As humans, we misjudge risks and opportunities. Our mental software seems coded to make us fumble our finances. Several cognitive biases trip us over money and life decisions, and there's not much we can do about it, according to Daniel Kahneman. <ins>If the mind’s GPS is a lousy navigator, nudges like auto-enrollment aim to reroute us off the path of least resistance and onto the road to prosperity.</ins> Making the default a better option is an example of what they call “choice architecture”.

Hacking Your Brain to Stop Fumbling

Well-chosen Snudges/self-nudges can improve life. We can be our own choice architects by making certain options harder or less fun, or by eliminating them altogether. Almost all the tools that work to nudge other people, you can use to change your own decisions. Having insight into these and structuring your own life can have better outcomes.&nbsp; Self-nudging is not going to work for everyone and certainly not in all situations. Changing our behaviors is hard and there are no shortcuts. When we try to be our own choice architects, we may end up just designing castles in the air.

The Idea of "Snudge"

To achieve a goal you're trying to avoid, first, you overcome the resistance. So you combine an activity you're avoiding to one that you actually love ~Temptation Bundling~ like "I'm allowed to enjoy indulgent entertainment while I’m exercising at the gym". It would be a reward for doing a task you dread while it's in progress instead of afterward.&nbsp;

Temptation Bundling

This is an extreme and effective version of self-nudging. It starts with the elimination of bad choices, by tactical reduction of one's own freedom. Like Odysseus, from Homer's Odyssey, who was tied to the mast of the ship for a 10-year commute while the sirens would entice sailors to smash their ships. Or like a study in the Philippines, where people who opted for a commitment account that locked their money up with no benefit, ended up saving 80% more yearly. <ins>Create your own commitment device with a goal and put something on the line, with a referee to keep you honest and moving.</ins>&nbsp;

Commitment Devices

<ins>You get better with money when you get better with time. </ins> Write letters to your future selves, making this older version of you into a real three-dimensional character can make this sort of self-conversation easier to recognize the benefit of something, like an automatic savings account. Time can be a tool to start new habits and end bad ones. The start of a school year, new year, birthday, or even new month could be the self-nudging of well-chosen fresh starts.

Time Travel

Habits are hard to start and even harder to maintain. A retainer is basically proof that braces alone don’t really solve the problem. We're optimistic about nudging ourselves to make long-term changes but agnostic and pessimistic about changing day-to-day ones. Thinking about whole categories of decisions or making one-time set-it-and-forget-it moves are more likely to succeed. We need to think of persistent solutions rather than going for a one-and-done fix.

Wear Your Retainer

In a study where one group was served fresh-popped kernels and the other, a week-old stale popcorn at a theatre, no one seemed to notice or care about the freshness or taste of it. It was because the act of inhaling popcorn at movies is so automatic.&nbsp; <ins>We waste a lot of time and money while consuming the equivalent of stale popcorn. </ins>We are creatures of habit and get to feel guilty about it as well, unless we actually do something.&nbsp;

Don't Eat The Stale Popcorn

New research provides a useful tool kit for hacking your brain to stop yourself from fumbling your finances.

Self Improvement

How a 'self-nudge' could help you make better money and life decisions

Every business owner and entrepreneur have more setbacks than they want to admit. Some can overcome all challenges and rise to the top, while others get discouraged and don't recover, leading to business failure. Success has everything to do with your mindset and the habits you build for dealing with challenges.

Success requires the right mindset

Don't become the victim with no control. Accept that change is normal and possibly the reason you saw an opportunity to start your business. Look for new opportunities. For example, many restaurants closed during the pandemic but some quickly refocused on home delivery and found a way to weather the storm.

Avoid a victim mentality

As you search for alternatives, don't let your emotions overrule your logical decision process. Instead, use your initial process for evaluating markets, customer needs, and financial implications. Then, allow the challenge to broaden your thinking.

Stay calm and manage objective facts

Don't try to carry the weight on your shoulders only. Team members are often closer to the customer and have some valuable insights.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ask advice from peers, your advisory board, outside experts and mentors. Keep an active mentor relationship with a few peers to discuss your business challenges and strategy.

Seek input for the team and mentors

Don't allow a setback to sidetrack you from your vision. There is seldom one path to a goal, so take the time to re-focus on your vision and find alternate routes to reach it, perhaps using a much better idea than the first. Ensure to learn from your progress and challenges. A business challenge can remind you that your interests have changed or that you did not use the best path.

Revisit your goals and business purpose

Do not play to your weaknesses when analysing the situation. See every challenge as an opportunity to learn and provide leadership to your team. They need to view you as a role model for their success.

Capitalise on your strengths

One of the leading causes of business failure is giving up too soon. Building a business is a journey, not a sprint. You can overcome almost any disappointment if you are fully determined, motivated, and committed.

Refuse to give in to defeat

Problems and change are the only constants in business, so learn how to meet them positively.

Stashed ideas

How to Overcome Business Setbacks by Developing a Positive Mindset

Market research is an important tool for assessing industry landscapes and gathering customer insights, which can ultimately allow you to make more informed decisions for your business. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/242477/global-revenue-of-market-research-companies/" target="_self"> </a>New data shows that the global market research industry’s revenue surpassed $73 billion in 2019 (up from $46.09 billion in 2014), which suggests to me that the industry is booming and that more companies are aggressively investing in third-party research to understand their markets.&nbsp;

Market Research Is Crucial

Before determining what research method is right for your business, it’s important to conduct frequent preliminary internal research to understand your market and its white space. This will provide a starting point and assist you when you’re outsourcing formal market research.This research can also prepare your team for initial conversations with market research firms and allow you to communicate your expectations and needs.

What To Do Before Reaching Out To Market Research Firms

Now that market research teams can integrate artificial intelligence into their survey strategies by leveraging third-party technologies, results may now be more reliable and more transparent, which could make this option a preferable choice for C-suite executives. Survey results can also reveal details about your target audience, which can help you tailor your sales funnel and pipeline. Surveys also reveal market perceptions and provide guidance on how companies should reposition, market or rebrand themselves.

Opting In To Surveys

Once you have the results of your market research, it could allow your company to scale more quickly and mitigate risks along the way. New insights may reveal problematic pathways or negative perceptions of your company but could also reveal where there is white space and an opportunity for growth. To optimize cost and maximize reach, you can and should utilize these results throughout the fiscal year and use them to help shape your business strategy.

The Value Of Data

Market research is a longer-term investment. The ROI can pay dividends over time, but measuring prematurely could dampen expectations. Companies can use market research to inform business and marketing strategies and to maintain strong and loyal customer relationships over time.&nbsp;

Market Research: Important Strategy

Results from market research are invaluable and can have lasting impacts. Companies can repurpose and leverage them to build credibility in the media and with investors while also using them to reveal more about competitors.

Council Post: Why CMOs Should Include Market Research In Their Strategies

Pricing is a big factor in your cash flow, profits, and expenses. A detailed price analysis can assist in adding a price tag that is not way above or below customer standard. Pricing analysis is done when you develop new ideas or test running your products in the market. It is advisable to do a pricing analysis annually to stay updated with competitor prices and customers' expectations.

Detailed price analysis

A product strategy involves adopting a method or pricing model best suited to your product or service. It should maximize profits and value while considering the market demands of your target customers. Examples of pricing strategies when picking a product include:<ul><li>Competition-based pricing</li><li>Cost-plus pricing</li><li>High-low pricing</li><li>Value-based pricing</li><li>Geographic pricing</li></ul>

Establish The Best Pricing Strategy

Surveys and questionnaires provide insight into how the market works, your competitors, customer expectations and how products are presented. It's not enough to try to match or beat the competition. The customer's response to your pricing is vital. A low price may suggest low quality and vice versa.

Get informed about the market

Take all expenses into account while setting up your business, including the variable and fixed costs. After working out the total costs, subtract the costs from the intended product price to determine whether it will result in a profit or loss.

Work out costs and profits

When you pick out product prices, determine what you aim to achieve with your pricing analysis and what pricing strategies will enable you to achieve these objectives. If you're launching a new product, it's best to start with a relatively low price to help build up your market presence. Or consider a high price that makes the customer adopt early. Consistent pricing across the range is essential.

Set a pricing objective

It's vital to understand price-fixing and predatory pricing. While doing your pricing analysis, steer clear of these practices that can cause negative consequences.

Know legal or ethical setbacks

Pricing Your Product: Best Strategies to Employ - The European Business Review

A corporate spin-off can set a parent company free from capital and bureaucratic constraints so that it can pursue alternative strategies. Four factors are critical for creating successful spin-offs:<ul><li dir = "auto">A quick transition toward growth</li><li dir = "auto">Operational excellence</li><li dir = "auto">Leadership time and attention</li><li dir = "auto">Culture and talent</li></ul> Addressing some or all of these factors can increase the likelihood that strategic decisions will create value for both companies.

A corporate spin-off

Research shows that revenue growth is vital to determine a spin-offs success. The management teams of both ParentCo and SpinCo can often explain how growth is part of the spin-off's strategic rationale together with improved capital management and operational changes. But they are typically much less clear about how they will achieve growth. A good idea is to achieve some quick wins to build momentum for the spin-off.

A quick transition toward growth

Companies that successfully execute win-win spin-offs will optimise the operating model for both companies.&nbsp; For example, companies use the opportunity to increase their marketing expenditures or digitising the sales process. Others would attempt to improve, centralise, or simplify the operating structures before day one.

Operational excellence

Companies often encourage spin-offs to free up management's time to refocus on the core business or launch a new business. But it can be difficult to focus on the big picture, particularly for the SpinCos executives who have to develop and execute new strategies. Executives often spend more time focusing on the mechanics of spinning off units while missing the opportunities that they may unlock. They may wait until the spin-off is completed before preparing for the next step, resulting in being unable to capitalise on the momentum of the spin-off.

Leadership time and attention

A core question in most spin-offs is how to allocate talent as each company wants to keep the best people. It is noted that successful spin-offs assess the cultures and capabilities each company would need to succeed. Some identified critical roles that would create the most value and implemented a plan to find the right people for those roles.