Day: April 6, 2020

Starting a Business That People Need

wayne April 6, 2020

Businesses succeed by solving real problems. Here’s how to determine what problems you can solve to make your new business a success.


5 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


The following excerpt is from Rick Terrien’s Ageless Startup. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

All businesses succeed by solving real problems. But most people have no idea where to start. How do you pick the products or services you’ll turn into your problem-solving enterprises?

Here’s an idea I can roughly guarantee: Look at the work you’ve done in the past. Where were the choke points? What were problems people avoided because of the work you did?

No matter how you spent the first part of your life and career, you’ve learned to be good at something. It can be anything from gardening in small spaces to designing fire safety systems. We all have a specialty. This doesn’t mean you have to be the world’s authority on a subject; it just means you can talk competently about solving problems in that niche of the world.

The goal of your startup’s marketing efforts will be to find a sufficient

…

Japan launches $1 trillion coronavirus stimulus package as Prime Minister Abe announces state of emergency

wayne April 6, 2020

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a 108 trillion yen ($989 billion) stimulus package, Japan’s largest ever, to rescue the coronavirus-hit economy with Tokyo and six other economic hubs set to be put in a state of emergency.

The package, equivalent to about 20% of the nation’s economic output, will include cash handouts worth 6 trillion yen for households and small businesses hit by the virus and offers businesses deferrals on tax and social service costs worth 26 trillion yen, Abe said Monday.

The premier said he plans to officially declare as soon as Tuesday a state of emergency for Tokyo, its three neighboring prefectures, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures. He said details of the stimulus package and an extra budget to finance it would be announced Tuesday.

The first phase of the package aims to stop job losses and bankruptcies, while a second round of aid, after the virus is contained, will try to support a V-shaped economic recovery, according to a government document obtained by Bloomberg.

“The details of the measures and the numbers involved are being debated until the last minute,” ruling party policy chief Fumio Kishida said earlier Monday before Abe spoke.

Economists see a deep …

President Trump goes to war with 3M

wayne April 6, 2020

Good morning.

President Trump Friday slammed 3M, which makes the much-in-demand N-95 respirator masks, and said he was invoking the Defense Production Act to force the company into submission. “We’re not happy with 3M. We’re not at all happy with 3M,” he said at the White House press briefing. 3M CEO Mike Roman, whom I interviewed on this subject earlier this month, fought back. He said the company is going above and beyond to manufacture respirator masks for the U.S., and said that any suggestion that “3M is not doing all it can to fight price gouging and unauthorized reselling is absurd.”

It’s hard to get to the bottom of this breakdown between the White House and 3M. But my reading, from the public comments of both sides, is that it has less to do with whether Mr. Roman is putting financial obligations over social obligations, and more to do with which societies he is supposed to oblige. His company is based in the U.S., but operates throughout the world. Does corporate patriotism require him to put the humanitarian needs of the U.S. above all others?

President Trump and his advisor, Peter Navarro, seem to think the answer …

Global markets climb as coronavirus fears ease

wayne April 6, 2020

Good morning, Bull Sheeters. We’re looking at a positive start to this trade-shortened week.

Let’s see where investors are putting their money.

Markets update

We begin in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei is soaring, up 4% in afternoon trade, and Hong Kong’s Hang Sang is having its best day in a week. (Chinese markets are closed today.) The markets are climbing on hopes we’re turning a corner in the fight against coronavirus after some promising figures from over the weekend. In a sign of investor confidence, the benchmark KOSPI of South Korea, a model country in fighting the outbreak, is up 23% since its March 19 low.

***

There are green screens across Europe at the open as well. Hotspot-countries Italy, Spain and France all recorded declines in the coronavirus death toll in recent days. Now the focus in on Britain where Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalized on Sunday as his coronavirus symptoms persist. The British pound sunk 0.4% initially on the news, but has since rebounded.

***

The U.S. futures are set to pop at the open. The Dow looks to add 800 points, as I type, and the S&P 500 is on pace to gain close to …