4 Clever Ways to Utilize Your Land Investments

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. An important aspect of real estate investing is land. Selling and acquiring land can result in come very lucrative investments. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Clever Ways to Utilize Your Land Investments.

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You have always been super savvy when it comes to investing your money. Land is something you have always been enthusiastic about, simply because there are so many options to choose from. When you invest in land you have a huge decision to make; you need to choose the investment that is going to be worthwhile to you as an individual. You don’t necessarily have to build a house when you invest in land, so it’s worth exploring all of the ideas available to you. So many business minded people end up keeping their savings stashed away in their bank account without making any true investments that are going to boost their income. Here are just a handful of ways in which you can use your savings to make a land investment.

1. Farming

Buying land for farming purposes is a very worthwhile investment, especially if you have a keen interest in animals. Livestock need plenty of hay bales to flourish and produce their product. There is a growing demand for hay, so you will need to buy in bulk in order to satisfy the needs of your farm. High quality products are essential for thriving animals, so make sure you do your research. Going into farming won’t be easy; you will have have to work to make your investment back but it can be incredibly rewarding.

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2. Real Estate

When you think about investing in land this is probably the first idea that springs to mind. Going into property investment is hugely popular, especially because you have complete freedom to do whatever you want with it. You can maximize on your investment by saving a lot of money during renovations and construction. Make sure you build the type of property that is going to popular on the market for years to come. You don’t want to spend a tonne of money building a quirky property and watch it sit there on the market.

3. Solar Energy

If you choose farming as one of your investment ideas, you could expand upon that even further. You could turn part of your land into a solar farm simply because they are extremely profitable. Renewable energy sources are up and coming so you know it’s not going to go out of style any time soon.

4. Vehicle Parking and Storage

Charging people to park on your land or installing storage units is another savvy ways to invest your money. People will definitely pay money to keep their vehicles safe and this will involve very little effort on your part once everything is up and running.

After reading through some of the following options, you’re probably quite clear on how you’d like to spend your savings on a land investment. If you still aren’t enthused by any of the ideas mentioned above, you could always look into other methods. Just remember that investing in land can be hugely profitable, so it’s work looking into as many possibilities as you can.

Do You Know the Secrets to Selling Success

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. Whatever you business venture is, a key is selling. Selling isn’t something that comes easy to everyone and there are a couple of secrets to it. The following contributed post is entitled, Do You Know the Secrets to Selling Success.

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When you’re running a business, making sales is always on your high priority list. You don’t want to spend hours of your time and see no results. There are a handful of secrets to selling that you might not know about. Some may seem quite obvious when they’re explained and others are more innovative. All in all, you want to make life easy for your customers so that they checkout without any hassle. Here are some of the best secret to selling, so take note!

Do Your Research

Making sales is one thing, but if you’re not actually making a profit, this is not going to be very beneficial to your annual turnover. If you’re an Amazon seller it can often be very difficult to find good deals in your niche. When you use tactical arbitrage the process is so much easier as they will source the products for you. Spending a little bit of extra time and money researching the best of the best will really benefit your business in the long run.

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Understand Your Ideal Client

Getting inside the mind of your ideal client is so important, especially when you’re looking to make more sales. You need to know exactly what they’re looking for and give it to them on a plate. Carry out plenty of market research in order to find out what the pain points and problems of your ideal client are.

Make Their Lives Easier

When your ideal client clicks onto your website, are you making their life smooth and simple? Do they know exactly what they need to do next? Place clear calls to action on your website so that it is very clear what your customer path is. Lead them seamlessly to your product page, explain everything they need to know and you are more likely to turn them into a paying customer.

Tell Your Story

People buy from people, so if you’ve got an interesting story to tell, you need to be sharing it. Perhaps there is a reason why you started the business you’re in now. Your potential clients and customers would love to hear about your story, because many of them will probably be able to relate to you.

Get on Social Media

You have probably been told this so many times before, but social media is the key to business success. When you utilize social media consistently, you will start to see increased engagement and enthusiasm around your product. Without platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, you are actually doing yourself a huge disservice. Most of your leads will probably come from social media platforms so it is so important to find a social media strategy and stick to it.

You may already be working on some of the ideas mentioned above, but it is very important to remain consistent. If you put a lot of work into something for one week and then neglect it the next, you’re not going to see the long term growth you’re looking for. Keep an open mind when it comes to implementing these strategies and you will soon go from having a sales slump to a sales skyrocket.

How To Make Money Online With Your Business

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In today’s digital world there are so many ways to leverage the available online tools to make money. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Make Money Online With Your Business.

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When it comes to your business, you want to exhaust all the opportunities that come your way to make money. And when it comes to the online world, there are plenty to sink your teeth into. Regardless of where your business stands right now in the real world, here are some tips to make money online with your business.

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Take Advantage Of Video Content

Video content is a hot commodity right now and something you should definitely be using for your business not only to make money but to get a boost to your traffic. Video content can become profitable when using platforms like YouTube to advertise that content. So many of us are now watching videos on a daily basis and it’s because they’re usually bite-sized content that you can keep scrolling through and watching for hours on end. You want to help relieve people’s boredom but also get them engaged. So think of how you can engage with your customers and potential customers, through video content. For example, it might be a look into the manufacturing process of a product in a documentary style way. Get creative with your ideas and start posting content as regularly as possible.

Make Use Of Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is a great way to make some extra dosh and you should be using it where you can to help generate leads. When doing online advertising, it’s more of an investment in order to buy potential leads that could convert into customers. That’s one way of doing it and the other is by making full use of your company’s website. Does it bring in a lot of traffic? And if so, then it’s a good idea to reach out to the other businesses and offer an advertising slot for a certain amount of money or based on however many click-throughs they get from your website. These ppc management tools can be really handy if you need some guidance.

Build A Shop On Your Website

When you’re bringing in traffic, depending on your business, you might find it beneficial to have a shop on your website. This could be selling merchandise or products that you may be selling in a physical store or via another website. It’s important to try and diversify your selling points and online is a great way of doing that. Get your website set up with a shop by using any of the ecommerce companies that are available and start selling your branded products directly through your website.

Offer Exclusive Subscriptions

When it comes to your email marketing or selling your services, it’s a good idea to try and offer this in the form of exclusive subscriptions. It could be a few dollars for your existing customers to subscribe to and then you can offer them content, freebies or whatever you want that is worth the amount they’re subscribing for.

Making money online with your business is a must-do, so start looking at what you could do with your company.

Are You Making Life Easy For Your Customers

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, a key to increasing your profits and the longevity of your business is making it easy for your customers to do business with you. This is something that will improve your reputation and your revenues long-term. The following contributed post is entitled, Are You Making Life Easy For Your Customers.

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There’s no doubt that your customers are at the very centre of your business. After all, without them, it really doesn’t matter how great your business is or how amazing your product is, none of that is going to be worth anything. Because of that, it’s essential that you make sure that you’re focusing on the kinds of quality of life improvements to your business that make it the most pleasant experience for your customers whenever you can. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do to make life easier for your customers.

Provide great customer service

Customer service is an essential part of any business and yet plenty of business owners don’t give it the thought that it really deserves. They tend to think of it as only really applying to making sure that you support your customers when something goes wrong. And make no mistake, that is a crucial part of any business’s customer service. However, there’s also a lot more to it than that. You also need to think about customer service in everything from the initial response that your business provides to customers to the ways in which you respond to any queries that customers might have. You need to be sure that every single interaction you have with your customers is as positive and supportive as possible.

Give them options

In the internet age, one thing that customers have become much more away of is the fact that they don’t have to put up with systems and situations that they find inconvenient. One upon a time they might have settled for things that don’t work exactly as they want them to, but that’s just not the case anymore. Because of that, you need to be sure that you’re giving them plenty of options. This could mean offering different payment options like the ability to send and receive digital checks. It could also involve things like offering multiple product options or ways to customise their experience with your business.

Make things simple

The last thing any customer wants is to have to spend their time dealing with roadblocks getting in the way of them getting the products that they want. One of the fastest ways to turn people off from your business is to make their experience with it complicated. Streamlining and simplifying your user experience ensures that interacting with your business is as simple as possible for just about every single one of your customers.

One of the most important things to remember is that making life easier for your customers isn’t just a matter of making sure that your customers stay happy. After all, happy customers are also a whole lot more likely to recommend your business to other people and drive up traffic towards your business overall. Making sure that customers come away from any interaction with your business feeling positive is essential if you want to be able to grow your business and create a strong and positive reputation for it.

4 Ways To Make Money By Investing In Land

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. While most people think of real estate in terms of owning buildings, a significant portion of it is also investing in land. Investing in land doesn’t just involve building homes, but other projects as well. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Ways To Make Money By Investing In Land.

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If you want to secure your financial future, it’s vital that you invest your money wisely. Letting it sit in your savings account is a waste because your money could be working so much harder for you. Unfortunately, a lot of people do end up leaving their money in a savings account because they don’t know how best to invest it. They are worried about investing in stocks and shares because they think that it’s too risky, and they don’t know what else to do. But there are so many great investment opportunities out there to choose from. One of the best ones that often gets overlooked is land. Investing a piece of land is always a smart choice because there are so many different possibilities. These are just some of the ways that you could make money from investing in land.

Image Source – Pixabay CCO License

Build A Property

Property is one of the most popular investments out there right now, and if you buy some land, you can get in on the act as well. The best thing about buying land is that you can build a property from scratch. You can maximize your returns on the property investment by saving money during the build and constructing the perfect property for the area. As long as you do some market research before and find out what kind of property is the most valuable, you should see some good returns.

Storage

Renting your land out for storage is a great way to make money without really doing anything. This can be a long term solution or you could just do it to make a little extra money while you decide what you want to do with the land. People will pay good money to store things like boats and other vehicles, and it doesn’t require any input on your end.

Cell Phone Towers

If you have a piece of land that is well situated for a cell phone tower, you could make yourself a lot of money. You can earn a good amount for cell tower leases, especially from the big providers. This is a great, long term income source that requires minimal effort from you. If you are looking for a way to boost your income for retirement, for example, this is a great choice.

Solar Energy

A lot of farmers are converting their land into solar farms and getting rid of the crops and livestock because it’s more profitable. The use of renewable energy like solar is only going to increase in the coming years, so if you install solar panels on your land, you can make good money selling that electricity. It does take quite a lot of initial investment, but you will see a good return, so it is worth it.

Even if you don’t like any of these ideas, land is still a good investment because you can sell it on at a later date and make a profit on it. If you don’t know where to put your money, land is always a safe bet.

5 Ways To Stay Safe On The Road If You Drive For A Living

Two of the focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and Health/Wellness. If you’re in the trucking business and spend lots of time on the road, it’s important to understand how to stay safe as there are plenty of potential hazards. Learning to stay safe will ensure that you’ll stay both alive and in business for years to come. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Ways To Stay Safe On The Road If You Drive For A Living.

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Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

If you’re looking for ways to stay safe on the road but you’re unsure where to start then don’t worry, you have definitely come to the right place. Whether you’re travelling as a one-off for work or you’re travelling on a daily basis, you need to ensure you’re doing everything you can to keep both yourself and others safe on the road. Luckily, there are lots of ways you can ensure you’re doing exactly that. With that in mind, here are 5 ways to stay safe on the road if you drive for a living:

– Make Sure You’re Checking Your Route Before You Leave

One of the best things you can do when it comes to your safety is to ensure you’re researching the route before you leave. Not only will this give you a chance familiarise yourself with where you’re going but it will also allow you to see whether or not there are any road closures or diversions. Whilst you may have a smooth route ahead of you, it’s always better to be prepared. For tips and tricks when it comes to planning your route in advance, you can visit this site here.

– Carry Out Safety Checks On Your Vehicle

Another important thing to do before you get on the road is to ensure you’re doing safety checks on your vehicle, no matter what size it is. From checking your tyre pressure to checking the quality of your seatbelts, you need to ensure everything is good to go before you leave. Whilst your chances of being in a crash are low, safety checks for both cars and trucks are essential. For more information, you can visit this trucking crash expert here.

– Pack An Emergency Kit In Your Trunk

No matter the length of your journey, you also need to ensure you’re packing an emergency kit in your trunk. From a flashlight to warm clothes, you need to be sure you have absolutely everything you’re going to need in case of an emergency. For inspiration when it comes to putting together your emergency vehicle kit, you can visit this handy guide here.

– Ensure You Take Regular Breaks

Tiredness while driving can be incredibly dangerous and if you’re not taking regular breaks, chances are you’re going to struggle to drive. Whether you’re taking a 20-minute break for some lunch or you’re booking a hotel somewhere overnight, it’s important you’re taking as many breaks as you need to get through the journey.

– Pack Enough Food And Drink To Last

Finally, you need to ensure you’re packing enough food and drink to last you the whole journey. Although there will be plenty of stops along the way, you need to ensure you have exactly what you need just in case you break down or struggle to find the food that you like.

Are you looking for ways to stay safe on the road? What can you do to ensure you’re protecting yourself and those around you? Did we miss anything? Let me know your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.

Why Our World Needs Social Work in 2020

A key focus of my blog is Career Discussions. While there is a current push for careers in the STEMs, one career that will always be needed is that of social work. Social workers do a lot of society’s “grunt work” as they tend to problems and issues down on the personal and familial levels. The following contributed post is entitled, Why Our World Needs Social Work in 2020.

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Although society is improving more each day, social work is still important in 2020. Social workers stand up every day for human rights and social justice to help strengthen our communities. Social workers can be a voice for those without a voice, or those nobody wants to listen to. They help to tackle serious social issues, and can help to come up with solutions allowing people to live to their full potential.

Why Our World Needs Social Work in 2020

The Poverty Line
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 15% of Americans live below the poverty line. People living in poverty need social workers to help them cope with the overwhelming challenges of homelessness, unemployment, underemployment, and poor health.

Mental Illness
With that in mind, it’s also important to note that many families are suffering from mental illness. Around 20% of the US population are affected by mental illness during any given year. For people who struggle with mood disorders, anxiety, psychoses, substance abuse, and other serious forms of mental illness, social workers are imperative.

Child Abuse And Neglect
Social workers must also address broader social and public policy issues that increase the risk of child abuse and neglect, including poverty, unemployment, and homelessness.

While our world still very much needs social work in 2020, it isn’t always easily accessible for those in rural areas. The infographic below can provide more insight into social work in rural areas and what can be done.


credit to University of Nevada Reno

How To Find The Perfect Company Vehicle

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. An important company cost to figure out is the company vehicle. Cost has to be factored in, in addition to practicality. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Find The Perfect Company Vehicle.

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Image Credit Pixabay.com License CC0

Whether you just have a couple of company cars for the directors of your business, or you have an entire fleet of cars and vans that are used by a range of employees, there is a lot that you need to consider when it comes to buying, owning, and managing your company vehicles.

The decisions that are associated with the vehicles will start when it comes to working out which vehicle you would like, and whether you would prefer to buy or lease it.

Whether To Buy Or Lease The Vehicle

Vehicles are expensive to buy and there are a lot of associated costs in terms of running. You will need to decide whether the cost of owning a vehicle is really worth it, or if it may be a better option to look at a lease hire option.

When you buy a company vehicle, the advantages are that it becomes a financial asset. The problem with vehicles as an asset is that they very rapidly diminish in value. The amount that you pay for the vehicle new, will be so much lower after just a few months of ownership. If you were to sell the vehicle on after a year or two, you would not get a good return on your investment.

On the other hand, leasing will mean that you and your company will be able to use the vehicle as and when you need it, and after a set period of time, it will return to the company you took the lease out with.

With a lease vehicle, you would be required to maintain a certain standard to the vehicle, and there may be limitations on the milage that you can do. Any deviation on these points could mean that you have to pay out at the end of the agreement.

Buying New Or Used

If you did decide to go down the route of buying your vehicle, you have the choice of buying new or used. There are definite pros and cons to both options.

As previously discussed, a new car does not hold its value. However, you will get the benefit of the manufacturer’s warranty which may mean a reduction in repair costs should anything go wrong with the vehicle during the warranty period.

Used vehicles can often be much cheaper, with the biggest percentage decrease coming from the first year on the road, buying something that is only a year old will be much cheaper than buying the same model brand new off the dealer’s lot.

Of course, if anything goes wrong with your used car, you won’t have the manufacturer’s warranty to fall back upon and you will have to manage any costs incurred in maintenance yourself.

Selecting Your Vehicle

When choosing the vehicle, work out what you want from it before you decide on the make and model. If you are going to be driving long distances, then you will want an engine that is built to last. How many people will need to ride in it? If it will be used for carrying things, think about the size. If you’re buying a van, decide whether it is important to have a tail lift. You may not currently use pallets to load your vehicles, but if you are likely to do this in the future, having the ability to raise a pallet truck to the level of the van is going to be vital. Fuel efficiency and environmental impact should always be a factor in your decision making, but you may also want to throw in insurance costs, and availability and cost of spare parts. Some vehicles have very cheap generic parts available, while others can be a lot more proprietary.

If you are buying a used vehicle, have it thoroughly inspected and do your due diligence to check that it has never been written off following a major crash. Try and find out about any work that has ever been carried out on the vehicle and ask to see the service history. This will give you an indication of any potential problems that may emerge in the future so that you can factor repairs.

Getting Your Vehicle To Your Business

There are of course practicalities to contend with when buying your vehicle. Getting the car or van from the dealer’s lot can prove to be tough. The vehicle may be coming quite a distance, and it may be that you are unable to go and get it yourself. Or, it may not currently be road legal yet. Whatever the reason, you will no doubt want to look for reliable and cost-effective car delivery options.

Vehicle Insurance

Before you buy your vehicle, you will need to factor how much it will cost to insure it. You will need to get a comprehensive level of cover to ensure that you do not have to pay for any repairs in the instance of a crash where your driver was at fault.

The next thing to decide will be who can drive the vehicle. If it is for a certain person, for example like a company car that a member of your team working in the field will drive, then this is fairly straightforward. You may want to have a pool car, which can be used by anyone with permission, or you may be looking for a delivery vehicle which may be assigned to multiple drivers. Being clear about the way in which the vehicle is used will help to determine how much it will cost to insure it.

Conclusion

There are a great many decisions surrounding the purchase or lease of a company vehicle, and it is important that you weigh everything up to work out what is right for you. The way that the vehicle is used, and whether you wish to view it as a company asset will be vital. Make sure you do your due diligence into the specific vehicle you are buying to make sure that it is the most cost-effective option available.

Things You Need To Know: Basic Car Repairs

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Technology. One of the most valuable but costly pieces of technology most of us own is a car. Understanding how cars work and having the skill sets to repair them can save you a lot of money and make you lots of money as well. The following contributed post is entitled, Things You Need To Know: Basic Car Repairs.

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There are many necessary skills in which we are equipped in life, but unless we are all learning the basics of car maintenance, we’re facing costly repairs when things go wrong. The good news is that there are many different repair jobs that you can do for your car without having to take it into the garage. It’s an excellent skill to have under your belt if you know how to make the most basic repairs on your car, and you only need a few tools to make sure that you get the job done.

It’s going to take some time to gain experience with your car, but if you’re careful about learning about the different brands of parts, you’re going to be fine. Companies like Automotive Stuff offer a wide range of car parts, which means you can buy and replace parts easily yourself. Are you ready to learn which repairs you should know for your own learning? Let’s go!

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1. You need to know how you should change the engine oil and the filter. It doesn’t require you to have special tools, but you do need to have an oil filter wrench. Your car manual should have straightforward instructions on how to change the engine oil in your car.

2. Windshield wipers are a must on your car, and it only takes ten minutes to change yours, and you should be doing this twice a year to keep yours fresh! Here’s how to change your windshield wipers yourself.

3. Keep checking the wiring of your car – they need to be inspected for burns and cuts in the plastic covering. If corrosion gets into the electrical connectors, the electrical flow can be compromised, and that is dangerous to your car.

4. There is a range of belts in your car, from the steering pump and radiator fan to the alternator belt. Checking them ensures that there is no cause for worry with any shredding in the belts, and once you see any signs of wear, check your manual for instructions on how to change them over.

5. Swapping the fluids in your car, from the engine oil that we mentioned earlier to the transmission fluid, brake fluid, and steering fluid, is vital. It would help if you replaced the liquid on a regular schedule, and this is listed in your car repair manual, too.

6. A battery service won’t be in every car manual, but it’s something you do need to check – and regularly. Without a battery that is in good working condition, you are going to find that your car doesn’t run as efficiently – if at all. Learning how to service and check your battery may feel too far beyond what your expertise allows, which is why knowing the best garage to do it all for you will be crucial!

7. There are other things that you’ll be able to do for yourself as well, such as changing the tires and replacing the brake pads. Water pumps and fuel pumps are also simple enough tasks to manage alone. The key is to ask for help from the experts, and it’s always essential to get your advice from qualified mechanics where you can.

How Do Solo Entrepreneurs Attract Clients?

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A key to being and entrepreneur is attracting clients. For a solo entrepreneur, it’s a much different dynamic than what a Fortune 500 Company would have to do. The following contributed post is entitled, How Do Solo Entrepreneurs Attract Clients?

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Solo entrepreneurs face a lot of challenges to launch their independent careers. For many, the choice of working for themselves is the result of unfortunate circumstances, such as struggling to find employment, losing their job suddenly, or trying to make ends meet as a stay-at-home parent, for example. Only a small proportion of solo entrepreneurs have been able to secure sufficient savings to launch their business. As a result, for many, the first challenge is to find clients when you have only limited resources.

Building momentum on a tight budget is difficult, but it isn’t impossible. The key to making it work is to prioritize tasks that are likely to generate income and leads. In other words, you need to filter the most effective marketing strategies that fit your budget. While this means you may not be able to afford promotional work done by an agency, it doesn’t have to stop your efforts. Making yourself visible to the right audience is a matter of being where potential clients are likely to see you.

Pixabay – CC0 License

Post their services on the right platforms
Customers tend to look for your services on a variety of platforms. If you want to avoid competition on price only, it’s a good idea to stay away from freelancing sites such as UpWork or PeoplePerHour. However, finding new customers for small businesses doesn’t have to be expensive. You can publish classified business ads to promote your skills and expertise to your local audience. Unlike freelancer platforms, targeting your local audience is a helpful strategy to build your visibility and local brand awareness.
For experts who work remotely or prefer long-term projects, LinkedIn has developed a freelancing search platform, ProFinder, for US-based users. Ultimately choosing where to display your profile and ads plays a significant role in attracting the right audience for you.

Showcase your work
You can’t afford to wait for people to discover who you are and what you do. You need to create informative content to share your work with others. Shooting a professional-looking video on your smartphone, for instance, to record your creative process can help you to create a buzz on social media. The best thing about smartphone videos is that you don’t need to invest tons of money to build and share exciting and engaging content. Launching your YouTube channel is entirely free. With very little equipment, you can let the world know about your business.
Alternatively, you can also use a gallery on your website to display your work. Building a website doesn’t have to break the bank, and you can find free or inexpensive options from Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.

Pixabay – CC0 License

They share their expertise
You want people to know about your expertise. Therefore, you need to be prepared to share your knowledge for free. Don’t worry; it’s got nothing to do with working for free. You can write guest posts for online magazines or blogs to drive traffic to your brand and promote your services. The key is to show off your unique voice and knowledge by targeting suitable blogs.

When you don’t have the budget for a marketing campaign, you need to make yourself visible and desirable without the big advertising guns. As a solo entrepreneur, this means only two things: Being where people search for you and actively showcasing your skills and work where it matters most.