“It’s something very personal, a very important thing. Hell! It’s a family motto. Are you ready Jerry? I want to make sure you’re ready, brother. Here it is: Show me the money. SHOW! ME! THE! MONEY! Jerry, it is such a pleasure to say that! Say it with me one time, Jerry.”-Rod Tidwell, “Jerry Maguire” (1996)”If I’m an engineering major, how can I get into finance? Show me the money!”I find myself answering this question a lot, possibly because I’m from a non-finance background myself. Or maybe just because everyone wants to get into finance.How you can leverage your technical background to land a job in the jungle of finance? As a technical person right out of school, you have two ways of breaking in:
Get an investment banking analyst position in the technology or TMT (Technology, Media & Telecom) group of a bank. You will use none of your quantitative/analytical background and instead use your interest in the industry/work ethic to get in.
Get a quantitative job at a hedge fund or doing trading/fixed income at a bank. You will leverage your quantitative and probability skills to get in.
Of the two, the second is easiest for most engineers. Wall Street has never been more quantitative, and it’s only getting more quant-focused each day. Even with some recent problems in the credit market and some high-profile difficulties at prestigious funds such as Goldman Global Alpha, this trend will not stop anytime soon.Hedge Fund And Related JobsOn-campus recruiting for these positions is less common than it is for banking analysts, but it’s there if you seek it out. Citadel, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, does undergraduate recruiting for its rotational program, as does Jump Trading, based out of Chicago.The good news is that if you’re an engineering major at a top university, you have a good chance of landing one of these jobs, even with no previous finance experience. If you’re in this position and go through on-campus recruiting, you need to emphasize your interest in finance because this is how they select candidates. Here’s a direct quote from a Citadel recruiter:”To be honest, we know you’re all pretty good quantitatively… after all you got an engineering degree at one of the top programs in the country. You need to show us that you’re interested in finance because that’s what differentiates you.”During interviews they will ask you quantitative questions but it’s crucial that you show them you have had a strong and consistent interest in finance. Have some good stories prepared, especially on personal investing and why you’re particularly well-suited to be a trader.For trading jobs the “fit” part of the interview is even more important than it is for banking. If you don’t trade stocks in between classes and wake up early each morning to read financial news, gambling is a good hobby to mention. I was asked if I played video poker/online poker and other casino games when interviewing for hedge fund jobs. You want to emphasize hobbies/interests that show you can think about risk vs. reward.No Thanks, I Really Want To Be A BankerFull disclosure: you can do this, but the hours are going to be far worse than trading, the pay won’t be much better and you’ll have to do truly menial, low-value-add work. The advantage is you do have a wider variety of exit options – doing engineering and then banking sets you up very well for venture capital, for example. And the perks are nice.As a technical person, you have several things going for you right away: no one will question your intelligence, and they probably won’t ask you brain teasers or math questions. If you can get a degree in Electrical Engineering, you can do Excel calculations in your sleep. And no one will question your attention to detail (or at least not as much as if you were an English major).What you will need to focus on in recruiting and interviewing is demonstrating your 1) interest in finance and 2) ability to handle the hours/stress of the job, which are considerably worse than those of an engineering/tech company.A few more specific tips: when you discuss your interest in finance you need to mention tech companies if you’re applying to a tech group in a bank. And don’t just mention Google or Facebook. These are the most visible tech companies by far, but anyone can learn about them by reading TechCrunch or by listening to friends.You need to show real interest in the industry, which means taking the initiative and talking about less well-known companies. Before my interviews at tech groups in banks I made a list of less well-known startups/other companies I found interesting and had a story prepared around each of them. You should do the same.As far as the second point about handling the stress/hours, as an engineering major you should have had many extended project classes… these are all good to mention, as are any internships where you launched a product that required “crunch time” at the end.
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Advertisements Are Here to Stay
Everyone knows what advertisements are, though not every person necessarily recognizes every one they see as such. Advertisements are messages primarily intended to drive sales of products or services. However, they also serve purposes other than eliciting a direct consumer response of this sort. They are also used to create and enhance brand identity and foster customer loyalty.They may use any and every type of media including print (newspapers, magazines and through subtle product placements, even books), broadcast media like radio and television, outdoor media (billboards, signs and so on), the web and other new media. They show up even in video games, movie trailers (and in films through product placement, something also a regular practice on television). With so many media possibilities, consumers are sometimes exposed to adverts without even knowing it!Advertising has been with us for millennia; for almost as long as people have been engaging in commerce, merchants have been using various means to promote sales of their products and services. Of course, advertisements have changed a lot since their beginning, but their purpose has been a constant.The first known ads date back to ancient Egypt; the practice of promoting one’s wares quickly spread, with merchants in Egypt, Greece and other contemporary civilizations using papyrus to create posters. The ancient Romans invented political advertising with rock paintings used to urge voters to back a particular candidate. Print rapidly became the advertising media of choice, something which stayed the same until the 1920′s when advertisements entered the modern era with the advent of commercial radio.Television arrived shortly after, almost immediately becoming a venue for advertisements as well as programming. Until the internet began to be common in households, TV, radio and print media were the primary media used by advertisers.The World Wide Web revolutionized advertising by providing a new, interactive medium. It wasn’t until the mid 1990s that web based advertisements became commonplace; before this time, too few households online for advertisers to become aware of its potential to reach their target markets (though there had been some limited use of the web for business to business advertising). Online advertising continued to grow until by 2000, the popularity of e-commerce and the sheer number of people on the web made it possible for businesses to avoid using online advertisements only at their peril.Online advertisements are big business, threatening to overshadow older advertising media and are a large and growing part of the marketing strategies of companies of every size and in every industry. Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines now earn billions of dollars from online advertisements every year.The web is a versatile way to reach consumers; other than text and images, the interactive multimedia capabilities of the internet help advertisers connect with their target markets in new and exciting ways. While online ads already have a lot to offer, the internet is still a growing medium and the technologies used to deliver advertising online are certain to become more sophisticated over time.Placing advertisements in video games are the latest development in the field. Delivering the same multimedia strategies of online advertising via video games, advertisers are aiming for market share amongst the enormous and growing video gaming demographic. Advertisements have been worked seamlessly into gaming and this is certain to be a growth industry going forward.Media technologies change; but the purpose and the message of advertisements don’t. As long as there are goods and services to sell, companies will continue to go where their customers are. From print to video games and everything in between: radio advertising, TV advertising, outdoor advertising and types of advertising media not yet developed, advertisements are here to stay.
Do You Have an Internet Home Based Business Idea?
Now that you have had that internet home based business idea and have decided to start a business from home, selecting the right business opportunities is as easy as 1-2-3, well maybe 1-2-3-4!1. Decide to Market a “Consumable” productWhen trying to decide which internet home based business idea you should develop, just think about this for a minute – every time anyone gets out of bed each day and goes to work, someone makes money. Every time you pick up the telephone, someone makes money. Every time you eat, turn on the water, start your car, use a bar of soap, or get a haircut, or go on a vacation, someone makes money. Imagine transactions of hundreds or even thousands of dollars and also millions of $3 or $4 sales several times a month, year after year, after year.The ideal internet home based business idea which develops into a turnkey home business is one that markets consumable products or services in such a way that after your initial effort is done; repeat orders, sales and commissions come to you for that effort on a continuing basis.2. Be ahead of the major Market TrendsA “Market Trend” is really an economic movement, meaning that large masses of people’s spending habits are moving in a uniform direction. The effect the baby-boomers have had and will have for years to come on the American economy is a good example.One leading economist likened the effect the baby-boomers have had on the economy since birth to a basketball running through a garden hose! That fact along can be a major factor in generating profitable home based businesses and should certainly be considered when developing our internet home based business idea.When developing our internet home based business idea, the question we must ask ourselves is: Are we positioned in front of the basketball or behind it?History shows that those who identify these trends early, and are able to meet the needs of these trends, are able to create abundant wealth for themselves. In essence, they get in front of an economic wave and ride it to financial freedom!The key is timing. Get in front of the wave and take the ride of a lifetime.Current research shows, that what most people want out of life is feeding the current market trends and should be considered in your internet home based business idea:1. Owning Their Own Business2. Having Tax Advantages3. Being Financially Independent4. Being Healthy5. Being more environmentally conscious6. Having A Rewarding Career7. Owning Their Own Healthy Home8. Looking & Feeling Younger9. Losing Weight10. Traveling11. Improving Their Lifestyle12. Personal Development Training and SupportMega-TrendsThese are the wants and needs of some very large consumer groups. In fact, some very large trends are gathering momentum as you read this. They are so large that they can accurately be called “Mega-Trends”.One of the mega trends is in the area of Health and Wellness- An Internet Home Based Business Idea Because of the economic influence of the Baby-Boomers, economists are predicting that this industry will be the next Trillion dollar industry within the next ten years. Paul Zane Pilzer, an internationally known author, college professor and economic advisor to two presidents, predicts that there will be 10 million new millionaires in the Health and Wellness internet home based Network Marketing industry within the next 10 years. Now that could be a basis for an internet home based business idea!I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is: Will we be one of them?Another of those trends is in Travel – an Internet Home Based Business Idea and recreation. Some estimate this industry to be 7 trillion worldwide with expectations to double within the next 6 or 7 years which is over 20% faster than the US economy. Other experts estimate that travel in the US along exceeds 1.3 trillion.I have read that there are more cruise ships to be built within the next 5 years than in the previous 45 years total. Baby-boomers are swarming to the luxury resorts around the world and this activity is expected to increase as the boomers experience the inheritance of their parent’s money and also begin to draw on their own retirement plans.With the baby boomers currently retiring at the rate of about 1 per second and increasing, increase in travel could very well be the largest mega-trend we will experience in our lifetime!The combination of these Mega-Trends is causing one of the most explosive economic waves in history. Now there is another potential internet home based business idea! All Wealth is first created in the Mind and then transformed into reality by the application of known Principles! – Think and Grow Rich! – Napoleon Hill3. Leverage your timeLeverage, through the process of duplication and multiplication, allows us as entrepreneurs to develop a successful internet home based business idea, part-time, around our busy lifestyle. In essence, leveraging our time allows us to get more done in a shorter period of time with less effort. This concept applied in your home based business means you can accomplish more than you could normally accomplish on your own.When effectively incorporated into an internet home based business idea, computer and internet technology can multiply leverage thousands of times. That means in the right system, networking and internet technology can do the work of thousands of people, and you get paid on that work! Imagine developing a business part-time, which can grow to a full time career, that wouldn’t interrupt your present circumstances, and provides you a flow of income while you spend time with your family, travel, go to the beach, or even sleep! That’s the power of leverage.4. Market SelectionBefore choosing the right internet home based business idea, one must first identify the fastest growing industries as well as the most profitable home based businesses. Some of the fastest growing industries today are:Greeting Card Industry – 7 billion greeting cards are purchased every year. Annual retail sales of greeting cards are estimated at more than $7.5 billion. Nine out of every ten households purchase greeting cards each year.Working From Home – $401 Billion Dollar Industry.Internet Marketing – exceeds $523 Billion according to a study done by the McCombs School of Business and is expected to reach 7 Trillion within the next 3 years.Mail Order Marketing – $350 Billion Dollar Industry and growing.Wellness Industry – $200 Billion Dollar Industry and expected to reach $1 Trillion within 10 years.Nutrition Industry – $4.2 Billion Dollar Industry and exploding.Weight Control Industry – $33 Billion Dollar Industry fueled by epidemic size obesity levels. An estimated 70% of the U.S. population needs to lose 10 – 50 pounds.Personal Care Industry – $72 Billion Dollar Industry.Cosmetics Industry – 8 Billion Dollar Industry – and steadily growing.Travel and Vacation – $860 Billion and growing.When developing an internet home based business idea into profitable home based businesses, it is not necessary to pick an industry which we already have an affinity for, although it certainly is desirable. However, as you will see in upcoming pages, if you have the Desire to build a business and new lifestyle, there is a fit for you out there. Again, the challenge is to select the right business and company when you start a business from home.Not only should the market and marketing concept fit you, but in order for a business to be real it must have the right: Product, Market, Timing, Management, Company, Compensation, and Benefits and Rewards.We should not look for get-rich schemes! If you are serious about your goals of personal development and building a long-term residual income and work diligently towards goals you will succeed.