Monthly Archives: February 2017

Time Is Money: The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Making Yours Work Harder

by

download

Image Source:

 

Every second matters in business, which is why your company cannot afford to be wasting time at any moment. Pushing your resources to the max will not only ensure greater productivity. But it will encourage greater profits and quicker growth. Consequently, perfecting this aspect of the venture should be top of every owner’s agenda.

 

Running a business is never easy. Nonetheless, regaining control with the tips below will make the process far smoother. More importantly, it will reduce the likelihood of crashing. If that doesn’t give you the incentive needed to take these suggestions on board, nothing will.

 

  • Ensure that your staff is always equipped with the very best equipment. The benefits gained from using the right facilities will ensure that business is conducted in the right manner. Moreover, it will help maintain a positive atmosphere throughout the team. Whether it’s POS systems, office software, or factor machinery doesn’t matter. Using systems that enable for quicker processes and greater productivity can only work wonders for the business.
  • Find the right balance between leadership and autonomy. Of course, your staff still needs guidance in business. Having said that, wasting their team with overly long meetings could be counterproductive. Shorter meetings are something that the likes of Apple and Google often implement. Combine this idea with better digital communication through team messaging Apps, and you won’t go far wrong.
  • Try turning your office spaces into paperless environments. This one tech upgrade will remove the need for printing, and can create easier collaborations between colleagues. Moreover, the fact you’ll no longer have to go through the physical filing cabinet to find a misplaced document will save your sanity as well as your time.
  • Avoid the need for going over old work by storing backups. This could mean using a WordPress backup to ensure that your website doesn’t fall victim to the long-term damages of a cyber attack. Alternatively, you might simply want to store copies of agreements, orders, and other documents in the cloud. Let’s face it; being prepared for the worst is a key asset in business, and this is the perfect way to make sure that you are.
  • The customer is the most important person to the business, and you should always aim to satisfy their needs. Nonetheless, any opportunity to reduce the strain of customer care should be grabbed with both hands. Whether it’s using virtual receptionists or adding an FAQ section to the website doesn’t matter. As long as clients get the service they deserve in an effective manner, the method shouldn’t bother you at all.
  • Cut the need for as many business trips by building a suitable space for video conferencing. Whether it’s managing other parts of the business or talking to important clients, this will save time and money. If nothing else, it will allow you to spend more time at home with the people you love. Quite frankly, that improved work-life relationship is probably the greatest reward of all.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Forget Making A Difference, Let’s Make Money

by

Be honest, do you actually care about making a difference and changing the world with your career? Or, do you just want to make a lot of money? If it’s the latter, you can forget about careers such as teaching and becoming a doctor to save lives. There are easier ways to make money if you don’t care about putting a mark on this world or giving back.

 

Learn The Law

 

Lawyers are by far one of the highest paid professional working groups in the world. But it does depend on how effectively you can argue and how many cases you can win. If you’re a great lawyer, you can actually run your own private practice. When you do this, you will be able to decide how much you charge. If you are a great resource for the courtroom, the potential for making a profit is absolutely endless.

 

Dentist Trumps Doctor

 

At least, it does if we’re focusing purely on the pay levels. A recent report revealed that some of the highest paid working professionals in the UK were dentists. They were earning close to half a million every year with their private practices. You can do the same, and the best part is that learning to be a dentist doesn’t mean endless years in training. After four, you’ll be ready to get started.

 

Money Is Funny

 

Especially when you’re dealing with it for a living. Who would have guessed that the highest paid professionals actually deal with money every day, all day? Wealth breeds wealth, and if you spend your days sorting out other people’s riches, you’re going to get paid a lot. You can find out more in the following infographic.


Credit to www.cashfloat.co.uk

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Getting Ahead In The Used Car Business

by

There are many different business types available to anyone who wants to try their hand, but some are particularly useful for those who want to make some money fast. Used cars is a great example of a business type which you can set up in a matter of days and starting earning before you even know what’s happening. The great thing about this business model is that people are always going to want to buy cars, and with used cars you have the opportunity to have a quicker turnover because you are selling older cars for less money. This means that you can get your business rolling and off to a strong start as soon as you like. However, you will need to know a few things to ensure that it all goes smoothly and to plan. Let’s take a look at some of the essential considerations for making sure this business type works out for you.

pexels-photo-305070

Pic Credit

Visit Auctions Regularly

 

You will need to figure out, most of all, where you are going to get your cars from, and this might be harder than you think. One of the basic things to do in this regard is to keep an eye out on any local newspaper, notice boards or online postings. These will usually be rife with people trying to get rid of old cars. Often, you might be surprised at just how little money people are asking for their old cars. However, another great way to find a lot of cheap cars is by going to local auctions. These are a fantastic opportunity for someone just starting out in this type of business, because they give you a chance to pick up a number of vehicles on one day. At the same time, you can get a feel for what the industry is like at the moment, and you can try to gauge the market prices of various cars. All of this is likely to prove useful in getting your business up and running and drawing customers in.

 

Get Good At Closing

 

For success in this type of business, you really do need to learn how to get good at closing your sale. Being a good salesperson is going to be your main skill here, and you need to begin learning what you need to do for that as soon as possible. Fortunately, learning these skills is much easier than you might have thought, with car sales training being relatively easy to get hold of. The more ability you have with your patter, the more cars you will sell, and that will mean a better start to your business on the whole. You might even want to practice these skills before getting going for real with your new business.

black-and-white-car-vehicle-vintage

Pic Credit

Befriend Some Mechanics
Most of the time, the vehicles you buy will not be in their best state of repair. This is obvious enough; after all, you are trading in used cars. However, you do need to make sure that they are in a good way when you come to resell them. Before long, you are going to be a mechanic’s best customer, so you might as well try to go out of your way to befriend one as well as possible. You might even be able to make a deal with them which benefits both of you – but you can only find out by asking.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Improve Your Career Prospects By Becoming an Industry Influencer

by

Whether you are working for a great company or have a fantastic idea for a startup, your chances of success will improve by a huge amount if you can become a respected figure in your industry.

 

Industry influencers get attention. They have an enormous audience to speak to and are seen as credible, trustworthy, and worthwhile. And if you want to improve your career prospects, becoming one is one of the best things you can do in your spare time.

It can be a tough slog to get noticed for the right reasons, however, so I thought I would explore some of the tactics you should be using. Let’s take a look at some of the ways becoming an industry influencer can help your career – and how to get started making more of an impact.

pexels-photo-29642

Via – pexels.com

 

Learn how to communicate

 

If you want to influence people, you have to know how to talk – and listen – to them. Not everyone is a natural communicator, of course, but is a skill you can learn. Take classes to improve your public speaking. Find out how to write in a way that engages people. And most of all, learn how to listen to people’s concerns and create compelling arguments that can help them with their issues.

 

Create and curate awesome content

 

If you want to be seen as one of the best in your field, you have to prove it. And one of the best ways of doing this is to provide people with exceptional blog posts, interesting ideas, and original thoughts. Now, you don’t have to come up with all this stuff yourself – it’s a good idea to curate content as well as create it.

 

Work on online self-promotion

 

Whether you are working for an employer or running a business, your online persona is essential if you want to be seen as an authority or an influencer. For example, for the real estate industry, you’ll find the likes of Nicolas Livsit on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and every major social channel; always updating their profiles and bringing new ideas to the table. Self-promotion is all part of the influencing game, and it’s something that you will have to embrace if you really want to get your name out there.

 

Connect with other influencers

 

Connecting with other industry influencers is part of the game, too. You tend to need an invite to start eating at the top table, so reach out to people in your industry that already have a name for themselves. For example, one of the most influential writers in the tech industry is Martin LaMonica of The Conversation. For online marketing, you might look towards the likes of John Rampton or Ann Handley. Engage with their ideas, comment on their posts, and link to their suggestions within our content. With a little luck and relationship development, there is nothing to stop you from getting quoted by other industry influencers as much as you quote them.

 

Good luck – and feel free to leave some tips of your own, or let everyone know how you are getting on!

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

I’ve Passed My Driving Test- What Next?

by

The moment your examiner tells you you’ve passed your driving test is pure elation, and despite feeling like a dream, it’s something most of us will always remember. After months and months of hard work, honing your skills and stressing about driving tests, once it’s all over you can let out a huge sigh of relief. However, this isn’t the end, in fact it’s just the beginning! You can now start your real driving ‘career’ as an independent driver, and learn what being out on the roads is really like. If you’ve just passed your driving test, congratulations! Here’s what you need to do next.

img_3496bfree

Image source: Pexels

 

Consider a Pass Plus Course

Now your lessons are finally over, the last thing you probably want is to take more of them. But if you’re lacking in confidence or just want to bring down the cost of your car insurance, Pass Plus is one way to go. This is done over six hour-long lessons and costs about £180. It gives you more driving experience, and statistically helps you to reduce your risk of an accident.

 

Find a Suitable Vehicle/ Get Insured

These two go hand in hand because as a new driver you can be somewhat limited to your car choices simply because of the insurance. Some models will be cheaper to insure, the age of the car and the engine size will all play a role too. Set your budget, then browse through suitable cars. Each time you find one you like the look of, run a quote through a comparison site. You will need to keep looking until you find one you like which is also affordable to insure. Often newer cars are cheaper to insure since there’s less chance of them breaking down, and also it’s easier to find parts if they need replacing. However, newer cars are of course going to be more expensive. Getting car finance could be the answer in some cases. If your credit score isn’t perfect it’s not the end of the line, there are specialist companies out there who offer car finance for bad credit too. Then you need to find a car where you can afford both the finance and the insurance. It’s a balancing act as generally as one goes down, the other goes up.

 

Practice, Practice, Practice

While you will have spent many hours out on the road as a learner driver, nothing comes close to gaining experience on your own. Over the next few months you will come up against situations you will never have come across on your lessons. Driving in different weather conditions, driving at night, driving in rush hour traffic. Don’t throw yourself in at the deep end, short journeys at less busy times of the day are a good way to build up your confidence. From there you can start doing more and more. Every time you get into the car you have something new to learn, so keep your wits about you and use it all as experience for becoming the best driver you can be.
Have you recently passed your driving test? What’s your next move?

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Gaming PC’s: Value For Money?

by

Gaming is a darn expensive hobby.

 

The new Playstation 4 Pro is going to set you back about four hundred dollars, with the Playstation VR not far behind that. A 4K television set capable of displaying the full power of the PS4 Pro will cost near one thousand dollars and the controllers and games are sixty bucks a piece.

28906279633_fdf20f2018_n

(source)

That’s money that could frankly, be put to much better use – especially when you consider the five to seven year life span of games consoles.

 

The gaming PC is a whole different beast. For the same price as the Playstation 4 Pro, you can get a system that is arguably more powerful and you won’t need an expensive television to go with it if you choose a good monitor and there are a lot of points to consider to find the best gaming monitor.

 

So, is a gaming PC worth the investment? Well – it really does depend.

 

While the outlay on a system like the PS4 might seem initially cheaper, that could be false over its lifetime if you upgrade or buy new controllers. However, if you enjoy games that are exclusive to Playstation like Bloodborne or Infamous Second Son – then there is no question at all – the console is the choice for you as these games are unavailable on the PC. Remember that there are a number of games exclusive to PC – such as Civilization

 

If you aren’t fussed about console exclusives, then go right ahead with the PC. Steam and GoG have plenty of sales throughout the year meaning you can pick up good games for low prices often enough to make it worth it in the long run. Console games do go on sale, but not often enough.

31358420734_70e5a6b4b4_n

(source)

A thousand dollars of gaming PC can also run games at a higher level than the PS4. You’ll experience better draw distances, better graphics and better visuals.

 

Of course, PC games are customizable through user produced mods as well – so you have to take that into account as a deeper and more customizable experience might be worth more for you!

 

While PC’s have made huge strides in terms of size and portability over the past number of years, the consoles still hold the trump card in terms of accessibility. If you want to play on your existing TV downstairs, a console might work for you. That being said, a good PC case might be just as portable. It depends on the options available for you but you might not be able to beat a console for pure ease. A console is easier to play with friends in the first instance as well while a PC will require a bit more setup and care.

 

If you’re inclined to spend time and effort, the PC will work wonders for you. If you want to get up and go with an option then the PS4 and Xbox One consoles may be better. All in all though, dollar by dollar – the PC wins through and is better value in terms of performance.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

‘Embarrassing’ Health Issues Men Shouldn’t Be Afraid To Broach

by

The old stereotype is that a man’s pride is one of his most important attributes. Being strong, stoic and silent when necessary so you can keep persevering. However, that stereotype is patently false. Holding things in only tends to lead to exacerbating any kind of crises. Nowhere is that no more true than where your health is concerned. There are times you need to put pride aside and face your fears.

boy-666803_960_720

Pic Credit

Not-so-pearly whites

Teeth that are misshapen or discoloured in your opinion can have a real knock on your confidence. In turn, that lowered confidence can work counterintuitively to make you less likely to seek treatment. Many men fear hearing the worst when seeing a dentist and getting work done on their teeth. Or they simply aren’t looking forward to the reprimand. But the truth is that not getting the detail on the situation could end up with you missing some of the products and procedures that could turn things around and immediately give you more confidence.

Extra up top

The idea of men having extra breast tissue, even men who have very little body fat to them, can seem bizarre to some. That belief can lead to embarrassment and even shame about having extra breast tissue, yourself. But not only are breasts common in men, but plenty of breast problems are, too. Gynecomastia, growth of breast tissue, might occur naturally but it can also be the sign of several underlying conditions and hormonal changes you could get reversed.

Problems down below

Phallic imagery is strong in male humour and pride. It’s no wonder that we build up the importance of the penis to our lives that signs that everything is not right down there can feel like an assault on our masculinity. But problems like severe phimosis, for instance, that can be solved by a range of treatments from steroid creams to getting circumcised, can really get in the way not just of your sex life, but the health of the penis itself. Most doctors have seen penises of every shape, size, and variation. Yours is likely not going to warrant a second thought.

That one checkup

The same goes for the prostate exam. It might be an embarrassing thought, but prostate issues get increasingly common as we get older. You’re going to have to get used to the idea of that exam every four years. Every other man does. Otherwise, your chances of missing potential prostate cancer developments skyrocket.

Where’s your head at

One of the most unfortunate taboos in medicine, one that is thankfully changing for the better day-by-day, is talking about our emotions. Suicide in men is more than twice as likely as suicide in women, and this idea of masculine stoicism is a big reason why. If you’re ever feeling like your emotional state is skewed more toward to the negative on a daily basis than the positive, you might be suffering from depression. It can be a difficult topic to broach with doctors, but there are guides that can help you find the words to bring it up.

Certainly, you might not wish all and sundry to know about the health conditions that you consider embarrassing. But you should never let perceived social taboos get in the way of seeing your doctor. To them, no bodily taboos exist. They’ve seen it all before and they could easily give you the help you need.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Trusting in Quality: Why Your Business Should Pay Extra for Brand Names

by

When we go out shopping, we’re always looking to get a great deal. It’s human nature to want a great deal; if we see something that’s 50% off, we’re going to snatch it up whether or not we intended to buy that item in the first place. It’s fine because this is just how we are as human beings, but what does it say about our business?

apple-1853259_960_720

Picture Source

 

Business has no room for hardware failures

 

When you buy products from a less-than-reputable business, it’s clear when the quality is subpar. It doesn’t matter what type of product you got. It could be something simple such as a couple of pens and pencils, or it could be something larger such as a tablet device or a dozen or so cheap smartphones for your employees to use. Perhaps they don’t last as long as advertised, maybe they fall apart after a couple of weeks use, or perhaps they just aren’t as powerful as the branded versions. Whatever the reason for their poor quality, not getting brand names could spell disaster for your business.

 

Imagine if you bought a few cheap barcode scanners to keep track of your warehouse stock. Now picture this situation; one of them has developed a fault and your new employee doesn’t realise this because of the convoluted interface. Whatever items this new employee scans, it’s not getting read properly by the scanner and the codes are garbled. When it comes to stock check time, all of your stock counts are screwed because of an error from a cheap barcode scanner. This could have been prevented if your business invested in a Honeywell barcode scanner because they are a well-known brand that has served the industry for many years. It might have had a higher initial cost, but the cost of fixing your stock is going to be higher.

man-coffee-smartphone-working-6362

Picture Source

 

Your quality reflects in your products

 

If you buy low-quality materials to make your own products, then the quality is going to be experienced by the end-user. For instance, if you are a keyboard manufacturer and you decide to use cheap imitation switches instead of genuine Cherry MX switches, then the quality of your keyboard will be below the industry standard.

 

You might be able to offer a cheaper price for your keyboard product, but that doesn’t mean much if the switches themselves are imitation ones that don’t offer anything different—they’re just lower quality than the real thing. If you want to ensure that your clients come back after purchasing your products, then the source of your products needs to be high-quality.

iphone-1100263_960_720

Picture Source

 

Summary
It might be tempting to buy cheap products or materials to fuel your business, but it’s a pointless endeavour in the long run because you simply can’t trust bad quality. It might be fine for now, but in the future your, products are going to be mocked for using low-quality materials. You can trust in the consumers to find something off about your products if you advertise them as better than they actually are, so don’t play with fire. Be honest with your products, get branded equipment and materials, and don’t skimp on quality.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Creating Kerb Appeal: Main Focal Points

by

If you are ever trying to improve the overall look of your house, then there are a few things that you will find are always mentioned by estate agents, on blogs and in articles and books. One of those, commonly, is kerb appeal, and this is particularly important if you are ever thinking of selling your home. Kerb appeal is essentially what kind of first impression your home gives, and it is important when you are selling because your visitors are going to base a lot on that first glance. Just like with people, homes only have one chance of giving a good first impression. So how can you make sure that you are adding kerb appeal to your home? Well, here are four main focal points to think about.

pexels-photo-261146

Pic Source

Lighting

 

This first one is something that people routinely forget about, and yet it makes such a profound difference overall. The right lighting can throw such a unique sight on everything that it really makes a difference to how the property looks on a first impression basis. If you don’t currently have any lighting outside at all, you really should invest in some. At the very least, you should make sure that the entrance to the doorway is well lit and the door itself. What’s more, make sure that the lighting level is appropriate. This means not too much, not too little. Experiment until you get it right.

 

Driveway

 

Although not many people remember this, the driveway is hugely important in developing a good sense of kerb appeal. After all, in essence the driveway acts as an entrance-way, and the more welcoming and inviting it appears to be, the better. Ultimately, it makes little difference whether you have concrete driveways or pebble-dash, or whatever, the main thing is that you are keeping it looking as neat and professional as possible. And remember that the lighting can help you massively on this front too.

pexels-photo-259597

Pic Source

Door

 

The front door is one of the easiest ways to improve the appearance of the outside of your home. If you really want to go above and beyond, then you might even consider replacing it entirely with a brand new door. You might be surprised at what a difference this can make – it is well worth trying, at any rate. However, if you don’t feel that you want to go that far, even just giving it a fresh lick of paint is likely to help things along massively. Go for a bright colour, don’t hold back. Oh, and make sure that you have a decent door knocker – these always seem to impress guests, for one reason or another.

 

Lawn

 

If you have a lawn, then there are some advantages to that. Just make sure that you keep it neatly trimmed at all times, and keep it simple – maybe put a few plants on the borders, but nothing much. If you don’t have a lawn, that’s not a problem, but you might want to have a few more plants to counteract it.

pexels-photo-226407
Pic Source

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂

Job-Hunting Myths Debunked!

by

Like most people, you’re probably approaching your current job hunt with a firm set of beliefs as to how the process works, and the things that will or won’t be effective. However, a lot of these common beliefs are completely wrong, and won’t do anything other than hold back your job-hunting activity. Here, I’ve debunked some of the most common myths that hold people back in their job hunts.

Your CV Isn’t That Important

 

2304874364_cd78bd8073_m

From Flickr

 

First impressions count for a lot in every aspect of life, and this is certainly true when it comes to job hunting. Your CV and cover letter are the first impressions that prospective employers will get of the kind of person you are. With this in mind, you can’t afford to let any interviews slip through your fingers by sending out shoddy CVs. Make sure you tailor your personal statement and the way you word your work experience to the job you’re applying for. Take steps to ensure the whole document is completely free of spelling and grammatical errors. Remember to explain why you took on any extra training and applied for previous positions. You don’t have to meet the standards of professional CV writing, but you should be striving to get pretty close!

The Interview Is About Convincing the Interviewer to Hire You

It can be easy to think that the interview process is all about getting on the good side of the interviewer, and convincing them to give you the job. However, if you dig slightly deeper, you’ll find that it’s more about figuring out if you’ll fit neatly into the position, and how much you really want the job. Obviously, we all need to keep roofs over our heads and food on our tables. However, if you neglect to think about what comes after the interview process, you can easily wind up in a position that you’ll struggle with and eventually become miserable in. Think of the interview process as a two-way communication channel, rather than the interviewer putting you under a microscope. This will always result in a better outcome.

If You Don’t Follow Up, They’ll Think You’re Not Interested

 

10499253804_fbdb445010_n

From Flickr

 

Yes, this may have been true at one point in the past. However, it’s 2017 now, and these calls don’t help in the majority of cases. In fact, they can sometimes hurt your chances of getting the job. The modern job market is pretty saturated. There are going to be dozens, if not hundreds, of other applicants aside from you applying for the exact same position. If they wanted every single applicant to follow up, the employer would have to spend all day fielding calls, rather than going back over interviews and applications. If you have reason to believe that there’s been some kind of mix-up with your application, then go ahead and make that call. Generally though, once you apply, you need to accept that the ball is in the employer’s court, and it’s up to them to decide whether or not they want to speak to you.

Contributed Post.

If you like what you’ve read here, please let others know of this post, blog, and site.

And thanks for reading! 🙂