A great business name is sticky and flexible. Whether you hear it in a crowded room or say it yourself, it resonates and remains. So what are the naming strategies behind some of the greatest companies of all time? Apple was able to make people believe that the high-tech world of personal computing was friendly and inviting by choosing a common, every day name. Samsonite created an image of strength and durability that only Samson himself could uphold. BlackBerry used our sense of touch by associating the phone and its small keyboard buttons to the drupelets that form the blackberry fruit.There are a variety of different strategies that entrepreneurs use to create a memorable and unique name for a new business. Some strategies are more successful than others, yet they all seem to co-exist, making it important to review each type to get a feel for what is available. The dynamics behind choosing a business name are easy, but the final selection is one of the most important decisions you will make as a business owner. Your company name is the doorway to your product or service. It must be nothing short of spectacular.With that goal in mind, here are the top 5 most common business name types, with a few pros and cons of each. If you are in the process of considering a name for your new business or thinking of renaming your current business, you can refer to this as a guide to help you navigate the world of exceptional, extraordinary and mind-blowing business names.No. 1: The Real Word Business NameWe all recognize certain names in the English language because they have become household names. They refer to products or services we use everyday. Quaker, Shell and Twitter are familiar to us because they are real words, yet they have been given arbitrary meanings on account of being associated with very successful businesses. Sometimes new companies looking to capitalize on the familiarity of a word will choose to use a name that already exists as part of a new business name. These names are best described as Real Word business names.Amazon, Yelp and Adobe are more examples of highly successful businesses that began by employing simple, recognizable names that grew into multi-million dollar companies. In fact, most people today would probably tell you that “Amazon” is an online retailer before telling you that it is a female warrior or river. On the downside, real words are next to impossible to obtain the.com URL for and notoriously difficult to protect. Real word business names, while easy and convenient, are not necessarily recommended solutions, despite the powerful potential for recognition.No. 2: The Descriptive Business NameThere is no doubt that when consumers hear the name “Super Cuts” they envision that there is some cutting going on, and more than likely, it’s super. A Descriptive business name is one that essentially describes a product or service by identifying some ingredient, quality or characteristic of that product. While naming strategies that employ descriptors are easy to understand and informative, they are hardly unique, and far too common. At best, descriptive names are boring, lack appeal and in most cases, are not worthy of trademark protection.Yet, there are a few benefits to using a descriptive name to identify your business. For one, there is no ambiguity in “All Bran Cereal.” And from a marketing perspective, sometimes it’s not so bad to be direct. At their worst, descriptive names can cause consumers to associate the business with a lack of creativity and innovation. And unless you have an unusually large budget and the ability to quickly rise above the competition, a descriptive name is a tough bet.No. 3: The Compound Word Business NameHere is where it starts to get interesting. Many businesses have been very successful employing a combination of two common (or uncommon) words to make one new name and concept. Compound Word business names tend to be interesting and unique, particularly if new meanings can be created through the combination of words that are not typically used together.Compound word business names are generally easy for consumers to remember because of their uniqueness and memorability – think SalesForce and FireFox. In some respects, the right combination can also incite strong curiosity, which is always a good thing for business. With compound business names, the possibilities are endless as there is virtually no end to the number of winning combinations that can be created. It is tough to find any drawback to using a really good compound word for a business name, but if there is one, its length.Compound words have the tendency to carry more characters than other styles of business names. It may be tough, but resist using any compound name that exceeds ten characters. Keep it short and sweet and you can’t lose.No. 4: The Associated Word Business NameSometimes, business names resonate because they blend two or more words together, making it fun to think of two unrelated objects as one. “NetScape” is basically a blend of “net” and the word “landscape,” which denotes an Internet landscape, making for a perfect business name for an Internet web browser. Associated Word business names include all kinds of unique names that are simply blends of other words, words with prefixes or suffixes affixed, even misspellings of other common words.Associated words can be highly successful business names. Cisco (from San Francisco), Wikipedia (from encyclopedia) and Google (from “googol”) certainly did not have difficulty gaining credibility. These business names have strong underlying meanings and provide a much better back-story than other types of names. Associated words make great business names and can be quite successful if chosen carefully. However, getting it “right” can be tricky, and it’s easy to sound contrived or unnatural if you are not careful.No. 5: The Brandable or Generic Business NameWhen it comes to trademarking and ease of use, nothing comes close to the Brandable or Generic Business name. Brandable names are among the easiest business names to protect and one of the simplest and most effective ways to ensure uniqueness for the product or service you are offering. The biggest advantage to choosing a brandable name lies in its brandability. As consumers use and enjoy your product, your name develops a definition that describes what your company offers.Startups and even established businesses forever look for ways to build brand awareness. The right brandable name will successfully launch any branding campaign. Consumers recall your business name and along with it, your product. For every company, across all industries, this is a huge advantage, as it prevents external “noise” created by the associations people make with Descriptive and Associated style names. It’s surprising how many people have a negative opinion of a particular business name simply because it evokes negative feelings that stemmed from a past circumstance. A unique or “nonsense” name prevents this and gives your company an edge over the descriptive competition.Your business has a lot to gain, or lose, in your choice of name. Your business name is the gateway to your products and services and by default, your livelihood. When you are unsure where to begin, review these strategies and make an informed decision on a name that will resonate with your customers and excite curiosity. After all, you only have one business name, get it right and get peace of mind that comes from knowing you have made the right choice in a high performing, exceptional name that consumers will continually be drawn to.
Credit Unions Challenge Big Banks for Private Student Loans
Big banks that offer private-label college loans are facing new competition from credit unions that are looking to issue their own private student loans.Credit unions, in increasing numbers, are developing partnerships with private loan companies like Sallie Mae and Credit Union Student Choice to deliver private loan products to credit union members. In one such agreement, Southeast Corporate Federal Credit Union, which itself has more than 400 member credit unions, will offer private student loans through Sallie Mae.Private loans, non-federal education loans issued by banks and private lenders, are designed to assist students who have exhausted their federal loan options. Private loans can be used to cover up to 100 percent of a student’s approved educational expenses.Credit Unions Offering Flexibility in Student Loan ProgramsSome credit union private loan programs are being structured to appeal to families with more than one student in college by enabling parents to make multiple withdrawals on a single line of credit worth as much as $75,000. In addition, credit union-backed student loans are eliminating loan origination fees and offer both in-school loan repayment and deferred, post-graduation repayment plans.In-school repayment options enable students to reduce the overall amount of interest their private loan accrues before they graduate. According to Sallie Mae, students who begin college loan repayments while still in school can reduce their student loan debt by 30 to 50 percent over traditional college loan payment plans, which defer repayment until after a student has graduated or left school.Investors Looking to Private Student Loans’ Long-Term GrowthThe prospects for private loan companies and college loan securitization are improving marginally. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) recently sold a bond worth nearly $1.2 billion that was backed by student loans, after previously relying on commercial and residential mortgages to secure its bond sales.Credit rating agencies are less sure that private student loan companies represent a good risk; however, many analysts remain optimistic about the long-term investment potential of private loans.Fueling investor confidence in the longer-term prospect of the private student loan market is the growing demand for student financial aid as record numbers of students are entering college each year.Federal Budget Cuts May Pave the Way for More Private Student LoansIndeed, private loans may gain market share in a more immediate future than analysts had been predicting.On Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate is currently struggling to pass a continuation of its earlier spending authorization to fund the Department of Education’s federal Pell Grant program, which awards government-issued college grants to financially needy and lower-income students. The current authorization expires December 18.If the Senate fails to reauthorize the funding proposal at its current level, students who are eligible for a Pell Grant may find their Pell Grant award reduced or eliminated. With less Pell Grant aid available to them, many of these students would then need to take out more money in student loans in order to pay for college and complete their degree.Congress is already considering elimination of the Pell Grant program altogether, as recommended by President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.The bipartisan panel, which recently forwarded its final report to Congress, recommended that the federal government reduce federal education grants based on a student’s pre-college family income in favor of more government-issued college loans, which would need to be paid back, replenishing the government’s coffers, and that would be more attuned to a borrower’s post-graduation earning potential.However, spending appropriations for an expanded federal loan program may face stiff opposition in the Republican-led House of Representatives.As Congress wrestles with the funding needs and long-term future of both federal grant and federal student loan programs, private loan companies are positioning themselves to fill in any emerging federal financial aid funding gaps.private college loans: http://www.nextstudent.com/private-loans/private-loans.asp
Do You Sacrifice Profits In Search Of A Simple, Mechanical E-Mini Trading System?
It’s not unusual for trading prospects to ask me to if I could teach them “a simple e-mini trading system they can learn quickly.” If your goal is to master trading by purchasing a canned e-mini trading system that has simple indicators and churns out money like an ATM you will be disappointed in this article. The point of this short discussion is to contrast simple trading systems and complex trading systems and hopefully find a middle point that satisfies the need for precise trading. It is my belief that trading is not a simple process and some level of sophistication (complexity) is essential. That statement does not imply that you need a super-computer to succeed, but you do need to have read more than a single do-it-yourself trading book and slap up a few of the recommended lagging oscillator and expect to prosper.Through experience every successful trader finds a methodology that isolates and measures variables of the trader’s choosing to identify potential profitable trades. A written plan is usually composed and specific guidelines are recorded for maximizing the trading strategy’s earning potential. As an aside, most of the great traders I have worked with were terrific with price action.I was browsing on the trading forums recently and came across a thread entitled, “How many e-mini trading systems have you purchased?” I was stupefied by the length of the thread and its contents. Most of the participants had purchased between 5 and 10 systems and paid upwards of $2,000, or more, for a trading system that they now had discarded. Most of the usual lagging indicator trading systems I recognized and they were the ones that use a couple of moving averages and a couple of generic indicators and promised success at an unattainably high percentage rate. A few of the participants disclosed their total expenditure on trading systems and those numbers ranged from $5,000 to $40,000.I haven’t found a system described above that works in varying market conditions. They all seem to work in a trending market, but who needs an e-mini trading system in a strong trend? Again, shortcuts in learning to trade usually result in disappointment. If you put the time in and learn to trade an effective trading strategy (and can control your emotions to any degree) you stand a much better chance of succeeding than any simple lagging indicator may provide.On the other hand, I have encountered systems that had so many indicators and rules that I was left bewildered. Most of these systems I encountered at the institutional trading level, never at the retail level. I suppose that with intensive study and some years of experience I could have succeeded. But is it really worth all the work to learn just one system? I don’t think so.Finding the balance of simplicity and complexity in your trading system is a balancing act that comes to fruition through experience and education.. I firmly believe that learning a specific rules-based mechanical trading system is futile. On the other hand, mastering a personal trading strategy is essential.Why not start with trend lines and support and resistance? Add an order flow program, volume indicator, an understanding of price action, and a momentum indicator and you have the beginnings of a trading system. As a trader, you have to develop a methodology that isolates and measures the important variables in your trading strategy and correlate the convergence between trading system components. If you can implement an effective trading strategy with the “old school” tools of trading previously mentioned you will have a coherent trading strategy that works in varying market. It will take a good deal of practice, experience, and chart time to perfect your trading strategy.In summary, if your mindset is to purchase a canned e-mini trading system in order to short-cut learning the fundamentals of trading may result in trading losses. Trading is about thinking and executing based upon price action, volume, order flow and support and resistance; you may even have some variables that work better for you; just make sure you can isolate and measure any variable. Finding a healthy coexistence between simplicity and complexity is the road to success.
Are You Choosing the Right Stock Market Advisory Company
What do you do if you want to learn driving a car? You will try to find an expert teacher, isn’t it? You do not want to avail the services of a novice individual to help you out, but a professional person can provide you the vital tips and most importantly guide you efficiently. Similarly, when it comes to investing in the stock market for the first time, you require a knowledgeable advice to attain your financial goals and get profitable returns.
If you are a beginner, then it is quite obvious that you may be having no information about the process of buying the right shares in the market. In such a situation, getting the right tips from an experienced financial advisor or a registered advisory company will truly prove to be a great blessing in disguise. However, there are some of the important things that have to be kept in mind while choosing the top stock market advisory company, which are as follows:
How much assistance do you actually require?
Before you make up your mind to hire an advisor, it is imperative that you must first decide about the kind of service you require from them. You may need their help at the beginning or during the time of any issues. This is because an advisor has to formulate a map according to your requirements. Hence, it is suggested to ascertain your needs first and then take further action.
Choose a top ranked advisory company
It is a very important point that has to be taken into the consideration. Availing services of the well known advisory company or a financial advisor is an absolute necessity. Make it a point to carry out a proper background or research work about the company. Check out their credentials, reputation, experience, etc before hiring them.
Asking for a sample financial plan initially makes sense
When hiring a financial advisor, then do not forget to ask for sample plan first. It is imperative to note that there is no such thing called the perfect plan. A sample plan will help you to determine whether an advisory company is actually making sense according your requirements or not.
Conclusion
The financial planners or advisory companies can really turn out to be the greatest asset for you if you choose the best one. They are just like the professional sailors who can help you out to sail through stock investment related problems quite efficiently.
Deepak is a financial advisor who likes to provide quality tips to the people facing any issues with regard to investing in the stock market. He likes to keep himself updated about the stock market by reading articles, news and blogs, etc.