Jonathan Denwood

Building Your Business Using Multimedia

2009-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

I got some puzzled remarks about my last blog article, “The Illusion of Economic theories - the Real Lesson of 2008”. Some reader questioned what it had to do with the Internet and web design/development.
Well, first, I made the decision when I decided to write a personal blog that it wouldn’t be solely about my business activities. Some of the articles would be about broader, important subjects. At the present moment, we are facing a historic and difficult economic period. Many people are very confused about what to do with their personal investments. So, I thought it was the right moment to write something about the situation.

However, there was another important point in my last article: it was connected to how multimedia can be used to grow your business. An example of this can be seen by how both Andrew Horowitz and Peter Schiff have used multimedia.

Podcasting for Market Presence

Andrew Horowitz over the past 18 months has built one of the leading financial/business podcasts, “The Disciplined Investor,” on iTunes. This podcast has a listener base in the thousands. In traditional media terms, this level of listener base would have been seen as being too small and specialized for it to be made. However, modern technology makes it very easy and cheap, compared to a couple of years ago, to make this type of podcast. Andrew has obtained enormous public exposure in the financial industry and the general investment community. It would not have been possible or affordable for Horowitz to obtain this level of publicity a couple of years ago. This is a clear example of the power of modern multimedia.

Video for Online Cross-Pollination

Peter Schiff is another financial expert who has used traditional and new forms of multimedia to develop and grow his business, Euro Pacific Capital. Peter has become a very popular guest on a number of the specialized financial television channels like Bloomberg. However, before television Peter used online video to really promote not only himself but also his business. Just do a search on YouTube using "Peter Schiff". You will see page after page of online video of Peter. He also has used his own company’s website as a central media portal for all the separate media formats that he has used to promote not only himself but also his company.

I personally feel that these two individuals have clearly shown the power of modern multimedia. It does take time, commitment and a bit of money, but it is clearly possible for somebody who has something interesting to say and some presentation skills to build an online audience that can greatly help their own business.

The Illusion of Economic Theories - the Real Lesson of 2008

2009-01-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

Over the past 12 to 18 months we have seen the mass destruction of a lot of institutional and individual wealth. Many - even most - of our cherished theories of free-market capitalism have been questioned or have been revealed as basically wrong.

Many on the right are saying that much of what has gone wrong over these 18 months is the responsibility of the former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan. In some ways, I can understand this view; however, many of these individuals are the same individuals who only four to five years ago were saying how great a Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan was!

I was listening to a financial podcast by Andrew Horowitz - The Disciplined Investor. It’s highly informative and interesting and I would recommend the podcast to anybody who is interested in how the stock market really works and in ways of protecting their money. In a recent week’s episode, Horowitz interviewed Peter Schiff, President of Euro Pacific Capital. Peter is a well-known and very popular TV financial commentator. His nickname is Dr. Doom. Peter was one of the few so-called financial experts who predicted the housing bust and its consequences to the American economy.
You can see a famous, or should I say notorious, speech Peter Schiff did in front of the Western Regional Mortgage Bankers Association Meeting in November 2006 on YouTube. In this speech, he predicts -- in front of a hostile audience -- the coming collapse of the U.S. housing market.

Spreading (Saying 'bye' to) My Investment

I have always admired Peter, mostly connected to this speech. It takes real intellectual guts to publicly swim against prevailing popular views.
I personally decided to invest a little bit of my own money with Peter’s company, which over this past year he and his colleagues have managed to completely destroy! He has managed to reduce my principle amount invested with him by half in one year!
Luckily, I decided to place only a small amount of my savings with Peter Schiff. I would strongly advise any of you not to put all your eggs in one basket. Just look at the poor people who invested all their money with Bernard Madoff!
No, one of the basic rules of investing is, spread your money around.
I still agree with a lot of what Peter Schiff has to say; however, he is bit like a broken record, repeatedly playing the same song. Also, he doesn’t seem to believe he and his team should protect their clients’ money using options strategies, diversification and other professional tools. I have recently felt like sending Peter a copy of Andrew Horowitz’s book, The Disciplined Investor Essential Strategies for Success.

Peter Schiff’s Gloomy Forecasts

One of Peter’s main intellectual blind spots is that he believes that the world can be defined clearly in economical separate parts. And that the Far East will do a lot better than the U.S. in this downturn.
This is clearly not correct; it is becoming clear that in the coming year the Far East might be more damaged by the global downturn then America itself. However, when the global economy does recover in the coming years, the returns that foreign shares provide will be much higher compared to U.S. domestic shares.
This is mostly because of the basic fact that even now with a 50% decline in most of the leading U.S. share prices, the shares are still too expensive, with historic high P/E factors
Peter is very gloomy about the prospects of the U.S. economy. He is deeply worried that inflation in the high double digits will become a reality in the U.S. economy. I agree with this to some level because with the amount of money that has been pumped into the U.S. financial system, inflation will normally, in the end, become a major problem for the U.S. economy.
Peter also predicts that the U.S. dollar in the medium- to long-term will once again find itself under intense pressure and lose a lot of value against leading world currencies.
I basically agree with his outlook. However, I do feel that Peter has over-estimated the degree of inflation pressure that the U.S. economy will face. This is mainly down to the fact that there will be high levels of over-production in the global economy even after recession, and this should keep wage levels down in the U.S. This, to some level, will keep inflation down to a lower level then Peter forecasts.

My Three Disagreements with Peter Schiff

There are three main areas where I fundamentally disagree with Peter’s outlook.

His attitude that the world economy can be split into separate geographic areas. I personally feel that this to some level correct in upturn periods but is fundamentally wrong in periods of deep global recession.
Peter underestimates the real strengths of the U.S economy. These strengths are mostly connected to America still being one of the most open societies in the world. This allows quality individuals from the rest of the world to move and work in the U.S., start new businesses and develop new technologies that really benefit the U.S. economy. However, under President Bush’s presidency it has become much harder for clever people to move and work in the U.S. I hope this will change under the presidency of Barack Obama and return to the historic norm of America attracting some of the best minds of the world. China does not have this advantage. Yes, it has an enormous population, but it can’t compete against the global population in intellectual terms because it is not an open society!
Peter states that free enterprise is not the real problem but the real fault was the economic policies of Alan Greenspan. In some ways I am in agreement with this view. However, this view does have some major problems. First, I personally don’t feel that free enterprise really exists. It’s a bit like trying to ask 100 people what they feel the word globalization really means. You get 100 different answers. He really feels that the system can self-regulate. This is obviously incorrect – as evidenced by this year’s experiences!

-- Jonathan

Technorati

2008-12-05T16:46:00.001-08:00

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Change is in the Air

2008-12-03T13:21:00.001-08:00

America is facing a difficult economic period but I’m sure America will recover. However, I also feel that something fundamental has changed over the past six months. This is to do with the belief that things can just go back to the way they were before this latest economic crisis: I don't think so.

What has really changed?

I think it's down to the basic fact that the business and economic philosophy of the past twenty years has been shown to be fundamentally wrong and deeply flawed. It is not economically or environmentally sustainable.

By the same token, the idea that we can go back to Roosevelt America is a lie.
What we need is a new type of American capitalism. What Alexander Dubcek suggested for communism and Czechoslovakia, we need. It's what I call Capitalism with a Human Face.
For America and the world to recover and prosper from this economic crisis, we need a new form of capitalism that is environmentally and economically sustainable.
This is why it was great to listen to Roger Wittenberg (see previous blog). He clearly and directly shows a new path that not only can be successful but also can offer sustainability.

-- Jonathan

Capitalism With a Human Face

2008-12-03T12:56:00.000-08:00

My wife asked me to go with her to a very American business event on Saturday, November 25, 2008. It was called The Tahoe Entrepreneurship Summit.
This was part of a bigger worldwide event called the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In truth, I didn’t really want to go. I had quite a bit of work to do and the idea of spending my day listening to presentations on how to run or start up a business didn’t really fill me with great deal of joy.
But in the end, I agreed to go with the proviso that if it was really boring we could go home early, which would allow me to get on with my late web design projects!
The drive from Carson City to Lake Tahoe was beautiful, as usual. It was one of the man reasons that I agreed to go. I'll take any opportunity to see Lake Tahoe.
The Summit was being held at Sierra Nevada College, which is a fantastic looking campus near the shores of Lake Tahoe.

Was this Going to be a Long Day?

Things didn’t look too good as I read the list of speakers; it was a mixture of local State and Federal government agents for business development and a few other speakers. I'm not being funny here, but I have heard the same speeches from these government agents on many occasions over the past couple of years.
In general they do a good job, but the prospect of listening again to how they can help new business owners construct a business plan didn’t bode well for this being a really useful event. I did see that in the afternoon there was going to be a panel from eWomen, which I am a member of, a national networking organization with its local branch run by Kymberlee Simantel.
Kymberlee is an individual who just brings a smile to my face and generally makes you feel better about yourself. So, I’m always glad to show my support for eWomen but they were going to present in the late afternoon. The big question: Could I last that long?

The Reason I Listened Up

Then I looked again and the first speaker was Roger Wittenberg. I thought this was going to be interesting because Roger is a very interesting guy! See, a lot of people talk about doing business. But Roger is that rare individual that has really has done a lot of business during his career!
As Roger spoke about his business career, it was obviously that he was speaking from his heart. He talked about his first business venture, chicken feed. You know it takes a good speaker to make chicken feed interesting! And Roger made it very interesting! Then he talked about how he set up his next company, Trex, which made him a very wealthy individual.

From Chicken Feed to Business Peaks

What made it really interesting for me was that Roger explained some of his business logic connected to his general business decisions. A lot of people think that to be really successful in business you just need luck. In some ways I do agree with this. In business you do need to be lucky. But in a lot of ways you make your own luck. Having a full understanding of an industry and its particular financial structures will help make you be lucky!
Roger then talked about how he sold Trex to Mobil Oil and about the culture of the Oil Company’s organization. Then he discussed his business logic in his decision to try and buy back Trex from Mobil Oil when Mobil was merged with Exxon Oil.
He told us all how he borrowed $30 million and had to put all his own and family personal assets at risk to buy back Trex from Exxon.
Also Roger talked about his latest business venture, Boulder Bay Resort, which he hopes will be not only be a business success but be a clear example for what he sees as the real sustainable commercial future of Lake Tahoe and Northern Nevada.

Business CAN Help Protect the Environment

I personally felt that there was a clear philosophy to all his business choices over his long business career; apart from making money, this has to do with key ideas of sustainability and protecting the local and national environment.
After his presentation, I approached Roger and we had quite a long chat about sustainability and business. I was slightly depressed but also rejuvenated by his words.
The depression came when Roger pointed out to me that I was deluding myself about how the upper echelons of corporate America really thinks of sustainability and the environment. (I'm too optimistic there.)
The rejuvenation was connected to meeting somebody like Roger.
- Jonathan

Experiments with CMS

2008-09-19T11:35:00.002-07:00

I’ve been experimenting with CMS platforms. Following in the footsteps of the great scientists of the world (or crazed experimenters, depending on your outlook), I’ve been experimenting mostly on my own self.
I just redesigned my website on a Joomla platform.

If I looked crazed when you see me out in web design circles here in Nevada, well, I just might be. Building in Joomla can be a terrific headache, I’ll tell you that, even after you figure out all its esoteric design code.

There’s a lot of good about Joomla and I’ll be recommending it to some of my clients. Maybe that’s more of my delirium speaking! But Joomla’s a boon to small business owners who want to quickly grow the content on their sites.
It’s got a nice admin side to it, so it works for businesses that want multiple people uploading information; and that’s all controllable, too, so a Joomla site is not a fragile or easily breakable site.
Still, it’s just one of the CMS tools I’m liking these days. Another favorite of mine: Adobe Contribute.

-- Jonathan
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Disappointments Rooted in Lack of SEO

2008-08-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

I hear these types of remarks all too often:
“I had a great website designed for the business but nobody goes and uses it and I don’t think it’s bought any real benefits to the business and it cost loads of money it all the web designer's fault.”
Comments like these are enough to break a Web designer’s heart. Ah, the waste of it all!
The sad truth is that the problem these website owners are facing is simple and all-too-prevalent - a lack of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It’s something professional Web Designers build into a site, and it’s becoming a big part of what differentiates the very professional designer from the hobby designer. It’s really one of the chief reasons to hire us to build and design a website.
Other factors influence SEO, and I’ll talk about them another time. But here’s what’s on my mind today: clean, professional code. Code that's beautiful, code that sings. Code that is poetry hidden behind the scenes.
In brief: The structure of your website’s code is a big part of getting your site to rank well in the big three: Google, Yahoo, MSN.
So, should you hire a professional to build your site? Short answer: yes.

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