Month: June 2017

Investing in a small business or franchise—or even buying stocks in a company—is a smart way to increase your money. Investing in a business as the owner or a stockholder can result in big returns if the opportunity is right. There is always some level of risk with an investment, so how do you choose where to invest your money?

The good news is that there are a number of industries that are consistently making profits and increasing in size. There is no such thing as a sure thing in investing, but some of these lucrative industries are as close as you can get.

#1 Promotional Products
This $20 billion industry is an integral part of the business-to-business (B2B) market. Selling to other businesses is a great way to make money because businesses invest in products and services that help their customers.

The promotional products industry includes a variety of items that companies can use as rewards and incentives, apparel and uniforms, and swag for customers. Some of the offerings in the promotional products industry include:

Apparel
Bags and totes
Trophies
Corporate gifts and service awards
Water bottles
Pens
Tools
Technology
Lanyards
These are just some of the products that a promotional marketing company may sell to its B2B customers.

Opportunities in this field are varied. There are franchise opportunities with established businesses, or you can start your own business. You can even invest in the stock of a business in this huge industry.

#2 Real Estate
Across the world, some of the most wealthy people made their fortunes in real estate. Buying and selling property, primarily in urban areas, can be a real money maker. According to Forbes, 9% of the world’s billionaires earned their fortunes buying and selling real estate.

There are a number of ways to profit in the real estate industry. Flipping properties, though difficult, can be incredibly lucrative for someone who knows what they are doing. Some people become real estate agents and make commissions on every home they sell. Still others invest in a rental property or purchase entire complexes to sell or rent.

#3 Finance and Investments
It seems like a no brainer that working in finance is a great way to accumulate wealth. Experts in finance advise others on how to manage and grow their money, so they have the knowledge to help their own finances.

Another piece of this industry involves buying and selling stocks. Learning the ins and outs of the stock market is like learning a different language, but it has proven to be incredibly profitable. Companies that deal in finance and investments make their owners wealthy by making the clients wealthy.

Opportunities in finance and investments can be as simple as buying and selling stocks on your own, investing in a mutual fund or hedge fund company’s stock, or becoming a financial advisor for a career.

#4 Technology
Technology is an important part of everyday life, and new technology seems to be hitting the markets every day. Investing in technology does not mean you have to have a great idea for the next big thing. You can invest in the technology industry by buying stocks in an existing company or investing in someone else’s good idea.

#5 Food and Dining
It is no secret that Americans love to eat, so the food and dining industry is a good one to invest in. Investment opportunities in this industry are many and varied, including everything from fast food to fine dining.

The restaurant industry is tough to break into, but it can prove to be extremely profitable when it works. Some savvy entrepreneurs start their own restaurants and others buy franchises of existing successes. Either way, putting money into the food and dining industry can be a real moneymaker.

Ecommerce has always been about two things, reducing the costs of selling merchandise to the public and adding convenience that was never seen before. Convenience comes in the form of being able to shop form stores located anywhere in the world and doing it at any time of day. There are no restrictions on when you can shop online, allowing many customers to prefer this method over traditional commerce which involved driving to a local store and physically looking through merchandise. Of course, there is a comfort level that is associated with touching a product that will never be able to be matched online, but the added values of lower prices and convenience have turned the ecommerce world into the biggest shopping method on the planet. Ecommerce businesses were able to offer their goods cheaper than traditional merchants by eliminating the costs associated with the physical shopping experience. Ecommerce merchants do not need to pay rents or mortgage payments on their stores, as they exist in a virtual world. There is also no need for employees that will assist in the shopping process itself, except maybe for an online customer service person, as the checkout and shopping process is accomplished using software that is embedded into the website. The only physical costs that ecommerce merchants must cover have to do with the actual fulfillment of orders, and typically had to pay warehouse rents and employees to process orders. Now, thanks to the dawn of specialized businesses called “fulfillment companies” an ecommerce merchant can become completely virtual.

Ecommerce business owners are able to outsource the fulfillment responsibilities to companies that specialize in order processing, saving time and money. The way it works is simple, the merchant ships inventory to the warehouse owned and operated by the fulfillment company, who maintains that inventory in a dedicated space alongside other customers. This allows the fees that are charged to be associated with only the space that is used, instead of the merchant having to speculate on the size of warehouse necessary to accommodate his or her business. A specialized software used by the fulfillment company connects to the ecommerce software on the merchant website, and when any orders are placed the information is transmitted to the fulfillment company. At that point, the fulfillment company uses its employees to pick the order from inventory and process it for shipping to the customer. Transportation is arranged using the shipping company of choice, and the order is shipped to the customer from the facility. A small fee is charged per order and a warehousing fee is charged, representing the only fees that the merchant will have to pay. This “virtual” shipping and fulfillment department saves merchants costs as well as relieving the responsibilities associated with traditional warehouse management. The merchant can then reduce their prices even lower if necessary, as the added costs typically seen in the process are not applicable.

Merchants have long struggled to reduce costs in order to compete on a global scale with other merchants who are able to manufacture products for lower prices. Ecommerce provided merchants with the ability to reduce costs associated with traditional storefronts, and now shipping fulfillment companies are allowing these companies to reduce costs even further by eliminating the need for warehousing and employees who would be needed to process orders from that warehouse. We are finally seeing the levels to which costs can be reduced, and will enable customers to buy at the cheapest prices possible