Business Time

The Person Behind Mcdonalds: The Ray Kroc Story

Vol. 12 Newsletter October

Tips on Investing andTips on Investing and Using your MoneyUsing your Money

WiselyWisely

Did youDid you

Choosing Your Business Major

7 Top Tips from Investment Experts

By Nelly NyagahValuable tips

that can help to build your business and get you ready for investment.

1) Business plan ownership. Write the business plan yourself; don’t get advisers to do it – and make sure the senior team contributes and takes ownership of the document.

2) Size matters. Is the market you are addressing large enough? And are you targeting a niche within that market?

3) Know your audience. The first thing you need to understand when starting a business is your customer market. What is their problem and what is your solution to that problem?

4) Revenue counts most. In business plans the revenue number is the hardest to get right but by far the most important; spend 90% of your effort on the aspects that lead to the revenue number: market size and growth, competitor offerings and your competitive advantage, pricing, marketing, converting prospects into customers, routes to market etc.

5) Start-ups: simplicity is the key. When planning your new business, you need to focus on a simple product or service that has a clear value proposition and business model.

6) Validation. To be successful, you must validate your offering with real customers before launch. This is an iterative process that takes time, and cash preservation is key during this phase.

7) Don’t try and do everything yourself. Surround yourself with people with experience of the industry you are focused on – you don’t have to agree with them but they can often have helpful insights or contacts, which could grow your business more rapidly than you can.

Here are some tips to be budget wise:

a) For one month, keep track of all your expenses. You don't have to limit yourself; just get an idea of what you spend money on during any given month.

b) After the first month, take stock of what you spent. Don't write down what you wished you had spent; write down what you actually spent

c) Now, write down your actual budget. Based on the month of actual expenses — and your own knowledge of your spending history — budget out how much of your income you want to allocate to each category every month.

d) Be honest with yourself about your budget. It's your money — there's really no sense in lying to yourself about how much you're going to spend when making a budget

e) Keep track of your budget over time. The hard part of a budget is that your expenses may change from month to month. The great part of a budget is that you'll have kept track of those changes, giving you an accurate idea of where your money went during the year.

“If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today?” – Steve Jobs

“If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I think I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them.” – Ray Kroc

How do you create a restaurant empire and become an overnight success at the age of 52? As Ray Kroc said, “I was an overnight success all right, but 30 years is a long, long night.”

In 1917, 15-year-old Ray Kroc lied about his age to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver, but the war ended before his training finished. He then worked as a piano player, a paper cup salesman and a multi-mixer salesman.

In 1954 he was surprised by a huge order for 8 multi-mixers from a restaurant in San Bernardino, California. There he found a small but successful restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, and was stunned by the effectiveness of their operation. They produced a limited menu, concentrating on just a few items—burgers, fries and beverages—which allowed them to focus on quality at every step.

Kroc pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants all over the U.S. to the brothers. In 1955 he founded the McDonald’s

Corporation, and 5 years later bought the exclusive rights to the McDonald’s name. By 1958, McDonald’s had sold its 100 millionth hamburger.

Ray Kroc wanted to build a restaurant system that would be famous for food of consistently high quality and uniform methods of preparation. He wanted to serve burgers, buns, fries and beverages that tasted just same in Alaska as they did in Alabama.

To achieve this, he chose a unique path: persuading both franchisees and suppliers to buy into his vision, working not for McDonald’s, but for

themselves, together with McDonald’s. He promoted the slogan, “In business for yourself, but not by yourself.”

His philosophy was based on the simple principle of a 3-legged stool: one leg was McDonald’s, the second, the franchisees, and the third, McDonald’s suppliers. The stool was only as strong as the 3 legs.

I am not going to tell you that one major is better than another — that’s for you to decide. But, I can tell you the job opportunities you can expect to have if you perform well in your business studies, and how much each of those job opportunities pay.

1. Accounting – If you like to keep track of things, have strong attention to detail, and enjoy following the rules, being an accounting major may be a good choice for you.

2. Economics – If you like to understand theories behind how things work, look at the

big picture and narrow it down, and enjoy math and statistics, being an economics major may

be the way to go.

3. Finance – If you are a jack of all trades, like the stock market or investing, and putting all of

the pieces together, you may want to be a finance major.

4. Marketing - If you are creative, like to think outside the box, but are also interested in business, being a marketing major may be a good choice for you.

5. Management – If you are good with people, like to be in charge, and like fixing problems, management may be a good fit for you

6. Real Estate - If you like marketing, management, finance, and accounting, real estate could be a good option for you to explore.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk…in a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking

any risks” – Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook, one of the most popular social networking sites of our time, was started in 2004 by Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg and funded by his Harvard colleague, Eduardo Saverin. Who was the Official Spokesperson for Facebook when it was started? Chris Hughes. Chris Hughes was Mark Zuckerberg's

roommate at Harvard. Dustin Moskowitz was in charge of maintenance of the website when it was started, and Sean Parker was initially the Vice-President of the Company.

Apple Inc., known for their Mac OS, I-Pad, Ipod and Iphone, was started by three people: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniack and which other individual?

Ronald Wayne. Ronald Wayne was the lesser known Apple Founder. He unfortunately sold his shares for $2300. Steve Jobs retired through illness in August 2011 (and died two months later), having been succeeded by Cook.

Nokia, a major telecom company, was started in Finland in 1871. They introduced their mini Laptop in 2009. What is it called?

Booklet 3G. Nokia was started in Finland in 1871, by Fredrik Idestam and Leo Mechelin. They introduced their mini laptop Booklet 3G, which runs on Windows 7.