Gold, silver weaker Thursday as USDX trades sharply up
Gold and silver prices are modestly lower in midday U.S. trading Thursday, pressured by solid gains in the U.S. dollar index today. Losses in the metals are limited by gains in the crude oil market today. October gold futures were last down $4.20 at $1,762.20. September Comex silver futures were last down $0.181 at $19.555 an ounce.
The marketplace Thursday quickly digested Wednesday afternoon's minutes from the last FOMC meeting of the Federal Reserve. Traders deemed the minutes neutral to just slightly dovish and markets showed no significant reactions to them. The CME Fed funds rate futures are now showing slightly better odds for a 0.5% rate hike at the September FOMC meeting.
Global stock markets were mixed overnight, with Asian indexes mostly down and European indexes mostly up. U.S. stock indexes are mixed to firmer at midday. The U.S. stock indexes have been enjoying price uptrends on the daily charts since early June, and that's another underlying bearish factor for the safe-haven metals markets.
Gold will play a big role in the coming global 'monetary reset' as U.S dollar loses its dominance – Maxime Bernier
In overnight news, the Euro zone consumer price index for July came in hot, at up 8.9%, year-on-year.
The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices higher and trading around $90.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is solidly higher and hit a three-week high in midday U.S. trading. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching around 2.85%.
Technically, October gold futures prices hit a two-week low today. The gold futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage and have momentum on their side. Bulls' next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the August high of $1,814.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,700.00. First resistance is seen at today's high of $1,775.90 and then at Wednesday's high of 1,786.30. First support is seen at the August low of $1,759.70 and then at $1,750.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.0.
September silver futures prices hit a two-week low today. The silver bears have the overall near-term technical advantage and have momentum. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $22.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $19.00. First resistance is seen at $20.00 and then at $20.25. Next support is seen at $19.47 and then at $19.25. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.0.
September N.Y. copper closed up 550 points at 363.70 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session high today and scored a bullish "outside day" up. The copper bulls and bears are on a level overall near-term technical playing field. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 385.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 330.00 cents. First resistance is seen at the August high of 371.30 cents and then at 380.00 cents. First support is seen at today's low of 354.20 cents and then at 350.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
Amazon recently announced it’s acquiring iRobot (IRBT) in an all-cash deal for $1.7 billion. The company is best known for its robot vacuum cleaners – namely, its flagship product the “Roomba.”
Amazon execs say the deal is a natural extension as part of its mission to move further into robotics and smart home technology.
But there’s a darker side to this deal than Amazon would care to admit.
As of 2020, Amazon’s Alexa devices were already in 25% of U.S. homes. They sit on the shelf, tracking, listening, and mining data from our daily lives.
And it’s estimated that the company has hundreds of millions of Ring doorbell security cameras active by our front doors.
Now the company will have up to 40 million Roomba’s zipping around the inside of our homes. Some of these automated vacuums even use advanced LIDAR (laser mapping technology) and cameras.
These technologies enable our Roombas to map out our homes to better see, understand, and avoid obstacles.
And with Amazon behind them, these devices are capable of monetizing our homes in a whole new way.
The Monetization of Our Private Spaces
A report from this past April revealed what most of us have guessed –our conversations with Alexa provide data for the ads we’re served by the company.
And Ring doorbells can watch and listen to us and our neighbors over 50 feet away from our doors, gaining more data on our lives.
But Amazon knows there’s still more data to be obtained inside our houses.
Bloomberg reported that the data Amazon will soon collect from Roombas could be used to determine the value of your home based on how big it is and what you have around the house. It could then combine that data with our Amazon shopping habits.
All this can create an even more advanced customer profile about us. With Roomba’s help, Amazon will know exactly what kind of throw pillows would look great on our couch.
And in the very near future, we may see it start to show us ads that pertain to what is or is not inside our homes.
Big Tech Won’t Stop
If any of us feel uncomfortable with a company gaining so much information about us, that’s completely understandable.
Big tech has a dark side – it’s as plain and simple as that.
If something as mundane as cleaning dog hair off the floor can be monetized, then big tech is going to find a way. And there’s no better example of an amazing monetizer than Amazon.
It has a history of buying up other companies like this:
Companies That Amazon Owns
Source: SMB Compass
It owns streaming hubs, Hollywood production studios, robotics companies, pharmacies, news agencies, grocery stores, and the list goes on.
It’s safe to say Amazon is immersed in nearly every major industry in our lives today – and it is constantly working on ways to monetize it all.
So it makes sense why Amazon has fought to integrate with so many areas of our lives. The more data Amazon has, the more it can market and sell to us.
And Amazon isn’t going to stop its acquisitions anytime soon.
It simply makes too much sense for Amazon to continue buying companies. When you play in the league Amazon is in, it’s cheaper to buy a business than to build your own.
This strategy has allowed Amazon to become the marketplace for basically everything.
And even with the huge anti-trust cases we’ve seen, the federal government has failed to rein in the Big Tech space, including Amazon.
So it’s hard to imagine anything can stop this giant.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
“If you can’t beat them, join them” may be a cliché, but this is certainly a true statement with Amazon. Amazon is a giant, and as investors, there’s no way around that fact.
Amazon’s revenue in 2021 grew 21.7% year-over-year to over $469 billion. The company is expecting to see that number grow to over $522 billion this year and over $604 billion in 2023.
And with the recent stock split making share prices more affordable and attractive for everyday investors to buy, now is a fantastic time to buy shares of Amazon (AMZN).
Right now, investors can even get into Amazon while it’s trading at a discount.
Amazon is still down 17% since the beginning of the year.
But in the past month shares have climbed 25% – which is consistent with the forecast of a continued rally into the fall. Amazon’s current price and upward trend reflect a great opportunity to hitch ourselves to a stock with some serious momentum.
New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.
Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.
Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.
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Tips and Remedies For Natural Antidepressants: Let Nature Take Its Course
It's still a beautiful summer in the northern hemisphere, but there's a hint of autumn in the early morning air. In turn, politicians not only hint but openly talk about what awaits us in the winter. And there is nothing cheerful about this; an energy crisis is expected.
The temperature in offices and apartments it's supposed to be heavily regulated. Gasoline and diesel prices still hold extremely high, and what other complications will cause the conflict in Ukraine better not to think about.
Before we feel an extraordinary strain on our psyche and before the summer stocks of optimism and good mood are exhausted, it is good to turn for help to nature. There are many herbs that can help us, and some are processed even into tablets and capsules.
At home, herbs can be used in a variety of forms, such as infusion (infusium), decoction (decoctum), infusion (macerate), tincture, syrup, and extract (extracta), but also as a compress or bath.
Herbs usually do not act as quickly as chemical drugs. Many are suitable for longer use. However, for some, we must be careful when combined with chemical medications.
Stress, especially nowadays, is the lot of many people, and its impact is often underestimated. It acts not only on the organism but also on each person's personality.
Which herbal remedies can positively influence mental and nervous problems?
Among the best herbal harmonizers is Eleutherococcus spiny, or devil's root, devil's bush, Siberian ginseng, eleuthero – Eleutherococcus (Eleutherococcus senticosus). The devil's root, or " Siberian ginseng," is a shrub about two meters tall with densely thorny branches and folded five-pointed, long petiolate leaves.
Small flowers form spherical inflorescences with purple (powdery) and yellow (pistillate) petals. The fruit is a spherical ovoid with a diameter of about 8 mm, containing 2 to 7 ovules. It blooms in late June and July, and the fruits ripen in late August and September.
It acts as an adaptogen and harmonizer; that is, it increases the body's defenses against the effects of stress. It improves cerebral circulation and affects the manifestations of neurasthenia, and conduction of impulses through nerve fibers. It is used for overwork, states of weakness, and exhaustion.
Another effective remedy is Small-leaved Bacopa: A plant found in the tropics and subtropics. It is a powerful antioxidant that helps improve memory and learning ability. It increases mental performance and strengthens brain activity. It is used for insomnia, fatigue, restlessness, stress, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, and nervous exhaustion.
Mild Climate Herbs
We can use St. John's wort, one of the herbs growing in a mild climate. It is the first choice herb for anxiety, restlessness, mental stress, neurasthenia, panic syndrome, or mild depression. It is suitable for rehabilitation after strokes and is also a primary herb in treating multiple sclerosis. But we must remember that often it can not be used simultaneously with antidepressants, and in the summer months, it can provoke skin redness when exposed to sunlight.
St. John's wort undoubtedly has the ability to improve your mood, but its effects do not appear immediately – it is necessary to take it for about 3 to 4 weeks before you know if it helps you.
To support the activity of the nerve and brain centers, we can use great globe-thistle (Carduus), which helps the organism in the regeneration of the nerve fiber.
Valerian is another well-known herb often used for a sedative effect on the body. It suppresses states of excitement, nervousness, anxiety, and mental tension. In higher doses, it acts as a hypnotic. It affects cardiac neurosis and also acts as a spasmolytic. The nervous system not only calms but also strengthens.
The best means of sedative action is gemmoterapeuticum from the Linden tree (tilia). It's an excellent sedative. It acts as an anxiolytic against anxiety and psychological tension. It also reduces feelings of itching and pain of nervous origin. It strengthens the nervous system best in combination with thistle.
Willowherb (It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb)
The flower can be up to two meters high, which you will most likely find on forest glades or uncut bows. It is easy to grow even in the garden. Mainly leaves are used, both fresh and dried, for the preparation of teas.
Willowherb removes the feeling of psychological tension, relaxes, soothes, helps in falling asleep, and increases the quality of sleep. It is effective against headaches (especially of nervous origin).
Not only Herbal Teas but also Special Baths
One of the healing remedies from nature, which people have been using since ancient times, was baths from herbs. The advantage of this therapy is the fact that the action of water as such and, at the same time, the healing properties of the herbs are used here together.
An excellent remedy for soothing is a bath, which is composed of herbs with a soothing effect – St. John's wort, lavender, lemon balm, hops, and others. It helps the body to calm down, cope with stress and energize to cope with today's challenging times. It is excellent before sleep, as it helps to induce them.
Where to find some of these herbs in the temperate climatic belt
Small-leaved Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri)
Bacopa is a 10-30 cm tall, creeping and perennial herb. In conditions of the mild climate, Bacopa is a small-leaved annual or houseplant with the possibility of putting outside during summer.
St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum)
St. John's wort is a perennial that occurs abundantly on sunny slopes, meadows, pastures, and forest glades, from the Lowland to the mountains.
Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
Valerian is a not very abundant plant in wet meadows, forests, river banks, and ditches. For medicinal purposes, it is grown. Valerian acts primarily as a mild but effective sedative. It suppresses states of excitement, nervousness, anxiety, and mental tension. In higher doses, it works as a hypnotic.
Lime (Linden) (Tilia vulgaris)
Linden is a widely cultivated tree, widespread throughout Europe. The lime blossom is collected at the beginning of flowering. It is best to gather it in the afternoon between two and four o´clock. In folk medicine, as well as official medicine, the lime blossom has been used since ancient times to the present day.
Catnip (Nepeta cataria)
It is nicknamed "cat cocaine" because cats like to roll in it and then fall asleep.
Stir a teaspoon of dried catnip flowers in 250 ml of cold water, bring to a boil and let stand for 15 minutes. Drink during anxiety, fussiness, and nervousness. You can also sew a dried Shanta into a canvas bag, attach a pompom or a jingle bell, and give it to your cat to play with. She'll be thrilled.
You can find it in clumps in damp places and around water. It is collected both flowering and non-flowering nasturtium or just flowers, which are used to prepare infusions, baths, and the like after drying.
Ruta graveolens, commonly known as rue, common rue, or herb-of-grace, is a species of Ruta grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It was nicknamed the" herb of grace " because it allegedly helped both judges and prisoners, probably against stress.
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
It is an effective first aid for stress, nervousness, and fatigue; a pleasant lemon scent quickly washes away all worries. Its sedative effect is used for insomnia.
Licorice root
Licorice root has a long history of medical use. As a herbal remedy, it helps people in many different ways. One of the valuable properties of licorice root is its ability to help the body cope with stressful situations. Licorice root provides a natural hormone, an alternative to cortisone, which can be very helpful in managing anxiety situations.
Herbal Teas And Baths Against Depression
# 1. Pour one teaspoon of lemon balm into 150 ml of boiling water. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes, strain, and drink three times a day. This tea can also be used for a long time.
# 2. Prepare a mixture of equal parts of lemon balm and common oregano: Pour 100 ml of boiling water into one teaspoon of the mix. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes and strain. Tea is recommended to drink mainly for the night, for a quiet falling asleep and restful sleep.
# 3. Pour one heaped tablespoon of St. John's wort with boiling water and drink throughout the day in cups. St. John's wort is rightly called the "herb of nerves". It’s most beneficial when the tea from this herb is taken for a long time, i.e., at least 25 days or more. Only then will its antidepressant effects begin to manifest. However, do not take it for more than two months.
Bath relieving depression
Baths with sea salt or with essential oils of Lemon balm, Mandarin, and Sage are very beneficial. The bath time should be 20 minutes. After the bath, do not wipe, just wrap the body in a terry toweling dressing gown, lie down for another 20 minutes, and cover yourself warmly.
Finally, something for milk and sleep lovers
Galium odoratum – also called the sweet woodruff or sweet-scented bedstraw (Asperula odorata) sleep milk:
# 1. Heat a quarter liter of milk in the evening, but do not boil it. Stir in it one teaspoon of dried herb and one teaspoon of honey. Allow to stand for 2 hours, then strain, drink slowly, and non-jumpily jump into bed!
Herbs Preservation
Not only can you use fresh herbs, but you can keep them “for a rainy day” by preserving them. There are several ways to process them so that you can use them later.
One of the oldest is drying, which is suitable for example, bay leaf, thyme, oregano, mint, marjoram, or Rosmarinus. The basis is to pre-clean the herbs well, then leave them dry in ventilated places protected from the sun and heat. You can also use a dryer.
You can also put herbs (for example, parsley, basil, thyme, marjoram, or rosemary) in oil. Wash them well, dry them, and put them in glass jars. Squeeze them well and stack them in layers. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and seal tightly.
The oil will acquire an aroma, and the herbs will be well preserved. You can also store them in the freezer for a long time. Do not forget to always carefully wash and dry the shoots and leaves. Then put them in ice compartments or freezer bags. You can freeze sage, parsley, oregano, mint, marjoram, and basil.
“Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.”
About: Markéta Hálová. (Czech Republic) A crypto enthusiast, keen online marketer and passion for photography. I love interacting with the community of Entrepreneurs at Markethive. I believe in free speech, liberty, sovereignty for all. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.
Mean tweets don’t derail a republic but a weak economy will.
Liz Cheney lost in devastating fashion last night, 66-28% against Harriet Hageman. It was a loss of her own making. She doesn’t see it that way.
She unironically compared herself to Abraham Lincoln in her concession speech after accusing Trump of being a self-obsessed egomaniac. She called the Republican party a “cult of personality” but had her father, former Vice-President Dick Cheney, cut a campaign ad where he called Trump as an individual the “greatest threat to our republic” accusing him of trying to “steal the election.”
The greatest threat to our republic isn’t a roundly-condemned riot at the Capitol or Democrat hyperbole, it’s inflation, recession, a lack of energy independence, over-taxation, weaponization of government agencies against political opposition, ironically helped by the civil liberties-violating, Dick Cheney-backed Patriot Act.
The greatest threat is not political jockeying and tone-deaf ambition from disgruntled candidates.
This is solely about one lone candidate’s political ambition wrapped up as some white-knight fever dream.
This isn’t about the “values” and “principles” Cheney and her surrogates invoke — what values and principles? Are low taxes, life, energy independence, a strong Second Amendment, and a fairly non-interventionist foreign policy not values of the Republican party?
Hating Trump is neither a “value” nor a principle.
Acknowledging the achievements of the previous administration isn’t a violation of principles, either, nor a pledge of fealty.
Voters watched Cheney sacrifice attention from their values and concerns: inflation, recession, supply chain crisis, and high gas prices, in favor of fighting Trump. Her “fight” doesn’t pay rent, create jobs, or put food on the table. In fact, under the previous administration, those things were more affordable.
During Trump’s tenure, we received one of the biggest tax cuts in our nation’s history, one of the lowest unemployment rates in half a century, enacted major deregulation, the Abraham Accords, no new wars, and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, with Trump stopping per the advice of military counsel, unlike Biden after him.
The left is eager to give wings to this flightless fantasy that Cheney “lost the fight but could still win the battle” but what battle, exactly?
Mean tweets don’t derail a republic but a weak economy will.
You can disagree with your party without burning down the barn and alienating voters. Politicians are merely avatars for voter sentiment. Blaming Trump for Cheney’s problems ignores the issues with Cheney that pre-date Trump. Her last name alone irked the tea party, who opposed the idea of family dynasties back in 2008. These criticisms laid the foundation not just for Trump, but also for a less interventionist GOP. Candidates time-stamped for the late 90s or early aughts aren’t appealing anymore.
I don’t know what battlefield Cheney thinks she’s on, but it’s not where the rest of America is fighting.
New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.
Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.
Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.
Markethive.com will release its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".
Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.
Gold, silver down on demand concerns – no reaction to FOMC minutes
Gold and silver prices are lower in afternoon U.S. trading Wednesday, amid worries about demand for precious metals following this week’s downbeat economic data coming out of China and still-heightened worries about a U.S. and/or global recession. Rising U.S. Treasury bond yields and a firmer U.S. dollar index on this day were also bearish outside market elements for the metals markets. October gold futures were last down $11.00 at $1,768.50. September Comex silver futures were last down $0.29 at $19.79 an ounce.
The just-released minutes from the last meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) showed members remained concerned about inflation, believing it will remain elevated for some time to come. Members expect “ongoing increases” in the Federal Funds rate—the main U.S. interest rate. The FOMC members also said the U.S. economy’s trajectory was noticeably weaker than what they thought at the previous FOMC meeting. The marketplace was looking for clues on the timing and degrees of upcoming monetary policy tightening from the U.S. central bank. Right now, the Fed funds futures market is putting nearly even odds on either a 0.5% or a 0.75% interest rate increase at the September FOMC meeting. The marketplace, and the metals, showed now significant reaction to the minutes, which contained no big surprises.
Trudeau's policies will put Canada's food supply in peril and lead to higher prices – Maxime Bernier
Global stock markets were mixed overnight, with Asian indexes mostly up and European indexes mostly down. U.S. stock indexes are lower in afternoon trading, on routine corrective pullbacks after hitting four-month highs on Tuesday. Corporate earnings reports are in focus this week.
The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices higher and trading around $88.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is higher in early U.S. trading. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 2.9%.
Technically, October gold futures prices hit a two-month low today. The gold futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the August high of $1,814.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,700.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $1,786.30 and then at 1,800.00. First support is seen at the August low of $1,759.70 and then at $1,750.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.0.
September silver futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $22.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $19.00. First resistance is seen at $20.00 and then at $20.25. Next support is seen at $19.47 and then at $19.25. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.0.
September N.Y. copper closed down 440 points at 358.05 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session low. The copper bulls and bears are on a level overall near-term technical playing field. Prices are trending up on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 385.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 330.00 cents. First resistance is seen at last week’s high of 371.30 cents and then at 380.00 cents. First support is seen at this week’s low of 354.60 cents and then at 350.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
Welcome to 99Bitcoins.com. I'm Nate Martin and I'll be your guide through this video series Bitcoin Whiteboard Tuesday. We're going to cover a lot of topics such as Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin wallets,
Today we're going to start from scratch and answer the third most searched term on Google today, what is Bitcoin? If you’re worried that we’re going to get too technical and use a lot of complicated words, don’t.
Here at 99Bitcoins, we translate Bitcoin into plain English so even if you have no technical background
you’ll be able to understand everything.
By the end of this course, you’ll know more about Bitcoin and how it works than 99% of the population.
So let’s get started… Before we talk about Bitcoin I want to take a moment and talk about money. What is money exactly? At its core, money represents value. If I do some work for you, you give me money in exchange for the value I gave you.
I can then use that money to get something of value from someone else in the future. Throughout history, value has taken many forms and people used a lot of different materials to represent money. Salt, wheat, shells and of course gold have all been used as a medium of exchange.
However, in order for something to represent value people have to trust that it is indeed valuable and will
stay valuable long enough for them to redeem that value in the future.
Up until a hundred years ago or so we always trusted in someTHING to represent money.
However something happened along the way and we’ve changed our trust model from trusting someTHING to trusting in someONE. Let me explain.
Over time, people found it too cumbersome to walk around the world carrying bars of gold or other
forms of money, so paper money was invented.
Here’s how it worked: a bank or government would offer to take possession of your bar of gold; let’s say
worth $1000, and in return, that bank would give you receipt certificates, which we call bills, amounting to $1000.
Not only were these pieces of paper much easier to carry, but you could spend a dollar on a cup of coffee
and not have to cut your gold bar into a thousand pieces.
And if you wanted your gold back, you simply took $1000 in bills back to the bank to redeem them for
the actual form of money, in this case that gold bar, whenever you needed… And so, paper began its use as money as an instrument of practicality and convenience.
However as time progressed, and due to macroeconomic changes, this bond between the paper receipt
and the gold it stands for was broken.
Now, to explain the path that led us away from the gold standard is extremely complex, but suffice to say that governments told their people that the government itself would be liable for the value of that paper money.
Basically we all said “let’s just forget about gold and trade paper instead”. So people continued to trade with receipts that are backed by nothing but the government’s promise. And why did that continue to work? Well, because of trust.
Even though there is no actual commodity backing paper money, people trusted the government and
that’s how fiat money was created. Fiat is a Latin word that means “by decree”. Meaning the dollars, or euros or any other currency for that matter have value because the government orders it to.
It’s what is known as “legal tender” – coins or banknotes that must be accepted if offered as payment. So the value of today’s money actually comes from a legal status given to it by a central authority, in this case, the government.
And so the trust model has changed, from trusting someTHING to trusting someONE, in this case, the government. Fiat money has two main drawbacks: 1. It is centralized: You have a central authority that controls and issues it.
In this case the government or central bank. And two, it is not limited by quantity: The government or central bank can print as much as they want whenever needed and inflate the money supply on the market.
The problem with printing money is that because you’re flooding the market with more money the value of each dollar drops, so your own money is worth less. When you see prices rising throughout the years it’s not necessarily that prices are rising as much as that the purchasing power of your money is dropping.
You need more dollars to buy something that used to “cost less”. Once fiat money was in place, the move to digital money was pretty simple. We already have a central authority that issues money, so why not make money mostly digital and let that authority keep track of who owns what.
Today we mainly use credit cards, wire transfers, Paypal and others forms of digital money. The amount of physical money in the world is almost negligible and is getting smaller with each year that passes.
So if money today is digital, how does that even work? I mean, if I have a file that represents a dollar, what’s to stop me from copying it a million times and having a million dollars? This is called the “double spend problem”.
The solution that banks use today is a “centralized” solution; they keep a ledger on their computer which keeps track of who owns what. Everyone has an account and this ledger keeps a tally for each account.
We all trust the bank and the bank trusts their computer, and so the solution is centralized on this ledger in this computer. You may not know this, but there were many attempts to create alternative forms of digital currencies, however none were successful in solving the double spend problem without a central authority.
Whenever you give a anyone control over the money supply you’re giving them enormous power and this creates three major issues: The first issue is corruption; power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
When banks have a mandate to create money, or value, they basically control the flow of value in the world, which gives them almost unlimited power. A small example of how power corrupts can be seen in the Wells Fargo’s scandal where employees secretly created millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in order to inflate the bank’s revenue stream, without their customers knowing about it for years.
The second issue of a centralised system is mismanagement. If the central authority’s interest isn’t aligned with the people it controls there may be a case of mismanagement of the money. For example, printing a lot of money in order to save a certain bank or institution from collapsing, as what happened in 2008.
The problem with printing too much money is that it causes inflation and basically erodes the value of the citizen’s money. One extreme example for this is Venezuela, where the government has printed so much money, and the value of it has dropped so much, that people are no longer counting money but are weighing it instead.
The last issue is control. You are basically giving away all control of your money to the government or bank. At any point in time the government can decide to freeze your account and deny you access to your funds.
Even if you use only cold hard cash the government can cancel the legal status of your currency as was done in India a few years back. This was the state of things until 2009. Creating an alternative to the current monetary system seemed like a lost cause.
But then everything changed…. In October 2008 a document was published online by a guy calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto. The document, also called a whitepaper, suggested a way of creating a system for a decentralised currency called Bitcoin.
This system claimed to create digital money that solves the double spend problem without the need for a central authority. At its core Bitcoin is a transparent ledger without a central authority, but what does this confusing phrase even really mean? Well, let’s compare Bitcoin to the bank.
Since most money today is already digital, the bank basically manages its own ledger of balances and transactions. However the bank’s ledger is not transparent and it is stored on the bank’s main computer.
You can’t sneak a peek into the bank’s ledger, and only the bank has complete control over it. Bitcoin on the other hand is a transparent ledger. At any point in time I can sneak a peek into the ledger and see all of the transactions and balances that are taking place.
The only thing you can’t figure out is who owns these balances and who is behind each transaction. This means Bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous; everything is open, transparent and trackable but you still can’t tell who is sending what to whom.
Let’s explain this with an example. You can see on your screen certain rows from Bitcoin’s ledger. We can see that a certain Bitcoin address sent 10,000 Bitcoins to another Bitcoin address in May of 2010.
This specific transaction is the first purchase that was ever made with Bitcoin and it was used to buy 2 pizzas by a guy named Laszlo. Laszlo published a post back in 2010 asking for someone to sell him 2 pizzas in exchange for 10,000 Bitcoins.
Well, someone did, and now the price of these two Pizzas is worth well over 100 million dollars today. Bitcoin is also decentralized; there’s no one computer that holds the ledger. With Bitcoin, every computer that participates in the system is also keeping a copy of the ledger, also known as the Blockchain.
So if you want to take down the system or hack the ledger you’ll have to take down thousands of computers which are keeping a copy and constantly updating it. Like most money today, Bitcoin is also digital.
This means there’s nothing physical that you can touch in Bitcoin. There are no actual coins, there are only rows of transactions and balances. When you “own” Bitcoin it means that you own the right to access a specific Bitcoin address record in the ledger and send funds from it to a different address.
So what does all of this mean? Why is Bitcoin such big news? Well for the first time since digital money came into existence we now have an alternative to the current system. Bitcoin is a form of money that no government or bank can control.
Think about the time before the Internet, how centralized the flow of information was. Basically if you wanted information you could get it from a few major players like the New York Times, The Washington Post and others like them.
Today, thanks to the Internet, information is decentralized and you can communicate and consume knowledge from around the world with the click of a button. Bitcoin is the Internet of money and it’s offering a decentralized solution to money.
Bitcoin has several advantages over the current system. First, it gives you complete control over your money. With Bitcoin, you and you alone can access your funds. How you actually do this will be explained in a later video.
No government or bank can decide to freeze your account or confiscate your holdings. Bitcoin also cuts a lot of the middlemen from the process of transferring money. This means that in many cases Bitcoin is cheaper to use than traditional wire transfers or money orders.
Also, unlike fiat currencies, Bitcoin was designed to be digital by nature, this means you can add additional layers of programming on top of it and turn it into “smart money”, but more on that in later videos.
Finally, Bitcoin opens up digital commerce to 2.5 billion people around the world who don’t have access to the current banking system. These people are unbanked or underbanked because of where they leave and the reality that they have been born into.
However, today, with a mobile phone and a click of a button they can start trading using Bitcoin, no permission needed. Today there are several merchants online and offline that accept Bitcoin. You can order a flight or book a hotel with Bitcoin if you like.
There are even Bitcoin debit cards that allow you to pay at almost any store with your Bitcoin balance. However the road toward acceptance by the majority of the public is still a long one. As we continue in this video series, we will break down exactly how Bitcoin works and how to use it.
We will learn about Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin wallets, how to buy Bitcoins and much more. The revolution of money began in 2009 and these days we are seeing it change money as we know it. You may still have some questions.
If so, just leave them in the comment section below. And if you're watching this video on YouTube and enjoy what you've seen, don't forget to hit the like button. Then, make sure to subscribe for notifications about new episodes.
Thanks for joining me here at the Whiteboard. For 99Bitcoins.com, I’m Nate Martin, and I’ll see you… in a bit.
Gold, silver lower as crude oil sinks, bond yields rise
Gold and silver prices are lower in near midday Tuesday. Weaker crude oil prices and rising U.S. Treasury bond yields on this say helped to pressure the precious metals markets. Also, recently rallying U.S. stock indexes that hit multi-month highs Monday are pulling away trader/investor interest in the long side of the safe-haven gold and silver markets. October gold futures were last down $7.80 at $1,780.00. September Comex silver futures were last down $0.167 at $20.11 an ounce.
Global stock markets were mixed to firmer overnight. U.S. stock indexes are mixed near midday. Corporate earnings reports are in focus this week. Risk appetite in the marketplace this week is less than robust after some downbeat economic from China that prompted China’s central bank to ease its monetary policy. Also, a weaker U.S. Empire State manufacturing report on Monday has ratcheted up worries about an impending U.S. recession.
The key outside markets today see Nymex crude oil prices lower and trading around $87.50 a barrel. Reports said Iran may be taking steps in its nuclear program to ease international sanctions on Iranian oil. The U.S. dollar index is a bit weaker in midday U.S. trading. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is fetching 2.837%.
Technically, October gold futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. A fledgling price uptrend on the daily bar chart has been negated. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the August high of $1,814.40. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,725.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $1,787.60 and then at 1,800.00. First support is seen at today’s low of $1,775.20 and then at $1,760.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.5.
September silver futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. A fledgling uptrend on the daily bar chart has stalled out. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $22.00. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $19.00. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $20.25 and then at $20.50. Next support is seen at today’s low of $19.86 and then at $19.47. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.5.
September N.Y. copper closed down 65 points at 361.10 cents today. Prices closed near mid-range. The copper bulls and bears are on a level overall near-term technical playing field. Prices are trending up on the daily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 385.00 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 330.00 cents. First resistance is seen at last week’s high of 371.30 cents and then at 380.00 cents. First support is seen at this week’s low of 354.60 cents and then at 350.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
This is the language web developers and designers use to stylize and format documents that are created in HTML. CSS is what you’d use if you wanted to organize the layout and improve the look and feel of a web page.
This article will help you learn what HTML5 and CSS3 are and learn about CSS3’s most essential modules and features. We’ll also cover the use and need of CSS3, who is best suited to learning and using CSS3, and how it can accelerate your career growth.
What Exactly are CSS3 and HTML5?
HTML and CSS are the core language components that are used for the construction of web pages. HTML describes the structure of the pages, primarily in regards to tables, text, headings, and images or graphics. It’s the standard programming language for the overall appearance of web pages.
CSS, on the other hand, is the language used for describing the presentation of each page, and primarily in regards to the layout, fonts, and colors.
HTML5
HTML5 is a revision of the HTML standard. It’s a massive improvement over HTML4 because HTML4 did not allow web developers to add features to their sites that were not HTML-supported. To do so required the use of proprietary technologies and the installation of browser plugins.
Subsequently, if web users did not have a device that supported the use of those proprietary technologies or plugins either, then they could not access the content. An example is how Safari on mobile Apple devices does not support the use of Adobe Flash.
The main purpose behind HTML5 was to remove the need for proprietary technologies and plugins. You can create offline applications, and include multimedia animations, audio, and video into your web pages without needing to download extra plugins to include said applications or multimedia.
CSS3
Web designers and developers use CSS3 and HTML to build and modify content on a web page. CSS lets you choose from different typographies, images, colors, tables, and much more to stylize a web page in a way that’s intuitive for users and aesthetically pleasing.
Without CSS, we wouldn’t have any way to position different elements on a web page — CSS lets you use values like ‘fixed’ and ‘absolute’ to position a web page’s visual components.
CSS3 is simply the updated version of an earlier version of CSS (CSS2). It has many important improvements and features that help improve your web presence and are now being utilized in modern browsers, including:
Allowing third-party videos to be viewed without the installation of third-party plugins
Making it easier to install graphics on a web page
Allowing the presentation of content in multiple columns
Enabling a precise positioning of all navigable elements in a web page
Adjusting the white space of a document
Why is CSS Important for Web Design and Development?
CSS3 makes it viable to create web pages that are interactive and highly responsive. CSS3 is often lauded for the many options it provides web designers who need to make their online pages enjoyable to use. After all, if a customer is checking out products and services that a web page is advertising, the presentation of those products and services should be visually appealing — that’s where CSS comes in.
Another advantage to using CSS3 on top of HTML is that it lets web designers create web content without a lot of code. A great example of CSS’s low-code benefits comes from the important modules that CSS3 delivers, like box models, backgrounds and borders, and different layouts for columns.
CSS3 allows designers to add text effects, modify a web page’s layout, or stylize numbers, headers, and footers. Things such as drop shadows, gradients, and rounded corners are practically essential to making any web page appear halfway decent. Once upon a time, these things would have required a web developer to code them from scratch. These days, designers and developers can use CSS3 to consistently create elements for web pages that are precisely positioned while saving time in the process.
You can’t afford to pass on the enhancements in design that CSS3 provides, especially considering that most of your website’s visitors have short attention spans subject to unending cycles of dopamine.
Designers and developers can use CSS3 to consistently create elements for web pages that are precisely positioned while saving time in the process. It’s also a great time to adopt CSS3 into your web development process if you’re getting ready to launch and host a website. Imagine, for example, that you’re setting up a secure cloud hosting solution for your site — you need a way to expedite the rate at which you bring your web pages to life rather than get bogged down by web design. CSS3 is perfect for new websites that need text effects, ways to modify web page layout, and methods that can add numbers, headers, and footers.
It used to be the case that web developers and designers had to turn to complex methods that involved plenty of HTML coding just to create things like drop shadows or rounded corners — no longer is this the case! CSS3 affords us a nearly endless number of ways to include these designs directly and ultimately make your web pages look cleaner and, well, simply better.
Who Should Be Learning CSS3?
Before you consider learning CSS3, it’s a good idea first to have a solid grasp of HTML5. That’s because HTML is the underlying code that creates a web page’s structure and content, whereas CSS is essential to organizing and stylizing that structure.
So, if you learn HTML fundamentals, you’ll be able to understand how websites are created. Once you understand how HTML works, CSS lets you add many layers of dynamic functionality to the pages you create. Plus, once you learn CSS3 and understand how it interacts with HTML, you’ll then be able to use JavaScript to add even more dynamic functionality to your website.
If you’re interested in learning CSS3, take comfort in the fact that it’s not difficult to master. Anyone craving a greater level of control over how their web pages look should take the time to learn CSS3 and HTML. If you master these two languages, there won’t be anything stopping you from building modern and classy websites.
How CSS3 Can Accelerate Your Career
No matter how far along you are in your web development career, it’s a good idea to learn CSS3 to accelerate your growth. Web development is a field that’s hotter than ever and is a profession that’s slated to keep growing well after 2025.
A little-known fact about web development is that CSS, HTML, and JavaScript have been part of the profession for several decades. These three languages form the foundation of web development, and to this day, they form the basis on which new technologies emerge and prosper. If you’ve mastered CSS, you can leverage your skills to pursue web development in other areas, such as mobile app development.
If you love creating web pages that are responsive and exciting to use, you can apply your knowledge of CSS to learn the Bootstrap CSS framework. You can take many paths once you become proficient in CSS3 to keep accelerating your web development career and earn more than you ever thought possible.
Good places to learn about HTML and CSS online include the following resources:
If you’re a web designer or developer, you must become as proficient with CSS3 as possible. CSS3 is one of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal when creating web pages, and since its introduction, CSS3 has granted greater control over how you can present web page content. It doesn’t matter which path you take next to keep advancing your web developer capabilities — you’ll always need mastery over technologies like CSS that form the foundation for web development.
New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.
Freedom and democracy may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World' to gain their own Freedom by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.
Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.
Markethive.com will release its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…".
Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins for "FREE" along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.
BITCOIN MARKET Boom shakalaka, as consumer confidence, falls to all time lows. It appears, like things, are getting better for the global markets, particularly for risk on assets like bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Today'S video we're gonna be taking a look at bitcoin.
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Finding a support on the pi cycle. Bottom support and some very interesting charts saying that there could be a huge shift to the upside. You definitely wan na stay tuned, [, Music, ]. What'S up everyone randall here from crypto love, today's video we're taking a look at bitcoin, finding support on the pi cycle.
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Bottom support band and what could be in the future for bitcoin all coins crypto currencies, particularly with the shifting global narrative. Maybe the whole recession, was a little bit overblown before we get into it guys make sure to like subscribe click.
The notification bell push the like button: let's get to a thousand likes now, it seems like we have firmly found footing in just regular fear, no longer an extreme fear that we are in for the last few months overall today, the market down about three percent bitcoin At 24, 000 ethereum at 1877, bnb at 317, cardano, 55 cents, xrp, 37 cents, solana, 43 dollars and dogecoin 8 cents.
And if you want any top coins today, based on artificial intelligence and machine learning, they would be shiba, inu energy web chain link near protocol and civic. And if you want to check out token members for yourself, there is a one week free trial down in the description.
Now, if we take a look here recently, consumer confidence index just fell below the 2020 crash, even below the 2008 crisis and even below the high inflation periods of these 70s and 80s. Pretty much people don't have confidence in stocks, but here's the great thing as with most contrary indicators when sentiment, gets extremely pessimistic.
We become open to a possible reversal as expectations improve from very low levels. As a matter of fact, if we take a look everybody's like ah, the recession is going to be two years uh the recession.
But if we actually take a look at facts, we can see it keeps getting better for the markets this month. The global supply chain pressures are starting to alleviate with a sharp drop in the index. We can see this drop right off the cliff right here.
Guess what, as things come back to normal, it doesn't appear like we are headed towards recession territory. As a matter of fact, we can see right here. Initial signs of risk taking are seen with money flowing into risk on assets.
You can see this giant pump right here coming above the line right here. The last time this happened was in april 2020 before a 70 bull run on the spx, and you remember how big the bull run was for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
At that point, it went up a lot now bitcoin at this point today, dropping down a little bit from the past few days. Finding support on this blue line, the pi cycle bottom support band within this larger bullish trend in these white lines.
Right here, if we were to break through this band, first support we would find was right around 22 800 dollars, which is a 200 weekly moving average. The lower end of the po of the bullish trend is roughly around 22 000.
However, on the upside, we could go all the way up to around 27 000 before we see the top side of that bullish trend. Now, if we take a look at bitcoin on a monthly time scale, it's making a huge shift to the upside.
We can see bitcoin here kind of having this sine wave or cosine wave depending upon where you started. But if we take a look right now, we have bottom formation in line now. If we take a look at the indicators here, we have the fib mas closed.
The arun oscillator, which generally has picked out the bottoms, with very good clarity right now, picking out a bottom with a very good clarity. A lot of people are wondering, is bitcoin ever going to come up yeah, it just needs to get through the bottom.
That'S all also with this vi indicator. We have bottom formations when it crosses right here and we're just about closing across which generally signals the end of the bottom, the beginning of the uptrend.
Now, if we take a look at the capitulation confluence model from the real plan c, this is three models: combined, realized losses, network, cost basis, change and sopr. We can see that every time we had it down in this negative area, that was the bottom down in the negative area, the bottom down the negative area, the bottom down the negative area, the bottom.
So guess what you know what happens after the bottom? We start going back upwards and if we take a look here, this hasn't occurred yet, but very very close. The bitcoin three-day rsi breakout when we take a look at the rsi on three-day time scale.
Rsi is a very, very good predictor. Once we break out of an rsi downtrend, huge bull runs ensued. It happened previously down here and look at that plus 280 percent happen down here. Guess what 570 percent it's about to happen once again, if we break out there particularly find a support above there, we could have a huge massive bull run ensuing because as of right now, bitcoin is sitting above the rainbow trend for the fourth time, the trend line Is above the price that was the starting point of the bull market as we see right here, we have broken above this rainbow trend.
Now, if we take a look back in 2018, look at this once we broke above the trend, look at what happened at bitcoin price, but that's not the only time that it happened because, as we broke above that trend, look at this in 2015, massive bull run In 2012, once we broke above massive bull run, so this is very, very good news that the markets are turning for bitcoin and for cryptocurrencies.
If we also take a look at this one right here with the blog macd support, we can see we have another giant bull cycle coming with a crossing of the macd on this support line down here each time indicating a massive bottom before the price went up Significantly to what levels you might ask well how about these levels? If we take a look here at bitcoin and tricks? Well, the tricks to the bottom indicated a bottom, and then the bull run came afterwards.
So this is another great bottom indicator. We'Ll take a look. We'Re down at the bottom right now potentially could be headed to 200 000 plus per bitcoin. So that's all for today's episode. Things are looking good.
Despite not having confidence, we could have things bounce back faster than anyone is expecting, especially since we're headed towards more people. Investing in risk on assets all that money is going to flow back into bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, sending the prices up a lot higher than anyone expects.
Thank you for watching i'll catch. You guys later have a good one love you
If you are new to business and online marketing, welcome! I know from experience that it can feel both exciting, yet overwhelming to know where to start. This article shows you how to get off the mark with the customer journey to your first few clients. It will address three core reasons why businesses fail as it relates to the customer journey. The three areas are, no product to market match, no compelling offer, and lack of funding. It will also cover some free and low cost assistive tools for online deployment.
Business Failure: No Market to Product Match
Before looking at all the bells and whistles that might comprise your marketing resources and essential toolkit, it's important to take inventory of what you are looking to bring to the table through your gifts and talents by way of a product or service. Having determined that, who is your target avatar and how does your product or service fit with the market?
Research
Since a no product to market match is one of the cited reasons a business fails in the first few years, it is important to avoid the temptation to second guess the market. Let the market give you the feedback.
Step 1 – Collate
Compile research on your topic area from both a market data and educational perspective. Look at opposing viewpoints too. A simple free tool to start is to use your google browser to type in a buyer keyword to see what people are predisposed to buying in your category. Artificial Intelligence has also developed free tools such as SIRI and Google Voice. Google Keep and Evernote are valuable tools for capturing information.
You could also use social media sites such as facebook, linked in and google ads, or you could use special interest forums. Alternatively you can use sites like Fiverr or Upwork as a low cost way to get your research off the mark.
Step 2 – Engage
It's important to speak to your target market, in order to further test how your product or service will meet their needs. This will help you develop and refine your offer as you customize for an optimal fit. You can use typeform or google forms as a free tool to compile a brief survey. You could also print your form off and do this informally in your community or at your local business event. If you want to gather survey data on a more global basis, you might want to consider survey monkey as a more specific alternative to social media ads. This is a paid service.
Bear in mind that any data and research will form part of your marketing collateral later. Here is a free guide on how to create a lean canvas, which is a streamlined one page diagrammatic layout for your business model with research tips, by Ash Maurya. Keep it simple.
The Customer Journey
The whole process of sales and profits is not simply about how good your product is but also about the prospect you foresee becoming your customer. So it pays to understand the journey of sales from their perspective, not just yours.
For example there are various models which give out a structural formula from your perspective, and the most common one I see is the AIDA formula, which stands for Awareness or Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. That is client acquisition from your perspective, so you may wish to consider a more expansive process that covers the relationship from initial awareness to what it would be like to have a long term customer who is happy to espouse your services to others.
It is worth taking the time to profile your client as that will give you a depth of understanding which will enable effective communication as you create touch points. Psychographics is the term often used to describe this activity, where you examine attitudes, buying behaviours, desires etc.
Touchpoints
Touch points are the various ways in which you will communicate and educate your prospect throughout the customer journey. This may include email, direct messaging, business events and phone conversations. They will take on board the demographic profile of your prospective customer too. Demographics are to do with location, job, income for example.
If your solution is solving a problem a potential client does not even know they have, education is going to be a key part of your communication process. Bear this in mind as you move forward. Touchpoints should be a secondary consideration to building on the foundation of understanding your customer, as Mckinsey & Company conclude.
“We found that a company’s performance on journeys is 35 percent more predictive of customer satisfaction and 32 percent more predictive of customer churn than performance on individual touchpoints. Since a customer journey often touches different parts of the organization, companies need to rewire themselves to create teams that are responsible for the end-to-end customer journey across functions.” McKinsey & Company
You can create a visual template that maps out the customer journey using free tools such as mural. Or you could use microsoft dynamics. Here is an example of a simple design overview.
This is an important factor and needs to be done in a way that rather than simply persuade, will help your prospect make an informed decision. This means including the benefits but also the downsides, or who this is not for. This approach helps to build trust, which is at an all time low in general. So be willing to take the time to build trust. An automated way to educate your prospects in a drip feed manner is by the use of an autoresponder. This way you can pre-sequence and deliver content at a reasonable pace.
Autoresponders do not come cheap and increase as your audience grows. The only exception to that which I found is trafficwave.net which keeps a consistent low price regardless of audience size. Better still is Markethive’s free autoresponder which has a one click sign up facility and great deliverability. For a walk through on the setup of this autoresponder watch this video tutorial.
You can combine that with a medium to educate your prospects such as live events or video. You can use audio too if you are camera shy but video is best in a world where trust is at an all time low. Education is where you get to showcase your expertise as to how your offer will significantly benefit your prospect. This may happen in an experiential online or offline event.
The more you can show rather than just tell, the better. You want your prospect to be able to experience a different future as a result of purchasing from you. Assistive free tools you can use are zoom’s video conferencing tool to interact, which is free to use for 40 minutes for a maximum of 100. You can also record videos too. OBS is a free video and live broadcasting tool which you can download to your computer and create educational content too. Markethive will shortly be coming out with its own inbuilt video conferencing in due course as it comes out of beta. So watch this space.
Business Failure: No Compelling Offer
When you offer your product it is important that it is a compelling offer, otherwise you will fail on execution. This is where proof of concept comes in.
Proof of Concept
Proof of concept is where you get to test the viability of your product or service through confirmed sales, prior to a full launch. This may come in a break even or beta form, where you give a discount in return for your prospects trial of your offer, and their video feedback for example.
The results can become part of your marketing on a bigger scale later. In the meantime, it is important to bring clarity and confidence to the prospect if they are to buy from you. While it is possible to conduct sales manually, you will also need to consider an online website and payment structure.
When it comes to websites, your choice will depend on your business model. You could use a simple lead capture page to start with, which will allow you to integrate your chosen autoresponder. Markethive also offers free capture pages. WordPress is a popular free drag and drop website platform with free themes which shape the look and feel of your site.
You will need a domain name and hosting for your website if you choose this route. You also may need to acquire a bit of technical knowledge to put it together. Here’s a tutorial. A less usual but cheaper and faster alternative is amazon S3 web buckets. Canva is also a great free resource where you can use templates to build websites and create graphics to get started.
For a cottage industry, you might prefer to start with a low key way to test the water and build community so one option might be Buy Me A Coffee, which has less of a corporate feel, and where you can connect to a payment provider called Stripe. For payments in general, you can always use paypal, stripe or wise, both of which have an invoice feature, and are global providers.
Business Failure: Insufficient Funding or Lack of Capital
This is a common reason for business failure and many funding attempts fail and are unable to compete with global corporations. However, If you construct your business plan in the manner described in this article, you will stand a better chance because you will have demonstrated a compelling offer to market match.
New funding sources are emerging all the time yet many of the conventional ways still are not working for entrepreneurs. Creativity is needed and it may be that you start simple with a self-liquidating approach where you use a skill as a side hustle to acquire cashflow for your business.
Another consideration that has serious merit is Markethive. Markethive is an example of an innovative ecosystem which has overcome the product to market match, has a compelling offer and a funding solution for the new and existing entrepreneur, in action.
Firstly, Markethive is meeting a demand in the markethive place with a compelling suite of offers in both free and paid membership. Built from the ground up, it is now powered by the blockchain as a social network and inbound marketing ecosystem combined, with free and cost-effective tools to help level the playing field for the entrepreneur just starting out.
If you need to acquire marketing tools to reduce costs, you get at least $2000 worth of that in the free membership alone, including an autoresponder and lead capture pages to name a couple. You also get rewarded for contribution to the platform. When it comes to cash flow its unique ILP offer [initial loan procurement] provides a paid subscription which gives you even more tools while sharing in the profits of the company as the company grows.
This unique offer is shortly to expire, so check out all this ecosystem has to offer and see where it might fit your needs. It was built for you. Consider how it will help you future proof your business.
Launch Party
When you finally launch your offer, celebrate! Consider having a launch party where you create a special offer for first time customers. It is no mean feat to have created an offer to market match and one that is compelling. You have set your business up for success! Although this article has addressed how to get off the mark, the sale is just the start, and it will bode well to remember that.
How you nurture your client, so that they become a returning customer, where appropriate, is going to be down to how you nurture and support that relationship, as well as the value-added improvements you make to your offer. You will also need to consider how to scale and automate key parts of your business, such as social media content sharing so you can focus on your expertise.
Also remember to continue to communicate with those who did not purchase. Many buy later in time. Lack of follow through is also responsible for lost sales. According to one report 60% of customers reject offers four times prior to an eventual purchase.
On a final note, the beauty of surveying prospects is that they too can become a part of the journey of your compelling offer, helping you to craft the perfect offer through their feedback. This makes them more than a purchaser, someone who has become part of the creative journey and solution. They are your community, the ones that are likely to act like your marketing arm or ambassador in the future. Look after them and your business success will increase.
About: Anita Narayan. (United Kingdom) My life's work is about helping individuals to greater freedom through joy and purpose without self-sabotage, so that inspirational legacy can serve generations to come. Find me at my Markethive Profile Page | My Twitter Account | and my LinkedIn Profile.
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