Important considerations for buying a condominium unit revisited part three

This will be the final installment in the series entitled, Important considerations for buying a condominium unit revisited. Parts one and two discussed what a condominium is versus a town house or a detached home. Part two discussed the pitfalls of buying into condominium communities, and it introduced the concept of a ‘Residential Assessment’. Part three will discuss the role and importance of a community’s Board of Directors. It will further discuss what happens when unit owners in a condominium community can’t agree on the future of the complex.

“Some of you may not remember this, but years ago around the time of the market crash (The Great Recession), fist fights broke out here at our annual meeting and the police were called in,” our Treasurer jokingly recalled at our most recent annual meeting when discussing the budget projections for the upcoming year. Within any condominium community, the Board of Directors is charged with maintaining the overall health of the complex. This includes managing the community’s finances, anticipating future costs, and overseeing changes and repairs in the best interests of the entire community. The current board at my complex is an extremely hardworking group of volunteers who had lots of adversity to overcome, coming out of the 2008 Great Recession.

In the past, previous boards hadn’t steadily raised the condominium fee, nor budgeted for maintenance and repairs to our older complex. This lack of foresight eventually caught up to the current owners in form of the residential assessments described in part two. Prior to my moving into my community, it was allegedly on the verge of bankruptcy, hence once again the necessity of doing your ‘Due Diligence’ – doing your homework on the complex, hunting down the right people (the Board of Directors and the current owners), and asking the right questions before ‘closing‘ on your prospective property.

Why would fist fights break out at an annual meeting during a discussion about the condominium community’s business? A simple answer is that when money is involved, people’s emotions also get involved. Going to back to part two of this series, in order maintain the community, part of the board’s responsibility is to raise the money necessary for common projects which may require each owner paying out thousands of dollars at a time, something very scary and frustrating if not budgeted for. It’s further frustrating when owners must pick up the slack for other owners who can’t or won’t pay their financial obligations to the community.

In life it’s often difficult to get a large group of people to agree on anything, especially when there are varying financial situations, backgrounds and goals. At some point the idea was conceived by members of the board to “Redevelop” our condominium complex. This would involve selling the entire property to a developer with the intention of gutting the complex and erecting a brand-new one. This redevelopment would give all unit owners the option to buy into the new community or leave it altogether. It’s a complex transaction involving several factors for the board of directors to consider. Some of the main ones included:

• Whether or not the current unit owners could at least break even based upon their original purchase prices;
• Whether or not the current unit owners could afford one of the newer units and;
• The logistics of the living arrangements of the units owners who desired to stay in the new community and transition into the newer units.

For the owners desiring to leave the complex, the redevelopment presents the opportunity to leave with a lump sum of money. For those owners who want to redevelop and stay, it’s an escape from the costly maintenance of an older complex in need of periodic costly maintenance. Either way, it’s a process in need of effective management by the board. As of now, the majority of the unit owners approved the redevelopment and it’s going forward.

In closing, buying any piece of real estate is a big deal especially if it’s your first time buying. Each property purchase presents its own potential challenges and pitfalls, many of which can be avoided if the right questions are asked in the beginning. Likewise, buying into a condominium community presents its own sets of potential challenges and it’s important to do one’s due diligence before buying into one. It’s also important to have a smart and hardworking board of directors.

Thank you for reading this blog post. If you enjoyed this piece, you might also enjoy:

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Common Challenges Business Owners Face

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. While being a business owner can be one of the most liberating things one can do, but it can also be one of the most challenging. There are a few pieces to be aware of. The following contributed post is entitled, Common Challenges Business Owners Face.

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Being a business owner can give you the freedom you’ve always wanted. It can help you to get success, validation, and all of that good stuff that the ego just loves. However, this isn’t to say that it’s going to be an easy ride. It doesn’t matter how great your business idea is, you’re going to encounter some challenges along the way. Below, we’re going to take a look at some common challenges that business owners face so that you’re prepared and know what to expect:

Credit – PIXABAY

Health Care
One of the most challenging aspects of running a small business comes from managing health care for your employees. Your workers health is important. When they are healthy, they can work to the best of their abilities and feel great in the workplace. You’ll have less sick days and other issues related to health. However, the increased healthcare costs can make finances difficult to manage. Companies like Syntrix Consulting Group can make managing the healthcare of your team much easier.

Tax Compliance
You want to keep your profits high as a business owner, and that means making suitable office deductions, whether you work from home or not. However, record keeping can take up a lot of your time, and it can be extremely frustrating if this isn’t something you’re naturally good at. Working with a trustworthy accountant will mean making sure your tax is completed correctly the first time around, and they will often be able to make deductions for things you didn’t think of or realize you could deduct, so you can pay them with the money you’ve saved. You’ll save money and won’t even notice that you’ve forked out for an accountant. Smart!

Staying Passionate About Your Business
Working on your business day in day out can be exciting at first, but keeping the passion alive can be tough after a while. You need to be absolutely obsessed with what it is you’re trying to achieve. Make sure that your business fits in with your goals and values and that it’s something you know you’ll never get bored of. If it isn’t yet, make it so.

It can be especially tough to stay feeling great and energetic when you’re spending longer days in the office than your employees, fearing that things just won’t work as well in your absence. You must find a pace that keeps the business running without wearing yourself down.

Hiring New People To Join Your Team
Hiring employees can be tough, and you have a lot to consider. You need to think about things like benefits, taxes, bonuses, equipment, and more. You need to consider all of these hurdles before you even come up with the position’s salary. Having a solid hiring process is also important. Getting other members of your team involved and actually asking questions that matter will make a huge difference. Make sure you know which qualifications are essential, and the experience necessary too. Sometimes, it’s better to hire somebody who is completely new to the role if they have the right personality, and other times, you have to hire somebody with the right skills.

4 Questions About Homeownership

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. Homeownership is a key pillar to building wealth. It can also wreck your finances if you don’t understand the pitfalls of it. The following contributed post is entitled, 4 Questions About Homeownership.

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Homeownership is for many the ultimate American Dream. Indeed, we have to remember that the Americans of today were once immigrants who had come – or been shipped – to the country in the hope of making a living. What Thomas Jefferson called the pursuit of happiness is, after all, nothing else than having a place we can call home. However, purchasing a home doesn’t come without risks. Indeed, it doesn’t matter how many of us dream of homeownership; not everyone is ready to become a responsible homeowner today. Indeed, investing in a property is a commitment that requires a change of mindset. Some might even refer to it as the first step of adulting. The truth is that you can’t buy a home if you can’t answer the following questions:

Learn frugality

Can you avoid unnecessary expenses?
Buying a home is an expensive adventure you need to budget. There is no secret; unless you’re lucky enough to have inherited a substantial income, you will need to embrace a frugal lifestyle to save ahead of your property purchase. Frugality being the art of living within your means, it’s an essential skill to develop at the beginning of your homeownership journey. Indeed, it allows you to save money without depriving yourself. More importantly, it’s the key to keeping your budget under control safely.

Can you be part of a neighborhood?
You never buy just a house or an apartment. You buy your entry into a neighborhood. It’s the ability to embrace living at the heart of a community that makes your home a safe investment. Why so? Because your property becomes part of an ensemble that shares common values and interests, such as keeping the community safe and clean, for instance. As a homeowner, you agree to participate in the local activities and to get to know your neighbors. Ultimately, active communities are a magnet to shops and other amenities. Additionally, they significantly improve your quality of life. But it only works if you are ready to become a part of it.

Be part of your community

Can you fix things?
Things break. As a tenant, you can call your landlord to get it fixed. As a homeowner, you have to roll up your sleeves and sort it out yourself. While some repair jobs should be left to the pros – such as electrical and plumbing matters – anything else could be fixed with some DIY skills. Prepping and painting a room, for instance, doesn’t require expert knowledge. Dealing with a door that sticks shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes in most cases.

Can you visualize your decor?
Ah, the dilemma of decorating your interior! Many first-time homeowners feel confused when it comes to creating their own style. Indeed, for many, living in a rented place reduced their involvement in interior decor to a minimum. Therefore, it can be tricky to visualize all the options in a room. You’d be surprised to know that many home decor projects end up becoming a waste of money because people fail to take measurements and test their design ideas first.

In conclusion, if you can answer yes to the previous four questions, you are ready to buy your first home. However, if you’re still struggling with some of these elements, it’s a good idea to delay your purchase until you are more confident with your budgeting, community engagement, DIY skills, or decor planning.

Ideas to Boot Your Retail Business and Get Customers Through the Door

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. For standard ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses, a major key is getting customers to come to your store. Generating this traffic will likely increase your profits. The following contributed post is entitled, Ideas to Boot Your Retail Business and Get Customers Through the Door.

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If you work in retail, or have a store as part of your business, then what are the ways that you need to improve it? One of the first things that you need to think about is about the curb appeal of the frontage. It gives people walking past an idea about what your business is about, and can quickly make their mind up about whether they should come into the store or not. So have you considered how important curb appeal is for your store? In fact, a huge 95% of customers have been reported to say that the appearance of a store, especially on the outside, will be one of the main things that they base their decision on, and will help them decide whether to enter the shop or not; that is a huge number of people. So with all of that in mind, here are some ways to make sure that any store frontage is looking good, and ready to welcome in customers.

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Keep it Clean

From the windows to the sidewalk, the front of the store needs to be kept clean. It might mean that you are out there cleaning first thing before the store opens, but a quick sweep of the paving, sidewalk, and checking things like the door and windows are clean, is a must. It is something that is really simple but often gets forgotten about. It doesn’t have to take long, but will make a difference with people’s perceptions of your business.

Make Repairs

Like having a clean and tidy frontage, you also need to make sure that things are repaired as and when the problems arise. If you have paving out front that is cracked and looking a little worse for wear, how about getting in touch with a commercial paving company to get a quote? Things like that should be fixed as soon as possible, as it can look tacky and cheap otherwise, which isn’t something that you want perspective customers to be thinking about.

Change Your Window Display

No matter what your retail business is, you need to make sure that you draw new customers in by using things like your windows and window displays to draw people in. If people are regularly passing by but never make it in, the change in window displays could show them something that are interested in, meaning that they will be likely to pop in. As for regular customers, it just helps to show them variety, and gives them another reason to keep coming back to you.

Advertise Sales and Special Offers

One of the main goals in retail is to simply get customers through the door. When you are able to do so, it means that you can get talking to them, getting to know them, and get selling to them. So one of the best ways to get customers through the door is to offer deals and bargains, and make sure that they are clearly advertised. If someone was thinking of popping in, they are much more likely too if they see there is money off or a sale on.

Here’s How To Sell Your Products Online

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. Much of today’s business is conducted online. There are some keys to selling your merchandise online. The following contributed post is entitled, Here’s How To Sell Your Products Online.

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Picture by Rawpixel

Although, the internet has its drawbacks (such as hackers that are a threat to businesses) the internet is arguably the root of all opportunity. Mainly because people from all backgrounds, so long as they have a laptop and an internet connection, can earn money online if they put their minds to it.

You may have decided your current physical store that you use to sell your products is limiting you from the reach of sharing your items with the world. Or maybe you’ve uploaded your products online somewhere to sell, but you haven’t received any sales. So how do you sell your products online, and where do you begin?

Choose Your Platform(s) Wisely

You have a few options at your feet for selling your products, but it’s up to you to decide which one fits your product and where you think your intended audience will be. Bear in mind, with ready-to-use popular platforms such as Amazon, there are rules you need to adhere to, to sell on their website. If you trip up and break the rules, it could lead to your account being suspended. If this does happen to you, it is possible to build a case for reinstatement to get your Amazon account back up and running. It just takes a bit of time and effort to do so..

Besides the well-known selling platforms such as eBay and Amazon. Look at the potential of developing your own ecommerce website to display your products to the public also.

Presentation

The way you present your products is an essential aspect to consider. Images that are too dark, poor quality or look unprofessional will prevent your product from selling as well as it potentially could. If you can afford to, have professional pictures taken of your products. If this isn’t possible, create a transparent, uncluttered background for your product to rest. Take shots of different angles in clear daylight, so that the customer may see various aspects of the product before deciding to buy.

Copywriting

The art of copywriting is to set the scene and engage readers on why they should buy your particular product. It’s your pitch to explain why this product is perfect and what it brings to a person’s life but also to outline the specification such as colours and measurements. People like to read about what their new product might entail. They also want transparency on what to expect, and so you need to give the reader both! When you write descriptions etc., keep it clear, simple and in keeping with the voice of your brand.

Reputation

A business’s trust and reliability are earned over time. Once your product begins to gain momentum with authentic online reviews, you can trust that the sales process of your products will be a lot easier. There are ways you can give your product a leg up online in this regard. For instance, you can give your product out for free to popular bloggers and ask if they would be so kind as to write about it on their website. If your product is fantastic, they’ll tell their readers. Which means your audience and reputation gradually expands.

Whether you’re setting up a side hustle or developing a full-time business, selling your products online will be a lot easier to do if you follow the steps above.

Effective Ways To Streamline Your Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. One of the keys to success of your business is eliminating any inefficiencies and redundancies. Streamlining specific parts of your business will increase its performance. The following contributed post is entitled, Effective Ways To Streamline Your Business.

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When running a business of your own, every minute of the day matters. With an endless list of jobs, many fires to put out, and limited resources, you must make sure that your time counts. If you’re sitting down at eight and leaving at five having accomplished nothing you needed to, a change must be made. To stand any chance of being the best, you must work more effectively and efficiently. With that in mind, here are six things that you can do to streamline your business.

Eliminate Unnecessary Travel Time
As important as face to face meetings may be in business, they definitely aren’t necessary for every situation. If you have clients and contacts spread across the country or even the world, you won’t be able to travel to meet them. Not only is it expensive, but it wastes precious time. With today’s technology, there’s no reason why you can’t talk face to face over the internet instead.

Plan Fewer Staff Meetings
You might not have to drive hours for meetings with your team, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t waste time. Far too many employers schedule weekly or daily meetings with their staff, with no real purpose behind them. The fewer staff meetings you have each week, the more your team can get done. Keeping that in mind, writing a staff newsletter might be more efficient.

Outsource Your HR Function
Entrepreneurs can easily spend up to and over a third of their time handling payroll and benefits administration. Doing so yourself also risks penalties if tax filings are incorrect or payment deadlines aren’t met. To make your life easier, you should invest in an hr management system. By outsourcing the work, you save time and have peace of mind that mistakes won’t be made.

Invest In Skills Development
Although it would certainly be helpful, employees aren’t meant to be masters of all trades. They have their strengths and weaknesses, just like you so. It’s up to you to identify where those strengths lie and encourage employees to develop skills in those areas. This is a rewarding enterprise, but it will also give your team an edge, inspiring them to greater productivity.

Sort Out The Schedule
Creating a schedule for your employees is sure to be a time-consuming nightmare, especially for businesses in the retail industry. However, there are tools and software packages available that will make this task much simpler. With a schedule, your team won’t have to waste time deciding which task to tackle next, or, worse still, interrupt you to ask what they should be doing.

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Look At Paper Usage
Paperwork can quickly pile up in an office. The problem with this is that the more paperwork you have on your desk, the more difficult it will be to find a specific file when you need it. The cost of paper and ink will also add up over the course of a year. To save money and unnecessary hassle, you should clear the paper from your desk and store your files on the cloud.

Time is a valuable resource in business, so take care of it by streamlining your company.

Why You Should Increase Your Business Connections

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As with most sectors, increasing your connections is absolutely critical. Doing so will increase your network, and increase overall profits. The following contributed post is entitled, Why You Should Increase Your Business Connections.

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Image by rawpixel from Pixabay

Aside from making more money, there are plenty of other reasons why it’s a good idea to increase your business connections in life. While some people don’t enjoy networking and don’t see the point, there really is a number of benefits to it, and if you haven’t started to do it yet, you really should and here’s why:

You Could Make New Friendships
You never know who you’re going to meet and who doesn’t want a new life-long friend? When it comes to networking in business, it can be really easy to make friends because the reason you are there, at that event or meeting is that you already have something in common. You will meet a lot of like-minded people and could end up building some really valuable and strong friendships.

You Might Get Lots Of Referrals
The best thing about networking to get referrals is that the referrals you get are mostly pre-qualified for you, and these will be more likely to turn into permanent clients. You basically will get much higher quality leads by networking than you would anywhere else.

Your Confidence Will Increase
By networking regularly, you would be able to push yourself to talk to different people, and this would eventually increase your confidence, and it is an essential skill to pick up. Keep doing this, and you’ll be able to talk to anyone, anywhere, and the thought of it won’t phase you at all. It’s important to be able to do this in business anyway as it is a skill which will help in all aspects of running a business.

You Will Find More Opportunities
Business owners who are highly motivated and confident and also in the right place meeting the right people will always come across new opportunities. It could be a new opportunity for a business asset or sale, it could be writing and speaking opportunities, partnership, client leads, or joint ventures. Just make sure that you only take advantage of the right opportunities and ignore those that would be harmful to you or your business. Don’t just take everything that comes your way. The opportunities that you take up should only strengthen your business goals. Focus on long-term solutions to help encourage growth within your business connections and productivity and check out blog.seebiz.com for more about improving business connections as this is one of the most effective solutions for increased demand and product knowledge. Think about nurturing relationships to create a long-lasting and quality impression as a business.

You Will Raise Your Profile
Another great benefit of making more connections is getting noticed and being visible. Ensure that you keep going to events to meet people so that your face becomes well-known. You can build a reputation for yourself as a supportive, reliable, and knowledgeable person by offering tips and useful information to those who need it. Helping others is great for business, gets you noticed and you also might come across some fantastic talent to recruit while doing it.

Smart Decisions Your Business Should Be Making

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When you become a business owner, every decision you make will impact the future viability of your business. Some decisions are standard while others must be made in unique circumstances. The following contributed post is entitled, Smart Decisions Your Business Should Be Making.

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As a business owner, you’ll soon discover the things that work well and the things that don’t. Trying to find easier, faster and cheaper ways of doing things is always beneficial to your business, and can help free up more of your resources to think strategically about the future of your business.

While it’s possible that you’ll make some bad decisions from time to time, you can balance these out by making some better ones. Take a look at some of the smart decisions your business should be making to put you on the path to success.

Image Credit: Unsplash under Creative Commons

Outsource when needed

If you run a small business, you’ll soon realize that you’re not capable of everything. Know the saying ‘Jack of all trades, but master of none’? It’s better to do fewer things well than to try and do everything. Outsourcing can be beneficial for your business, putting certain key tasks in the hands of experts instead of having you take care of it all. Understanding what to outsource and when can help you ease your workload and make sure the best people are on the job.

Adopt the cloud

Cloud computing is becoming the new normal for most businesses. It allows instant, seamless access to documents and software, and provides a secure storage system that doesn’t rely on various servers and fragile memory drives. Switching to the cloud can transform your business, making it possible to run it from anywhere. Using IT management solutions can help make sure you’ve got the best systems and software put in place to help you manage your business effectively. Not only that, but cloud computing is affordable to run, helping you free up your budget for bigger and better things. Just make sure you’re aware of all of the issues surrounding the cloud before you commit.

Care about your employees’ welfare

Your employees are the most important part of your business. Many business hours can be lost due to absences and sickness, and those hours are worth a lot of money to your business. Focusing on creating a safe and happy work environment is important, and gives your employees reasons to love where they work and work hard as a result. Consider adopting flexible working and other fantastic policies that can boost productivity and help you develop a stronger, better connected team.

Use social media to promote your business

Are you making the most of your marketing budget? Social media advertising is one of the simplest, but most effective ways of promoting your business. If you want to generate leads and get people’s attention, then putting your marketing budget into social media is the way forward. In social advertising, your money can go a long way, so learn how to optimize a small marketing budget to help get the best results.

Making smarter, better decisions is how you can drive your business forward. Consider the ways you can make positive changes to make a big impact and see the difference it can make to you and your business.

How to Save Money when Running your Small Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When running a small business as with all businesses, the control of cashflow is critical. Doing so will ensure that your business continues to thrive. The following contributed post is entitled, How to Save Money when Running your Small Business.

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Running a small business can be both difficult and time-consuming. If you’re not careful then you may find that expenses slowly creep up on you, and this can cause you major problems in the future. If you want to avoid all of this, here are a few things that you can do to stay on top.

Lower the Cost of your Office Space

In some instances, it may be possible for you to take advantage of a decreased rental rate in your area. If this is not possible or if you don’t qualify for this type of benefit, then you may be able to renegotiate with your current landlord so you can get some better lease terms. If you don’t need to run your business from a commercial premises, then you may want to think about operating it from home. This will significantly lower the cost of your rent and it will also help you to lower the cost of your gas and energy usage too. In addition to saving on bills, you’ll also save on your business tax and even your utilities. This can go a long way and it can also make it way easier for you to keep an eye on the outgoings that you have.

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Reduce Staffing Costs

If your business has slow periods, it may be worth trying to reduce your staffing costs. Nowadays older employees are more than happy to take some unpaid time off so they can go on vacation or even see their family. If you want to get the best result out of your team chats then see if anyone would like to volunteer. You may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome and in some instances, you may be able to save a small fortune too. Another thing that you can do is to try and hire family members wherever possible. They will be much more flexible when it comes to payment and they may even be willing to give you some additional support when it comes to the finer details of your company too.

Always Barter

Bartering has been around for thousands of years, and it is a great way for you to get the edge on your competition . If you want to help yourself here, you need to try and talk with your vendors to see if they can give you a lower rate on any products you need. They may be willing to set up a contract, or even bulk discounts. If your current vendor is not willing to do this, there are other options available. For example, you can easily go to someone else and then revisit the original vendor with a counter-offer. Sometimes this is more than enough for them to loosen their pricing structure, and you may even end up getting a way better deal as a result.

Vehicle Expenses

If you are running a service or even a contract business that requires the use of a vehicle then you probably know how expensive it can be. Fuel and servicing costs for bigger vehicles or even crew can be astronomical. One way for you to reduce the costs of operating a fleet would be for you to buy used vehicles. It doesn’t even matter if the vehicles require a good level of repair either because it’s still way cheaper than you buying a new truck brand-new. If you still feel as though the expenses you’re paying are far too much, then it may be worth trying to reduce your fuel consumption. Diesel and hybrid vehicles can be more expensive for you to purchase but they can really pay off and they may even save you a small fortune in terms of maintenance too.

Cut down on Supply Costs

When it comes to supply costs, you have to make sure that you budget. As a business owner, you need to ensure that you constantly monitor supplies and that you also check for occasional discounts too. Don’t be afraid to look around and make yourself popular with suppliers. This can be done by paying your bills promptly and also displaying loyalty.

Cut Down on Advertisement Costs

A lot of businesses often spend 5% of the revenue that they get on advertising. This figure may be higher for service businesses, or those who are just starting out. With more and more customers shopping online when compared to ever before, it’s safe to say that you need to at least have a website or even a Facebook page. Having SEO and even television advertising is great and it can help your exposure, but they can also be expensive and they can put a real hole in your budget. One way for you to get around this would be for you to try and advertise organically through Facebook and Twitter. It doesn’t cost you anything to do this, and when you combine it with a weekly newsletter you will soon find that it’s easier than ever for you to gain a lot of traction with your customers.

Cut down on Insurance

Your annual insurance bill will probably cost you a small fortune every year. If you don’t have enough insurance however then this could be enough to bring your business to its knees, and this is something that you do need to make yourself aware of. If you want to help yourself, you need to annually review the insurance that you have. If you don’t feel as though you need one part of your policy anymore, get rid of it as this will save you a huge amount of money. If you have a larger business with a ton of insured assets, then it may be worth doing an asset review too. This will help you to make sure that you are not insuring assets that you no longer have.

Make the Most out of Your Time

If you are a business owner then you’ll know how important time management can be. Business owners should always be prioritising and they should also be using their time accordingly. If you don’t, this could have a huge impact on your bottom line and you may even find that your company suffers as a result. If business is slow then now is the time for you to invest more money into advertising. If your business is taking off and really getting sales then it may be a good idea for you to invest more in things like software or even additional ways for you to manage your workload. Either way, the way that you manage your time will make a huge difference to your business income and it will also help you to save on expenses too.

Watch your Energy Bills

If you have a ton of energy bills coming out, then something needs to be done. You need to make sure that you always turn off lights when they are not in use, and it also helps to keep an eye on standby technology. This will be eating away at your energy usage and it will also stop your business from being efficient too. If you want to do something about this, consider installing a motion sensor light in your offices or have a power strip that shuts everything off when you leave the premises. This will stop you from forgetting about those little things and it will also help you to be more green in general. Another thing that you can do if you work in the industrial sector is invest in slimline water tanks. When you do, you will be able to collect rainwater rather than using it from the business supply.

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Tax Bills

Minimising your tax bill is one of the best ways for you to save a lot of money over the year. You need to get in the habit of writing down exactly how much your business spends on things and you also need to make sure that you detail them properly too. Saving receipts and recording mileage is also essential, as this can all be claimed back at a later date. If you have family members who work in the same business as you then treat them as employees, and file for any expenses that they incur too. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it will help you to pay the right amount of tax when the end of the year comes along.

Utilise the Cloud

For a lot of businesses, cloud computing is a fantastic way for you to reduce the expense of your business. It can also help you to operate more efficiently too. When you invest in cloud computing, you don’t need to worry about maintaining your servers on-site and you also don’t have to worry about ongoing software upgrades either. You will have access to all of the applications you need with the flexibility of the cloud. If you want to get some additional support here, then consider chatting with the cloud providers in your area to see if they can talk you through the solutions they have.

Keeping Your Industrial Machinery In Tip-Top Condition

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. If you’re in an industry that uses it, maintaining your industrial machinery is critical. Maintaining it will allow your business to continue thriving. Neglecting it, will give the opposite result. The following contributed post is entitled, Keeping Your Industrial Machinery In Tip-Top Condition.

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If you’re in a business that uses a lot of heavy industrial machinery, then you’ll already know that it’s in your best interests to keep them in the best condition possible. For starters, they’re expensive, and second, how well they’re working directly impacts the success of your company. So there are advantages to making sure that everything is in order. However, it’s one thing to want to do this, and another to actually do it. So how do you make sure that your machines stay in the best condition? We take a look at a few tried and tested methods below.

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Invest in the Best

It’s not always true that you need to spend money to make money, but sometimes it is. And it is true when we’re talking about heavy industrial machinery. While there’ll be plenty of options available for you to buy (or rent), it’s generally sound advice to avoid the cheapest options out there. They might look better from a bank-balance perspective, but there will be a reason why they’re cheaper than other options. You might find that you’re continually running into problems that could have been avoided had you invested in a reliable machine.

The Right Systems

Since you’ll have invested a lot of capital into your machines, you’ll likely be getting heavy use out of your machines. But the more you push them, the greater the chance that something will go wrong. As such, it’s important that you have the right systems in place for your machines. For example, you’ll need to have a process cooling system. This will help to keep your machines operating at the maximum potential for longer. It’ll make your machines more reliable, too. If you don’t have these systems in place, then you’ll run the risk of unnecessary downtime.

Regular Maintenance

Industrial machines are complicated, and even if you’re investing in the best and using them wisely, then there’s always a chance that something will go wrong. While this is sometimes unavoidable, you can help to reduce the chances of it happening by scheduling regular maintenance for your machines. Having it looked over by a professional will mean that small issues are handled before they have a chance to become big problems. Make sure you have a timetable of maintenance for each of your machines — it’ll give you a little bit of downtime, but it’s better than having to replace it completely.

Employee Training

It’s unlikely that your machines are running all by themselves. They’ll have human hands doing a lot of the work. And there will be a big difference in the longevity of a machine that has been handled by a well-trained, responsible member of the team, and one that hasn’t. If you train an employee on how to use a machine, they’ll be able to identify any issues with it at the first sign. They’ll also be more likely to treat it with a level of care and understanding that’ll help to keep problems at bay, too.