Are people as dumb as they are on tv?

[Pengwuino]

Ok so I am *barf* watching Friends and one of hte chicks is following a stuck and it went up $2 one day and she goes "im going to invest my whole $157!". She then calls 411 and goes "Can i have the number to the... stock... selling... store". Now this made me wonder... are people this stupid in real life in general? I was wondering if people were dumb enough to do... well, for example losing a lot of money in the stock market because they buy high and think "oh its going up so it has to go up more!" or buy because someone said something or because the stock symbol is the same as their name pff. So really... are people as dumb as they are in tv shows lol.

 

[cronxeh]

short answer: yes.

 

[moose]

My answer is no.

People in real life are WAY dumber. Especially my german class, weird people I tell ya.

 

[Pengwuino]

See, whenever I see a statistic "Some % of people fail when they try to..." about something and its a high % and i think "dang... i guess i shouldn't even try since statistics show ill fail most likely..."

 

[Moonbear]

My answer is no.

People in real life are WAY dumber. Especially my german class, weird people I tell ya.

Yep, some people would invest a lot more than $157 on a lark. It doesn't seem like that much to invest (and unless you're buying $5 stocks, it's not going to get you much either) for a silly reason. Afterall, a lot of people would consider it reasonable to gamble at Las Vegas or Atlantic City with that amount, which they are willing to lose for a night of fun. So, instead of gambling in a casino, why not gamble on a goofy stock? You don't bank the kid's college fund on it, but if you've got a little you can afford to lose, sometimes it's fun to just play. You probably have better odds in the stock market than in the casino.

 

[Pengwuino]

The woman only had $157 in her savings (even stupider... investing money you CANT lose) on the show.

 

[Moonbear]

The woman only had $157 in her savings (even stupider... investing money you CANT lose) on the show.

Oh, well, I was never a loyal follower of Friends, so didn't know the episode. Yeah, if you're cleaning out your savings, the stock market isn't the place to invest. Then again, which part surprises you more, that she would clean out her savings on a bad stock tip, or that she only had $157 in savings in the first place? There are people who would fit both categories. (Oh, this wasn't the character Phoebe, was it? She's supposed to be the ditz on the show.) There are a lot of people who literally live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left in their savings, mostly because they don't know how to manage their money. They are also the ones who will spend their last dollar on a lottery ticket every week.

 

[Pengwuino]

no it was the blonde... err... the blonde who isn't pheobe or however u spell it.

I wonder how dumb people are in real life though... this whole idea that like, 75% or somethign like that, small businessse fail in teh first year? I feel so ... how would you say it... not confident in getting my business out into the public with a shop and online site because of that statistic lol. I am hoping people are stupid in like, getting $1200/month spots to lease or keeping way too low of profit margins or not advertising at all ... and that's why they fail... because I am avoiding all of those :D.

 

[Smurf]

I remember that episode, it was Monica. but she's not blonde, are you sure you remember correctly? Phoebe is the only (main character) blond on the show.

And are people that dumb?
A: Dumber. My old junior high teacher (teacher! This person teaches our young!) didn't know how to use an ATM.

 

[Pengwuino]

See that's how much of a fan I am not. I forget what color her hair was 20 minutes after watching the show.

 

[honestrosewater]

I wonder how dumb people are in real life though... this whole idea that like, 75% or somethign like that, small businessse fail in teh first year? I feel so ... how would you say it... not confident in getting my business out into the public with a shop and online site because of that statistic lol. I am hoping people are stupid in like, getting $1200/month spots to lease or keeping way too low of profit margins or not advertising at all ... and that's why they fail... because I am avoiding all of those :D.

I'm no expert, but when I looked into this, I found most such businesses failed for one reason: weak or no business plans. You have a business plan, right?

 

[Moonbear]

no it was the blonde... err... the blonde who isn't pheobe or however u spell it.

Oh, Rachel. Yeah, she's not a really bright character either. ...Come to think of it, other than Ross, are any of the characters supposed to have any intelligence?

I wonder how dumb people are in real life though...

Haven't spent much time in real life lately? :tongue2: Lots of dumb people out there. This is why some of us keep saying privatization of social security is a bad idea, because far too many people are incapable of making those sorts of decisions for themselves.

this whole idea that like, 75% or somethign like that, small businessse fail in teh first year? I feel so ... how would you say it... not confident in getting my business out into the public with a shop and online site because of that statistic lol. I am hoping people are stupid in like, getting $1200/month spots to lease or keeping way too low of profit margins or not advertising at all ... and that's why they fail... because I am avoiding all of those :D.

Most small businesses are going to operate at a loss their first year or two. There are initial outlays in cost that are one-time expenses (buying all the stuff that goes inside a store, like shelving, counters, cash registers, computers, remodeling, etc.) and it takes time to build a customer base, unless you're really lucky and just hit the right location with the right product at the right time. If you can weather the lean years, then you have a shot at succeeding. I think too many people go in knowing what they need to invest initially, but don't factor in operating at a loss for the first few years in business, and just give up after the first year when they realize they are operating in the red.

 

[Pengwuino]

I'm no expert, but when I looked into this, I found most such businesses failed for one reason: weak or no business plans. You have a business plan, right?

See, I am not sure. I haven't really been able to find much help on what truly constitutes a "business plan".

 

[Pengwuino]

Haven't spent much time in real life lately? :tongue2: Lots of dumb people out there. This is why some of us keep saying privatization of social security is a bad idea, because far too many people are incapable of making those sorts of decisions for themselves.

I always see people do stupid things or act stupid but i think "ok... well... maybe there just anomolies and don't really represent people in general". And i thought the money from privitization would be given to investment companies... id trust them, they have a good real rate of return. If the idea is to give it to the general public to invest 1 by 1... might as well give a 3 year old a loaded .45 then :D

 

[Moonbear]

See, I am not sure. I haven't really been able to find much help on what truly constitutes a "business plan".

http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~bustcfj/bola/businesses/busplan/

I just typed a google search for: What's a business plan?

 

[Pengwuino]

Ouch, its the UK... some of these things are british institutions though...

 

[Moonbear]

Ouch, its the UK... some of these things are british institutions though...

The general concept should be the same. Useful for figuring out the types of things that should go into a business plan, even if some of the specific examples are UKish (that's brewnog's term, and I kind of like it...more fun to say UKish than British ).

How about a Canadian site instead of a UKish one?
http://www.cbsc.org/ibp/doc/intro_bp.cfm

These sites make it sound like the business plan is mainly intended for prospective investors, though there are components that would be useful for yourself to consider even if you are not going to need investors, because it will ensure you've planned ahead for various conditions. That first site, for example, talked about a financial analysis that accounts for seasonal fluctuations in business...good to remember that people don't buy at a steady rate year round. In the U.S., there are those increases around Christmas and after tax rebates come back in April, back-to-school shopping in August/September, but then lulls early in the year when everyone is already broke from the Christmas shopping. Of course this would be different depending on what you're selling. But the business plan helps you identify when to scale back on inventory, and when to stock up, for example.

 

[Pengwuino]

lol crap, a lot of this stuff doesn't really apply. A lot seems to be about keeping customers continually coming in when my business is selling computers which is a rather big decision that only comes along once in a while... but then again after that once in a while, they may 'repeat' :D I don't know lol, this is hard :( *cries*

 

[Moonbear]

lol crap, a lot of this stuff doesn't really apply. A lot seems to be about keeping customers continually coming in when my business is selling computers which is a rather big decision that only comes along once in a while... but then again after that once in a while, they may 'repeat' :D I don't know lol, this is hard :( *cries*

Yeah, that's the point, you have to customize the plan to your business. So, have you accounted for warranty issues, replacement of defective parts, will you do any service or tech support related to the purchases, or will you defer that to the manufacturers? Will you be prepared for the back-to-school and Christmas higher volume business? Will you have employees? If so, how many? What salaries will you offer? Benefits? What overhead expenses will you have? Phone bills, electric bills, internet access bills? Does your profit margin account for the fees for accepting credit cards? If someone returns a defective computer, or returns it for any reason, will you have the savings to refund their money? What will you do with those defective items? Can they be returned to the manufacturer, or will you sell them as refurbished, or will you sell them as-is at a clearance price as a damaged item?

Yep, it gets complicated quickly. I'd recommend getting some assistance on it.

Anyway, don't mean to hijack your thread about stupid people with discussion of smart business practices. :tongue2: (Oh, and just ask Ivan, yeah, it's intimidating to start your own business...that's probably why a lot more people don't do it.)

 

[Pengwuino]

I was hopen it would jump to this topic anyways :D Plus i wanted to rant about friends anyhow lol.

Im going to offer 90 day plus optional (purchasable) 1 or 2 year warranties. Tech support will be like, call us up whenever we're open :D. Probably wouldn't be prepared with stock... but id be able to acquire a good deal of money immediately ($50k probably immediately) to get the stock if high orders come through. I'd have 1 employee paying minimum wage :P Or well... probably a lil more then minimum wage like $8/hour. No benefits yet... I am so small :D. I have accounted for phone and utilities nad internet costs. Profit margin does account for credit card service fees. If there's a return, i'll just re-sell (ebay... if it was a return for no reason, sell it new on ebay, if there was a problem, refurbished on ebay). Would have the money for refunds... I am sitll not sure about returning defective equipment to my distributor though. It wouldn't hurt at all if i could exchange for a working piece of equipment because that's simple... but if they don't let me (which i think is the case because their policy is complicated as hell it seems) then i'll just need to hope that the money from optional warranty service will make up for the costs of getting the new equipment in the few systems that do screw up. I'm using quality as hell parts though to cut down on this possibility though. Good for customer... GREAT for me lol.

 

[Moonbear]

Do you (or will you) have insurance? You'll want a decent policy that would cover you in case of any odd-ball lawsuits or theft. Since you're offering tech support, be prepared for a good deal of time to be eaten up helping that one neurotic, computer-illiterate person who calls every time they want to install new software. And if you do get busy, you should be prepared to either pay your employee overtime or to hire someone else, even if just on a temp basis. You'll need to plan to hire an accountant to help with taxes too. Tax codes are too complicated to risk doing that totally on your own unless you have an accounting degree.

I've never started a business (unless you count standing on the corner selling cups of water to joggers as a kid), so probably am only suggesting stuff you already know about.

 

[Pengwuino]

Yah my father strongly advised me to get a bond with the city incase of lawsuit/theft. I've always been scared of that lil neurotic idiot that doesn't know how to do anything. I'm offering free computer training software with each order :D Hopefully that's going to cut down on things. My father is a tax preparer but I am not sure how good he is with business stuff... he just does personal taxes. Hes doing my bookkeeping so I am just hoping he knows what he's doing lol.

 

[honestrosewater]

The Small Business Administration and Entrepreneur are great resources. I found Entrepreneur's How-to Guides especially helpful- must reads.
My mom's an accountant... :)

 

[Pengwuino]

I need more help when it comes to tracking inventory and keeping any potential employees in line lol.

 

[Astronuc]

For information on a business plan, try - http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html

 

[honestrosewater]

Is there a company you wish you had started? That is, one you will steal ideas and practices from- a model for your business?

I need more help when it comes to tracking inventory and keeping any potential employees in line lol.

Great, here's something I know about- managing people. You can prevent problems with employees from developing by figuring out all of your policies and making them clear from the start; IOW, putting your foot down and keeping it there. I think it's also fairest to the employees to let them know the rules and what is expected of them. You might like the story of Pike Place Fish Market- google Fish! philosophy. Some of it is corny, well actually, most of it is corny, but it's stuff you may not think about and makes a huge difference. I can't recommend specific products- this was part of a management course I took. You may want to check your library for the book. BTW, I've never owned a business, I've just seriously considered it several times. I've managed fast food restaurants. Hiring people is a great feeling- but be very careful, because firing them is horrible (well, usually ).

 

[sid_galt]

IMO, keep more than just computers in your shop. You'll attract more customers.
How much competition do you have?

IMO, instead of offering just computers, offer solutions like what PC one should buy etc. What type of customers will you be targeting in the beginning? If it's the average home user, then keep softwares/games that appeal to them. Offer pre-installed software. To home users don't just offer performance, keep in mind the style too.

Are you putting up assembled PCs or branded ones? If they are assembled, and if you have the resources, build your own website and offer online booking and online building of PCs.

As for employee control, profit sharing is a good way to extract the most out of the employee.

Best of Luck

 

[marlon]

Ok so I am *barf* watching Friends and one of hte chicks is following a stuck and it went up $2 one day and she goes "im going to invest my whole $157!". She then calls 411 and goes "Can i have the number to the... stock... selling... store". Now this made me wonder... are people this stupid in real life in general? I was wondering if people were dumb enough to do... well, for example losing a lot of money in the stock market because they buy high and think "oh its going up so it has to go up more!" or buy because someone said something or because the stock symbol is the same as their name pff. So really... are people as dumb as they are in tv shows lol.

no, the people that watch tv are generally dumber because they just awtch others making money. It really is a matter of personal over-estimation.

marlon

 

[Moonbear]

I need more help when it comes to tracking inventory and keeping any potential employees in line lol.

There are a lot of options for tracking inventory nowadays. Anything from old-fashioned tracking of orders and invoices to bar code systems. If you'll be building computers from components, so need to track individual components in your inventory, you might want a system where you have three levels of tracking: in stock, in assembly (or whatever you want to call it; it's still in your store, but not available as inventory for another customer's purchase), and out-of-stock/sold. This way, if someone cancels an order, you know what components you still have in-store.

Detailed invoices are the best way to be able to double-check inventory records.

As for keeping employees in line, make sure any rules you have are sensible and clearly explained to every employee at the time they are hired. Writing up an employee manual can be helpful for this. If the thing starts looking the size of a phone book, you've probably gone overboard on rules. Things to make sure they know when you interview are what sort of hours you expect them to work (will they work a regular shift or will they be working a set number of hours per week but not necessarily the same hours every day; will they be expected to work overtime and how will they be compensated for it; if they might be asked to work overtime, such as to meet delivery deadlines during a busy period, how much notice will they have and will they have the choice to not work those extra hours if they can't?) Hourly employees often work more than one job, so making sure they know what sort of schedule to expect is important for them to ensure they don't have conflicts with a second job.

You might get lucky and find some employees who are really motivated and self-starters, but most need very clear instructions of what needs to be done each day. This doesn't mean breathing down their neck all day micromanaging them, but it means having a list of tasks ready for them to do when they are idle. If they are supposed to be waiting on customers and there are no customers, make sure they know to do things like tidy up the shelves, unpack items or stock shelves, clean dirt from the counter and front door, etc. This is also important to explain when you hire them, that even though their primary responsibility might be customer service or stocking shelves, that you will expect them to pitch in with other tasks/jobs as needed (possibly even including cleaning bathrooms). This clarifies for them right up front that it's not an option to refuse to do some of the more menial tasks when business is slow, which is important when starting up and you don't have the volume of work and number of employees to have people specializing in certain jobs. Also, expect new employees to be more hindrance than help at first. They need time for you to teach them the job before they can truly work independently, but as they learn the job, you can back off and let them work independently more and more. Perhaps try to get your first employee in a week or two before the store opens, even if it's just half days, to give them a chance to learn the store layout, inventory, and help with the last minute details prior to opening.

Little things, like thanking them for the little extra helping they did in a day, or letting them know they've done a good job even if it's just what their job description says will help them feel appreciated and motivated to keep up that good level of work.

They also need to be told outright what things are absolutely unacceptable. For example, if the store opens at 10 AM, they need to be there sufficiently before 10 so they are READY TO WORK when the doors open. If an employee is slacking off, call them to a back room to discuss the matter away from other employees and customers. There are subtle things you can do in arranging your office to establish levels of authority as well. For example, if you need to talk to an employee about a problem with their conduct, sit them down across from you on the other side of your desk. If you want their input on something, and want to inspire collaborative/team thinking, have them pull their chair around to your side of the desk, or sit around a small table instead of at your desk.

Think about the people you've worked for who you really liked and really hated as your bosses and consider what they did or didn't do to gain your respect and inspire you to be a good employee, then try to emulate the good and avoid the bad.

 

[wasteofo2]

I don't think people are that stupid, just crazy; there's a distinct difference.

 

[Pengwuino]

IMO, instead of offering just computers, offer solutions like what PC one should buy etc. What type of customers will you be targeting in the beginning? If it's the average home user, then keep softwares/games that appeal to them. Offer pre-installed software. To home users don't just offer performance, keep in mind the style too.

Are you putting up assembled PCs or branded ones? If they are assembled, and if you have the resources, build your own website and offer online booking and online building of PCs.

Its going to be mainly online i think. Theres a crazy amount of software on the computers thanks to works suite :D Plus there's antivirus and anti-spyware software and a 'how to use your computer' cd by that vidoe professor guy :D. There assembled PC's... i can't offer online building yet because i don't have the resources to keep any decent amount of inventory in stock.

IRT employees: I'll probalby just set a good deal of rules and not be a jerk about petty things. I've never worked for anyone in the traditional sense... but I've heard plenty of things from friends as to why they want to quit their jobs to know what not to do lol.

I'm probably going to just throw stuff on shelves and keep a simple record of in/out inventory for the time being. If things start getting off the ground, ill change inventory system.