The Diverse Definitions of Diversification

"Diversification remains one of the most fundamental investing principles, and it’s often one of the most misunderstood," says Carl Richards, a writer for The New York Times whose primary focus is the stock market. Investors typically view stocks as individual entities instead of groupings or as a collective whole. We often neglect how individual stocks work in correlation with one another for the benefit of the whole and instead focus on which individual stock potentially offers the greatest return in the shortest duration of time. This approach to investing is short-sighted. Putting all of your eggs in one basket is a considerable risk, but spreading around your money allows one to reduce certain risks that come with placing your money in the stock market.

A diverse portfolio is one that is spread out in a variety of markets and not concentrated on a particular company or industry. This makes it less likely that you will be fully impacted if an entire industry were to crash; just ask those who put all of their investments behind the dot-com explosion in 2001. The same is true with purchasing individual stocks. Yes, placing a large sum of your investments in an individual stock can lead to a large return, especially if you pick the next Apple or Microsoft. However, the odds are highly improbable and if the company collapses, so does your portfolio.

The volatility of the market over the past 10 years has led many to believe that diversification is irrelevant. The current standing of the global economy is less than stellar, meaning all stocks are subject to another recession. So yes, one can say that diversification is irrelevant if the entire market crashes. But rather than saying diversification is irrelevant, for those who would like to remain secure, maybe the definition of the term simply needs to be altered. Dividing your investments between stocks and bonds is a safe way to potentially acquire a return on your investment while reducing the level of risk. The New York Times examined two portfolios over the past 30 years. One solely invested in the S&P 500 (domestic stocks) and the other diversified with 60 percent invested in stocks and 40 percent in bonds. Although the non-diversified stock had a 1 percent higher return rate, it also experienced 7 more quarters of negative growth. So yes, with another recession potentially looming, the old definition of diversification may not save you from a precipitous crash, but spreading your wealth between risky stocks and safe bonds may save you some money as well as frustration.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha.

False Investor Apprehension Upon Jobs’ Resignation

It comes as little surprise that Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO of Apple led to an immediate drop in the value of the technological powerhouse’s stock value. Jobs has been the face and perceivably the brain behind Apple from its genesis, taking it from a start up computer company to the innovative giant that it is today. Under Jobs’ reign, Apple effectively changed an entire industry by pushing out products that are far more advanced than that of its competitors. Dating back to the Mac, Apple has released quite possibly the most ground-breaking computer products and programs that have forever altered consumer expectations. Products such as the iMac, iPod and now the iPad have revolutionized our way of life. With Jobs being credited with much of the success of Apple and their line of merchandise, what does his resignation mean in the long run for Apple’s stock?

The company’s stock fell 5% during extended trading hours on August 24, the same day Jobs announced his inability to perform the role of CEO, but most analysts agree that this sell off was done out of false speculation, investor apprehension and the downward trend of all stocks that day. Despite its early fall, the company found immediate resurgence days after Jobs resignation. Selling your Apple shares at this time is regarded as unfounded by analysts for several reasons. One, Jobs is not leaving the company entirely. He remains the chairman on the company’s board of directors, meaning he will still contribute his brilliant insight and vision in Apple’s future decisions. Also, prior to his departure, Apple’s 2012 plans were strategized and, for the most part, put into effect.

Finally, Jobs handed over the CEO position to a well-known figure within Apple, Tim Cook, the same man Jobs enlisted as CEO of the company when he took a leave of absence back in 2009. Cook is widely regarded throughout Apple as the best candidate to replace Jobs and although he does not have the same level of creativity and vision as Jobs, few do. Cook possesses the experience and business savvy required to maintain Apple’s perception as the world leader in technological innovation. Cook, along with his incredible supporting cast of Apple employees will keep pushing out the type of products that consumers expect of Apple. Selling your stock now may result in missing out when, not if, Apple releases their next groundbreaking product.

Do you think Steve Jobs' resignation as CEO of Apple will have an effect on the company's stocks? Let us know!

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha.

The EPI Blog Team

Every summer, the Philadelphia Youth Network, Inc. coordinates and runs a program aimed at providing high school students with the opportunity to gain real life work experience in a variety of industries. The Employer Paid Internship Program connects a select number of young adults with employers, giving the youth a chance to see what today’s working environment is like. The goal of the EPI program is to not only open the door to the business world, but also demonstrate to the youth the worth and importance of an education.

This summer, PYN was faced with the unique challenge of promoting the program to very distinct publics: youth currently enrolled in the program, potential applicants, funders, and current and potential employers. To meet this goal, PYN developed an EPI blog team, a group of young, driven, talented young men and women enrolled in the EPI program. Over the past 4 weeks they have been posting blogs on a PYN WorkReady website, workreadyclassroom.org. These blogs serve as testimonials to the maturity and professionalism that young adults develop thanks to the EPI program. The authors speak of the knowledge and insight that the EPI program cultivates and express the benefits of having an opportunity to enter college with real life work experience under their belts.

Not only does the blog team speak to the beneficial nature of the program, but those actually blogging are given the opportunity to work with PYN staff members to improve their writing skills. “This has given me the skills necessary to grow as a writer,” said Brenton Oakley, a blog team member. The blog team effectively demonstrates PYN’s mission to teach and enhance young adults work skills while at the same time communicate the value of the EPI program to its publics.

By posting on an official PYN website and promoting the blogs on PYN’s Twitter and main homepage, PYN is able to disseminate, to its wide range of publics, the positive growth that young people gain because of their experiences in the EPI program. Advertising to these audiences can, and hopefully will, allow the program to expand its services and employer relationships in the Philadelphia area.

To read what these gifted young writers have done, visit the blog page here.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha.

Perception Matters

Establishing the proper message and creating the right perception of your organization is crucial to developing and maintaining a positive relationship with a community. Joey’s Mini Mart, a small corner store located in a quiet, pleasant neighborhood in Scottsville, New York, a couple miles away from the Rochester Institute of Technology, opened for business less than three years ago. Joey’s Mini Mart is submerged in the middle of a neighborhood, prohibiting the store from being able to put in gas pumps. Additionally, the store faced heavy competition from well-established covenant stores in the area that have gas pumps. These two facts concerned the young owner, Joe Valvano, but did not deter him from opening. The mini mart was just the beginning of his plan. The ultimate goal was to open up a liquor store. Considering the close proximity of a university, the idea of a liquor store seemed to be a very profitable entity, but being located in a family neighborhood presented an obstacle.

Joe needed to create an image that would allow him to maintain a steady flow of business as well as promote the opening of his liquor store with little backlash or resistance from the surrounding community, a venture that often leads to negative reactions. To accomplish this, Valvano decided to embed himself in the neighborhood and become a part of the people of Scottsville’s everyday lives. His main objective became to create a welcoming experience for customers, greeting them with a smile and engaging them in conversations about their lives and their families. He created the perception that he cared, and he really did. In fact, he knew more about his customers than just their names and what they bought, he knew about their lives because they felt comfortable sharing with him. Valvano also gave back to the community, sponsoring children’s soccer and hockey teams. Joe had effectively painted himself as a prominent member of the town of Scottsville, granting him regular business and notoriety among the neighborhood.

When it came time to open the liquor store, Father and Son Wine and Spirits, Joe was already a staple within the community. Inhabitants of the neighborhood wanted to see him succeed because they felt like he was one of them. Because of this, no one minded a liquor store in their backyard. After all that Joe had done for the community, how could they?

The identity that Joe was able to create for his mini mart directly lead to his ability to construct a business that can sometimes be perceived as deviant or sinful, without any negative reaction from those who live nearby. His simple plan of involving himself in the community has allowed Joe to maintain a strong relationship with his customers and expand his business into the future.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha

Musicians and Social Media

Social media has forever revolutionized how we communicate with one another. Whether it is for personal reasons, business efforts, or promotion, social media has positioned itself as the dominant means of communication for a wide range of industries.

The music world has not been immune to this shift. The rapid growth of social media has allowed musicians, specifically those who are up-and-coming, to raise awareness of their existence in a way that was nonexistent merely 10 years ago. Musicians who have yet to make it are able to share their work beyond the scope of their own social circles and cities. Through the use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube, young artists are able to post their work and share it with the entire world in effort to achieve their ultimate goal, a deal. “Facebook is my resume,” said Aj Curry, an up-and-coming hip-hop artist from Rochester, NY. Not only can artists share their music, they are also able to market and create an image of themselves and the songs they represent. Considering that the current state of music is more fixated on production and marketing and less so on lyrics and quality of the composition, social media provides a necessary tool for the young musician to appeal to the capricious industry.

Prior to the explosion of social media, musicians were forced to do some serious legwork to achieve the results that YouTube or Facebook are capable of. Young musicians had to physically go to their potential audiences. Whether it was handing out CD's on a street corner, or incessant phone calls to bar managers in hopes of securing a venue, musicians had to put forth a great amount of time and effort to get their music out there, a strategy that is very time consuming and expensive. Social media has relieved artists of some of that burden. Artists are now able to reach a wide audience through more convenient methods. Evan Prewitt, a guitarist from Rochester, NY, said that his Facebook page has allowed him to easily promote upcoming shows. “I could not imagine trying to promote my shows without Facebook, I love it,” said Prewitt. “It’s the only way you can be in contact with everybody without being in contact with anybody,” said Curry. According to Curry, the use of social media has generated a faster growth of his fan base than when he originally began making music almost 10 years ago, a time when social media had not yet burst onto the scene.

But is this shift in the way we communicate truly beneficial to an artist who has yet to make it? The extreme popularity of these sites and the excessive amount of information posted everyday makes it easy to comprehend how a young musician may struggle to become noticed. How can an artist distinguish him or herself from the masses that constantly saturate social media sites with their work? It’s a daunting task to say the least, but one that is necessary in today’s world.

Curry noted that the accessibility of these sites has resulted in a large quantity of bad music being posted on the Internet. The voluminous amount of poor to mediocre music being pushed on social media websites has made it hard for good music to get noticed, a truth that has frustrated the young musician. But, according to Curry, persistence is the key. “Facebook really allowed me to prove my musical capabilities,” said Curry. Despite his frustrations with the continual exposure of subpar music, Curry credits much of his current success to his use of social media, attributing much of his recent fan growth and hype around the Rochester area to the quotidian postings of his songs and music videos on his Facebook page.

Prewitt expressed a similar sentiment. He too is frustrated with the mind-numbing music filling social media sites that make it difficult for quality, underground musicians to make a name for themselves. But ultimately, Prewitt feels that if you are good enough, you can separate yourself from the artists who prematurely release their work online. “I think what it boils down to is you can’t jump the gun until the product is right, especially if you’re just starting off,” said Prewitt. Much like Curry, Prewitt has increased his fan base and been offered to play gigs around Rochester because of his social media usage.

To learn more about Aj Curry’s or Evan Prewitt’s music, please visit their Facebook pages. You can also follow Aj on Twitter @AjCurry.


This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha.

How I Took Advantage of Networking

Coming into this semester, I knew I needed to find an internship for the summer. Having never had an internship, or anything resembling a “white collar” job, I found myself very apprehensive and was unsure of how to separate myself from other applicants. How could I, an inexperienced student with limited exposure to the profession of public relations, distinguish myself as a viable candidate who possessed the characteristics and personality that potential employers were seeking? After sending my resume to nearly half a dozen employers and not hearing back from one, I decided simply sending a list of what I had done did not accurately reflect the potential which existed within me. I needed to not just put my name out there, I needed to put a face to my name and make an impression based on an actual meeting.

One afternoon a friend of mine sent me an email containing the details of an upcoming PPRA networking event and suggested I attend. This is exactly what I was looking for: a chance to sit down and meet public relations professionals in the Philadelphia area. So I paid the small registration fee and when the date arrived I put on a suit for the first time in my life. At the event, I learned how to properly position myself to obtain an internship or a job, and how to make myself stand out among the masses. Upon the conclusion of the event, using the advice I had just learned, I approached several employers who had expressed a need for an intern at their place of work. Again, using the advice I had learned from the PPRA event, I followed up with those who I had met and established a relationship by beginning an email correspondence. The next thing I knew, I had an interview scheduled. I prepared myself adequately for the interview by using the suggestions of the professionals I had spoken with at the networking event and was able to provide my interviewer with practical suggestions that fit the organization’s message. Two days later, I was informed that I had received the position.

Thanks to networking, and my friend’s suggestion to attend this particular event, I now have a summer internship. Had I not gone, anxiety would have probably continued to grow as my chances to find a summer internship diminished. The lessons from the professionals at the PPRA event, along with the chance to meet prospective employers face-to-face, allowed me to display my personality beyond a simple resume and cover letter and led to my eventual hire.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha.

The NFL Drops the Ball

The Super Bowl is one of the largest sports spectacles in the world. Around 111 million television viewers looked on as the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers battled for football glory. An additional 103,219 spectators saw the game live from Cowboys Stadium in North Texas. But due to poor planning, the stadium was not able to accommodate 400 fans who showed up to the game with their tickets in hand.

Due to a lack of space, the stadium’s maximum capacity was exceeded. In order to allow additional seating, temporary sections were built, but construction was not completed by Super Bowl Sunday. As a result, 400 fans were removed from the stadium and denied re-entry. The NFL failed to take proper action and is facing public scrutiny because of it.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Cowboys Stadium owner Jerry Jones were both in attendance, but did not apologize for their mistake face-to-face to those impacted. After reports surfaced about the ticket debacle, the NFL took action in efforts to compensate the fans that were not allowed to see the game and to save face in the public sphere. What unfolded achieved neither.

The NFL presented the 400 fans with two options. First, each fan would receive a free ticket to next year’s Super Bowl along with $2,400, a figure three times the amount of this year’s tickets face value. The second offered fans one free ticket to a future Super Bowl of that fan’s choice. This option also included round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations. Fans immediately rejected the initial offers. The NFL neglected to assess how much those 400 fans had spent on travel arrangements. They also forgot to account for the inflated cost of tickets when sold by third parties. Under the two options, fans’ expenses were still far from reimbursed. The NFL failed to properly assess the extent of monetary losses experienced by the fans. In doing so they made the organization appear stingy and unattached from their fans. This mishap and the failed attempt to solve it could not have come at a worse time for NFL executives and owners.

With the uncertain status of the new collective bargaining agreement and the looming potential of a player lockout, the NFL finds itself reliant on the support of its fans and will need some public sentiment. They may have lost all hope of that with their Super Bowl mistakes. Typical NFL fans have a hard time relating to rich athletes, which may ultimately lead them to side against players, blaming a potential lockout on their selfish demands. But, your typical NFL aficionado can relate to an ordinary fan being denied entrance in a game that he or she has paid for. The mistake, along with the obvious mishandling of the solution, reflects negatively on the operations of the NFL, which in turn may lead the fans to conclude that the NFL is responsible for the potential lockout, not the players.

A lockout will tarnish the reputation of the NFL. Executives and owners will take the brunt of the blame because of their failure to exhibit foresight and fairness with their largest profitable entity, their fans.

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Evan Galusha.