Periscope, Twitter’s new streaming video app, was recently introduced in April (2015).  Periscope describes the app as creating the ability to “see the world through someone else’s eyes.”  Many of the early adopters (broadcasters) on Periscope use the video platform to talk about something they might see in their daily lives.

At the National Speakers Association’s annual meeting in July, Periscope was introduced to a group I was attending, and Randy Gage (@Randy_Gage ), an early adopter, broadcast a portion of one meeting to his Periscope followers.  This prime intellectual content was taken from the meeting and being shared with additional people.

My Periscope Experiment

After reflecting about Periscope and its potential use for me as a new social media tool, I decided to give it a try.  As luck would have it, I had technical difficulties in getting signed up.  If anyone can have techie difficulties, it is me!

A couple of weekends ago, I spent some time reading about Periscope and learning more about it.  I saw Michael Hyatt’s Periscope experiment, which he calls the Virtual Mentor. Take a look at his daily “scope” and see what you think.

I decided that I’d conduct my own Periscope experiment, and did my first Scope last Friday.  It was nothing to be proud of, other than the fact that I did it.  It was just a practice run with no real content, but I did get started.

I don’t know how long I’ll be Scoping, but right now, it is interesting.  I hope to learn from some of you regarding the effectiveness of this new medium to share intellectual information.  At some point, I’ll evaluate whether it makes sense for me to continue or not.  In the meantime, I’m learning a lot.

I’ll be talking about business valuation and ownership transition, the same topics I now blog about and speak about.

My Second Scope

Yesterday, I did a Scope titled “Basic Business Valuation.”  I’ve saved it, so I’ll place it in this post so you can have a chance to see what a scope looks like.

I talked about two basic earnings equations:

Value = CF1 / (R – G)

and 

Value = Earnings x Multiple

Valuation is a function of the value triumvirate of expected cash flow (earnings), the risk associated with achieving the expected cash flows (R) and the expected growth in those cash flows.  The post is 5-6 minutes in length, so you might like to take a look

I did another scope today – twice – but both failed because of inadequate internet access.  We solved that problem this afternoon, so I’ll be trying again tomorrow.  The title of the next scope is “Dividend Policy, Earnings Retention and Growth.”

If you follow me on Twitter, you will receive a tweet when I go live.  If you want to see a scope, then follow me on Twitter – @ZChrisMercer.

View My Second Scope on Basics of Valuation

Here is the scope.  Click on it and give it a try.  There is no perfection on my part, just a genuine desire to impart some basic information on valuation to business owners and their advisers.

Wrapping Up

Please let me know what you think of the scopes and my Periscope experiment.  We all need just one more social medium to take a look at!

Until next time, be well!

Chris