business owner

Amazon New HQ2–Good or Bad?

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

Hello readers!

Unless you live in a very closed off bubble, everyone has heard of Amazon, and many are Prime Subscribers. Over the past year, Amazon has been on a massive search around the country to expand their headquarters. Amazon announced that the two lucky winning cities to host are Arlington, VA and Queens, NY, meanwhile, Nashville, Tennessee will host a smaller campus.

There has been a range of feedback of enthusiasm to criticism from both the public arena as well as private citizens. During my studies in marketing, one of the largest factors in business success is location, location, location. Did I mention location?

I live right outside of DC, specifically Tysons Corner, aka NOVA (Northern Virginia) so I can only credibly speak of the new Arlington location. NOVA is known for great, but very competitive employment opportunities, real estate (albeit resulting in a hugely expensive area to reside) and of course all of the tourist and historical attractions that come in correlation to our nations capitol. All of the benefits of living in the area, along with travelers enjoying the attractions, however, brings one major inconvenience and headache: traffic.

Now that Amazon is coming to Arlington, the increase in traffic congestion is at least one of the front runners of concerns. My personal reaction: what is a little more traffic when we are all used to it? Our very own Governor, Ralph Northam is enthusiastic about the business opportunities Amazon’s empire can bring: jobs, education and more. Watch his reaction here.

Aside from traffic, other concerns brought forth is the cost to tax payers; remember how I mentioned the enormous cost it is to live in NOVA? Well this business deal can bring a high cost in operating expenses, resulting in potential hikes to tax payers.

I’m personally cautiously optimistic about the location being in my neck of the woods; I don’t want a hike in money taken out of my paycheck to pay for this, but the benefits outweigh the traffic that I’m already used to.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Kylie Jenner–Social Media Self Made Billionaire.

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

Hello!

On the cover of the upcoming issue of “Forbes” magazine, Kylie Jenner is the youngest to date self-made billionaire. For anyone who watches ABC’s “The View” there were differing viewpoints on how much work Kylie Jenner put into making her business successful vs her success handed to her. Meghan Mccain talked about how she definitely benefited from her father’s political career, however, in order to prove that she deserves her career success, she had to work 12 times harder.

My thoughts.

Whatever your viewpoint, everyone knows who the Kardashian family is; they have their own family brand business, along with individual businesses the Kardashian “kids” own and run. Kylie Jenner, I’m confident, is a very hard working business owner, however,  her customers/fans are mostly from her social media. It wasn’t hard for her to gain a very large social media following; in her interview with “Forbes”, Kylie talked about how social media is her selling tool. She gained her following being a Kardashian daughter, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it has been an easy tool to reach her customers, resulting in instant sales.

Marketing your brand is hands down one of the hardest aspects to making a business successful and strong. I am a very active social media user, as social media has expanded from simply being a personal networking tool, it is now the brilliant and convenient  digital marketing venue most, if not all businesses utilize to drive sales and promote products and services. This is how Kylie Jenner has been successful, her social media gives direct marketing of all her products. If an unknown like myself were to sell similar cosmetics that to what Kylie Jenner is producing, who would have more success, me or Kylie Jenner? The answer is obvious. Unless I became a worldwide known name, Kylie Jenner of course is going to be much more successful. This isn’t a bad thing, just the predicted and most logical outcome.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, I look up to any and all self made successful business owners; receiving aide is great, keeping the success is where the true hard work comes into. You need to have a product that people want and will purchase, with client loyalty. Some people have a lot of ease with creating their brand, starting with an established and known name, while others really do start from the ground up.

I would love thoughts on this; are Kylie Jenner, and any other individual with an established name have an easier time and success in making a brand work vs people who start out with nothing?

Check out the article from “Forbes” here.

Thanks for reading, and I would LOVE for you to subscribe, its free!

Xo,

Amanda