Category: Contributed Posts

Mean Streets: Protecting Yourself While Out & About

Two of the focuses of my blog are Athletics and Sports, and Health and Wellness. While the martial arts are competitive sports, they also help personal wellness, both physically and mentally. In some instances, it’s very valuable to know how to handle oneself in the streets should danger arise. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Mean Streets: Protecting Yourself While Out & About.

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While it isn’t exactly fair, a lot of people don’t feel safe when they are walking around in their home cities and neighborhoods. With violent crime on the rise in a lot of places, along with populations getting much greater, it makes sense that you might want to figure out some ways to keep yourself protected. Of course, though, handling this sort of process correctly can be incredibly hard. To help you out, this post will be exploring some of the best ways to protect yourself on the mean streets, while also making sure that you don’t break the law in the process.

Self-Defense: A lot of people think that carrying a weapon is the best way to keep on top of their need for self-defense. In reality, though, most weapons which can be effective are illegal to carry around without cause, and they can easily be turned against you if you make a mistake while using them. To overcome this issue, learning how to protect yourself by using your body can be a great route to take. Martial arts are great for this, as they will give you the chance to learn how to fight properly, while also keeping your fit and avoiding any risk of hurting someone too much. Options like Judo are perfect when you’re first starting out.

Situational Awareness: Being aware of what is going on around you is another good idea when you’re trying to protect yourself. A lot of people ignore the things around them, choosing to remain oblivious to the risks around them. This goes much further than gangs of youths and other scary people, though, with things like cars posing a big threat, too. Thankfully, to help with this, there are loads of courses out there which can be taken to help you to become more aware of your surroundings. A big part of self-defense is avoiding a fight in the first place.

Legal Support: Finally, as the last area to consider, it’s time to think about what you need to do if you ever find your protection failing, and need to take action against someone who has hurt you. Criminal justice, personal injury, and pedestrian accident attorneys can be found all over the world. Professionals like this will be able to fight on your behalf if you ever find yourself in need of legal support. To find the best options in your area, it will be worth reading some reviews, as different lawyers will have different levels of success in the areas which they work.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into protecting yourself in the modern world. It’s a shame that people have to take this sort of action to feel safe, but this doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth doing. In time, places slowly get more and more peaceful, especially when political discord settles down. This means that it may only be a matter of years until you are able to confidently go about your business without these precautions in place.

This Is How To Choose Business Software

Two key focuses of my blog are Business and Entrepreneurship, and Technology. A critical aspect to successfully running a business today is choosing the right software for your purposes. The following contributed post is thus entitled; This Is How To Choose Business Software.

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Getting the right software for your business can change your operations completely. You could be more productive and efficient when you have the best tools for your business. Unfortunately, finding the apps that work for you isn’t as easy as you might like it to be. There are lots of things to consider, from the features that the software offers to how much you’ll be paying. You need to think about what you need new software for, and how it’s going to benefit your business. It can be a long process, but it’s best not to rush it if you want to make the best decision.

Identify Your Needs

Before you can find the right apps for your business, you need to identify your requirements. What do you want the software to help you with? You might have a specific need, like a tool to help with accounting. However, you could have a more open goal, such as improving productivity for your company. It’s best if you can be as specific as possible by identifying the problems that you want to solve. This will help you to search for the best software to meet your needs. You can compare software types and features against your requirements.

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Research Solutions

Once you know what your needs are, you can start researching a few different solutions. You won’t necessarily be looking at specific tools just yet. You just need to see what sort of apps are available to meet your needs. For example, if you need something to make invoices more manageable, you might be looking at accounting tools, document management software or perhaps productivity tools. You can find a few different options that could potentially help you with your issue. Start looking at prices too so that you can get an idea of how much you might need to spend.

Create a Software Budget

Once you’ve started looking at possible options and prices, you should create a budget for how much you want to spend. Many apps are now subscription-based, which can help you to save money compared to more traditional software options. You can find you’ll pay a monthly amount based on features and the number of users who will using the app. While you can find cheaper options, make sure you’re not trying too hard to save money. It’s worth investing a bit more in the apps you choose to make sure you get the features that you need.

Choose Software for Your Industry

It’s a good idea to see if there are any software options that are tailored to your industry. If there are, they’re likely to have plenty of features specific to your needs. Some industries in particular can benefit from this, like the hospitality industry. Using custom hotel software will allow you to manage bookings, maintenance and many other things involved in running a hotel. Ecommerce software can help you to manage your sales and orders, as well as your warehouse or inventory. These apps can help you meet a huge number of needs that your business might have, all in one package.

Find Apps You Can Customize

Even though you can find lots of tools that meet your needs, you can make them even better if you’re able to customize them. Plenty of software solutions can be customized, and it doesn’t have to be too expensive. You can work with someone who will help to develop an app just for you so that it meets all of your needs. It also helps you make sure that you’re not wasting money on features that you don’t need and won’t use.

Look for Apps You Can Integrate

If you already have some useful tools that you don’t want to stop using or you’re looking for some a selection of different tools, make sure you can integrate the new apps that you choose. Integration will allow you to connect all of your favorite apps so they can work together. For example, you might have an inventory management tool that works together with your accounting software. Many software providers have an API that make it easy to connect different tools so you can continue to use existing ones that work for you.

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Speak to Your Team

When you introduce new tools to your business, you need to make sure that the people who will be using them are happy with your choice. You should talk to your employees to get their opinion and find out what their needs are. What are the problems that they most want to be solved? What frustrations do they come up against when using software? You should think about what training might be available too. Are there existing training programs or perhaps even trainers provided by the software service?

Start with a Shortlist

Now that you’re a bit more familiar with your options and what you need, you can start making a shortlist of potential tools to use. Make a note of some of the possibilities that you’re considering and how they could help you, as well as how much they cost. You should have a good idea of what sort of tools you’re looking for, and what problems they’ll be solving. Try to keep your shortlist to a maximum of five options so you don’t have to compare too many.

Evaluate Available Features

With your shortlist at hand, you can start comparing the available features to see which tools are going to meet your needs. In addition to looking at which functions you have, you might want to look at things such as customer service and support, as well as the price. If you choose a SaaS (software as a service) solution, you can get everything that you need in one package, including the help and support you require. Don’t forget to check testimonials and reviews too, so you can see what other people have thought of the tools and service.

There’s lots to consider to get the right software for your business. Choose carefully if you want to use your time and money wisely.

Exploring The Key Issues With “The Cloud”

Two key focuses of my blog is Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and Business and Entrepreneurship. Many businesses and organizations are moving towards cloud-based storage systems for increased efficiency of operations, but what are the issues with this new technology? The following contributed post is thus entitled; Exploring The Key Issues With “The Cloud”.

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Over the last few years, a lot of companies have been touting their cloud data services. Offering the chance to have all of your work, emails, and other important information stored on servers across the world, these businesses promise to be able to make it much easier to access and use these important parts of your work. Of course, though, like any new technology, the cloud isn’t all fun and games, and there are some serious issues with some of the services which can be found out there. To help you to see these problems, this post will be exploring some of the most prominent.

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Getting There: Data migrations are a notoriously challenging part of enterprise computing. Moving all of your on-premises information to servers isn’t an easy process, and most people will need the help of a cloud migration solutions company to help them. While this makes it much easier to get information where it needs to go, it will also cost some money, and this is rarely factored into the quotes which will be given out when you are approached by a cloud service.

Downtime: While a lot of work has been done to make sure that the servers hosting your data are able to run all the time, with plenty of redundant power and storage space, along with multiple networks in case one fails, a cloud company can’t control your internet connection. If you find yourself without this for a day or two, you could be left completely unable to do your work. These issues often come by surprise, making it impossible to save the data you’ll need as a precaution.

Security: Along with keeping servers running all the time, most cloud companies invest a small fortune into their cyber security. You will probably be accessing your data wirelessly at some stage, though, and this puts everything at risk. Of course, data breaches have become commonplace in the modern world, too. If this were your business’s information, you could be left to deal with some very unhappy clients or customers as a result.

Training: Finally, as the last area to consider, not a lot of people feel confident to use systems like this. When you have everything online, the process of accessing data can be a lot more complicated than what users are experienced with. This means having to train any employees you have to make sure that they can use the cloud securely and without wasting any time. There are loads of companies out there which can provide this to you, but it is something a lot of businesses would rather not have to pay for.

With all of this in mind, you should have the chance to think a little more deeply about the choice you have to make when it comes from moving from your own servers to the cloud. Of course, it isn’t all bad, the benefits it can provide can be huge, but it might not quite be the right time to make the switch if you’re worried about it.

Invest In Crypto The Right Way

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) . Cryptocurrencies are a new technology that are impacting global markets in terms of conducting business transactions and serving as investments themselves. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Invest In Crypto The Right Way.

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If you are keen to make whatever money you can in whatever way you can, you’re probably thinking about cryptocurrency at least some of the time. This relatively new kind of currency is all the rage at the moment, and as such it has been developing something of a spike in many of its markets as well. The truth is that if you want to get in crypto trading, now is a good time to start – or at least a better time than next week or next year. But you need to know what you are doing first to make sure that you are actually going to get it right, and that is what we are going to look at today. Here are some of the things you should consider if you are to invest in cryptos in the right way.

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Choose Your Wallet

First of all, you will want to think about getting hold of a wallet which you can store your crypto coin in. A lot of newcomers find this part of the process particularly bewildering, but the truth is that it is not that hard to wrap your head around once you get going with it. There are a few different kinds of wallets, but the most secure ones are those which allow you to use two-factor authentication to gain access to them. By utilising and making the most of this kind of security, you can be sure that your wallet is going to be perfectly safe, which will help if you have any anxiety about getting started with the crypto world. Then it’s just a matter of choosing a wallet that seems good for you personally. It’s a good idea to go for one that gains you interest for BTC, so that you can make even more of your coin.

Buy Your Coin

Then you will need to go out and buy the coin that you want to buy. There are now several ways to do this. The best and safest is to go and find a crypto ATM, which are now cropping up in many major cities around the globe. With these machines, you merely purchase crypto with cash or card as you would anything else, and have the coin deposited into your wallet straight away – owing to the usual checks. Or you can consider using an online exchange which set you up with someone who you buy from via bank transfer. In either case, you can be sure that these are two of the safest ways to get hold of your crypto coin.

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Get Trading

In order to really make the most of your crypto, you need to make sure that you are trading it in the right way. The easiest way to do this is to use an approved app which does the actual trading for you, as this way you can be sure that you are going to be able to get it right. Or you can do the research, and make those decisions yourself – which can be less safe, but is much more satisfying when you get it right.

Don’t Hire Your First Employee Until You’ve Considered The Following

Some of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, and both Business and Entrepreneurship. A major key for any entrepreneur is properly hiring and managing new staff – two aspects that can cause any business to crash if not done correctly. This contributed post is thus entitled; Don’t Hire Your First Employee Until You’ve Considered The Following.

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One of the biggest steps that most entrepreneurs need to take is hiring their first member of staff. It’s an exciting time when it is time to consider hiring an employee, as it means that the company is going in the right direction and growing steadily. However, it does come with a few implications as well, such as being a huge expense. If a company owner mistimes hiring an employee, then it could cost their business thousands at a time when it can’t really afford it.

So, as you can see, it is essential that you do your homework and make sure your business is in the right position to bring on a new member. To help you out, here are a few things that you need to consider before you do start looking for your first employee.

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Think About The Cost

Firstly, it’s necessary to think about the cost that will come with hiring a new member of staff. Once you do hire someone, you will need to start paying them a wage which will obviously be one of your company’s biggest expenses. It’s worth reviewing your budget to make sure that your company is making as much as you think and that you will definitely be able to cover this expense.

Think About How You Word Your Job Description

Before you start reviewing applicants for your newly open position, you will need to draft up a job description. After all, if you don’t advertise the fact that you are hiring, how will anyone know that they can apply to work for you? When you are writing the job description and ideal candidate specification, it is important to take care that you mention all the tasks and responsibilities that will come with the job. The more detail there is, then the more chance that only those with the right qualifications and experience will apply. If the job description is too vague, then you might get some unsuitable applicants, and sifting through these will only waste your time.

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Employee Or Contractor?

Before you do set out on employing a full-time employee, it’s worth asking yourself if it makes more sense to find a contractor instead. Even though contractors and freelancers are often more expensive to pay than full-time employees, you will benefit from the fact that you don’t have to provide them with any financial benefits. For instance, you will need to give any full-time employees paid vacation and sick days as well as help them with pension contributions. This isn’t the case with contractors as they aren’t entitled to these kinds of benefits. So, even though they may charge you slightly more than average, you will actually end up saving a lot of money thanks to their lack of entitlements.

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Reassess Your Workplace

It’s always a good idea to reassess your company’s base as well. It needs to be safe for people to work in or else you might end up needing to hire the likes of Richard Vadnal to represent you in the event that you are taken to court by an employee who injured themselves in the workplace. Even though you might think that an office is a safe environment in which to work, there are still some hazards and risks that you might need to be aware of. For instance, you need to carry out a regular fire drill with any employees you hire so that everyone is aware of how to act in the event of a fire. Make sure the office space is also kept clean and tidy so that there are no trip hazards on the floor. Furniture should be ergonomic so that employees aren’t at risk from developing repetitive strain injury (RSI).

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Look For Good Insurance

Once you have some employed staff on your team, you will need to get all the relevant insurance. This is so that you are covered in the events of any accidents and injuries that occur in the workplace. The insurance should pay out to cover any compensation claims so that it doesn’t have to come out of your business’s pockets. Not only that, though, but the insurance will also cover any claims from clients if they are unhappy with the quality of work carried out by your employees.

Set Up Payroll

In order to pay your full-time employees, you should set up a payroll system. This makes it much easier to sort out your workers’ tax payments as well as figuring out their insurance contributions. It can be quite tricky to set up this kind of system, especially if you have no experience in doing so. Some entrepreneurs like to outsource this to a HR professional to get them up and running, while others prefer to hire a HR team member as one of their first new recruits so that they can set up payments ready for all incoming new team members.

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Draft Up A Contract

Before you do welcome someone new onto your team, you need to make sure that there is a contract between the two of you. This is essential as it will set out exactly what is expected from all parties. For instance, it should include the agreed wage as well as employee’s scope of work. The contract should also explain how the contract can be legally terminated by each party, by having this outlined this can stop employees being wrongfully fired and ending up getting a workers compensation attorney due to breach of contract..

Keep Records Of Everyone

Once your first employee starts working for you, it is important that you keep records of everything. These can then be used as evidence in the event of any disputes or arguments between the two of you. It’s also necessary to keep complete documents of employees’ hours, sick days and anything at all that is relevant to their position. Keep these documents safe as you never know when you might need to use them in the future.

Hopefully, considering all the points above will make it easier for you to figure out whether now is really the right time to hire your first ever employee. Good luck with growing your company!

What’s Stopping You From Seeing The Big Picture?

Some of the key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money, and both Business and Entrepreneurship. Depending on what kind of business you’re starting, a major key is eventually working on the business as opposed to working in it as described in “The E-Myth” by Michael E. Gerber. This contributed post is thus entitled; What’s Stopping You From Seeing The Big Picture?

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The devil is in the details when it comes to your work but getting stuck in those details while trying to run a business can make you oblivious to the big picture. Without a little distance and perspective, it can be much harder to notice the biggest obstacles, the best potential strategies, and the solutions your team needs. How do you get the perspective you need when you’re constantly in the trenches with the rest of the team?

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No time at all
You have to make the time to work on your business, not just in it. Everyone has multiple responsibilities and a need to be able to juggle them. Being able to prioritize both your workload and your time can be crucial. Learn how to structure your workday, breaking it down into blocks of time that you can assign to multiple tasks. This way, you can find the time every day to take on the most crucial and urgent managerial or admin tasks while still leaving time free to strategize.

All the admin
If you’re taking care of all that administrative work yourself, you might never be able to find that time in the first place, however. There are a few steps to cut back on how much you have to deal with yourself. You can automate, using accounting, payroll, and HR software to take out the man hours necessary to keep all your systems up to date. For elements that need a human touch, like answering the phone, you might want to consider a virtual assistant, too.

Tech troubles
More and more businesses are relying more heavily on tech. They can help us unlock magnitudes more productivity, but the more we rely on them, the more our success becomes tied to them. If you’re spending a significant part of your working day solving tech issues, then managed IT services might be what you need. Not only can you use them to identify and solve problems much more quickly, but they could improve or build a network that makes you tech even more versatile and valuable.

Unempowered employees
If your team isn’t empowered to make their own decisions or work proactively, then a lot of your time is going to be spent babysitting them. This isn’t always necessarily their fault, but a result of a company culture that doesn’t encourage employees to be more engaged. You can change that by getting them more informed and involved in the overall objectives.

Not enough insight
Taking a bird’s eye view of the business can help you identify workflow issues and potential improvements to communication and cooperation. If you want to implement any strategy, however, you need to know how it looks on the ground, as well as the challenges your team faces. For that reason, you need to put an effective employee feedback loop in place.

Getting that perspective is crucial for a business owner but you should never forget what it’s like to work with the rest of the team, too. Their perspective can be just as helpful as yours.

Financial Decisions That’ll Help You Down The Line

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy and Money. Our everyday behaviors and decisions impact our where we end up financially in the future. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Financial Decisions That’ll Help You Down The Line.

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When it comes to your personal finances, you need to think beyond your current situation. It’s essential to cover your basic costs, but you need to do so in a well-calculated manner so as to ensure that you’ve got savings for the future. In this article, we’ll discuss that point along with other helpful pieces of financial advice. If you want to protect your money then here are some financial decisions you could make right now to help you further down the line.

Investing some of your earnings.
The first financial decision you could make to help yourself down the line is to invest some of your earnings. This is something you should do on a continuous basis if you want to increase your wealth; it’ll bring you additional forms of income on top of your existing salary. And there are plenty of different investment routes you can take as a beginner. You might want to do some research on getting started in the property market. With the correct guidance and management advice, you could start buying properties to lease them out (that’d bring you a nice monthly income). You could even buy properties to fix them up and sell them at an increased value.

Of course, there are plenty of other ways to invest your earnings, too. Getting involved with trading can be very profitable if you do your research and learn how to monitor market trends carefully. You might want to consider spread betting over traditional trading methods. Earning tax-free profits is just one of many reasons to trade this way. Investing wisely is the type of financial decision that could really help you down the line. You’ll be able to start building up some savings for the future.

Creating an emergency fund.
Another financial decision that will help you down the line is creating an emergency fund. We all face unexpected costs at different points in life, so it’s important to have a backup plan in place for just such occasions. Your budget can only account for regular and predictable expenses, but you should also set aside a little bit of money on a regular basis for emergency costs. For instance, your house might need repairs after a natural disaster, or you might need emergency financial support if you leave one job and start searching for another. Creating a backup fund now could really help you further down the line. You don’t want to dip into your bank account for emergency costs and find yourself low on funds for necessities.

Spending your money sensibly.
This final suggestion is possibly the most important. If you want to improve your financial future then you should simply improve your financial present. By making a proper budget, you’ll be able to start tracking your expenditures accurately and making smarter decisions with your money. Calculate the cost of your essentials, and figure out how much income you need to devote to those necessary expenses. If you barely have any remaining funds then you could start reducing your basic costs in smart ways. For instance, you could save money on groceries by using coupons and start using price comparison sites to search for better deals from energy providers. You could reduce your monthly expenses if you did a little research. And it’ll benefit you in the future if you have more money to set aside for your savings.

Managing Money Matters

Some of the key focuses of my blog are: Financial Literacy, Money, Business and Entrepreneurship. A key aspect of any successful business is the effective money management. The following contributed post is thus entitled; Managing Money Matters.

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Money makes the world go round, does it not? We all rely on money so heavily, that the slightest change in our circumstances leads us to panic to say the least. But that’s just referring to our personal lives. When business comes into it, the need for money is greater. Without money, progression needed to survive in the business world can’t be achieved, and the chance of the business failing altogether becomes all too real. So, we want to show you the money matters that needed to be managed the most, and how they can ensure that your company will thrive for years to come. Have a read on to find out more!

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Your Employees Money

Start messing with your employees money, and it isn’t going to end well for you. To help you understand what we mean, let’s paint a picture. Your employees rely on the fact that you’re going to pay them exactly what they’re owed, when they’re owed it. So many companies fail on this, or pay the wrong amount. It’s not understood by management how much this can impact an employee’s life! So, before you start making error after error, think about how you can manage it more effectively. Paystub is just one of the websites that you can use to generate paychecks, allowing you to cross reference the amount that should be paid, as well as your employees. If you feel as though the burden of running payroll is too high, and that’s why you’re possibly making mistakes, then think about hiring an in house accountant. You’re so much more likely to be able to manage money effectively rather than letting it all weigh on your shoulders.

Your Investment Money

When you start getting to the point where you’re earning enough money, you need to think about having investment money. Managing investment money isn’t the easiest game to play, because you’ve got just as much chance of losing money as you do making money. So, in terms of your investment money, think about getting a broker to do the dirty work for you. You need someone who is going to be able to make expertly informed decisions for your company and the money that it is using. If you do do your investments the right way, the money that you could potentially earn from it will be more than you could image! Good investment ideas are ones such as stocks, virtual currency, and property, but it is all about finding which one works for your company.

Your Pension Money

When you have so much money coming in, the last thing that you might be thinking of is your pension. But like the people that you employ, you should seriously start investing into your pension. You can also hire companies to help get the job done for you so that you’re saving in the right pay, and securing your future for you and your family. Even if your retirement is years away, it’s best to put aside now, as you never truly know what is going to happen to your company!

How To Help A Loved One Overcome Substance Abuse And Addiction

A major focus of my blog is Health and Wellness. Substance abuse can become a lifelong struggle for some people – sometimes our friends and relatives, and it’s not always clear in terms of how to help them. The following contributed post is thus entitled; How To Help A Loved One Overcome Substance Abuse And Addiction.

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Learning that a loved one is addicted to drugs or alcohol is a scary, stressful, and upsetting experience. Naturally, you want to help them, but with so many people telling you that “they’ll only stop when they’re ready,” you can be left feeling conflicted and helpless. Thankfully, while it’s true that an addict is the only person who can make positive changes in their life, there are still steps that you can take to kickstart these changes and try to curb addictive behaviors. With that in mind, here are a few things that you can do to help a loved one overcome their addiction.

Never Turn A Blind Eye
Reaching out to someone with a drug or alcohol problem is never easy, which often leads friends and family members to turn a blind eye and ignore toxic behaviors. However, the person that you’re worried about is never going to know that you’re concerned until you tell them that you are. While this may be an uncomfortable conversation, it’s important that you open up these lines of communication and try to make a difference. If you don’t, it’s unlikely that anything will change.

Intervene Before Things Get Serious
Ideally, this initial conversation should occur before anything gets too serious. All too often, families and friends wait until there is a major crisis, like an arrest, sacking, overdose, or another serious health issue, before they take action and decide that enough is enough. However, like other illnesses, addiction can be best treated during the earlier stages. For this reason, you should start a conversation and express your concerns the moment toxic behaviors begin.

Don’t Shame Or Pass Judgment
Alcoholics and drug addicts rarely start taking drugs or drinking heavily for no reason. More often than not, there is an underlying issue that they struggle with, like anxiety or depression, and they take drug and alcohol as a way to self-medicate. It’s important that you recognize these reasons and avoid passing judgment or shaming the person that you’re worried about. Usually, this will make them feel worse about themselves, which will only make them use more.

Offer Professional Help And Support
Addicts need the support of those that care about them, but, most of the time, they also need help from a professional. After all, they have years of knowledge on addiction and know the best ways to help. They also have access to medical professionals, like LifeBrite Laboratories, who can run tests and ensure that your loved one has definitely stopped using. This is incredibly important as many addicts try to hide their addiction from those around them.

Support Them Through Their Journey
The journey to sobriety isn’t an easy one, and there will be many hurdles for your loved one to face along the way. For this reason, it’s vital that you show that you’re supportive and care about your loved one and their journey. The moment it starts to feel like you can’t be bothered anymore, your friend or family member will notice, and this could impact their recovery. You should also avoid drinking around the person and never enable their toxic behaviors.

Helping a loved one overcome addiction will never be easy, but, hopefully, with the advice and guidance above, you have some idea of how to start.

Business Leaders – Are You Wasting Time?

Some of the key focuses of my blog are: Financial Literacy, Money, Business and Entrepreneurship. A key aspect of any successful business is the efficient use of time. The following contributed post is thus titled; Business Leaders – Are You Wasting Time?

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Wasting time is the number one ‘no-no’ when it comes to anything to do with business life. We hear that ‘time is money,’ and that’s no accident. Any business leader, at least those successful the world over, will have mastered the art of effectively using their time. Honing your own personal schedule is all very well and good, but when looking at the larger picture, your business may be telling you something else entirely. If your business is wasting time, even in small ways, its inefficiency can build and build in its aggregate form.

It might take time to inspect and fully make effective, but a business concerned with improving its growth and optimizing it’s process will need to cut out the fat sooner or later. Here are the places you might look first:

Payroll

Your payroll department is often the last thing you’ll establish when you’re starting to grow your firm. This is because a certain amount of employees may not warrant a dedicated specialist to come in and handle these hours, it might be that the manager or the owner takes care of this. This task is unlikely going to be the only one undertaken by the person responsible in this case. While you must always dedicated the correct amount of time to this task lest you make mistakes that can cost the satisfaction of the employee you have impeded, you can always implement time-saving options to help you deliver your duties well.

For example, using a service to create a paystub can help you organize dedicated formatting efforts for your payroll, both calculating and providing proof of income and charges to your employees routinely and with predictable formatting. This can be very helpful if dealing with a team of variant roles and variant hours worked, as templates can be saved and you can adjust via hours, salary or any other payment criteria your business has setup. Payroll can often be the most intense and important consideration to get right, so taking out any human error and providing a uniform formatting option of proof can help the person responsible take care of this task appropriately each time.

Dead Weight

None of us enjoy having dead weight on our time. This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to reduce total staff motivation, waste money on salaries and have to conduct time and money into the cleanup that a faulty staff member will need to cover them. This means that inspecting your staff routinely to ensure they’re working hard as per reasonable standards, that they are paying attention to your policies and security/safety protocols, as well as ensuring they care about the end result of their work can help you identify anyone who isn’t pulling their weight, or who is willfully neglecting it. In certain industries such as hospitality and retail, this can be quite a common occurrence. With a skilled, reasonable and rational eye, you can decide to conduct training efforts, motivate that person further, or let that person go.

With these two simple tips, you can cut plenty of wasted time from your schedule, and the larger flow of your business.