economic Trends and others.

You can also shoot him a email as well and request topics, interviews and the like and he will endeavour to help answer your question/s in his blog.

Hopefully he doesn’t slack off like me (I’m sure he won’t) now that he has a lot things on his plate but his site looks promising I highly encourage you to check it out.

http://www.jamescox.com.au/

Andrew

When I first started working fulltime the hardest thing was acclimatising to sleeping patterns, concentration for nine hours, office etiquette and having the lack of freedom.

When I get home from work, I honestly don’t want to go for a run, read, add to this blog I just want to watch TV not think and sleep.

A big part of this is a bigger focus on diet and exercise to help your overall energy but also your body does sync in with these new patterns slowly.

Also setting clear times for going to bed and waking up, try not to deviate from this to help your body adjust and boost your energy levels.

Go to your local supermarket and buy healthy snacks for the office and have a little stockpile, I have nuts, lite cruskits, fruit like apples, bananas and green tea.

Also bring in a water bottle not only will this save you money but also keep you healthy.

Something that is helping me is having a diary of everything I eat, spend and the amount of sleep to help monitor myself.

I have noticed that little snacks and getting lunch everyday has been killing the budget and diet for me, so in September I’m not going to eat any French fries or have any soft drink, I’ll keep you updated on this one.

There are still positives for entrepreneurs who get to look at how a company functions the good and the bad and take those experiences into their ventures.

I also recommend taking some time away from work and think about your work/ career, don’t just get caught up in the day-to-day but think of the possibilities that are out there and how you can go about getting there.

It’s normal these days to stay at a job for only a year and build those skills then move up the ladder either at the same place or another where you pushing your boundaries and extending your portfolio of skills.

Something to keep in mind as well is that if you want to make the big bucks as a salary you either have to fulfil some skills shortage or your profession or job has to have an information gap.

Information gaps have been largely closed thanks to the internet, but no matter how hard you study on the net there is always the basic need for doctors, engineers, lawyers and specialists, the larger the gap the larger the premium you can charge.

Some general observations:
The good
Your learn the importance of clear processes
Better understanding of human resources issues
Understanding the needs of different generations
Understanding the mentality/ problems of your average worker

The bad
Entrepreneurial spirit sapped
Time taken away- theory of compounding time
Fitness/ diet takes a beating
Easy to get into a rut and not extend yourself

I honestly haven’t been this impressed since the guy that traded one red paper clip into house.

The project is now over and is might be old to some of you but here is the background.

Sean Aiken finished like many others in our generation, couldn’t tell you what he wanted to do with his life. So to help him figure it out he decided to a do a different job every week from a pizza guy to the mayor a town check it out “One Week Job.”

How it worked

Any company or individual anywhere in the world can offer him a job for one week. The job can be absolutely anything, anywhere - garbage collection, actor, working the family farm, a suit and tie corporate position…

After finishing college with a business degree, he made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t settle for a career that he was not truly passionate about. His goal is to gain a better understanding of what he need in a career to be happy and inspire others to go after their passions.

Results

Check out all the jobs he did here.

Total Donations Raised- $20,401.60

There is now a book and movie coming out and I’ll definitely be waiting for this one.

This is a perfect example of using your resources and helping solve not only your own problems but help others, hopefully through Sean’s experience he can show people that by volunteering you can get your foot through the door and get your hands dirty.

Sometimes you never know until your try it and you don’t want to be locked in to something without seeing what you want, hopefully I can do this but not 52 jobs!

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”- Steve Jobs (Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc and former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios).

As you can see by my frequency of posts this year, it has been a busy one, finally out in the ‘real world’ I am currently working in a media job while still trying to further other pursuits.

I’m finished university and still no closer to exactly what I want to do, I am traveling at the end of the year around the world and hopefully it does enrich my soul and steer me in the right direction.

My ultimate goal to beat the rat race is still number one, but I think I’m looking to short term to get there that I’m missing something short term, Steve Jobs in the speech he gave with the above quote said looking forward he can never see where he was heading but looking back it all made sense, I hope I too can say the same.

I have written lots of articles to come but I haven’t finished a single one, a reflection of my personality I guess but hopefully with some extra motivation I will get you some good articles and some food for thought.

Cheers,
Andrew
(Pondering his next move)

Link to Steve Jobs inspiration speech to Stanford 2005 graduates

So I have finished my degree, done some traveling and starting working full time. Businessaire is now back and here it to stay… keep tuned for some great info!

Since my last post, something new has come to my attention which is the answer! My perspective was solely for a little guy trying
to make money on facebook but not from a billionaire with ties to the technology world has done it, who am I talking about? Mark Cuban, who is doing a joint venture with facebook by creating an application called ‘Radical Buy’ an application for buying and selling everything, you can check out his article because he will cover it better than me here. It is in the early stages and still working on bugs and improving the structure, the forum to give feedback can be given here.

Summary of benefits
- Utilizing the millions of members on Facebook

- You can list an item and have it visible to all Facebook users instantly.

- After you list an item, others can post your listing on their Facebook page to earn commission!

For example, if you sell a watch for $100.00, you may offer anyone 10% commission to sell it for you.

If someone sells your watch for you, they get $10.00.

The amount of commission you offer is entirely up to you.

Don’t have anything to sell?

RadicalBuy allows all users to list other members items to earn commission. Simply add an item off your friend’s profile to your account and if it sells, they pay you the commission.

Listing an item only takes a few minutes and you can post 1 primary photo and up to 5 additional photos at no extra charge.

RadicalBuy helps you be a smart shopper by knowing who you are doing business with. Leave feedback about sellers and buyers, and read others comments BEFORE you buy or sell anything.

The question is where was eBay at? Why weren’t they doing this first….
You can add the application here.

P.S I don’t know how it is being monetized yet but I will keep you updated I just added the application

After a quick look RadicalBuy get a final value selling fee.

The final value selling fee is the fee paid to Radical Buy for selling your item on Radical Buy. It is based on a tiered platform. The fee schedule is as follows:
0-25.00 = 5%
25.00 - 1000.00 = 5% + 3% of remaining value balance
1000.00 + = 5% + 3% of initial 25-1000.00 plus 1.5% of remaining value

For example, if you sell an item for $22.00, the final value selling fee would be $1.10. If your item sells for $150, the final value selling fee would be $1.25 (first $25) plus $3.75 ($125 of the selling amount after the first $25) for a total selling fee of $5.