By Darcy Pope

Hi everyone! This issue I’ll be talking about a few things like stocks, entrepreneurship, and news in the business world!

In the last Business Club meeting we focused on our stock portfolio and how we needed to make some changes. First, one of the stocks we invested in was Sand Ridge Energy Inc., which has been staying at a steady price but has recently started to decrease. The club will vote on Feb. 27^th on whether to sell, or to keep the stock in hopes that it will begin to grow again.

Green Mountain Coffee, our most profitable stock, may begin to decrease at a steady rate because of the increase in coffee prices. With this stock, we’ve doubled the initial investment we made, so the club had to make a quick decision on what to do with this stock. We decided to put a stop on it, meaning that once the stock falls below an amount that we set, it is automatically sold. But how can you tell when you should sell, keep, or put a stop in on one of your stocks? Pay attention to how the company is doing financially, pay attention to world events that affect your company’s products, and pay attention to how your company’s competition is going. If you invest in the right company, do thorough research, and know these few things, you could make a great investment on stocks!

This past week, it was announced that the creator of Candy Crush, King Media Entertainment, is filing for its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange stating that they have a $1.9 billion in revenue and $570 million in profit. While this stock may seem like a great idea to invest in, you have to think about it for a minute. How many games have we all downloaded on our smart phones and then stop playing in a month or so later?

Guilty. How many of us give up on the stage that asks us to pay for the next 10 stages? Guilty. A New York Times article claims these as “fad games” and while Candy Crush is definitely successful, who’s to say that that won’t change when another game like Flappy Bird or 4Pics1Word could become popular next month? (Here’s the source: “Why Candy Crush I.P.O. Could Be a Dangerous Game” by: Dominic Elliot) It’s a risky investment.

Do you like taking risks? Are you a dedicated and knowledgeable person who hates working for “The Man” and has creative, unique ideas?

Well you might be an entrepreneur in the making! The official definition of an Entrepreneur is, “One that creates a new business in the face of risk and uncertainty for achieving profit and assembles the necessary resources to make it happen.” A few characteristics required to be a successful entrepreneur are: you have to be dedicated to working many hours (perk: you’re working for yourself!), be able to create a new and unique idea, and to assume the risks of your business failing. The most successful businesses today all started with an idea, for example Steve Jobs started the infamous Apple in a garage. We even have some entrepreneurs in our club like Saman Baghestani of www.SoPoBooks.com (some of you may have purchased your books through there!) and Justin Leighton of www.mainejunkyards.net .

Our club meetings are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 12:30 to 1:15 in the business lounge! Hope to see your there!