Author Archives: alanhs961

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Could You Be A Better Driver?

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Scientific research suggests that most people rate their driving skills as above average. Studies show that the majority of people would give themselves a score of at least 7 on a scale of 1-10, even though most said that their friends or family would give them a lower score. You may think that you’re a brilliant driver, but if your skills were under the spotlight, would you make the grade?

Image sourced from https://pixabay.com/en/photos/driver/

 

Are you as good at driving as you think?

Everybody has to pass a test to be able to drive on the roads, but how different is your driving style now to those days when you were accompanied by an instructor and are you really as good a driver as you think? If you were to take a test now, would you pass? Can you still remember the rules of the road? Are you guilty of driving with bad habits? Experience can be hugely valuable when it comes to driving, but not everyone who has years of driving under their belt is a good driver.

 

The worst driving habits

When you do something over and over again, it’s very common to pick up bad habits. When you’ve been driving for 20 years, it’s highly likely that the days of holding the steering wheel in the ‘ten to 2’ position have long gone. There’s nothing wrong with getting more comfortable behind the wheel, but it’s always essential to drive safely. Here are some of the worst habits drivers can display.

 

Distracted driving

If you’ve been driving for years and you’re a confident driver, or you tend to live your life at one hundred miles an hour, and you’re always on the go, distracted driving is probably a feature of day to day life. How often do you make calls when you’re driving or take time to plug in a zip code into the navigation system? If you do tend to do this, it’s really important to invest in a hands-free kit for your phone or to use the inbuilt system in your car rather than messing around with your cell in the car. Even when the roads are quiet, and there aren’t many cars around, hazards can come out of nowhere, and if your eyes aren’t fixed on the roads, you may not be able to react. It’s also worth bearing in mind that in some countries, such as the UK, it’s illegal to use your phone while you’re driving unless you have hands-free access.

Image via http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=212702&picture=driving-and-texting

 

Driving tired

How often do you drive when you’re tired? If you know your way around the roads and you’re a seasoned pro when it comes to driving, you may think that you can overcome any challenge on the road, but tiredness kills, and there’s no getting around the statistics. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than a third of drivers have fallen asleep at the wheel at least once. Driving when you’re tired puts both you and other drivers at risk, so always pull over in a safe place if you’re struggling to keep your eyes open.

 

No hands

When you learn to drive, not a moment goes by when you don’t have at least one hand on the wheel. This tends to change when you pass the test, and you’re free to explore at your leisure. It’s fine not to have a firm grip on the wheel with both hands at all times, but resist the temptation to try and show off. You don’t want to end up injuring somebody because you’re showing your mates you can steer with your knees. If you’re negligent, and somebody else is injured, they have every right to get in touch with a firm like https://www.StephenBabcock.com/locations/ruston/ and pursue a compensation claim. You may also incur penalties if you were at fault. When you’re behind the wheel, always remember that it’s not just your safety at risk. Careful driving also protects others, so make sure you have a firm grasp of that wheel, even if you do know the roads like the back of your hand.

 

Driving too fast

If you’re confident in your driving abilities and there’s an open road ahead, you may be tempted to put your foot on the gas and let the vehicle fly. The trouble is that driving at high speed carries risks. If you crash at speed, you’re more likely to sustain severe, even life-threatening injuries and you may also injure other people and do serious damage to your car. If a pedestrian is hit at 30 kph, they have an 80% chance of surviving. This falls to almost 0% at 80 kph. You may also face legal action if you exceed the specified limit, especially if others are injured. If you’re unsure about the impact of speed, this article is a useful resource http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/world_report/speed_en.pdf. Pay attention to the speed restrictions and adapt the way you drive if it’s raining outside or there’s ice on the road. Even if the speed limit is 70 mph, it may not be safe to drive at this speed if the surface is slippery or it’s pouring down with rain and visibility is poor.

Image courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/jfxie/7426097390

 

Not giving other vehicles space

Are you guilty of driving right behind other cars? Do you try and encourage people to speed up or tailgate them on the highway? Driving like this can make other drivers feel anxious, and it can also end in disaster, especially if the driver in front is forced to brake quickly. If there’s not enough distance between your car and the vehicle in front, you’re going to crash into the back of them. Leave at least two car lengths between you, and adjust the distance in line with the conditions. If it’s wet or icy, you’ll need to increase the gap to account for a greater stopping distance.

Image from http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5273154

 

You may think that you’re a good driver, but do you have any of these bad habits? How careful are you on the roads? If there’s room for improvement, take these considerations on board and remember that you’re responsible for other people’s safety, as well as your own.

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A Bitter Pill: The Effects Of Giving Your Children Tablets & Smartphones

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It’s a common part of society now, everyone has their smartphone glued to their hands, and people would rather flick of their finger back and forth on a small screen rather than engage the person next to them in conversation. But the biggest place where it’s having an impact is at home with your family, and, more specifically, your children. A lot of young children are already addicted to tablets. And it seems that by the age of two, most children already know how to use a smartphone or a tablet, so is this a little premature? But also what are the negative effects of your child having a smartphone or a tablet at such a young age?

 

It Becomes Their First Addiction

As we all know, it’s very difficult for us to put down or smartphone for any lengthy period of time anymore. Think about this in terms of an infant, where between the ages of 0 and 2 years old, their brain will triple in size. And if their brain space is taken up by an allegiance to this electronic device, not only do they become addicted to it, but it also doesn’t teach them how to control their impulses or to even challenge themselves, both of which are traits of an addictive personality.

 

Your Relationship With Your Child Can Be Fractured

If the tablet becomes their priority, this gets in the way of any young child developing proper personal bonds, which means they will struggle to utilize their emotions, and they will struggle to form bonds with other people down the years. In addition to this, any time you take away their tablet or smartphone, it will result in temper tantrums, which aren’t pleasant to deal with. We tend to think that we are keeping them quiet for 5 minutes by giving them a tablet. However this kind of behavior will self-perpetuate itself, and you may find that you have got into a desperate cycle of pacifying your child with a tablet for an excessive amount of time.

 

The Health And Safety Concerns

It has been widely spoken off that if you go to bed with your smartphone, it will suppress your melatonin, known as the sleep hormone, and therefore it becomes a struggle to have and maintain good quality sleep. Couple this with the all too real concern of mobile phones and tablets catching fire, this is something for every parent to be concerned about. If, heaven forbid, your child fell asleep with their tablet under their pillow, and it caught fire that would be a terrible thing to endure as a parent. There may be some sense of redemption in hiring accident lawyers to fight for a product liability claim, but this would be low on your list of priorities if your child were severely hurt by their tablet. We all think nothing of plugging in our phones to charge at night, but this is the time when you are most at risk.

 

It’s Incredibly Distracting

Children growing up with a smartphone are being distracted in many ways. It is argued that these devices can have an impact on the hands on approach to completing tasks. So, for children in school who are solely relying on their tablet or smartphone, their sensorimotor or visual motor skills may be very underdeveloped. By being distracted by their phones, there’s a high chance that they are not being as creative or imaginative as the average child used to be. In fact, with the wealth of information at your fingertips now, it means that there is less engaging with the brain, and the ability to recall information is not used as much as it used to. A good example is that instead of trying to remember a fact for the purposes of debate, they can simply look up the information. This can be argued as a good thing in one respect, but on the other side of the equation, this means that everyone, not just children, are not using their brain the way it was meant to be used.

 

It’s Stopping Interaction

This is all too obvious to everyone, but if we as adults are not interacting with people more, how is this affecting our children? And if you think back to the playground in school, you actually played; you didn’t sit in the corner on your phone. This lack of interaction and engagement with other people is showing in the increase in obesity in our children, but it’s also a critical signpost of how future generations may be ill-equipped to deal with basic human emotional processes.

 

You may have already given your children that smartphone or tablet, but with these, and many other dangerous symptoms of being glued to a screen, it’s time to take them back. It is, indeed, a bitter pill to swallow.

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Had A Great Startup Idea? Don’t Keep It A Secret

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According to the most recent data around a million new startups form every year. Startups are a booming industry if you can call them an “industry,” and everyone is trying to seek out new value in the market place.

 

But there’s a problem. With so many people around competing for limited sales, there’s no enough room for every idea. In fact, only around 10 percent of start-ups make it out of the first 10 years alive. That’s pretty small odds.

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One of the reasons for this might have something to do with the consensus around intellectual property – or IP. There’s a belief in many sectors that the best defense against competition is to keep your ideas to yourself and not to discuss them with anybody else, just in case your competitors copy you. But this is a fallacy. The strength of IP law, especially in places like the US, is actually stronger than ever, You can get patents if you’re willing to wait, copyright your work and get trademarks. Some quotes have even been trademarked. Thus, the problem isn’t lack of legal protection. In fact, the protection is now so good that it rarely pays to try to be the “first mover.”

 

So what’s the logical course of action? Well, it turns out that networking is probably a better idea than trying to keep an idea under wraps. Yes, there’s a risk that somebody might do the dirty on you, steal your idea, and set up their own business, but there are some pretty strong headwinds that act against that sort of thing. For starters, most people don’t want to set up their own businesses. They’d rather have safe careers and plod through life with minimal disruption to their day to day activities.

 

Secondly, the majority of established companies probably can’t steal your ideas, even if they wanted to. The reasons for this aren’t well understood by most entrepreneurs who imagine that thanks to their massive revenues, large enterprises can copy their ideas in a flash. It turns out that big business, with some notable exceptions, are bad at adapting to new situations. Most big businesses would rather go out of business than do the hard internal work that needs to be done restructuring a business to prepare it for disruptive technologies. That’s why so many startups make it big. Large companies simply don’t have the management tools. Skills or leadership capacities in place to turn their organizations around. Startups are lean and a lot nimbler, making it easy for them to offer consumers services when companies can’t.

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Sharing your idea has distinct advantages too. We’re moving beyond a traditional business model in which companies take input from outside of the enterprise, combine them in some way, and then churn out the outputs. Instead, today’s market is more like a lattice of interdependent nodes, each of which adds value to customers. Today’s businesses need to network, to provide the full experience expected by the customer, and they can’t do that if they keep their ideas to themselves.

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10 Things You Can Do To See More Money In Your Bank Account Tomorrow

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Everyone will probably tell you they want more money for one reason or another. Perhaps they want to make sure their family’s enjoy abundant lifestyles. Perhaps they want to buy a house to call their own, a new car, or start a business. Some just want more money for the hell of it. However, there are many limiting beliefs surrounding money that can stop people from having it. Some people believe they aren’t meant to have a lot of money, while others think that it’s too hard to come by. The fact is, you can have more money almost immediately if you just open your mind. Your career isn’t the only way to get money! Here are 10 things you can do to see more money in your bank account tomorrow!

 

Start Tracking Your Finances Properly

If you don’t currently track your finances properly, it’s no wonder you’re finding yourself with less money than you really want. You should know how much you have coming in, how much goes out, and how much you have to spend on things like food, petrol, and entertainment. Knowing your numbers is key to staying on track with your finances and even creating more wealth for yourself. You can download apps that help you to see everything in real time, or you can simply make a note of it in your phone or a book. You might be surprised at how much you’re spending on coffee, for instance. It all adds up!

 

Sell Your Old Junk

Gather up all of your old junk from around the house. Now go to your prefered platform, whether this is eBay, Gumtree, Depop, or Etsy and sell away. You can even use Facebook marketplace to sell these days, or sell in person. One man’s junk really is another’s treasure! Not only will sorting out all of your old stuff make more space and feel great, you’ll have a little extra pocket money to spend on what you want. People will buy clothes, old electronics, and so much more. You’re bound to have a few things that you can sell!

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Ask For A Pay Rise

Asking for a pay rise may seem nerve wracking, but if you feel it’s well deserved, then don’t hold back. Arrange a meeting with your boss and present solid facts as to why you should get a pay rise. They may decline for now, and give you tips on what you can do in the future.

 

Alternatively, you can make sure you land a career that offers a lucrative salary. You can find out the salary via wikiproffesional.org, with almost any role being listed on there. Neurologists, for example, earn a good amount of money, although it’s a very tough job. Bear in mind that it can take years to train to work in some professions, such as the medical profession. However, if this is something you’re passionate about, you should go for it!

 

Start A Business On The Side
Do you have a particular skill that you would like to share with the world? You could start a business on the side. Maybe you can speak another language, or you can make jewelry by hand. Whatever it is you can do, it’s easy enough to start an online business and begin selling your services. Make sure you focus on great marketing techniques and customer service, and before you know it, you could be making enough to quit your day job. Lots of people are doing it, and there’s absolutely no reason that you can’t!

 

Change Your Utility Bill Suppliers

If you’ve been with the same utility bill suppliers for years, you’ve probably wasted a lot of money. You should check out new deals with different suppliers each year, as it’s super easy to switch and you can save a fortune.

 

Swap Your Sim

Swapping your contract for a plain sim, or even downgrading your current contract is a great way to save money. Do you use everything you have now? If you always have minutes and data left over, then it could be time to switch.

 

Cancel Your Subscriptions

If you have ongoing subscriptions that you just don’t use, make sure you cancel them before another payment goes out. Netflix, Amazon prime, Spotify, and even your local gym can all make wonderful subscriptions providing that you actually use them. If you’re not using them but keep telling yourself that you will, it could be time to get rid.

 

Start Affirming Your Wealth

This one may sound strange, but many wealthy people will tell you that the key to more money is to believe you have it. Stop telling yourself the same old ‘I’m poor’ story. Start saying you have money. In fact, start saying you have the amount of money you need! You don’t have to tell lies to people; it’s not like that. You simply make sure that your thoughts, actions, and words line up with what you want. This is a form of ‘faking it until you make it’, and if you can keep it up for a little while, you might just get great results.

 

Try A Little Feng Shui

Feng shui is a way of arranging your furniture so that energy flows through the home. Again, this may sound strange, but some people swear by it. You need to make sure things like your bed and mirrors are in an optimal position in the home, as this will encourage positive energy flow. There’s no harm in a little furniture rearranging if it might help you to make more cash!

 

Invest It

Finally, how about investing your money? OK, so you won’t exactly see more money in your bank account tomorrow, but investing is a much smarter way of using your money than saving it. Sure, it’s wise to have some savings, but once you have enough you should look at putting your money into smart investments. If you’re clever, and you take it slow and start small, you could have some great returns to play with in a few years.

 

What do you think of these tips?

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Making Business For Others Can Help You

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First of all, creating business for other people in your own space doesn’t have to be at expense of your own company. Think of it as a symbiotic relationship: if you have your own company, one in which you need an office space and all the entrees, then you’ll be likely to branch out into hiring services to keep this area in check. You’ll need to do this for both yourself and who you’re renting your office from, if you’ve made such a contract. So what businesses can you fit into yours to successfully complement each other?

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Use A Domestic Cleaning Service

Unless you work in the cleaning sector yourself, you can hire out some office cleaning services that cuts down on your own workload and ensures everything is kept up to code. Hiring a cleaning service is a great benefit to you as the business owner as it ensures the job is done properly whilst you work on your projects. It also means you don’t have to fork out for your own crew and their upkeep. You can potentially fit more time into your day after all!

It’s also a way to let people, students especially, make some extra money that they desperately need. A cleaning service, such as https://greenfacilities.co.uk/,  is one in which people learn by doing, so you can be ensured that everyone on the payroll knows what they’re doing.

Use A Printer Hiring Service

So every office needs a printer, but all the ink and paper and possible downtime can add up, especially when you don’t have the profits to keep up with it. You can start waste paper drives and keep everything in digital format, but it’s good practice to have a hard copy of everything.

Why not hire out a printer service? This can keep your own costs down with no maintenance having to be served by your own company. It also means you only have the printer when you need it, so it can be a weekly effort if necessary.

Buy Or Hire Out Some Art Pieces

So it can get boring staring at the same four walls; you can’t blame employees for stagnating slightly with no other stimulation. Having a creative art piece on your wall fills space and shows any clients coming into your office that you have a strong aesthetic for your brand. It’s also been shown to inspire employees.

Get some modern art on your wall for a nice look, whether it’s a rented piece or your own outright. If you decide to hire, it means you can rotate the pieces you have on a monthly cycle, and at no extra cost to yourself. It also means you’re supporting artists and local upcoming talent, as everyone deserves to have a bit of their art on somebody’s wall.

You’re never alone in the business world when it comes to making your own brand succeed. A whole collaborative effort can be made to present you in the best way, and show up the competition!

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Looking to Advance Your Personal Website? Here’s How

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Are you looking for new ways to advance your own personal website? It can be difficult to come up with ideas, so if you’re stuck, this guide will help you out. Everyone who has a personal website, has one for their own reasons. However, they’re usually linked to your personal brand or your career or creative work. So, if you want to advance your website, here’s how to go about making it happen.

 

Allow People to Contact You Easily

 

Most people want to be contacted for commissions and work opportunities. If that’s what the purpose of your website is, you need to make it as easy as it possibly can be for people to get in contact with you. So, your contact page needs to be up to scratch. You can find some useful guidance at www.creativebloq.com/design-contact-page-7-pro-tips if you need help with any of this.

 

Put the Most impressive Things Front and Centre

 

If you’re using your website as a vehicle to promote your work, you need to make sure that your best work is at the front. Make it easy for visitors to see what you do and what you’re all about. You want them to be impressed as soon as they visit your website and have a quick look around. Don’t hide your best work behind multiple links. That will bury it and stop it from getting the attention it needs and deserves.

 

Make it Work Well With Search Engines

 

Search engines are vitally important to your website. This is how people will find your website. You can’t just assume that people will be able to find your website because that’s not going to happen by itself. You should with www.ignitedigital.com to help you improve your approach to SEO. Your website needs to work hand in hand with search engines if you want it to find real success.

 

Provide Clear Links to Your Social Media Profiles

 

Your social media profiles are probably just as important to your personal brand as your website is. That’s why you need to provide clear and obvious links to those profiles on your website. There are many ways in which this can be done. You can just add them to the top of the page above the header. Or you could list them on the contact page if you want to. Making them clear on the page at all times is the best option, though.

 

Include Relevant Testimonials

 

If you want people to have trust in you and your personal brand, you should provide reasons for them to do that. One of the best ways to do that is to post some customer or client testimonials on your website. This shows people that other people have taken advantage of what you have to offer and have had a positive reaction. That can really help to persuade people to get in touch and use your services, so it has to be done.

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Your personal brand could be enhanced massively if you improve your personal website. Make the most of these ideas and put them into action as soon as you can.

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Tax Return Terrors: How Freelancers Can Cut Their Costs

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Going freelance is one of the most popular career choices of this generation. Now, more than ever before, people are choosing to set up a home office and spend their days there. Of course, technology has made this lifechoice more workable than ever before. When you think about it, it’s no wonder that people are making the most of the opportunity. After all, who wouldn’t want to work from the comfort of their home?

But, it would be naive to assume that the freelance route is a solely happy one. While there are obvious benefits to being your own boss, there are major downfalls too. And, never do they make themselves more plain than when tax time comes around. Rather than leaving things to your employer, you have to turn your hand to the ever-nightmarish self-assessment. Worse, you feel every single penny that you lose when you’re doing it.

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The good news is, there are a few different ways for freelancers to keep taxes to a minimum. In fact, for the most part, work like this is encouraged. The trouble is, we don’t all know the tricks of the trade and end up paying above the odds. Which is why we’re going to look at a few ways you can keep your taxes down.

Set up as a company

When you first go freelance, the company vs. sole trader situation can get a little confusing. But, to break it down for you, operating as a sole trader means that you’re liable for your enterprise. If you get sued, for example, it all falls on you. And, when it comes to taxes, you’ll be paying from both your salary and your profit.

But, if you set up as a limited company, as outlined on sites like howtostartanllc.org, you stand to gain company tax benefits. Hence, you’ll only need to pay tax on your income. Done right, this could halve the amount you pay out.

Educate yourself about deductions

Any freelancer knows that they have to deduct expenses on their assessment form. But, what less of us realize is just how many deduction opportunities there are. Likewise, using free software will also help manage the deductions. There is tax software for professional tax preparers to help manage and sort tax without needing to use an accountant. For a full list, head to sites like https://www.upwork.com. Your findings will astound you. Often, you can deduct for using a home office, and even get money off your internet bill. Doing your research is the only way to ensure you’re deducting everything possible.

Keep accurate accounts

Of course, you’ll find it difficult to deduct anything if you don’t keep accurate accounts. Far too often, we end up losing receipts and paying for business supplies from our pockets. With one or two items, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. But, when you consider the cost of those items, plus the tax you could’ve saved, the mistake soon adds up.

Filing Cabinet Regulation Hanging Files

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Getting your accounting system under control is all it takes. Invest in filing equipment, and make sure to put relevant receipts and bills there as soon as you get them. That way, they’ll be ready and waiting when you come to fill your form.

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Fall and Winter Are Coming: Are You Ready For The Roads?

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Well, summer has certainly left us. With the states currently being battered by high winds and storms, fall is definitely upon us, and those pleasant, summer driving outings can be considered long gone. Moving forward, it’ll be all about hot chocolates, cozy nights in, and making sure that we’re safe on the roads. Fall – and, looking forward, winter – presents a number of hazards which, if we’re not careful, can pose a risk while we’re driving around town. Below, we outline some of the dangers you need to be looking out for.

Source: Pexels.com

Check Your Car

 

Our cars get a pretty smooth ride during the spring and summer months. They’re not tested in the same way they are during the fall, and even if something goes wrong, we’re usually just left stranded on a beautiful summer day. No great loss. That’s not the case in the fall and winter when cars are tested to the brink. Before the weather gets even more gloomy, make sure you’re checking that your vehicle is in good working condition. Check it’s topped up with the necessary fluids, that the battery and brakes are working well, the tires are fully inflated, and that the heater is ready to do its job.

 

Fast Weather Changes

 

We’re currently in a transition period between summer and fall. That means the weather doesn’t really know what it’s doing; one moment, it’ll be a sunny end of summer day, and then the next there’ll be dark storm clouds overhead. From seemingly nowhere, the roads can all of a sudden become hazardous, and driving a thread to the safety of you and your passengers. Be prepared to wait out the inclement weather until it’s safe to continue, or cut your journey short if bad weather strikes.

 

Leaves on the Road

 

Fall is a magical time, full of beautiful colors on the trees. That’s all good and well, but those leaves are falling, and creating slippery conditions on the road surface. If you’re visiting the country to engage in a spot of leaf-peeping, make sure you’re extra careful when you’re handling those tight mountain corners. If you live in an area that has a lot of leaves on the ground, regularly check under your vehicle, around the tires, to ensure that leaves aren’t clogging up the mechanics of your vehicle.

 

Wet Conditions

 

We’re about to get hit with a lot of rain, and perhaps even flooded roads. This can cause danger to your car in a number of ways, including the torrential rains beating down and obscuring your view, and the roads that are holding too much water. Before you set off driving on what will be a rainy day, make sure your windscreen wipers are in full working order. On the roads, always drive a little bit more slowly than you usually would, and be conscious of how your steering feels; if it feels abnormally light, then you might be aquaplaning, which means your tires have lost contact with the road. Ease off the accelerator until your steering returns to normal weight.

 

Low Light

 

The nights are getting darker, which cause problems on their own, but there’s also the matter of lower light. You might be driving in great light at 6 pm one week, then the following morning 6 pm is suddenly much darker, but you haven’t noticed. Pay extra attention to how much light there is, especially to and from work; even if you think you can see fine, other drives won’t be able to see you! The sun will be setting earlier, and if you’re driving west, then you might have to compete with blinding sunlight. Keep your windscreen completely clean, and make sure you’re using your sun visor.

 

Wildlife Issues

 

Fall is an excellent time to go wildlife watching. Unfortunately, since wildlife lacks a map, it often finds its way onto the roads, right in the line of your oncoming car. In non-urban areas, drivers often to deal with deer, which are most active during the fall season (also during dawn/dusk, to make matters worse). If you’re driving in an area populated with deer, be extra vigilant when looking for hazards and be careful when going around bends.

Source: Pexels.com

Other Humans

 

Fall and winter is a time to enjoy with other people, but not on the roads, when other people are a danger. In fact, it’s this time of year when drivers are most likely to need the services of a car wreck lawyer. Why? Because it takes knowledge and skill to drive when the weather outside is bad, and most people don’t have this information or skill set. It’s true everywhere, but, paradoxically, truer in areas that always get inclement weather, as some drivers who are used to living with such conditions ignore the safety precautions. To keep yourself safe, keep a gap between you and the driver in front of you, and never speed up just because a driver behind you is becoming impatient.

 

High Winds

 

Fall is also a time when we get high winds. They can come from seemingly nowhere, as the most dangerous winds are usually confined to a few specific areas on a journey, such as bridges. If there’s a high wind warning where you live, drive extra carefully. You should also keep two hands on the wheel at all times, and keep a distance between your vehicle and large trucks, as they are more susceptible to turn over.

 

Have Supplies in the Back

 

You can’t always stop things going wrong when you’re in your vehicle. But you can always be prepared. For instance, make sure that you have a fully stocked emergency car kit in the back of your vehicle, which should include bottles of water, a basic car repair kit, blankets, and a torch, among other items. Now’s a good time to check that your spare tire is in good condition, and to triple check that you’ll know how to change it if you’re in a pinch!

 

Take the advice above, and you’ll have pleasant fall and winter driving experiences.

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Putting Yourself In The Investor’s Shoes

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It doesn’t matter what route you go down when it comes to any research involving ‘how to start a business’ or ‘how to land investment’ you are going to find a plethora of articles where YOUR BUSINESS PLAN IS CRITICAL is written in bold, capital letters. This is because your business plan is the single document that will keep you moving in the right direction, the very blueprint that will help you keep your progress aligned with your goals. More than that, though, your business plan is what every investor will want to see before they delve into their pockets.

 

Venture capitalists, bankers, angel investors, it doesn’t matter, they will all want to scrutinize your business plan as part of their evaluation of your business idea. It is how they decide whether the potential reward is worth the risk. That is why it is so important that you have a well-constructed business plan that answers all the questions they may have and all the questions they didn’t realize they had.

 

How do you do that? Well, the simplest way is to put yourself in the investor’s shoes and think about things from their point of view. Now, that is no easy feat so, to help you out a bit, we have pulled together a list of things every kind of investor will want to know before they sink their cash into your idea or company.

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It All Starts With Money

The very first thing an investor is going to want to know about is your finances. They are going to want to see the numbers you have come up with. So it is up to you to prove – in no uncertain terms – that your financial history is excellent and your financial future looks more than positive. This is especially true if you are seeking investment from an institute like a bank where regulations are strict and criteria specific. If you are approaching venture capitalists, however, then you may find that they have slightly different wants, such as the potential for high returns and a clear exit strategy that won’t disrupt your success. So make sure you have all the answers they are seeking about finances in your plan, make sure you know the answers, and know what your future plans may entail, such as issuing shares or further investment. You will also want to show that you are capable of meeting your financial obligations and that your assets cover your liabilities.

 

Your Background Must Matter

No investor is going to let an entrepreneur make a mistake, not when it is their money on the line anyway. That is why they will also scrutinize your background and experience in the industry you are looking at entering. They are going to know you are capable of being your own boss. They are going to want to know what experience you have operating in this field, what experience you have managing teams, what track record you had at your previous place of employment and anything else that may be relevant. This is where you need to shine, and that means filling them with confidence and swaying them with your passion. Then put all this down in your business plan. If you have pulled together a team of people that will boost your strengths and counter balance your weaknesses, it is a great time to add this to your document as well to show that you are serious about this, not willing to take risks and that you are aware of the fact success relies on a team.

 

What Sets You Apart

This is your time to shine. This is your chance to show off exactly why your business will be a success and what sets you apart from the rest of the market. Your product or service doesn’t need to be unique, but it does need to offer something fresh even if that just means an improvement on what is already out there. It could be that you are looking to go into the life sciences or medical industries, and your secret weapon is your use of this laser company that specializes in precision and quality. It could be that you are going into bespoke furniture making, and you have found a way to use resin to create truly unique pieces. Whatever it is, prove that your idea holds weight and that the marketplace has enough potential to make any investment worthwhile. Basically, what you need to have is an advantage over the competition. It could be intellectual property, a clever patent, exclusive deals, licenses or even distribution arrangements. Whatever it is, make sure it stands out.

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Investors Want A Large Market

The kind of investor you are aiming at attracting will change what they find attractive, but a piece of the market is important to all of them. What an angel investor will want to see is a large net; they will want to see that you have a come up with a fantastic solution that will be beneficial to a large number of people. This is slightly different from VC’s, who tend to prefer the change to grow in a market that has limited competition at the present time. Either way, if you can show that you already have a large and loyal customer base when it comes to pitching for investment then you are going to find you are in a much better position. Why? Simple. It serves as proof – it serves as evidence – that your idea works and that will sway your potential investors more than anything else. That will show that you really could impact your intended marketplace, with the right backing that is.

 

The last thing you will want to make sure that you can offer them is trust. They will want to trust that you can a) grow at a rate of knots and b) manage this quick growth. That is what they will want to know you can handle. Investors aren’t the most patient of people, but they also know the risks that come with scaling fast, so make sure can ease their minds and you will be fine. We promise.

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Why Owning A Scooter Is Wheelie Cool!

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Scooters are the ultimate in retro chic. From Vespa to Lambretta, the mod culture exploded as the iconic ergonomically designed scooter was released to the public. People of all ages and from all walks of life wanted to get their hands on a small piece of Italian engineering. In the twenty-first century, there’s something nostalgic about owning a scooter. With their curves, shape, and colors, they remain aesthetically pleasing to the eye. With the resurgence of everything retro within the world of fashion, interiors, and art, it seems logical that retro vehicles would also find their niche among the masses. If you’re tempted to purchase one of these fantastic and fun little vehicles, take a look at these reasons why scooters are the epitome of cool.

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Make It Your Own

 

There aren’t many vehicles that you can personalize and make unique. With a Vespa, you can make all sorts of modifications to the chassis and frame of your bike. You could change the shape of your mirrors, add a windshield, or alter the paint job.

 

If you join a scooter club, you’ll want your little motor to hold its own amongst a sea of bespoke Lambrettas. The scooter community is close-knit, friendly and joining in is the perfect way to meet other like-minded enthusiasts and share stories of how scooters play such a massive part in your lives. No doubt you’ve felt the pang of jealousy when you’ve spied a troupe of thirty or more scooters in formation cruising down the streets, and you’ve wanted to join in. Well, now you can if you take the plunge and purchase one of your own.

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Safety

 

As with any vehicle, from a car to a bicycle, you need to take responsibility for your own safety. Grab yourself a solid helmet, rugged boots, and thick riding gloves as the bare minimum. You won’t be racing around the city at ridiculous speeds but other less cautious drivers might, so you need to be alert at all times. It’s easy to slip into the blind spot of a car driver, so you must take it slow when turning on roads.

 

The great thing about a 50cc scooter is that in most states you don’t need a motorcycle license to ride one. However, if scooter ownership gives you the taste for two-wheeled vehicles and you can see yourself opting for something a little more powerful in the future, you will need to apply for a license. You can get motorcycle test info here, showing the sorts of questions you might face should you want to obtain a license and allowing potential applicants to download sample tests for free.

 

From the James Bond movie Octopussy to the British 1970s classic Quadrophenia, scooters have made appearances on the big screen. Their iconic status as a piece of retro engineering that looks great on the open road has earned them a cult following. Supremely fun and easy to drive, as well as being cheap to run has made them the vehicle of choice for many people across the world. If you’re after a classic cool motor, you can’t go wrong with an original 1960s scooter.

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