Are You Putting Your Income To Good Use?

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy. A key to understanding money is knowing the best ways to use what income you have, but also to eliminate waste. Incomes vary and there is less room for error the less you make. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Are You Putting Your Income To Good Use?

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With the number of expenditures most of us face on a daily basis, it’s hard to make a paycheck last for the entire month. But there might be more you could do to manage your financial situation. Are you putting your income to good use? Let’s talk about some ways in which you could spend your money wisely.

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Tidy up your monthly expenses.
The first way in which you should put your income to good use is to tidy up your monthly expenses. So many people unnecessarily waste their earnings on expenditures that they don’t need. Practicing the 30-day rule (avoiding buying a luxury until you’ve waited for 30 days) is a smart way to control your desire to splurge. Of course, even those of us who avoid luxury purchases might still struggle to cover the endless list of monthly bills. But you could save money in that sense too. You could insulate your walls and windows to reduce the energy needed to warm up your house and save money on your energy bill. You could use online vouchers to save money when shopping for food, new clothes, or anything else you need online. You could even put up a lodger to help cover some of your bills if you have a spare room in your house or flat. There are so many ways to tidy up your monthly expenses if you change your approach to spending money. Budgeting is the easiest way to track and manage your finances, of course.

Find worthwhile investment opportunities.
Finding worthwhile investment opportunities is another way to put your income to good use. As we’ll discuss in the final point, saving your money is important, but you could really improve your future financial situation by letting your wealth grow substantially through investments. Perhaps you could look at the stock market, for example. You might even want to head here for some new build houses. Investing in property is very smart because it’s a market that always has keen buyers. After all, people always need somewhere to live. Whether you buy and fix up properties to sell them for a quick profit or you buy properties to lease them out for a regular income, there’s a lot of money to be made here. Still, however you choose to invest your money, just make sure you do your research to make low-risk and high-reward decisions.

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Save on payday.
If you know that you’re prone to splurging as soon as that paycheck comes through every week or every month then you should start saving on payday. That way, you don’t have to worry about triggers urging you to spend your money when you’re out shopping or browsing online. You can immediately transfer a portion of your disposable income to your savings account and any disposable earnings that remain can be your spending money for non-essentials. It’ll mean you don’t have to feel guilty if you do treat yourself to luxuries because you’ll know that you’ve already put something into your savings for the month. This is a smart way to start putting your income to better use. You’re allowed to treat yourself in life, but you shouldn’t do so at the expense of your overall financial security in the present or the future. That’s always the crucial thing to remember.

Your Money Mindset And How To Improve It

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. A prominent financial talk show host and writer once said that money is 20% head knowledge and then 80% behavior. This suggests that it’s actually pretty easy to win with money as long as you continue to repeat the right steps. How can you improve your money mindset? The following contributed post is entitled, Your Money Mindset And How To Improve It.

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Do you know what a money mindset is – better yet, do you know what shape yours is in? Being aware of your own money mindset is absolutely key if you want to get your finances in order. With a strong money mindset you’ll be able to earn more money, manage your money better, and feel more comfortable and free around money. It is honestly the best thing you can do to improve. Too many people look outside of themselves for solutions rather than looking inwards to fix what is going on. If you aren’t good with money, what makes you think you’ll be better when you’re earning a lot more? The troubles will remain!

Below, we’ll go into more detail on your money mindset and how you can improve it. Enjoy!

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Identify Your Limiting Beliefs
The first step to changing your money mindset is identifying your limiting beliefs. We all have limiting beliefs to some degree, some more than others. These beliefs are usually the beliefs that we picked up off our parents and the people around us when we were young. By identifying what your beliefs are, you can eradicate them and write a new story. It takes time. You must be mindful of your thoughts, and you can think about using techniques like tapping to help you overcome the beliefs that are holding you back.

Spend More Time With People Who Are Good With Money
If you’re always spending time with people who squander their money, don’t appreciate it, and talk about it in a negative way, you will do the same. We become like the people we spend the most time with. If you spend time with people you’d like to be like, you’ll be investing and learning all about accounting for cryptocurrency before you know it. You can try to spend more time with people who are good with money by finding mentors, asking for advice from people you admire, and even following them on their social channels. You don’t have to cut out people who are bad with money, but you must make sure you’re not soaking up their limiting beliefs and getting involved in their narrative.

Read More Books On Money
There are so many books on money that can help, including ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ and ‘Think and Grow Rich’. Look them up and gain a new perspective!

Know What Your Spending Triggers Are
Certain things may trigger you to spend, for example, feeling sad, or feeling bored. You’ll need to make sure you stay extra mindful during these times so that you don’t cave in and spend money on things you don’t need.

Practice Gratitude Every Day
Practice the feeling of abundance by being grateful for all you have every day. Be grateful for every dollar, every cent. Be grateful you are able to pay bills. Be grateful for everything!

Open Your Mind To The Myriad Of Possibilities
There are a ton of possibilities for you, but you must be open to them. Changing your story will allow you to imagine new possibilities for yourself. Amazing things can happen, you just have to believe it!

Ways to Save Money When Starting a Business

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When trying to get your business off the ground, it’s important to understand where you can save money initially. This can pay dividends later. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Ways to Save Money When Starting a Business.

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One of the most difficult challenges start-up’s face is that of having to set things up on a limited budget, particularly in the very early days when they are yet to get any traction, times can be tough.

Yet, it’s usually upon an injection of capital into the business, for instance, via angel funding, that start-ups get themselves in financial hot water as there’s a tendency to overspend, or at least go on a spending spree to kit out their start-up with anything from a fancy website to the best premises.

Now, there’s a time and place to invest in your business, of course, and investing in items such as cold room panels to replace the bootstrapped domestic solutions used previously, make financial sense – it’s just important you don’t fall into the emotional trap many entrepreneurs fall into which is to overspend and put themselves in a precarious cash flow situation down the line.

In this article you’ll find seven ways startups can save money, in the early days:

1. START OFF WORKING FROM HOME
A common mistake many startups make is they feel the need to secure premises, even with a digital business.

It’s emotionally understandable as there are clear benefits to having the space to focus in a distraction free environment, yet if this isn’t absolutely necessary to your business functioning (i.e. you employ a team of people or often have physical rather than virtual meetings) then you’ll want to try to avoid acquiring premises as it will put a significant strain on your start-up budget.

2. KEEP YOUR COSTS DOWN
There are certain essentials every entrepreneur needs, for instance printer ink, yet there are ways to keeping costs down by shopping around and/or looking for cheaper alternatives.

3. DON’T HIRE STAFF
The majority of entrepreneurs feel the need to do everything on their own, but when business starts picking up one of the first things they’ll do is go out and hire more people than necessary. A much more cost efficient strategy is to hire virtual assistants to outsource tasks to, as they tend to operate on a more flexible freelance basis meaning the workload (and therefore, the amount you pay them) can change with your needs.

4. DO IT YOURSELF
There are certain things within your business that might feel good to outsource, for instance, web design, yet there are plenty of ways you can do it yourself and come up with a “good enough for now” solution that gets you to a place of more traction.

Similarly, it can feel important not to waste your precious time on tasks that could be outsourced – and whilst this is good advice for business owners, when starting a business, it really is a hard slog that requires you to do most things yourself; from the accounting to the cleaning. The good news, however, is that this is a fantastic education that all entrepreneurs should embrace.

5. STOP BEING A PERFECTIONIST
Often, entrepreneurs put a lot of pressure on themselves to have everything perfect; yet this paradigm of ‘good enough for now’ is very helpful when it comes to starting up a business, as in many ways, it’s about leaping between stepping stones where you build more and more traction. If you let go of the need to have everything “perfect” then you’re likely to get a lot more done, for a lot less money, and make much more progress as a result.

6. STOP TRYING TO IMPRESS
It’s very tempting to feel the need to impress, when starting out, but often this comes from a place of insecurity in the terms of the value you are offering.

Sometimes we rely too much on symbolic statements of success in the material world such as the clothes we wear, or the ability to arrive at a meeting in a fancy car or signing a contract with a Mont Blanc pen – yet, none of this is necessary.

The one thing you need to create as a start-up is VALUE. When you focus more on substance over style, people will naturally be drawn toward you and you won’t feel the need to impress so much.

The reality is, in the modern world, most business people don’t respect this flashy stuff nowadays. Whilst some do care, they tend to be somewhat superficial, and in reality a good business person cares about one thing and one thing only; the value you create and your ability to deliver results.

Whether you sign a contract with a Mont Blanc pen or a Bic biro, the one thing they truly care about, is that you deliver on the promises made.

In today’s world you can’t use this material puffery to hoodwink people into believing you are an established business, if you’re just starting out, as everyone checks digital resources like Facebook and LinkedIn now to work out where you’re really at.

7. FOCUS ON VALUE CREATION
A lot of the time, start-ups struggle to be able to spend money on certain services they need, and therefore, it can be wise to look at other ways to create value. For instance, as a simple example, let’s say you would like to purchase a tailor made suit – but don’t have the required cash. If you have web design skills or social media marketing skills that the tailor does not have, and would like their website to be improved, you could offer your services in exchange for the suit as a barter agreement.

In summary, when starting out it’s all about keeping perspective and focusing on what really matters – which is creating value for your end user.

That’s the one most vital currency in any business; create value and everything else will fall into place. Indeed, the only way to reliably earn respect as a start-up is to focus so much on creating value that your successful trajectory speaks for itself.

Remember, everyone has to start somewhere and the journey to major success often starts from a very humble and small beginning.

Making Money From Those Major Investments

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. A key aspect of this is understanding how to invest money for significant rates of return. If you weren’t raised in an ecosystem where this knowledge was prevalent, you have to obtain the information and then have the drive to apply it in disciplined way. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Making Money From Those Major Investments.

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If you’ve got plenty of entrepreneurial spirit, and a zest for savvy financial decisions; there’s no doubt that you’ve got a couple of the attributes needed to gain financial success and a comfortable future. The fun part (mostly) is in the process; deciding how, where, and when to invest your money, and work hard at something, so you can reap the rewards is also the challenge. But, you’re not here because you’re shy of a challenge, and you won’t be fazed by making some major decisions. You’ll already understand how crucial it is to hold as much knowledge as possible regarding your investment; you’ll have worked hard for what money you have, and won’t want to waste it due to a poor, or ill-informed choice. Therefore, whatever it is that you’re thinking about; prepare, plan, and acknowledge as much as possible beforehand.

It’s time to push forward with your plans, and ensure that your major investments are an excellent way to reap some financial reward. Don’t expect instant success, as this is a rarity in a heavily saturated market; however, put plenty of time and effort into where you put your cash so that the return will keep you smiling. Whether you want to be the CEO of a new venture out of your investment, a pot of money for a rainy day, or you’re just happy to see where it takes you; your work ethic and decision-making need to be on point. The following are some ideas, advice, and inspiration for those who have made, or are about to make a significant investment so that they can gain more from their money.

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Investing In A New Venture

So, you feel like you’re born to do a certain job, provide a particular service, or create an empire; however, the difference to most people, is that you want it to be as part of your own company and venture. Fortune often favors the bold and the brave, but, only if they’re smart about it all. Focus on your business’s USP so that you can really set yourselves apart from the crowd. If you want to become a serious competitor in the hospitality or leisure industry; you need to push something different. As a hotelier, your venue needs to make an impact as soon as it opens; consult with both design and service experts so that every review is an excellent one. Perhaps you want to take hospitality into the sky, and invest in a private jet service; the luxury market is forever growing. You could even push your skills into the water; looking into marine engineering and naval architecture will allow you to investment in a yacht or boat, that’s ideal for your brand and business. Keeping your potential patrons in mind, at all times, will help you budget as you create something truly unique.

Maybe it’s your products that you believe in, or your curation skills in regards to stocking a business that offers consumers something different. Remember that many are bored with the mass-produced items that they see everywhere, all the time; so focus on being something a little different so that a customer feels like they’re buying into something niche, without being off-putting. Become a business that stocks and supplies other businesses; this is great for entrepreneurs with a particular knowledge or skill in a specific area of the market, who are adept at large supply and demand. You’ll need to be brave will your initial investment; however, your reward could exceed that of the consumer market.

Upcycling may bring about thoughts of small garages and home projects; however, there’s a huge demand for vintage, and antique items, due to their rarity. If you have an eye for value, and a knowledge for what’s in demand, perhaps it’s a good idea to spend your time in an auction house. Restore items that need some TLC so that your markup and profit will be far greater than the time and money you originally spent on it. There’s some luck and timing involved in this venture, but if you’re the sort of entrepreneur that thrives on that, you’ll be perfect in your fresh role. Build-up a friendly, and more importantly, trustworthy, reputation, with both customers and your various suppliers so that grabbing a bargain and selling it on will be as straightforward as possible.

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Building-Up Your Cash In Something

Perhaps a quick-paced supply and demand, or opening a venue or service, just isn’t for you. That’s more than fine; there are entrepreneurs out there making money in a huge variety of ways. If investing in something solid (quite literally), and building-up your cash over the years, is how you want to kick things off, then real estate and property could be your ideal option. Even those who buy to live in a property, will add value to their original investment eventually,; however, there are ways to get that bit extra at a distance. Buy-to-let properties are an excellent way to pay off your original spend, and continue making a decent income into the future. You can also re-invest the profits so that you can build-up a portfolio of homes for people. Utilizing a letting agent is the perfect way to take a lot of the stress out of looking after tenants, so it might be worth considering if you have other things you need to focus on each day.

Becoming a shareholder in a startup, is yet another way to make money at a bit of a distance, and over time. You’ll need to be really savvy regarding who and where you invest, as many new businesses can fail in the first year. However, ensuring that you’ve chosen something smart, and ensured that you’ll receive a set percentage at a certain time, will help to alleviate any concerns, and bring you a lump sum. Depending on your agreement, you can arrange to receive a certain percentage each year instead, which is great for a long term option, and will mean that you don’t need to worry about selling your share. Get the right information and advice, and you could well be onto a winner.

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Investing For Profit: A Beginner’s Guide

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. While some people are fortunate to learn about the world of investing at a young age, many people don’t learn about it until much later in life, if at all. It’s a large, dynamic and ever shifting world and can be overwhelming for novices. It’s thus important to know where to start and be patient early on. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Investing For Profit: A Beginner’s Guide.

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There are many ways that you can generate income in this world, including working for a salary and starting your own business. However, one way that you should always consider is investing the money you have in order to grow it. Of course, this is a complicated and sometimes confusing field to get involved in, and that is why I have devised the beginners guide below to help you negotiate it. Read on to find out more.

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Do think of investing as a way of making your money work harder for you.

Firstly, before you get anywhere near choosing where about to put your money, it’s crucial that you grasp the central idea behind investing. In fact, investing is all about putting your money to work for you rather than just letting it sit there. The ultimate goal being that it makes more than just a basic interest account would provide.

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However, it is worth knowing that interest accounts especially those designed for high-level earners can off a fairly decent return on your money with only a minimal risk. Something that makes them much more suitable for those that are not prepared to gamble with their hard earned wages, but still want to make a profit on the money they already have in the bank.

Don’t ever forget about risk.

The next issue to be concerned with when it comes to investing is risk, as mentioned above. This is the other side the coin that you need to consider whenever you make an investment, as there is no such thing as a sure thing!

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What this means is that while you could make a fantastic return on the money you invest, you could also lose all of that money as well. Something that can be further complicated if you get into a situation where you are racking up credit in order to make investments.

To that end, the potential risk in each investment situation need to be calculated accurately, and a cost-benefit analysis needs to be performed to check that the risk is worth the benefit that it could return.

Of course, it is essential to realize that the value of a potential risk will be mean more to some people than it will to others, and it’s not just by the financial value that you can establish this. In fact, for a billionaire, a $100,000 loss would be upsetting, but for a family whose only assets are total $100,000, it could be utterly devastating and ultimately lead to their bankruptcy. The message here being that it is wise never to invest more than you can comfortably afford to lose.

However, in this section is it also worth highlighting that it is the element of risk that provides the opportunity for investment in the first place. After all, if there were no gamble, investors would be needed to stump up the finance. What this means is that it is often the case that the higher the risk, the higher the rewards that can be expected. Of course, that also means for those that are in a stable enough financial position to take those risks, that they can be well worth it regarding return on their initial investment.

Do consider all the different types of investments.

Next, when it comes to making money from your investments is crucial that you consider all the options that are on offer.

What this means is that you think about investing not only in the stock market and financial products but also in things like property as well. In fact, many investors prefer to put their money in property because unlike investing in the stock market, they actually have a physical assets that they gain ownership of, something that provides a greater sense of security.

Sadly, navigating the property investment market can be as complicated as finding your way in with stocks and shares. In particular, deciding on the right type of investment return can be problematic. This is because many investors do not know whether to buy a property with a view to renovating it and then selling it at a profit, or as a let to buy.

Of course, both have disadvantage and advantages that could affect the return you see on your property investment. In particular, choosing from one of the many houses for sale overseas may provide you with a prime opportunity for buy to let, especially if there are in popular vacation spots, or cities. This is because you will be more likely to have potential renters all year round, something that can ensure a high and regular yield on your initial investment.

However, for investors looking to make a substantial sum more quickly, it can be better to flip a property instead, something that can happen over a shorter period of time, and free up more capital faster. Capital that can then reinvested with the aim of making an additional profit in the property or other investment sectors.

Don’t put all of your eggs into one basket.

While not putting all of you eggs in one basket may be old wisdom that you grew up hearing, it doesn’t mean that it is any less relevant to the field of investing. In fact, its excellent advice and what it translates to here is the value of diversifying your portfolio.

What this means is that its bad practice to put all of your investment capital into a single stock, company, field, or even market. This is because if that particular investment fails you will lose all of your money and have none left over.

Instead, if you diversify your portfolio across different products and fields, even if an entire market crashes you should be left with some investments of value. Something that can help you minimize any losses, and so make your chances of making a profit over the long term much higher.

Do join up with others.

No person is an island, and this is the case, even when it comes to investing. In fact, there are services out there that make pooling your money with other investors much easier now, including peer lending platforms and investment cooperatives.

Of course, the benefits of doing this is that, while still only putting up a relatively small amount you can gain the benefits of making a large scale investment. Something that can help to increase your percentage profits significantly.

Although, it is worth ensuring that you have an excellent grasp of the legal side of things when pooling your money with others. Otherwise, you can end up getting the short end of the stick, and this can negatively affect the return you can expect from your investment.

Don’t listen to hot tips.

Finally, when it comes to investing in any field, be it property, the day trading arena, stock and shares, cryptocurrency or peer lending, there really is no such thing as a sure thing! This is crucial to remember because any sources online, or otherwise that specific stock and companies to invest in usually have a vested interested somewhere down the line.

In fact, many hot tips are actually trading scams including pumping and dumping schemes in disguise. This is a process where hot tops are given out to raise the share price just enough for the initial buyer to make a profit when they sell. This then leaves the rest of the investors with hard to move shares, this naturally being something that you will want to avoid if you are looking to make a profit through investing.

11 Ways To Make Money Outside Of Your 9-5

The first principle of my blog is Creating Ecosystems of Success, and two key focuses are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. There’s an argument out there that the smartest way to live is to have multiple sources of income. As such, many individuals have given a lot of thought to how they can create second- or third-income streams outside of their 9-5 jobs. The following contributed post discusses how to create multiple income streams and is entitled, 11 Ways To Make Money Outside Of Your 9-5.

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Making money by going to your 9-5 job every week is certainly an honorable way to earn money. However, more and more people are beginning to realize that if they want to lead truly comfortable lifestyles and build wealth, they are going to need more than one source of income to do it. In fact, the most wealthy people in the world often have 6 or 7 different sources of income. The less you have to rely on one source of income, the better!

Below, we’ll go into 11 ways you can make money outside of your 9-5 so you can begin working on bringing in cash from various sources:

1. Rent Out A Part Of Your Property
If you have a property and you don’t use all of it all the time, you could consider renting out a part of it. Even renting out your driveway could help you to bring some extra cash in from time to time! If you have a spare bedroom you could rent that out, provided you don’t mind sharing your home with somebody else. Alternatively, you could look into a site like Airbnb to rent out your entire home when you’re going to be away yourself. You could make money while you’re off on your own vacation!

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2. Sell Things You No Longer Use
Go through each room in your home and collect things that you haven’t used for 6 months or more. Usually, if you haven’t used something in 6 months you can pretty much guarantee you won’t use it again (unless it’s some special item that you only really need for emergencies, that is). You can use sites like eBay to sell these items and make some extra cash. If you’d rather cut out the middleman costs, selling on Facebook or even hosting a garage sale can be just as effective.

3. Offer Your Services As An Online Freelancer
If you have a little spare time, you could always offer your services as a freelancer using sites like Upwork and People Per Hour. You could proofread, write content, design logos, or do anything else that you think you’re good at! It can take a little time to get work when you’re just starting out, but it can be a nice way to make a decent side income in your own time.

4. Start Blogging/Vlogging
Blogging and vlogging should be done first and foremost because you are passionate about what you want to share. If you’re doing it purely for the cash, you’ll probably get fed up and end up giving up after a short time! You should create quality, consistent content because you have a message you want to share and you enjoy it. Enjoyment will keep you going when your subscribers aren’t growing and you’ve made a miniscule amount of money in months. Consistency is key if you want this to be a way for you to make money!

5. Turn Your Passion Into A Side Hustle
If you have something you’re truly passionate about, it could be possible to turn it into a side hustle. Maybe you like making jewelry or reupholstering furniture; if you’re serious, you could spend your spare time building up this business. Eventually, you may be able to leave your 9-5 job and work for yourself. However, you’ll want to make sure you’re aware of the reasons most new businesses fail. It won’t be easy, and you’ll still need to work hard in the beginning. You really have to love it and you really have to want it!

6. Investing
Investing can sound like a scary word, especially to beginners who have only ever put their spare cash into savings accounts. However, it’s essential if you want to ensure your financial health for the future and give yourself a chance at being truly wealthy! There’s a plethora of information out there that can help you to get started, and you only need to start small. You can even find apps like Moneybox to help you get started. The important thing is getting started and committing a portion of your earnings to investing regularly – then you’ll build up momentum and be able to learn as you go along. You’ll be glad you started now. The earlier you start, the more you can take advantage of compounding!

7. Smart Spending
Smart spending can sometimes be all it takes to help you make money outside of your 9-5. There are numerous ways you can do this. For example, by making sure you buy items that will enable you to make more money in the long run, like Disney DVDs that become more valuable once they are taken off the shelves (rather than items that lose value, like brand new cars). You can also spend smartly by using cashback sites when you buy, and you should be able to get a portion of what you spend back each time. Then you can try smart spending alongside the NFL betting guide or make a sports bet with any online site that gives you the opportunity to bet on real or imaginary games. Be warned about betting, however. Using this method comes with an element of risk that you should keep in mind, and you should be wary of if you have a gambling problem. However, if you are able to monitor your spending, you could win big if you bet wisely.

8. Create Online Courses
If you have a lot of knowledge and/or passion on a certain subject, how about creating online courses to help others learn? You can create courses about just about anything these days, and the great thing is, you only have to do the work once. The courses can sell again and again and you will continue to make money!

9. Write Ebooks
Ebooks can help you to make cash if you do some keyword research and figure out what people want to know about. Both fiction and non-fiction are an option, although you may need to write lots of ebooks to make a decent sum of money.

10. Start Your Own Ecommerce Business
Ecommerce businesses are extremely popular, and for good reason. Pretty much anybody can set one up using sites like Shopify, selling items that they feel passionate about.

11. Advertise On Your Car
There are companies that will pay you to have an advertisement for their business on your car. All you have to do is fill out a form stating where you drive and how much you drive, and any suitable offers will then be sent to you. The company will remove the ad when the campaign is complete and you will get paid. Easy!

Here’s How You Could Increase Your Retail Sales without Breaking the Bank

Two key focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. In order to successfully run a business, controlling cash flow and money management key. It’s always important to consider how to increase sales and earn more money. The following contributed post is thus entitled, Here’s How You Could Increase Your Retail Sales without Breaking the Bank.

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A lot of people think that they need to spend money to make money, and sometimes this is the case. There are however things that you can do to try and boost your business efficiency without spending anything at all.

Setup Your Store

The very first thing that you need to be thinking about is how your store is set up. Think about it, where are the displays? How long is the queue to the checkout? Does the store seem packed? You really don’t want to force your customers to hunt through racks just so that they can find what they need. Your displays need to be clean and they also need to make it easier for your customers to find any items that they MUST have. There are a couple of ways for you to do this. The first thing that you need to do is use this “power wall” wisely. In the US, people drive on the right-hand side of the road. For this reason, you need to make your right wall into a feature. Customers will naturally turn right when they walk in, and this is a fantastic way for you to capitalise on that. If you are in Australia, New Zealand or even the UK then your power wall will be on the left.

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Zone Everything

You need to remove any excess merchandise from the store floor. If you sell shoes for example, you need to make sure that you only have one pair of each size on show at any one time. This will encourage customers to buy because they think that it is the last one, and it also stops your floor from becoming too cluttered. When you sell that size, put another one on display. You also need to keep an eye on your decompression zone. This is the first 10 feet inside your front door. Customers are very prone to distractions when they enter this part of the store, so keep it as clean and as de-cluttered as possible. This will encourage your customers to walk right into the heart of the store, which is exactly what you want.

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Queues

It’s very easy for a customer to become spooked if they see a huge queue. They don’t want to wait that long and they may even weigh up whether or not the product they are buying is worth the time it takes to queue. If you want to stop this then put your register at the back. You can also go mobile if you want. A POS payment system is a fantastic choice here because it gives your team the chance to serve anywhere on the store floor and this can keep your customers from leaving without making a purchase.

Staff for Traffic

A lot of stores will ask their staff to work when the most sales are made. You shouldn’t do this at all. In fact, you should always staff according to the amount of traffic you have. Your employees will be able to help everyone much more efficiently and this can lead to you experiencing way more sales. This will also stop your staff from becoming bored when working on the store floor as well, which leads onto the next point.

Your Staff have a Huge Role to Play

You have to make sure that your store is well-staffed. You also have to make sure that they are helping you to boost your conversion rate. They can do this by meeting and greeting customers as soon as they walk through the door. The best way for you to do this would be for you to have a staff member working the door at all times. If you just have them stood there then this can be intimidating for a customer, so have them “tidy up” or look busy around the front of the store. This will help your customers to feel more at ease and it can work wonders for your branding as well. If your team are having trouble engaging with customers, then stop them from asking yes and no questions. For example, instead of them asking “Can I help you to find something?” tell them to ask questions such as “What are you looking for today?” This requires the person who is shopping to engage, and even if the outcome is still negative, at least some engagement happened. Little things like this can also work wonders for your conversion rate as well because it gives your staff the chance to locate products that might be in the back of the warehouse.

What Financial Headaches Are Hanging Over Your Head

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. To have good financial health, it’s important to know what steps to take and which ones to avoid to prevent getting yourself into long-term jams. The following contributed post is thus entitled, What Financial Headaches Are Hanging Over Your Head.

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There are few things as stressful as money. Even when things are going well, which isn’t all that often, we can be struck by a moment of panic, one that says, “it’s going well now, but you need to keep it like this for many years to come. Can you do it?” But of course, that’s nowhere near as bad as when things aren’t going as well as we’d like. They have the potential to rob us of the joy we should experience as living creatures, disrupt our sleep, and worse. Below, we take a look at some of the common financial headaches that can hang over a person’s head.

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Too Much Credit Card Debt

Credit cards can be beneficial, of course; indeed, it’s recommended that you have one, so you can build good credit, which makes it easier to get loans at favorable rates. But credit cards usage can quickly spiral out of control, and before you know it, you can have a big bill, and your monthly payments are really only covering the interest. If that happens, then look at switching the debt to a card that offers an interest-free period. When the period runs out, switch the remaining balance to another card.

Big Bills and Reduced Income

Most people only have a pretty tenuous grip on their finances. Their security is entirely dependent on their income. But those people are just one injury away from being in trouble. If you’re involved in an incident and suffer an injury, you might find that you have to stop working. This will make it difficult to pay the many bills that you have. If this happens, the first thing you should do is pause any non-essential payments. If it wasn’t your fault, then get in touch with these accident lawyers, and fight for financial compensation. When you’re injured, the aim should be on getting better, not wrestling with your financial situation.

Expensive Homes

It is a great achievement to get the keys to your very own home. It can feel like a dream come true. But this dream can quickly turn into a nightmare if the house you bought is too big and expensive for what you can afford. The most important thing is to find more money – it is better, in the long run, to live a frugal lifestyle in order to afford the mortgage payments. Later on down the line, you’ll hopefully be able to renegotiate the terms of the deal, which will put more money in your pocket.

Everyday Expenses

Many people find that they can afford their home, but struggle with the everyday costs of living. If you’re in this position, then go through where your money is going – it’s possible that you’re spending far more than necessary on, say, coffee or eating out. A person’s shopping habits in the supermarket can influence their financial habits way more than they should. Don’t opt for the brand name stuff – it’ll taste the same, and you’ll have more money to play with.

Make More Money in Less Time

A key focus of my blog is Financial Literacy/Money. If it interests you, growing your wealth typically involves leveraging the skill sets and time of others as opposed to doing everything yourself. The following contributed post is therefore entitled, Make More Money in Less Time.

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If you’re wanting to make more money in less time, then the first thing you are likely going to need to change is your paradigm around making money.

See, the majority of people trade their time for money in a very direct and linear way… for instance, if you consider the majority of jobs, they pay based on time input, whether that’s an hourly rate or an annual salary it is fundamentally calculated on the basis of the amount of hours you work.

The challenge with this, however, is that there are only so many hours in the day and there’s a cap to how much anyone can charge for each hour they work. Of course, you can upskill and gain greater expertise in order to charge more for each unit of time you offer – but even a highly skilled brain surgeon is capped to the number of operations they can physically do each day, week, month or year.

The brain surgeon and the janitor both have the same problem – they are trading their time for money, admittedly at different rates, but their problem is the same. If they want to make more money then they need to input more time.

Similarly, if you have a business that ships physical products the more products you sell the more time you will require putting things into cardboard shipping boxes – meaning, the more money you make the more time it takes, which is a recipe for not much of a lifestyle.

Therefore, many business owners find themselves working way too many hours – creating a business that might be turning over a decent profit, but is eating into their lives and the lifestyle they dream of.

The way to make more money in less time is very simple. You need to start leveraging assets; be that a financial asset such as a property that you rent out, a digital asset such as a blog that you sell advertising space on, an intellectual asset such as an invention or even an online course, or a business system where you leverage effort (e.g. own a big business with employees).

We’re now going to take a brief look at an example of how to make money via this model of leverage, as the most important thing to bear in mind throughout the examples above is the commonality they all share in that they leverage effort rather than your own time.

Let’s look at the example of property; here you simply find a property and you rent it out. Let’s say your mortgage is $1,000 a month and you rent it out for $1,250. You make $250 profit per month without having to do much at all… then, if you want to expand your income you simply expand your property portfolio – and in this sense you can have ten properties or one hundred; you don’t have to work any more hours to manage ten properties or a hundred… because you outsource the property management to a specialist company.

Meanwhile, it’s likely that your property will appreciate in value – so, whilst you are making your profit on each property, you’re also increasing your overall capital as the value of the house increases as does your net worth.

Ways That Taking Your Business Digital Can Save Time And Money

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. In our current digital age, many tools are now used to conduct business and commerce. Not adapting and incorporating these new methods could ultimately cost you time and money. How do you not lose your competitive advantage? The following contributed post is entitled, Ways That Taking Your Business Digital Can Save Time And Money.

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Saving money is the goal of many businesses, especially smaller companies still looking to find their feet. Digital solutions can give your business a boost and help you to save time and money, freeing up both to focus on the more strategic side of your business. If you’re not making the most of digital technology for your business, take a look at some of the following ways that taking your business digital can help.

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Cloud working reduces clutter and commitment to an office

With cloud computing solutions, you can take your business anywhere, allowing you to easily work in any location. Cloud computing also helps you to work with employees in remote locations, making it easier to hire freelancers to help you carry out different business functions. Take a look at cloud storage solutions that will benefit your business and provide it with extra security at a low cost.

Turn your HR digital

Managing HR functions can be difficult, and with more importance being placed on personal data protection than ever before, you need to implement systems that will keep data secure and make HR easier to manage. The ServiceNow HR module is a useful tool for businesses that will make managing cases simple and makes it easier for employees to access vital information. Digital transformation can be a tricky process, but with the right system, the process becomes much simpler.

Embrace digital marketing

Traditional marketing methods are becoming more and more expensive. Television and press ads can be a large expense for businesses, with a shorter exposure period. Digital marketing, however, provides you with several possibilities to engage with audiences, at a much lower cost. With digital marketing, you can create campaigns easily according to your own budget, helping your business to save money.

Save on your travel costs

Traveling to meet clients, colleagues and conferences can soon eat into your budget, but it doesn’t have to. Using video conferencing services can change the way you do business, helping you to have face to face meetings without having to spend time or money traveling. The quality available from video conferences is amazing compared to what it was even a few years ago, helping to make communication easier for your business.

Use online project management tools for better productivity

Managing projects is easier than ever thanks to online project management tools. Manage deadlines, assign tasks, collaborate and more to help your projects run more smoothly. Project management tools are great for businesses of all sizes, and can boost productivity across your teams.

While there are benefits and dangers associated with technology, there’s no doubt that it can save time and money for your business. By exploring the different tools and applications that exist, you can find some excellent solutions for your business. Take advantage of free trials to help you choose the right digital solutions for your company, and let digital transform the way you work.