Generation Me and the sharing economy

The sharing economy seems to be a good solution for a shaky global economy and even the threat of climate change. Combined with the power of smartphones and idle assets, this sustainable business model is a great way for people to make a profit even outside their day jobs.

Sharing economy services like Uber, Lyft, FlipKey, and Airbnb are more than just breakthrough ideas. These services provide a solution for the average consumer’s needs like transportation and accommodation. Technologically-assisted carpooling and couch surfing made the lives of millions easier.

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It is safe to say that sharing economy is still in its early stages. In the coming years, it will be the typical business concept for the Generation Me demographic. In these days where ownership is no longer a necessity or demand, those who have the means and the capital to buy luxuries like cars and weekend homes can choose to share it with others for a reasonable price.

On the sociological side, this opens up a new definition of community and consumerism. On the ecological side, all the sharing saves up energy and keeps waste to a minimum. Outsourcing work and even daily errands are also becoming common in the sharing economy industry.

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The sharing economy offers an abundance of benefits. Keeping the trust of consumers, however, will make it even more profitable. In a business such as Uber or Airbnb, not all providers deliver what is expected of them. Companies must go to great lengths in employing and evaluating people who will provide the services to ensure consumers’ loyalty.

As sharing economy becomes the norm, local and national authorities can contribute their expertise to make the experience safer for everyone. In this day and age, many have been empowered to share their services with the rest of their community. In turn, what they offer can turn into a profitable business that can impact how the current generation operates.

The advantages of investing in the education sector

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Education is a universal right. Aside from ensuring enrollment rates, states must also work towards improving the quality of education. The rising rates of illiteracy and disinterest can be addressed through more student-centric and accessible e-learning strategies.

However, the problem is less lack of material than absence of funding. Economic downturns usually augur budget cuts for learning initiatives. Lack of government funding saps opportunities for private investors to develop profitable innovations in education technology.

The traditional classroom setup, it is now being generally accepted, could be counterproductive for some types of learners. To engage differently adjusted learners, curricula and syllabus should be designed around their pace and capacity for knowledge.

There is still a demand for apps, software, and other platforms that facilitate learning, especially for children. As lifestyles are constantly changing, the learning tools that worked for students of the past decade may no longer work for the current generation. Due to the influence of their parents, children these days are becoming dependent on mobile devices.

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This trend opens up opportunities for apps and software that encourage learning and track a student’s progress. In the same way, teachers also need new tools and materials that will engage their students. On the teaching and educational management side, there is also a need for efficient software aiding the documentation of student progress and the creation of educational materials.

Along with this shift, the classroom setup is also evolving. Interactive boards, e-books, and collaborative curriculum are becoming commonplace in affluent places. Bringing these improvements to the mainstream invites private investment. Businesses can consider contributing to these efforts as investing in human capital. Helping others acquire necessary skills and knowledge to become productive members of society will lead to a stronger workforce in the future. This could also be solutions for illiteracy and out-of-school youth.

Global and private initiatives towards improving education technology will increase towards the year 2020. This outlook needs the work of not only education professionals but also those from information technology and business. The collaboration of these three powerful sectors has the potential to influence millions of people.

Important tips when marketing bodyweight boot camps and HIIT gyms

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With the fitness industry experiencing a massive boom in the past 20 years or so, a generation of Americans has turned into health buffs. More and more people have been seeking out ways to get healthier and fitter. People have begun to eat right and move more. Technology, it seems, has also kept up. Hundreds of new apps have catered to health, from calorie to step counters to heart rate monitors.

Many new gyms have opened in the past years that have offered new, better, and more practical alternatives to the traditional bodybuilding concepts. These gyms focus on functional fitness and have incorporated routines such as bodyweight boot camps and high intensity interval training (HIIT). Owners of these kinds of gyms know that their establishment isn’t capital-intensive; however, the marketing side of it is tricky. Many people still prefer the old-style gyms and are afraid of getting into new things. For those gym owners, here are a few tips on marketing.

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More personalized promotional gimmicks

More personalized promos make consumers feel special. Think of Starbucks and how baristas write the names of customers on their cups. It shows that businesses don’t see clients as numbers and payments, but as people who they are helping reach their health goals. Different rates for couples who are about to get married or people who are about to attend a formal event (because everyone wants to look good in a tux or a gown) could be a good idea.

Community events

Community events, as the name suggests, bring the community together. Gym owners can tie-up with several organizations such as restaurants or youth groups to host various kinds of activities. Think of fun runs, and how gyms can give away shirts, while other business establishments can provide beverages for parched participants. Sports days with friendly competition are also good ideas. Gyms partnering with other establishments can spearhead small sports tournaments like basketball or tag football, just to raise awareness that in the area, a fitness center exists that can boost the level of one’s athleticism.

How much does setting up the Olympics cost?

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Back in 1948, it cost London around $1 million to set up the Olympic Games. How times have changed. Over the past decades, the cost of setting up a special megaproject of this magnitude has steadily (on an average) gone up. Truth be told, setting up the Olympic Games is like planning a number of massive multimillion-dollar projects that include infrastructure and venues. Countries bid heavily to host the Olympics because they foresee long-term monetary gains over the short-term losses, plus the fact that the changes made to their cities would be welcome improvements.

The exact total cost of the Olympic Games is always difficult to determine since there are also intangible costs to the environment and society, among others. But expenses such as improvements and renovations made to infrastructure, the beefing up of security, and the budget allotted to the many different operations are more or less estimated with acceptable accuracy.

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Beijing 2008 had the biggest price tag in Olympic history. The organizers claimed that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games cost around $15 billion, which was roughly the equivalent of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. They also reported that revenues reached around $16 million. There were, however, some reports that estimated a total cost that far exceeded what the organizers presented. The price tag of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was found to be over $40 billion. This meant that this incarnation of the summer Olympics was far and away the most expensive in history, until of course the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, which was marred by controversy.

In the shadow of Beijing 2008, which many global event organizers thought used blatant overspending, the organizers of London 2012 cut down costs dramatically and put up a successful Olympic Games for a little over $10 billion. Expensive? Yes. But not as expensive as Beijing.

Music streaming: Now more popular than video

Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Google Play, and others have combined to conquer major streaming site YouTube and Vevo. Before this year, video streaming sites have led audio platforms in terms of number of user streams.

But numbers during the first half of the year have shown there were 114 billion music streams, topping the 95 billion videos that were streamed. The number of audio streams more than doubled from the same time period in 2015, while video streams grew by just 23 percent.

Overall streaming increased by 58 percent from last year, continuing a surge in rate of growth.

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The increase in popularity in music streaming had been helped by Rihanna’s Work, which is the most played song so far this year. Drake’s Views, meanwhile, is the most requested album, having been streamed 1.5 billion times. This is followed closely by Justin Bieber’s Purpose at 1.3 billion and Rihanna’s Anti at 1.2 billion.

The shift toward music streaming is notable because YouTube has more than a billion users all over the world. Spotify, which is currently the largest streaming company, only has 89 million active users every month.

However, the rising lead of audio streaming over video would possibly empower the music industry in its negotiation with YouTube over new licensing deals. Music artists and record labels have long argued that the video stream empire has been “unfairly siphoning value away from musicians and songwriters.”

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In the UK, the British Phonographic Industry reports that the music industry was able to earn more than £146 million in 2015, while video streams netted them £24.4 million.

YouTube, in its defense, claims that it shelled out $3 billion to the industry and has been working collaboratively with the industry to provide the artists their due. The ascent, though, of audio streaming sites generally has boded well for the industry as it has contributed to the 6.5 percent growth of music consumption in the US, despite the decline in CD and digital album sales.

How Zuffa became a major player in MMA broadcasting

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Ask any fan of combat sports, and they’ll tell you that the premiere mixed martial arts league in the world is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is more popularly known as the UFC. The UFC is where the best fighters from other leagues come to fight.

Just how did the UFC come to be as big as it is today? Hardcore fight fans will tell you that it’s because of the fighters. But those in the television industry and those who’ve been following the biggest boxing matches in history will tell you that the fighters are only half of the equation. The promotion matters just as much.

Zuffa, LLC is the sports promotion company that lifted the UFC out of small countryside arenas, with drunk audiences, and several circus sideshow freaks as its featured fighters, into the MMA giant today. The key word was exposure. After the UFC got the likes of Vitor Belfort, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture under its banner, it wasn’t long before the general public noticed the quality of fighters squaring off in the octagon.

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From that point onwards, Zuffa owners, the Fertitta brothers, and Dana White signed television deal after television deal for a monopoly of the MMA broadcasting rights possible. After this, Zuffa bought out rival fighting promotions World Fighting Alliance, Pride Fighting Championships, World Extreme Cagefighting, Strikeforce and, Invicta FC. With these buyouts, Zuffa then began to recruit their top fighters and incorporate them into the UFC.

Today, the UFC is looking to expand further, this time into China. In order to do this, owners of Zuffa would need to sell a minute percentage of their ownership. The world and fight fans can look forward to even bigger things in the future, as Zuffa and the UFC take over mixed martial arts on a global scale.

Brexit: A brief background

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has called for a referendum to decide whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union. According to Cameron, it is time for the British people to have their say about the country’s EU membership. The referendum will be held on June 23.

The European Union is an economic and political partnership among 28 European countries. The union aims to foster economic cooperation through free movement of people, goods, and services within its member countries. It has its own law-making body, the European Parliament, which sets policies for a broad range of areas including environment, health, consumer rights, and migration.

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The U.K. Independence Party and half of Conservative MPs are lobbying for Brexit. The “leave” campaign believes that Britain is held back by EU. They argue that the millions of pounds spent on membership fees offer minimal return and could be spent on more important endeavors such as education and scientific research. Regaining full control of Britain’s borders to reduce the number of immigrant workers is another point raised by those for Brexit.

The Prime Minister, along with 16 members of the cabinet, advocates for the country’s continued membership of EU. The “remain” lobby sees the benefits of the union in boosting the country’s economy through free movement of labor and trade. They also argue that a unified Europe promotes greater influence in foreign policy and creates an avenue on better trade and defense negotiation.

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Economists are still uncertain about the long-term impacts of Brexit on the British and European economies but both “leave” and “remain” parties acknowledge that the short-term consequences of departing the union are likely to be negative. Brexit could expose Britain to heightened uncertainty over future trade arrangements that could potentially incur losses in income. The worst case scenario, according to the organization Open Europe, is that U.K. GDP would be 2.2 percent lower in 2030 if it leaves EU. Conversely, in a best case scenario, Britain could increase its GDP by 1.6 percent after Brexit.

Opinion polls show that the British people remain split on the Brexit issue. As U.K. nears the referendum, it is imperative for the citizens to weigh the pros and cons of leaving the union as the outcome of Brexit will impact not only Britain and Europe but also the rest of the world.