Financial Literacy and Money – Page 53

5 Mistakes That Can Lead Young Filipinos to a Financial Nightmare

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. Our overall financial health come down to a number of factors but decision making plays a major role. This is true for all ethnic groups. The following guest post is entitled, 5 Mistakes That Can Lead Young Filipinos to a Financial Nightmare.

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Today, more and more young Filipinos are paying attention to their finances thanks to the increasing accessibility to financial tools and knowledge sources, something that their parents and grandparents were not lucky enough to have. However, there are still a lot of youngsters in the country that are committing the same mistakes that their predecessors did, as well as some new ones that came with modern technology.

Here are some of the most common ones, and how Filipinos, both old and young, can avoid them:

1. Taking out unnecessary loans

Whether it’s because of “petsa de peligro”, an expensive gadget, or an unexpected expense, many young Filipinos turn to payday loans to make ends meet before the next paycheck. While these types of loans may provide quick and easy cash, they also come with exorbitant interest rates that make borrowers pay more than half of the original amount. The result? Blown up debt that can make one’s finances even harder to manage.

The best way to avoid this problem is by establishing an emergency fund and practicing delayed gratification. With an emergency fund, one can pay for unexpected expenses without draining their main bank accounts and resorting to loans. And by practicing delayed gratification, one’s ‘wants’ won’t be a good enough reason to take out a high-interest loan.

2. Waiting too long to take out insurance

When it comes to insurance, many Filipinos display the “I don’t need it yet, I’m young and healthy” attitude, mostly because they don’t want to lose part of their income to something intangible or something that won’t immediately benefit them. However, no one knows when sickness, accident, or death can befall someone; health or life insurance plans and other types of coverage help protect the insured and their family in case something were to happen.

Moreover, insurance premiums increase with age. By waiting too long to take out insurance, young Filipinos are missing out on lower payments while they are still considered low-risk.

3. Spending too much on online shopping

With the massive popularity of online shopping platforms like Lazada and Shopee, it’s no wonder why so many Filipinos–both young and old–are finding themselves spending too much on their online purchases. Even with the frequent promotional ‘sales’ that these platforms offer, money spent is still money spent, no matter how big the discount is.

And that’s exactly the problem, too many online shoppers are blinded by sales, hefty discounts, and free shipping promos that they often buy things that they don’t even need. There’s nothing wrong with shopping online. In fact, it’s a safe and convenient way of shopping amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it may be causing shoppers to spend more money than necessary, and sometimes, money that they don’t even have.

4. Not planning for retirement

For the older generations, especially Filipinos, their children are their retirement plans. It’s a common tradition in the country to “give back” to one’s parents upon entering the workforce, and going against the grain is often seen as taboo or being ‘ungrateful’. Needless to say, this is a toxic belief that is putting too much pressure on young Filipinos and leaving them unable to prepare for their retirement at the same time. As a result, these young Filipinos will also depend on their children for their needs in the future, hence, a generational financial curse.

That said, it’s crucial for Filipino millennials and Gen Zs to break this cycle by planning for their retirement. This could mean taking out long-term investing plans, making contributions to pension plans, and building their nest egg as early as now. Contrary to popular belief, it’s never too early to start planning for retirement–even if it’s forty or fifty years away.

5. Succumbing to lifestyle inflation

Lifestyle inflation is a problem not exclusive to Filipinos, but it certainly is a common issue in the country, especially with a culture that makes people believe that when they move up in life, they should have something to show for it. For many Filipinos, this means buying a bigger house, taking out the latest car model, buying more expensive clothes, or going to high-end sources of entertainment when they start earning more money.

Lifestyle inflation, to a certain extent, is acceptable. However, when the expenses start equating to income, you’re probably spending too much and may be well on your way to debt.

These are just some of the financial mistakes that a lot of young Filipinos are guilty of, but are definitely some of the worst ones. If you’re still committing one or more of these mistakes, it’s high time to start taking more control of your finances for a brighter financial future.

5 Ways to Revamp Your Premises for Reopening

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. If you’ve ever had to close down your operations for any reason, there are a couple of things to think about when reopening. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Ways to Revamp Your Premises for Reopening.

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If you’re planning a grand reopening after a temporary closure, why not take the time to revamp your premises? Whether you can stretch your resources to anything from a lick of paint to structural renovation, it will definitely boost your curb appeal. Reopening is also the perfect opportunity to promote your brand, so get marketing online to draw more customers in to see your decorating efforts. If you run a catering business, salon, or brick-and-mortar store, it’s time to bring your business into the 21st century. Here are five ways to revamp your premises for reopening.

Refresh your decor

Refreshing your decor can be done on a budget. Give your property a lick of paint and decorate with your company branding. Invest in a couple of new plants and bring a bit of life into the place. Take a look at the interior design trends this year for inspiration. One thing that’s important is that your decor represents the personality of your brand. Brainstorm the characteristics that make up your brand personality, whether it’s luxury, artisan, sustainability, or minimalism, for example.

Expand outdoor space

If you have the option it’s the perfect time of year to expand your outdoor space. Make changes to the structure with the help of companies like https://jrcousa.com/sheet-metal/. Outdoor space is very valuable, depending on the type of business you run. If you own a small catering business or bar, find out if you can make use of the surrounding space.

Update your equipment

Bring your business into the 21st century with the latest software and tools. You could consider smart equipment for customers such as self-service kiosks and contactless options. It might be time to get some new tools for your staff as well and more modern appliances. These will improve productivity and efficiency in the long run, allowing you to provide a better service.

New security system

Another smart addition to make to your premises is a state-of-the-art security system. You can’t put a price on peace of mind and you need to ensure your building is always protected. You can upgrade your security with a full smart system including cameras, smart locks, and private access control. Don’t forget to follow cybersecurity best practices as well, as a data breach could be just as harmful to your business as theft or vandalism. Consider outsourcing your IT services to ensure you get access to the best resources and encrypted cloud-hosting options.

Make it a promotional event

Reopening your premises is a fantastic marketing opportunity. The important thing is to be consistent. In order to plan for your success, you need to use the same offers in-store that you’ve been promoting online. Invite your contact list through email marketing to come and take advantage of these offers. You could even host a small event or party to celebrate reopening. Choose the most fitting idea for your business. Reach out to as many customers as possible beforehand and spread the news about your reopening.

How To Improve Your Websites Speed

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In today’s digital age where so much business is conducted online, it’s critical that your website is working at optimal speeds. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Improve Your Websites Speed.

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Whether you use your site for business, blogs, pleasure or a combination of all, it is important to consider the customer’s journey.

Bet you’ve been there, on a different site and due to the lag and delays with loading or navigating their site, you moved on pretty sharpish to a competitors page. Of course, when it comes to your business or blog you don’t want that to happen. This then has a very real knock on effect and will impact on your site’s traffic, building and maintaining a good service and customer satisfaction. All of which you want to avoid. With that in mind, it is always worth reviewing your site when you review and consider changes to optimize your business.

So Why Is It Running Slow

The first step is to run a site speed test to see the actual speeds that are being applied to your site currently.

As to the whys, there could be many reasons. It could be due to some of the links, adverts and widgets you have running across the site. It could be due to the size of images and videos that you have uploaded, or the number of links included.

This does mean that there could be potentially a few aspects to change. But, it also gives you a lot of ways to improve those speeds by making some easy changes.

Here are some different ways to ensure that you maintain great internet and site speeds to stop this happening.

HTTP requests

Consider what is on each page within your site. Every script, image, table, link and so on that requires a HTTP request to load each time, will influence your upload times. There are developer tools available online to help you identify these.

So, once you know how many you have, it is always worthwhile seeing which ones are unnecessary and where possible removing them to enhance your site’s speed.

Dedicated Servers

Where this is something that confuses you or you struggle to find the time to manage your site to ensure it runs at optimal capacity, you can always consider dedicated servers. A dedicated server will give you an instant support system to help you perform better with a knowledgeable team or dedicated support manager in place. Also, not only will they be able to support the speed of your site, they will also have the ability to assist with security.

Check Your Hosting Site

When you were completing the initial set up, you may have opted for free or low cost hosting options to keep your start up costs low. Initially this offered a great stepping stone when getting set up. However, now that your business has grown and developed you’ll find that they need reviewing to support your current traffic needs.

With this you’ll have different options available, such as shared hostings, VPS hosting or a dedicated server.

Each option comes with their women individual benefits and costs so it is worth spending some time to review the options and your budget to allow you the best route forward.

Easy Ways to Improve Your Business Hiring Process

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A critical part of your business is the hiring process. The following contributed post is entitled, Easy Ways to Improve Your Business Hiring Process.

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If you want to improve your business hiring process, you’ll be glad to know that this is very easy to do. In fact, if you are able to improve your hiring process, you may find that you can easily boost your employee retention and that you can also improve your general interaction with them. If you want to find out more about that, then simply look below.

Build a Strong Brand

Did you know more than 75% of professionals are passive candidates? This means that they are not looking for jobs right now, but they are more than open to any new opportunities. If you can, you need to make sure that you build a strong employee brand. This will reduce your turnover by up to 30%, and it will also attract those who may well be open to new opportunities. Glassdoor surveys have found that over 69% of people are much more likely to apply for a position if the employer is able to manage and respond to reviews. For this reason, you need to focus on building your brand, as this will make it much easier when the time comes for you to do some recruiting. It will also help you to be much more active in your recruitment process. If you can, the next time you post local truck driving jobs, or any jobs for that matter, make a special effort to ensure that you are appealing to the right candidates too. Make it obvious what you are looking for, as this will strengthen your brand further.

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Move Quickly

The best candidates are usually off the market in under 10 days. It’s so important that you are able to act quickly. This is especially the case if you know that you are interested in a certain applicant. Even if you have not made your decision yet, you need to try and follow-up with the candidate quite often, as this will help you to address any concerns that they might have as well as helping them to stay updated throughout the process.

Write Better Descriptions

A lot of companies write descriptions that contain all of the requirements and responsibilities for what they are looking for. The main issue with this is that it can sometimes alienate qualified employees. If you want to work around this while also strengthening your core brand, then you need to focus on what you can do for your team. You also need to focus on how you are going to attract candidates who may be a good fit for your needs.

Embrace Trends

A lot of people now want to work with companies that are able to keep up with various tech trends. At the end of the day, part of embracing the new digital age ultimately means working your social media profiles and also making sure that investigations are done on potential clients too. If you can do this, then you can be sure to make the most out of your hiring experience while protecting your company from hiring someone who just isn’t right for the job.

How to Invest in New Machinery and Tech as a Business Owner

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Depending on the type of business you’re running, one of your most critical decisions will be investing in new machinery. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Invest in New Machinery and Tech as a Business Owner.

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Investing in new business technology is something that has to be done at various intervals in the lifespan of a business. Moving with the times and being up to date in order to remain productive and satisfy the needs of clients and customers are some of the most important things you can do as a business owner. We’re going to talk today about some of the most important things to consider when investing in new machinery and tech as a business owner, so find out more below.

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Consider Implementing Cloud Based Systems

First of all, you should think about the fundamental things that’ll serve your business well for a long time still to come. This is something that’s still too often overlooked, and one of the ways to address it is by creating a new cloud based computing system that can connect and streamline your business in a variety of ways. It will also help you to improve security and data management issues.

Weigh Up the Benefits of Renting Versus Buying

When you’re investing in new machinery or technology that you feel is capable of taking your business forward, it’s important to weigh up the costs and benefits of both renting and buying that stuff. If you’re not sure about your long-term usage of the tech or machinery, you should probably rent it at first as a trial and then invest in purchasing it later if you feel it’s necessary and beneficial to do so.

Aim to Boost Efficiency

Efficiency is one of the things you should certainly be looking to address as you take your business forward. When you create a more efficient approach to running your business with the help of the right day to day technology, it’ll help you to perform better and achieve more for customers and clients. That might be something that makes a big difference, so find the technology that makes that possible.

Invest in the Protection of Your Technology Too

As well as investing in the actual technology and machinery that your business needs, you might also want to think about how you can invest in the ways in which you can protect those things. Things like NEMA 6P Enclosures protect technology that’s in danger of coming into contact with water of freezing conditions, for example. These things need to be considered.

Keep an Eye on Future Needs and Changes

Keeping an eye on the future needs of your business and how the ways in which you make use of technology might change is another thing that’s important. If you want to make sure that you’ve always got one eye on the future, do so through your choices of technology.

There are lots of benefits that come with putting in place new technology systems and investing in new machinery. Just make sure that these kinds of things are put in place in a sustainable kind of way. There’s a lot that can go wrong and many mistakes that can be made if you’re not careful.

What Event Staff Investments Say About Your Firm

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A major part of your firm or business is your event staff. Having an event staff actually says things about your firm that you don’t initially see. The following contributed post is entitled, What Event Staff Investments Say About Your Firm.

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As the world slowly returns to normal (more in some areas, less in others), it’s true that many lockdown limits or social distancing regulations will start to cease. They have to at some point. For this reason, forward-thinking businesses are considering their return strategy, as they have a unique opportunity to come back in style after a long absence. Perhaps there will never be an opportunity to return in full form like this again, although of course, the advantages to this are somewhat counterbalanced by the difficulties of the last year (to put it lightly).

Attending events can serve as a fantastic and useful promotional tool for any business, but it also enhanced connections between firms and professionals, while ensuring that they can meet their clients and would-be customers as intimately as possible. When running your own event, such as a keynote, or a business conference, or even just a celebratory affair in which you welcome the public, there are certain essential elements to get right.

In this case, we’re going to talk about your event staff and security and what they say about your firm:

Uniform

The uniform your staff wear is very important at an event, not only to show how much you’re willing to invest in them, but also to ensure they can be seen and identified easily, both for the public, and for one another. A uniform can also draw attention to certain promotions you have on, or allow your staff to immediately showcase their authority, and often, it can help them look well-presented.

The better a uniform can establish the ideals your firm holds, even if that just means the ability to pay attention to great branding, the better. Furthermore, remember that at a long or intense event, the clothes your staff wear will help them cope. Smart polo shirts and smart trousers are so much easier to wear over the course of a summer business event than full suits with name badges, for instance.

Administrative Directions

Administrative directions truly do help you funnel the public and your staff without having to have a marshall for every single person present. From easy signposting that is viewable by all people in the crowd, to bollards and ropes that prevent access, to making sure staff are there to corral the troops in areas where this may be required, administrative directions of this kind can help prevent disputes, ensure the continual flowing of the public, as well as being able to demonstrate safety protocols front and centre.
Administrative directions might involve asking to store smartphones before the beginning of your filmed keynote speech, or it might mean thoroughly ensuring everyone is told the fire evacuation protocols before the event starts properly. All of this showcases your attention to your duty of care. In this respect, you can feel much more confident and able.

Security Protocols

Security protocols are worth considering, for obvious reasons. Hiring an essential security firm or investing in security provided by an event space is important, but make sure they’re up to the task. This involves carefully briefing them on what to expect, the nature of your event, and what response may be needed.

This not only helps you ensure you have prepared for capacity when waiting for the event to begin, but it also helps you curate insurance ahead of time and avoid any nasty surprises. After all, as we’ve seen, even the most public and somewhat official events can be overwhelmed if security doesn’t communicate, isn’t properly invested in, or have their priorities misaligned. And remember, even if you’re running a calm bakery show, security is always needed at public events.

The Right Equipment

The right equipment is absolutely essential to make sure your staff can more readily respond to the needs of a business event and the people who attend it. Do your best not to fall at the first hurdle by failing to equip your staff with the implements they really do need. For instance, Motorola fire radio will help ensure that the staff can more readily communicate with one another, that updates are passed around your staff in a matter of moments, and that safety and security can be better measured. In that respect, you are more readily able to focus on providing a worthwhile solution going forward instead of feeling somewhat discombobulated. This also helps your staff with their confidence as they find their feet once again.

With this advice, we hope you can invest in your event staff as well as possible. It truly does speak volumes about your firm if you prioritize this need.

4 Self-Care Tips For Entrepreneurs

Three focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Health/Wellness. Entrepreneurship comes with it’s own set of personal challenges. The grind can have adverse effects on your health and it’s thus important to understand how to protect one’s health. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Self-Care Tips For Entrepreneurs.

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When you’re focusing on launching or building a business, it can become so easy to focus all of your energies on one problem and neglect yourself. But, as we all know, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Running around, forgetting meal times, working all hours — they come with the territory, but they only work for so long. To create a sustainable, successful business you need to first create sustainable, successful self-care tools to help you along the way. So, here are five top tips to help you look after yourself.

1. ‘Me time’

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, if you’re an entrepreneur you know yourself how hard it is to find time for yourself. It could be the guilt (“if I’m not working I’m failing”) or you’ve got a to-do list that is too long. But, if you work smart, you can claim some time for yourself. It could be that before the day starts, you could diarise half an hour every morning to look after yourself, in whatever way you want. For some, it’s the chance to do a long meditation or yoga practice, for others it’s a cup of coffee or a bath. The important thing is you stop and focus on yourself.

2. Planning

That takes us to the next step, planning. You may be a pro, or you find it hard, but planning time for yourself will make your life so much easier in the long run. Whatever form of diary you prefer – the one on your phone or even a wall-hanging calendar so you can see your day at a glance – make time for yourself around reviewing business video samples or writing to investors. Focusing on specific tasks in your day can help you be more focused and efficient generally.

3. Meditation

Don’t discount the power of mediation outright. There are many different forms, and they work to help you feel more centered, improve self-awareness, reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, and generally improve your wellbeing. You don’t have to immediately resign yourself to the life of a yogi – you can pick up the practice using different online apps, many of which have free trials (so you can try different styles before start).

4. Your body

Taking care of your mind is important, but looking after your body is, too. To avoid burn-out and to keep yourself fighting fit, you’ve got to take care of your physical health. So, that means creating space to exercise, which will lower stress and provide a boost of feel-good hormones. That also means nourishing yourself with real food, not just something that you grab from the coffee shop when you pop in for a meeting. Many entrepreneurs put their success down to their interest in and commitment to health and fitness, so take it from the best, it’s important. If you find it hard to find the time, you can make this your act of self-care in the morning and get it done before the day starts.

Hopefully, these four tips will help you to look after yourself and succeed.

How to Turn Your Business Premises Into a Fortress

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of your chief concerns as a business owner is its security. Optimizing this your security will ensure your business’s operations and profits. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Turn Your Business Premises Into a Fortress.

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Let’s face it: all business owners want to ensure their premises are as secure as possible. For some businesses, physical and digital security is of utmost importance if they deal with extremely valuable resources, tangible or otherwise.

With that in mind, those organizations want to ensure their physical premises are virtually impenetrable by unauthorized persons. You’re likely reading this because you want to ensure that your building is fully protected 24/7. Here’s what you can do:

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Make Your Security Obvious

Did you know that many burglaries only occur due to opportunity? If a thief sees easy access to valuable items in a property, they will strike without a second thought. However, if they spot plenty of security, they’ll look for another target elsewhere.

That’s why it makes sense to have security measures in place that are obvious to members of the public. At a minimum, your business security should include internal and external security cameras monitoring all entry and exit points 24 hours a day.

You should also strongly consider having a security team that makes their presence known to the general public. Such measures alone are enough to ward off the vast majority of security threats.

Install Access Control Systems in All Rooms

There’s no denying that the oldest access control systems ever used are locks and keys. However, the trouble with those traditional ways of protecting properties is they are very easily bypassed – even by people with little to no tools.

Thankfully, technology provides many ways to install state-of-the-art access control systems for all rooms at your premises. For example, you can have installed key card systems where authorized employees wave a security key card at a reader.

If you’re looking for a more advanced technology solution, you could instead opt for biometric access control systems. Those systems can use an employee’s fingerprint to allow access, or they can conduct retina scans from one of their eyes.

Another example is voice recognition. It’s possible to use multiple access control systems at once for extra layers of security.

Make Your Secure Rooms Blast-Proof

Do you have specific rooms at your premises that must get protected at all costs? If so, you want to make sure no-one can try to gain entry to them using forcible means. You could consider making your secure rooms blast-proof.

The technology involved in making secure rooms blast-proof is similar to what gets used in bank vaults. Several layers of concrete and steel, among other materials, can ensure that your secure rooms are impenetrable – even if someone tries to blow them up!

You might be wondering what makes a room blast-proof. Aside from making the walls thick with steel and concrete, building materials can get reinforced with several micro-thin layers of mesh steel to absorb any impact.

For windows, thick bullet-proof glass like you’d see in presidential vehicles, for example, also help to absorb the force from any blasts.

Filter All Internet Traffic

Of course, you don’t have to physically gain entry to business premises if you wanted to steal something. Almost all businesses that deal with valuable and commercially sensitive resources go online from their premises.

Criminals could turn to the Internet and find vulnerabilities in a company’s Internet and network connection. Once access is possible, they could then find a way to disable access control systems and make it easy for them to gain physical access.

To that end, it’s crucial to filter all Internet traffic and prevent cyberattacks from happening. There are many ways to secure network and Internet connections:

● Enforce VPN (virtual private networking) connections for all employees going online so that all data gets encrypted;
● Installing hardware firewalls to filter all data packets and prevent malware from entering the network from Internet sources;
● Disabling wireless Internet access and enforcing Ethernet-only connections to the network and Internet.

You should also ensure that all computers used at your premises have the latest hardware. All operating systems should be up-to-date to prevent vulnerabilities from security holes at the OS layer, and all computers should have up-to-date anti-virus solutions installed.

Final Thoughts

There are many reasons why a business wants to adopt as much security as possible to protect its assets. The good news is that it’s possible to turn your organization’s building into a fortress and ensure that only authorized personnel gain access to it.

When combined with several security measures, the above examples work well and can make your building virtually impenetrable by criminals.

Have You Tried These Simple Ways To Improve Your Business?

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. No matter what type of business you are running, you should always be looking to improve it. The following contributed post is entitled, Have You Tried These Simple Ways To Improve Your Business?

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If you’re trying to improve your business and struggling to come up with ideas, it’s possible that you are making the problem more complicated than it actually is. Here are some simple ways that you can boost your business and elevate your position on the market.

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Hire A Consultant

First, you might want to consider hiring a consultant. This is useful if there is a key area of your business where you are struggling to perform. For instance, you might be having issues with logistics. If that’s the case, then you should definitely consider investing in the support of supply chain consultants. They’ll help you assess problems and potentially make your entire supply chain far more efficient. This is always going to allow you to deliver a far better level of service to your customers and clients.

Improve Your Recruitment Standards

It’s possible that you just don’t have enough innovative ideas in your business model. These types of ideas are always going to be necessary to take your company to the next level on the market. One of the ways that you can find these ideas is by ensuring that you are getting the right people on board your business team. To do that, you have to improve your hiring practices. You could think about using a recruitment management solution. Alternatively, it could just be a matter of asking the right questions. You can explore interview question guides online to perfect your technique here.

Explore New Investors

Next, you should definitely think about trying to win more attention over from key investors in your business. If you do this, you’ll be able to guarantee that you have the funds you need to make some big changes in your business model. So, how do you win over more investors? Well, you can think about taking your company to a trade show. If you are attending a trade show, then you’ll need to explore some of the best ways to guarantee that your business does stand out amongst a crowd. One of the ways to do this is with the right stall design.

Check-In With Your Customers

Finally, if you are looking for ways to improve your business, then it’s always going to make sense to check in with your customers. Don’t forget, they know what they want for your company. If you ask them, they’ll provide you with all the information that you need to make improvements and changes in key areas. So, how should you do this? Ideally, you should make sure that you are focusing on using social media to reach out to customers. Social media provides an easy, fast, non intrusive way to connect and engage with customers. Customers don’t just like engagement with brands through social media, they’re trained to expect it.

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you can explore when you are looking to improve your business. Use these simple solutions and you’ll be amazed by the impact they could have on your company.

The Changing Of The Guard: How To Pass Your Home Onto Someone Else

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. A person’s personal residence is not just a place to live, but it can also be a wealth building tool. The passing on of a home if done correctly can thus be the key to transferring and keeping wealth in a family. The following contributed post is entitled, The Changing Of The Guard: How To Pass Your Home Onto Someone Else.

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Over time, many of us become very attached to our homes. We want to believe that our current arrangements and family setups will last forever. We don’t like the idea of time passing us by and there being nothing we can do about it.

Eventually, though, the time will come for you to move out and onwards with your life. And at that point, you’ll need to pass your home onto somebody else. It’s a kind of changing of the guard and a necessary part of life.

So what do you need to do practically to make it a reality?

Fix Up Your Roof

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The first step is to make sure that the structure of your property is intact. You don’t want to get to the survey stage of a transaction, only for it to fall through because you have a problem with your roof.

Fixing up the roof is easier than you might think. Usually, you don’t need to replace the entire thing. Just replacing a few tiles here and there will often do the trick.

While you’re sorting out the roof, also pay attention to other areas of your property that might show up on the surveyor’s report. Check the foundations to ensure that they’re still secure and not badly cracked. And be sure that your walls aren’t damp or allowing moisture into the insulation.

Change Your Locks

The next step is to change the locks – or at least get the process started. When new owners move into your property, they’ll want assurances that extra keys aren’t floating around. I start by searching for a locksmith near me. This way, I can get the ball rolling and use that as a way to sell your home and build trust with buyers.

Contact Utility Suppliers

Once you’ve done that, the next part of the process is telling utility suppliers that you’re moving out. Remember, they don’t automatically know if you’ve stopped using their services unless they receive notice from you. So, even if a new occupant is paying bills from the same address, you might still wind up paying via direct debit.

Have A Big Clearout

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People moving out of their long-time homes often like to have a big clear out before they move. Sometimes, it’s important to do this because it helps you focus on what matters. Plus, you can often save a lot of space in the removal truck.

Hire a big skip and place it outside the front of your property. And then go room by room, thinking about the items that you really need – and those you don’t.

Don’t be afraid to get rid of items that you haven’t used in a long time. They will only clutter your new property.

Give Notice

When moving, you’ll need to give notice to your landlord or whoever you pay the mortgage. Doing this helps to avoid any animosity and helps prevent any legal action against you.

Moving house can sometimes be a challenge emotionally. But a new start is also a lot of fun.