50 Cent Files for Bankruptcy, is he Broke?

By now, many people have heard of the rumors that recording artist and entrepreneur Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 cent has gone bankrupt. Many people believe that he has gone broke, this is not true. 50 cent is a very smart man and he would not have let himself go broke over night.  To clarify these rumors, yes 50 cent filed for bankruptcy but he definitely did not go flat broke. Here is the story,

3 days prior to 50 cent filing for bankruptcy protection, he was ordered to pay $5 million to Lastonia Leviston (ex-girlfriend of recording artist Rick Ross) who sued him for releasing a sex tape of her online for the public to see.

As I said before, “50 cent is a smart man”. He did not file for chapter 7 bankruptcy, which means liquidation of assets or having to sell his business to pay back creditors. 50 Cent filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy which allows him to reorganize his financial affairs in order to pay back any debts. I believe this is beneficial for 50 cent because instead of having to pay $5 million in one shot, he now might have more time to pay his debt since he filed. In addition, he is now given a chance to come up with a payment plan, an option he probably would not have had if he did not file for Chapter 11.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 50 cent says in the bankruptcy filing his debts and assets are worth between $10 million and $50 million, so he is definitely not going broke, but this could also protect his businesses as he is dealing with problems and debt. I believe that if 50 cent could, he would have filed for chapter 13, which allows individuals to restructure their debt. According to Michael Venditto, an attorney and partner at Reed Smith, 50 cent does not qualify for chapter 13 since his debts exceed $10 million and limits are set at $383,000 for unsecured debt and $1.1 million for secured debt.

Sources:

http://www.businessinsider.com/50-cent-files-for-bankruptcy-2015-7

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/07/14/is-50-cent-really-broke-why-a-millionaire-would-file-for-bankruptcy/

Is Pay-Per-Click Dying?

I believe that Organic search or SEO is not going anywhere since it is obvious that consumers trust naturally higher ranking websites that have more popularity, but is PPC, Pay Per Click dying? Advertisers pay search engines per click on their ads. The incentive for PPC doesn’t stand as significant when presented with other options. In its earlier stage of utilization, PPC had more of a safety net since it was new and untested.  The direct click would then give direct compensation, thus, little risk was involve for companies.  In the audiencebloom.com article, Supply Demand PPC Dying Future Paid Search Ads, linked in the Forbes.com article, marketers explain how “the cost, appeal of ads, and competitive landscape of PPC have all played a role in deteriorating its feasibility as a long term strategy.”  It continues in explaining how Google’s pricing for PPC has made it more costly for marketers. The article explains that “at its inception, search marketers were able to choose almost any keyword they wanted and could fit into a reasonable budget.”  The article continues in its clarification of how “today, Google offers a bid-based system, in which multiple advertisers can bid a specific amount for advertising on KWR page of a given keyword.” In essence, the more an individual bids, the better chance they will have at being higher on the marketing latter.  Inevitably, this tactic makes PPC more expensive since the price is driven up as a result of this bid based system.  This standing as the case, you are required to spend more money in PPC while your conversation and customer values remain constant. Thus, the PPC market is a, as stated by the article, a “break-even or net loss” tool. 

The other fault in PPC stands in its competition for ads.  Since large and small marketers want to advertise in the digital market, space is limited.  Competitors are forced to go up against each other in “scramble to the top of paid search results.”  This, in essence, makes securing relevant keywords for your business difficult.  Also, the allocation of resources toward acquiring top spots for these key words puts stress on budgetary restriction for businesses and may strain smaller group, squeezing them out of contention.  The value results as minimal, since the types of traffic generated through businesses when the pay for a PPC ad essentially results in paying for a one “time customer.”  Interestingly, a glass half full outlook is presented when looking at Bing’s and Yahoo’s combination of search engine algorithms and paid ad management platforms.  This option is fascinating since Bing’s and Yahoo’s combined market share of search traffic is less than one third of all search traffic generated.  For smaller businesses or savvy powerhouses, Bing’s and Yahoo’s partnership makes PPC more viable means to advertising.  This is mainly due to lower cost and less competition.  There are, however, organic forms of paid advertising like Vevo ads on Youtube.com, and ads on streaming sites for each played stream or time within the stream are prevalent.  These direct ads may market to consumers in a more efficient and effect manner, since they may be placed in relevant advertisement spots.  An example of this would be the advertising of a music award show before a music video plays on a streaming website.  This allows advertisers to directly connect with individuals interested in their content.

In conclusion, although PPC campaigns are have been more expensive since it first launched, it has actually gotten more popular despite all of the competition. 72% of businesses surveyed in 2014 said that they planned to spend more on PPC, which is up 2% from the previous year.

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Business Plan Development Expert Tim Berry

After reviewing many experts online, I wanted to find one expert who is well known and one expert that I have not heard about myself but that was still a recognized expert. I found a business plan expert named Tim Berry. Berry has written a couple books on business planning such as “The Plan-as-you-go Business Plan”,  “Business Plan Pro”. Berry has also co wrote “3 weeks to Startup”. Berry also has an MBA degree from Stanford, an MA degree in journalism with honors from the university of Oregon, and a BA in Literature from the University of Notre Dame. Berry is also a successful entrepreneur who is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software, bplans.com and cofounder of Borland international.  When Berry first built Palo Alto Software, he had no employees, it was just him but the company grew to 40 employees, started making multimillion dollar sales. Berry had no outside investment and 70% market share, and most importantly, he had no debt. Berry is also an investor member of the Willamette Angel Conference.

A key component in business planning that Berry states is to “Think Lean”, Investors do not want very long business plans, they want to read something that is straight to the point and not a waste of their time. Investors want to know right off the bat what your business does or makes, your target market, and your business’s identity. Berry also states that a great strategy is nothing without tactics and what your main focus or goals are, such key points to your marketing strategy, and breakdowns of the financials/realistic projections of the business such as profit, loss, cash flow, and balance sheet. This is key because investors want to know right from the beginning if an investment is going to turn in to a profit and how quickly it will take to see that profit.

Richard Branson has empire that consists of over 400 companies, 55 thousand employees and a total revenue of $25 billion. One important component to investing and that could also apply to business panning that Branson states is “Does your company offer a smart, simple solution that improves customers’ lives?”

All of these suggestions will be helpful in my plan, the goal of this business plan is to convince an investor to invest into my business. The best way to do that is to give them what they want.

https://www.sba.gov/blogs/what-business-plan-type-best-me

http://timberry.com/business-plan-expert/

http://timberry.com/businessplanning/

http://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/richard-bransons-5-rules-investment