It goes without saying, Netflix has been dominated streaming videos like BlockBuster dominated movie rentals. However new players are catching up and giving the iconic brand a real run for their money.
In a shocking reveal, instead of achieving the target of adding 2 million new subscribers in Q1 2022 that it set for itself three months earlier, they ended up losing 200,000 subscribers…Ouch
This is the first time the company has net loss of subscribers.
This could just be the tip of the ice burg as Netflix is expecting to lose an additional 2 million more subscribers in the ongoing quarter. The market response was brutal. Netflix lost ¼ of its value as the stock price tanked 25% in 1 day.
Competition is cut throat with the emergence of Disney, Hulu, HBO, Paramount, Peacock, Apple and Amazon. This has presented a serious challenge now as people are ditching Netflix for those streaming services that are available at much more competitive prices (Netflix premium is up to $19.99/month which is almost double the competition).
Pricing be damned, the other problem plaguing Netflix is their competitors are reducing the pool size of originalHollywood content they got to pick from over the last decade.
TV and film companies have more options of providers to negotiate with.
Hate networking but know you need to be doing more of it?
Here’s the only video you need to watch today. It’s one of the most watched videos on TedEx with over 2 million views on how to hack networking.
In his talk David Burkus, author of the book “Friend of a Friend“, examines the science of how networking actually works and reveals what the best networkers really do…
WATCH:
Who is David Burkus?
David Burkus is a best-selling author, a sought after speaker, and business school professor. In 2015, he was named one of the emerging thought leaders most likely to shape the future of business by Thinkers50, the world’s premier ranking of management thinkers.
His book, Friend of a Friend, offers readers a new perspective on how to grow their networks and build key connections—one based on the science of human behavior, not just canned networking advice.
David is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and his work has been featured in Fast Company, the Financial Times, Inc magazine, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and CBS This Morning.
When the world took a pause during the pandemic, Amazon quietly hired an extra 400,000 workers to deliver goods from its warehouses across the country, pushing its total employee count to 1.1 million people.
People hit the buy button on Amazon.com about 13 million times a day. That’s over 66 thousand orders per hour or 18.5 per second. Then like magic, the same day or 3 days later, those 13 million orders get delivered like clockwork.
Which begs the question, how the hell does Amazon fulfill that many orders?
As it turns out, Amazon’s fulfillment system is more complicated and convoluted that any logistics company on the planet. Operationally the company competes more with FedX and UPS than they do with retailers like Walmart or Target.
So there are definitely a few factors in Amazon’s business structure that allow the company to ship and deliver customer orders so damn effectively.
Compared to it’s competitors, Amazon’s supply chain and logistics operations are far more advanced. Amazon strategically builds fulfillment centers in or near urban cities to best reach as many customers as possible. They have over 180 fulfillment centers and continues to expand every year…
The reason Amazon’s can keeps their shipping cost low in comparison to competitors by taking over the entire supply chain including delivery.
This way, Amazon doesn’t have to pay third-party companies to manage their fulfillment.
Once the world’s 6th richest billionaire in 2008 with a net worth of $42 billion, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, lost it all by 2019.
Here’s how…
Anil Ambani was born June 4th, 1959 in Bombay India as the youngest son of the founder of one of the most powerful companies on the planet. His father, Dhirubhai Ambani, was the founder of a company called Reliance Industries Limited which today is doing $7.366 trillion as a conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles.
Dhirubhai raised his 2 sons to eventually take over the “family business”. Mukesh and Anil started as executives at Reliance in their twenties. The two couldn’t have been more different. Mukesh was more of a reserved family man while Anil earned a reputation as a flashy playboy who enjoyed rubbing shoulders with Bollywood’s elite.
Tragedy strikes the Ambhani family
Dhirubhai Ambani passed away on July 6th 2002 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 69. At the time of his passing he was the 138th richest man in the world with a net worth of $2.9 billion.
Mukesh, the older brother assumed role of chairman and Anil took the office of Vice President. They were at each other’s throats almost immediately. Each had different ideas for what to do with the company and the two were making decisions without consulting each other.
It was a mess…
It became a real problem. So big that even India’s finance minister tried stepping in to get the bickering duo to make nice. After all, Reliance was one of the biggest economic powerhouses in India.
The sibling rivalry for the control for Reliance was resolved when the 2 decided to split the company down the middle. Mukesh would run the gas and petroleum businesses and Anil would run the communications and power businesses and ultimately leave each other alone.
But the proverbial sky was about to come crashing down.
That same year Anil Ambani made the decision to invest around $2 billion in advancing Reliance Communications Group, heavily leveraging his company into massive debt.
Then shit hit the fan…
In 2011, Anil’s Managing Director and two Vice Presidents were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to acquire mispriced mobile network licenses for companies Reliance Communications has invested in to illegally bolster the company’s share prices in an attempt to close the debt gap.
The following year In 2012, amidst scandals, Anil Ambani acquired even more debt to pay off the existing debts. Reliance Communications took a loan of over $1.2 billion from three Chinese Banks on Anil Ambani’s personal guarantee.
That’s one hell of a personal guarantee.
By 2016, many of Anil Ambani’s companies ran into debt and operational troubles. On the one hand, Reliance Power had to sell its assets. On the other, Reliance Communications lost 98% valuation in a period of just 3 short years.
RCom was unable to compete against the top reigning telecom companies and lost consumers. This brought down Anil Ambani’s net worth to $2.5 billion.
Still not a bad nest egg by anyone’s standards however, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication owed the Swedish network company, Ericsson, $80 million, which he failed to repay. Which shocker, lead to a major lawsuit.
In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ordered Anil Ambani to repay the debt along with interest or go to jail. In an unlikely intervention, Anil Ambani’s older brother Mukesh paid the money owed to Ericsson and yes little brother from going to jail.
Reliance Communications then filed bankruptcy in 2019. But Anil’s problems were still far from over.
He still owed over $700 million including interest to the 3 chinese banks he borrowed money from. In February 2020, Anil declared that his net worth has fallen to zeroafter considering his liabilities. He pleaded poverty and claimed that he didn’t hold any meaningful assets that could be liquidated to pay off the debts he owed to the Chinese Banks.
Who would have thought that a man who had a net worth of $42 billion in 2008 would claim poverty by 2020?
He still managed to turn out ahead. Today he and his wife Tina Ambani reside in one of the most luxurious homes in India. A 17 story home situated at Pali Hill in Mumbai.
It goes without saying, Netflix has been dominated streaming videos like BlockBuster dominated movie rentals. However new players are catching up and giving the iconic brand a real run for their money.
In a shocking reveal, instead of achieving the target of adding 2 million new subscribers in Q1 2022 that it set for itself three months earlier, they ended up losing 200,000 subscribers…Ouch
This is the first time the company has net loss of subscribers.
This could just be the tip of the ice burg as Netflix is expecting to lose an additional 2 million more subscribers in the ongoing quarter. The market response was brutal. Netflix lost ¼ of its value as the stock price tanked 25% in 1 day.
Competition is cut throat with the emergence of Disney, Hulu, HBO, Paramount, Peacock, Apple and Amazon. This has presented a serious challenge now as people are ditching Netflix for those streaming services that are available at much more competitive prices (Netflix premium is up to $19.99/month which is almost double the competition).
Pricing be damned, the other problem plaguing Netflix is their competitors are reducing the pool size of originalHollywood content they got to pick from over the last decade.
TV and film companies have more options of providers to negotiate with.
In an interview with host Lewis Howes on the show School of Greatness (which has been watched by over 1.3 million people), Patrick Bet-David explains the #1 rule of making money. And with a personal net worth estimated to be north of $200 million, he should know a few things about the topic…
In the interview Bet-David explains that the first rule of understanding the management of money is that it’s just a game.
“the only thing to know about money is that it’s a game. It’s that simple. Just like any game, you can get better.”
“Money’s Just a Doubles Game”…
According to Pat, the entire game of money is about doubling your money.
For example, if you have $1,000 cash in your bank account, you are 10 doubles away from having a million dollars. You’re five doubles away from $32,000, 13 doubles away from having $8.192 million, and 14 doubles away from $16 million dollars. How soon can you double your money?
That’s it. It’s a doubles game. Can you take that $1,000 and double it to $2,000 in the next year?
Now that it’s $2,000, you’re nine steps away from a million dollars. If you already have $100,000 in your account, then you’re three to four doubles away from a million dollars. Building wealth is a piece of cake when you understand the doubles game.
WATCH:
About Patrick Bet David:
Patrick’s amazing story starts with his family immigrating to America when he was 10-years old. His parents fled Iran as refugees during the Iranian revolution and were eventually granted U.S. citizenship. After high school Patrick joined the U.S. military and served in the 101st Airborne before starting a business career in the financial services industry. After a tenure with a couple of traditional companies, he was inspired to launch PHP Agency Inc., an insurance sales, marketing and distribution company.
He did all of this before turning 30…
About Valuetainment:
Patrick also created Valuetainment, a media brand with the purpose of teaching fundamentals of entrepreneurship and personal development while inspiring people to break from limiting beliefs or other constraints.
It has been referred to as “the best channel for entrepreneurs” online and has evolved into an emerging media network providing news, other content partners and a weekly podcast.
Additionally, Patrick speaks on a range of business, leadership and entrepreneurial topics including how and why to become an entrepreneur and the importance of learning how to fully process issues.
Marketers aren’t in the habit of revealing their tricks and tactics openly. That makes it all the more useful to know the secrets marketers would prefer were kept under wraps. Here are three that anyone involved in B2B marketing should know about.
SECRET #1: There Has To Be a Reason To Follow You
The digital world of the internet has fundamentally transformed how marketing works. Today, the first step in the process of winning a customer is getting them to follow and otherwise engage with your brand online. Landing a sale may be the ultimate point, but the proximate goal of modern, digital marketing is engagement.
The famous formulation “content is king” neatly captures the reality of digital marketing. But it can’t just be any content — it needs to be quality content.
To put it one way, you need to be providing potential customers with something valuable long before you reach the point of selling them your product.
SECRET #2: You Have to Solve a Specific Problem
Just like there’s more than one way to skin a cat, there are plenty of ways to provide value to a digital audience. The key, really, is simply to have a clear, definite, thought-out strategy. A haphazard, improvisational approach is unlikely to get you anywhere. That, however, is where most B2B digital marketing campaigns are.
Ask yourself a few basic questions:
What is the purpose of this content?
How does it provide value?
Why does it exist?
How does it fit into the short-term of your marketing goals?
How about the long-term?
Try to look at things from the perspective of your potential audience when pondering these questions.
Ideally, you want to be able to solve a specific issue your target audience has. In practical terms, that means generating a sense of the audience you want to connect with before crafting content. That’s pretty much the whole idea behind content needing a strategic purpose — content should be designed for a specific end.
SECRET #3: Your Follower Count Isn’t Quite As Important As You Think
While you do want to use quality content to grow how many followers you have on social media, getting a high follower count isn’t really the goal itself. Ultimately, you are on someone else’s turf on social media.
Social media sites are businesses with their own goals that don’t directly align with what you want to accomplish.
That’s why attaining followers on social media is ultimately just a step in the process. What you want to do is move those followers elsewhere, where you can deepen their connection to your brand. Try to get them onto your website. Get their email address.
A social media site is a kind of middleman. You want to cut past that middleman and establish a direct relationship with your followers. Do that by focusing on driving your audience from your platforms to your website or lead capture page.
By Brian Searcy
Active Shooter – Are You Prepared?
May 28, 2022
I am sure that most if not all of you are aware of what happened in Uvalde TX on Tuesday. 19 Young Students and 2 Teachers Killed in a horrific School Shooting at Robb Elementary School. Our prayers go out to the entire Uvalde Community.
We are starting to get a report that the door that the shooter entered through was unlocked. That is consistent with what I saw from the video of him entering the school. With most of our clients, prior to participating in our Situational Awareness Programs, it was not an unusual occurrence for doors to be unlocked, to be propped open, for people to be able to “hitch hike” into the building.
And this didn’t just apply to businesses, schools and churches. It applies to you in your home as well. The number of examples we have of people being victims because they do not lock their home, turn outside lights on, leave their cars unlocked are way too many to count.
What we do know. After going through our program, Situational Awareness Habits, Behaviors, and Mindset were learned and developed through the continuous practice of their process. They now keep the doors closed and locked and have a continuous awareness of what is going on around them.
An active shooting event like this, unfortunately today, can happen anywhere, not just at schools.
Details are still coming in. Could this event have been prevented if there had been different training, if the people in the school and community had learned and developed Situational Awareness? As mentioned above about the unlocked door, perhaps it could have been prevented, or a locked door could have added some additional “time and space” to all the emergency responders to arrive.
But we may never know. What we do know is that you, your family, your schools & churches, your businesses & your communities are more safe when this skill is part of your safety, security, mental health and leadership learning programs.
You are able to identify the changes in behavior, the indicators of potential problems, AND be empowered to do something about it.
Many people today do notice behaviors, even indicators, but then they do not ACT on it.
Remember, the World is Not a Safe Place today.
HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY!
Have you thought about what you would do in this type of situation? Do you know what you are capable of doing? Are you looking for the indicators so that you can potentially stop these types of events from happening?
If you have not developed your Situational Awareness Habits, Behaviors and Mindset and to not practice a process, give the Paratus Group a call.
In networking sessions and master classes I’m often asked by people what they should be doing on LinkedIn when they’re on the platform. Here are my recommendations.
Be strategic
You probably have heard that you should be active on LinkedIn, so you’ve logged on. Good for you. But what can you do there that will achieve results?
Let’s begin with the end in mind. Let’s say that the results you want are:
PURPOSE 1: To nurture key business relationships and establish new ones,
PURPOSE 2: To be top of mind when someone is in need of someone just like you,
PURPOSE 3: To cultivate your reputation as an expert in a specific area,
or all of the above.
It is important to be strategic with your interactions and frugal with your time. So, set a timer for 15 minutes and begin.
Check your messages icon daily
If you have received new messages, the number of messages you’ve received will be superimposed over the messaging icon. Many people are using LinkedIn as a principal way to communicate – instead of email. And they expect you to respond. (To fail to do so would violate Purpose #1 above.) If you absolutely have time for only one thing on LinkedIn, checking your messages should be it.
Are you getting an unwanted sales pitch from a vendor? If you have no interest in that, use the auto response LinkedIn provides to indicate that that you’re not interested and move on quickly. Don’t waste time on these; they are probably automatic messages anyway.
If you have received a message from a client or colleague, respond as thoroughly as you would if the message came to you via email. Remember that every message you send reflects on you and your personal brand. (This also relates to Purpose #1 above.)
Check your notifications icon
Here you’ll find posts made by people that LinkedIn has selected for you to hear from, based on LinkedIn’s proprietary AI algorithm. In addition, you’re likely to see some notifications about birthdays and work anniversaries. Here’s how to respond.
Posts: Look at the posts LinkedIn has chosen to notify you about. If someone who is important to you has posted something, take time to read their post and respond with a Like AND a comment. (A Like by itself shows little engagement and gets you little notice.) Make sure your response adds value to the person who posted, to others reading your comment, and to yourself. (Relates to Purposes 1, 2 & 3.) If you think about it, you will understand that adding value excludes the throw-away comments (e.g., Congrats!, Great article., You go, girl., etc.) Instead, seek to add a comment that will cause someone else to want to read the post/article by spotlighting something specific. Validate it with an example. Amplify it with an additional case. Give the author something meaty to reply to so that a dialog can begin. Does this take more time than “Great article?” Yes, it does, but by pausing to formulate a meaningful response you are addressing all three Purposes, so this is a win.
Birthdays and work anniversaries: When you see a notification of a birthday or a work anniversary, consider it as an opportunity to say hello to those who are important to you and the opportunity to renew an acquaintanceship that has gone stale – the proverbial foot in the door. (Relates to Purposes 1 and 2.)
Do not waste time if you don’t really know the person – we don’t know a lot of our connections. But IF you decide you’d like to wish them a happy birthday, don’t just click the button. Think of Purpose #1. To nurture a relationship, you need to go beyond the robo message. Navigate to their profile, select send a message, and craft a sincerely communicated thought. I add a photo of something festive. Consider how you can send a greeting that will be memorable and consistent with your brand.
What about work anniversaries? Strangest notification ever, right? Let the lion’s share of these messages pass right on by, but if you’re wanting to re-engage with that person, this is an opportunity for you. Your personalized message might be something like: “George, I see you are still at XYZ company. Congratulations. I so enjoyed working with you on the ABC project back in the day.” And then continue with information about what you are currently doing or an opportunity to catch up over coffee or Zoom.
Look at your homepage feed
The timer you set should still be ticking, so that you don’t disappear down a rabbit hole. Scroll quickly to see if there is anything – or anyone (remember Purpose 1) – that deserves your attention. Every response reflects your brand and should add value to the conversation.
Check your network icon – at least once a week
Under this icon you will find connection requests (Purpose 1), opportunities to follow company pages and newsletters, and events. Just because you are asked to connect, follow, or attend, doesn’t mean that you are obliged to do so. These are opportunities; you are the one who gets to decide. Your time is precious.
Write some rules for yourself about the kinds of people you will admit to your network and those you won’t. Ignore the people who clearly fall outside your rules. If you’re not sure, check out their profile to see if they are a fit before you act.
As for the events and opportunities, the people who invited you will not receive a notification if you hit “ignore.”
Create your own posts regularly, on a schedule you can maintain
Whether you are posting, curating an article you found valuable, or writing your own commentary about something important to you, content creation relates primarily to Purpose 3, cultivating your reputation as an expert. You may need to extend your timer for this task, to do a good job writing a post or article. Don’t let writing consume too much of your time, but know that the more you post and demonstrate your expertise, the more likely people are to remember you when they hear of a need you can fill (Purpose 2).
When your timer is done, go on to the rest of your work day, knowing that you have used LinkedIn efficiently and to your best advantage. Strategic use of your time on LinkedIn will help you nurture important business relationships, help your name come to mind when an opportunity arises, and reinforce people’s appreciation of your expertise.
Named one of six top branding experts in 2022 by The American Reporter, over the past ten years, I’ve helped countless C-level clients use LinkedIn to frame conversations, impress suitors and customers, and introduce themselves before their first conversation takes place. If you are a C-suite executive or senior leader, I can make this easy for you. Based on my knowledge of how LinkedIn works and how people respond to what they see there, I can ensure everything is ready and your profile conveys exactly the message and impression you’re aiming for. Let me help you attract the talent you want to hire, increase your visibility and influence, and steer your career.
To order an author-signed book, see: https://carolkaemmerer.com/books
To order an author-signed book, see: https://carolkaemmerer.com/books
Executive one-on-one assistance with your online brand
Professional speaking engagements on personal brand and LinkedIn
An autographed copy of my book, LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive-2nd Edition
My self-paced, online course
To receive my articles in your email mailbox monthly
My award-winning book, LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive-2nd Edition received BookAuthority’s “Best LinkedIn Books of All Time” award, was named one of the “Top 100+ Best Business Books” by The C-Suite Network. For your author-inscribed and signed book or quantity discounts, order at: https://carolkaemmerer.com/books
Leaders are always under surveillance. Every action they take and word they speak is scrutinized. Words matter. What you say has consequences. They have the power to influence others or cost you credibility and trust. Your team wants a leader they can trust, someone whose influence motivates them to act. With influence comes serious responsibility. Leaders must acknowledge the impact their words have on others.
Examine your message.
Consider these two statements:
“Our competitors have grown and cut into our sales. We must explore new markets to maintain a healthy bottom line.”
Vs.
“Our competitors have grown and cut into our sales. We must explore new markets or we will have make cut backs.”
These two statements share the same message, but the word choice impacts listeners in very different ways. If you are unsure how your words land, write them down ahead of time. Take five minutes before every virtual call or meeting to think about what you want to say, and the impact you want to make on your listeners.
Say more with less.
People tend to believe the more they speak, the smarter they sound. When in fact, the more they speak, the more confused their listeners become. Listeners don’t have time to think through the clutter. If your message is long and hard to follow, listeners will tune you out. If you want others to remember what you say long after you say it, keep your message concise and get to the point
Beacon brevity.
When we try to make a point, too often we keep talking well past our point. Our brain lies, convincing us that the more we say, the smarter we sound. What we fail to realize is the torture we make our listeners endure as we ramble. Even worse, we often ramble with filler words that add nothing to our message. Now I know what you’re thinking, “when I know what to say I don’t speak with filler words.” The problem is that most of our conversations are impromptu. We don’t have the opportunity to prepare exactly what we want our listener to hear. Avoid how you feel to determine how succinct you are. We are good about preparing for presentations but allow day-to-day easy conversations to go off the cuff. This is when feedback wins. Find someone you trust and ask them to bring to your attention each time you speak with filler words such as “um and uh.” It won’t take long for you to recognize it yourself.
Pauses have power.
Silence sometimes is the right answer. A speaker can use silence to deliver a message with maximum impact. The power of a pause allows listeners to consider what has been said. It gives their mind time to register the importance of words and permits you time to naturally transition to the next topic. It conveys a confident belief in the message shared, while allowing the brain time to focus on the next thought. The pause has the power to help your listeners remember what you said long after the interaction is over. Words matter. If you want to speak in a way that influences others to act, take on these four steps and make your words stick.
Named one of six top branding experts in 2022 by The American Reporter, over the past ten years, I’ve helped countless C-level clients use LinkedIn to frame conversations, impress suitors and customers, and introduce themselves before their first conversation takes place. If you are a C-suite executive or senior leader, I can make this easy for you. Based on my knowledge of how LinkedIn works and how people respond to what they see there, I can ensure everything is ready and your profile conveys exactly the message and impression you’re aiming for. Let me help you attract the talent you want to hire, increase your visibility and influence, and steer your career.
